A is for Automata

Hello! This week has flashed by! It seems I sort of took a break from doing work, and let myself have a week of playing in the shop. Sort of a mini summer camp. Stephen didn't have any work for me this week, and it seemed to take all the urgency out of my own work! So what I did instead is teach myself about building automata. Fun!
I started with this book, and built the basic tester box and cam gears that he recommends. It is such a great book, and everything was pretty easy to follow so far.
I've only started diving into the different mechanisms and movements, but I thought I should start building an actual piece, so I get some practical use out of all this knowledge. So this is the first stages of my first automata.

When you turn the handle, the waves roll up and down and the boat rolls up and down and side to side. I have started on the box that will house this, and the whole thing still needs to be painted, but I'm already in love with it. I'll keep you updated as I go. Speaking of which...

I finished the book I gave a sneak preview of, earlier. I'm pretty happy with it, and have set myself off on a new tangent for book-making as well. It seems every new idea leads to a hundred others! Oh well, I suppose I wouldn't have it any other way :) Although at some point, I'm going to need to start selling some of these pieces!
Other than that, life is going well here. We've been eating out of the garden as much as possible, which is super fun. I love going into our yard and harvesting food. My fingers have an almost permanent blackberry stain on them because I just can't get enough. I'm going to have to read up on getting our blackberry bushes to expand down the fence line. I'm too impatient to wait for them to do it on their own. More blackberries, please!
We're starting to see some local corn in the markets, although ours isn't ready to eat yet. This is a shot of our beautiful popcorn and kidney bean patch. The kidney beans are meant to dry on the stalks, but Jai just couldn't resist opening one up today and trying it out. They were pretty and red and Jai thought they were tasty, but I didn't really like the flavour. I think I'll wait.

And last but not least, our sunflowers are finally blooming. They look beautiful and majestic out there, and I'm glad we planted them where we can see them from the house this year. I can't wait until there are enough blooms that I feel like I can cut some and bring them inside.

And so, in short, I feel I can sum up the week with a quote:
Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, don't put it off.
~Ellen Degeneres.
Well, all right, if you say so...

Rural Living

Hi! Wow, I can't believe it's August 10 already. Everyone here has been talking about that inevitable shift that seems to happen, when you realize we're heading into Fall. Not that we aren't still having beautiful, hot sunny days. This is actually, I think, my favourite time of year. The days are warm, but not muggy, and the nights are cool enough to be comfortable for sleeping. The gardens are ready for eating out of, and life seems to be teeming. Crickets chirping everywhere, chickadees flying about, and bumblebees busy, busy, busy. Unfortunately there's still some of those biting insects around, but everything else is so nice that even they don't seem so bad. Plus, it's blackberry season, which might be the best part of all.

This week has been pretty full. On Friday, Jai and I packed up the car and headed down to Mahone Bay, where we met with Lynn from the Trees Gallery. She runs a very nice, higher end Gallery for Wood and handcrafted Tree-related products. And now she carries a whole lot of our stuff, as well. The more observant among you (or maybe just my Mom - thanks Mom) may have noticed that our Etsy store shrunk by half over the weekend, and that is why. Anyway, with any luck, that could be the start of a very positive and beneficial relationship.
Also, we stopped in at Windhorse Farms to pick up some lumber. They are in New Germany, and they are a woodshop that mills and sells FAS certified Eco-friendly wood. All of it is selectively logged, and some of it is even brought out by horse. PLUS (as if they even needed more in their favour!) they have beautiful wood that you don't see in a commercial lumber yard, and their prices are very reasonable. We love those guys! I picked up a couple of beautiful spalted boards to make into some new meditation benches and book covers.
Here's a sneak peek at my latest book project:
I have been having SO much fun, sourcing out old photographs with a little bit of character in them, and creating drawings from them. In addition to the whirligigs, I thought I would do a few special book covers, and that is a shot of one of them, in a partially completed stage. The cover of that one is done now, but I have to get the paper cut for the pages, so I'll post another shot when it's finished. Also, I dug out some of my favourite photos from within our family, and have started up covers using them, which I am totally loving. I don't know if I'll be able to sell those, I might be too attached, but I'm totally enjoying making them.
And we couldn't resist picking up this Zing Zong. It's an early Button Spinner, made from printed tin. It's got angled holes in it, and it sounds just like an owl when you get it going. The string needs to be replaced, but I love how it looks. Plus Zing Zong is so much fun to say :)

Last night was deliciously fun, we went to a backyard barbeque hosted by our friends Brandon and Jo. Those guys sure treated us! They made chicken fajitas, and sangria, and amazing fruit salad. I went back for thirds, it was so good. It was the perfect night for an outdoor event, and it ended with a fire under the stars, and excellent company. We even had S'mores, toasted over the open fire. We all agreed that rural living agrees with us 100% (of course, we're all ex-city livers, so I suppose we would!)

