paint it black

in which our plucky heroine makes steady if scant and erratic progress...

The most exciting and positive thing for Wednesday was dealing with the oak gall ink project. The container had been forgotten in the workroom, and was much evaporated, with a tiny mold colony growing in one corner, ugh. Some internet research actually stated that mold did oak gall ink no harm (and sometimes increased darkness??) Rather than discard the ink project entirely, the mold was carefully removed with a small stick; it came out neatly all in one tiny clump. Next, the very thickened proto-ink was reconstituted with distilled water, a few drops of clove oil added to forestall further decomposition, and then transferred to a sealed glass clamp top bottle. Am looking forward to finding out if it actually behaves like ink!

※※※

~ line items ~

Simple embroidery to decorate the sleeve extension on the stripey shirt, half done (still need to do the matching embroidery for the other sleeve) and well begun. Once the other band is embroidered, I will cut the sleeves just past the armscye and insert the sleeve extensions, correcting the length to be more comfortable.  

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Not much in the way of wardrobe sewing or knitting projects today, but rather more in the way of seeking and looking through paperwork preparatory to tax tasks. Tomorrow I'll hopefully be able to get the rest of the needed papers in order, and take a trip to the library to print out the not-Federal forms also needed. I'd have done that today, but there was minor confusion with when zoom needed to happen. Thursday addenda: forms acquired from library (yay!), and an error discovered in paperwork from last year, so Friday will be rather more problematic than I would have hoped, as it must needs sorted out. 

I did, however, while rummaging for paperwork, find a piece of lightweight black linen just large enough to cut out bias strips for edge binding the stripey pinafore, which is next on my sewing list. That one will definitely be overdyed in teal/turquoise. 

I also figured out a different way to combine wardrobe components - if I wear my huipil/popover tops over one of my pinafores, it gives the effect as if I was wearing it over a skirt! In the summer it is all about wearing popover dresses by themselves, but during the bridge season it will be fun to have an additional choice, and huipil tops can be made from leftover fabric from larger projects. Right now I've only three, but they fold up small, being basically just rectangles. 

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"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all..." 

One would think that after 70+ years, I'd have learned to converse in realtime with other human people. One would think wrongly. Despite my rather bodacious vocabulary, it is all the other aspects of verbal interaction that have been a challenge lifelong. There were whole chunks of my childhood where it was easier to just not talk; I always won "who can be quiet the longest" on the car trips. In the last decade or so I often try to remember that my best strategy is to only offer conversational comments about things that have been going well, or positive observations. When I ignore this hard won knowledge, it never goes well, and leads to hours (or days) of downward spiraling. I really should add putting together that notebook of "Anti-Weasel Serum" to my list of small hardcopy books of helpful info, along with "Useful Recipes" and "Origami Box Instructions"

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	glass button shirt	apple tree pruned	recycle bin
2	-	tiny beaded star	greenwaste bin
3	-	electric bill found	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

Wednesday's gratitudes -
- when the weasels dig in, I eventually remember I have anti-weasel serum.
- new Penric and Desdemona novella
- the pharmacy tech is really trying hard to sort out my paperwork

today's gratitudes - 
- it is warm enough now to retire the rice bags til next winter
- moved all the marmalade into the pantry, incremental decluttering
- midday phone chat with Mikki
- most of a day before the return of the weasels
- the linear embroidery for the sleeve bands looks good

Time of Isolation - Day 2100

one two three many

in which our plucky heroine does assorted handwork...

Well really, no surprise there... the projects change, but as long as my hands and eyes and skills hold out, that activity is a given.

In the last day or so I finished the appliqued tiger pocket, which when attached to the front bodice, completed the new pinafore.

The old calligraphy felt markers served okay to do a bit of lettering, as getting back to scribal practice has been on the wishlist for some time now. Might refurbish and set up the slant board on the dining table which would also helpfully preclude said table from becoming a clutter nexus.

And of course, couldn't resist putting in a bit of time on the resipei embroidery, that only needs another two lines and a bit more of the text finished. Another week of random effort on that project and it will be time to figure out how to effectively frame it.

※※※

~ so many... ~

Just a partial overview of some of the now just over 50 sketches... Whenever it seems that there might not be enough objects of my affection, my eye falls on something else that lifts my spirits and inspires my pencil. By the time this 100 day challenge is complete, it will be springtime. The drawing and noticing, and remembering associated stories is a pleasure, a form of gratitude meditation in it's own way.

