Catz Daze

This is Aria. She likes to be under the covers. And when she's not, she likes to attack feet!

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me..

But woe betide any human subject who wakes her furry butt up!

or not...some are just curious...

But Aria has one MAJOR kitty trait...

and can't help looking into the well, or laundry machine as it were to see if Lassie might have fallen in.

She just HAS to sniff out any possible place a D.O.G. might be.

And her human sister has one very Human trait....throw the cat down the well...

And some get pushed in by a helpful sibling who just can't resist....

HELLO? Any Doggies down here?

until Mom has pity on them and lets their poor, beleaguered, neurotic furry butts free.

 And you thought helping someone recover from surgery was all fun and games,  huh? Work I tell you, it's all work!
from the goddess of puzzling kitties....

The lovely month of May...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...
it's that time of year, even bunnies are out to play. I saw one on my way to the MAX the other day and had to stop and snap his mug shot. Yeah, it was a really cheesy thing to do, but come on, I live in the city. How often do you see little bunny foo foo hopping out of the forest? I mean I live in the third largest city in Oregon. I was seriously looking around for the good fairy and his magic wand. No joy.

But dreams of hossenpfeffer and grilled thumper thighs followed me to bed that night. Num. He just hopped faster than I could deploy my mad skills with the folding cane and walker. Drat it!

But we've had some beautiful Oregon Spring days.

Like this one from the first of the month when I went to pick up my prescriptions 2 miles away and it was sunny, but it hailed back near where I live. That's Spring in Oregon for you. But the sun has been visiting, making us all think that we might have some warm days this year, even the flowers are approving.

I'm seeing more and more on my walks around the neighborhood. The vacant lot has nice wild weeds and the townhouses next door have lovely gardens. My own apartments are kind of blah though. But I can deal with it since I would much rather look at the pretty flowers than smell them coming in my air conditioner all the time.

These perennials are a lovely addition every year.

And these blue flowers form hedges that are waist high.

Who doesn't like Roses?

As for the last few days? It's been raining..

.It is Spring in Oregon after all....from the puzzled goddess of nature



In any color?



The green and yellow that's NOT going to Estrella, or Pennsic....

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

 Colors of glass in greens primarily because it was done as a

Hauksgar$r  prize piece. Bottom bead on this part of the

strand was work with specifially  applied stringer. 3rd

 from bottom was a failed englobing attempt and there are

4 different designs using dots.

 Lately I've been watching the You Tube and learning how other people do things and buying a great deal of Mapp-Pro bottles and burning the flame to wind that glass around thos steel mandrels to see what I can come up with.

 More dots! bead on top was tri-corner folded. The

next down was an attempt at a bicone bead. Then my

 first attempt at a mosaic bead. A folded and patterned

bead with stringer work. A bead with stringer work. A

dragon stamped focal bead. A folded bead, a folded and

patterned bead.

  I've made a few necklaces in the past that I've been okay, happy with and am now working on specific techniques.

This necklace combines quite a few of those techniques into a pleasing whole and adds a few new twists.  It was a donation to our Canton's fundraising coffers.



This side of the necklace contains the other mosaic I learned to do
while making this  necklace. The bicone, two cylinder beads
with multiple stringer and bicolored glass  overlaying or side to side.
Eye-beads.



Eye beads. A cylindrical bead for practice

 using side by side  laying techniques, raking

techniques to simulate techniques of actual

rocks and gems. a standard eyebead, a square

 eyebead,  a standard bead, 2 raked beads.

 polka dotted bead



My daughter did some "I wonder" type checking after I started making these donations and discovered that each glass, lampwoven bead in a necklace like this ran between $0.50-$5.00 in supplies alone depending on the color used and the time it takes to make (how much gas you are burning and how many steps there are in the process of what you are creating...and that doesn't include electric kiln cooldown time or any of that if it's available, or REALLY expensive glass. ;D She just wanted to ball park what we were handing away just in materials, minus our time.  There are about 35 glass beads in this necklace... so lets say about 12 are easy,  $ 0.50; about 8 are so-so $1.00;  about 6, are medium $ 2.50; 4 above average. $4.00, 4 really unusual $5.00, and one focus bead, $6-$10    igore the beading wire, findings, crimps, covers, jump rings,  $1.50,

metal spacer beads 6- 2 @ $.90 4@$.50

THIS particular necklace, cost wise, in materials alone, ran about $79-$90.  Supplies alone. Then you add my time and labor. :} I don't think the world is ready for this. It works out to roughly 8 1/4 hours.  So you've got another $43-85 added to that for actual labor costs.

