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Storm Bella raged through the night. In the morning, Mr and the Enting did a boundary walk to look for fallen trees and other damage. While I cleaned up our breakfast and got a fire going in the wood stove, I considered what a strange and eventful few weeks we’ve had since we been called to Owlshire. Boiler and fuel supply problems, an historical flood, unexpected severe allergies to sections of the house, leaks in buildings, now a major wind storm... all within the already surreal year that is 2020. But the year was turning, and we’d made it through midwinter in the Forest, and there is much Keeping to do. Having received the prestigious new title Keeper of the Flame from the Home Office, I had a lot to prove—to them, to myself, and to the World Soul that reached her glowing fingers into this sacred place. — In summary: a 41 year old American emigrated to England. Mum of Enting, a 2.5 year old agent of chaos. Kitchen witch, gamer (mostly LARP, TT RPGs and board games), knitter/spinner, writer, returning smallholder. In late November 2020, my family completed a Master Quest to move from central London to our woodland dream property. Now we’re settling into our new home—dubbed Owlshire—in a beautiful part of the Forest of Dean. For this challenge, I’m focusing on a few areas I want to make progress in. Progress is measured on XP per task, but I’m also including maximums to keep balance among them so I don’t, say, just write stories the whole time instead of working on the garden or getting fit! WARNING: There will be picspam of Owlshire, surrounding areas, and Enting. Stoke the Hearth Fire 1XP per day engaged in a creative activity (probably woolly related, but may not be). This may also include events (spontaneous or planned) that similarly bring joy. Maximum per week - 5XP 2XP per day that I complete my household chore rota. No maximum. Keep 1XP per day per task related to future self-sufficiency - IE, continuing the set up the future gardens/orchard/etc., collecting or processing firewood, etc. Max per week - 10XP. Research can count, but only for 3XP per week maximum. Stay Strong 1XP each day I have PAI average above 50. No maximum. 1XP each day I walk 4+ miles according to my Fitbit. No maximum. Map the Leylines 1XP for local walks off my property, 3XP if I’m doing a new-to-me route. Max 5XP per week. If I participate in the Slow Ways launch week—no maximum for that week. Research can count (such as learning new flora and fauna in the area or looking into human history), but only up to 1XP per week. Restore 1XP per task related to restoring or preserving the outbuildings, fences, trails, and other infrastructure. Max 10XP per week. Tales of Owlshire 5XP per narrative story installment told on my thread. Max 10XP per week. Quests Bonus points received for completion of quests on my “Level Up Your Life” list. Goal: Reach 200XP to Keeper of the Flame Level 2.

I’m formerly Ann of Vries, often Adventurer and sometimes Ranger. In summary: a 41 year old American emigrated to the UK. Mum of Enting, a 2.5 year old agent of chaos. Kitchen witch, gamer (mostly LARP and TT RPGs), knitter/spinner, writer. On November 17th, my family (finally!) completed an Epic Master Quest—to move from central London to our woodland dream property. Now we’re settling into our new home—dubbed Owlshire—in a beautiful part of the Wye/Dean. The Challenge My goals for the challenge is transitioning from the moving/unpacking phase to settling in to my new environment and the lifestyle changes that come from it. I suppose there’s a milestone in mentioning this is my 1000th post! Seems fitting given change of chapters. WARNING: There will be picspam of Owlshire, surrounding areas, and Enting. Find a daily rhythm for my family We’re in a new home in a new place in a new lifestyle—while still under pandemic Lockdown restrictions. This is not your normal relocation situation, and we need to make the best of it and find our rhythm to live our best lives under our circumstances. Continue local explorations I’ve begun to investigate local footpaths, and I want to continue this. I want to find a footpath route to the farm shop in a neighbouring village and similar route to the shop in our village. As an added difficulty, these routes also need to be toddler-friendly—either with him walking or my being able to carry him. We live on a steep hillside amongst many hills it can get treacherous to manage in places, especially with a toddler along. Some routes are overgrown and unused and—as I’ve been learning—some local routes in use aren’t on the OS maps at all! Build my PAI score I’ve been doing mileage/step goals for a while, but after discovering and discussing PAI with @oromendur, I want to give it a try. (I will still track mileage for my journey to Mordor, it’s just not a specific challenge goal.) My goal for this challenge to build up to a 50 point average. I want to do this primarily by daily activities: the continuing process of salvaging the grown over garden so we can plant in it next year, leaf removal (so many leaves....), errands/local exploration, housework, etc. A returning focus to creative activities 2020 has been preoccupied with trying to make this move happen and a living amid a pandemic. Now we’ve moved and are nearing the end of unpacking, I’d like to use some of that “moving” energy to invest in my neglected practices, such as (but not limited to): Needlework (knitting, spinning and embroidery) - Pick a project, cast on, get on with it. Writing Interactive fiction - 5 min day/ 3x week “Tales of Owlshire” stories 3x a week posted on my thread. (Inspired by @KB Girl‘s storytime.) Homecooking: I love making homecooked meals, baking my own bread, etc. but things moved in a more “convenience” direction given the chaos of the last few weeks. Make at least 1 loaf of bread a week 3x homecooked meals a week (does not include leftovers) So, here is a prelude to what I hope will kickstart a set of challenges in the new year....