※※※

Last night sleep was not particularly restful, as there was more than one bad dream. On waking finally into the actual daytime, the difference between nightmare and bad dream was particularly specific. Awakening from a nightmare, it is necessary to be sure that one is actually in the Bright World, even if it is not daytime. Turning on lights, sometimes even turning on the radio, and reading something both absorbing and peaceful (a Laurie Colwin cookbook is ideal) are necessary. We will not mention how much of the bright world itself has become nightmare fuel. Last night wasn't quite as bad as that, as it was mostly about being lost in the industrial wastes of the Dreamlands, about taking the wrong bus and being let off in places where other beings were either missing or purposefully unhelpful. Far too much metal fencing, barbed wire, cracked glass and abandoned buildings, this was a part of the Dreamlands I rarely go. Still better by far than the purposeful horrors, but it would have been helpful to have found allies.

※※※

~ more is better ~

I've had this knit top for several years now, with the unusual split front collar inspired by one that CCL made. While I like variety, it has not become a favorite, as if it is cold enough to want to wear, it doesn't keep my neck as warm as a standard turtleneck. As I already had the teal cotton/lycra jersey ready to cut out a pair of long janes for my next sewing project, the thought occurred that there was no reason not to also cut out a second layer standard turtleneck collar and attach it inside the first one. Should be much warmer now, and looks as if it was meant to be made that way from the beginning

※※※

Between the rain, saw a number of goldfinches in the ornamental plum tree in the front yard. They don't live here, and are just passing through, but oh the males are so delightfully bright. I first noticed they were here today when I saw one of the females, a much more dull greenish brownish color, but very obviously not a junco...

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	plaid flannel shirt	rice bags	greenwaste bin
2	23 postcards	INTERNET!!	recycle bin
3	teal linen pinafore	hydration station	greenwaste bin
4	bedroom shelves	grey felt slipper	recycle bin
5	tiger pocket	teal turtleneck	greenwaste bin
6	-	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- a tasty experiment with rice paper, beaten egg, and shrimps
- noting the difference between bad dream and nightmare
- Cara Cara oranges
- more than enough teal cotton lycra jersey fabric
- two little oil filled radiators

Time of Isolation - Day 2053

tiger tiger indigotiger

in which our plucky heroine has a basically mundane day...

Is it winter? Is it early spring? depends entirely on where you live and on where you look... I'm calling it late winter, as we've gone from almost warm enough to go without a jacket back to almost cold enough to snow. There is the tiniest bit of green showing here and there on the tree limbs, not leaves yet of course, but signs of where there will be buds. There are snowdrops flowering in the front border, and under the Wanda plum. (saw a video yesterday about how to lift and transplant snowdrops to spread them around the yard; must needs remember that once ours are done flowering

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~ burning bright ~

tiger 7" wide, 6" tall

The teal linen pinafore is done, and I have decided that it does in fact want to have the bodice pocket added... This is one of the sample block printed tigers from last year used here as decoration, needle-turned applique onto some of the teal linen. Being able to leave just an edge of the black background around the tiger helps set it off from the almost but not quite the same teal color. Once the applique is finished, it will be faced with another layer of linen to protect the hand stitching, and then the whole thing top-stitched in place as the front bodice pocket. 

In general, I prefer to design my garment embellishments so that they can be worked on separately from sewing the clothing, and added on afterwards, and/or removed at the end of a garment's life span, and used on another piece. I'll be doing that with the "time is a dressmaker" hemline applique from my (made in 2019, and now sadly threadbare) brown corduroy pinafore, which is planned to be replaced with a new brown linen one this year...

※※※

A day to cook up an assortment of things, so as to have an assortment of new things to eat. Kale from yesterday's produce delivery will become some kale bulgar salad, and the rest of the cilantro and green onions will season the greens and rice bake breakfast casserole, and seasoning for some of Sister Gigi's corn pancakes. Right grateful that I have so many good recipes, and really need to get on with creating hardcopy of all of them!

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	plaid flannel shirt	rice bags	greenwaste bin
2	23 postcards	INTERNET!!	recycle bin
3	teal linen pinafore	hydration station	greenwaste bin
4	bedroom shelves	grey felt slipper	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- handwork, ever consoling, ever satisfying
- mulitcraftualism
- Quah, 1974, Jorma Kaukonen
- the knitting needle size gauge, rarely used for its intended purpose, but ideal for stripping cilantro leaves from their stems

Time of Isolation - Day 2051

finally back...

in which our plucky heroine goes 16 day sans internet ...

