delivering the stars

The entrants in the giveaway for handmade felt stars
from the Snow Leopard Trust were:

1 SALLY H

2 MAGPIE

3 SALTY

4 KB

5 JO

6 TIPPER

The winner, determined once again by Random.Org,

is #3 Salty Pumpkin Art! 

Congratulations!

Please email your mailing address to q dot piper at hotmail dot com within 3 days,

so I can get your colorful little constellation in the post right away!

Oh, and please put Comptonia in the subject line so your email will jump out from the literally hundreds of "offers" that are filling my email box this month.

Thanks!

~~~~~

giving tuesday

I don't know about you, but I am just as tired of hearing people complain about
"the commercialization of the holiday season"
as I am tired of the actual commercialization.

So I love the whole concept of Giving Tuesday.

from wikipedia:

Giving Tuesday, often stylized as #GivingTuesday for purposes of hashtag activism, refers to the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a movement to create an international day of charitable giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season. Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season (Black Friday and Cyber Monday).

There's just no "down side" to Giving Tuesday. I love the recognition of the value of all kinds of giving - your time, your goods, your voice - not just money. I also love that so many philanthropists and organizations that can offer huge financial contributions, take this opportunity to match the tiny financial donations of ordinary folk like me. When my five dollars suddenly becomes ten, that's pretty sweet.

This Giving Tuesday website provides "near me" opportunities in the US - searchable by town or state, with a filter for category. I tried it for Non-Profits and immediately found 4 in my little town, and 1775* in Massachusetts.

An interesting website I visited yesterday for the first time is a place "for nonprofits to find pro bono help and for skilled volunteers to provide it." I don't have experience with TaprootPlus, but I do have experience offering skills to non-profits in lieu of cash, because these days my time/skills are frankly worth far more than I can afford to donate in cash. It's very satisfying when such an arrangement works out, but it can be hard to set up without a specific project/need already identified by the organization. (Psst: still hoping to hear from you, Snow Leopard Trust!) So if Taproot Plus is a functional clearinghouse for both the nonprofits and the volunteers, that sounds like a need fulfilled, right there. If any of my readers have used this website to either find free help or provide it, please share in the comments or send me an email. I'd love to follow up.

Meanwhile, today I'm going to make my small - but sometimes matched! - donations to groups I've written about before on this blog - APOPO HeroRats, the Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation, the Pat Brody Shelter for Cats, and of course, the Snow Leopard Trust.

Pat Brody Shelter - free access outdoor area

~~~

And now - if you've made it all the way to the end of this post! - here is a little reward.

Some of you may remember a giveaway back in - oh my gosh, I just pulled the original images, and look - it was January 2015! 

Well, last year I had stocked up on more of these stars in order to repeat that giveaway in December. But I unexpectedly lost my laptop for most of that month and missed the opportunity.

So let's do it now!

I just checked the Snow Leopard Trust gift shop, and did not find stars amongst their many felted items, which makes these handmade stars not only pretty and cheerful, but possibly rare collectors' items!

To enter, just leave a comment on this post - perhaps sharing your own ideas for Giving Tuesday? or just say hello - and I will draw a winner one week from today. All are welcome, anywhere on the planet and on the International Space Station.

The winner will be announced on the blog and will have 3 days to provide me (by email) with a mailing address.

Good luck!

~~~

* That state-wide number made me smile. There was rather a lot going on in Massachusetts in 1775! It was the start of the American Revolution.

~~~~~

lucky number

There were 74 names in the giveaway drawing, and the random sequence generator did it's stuff this morning.

The winner is #5:

Boud

Congratulations, Boud!

I hope you will enjoy your new constellation.

(Will the Dollivers claim naming rights?)

Email or ravPM your mailing address, and I will send your stars the very next time I can get to the Post Office. Lately that's been once/week on Saturday, so it may take a while...

but they'll be a-coming!

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway.

I'm enjoying meeting new blogfolk thanks to Vicki's GYB Party,

and it's especially nice to see new names popping up in the comments!

Well, my "work" here is done.

Time to wade through the new

- and still falling -

snow,

water buckets in hand.