In the bag raffle in netted about $27 worth of tickets. Excellent deal wasn't it? LOL The winning bidder put about $6 or $8 into that item I believe. Woot! I hope she likes it. We now have been told, only silent auctions from here on in. So....

I guess I'm always just amazed when I sit down and really put a 'price' or 'cost' on our SCA hobbies. LOL Now I know why I can't afford to buy other people's stuff, I'm too busy buying materials to make mine!
as always a goddess truly amazed by reality...





Cool library in Wales...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...
or not puzzled...loving it....Welsh libraries...manuscripts...illuminations....oh I would so love to see these for real!
The National Library of Wales - Alexander the Great MS 15c

from the goddess of learning

Other people paint the same ones...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

It seems puzzling, but it's not. It's actually very fun to see other people's takes on the same artwork and how they finish it. One of my SCA buddies found another SCAdians links on Flickr and I've been out there looking at her stuff. What makes it even cooler is that it's someone I know. I took a begining charter making class from Mistress Leah with her.

Bopping through its neat to see what she's done, especially this one! When I painted it I had a bear figuring out the shadow play on it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9361067@N04/2263495297/?addedcomment=1#comment72157620807739514

Here's mine! Which, of course, I like better, ;D, but the reason was more that I liked the three dimensional effects that I worked to get on the architectural detail. Not for any other reason.

You go Kewpdx! maybe sometime I'll actually be able to join the other Portland painters when they get together instead of painting up here in isolation with my mom and my daughter and trying to interest EVERYBODY ELSE! lol OH the plans I have for future classes! LOL!

Castles are kewl...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...
Or not. We got to hold an event this last weekend at the Husum Castle in Washington. Very cool place. It's normally rented out for weddings, but we have an in. ;D

It was a kick to wander around in garb at a location that was closer to medieval than most things in this country.

Here's Kerryk in front of what I believe is the south face of the castle.

We spent most of the day feasting and merry making in the castle's main room.





The stairs down to the kitchen were curved and narrow in the tower.





While the kitchen itself was small.


On the opposite side of the castle from the kitchen access is the main building which has 4 floors plus a basement.

Each floor has a bedroom suite and a bathroom. At the very top is a party room that is open to the outside air and has a small, "musician's gallery" off of one corner in the top of the tower.

All in all it was a fun day, we got to hear epic poems, songs, and stories; play games; participate in lampwork bead making; and eat lots of good food!

from a puzzled goddess feeling medieval...

I promised a look at how it went...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

For those not interested in Medieval Illumination, ignore this post.

I started this scroll months ago, when I knew we'd have to make some kind of quasi-official request of Three Mountains of their patronage. I asked on Known Worlde Scribal lists about wording, and got no good answer so I proceeded to deal with it myself.

"Unto the Most Noble Alfric and Jill, Baron and Baroness Three Mountains do the peoples on your eastern borders send you greetings on this 13th day of December, Anno Societatus XLIII, being 2008 in the common era.

We seek the boon of your kind patronage as we attempt to strengthen our great kingdom, An Tir, by building a canton on your eastern border in the counties of Hood River and Wasco.

In support of this we do make our marks as the people of the incipient Canton of Haukesgaard, do the heralds deem it meet.


(Marks:)
HL Kerryk Wolfram, Rebecca C. Graham, HL Sannan Cairgnorn, Ashayet, Meredith Elizabeth Walter, Juliet duBlunt, Elfwyn, Hayley Graham, Steven Graham, Matt palmer, Cedryk Farskyes, Meg Lethel, Connor Cameron Hawk, Epona of Vanir-Law, Casandra O'Dell, James Douglas O'Dell, Elfwyn"

I took inspiration from 3M's website where they were using the Grand Heures of the Duc de Burgundy (if I remember correctly. It's either the grand or the Belle. He commissioned MANY books of hours.) So I knew I wanted to place it somewhere in the Gothic time period. (Well beyond my own personna's time!) So...I looked through my scribal books and came across a discontinued library copy of a facsimilie production of the Hours of Catherine of Cleves (c. 1440) I won't bore you with the background of how they dated the manuscript, etc. You can read the book or ask me, if I remember beyond yesterday. *grin*I knew that I wanted the elements of a hawk (heraldically an eagle with jesses it seems like), 3 mountains (for the representative barony), a deep valley or gorge and a keep. All of these elements are part of our heraldry for our group, and I wanted to represent the group.

I had the drawing of the winner of the 'best representation of a hawk,' from May Revel last year (yes, we've been working on getting this together for almost 2 years!) and I wanted to use that so that Meredith(Missa) would still feel included in spirit though she's travelled afar from us in body! This also pushed the era beyond mine, into one of more realistic looking miniatures.

