Friday Favorite: #LotR
This week my friday favorite is for Mr Chiots who is a big Lord of the Rings fan. He’s read the books, including all of the books associated with Lord of the Rings like The Silmarillion and others. In fact we have a section on a bookshelf dedicated to these books. Mr Chiots celebrated his birthday last weekend, as my gift, I put together a piece of art for him featuring 12 travel postcards made by this Esty artist.
I had a local friend make the frame from cherry wood he milled himself. By doing this it ended up being much cheaper than buying a frame this large. The finished produce is amazing, not perfect, but perfectly imperfect!
After mulling over mounting options, I finally decided to buy walnut luan to do double duty as the backing for the postcards and the back of the picture frame. It added a nice warm look and extra detail. The 2×4 foot piece was only $12 and after cutting this piece I have enough left to use for another frame.
Needless to say Mr Chiots loved the gift. Now I’m going to have to have my friend make a frame for the ink map of Middle Earth I drew for his birthday many years ago. They will look nice hanging together in the office.
Do you have a favorite book/movie series?
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Sunday Night Sauna
One of the things we were excited about when we purchased this place in Maine was the wood fired sauna. We didn’t use it too much the first two years we lived here, but we’ve been firing it up every Sunday night. It has become one of our rituals.
It’s a sweet little building sitting down below the house, built by a Finnish guy many years ago. It’s big, we could have sauna parties if we wanted to, with a dozen or more people. We love that it’s wood fired, since we heat with wood it’s not much trouble to cuts/split/stack a little extra.
This summer the plan is to do a little maintenance on the sauna. The trim can use a coat of paint, we have leftover black from the barn that should look nice. The interior needs a really good scrubbing as well, it’s been neglected for far too many years.
If you’ve never used a sauna or haven’t read about it, here’s a great website full of information. I smiled when I came across this quote where Ilmari Kianto (1874-1970) describes a countrywoman’s facial transformation in his novel The Red Line: “There in the gentle löyly, the wrinkles on her face smoothed away, and the deep-blue shadows under her eyes gave way to a healthy colour. It was as if the heat had also melted away the darkness of her soul…”.
It’s such a great way to end a weekend and start the coming week. Saunas provide physical and metal relaxation, along with marking the start of a new week. There really is no better way to kick off the week than with a sauna!
Do you have any weekend rituals?
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Quote of the Day: Albert Camus
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
~ Albert Camus
This is how I certainly feel in winter, summer is such a busy time, winter gives me time to think, to reflect. One of my favorite times to do this is while snowshoeing. There’s just something wonderful about being in the woods on a cold sunny winter day. I find having a hobby like this makes me get out on these beautiful days, it is too easy to sit inside by the warm fire.
Yesterday was the perfect day to be out and about. I followed moose, coyote, and fox tracks through the woods. I sat on the little bridge in the back and watched the water gurgle up through a few thawed spots in the creek.
It was quiet, it was peaceful, you can’t help but think, reflect, and meditate in such an environment. It’s the perfect flip side to summer, just and wonderful in a completely different way. Less doing, more being, which is when you can find the invisible spirit you’ll need throughout the coming seasons.
What’s your favorite winter time activity?
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Quote of the Day: Charles de Secondat
I’ve never known any trouble that an hour’s reading didn’t assuage.
~Charles de Secondat
I mentioned that Mr Chiots got me a Kindle for Christmas. I signed up for their Kindle unlimited program and have been reading away. Since January 1st I’ve managed to read: The Garden Plot, The Red Book of Primrose House: A Potting Shed Mystery, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, Giver Quartet (4 Book Series), The Ladies’ Room, and I’m working on Number the Stars right now. They’re not my usual style of book, which is biographies or older novels, but they’re quite nice for a change of pace. I don’t often read quick paperbacks, but I’m enjoying the speed at which you can read through them and move on to something else. I like that you don’t have to spend too much time thinking while reading. They’re rather like watching a sitcom on TV, great for quick entertainment.
What books are you enjoying right now?
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Quote of the Day: Ian Fleming
“History is moving pretty quickly these days, and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.”
― Ian Fleming in Casino Royale
Between Christmas and New Year’s, Mr Chiots and I have the tradition that we try to watch as many James Bond movies as we can. I’m not sure exactly when this tradition started, we’ve been doing it for a LONG time, probably 10-12 years ago. It all started way back when one of the movie channels did “the 007 Days of Christmas” and showed the movies 24/7 during that week. We started watching and then purchased the complete blu-ray set a few years ago.
So far this year we’ve been able to watch five movies and we still have five more days to go. Hopefully we’ll get to watch at least half of them. It’s a really fun tradition, something a little out of the ordinary, especially this time of year. We’ve even convinced a few of our friends to do it as well.
Do you have any uncommon traditions around the holidays?
