08.28.08
Posted in Anything goes, Uncategorized at 2:06 pm by Administrator
A couple weeks ago I found to my surprise and delight that Custom Handweaving was going to have a booth at the Bead Show at the Pasadena Hilton. The reason I was excited about that bit of news is that they are one of the few vendors who sell spinning wheels near me and I’ve been contemplating getting a wheel for quite some time, now. Custom Handweaving is actually located in Redondo Beach, which is about a 45 minute drive away from me. But Pasadena is only about 15 minutes away from me, so I broke into my piggy back and jumped at the chance to see what spinning wheels were going to be on display.
When I arrived, I found that Nancy, the owner of Custom Handweaving and a very nice lady, brought a nice selection of wheels. I originally had been eyeballing the Ashford Double Treadle Traveler spinning wheel on the net because it was compact, but still had a nice country look to it. Since I’ve never owned my own wheel before, I really didn’t know what to look for aside from versatility and aesthetics. I basically knew I wanted one that was decent looking so that I could leave it out in the house and that it had to be somewhat small because I don’t have much room here for more gadgets. Plus a small wheel would make it easy to transport if I wanted to take it to a spinning group meeting or just somewhere else to spin. When I got to the show, I was able to try out a few different models and brands, including the Ashford Double Treadle Traveler. I say “try out” meaning treadling, since I’ve never used a spinning wheel before, but only a hand spindle. What I found was a bit unexpected for me, but I’m happy with my final choice. After a little bit of treadling and contemplation, it was only a matter of minutes before I became the owner of my very own spinning wheel! Woo hoo! I know, I know. “Woo hoo” over a spinning wheel? Yes, something only other fiber artists/addicts can understand. . . It doesn’t “look” like what I had in mind for a spinning wheel, but somehow I still think it has a cute look to it, anyway. Plus it’s pretty compact, and best of all, the treadling is extremely smooth! When I tried out the floor sample, I fell in love with it. That baby had to be mine! So, I dug deep in my very shallow pockets, and I forked over my dough. This is what I now have as my very own. . .
Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m pleased to introduce the Ladybug Spinning Wheel by Schacht Spindle Co. Inc. (Rah, rah, rah! Roar. Applause.)
Yeah, I know. It doesn’t quite look like the spinning wheel that Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on, but hey, I like it anyway! And it spins like a charm! I will admit that at first I felt very uncoordinated. I had to concentrate on getting the wheel to spin in one direction and at a constant rate. Once I had my feet doing what it should, I found that I wasn’t using my hands to draft the wool. Once I started to draft the wool, my feet would stop treadling and/or I would pause then start the wheel in the other direction, ack! Any spinner knows that I would never get any yarn spun if I kept up those antics. So it took a bit of practice, and I can now say that I’m much more coordinated and am actually able to spin on this thing.
Okay, so for a little info on this new baby. It is new, not only to me, but it’s one of Schacht’s newer models. Hee, I’m just so happy with it I have to show another view of it.
Now that red flywheel may look familiar for some reason. At first I thought of a steam ship or a fire engine, but I thought, “No, there’s something else about that flywheel. . .” As it turns out, Schacht actually makes other things aside from spinning wheels. I think they’ve made old cars, and they make bicycles. . . And yep, a better look at that flywheel pretty much has “bicycle rim” written all over it. I noticed that there is even a “hole” where the stem of an air tube (or inner tube) would come out! Ha!
But honestly, that didn’t deter me one bit as when I felt how smooth it treadled, I realized that they’re likely using their bicycle assembly/design knowledge to make such a smooth treadling animal. I personally don’t know why they call it the ladybug, but I’m guessing that’s why they chose to have a red flywheel. And as a nice little touch (the type I appreciate), each Ladybug Spinning wheel has a tiny ladybug affixed to it somewhere, but each one has the ladybug placed in a different spot. So one of the first things I looked for when I pull the wheel out of the packaging box was where my ladybug was placed? I found it on the rear maiden.
Ah, thar she be. 
Okay, so before I sign off, I did want to mention how nice it was doing business with Nancy in that along with the purchase, she also threw in 1 pound of wool for practice spinning as well as a little oil bottle for the wheel. The wheel came with two other bobbins, and I also purchased a couple of carders. With my wheel purchase, I also have one free spinning lesson, but I just don’t know when I’ll get the chance to drive all the way out to Redondo Beach. It must be the current gas prices that really have me turned off about driving too much these days. And am I glad that these spinning wheels don’t use fuel, ha!
Okay, now I better get some use out of this stuff, so toodles for now!
Marlakins
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08.26.08
Posted in Historical Trivia, Uncategorized at 9:10 pm by Administrator
In light of all the other events happening around the world today such as the warfare in Georgia and Iraq, etc., I feel a bit guilty that things on this end are so tranquil that we can easily indulge in the luxury of watching the Olympics in the comfort of our own homes and part take in so many other frivolous things. But just as it has always been, life goes on no matter what atrocities are happening in any given part of the world. In one part of the world there is war, while another part there is starvation, and yet another part there is competition such as in the recent Olympics or competitions for offices such as the upcoming election for U.S. Presidency. Then there is also other activities taking place such as archaeological finds that unearth whatever artifacts are left behind by which we can piece together events of history (as all that is happening today will shortly be) be it of wars or of other existences of other civilizations since fallen and gone.
