Introducing Pippin

Day 57: Every year, I buy myself a Christmas prezzie. This year, I splurged a bit more than usual after falling in love with a delightful and beautifully made small band loom of an entirely different style. Although it weaves warp-faced bands like an inkle loom, it functions in much the same way as a regular loom, i.e., the sheds (two) are opened by raising or lowering shafts/heddles. Warp is held on the back beam, finished band wound onto the front. And it holds a phenomenal amount of warp for its compact size! It stands a little over a foot and a half tall, and could in a pinch be rested on a lap. It will make bands up to four inches wide. Many weavers name their looms, and of course I have named my "floor model" band looms Jutta and Nelda respectively. This little darling is Pippin!

Recommended By Experts

Day 52: Day before yesterday, I received an early Christmas present in the mail with no clue as to the sender save for the return address of the bookseller, but that was a dead give-away. I immediately sat down and wrote Arnie a letter of thanks. The arrival of the book was remarkably timely; I had been eyeing the ads for it in Scientific American and was very close to ordering it for myself because...well, because you just can't go wrong when David Sibley is talking about birds. His expertise is only surpassed by that of the birds themselves and, such being the case, I thought I'd put it to the ultimate expert for final approval. A bribe of a few sunflower seeds was all it took. "What It's Like To Be A Bird" has the official Beak of Approval from Mr. Dee.

Techno-Baroque

Day 76: For as many years as I've been alone for Christmas, it has been my tradition to buy myself a present. Okay, I haven't always bought it in December, but when I made the purchase, it was designated "Christmas present to self" regardless of the month. This year, I decided to forgo the custom and instead made a substantial contribution to my favourite non-profit. On Christmas Day, I had dinner with my fishing buddy's family and somehow got roped into playing carols on an electronic keyboard. I faltered badly due to the fact that I haven't played in a long time, and it made me realize just how much I'd missed my old upright piano. I'd sold the beast a year or so ago to free up space in my living room, an idea which was great in theory but in practice, not as effective as I'd hoped.

Over the last several days, I've been looking at electronic keyboards on line. What I wanted and the cost I could justify were dreadfully out of alignment. Nor did I like the idea of making a purchase without actually playing the instrument, so today when I went in town, I hit one of the region's best-known music stores. I came out with exactly what I had wanted...no, even more than I had wanted!...for a very reasonable price thanks to a close-out sale. This model has more keys than many I've reviewed, plus it has pressure-sensitive volume and half-weighted keys which make it feel more like a real piano. As for what all those buttons are for, I'm sure I'll find out eventually. Right now, I'm enjoying the sound of techno-baroque on the most basic settings.