Ok, tea

I've been holding off on buying tea, just in case my sister-in-law (there has to be a shorter way of saying that) decided to buy me tea for Christmas. She did. Here's what I've found.

Hot Chocolate: is. Yeah, it's tea, but it may as well be hot chocolate. I'm not complaining.

Apple Cider: tastes fake. A look at the ingredients shows that it IS fake. You can do better, @davidstea.

Organic The Big Chill: I've had this before, to be honest. It's pleasant.

Chocolate Chili Chai: I haven't had this from the box yet, but I've bought it. Memory says it's tasty but needed more chili to be called a chili chai.

Spiced Apple: I usually avoid teas with black pepper, since it overwhelms everything else. They've kept it low here, though. I enjoyed it.

Snow Day: another one I've had before. It's fine, and almost has something to do with its name.

Sleigh Ride: yeah, this is an old familiar. Don't add sugar to it. It's already one of the few items in the bunch that has a sugar listing.

Alpine Punch: is good, but has nothing to do with alpine anything. Coconut?

Toasted Walnut: you do get that walnut aftertaste, for better or worse. Actually, this one's not bad.



So, overall, drinkable except for that unforgivable fake-tasting one that makes me wish that David's Tea would learn to stick to actual tea. Next up? Whatever I get to augment the current supply.

Doodling

This is the time of year when, thanks to a generous gift card from my brother and sister-in-law, I generally end up with more art stuff. I say generally because last year I ended up buying beads and some other stuff and just a little bit of art stuff. Back to the art stuff again this year, though.

Are you tired of me typing "stuff" yet?

What you're seeing to the left in today's pointless photo(s) is mixed media paper, black 110 lb paper (I was going to buy an art pad of heavy-ish paper, and then it occurred to me that I could find it cheaper in the scrapbooking section. Turned out to be heavier paper, even.), a General's sketch set with charcoals, pastel pencils, and graphite (just to replace some of my stubs, really), a package of store brand coloured pencils in neons and metallics (for a change from my normal, usable colours?), and a set of Stabilo Point 88 Fineliners. That's nylon tip pens, good for writing or drawing. The picture to the right is me testing the pens to make sure none of them were dry. Oh, and I was drinking tea, obviously.

I went all art with my gift card this year partly to give myself a figurative kick in the butt. I've been lazy about art lately. It's been happening, but I slowed down a lot to give my stupid wrist a rest while it was being, well, stupid, this fall. It's an old injury that I periodically re-injure. Unfortunately, it also means that on my bad days I get a very shaky hand, because it's your wrist that controls most of your hand movements. If you're interested in anatomy, look up a picture of the human hand. There are surprisingly few muscles in the hand itself. Your wrist is the puppet master.

Anyway. Shaky wrist equalled shaky hand this fall -- still does, now and then -- so I backed off a bit to let things heal. The problem with that is that you get out of the habit. Oh, I've still been doodling (it's pretty hard to stop that) but I haven't produced much that's worth public viewing. In fact, I see that the last time I posted to my art blog it was August. I guess I should do something about that.

That's the plan. So, fineliners to convince myself that pen lines don't have to be perfect to be valid (shakes really show in fine pen, but that's okay... she tries to believe...) and pencils because I used to do a lot of pencil work and I should get back to it.

The other thing that usually helps is doing an inventory. I started one a few months ago, but got stalled. If you follow me on Instagram, then, don't be surprised if art supplies start showing up in my posts again. Photos remind me of what I have and how far I got, and if I've got the photos I may as well post them, right? That way it's not just me that knows the scale of years of buying.



Well, this turned into a post. Fancy that. Next time will probably be tea, you know. It wouldn't be the holiday season if I wasn't reviewing my tea presents.

You've been warned.

More snow photos

'Nuff said there, I think.

These clouds were cool. 

Snow on an apple tree.

Bird feeders, fuzzy Nuthatch, and swearing Chickadee   

Just some spruces.

These junipers are under the feeders. The mice hide here to steal seed.

Pointless snow photos

I actually made it outside with the camera Tuesday, since it was about ten degrees warmer. Unfortunately, all there was to take pictures of was snow. I know that people think of snow as pretty, but it's also pretty monotonous. Ah well, at least there are a few fresh photos to look at around here for a change.

I'm scheduling this post and the next one, by the way. No point in posting everything at once when I post so rarely.

We don't sit in the yard much in winter.

Snow patterns on this shed roof always fascinate me.

Guess Dad hasn't been riding lately.

Dead rose and snow. How artistic.

You can take yer winter and...

These two shots were taken from my bedroom window here at Dad's on Christmas Day. And why didn't I go outside to take better shots that didn't include drainpipes?

Because it was freaking cold, that's why.

As you can see, we had a bit of snow for Christmas. All of you people wishing for a white Christmas? Well, I kind of hate you. This much snow just made travel unsafe (like I said yesterday, I just missed that part) and didn't change a damned thing about Christmas itself. But then, you've probably guessed my feelings about winter in general by now.

Anyway, there's a couple of posts to tide you over, probably until the new year. Anyone who actually misses me here can find me as deeolworld on twitter and instagram, or look for me on facebook where I'll most likely ignore you since I pretty much just have that account for work.

Later, everyone.

T'was the day after Christmas...

Otherwise known as Boxing Day here in Canada (and the UK, and probably other Commonwealth Countries as well. I'm too lazy to check, to be honest).

To the left, you'll see my annual slow shutter speed photo of the Christmas tree, because it's more fun that way. Plus, you can tell by the dotted lines up top and the solid lines below that Dad has one string of LED lights and one string of old-fashioned incandescents, and that appeals to the nerd in me.

And that implies that there are parts of me that aren't nerd, I suppose. I'm not entirely sure that it's true, but we'll roll with it.

And how was Christmas? Not too bad, actually. Dad didn't think that the gifts I gave him were too stupid (gifts, plural, only because he got a few little things this year instead of one big thing), I made out nicely myself, I was (as usual) spoiled by my brother and sister-in-law and will have a shopping trip to blog about when I get the chance, and the turkey was pretty good.

We didn't go out to view the Christmas lights this time, as we often do, because it was bloody cold out there. Ah well, I was inside so that's all right. I managed to make it into town just before a heavy snowfall and will leave (probably tomorrow) as it's warming up, so my timing was pretty good for a change.

And as for Boxing Day sales? Just online ones this year for me. I don't exactly have to budget to find more things than I need, anyway.

I'll leave you with a few shots of... well, any cat owner can guess who enjoys Christmas the most, I guess.

Hope you had a merry/happy whatever.

Quaecumque Vera

That's the Latin motto of my university, by the way. Almost no one these days knows what it means. I do. So let's truth.

I've been working at home a lot in the past few weeks, and I almost want to scream at the way women are sold a pile of goods AND how so many of you are actually  sold it.

No one "needs" a little black dress unless you know that you're going out somewhere that needs one. No one "needs" stupid shoes. No one. And life's too short for shoes that cause you pain anyway.

The photo, so you know, shows my life as opposed to what shopping TV seems to think it's supposed to be.

As to bags... well, geez. Are you really out there, those people who need a service to resell purses that you've paid thousands of dollars for? Me and my $40 Guatemalan bag may need to come and flick your ears. The day I pay more than rent for a purse may mean hospitalisation.

Aaanyway, I hope that you're having a happy holiday season. Just try to not make it all about "I want".