Today I read an article by the BBC called, “Huge Statue of Roman Ruler Found.” The article was dated August 25, 2008, and the ruler to which was being referred is Marcus Aurelius. Evidently, there is an archaeological research project in Sagalassos in Turkey, which has uncovered some statues in a Roman bath. About a year ago a large statue of Hadrian was discovered there. Apparently, recently they unearthed a large statue of Marcus Aurelius there, too. Some pictures of the find of Hadrian can be seen here.
I’m not sure why, but I really find history interesting. I guess I like it because it helps me to make sense of today. And I think it also helps me to appreciate other people to know how we all fit together. As part of my interest in history, I like to look at people and not only wonder about their current life or earlier life, but also to wonder what their ancestors were like. And I think that’s may be a reason why I enjoy looking at paintings and sculptures of historical figures. So when I read that a statue was recently unearthed of Marcus Aurelius, I wanted to compare it to the picture I took of a statue of Marcus Aurelius in the Izmir Efes Musezi in Turkey. I just think it’s so interesting to look at these as it’s kind of like photographs today because they didn’t have cameras back then. Here’s a pic of the recently discovered statue of Marcus Aurelius as shown on the BBC article mentioned above.
It makes me wonder how close to his real likeness this was.
And here’s a picture of what I took of a bust of Marcus Aurelius in the Izmir Efes Musezi in Turkey in 2005.
And just around the corner from this bust was a carved bust of his son, Commodus.
I really think these sculptures are so cool as when I look at them, I can see people I’ve seen today who kinda have these appearances. They are likenesses of real people. And I guess that’s why I was a bit disappointed when I found recently that the Terracotta Warriors were not sculptures of actual people. I had heard they were all different because they represented different people (not sure where I got that info now), but with our recent trip to see the exhibit, we found that the Terracotta Warriors are only artist renditions of 100 molds of other heads that they mixed and matched to get different looks. So provided that I make myself comfortable, I like to leisurely browse through paintings and sculptures when I get the chance.
Here’s another shot I took of heads at the Aydin Afrodisias Musezi in Turkey.
Unfortunately, we didn’t visit the Sagalassos area. I think the closest we got was Antalya, which is probably about 100 miles south of Sagalassos. A lot of the sculptures from the Perge baths were taken from their original sites and displayed in the Antalya Archaeological Museum. There were many amazing sculptures in there. Here’s one example of the carvings on some sarcophagi displayed in the Antalya Archaeological Museum.
The skill of the sculptors is amazing. I took many more pictures, and even took more pictures of sculptures this past May when we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Brian and I originally trekked down to see the Natural History Museum, but weren’t too impressed with it. The building was impressive from the outside, but I was a bit disappointed of the displays on the inside. First of all it was extremely crowded, although I did enjoy the gem room. But on our way back, we stopped off at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was only a few blocks away and found that we actually liked that one much, much better. Here’s the bust of George II displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
I should give credit to the sculptor, Michael Rysbrack, 1683-1760.
And here’s a bust of Oliver Cromwell by Joseph Wilton, 1722-1803 also displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
And finally, I thought I’d throw this last one in because I found it amusing. The plaque said this is Joshua Ward, a celebrated “quack doctor.” He was said to be a philanthropist and opened two hospitals for the poor. I took a pic of it because I wanted to look him up when I got home, but a quick Google search didn’t bring anything up. Oh well. But I am curious why they called him a quack doctor, and what hospitals did he open. Are they still open today? Hmm. Don’t know. . .
Well, in closing, I do want to comment that while I have an interest for sculptures, I do not worship them, nor do I worship any human as a god. I say this because I think of what happened in Biblical times and many other times before and after that people have a tendency to worship idols and even mere men. Because of my personal interest in sculptures, I can see the allure, but I only admire the sculptures as part of history and skill, but not as anything to pray to or worship. In that sense, I do find sculptures and idols strange. Why do images attract people so easily?
Anyway, I think that’s enough of my musings for now.
Marlakins
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08.25.08
Posted in Uncategorized, knitting and crocheting at 9:39 pm by Administrator
The members of the knit group I meet with on a weekly basis generally works on their own projects. However once a year, they tend to like to have a group project where we donate to a charity as a group. Last year we donated various baby items such as afghans, hats, sweaters, etc. to Stitches from the Heart. This year we pooled together to make one big blanket for Warm Up America. Each of us was assigned a color and a couple skeins of yarn from which we were to knit up 9X9 squares in garter stitch. I don’t really know who thought up the design for this particular afghan or who chose the colors, but I suppose garter stitch made it easy enough for any skill level to join in. Once we got all the squares completed, our fearless leader assembled all the squares together. A few weeks ago, the blanket was finally completed. Here’s a pic of our combined effort.
The squares I knit up were the very dark purplish color that seem to be next to the yellows, and look almost dark chocolate color in this picture. The afghan is draped over a folded table, so it’s really twice the size that is shown here, plus the ends are scrunched up on the sides. Warm Up America actually accepts just the plain knitted squares, and they can assemble it over there, but it’s helpful to them if you assemble it for them. But for anyone who doesn’t have much time or much yarn, a square or two would be just fine to send in as a donation. I’m sure they’d appreciate any bit of help.