It has been a challenging several weeks, with no interaction online other than what I can call up on the mobile phone. Despite my best attempts, "typing" on that tiny screen is not really feasible. So I could check my email, but not really respond, and posting here, which is one of my favorite hobbies, was right out! I did continue with my 100 day drawing project, but with no way until now to access and process images, it will take some time to play catch up taking the photos and sharing my sketches

※※※

~ incremental progress ~

On Monday I desperately needed some dopamine, so finished sanding and drilling the pieces and attached (using wall anchors and long screws) the new clothing storage shelves to the corner of the bedroom wall adjacent to where all my shirts, dresses, and pinafores live. It is a very pleasing addition, highly functional.

※※※

not sure where I read this Useful Hint, but as someone who embroiders on a regular frequent basis, I only just learned that there is a way to pull thread from a skein of DMC floss that removes it smoothly without tangles... The floss skeins have two bands around them with information, one is narrow and one is wide. There is a loose end of the skein at both, but if you pull from long end, you will have a happy experience (if you pull from the other end, you end up with an unholy mess) Given that I have been embroidering for over sixty-five years, living proof that an old dog can learn new tricks!

※※※

We are still planning on sending out postcards of friendship as a non-romantic suedo-valentine activity. I keep thinking of more folks that it will brighten my day to send them a surprise. While some of my bay area pals plan on shipping me some cards and postage, I wanted to make use of the friendship valentine block I carved back in 2020, at the very end of the Before Times...It was fun to swirl and dab watercolors across the "art" side of postcard blanks, and once they were dry, the black ink showed up well and looked festive. I really like the Caligo Safe Wash relief ink. It prints well, doesn't dry out too fast when in use, but took only a few days to cure. All in all a better ink than Speedball IMHO

※※※

After days of wrestling with Century Link's various departments of only rarely sometimes helpful but mostly not support and customer service lines, and spending more of my hours and hours on hold, it began to seem like being caught in sunk cost hell. The result being that the internet here is now being provided not via DSL (the phone line) but via "fiber"...found an option that was only ten dollars more per month, and promises faster data speeds and more reliability. Fingers crossed it isn't just hype, installed on Friday and is working well. Even better, since there was no need to mess with the phone lines, our land line is still functional.

※※※

This morning I decided to head over to Ikea to buy a treat, not remembering that Saturday mornings are a prime shopping time. Fortunately I was there on a specific mission, not for "recreational shopping" , so was in the self checkout line as quickly as possible. Much to my surprise, there was a clerk offering folks free dark chocolate bars (full size large ones, not tiny samples; I guess it was Ikea's way of wishing everybody a sweet Valentines Day!

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	plaid flannel shirt	rice bags	greenwaste bin
2	23 postcards	INTERNET!!	recycle bin
3	-	-	greenwaste bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- finally back online
- free Ikea dark chocolate bar
- learned a way to smoothly remove floss from DMC skeins 

Time of Isolation - Day 2047

Wonderful weekend whatnots

in which our plucky heroine enjoys in-person time with friends...

While Friday was a bit scrambled, as my friend M had vehicular difficulty and didn't end up staying here overnight after all. On Saturday my dear pals B and K arrived for the long weekend. We ended up cooking lamb roast for dinner that evening, and then staying up late talking and doing handwork.

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~ day 16, 17, and 18~

These are the warmest mittens, as they are at least a quarter of an inch thick or more and completely block the wind. I wear these when I am riding my bike in the winter. My dear friend Ariadne made them for me, using the naalbinding technique. Naalbinding pre-dates knitting, and was commonly used in the Viking Age, for obvious reasons.

This small handmade pouch started with a sample block print of a design I made for a friend, inspired by Bujold's "World of the Five Gods" series. The design so charmed me that I wanted to make the sample into some object of everyday use, in a way that characters in the books sometimes have done. 
The pouch has a square base with a full lining, and double drawstring closure, simpler to sew than to describe how to sew. The felt beads are both decorative and provide handles to open and close the bag. Lastly, I over-stitched the background of the block printed portion with small cross stitches, to add both texture and additional stability.