So, materials choice. I can't currently afford true vellum, so hot press art paper of 90-120 lbs is considered an appropriate substitute. I think mine was Arches 110lb press. I used a quarter of a sheet to get the scroll to be a good size for matting and framing without special orders.

Gold choice. Gold is a large part of this piece, but I can't afford patent or leaf gold currently to do gilding or shell gold for painting so I had to be satisfied with the use of Sumi Gold Watercolor Ink.
I used Winsor-Newton designer goache paints and one or two colors of M.Graham designer goache.

I first created a cartoon on an 11"X17" piece of graph paper, cut down to 11"X15". I drafted out the margins, the calligraphy and letter blocks, the vine margin area and the central picture area. The margins on the left in the original are larger, since it was meant to be bound into a manuscript, I tried to keep that look. Also, the upper margin was smaller than the bottom, again I tried to keep the look.

I didn't want human figures in the border of this so I replaced the seated monk with some additional acanthus leaves and a bird in the border. My scroll isn't an exact match on purpose, just, "done in the style of."

The picture was sketched in on the cartoon and the text spaced. I did forget to draw in a frame around that actual picture, which I would correct if attempting this style again. I would also allow more spacing in the calligraphy. But this was the first time I'd tried this hand, so the results were acceptable, if not great. ;)

Since we had people showing up at many different times to sign this thing, I had the signatures placed on the scroll before the wording was calligraphied. They were shown the cartoon with the final wording and design so they knew what they were signing.

I also proceded backwards from most in that I did the calligraphy before the illumination, since I was much more comfortable with my illumination skills than with my calligraphy skills on a brand new hand. :)

I had a delay in the middle of this process when I lost the majority of the sight in my left eye due to the liquid separating from the cornea, supposed to get better sometime soon, but I got to the point where I couldn't wait for that. So, this was finished by a one-eyed scribe. :)

I transfered the design from the cartoon to the actual scroll via lightbox. Then I worked the calligraphy. I didn't feel up to the challenge of breaking down the form of gothic used in these hours and coming up with my own ductus, so I went to Marc Grogin's book and used the Gothic Textura from the period involved. My paleography is not quite up to doing it myself yet. :)

I kept my color pallet small and bright and close to the colors in the original. Spectrum Red and Grenadine red highlighting, Pale cadmium yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Sap Green, Burnt Umber, zinc white and titanium white.

This is how the final scroll turned out. I won't point out any more of my mistakes, but gee it was a learning experience!

from a puzzled goddess who went medieval all over a scroll :)

Charting into medieval waters ...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

I'm procrastinating, badly. I realize it, and I'm trying to stop. I've had a place in my neck that's been out pretty badly for the past 3 months, and it makes it pretty easy to have an excuse to procrastinate. I have many charters from Kingdom and Summits that need to be painted. Luckily, my mom-in-law isn't as much of a procrastinator as I am. :)

I used to think I could maybe develop some kind of artistic capability. Not at expert level mind you, just enough so I didn't embarrass myself or my family in a public venue.

I'm not so sure about that any more. I've spent the last 10 or 11 months very religiously studying medieval manuscripts, illumination and calligraphy and still know that I've only just touched the surface, but I thought I'd got some of the basics of painting down. I've been practicing and reading books, cuz I never took an art class until that one drawing class with my hubby about 10 years ago.

I recently was told that my stuff was too dark, and that I didn't have the skills to do the designs in a clean and medieval manner. I was a bit disheartened. The feedback is nice. I like to know what I'm doing wrong. I just don't think now that I can do anything right. I really would like to be told how to correct individual things, not blanket statements. But I guess that any feedback that's not 'gee how pretty' in a volunteer organization is getting you somewhere. Maybe?

I just have a hard time having any confidence in this, since it's not something I've done before, but I so enjoy painting. I guess I'm hoping that if they hate them bad enough they'll tell me not to paint so that I can stop wasting my time? :?

Here are the charters that were particularly dark, too dark for kids anyway :)
Have to remember to use something besides Prussian Blue and Black for a base color in the picture elements, huh?

I think the charter from this bunch that I was proudest of was this one on the right....I REALLY wasn't sure what that building was I was painting, or how it should be shaded. I was impressed that it actually came out looking like a building! :)

The other one I outdid myself on in my opinion, is the one at the head of this post...my sister was the scribe of the Summits and gave me two of these to paint in a Trompe l'oeil effect...needless to say, I had NO clue what that was until it was explained to me. :) The green as a background worked out fairly well, better than the gold I tried on the first one I did!