Seeing the finished project inspired me to check out other charities just to see what’s out there. Honestly, while I do like knitting, I prefer to knit with wools or other animal fibers as opposed to acrylics or other synthetics. The problem with some charities is that they prefer acrylics because they are easy to wash, and I think for the newborns such as those that Stitches from the Heart cater to, acrylic is requested, too, because I “think” some wools can be itchy to their soft skins and wools tend to need to be hand washed, which is inconvenient. HOWEVER, I stumbled across a charity group that sounded right up my alley. It’s called Warm Woolies.
Warm Woolies is right up my alley for several reasons. First of all they prefer wool, a least 80% wool or more. According to their website, they provide wool clothing to orphanages, which is another thing I like, in areas where it gets quite cold, so only wool or other animal fibers will do. No acrylics unless it’s for an afghan. Concern for washing instructions? Not a problem because the places where these wool items go, they generally don’t have washing machines that will shrink or felt the wool, so they’re all hand washed anyway! Another thing I like is that Warm Woolies claims to provide items for the very needy first. They also have a neat program wherein they will provide the wool for the knitting, and if you live in the Denver area, I think they will also provide the knitting needles if needed. Oye! Do other charities do that? It’s the first I’ve heard so far. From reading their website, it seems that they are able to do this because of a very generous donation they received from a couple sisters who used to own a yarn shop.But since I don’t live in the Denver, CO area, they still have a system by which we can participate in the yarn program. Basically all they ask are the following:
1. You pay for postage, either $11 or $13 depending upon what size box of yarn you want,
2. Make sure you only use their yarn to make items for Warm Woolies such as sweaters, vests, and socks,
3. For the first yarn request, they would like you to send in one finished item using your own yarn. (I’m guessing this is for a good faith type of thing, but fair enough, I think), and
4. That you return the completed items by three months.
That all sounded pretty fair to me, so I knitted up a couple kids socks, and a couple infant socks, and shipped it off to Warm Woolies along with a $13 check to see what kinds of yarns they like to use. About a week later, I got my first box of yarn. Here’s what it looked like.
They actually use some pretty nice yarns. The stuff they sent me was Lamb’s Pride by Brown Sheep, Wave and Zara by Filatura Di Crosa, and Iceland by Madil Yarns, all 100% wool. I found that their website even has free patterns for them, and they are super easy for anyone who’s just starting out with knitting. Also since they like thick wool items, they knit up super fast! I’m so used to knitting with #2 needles with fingering yarn for socks and such, that when I started working with this stuff (thicker yarns) and #5-#10 1/2 needles, I was able to whip through their yarn in a couple weeks. I just finished tucking in all the lose ends this morning, and took a pic of what I was able to knit up with the yarns they sent before shipping it back to them. Here’s what I got out of it.
The little bunch of yarn at the top center is all that was left of the yarn they sent. I suppose I can hold on to it and add it to other projects I hope to knit for them. The two vests I knit using their free pattern from their website. The magenta colored vest was made using this pattern. The hunter green vest was knit from this pattern combined with another pattern on their site that I can’t seem to find right now, but the Xs are from their pattern. The pattern on the green vest isn’t seen well in the above pic, so I took another pic to get a better look at it.
Their patterns are so super easy that it’s great. This basic form will accommodate a lot of ad libbing. I’m thinking I’d like to try other patterns on their basic vests, just for fun. I’m also hoping to get my hands on an EZ baby surprise pattern. I think those would be wonderful baby sweaters to knit up. But first, I need to find that pattern. Another thing that makes this so easy is that you don’t have to really worry too much about size because they supply for kids anywhere between the ages of newborns to 16 years old. And when I use myself as a gauge, well, I’m the same size I was when I was 13 years old, my feet and my height. My 14 year old son is bigger than I am now including his feet, which is almost the same size as his dad’s. So it doesn’t matter how big the items are, so long as they are not too small. Who can knit an clothing piece smaller than newborn size? So it’s almost fool-proof. No need to bother with gauge, so long as the item is the right proportions–i.e. the socks are the same size to one another, or the armholes are even, etc.
One of the features that makes their vest patterns so easy is that they are knitted in the round, so there are no seams to sew, just the two little shoulders, which are very short. And while I do like knitting, I tend to not like weaving in all the loose ends. Ugh. I really need to learn to like doing that because it is so necessary to finish the items properly. But here’s a pic of an item that has lots of loose ends to weave in. And a perfect example why I don’t like switching colors too often, if I can help it.
Ugh. This is what the multi-colored socks look like on the inside before the loose ends are woven in. I was thinking this AM while I was weaving in the loose ends, why I don’t like to do this although I do like to sew by hand and cross-stitch. I’m not really sure, but one thought was that when I cross-stitch the stitches are meant to be seen, but here the stitches are meant to be invisible. Hmmm. Oh well, whatever it is, I hope to learn the technique better. Ah! Maybe that’s it! I don’t think I’m so good at weaving in threads to the point that I feel good that they are completely unseen or unfelt. Maybe that’s why I don’t like the task. . . Anyway, it’s done now, and the package was shipped off today. Now it’s up to the post to make sure it gets to its destination.
