in which our plucky heroine makes incremental progress...
~ creativity challenge ~
rather amazing how much difference some white shading and linework, and the final black outlining, makes in how lively and complete the border foliage looks...
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Am moving everything away from the water heater enclosure, and from the furnace room, and from the stove, so that tomorrow when the gas company person arrives, it will be easy for them to check out the appliances, and to look behind the stove and let me know if my long held dream of a gas range is possible, or at least what the next steps to take are. Fingers crossed that it will be deemed a go.
I cannot think of any other sort of black pipe that would be capped off sticking out of the wall, other than a gas pipe. Maybe it has been there since the house was first built back in the early 50's. The gas company has no record of there ever being a range installed here. But if it is a possibility, that is where I am going, thanks to the generosity of my friends after the amazing exploding oven disaster last September.
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July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
fox head blank
fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
tiny chickens blanks
lower L molar surgery
recycle bin
3
block printed trim
Nandina painted shoes
big bag of fabric
4
-
removed burned apples
big bag of fabric
5
-
pruned lower apple limb
big bag of fabric
6
x
resize Kestrel kuspuk
big bag of fabric
7
x
pruned small plum
yard waste bin
8
x
pruned quince
x
9
x
pruned sage
x
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today's gratitude - had a reprieve, as the twirly skirt isn't due to be picked up until the following weekend, not this one. That lets me focus on getting the scribal project completed enough to photograph by Sunday.
in which our plucky heroine indulges in creativity...
it's getting hot out again, not quite as bad as last month, but rising towards being around 100 by Friday. I have been hiding in the house. The squirrels attacked my tomato plants and tore up the dirt so they fell over. I've been making good progress on the Mano d'Oro scroll.
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~ creativity challenge ~
Today I finished penciling in the design, and began the painting... the whole scroll will get a base layer of the various colors, and then the colors will get detailed white-line decoration added, or shading, or both, and finally the whole scroll will have the black outlining added, which makes the whole design look crisp and completed. I am on target to have the painting finished by Sunday, our deadline to send in a photo of the completed piece. I am rather pleased with the small portrait in the initial, I haven't tried doing that before...
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Jaw and tooth continue to be less painful. Today I ate salad for the first time in almost a month. Which was wonderful, given the time of year. I went all out and made a nicoise style salad with tuna and green beans and HB eggses, garnished with capers. Still chewing on the non-surgery side. My bite feels odd, with different contact between teeth than I had in the past. Still using the tincture for pain and healing each night, as it will do no harm and may continue to do good.
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I've been making some progress on various other projects. Well more than halfway done with the twirly skirt for Kestrel, which needs the parts assembled, now that I have blockprinted the trimming for the hemline edge, and added a few Totoros to the pockets. Mr Dawson will pick up the new kiddo clothing hopefully on Sunday when he returns home from his trip to Dublin's stone standing memorial. (I thought about going, but too many people...)
Called the gas company, and they will be sending someone out on Friday to do a exam of my two gas appliances, and also take a look at the behind-the-stove, and hopefully let me know if my dream of getting a gas range is possible.
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July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
fox head blank
fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
tiny chickens blanks
lower L molar surgery
recycle bin
3
block printed trim
Nandina painted shoes
big bag of fabric
4
-
removed burned apples
big bag of fabric
5
-
pruned lower apple limb
big bag of fabric
6
x
resize Kestrel kuspuk
big bag of fabric
7
x
pruned small plum
yard waste bin
8
x
pruned quince
x
9
x
pruned sage
x
10
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today's gratitude - I got the most delightful small gift in the mail, a surprise from Dawn. There was the most wee little cable merino knit sweater, perfectly sized for Nandina. I am in awe of the little buttonholes and buttons. She tucked in a ziploc with some more really tiny buttons, and a kit to make a miniature copy of "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac, with the suggestion that it might have belonged to Nandina's mom Kenya! It will be fun to put a tiny book together.
in which our plucky heroine mostly stays indoors at the worktable...
This weekend is the An Tir 48 Hour Scribal Backlog Challenge. the participants, including myself, make an original scroll in that limited time, at least in theory. This time I am going to use a 14th century missal as my exemplar, and I am going to attempt to use Pergamenata as the substrate. It should be both educational and fun, at least that is my hope..
