Tuesday tidbit

in which our plucky heroine breaks the rules...

I almost never bring trinkets home, as the last three years have been all about letting go of what is no longer necessary. But I could not resist these two small Japanese Akita-Inu figurines, who somehow ended up on the Goodwill holiday shelf. They are being added to my permanent collection here at Acorn Cottage. No, I was not born in the Year of the Dog, but I have been looking for some little sculptures just like these for a long time.

These are about two and three inches tall. I have read that little Akita figurines are sometimes a gift in Japan to parents of newborns, for good luck, and to convalescents as a wish for speedy recovery... not sure how true the info, but I liked the sentiment.

:::

November SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	charter #17	framed Summits charter	7 pounds
2	charter #18	framed Adiantum charter	Goodwill bag
3	reflective mesh vest	repair small frame	old chook gate
4	blue batik dress	frame fox print	paper recycle bin
5	-	attached scroll seal	3 bags recycling
6	-	framed Laurel scroll	2 bags trash
7	-	framed 1st AoA charter	11 bags Goodwill
8	-	framed 2nd AoA charter	1 bag yarn
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-

:::

Tuesday tidbits

A phone call last night led to a change in plans for today, as my intrepid artist pal Bill Dawson was heading south and would be able to lend a hand on some projects around the homeplace. Way back in 2009 there was something very special left on my doorstep... it was not a babe in a basket, but a wonderful hand-forged pot rack from my dear pals at White Hart Forge. Today the pot rack has pride of place in the Acorn Cottage kitchen.

Slow and steady will get there in the end, and thanks to the generosity of my friend Nicole for the oak support beam and for the helpful efforts of my fellow artist Mr Dawson for the structural work that attached it to the east wall. It really was not a one person job! I love my friends...

:::

The other project slated for today didn't quite turn out as hoped for, which is often the case with minor electrical adventures, particularly in a somewhat older house that has seen work done by folks that were not Bob the Builder... and, of course, our plucky heroine is not an actual contractor, nor does she play one on TV.

I did have the brilliant idea to add an outlet to the bathroom via the one directly on the other side of the wall in the room next door. However, I neglected to actually measure the comparable distance inside both rooms, and that outlet is at about the same distance from the wall as the bathtub is - definitely not a good plan! So, switch to plan B, and add an outlet to the wall next to the light and fan switch...

A careful opening was sawed in that wall, in what looked like an appropriate spot, and lo and behold, the wall is full of sheetrock patching and a whole mess of wire spaghetti. Bleah! That was sorted out, the excess removed and a modest amount of fresh wires and actual wire-nuts took its place. The problem was, that the way things were wired it was not actually possible to safely add an outlet there.

However, the scary mess of wires and junk is now gone, and the nice clean wires and nuts are properly encased in a covered access box. No need to wonder what the former homeowners were thinking, since they were not thinking at all... remember, these are the same former homeowners that thought assembling the bathroom sink plumbing using only putty was a good idea... There was talk about what plan C would entail, but it was getting to be time for Mr Dawson to head north again, so any further electrical adventures will be put on hold for the time being...

:::

Saturday two of my friends came by to celebrate the turn of the year towards springtime, eggs and chickens and such... the result was dozens of dyed hardboiled eggs. Playing with the colors was so much fun that it seemed like a good idea to also use a few empty eggshells, since HB eggs have a limited lifespan, and seasonal decorative bits add a nice touch to the entry shelf. This red egg, covered with little plus signs, is my wishful symbol that this year be balanced towards the positive.

:::

Have been making slow but steady progress on the brown dress for SWAP/6PAC. The last remaining bits unfinished are the pockets and the sleeve edge bindings...

The hemline band was attached in a kind of bound seam with homemade bias tape:

First the band was layered atop the wrong side of the skirt panels, (wrong side to wrong side) and then the bias tape laid over that (right side to right side), then the whole thing stitched together with a quarter inch seam.

Quite a bit of pressing to get everything smoothed back into order, with the hem band at the bottom, and the bias tape covering the raw seam edges and folded in half to enclose everything neatly. Once that is stitched down however, you have a seam that has no raw edges at all on either side, very nice indeed for a hemline band.

