spring flowers and good food

[chuck123wapati]

16 minutes ago, Darren8306 said:

The sandals are the ones used my Mr. H, for his trailrunning. The Tandy offering looks to me like a product from China, which doesn't really count. (in my crazy counting mind)

lol you're right about the sneakers. I have made and worn the huarachas, made them from old tires, they are nice to walk in, I know, and my kids were kids in them, doing whatever. Maybe a viable niche for you if there are no running shoe makers in Canada, after all, you like running.

 

[Mablung]

On 12/4/2025 at 8:17 AM, Handstitched said:

@chuck123wapati well done  and well  deserved . They look so good and will polish up nicely. There are times when we just love to treat ourselves.

I'm contemplating  buying a new( stetson style)hat  for myself for Christmas.  The brand/ company  i would normally buy from  has now been bought  out by a mining squillionare . They can go and jump.

So I'm going to support another  Aussie made  company instead,  not owned by a mining company, a bit pricey, but so what !

What company formerly and what company newly, if it's not impertinent to ask?  I have a dabbling curiosity (and far less than sufficient money to scratch the itch) in fedoras and bought an Akubra offering a while back.  Best value for the money I could find via internet research.

[AlZilla]

On 12/4/2025 at 11:03 AM, Darren8306 said:

I'm not deciding immediately, but I'm leaning toward keeping grant money out of my life. I can't help but think they would eventually require me

Good call. I have some experience of grants.  My motto, "If you take their money, you give them control". This applies to anyone who wants to contribute to your cause and for all values of "they, their and them".

[Darren8306]

11 hours ago, AlZilla said:

Good call. I have some experience of grants.  My motto, "If you take their money, you give them control". This applies to anyone who wants to contribute to your cause and for all values of "they, their and them".

Ya, this morning I stumbled across a quote attributed to Friedrich Hayek:
 

Quote

Responsibility, to be effective, must be individual responsibility. As everybody's property in effect is nobody's property, so everybody's responsibility is nobody's responsibility.

The other thing is more...um...mechanical. I can have quite a lot of 'success' from grant money, but then how would I know that my work was good quality? I know a lot of people take advantage, and some of those that I know do very high quality work, but there really isn't a leathercrafting community here. The best really clear feedback I can expect is money. The grant doesn't care at all about the quality of my work. At least as far as I can tell from here.