Much larger than it looks in this drawing, my maslin pan is one of the best kitchen purchases I've ever made. It seemed like a huge indulgence to get a special pan designed to make cooking fruit preserves easier. It turns out that it is a great pan for all sorts of cooking: soups, stews, and suchlike, as well as preserve making. When putting up fruit in various ways, I sometimes start cooking it in the maslin pan, then when it is closer to the desired result, I transfer the almost-jam to a smaller pot, and use the maslin pan for water bath processing the jars for stable shelf storage.

※※※

Yesterday spent time transferring page one of Kestrel's "resipei" artwork to linen for embroidery. Page two is already finished, and I am looking forward to the relaxing time stitching more of her words and pictures. I love kid art, (particularly from this kiddo) and the finished stitchery will have pride of place in my kitchen.

※※※

A plan to convert my venerable Muji A7 binder into a hardcopy recipe book sadly has been delayed as my initial order of filler paper and dividers went astray. I ordered it from an eBay seller, and for some reason (that remains unclear to me despite hours on the phone to both eBay and UPS customer service) the package was not delivered to Acorn Cottage, but to some unknown Wells Fargo bank "front desk" and signed for by someone named "Dani"?!? If all goes well, I'll get a refund, and try and track down something similar. It will be very handy to have a small kitchen notebook with all my favorite most often used recipes in a legible and convenient form. "Soup, Savory, Sweet, and Shelf-stable"

※※※

Today we had minor but very pleasant adventures in the form of shopping excursions, much facilitated by the automobile. Started out by heading over to Mr Plywood for a piece of 1 x 10 lumber to make shelves in the bedroom to hold my wool handknit cardigans and pullovers, an improvement long desired. From there, we decided to walk the few blocks to the international market for various grocery and confectionary items unavailable in my neighborhood or their town, like a new bottle of orangeflower water to replace the one that broke last week. 

Since that shop did not have kasha (roasted buckwhat groats), which I'd been seeking for quite some time, I wanted to try one of the Russian grocery stores in outer SE. Now I've a 3 kilo bag of kasha in the pantry, and K found some interesting cheese, and zefir (a marshmallow made with apples). After heading back home, we ordered takeaway sushi, which made our dinner extra special (along with the cucumber salad and green salads that B made to go with). Our visits aren't just like the Before Times, but embraced a similar "flavor" both literally and figuratively...

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January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	final alphabeast drawing	painted mini tree	recycle bin
2	calendar master pages	new bin for  cedar shakes	orangeflower water
3	5+ jars fig mostarda	drawstring cords	large broken bin
4	-	-	2 bags paper
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- the braided nylon cord I ordered arrived safely, and worked perfectly to repair my rat and crow drawstring bag.
- sushi dinner takeout, such a special treat
- Karen makes homemade toffee, and the contrast between the very thin layer of unsweetened chocolate and the very sweet sugar and pecan topping is wonderful.
- with companionship, yesterday I was able to tidy about a 2.5cuft chunk of the living room, with much of it going directly to recycle, and today sorted through about two grocery sacks full of random papers, of which more than half also went to the recycling bin.
- Mr Plywood. I just love everything about that place, particularly how the men who work there are always courteous and helpful. And how they always have what I need for projects. Plus today when I was checking out after buying the lumber for my shelves, and I told them how I loved their store, they gave me a sticker that said "I love Mr Plywood", with an image of his very rectangular retro line drawing self

 

Time of Isolation - Day 2029

Thursday thoughts

in which our plucky heroine attempts to plan her day...

It is really raining hard, and forecast for all day and at least two inches of precipitation, so outdoor time isn't really going to be a thing. Let's try something different, and start off the day with an assortment of intentions, and see if that helps, and how many can be checked off the list before bedtime:
☑ excess (indoor) cardboard boxes into wheelie bin
☑ put up 4 oz jars of diced quince (that cooked overnight)
☐ add waistband to flower undies
☐ pack up cotton lycra (to clear sewing table)
☑ wash dishes
☑ cook: kale bulgur salad, chicken soup,roast carrots
☑ 15 min resipei embroidery
⇓ vacuum living room and put vacuum away
☐ make bed

※※※

~ take small stitches ~

This slow beginning of the "resipei" embroidery project continues to please me very much, both in the doing, and in the resulting linear quality of the chain stitches...