Okay, hope this gave some ideas for any crafty people who might be poking in here and looking for some charity to help out. I know there are other charities that provide for kids that also accept sewn items, too, not only knit or crochet items. For anyone who loves crafts, charities are a fun way to try branch out with a bit more creativity. Participating with Warm Woolies had given me the experience of knitting socks and vests with fat yarns that I had not done previously. Interesting, and I think I like it, heheh. I still want to try my hand at lace, but I’ve got a bunch of boys to knit for in my house who won’t appreciate lace, and the kids for Warm Woolies need coverage and not holes such as lace would make. I’ll have to save that project for another time.
Toodles for now,
Marlakins
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08.24.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:17 pm by Administrator
It’s been difficult for me to keep up with this blogging, not because there isn’t anything to blog about, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to do all the things I want to do. So in an effort to catch up a tad, I thought I’d continue with today’s blog by putting up the views of Castletown from on top of Castle Rushen that I meant to put up days ago. I tried to get a sort of panoramic view so I’ll try to put them in some sort of order. Ill start with this shot which I think this is looking northerly.
This is the view turning towards the right. Eh, I “think.” It might actually be on the left. . . It’s starting to get fuzzy now, wah. But definitely from on top of the castle. I found it interesting how the dwellings were build around the castle, and not in block rows as commonly seen here in the U.S. People actually live practically right up against the castle.
I seem to be missing a shot in between here (probably because I couldn’t get over to that parapet, but the Irish Sea is partly seen here.
Moving father to the right. Oop, Brian must have taken this shot as I see I’m bending over here looking at the view down below. We both passed the camera back and forth at this point, so I am a bit confused now which of us took which shot, not to mention I have quite a bit of somewhat duplicate shots from here.
Again more to the right.
And again, more to the right. I believe the building below with the arched doorway is one of the Isle of Man Bank branches. A couple doors down from that building to the left is a convenience store.
This is a similar angle taken from closer to the parapet as tad more of the castle below is seen better from on top.
And this is looking down in to the center of the castle.
Boy, I bet a lot of interesting characters have passed through this court. I wonder what kinds of sounds echoed through here?
Okay, better dash for now,
Marlakins
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08.21.08
Posted in Historical Trivia, Uncategorized at 9:46 am by Administrator
When Brian and I went to London last May, we visited the British Museum. We really enjoyed that museum and went back a few times because there was just so much to see there. During our first visit to the British museum we saw Terra Cotta Warrior trinkets being sold in the gift shops. I didn’t know they were on display there, so was really jazzed to see them. What we found was that the exhibit had already left. We had just missed them, wah.
The other week, I was at my parents’ house and saw some of their travel booklets lying around. Leafing through one of them I noticed an advertisement for the Terra Cotta Army exhibit at the Bower’s Museum in Santa Ana, which is about 45 minutes away from us! Ack! It turns out that the exhibit has been on display here since May 18. Apparently, we flew to the UK just as the exhibit was flying to the U.S., ha ha! And where have I been that I didn’t know it for three months? Anyway, so since my boys recently watched The Mummy movie, it was a perfect time to check out the Bowers. While we all know that the story of how the sand army came to be in the Mummy movie is completely fiction, it still helped to perk the interests of my sons to check out these clay figures. So yesterday we all hopped in the ‘ole bat mobile and headed out to the Bower’s Museum. Of course I had to take my trusty camera. . . and here are me boys out in the front of the museum.
Now I enjoyed this exhibit, so don’t get me wrong when I say that I also had some disappointments. The first one is that it was very crowded, so that it wasn’t a relaxing visit. But okay, that’s to be expected, why should I be the only one who wants to see it? Ha! Maybe it’s my getting older, but I like to leisurely take my time going through exhibits. The second, and really my biggest disappointment, was that there were no picture taking allowed inside the museum, wah. Now that was a big drag because I would have really liked to have taken some of those terra cotta figures and the gem display, which had some really amazing gem stones. You would hope with the price for entrance we would at least be allowed some pictures. Funny to have such capitalistic practices coming from a communist country, ahem. I would have liked to take a pic of the tanzanite and a few other stones, but oh well, at least I got to see them since the exhibit is supposedly leaving this Sunday. So did I get any pictures at all? Well, I found there were some things I could take pictures of, and that was of pictures of some of the terra cotta figures. So here’s my picture of a picture of one of their figures.
Now for a little bit of what I learned yesterday that I had not known before. Apparently, there were about 7,000 figures found at this site, which is located in the Shaanxi province in China. Here’s a map taken from the Australia-China Chamber of Commerce website of where the Shaanxi province is. Shaanxi province is shown in black.
Naturally the best exhibit of these figures can be seen in China. Here’s a link for more detailed info of the exhibit in China. From that website, it’s obvious that there is much, much more to see there than what we see with their traveling exhibit.
