There's another EXARC textile chat coming up tomorrow - as usual it starts at 15:00 CET, and the topic this time is nalbinding.

You can find out more about it here on the EXARC page!

In other news, having nothing at all to do with nalbinding: My little lemon tree has actually decided to make a bud. Yay! It came with a lot of flowers and buds when I bought it, but only made the one lemon that was already on it when it arrived here. Afterwards... nothing, nothing at all. So I'm very happy that it seems it now has remembered its job. Hopefully the flower will not remain the only one, and there will be a few fruits, too!



 

If you're using WhatsApp as a messenger service, you've probably seen the message about a change in how personal data will be used and/or processed in the near future, and the prompt to accept this before a given date, or lose your access to WA. The new use of personal data, however, includes permission to share data with Facebook.

Now, for those of us living in Germany, the actual use of data (or what WA is allowed to do with it) will not change significantly, thanks to the DSGVO. I do know that I've groaned about having to jump through a few hoops due to this in the past, especially since not much actually did change - but overall, yes, it's a good thing (and I think I did state that, too, amidst all my groaning).

Regardless, it's not a really good change what WA is planning, and they have more leeway with personal data in other countries, and obviously also plan to use that. So what can you do if you are not happy with having your things passed on to Facebook? There's always the possibility to use a different messenger, of course... such as Signal, Threema, or Telegram.

I had all three on my phone even before the WA announcement, due to different parts of our circle of friends being on one of the services and, due to some reason or other, refusing to use another one.

After the announcement, there's been a kind of WhatsApp Exodus in Germany. So to my rather great amusement, I've had messages on all three of the other services pop up that "XYZ is now using WhatNot!"

The only downside to this? It's getting really hard to remember who is on what messenger service now!

The little cat is getting old - she's still quite fit for her age, but you can see the tooth of time taking its toll. Not only on her own teeth, which are fewer now: she's had surgery recently, with the removal of three of her remaining (not so numerous) teeth. She also almost only white whiskers now, where they once used to be all black.

We don't know how old she really is; we got her from the shelter back in 2012, and she was grown then but of unknown age. She'd probably had kittens at least once before then, so that would mean at least 3 or so years of age, and the shelter vet estimated her to be about seven. Another vet, later on, said she's probably already much older, estimating her to be 10, more likely 12 years. Which means that she's now something between at least 11, or maybe even 21. We will never know, but hope she'll remain fit and happy for some more years to come.

More important than her actual age, though, she now has some days where she seems to have a hard time to jump up onto my desk or her cat bed in the office, which are about the same height. Sometimes she floats up there utterly gracefully, and sometimes... well. Not so graceful abortions of the jump. Since she loves to hang out on my desk or snooze on her office bed while I'm working, we installed a little cat ramp for her on the side of my desk:



This has been met with some suspicion. She's not very adventurous, the old lady, and was not sure about putting a single paw on the board, let alone explore it to stroll up it. So in the last week, there's been treats and gentle putting her onto the thing and nudging her to use it... and it seems she's now losing some of her mistrust and apprehension. We're still waiting for the penny to finish dropping - so bets will be taken on when she will use the ramp without promting!

You probably know that - you're looking at some newsfeed or something on the internet, and suddenly something really cool and exciting pops up. That is just what happened to me, leading to my finding out about the Bayeux Tapestry online.

In a project to make the embroidery more accessible and digitally available, the whole 70 metres have been photographed and then pieced together into a large panorama - which is now freely accessible online. So you can have a look at whatever piece you want to, and even zoom in quite a bit. Here's the museum's info and intro page to the Online Tapestry.

I've spent some time already squinting at the stitches in different parts. Of course, I immediately had an Oliver Twist moment when clicking on the zoom-in button, when I would really have liked to have just one more... but didn't get it. Still, it's wonderful, and probably allows a closer look than going to visit the original piece!

It's time to close some of my accumulated tabs again - so here you go, a Monday Link Roundup:

The NHM in Vienna did a special for Valentine's Day - about 19 youtube minutes featuring love in the animal kingdom and a bit about reconstructing erotical stuff from prehistory (featuring Karina Grömer, of course):


It's in German, but if you don't speak the language, you might still enjoy the glimpse into the museum.

There's a virtual conference on May 8-9 about Draft Animals, hosted by Lauresham. That is international - so if you're interested, check out the info page where you can also register (for free).

If you're looking for an interesting lace pattern to knit, featuring bunny ear decreases (one of my favourite decreases), check out the pattern for "thyme" on gannetdesigns.com.

If you're interested in the origins of money, take a look at this article on Plos One.

 
 

It's a little short notice, but better late than never: There will be a conference online about prehistoric textiles next week, on February 24 and 25. There will be talks in German and English; topics range from textile imprints on pots to the fabrication of early textiles from bast and other materials - you can see the whole programme here, and register in the same place in case you want to attend the conference.

It sounds really interesting even though it's way out of my usual time zone!

 

I like cabbage. As we're trying to eat regional and seasonal food, that is a good thing, for winter in Germany means that quite a few different kinds of cabbage are available. The usual white cabbage, of course, which can also be nicely turned into Sauerkraut; brussels  sprouts, which some people just hate (I love them), and many more.

One of my favourite cabbage side dishes, typical in Franconia, is Wirsing - Savoy Cabbage. Though it's pronounced a little differently hereabouts... more like "Wähschingg". Anyway, just in case you're interested, here's how I do it:

Remove dodgy leaves from the outside of the head; cut into quarters and remove the core, then cut into stripes. (Sometimes a recipe tells you to remove the thicker stems of the leaves - I don't bother. You'll find out why in a bit.) Place into a large enough bowl, pour boiling water over, let sit for 2-3 minutes, then stir it a bit before transferring the cabbage to a clean pot. (This will allegedly make the cabbage easier to digest. I mostly do it because it's a quick and convenient way to get rid of any dirt that may have been hiding between the leaves.) Add salt and some water to the pot with the cabbage, bring to a boil and let it boil for at least half an hour - better if for an hour. The cabbage should be all soft. Make sure it does not run out of water while boiling.

Now it's time to turn it into mush. If there's a lot of liquid still in the pot, you might want to drain some. I use a stick blender to get a thick sludge. It should be firm and fairly dry, because now we add more salt if necessary, a bit of pepper, a dash of nutmeg and a generous dash of cream. If the cabbage is fairly runny after pureeing, you can let it boil a bit more on low heat to remove some of the liquid. Add more cream, water, or milk if it's too dry.



It looks like unspectacular pastel-green sludge - but oh, it's delicious!

Serve hot and enjoy - this is a wonderful side for fried sausages or roasts of all kinds, including roasted duck or goose. Dumplings or potatoes would be the typical second side dish for these.