a change of pace, or at least of venue

in which our plucky heroine stays active...

in the interest of seeking novelty, I rode my bike home from the grocery Saturday taking a different route. I found a sort of hidden book store (Arches Bookhouse) off the beaten path in a residential neighborhood, and shall need to return and have a look round inside... The other interesting things I saw were what appeared to be a printmakers garage studio, with what looked like several folks taking a class, and a large press slightly visible inside the building. And rummaging through the books on offer in a little free library, a boy with a cat on a leash. While I sometimes am frustrated by the difficulty of life without an automobile, I also know that travel at this slower speed lets me notice so many more kinds of details that make up the bright world...

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~ hydration station ~

Two bees drinking... this makes me so happy! The stump left after removing tree from front yard last month supports a large shallow dish of water, well furnished with rocks and pebbles so no insects need drown. Today is the first time I've seen the hydration station in use, and now every time I look there is drinking happening. This is just what I'd hoped for; it was heartbreaking to have to remove the big shade tree, but at least this small goodness can result.

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My gathering basket was in need of some serious scrubbing, after my leaving the plums there for three days, so I not only soaked and brushed it, but also mixed up a bleach solution in a spray bottle and used that several times, interspersed with thorough rinsing, and finally set the whole thing out to hang in the sunshine in the side yard all day. It is now sweet smelling again, and I'll be sure to do my best so my absent minded self doesn't space out. (it avoided any mold contamination, but had I waited even one more day, it would have been all over)

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"Behave yourself"... well that was a first for me, being hit with what I expect was bot censorship, and all my personal FB feed from the last several days has been removed. Not sure what triggered it, since the warning note doesn't say, just threatens "further action" if my (bad) behavior continues. (I suspect it was my recent post about the quartz mine in Spruce Pine NC, which provides a crucial material to the semiconductor industry worldwide, and is located smackdab in the middle of the current SE USA flood disaster zone.)

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	a dozen tetras	porch valance	plum logs
2	tiny doll shorts	mask elastics	oldest pinafore
3	Almandine clothing	origami boxes	recycle bin
4	skirt for Opal	bleached basket	yard waste bin
5	cardigan for Opal	sharing plums	recycle bin
6	black top for Opal	x	x
7	Pokemon patches	x	x
8	4 jars strawberry rhubarb	x	x
9	8 jars plum ketchup	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. when I stopped in at Groc-Out I was surprised and delighted that they had alphabet noodles! I'd been wanting some to make creative things for the tinyworld, since I have misplaced my former container of the same, and also the little banner that said "Trick or Treat". At 59¢ a bag, I can get as wild as I want.
2. compliments from strangers - someone on the street told me he thought my mask was radically awesome, and a store clerk told me she admired my pinafore, and that she had a similar one at home!?
3. when I started really going downhill in discouragement during Crafternoon, we shifted the topic to "things that are improved or improving" and came up with: condors being reintroduced in their historical range, eagles no longer endangered after the DDT ban, and the current dam removal and extensive habitat restoration on the Klamath River (being led by indigenous tribal groups)

Time of Isolation - Day 1540

what's in a name?

in which our plucky heroine wonders...

How did "long johns" get their name? A question that came up in the Sewing Nomads meeting, since I have followed Ruthie's lead and call mine "long janes" instead. That question proved difficult, as there are a number of theories, but not a definitive answer. The nether garment was a later development than the earlier "union suit", and most of what I have read online attributes the name to either referring to a John L Sullivan, a 19th c boxer who wore a similar garment in the ring, or as a variation on longues jambes, which is French for “long legs”...

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~ creativity challenge ~

Irregardless, my long janes will have decorated lower edges, as I prefer, adding a narrow glimpse of additional embellishment under the edge of my everyday dresses and/or pinafore. It is getting colder every week now, so adding a few pair to my collection is in order. Particularly since the very first pair, made as a wearable muslin from an old jersey bedsheet years ago, have begun to wear out. I decided that simple large dots-in-a-row, in medium pale blue, were easy to applique while chatting on Zoom, so one pair will be decorated with those. I also want to print the dancing rats and ravens border for another, probably a darker knit with the block printing in white (I have been re-reading the Penric and Desdemona novellas). If I made three pairs, this will neatly fill the space allotted to them in my dresser, and bring the total up to eight, which is my desired minimum. They are really easy to sew, having just two seams and an elastic waistband, so I amuse myself with the hemline decorations

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~ tinyworld  tidbits~

a few more grave goods artifacts today, a miniature belt knife sheath and an matching knife, the sheath made from painted cardboard, and the knife from a carved and painted toothpick. That was successful, so then a belt was needed; I did round four strand braid in three colors of floss, in lieu of miniature tablet weaving. That led me to think "tiny tablet weaving cards"... 3mm squares of cardboard, with holes poked in each corner with a pushpin. Finally, I'm attempting a coiled basket made from hemp cord and button/carpet thread. Tomorrow will be photo day, when I will put together all the various artifacts along with the doll some are calling my "ghost girl", and I somehow create a grave scene. Stay tuned!

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the other smoke alarm has been replaced, and they should be good for another ten years, possibly with some battery replacement in the interim.

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	smoothing board	replaced glue cap	some planter soil
2	wee needle case	re-container black gesso	crawling fuschias
3	mini birchbark	indigotiger popover	yard waste bin
4	fig lemon preserves	re-seal preserve jars	windfall apples
5	miniature comb	grapevine pruning	recycle bin
6	13 painted discs	corbie #1 beak	picked grapes
7	ann wood crow #1	pruning dead branches	recycle bin
8	dark denim hat	replace smoke alarm	yard waste bin
9	faux corpse doll	replace other smoke alarm	x
10	tiny knife and sheath	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. friends, always!
2. an assortment of Finetec Coliro metallic watercolor paint
3. my 1:12 scale ruler

Time of Isolation - Day 972