※※※

As I was craving some movement yesterday evening, went out for a bit of a neighborhood walk. Stopped by the drug store while out and about, and brought home a pack of 100 ordinary index cards for the hundred day "Objects of my Affection" drawing challenge that starts in two weeks. My intention is that by making it "not precious" it will remove that particular mental barrier. I figure I can use any sort of not-paint mark making tools, but will probably just use my regular EDC 0.9 SumoGrip mechanical pencils.

※※※

This evening I noticed that the amaryllis on the windowsill has finally showed signs of life, there are leaf tips emerging from the center of the bulb. It probably took all that time to generate some roots, since it had none obvious when it first arrived here... It will be exciting if it actually grows a flower stalk and blooms!

※※※

There are only three more partially baked quince in the produce drawer in the fridge, probably enough for another batch of quince sauce. Today's batch, cooling on the card table, became 9½ 4oz jars of quince rosewater sauce, suitable to complement something savory (like cranberry sauce does), or as an ingredient in a sweet dessert of some sort.

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	1 pair undies	Gamma bucket lid	recycle bin
4	2 alphabeast  drawings	one page of the embroidery transfer	recycle bin
5	-	daypack mended	recycle bin
6	x	cleaned keyboard	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- the scent of quince, while ripening, or while cooking...
- Cathy shared both a short Kestrel video and 8 pages of another story the kiddo wrote, about cats, that had me literally LOL
- while hunting excess cardboard boxes tonight, found the lost knitting stitch markers, and the miniature embroidery I did several years ago to begin a decorated tiny armchair like the one I made for Ånni!

Time of Isolation - Day 2000

a few tiny Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine is grateful for homegrown bounty...

The persimmons, picked before tree ripe (because squirrels) have been finally getting to the right stage to be peeled and cut into slices for the food dehydrator. Which is now humming away sitting on top of the washer. I shoved the bag of cement currently in residence there as far over to one side as safely possible to make space to run the dehydrator. There are enough additional persimmons on the folding table in the kitchen to do at least one or two additional batches once the current batch is dried. I also put aside 2 cups of pulp to make spiced persimmon pecan tea bread. 

※※※

I started the "resipei" embroidery (in red on linen) project, and had to hold myself back from just doing that all the rest of the day. The difference once the stitchery follows the marked out lines is so satisfying. I'm using a single strand of the DMC floss, doubled; the stitched lines nice and thin, and chain stitch will smoothly follow the sharp curves of letters and words. This will see me through the December and into the new year at the very least.

※※※

Currently re-reading Digger (the Omnibus Edition) by Ursula Vernon, and Basin and Range by John McPhee. Reading about geology is about as peaceful as reading cookbooks, when it comes to bedtime books. The omnibus Digger is much too LARGE a book to read in bed, but makes a nice mealtime companion. Very grateful to Mischa for sending it to me, back in the Before Times.

※※※

December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	1 pair undies	Gamma bucket lid	recycle bin
4	2 alphabeast  drawings	one page of the embroidery transfer	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- "Digger" by Ursula Vernon
- homegrown persimmons = homegrown sweetness
- Helga remembered I wanted eye dropsfrom Costco, they were on sale, but not in stock when we shopped a few weeks ago, so she picked some up for me today while she was there. 
- Gersvinda is going to give Ursel and I a lift from Metro Paint tomorrow. 

Time of Isolation - Day 1998

Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine starts another pick up project...

It was still pitch dark when I left the house to head for my medical appointment this morning. Raining, but not raining hard. I always plan on extra transit time, since better early than late, which meant that there was no time for breakfast at home. I arrived about forty minutes before my check in time at the medical center.

There is a rooftop plaza with half a dozen round tables and benches on the second floor of the medical building, accessed through doors in a glasses in hallway. I've never seen anyone out there, but it is unlocked, and was the perfect isolated outdoor but sheltered spot to eat my breakfast, a bowl of oatmeal porridge from the cafe downstairs.

※※※

Did a bit of downtown shopping, since I was already out and about on transit. Some blue Saral transfer paper from Blick, in the hope of an easier time with the kid art embroidery project, and several skeins of deep red DMC floss. Then, since downtown already, stopped at Muji to look for 2026 pocket calendars that start on Mondays. Last year I waited until January, and they were all out, but I was in luck this time. I love Muji for stationery supplies. Also found a raised mesh steel tray that might let me use air fryer recipes in the wee tabletop convection oven.

