How did September get here?

I don't know whether it's because I haven't been traveling, or just because time is warped this year, but it doesn't seem as though it should be September.  And yet, here it is.

I also don't feel as though I have much more to report than I did in the previous post.  Work has continued, and we signed one deal but another has taken quite a turn, so I'm busy with it but in a different way.  I found out that eBay was offering sellers extra free listings in August, and that gave me incentive to go through my stash and post a number of auctions.  Many years ago somebody sniffed that you never receive what you paid for the yarn, so why bother?  My thought is that I get the advantage of more space in my home, a bit of money in return, and somebody else may love getting yarn at a good price.

So far, it seems to be working that way.  I've also sent boxes to people who make items for charity, and donated a bunch more (do you know the IKEA Dimpa bag? we'd had one of those donated to a local makerspace, and after sorting out the yarn it included I filled it with other yarn to donate) to a local thrift/charity store.  A woman on KnitTalk has been posting about the good things she is excited to find at her local charity/thrift store, so I don't mind donating to mine.  Again, somebody benefits.

August mini-Resolutions Update

As I said, no progress.  I didn't finish the Boneyard Shawl, nor any of my own UFOs, although I did finish several that were in the Dimpa bag with the yarn.  In addition to the striped hat in the last post, I finished the hat with the entrelac top, and put together some granny triangles into a scrappy scarf:

Also shown are a hat and mittens made of scraps of a multi and some royal blues, and an in-progress scarf of (not mine) handspun.  So I've made plenty of things this month, just not the ones I resolved to finish.  So........

September Mini-Resolution

Easy ones, just rolling over from August:  Finish the Boneyard Shawl, and at least one of my own UFOs.  I've made some progress on one UFO, but not to finishing.

Back online, with hats

Tuesday, August 4th, Tropical Storm Isaias came ashore in Connecticut and did impressive damage.  I took some photos which are not great; you can find plenty online showing trees down, buildings and other property damaged.  Some trees looked as if they had been wrung; my friend Rich took this photo:

I was lucky, as we had little to no power loss in my condo community.  However, the internet/phone/TV utility went out, and after two days of pushing the posted estimate for repair further, they switched to "as soon as possible".  Since I use internet for work (also the landline phone, to a more limited extent), I got permission from work to charge my additional data draws to work, as long as it didn't get too expensive.

It worked out to an extra 2-3GB per day.  For a week, although on the weekend I used as little as possible.  I didn't feel right about doing social things when work was paying for the additional data.  Online meetings take a LOT of data, in case you were wondering.

On Tuesday, a week after the storm, late in the day, they predicted that we'd get service back by around 3:00am on Friday.  Wednesday afternoon I was startled to hear the phone ring - naturally, it was a robocall.*  While I had to pop back onto the hotspot a couple of times on Thursday to get through a work meeting when the internet faded, by Friday morning it was indeed back to being stable.

I still feel that I came out well, as some people were without power for nine days.  Not only did they lose any food in their refrigerator (at least two friends said they'd just done a big shopping trip) but some needed CPAPs or other devices to help them sleep, or other medical support.

I've caught up on a couple lectures that happened while I was offline.  It's quite handy that they record them and you have a week or two in which to watch or rewatch.  One is on Chicago architecture styles, the other on Nicola Tesla.

* I think the robotcall was from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which was funny because our primary election was the day before.  I voted by absentee ballot, which I often do because of travel, but this time I dropped it into a box at Town Hall instead of mailing, especially as it arrived only the Saturday before.

How is my August Mini-Resolution going?

• The Boneyard Shawl is still in timeout.  I've felt the need to work through some of the stash I'm trying to divest - I know, counterintuitive - and I've made a scarf and four hats:

Counterclockwise from the top right: hat of leftover deep blue and the last bit of some handdyed/handspun; the scarf of Aslan Trends "Los Andes"; a hat of Nashua Stripes and some leftover brown; hat of leftover green and some fingering weight wool I dyed, and used doubled; and the bottom center hat is from a ball of Knitting Notions Classic Merino Sport and some random pink/multi from the stash (I'd planned to use a different pattern but the yarns blended too much so I just did garter stripes).  On the bottom right is a partly done hat, somebody did the center part and it cupped, so I decided to add sides and turn it into a hat.  For a long time it was a decoration at MakeHartford for the String Thing area, and when MH closed I brought anything not wanted home and finally have been going through the last bag of yarn and bits.  My addition is in a very close shade of green, but just single crochet, not entrelac Tunisian.  Or any Tunisian.