Now how accurate the information is that we get from all these archeologists is anyone’s guess. But one thing that does seem to be agreed upon universally is the practice of burying all kinds of things with the deceased supposedly in hopes of providing them with all the necessities needed for their journey in the afterlife. And naturally, the more prestigious a person, the more necessities he needs and can afford. Thus kings tended to have very elaborate burial sites. The site where the Terra Cotta Warriors were found is no different, but exceptionally larger and more detailed than the average Joe. It is believed that these terra cotta figures belonged to the burial site of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of all of China. It is said that he came to the throne at the age of 13. And my initial thought was, “that explains all those clay figures, ha!” Okay, that is passing judgment a bit too prematurely, but leave it to a child to imagine such an endeavor of making thousands and thousands of clay soldiers along with all the accouterments. I imagine a child still wanting to play with toy soldiers and, boy, with all the money and power, he can have the biggest toy set around. . . Okay, no, that’s not what they were supposedly for. They were for Emperor Qin’s journey in the afterlife, even though they say he was searching in life for the elixir for eternal life here on earth, he was evidently preparing for death, hmmm. Well, at least it’s better burying him with a bunch of clay figures that actually killing off real people to bury with him. I’ve read of other burial sites where that practice was done.
Eh, moving right along, another bit of info that surprised me was that when these figures were found, most of them were broken into pieces. From all the pictures I’ve seen in passing, I was under the impression that they were uncovered all lined up as shown in so many pictures. Well they may have been lined up like that in times passed, but apparently when the tomb was discovered, most of the pieces were shattered or broken with only a few intact figures. Apparently, the mausoleum was originally housed in a wooden structure, which later was set on fire. The fire weakened the structure causing the roof to collapse in on the figures inside and shattering them. What we see today are the figures pieced back together. Wonder if any heads are on the wrong bodies? LOL
Another thing that shattered my pre-held belief was that the faces of each figure was not a representation of an actual person in real life. Apparently, they had molds of about 100 heads or so that they just altered features from. So while the soldiers all have different faces and other details, they are not representations of an actual person of what I had heard before. How do these misinformations spread?
And yet another thing I learned was that there were not only soldier figures, but also other workers and civilians as well as animals and carts and horses and such. All I had known about were the horses and soldiers.
Well, there is a lot more than I can possibly cover on this tiny blog post, but for anyone interested, there are plenty of sites online to read for more information and pictures. The only pictures I was able to take were just goofing around, ha! Here’s a pic of one of the items sold in the gift store.
My flash washed out the price tag hanging around his neck. Here’s a closer clip of that tag.
In case it isn’t easily read, that price tag is $1,875.00, oye! I don’t know about your house, but that would be an expensive coat rack for my house, ha!
But that’s not all they sold in the gift store. They didn’t just think of the adults, but there was a bunch of little things for the kids, too. Here’s my son trying out some of their stuff.
Eh, heheheheh! I was just digging in the barrel to find one for me when I got a tap on my shoulder. This was a “better” picture moment, so I took it!
Talk about a great costume! This guy looked like a statue, but he was able to walk around scaring all of us unsuspecting visitors, ha ha! I bet lots of people got great pictures with this guy in different poses. He walked around silently with that mysterious smile stopping every now and again for us to take pictures.
We took off for lunch, then checked our their kids museum a couple blocks down. It was really for very little kids, but we amused ourselves a bit there anyway. Matthew especially enjoyed the music section with their variety of drums.
Matthew and his dad banged around a bit there, while Andrew, Aaron, and I went around touching everything that we could. That’s the nice thing about going to the kiddie section. There were quite a few things to keep kids occupied there including a fantastic wardrobe section. I didn’t want to butt in amongst all those kids in there trying on different outfits, not to mention I was probably too big for many of the costumes,anyway, heheheh. But I managed to fool around with some of their props such as this one.
Since I recently finished the House of Earth trilogy, this prop suited me just fine as I could pretend I was a farming peasant. Actually, looking at this picture, I think I could really pass for one, too, if I had the right attire!
They also had lots of face masks. This was one of my favorites.
Afterwards, we did head back to the Bowers to see their other normal exhibits. While we did get to see some of it, the boys (mainly the two younger ones) started to get a bit grumpy and wanted to go home. So we didn’t get to see the whole museum, sigh, but it was still a nice day, anyway.
The Bodyworks Museum is still here. . . I’m not sure yet, but I’m considering visiting that one before it leaves.
Marlakins
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08.17.08
Posted in Uncategorized, cooking, gardening at 8:38 pm by Administrator
Patti’s descriptions of her bountiful garden this year has inspired me to share a bit of our bounty. Brian’s actually the green thumb around here, and I’m just his side kick who enjoys the spoils. Unlike Patti, who has a nice large yard, we have a small yard, which doesn’t have full sunlight in much of the area, so we have only a small section good for planting. This year we tried a couple crops that we have never grown before–summer squash and green beans. Here’s a picture of our little veggie patch.
The summer squash is in the front with the large leaves. Behind them growing on vines is the green beans. Behind the green beans is our nectarine tree, and on the right of that is our miniature orange tree.
The squash have actually started growing in rather nicely, but can’t be easily seen unless you peer in between the leaves. Here’s a pic looking in between the leaves.
Early last week we started to harvest some of the squash. Here’s a pic of Brian holding some of them. I like to take a pic of them in his hands to help with size reference. Besides, he’s very happy when he harvests anything he’s grown, so he’s more than happy to show these off, heheh.
We started to get more than we could eat in one day. And after a while, it gets to be a bit much to have squash every day, ha! Here’s another batch we collected.
