If you are going to eat, eat well.

RiverPoet's Lobster Chowder

2 large or 3 small stalks celery, sliced thin
3 skinny carrots, sliced thin
2 small potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp basil
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2 lobster tails
4 tbsp butter
1-1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
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1 c. half-and-half

Bring the veggies, broth, parsley and basil to a boil in a large saucepan. Simmer 30 minutes, or until veggies are almost soft. Remove from heat.

Cut the lobster into small chunks. Melt the butter in a saute pan, and add the lobster, paprika and turmeric. Saute pieces until opaque - this usually only takes a couple of minutes.

Add the lobster and butter to the veggies. SLOWLY stir in the half-and-half. Turn the heat back on LOW, and slowly heat everything to just barely a simmer. Stir frequently and do not boil.

Once heated through, serve immediately. Serves... theoretically two, or one very hungry person. (Makes two good-sized bowls.)

Back on the road

It appears that I've got my health problems sorted for the moment. Who knew that it would take $$$-worth of tests to equate trouble breathing to asthma. Anyway, what is done is done. I'm doing the running/walking catch-up in one post.

Sun., Sept. 23: 6.2 mi
Tues., Sept. 25: 5.15 mi
Fri., Sept. 28: 5.25 mi
Sun., Sept. 30: 6 mi

... and with that lousy 6-mi slog of a walk, I took a break while I met several nice doctors, nurses, technicians, and testing apperati. Fast forward to life on inhalers...

Sun., Nov. 4: 6.25 mi  (benchmark pre-medication... yep, exercise still sucks)

Fri., Nov. 16: 1.2 mi. dog walk
Sat.. Nov. 17: 5.5 mi walk
Wed., Nov. 21: 1.2 mi dog walk
Thu., Nov. 22: 5.5 mi Thanksgiving walk
Sun., Nov. 25: 3.65 at Bee Tree + 1.35 mi dog walk = 5 mi
Wed., Nov. 28: 4.25 mi on the dreadmill. Oh joy.
Fri., Nov. 30: 5.5 mi + 1.25 dog walk = 6.75 mi

And... back to The Program, which includes the 4:45 am alarm settings. Woot.
Sun., Dec. 2: 6.1 mi
Tues., Dec. 4: 4.5 mi dreadmill
Wed., Dec. 5: 4.3 mi walk
Fri., Dec. 7: 6.1 mi
Sat., Dec. 8: 5.5 mi
Sun., Dec. 9: 7 mi walk w/A and Kev

Tues., Dec. 11: 5 mi dreadmill
Wed., Dec. 12: total of 12K between dreadmill run, dog walk, and dreadmill walk.
  ... yes... 12K on 12-12-12, including the 12:12pm dog walk. :-)

Recent Work

I've been busy with master spinner program homework lately, but have been sneaking in some turning time. Recently off the lathe...

Walnut natural-edged bowl

Cherry natural-edged bowl

Ambrosia Maple bowl

Bloodwood (also called Satine) nostepinne... in my Etsy shop

Rock Maple lidded box. That stuff is aptly named.

As the Lathe Turns: Bowl Edition

I signed up for another woodturning class at the Craft Alliance, with instructor Matt Keim. It's been a lot of fun - I hadn't turned bowls since the first class, and was quite out of practice. But I'm remembering how much I love it.

Class 1: Thin-walled bowls

L to R: Tulip Poplar; Sycamore (finished); Sycamore (unfinished)

I turned the bowl in the center in class, then practiced on the piece I brought home (on the right). The one on the left is Tulip Poplar, and a particularly dark piece at that. The two on the left have been finished with butcher-block oil.

Class 2: Natural-edge bowls

Cherry bowl, finished

In the second class, we tackled natural-edge bowls. I got a lovely piece of cherry to work on (above). It is also finished with butcher-block oil.

For practice: I tackled a piece I'd hacked at a few times over the summer - also cherry - but was destroying, rather than creating. I finally worked up the nerve to mount that, and finish it up. Far from perfect, but better than it was - and not a pile of wood chips.

