another mystery solved

With the help of our stalwart electron pals, our plucky heroine has discovered the name, and a bit of information about, the unusual plant currently in neighbor Carla's front yard....

Edgeworthia chrysantha, which I first noticed back when the flower buds were coated with ice earlier this year, has begun blooming in the last few days (along with the snowdrops in my front yard)...supposedly has very fragrant flowers once they are fully in bloom, and the bark is used in making high quality handmade oriental paper.

:::

Had a pleasant Crafternoon today. Freydis and Lawrence came over early, and worked on various projects. We heat set the silk painting he did at Midwinters, and then I gave him an embroidery needle for additional work on a future "heraldic luggage tag" for his armor bag. She worked on Roman style beaded bracelets interspersed with occasional music interludes on her new tin whistle. My friends keep surprising me with their hidden talents. While I can recognise music, I have no great ability in that realm, and certainly have never been able to simply pull recognisable tunes out of midair!

A bit later on in the day, Tullia and Drusa came by. Tullia dropped off some of the supplies for the pieced quilted wall hangings I will be making for her treatment room, and we went over the details for the first one, a large yin yang in two shades of green. Once that was clear, she then went on to turn a log shaped dog toy into a toy for her young Maine Coon "Felix" who has taken to dragging things out of the pantry to kill. (like a bag of flour for example) The hope is that the larger heavier toy, appropriately catnip scented, will prove a suitable substitute for dry goods. Drusa didn't bring a project, but let us know that we can come over to her workroom and pick out suitable veneer for the future tablet weaving cards she will be making. I let her know that there will be a possible shared merchanting space available at Egils, and that some card sets might be good to try out there...(our plucky heroine will be also putting together an assortment of useful trinkets as well)

:::

As far as SMART goals so far this year, now that we are at the end of January, there has been excellent progress on the things made, less on the things fixed, and nowhere near enough on the things discarded. Fortunately I now have two years experience with the process, so know that over the course of a twelvemonth, the various columns mostly balance out

ruach... spirit... wind...

...in which our plucky heroine continues the process: my plan is to clear out various areas of dysfunction, clean, declutter, and organise the spaces to add peace and functionality to life here at Acorn Cottage

This corner of the kitchen is a problem, and in the ten years I've lived here, no good solution has become apparent.

Former Owner did an odd remodel of the countertop that caused problems: The upper cupboard is inaccessible without climbing on the counter. The lower cupboard requires nimble floor level contortions to access.  And the countertop itself is sort of a dead zone where objects stagnate. In a feng sui sort of mode, the qi gets stuck there and goes nowhere

So, I cleared it all out, washed the counter and the lazy susan, and only put back things that get used in the food prep area: breakfast components and food seasonings. Cleverly, the various spices and herbs, which were formerly stashed under the windowsill on the other side of the room, now have a better home on the top level of the lazy susan, with the various vinegars in the center, and nuts, dried fruit and other dry condiments on the lower level. This is the sort of functional beauty that I want for my whole house.

January SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	sekrit santa gift	iPod speakers	bag to Goodwill
2	two felt mice	compression straps	bag to Goodwill
3	heraldic enamel	bench hook	bag to Goodwill
4	Laurel pendant	kitchen corner cleared	-
5	black/brown pinafore	-	-
6	horses print block	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-

insomnia

in which our plucky heroine finds a productive silver lining...

Last night I couldn't sleep, and instead of just fretting horizontally, went back to the workroom and spent some more time carving away on my first linoleum block. Got a good deal of the background cut away, since that required careful effort but not the focused detailing that remains to be done around the horses legs and tail.

One thing I was able to do was to repair the lefthand horses far ear (tiny triangle), which cracked away when I used slightly too much pressure in carving. I read online that wood glue was a good adhesive for linoleum block, and so stuck it back in place and let it dry overnight... Hopefully the repair will hold up to the stress of actual printing!