Have a peaceful Sunday, everyone!

~~~~~

a quick reminder

In case you forgot what falling snow looks like:

taken a few minutes ago.

But that's not really what I wanted to remind you about...

it's that the Grow Your Blog Party giveaway entries

close tonight at midnight, Eastern Time.

So if you haven't already done so,

you might wish to leave a comment on the giveway post.

Tomorrow I will make a numbered list of commenters

and use random.org to select the winning number.

And I will post the winner's name on the blog tomorrow!

Good luck  :)

And a big "thank you" to everyone who expressed interest

in the Snow Leopard Trust!

~~~~~

Grow Your Blog

Welcome to Comptonia, friends and newcomers!

If you are visiting for the first time as part of the wonderful Vicki's Grow Your Blog Party, I know you will be travelling the blogiverse at a dizzying gallop, trying to get an idea of what many blogs are all about. The quickest way to see what this blog is about, would be to left-click on an annual collage post: here is 2013 and 2014.

But if you'd like some words...

I write about ordinary life in a tiny house

surrounded by trees
in a fairly rural part of New England.

Sometimes I share a practical tip that readers may find useful,
but only in the same way we all do that, in conversation.
I mean, this is not a blog full of helpful information,
but if I rattle on long enough, I'm bound to say
something useful eventually.

No, mostly it's just looking around and taking photographs,
and thinking about what I see and writing about it.
There are many trees on this blog, for example. 

Also, attempts at gardening.

There are walks in the woods...

with my dog, Piper.

I may as well tell you right now:
Piper thinks Comptonia is her blog.

But Piper is wrong.

Just ask my little herd of cashmere goats.

Oh, and sometimes there's knitting.

And sometimes occasionally, adventures in the kitchen.

Please feel free to look around - I hope you'll find something enjoyable!
Sharing interests and ordinary life through blogging is a very pleasant way to "meet" people from all over the planet, and I'd love to hear about you and your world. Please do leave comments anytime the mood strikes you, because that's a really wonderful part of blogging: genuine connections with people we are unlikely to meet in "real life."

If you would like to "follow" or subscribe to Comptonia,

there are some clickable options in the sidebar.

Thank you for visiting!

~~~

And since this is a party, of course there will be a giveaway!

 This woolen felted star was handmade by a woman living in a very tough environment - Mongolia - using local wool.

These wooly stars and lots of other nifty items are created and sold through a wonderful community-based conservation program called Snow Leopard Enterprises. If you left-click that link, I think you will be impressed! It's a "good news" click.

Oh, look: here's another star:

I have admired the Snow Leopard Trust for many years, because I respect their approach to conservation. It considers not "just" the animals, not "just" habitat, not "just" cultural preservation, but incorporates all three in a realistic and functional way.
Also: field research! The website is full of phenomenal photography, up-to-date news of discoveries, international conservation successes, and...
the shop full of handmade goods.

These stars, for example:

You know, it's tricky to come up with a giveaway item that will appeal to every reader, woman or man, child or adult, office worker or trapeze artist.
But I really think I've managed it!

One of these stars makes a cheerful decoration on any wall,
or hanging in any window.

Who doesn't like stars, right?

Like this one:

Or maybe a pair of stars hanging from a small branch

 would make a pleasant mobile?
As the stars slowly turn,
one might see first the solid side,
then the decorated side.

Like this:

Oh, and I see a lot of buntings on blogs...

I'll bet stars would be very happy elements of a bunting!

Wouldn't this star be pretty in a bunting?

Maybe with a couple of its starry associates?

I think so.

So, my giveaway item is five of these handmade stars.

In fact, the very five pictured in this post -
one each: orange, green, yellow, pink, and blue.

Would you like a chance to win?

The giveaway instructions are simple, and

everyone, everywhere, is welcome to enter!
Here's how:

1) Leave a comment on THIS blog post,
by February 14th.

2) INCLUDE a way for me to contact you:

email address is good,

ravelryID works too,

or a twitter handle.

That's it! I will draw and post the winner on February 15,
and contact the winner to ask for a mailing address.

Then a packet of stars will be on its way to you!

Like magic!

Good luck, everyone!

And now I'm off to the party  :)

~~~~~

And the winners are....

The results are in, for the very first Comptonia giveaway!