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~ creativity challenge ~
This is not the scroll I am working on, but rather the small sample I made to test out working on Pergamenata. The words are my motto, both translated into Latin, and in English. While my calligraphy leaves much to be desired, as the motto states: incremental progress is still progress! Each time I create a scroll I try something new, so as to keep learning. I haven't really worked with Perg, and it behaves very differently than Bristol board, which is my preferred substrate.
July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
fox head blank
fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
tiny chickens blanks
lower L molar surgery
recycle bin
3
-
Nandina painted shoes
big bag of fabric
4
-
removed burned apples
big bag of fabric
5
-
pruned lower apple limb
big bag of fabric
6
x
resize Kestrel kuspuk
big bag of fabric
7
x
pruned small plum
yard waste bin
8
x
pruned quince
x
9
x
pruned sage
x
10
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today's gratitude - I have a commission for making a set of non-traditional wedding bands, which will be an interesting stretch, but within my bailiwick...
Slipping inexorably, my hands and feet tractionless on long dry slippery grass. My throat is thick with unshed tears. Recent hope is circling the drain, as thoughtless stupidity hands the keys of the human world to a mindless virus. In the Before Times, I clung to a dream of finding the steps into a better future, both for me, and overall. The gateway to that path is closed now. The brightness of wildland fires and heat dome sunlight burns the maps.
in which our plucky heroine dreams of the world being different...
I worry. I have not spoken to my mother in several weeks now. When I phone the Aged Parents, now it is Dad who answers the phone. I sometimes hear Mom in the background, making comments, but it is such a change from all the years when the stock action on phoning was for Dad to immediately hand the phone to her, saying "here, talk to your mother"... He sounds exhausted, and flat, as their lives have become smaller and smaller, and it breaks my heart.
I am hoping that the new day-caregiver coming twice a week will bring some improvement. I feel so helpless to do anything at all to be of use to them, I don't understand the choices they are making, and I wish with all my heart that there was no pandemic, which took as much away from what made their life pleasant as has my mother's descent into dementia. If there wasn't a pandemic, it would be more possible to arrange small ameliorations and activity of interest, instead of them being basically trapped in the house with only minor excursions for medical treatment and my Dad going grocery shopping...
If only the various technical connectivity tools were not so confusing for them; I miss seeing them and speaking with them, and even the small amount we were able to do last year, like Zoom meetings and my sister and I reading aloud to Mom, now seem like they happened a lifetime ago. Nowadays, my Dad just doesn't have the energy/bandwidth to wrestle with getting the tablet to work. I am hoping to figure out the least dangerous way for me to afford to visit them once I am healed enough from my periodontal surgery.
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~ creativity challenge ~
I am in the middle of making a thing. A new companion for Nandina, with the head of a fox. Somewhat inspired by the Coyote-headed beings in some stories. I'm using the technique of spun cotton, which is more like cotton mâché... I started with a foil armature, and then covered it with thin layers of cotton stuck down with watery white glue. My next steps will be paint, and a body the size that of Nandina... not sure how I will add the foxtail, but there will be one.
In addition, there will be chickens at Caer Cardboard (I found a miniature small livestock hutch in my boxes of random things) and since I don't have the materials called for in the Ann Wood chicken tutorial, I am going to attempt to make some using spun cotton as a base instead...
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Still feeling intense disconnection from not only my life in the before times, but from my friends and family. Can't be helped, as it is becoming more unsafe again being out in the world. Just when I began to dip my toes in returning to grocery shopping, Oregon dropped the mask mandate, so stores no longer ask people to wear masks, even if they aren't vaccinated. Fortunately the medical facilities are (I think) still taking the pandemic seriously. I hope that they are still requiring masks...
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beauty in the time of isolation:
I see odd things sometimes on my walks ※※※
July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
fox head blank
fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
-
lower L molar surgery
recycle bin
3
-
Nandina painted shoes
big bag of fabric
4
-
removed burned apples
big bag of fabric
5
-
pruned lower apple limb
big bag of fabric
6
x
resize Kestrel kuspuk
big bag of fabric
7
x
x
x
8
x
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9
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today's gratitude - I cleverly cooked and froze things like mushy roasted zucchini, which means that I can pull out an ice cube of frozen broth, and one of frozen veg, and thawed and mixed with some cottage cheese and whey protein, it forms a slurry that is quite savory and flavorful, and as close as I can get right now to a formerly favorite meal...
in which our plucky heroine tries something new...