• Other UFOs remain UFOs at this time.  Unless you count the fifth hat, but I didn't do the starting part and it's not really from MY stash.
• At least one non-fiber project progressed a bit.  What else could I do without internet or TV?  I pulled out DVDs and audio books, and finished a novel and an anthology by Agatha Christie.
• Thrift store load progressed a bit.  I posted that if the charity group that will receive the items I've made wants the animal-fiber yarns to let me know, otherwise they go to the thrift store too.
• Yarn diet - well, not perfect, because I signed up for a yarn club, but the first delivery is at the end of September and they had only one week for subscriptions.  So I count it, and I can yarn diet through September.

Edited to add:  During the KnitTalk zoomcall in the evening, I finished another hat:

This was also in the makerspace stash, and mostly finished, but partly unraveled while I untangled the last of the yarns in the big bag o' stash.  It didn't take much to finish the final wedge and sew it together.

Leap Day!

What does one do on Leap Day?  I went to yoga, did errands, and worked on projects at home.  Pretty much the same as any Saturday.  Keep Hartford Warm held a distribution event; I dropped off a toddler jacket that I was given to pass along, but did not stay.  It's been a busy month, and I needed to catch up on laundry and decompress.

Work took me to Chicago, then I went to North Carolina to see Kinky Boots with family (DNiece #1 loves it as much as I; over Christmas I introduced my nieces to the original film) and stayed for the discussion afterwards.  It was not about the show, as talkbacks usually are, but about LGBTQ+ persons and their lives in North Carolina.  My mother ended up talking to one of the panelists about adoption and all kinds of things, until we all were kicked out so they could set for the next show.  If you haven't seen the show - you must do, if only for the showstopping Act I ending.

I stayed a couple days for a recital by Lawrence Brownlee, which was wonderful.

From there I went to Stitches West to help friends at their booth.  As I said last month, my mini-resolution was to make a sample bag from their hemp yarn.  That didn't work out because I was rushing and the yarn was snarling and it was a bad combination.  So on the day home between trips I grabbed a couple hanks of Makimo that I had lying around for other purposes, and before Stitches West ended they had a sample of the bag in their own yarn:

Closeup of the bag bottom
and the lace pattern.

The small pink balls are all the yarn I had left after finishing the bag.  There is more pink on the handles than the pattern instructs; I was using the Makimo doubled (the original used a worsted weight cotton, and Makimo is a DK weight), which gave a little less yardage than the original yarn.  I started the pink when the purple ran out.  So you can make the bag with two hanks of Makimo.

I bought almost nothing (some stitch markers as a gift, and a couple patterns) because I don't need yarn and didn't find anything that made me excited to dip into my purchasing money for DFW Fiber Fest.  The big names that I really like will be there, and I enjoy buying from small indie dyers who mostly cannot afford to be at Stitches events.


I returned just in time for Fat Tuesday.  A local makerspace held a Fat Tuesday party but it was also Science on Screen night at Real Art Ways, so I made a cameo, dropping off some from-the-pantry jambalaya on the way to the talk and film.  It was fairly interesting, the talk more than the film.  I look forward to the next two but may be out of town for one.

Wednesday I went to a library cookbook club that I'd just found out about, where they cook from a specific cookbook each month, sample and talk about the recipes.  This month's choice was Food52's Genius Desserts, and since I didn't have time to swing by the library to select a recipe I did some online research and chose World Peace Cookies.  We agreed that having nothing but desserts was a LOT to take, even if you just do a bite of each one - and most were too good to stop at a single bite.  Luckily for me, about tw0-thirds contained chocolate, so I didn't have as much to taste as the others.  But what I did taste was fantastic:  Lemon cookies (with a hidden ingredient of avocado); Guinness stout cake that was like the tenderest gingerbread ever; espresso gelato; blueberry cake with pecans; the famous 62nd Street Lemon Cake; almond cake.  Most of these I would make, yes.

Not for tomorrow's monthly brunch, however.  If I had Guinness around I might make the cake, but I decided to make potato cakes instead.  These are something between boxty, which is a griddle-cooked bread, and scones.  I doubled the recipe and am leaving out the seasoning, so they will be plain and make nice sandwiches - if any are left!