※※※

After I got home, I experimented with the transfer paper, one of the two tracings of Kestrel's drawing and the unbleached linen fabric... turns out that I had to press really firmly several times to get the lines visible. Not a flaw of the technique, but rather the bumpy surface of the fabric, even though well ironed. But it did work, and I was able to then trace the blue chalky lines with a .005 Micron pen. One of the two pages is now ready for stitching!

※※※

~ 2nd page first ~

This promises hours of peaceful pleasure. The transferred artwork has been inked with a very thin .005 Micron pen in preparation for embroidering. When this one is finished, there is the first page to do as well. Eventually they will hang on the wall in the kitchen here at Acorn Cottage, much to my delight. I adore kid art, and this two page illustrated recipe is from a kiddo I adore muchly.

※※※

December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	1 pair undies	Gamma bucket lid	recycle bin
4	2 alphabeast  drawings	one page of the embroidery transfer	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Uninhabited outdoor rooftop plaza at the medical building, perfect for breakfast (it had stopped raining by then)
- we have a Muji store downtown
- Photoshop

Time of Isolation - Day 1997

the days get shorter, the darkness gets stronger...

in which our plucky heroine works on small projects...

Well, I almost always do small projects, so that isn't a surprise. The coming week my plan is to see how many of my unfinished tasks get checked off the list, in the hope that doing so will brighten my dispirited outlook. If only I could remember where I put that bottle of Anti-Weasel Serum, lost somewhere in the clutter and disorder. Remind self that cannot begin any sooner than right now, that doing one thing is an improvement on doing no things, and that comparison is the thief of joy. I persist in making an effort to push past how I feel, to notice the fragments of odd quirky delight that still exist in the world, but it gets harder every day.

※※※

~ R is for reindeer and rose ~

Progress has been made on drawings for the 2026 "AlphaBeast" calendar, finished two this afternoon: serval/snowdrop, and reindeer/rose. After I get otter/orchid and wolf/wisteria inked in, it will be time to do cut and paste to make the numerical monthly grids...

※※※

My first attempt with sugar syrup/food coloring transfer was unsuccessful. I don't know if it needs more food coloring, or a higher proportion of sugar, or ???. Could experiment further, as there is still some blue paste color left. Or I could go downtown to Blick and look for Saral Transfer paper in blue or red (I have some, but white, which absolutely does not work for this project - I already tried) To do prick and pounce transfer on this size would be very tedious indeed, and  pencil graphite transfer doesn't work well on this particular fabric. This is a learning opportunity (sigh)

※※※


※※※

Gradually improving the undies toile whilst using up various remnants of cotton lycra. My goal is to have a weeks-worth, including all the samples that have turned out wearable... The most recent toile isn't particularly elegant looking, with a different remnant in each of the parts, but the pattern is getting closer to my preferred fit. Using cotton/lycra for the leg bands works very well; getting the waistband comfortable and also functional is a bit more of a challenge. Each different piece of cotton/lycra has a different amount of stretch and return, which makes length and width more variable in a frustrating way. I'm wondering if some of the wider elastics from Bra Builders might be a better option, that would allow me a consistent result.

※※※

December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	1 pair undies	Gamma bucket lid	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- tasty Ethiopian seasoning blend from B&K - I sprinkled it on some chicken legs before roasting them.
- more Cory Doctorow
- a few of my other friends, in addition to Leslie, may want to join me in my 100 day drawing challenge.

Time of Isolation - Day 1996

fragments and snippets

in which our plucky heroine accidentally sleeps in...

Somehow forgot to set the alarm clock last night, so slept in until well past time for our fortnightly sewing zoom. Which fortunately was still happening when I signed in, so I was able to see all the usual suspects as well as Glenda who just joined us. Always an inspiration to meet with friends online...

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~ day 12 and 13 ~
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Two more tiny treats... yesterday was a very small painting of fish attached to a magnet, and today was a carved crystal bead in the shape of a turtle.

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Yesterday I rode my bike to the hardware store to use the $5 discount coupon to help pay for a food grade storage bucket. My recently acquired 10# bag of lentils will be happier stored more securely. As, like yesterday, today was another unseasonably dry warm day, this afternoon I headed out to TAP Plastics to get a Gamma lid for said new storage bucket. (Gamma lids are wonderful! They are a two-piece secure mostly airtight lid for 3½ or 5 gallon buckets. The outer ring snaps into place, and the inner disc is threaded and easy to spin open and closed) I am tempted to invest in a number of bucket and lid combinations for water storage, as it would be eversomuch easier to deal with than other suggested options...

