Happy Robbie Burns Day!

I'd like to take time someday to research this guy a bit more. The Ploughman Poet. There's something about him that just strikes a chord. Maybe it has something to do with working on a farm, trying to make ends meet, and at the same time, trying to fulfill an urge to create beauty and reach others.

Here he is described:
His person was strong and robust; his manners rustic, not clownish, a sort of dignified plainness and simplicity which received part of its effect perhaps from knowledge of his extraordinary talents. - Walter Scott

And I love his writing style:
I walk out, sit down now and then, look out for objects in nature around me that are in unison or harmony with the cogitations of my fancy and workings of my bosom, humming every now and then the air with the verses I have framed. when I feel my Muse beginning to jade, I retire to the solitary fireside of my study, and there commit my effusions to paper, swinging, at intervals, on the hind-legs of my elbow chair, by way of calling forth my own critical strictures, as my, pen goes. - Robert Burns

Here's my favourite poem by Scotlands Favourite Son (and why shouldn't it be!)

Anna
Yestreen I had a pint o' wine
A place where body saw na;
Yestreen lay on this breat o' mine
The gowden locks of Anna.

The hungry Jew in wilderness
Rejoicing o'er his manna
Was naething to my hiney bliss
Upon the lips of Anna.

Ye Monarchs take the East and West
Frae Indus to Savannah:
Gie me within my straining grasp
The melting form of Anna!

There I'll despise Imperial charms,
An empress or sultana,
While dying raptures in her arms,
I give an' take wi' Anna!

Awa, thou flaunting God of Day!
Awa, thou pale Diana!
Ilk star, gae hide thy twinkling ray,
When I'm to meet my Anna!

Come, in thy raven plumage, Night
Sun, Moon, and Stars, withdrawn a'
And bring an Angel-pen to write
My transports with my Anna!

The Kirk and State may join, an tell
To do sic things I maunna:
The Kirk and State may gae to Hell,
And I'll gae to my Anna.

She is the sunshine o' my e'e,
To live but her I canna:
Had I on earth but wishes three,
The first should be my Anna.

Robert Burns

Cold Feet

yup, my feet are cold, and it is -25 and probably will reach -30 by midnight. Our pipes are frozen, which can be nice cause I have the day off from doing dishes, laundry, and showering! actually, I can't shower cause our hot water thingy froze, then broke. but, I have been called a hippie before, and I know just where to go. the swimming pool! the water pressure there is AMAZING! not at all like our rinky dink water savr shower head. so now dh is trying to thaw the vintage paloma, a propane powered on-demand hot water heater that was once used in a tree planting camp. good thing we got a ten ticket pass to the swimming pool :)

Sable, my black beauty, is here beside me farting and having doggie dreams. Gawd, what did I feed here today?! Oh yeah, a left over pig foot from our Solstice Celebration pig roast. It was a truely cold and celebratory time. You had to have Viking or Old Yugoslavian blood in you to enjoy the huge bonfire in -20 degree temperature. Owww, my feet are really cold, might have to melt some snow to cook and put in the hot water bottle. Going to bed with cold feet is the worst. Actually, no, going to bed with hypothermia would be worse, but at least you'd be laughing!

Heddle Meddle

Bonus points to whoever can say what's wrong with this picture. Actually, I'll just tell you! If you look Veeeeery Closely, you will see that there are approximately 50 threads left in the reed of this loom and only approximately 25 heddles, none of which are on shaft 1 or 4. Yaaaaaawg! Now, I could also show you another photo, yet to be taken, of a mid-sized pottery vessel filled to the brim with empty heddles, all of which are about 2 cm to big for my table loom. WHY does the SAME company make DIFFERENT sized heddles for table looms and floor looms? Yaaaaaaawg! I was so excited to get this peice up and operating on the loom, I tried a quick and dirty dye technique on my warp and I'm anxious to see how it worked. I also have numberous backed-up orders for colourful tea towels that this warp could easily be turned into AND I'm desperately broke; meaning I really need to catch up on my orders and make a few gaurenteed sales (before my next car payment is due!) Yaaaaaaaaaaaawg! Ah, the life of an artist! Who knew that strategy and problem-solving had everything to do with being an entrepreneur. I have yet to grasp this whole concept of planning ahead (just ask my animals, they KNOW). Oops! Scrap that, lets think of an affirmation. I am a highly organized business woman with a strong and reliable cash flow. Anything I need to learn comes easily to me and I have all the money I need to finance my artistic endeavours.

Next blog I hope to post some pics of my 4 new roosters. That's right! 4! Right now that's 2 roosters for every hen. I kinda thought my hens could handle a little bit of spoiling after a very long and lonely winter.

Headshots

I have been trying like crazy to update my profile pics but my computer keeps kicking me out when I try to change the picture. Also happens on facebook and etsy, and it's #^$*&^()%$#@ infuriating! Must be one of those "old computer riddled with cyber-disease and on it's last legs" kinda thing. However, this old Mac has served us very well and out here in the sticks where we have no high speed, it's WAY faster online than any PC could ever be. Go Mac! We even bought it "second hand", scary I know.

I'll post my little photos here and if anyone wants to comment on which one makes the best headshot, it would be greatly appreciated :)

More Doula Stuff

I've been musing and waffling more on the subject of labour support. I think I was wrong when I previously said that alot of women don't want to feel empowered during birth. After having carried a baby for 9 months, dreaming of seeing baby's face and holding them, how could a woman not feel empowered by the birth of her baby The knowledge that she carried, nutured and was physically connected to that amazing being, it's empowering in and of itself.

I'm scrapping the word "support". It makes me feel like another cog an institutionalize machine. I would rather been seen as standing BESIDE a birthing mother, uniting in her struggle. Not carrying her through it, or serving up some chivalrous wisdom. I hear the word support and I picture a wounded soldier being supported by his comrades. I don't picture a healthy woman full of vitality and strength witnessing her baby's birth and cradling the little loved one in her arms. Looking at it this way, I don't like the word labour support, or even the word doula for that matter (which means female servant to another female). I'm going to redefine this whole thing that I want to be doing. Birth sister. Woman circle. Labour dancer. Blessing Woman, Courage Finder, Light Seeker. Mother to Mother.

Great. NOW how am I going to write the "The Purpose and Value of Labour Support"? *sigh* Maybe DONA is not the right thing for me. (more thinking)