Freddie

Gundel and I started a new book last week, a children's book whose film adaptation had been mentioned in another book I had just finished (the titles are not important in this context).

Maybe you remember my post about the rose in a book I read on The Internet Archive.
I still enjoy looking at library stamps or notes in books I read there, but this time I found something that's a puzzle to me.

Well, Freddie, congratulations from me as well!
Once again, I have questions, though.
I guess this note has been glued into the book because otherwise it might have fallen out during the scan unless someone positioned it like that on purpose. So my second guess is that the book was a gift on occasion of Freddie's successful year.

This is a printed note in which you can fill in the name. Is this something children - as it's a children's or middle grade book - are regularly congratulated on and if so, for how long has this been going on? That particular edition of the book is from 2010. Had I not known that, however, the font with the swirls would have reminded me of the 1970s, but of course you can find all kinds of retro fonts today and I doubt someone had a stacks of 70s notes around 🙃

Now to the really important point, and by important I mean for my weird brain at about 10 p.m. on an ordinary day.
What was Freddie successful at? What exactly are "the Threes" and how can you spend a year in them?
A quick online search might be doing the trick. The first page I came across was a cricket blog called "In the Threes". Huh.
"Why "in the threes"? Well, it's where I've spent most of my amateur cricket career."
That was about all I understood on that blog. The words looked English, but actually it was "Cricketish". But hey, so it probably had to do with cricket, that was a start. The book was British, I assumed Freddie is as well (I hope his ears are not ringing too much), so it made sense.
Freddie had a successful cricket year ... although this might have not been more than one of those participation prizes. Hey Freddie, you made it through the whole year, well done you, old chap. Good man.

I still didn't know what exactly "the Threes" are, though. Probably the third team in some way. Maybe a youth team?
As I have no life but can get obsessed about totally random stuff like that - you may have noticed before - I started going through cricket pages and understood less and less.
Then, however, I noticed the term "the 1st XI" (a cricket team has eleven players and I have no idea why the number is Roman) and so on ... could the 3rd XI be "the Threes"? It sure sounded plausible, especially after reading about "first XI players who say 'they won't play for the twos'".

What I still don't get is if a club only has the first to the fourth XI, if it depends merely on skill, and if there are separate "threes" etc. for grown-ups and children.
Maybe a British reader or someone from another Cricket playing nation wants to chime in on that and enlighten me?

Until then my weird brain will just imagine Freddie to look like this 😉

Francis Cotes: The Young
Cricketer (1768),
public domain via Wikimedia
Commons

By the way, did you know ...

... what a protome is? A protome is "a decorative element, on ancient artefacts, based on the head of an animal or bust of a person".
Uh-huh. I can almost hear you asking why the heck I am telling you that. To show off with my amazing knowledge? Not at all. For me it was also the first time that I read this word.

Let me begin with my grandmother. I don't want to tell you stories about her (although I do have a bunch of good ones), but for my birthday my mother gave me a piece of jewelry that had belonged to her which makes it very special to me.

When my grandmother died many years ago, I also got a piece of jewelry that used to be her sister's and before that her sister's husband's first wife.
I had loved this bracelet as long as I can think back. I remember that when I was still a child, I believed they were dragon's heads, but it didn't hurt to find out they were indeed lions. That's where the protomes come in. Regarding its history the bracelet dates back to the 30s approximately. That's not ancient, but it's definitely vintage, and the lion heads are very obviously protomes. I found that out when I googled in the attempt to maybe find out even more (which I didn't, by the way).
Now you and I learned something new. The next time you go to a museum, impress the persons who are with you by saying "Oh, look at that door/cauldron/necklace/vessel/ring with the protomes on it." And if they call you a show-off, just smile smugly ;-)
Unfortunately the spring inside the bracelet is broken (who knows, maybe it was even me who broke it as a kid?), and I'm told it can't be repaired (I suspect the piece isn't expensive enough to do so). It doesn't matter, I just love looking at it.
And here's a picture of it now.

If you think I'm trying to distract from not working on new pieces myself, you are not right. I finished a small loomed wall hanging for a birthday, after a long time I made a new yarn basket pendant, this time with a tiny crochet hook, and I still can't decide if I should list my very first split loom pendant or if I should keep it for myself (today I am leaning towards keeping it, but who knows what I'll say tomorrow) and get to working on the next one right away.
Obviously I can't show you the wall hanging, but I have pictures of the pendant and the necklace.

There is also a little project that was inspired by a friend of mine. I won't show you the prototype now because I want to keep working on the design some more first.