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I really want to turn Kestrel's kid art: "resipei for straberie ice cubs" into an embroidered panel to hang in the kitchen here at Acorn Cottage, which requires my transferring both 8½  x 11" pages of drawings onto the fabric.  A bit large for me to tape to a window and trace. It was possible long ago to buy a transfer pencil that let you draw on the reverse side and iron your motif(s) on fabric, but no one local has that particular writing implement. Then I remembered that several years ago, when sewing my quarter circle Viking banner, I did some sort of DIY blue transfer ink  made from sugar syrup and paste food coloring. Given that was a successful solution, my intention is to do it again, and take notes for future reference. Always useful to have an alternative option that does not require purchasing additional supplies!

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I didn't write this essay, but it makes some very important points and is worth reading...

" In the United States, the problem is not that people cannot read. It is that fewer and fewer people can remain with what they are reading long enough to understand it. We live inside words. Contracts, portals, policies, emails, headlines, warnings. And yet comprehension is slipping through our fingers. The nation that insists it runs on information is quietly losing the ability to sit with meaning.

America continues to reassure itself with a comforting statistic. By the most permissive definition, adult literacy in the United States exceeds 99 percent. That number measures the ability to read and write a simple sentence. It does not measure whether someone can understand a lease, a medical consent form, a ballot initiative, or an economic argument. When literacy is measured as functional literacy, the ability to use written language to navigate modern life, the picture darkens. Roughly 130 million American adults read below a sixth grade level. About one in five struggles so significantly that reading becomes an obstacle rather than a tool.

Federal assessments confirm that this is not a marginal issue. Nearly 28 percent of American adults perform at the lowest levels of literacy proficiency, meaning they have difficulty locating basic information in short texts. Even more unsettling, average adult literacy scores declined sharply between 2017 and 2023. This is not stagnation. It is regression.

This decline shows itself in small, dispiriting ways. I see it every time I publish a long form essay. Readers often engage with the first few sentences and then stop. Some comment that the piece is too long. Others argue passionately against claims I never made. The conversation detaches from the text almost immediately, as if the act of sustained reading itself has become too heavy to carry. What follows is not debate, but projection.

One example lingers because it was so clean. I wrote about a CNBC economic interview in which McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski described declining traffic among lower and lower middle income consumers. His point was stark. People under financial pressure were eating out less, even at fast food restaurants built on affordability. He framed it as evidence of a two tier economy. The essay did not argue about whether fast food was a good deal. It examined what it means when people who once relied on it no longer can. Yet many responses angrily rebutted a value argument that never appeared. The text itself went largely unread.

This is not a failure of manners. It is a failure of reading. It reflects the erosion of deep reading, the ability to follow an argument across paragraphs, hold context, and distinguish between what is written and what is assumed. When readers cannot do this, public discourse becomes hollow. Arguments float free of evidence. Meaning collapses into vibes.

The educational pipeline offers little comfort. Reading scores among American students have fallen to their lowest levels in decades. By the end of high school, fewer than one third of students meet proficiency benchmarks. These declines began long before the pandemic and continued through it. The damage was already done. COVID merely exposed it.

Literacy is often discussed as an educational outcome. It is something far more foundational. Low literacy shapes who can protect themselves in systems that do not slow down. Adults with low reading proficiency face higher unemployment, worse health outcomes, and diminished civic participation. Economists estimate that low literacy costs the United States trillions of dollars each year in lost productivity and increased public spending. But numbers do not capture the quiet humiliation of not understanding the document that governs your body, your home, or your job.

Literacy also maps neatly onto inequality. Communities with underfunded schools, limited libraries, and scarce adult education programs show the lowest proficiency rates. Literacy does not exist apart from material conditions. It rises where stability exists and falls where life is precarious. When people are exhausted, anxious, or scrambling to survive, reading becomes harder, not because intelligence disappears, but because attention does.

There is a cruel paradox here. Americans are surrounded by more text than any generation before. Notifications, disclaimers, captions, feeds. Words everywhere. What has vanished is patience. Digital environments train us to skim, to react, to scan for affirmation or threat. At the same time, institutions continue to raise the complexity of what they demand we read. Contracts grow longer. Policies grow denser. Responsibility for comprehension is placed entirely on individuals, even as the texts themselves become increasingly unreadable.