Resolutions for March

As noted above, I completed the knitting mini-resolution I set for February.  For March, I am going to make a baby blanket for friends.  I bought the yarn some time ago, and thought I knew what pattern I'd do, then a new one came out and I decided to do it instead.  No photos until it's delivered in April.

Then I have to finish the items I am making for Mittens for Akkol's grads program.  I signed up for four:  a purple scarf, a blue and orange hat, and a red and yellow (or gold) sweater and scarf.  I chose these because they will use up yarn in my stash.  I have a purple scarf, but decided I may offer it for sale at an upcoming sheep-to-shawl-and-beyond event, plus I had some other yarn reclaimed from the sweater that I pulled apart, making the multicolored yarn used in part of it into a scarf.  I'm using broken rib stitch and it's going fairly fast.

Books:  Still finishing The Ballad of Frankie Silver.  I don't have much sit-and-read time, but I am enjoying the historical chapters, which are written in the first-person voice of a young frontier lawyer and court clerk.  So I'm behind on the February book but decided to finish The Agony and the Ecstasy, which I started some time ago and put aside for an unremembered reason when I was halfway through.  Hopefully I'll get caught up in March.  I do have the "book with a nature word in the title" set aside, and it's fairly short - more about it in the next post, once I've started reading.

In Other News..........

Covid-19 is big in the news.  With stories like Communion of Dreams and others, could it become a truly devastating pandemic like the 1918 Flu Epidemic?  I guess we shall see.  My parents are pressuring me to skip the North Texas Irish Festival this year.  I am a manager and we are shorthanded and I hate to not go.

We had more snow today - the weather went from clear and sunny, to a snow squall, and back to sunny within an hour:

Many years ago in Dallas, I worked for a company called Affiliated Computer Systems, or ACS.  After I left, they were acquired by Xerox.  A couple weeks ago, the building where I worked was slated to be demolished.  The usual way to do it in a city these days is by a controlled implosion.  However, that didn't work.  It's been fun to watch the reporting (a wrecking ball is now in use, slowly), and I have to say that this is my favorite photo so far, titled "They finally brought in an expert":

Endings and Beginnings

New Year's Day posts usually review the successes of last year's resolutions and setting new ones.  I didn't do a post on Wednesday because I was busy and sad - MakeHartford closed, and we were doing final clean-out of the space.  Well, I was; most of the work had been done the previous weekend, and I was freecycling as much of the remaining shelving and cabinets as I could.  This meant being in the space to meet people or otherwise arrange for pickups.

Our President arranged for us to merge with other spaces in Connecticut, but I have yet to accept any of the offers (given my longevity, it would be a free year at the new space of my choice) although I probably will later this month.  I just need a little time.  And to organize the things I culled from the space, mostly fiber and paper arts supplies, and the infinity mirror class supplies, and other oddments.

I did get to several yoga classes in the last week, since work was quiet and I had the time.  I tried a Restorative Yoga class and decided it's more meditation than yoga and not for me at this time.  Good to know, as I'd been curious about those.

I'd planned to do more cleaning and organizing of my own home, but kept losing time to being at the space.  In the end, I am glad that things went to good homes, but I feel I'll being doing catch-up at my own home.  I already have some donations to make to the local thrift stores, and will probably do a run this week.  I've had discussions with people about whether to itemize or not; last year my donations exceeded the standard deduction, not by a lot, but enough, so I was glad I kept detailed records of what I donated.  I'll probably keep doing it out of habit.

I haven't made further progress on last year's resolutions since my September post.  The remaining UFOs are still unfinished, although I did make progress on the "Omega" shawl.  The sweater that I was going to take apart and reuse turned into a nice scarf, which I finished last night:

I did get the pantry somewhat organized, although I am now re-organizing it to turn the bottom shelf into storage for supplies and equipment from the makerspace.  I got a small microwave that I can use to melt soap for melt-and-pour projects, and the two crockpots we used to dye yarn.  All of these are technically foodsafe so can be stored and used in the kitchen, but now I don't have to put my own items to double use.  I also have the toaster oven we used for polymer clay - NOT food safe and well marked to indicate this.

I didn't get rid of the china cabinet.  Still need to do that, either through a yard sale (at a friend's house, we're not allowed to hold them in my condo complex) or donation to a local charity.  While at it, I have one or two other items of furniture that can go.