So, now I have talked myself into doing some more painting...maybe.

from a puzzled goddess

Whale speak...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...


No it's not Dora...This is an article in the Telegraph.co.uk paper about scientists at Kamogawa Sea World aquarium in Chiba Prefecture, Japan who have taught a Beluga whale to use three identifiable 'words' for a bucket, diving fins and goggles.

It's not that this is a minor accomplishment. Obviously to be reported in the world press it was something unusual and interesting. But I really was hoping that there would be more of a breakthrough in communicating with other species at this point.

This other article talks about whale songs themselves and their complexity.
"Humpback songs are not like human language, but elements of language are seen in their songs," said Ryuji Suzuki, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) predoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and first author of the paper.

There is even a sample of whale song on the site. For some reason, I find whalesong particularly soothing. :) Move over Spock and Capt. Kirk we still have whales here.

from a puzzled goddess

Black never left the building...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

Okay...so all the clothes and supplies got purchased, and I'm a little emo'd out. Why do my kids insist on emo stuff? They're not really depressed. Maybe it's because black, white and grey look good on them :)

At that age, I'd have worn black daily if my mom had let me get away with it. But I always got, "Black's too old a color for you." That was back in the days when some widows still wore 'weeds' and people actually wore black to funerals and it was considered VERY poor manners to wear black to a wedding because you were implying that you were in mourning for the bride or groom depending on your sex. (Nowadays, I think you're just showing you're in mourning for both of them...they're getting MARRIED. SUCH a popular institution.)

I can't believe we were silly enough to go to Clackamas Town Center. I knew better. It was like going on the last weekend before Christmas, except EVERY kids' shop in the mall was mobbed. Zumiez was actually smart enough, and big enough, to have a couch in the back corner of the shop for the worn out parents to sit on. Plus it kept our very uncool presence in the back of the store. :) It was embarrassing that I had a low sugar episode and almost passed out after I got up from that couch. But the chocolate shop across the mall forcourt soon put that right again, along with some sprite. (ugh, sugared pop is NOT something I care for! Give me chocolate any time though!)

I had a kick walking around the food court with the kids though. They both looked so cool. But the girl was hugging on mommy's arm and so probably looked a bit dorky walking around with this old woman.

The son on the other hand was walking 3 steps behind, not out of respect, but to disassociate with the very uncool women in front of him. His mom and sister. So I had a great time dropping back to grab him around the neck or hug his shoulders and watch him squirm. I don't think he was specifically trying to impress anyone...just the general teenage feeling of wishing you could sink through the floor rather than acknowledge that you're at the mall with your, gasp, parents!

Most of the time when we go out we don't go places so firmly entrenched in the teens-only mentality so it's okay if mom hugs on him or messes up his perfectly groomed hair occassionally.

By the time they were done scoping out the really expensive black clothes I was more than ready to get out of there, and I was appreciating that couch even more after my hubby got to take the hike out to where he'd found parking for the car. It was far enough out that I never saw it parked. :)

from the puzzled goddess of teenage fashion :)

Okay honey, black diamonds it is...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

There was a really cool discovery mentioned on the About.com medieval blog I follow occasionally. It's an 11th century black diamond ring! The Telegraph in the UK had this article about it.

[imagine whiney voice here] Honey....what do I need to do to get a ring like that?... It's from my time period.....LOL

I was most impressed that the diamond was cut into a pyramid shape and the gold it was mounted in was worn so smooth that it almost looked painted onto the edge surface of the diamond. (There is a picture posted with the article.) Black diamonds are a neat thing. I'm seriously hoping this story is followed up on and we find out more about the 11th century owner of the ring, if indeed that's when it's from.

Black diamonds being so rare, they are probably well out of my price range. According to this website, the "Black Diamond: Gives us courage to look within without illusion" That's certainly a handy skill to have.

But then again, when I pass away he could always have a life gem created to mount in a ring like this. :) I wouldn't be able to enjoy it, but I'm sure my spirit would be happy. AS LONG AS THE DIAMOND ISN'T WHITE! Clear diamonds are SO yesterday. Maybe a nice blue, like these flowers?

You know hon, you could always get your mom to cut some hematite....

a puzzled goddess posting from an avaricious place in her soul

Chunks out of time and scotch tape...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

I remember hearing about the Dead Sea Scrolls when I was a kid, but I never had much of a clear idea of what they were. Yeah, they were written by dead prophets, a long time ago, and were translated on and off by scholars...so?