Mistr gets more creative (part two) In an earlier challenge I worked on foresight and making better choices. That went reasonably well. I've been much less stressed about getting ALL THE THINGS done. I want to keep working on the balance of doing useful things and creative things. Since the useful things have guilt attached already, I'm concentrating my goals on doing creative things. I'm also going to need to get creative to work out at home the last week of the challenge. Main goal: work on creative projects at least 3 times a week Bonus points for finishing projects Extra bonus points for weaving My main project right now is spinning fiber from my stash. I checked off two items last challenge. I'm on a roll. I just finished an alpaca 2-ply yarn. Final step is to wash and block it. My current spinning project is angora/merino wool fine yarn for knitting gloves. I'm blending the fibers on hand cards which is time consuming. This will probably take more than three weeks to finish. That's fine, I'm thrilled to be using up the bag of merino that has been in my stash for years. I'm free to choose any of the bags in my stash when I'm done with this yarn. It is all fair game. Other projects include: knitting a pair of socks - nearly done with the leg of sock #2 embroidery - large counted cross-stitch picture of a sorceress anything from my unfinished objects bag - must finish socks first. I might just finish the sock before I have the yarn finished for gloves. Current mending counts because it is sitting out and I started it a couple weeks months ago. This kind of involves being creative with a needle. (1 item completed last challenge, two to go) Check things off goal: Things that need doing and mostly stay done. Taken from @Xena's sushi list idea Swap out summer/winter clothes, take bins back to the attic Put up the new shelves in the laundry room Sort one box from the garage. Bonus points for more boxes sorted. Wash the bag of used gis that showed up at the dojo. Make an electronic list of articles that Dumbledore has on paper (linked to the journals). Recycle the paper and use the file cabinet for things we actually should keep. Donate the stuff that is accumulating next to the coffee maker. Keep up good habits: Lay out clothes the night before Pack lunches and breakfasts ahead of time Do something for exercise every day. I'm struggling to do weight training regularly because it takes a lot of time, even though I enjoy it. Yoga or walking is fine if I'm feeling stressed. Zen every day. This can be after work or at lunch if I'm running late in the morning. Saturdays have been a problem - do zen early in the day. NO CAFFEINE. Exceptions allowed on Saturdays and during winter break. Plan for down time after work. Maybe even take a brief nap. Better to take a break than to drag for the whole evening. Make short lists of things I might do and pick the top ones. Wash, rinse, repeat. I'm also planning on doing a lot of aikido. That is not a goal, it is part of my regular life at this point. My weapons training partner is getting ready for his second-degree black belt (nidan) test. I can get in a lot of high-level training by attending all the advanced classes over the next two months.