Much of November and December I spent making items for family.  My grandmother's annual vest was joined by two shawls, since she really likes shawls these days:

The vest is Lion Brand Ferris Wheel in Buttercup; I knit a tube to the underarms then back and forth.  The green shawl is Lion Brand Cupcake yarn in Peas and Carrots (slight playing with the yarn to pull out the white and use it for the edging) and the other shawl is Caron Cakes yarn in Buttercream, which she chose when we were out and about one day.

And DNiece#2 asked for a hat with ridges to mimic the hat she has been wearing while portraying Thomas Cromwell in a course at college.  Here's the hat:

She wanted more of a beanie style.  And maybe a scarf.  And mittens? I offered.  Why not.  I got the hat and mittens done for Christmas:

DNiece#2 was surprised to find out how the mittens fit, and realized she's been wearing the same ones since about third grade, and now they barely cover her hands to the wrist.  I am still working on the scarf (based on a Hufflepuff house scarf - hence the yellow stripes on the wrists of the mittens and inside the hat, to tie the set together) and I think I'll whip up another pair of mittens to send with it.  A few years ago I did a hat and scarf for this niece in blue, her favourite colour, and I have a bit of it around in a similar yarn, and mittens work up fast, so - obvious!

RESOLUTIONS for 2020

I was thinking about this, and then read an article about doing micro-resolutions: a small one each month, something you can focus on and achieve, but which doesn't seem so daunting because you commit for only 28-31 days.  The author also talks about resolutions to add things to your life, not just take things out of it.

I'm going to do easy things.  First up, resolution for January:  Finish Scarves.  I've started a number of scarves for charity, and this month I would like to focus on getting several of them finished.  Of course, I also have to finish the scarf and mittens for my niece, but I want to try to not start anything new until I get a bunch of the charity scarves done.  I keep starting new ones when the old ones are too big to easily carry around, or if something fiddly happens, and I need to get focused and pin some together (rolling them to be a smaller item) to make them more portable and thus get them finished.

I've started this by frogging one, which I realized wasn't too skinny but would be very, very long if I use all the yarn, so I am going to make it wider.  Luckily it's garter stitch and the kind of thing I do easily on planes and in movies and while standing on line everywhere.

Current list, done from memory, and all plain garter stitch unless noted:

• Browns - Bernat Super Value Stripes in Beechwood and Caron Jumbo in Chocolate Variegated on the sides.
• Patons Lace in lavender and Porcelain, held double (the fiddly one, because the yarn sticks to itself).
• Red Heart Fleece Hugs in Jungle - crocheted corner-to-corner.
• Stitch Studio Sweet Dreams in Creamsicle - the frogged one.
• Premiere Serenity Chunky Big Ombre in Walnut.
• Caron Chunky Cakes in Trifle (red/white/blue).
• Leftover Ferris Wheel from my grandmother's Christmas vest, crochet.

I always have at least one in the car, easy to grab when I run into shops or the post office.  At least one should come with me on a business trip next week - I will have to convince myself it's small enough, and I don't need to start a new one!

I'm going to try to read (or finish, as I'm partway through one right now) at least one book a month.  I'd love to read more, but since work requires me to read all day, my brain gets tired of processing words.  I'll report as I finish.

Where did the summer go?

I intended to update the blog over the summer, but I was out and about and kept forgetting.

RESOLUTIONS:

I have now finished all the books in my Resolutions post!  I'd previously reported about finishing "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles", and since then I finished "Dreams in the Golden Country" (I almost finished it on the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, but couldn't, and finished it earlier this month instead), "Rookie of the Year" (which I did indeed finish while at summer camp), and "The Whisperer", which was better than I expected, although with an unsurprising ending.

I have also finished an additional book, "Shopping for Buddhas", a Lonely Planet book from the late 1990's.  I started it at camp after finishing "Rookie of the Year" and since it's not seasonal I continued until the end.  An interesting light read, definitely viewing Nepal through the eyes of an unschooled but sympathetic American.  I feel as though I have read more, but it may be that I read a lot of articles and such, not proper books.

I finished one of the three shawls I listed, the one of handspun (two different skeins by related but different spinner/dyers) purchased at DFW Fiber Fest:

I tried to get a closeup to show
all the wonderful colours.

Very simple basic triangle, with four rows from one skein in stockinette, and two rows from the other in garter, which helped disguise the differences in spinning.  Although they looked very different in the hanks, the yarns blended so well people sometimes though it was a single skein.  The yarn is incredibly soft and this is both light and warm.

