It is amazing to have become a grandfather two more times in the last 30 days. I am blown away by it! One of the kids lives pretty close, and I get to see her fairly often. There is nothing so special as being able to hold her and look at her little face and hands and think of how amazing it is to see a person just starting out. It is time to just eat up and savor!
I spent time yesterday working on candles for the Christmas Markets coming up. It’s good work, but I need to reset where I am working so I have a much better layout and a good place to sit and take the strain off. It could all be done in a way I would not need to move around a lot. I made a few pinecone candles, and I did quite a few beehive candles. I noticed at the previous Farmer’s Markets that people looked at the wax I was selling for use in the workshop or the sewing room and seemed to take an interest in the beehives. But they asked about them as candles, and I did not have them. Next time I will.
I have the Roman Workbench set up on the front porch. I need to get to work on it so I can begin to evaluate how it is for height and worksurface. The room warms nicely in the winter because of the sunlight that comes in. I plan to make or at least work on smaller projects there. I can still run out to the shop for quick jobs or to grab any needed tools or wood. It is honestly tempting to build a mini-Dutch Toolchest to keep a few things handy next to the Roman. Good as anything, and especially a good practice opportunity.
My plan is to work on integrating as part of hyperlocal economy. I want to earn some money at this. I don’t feel like I will need to earn a lot. But if we can get by on arts and crafts, I think we could both be quite happy doing so. We’ll see where our little hobbies can take us.
Another aspect to this Business-business is to get out and shake hands with people. We have tended to remain locked up and hidden in our house, just doing our thing. We need to get to know people. Missus is teaching at 4H, and that is great for meeting the kids, and when the kids have their lessons and tell their folks what they did, then they are in a vague sense being made aware of her. Hopefully there is a chance for discussion during drop-off and such. But I will admit, I have been there at the end of classes, and the parents tend to wait for their kids outside, and never come in to see what they have done or anything like that. It would be good if she could meet them and talk a bit. She is sure good at advertising what she is doing, and how she is able to help others to get to work with their hands and creative minds.
I am still working on habit forming. My health has been the best it has been in years. Years! Those years have made it difficult for me to plan out a full day of work because my body could never have done it if I wanted it to. I need to improve my ability to physically work a full day through, and I need to plan a full day of what to do. They are coming along. And my diet is starting to be a little kinder on my tummy. Though that is still not a sure thing, I can at least sleep through, and not be participant in a disaster first thing as soon as I get up. Will keep on working at it. As for the weight loss, I have still not come to the surface of a scale, but I do work harder to keep my trousers up.
Maybe today I will get some wood gathered up and make a wall hanging candle box. I could use the woodworking, and I could use a nice product to put out on sale at the market. I also think a small project like that would be excellent to work on at the Roman Bench, and get a feel for the thing, and what I need to add or change to make it functional over winter.
Another option would be a loom, be it an Inkle, or even a simple bobbin lace. It’s just that the candle box has repeated angles I’d like to see if I can create well. But I do need to make some simple bobbin lace looms for Missus to sell, too. Decisions, decisions. There is one other item I would like to get to work on soon. It is a, a… This… Tape Loom.
My plan is to model as a recreation of the one pictured above. The measurements in the caption will help. I’d really like to do a couple of them. One for the wall, one to use, and any extras to put on sale. It would be a great and interesting challenge.