Under The Hammer

Another batch about to see the wonderful world we live in.

In The Pot

Blending the oils with the lye water to reach the trace phase. Trace is where it thickens and leaves a "trace" along the sides of the pot, signifying that it's time to pour. I usually like to soap between 110-120 degrees, but today I'm soaping at around 90 degrees. I'm playing with color, and I need the batter to stay thinner for longer than usual so that it doesn't set up while I'm swirling and layering.

The Luxury of Shea

Monday morning and it's Luxury Shea butter soap on the cutter. Three batches to get onto the curing shelves to keep the supply plentiful. Shea butter is just the thing to keep skin moisturized and protected through the dry of winter, and these Luxury bars have heapings of it.

Just Another Manic Soap, Yay!

Sesame Ginger Me. A beautiful creamy bar made with organic sesame oil and a warmly scented essential oil blend of addiction. This soap bar carries a 20% price discount throughout Manor Mania. Come go Manic for your faves and soak up the steals.

NorEaster Weekend

This was snow in the driveway two years ago, February 2011. The snowbank wasn't from just the one storm though. There'd been a few over that winter. The February one was a particularly large one though, and saw the last of our shed as the roof caved in under the weight.

There's a huge NorEaster coming in today. It won't be leaving us until late tomorrow. They're reckoning on up to 36 inches on the higher elevations over Boston way. We won't get such an amount here in Springfield, but I've been hearing as much as eighteen inches.

That's a lot of snow. The shovels are to the ready. I'll be posting how much we get. Fingers crossed we keep our power. It's gonna get real blustery tonight. And thundery. With lightning too. And... did I mention snow?

Dave is Back!

Only the other day I wondering whether I should be grieving for Dave. Last I saw of him was spring 2012, when he was cavorting daily with Blondie across the back garden. They ran off together one day, and although I saw Blondie a few times after that, I never saw Dave at all.

Dave is a black squirrel, with a beautiful shiny coat. Blondie is a grey one, with a ginger blonde tail. They made a great couple, and although I feared the worst may have happened to Dave I told myself all through the winter that he'd gone to live in another tree far far away.

This morning, 9.30am, and Dave is back. I was feeding the birds, and he came bounding across the cold and stark winter's greenery, making a bee line for our garden. Up and over... bound after bound after bound. I think he was on a mission. I stood absolutely still, and after running up and down a few of the pine trees, he sat for a while on his fave broken limb and looked down at me. "Hello Dave," I said to him. "It's good to see you again." He waved his tail a couple of times, brushed his little paw across the back of his ear... and I came indoors leaving him to it..

Dave's back. I never thought I'd see him again. Fingers crossed he graces me with some new pics.