january slipped away

...and here's a little update on the week past.

The Porch Project is back on track!

After a considerable delay and two reschedules - once due to a snowstorm - the painters came last week. Three days, three hours of preliminary sanding, followed by three coats of satin-finish polyurethane on the pine walls and ceiling.

The results look quite nice, I think.

(Disclaimer: these photographs exclude an unsightly heap of residual construction material and debris. Removal is proceeding slowly, somewhat hampered by snow.)

Even the color difference between

all the fresh new pine

and the darker 17-year-old pine wall

(to the right in the snap above)

appears as a pleasing design element, rather than a distraction.

Serendipitous!

Have you seen the shelf beneath the gable window?

It was one of the final items on the carpentry list.

The shelf runs the full length of the 14' south wall.
I planned it as a place to neatly store things
that I need to access only occasionally.

The Last Interior Frontier (Fronterior?) will be the floor:

lightly sanding - possibly staining - 

and then polyurethaning

the original mahogany floorboards.

Soon, I hope.

Because when the floor is done,

I can "move in."
Huzzah!

~~~

Snow:

we've got it.

I've lost track of the snowstorms.

We've had plenty of snow.

Still do.

Every time I can get out of the driveway,

I go fetch a few bales of hay before the next storm.

In fact, I went for hay yesterday.
And the snow began again last night.
Still falling now.

Cold:
we've got that, too.

One morning it was still -5F (-21C) at midday.

Brisk.

Which reminds me...

 the fireworks picture at the top of this post

celebrating the latest porch progress,

is actually a screenshot from Up Helly Aa 2015.

As always, it was powerful stuff:

My feelings about life and death, creation and destruction,
have been revisited and revitalized for another year. 

Well done, People of Lerwick.

Thank you for sharing!

~~~

P.S.

If you are looking for the giveaway, it's here.

Entries open until 14 February.

Good luck!

~~~~~

notgoat cams

It occurred to me...
since there has been interest in stills from my goatcams, some of my readers may enjoy exploring livecams available online?

In the early 1990s, I sometimes watched a livecam of Dublin while working (endlessly, it seemed, but happily) on my Master's Thesis. I had not yet been to Ireland for on-the-ground research, and it was a little bit magical to have that realtime connection. Of course, when I actually spent 15 days in Ireland in 1995, I chose to spend about five minutes in Dublin, and nearly every waking moment out in the countryside; afoot or on horseback or in a boat. It was splendid. Extremely low-budget, with a backpack full of a change of clothes and about 40 pounds of camera, film, tripod, and research material. I later estimated that I walked over a hundred miles. As I say...

it was splendid. 

And now, gosh, 20(!) years later, I sometimes watch webcams of wildlife and places I would love to visit (afoot or on horseback or in a boat - really, some preferences never change, however unrealistic). Here are a couple of websites you might be interested in visiting. The images below are just screenshots, but the links will take you to the (much better quality) real thing.

I found the Shetland livecams during my first experience (online, that is) of Up Helly Aa, which will be happening - and livestreamed again - in just just a few days, on Tuesday, 27 January! So exciting!

Year-round, the Shetland cams offer several views of Lerwick,

and audio from the local radio station.

My favorite puffincam is sadly not up this year,

but any view of the ocean is very welcome here

at landlocked Cloud Harvest Cashmere.

Shetland cams

And speaking of birds...

the Cornell Ornithology Lab has several livecams, in various locations. This linked list conveniently indicates which are live at the moment: 

Cornell Lab list of cams

This morning I watched a fantastic new camera in Savannah, Georgia.

(If you left-click on an image, I think it will embiggen. Worth trying!)

When I started watching this Great Horned Owl nest,

it was early morning and soft light...

and as time went on*

the sun began to light the branches, and then the mama owl's face.

  *it can be mesmerizing to watch these cameras. Just sayin'...

this is why I almost always have my goatcams open

in one corner of my laptop.

How else would I have discovered that

Azalea is also doing some bird-watching?

Or learned that Acer and Betula have taken on

the responsibility of supervising the snowplow,

on the road far below:

Because after all,

we humans are not the only ones

who like to keep a close eye on things,

from the comfort of our own nests!

~~~

Do you have any favorite livestreaming cameras?

Please share your recommendations

in the comments!

~~~~~

post

Very special things arrived in my recently-excavated letterbox this week!

The first was a giveaway prize from one of the Grow Your Blog Party drawings:

Aren't these gorgeous?!

Many thanks to Karen at knitalatte for my lovely handknit mitts!

They are light and warm, and these colors are delightful!  :)

~~~

Next, was another luck-of-the-draw prize.

All the way from Shetland, across the sea!

A bit of background on this one...

Have you heard of the historic Lerwick "Up Helly Aa" fire festival? If not, you may find it is worth watching (at least watching online, as I do) next January. Months of preparation go into this community endeavor and the results are really something. Hundreds of costumed "Vikings," a dragon-headed wooden galley (ship), a massive torchlight procession through the town (that's my favorite part, it is truly stunning), followed by the ceremonial burning of the galley.

Well, this past January the Shetland:Pride of Place folk had a drawing of people from all over the world who tweeted their location during the Up Helly Aa livestream. I was one of the lucky winners, but to be honest, I had forgotten all about it...
when a package appeared!

Music and maps and trinkets and information and a perfect knitting project tote bag.

Now all I need is some Shetland wool to put in the bag.
But with shipping being so costly, I ought to just go over there and get the yarn, right?

Right?

Well, it's a nice dream, anyway  :)

~~~

I hope your weekend is full of nice dreams.

~~~~~