I finished another UFO shawl that I located after creating the resolutions post. It's a basic pattern (based upon one I got in a holiday gift exchange an number of years ago) from a single ball of Taiyo Sock purchased on an excursion with two friends a number of years ago, and which languished a lot.  I took it on a whirlwind trip I had to make suddenly in July, when I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time to think and not a lot of space for packing.  Here it is on a long layover:

Yes, it has since been finished and worn.  Another basic triangle, this one with an eyelet row at every colour change, until those got very skinny and then at every other colour change.

I have made several other shawls, all for my grandmother.  She is always cold, and mentioned that shawls are "the thing" right now, and since they are simple and fun to do, I whipped up a couple:

Crocheted Shawl of Red Heart Dreamy Stripes, and knitted shawl
(Wailea pattern) in Lion Brand Cupcake, colourway "Tundra".

She liked them, so I made three more that I delivered at my last visit, but I forgot to take pictures of those.  One was a rarity for me, using the actual yarn and pattern together, but it came out nicely and my grandmother likes it a lot.  The other two were basic crocheted patterns, both different from the one in the photo.  She likes all of them, and even shares them with friends, but only for the duration of a meal or concert and then makes sure to get it back.  I think she's showing off a bit.

October is coming, which means the KnitTalk list has its annual "Aftober" of completing projects, and I plan to finish the "Omega" shawl (also on my Resolutions list) next month.  I have a lot of travel scheduled, and it's still small enough to be a briefcase project.

SUMMER:

I went to camp.  A friend teaches at a camp, and she has a small cabin of her own during that month, so can host guests.  She gets one day off per month, and we go exploring.  Last year, it was to a local glassworks museum and a small hike.  This year, we went to a local town and wandered through secondhand shops and a flea market, then stopped at a chocolate shop that also carries non-chocolate items.  We got some really cute things for her family and my grandmother.

I visited my grandmother; we wandered around flea markets (one has a pickle-on-a-stick-snack-as-you-shop stand, and you get any of the pickles they have on offer - mine was garlic half-sour - or you can buy quantities to take home) and attended a concert and drove around looking at stuff.  And clouds, my grandmother loves looking at clouds.

MakeHartford celebrated its fifth anniversary with a gathering, and show-and-tell that included a portable pizza oven and a "thermonuclear hot dog cooker", otherwise known as a solar cooker.  We had competing chocolate chip/candy cookies, and I made strawberry marshmallows, and much food and drink and conviviality was had by all.

I've traveled a lot, some for work and some for family and friends.  I've tried to get out more, especially given how nice the weather has been, so movies in the park and concerts in the park and lots of cemetery walks and park walks and other things.  Since the weather is lovely, I think I'll go do more of that today.

Another UFO Blog Hop

A couple months ago, the UFO group I joined this year did a blog hop so that people could post about progress on their items.  Although I have not made much progress on the shawls that I announced as my UFOs for the year, I did finish two other items.

At MakeHartford we have a Paper Artist Gathering group which I am part of mostly because I was part of the original Geometric Origami Club that grew into the current group.  And somehow, I was talked into contributing to a group exhibit that opens on May 6th at the Farmington Valley Art Center.  Titled "Paper Possibilities 2017: Exploring a Modest Medium" it shows all different types of art created from paper.

When people were talking about the exhibit, I mentioned some UFOs I had from a workshop on creating altered books from the lamentably gone (the artist moved to Virginia!) from Hartford, Studio N111.  In this workshop, we took books and learned about cutting and rearranging and folding and all kinds of options to decorate them.

Although I did a little work after the workshop, this is where they were, and had been for quite a long time:


The open book at the left, "A Road to Hope", is about a couple who helped to create a home for families near a cancer treatment center.  I ended up not doing more to it this time (if it doesn't sell, and I don't expect it to, I may do more and enter V1.2 in next year's exhibit) and didn't take pictures of the little that I did do, but I did more work on the other item.

That book was a young adult paperback, rather battered.  I removed (and recycled) the cover, and began to fold the pages into the same three-fold pattern, but alternating which corner I used to start.  So the shape formed as shown.

When I went back to it to finish the piece for the exhibit, I envisioned something mostly painted white and pale yellow, with maybe a touch of pink, and some deeper blue and purple circling it at angles.  I found a crystal dangle in a shape that echoes the one that is forming, and wanted to add it to add some interest to what I thought would be an unimpressive piece, especially compared to other artworks in the exhibit.  To attach a hanging loop and the crystal, I envisioned satin cord monkey's fist knots at each end, coordinating with the blue or purple or even both.