I continue to gradually heal from my extensive surgery. Yesterday at suppertime I tried a single dose of CBD for pain (since the OTC meds aren't doing much to help). I was pleased to find that it worked well, and that I was pain free for longer. It had, as I expected, none of the mental effects of the weed of my youth, but merely did what the Tylenol had been unsuccessfully attempting. It is good to have another tool in my medicine cupboard.
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~ creativity challenge ~
I tried it and I liked it. "Spun cotton" is not really spun, but more akin to "cotton mâché". I pulled apart a cotton ball into little shreds, and applied them to the foil armature using an old paintbrush and some diluted white glue. It was easy, and rather fun. Once it is fully dry, the next steps will be to paint it, add any fur/hair, and create a body using the tiny rag doll pattern ...
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Yesterday I walked 6¼ miles. That I'm not completely exhausted this morning is amazing. I'm not going to walk anywhere near that far today, to allow my body to catch up , (and because Wellingtons person told me that he didn't actually need that lengthy amount of walking, and that lil doggo was using his Jedi mind powers to convince me!)
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beauty in the time of isolation:
a charming pink and white anemone ※※※
July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
fox head blank
fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
-
lower L molar surgery
recycle bin
3
-
Nandina painted shoes
big bag of fabric
4
-
removed burned apples
big bag of fabric
5
-
pruned lower apple limb
big bag of fabric
6
x
x
big bag of fabric
7
x
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8
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today's gratitude - living in the future, where things unimaginable to Past Me are a matter of course. I am thinking about the cannabis dispensaries, and billboards offering various options, and comparing it to the culture of secrecy when I was a young thing...
I really wish that there were OTC pain meds that didn't tear up my gut, or that the medical establishment could sensibly differentiate between wanting to abuse drugs and wanting to get relief from post surgical pain. (I added ibuprofen to my Tylenol regimen, which did tone the pain down, but at the cost of my not being able to be more than a Very Short Distance from the Biffy, and having Terrible Gut Gripes) And that is the result of taking only 200mg every 8 hours.... so I'm back on just Tylenol. I remind self that in a few weeks the pain should ease off. Sigh.
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~ creativity challenge ~
It seemed like a good idea to give Nandina some little painted shoes. Since it is a little warm in the summer for her to be wearing knee high felt boots...
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"A merry-go-round is all horses, a carousel is a mix of horses and other things, and a menagerie is entirely everything besides horses." I was this day old when I learned this distinction...
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beauty in the time of isolation:
a beautiful, not yet fully unfurled, white California poppy
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Wellington, my temporary canine housemate, is a great incentive to increase my daily walking totals. I'm dogsitting for a week. Today, the first full day he was here, I walked more than 4½ miles. I am tired out, Wellington is not. But he is really cute.
My ravaged jawbone must be beginning to heal, as I have been sleeping through the middle of the night take medication alarms. Of course that means I now awaken desperately needing ibuprofen, but I'm taking it as a positive sign. The other small good news is that so far I am not being plagued by the acute sensitivity to cold/heat that occurred after the previous surgery (fingers crossed that this remains the case, because summer)
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~ creativity challenge ~ .
I decided to take a short crafting break today and start making a new companion for Nandina. I've been fascinated for a while about the technique of "spun cotton" and thought that it might be a possible way to create alternative miniature doll/animal heads. For some reason, I want to make Nandina a fox-headed friend, and since I have all the supplies needed, this afternoon I began by sculpting a foil armature...