Mistr gets creative Last challenge I worked on foresight and making better choices. That went reasonably well. I've been much less stressed about getting ALL THE THINGS done. I want to keep working on this. I had an interesting week doing zen and not needing to worry about doing anything. The thing I missed most while I was away from normal life was working on creative projects. I want to maintain the good habits that I've been working to establish over the last year, but with a bit more flexibility. Main goal: work on creative projects at least 3 times a week Bonus points for finishing projects Extra bonus points for weaving My main project right now is spinning fiber from my stash. I just finished spinning the singles for a three-ply silk yarn from silk I dyed in February. Next step is to ply it. I have alpaca yarn in progress on my wheel. I have half of that done and am working through it fairly quickly now that I figured out to pick out the bits of vegetable matter before I start spinning it. This will become a 2-ply yarn. I'm free to choose any of the bags in my stash when I'm done with these two yarns. It is all fair game. Other projects include: knitting a pair of socks - nearly done with the leg of sock #2 embroidery - large counted cross-stitch picture of a sorceress embroidery - packed so long that I've forgotten what the picture is about anything from my unfinished objects bag - must finish socks first. Current mending counts because it is sitting out and I started it a couple weeks ago. This kind of involves being creative with a needle. Check things off goal: Things that need doing and mostly stay done. Taken from @Xena's sushi list idea Swap out summer/winter clothes, take bins back to the attic Put up the new shelves in the laundry room Donate or discard the cooler packs in the trunk of my car Sort one box from the garage. Bonus points for more boxes sorted. Wash and donate the dojo lost & found (currently in my car) Make an electronic list of articles that Dumbledore has on paper (linked to the journals). Recycle the paper and use the file cabinet for things we actually should keep. Donate the stuff that is accumulating next to the coffee maker. Keep up good habits: Lay out clothes the night before Pack lunches and breakfasts ahead of time Do something for exercise every day. I'm struggling to do weight training regularly because it takes a lot of time, even though I enjoy it. Try adjusting my schedule to do weight training before or after work. Yoga or walking is fine if I'm feeling stressed. Zen every day. This can be after work or at lunch if I'm running late in the morning. NO CAFFEINE. I broke this rule yesterday and am regretting it (again) today. Yes, I like coffee. No, it is not worth it. Herbal tea is fine. Plan for down time after work. Maybe even take a brief nap. Better to take a break than to drag for the whole evening. Make short lists of things I might do and pick the top ones. Wash, rinse, repeat.

While we were in Wales, in a rare moment we actually had phone signal, a call came through. It was our community nursery that RoV had been on the waiting list for since the beginning of the year. They had a part-time opening! Would we like it? Mr and I needed to discuss it—but eventually we decided we should get a foot in the door while we had the opportunity. Unfortunately, several days passed before we could get strong enough signal to call back. I promised myself then, that if this worked out, I would use that time to return to the fiber arts. We got the spot and now I have childcare 4 mornings/20 hours a week (including his existing childminder), and I’m going to make good on that promise. The Return of the Stitch Witch I’ve signed up for a program called the Artist Residency in Motherhood (ARIM) which is a framework designed to help new parents get back into the arts after the shock of adding a small child into their world. I’m currently signed up for 3 months (and can extend), and so this will be ongoing. My focus will be exploring and developing a fiber arts direction that’s been invading my imagination all year (but I’ve lacked the time or space to explore)—embroidery as a medium for storytelling. 10+ “studio” hours a week on improving technique, creating designs, and the actual stitching related to my residency projects/goals. (Due to the holidays and related trips, there are weeks when I may not be able to do 10 studio hours, but those should be known in advance rather than... accidental.) Take a trip to the V&A to look at embroidery exhibits. (Adventure!) Those who follow my Instagram will see it repurposed as an accountability space for the residency. Continue Spiritual Studies Resume meditation practice at least 5 days a week. Mornings are ideal, but I need to get flexible about it. Perhaps I’ll do it at the start of studio time. Finish my outstanding assignment, plus 1 other class assignment (and associated activities) I’m backing off on progressing this course a little bit to make more space for the arts practice. Tame the Hearth Flame 4 childcare hours a week for household chaos reduction and outstanding domestic projects. Be an Adventurer! In the summer, it’s easier to follow up on “I’m going to go out every day!” But it’s no longer summer and with RoV spending most mornings in childcare, I think it’s even more important to spend quality time with him in the afternoons. And embroidering and associated tasks is a lot of “bum in chair” time, so I need to make a point of being active at other times. Aim for one outing each day with RoV. Preferably outdoors, but if it’s really miserable out an active indoor activity like the soft play centre is great, too. This won’t happen every day, but it should most. We’ve also got a couple of trips planned during the span of this challenge, so adventure during those, too!