January 2024 - Michael Keogh

hi i’m jackie and i’m going to show you how to make a basket willow basket i’m going to choose six matched rods they’re about the same thickness at the base the only tool that you really need if you’re going to be doing any basket making and this is a bodkin you can also use a screwdriver if you’re just starting out you’ve got to make the base well because everything that you put in the basket is going to rest on the base so it has to be sort of well staked up otherwise it might all come apart that’s when you don’t want it to this willow you wouldn’t be able to use it in this way if it hadn’t have been soaked and traditionally they say that you need to soak it for one day per foot of length so the six foot rods have been in the tank for six days plus one day which is left out of the tank which is said to mellow the willow not to let the willow know who the boss is and so old lots of old basket-making terms such as taking the spite out of the willow some of the willows i i grow myself like the the flanders red here in this one um but this is commercially grown willow and it comes from a company called musgroves they’re in somerset and um because traditionally somerset was well known for growing a lot of willows on the somerset levels um and i like to support them so they’re a nice family-run business and i’d recommend them the thing about the willow is that if you you’ve got to prepare it in advance so you’ve got to know that next week you’re going to be making a basket so if you want to make a basket next week you’ve got to start soaking it on such and such a day for whatever length of rod and once it’s soaked you can keep it for a certain length of time it won’t last forever so you have to either use it up or dry it and once it’s been soaked once it’s never as good the second time when i’ve worked with people who’ve been um maybe had you know got some sort of you know mental health issues going on they’ve found it enormously beneficial because you’re in the moment with it you kind of you can’t concentrate on anything else other than what you’re doing right now and um and then afterwards you’re like oh so that was then that happened then and now you know you’ve put something between maybe what was an unpleasant experience but one of the things i really like about basketry is that this is what we’ve always done and we’ve always found the plants growing near us and found a way of turning them into something that’s useful and beautiful something that enhances our our lives and and people have usually done it together they’ve done it as a group making chatting sharing stories and when you do that you’re connecting with that that tradition which is really lovely you know really nice people always say when i’m demonstrating they always say oh i expect it’s really hard on your hands and i sort of say well perhaps it is but i’ve got used to it and um actually it’s it’s really really nice to be working with your hands really nice and this is exactly the same willow as this may even have come from the same plant um but what they do to turn it into buff willow is they boil it in the tank i’m not sure for how long and the bark the colour of the bark colours the rod then they put it through a stripping um brace that takes all the bark off and the rod is left this kind of buff honey color to get the white willow they um they harvest the willow and then they they put it in a barrel of water so that the willow starts to grow and then come may they just take it straight off the bark the sap’s rising and they can strip the the bark off and then they put the willow into a tub of sulfur dust that keeps it white otherwise it starts to go mouldy there are lots of different kinds of baskets using looped and knotted techniques with materials that aren’t sort of so strong as this you know like different kinds of nets in papua new guinea they make these incredible bags that they carry their babies in they’re so beautiful and they’re all made out of vines all looped it takes them about a month to make a bag you know so they’re very special you know and um somewhere somebody or other somebody has worked out how they made them you know it will last for years if it’s um if it’s not left in a damp condition if it’s otherwise it has a tendency to maybe go mouldy or um sometimes you see old baskets and they’ve been left somewhere where unfortunately the woodworm has got them and and if they’ve been if they’ve been attacked by woodworm then they really need to be treated to kill the wood worm otherwise the woodworm will just eat the insides of the rod and before you know it the basket will be a pile of dust unfortunately final one oh yeah one small round basket with french brand in two colors let’s trim those two off you

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Connecticut app, and with the heavy, wet snow on the way, we need to talk about safety. According to Harvard Medical School, about 100 people die every year in the US during or just after shoveling snow. Most of them are men, many more people are admitted to the hospital because of a medical emergency. Related to shoveling, and a study in Canada from 1981 to 2014 found that if more than eight inches of snow fell, there was a 16% increase in admissions compared to days with no snow. Here is the weather forcast.

The more it snowed and the longer it snowed, the higher the rates of heart attacks.

Now, given that we’re speaking with a doctor about ways to prevent and reduce the risks, given that we’re speaking with a doctor about ways to prevent and reduce the risks. Joining us now is Doctor Annamie Singh, medical director of Emergency medicine at Hartford Hospital. Thank you so much for being here.

Now, those statistics are pretty shocking. Are there certain patients who have certain health risks that you recommend?

Not shovel snow at all. >> So a person who is not in good physical shape will not all of a sudden start running at seven miles per hour. So consider this an equivalent of the same. So if you are not in a good physical shape, or if you have a compromised heart and have been told by your doctors not to physically exert yourself , then you should definitely consider not shoveling at all because it causes a lot of stress on your cardiovascular system. >> Definitely something to take into consideration.

Now, what are some of the heart attack signs that men and women should watch out for? >> So the typical heart attack signs that we all hear and, uh, are aware about is chest pressure, difficulty breathing.

But sometimes the signs and symptoms can vary and can be a little bit confusing and can be as gentle as just this generalized feeling of weakness and overbearing. Exhausting Sometimes it can be nausea, sometimes it can be like headedness. So the typical the typical symptoms might not be present.

And this is especially true for females and for diabetic people, as well as people on the more older side. >> Of course, back injuries are pretty common when shoveling. If someone unfortunately strains their muscles, how do you recommend treating that at home and when does it become a situation where someone needs to go see a doctor? >> First of all, you should make sure that your posture is right, that your back is well supported , that your core is braced to support your back, but if it happens, then the one of the things that we highly recommend is rest resting itself can help your body recover much faster.

Then depending upon your preference, use cold packs or heat packs can help with the symptoms as well.

If there is no contraindication, then taking Tylenol or any other paracetamol formulation or ibuprofen formulation in the recommended dosage are the first couple of medications that we generally recommend for people with back pain. I would be very, very careful if this was excruciating pain, which is unlikely. What you experience when you go through a back pain. Other symptoms to watch out for would be numbness or, uh, loss of sensation or tingling in your legs. Uh, any problem peeing or, uh, any weakness?

Uh, not an inability from the pain, but actual weakness that you are experiencing in your lower extremity.

Those are the signs and symptoms which really worries us. >> Do you have any other tips you’d like to share to help people stay safe ahead of this snowfall? Avoid driving if you can during heavy storms because, uh, trauma and accidents are some things that we often see in Ed after especially the first snowstorm, we see a lot of slips and falls happening right after the first snowstorm. >> So be very careful, especially if you’re on the older side.

Our propensity to sustain fractures even from, uh, smaller, low level falls, increases. >> All right. Doctor Singh with.

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Michael Keogh

Monthly Archives: January 2024

Making Willow Baskets

A Hartford doctor’s advice on preventing show shoveling injuries