October 2005

A whole year already, since last Samhain. Amazing how it snuck by so fast. Your parents always tell you that time moves faster the older you get, and you only realise how terrible time wasting can be, when you start wasting it.

In fact, it’s jumped up on me so quickly, that the only planning I’ve done has been quick moments caught here and there, ideas on what needs to be done and said. And to top it off, I go book a driving lesson and a dance class tonight, without even realising. Still, I’m sure I’ll be able to make time to visit a little place I have in mind.

Last weekend was fun :) We went to London with our next-door-neighbours, as we gatecrashed a work trip. We had a lovely meal at Loch Fyne Restaurant near Drury Lane. Before hopping off to the theatre to see The Producers. We stayed over in a nearby hotel, and came back on Sunday. Then we just veg’d out for the remainder of the day :P

technorati tags: samhain, theatre, london

First things first. Archery practise was good again on Tuesday. It seems there’s something very wrong with where I’m holding the stave in relation to my drawing hand. Plenty more practise should hopefully yield shoots that fall where my sight is at. It’s just a case of breaking a shallow habit.

Next up… I’ve got my iPod Nano! I’m very pleased with this little baby. As I ordered it from the Apple Shop, I also had a bit of engraving done to the back of it, “Athazagoraphobic… and proud.”

Next up. I like this picture by Kim Taylor, found on her site. I was searching for a Hawk the Slayer reference, to prove the fact that Madonna’s new song has NOT got a sample from Abba’s Gimme Gimme Gimme, but is in fact a sample from the Hawk the Slayer theme :) I’m still looking for evidence on that claim.

Flock! I’ve been playing around with a new Social Web Browser development release called Flock. It’s early days yet, and I’m not using it as my main browser for secure transactions, but its features are impressive, and worth tinkering with.

technorati tags: ipod, hawk, apple, archery, flock

On Saturday, a mate and I went down to Chiltern Archery to pick up some parts for his compound bow, and to pick up a modern recurve starter kit for me. Following on the advise I received, to practise one year on a recurve, perfecting my style, before moving onto the Longbow.

My first friendly competition was today, shooting Worcester targets from twenty yards (or so), eleven rounds of five arrows, with only five practise arrows and a new bow with unadjusted sight. I got one-hundred and thirty-two, which I’m pleased with for starters.

technorati tags: archery, bow, longbow, worcester

Looks like the archery club that I was visiting back in June, has now moved to its winter premises, which is only two miles from where I live! So, that’s chuffed me up, no end. It also runs three times a week, of which, two are good for me. I know where I’ll be spending my Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons.

What else is going on? Well, the soon-to-be Willow sickle handle is drying nicely. I got the remaining dozen of arrows back in from the garage, I’ve waxed them (and my bow while I was at it) and scrubbed (using wire wool) off the slight bit of rust that was forming on the tips. I’ve ordered some tabs, a stringer (fed up with using my spare string) and some additional fletching thread, so I can finally finish the twenty-eights.

Just checked my order with apple.com, and yes, my iPod Nano has been shipped! Alison should be getting her’s back soon… I kinda borrowed it, as I need background noise and music when I work, and the office here is just too quiet for my temperament.

Hmmm, must remember to salvage some dental-floss in order to mark the nocking-point on the serving of my strings. That could be a job for the weekend. I need to remember to check stave tapering measurements in my books at home, if I have them, it’s time to buy some raw staves and get started on the commissions :D
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I was perusing the Internet the other day looking for replacement sickles. I’d purchased one from an eBayyer once, and it just didn’t have the right feel, a nice blade, just doesn’t feel usable in ritual. Anyhow, I was chatting to a friend the other night about this, and it occurred to me (on looking at the blade again) that I could replace the handle with something of my own fashioning, and also replace the sheath with something more adequate. This would go a long way to personalising the item and maybe getting it feeling right.

So, Mrs. yibble and I took a stroll to some local felled Willow trees. We’d wondered why they were being felled and felt that perhaps we could salvage a piece for my needs. We discovered that the trees are felled and re-planted to be used in high quality cricket bats, resulting money is also used in other tree planting projects. We found an ideally shaped branch that had been spared the chipper, and rushed it back home. Where upon I fell about stripping the bark with my wood-axe. The branch is now drying in my garage until it’s fit for sawing, and I’ve saved the bark for later use.
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