Of course that didn't happen.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post about randomness, a friend had counseled that sometimes art takes its own direction and doesn't end up as planned.  Without a lot of time to struggle, I wasn't going to fight the art.

First, I finished folding all the pages, and I noticed that the pages that had been exposed were slightly but noticeably yellowed.  This happens with the type of cheap paper often used in paperback books, and I realized that not only would it require a lot of paint to cover to get the white background I was envisioning, but the pages were going to continue to yellow as time passes.  So I decided to make that part of the art.

I'd obtained a set of pearlescent watercolours, and used them to add tints to the piece, focusing on yellow, orange, rust, and two shades of green:

You can see very clearly the newly-folded pages below, and the sun-tinted ones above.

I did more than one pass, some more watery and others drier, to get different depth of colour.  Then I decided that the monkey's fist knots wouldn't quite work, in addition to not having any beads or balls at home large enough to act as a base, and not having time to shop for any before the piece needed to be delivered.  So I took some wool yarn that seemed to coordinate with the paper colour and two buttons scrounged from my stash (I wanted two of the ceramic one, which seemed to coordinate best without adding more colour to the piece, but only had one, and so relaxed my stress of symmetry) to create a tasseled hanger.

Sorry it's not focused.  JHB Collection on left, something artsy on the right.

The darker, thinner button went on the top with the idea that it would be less visible when the piece is hung.  I didn't fasten the cord into the paper piece; it's held by tension and the curve of the spine caused by the folding.

Here are a couple quick pictures taken when I dropped off the piece:

Although it's not what I had envisioned, I like the end result.  The colours are much more visible to the naked eye than they photograph.  You still see that it was a book (one of the other artists wanted assurance that I would not obliterate the words, and I told her that was why I selected watercolours) but it has turned into something almost organic.  The tassel is at the top, slightly off-center from where the hanging occurs, and not visible in these photos.  I'll try to get one at the opening on Saturday and add it or link to another post.

Now that you've read the story of my UFO, check out what some of the other artists in this month's blogroll have been finishing:

Karen Williams, Baublicious

Francie Broadie,  FAB

Christine Van Dyke Altmiller, One Kiss Creations

Therese, Therese's Treasures

Kim Dworak, CianciBlue

Liz Hart, Treetop Life

Liz En, Bead Contagion

Amy Severino, Amy Beads

Cynthia Machata, Antiquity Travelers

Hope Smitherman, Crafty Hope

Christi Carter, Sweetpea Path

Bobbie Rafferty, Beadsong Jewelry

Cybersecurity and Innovation Panels

I've fallen into one of my crazy-busy periods.  In addition to work's various deadlines I've attended three conferences on cybersecurity and privacy; spoken at a local event about one of my first experiences catching a cybercriminal; and I'm preparing to speak on a panel about creativity, invention, and innovation next week at the Connecticut Historical Society and Library:

My specific topic is how makerspaces, such as MakeHartford, contribute.  Since I'm also part of the Nation of Makers overview group, I said I could talk more broadly about the maker movement in Connecticut.

Moving back in time, at The MOuTH's event on "First Things First" I told about the time I caught a cybercriminal - in part because he sent me contact information because he wanted to fly his plane up and take me out on a date!  Sound improbable?  Can't make up facts like that, nobody will believe them.  The stories that have been collected from The MOuTH's events over the years are being turned into a podcast, so you may get to hear it someday.

Then there was the annual Symposium hosted by the University of Connecticut Law Review.  They had done one in 2014 for the 50th anniversary of the decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, and this year's was called "Privacy, Security & Power: The State of Digital Surveillance".  Very interesting, the discussion and perspectives, especially given the changes in Washington right now.

Saturday I helped the Cetacean Society International with a display (and the only sale of the day) at the Amherst Railway Society's annual hobby show.  Sunday I caught up on things before leaving Monday for Washington so that I could attend the ACC Foundation's first Cybersecurity Summit.  A solid and long day of talking to colleagues, attending panel presentations, capped with a lively table exercise.  A couple hundred of the best and liveliest minds storming at once!

That evening I flew to Chicago so that I could speak on a panel the next day in the daylong "Cybersecurity: Protecting Your Clients and Your Firm" continuing legal education program.  In addition to preparing the obligatory materials, I spoke on a panel about what to do if you find there is a breach.

