Jananas

This past Friday I was at my tattoo artist’s studio getting some work done (pictures will be forthcoming once everything is healed up). He has an awesome little private space filled with his own art work, fun flash, memorabilia, art work, and fun pieces.

My favorite was this taxidermied squirrel. It came with the miniature beer cans. Caitlin, I’m looking at you.

We spent the weekend up at the cottage. One the highway between Belleville and Tweed we saw a dog wandering at the side of the road. We kept driving and both of us had that “what do we do? do we turn back? do we keep going moment?” And then Jason turned around and we drove back.

We were able to coax the dog over to our side of the road and I was able to grab her collar. Another car had stopped and we spent some time talking with the driver. [Actually three cars stopped, but the other driver never got out. Still, it made me hopeful.]

The dog was very dehydrated and is very malnourished. We could see the vertebrae in her spine. You can clearly make out her hips and she’s so thin that I can fit my fingers between her ribs.

We looked at each other and then back at the dog. There was no way we could return her to a situation where she was being poorly treated. It also didn’t take long for us to name her Lila.

Jason went and rearranged the car so that we could fit her in. We tried to introduce her and Gucci on the side of the road and Gucci snapped at her several times. He wanted none of it. We were unsure of how the car ride would go, so we separated them – the rescued dog up in the front seat (which was pretty adorable because she’s so big that she barely fit) and then Gucci and I in the back so that I could act as a physical barrier.

Once we made it up to the cottage, the dogs started to get along pretty well. There were the odd dust ups over toys and moments of jealously when one dog was being pet more than the other. But they did really well.

She was starving and thirsty. It was late on the Friday night so nothing was open. The poor lady ended up getting fed diet dog food in larger than normal portions (it was the only thing that we had on hand). We fed her small-ish meals every 2-3 hours to give her stomach a chance to adjust. That Saturday we picked up some fresh stewing beef from the butcher and cans of wet food to round out her diet. She’s gotten plenty of food and more water than we thought a dog could possibly drink. Her energy was already getting better on Saturday morning, which was nice to see.

She loved the cottage. She prowled through the woods, easily going up and down hills, climbed through the stream, drank lake water, ate snails, chased chipmunks, and enjoyed being a dog.

She’s a very lovely lady. She can sit, come, and give a paw. She’s desperate for food, but won’t open packages. She’s very affectionate and will sing if she’s feeling jealous. Our guess is that she’ll easily be a 100+lb dog once she’s at her proper weight. She’s going to the vet tomorrow night to be checked out.

My mom bought me a flat of strawberries on Friday. We weren’t able to get to their place to pick them up until yesterday when we went up for a family dinner. In the way of the strawberry, they had to be used pretty much immediately so when we got home at 7:30 last night we got to work.

Strawberry Jam Recipe:

1. 13 cups strawberries
2. 1/2 cup lemon juice
3. 6 cups sugar
4. boil jam for 30-60 minutes or until set
5. process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes

We washed and chopped. End result, something in the range of 14-15 cups of strawberries.

While we were chopping away, we had the big canning pot on the stove boiling water to sterilize the jars and lids. Heating up that much water takes forever!

After all the strawberries were chopped, I juiced 2 lemons to get 1/2 cup of juice. I poured it through a strainer to catch all the pulp and seeds and then poured the juice over the strawberries.

Normally you’d cook and cook and cook the berries down so that they are soft and then you can mash them with a potato masher so that you don’t have whole berries in your jam. We no longer have a masher, so we cheated a little and ran the berries through the food processor for a few seconds to chop them up. Then we boiled and boiled and boiled away.

Once the berry mixture was boiling, I add 6 cups of sugar. I probably should have added a little bit more as the recipe I was basing mine off was 13 cups of berries to 6 cups of sugar.

We had friends over to hang out while we were making jam, so each of the five of us took 10 minutes turns at stirring while the jam was boiling. It made the work much easier and more enjoyable.

After 30 minutes, I tested to see if the jam was set. When I start boiling, I place a small plate in the freezer. I then spoon a little onto the cold plate and leave it for a minute. If the jam is no longer runny, then its set and you can start filling jars. Its an easy way to test your jam. Ours didn’t set right away, so we boiled for 10 more minutes & tested (repeated again).

After 50 minutes (and a little last minute pectin to get it to thicken a little more), we started filling jars. We got pretty much exactly 12 x 250mL jars of jam.

Having an assembly line makes this step go so much faster. I filled, Jason wiped edges and fitted lids. Quick and easy. These then went into the hot water bath and were processed for 15 minutes.

We’re glad to say that they all sealed (those pops are like music to my ears) and that our friends took home a selection of canned goods for helping out.

We’re planning a trip in two weeks to pick our berries. I’m thinking that we’re going to freeze some, dehydrate others, and can the rest. I can’t wait for my pantry this year!

Today I stopped by the talk to Mary at Wise Daughters, an awesome little DIY, indie craft, and art space in the Junction. She’s know selling cassette tape belt buckles (including such classics as Milli Vanilli and Anthrax). She’s also carrying my hand spun yarn, just in time for worldwide knit in public day. In fact if you’re down in the Junction next weekend to knit in public check out her shop because there might be a yarn giveaway. Just saying.

So you should go check out her space and support both of us in our indie arts dream by picking up some handmade.

This past weekend was productive. For me that word is developing into ‘got lots of crafty related things accomplished’. Its also now less focused on the pile of laundry in the basement, but that’s another issue entirely.

I am now mostly finished with a new painting of my favorite subject – Mazinaw Rock. Its my first foray into collage and mixed media. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out (especially the sky for some reason). One of my roommates pointed out that from a distance the newsprint looks rather like rock. That hadn’t been my intention but its definitely a nice side effect.

I also spent a bunch of time working on a Christmas present. People often look at me like I’m bat shit crazy when I say things like “my Christmas shopping is done already” (and its only October). Here’s the secret – I dislike large crowds so much (they stress me out) that I get my shopping down early as a coping mechanism. Thinking ahead is the less of two evils. The same goes for crafting. If I can take advantage of that spark of inspiration when it hits (even if its May), then I won’t be struggling at the end or become frustrated with the artistic process. I also write down gift ideas as they come to me so that I don’t lose out on all of those good thoughts – thank you Evernote. I’d show you a sneak preview, but I don’t want the surprise to be spoiled.

I also spent some time spinning yarn. I had 4oz. of Icelandic wool in a central pull cake from the previous weekend’s Ohio trip. I was a little bummed because it felt reasonably soft in the cake but came out to be rather scratchy once spun up. Oh well, it’ll find a purpose somewhere. Because my first spinning experience was disappointing I decided to treat myself and spin up 4oz of alpaca. Seriously, this is like a little slice of heaven running through your fingers being created into a little slice of heaven that can be knit up into something and carried with you everyday.

How do you define being productive? What do you do in a day that makes you feel better about yourself and your life?