[my dear husband, philistine that he is, just loves the quote about the scripture written by a bunch of old guys in a cave smokin' rope, but we leave him his illusions...it's better that way. *grin*]

NOW that I'm MUCH older [don't agree with that too loudly!] , I understand the extreme sense of history and wonder in having 15,000 fragments that make up some 900 scrolls that are over 2,000 years old!

2,000....hmmm I doubt any of our ramblings on the internet will be around that long. :)

The neat part about this now is that the Israel Antiquities Authority is currently working to digitize these irreplaceable pieces of the past and place them on-line for everyone to see. There is an article on The New York Times website about it.

The part that made me grit my teeth was finding out that the original "experts" in the 1950's who were trying to piece these scrolls together used scotch tape to do it. Ouch! Anybody who has old records with crumbling pieces of scotch tape on them knows what that glue does to the paper. I have some pictures from the 50's and 60's that were pretty much ruined by the discoloration.

Seeing these eventually on-line is definitely something to look forward to.

from a puzzled goddess geeking out on the past

Blind nightmares of feng shui

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

I have always hated venetian blinds as a window covering. They are ugly, dirty and awkward. Studying Feng Shui as I did a few years ago (didn't everyone?) I discovered a GREAT excuse for my hatred....They cut CHI! Make it sharp edged. NOT what you want to happen in your home or workplace; you want the energy to flow gently throughout.

But after consulting a blog or two, I've come to the conclusion that nothing in my current house is good Feng Shui! Surprise, surprise. LOL My door faces the wrong way. My windows slide, not openning outward. Most views out our windows are offensive to the senses in various ways, but that's what you get in a 1970's tract house. They weren't thinking of homely harmony when they were throwing them up as fast as they could. No wonder I keep most of my windows covered!

Now, if I could just get rid of the clutter I KNOW we'd all be healthier

...of course, I'm the worst offender!

homely musings from a puzzled goddess

Hairballs?

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

I now know how cats must feel when they have a hairball. I thought I knew, when I was pregnant, TWICE, and was throwing up my toenails for the full 10 MONTHS of the grueling ordeal, multiple times per day....but I was wrong.

I have now started losing so much hair to thyroid disease that I find it EVERYWHERE. And I swear to all the gods that I tie it back at all times...even in a BRAID. But the d*mn stuff leaps off my head and junps into whatever I'm doing! Take a bath, end up with long strands of hair wrapped through unmentionable places. Take a nap, end up with long strands of hair tickling your nose or forhead blowing in the wind from my CPAP. Make food, invariably SOMEONE ends up with a strand or two in whatever they are eating. It's a conspiracy, they can't all be mine...but I've got the longest hair in the house! aargh....

The final straw was my egg salad sandwich last night. I ate it; it tasted fine; I then noticed the feeling of a strand of hair on my tongue....as I pulled the 12 inch long piece out I choked and gagged just like my cats! I looked at it, to make sure it was mine....but I couldn't blame it on anyone else. It's gray.

It's the silly things that puzzle me most :)

Blessings from a puzzled goddess

Navel Contemplation, Bellybutton lint, and surprised by beauty.

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

Spending much time lately contemplating my Facebook and Myspace and yahoo groups and yahoo sites (geocities) and the genealogy sites I have up for my family (2 built by me...4 or 5 built by others) and all the sites that pop up when I do a search on my name where I have expressed an opinion on an email list and it's been spidered. I'm now of the opinion that we've entered into the time of navel contemplation....all of us spend so much time looking at the back of our heads, or telling people what the back of our heads look like and how fun/grotesque/weird/humorous they are that we don't need to do much more in a day then contemplate our computer screen to have a pseudo zen psychiatry experience from our own computer chair.

This puzzled goddess will of course add to the confusion. I'll move the genealogy blogs I write over to this blog and let others who have no interest in that part of my life, pick and choose among the flotsam I choose to let them see.

I've discovered, now that my kids are teenagers, that I'm doing this parenting thing all wrong. Gee I must be really lucky that my kids aren't on drugs or in a gang doing a drive by right now. More on this parenting stuff later.

I really want to get to the importance of bellybutton lint. In my small world, I guess I figure if I'm surprised by belly button lint during a shower or bath that I just haven't been contemplating that navel nearly enough. I need to buckle down to some introspection and maybe my belly button will always be clean? nah...

A friend of mine is overseas as a contractor in those war torn countries and talked about being surprised by the beauty of some of his surroundings.

I live in one of the most scenic areas in many countries and I forget this joy of being surprised by the beauty around me, until I am reminded of all the ugliness that is around us. This is one of the views I see on a daily basis.


And my son, Rune, captured this beautiful sight that I put through an ultra-violet filter and cropped.
Blessings from a Puzzled Goddess