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I'm doing a bit better this go round at figuring out food with interesting flavors that doesn't require chewing. Still super annoying, but I am grateful that I have options. The basics are yogurt (mixed with a spoonful of whey protein and a spoonful of flaxseed meal, and sometimes a spoonful of fruit sauce), softly scrambled eggs, rice noodles cooked to mush, (with something added to them such as a spoonful of boil in bag Indian food mashed to a puree). Other flavorful no-chew meals are a few spoonfuls of five flavor eggplant, or tuna salad (sans any crunchy bits), or mashed veggies of one sort or another, roasted zucchini, or steamed sweet potato... Tonight I will cook up some fresh spinach, chop it very finely, and add it to the bone broth I made yesterday, and stir in some beaten egg, for a variation on egg drop soup. I rarely eat soy products, but decided as part of my grocery order that a container of Toby's Tofu Pate would be yet another different flavor, and I included a pint of ice cream, since I have been being very good indeed.
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beauty in the time of isolation: Campsis radicans aka "trumpet vine" ※※※
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July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
-
fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
-
lower L molar surgery
recycle bin
3
-
Nandina painted shoes
big bag of fabric
4
-
-
big bag of fabric
5
-
-
big bag of fabric
6
x
x
big bag of fabric
7
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today's gratitude - homeostasis, ie the tendency of things to return to their normal state, as my body continues to do its very best to heal itself.
in which our plucky heroine struggles with pain management...
2nd day post periodontal surgery - Going to switch from just Tylenol, to alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen, (being careful about daily dosages and making up a new checklist chart) in the hope of getting some actual pain relief. If anything, today my lower jaw hurts worse than ever, (though that can sometimes be the case "the day afterwards") and I've been carefully checking to make sure I don't have signs of rogue infection.
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~ creativity challenge ~
My big challenge will be to create a kitchen and storeroom for Caer Cardboard, as I seem to be collecting gifts related to food and drink. After all, a wine cellar won't be happy in the attic room, which I think may turn into the sewing space instead.
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Today is pretty much a write-off, as I am still too beat to do much of anything save watch Very Short Films on Netflix, rest, and make sure to take meds in a timely way... hoping that tomorrow I can get back to doing a bit more!
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beauty in the time of isolation:
For some reason, this reminded me of the Fred Small song "Big Italian Rose"... I remember seeing the advertisement that the song is based on, in either National Geographic or Sunset Magazine , years ago when I was a child.
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One thing I did manage to do was to use some black acrylic paint to give Nandina little MaryJane shoes. I had seen other dollmakers use paint for shoes on tiny dolls, and thought it would work well. After all, she really doesn't need to be wearing her big brown felt boots all summer long! I have some ideas about using spun cotton to make some animal doll heads; I think Nandina needs a foxy friend, and I have been wanting to experiment with spun cotton as an art form for a while...
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July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
-
fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
-
lower L molar surgery
recycle bin
3
-
Nandina painted shoes
big bag of fabric
4
-
-
big bag of fabric
5
-
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big bag of fabric
6
x
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big bag of fabric
7
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today's gratitude - Yesterday Ånni sent Nandina a surprise box, containing a bundle of little wine bottles, a wine cellar cupboard, some goblets, and a small jewelry box. I had best get busy making a kitchen and storeroom for Caer Cardboard
in which our plucky heroine goes under the knife again...
For years of poverty and no dental insurance, my daily flossing and twice a day brushing were, I'd thought, been enough to keep my teeth well. I'd been told that only gums that bleed were unhealthy, which turns out to be false. Had I known, I'd have found some way to raise the cost of twice a year cleanings and dental care. It was a shock to find out that despite no pain or visible symptoms, infection had been raging for years underneath two molar teeth, and was eating away at my bones.
Periodontal surgery is no picnic. Today was a rather grueling 3½+ hours in the chair, while the entire area underneath the multiple roots of the tooth were scraped clean of infection. Eventually the space was refilled with grafted bone, in the most sincere hope of the tooth re-anchoring in healthy tissue. Hopefully this will be the last surgery,
and further adventures in dentistry will simply be maintenance. Since unseen and undiagnosed infection carries a heart health risk, and is a known factor in blood sugar imbalance, my additional hope is that this will do me nothing but good in the longer term.
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So, I was going to do a bunch of cooking last night, in order to empty the fridge of everything that requires chewing. Then I realised I didn't need to do that, that I could cook and puree things afterwards, that there is soup and broths, and purees already in the freezer and on the pantry shelves. I did finish off the crunchy lettuces and veggies, since those won't keep, but things like carrots, and sweet potatoes, and cabbage can be cooked later on. This made my evening a bit less fraught with kitchen madness
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I'm hoping to be back with more of my usual adventures and photos as soon as may be, but today is about rest and recuperation...