So what to do with all the extras? After all there are still more outside ready for picking each day, ack! Well, Brian decided to dehydrate some for later use in soups and such. So he stuck them in our Excalibur dehydrator and this is what resulted.
It turned out that he set the dehydrator a little high, so these came out rather crispy. When we tasted them we realized that they tasted a bit like sweet potato chip, and so now the bottle is almost empty, ha!
So moving right along to our green beans. I call them string beans, the seed package called them Bean Pole Blue Lake. The back of the package writes:
“Some say pole beans have better flavor than bush beans. If this is so, Blue Lake would support that suggestion. Outstanding flavor combined with high yields make growing these vigorous 5′to 6′ vines worth the time. Excellent canned, frozen, or eaten fresh. White seeded. Mosaic resistant. See inside for instructions on how to build a bean teepee.”
Okay, so today, we got a chance to give that description a taste test. And yes, they are yummy! Here’s a closeup of the vine before we picked the string beans off. I circled the beans because they’re kinda hard to see otherwise.
And here’s a closer up shot.
And another shot with the green beans in Brian’s hand for size reference.
Here’s a pic of our arugula patch. We actually planted this a few years ago, and each year it just comes up vigorously on its own. We actually have to thin it out, ack! This year it gave us so many seeds that they were falling in between our backyard bricks and started growing in between our bricks! Yikes!
And then we also got some bananas this year. These are the types of bananas that are cooked. Here’s a pic of Aaron, my 14-year-old, holding one stalk. It actually had three tiers originally, but I cut off the top tier and gave it to my mom when they were visiting. It is also a bit green in this pic, but the tree was getting a bit unruly, so Brian trimmed it back. But it’s okay, tho, as all we have to do is wait for it to ripen.
Brian has found that these bananas actually taste fine eaten raw, but ordinarily we have been cooking them. The above bananas did eventually ripen. Here’s what they looked like fried. For those who are familiar with foods from tropical climates, bananas like these are commonly eaten with sugar sprinkled on top or some other sweet syrup as a desert or snack. There are lots of different kinds of bananas, i.e. red bananas, green bananas, finger bananas, bananas you can fry, bananas that can be eaten raw, etc.
And here’s what they look like when they’re boiled.
Okay, I’d better quit with the pics for now before my blog goes on strike again, ha!
Toodles for now!
Marlakins
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08.14.08
Posted in Historical Trivia, History, Uncategorized at 11:38 pm by Administrator
Last week I watched a movie rental called, In Bruge. According to the movie, Bruge is in Belgium and has the oldest intact medieval town in Europe. It reminded me of our trip to the Isle of Man because one of their heritage sites in Castletown called, Castle Rushen, is said to be one of the most finely preserved medieval castles in Europe. Here’s a pic of Castle Rushen, and if you squint a bit, you might be able to see me in the parking lot standing by the leaf-less tree.
Once you pass the outer wall, there is a bridge to walk over to get into the castle. As you walk over that bridge there’s a room off to the side (the inner gatehouse) with archers (wax figures) dressed and posed as if in action. There’s a recording that can be heard as you walk by saying, “Who goes there!?” These are what the figures look like inside that one room.
Once you pass that there is a small museum ahead as well as a short film shown before heading upstairs. There’s quite a bit to read up on in there such as when the castle was first built, who ran the place, what it was used for, etc. The castle (as with so many other old buildings) was built in stages, so that in the earlier times, it did not look as it does today. As an example, this is what they think the castle first looked like in the 13th century. Below that, the illustration shows what they think it looked like in the 14th century as there is more extensions and fortification.
Later in the 16th century there was added more fortification and a bigger gatehouse as well as more dwellings surrounding the castle just outside.
Various rooms had artifacts and other bits of information regarding the castle such as ledgers, scales, and ammo. Of course their ammo was quite different from what we think of as ammo today. Here’s a pic below to show what I mean.
Talk about big rocks! Oye!
There were more artifacts and explanations displayed in other rooms of the castle such as paintings of the various kings and lords of Mann and about the various rebellions throughout the centuries. And yet there were other rooms that had wax figure displays in them. The first room we encountered upstairs was quite dark. I heard a “grunting” sound, but couldn’t make it out, so I crept closer to see, but still it was dark. Even though the room was a bit creepy because of how dark it was, I wanted to see what that grunting sound was. As I got closer, I found it. This is what I saw.
Apparently, he’s been grunting on display there for many years (so I was told). Now I call that major constipation! Ouch! Interestingly, the flash on our camera didn’t make the room look dark at all although it was quite dark in actuality. Many of the other rooms had plenty of light, though.
Here’s shot of another one of the castle’s toilets.
And I heard in school that in medieval times they used to throw their refuse out the castle windows from buckets? Ha! Apparently, that was not the case in this castle! Unless these toilet upgrades were made during the time when the castle was used as a prison.
In the later years, Castle Rushen was used as a prison. Here’s looking out from one of the prison rooms.
It sure gave me an eerie feeling walking in to those rooms because of how cold and thick the walls were. And particularly knowing that people were once kept in there as prisoners with those cold and hard floors. I could just imagine how it would be so difficult to escape a place like that and how they could literally lock a person up and throw away the key. I guess I’ve read too many horror stories of that kind of thing, ack!
