Drum maker

I was at my brothers house yesterday. He called all of a sudden on Friday and asked me if we could have a little party. It was really sudden, the party was gonna be the next day, so unfortunately he didn't get enough people to join in... so later Friday night he called me if I wanted to come anyways, and he would teach me how to make a shaman drum! =D

And of course I agreed. He took a course a few years back on shaman-drum making and those drums are so freaking amazing that I was sooo happy he wanted to teach me to make them too. YAYY! So, Saturday, after midday he came to get me and we started the drum making!

The drum making was about to start. An important part of the
making is drinks (don't want to get hydrated, lol), I drank
Amaretto liquor. Yum yum. You can also see the frame of wood
where the drum will be set, on the left.

The finished drums that worked as models. The two left ones
are made by my brother and the closest one is done by my brothers
stepdaughter Oona. =) These are all very little drums, like mine was
gonna be. (the apprentice drum)

There are many parts of the drum making that I didn't photo. You have to cut the hide, model it to the wooden frame and wet it so it won't be too hard. Then it is dyed, to the colour of your choosing, with a few knots twist to the hide so it makes surprising patters. When the dye is ready, the hide is worked to the frame with a long, twined reindeer-hide string, that is made beforehand.

Me, working hard to twine the reindeerhide-twine so the drum wont
be too sloppy, it has to be even and tight so it rings and looks good.

The other BIG drums my brother has made. They can also be used
as lamps, as the second one is being used. =)

My drum done and ready, 5 hours later, drying. It has to dry
evenly or the string on the backside will twist the front, so it has
to be watered once in an hour or so... this watering took all night
(yawn).

The finished drum the drumming stick, made out of reindeer horn.

The finished drum, front view.

The finished drum, back view. Here you can see how the reindeer, hide
string is twined so that the hide that makes the rest of the drum, is
very tight and secure.

Another view at the back. Here you can see how the light
reflects beautifully from the see-through hide.

I loved how the drum turned out. And because I had to get up once an hour to water the drum the whole night long, I'm really tired now. Hehee. I think I should get some fresh air so I wont fall asleep. =P More later. ^_^

Below zero

Outside. It is. Freezing. But it's also been sunny. The few hours you can see the sun here in the North. =P

This has been a good day! I've been cleaning the house, cooking, grocery shopping, taking short walks, knitting, reading, doing dishes, cleaning the freezer, taking out garbage, watching documentaries, making phone calls... and not eating anything super sugary. I'm trying to get my diet in order again. It's so hard, but on these good days, it's much easier.
Yesterday was a gym day. Tomorrow is a gym day. One day is reserved for my viking ♥, one for doing nothing, one for taking care of official stuffs. Well, that's a full week. =D

It took me all day yesterday to get over this weekend. I had so much fun on Saturday with Ktiraam, we watched Torchwood, Season 1, tons of episodes, but I don't know which ones, Ktiraam keeps track of them, I just watch. XD

Torchwood. Jack, Gwen & Ianto. ^___^

And on Sunday we celebrated fathers day at my dads. All the "kids" were there: me, my sister (and her kids) and my brother. I loved seeing my sister and brother. ♥ But it was tough too. I can't tell about everything everyone's going through, because there are a lot of secrets, but let's just say that life is being pretty shitty for almost everyone right now. Rough things and tough times ahead. Urgh. It got me pretty down. And as much as I've been trying to tell myself that I cannot change these things and should not worry about them so much... how can you not worry when people you love are going through... stuff. =(

But I don't want to make this another negative post, so something positive to end this. I don't know if I've talked about it here, but I'm an atheist. Not like most Finns, who are not just going to church and not reading the bible. I don't believe in god. Any of them. They are nice stories that give people hope and strength. But to me god is like Santa Claus.
Even when I'm not religious, I'm very interested of other people's points of views, world views and things that are happening around the world. So I read a lot about religions. I want to know about them, I don't shun them, I am just completely sure that there is no god. ^_^

The reason why I brought this up, was to advertise a wonderful man. I am so hooked on his voice, HAHA! XD Richard Dawkins is one of the leading atheism spokespersons, a handsome British gentleman with a voice of a... god. (I made a funny, nyihihhiiii X3) If you are an atheist, or openminded to that sort of thing, undecided or stuff, listen to his lectures, he is woooonderful. And he's not agressive. He's always polite and doesn't raise his voice, he has clear opinions and he can always explain them. He doesn't talk "shit", he knows what he's talking about and has proof. He can turn minds.

... maybe that's enough praise for one night. Now I'm going back to listen to his lectures, easily found on Youtube. Hurraa!

Family is the best

I spent Saturday with my sisters family and my mom. We went to the woods where the kids got the run around and then went to my sisters. I got to go to a sauna all alone with a cider, aaahhhhhh bliss! ♥

We made these incredibly delicious breads with brie-cheese, salad, tomato, mayo, chicken breasts and onion, ooh, they were sooo good! And drank red wine, yummm. During the night we watched Thor, My life in Ruins & Water for elephants. And as much as I did not want to see the last movie, I have to admit that it was rather good. =S

I also drew with Jenni ja talked about movies with Niko. We discussed our favourite movies (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean...). They are so much fun, those kids. And they have such a good movie taste, haha. It was so much fun to talk about The Lord of the Rings, we got really excited and my sis and mom were sooo out of it! XDDD

Today I'm meeting my councilor at Lyhty employment office, it's kind of an unofficial meeting where we just talk about stuff. She wanted to see that I'm okay after quitting the course. And I am, now that I quit the course. I was getting really depressed again but now that I don't have to dwell on all the bad things and the past, I feel much better. ^___^

And then it's time to hit the gym. I bought a year-around-membership to the local women's-only-gym! :D

Picture of the day. Random, you say? Oh yes. XP
Pharaoh meets Woldy... with a tomato.

Zen

I've been taking long long walks, going to the gym, exercising at home. I bought and exercise ball. Today I did the dishes. Last night I couldn't sleep so I stayed up until 4.30 am writing a journal about this fall.

I feel at peace with myself. I am still depressed at times. And I cry too much, but oh well, no sense worrying about that because it wouldn't help anything. I saw my Viking two days ago, we had a great night, didn't even watch any movies or tv, just sat around, fiddled with the computer and talked about everything.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy a seasonal membership to the gym. I cannot wait! And yeah, I've been drawing every night. ^__^

Click to enlarge. 10 of my favourite actors/
actresses. Drawn by me. =D