Friday's Hunt v 4.13

I am actually doing Friday's Hunt on a Friday again!  This is not because I'm not busy - I am crazy busy, but I am taking a brief break.  The prompts this week from Eden Hills are:  Starts with M, Cloth and Everyday Things.

Starts with M
One of our cats is Mitten.  He is a long-haired cat whom Marc adopted from the SPCA before I met him.  His name used to be Mitch, but I didn't think that suited him, and he became Mitten.  Marc always just calls him Kitty in any case!

Mitten is de-clawed.  I know that makes a lot of people upset, but considering the costs Marc incurred for the damage Mitten did prior to the de-clawing, I can understand why he did it.  A lot of curtains and furniture were damaged beyond repair, not to mention wood trim in the house needing to be repaired or entirely replaced.  A scratching post was of no use in stopping the behaviour.  I have to say, having an indoor cat who is de-clawed is very beneficial to the furniture!  I did try using the soft claw caps on Izzy for a while, but they would come off within a few days no matter how many times I glued them back on.  She would just work at them and chew them off.  It was pointless, and she caused a lot of damage, but nothing like Mitten did when Marc first owned him.  Mitten really is a beautiful cat and I am quite fond of him.

Cloth
I do some weaving, as some of you know already.  Weaving on a loom is a way of making cloth.  I recently did a piece of weaving that was testing the results of different weft yarns (side to side yarns) on the same warp yarn (back to front yarn).  The pale green is the warp.  The three sections of weaving are each done with a different weft.

This section was done with a chenille blend yarn.  It makes a lovely cloth that is very soft.

This section was done with a brightly coloured variegated yarn with some gold sparkle to it.  The pale green weft is more visible in this cloth.

This section was done with a novelty yarn that has a lot of texture.  It creates a completely different cloth from the other two samples.  You really don't see the warp in this one.

It is amazing how the same warp yarn can be used to create such different types of cloth.


Everyday Things
Before I talk about everyday things, I'm going to have a little rant about the word everyday.  As a person who writes for a living, and a person who loves language, I am very frustrated by the misuse of the word "everyday" as a substitute for the words "every day."
 
Everyday:  an adjective to describe things that are commonplace, mundane or ordinary
Examples: A hurricane is not an everyday occurrence.  Doing the laundry is an everyday activity.

Every day:  an adverbial phrase meaning each day
Examples:  I eat at least 5 vegetables every day. I am glad I do not have to do the laundry every day.

So, in one sentence:
Doing the laundry is an everyday activity, but I don't do laundry every day.

An easy way to tell whether you are using "everyday" properly is to try replacing "everyday" with "ordinary" and see if the sentence still makes sense.

Doing the laundry is an ordinary activity.  Makes sense.  Thus, use everyday.
I don't do laundry ordinary.  Makes no sense.  Thus, use every day.

There is a lovely wool and fibre shop not far from me that has a motto "Create beauty everyday."  I cringe every time I see that motto, which is included on her business cards and on a beautiful hooked rug on her website.  I know what she means...but it's an incorrect use of everyday.  She means "Create beauty every day."  The phrase "Create beauty ordinary" makes no sense.  I wish I could fix it!

Anyway, on to "everyday things" which as we all know means "ordinary things" and not things that we do every day...

Autumn is upon us, so leaves turning shades of red and yellow have become everyday things.  I love autumn colours, but I am not looking forward to winter.  Here are some everyday autumn sights from my yard.

Virginia creeper on the arbour.

Maple leaves turning colour

I love the not-so-everyday heart in this everyday leaf!

And here, just for fun, is some everyday laundry, which I don't do every day!

 

Friday's Hunt v 2.11

Holy guacamole, where does the week go?  It's Friday (already!), so that means it's time for Friday's Hunt, hosted by Eden Hills. As usual, there are 3 topics for today: Starts with K, Week's Favourite, and Yellow or Gold.

Starts with K
My husband, Marc, is a huge motorcycle fan, and he has a number of bikes, but one of his most frequently used bikes is his Kawasaki KLR.  I think that's a two-fer on the letter K!

The KLR model has come out in various colours over the years.  I'm fond of the silver and orange model that he has - I think it's a great colour combination.

He even has a handy pouch that attaches to the handlebars that has the KLR logo on it.

I am sometimes a passenger on this bike.  It's not the kind of bike that we'd do many thousands of miles on, but it works for day trips and I am usually pretty comfortable on the rear portion of the seat, thanks to the back rest.  Here I am on the bike today - not my usual spot (the back seat), and no, we don't ride motorcycles without helmets, nor do I wear my green garden boots.  We are very conscious of safety gear.  This was just for a blog picture!

Marc also pointed out to me that the bike had an extra "letter K" feature that I might otherwise miss - it has special tires on it that are referred to as "knobby" tires.  They are designed to provide added traction on loose surface material such as sand or gravel.

Week's Favourite
To be honest, I didn't take many pictures this week.  It was a busy week.  Marc took vacation this week so that he could work on his garage project.  I was busy with some work projects and also some organizing projects.  I'm also trying to get prepared for vending at the Nova Scotia Fibre Festival in October, so it's just a busy time.  It means I haven't been visiting other blogs as much as I'd like, but sometimes that's just how it goes.

My favourite shot this week is one that I took of Fezzik the Goat in his new surroundings.  He seems to be fitting in really well and is comfortable in the woodsy setting.  He has such a confident, strong look these days.  It's such a contrast from his early days as a weak, health-compromised little goat kid.  I am so glad he made it through those hard times.  If you want to keep up with Fezzik and his news, "like" his Facebook page!

Yellow or Gold
The season change is just around the corner - autumn is rapidly asserting her presence.  Of course, the leaves begin their changes with beautiful shades of yellow and gold, so that was a natural choice for this week's category.  I'm noticing a few more yellow tones in the woods surrounding the house lately - both leaves and late flowers.  The goldenrod is still in bloom.

There are abundant blooms from the hawkweed in the lawn.  It is one of the Hieracium species, but I'm not sure which one.  There are so many species of this plant!

The birch have been dropping some yellow leaves, as have the maples.

There are even golden-yellow mushrooms to be found, although some might argue this one is venturing into "orange" territory, rather than yellow or gold!

See you again next week for Friday's Hunt!

After the Rain

We had a significant thunderstorm on Thursday, which is unusual around here.  The thunder didn't last very long, but it was loud!  The rain was just torrential, and we really, really needed it.  After the rain ended, I went outside with the camera to see if I could see anything worth photographing. Everything seemed shiny and sparkling after the rain.

The pine needles had little drops of water hanging on them, like sparkling decorations

I began to notice that some leaves were completely wet, and even pooling with water...

...while other leaves had beads of water on them, and the remaining leaf surface was essentially dry.

Leaves have a waxy coating on them that is called a cuticle.  I'm not sure if some leaves just have a heavier cuticle than others, or maybe some have a cuticle with a different composition.  Maybe the cuticle diminishes over time.  I'd have to ask a leaf expert!

I also spotted this lovely rosebud with water droplets on it.  I thought it was worth a picture!