motifs and media

in which our plucky heroine shares a trifold wish for better luck: rabbit! rabbit! rabbit!...

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~ art exchanged ~

A wonderful range of techniques and motifs to see in the first art exchange. I am completely charmed, and look forward to putting together a tinyworld art exhibition soon. Today all the envelopes were mailed out to the eight folks who participated, and it was fun to mix and match the various contributions. I hope everyone is as delighted as I am right now!

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After spending a fair amount of time at the post office getting all the mailings and tracking sorted out, it seemed like a good plan to stop on the way home to refill my transit pass with more dosh. I did so at New Seasons, for while I am still not shopping there, the transit fees do not actually go to their store, but directly to TriMet. And NS is a more pleasant store, as it lacks the armed guards and barricades of Fred Meyers (the other place on the peninsula to refill transit passes)

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The chickweed in the salad table is very vividly green right now, so a good handful made an excellent topper for some open face chicken sandwiches for lunch today, um gum yum!... am wondering if it is possible to encourage it to establish itself in more places around the yard as a resilient bit of "salad"??

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A bit more work preparing to carve the new blockprint, using pencil to carefully color in all the places in the sketch that will print, so I can transfer the design to the linoleum...When chatting with Mischa about my desire to address the Ukraine situation in a supportive way through art, she had the idea of changing the color of my print to golden yellow and blue! I like that idea, and the quote is relevant there as well... 

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	-	art exchange
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. I managed to get all the art exchange envelopes mailed out, and all the tracking numbers matched up to the correct folks
2. Sister was not travelling through LAX on the day of the measles exposure
3. Chickweed makes a great addition to sandwiches
4. Salon with Mischa and Stef... always great to spend time with them, and came away with a good idea re my current block print, two films (both of which I can view on Kanopy) and a book that I put on hold from the library.

Time of Isolation - Day 1688

Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine does her level best...

I need to keep remembering, that what I do does not have to be perfect, indeed does not have to be done in the correct fashion, as long as it serves the intended purpose, and doesn't appear aggravatingly dreadful. There are so many aspects of being a householder that this applies to, skills I never learned as a child, (or, like gardening, that are a necessity I'm unlikely to ever become adept at.)

Currently I wish I knew woodworking, or had a woodworker on tap... but I can run hand tools and with luck solve a long term difficulty.

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~ well begun not half done ~

Starting in on making a door mounted pot lid rack... Using assorted bits and bobs that are around the house: some wood scraps, an old yardstick, very small angle brackets, and some 1" screws. I'm going to cut out a double layer of the scrap wood which I will layer and glue perpendicularly, so as to not need to screw and glue into end grain.

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trying to decide between two themes for my next series of miniature linocuts for a new tiny book: either "lunar year animals", or "favorite invertebrates"... I'm inclined to do the former first, and do more research about what to include in the latter. (I know I want to include pillbugs, and ocotpi, and bumblebees)

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It may seem early to be thinking about the *next* Advent swap, but I realised that if I make (or buy or find) just six+ things each month, then by October I'll have accumulated enough tiny treats for TWO sets of advent goodies!

I recently found this spun cotton heart tutorial, which while intended for Valentines Day, might be fun as one of many things for the future advent swap... additional notes: "kit" is optional; gel super glue needed (no mention in the instructions) and using cotton swabs to create the armature is genius...

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January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blood orange marmalade	bike headlamp	yard waste bin
2	heraldic enamel	passport photo	recycle bin
3	crayon roll	crystal necklace	recycle bin
4	xp2 undies	pattern longjanes	-
5	-	passport applied for	-
6	x	pear tree planted	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. a toasted slice of Heather's onion herbal sourdough bread made a really good base for the leftover lasagna ingredients.
2. It was so sunny this afternoon that my laundry, still very damp after being on the line all yesterday got almost all the way dry today.
3. I've enough random stuff around the house to hopefully create a door mounted pot lid rack.

Time of Isolation - Day 1647

Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine does chores...

With one eye on the various weather websites, it seemed an ideal day to do laundry, being (comparatively) mild, sunny, and even a bit breezy. When I put the clothing and kitchen towels out on the line in the backyard, I could actually see the moisture evaporating! Later in the evening, the thinner kitchen tea towels were even dry, and most all else will likely be dry by morning, even the heavy flannel shirts and pinafores.

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~ world keeps turning ~

not sure if all three of the narcissus bulbs are going to flower, but this one is, adding a heady scent to a corner of the kitchen.

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the "Small Art Exchange - Spring 2025" idea I shared seems to have touched the right spot, as there are already fifteen folks that probably want to play along. This will be such fun!

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Today was so sunny and mild that I took a walk to Walgreens to attempt a better passport photo than what I got from FedEx, which was just dreadful... well, the new one is somewhat less scary anyway. Eyebrows helped, a little. Not much I can do about not being particularly photogenic, but normally my personal style is such that the overall look is pleasing, remove all that and the result is more "mug shot" than "urban hobbit". Still, the task is accomplished now...

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There were still some turkey thighs at the store,  so I got two, one to freeze and one to bone and brine to cook later in the week. AND they had some 18/egg cartons for under $6!! I got a carton to try freezing eggs in the silicone cupcake liners, since my silicone cubes are as much a failure to unmold as the ice cube tray was.

Also, adding salt to the stirred eggs is problematic, even the little bit added made them noticeably salty, which is not a treat. Eleanor de Bolton says that just stirring the yolk and white together is enough, so I will try that. Maybe do science and try some plain, some with sugar, and some with salt? It occurs to me that the salt would be less obvious in a recipe with other constituents, such as a quiche or casserole, as opposed to scrambled eggs, which I normally do not salt before eating.

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January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blood orange marmalade	bike headlamp	yard waste bin
2	-	passport photo	recycle bin
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. sun and wind at just the right time
2. Small Art Exchange is something folks want to do
3. Ursel may come by tomorrow for a porch visit.
4. the store had turkey thighs, and 18/egg cartons under $6!!

Time of Isolation - Day 1635