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July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
-
fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
-
lower L molar surgery
recycle bin
3
-
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big bag of fabric
4
-
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big bag of fabric
5
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big bag of fabric
6
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big bag of fabric
7
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today's gratitude - modern anesthesia... I lost count of the number of novocaine injections today, and I am so very grateful for that amelioration of immediate pain, without which, surgery like this would be impossible.
in which our plucky heroine brushes against the darkness...
It is that short time of year when (if we are lucky, and fire season hasn't yet reached us) there are some delectable scents floating on the air. The jasmine hedges are blooming, and the linden trees are flowering. My early morning bike rides are a delight, as the fragrance pools in spots that are as pleasant to ride through as the tree shade that dapples the streets...
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beauty in the time of isolation:
looking up into a linden tree, the leaves are silvery on the underside and green above, and the flowers smell wonderful!
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This last weekend Karen and Beth came down to visit, and my chosen project for the weekend was sorting and culling my fabric. Both sets of wall shelves in the small bedroom were overflowing, as were the assorted tote bins stacked on the floor. Now mind, I hadn't bought all this fabric... many pieces were giveaways, or leftover from projects sewn for others, but there was just Too Much.
SABLE* is a thing I am becoming uncomfortable with, friends are dealing with the houses full of creative supplies left behind by parents deaths, and I'd rather have an even more curated collection of textile resources on hand, and let my excess be distributed to folks who might use it sooner. Having company and help with the sorting and reorganising was invaluable; we did most of it in one day. Now there is space on the shelves, and the tote bins are empty, which will allow me room to progress into sorting out the (smaller cubic amount) sewing notions and trimmings, and the other textile tools and supplies, room on the shelves to put the long ago acquired Ikea MOPPE drawers meant to hold suchlike. Eventually that room will be as appealing and useful as it exists in my mindseye, a space for guests and also for fabric and textile creativity...
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July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
-
fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
-
-
recycle bin
3
-
-
big bag of fabric
4
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big bag of fabric
5
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big bag of fabric
6
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big bag of fabric
7
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today's gratitude - when my pre-surgery COVID test location was unexpectedly changed at the last minute, prior to my surgery tomorrow, my kind friend Tamra offered to get up hella early in the morning and give me a ride to the alternate testing site, saving me spending about three hours riding busses today. Hunter, the testing technican, did a much less painful job of swabbing my nasal passages than the previous tech, I didn't have to cry, and it mostly stopped hurting by the time I got home.
it was the best of weeks, it was the worst of weeks. A week ago I was feeling mildly/most melancholy, little knowing what the future had in store for all of us... an alarmingly intense heat wave caused by disturbance in the normal climate patterns of the "jet stream" Quite thankfully, I was rescued and carried off to the coast on Thursday by friends, thereby escaping the 116°F+ heat that melted trolley cables, buckled streets, and killed a significant number of people!
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It was so wonderful to have the chance to spend time in such beautiful natural surroundings. Each day I went at least once (sometimes more) to spend time on the beach, to walk with my legs up to the calves in the ocean, and to enjoy letting my eyes and spirit stretch as far as the distant horizon, so much further away than "the houses across the street" in my home neighborhood. There were hikes in the woods, to the lake at the other end of the property, there was meeting a new dog-friend, soaking in the hot tub, and visiting with (vaccinated) friends not seen in many months
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The box of goodies Heather brought down from My Mud Bay pals included an assortment of their homegrown veggies, a bouquet of edible flowers, and two tiny origami bento boxes for Nandina... I made kale bulgar feta salad with some of the greens.
When I looked at the various produce carefully tied in bunches, and draped with damp cloth, it sent a wave of lovingkindess through me, I am not there with them, but they remember me.
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July SMART goals (x=extra)
#
THINGS MADE
THINGS FIXED
THINGS GONE
1
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fabric stash sorted/culled
yard waste bin
2
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recycle bin
3
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big bag of fabric
4
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big bag of fabric
5
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big bag of fabric
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big bag of fabric
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today's gratitude - I am truly fortunate in my circle of friends