The pockets for this dress will use another patch of the Japanese native dogs fabric, this one with an Akita motif:

The patch is stitched down to the pocket fabric, and additional handstitching textures the background in a similar way as the Akita puppy* patch on the center back. This led to another idea, to copy the silhouette in reverse on the other pocket, just as an outline in light color running stitch.

In the interest of using what I have, I traced the design on a piece of kitchen wax paper with a sharpie marker, made sure the marker ink had dried, and turned it over, pinned in place on the other pocket, and then stitched over it. This technique is fast and easy, and the wax paper is very easy to remove, particularly if you score along the stitching lines with the tip of your sewing needle.

I intend to line the pockets, since there is quite a bit of thread on the insides, and pockets are on dresses and pinafores to be USED, don't want things getting snagged on the back of my embroidery... but that is a task for another day

* our plucky heroine does not read kanji, alas... if someone can read the words next to the puppy image, I would be grateful. I know that the bottom kanji is "inu" which means "dog" but the upper ones are a mystery. I do know that the kanji on the larger panel is aki-ta-inu, that being pretty much the sum total of my word recognition other than "tea"

random Tuesdays tidbits

in which the resiliency rangers run off on a road trip, and our plucky heroine speaks up at the union hall...

We did it! This lovely sunshiney morning, my two fearless cohorts in cookie-baking and I took seven plates full of dozens of home-baked cookies* to the ILWU hall up in Longview. The folks at Local 21 seemed to be quite appreciative of both the cookies and of the sentiment behind our efforts, and were a bit surprised to hear that we had driven all the way up there from Portland just to bring them cookies (and our support).

Certainly made my day a lot brighter, even if S pointed out on the way home that I'd blushed bright pink after explaining why we were there. (sometimes my old shyness come creeping back)

~ ~ ~≈:::≈~ ~ ~

Life is like stepping onto a boat that is about to sail out to sea and sink.

~ Suzuki

and with that in mind, I strive to live fully in the present; to do as much that allows joy a place to live in my life, and in the lives around me. Don't always succeed, of course, but it is a goal. Has been for a long time.

My favorite Akita friend,
his "akita-talk" always makes me laugh...
~ ~ ~≈:::≈~ ~ ~

Four weeks after surgery: I've started cooking, (and riding my bike) ... am being very very careful. It feels good to do simple things, even if cautiously. I plan on canning some things later this year, once the hand is strong enough to deal with the process. I've plums and jars of tomato puree, in the freezer, waiting to become asian plum sauce and ketchup. And out in the yard, the feral plum tree has fruit that is almost ripe, I shall try to pick some, using the fruit picker; I love the European prune plums so much, they are good fresh eating, freeze easily, and are a great ingredient in crisp or jam or sauce.

~ ~ ~≈:::≈~ ~ ~

Still seeking a doctor/clinic for the further care that I need. Yesterday, after much frustration, a different approach to the online database of providers called up additional possibilities, so hope has not yet been abandoned. This process reminds me a bit of back when I was in college and organising independent study contract work; I had not only to actually do the work, but also to generate my own curriculum and locate faculty and support folks to sign off on my learning. Twice as much work as most students want to do, but was worth it in the end, I learned things that still resonate in my daily life years later. Of course, my life and health were not on the line back then as they are now, but fortunately my determination (okay... stubbornness) is still strong. Which is good, since this is only the very beginning of a whole new set of hoops.

... ̿ ̿ ̿̿'̿̿\̵͇̿̿\=[^_^]=/̵͇̿̿/'̿̿ ̿ ̿ ̿ ...

dog is restless, keeps pacing back and forth

* I baked chocolate chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and iced lemon rounds (make vanilla icebox cookies with extra lemon rind and use lemon extract instead of vanilla, ice with lemon icing)

cogitation on S3 + other Friday fragments

... in which our plucky heroine mulls over wardrobe thoughts, experiences the electric tailbone, eats the mascot, and suffers the return of the cranky commode...

≈ : ♥ : ≈

Self Stitched September has ended, though the slideshow is still here. During the last month various things were learned regarding my current preferences in clothing and sewing...

~ Pattern on pattern is a Good Thing, providing that the component pieces are similar in (light/dark) value

~ A shirt/jacket worn over a dress looks really good; future sewing should plan for this with shirts and blouses.

