Crafting Cats....

The Cats wish to help in their own unique way .....

finishing off a WIP  and starting a new project ....with help ....

 Senior Cat privileges..she is 17 in June? 

 Not yet 1 but still quite determined...

 Finally made it on the wall finished...

 Senior cat approves new project (I think?)

 Felt some dyed tops (combed wool) onto felt

 Change  mind about colours... and add a chain stitch outline.

Add strands of wool to couch in place....bit of work to go!

After all it has to pass the Supervisor !

Vintage Happy Valentine's day Greetings...

With Many Thanks to those who scanned and shared.

The Sea Detective ....Book chat

I was introduced to this book by Cath from ReadWarbler here
Her post intrigued me and she made the book sound most inviting so I charged off to the library and yesterday came home clutching a copy that looked just like this.

I started to read this in the library filling in a quiet time and once my nose was in I didn't wish to be disturbed ..but nine chapters later we had to go home for tea ..so off we went... you know when you really want to carry on reading and life tea/washing up etc get in the way ...lol
This Morning I woke early tiptoed back to bed with a cup of coffee and finished it off...lovely.
And now I see there is a follow on novel so that is ordered from the library ..I may have to wait a while though as it's in Juneau library (Juneau is the Capital of Alaska and only accessible by air or sea ) Patience is a virtue find it where you can .....(the full quote was in my Granny's school autograph book c1905'ish?)

         My thoughts on this book.....
 A powerful novel with an uncomfortable opening chapter.
The main story setting is Scotland in the present day ...the initial chapter is set in India in the present day.
These two different locations are well drawn I get clear pictures of both in my head as I read. But on the whole I would say this book emphasizes the interconnections of the World whether you mean currents and tides or the connections between humans facilitated by the internet and modern transport that mitigates individual sovereignty and influences the World strongly.... for good or ill..

The main characters include two Indian Children sold into the sex trade, a quirky Scot who makes his living studying the effects of the weather and tides on the movement of objects at Sea and two members of the Police force A bright but physically unattractive woman and an Obnoxious git of a bloke. The quirky Scot has an ex wife who appears too. I think it's the Characters of the police force that I'm least comfy with ...too extremely drawn perhaps? it's slightly like two drawings sneaking into a painting?  The Indian girls I can see ...also the Scot but the Female police officer is being described to me so that I'm aware it's a description...I'm not explaining it well and I'm probably being to picky...
So it wasn't a perfect book but that is a high standard to hit! but it was a very good one. I give it a 5 out of 5 for an interesting powerful read.I found the story telling to be quite gripping ..I didn't wish to put the book down and quite quickly  read it to the end with no interest in skipping.     
The characters were interesting, the occupation of the main ? character was new to me. I'd like to see how the writing develops in the next book anyway off to search out the next book in what appears to be a series it's on my list to read as soon as I can get it and the author is added to my try reading more of their books list.

Catching up...Did the earth move for you Dear?

It's cold and I have a lot of rather uninviting chores impatiently awaiting my attention...so here I am typing this....could I possibly be avoiding them ? at least temporarily?

What's been going on here lately ..well a Week ago yesterday (Sunday) we were woken at 1.30 am by the Earth moving ....but not in an exciting sexy way mind ...just an exciting ..am I going to be scary next ..kind of way.
A 7.1 Earth Quake on the other side of the inlet from us ...it was a longer quake than I've felt before... usually you feel something and then we turn to each other and ask "Was that an Earth quake" ? or you darn well know it was and you hop around nervously ...I tend to shake even if I don't believe myself to be stressed( my limbs obviously disagree) This time we sat up in bed and had time to decide if perhaps we should do anything about it ..."ermmm...it's still moving ..." so we all gathered in the living room on the sofa an chatted ...ok nervously(while trembling in mine and younger D's case) ...the cats and dog were not partial. We were so well awake by this time it was an hour and a half before we went back to bed . Other people had noticed and facebook had lit up with comments and questions. It was felt in different ways and strengths in different areas ...often depending on the ground structure beneath your home.
Fortunately no one was killed and damage was very limited ...the worst being 4 houses destroyed in Kenai due to explosions of a ruptured gas line (one family were in the house for the first explosion but emerged unscathed ...but lost the house in a subsequent fire) another  blew up later whilst workers were looking for leaks ..thankfully no one was in that one at the time.

local news report

another

The 1964 Earthquake that struck here was over a 1,000 times stronger and much much longer ..so would have been very scary (massive understatement.)
Reading articles about earthquakes ..popular local topic of conversation this week ..there are areas in this city that have been built upon that I believe would have best been left empty.
I know our home was built just before the '64 quake and survived it and that gives me a lot of (hopefully sound) comfort.
We also discuss the geology of the area ..there are interesting maps available and study where the safest spots to head to are if the earth does move vigorously. It's always shifting just to various degrees.
Today's chart

 

Must go and sort out my Earth quake kit ...perhaps that should go to the top of the chore list !

Oh and when we finally went back to bed the bed ended up being rather crowded with the addition of youngest daughter, two of the cats and the dog crowded in too. (Although the dog had a very disturbed night as he kept getting accidentally nudged and falling off ...only to leap right back on.)

So an exciting start to the week. 

Even more so if you were staying in the High rise hotel downtown !