Further up the castle other rooms were decorated or restored to show what they might have looked like when the castle was in use by the kings and lords. This room was the dining hall.
The guide had us sit down at the dining table as he explained the foods and customs of the day. It was interesting to see their menu and how much food they ate! Meat, meat, and more meat! In this recreation, the figure with the red hat is John Farkar, Abbot of Rushen Abbey, Ralph Rushton, Governor of the Island, and the controller of the castle next to him. I forget who the other one is on the far right. But basically, the more important people sit closest to the king or lord or governor (at times there was no king present so who ever was in charge was the big wig for the day) then the lesser important people sat farther and farther away from the salt, heheh. Supposedly there were rows and rows of tables for the other guests. This scene reminded me of how much control the religious leaders had on the kings and ruling parties as the Abbot was right next to the Lord or Governor. It helps to give me a better understanding of “separation of church and state.” Seems that intent was quite different and for a different purpose than how some people here interpret that as getting prayer out of school today. It appears to me that the laws and rules as well as taxes were placed on the people for and by the church leaders.
There were too many rooms in the castle to put up all my pictures on this blog, but suffice it to say that there was a bit more to see there. Here’s one more room designed to replicate the times. I was interested to see how the walls were decorated with tapestries, which likely helped not only with the aesthetics, but also with insulation.
I think I’ll try to put up some pictures of the view from the top of the castle. I thought it had a nice view of Castletown, so will try to get that up on another post later.
Toodles for now.
Marlakins
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08.11.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:12 pm by Administrator
Between having some trouble with Wordpress and trying to fit in all I want to do in any given day, I’ve been falling behind in my blogging. Well, it’s not like I have to “keep up,” but it’s just that I’ve been accumulating pictures that I have been meaning to attach onto my blog (as well as a lot of pics left for my travelogue to the UK) and have not been able to get around to it. Now that Wordpress seems to be behaving at the moment, I wanted to make a quick post (before it starts to give me grief again) regarding something someone brought to my attention recently.
Those who know me may know that this blog came into being as a result of my aplastic anemia ordeal, which began in 1999. Or rather, from the recovery of my aplastic anemia ordeal. As I recovered, I found I had little to report regarding my aplastic anemia, and so I moved away from my AA website and started this blog just to let people know that, from my experience, there is life after aplastic anemia. I must say that I’ve been very blessed to have been able to recover from very severe aplastic anemia, where I was dependent upon red blood and platelets transfusions for a year and a half. After my AA diagnosis, my father gave me a journal to write down whatever thoughts I might have. It became a regular habit of mine to write down my thoughts and little things I had learned. Basically, I had notes on blood issues, and a separate journal for my personal thoughts. I still have those journals. One very striking thing in my journals is that virtually every single entry makes some mention of my aplastic anemia. As I started to heal, I started to write about other things aside from AA and blood. Along the way, I had also met quite a few very nice people on the net who were also, unfortunately, dealing with AA in some form or another (personally or as a caretaker of an AAer). While I know of a few who have passed on, I am happy to say that there are also those of us who have recovered and have been able to continue living our lives. Last week, I got a couple emails that reminded me of this as these emails were very nice updates! One in particular was from a mom of an AAer who visited my blog recently and said,
“I visited your new blog, too, and was thrilled to read about your many interests without encountering the words “aplastic anemia”! I am all too aware of how this disease controlled every waking moment for years.”
While her email had many nice updates of which I am so happy to hear about such as how fantastic her son is now doing (not only regarding his normal blood counts, but also moving into his newly-built house by the lake with his own boat and soon to be married! Oye!), her above statement about how AA “controlled every waking moment for years” really struck a cord with me. That statement was so true and from our past emails, I believe she really understood that from her own experience. And I am reminded once again that there is so much to be thankful for. Not only have I been blessed with my extended lease on life, but I have been doubly blessed to be receiving beautiful emails from others who have also been able to overcome AA.
The other email I got last week was also from the parents of another AAer who I’ve been in touch with. The wonderful news from this couple was that their son’s blood counts are not only stable this time, but starting to show more definite increase. He has also gone over 10 months or so without reds or platelet transfusions. This AAer is the only other person I know of aside from myself who has stuck it out without taking immunosuppressants and he is recovering. I am “thrilled!” Like my AA journey, his was a long one and was also transfusion dependent for about 1 1/2 years or even a little more.
This morning I got another email from another AA family member. After a very scary hospital stay recently, I was informed that her father (the AAer) is now home and may be showing some improvements in his blood counts. Since he is still fairly newly diagnosed, I realize he may still have quite a bit of a journey ahead of him yet, but just the fact that things didn’t look good just a few weeks ago, and now he’s much better is just another testament and reminder of how wonderfully God has made our bodies. I remember getting an infection during my AA recovery wherein my PICC line got infected and was really causing me pain. I was arranging to go to the hospital since I could not control my fever and pain, but I was afraid. And the Bible passage came to me, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” That gave me hope that I could overcome this. We are able to endure quite a bit, and come out on the other end even better than before. Who would have thought it? Who says God doesn’t perform miracles anymore?