~ It isn't that difficult to coordinate my jewelry with my clothing; must needs remember to continue to do this, and remember to actually wear  jewelry. Want to make some brooches, and experiment with combining materials in new ways...

~ After making six all the same dresses in different fabrics, working out some new TNT dress pattern design will be welcome. Probably a shirt-dress, with a button front. The other large gap in my wardrobe is summer dresses; the two japanese rayon shifts were worn repeatedly, more for next summer will be required, and working out a TNT pattern for a sleeveless pinafore/jumper/sundress would be very helpful.

~ Still really loving the muddy indigo/grey color range, but am starting to be drawn to the brownish/taupe/linen end of that group. Once the current batch of clothing is stitched up, hopefully the fabric stash will hold, somewhere in the myriad boxes, colors that will be just a little bit different to play with...

≈ : ♥ : ≈

At PT yesterday, which was a new and different adult life experience, the chosen treatment consisted of having electrodes attached on either side of my tailbone, (with a large iceblanket draped overtop, across the back/hip area) and then for a length of time with the "active" current is gradually increased. A most peculiar, not particularly pleasant, sensation. My understanding is that the intention is to encourage the sacroiliac joint that is both inflamed and hyper-tight to relax somewhat, which should both ease the pain and allow more circulation to encourage healing. It was certainly not a miracle cure, but it does seem that today the pain is dialed back a bit from 9+ to a more endurable 7ish. There are back stretches too, that are prescribed, and one of them is the same as one of the stretches that M suggested.

≈ : ♥ : ≈

Riding the bike is the least uncomfortable position right now/still, and I love riding to the grocery store, (when it isn't raining). Last night the temperature dropped to pleasant softness, and dusk is comforting to my pale eyes. Red and blue sparkle-flashing lights lend a modicum of safety, and I am very cautious, always, about automobiles. Not sure how much longer before the winter damp sets in, but for now, it was a pleasure, and a chunk of time closer to painless.

≈ : ♥ : ≈

Visitors the last two days, which was almost unexpected, but still and always a treat. B and J came down from OlyWa, along with Toshi the Wonder Pup. When they arrived, late Wednesday evening, we had a late supper of chowder and seaweed salad they had brought from home. For all that I love seafood, I'd never eaten geoduck (renowned mascot of my alma mater TESC*) before, and the pieces in the chowder were similar to scallops but more tender, not at all texturally scary**.

Though my friends were busy working long days, we had some evening time for visiting, eating at La Superior, and watching a bit of Cowboy Bebop (thanks to E for the loan). I got plenty of puppy interaction, but no pictures this time. Really, Toshi is like summertime corn, growing almost as you watch - a lot larger now than last month when I visited them at home. Hooray for sweet giant Akita dogs!

≈ : ♥ : ≈

Oh, and this morning the gorram Cranky Commode treated us all to a rerun of the same shenanigans that occurred over Labor Day weekend***. Really if this is going to happen every time there are guests here, it is Not Okay! Time to do some more research, and make some phone calls. Useful Advice is welcome; it is probably possibly time to think replacement...


* school motto Omnia Extares ("let it all hang out"); school song "The Geoduck Fight Song"

** I love shrimp, and scallops, and things like lobster and crab, but clams and mussels scare me

*** The Strange Case of the Cranky Commode

brought to you by the letter U...

Unpleasant, unexpected but not unsurprising... In which our plucky heroine discovers that she has adopted a termite instead of a dog...

The things that are going well are that she is good about sitting, and fairly good about lying down. She is learning to wait while I go through the door first. She walks well on the leash, and we are working on her sitting when I stop. Wednesday evening we walked for about an hour and a half. Yesterday we had several walks during the day and a long one before bedtime. I am doing the "she must sit or lie down before interactions" thing I did that with Smokey her whole life.

Yesterday she seemed okay when I went away for about an hour to the library. I understand that the last several weeks have been traumatic for her. Today I went to work for a half day. I knew I was taking a chance...The data sheet said that she was not crate trained and was commonly left loose in the house, (of course no information on whether that was being left alone in the house, and no way of knowing if in fact any of the information from the former owners was in fact true.)