Gas cooking and baking recipe calendar

Gotta hand him this. He's good at finding stuff I like. I'm talking about the tall guy. Today the "Gas-Koch- und Backrezeptkalender 1952" landed in our mailbox or for those who don't understand German - the "Gas cooking and baking recipe calendar 1952".

You don't know what to cook? Do not despair, your calendar brought to you by the Hamburg Gasworks has thought about it for you - well, not the calendar itself, but some smart people with gas stoves, I guess - and offers you a recipe for each day of the year. Now that does make planning easy.

And this is what you'll get:

Sunday .......... meat recipe

Monday ......... something simple for every day

Tuesday ......... supper or appetizers

Wednesday .... vegetables, prepared in many different ways

Thursday ....... sweet desserts

Friday ............ fish

Saturday ........ cakes, small baked goods and fancy cakes

In week 30 there are only recipes for preserving and in week 51 only recipes for Christmas baking. Boy, they thought of everything, didn't they?

And of course you get cute pictures with funny little captions, so you can hang up the calendar without having to look at recipes only. You think that's it? Wrong. There are also little stories on the back from time to time.

If you think I'm being ironic, you are wrong again. I love things like that and what I did first was to look up the recipe for my birthday (the day, I wasn't born in 1952 yet although I like to play the age card a lot).

Anyone for "Spanish sandwiches"?

You'll need

- 2 anchovies

- ½ gherkin

- some parsley

- 3 table spoons capers

- 1 tea spoon mustard

- 1 table spoon oil

- 2 table spoons vinegar

- 2 hard boiled eggs

- salt, paprika, white bread and butter

Chop up the anchovies, the gherkin, the parsley and the yolk, mix it with the capers, mustard and oil and season with salt and paprika.

Cut the bread into thin slices, cut off the crust und put butter on. Put the mixture on the bread und add the chopped egg white on top.

Wow. I do have a real 50s feeling now. Too bad I don't eat anchovies, but like always, if someone of you wants to go for it, let me know how it turned out! ;-)

One of those moments

Too early to go to bed, too tired to do more than hang around the computer and struggling to keep my eyes open. Why I am so tired you ask? Small, black, furry and persistent, especially shortly after 5 in the morning. Right, I said 5. Once he has transferred duties to me - not sure what they are, but I think they must be terribly important - he leaves for the next comfy chair and falls asleep in seconds while I am wide awake.

It gave me time to get a few things done, though. Maybe he has a deal with Mabel, my muse.

I finished the looming on a slim cuff which is actually meant for listing. I gave up working on the edging when I just forgot that the tube with the beads was open. I love the sound of bead rain. It's very comforting. NOT!

I almost burned a little lady for the second time. Monty Python and the witch come to mind. Oh, the lady is polymer clay and wire crochet and she didn't burn. I think I'll have to unwrap her arms again, though. They look like a mummy's arms, only in silver. Planned is the look of long gloves. I thought about posting the picture when she was still missing her arms, but nah. It's not Halloween and it's bad enough I already gave you the mummy association. (Curious now, hehe?)

I also went "on adventure" finishing my ancient idol pendant. That was fun. It's not only finished, but already listed, too.

Ancient idol pendant

Now I still got the "medal" and the large "rose petal" waiting to be listed. They are made in a similar style as the idol and still look so different.

Of course one big difference is the "medal" being rather weighty thanks to the tumbled rock.

 

I also wanted to show you a picture of Buster, our bunny. So sweet. Unfortunately I can't show you a picture. My brain forgot to tell me that I wanted to take one.

Oh, and the arrowhead. Nope, too early to tell you about it. Forget I said anything.

I'll close today's page now before I start to get really embarrassing and blog in my sleep. Right now I wouldn't think that impossible! ;-)

Oh, wait!! One more thing. Until Sunday you'll save 15 % in my bracelet section on Zibbet, why don't you check it out? The coupon code is CUFF (original, eh?).

Saturday night musings

What do other people do at - let me check - 11 on a Saturday night?

Hang out in a bar or disco?

Watch a movie in the cinema?

Have dinner at a fancy or not so fancy restaurant?

I bet I know what they don't do.

They don't eat veggie wieners from the package because they didn't have dinner (no pic, there were only a few left and they are gone now).

They don't drink cold chai from a Christmas mug with snowmen on it.

They don't ponder what movie to use for tomorrow's quote post (Peck or not Peck, that is the question).

They don't play lounge chair for the furry master over and over again (wait, that's probably not even that unusual ...)

 

They don't go through cooking leaflets from the 30s reading potato recipes while listening to a podcast teaching Hindi.

Aaah, I know I'm special. Aren't you glad? Cos that means I'll share an old potato recipe with you now.