The nuts & bolts:
I assigned a number to each entry in each drawing, then used the free random number generator from random.org to select the winners.

Drumroll, please.

The winner of the tiny embroidered purse from Mongolia is:

InJuneau

Congratulations, InJuneau!  Your little prize will be on its way north (way way north!) as soon as you send me your mailing info via an email or a PM on rav.
```
Another drumroll?
No?
Too much suspense?
Okay, then. Without further ado:

The winner of a felted wool eyeglass case from Kyrgyzstan is:

Ronda at Mountain Delights

Congratulations, Ronda!  Please email your mailing address and tell me whether you would like the grey or the tan case, and I will send your selection ASAP.
~~~
Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing and to everyone who has visited during the first two weeks of this blog's existence. I appreciate each and every comment and email, and am grateful for all the encouragement!

It's very flattering that so many readers have chosen to "follow" Comptonia.  I am such a rookie blogger, I am still trying to understand the difference between subscribing to a blog in an RSS feed (which is what I have always done in the past) and "following" or "joining" a blog.  (Is also a there a difference between "following" and "joining"?  Oh, there is so much to learn!)

It's lovely to meet so many new bloggy-friends, thanks to Vicki's Grow Your Blog Party.  I'm still wending my way through the list of participants, and enjoying each garden, project, and cup of tea along the way  :)

There will be more posts to come soon, on this fledgling blog.  There will be crafty creative stuff (I hope), trees and plants (lots), cooking (a little), and occasional guest appearances by Piper, who now wishes me to address her as Your Bloggy Highness...but I am resisting!

And, of course, there will be goats.  Please come back and visit again  :)
~~~~~

...and a giveaway!

As part of the "Grow Your Blog Party" hosted by Vicki at Two Bags Full, I'm having a very simple little celebratory giveaway.  

My first!  And the blog is only 4 days old!  I feel a little weepy.

Anyone can enter!

Just post a comment saying which of the two prizes you would like to win, and include a way to contact you (email, ravelry id, bloglink).  You don't have to have a blog, and you don't have to "follow" my blog (although of course that would be nice, but really, you don't have to!) One entry per person, please, and anonymous comments will not be entered.  Just email me at the address in my profile if you have any kind of problem posting.

Anyone can win, anywhere in the world!  

If you win, your prize will get an all-expenses-paid luxury trip in a series of mailbags, right to your very door!

~~~

There are two prizes, and I found both at the Snow Leopard Trust.

I love the Snow Leopard Trust.  They approach a complicated conservation problem in a culturally-sensitive, multi-faceted way, and they do it really, really well.  Animals, indigenous peoples, cultures, and habitats all benefit.  Love. Them.

~~~

Now the prizes!

First, this itsy-bitsy embroidered coin purse:

These little purses are made by women living in the Sagsai region of Mongolia.  The designs are traditional.

This one is 4" square, made of chocolate brown cotton and embroidered in turquoise and rich purple.  It is fully lined, and has a zipper across one entire end, and a little grab-loop.  I use mine for knitting notions, like stitch markers and point protectors.

And a tape measure.  And fold-up scissors.  And you get the picture  ;)

The same embroidery colors are reversed on the other side.  Cute, no?

If you would like to win the embroidered coin purse, just shout out "coin purse!" in your comment.

~~~~~

The second prize is one of these felted wool eyeglass cases.  I couldn't choose one, so I got two, and now YOU have to choose.

(So glad that pressure is off!)

Each has a traditional Krygyz design embroidered on the front.  The back is solid felt in the same color as the front, either a nice camel tan or a rich dark grey.  They are about 7" by 3.5", are lined in soft cotton, and are open at one end.

If you would rather win an eyeglass case than a tiny embroidered coin purse, just say, "Tan case!" or "Grey case!" in your comment, and your name will be entered in the eyeglass case drawing.

~~~

Entries are open until midnight Eastern Time, Thursday, 31st January.
I will draw the winners and announce them on this blog

on Friday, the 1st of February.

Depending on the number of entries, the drawing will be done using either slips of paper in a hat (1 to 30 entries per prize) or a random number generator (31 to one billion entries).  It's up to you!

Thank you for visiting, and good luck  :)

~~~~~