We had a morning walk, and I left her with water, and a rubber flying saucer toy stuffed with cheese. Obviously my being gone for almost five hours and leaving her alone was too long and she became anxious. When I came home, I found that she had chewed up my livingroom window and the carpeting in the front doorway. There are no apparent damages to her mouth and teeth. It was obvious that she was quite agitated. I said nothing, put away my groceries, and walked around the house quietly to see if there was any other damage. Then I smoothed back the carpet and took her outside for a walk, she sat nicely for me to put on the leash, and I made her wait until I went outside first.

When we came back to the house, I let her loose once she had sit, and began to do what I could to clear away the debris. (Later I once again offered dog food, and she once again ignored it) I also tried putting the bowl of food just inside the crate, and she showed no interest. (She basically hasn't eaten since she got here.)

She did not damage anything else in the house, just the window and the door. I do not blame her in any way, she is simply confused. I cannot lure her into the crate, and I certainly cannot shove her in, as she is a big strong full grown dog. I do not know how to crate train a dog that is not interested in food or treats. I am not sure what to do next. Obviously I cannot stay home all the time. The only other thing I can think of is to confine her to the bathroom when I am not at home. Given how much wood she chewed up today, I do not think that a baby gate for the kitchen would last very long.

This is all repairable, but I do not want her to be so stressed out or have her continue to destroy the house... (help of some kind is needed, not sure what to do now. I've sent out emails to the rescue group and to the behaviorist at the shelter...)










she's a little confused...

There is a new 3 year old female Akita underfoot here at Acorn Cottage. I adopted her from the Oregon Humane Society shelter with the approval and screening of the NW Akita Rescue Kennel group. Brought her home yesterday evening, and am thinking that her new name will be Hoshi Akari ("star light"). Compared to Smokey, her fur is much lighter, and more of a very pale taupe than a dark grey. She's only a little shorter, and is currently a little on the chunky side for her size, but who am I to talk? I foresee lots of walks in our future...

new dog + M3 day 26 & day 27

Not a lot of focus on clothing the last few days, since all my attention has been on the Akita adoption process... brought her home from the shelter yesterday evening.

≈ : ♥ : ≈

Wednesday (day 26)

black/grey floral rayon top grey chambray apron (worn as mini-jumper) black velour leggings

Thursday (day 27)

grey leafy print dress black/white wool jumper light blue handknit scarf

coming soon... ^*+*^___)

This evening was the home visit and evaluation by the volunteers from the Akita Rescue group, and Acorn Cottage was deemed suitable... Tomorrow they will email their pictures of my fenced yard and tidy (spacious?) home, and their evaluation of my character, to the shelter. Once I arrange transport, and pay the adoption fee, I can bring her home!

Soon there will be a new, somewhat confused, three-year-old Akita underfoot, and fairly soon, I hope, she will feel at home here, and Acorn Cottage will again have a guardian dog, and I will have a companion for my rambles.

I've been looking at Japanese words and names online; haven't yet found the right new name for her, I had been thinking of "shinju" meaning "pearl", but the word apparently has some alternate meanings...

I am hoping that the shelter will be able to find out what her vaccination status is, from her former owners, hopefully in the last three years she has had some of the needed shots. I will be needing transport to pick up dog food too. (I had thought about getting some on Sunday, when I had the use of a car, but very superstitiously decided not to jinx the evaluation)

liminality + M3 day 24

The specifity of words has always delighted me. Liminal is such a precise word, for what feels such a very imprecise state of being. The word jumped into my mind when I walked into my dark kitchen this morning, the daylight leaking under the almost closed shades, and illuminating the washed-but-not-yet-put-away canning jars on the windowsill.My life feels a lot like those jars...

≈ : ♥ : ≈

Yesterday I had the loan of a car, and spent a big chunk of the day skittering across Portland doing some of the errands that are impossible by bus: I now have the last bit that I need for the bedroom floors project, two (heavy) rolls of HEAVY plastic sheeting to use between the underlayment and the concrete slab. There are three large bags of potting soil on the front porch, which would have been impossible to tote home even with my wheelie-granny cart, and three tomato starts, two red roma/paste and one yellow pear cherry tomato. I was very circumspect at Portland Nursery, but I did succumb to impulse and brought home a young blackcurrrant. My yard and garden are definitely in an in-between place right now. Hopefully there will be some gaps in the raininess that will allow me to mow again in the back yard; the grass is once again alarmingly shaggy.

