![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaAs 2013 draws to a close I am inspired to look back over the year and see how it went for me. Just to be different, this time for each month I think I will share three things: 1) An adventure undertaken, 2) A project completed, and 3) A travel destination. That is, assuming I can remember one of each category for every month…
January:
An adventure undertaken: I found out that the snow in that field was deeper than I thought.
A project completed: January was the month we found a spark (kick sled) in a second hand store, took it apart, totally re-painted it, and then put it back together, stronger. It turns out to be a fun toy and a fast way to travel on icy roads.
A travel destination: I went to Stockholm for a short course.
February:
An adventure undertaken: In February we attended a mini gaming con, where I had many adventures, without the bother of leaving the comfort of a chair.
A project completed: I cut up an old cookie sheet to make a large pie shield that fits on my really large pie plate, since the store bought ones others had found for me fit only the normal sized pie plates.
A travel destination: In February I made it to both Boliden, to collect rock samples from drill core, and to the Jokkmokksvintermarknad, where I got to use another project I completed on the drive there: my brand new fur-lined hood—when attending an outdoor market at -30 C having a fur lined hood is a Very Good Thing.
March:
An adventure undertaken: in March we made it to an SCA event down in the Skellefteå area, where I had been invited to come teach a class on how to make wax tablets.
A project completed: I finished a delightfully soft herringbone white linen undertunic for me and nearly finished a pair of Viking style poofy trousers for me.
A travel destination: This was the month![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lord_kjar and I flew to Grenoble for five days to visit linda_linsefors and did some hiking in the Alps.
April:
An adventure undertaken: April’s adventure was participating with our folk dance group in the big Dans Fyrverkeri--a showcase of various dance groups in Luleå.
A project completed: April’s major project was a grant application, which I managed to turn in on time, but, sadly, when they decisions finally came out in November, my application wasn’t among the list which got funded.
A travel destination: My “travel” for April was awalk through the forest to Gammlestad.
May:
An adventure undertaken: In May I took the Slippery Course that one must take to obtain a Swedish Driver’s licence. I found handling the car in slippery conditions much easier than the only-just-learned how to drive girl I was partnered with. 30 years driving experience matters.
A project completed: With the help oflord_kjar’s dad’s tractor and its accessories we acquired what would be enough firewood for the winter, if we only had a wood stove in which to burn it. Since we don’t, it should last a fair bit longer than that. (Yes, we have used a bit of it now and then since—at LARP camping event, in an outdoor fire pit here in the yard during a party…)
A travel destination: In May we did the long drive south to Double Wars, which is usually the largest SCA event in Europe.
June:
An adventure undertaken: In June I learned that, sometimes, a deer will wander through our yard. What a nice thing to see out the window during my yoga session.
A project completed: In June I put together a slide show summarizing all of my progress to date on my uni research, and presented it to the geologists at the Mine (literally—this was the first time I went to the mine headquarters itself.
A travel destination: In June I took a short course with two locations: the first half was in Stockholm, the second in Helsinki.
July:
An adventure undertaken: July’s noteworthy adventure was discovering that the pump on the septic system had issues and as a result the water was just running out over the land. Luckily, this was fairly easily fixed.
A project completed: In July we completed the digging of the hole in the ground so that we could start building the Earth Cellar. we had some help with the last bit.
A travel destination: In July we stayed home so that we could focus on projects around the house, but one particularly good travel destination I discovered in our own neighbourhood is a noteworthy hill located along the trail that goes from Porsön, though the nature reserve and out to Gammelstad. The hill is near the edge of the nature reserve, and it is lovely exposed rock rising up from the trail level. I had passed that hill before, of course, but in Julylinda_linsefors decided to climb up the hill to admire the rocks. When we reached the top we were rewarded with not only the nice view, and the pretty rocks, but a patch of wild raspberries that no one else had eaten from yet. Yum!
August:
An adventure undertaken: in August one of my cousins came to visit, so we took him toStoreforsen, where there were hikes, wild blueberries, swimming in cold water, and views of Europe’s largest set of river rapids.
A project completed: We spent much of August doing costuming for our first LARP, which we went to in early September. One would think that with a closet full of medieval stuff we would have been good, but it turns out the elf culture our characters were part of have a style for their clothing which is totally unlike any fashion from any time in the Middle Ages.
A travel destination: My August travel was several days in Uppsala for a geology conference. (note: this link goes to the same LJ post as this month’s adventure, since I did the trips back to back and posted about them on the same day.
September:
An adventure undertaken: In September we spent a long weekend camping in the forest dressed in elf costumes. The LARP (or "lajv" as they say in Sweden) was fun, and totally unlike SCA camping.
A project completed: In late September I made a pair of modern trousers in a lovely light weight black wool because I was going to be heading to a geology field trip in early October. (ok, so I actually did the last couple of steps of that project on 1 October, but this is close enough to count as September’s project completed).
