We're learning some new songs in Concentus. Started with Pase el Agoa and Dindirin, Dindirin a few weeks ago, and added Ecco Primavera this past weekend. Might be starting work on Il est bel et bon this coming Sunday. Some of us have sung this last one before, although it was long enough ago that I don't remember which part I sang.

We move around as necessary in Concentus to balance the parts. I've sung soprano, alto, and tenor parts. Less of the tenor these days, now that I mostly have the allergies and asthma under better control. On one piece the range was such that we divided the parts so that all the notes could be reached by at least one person per part -- that's how I ended up singing with prince_hring on at least one piece :)


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Getting in better shape seems to have a physical cost for me. Generally anytime I do something effective, after several days I have to take painkillers/anti-inflammatories. But eventually I can do those levels of exercise/activity without pain or freaking out muscles, so there's hope. In the meantime though... And why is it that regardless of the type of exercise, the shoulder/neck muscles get involved? Grr.


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The salamanders are happy -- we're using the wood stove again. Not as cold here as in the Midwest -- yet -- but cold enough for the stove.


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Strange as it might sound, I've been going to the barn the past few days. Have to be bundled up even out of the wind, but I've actually gotten a few little things done.

We had forks and spoons in a couple of our cups for when we had Oakstone members over a few weeks back and it's actually been handier and tidier than having them in a drawer. But we like those cups and want to be able to use them again, so dug out some of the old-type canning jars and will be using them instead - forks, spoons, butter knives, steak knives. Hm, if I can find one more of appropriate dimensions maybe I can add soup spoons to that grouping -- we use Chinese soup spoons, which I feel are superior to the European style -- porcelain material is probably a major part of that opinion, as it doesn't end up burning you with the heat from the soup.

I can get the lazy susan down from off the top of the fridge and put the jars on that -- keep everything neat.


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Yes, I'm trying once again to further organize the apartment. We really don't have the space, with all the interests we have, to have multiple stashes of disorganized and/or poorly organized stuff. Although some stashing is happening while I try to organize, sigh. I haven't been able to get to working on insulated shades so I leaned the material for that against a window in Southwest, which we leave unheated and the door closed. Projects are getting put into baskets, bags, etc. Stuff is getting put away. Soon more shelving will be going up!

I've also been trying to put like things together in the barn, although of course I can't do a lot of that right now. But the old canning jars are all in the same part of the barn (I think), and all the spare "medieval" goblets I can find are together in one box. A few more boxes have been labeled on the sides.


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Next is working on finishing some projects. Some are for other people, which means once they're done they're out of the house -- good for them and for us.


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Ashfield is having an Inauguration Ball tomorrow evening. We're considering it... although I don't generally have a lot of use for this sort of thing, it could be a good way to see other folks in town -- part of that building-community-thing.

China's economy is suffering from US slowdown, which may make borrowing money for the US just a tad more difficult....
China's economy slowing down

The one plus I saw with China's economy slowing down is that with factories closing down, they're putting less pollution in the air (do a search on 'brown cloud' to see what I'm talking about). Tough times for folks everywhere though.

On the environmental minus side though, with China producing less, they also don't need much in the way of recyclables for making packaging for their products:
Recyclables mounting up

So with the global economic slowdown, recyclables are stacking up all over the U.S, and likely other places too. If folks want to be more environmentally conscious, at least right now just putting things out for recycling is not enough. We're going to have to work harder at not bringing things into the home in the first place, and finding creative uses for some things (like re-using glass jars from food for storing beads, nails, beans, rice, various dry goods). I'm sure there are lots of uses for jars.

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On cardboard and newspaper, that might be tougher for some folks. Although I've seen some creative use of carboard for making furniture -- gluing layers of corrugated cardboard together to create "boards" for shelving for instance. Or making stronger boxes for storage than just a single layer of cardboard might be. Or picture and mirror frames...