 

In the middle of the day I noticed the New York Times posted an article about securing  home devices which I mentioned during a speaker change because the information can be helpful to small law firms and solo practitioners.  Serendipity!

There and Back Again

I thought that when I got back to town I would do more to keep the blog current, and of course this has not happened,  Let's see, a quick summary of the last year or so:

• I got a new job and moved, temporarily, to Madison (WI).
• The job wasn't what I expected, and my old boss made a determined campaign to keep in touch and let me know he'd hire me back - which happened.
• So I moved back to the Hartford (CT) area.

This involved selling things, moving, moving back, and buying replacements for things like a bed.  At all times, of course, I kept reading (I am definitely going to miss A Frugal Muse and being near Half Price Books) and yarny things (including a visit to the market at the Madison Knitters' Gui;d Knit-In and the impressive yarn section at the Wisconsin Craft Market, and joining a couple of meetups, and the crafters group at the local makerspace) and enjoyed the Dane County Farmers' Market's winter markets.  I also went to Madison's Winter Festival and volunteered at their first MakerFaire, helping Eepy Bird with their Coke® and Mentos® performance.

And I didn't do much with the blog, because I didn't bother to do an internet hookup at the temporary location, and the wifi in the common area didn't work well, and I didn't feel like saying after hours at work to do the blog because it was about an hour's drive (in good weather) and I was trying to have a social life.  So.  No blog posts.

Now I am back in Hartford.  And trying to not get involved in too many things at once.  I did volunteer to help staff a booth at the Bishop's Corner Farmers' Market because it's associated with my old CSA (I got back too late to rejoin), and the person who was staffing the booth suddenly got a job on Maui.  It's not bad, mostly hot and boring, but I take yarny things and have some sales.  It ended up with a few dates as guest vendor at the West End Farmers' Market as well.

I'm involved again at MakeHartford, of course,  An apparently am considered a volunteer for Bici Co., although I don't participate at the location, although I helped to build some of their storage while home visiting one weekend last fall.  And designed a hat that won a contest and brought them some money when they were getting started.

What else?  I am still deciding.  This is a chance to not get quite so involved, or to do so in ways I wasn't able to do before.  Once the Farmers' Market season is over, of course!  And this period in October when I am traveling quite a lot - to the ACC Annual Meeting (I spoke at two of their previous conferences this year, this makes a hat trick) and then to the North Carolina State Fair for our annual family expedition (being the cool auntie who goes on the more exciting rides).

In the meantime, I have the Berlin Fair to look forward to entering - I didn't last year due to the move.  And this event sounds cool, maybe we can do something like it in Hartford?  I'd suggest it for DFW Fiber Fest, but the crocheters would be annoyed as I think fewer people can crochet while walking than knit while walking.  I can do both, but not everybody does.  I know there are people who drop spindle while walking.  Hmmmm......

Reviewing the resolutions

It's the last day of 2014, and a good time to review how I did with this year's resolutions:

• Each month I will try doing one new thing.  And it cannot be a variation on something I have done before - snorkeling in new waters, or going for brunch to a restaurant where I've been only for supper, or sorting food donations at the food pantry at whose mobile distribution trucks I've volunteered for several years.  This might take some real thought.
• I will try to keep this blog more up-to-date, hopefully blogging at least once per month.
• I am going to update either my kitchen or my upstairs bathroom.

In order:

• Kinda OK.  Look at the blog posts through August as I kept track, somewhat.  I think I fell off in the later parts of the year, for the same reason as:
• OK until August, and then crickets.  I know what stalled me: I needed to organize the pictures for the last post.  And life got busy - I stage-managed a local community theatre's production of "The Producers", and traveled, and got involved with fiber things, and traveled, and was busier at MakeHartford, and ......  You get the idea.
• Nope.  Got busy.  And decided to spend money on a certification course for information security systems professional, which my job promised to pay me back for and then didn't.  So I am saving up the money again.  And this summer, when it would have made sense to do painting because I could leave the windows open - I was outside.  A lot.  Hiking some, riding a bike some, enjoying a good summer.

So I will probably re-run at least one of the above for 2015.  I could probably re-run all of them and see how I do in the new year, but it's more fun to mix things up, at least officially.  I'll think while I am working at First Night Hartford (Wadsworth Atheneum, and then I think City Hall unless I am needed elsewhere) and then friends' party (parties?) and so on which one will be the choice to officially repeat, and which other things I might do in 2015.