As for me, God has been very good to me. There have been so many things I’ve been able to enjoy after my AA diagnosis that I never thought I would be able to enjoy. At one time, I really thought I was going to die, but that was now 8 years ago. I remember thinking that my life would never be that same again, that I could never trust my body again. But now I know, I was wrong. I have been able to trust my body again, and I have lived more than I had done before. I appreciate more and enjoy more. Even the simple things in life are more enjoyable to me now then they had been in the past so that now I tend to take more pictures of everything and anything, ha! The other week I was able to join my sons, Andrew and Aaron, to see the movie The Mummy. I can’t believe my youngest in now 14 years old, and my oldest is 20 years old! Yikes! So here’s a pic of the three of us. Matthew wasn’t in the mood to watch The Mummy, so he didn’t come with us.
I don’t know what God has in store for my future, but I do know that I am thankful for what He has given me. I especially cherish the moments I have with my family and friends. And I am thankful that I have been reminded to be thankful and content in all things.
Okay, that’s enough sentimentality for now. Better make myself useful especially since I’ve already used up a lot of time watching the Olympics, yikes! Every fours years when the Olympics comes around I think I really should exercise. . . but that sentiment only tends to last a couple days or so. Shall I try again to get into shape this time? Eh, eh, hmmm, nah! I really should learn to “like” exercise. Bet my heart would appreciate it.
Toodles!
Marlakins
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08.06.08
Posted in God, Uncategorized at 12:35 pm by Administrator
The discussion I read the other day on the 60 Minutes segment on Plumpy’nut has reminded me of a previous topic I have been wanting to blog about. Namely, the topic on love. I kind of put the topic on the back burner because I wasn’t sure from which angle I wanted to continue since there seem to be several aspects of love to explore. Thus I didn’t feel moved to write about it. But after reading many of the comments in reaction to the starving children in Africa, I was reminded that we really need to learn how to love one another. Overall, I think that many people do have good intentions, but even with good intentions, it appears that we just don’t really know how to love one another as evidenced by the comments and answers that I read on the discussion forum about the starving children and families of the world. It is true that actions speak louder than words and that the Bible calls us to action, so we must do more than just hope for the best and pray, however the motives behind the actions is also important so that our decisions and actions are appropriate. Love should be the underlying motive for our actions, particularly “Godly” love.
For a brief recap, a while ago I thought it would be nice to do a study on love, particularly what the Bible seems to show about love. I started my thoughts off in my post called, “Love Letter From God.” I chose that title because my overall feeling is that the Bible is like a love letter from God to us. It’s a detailed explanation of who we are, how God is involved in our lives, and how we can reunite with Him, etc. He explains everything from beginning to end all because He wants us to understand and because He loves us and would like us to come back to Him. I think that that basic message often gets lost or pushed back into the background. I think that’s unfortunate because so much about the Bible is about love and for a good reason, to teach us how to love.
Do people need to be taugh how to love? Sounds funny doesn’t it? One might think that having to learn how to love is ridiculous and that love comes naturally. People just fall in love, don’t they? It just happens. There’s nothing to it. But interestingly, God’s first and foremost commandment according to Mark 12:29-31 says this:
“29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
If love comes so naturally, then Why do we need to be told to love? First we are told to love God, and then in the second commandment we are told to love our neighbour as ourselves. If love comes so naturally, then isn’t everyone following God’s commandments and there’s no need to tell us that? My feeling is that we are told to love because people need to be taught how to really love, and the Bible is the true source of what love really is. All the laws laid down in the Old Testament were tutors to us, preparing us for the coming of Jesus who teaches us about real love and actually “shows” us through His examples. Before Jesus’s coming in the New Testament God, through Moses, laid out what “not” to do such as don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, don’t bear false witness against your neighbor, don’t covet, etc. People had to be told those things because it seems that those were the natural tendencies of man–to seek out self satisfaction. And since our natural tendency is for selfish and unloving things and ways, the current belief of searching in ourselves for truth and to first satisfy ourselves, as in many other philosophies teach, can be very harmful to us as Christians. Looking into ourselves first for truth often leads to hedonism, selfishness, and all of the things that the laws of Moses commanded us not to do. Love involves more than just a feeling, but also requires action and not just separating and alienating ourselves from the suffering of others as many of us want to do. I personally even know of people who don’t want to even hear about the injustices in our world, let alone do anything to try to help. James 2:14-17 tells us:
“14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
And this is why I believe it is so important to look into the Bible to learn about love. It seems that even many of us Christians don’t really know Godly love. We’re so busy telling others that they need to believe in God to be saved, but what does that really mean? What does that mean to believe in God and be saved? From what? And what does God want of us? God teaches us about love. When asked, His first commandment is to know that He is the only God and to love Him with all our being. His second commandment is similar and that is to love our neighbors as ourselves. God teaches us with both words and examples. And this is why I think Christians need to focus more on the teachings of love. It is the first command to us. The Bible tells us in the end times of how love will grow cold. Either that means there will be less Christians in the end times, or that Christians will eventually not know how to love. Without studying love in the Bible, we will not know Godly love.
Marlakins
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08.05.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:51 am by Administrator
My eldest son sent this link to me of Britain’s satellite surveillance of Britain’s travel and communications during the day. I thought it was interesting to watch.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to see one that covered world-wide transportation and communications during the day? I wonder if those phone connections only reflected land lines? Don’t seem to see anything shooting overseas for the phone calls.
Marlakins
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