0.55 pounds or 250 g boiled and grated potatoes

0.11 pounds or 50 g butter

1 table spoon flour

1 large egg

salt

grated cheese or nutmeg

Make a smooth dough from the ingredients. Form little balls which you boil in salt water and put into your vegetable soup or broth.

(Let me know how they were if you try it!)

P.S. I haven't been all weird today. I also worked on three projects of which I finished one now. And I finally listed this collar. There's hope for me, don't you think?

Wire knit collar with Miyuki glass triangles

Have a great weekend!

What have I been doing lately ...

... hm, that's a pretty good question and I wish I had a good answer.

Instead let me show you just a few pictures to give you an impression.

Any questions? ;-)

How embarrassing ... or how to learn a new language. Saturday ramblings.

You know sometimes it helps to let others know if you plan to do something. Blurting it out makes other people aware of it and chances are you get asked how things are coming along and it keeps you from giving up too quickly.

Quite a few friends of mine already know that I have been planning to learn Hindi for years. I love the sound of it.

I can count from one to ten, I know some colors and I can ask where the suitcases are. This is not going to get me far. Today I got up and picked up the plastic box with the textbook and the two CDs from the next room where they have been waiting for a long time.

All-around confidence ... tsk, doesn't that sound great?

I found I only have one problem at the moment, maybe that's the reason I haven't worked with that book yet? I can't get the CDs out. They are stuck in there as if they are supposed to be kept safely for some space shuttle flight. No worries, the whole box might fly around in the shuttle, the CDs alone won't. I'm afraid I'll break them. Maybe I should wait until tomorrow. I'll keep them on my desk, though. Just in case ;-)

Alive and kicking

Kind of.

Not much new in my world. I still can't tap dance or own a 3 star restaurant.

The cats still drive me crazy and today Meffi stole my milk. Nothing like hearing a little lapping sound next to you and discovering a tiger head in your mug. I wish I had had a camera on me then, the look she gave me when I asked her what she was doing was incomparable and showed me my limits in this house once again.

I am working on a looming project at the moment, you might get to see pictures soon. Actually I got something on both of my looms, but I ran out of gunmetal colored beads. Never thought that would happen as whenever I put in a bead order, there's gunmetal and black in there. I guess the cats took them to gaslight me.

Picnik is closing down and I'm really still very upset about it. No matter if it's shampoo, my favorite cookies or my favorite photo editor, sooner or later they take it away from me. Mostly when I just got really, really addicted. Ok, it's weird to be addicted to shampoo. I mentioned it first because they did it to me three times already!

Today I got mail, my free sample of Preciosa Ornela twin beads. I have no idea what to do with them yet, but a gift, especially if you forgot about ordering it already, is always nice!

Sorry for the bad picture, they are still in their bag.

Enough random thoughts for today. I think the dishwasher is ready to be emptied. What an exciting life I lead sometimes! ;-)

Two souls alas ...

are dwelling in my breast, said good old Faust. Not that I remember much of Faust, I'm not a Goethe fan and when our German teacher asked in our last year which play we wanted to talk about, I was the only one not voting for Faust. As always I'm digressing, sorry.

Do you sometimes feel there are two souls in your breast?

The other day I felt that way when looking at two of my latest designs. They couldn't be more different from each other and still I've been told it's not hard to see that I made both of them.

You know what? Maybe there is just one soul, too playful to want to be strapped down. I think it's lot of fun to let your creative soul wander. From serious to silly, from simple to complicated, from modern to old-fashioned. They can all be facets of you and it would be a pity to hide them.

Lion head pendant

Queenie

Lady Eleanor

Sleepy Star

Grape pie

 

Five hours ago ...

... I was terribly tired. It was too late for a nap and too early for bed.

Now I'm suddenly awake again and still sitting here trying to get things done. Monday it's off to work again and I guess I feel as if I have to pack stuff into the days before that, only the more stuff I'm packing, the less I unpack again to actually get it done.

It's not as if I haven't done anything today and it's not as if I didn't have an excuse for the time when I didn't do anything and by the way, who cares if I do anything in the middle of the night?

Everyone around here is asleep but me.

Know what? I think I'll treat myself to a drink and then decide what I want to do.

Oh, by the way ... my excuse! ;-)

Random questions

Do you also have the feeling that your brain is working constantly? Can you hear it ticking and sometimes smell the smoke?

The brain is a miracle. Still sometimes I think something is wrong with mine. Why else would it come up with those detailed, yet oh so crazy dreams (which still can be lots of fun at times), why else does it take me on those quick train of thoughts that might start with cauliflower and end with a princess in fairy land?