A travel destination: The above mentioned LARP took place in Älvsbyn, a pretty area just enough inland from here that they actually have a bit of topography, and most of the hills on the site were covered with wild blueberries, at the peak of ripeness. Yum!
October:
An adventure undertaken: October’s big adventure was attending the best geology meeting I have ever been to. The geology was amazing, the people’s presentations interesting, the cabin in which we stayed cosy.
A project completed: While at the meeting I managed to finish a light weight really comfy nålbinded hat out of some really soft brown silk-alpaca yarn. I made the hat with ear flaps and strings to tie it on, and it has become my favourite hat to wear, either on its own, or under a hood or a larger hat, depending on the temperature of the day.
A travel destination: The best travel destination in Ocotber would have to be the field trip stop with the kyanite rich rock (see above link under “adventure”), but in addition to the geology meeting, I also went to a small village called Brattby (near the city of Umeå) for an SCA dance event, which was also fun.
November:
An adventure undertaken: In November I returned to Grenoble, where the weather was more appropriate for indoor adventures, like wall climbing
A project completed: In the middle of November we finally got around to hanging the mountain wall paper in the bedroom, and at the end of November I made myself something I have long wanted: a full-circle skirt. Our dance teacher had her 60th birthday party on the first weekend of December, and, having been born in the 1950’s she decided to have a 50’s theme for the party, and I needed a costume. I was really happy with how well skirts that full spin when dancing.
A travel destination: In addition to the above mentioned trip to France, we also travelled to a village called Sandfors for an weekend of little ”lajv” events.
December:
An adventure undertaken: This month we drove south to Umeå, where we attended a choir concert a friend of our was singing in, wandered the winter market, made it to an SCA event, and played in a playground.
A project completed: This month’s completed project was all of the cooking associated with the big turkey dinner we hosted here forlord_kjar’s family.
However, I am nearly done with the last of the embroidery for the extensions tolord_kjar’s nice red wool tunic.
.
The tunic is one he purchased sometime before we met, and, while it fits him great around the chest it was too short in the arms, and a bit shorter than ideal in length. Therefore I have added grey inserts in the sleeves and at the hem. These are all in, and there is only a tiny bit of embroidery left to do on it, so he may be able to wear it at Drachenwald’s 12th Night Coronation next weekend.
A travel destination: Our only travel so far this month was the above mentioned trip to Umeå, and a visit tolord_kjar’s on Christmas Day, but their home is so lovely I can recommend it as a destination.
So, there you go, I did manage to come up with something that fell into each of those categories for each and every month of the year. While there were, of course, also challenges to overcome this year, I think that for the most part I have enjoyed the year, and look forward to seeing what sorts of adventure I get up to and what projects I undertake next year.
January:
An adventure undertaken: I found out that the snow in that field was deeper than I thought.
A project completed: January was the month we found a spark (kick sled) in a second hand store, took it apart, totally re-painted it, and then put it back together, stronger. It turns out to be a fun toy and a fast way to travel on icy roads.
A travel destination: I went to Stockholm for a short course.
February:
An adventure undertaken: In February we attended a mini gaming con, where I had many adventures, without the bother of leaving the comfort of a chair.
A project completed: I cut up an old cookie sheet to make a large pie shield that fits on my really large pie plate, since the store bought ones others had found for me fit only the normal sized pie plates.
A travel destination: In February I made it to both Boliden, to collect rock samples from drill core, and to the Jokkmokksvintermarknad, where I got to use another project I completed on the drive there: my brand new fur-lined hood—when attending an outdoor market at -30 C having a fur lined hood is a Very Good Thing.
March:
An adventure undertaken: in March we made it to an SCA event down in the Skellefteå area, where I had been invited to come teach a class on how to make wax tablets.
A project completed: I finished a delightfully soft herringbone white linen undertunic for me and nearly finished a pair of Viking style poofy trousers for me.
A travel destination: This was the month
lord_kjar and I flew to Grenoble for five days to visit linda_linsefors and did some hiking in the Alps.April:
An adventure undertaken: April’s adventure was participating with our folk dance group in the big Dans Fyrverkeri--a showcase of various dance groups in Luleå.
A project completed: April’s major project was a grant application, which I managed to turn in on time, but, sadly, when they decisions finally came out in November, my application wasn’t among the list which got funded.
A travel destination: My “travel” for April was awalk through the forest to Gammlestad.
May:
An adventure undertaken: In May I took the Slippery Course that one must take to obtain a Swedish Driver’s licence. I found handling the car in slippery conditions much easier than the only-just-learned how to drive girl I was partnered with. 30 years driving experience matters.
A project completed: With the help of
lord_kjar’s dad’s tractor and its accessories we acquired what would be enough firewood for the winter, if we only had a wood stove in which to burn it. Since we don’t, it should last a fair bit longer than that. (Yes, we have used a bit of it now and then since—at LARP camping event, in an outdoor fire pit here in the yard during a party…)A travel destination: In May we did the long drive south to Double Wars, which is usually the largest SCA event in Europe.
