The Best Thing To Come Out Of Australia

So here's the beer lover's dilemma.
The doc says no more than one beer a day.
Here's your solution.
I proudly present to you The Darwin "Stubby"

Yes folks, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is 2 full litres of pure beer drinking pleasure!
OK so Sapporo has one too but then you have to drink Sapporo.
Just look at it standing proudly along side a "normal" can of Tooheys.
So the next time you tell "She Who MUST Be Obeyed" that you are just going to stop off and have a beer with the boys, order this bad boy, come home four hours later and pass the polygraph test!
Actually, the Stubby was phased out in 2015 and a wake was held to commemorate the sad event.
Here's an account:

The wake commemorating the life and times of the Darwin Stubby was held at an Alice Springs steak house.

Restaurant owner Wayne Kraft said he was holding the event because, "Darwin is still in mourning".

Mr Kraft said he was encouraged to hold the wake by former Northern Territory administrator Ted Egan, who is famous for turning empty beer boxes into musical instruments.

"It is a sad day so we'll shed a tear in our beer, and Ted's going to reminisce and maybe sing a few songs," Mr Kraft said.

Mr Egan said the Darwin Stubby was a great tourism device, and he often took one along on official visits to promote the Territory.

"It's sad that it's gone but life goes on, and it was one of the great means of attracting people to the Territory," he said.

PHOTO: Former NT administrator Ted Egan asked for a wake for the Darwin Stubby. (Flickr: Jan Smith)

"It was all about just slow drinking and a lot of chats.

"Drinking is really supposed to be convivial, with lots of food and laughter. That's the old style."

A slow cooked 43-kilogram leg of central Australian camel was being served with the last remaining bottles of NT Draught.

The Humpty Doo Hotel, 50 kilometres from Darwin, used to hold an annual Darwin Stubby drinking competition featuring Norman the Brahman bull, who held the record for the fastest scull of the giant beer.

According to ABC News reports from 1988, Norman once sculled a 2.25 litre stubby in 47 seconds.

At the 1988 competition Norman was reported have washed down his stubby with "half a dozen tinnies and a meat pie".

A Lapidary Convert?

Currently, my friend Ted is visiting from Sydney Australia. Ted is also a geologist, in fact, we went through McGill together.

My objective on this trip was to get him working in the rock lab and I have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams! Best of all, he works for beer! And even better, HE BUYS THE BEER!

Ted's weapon of choice is my Hi-Tech 8 inch slant lap. Here we are suiting up for battle in the rock lab.

Note that I graciously let Ted wear my Hi-Tech apron. Now we're getting serious.

And now Ted is totally immersed in his grinding efforts.

I must say, he did really well, taking several pieces from 100 grit right through to final polish. And while he was doing that, I was cutting some of our recent finds. I'm pretty lousy at rockhoundind what with my artificial hip and all but between Ted and "She with the agate eye" we have come home with some pretty nice stuff! Here's a little sample straight off the saw:

The shop has been super busy of late with a lot of European visitors and many of my pendants have left for new homes so with the weather being a little punky today, I'm working on some new stuff and will try to post pics when finished. Also, I have a load coming out of the tumbler tomorrow and will follow that up with an absolutely spectacular load of mostly crazy lace.

So if you are in the neighbourhood, drop on by and see what's new.

Cheers!

Special Visitors to the Shop

How bad is the postal service? I'll tell you.
It's a wet, windy, foggy day here on The Neck- the quintessential Nova Scotia day. But it was the perfect day for Karen to show up and collect her prize! Karen first learned about our yarn from an on-line knitting friend, Jan, who had stopped by the store while on vacation. Jan has been a big supporter and in fact is now one of our test knitters.
A few weeks back, Seawall Fibres, our hand dyed yarn enterprise, had a contest and the winner turned out to be a lady from Michigan. When we contacted her, she said, "Don't bother shipping it, I'll come and pick it up!"
Talk about not trusting the postal system!
Actually, that's all a little joke. Turns out she was planning a trip to Nova Scotia before she even won so this gave her added incentive to come to Digby.
Here's what she won:

This is a skein of our Rutilated Amethyst and if you want one, it's available in our Etsy shop.

It actually worked out perfectly because her other half, Mike, had done a bit of lapidary so while the girls talked yarn, we talked rocks! Mike has a standing invitation to join me in the rock barn/ man cave any time he wants since it turns out he is an award winning beer maker! My kind of tourist!
So thanks Karen and Mike for dropping by and brightening a pretty gloomy day!

Karen is actually wearing the shawl that Vickie just finished designing and that Jan will soon be test knitting and Mike is holding the beautiful piece of crazy lace agate he's taking back for his rockhound friend.
I gotta get me one of those shirts!
Cheers.