And why does it keep asking questions to which I don't have an answer?

How come that you see a cat sitting in a spot, turn around for a second, and when you turn back, there's a different cat in the exact same spot?

Why is it you go to a store to get something and you end up buying everything else, but forgetting that "something"? Which of course you don't notice before getting back home.

How come that always the cat who has to go to the vet is the one disappearing when you come back home while the others stay around?

Why do I wake up early on a day off, but almost have to be shaken to wake up on a workday?

Does the city I have been dreaming of for decades exist and if it does, where is it and would I find my way around there without a map?

Why do I like cauliflower and broccoli, but can't stand romanesco?

Where do single socks really go? Is there something like a sock club? And why do they come back as soon as I have thrown the other one away?

Will I live to see all seasons of "Murphy Brown" published on DVD finally?

Who was the fool who made laptop keys so you can't put them back on yourself if one comes off? *staring at my crooked CTRL-key*

See what I mean? Instead I could concentrate on that laundry basket or that terribly unorganized materials drawer. In my dreams, guys, in my dreams! ;-)

Train tales

I noticed I haven't told one of my train tales for a long time. Part of it has to do with the fact that I didn't have any really good ones, except maybe the guy performing a hip hop song for his friend, with dancing and all ... only he wasn't very good which he admitted himself.

Today it's Monday and I remembered last week Monday when I came home late from dinner with friends. I had missed the train which was maybe a good thing because by luck I just came into the station when an old friend I hadn't seen in a long time walked by on the way to her train.

Still I had to spend 45 minutes on the platform. I stood there, not the only one waiting of course, when suddenly a woman pulling a big suitcase came running up to me and yelled: "Are you waiting for the train to U.?" I said yes and that's when she yelled at me: "It's late!!!!" Before I could even try to tell her that neither the last one (I should know it left in time because that's why I missed it ;-)) was late nor the one that would not leave until in thirty minutes, she stormed off.

Why she would share this with me, I don't know, all I know is I got some very strange looks from a girl on the bench next to me.

Why she would think the train was late and what she thought I could or could not do about it, I can't figure out. Did she want me to follow her for a protest march to the service desk? I'll never know.

I was lucky to make it off the train in time. I was so tired that I stumbled out and that's when an older man came running at me. What the ... then I saw the cell phone in his hand and the group standing next to the train. He just wanted me to take a picture of them, phew. That I could understand and do.

Still I have to admit I was glad when I was home and the only ones to jump at me were my cats! ;-)

Office chairs, a pillow, cucumber and icicles

Yesterday was ... well, interesting.

I left early from work, took a little break sitting in my favorite spot on the bench on the way home to read in the sun and then ...

... who would leave two fine office chairs at a street corner? And in the street, too. They just stood there and waited. Maybe it was an offer to sit down? Or maybe they waited to be used in some kind of street chair race? It would have had to go uphill, though, it's a one-way street in that direction.

While I still wondered about that, I stumbled on the slice of cucumber. A little dried around the edges it lay there in the street. Had it just fallen off a sandwich? Just one lonely cucumber slice? It may seem weird to you, but in my mind I try to think of possible stories around something like that, and I see somebody eating a cheese sandwich without that bit of vitamin. Isn't that sad?

If you think you've heard the best already, you are wrong. Because that was when I came round the corner and saw the pillow. A not so small colorful pillow lying in the middle of the pavement, still wrapped up in plastic. Was this Candid Camera or something?? I picked it up and found an address on the plastic. It wasn't far from where I was, so I decided to take it there.

Don't you love corner houses? No matter what I do, I always go to the wrong side first and then have to go all the way back to find the door. I rang the bell, but there was no answer. Luckily a neighbor just pulled up with her car full of groceries and looked a little confused first at me, then at the pillow. I told her I had found it and wanted to drop it off and she told me "she's probably sleeping". Shoot, I really thought this time I'd find out the story. Had she picked it up from the post office and lost it while riding her bike? Why didn't she trace her way back, it wasn't that far? Or did the parcel guy lose it on the way? Why was she sleeping at 2 pm? Working a night shift or just taking a nap?

Questions, questions, questions!

I finally made it home, ready to confront the next question in my brain - what to make for the Starving Artist Team's May challenge? The challenge was to be inspired by a picture.

Suddenly it came to me. It was so hot ... cold ... winter ... ice ... icicles ... dingdingding!

A least one question was answered today.

This is the picture that inspired me.

And this is what I made from this inspiration. It's an icicle pendant with lots of clear sparkly Swarovski crystals.

Mission accomplished!

P.S. I still wonder about the cucumber ....

