Sunshine & Sniffles

Speaking of Janel Laidman (yesterday that was), as editor in chief of Spindlicity, the online spinning magazine, she finally got a new issue out. It’s expanded with new staff including the one-and-only Abby Franquemont as contributing editor and Beth of the Spinning Loft fame as editor of spinning and fibre articles. Go check out Fall 2008. ‘Bout time, I say! Link in my sidebar.

And while I’m talking about online magazines, there’s the “Broken Bones” issue of The AntiCraft! Samhain, Día de los Muertos, Halloween, or whatever-you-call-it is my favourite holiday of the year. I guess it’s because my birthday is on one of the Days of the Dead. And orange is my favourite colour. I hope it isn’t cultural appropriation (since I’m many things but not Pagan or Hispanic or Christian) but we need to appreciate our dearly departed family and friends and we need to understand that death is just another part of life. Ignoring it or hiding from it doesn’t make it go away. Celebrating is a much better idea. Speaking of which, I saw some really fab decorations while we were on our holiday, especially in areas with an Hispanic population, but I didn’t get them. Boo. Hoo.

So the weather was lovely sunny and warm today so, cold or no cold, I couldn’t stay out of the garden. I got the garlic bulbs planted and several beds now have their winter rye seeded which will cover them and prevent a lot of the erosion from the winter rains as well as provide nutrients to the soil when we dig it in in spring. The funniest thing was the chickadees who were demanding I put out the bird feeder. I guess that was because they pretty much denuded the sunflowers already. They were on it immediately, yelling at me if I came too close. Later I had trouble closing the combination lock on the shed and T-Man discovered that there was a sunflower seed tucked into the hole in the lock where the bolt goes in. Must have been one of those cheeky chickadees tucked it in there for later. He’s gonna be annoyed when he can’t get at it again because it’s been evicted!

Then T and I walked up to the mall to get some coffee and tea at Murchies. Amazing that one can spend over $100 for 2 lbs of coffee and 2 of tea, huh? Though if you usually drink yours at Starbucks or the like you’ll spend a whole lot more than that for the same amount. The most expensive item is the pure choice jasmine tea that I mix with a black and green tea blend to make my own personal Damsel-Tea. Yum.

Now I’m in bed, feeling crappy but satisfied with all my accomplishments and waiting for supper to cook. Nearly ready. Did I mention that my sore throat is quite a bit better but it’s now become yet another cold. I was trying to ignore it all but it’s being quite insistent right now. Where's my hankie?