More Sights of Nova Scotia

Hello!
My Mom and my Aunty Janet were down visiting for a couple of days, so we managed to take in some more Nova Scotia sights. On the first night, we went to Hampton Beach, where we take all of our visitors. (Yes, this could be you, too!)
It's a ten minute drive, over the mountain, from our house.
And I think it has the most amazing, spectacular, jewel-like rocks of any beach.
I've only seen the tide out as far as this once before, and it was at this time of year last year, so there must be a seasonal low. I really like in this picture how you can see the two rain storms happening over the Bay (one on each side.)
And on Sunday, we toured the French Shore, as far as Meteghan. This was the first time Jai and I had ever been to Smuggler's Cove, since it was closed for the season last time we were in the area.
That big dark spot is the cave the smugglers used to hide their loot during the prohibition. I wish the tide had been out, and we could have gone exploring, but it was a very pretty spot, all the same.
We toured the docks of Meteghan,
and, of course, some of our favourite antique stores :)
So thanks for the lovely visit, guys!
I did still manage to get some work done still, too. A brand spankin' new whilrligig:
I really like this one.
Jai thought this side looked like amoebas, but I was thinking booby-gears. Hmmmm...
Gotta run, Jai just walked in the room with a tray full of steaming-hot home-made pizzas. Yum! Enjoy your week!

Sweet Peas!

It's been a while, though I don't feel like there's lots to report. I spent a couple more days visiting in Halifax, and that seems to have thrown all my schedules out the window. I feel back on track now, though.
I did manage to get four more books finished. And three of them I painted on, which was lots of fun. I found a site that show tv shows on-line, so I have watched the first season of Grey's Anatomy while putting this stuff together, and working on a new whirligig (which is so far unfinished.)

I made up some polar bear toys at the request of Mahar Drygoods, so Jai will be painting those soon. Yep, Christmas already. He's been busy turning tops, but did find the time to make a gorgeous walnut pen, as well.

The garden is just at that point when there's not a lot that needs to be done with it, other than weeding. It needs a LOT of weeding this year, because we foolishly allowed our big pile of topsoil to grow weeds all summer last year, then spread it all over our garden this year. Jai read somewhere that allowing weeds to go to seed for one year means seven years of hard weeding. Oh, crap.
Everything is doing well, though. (My rose came back!) The potatoes are starting to die back already, the beans are making beans, the tomatoes are reddening (we've eaten about four, so far), the cucumbers are once again getting out of control, and the watermelons are like little baseballs. We went in to the Farmer's Market last Saturday and came home with a quart of blueberries, and a quart of cherries, plus I bought some Canadian peaches, so it's been an eating bonanza. I think that is my favourite part about summer. Plus I like waking up and having the bedroom be bright. The heat, though, I could live without. (Of course, don't ask me in the Winter!)
It is fun to see everyone out and about. We went for a walk the other night, and the streets were full of people strolling around. It made me feel very glad to live in a small town.
The other thing that made me very glad to live in a small town this week was the Anne of Green Gables Ice Cream Social put on by the library. This is the 100th anniversary of Anne of Green Gables, so they had free ice cream and all sorts of activities for kids in the park behind our house.

Jai wasn't sure that he wanted to go, until I said, "Well, you don't HAVE to eat free ice cream!" Who can resist free ice cream from a girl with red braids?

Progress Report

Hello! Isn't that the sweetest little chickpea that you've ever seen? I just love how these plants look. I'm not sure how many peas we'll actually get (Jai figures about half a can's worth) but it's fun to grow them anyway.

Work-wise, I got a couple more projects done this week. Here is the latest whirligig:

I don't know if you can tell, but I'm having a lot of fun with them. The next one has already begun. I also got a couple of books finished, so I will be listing them in our store this week, hopefully. I'm really enjoying the whole binding part of the new books. Before, it was just straight-up woodworking (with hinges and bolts) but now it is woodworking crossed with this whole other world of possibilities. Plus I like having an activity to do at night while we watch shows. I always did like stitching things together.
We had to do an emergency Halifax run this week, as some of our favourite people ended up in the hospital. We're thinking of you guys every day, and we're sure you're about to make a speedy recovery! The only upside to this was that Jai was able to pick up the guitar my parents bought him. They said it was calling out for him, and it appears that he agrees wholeheartedly :)
We've been having crazy hot weather this week, hot enough to send me running for cover at times. Jai was saying today we need to find some inner tubes so we can launch into the river and spend an afternoon floating around. They've taken down the pollution meter this year, so I'm hoping that just means that it's always safe to swim. The meter used to read (from green to red) "Safe," "Not safe to water livestock," "Not safe to water crops," "Not safe to swim," which always made us wonder why it would be bad to water crops with, but ok to swim in. Hmmm...

Anyway, the garden is enjoying the heat, and we are starting to enjoy some produce from it. This week we saw the first of the cucumbers ready to eat (and delicious!) and bowls and bowls of raspberries. The lettuce bolted, though, so I'm glad I have been staggering the planting this year. Last year I planted it all at once, which meant there was more than we could eat, until there was suddenly none worth eating. I'm learning!
And a progress report on the peach front: so far so good. The clever little tree dropped all but two of the peaches that it started, which is good, I think. The two that are left are looking especially succulent.
I hope you all have a peachy week!