Cherry bowl, finished

And - I had a neat piece of mimosa that had a lovely grain when turned. Yada yada, BB-oil.

Mimosa bowl, finished

Class 3 was a walnut bowl... I need to turn the foot off that this weekend, and get it sanded and finished.

Functional art, and a piece of history

I drove out to Wellsville, MO this morning for a farm auction. A photo of a small gypsy-style wheel, likely German, caught my eye. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one bidding on it, and it went for way more than I had budgeted. But I did snap some photos for my own edification.

It was a very small wheel - maybe a 10" drive wheel - with a small footprint. It would have needed a bit of work to get spinning again, mainly fixing the split whorl and adding new treadle leather. And the bobbin was fused to the whorl... a bit of elbow grease to loosen that up. It did come with an extra bobbin and a half, which is very rare for old wheels. It had been painted, too - in reds, yellows and blacks. Hopefully the couple that got it can restore it and keep the remaining paint intact.

Acrylic - Not My Favorite

Working with acrylic makes just about everything else seem like butter. It is hard on my tools and I'm not a fan of the smell. But when it's all nice and shiny... it's amazing.

Off the lathe recently...

Pacific Yew on left, blue acrylic (for Paul) on right

Bottom two - various laminated woods, top is acrylic

Shiny needle cases in acrylic (available on my Etsy site)

Quick rehash of recent run/walking... still trying to figure out why I can't run well recently:

Sat., Aug 25: 3.5mi walk during Clean Stream event
Sun., Aug: 26: 5.5 mi walk

Week of Aug. 27: 5.25 mi Tuesday, 5 mi Wednesday, 5.55 mi Friday, 5.25 mi Sunday
Week of Sept. 3: 4.3 mi Tuesday, 5.25 mi Wednesday, 5 mi Friday, 6.2 mi Sunday
Week of Sept. 10: 5.3 mi Tuesday, 5 mi Wednesday, 5.05 mi Saturday, 5.2 mi Sunday
Week of Sept. 17: 5.35 mi Tuesday, 5.25 mi Wednesday, 5 mi Friday.

Praise for Icelandic Sheep

At some point along the fiber-collecting road, I ended up with some commercial Icelandic roving. It was a pretty steel-wool gray color, and felt about the same. I wasn't so much impressed.

Fast-forward to working on my Master Spinner Program level-one homework. Part of it is a breed study, where you select 10 breeds, start with raw fleece, and work your way through scouring, prepping, spinning, and a small knitted sample. I tried to spread my breed selections out across a wide range of sheep (and fleece) types. One we had gotten samples of in class was Navajo Churro, and I knew I had more at home so I'd have enough to include that one. Except... my own stash of 4oz was nowhere to be found.

So. On to a substitution. To stay within the same type, I looked at other sheep with primitive or dual-coated fleeces, and decided on Icelandic. The sheep themselves are cute as all get-out, and I wanted to see if my initial impression of that commercial roving was correct or not.

Photo from ncwga.org

Icelandic sheep first ended up in Iceland thanks to the Vikings, who brought along sheep belonging to the Northern European short-tailed sheep family way back in the ninth and tenth century.  There has been little change or 'improvement' during the intervening years... intentionally. They are hardy, intelligent little sheep that apparently tend to exhibit a bit of personality.

In Iceland, most of the income from these sheep comes from the meat trade. But the wool fiber is highly valued too, both there and around the world.  The fleece has two layers... an outer coat called tog, which is longer and coarser. The undercoat, thel, is short and soft. They can be spun together, but often the coats are separated. The tog can be spun for stronger fiber needed for durable items, while the thel can be soft enough to use for next-to-skin items.

For class, I got both a lamb fleece and an adult fleece. The lamb fleece is incredibly soft, and I'll likely spin both coats together.

Lamb fleece

Staples from lamb fleece

The adult fleece has better definition between tog and thel and I'll be separating those coats out for spinning.

Adult fleece

Staples from adult fleece (those boards are 6" wide)

Both fleeces are from Sunrise Sheep and Wool, and I highly recommend them - they are in lovely shape.