Catching the light

Since the last time I was here....well, time flew by.  We had school vacation until January 7th, and I just relaxed right into doing that.  Any work that got done was sort of accidental.  I did have one odd famous moment though.  I got called by a CBC reporter since I'd written a couple of opinion pieces on infill long ago.  (I guess no one else was in town!)  He asked to interview me, and then I appeared briefly in a TV clip, and a couple of articles.

In case you think that writers are big earners, well, not so much...here's a link to a recent NY Times article that covers how little writers make these days.  (A recent Canadian Writers Guild piece said just about the same thing.  It's depressing.)

I did get paid for my initial columns, but I did the interview because I care about maintaining historic neighborhoods and creating intelligent zoning plans so that developers and architects don't get the chance to wreck the character of hundred year old neighborhoods because they think they are boring.  (How about what I hope for? --quiet, beautiful, and mature?!)

Once school started again on Monday, I threw myself into catching up with work.  I have managed to submit three articles in three days.  (I'm tired.)  It is also a really hard time of year to take photos of anything outside.  When we had a warmish day a while back (think, a high of 30F or maybe -1C!) and it was sunny, I rushed outdoors.  By comparison, it was sunny today....and around -18C or 0F.  With the windchill, it was more like -25C or -13F.  I still walked the dogs twice.  And yes--My kids still had outdoor recess.

In the vestibule between the front door and the inside door, we have a big coat closet area with a bench.  On the bench, you can find a lot of handmade woollies at any moment--just in case you need one.  For this "warm day" photo shoot, I grabbed some handmade things and rushed outside.

These photos are outtakes, but I wanted to share the snow, the sunshine and the warmth.  In no particular order, here are:
Distal (the red handspun shawl)
The Hole Inside Mitts (kid and adult sizes)
Thump Thump Mittens (good for Valentine's Day!)
Due North Mittens (2 pairs)
and one plain jane handspun mitten, no linked pattern, that I spun and knit about 25 years ago.  That pair's still going strong.

Happy winter sunshine, when you can get it...and yes, the snow stays on the ground here from November to April.  It only looks this nice after a snowstorm and before it gets dirty.  You can tell the houses with the kids and dogs because the snow is all trampled, like in these photos.  We take playing in the snow very seriously!