Tuesday, June 26, 2007

CFS Tuesday

Life with CFS is unpredictable at best. Today, I am awaiting a call from one of my doctors about some new test results. I meant to post and say that there will be no CFS Tuesday this week, but I guess this is a different sort of CFS Tuesday.

This Tuesday, my mind is occupied with questions about what will come next in my life with CFS.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

King's Landing

Dear Knittah,

Eep! Noricum is click-happy with her camera! We weeded down the photos some, and then split them between her blog and this one. But still... there are *so* many photos! After you're done here, if you aren't tired of King's Landing, check out Noricum's post.

In summary: we had a fantastic time at King's Landing! Now for the photos...

This was our chariot for the weekend:
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We made sure to document it (licence plate too) in case we had trouble finding it again. ;) (It turns out we needn't have worried... we were the *last* people leaving, so the parking lot was just as empty as when we arrived. We were so late out the door that they had to turn the credit-card machine back on so Noricum could buy some books.)

I was the navigator... but I had trouble seeing over the dashboard, and our map didn't extend beyond Fredericton.
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However, we made it there and back despite my difficulties! See:
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(We just happened to take different routes there and back... oh well... at least we made it!)

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We tried to take lots of fiber-related photos for you. In this shot, one lady is sewing bits of wool felt on a backing for a rug. These bits of felt were too small to be used for other things, but *nothing* was wasted back then.
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Aside: You see those wooden things in the background? We saw then in a few houses, but couldn't figure out what they were. The one lady we asked didn't know... she was new. We forgot to ask anyone else.
Aside 2: The wreath in the photo contains human hair. (Nothing wasted!) Um... ew.

See this house?
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That's the second story. A lot of houses were built into hillsides. That way they could have cool larders without a lot of digging, plus save the flat land for farming. Again, *nothing* wasted!

Signs of spinning were everywhere!
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Here's some weaving of suspenders:
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(Another shot with actual suspenders comes later.)

A peddler!
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He said that if we had come a day earlier we could have bought his horse. That would have been more fun than a rental car! But slower... and that would likely have meant less time at King's Landing. :(

The weaver wasn't in when we stopped by here:
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But her cloth was pretty.
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(She was using commercially produced cotton, though.)

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Look at the lovely colours of natually dyed yarn!
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This one was dyed with ferns and alum as a mordant. It is *much* prettier in person. The camera really doesn't do it justice.

This friendly lady let Noricum try her spinning wheel. She had so much fun! However, she couldn't manage treadling and spinning at the same time, so the lady spun the wheel while Noricum drafted. Treadling is much harder than it looks. When Noricum took her photo, she managed to catch her when the wool got tangled:
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So we made sure to get proof that her spinning is much nicer than the previous photo shows:
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She was very impressed with Noricum's ability to spin (even though she can't treadle), and says that Noricum definitely deserves to have a wheel. ;) Noricum also demonstrated how to use the drop spindle, since these two ladies hadn't been shown properly, and couldn't figure it out. They didn't try it while she was there, but appreciated being shown. Leaving the house, Noricum heard some thuds and giggles. ;)

The food at the King's Head Inn was *delicious*!!! We had salmon chowder with a biscuit and lemonade:
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Followed by warm gingerbread cake with real whipped cream:
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Lunch was to *die* for!

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All the doorstops were these pretty woven-cloth covered bricks:
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Noricum and I like this photo:
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Don't you think it would make a pretty card?

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We got to see flax processing demonstrated! Neat!
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Here piggy, piggy, piggy!
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You can't tell from these photos, but that's one big piggy!

What a neat stove!
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This was in one of the churches.

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This is the photo with the suspenders:
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These fellows were big too:
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And look at those horns! Don't mess with them!

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Hey... these are by the same artist that did the ones for city hall:
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Well... was that enough photos for you? We have more. ;)

King's Landing is neat... all of the houses are ones that would have been flooded when the hydro dam was built, so they were all moved to this location and set up as a living history museum. Each house represents a specific time period, so you get to see how things changed over time... from open hearth cooking to fancy stoves, etc. The cabin housing the flax demonstration was just a single room with an unused loft. Other houses were practically mansions. It was really neat. One day wasn't enough to see everything!

Love,
Swatchy

Sorta CFS Tuesday

Not really part of our ongoing series about life with CFS.

I'm recruiting. Recruiting, I tell you! There are some amazing upcoming knitting events that I cannot attend. If you, or someone you know, is going to one of these events and would like to carry a Swatchy, give me a holler!

1. Stitches East - Miles of yarn in the Baltimore Convention Center and a bunch of classes I wish I could take. October 11-14, 2007.

2. Rhinebeck - The legendary New York Sheep and Wool. Knitting luminaries, lots of sheep and other fiber beasts, and LOTS of yarn. October 20-21, 2007.

3. Knitting in Italy - Dudes! Italy, knitting and Brenda Dayne! Gah! October 23-30, 2007.

4. Sea Socks '08 - A knitting cruise to Alaska with (take a deep breath) MamaE, Amy Singer, Chrissy Gardiner and Brenda Dayne! Departs May 9, 2008 from Seattle for 7 day cruise.

Is there a knitting event in your area? Are you going somewhere calm/exciting/fabulous/wonderul for summer vacation? Wanna carry a Swatchy? Gimme a holler here: knittahsp9 AT yahoo DOT com.

Catching Up - Salmon and Fiddlehead Dinner

Dear Knittah,

I've fallen a bit behind on my correspondence... I'll try to catch up. This post isn't about last weekend, but the weekend before.

Friday night we went to the Riverfest salmon and fiddlehead dinner. Mmmm! Noricum and I had never had fiddleheads before. Boy, were they ever tasty! (And so was the Atlantic salmon!) Sadly, we pigged out on them before we remembered to get a photo. Whoops! Well, here are some photos from that evening that we *did* remember to take.

Waiting in line to go in:
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The musical entertainment:
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This was really useful for those at the end of the line. Noricum and I happened to be in the first set allowed to go get food, and we were done *well* before the last had their chance. The music was very enjoyable. Here's a little sample:


Sheesh... you can't take Noricum anywhere. She, um, "doodled" on the paper tablecloths:
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I hung out with the beavers for a bit:
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They truly are proud and noble animals.

Okay, I'm off to select some more photos for uploading...

Love,
Swatchy