Saker och ting

Everytime I go and see my grandmother, she asks me what I do with my time.  I have to admit I'm a bit hard pressed to answer as it seems to take such a long time to do anything, let alone anything constructive. Someone asked me to show them a picture of a lampshade I'd made (on the phone of course!). I'd forgotten my phone anyway, but I also didn't have pics. So I've decided to take some of the things I've done.  Not everything is here, as natch, I didn't think of it at the time, mainly, but also cos I've got some on my phone and I don't seem to be able to get the phone and PC to talk. Anyway!

Easter card lino prints

Lace lampshade

 

Felt flower wreath

More things your driving instructor never told you.

It's coming up to spring and the snow and ice are starting to melt.  Hurrah, I hear you shout, no more slippy slidiness.  Hummmm...................

1) the country roads have, by the end of January, assumed a corrugateness that you could use in a skiffle group.  It's very good for the massage and saves a fortune on the Vibroboard gym classes.  Not so fab if you have a bad back, when the alternative would be snowshoeing through the snowy forest, with all the shopping on your back.  Know which one I'd choose...

2) Snow and ice on the roads starts to melt. Just not in the shady bits and only a bit on the semi-shady bits.  So you scream down the tarmac at 90km/hr, rally turning round the corner through the slush defined deeeeeppppp ruts, skating over the sheer ice, before revving up again when you hit a new bit of tarmac. I do this to pounding guitars and screaming drums, the Swedes don't seem to need a sound track.
Alternatively, you drive at 60, then 40, then 20, keeping well to the side and practicing your gentle braking techniques using gears.  The untarmaced roads will turn to mud in a couple of weeks with potholes the size of  a small town, so you need the practice.

3) The sun comes out.  Eerhhh yes??? Well, let me tell you!  When that sun peeps above the top of the trees and the angle of the rays is just right to bounce off the road into the windscreen, all sorts of things happen.  Firstly, the surface water from the melting ice gleams, then the light magnifies, then you go blind, your sight lost in screaming pain as the fireball fills every part of your face.  You can't see a %**!& thing, even squinting and with sunglasses on.  That shape coming out of the tunnel of light is probably not a friendly Blues Brother or an angel, but a 35tonne truck heading straight towards you.  At this point, it's best to pull into the side, any side, you'll know when you hit the tree, and wait for a minute until the angle of the sun's rays changes.  Any bouncy light effects from then on are your own problem.

4) Elks don't run away.  If you come across an elk or two standing in the middle of the road, they won't turn and run. They will turn and look at you, finish their chat, look at you again, put their cups away, get their coats and then wander off into the woods, after looking at you verrrryyy carefully.  As they stand at over 6 foot at the shoulder, you are so not going to argue.  Do your best to look harmless.

Nice pic of the whatsit...