How did your year end?

Smoking Ice (for MakeHartford makerspace)

I am a member of the MakeHartford makerspace, and on the first Wednesday of every month we do a Show-and-Tell event.  This month's started when I posted a link on the MH Facebook page showing how to make a carbonation rig.  Our newsletter editor was very interested and declared the theme for August, and said he would create the rig.

What could I do that would be cool and demonstrable for a crowd without actual onsite cooking?  Lacto-fermention is one thing, at least the setup with a tasting of finished products, then I saw an article about making smoked ice for mixed drinks.  Really??!  Yes, really, and I knew that this would intrigue people.

When talking to people about my intention, the reactions were great.  Once they realized that I was not talking about

• Dry ice (which does smoke nicely on its own)
• Consuming street drugs
• Some slang for excellence at winter sports

they became genuinely puzzled because of course smoking involves HOT while ice needs COLD, and the two seem completely incompatible.

NOTE - this is a holding article so I can put the link into my handout for Show-and-Tell.  Stay tuned for the full post with photos of my process, and some reaction shots.

Ten on Tuesday - Things I Like To Do Outside

My friend Mary Kay periodically posts her lists, and every so often I am inclined to as well.  This is actually from last week, but I didn't see it then and last week wasn't very good for outdoors (due to us getting a snowstorm, yes, in mid-April), so since Carole is on vacation this week thus did not post a new list, I think it is OK for me to use this theme.  My blog, my rules.

Ten Things I Like To Do Outside

1. Hike
2. Concerts
3. Sailing, canoeing, and other boating
4. Reading
5. Movies (drive-ins, in the park, someone's back yard)
6. Baseball
7. Fair rides (essential part of going to a fair, like fried food)
8. Ziplines and flying squirrels
9. Picnics and cookouts
10. Knitting, crocheting, and suchlike

OK, some of these are things you can ONLY do outside.  And you can add to that list things like flying kites (I am thinking of running some workshops and possibly hosting a kite-flying contest at the Hartford Makerspace this summer), riding horses, climbing trees, and so forth.  There are other things, like swimming, that I couldn't figure out how to fit onto the list but I'll do them inside or outside - like reading, knitting, crocheting, concerts, .....

Some of these I have not done in much too long.  I think I'll be glad I am not stage managing a show this summer!

I'll add another photo from Sunday's hike, just because I can:

Mardi Gras in Hartford

Fat Tuesday in New Orleans was cold (for New Orleans) and raining.  In Hartford, it was cold (starting the day at +3(F) and getting up to a balmy +28-30(F) by evening) and sunny until shortly before parade time.  But we stepped off and had our own, if smaller, carnival:

  

There are professional photos, of course (a nonprofessional has already posted a set if you want to see more, plus there's a commentary at the FB site which I believe is public); mine are from the start and end, because I was too busy participating in the middle.  I dressed warmly in layers that were either brightly coloured or in Mardi Gras shades of gold, purple, and green.  All the instruments, things to throw, and so on were distributed before I got there (had hoped to get out of work early, but of course not) so I just danced along, waving at people with my bright, woolly mittens, and wearing a glitter mask.  It was cool when a busload of people waved back.

My friend Lauren got there in time to be one of the walking skeletons:

I did get a couple bits of video with my new camera, so the resolution is better and you can even hear sound, although my camera work still leaves a LOT to be desired (and I have to remember not to dance whilst trying to record):

The second one shows something you definitely would not see at the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade!

Afterwords, off to String Thing and Origami at the Hartford Makerspace, which due to lack of people other than us turned into a bunch of trigonometry, testing of newly donated projection equipment, and playing a bit with something called SÅND.

I did struggle this year about my commitment for Lent.  A lot of people look on it as a time to give up something, and often I have done that, and didn't feel like giving up something I've given up in the past.  Others look on it as a time to commit to do something spiritual or giving back to the community, which I already do quite a lot.  I thought of committing to read a psalm a day, or a chapter in Exodus, but with rehearsals for a show I'm dubious about having the time.

So my official commitment, which came about serendipitously because I ran out of bread and tortillas on Tuesday, is to not eat breadly items or similar baked goods.  This should provide some interesting opportunities for creative cooking, not to mention whittling down my store of noodly things.

And I realized that for the second year in a row, I missed out on eating a paczki.