Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Scissors Continuum

I know today's title sounds like an episode of Big Bang Theory, but it's my way of explaining how I deal with our household scissors needs. Those needs include:
1. sewing, including the occasional cutting of quilt pieces,
2. stationary activities, i.e. paper and ribbon cutting (not just activities undertaken standing up!),
3. kitchen cutting, including the odd slice of bacon,
4. gardening, not limited to sutting flower deadheads, but also including stems and twigs (and OK, I admit it, small branches).
Over the years, I've developed a sort of system whereby scissors enter our household as sewing scissors and gradually progress through the continuum until one day after exposure to all kinds of weather I attempt to cut something ridiculously tough and they fall apart. At that point another pair of scissors enters the house and all the other pairs progress (degenerate?) up the line. Note that there isn't a set for knitting; I use a tiny pair that fits into my knitting kit and wouldn't work for anything else. Admittedly, I could buy proper pruning shears for gardening and meticulously maintain an expensive pair of sewing shears that would last a lifetime, but for better or for worse, the scissors continuum is how I handle the problem (pardon the pun).
I also have a gloves continuum, but that's another story.
Yesterday I decorated our house exterior with greens. Good thing too, since now at night we are in the deep freeze and I'd have difficulty getting anything to penetrate the soil. While pruning some branches, my gardening scissors, in use as such for the last 4 years, gave up the ghost. At least with winter on the horizon I won't have to do anything about the situation until next spring. The result of my efforts is here,

















and here, 


                                                     and here.

The ceramic pots and ornaments are put to bed.


Everything is in readiness for the first flakes of white stuff. Come on winter, bring it on!
 P.S. I'll write about my mind-blowing weekend with Lucy next post.