Today I’ll try something new. I’m going to write this blog without knowing what it’ll be about! That could either mean a really short post or half a novel….

I’ve wanted to say something different rather than just dye reports, especially since I haven’t in fact been dyeing anything. Playing at mordanting cotton in as many possible ways that I can think of, to then be dyed together, but that will be a while.

I did crack the nettle -> green mystery though, so I may do a batch of that for you.

But, as it were, right now, today, I have nothing to show and tell. Drove all the way to a new forest with the dog just for some variety and didn’t bring the camera because it was grey and dull out. Of course it ended up quite lovely with sun and lots of potential shots!

Yesterday it rained and rained, I had to fire up the woodstove. In fact, this morning the house is only about 16° C, so I’m tempted. My newly replanted weld plants got drowned, I’d just put them outside to get ready for putting in the ground, but I fear the roots have all gone to rot now standing in soup instead of soil. All of the weld, obviously, not a variety of plants or just a few of the trays…

My hands are sore again, and yes, I’ve been trimming hind hooves on the old guy. Then the farrier threw his (own) back and didn’t come to fix the fronts, but I think they’ll be ok for a little while yet. So today I really should take a break from my spinning marathon (3 colours to go + some plying) and tidy up the house – free some space for fresh crafting rather than just piles of supplies all over. Doesn’t look like the rest of this month is going to be about lounging in the garden, smelling the lilacs. I suppose I could rip them off the bushes and throw them in a pot instead. Or a vase, possibly.

Ok, lots of words and nothing interesting happening yet. Perhaps my brain is frozen too. I’ve dared myself to try to get used to getting up at 6, just because. And it’s actually quite rewarding, because it means I’m done with my internetty stuff around 8 and ready to work on my procrastination project. It doesn’t matter what I do, as long as I do something. And it’s so much easier to justify an afternoon nap. 😉

Being as I’ve mentioned a relatively tired person, I’ve also decided to dedicate some attention to the “exercise” form called NEAT. Or “non exercise activity thermogenesis” if you want to google your own selection of articles. I’ve never seemed to be able to build muscle or stamina from training, it just keeps feeling like a chore, I don’t get more energy either. Runner’s high? Whut? Dunno what that means. I just get knackered and see stars. The only thing that ever motivated me is doing real stuff. Dig a hole in the garden, paint a wall, and you can SEE your accomplishment, it’s useful and makes you feel good. Running just to run? Boooring….. So maybe I’ve been on the right track for my kind of sport all along, and now they’ve just come up with a neat name for it. And I like the mental challenge as well in coming up with more ways to deliberately move a bit extra during the day. I don’t need to pretend I’ve forgotten something upstairs, because I do that quite naturally, but perhaps movement could be exaggerated?

Now I’ll go find some pretty pictures to throw in here and perhaps that will spark something interesting to write about. Or, more likely they’ll be completely random and irrelevant.

Right, after a shower, a fire and more coffee, I’m back. Perhaps I need to get out more, if I persist on (in? with?) being so chatty without actually saying anything. So tell me, do you like or dislike smalltalk (IRL or otherwise), why or why not? If you never ever smalltalk, do you find enough people to have conversations with? Because I find that out there, outside the windows, most people engage in nothing but. And most of the time it really drains me, whereas the rare interesting encounters I have really fire me up. So I tend to, well, not go. I don’t need to, I’m very good at entertaining myself, but do I in fact build up a back log of chatter this way?

<<Wandering off for a second to feed Arthur his second breakfast.>>

Got my keyboard back from under the cat. And still nothing coming forth of true value or profundity. That’s it, I’m going to declutter my desk! I love a clutterfree desk – I just seem to, you know, get a lot of stuff going and then I put it down to sort out … and oh gosh where’s that bill I need to pay and before I know it the cats have thrown a party in the middle of everything. And then I just get tired and go do something in the living room.

Over and out!