I've been doodling around with this year's Xmas cards. I actually tried to start them in October, so I'd have the choice of putting them into the mail early. We are having rotating Postal Strikes right now, which could end up being another full fledged strike by December. It's really odd because it's hardly noticeable because we get so little letter mail anyway these days. There are ads and flyers but those go into the recycling bin generally before we even look at them. It also feels odd because I used to be a prolific letter writer with several penpals. I enjoyed that a lot.
I've decided that I should probably invest in some better water colour paper. My current paper was all I could find locally and it was fine for several years. This year however, I'm finding out its limitations and issues. One technique I was trying really didn't work well and it was a paper issue more than a me issue! I remembered I had a few sheets of handmade paper that I'd gotten at a paper making class at an SCA event a couple of years ago. I hadn't used it because I wasn't sure my skills were up to using handmade paper. The year after I'd made the paper, the instructor did a demo on how to size it with gelatine, so paints and ink wouldn't soak in. So this evening, I mixed up a batch of gelatine and painted it on the paper. I seem to remember the person demonstrating this using fairly longish strokes. I had to use gentle, short strokes on the paper. I did up 3 sheets and have it sitting between felt sheets. If I had something heavy to sit on it, I'd weight it, but there is nothing handy right now, so my fingers are crossed and hoping for the best. Some instructions suggested it could be 2 or 3 days before the sized paper is ready to use!
I broke down and bought new shoes the other day. Shopping for clothes is not one of my favourite things, but sometimes needs must. Anyway, I do like them, but managed to leave them on the floor, nicely out of the way. I woke up to the little obnoxious cat of my husband's biting at them. I rescued them and wiped off the cat spit. I woke up quickly enough that there wasn't much of kitty tooth marks on them, so that is good. Still not my favourite way to wake up when Kevin the cat is getting into trouble making activities.
I've almost got the small raised bed cleaned out. I went at it today because they are calling for snow in a few days. I got enough done that it will be easier to deal with in the spring. Now just to grab 5 cloves of garlic and finish off the row that I had decided I didn't need to finish. Hindsight being what it is, I can't believe I made that decision. That half row won't be used for anything else, so if I don't pop the garlic in, it will be wasted space. That would give me just under 50 heads of garlic for next year if the crop is successful.
The last bit of autumnal colour. Taken before we had a storm with much more wind than rain. The leaves were flying around making for an interesting visual. I'm so really not ready for winter to come waltzing in early as they've forecast, or not. Either way, I'd be happy with a late winter. The long range winter forecast says an early and harsh start to the winter in this area, and then possibly a slightly milder end to the winter, with high risk of freezing rain possibilities. Somehow that doesn't seem much better to me. Being on the edge of the snowball means we sometimes get hammered with snow. :(
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