≈ : ♥ : ≈

Sometime in the next few days I will have a home visit from the volunteers from the Akita rescue group, to check out Acorn Cottage and environs and to meet and talk with me about adopting the dog I met last week. If approved, the adoption will go forward. That will be an enormous shift, welcome, but signifigant. The shape that living with a dog gives to life is not trivial, I miss the structuring of my day as much as I miss the company. The safety and the joy far more than balance out the challenge of occasional travel. After all, even in the almost year since I had to say goodbye to my beloved Smokey, I have only travelled away from Acorn Cottage maybe two or three times. So perhaps before too long there will be another big Akita head looking out the front window, and my late night walks will resume. I have been looking online at lists of Japanese words and names, feeling like she deserves a new name for a new start.

≈ : ♥ : ≈

Even the worm bin is a hotbed of transformation. Well, it always is, but this morning I found these wee little mushrooms in there. I had recently added in some raked up leaves to mix with the damp newspaper, figuring that the worms would enjoy a varied diet. Obviously, fungal spores are ubiquitous, but I wanted to take a picture before moving the bedding to add this weekends food scraps to the bin, the mushrooms are about a quarter inch across and very fragile.

≈ : ♥ : ≈

This week will be work-full, as not only is it a house-cleaning week, but there are at least three projects for others that I want to complete before Thursday, so that the folks have a chance to take the finished bits with them to Egils or Grand Thing. I will be staying home, and if any of my friends are staying home this weekend, let me know and I'll do a Crafternoon on Sunday; I think that my old friend Sharon will be coming down from Olympia for a Portland visit too.

≈ : ♥ : ≈

grey leafy print dress indigo cotton jumper dark grey wool cloth socks glass eye-bead necklace

A little brighter weather today, but I ran back inside after taking this picture and put on my sweater, the day only looked warm enough for "shirtsleeves".

on decorative re-fashioning + M3 day 23

Is it really almost Memorial Day? Hard to believe when it is chilly enough this morning to make this kind of wintertime layering feel comfortable...

grey rayon knit top light blue jumper grey chambray apron stripey wool re-fashioned vest ** blue handknit shawl/scarf blue Polartec leggings

** I have several of these re-fashioned vests made from various combinations of old thin soft lambswool sweaters, They are fun and fast to make, compared with hand-knitting, and are a good way to re-use thrifted sweaters that are perhaps too damaged to simply wear as is. There is a great and heady sense of freedom in simply doing a kind of cut and paste by snipping old sweaters to pieces, and reconfiguring them with simple running stitch and blanket stitch in wool yarn...

This is the stenciled patch on the back of my re-fashioned sweater vest. (Kanji say "akita dog".) Stencils are a great way to decorate pieces of clothing, as cutting stencils is rather labor intensive, but can be used many times. If I know that the design I want to make will be used only once, I will do freezer paper stenciling, but if I suspect I will want to use a design several times in the future, I cut the stencil from plastic instead. (report binder covers work well). There is a bit more information about multiple color stencil process on my website.

thoughtful Thursday + M3 - day 20

blue long sleeved knit top grey chambray jumper (worn as skirt) dark grey wool vest denim jacket

I sometimes wear my jumpers as "skirts" by wearing a blouse or top over them; it's a way to get the look of a skirt without having to actually wear one. The knit top has sleeve extensions and a wide neck binding made from a thrifted floral knit shirt that was far to small for me to wear, but too nice a color and fabric for me not to bring home. The body of the shirt was one of the first t-shirts I made; the stenciled painted design says "akita dog" in kanji, with a silhouette of an Akita.

It seemed an appropriate shirt to wear to visit the animal shelter. I had a long visit with the Akita that is up for adoption, spent some time with her on a leash outdoors, and also inside in one of the big indoor classrooms. She is a lot better looking than her photograph, and seems intelligent and responsive. Like any Akita, she is confused and somewhat shut-down at being in such a strange environment, not to mention that she had just been spayed on Monday, but I was pleased that by the end of the time I spent with her, she had started figuring out that I wanted her to sit when I stopped, and that sitting was the way to get dog treats. I am going to sleep on the idea of having her become a part of life here at Acorn Cottage, and let my subconscious mind/intuition have a chance to be heard as well. The next step in the process would be scheduling a home visit from the rescue group.