I'm miffed

I had plans. Plans that involved sitting on a chair for example, for longer than five minutes. I'm off work for a few days and I was looking forward to it.

Instead these (and my bed) are my best friends at the moment.

Sometimes life is just not fair.

Deduction and dents

I love Sherlock Holmes, always have. I always wished I could be as smart as him, have his ability of deductive reasoning and maybe live in London.

The way he knows the profession of a man or woman from an ink spot on his arm or their past from a faded tattoo, their identity even behind a mask or a man's life circumstances from a good look at a bowler hat ... just amazing.

And then sometimes I wonder what he would say about me. Would he know I'm a librarian from my long hair and glasses (you would be surprised how many people used to tell me these were perfect reasons to become a librarian)? He certainly would be able to detect four different kinds and colors of cat hair on my clothes, so my furry friends might not be a secret to him, but would he be able to say something about me, having a look at my bowler hat? Actually that started this string of thoughts ... I put on my hat the other day and then the "Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" came to mind.

Then I had a look at my fingernail.

No matter how often and carefully I file it, there is always this little dent that keeps coming back. Would Sherlock know it's the spot where my nail touches my crochet hook to hold it steady while I work? I have to admit I don't know how the English hold their crochet hooks. Here you can see two different styles, people holding them like pencils or like hammers for example. I'm the hammer kind girl, the other way doesn't work for me.

Enough rambling. I think I'm going to file at my dent now ...

What does it say about me ....

... that I prefer to get a ceramic black hand for Christmas instead of a Smartphone (no, no one wanted to give me one, but I didn't even want one)?

... that I have more fun with this high heel black satin ringholder than with shoes to wear (says the sneaker girl)?

... that when looking at the bath oil we got I first notice the beads on a string around the bottle and wonder what to do with them and do not check out the scent of the oil?

... that I really, really want a "Rock, scissors, paper, lizard, Spock" t-shirt and/or one of Sheldon's t-shirts from Big Bang Theory?

... that I enthusiastically spend hours and hours to crochet a "man", but hate to spend 20 minutes folding laundry?

... that I get all jumpy about a gift consisting of differently colored wire and a crochet hook?

... that my nightstand holds wire, pliers, crochet hooks, books and the DVD player remote control?

... that I want to be like Kowalski from the Penguins of Madgascar?

You know I'm not sure I want an answer .....

The twenty-third door

As children before Christmas we used to ask: "How more nights do we have to sleep?" I even tried to sleep faster which was just as hopeless as trying to force "re-runs" into my brain after I had heard that dreams which you have three times come true. I never got to see the living Kasperle from one of my favorite children's books series.

As grown-ups we feel time is flying by. "Only one more night we can sleep before it's Christmas??"

Which one is better? I often wish I was more like my cats, nah, let's say I could afford to be more like my cats. They live from second to second, minute to minute, hour to hour ... you get the idea.

And I never have the feeling they think life is slipping from them. They do live in the moment.

I'm looking forward to my vacation and to having the chance to do that again. Live each moment. Spend the holidays with family and maybe friends. Drink when you are thirsty, eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired - and watch all your TV show DVDs from the first to the last season.

Sorry, I guess I just had one of "those" moments ;-) It happens when you are my age.

Visiting the library - a photo story

I'm not talking about a public library, but my own one at home. It's off limits for the cats right now because my light tent is there and lots of stones, finished pieces and just stuff in general is scattered around. From time to time one of the kids goes in there with me.
Today Ponder was the one. He had been like a little child all afternoon. "Play with me." "I'm hungry." "I want to snuggle." So finally we went into the library together. I started taking pictures, but then I found a waxed thread necklace I had broken and we settled in for a nice game of string instead.
I know it must seem as if I neglect the others, but Ponder is really the one who lets me take pictures easily while the others do funny stuff right up to the moment I get the camera out - then they freeze.
So here's our story.

"Throw, Mom! I promise I won't use my claws!"


Yeah. Right.


Ouch! I was too slow. When will I learn??


"That was fun, but I think I hear something."


Muffled sound: "There is something here under Roosevelt. Give me a moment." (Roosevelt is the bear's name. He has been with us since 1988 and he has seen a lot!)


"Aaaaalmost got it."


"Roosevelt, what do you think? Looks yummy?" (Enlarge the picture to see the delicious meal.)


Happy sigh. "I love dessert. Roosevelt, a back massage would be nice now!"


After stuffing his face like that, he's in the chair behind me now, peacefully sleeping.
And I can hear a snore from under the desk ... Greebo's favorite place ...

P.S. Ehm, I do know that Ponder doesn't speak, by the way, at least not the human language ;-)