(no subject)

An unexpected drop in by Z on the way out of town - yay. Lunch and an attempt at a seam after a sewing machine oiling that looked like it made it much happier. Thread breaks if go too fast (the left one - possibly a tensioning issue, but the threads are balanced at present...- think it is the thread skipping and catching on things at variable speeds) and needle skips and doesn't pick up (mainly on the right one) if go too slow. So, there is 3/4 of a seam done. May see if I can do a single row of stitching to attach pieces together and do the overlap by hand - feeder foot and the double threads appear to be the main issues - the single thread and needle things I have sewn have been ok (2 swags, 2 cloaks and 3 hoods).

At least the biltong is on drying.

But now freshly hugged and oxytocined and Z is off into the field and I think after the bit of grocery shopping, an afternoon of Buffy and embroidery is called for. Will play with rasps and bits of bed frame and fitting tabs a, b, c, d and e into v, w, x, y, and z later.

A bonus for the day

The AGB star abundance paper has now been submitted with MNRAS - what I was mainly working on in my previous employment. Fingers crossed the reviewer wont hack, slash and acid bath it or outright reject it.

Hand finishing the 3/4 done tent seam from round lunch time. Slow progress and protesting fingers. Don't think the other 3 seams will be plausible that way. May be worth digging out the awl.

Should remember some dinner at some point soon - have fishy...

Edit: fish is bathed in lemon juice, cheese and mixed herbs, wrapped in foil and in the oven.
Now, need an in-front-of-TV vaguely constructive hobby/preoccupation that doesn't involve the tip of the first finger on the right hand which is calloussed and sore at present and needs a rest. Amazing how many current projects that knocks out at present. Maybe naalbinding...
Yes, I could just blob, but that feels wrong... Or catch up on foreign films with subtitles... Have Amalie and Chocolat and ...

Edit2: From a post to the Lochac list (waiting on hearing the Festival Steward confirmation of the fire situation), looks like the smelting will be on again this Festival. Think Z is aiming for smelting early this time, to allow forging later in the event. Will see how things turn out.

Yet another post but this time not involving tents.

Things you would think that I would have learned before now:
Don't store Milkybars in your trouser pocket.

So, what are the old favourite books that you go back to and curl up with? The comfort, old friend books. Not necessarily the ones you recommend to friends, but the ones for a beanbag in front of a roaring fire on a rainy day. They may not get dragged out more than once or twice in 5 years, but you always go back to them. The literary equivalent of a snuggly old housecoat and slippers.

Currently have cravings for Louisa May Alcott and L.M. Montgomery* - have some on e-book (yay Project Guttenburg) but it is not quite the same as curling up with a well worn paper copy. I left most of them behind in NZ, and 3 and a bit years is just long enough to start missing them.

* More the latter than the former as LMA could get amazingly preachy in some of her non Little Women ones. Though she did write the blood and thunder lurid short stories she had Jo give up on.