Since we have a wood stove now, we've decided that making paper bricks might make sense now. Burning straight paper isn't great for stoves, but bricks would be similar to some types of wood, so more efficient for heating. I know, burning things creates CO2 -- that's why we insulate so we don't have to use as much fuel as the average American. And it's still a more renewable and sustainable energy resource than oil. But obviously we'll have to continue to work on minimizing how much potential waste material comes into the house. It's also apparently possible to make paper bricks for building construction; like wood only different, I guess... but we aren't building anything right now, so...

Sustainable Village brick maker
Ubergizmo brick maker

Did some reading up on paper bricks. In the U.S. most newsprint inks are soy-based now, so not burning lots of toxins. To make good bricks the paper needs to be very thoroughly soaked so that it will bind together better, not burn one layer at a time, and be dense enough to be like wood again. They take a long time to dry. Drying on screens is a good idea, for complete air circulation. Not something that can be made and used immediately. But if made properly, they burn well enough.

In the meantime, we just used a lot of crumpled up newspapers to stuff a sitting cushion we got from Your Inner Vagabond 3 years ago (yes, we finally stuffed it this year). Now that we've sat on it a few times, it looks like it could use a few more papers, which we can get from the folks downstairs -- they get newspapers regularly. We only get the local paper (very small, sent to all residents of Ashfield).

Have been walking or getting at least 30 minutes of exercise almost every day in the past week. Mostly walks, and in fact got two in yesterday, one with L. Both were lovely walks, but then I like seeing how the plants and animals are all progressing in their lives.

Got in one walk this morning while the rain was still reasonable and not quite as cold as it is now. Most significant change has been that the walks are getting easier again. Way too easy to get out of shape as one gets older... the color/elements breathing has helped too -- just a minute or so but it does the job.

And of course I've also upped my stretching/limbering up exercises. I'm also starting to bring back some of the upper body strengthening exercises I'd stopped doing in the past few months. With winter setting in I'm not getting the same sorts of exercise as before and I don't want the shoulder muscles to tighten up. And of course still working on being sturdy enough to try out various athletic activities!

It's funny, when I was a kid I was often walking or biking in the rain and now, hardly ever. Comes of having a car I suppose. It wasn't so bad though, and kind of pleasant in some ways. I wouldn't have minded one more layer of wool though.... mentioned to L maybe wearing the Norman "ponchos" next time and he thought that a reasonable idea.

Down by the house most of the leaves have been knocked off of the trees, but on the hillsides you can still see some autumn color. Yellow, gold, orange, and red against the dark green. More muted now, with the white, grey and brown of branches and trunks showing here and there. The grass is still quite verdant all around. There is the possibility of some snow up here tomorrow, but nothing like what is happening to the west and north of us.

Squirrels, chipmunks and others still scurry about gathering winter forage. Last night a tiny squirrel crossed our path carrying a nut larger than his head.

Went down the hill and got some pipe parts for the stove... some adjustments will need to be made to get things connected. Likely we may take up my MIL's idea of removing the radiator and the washing machine in order to move the stove a bit more out of the way of traffic, but not this week I don't think.

Well, no more venturing out of doors for me today. Time to see to doings elsewhere indoors...

Nice soapstone stove - hybrid, actually -- metal woodstove with soapstone on the outside. The stone retains the heat for longer heating of your space than just metal does. Keep in mind that they will take longer to warm up a cold room, for the same reason, the stone. But I think the residual heat on the other side of the equation lasts longer than how long it takes to heat up the stone...
https://store.woodstove.com/xcart/home.php?cat=304

Found some others too, including ones with ovens built in, but they weigh too much for a second floor apartment, plus they heat up more space than we have. They have both hybrid and masonry types. Nice-looking:
http://www.vermontwoodstove.com/

Article on soapstone stoves: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/11/elite_soapstone.php

Page with info on woodstoves (how to use, emissions, etc.): http://www.epa.gov/woodstoves/