Earthshadow eats the moon, and other weekend shenanigans

In which our plucky heroine accomplishes much, with help...

Total lunar eclipse here last night... for about the last half of the approach, in the sky above Acorn Cottage the clouds parted enough to that there was a clear view of the earthshadow eating the moon, but alas just at the final moments, the clouds blew in again and the moon disappeared entirely. I keep going outside to look but no moon is visible. For a moment, much higher in the sky, there is what looks rather like a tarnished golden disc, and then it is gone again. A cold raw damp night, and discretion suggests that rather than standing in the driveway looking up, that it would be better to go indoors and brew up a cup of hot echinacea tea before winding down for bedtime. The dread rhinovirus is no longer trampling on my face and nostrils, and I want to encourage it to eventually leave the rest of my respiratory tract alone.

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All sorts of useful tasks were handled this weekend via my BCH helpers, from shifting some of Mt Chipmore onto the salvaged cardboard as yard mulch, to clipping hen wing feathers, to some intensive decluttering under the sink (which is now a shining area of beauty instead of the former terrifying pit of doom) We have a cunning plan for phase the middle of the new chicken home. A delicious dinner Saturday night with salad, bavette steak collops, and broccoli with pan sauce was one of our best joint cooking efforts. Much love to my Blue Cedar House pals!!

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Two $5 closeout An Tir 50 Year t-shirts = one long sleeve knit top with decorative motifs on both arms. Rather an outlier in my everyday wardrobe, since neither yellow or red are my colors, but it is so much fun! (and can be worn with all my assorted black pinafores).

I don't wear regular t-shirts, since they don't fit me well, or suit my wardrobe, but they often have lovely graphics. I wouldn't have purchased these when they were originally offered for sale three years ago, though I admired the artwork, and appreciated the Latin motto, which I think means something like "recreating the past in the best way", but when the last few shirts were offered at a greatly reduced price earlier this year, it occurred to me how I could take advantage of the pretty motifs...

Place the motifs on the sleeves, where they would be visible. Use the rest of the two shirts to cut out the pieces of my TNT knit top. Hand piece the upper sleeves, and hand stitch the neckline and cuff edges all using red Button and Carpet thread in the Alabama Chanin style of visible stitchery as an accent to the graphic. Not a shirt I would wear every day, but for those SCA activities where modern clothing instead of historical garb is appropriate, now I have my own take on the "club t-shirt"...

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January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	braided linen cord	old bathing suit	1#
2	2019 calendars	black knit top cuff	recycle bin
3	black linen undergown	garlic planted	two bags to Goodwill
4	tiny Norse Pelican	gloves mended	glass recycling
5	AS50 knit top	chook wings clipped	yard waste bin
6	x	prune hardy fuchsia	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - getting to see part of the lunar eclipse last night