June:
An adventure undertaken: In June I learned that, sometimes, a deer will wander through our yard. What a nice thing to see out the window during my yoga session.
A project completed: In June I put together a slide show summarizing all of my progress to date on my uni research, and presented it to the geologists at the Mine (literally—this was the first time I went to the mine headquarters itself.
A travel destination: In June I took a short course with two locations: the first half was in Stockholm, the second in Helsinki.
July:
An adventure undertaken: July’s noteworthy adventure was discovering that the pump on the septic system had issues and as a result the water was just running out over the land. Luckily, this was fairly easily fixed.
A project completed: In July we completed the digging of the hole in the ground so that we could start building the Earth Cellar. we had some help with the last bit.
A travel destination: In July we stayed home so that we could focus on projects around the house, but one particularly good travel destination I discovered in our own neighbourhood is a noteworthy hill located along the trail that goes from Porsön, though the nature reserve and out to Gammelstad. The hill is near the edge of the nature reserve, and it is lovely exposed rock rising up from the trail level. I had passed that hill before, of course, but in July
linda_linsefors decided to climb up the hill to admire the rocks. When we reached the top we were rewarded with not only the nice view, and the pretty rocks, but a patch of wild raspberries that no one else had eaten from yet. Yum!August:
An adventure undertaken: in August one of my cousins came to visit, so we took him toStoreforsen, where there were hikes, wild blueberries, swimming in cold water, and views of Europe’s largest set of river rapids.
A project completed: We spent much of August doing costuming for our first LARP, which we went to in early September. One would think that with a closet full of medieval stuff we would have been good, but it turns out the elf culture our characters were part of have a style for their clothing which is totally unlike any fashion from any time in the Middle Ages.
A travel destination: My August travel was several days in Uppsala for a geology conference. (note: this link goes to the same LJ post as this month’s adventure, since I did the trips back to back and posted about them on the same day.
September:
An adventure undertaken: In September we spent a long weekend camping in the forest dressed in elf costumes. The LARP (or "lajv" as they say in Sweden) was fun, and totally unlike SCA camping.
A project completed: In late September I made a pair of modern trousers in a lovely light weight black wool because I was going to be heading to a geology field trip in early October. (ok, so I actually did the last couple of steps of that project on 1 October, but this is close enough to count as September’s project completed).
A travel destination: The above mentioned LARP took place in Älvsbyn, a pretty area just enough inland from here that they actually have a bit of topography, and most of the hills on the site were covered with wild blueberries, at the peak of ripeness. Yum!
October:
An adventure undertaken: October’s big adventure was attending the best geology meeting I have ever been to. The geology was amazing, the people’s presentations interesting, the cabin in which we stayed cosy.
A project completed: While at the meeting I managed to finish a light weight really comfy nålbinded hat out of some really soft brown silk-alpaca yarn. I made the hat with ear flaps and strings to tie it on, and it has become my favourite hat to wear, either on its own, or under a hood or a larger hat, depending on the temperature of the day.
A travel destination: The best travel destination in Ocotber would have to be the field trip stop with the kyanite rich rock (see above link under “adventure”), but in addition to the geology meeting, I also went to a small village called Brattby (near the city of Umeå) for an SCA dance event, which was also fun.
November:
An adventure undertaken: In November I returned to Grenoble, where the weather was more appropriate for indoor adventures, like wall climbing
A project completed: In the middle of November we finally got around to hanging the mountain wall paper in the bedroom, and at the end of November I made myself something I have long wanted: a full-circle skirt. Our dance teacher had her 60th birthday party on the first weekend of December, and, having been born in the 1950’s she decided to have a 50’s theme for the party, and I needed a costume. I was really happy with how well skirts that full spin when dancing.
A travel destination: In addition to the above mentioned trip to France, we also travelled to a village called Sandfors for an weekend of little ”lajv” events.
December:
An adventure undertaken: This month we drove south to Umeå, where we attended a choir concert a friend of our was singing in, wandered the winter market, made it to an SCA event, and played in a playground.
A project completed: This month’s completed project was all of the cooking associated with the big turkey dinner we hosted here for
lord_kjar’s family.However, I am nearly done with the last of the embroidery for the extensions to
lord_kjar’s nice red wool tunic.. The tunic is one he purchased sometime before we met, and, while it fits him great around the chest it was too short in the arms, and a bit shorter than ideal in length. Therefore I have added grey inserts in the sleeves and at the hem. These are all in, and there is only a tiny bit of embroidery left to do on it, so he may be able to wear it at Drachenwald’s 12th Night Coronation next weekend.
A travel destination: Our only travel so far this month was the above mentioned trip to Umeå, and a visit to
lord_kjar’s on Christmas Day, but their home is so lovely I can recommend it as a destination.So, there you go, I did manage to come up with something that fell into each of those categories for each and every month of the year. While there were, of course, also challenges to overcome this year, I think that for the most part I have enjoyed the year, and look forward to seeing what sorts of adventure I get up to and what projects I undertake next year.