Adult literacy education exists, but barely. Programs are scattered across libraries, community colleges, nonprofits, and workforce initiatives, many with long waiting lists and unstable funding. Only a fraction of adults who need help ever receive it. The work is essential, but invisible. It does not trend. It does not scale easily. It simply helps people understand the world they are being asked to navigate.

None of this is inevitable. Research points to clear interventions. Early reading instruction. High intensity tutoring. Well funded libraries. Adult education tied to real opportunity. Plain language reforms that treat clarity as a public responsibility. But these solutions require something unfashionable: patience, investment, and a belief that understanding matters.

The United States does not suffer from a lack of intelligence. It suffers from a slow thinning of comprehension. As the demands of written systems rise and support for literacy erodes, the distance between those who can read the world and those who cannot continues to widen. That distance becomes power. It decides who understands the rules and who is punished by them.

When literacy declines, democracy does not fail loudly. It fades. It fades in unread paragraphs, in misunderstood arguments, in debates that happen against claims no one actually made. And beneath it all is a quieter loss, one that rarely shows up in policy discussions.

If we do not read, we never reach what comes next. We never arrive at the meaning that rewards patience. We never discover the story beyond the opening line. If we stopped reading, we would never know what comes after, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”

And a society that no longer reaches beyond the first sentence should be deeply afraid of what it is choosing not to understand."

~ Genny Harrison 

December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	-	Gamma bucket lid	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -  
- double pane windows
- found the 5$ hardware store coupon
- Gamma lids

Time of Isolation - Day 1995

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine doesn't quite eat the frog...

It wasn't the first thing I did today (which was my go outside and get outdoor light into my eyeballs) or even the second thing, but I did make some of the needed phone calls this afternoon, and tomorrow! there will be two different estimators (one in the morning, one in late afternoon) showing up to have a look-see at the roof here at Acorn Cottage, and give their ideas and figures for what the labor costs and materials options for replacing the over twenty year old roof will require...

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~ imaginary aminitas

My current handwork fidget project is making some of the soft sculpture mushrooms that Margeaux Davis shared a tutorial for last week in the MakingZen series. Scraps of assorted red fabrics, unbleached muslin, and a few other bits and bobs get turned into what I think will become some fun ornament gifts for friends. I particularly love the way the gathered fabric becomes "mushroom gills" and the use of french knots for texture...

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"...we must, in the ways that we can, live the future we hope to bring into being."

~ Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

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I have misplaced my garden trowel! This object, unlike a number of other things around the place, actually has a specific home, but isn't in it. And isn't anywhere else I've looked. It is one of the few everyday tools I only have the one of, no backup. and apparently I've no memory of the most recent time it was in use, since I've looked in all the logical or possible spots, including in the garden beds themselves...  

In other garden news, the peas are enjoying their new climbing frame, almost two gallons of baby apples have been thinned (and still not done with that task) and assorted pruning continues to happen. Have been keeping the young trees watered as the temperature continues to increase. The sprouty yellow potatoes I planted in a spare pot have sent up actual leaves, and my intention is to see if I can harvest some spuds later in the year. They're not quite tall enough yet to add another layer of mulch.

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June SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	aminita softy	planted sprouty taters	-
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- being able to listen to recordings of Grateful Dead shows via Internet Archive, on my phone, while riding my bicycle...
- an adorable aminita made from scrap fabric
- I bravely called one law office and two roofing contractors today

Time of Isolation - Day 1779

Wednesday whatnots

in which our plucky heroine tries not to worry...

The major Florida hurricane "Milton" made landfall just about on top of where my elderly auntie lives. I have been somewhat obsessively checking the weather, despite that there is nothing at all I can do at this far remove. I did call her yesterday, and let her know I was thinking about her and that I love her.

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~ embroidered edging ~

Since we are well into October, and I am sponsoring a "spooky season" challenge for Tiny Rag Doll Nation, I wanted to get started making a few prizes for the random drawing winner... The bias gored skirt is such a fun way to use striped fabric, and this time I decided to give it an embroidered border using chained feather stitch. I love how elaborate that embroidery stitch looks, and how easy it is to do! (description and tutorial)

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As part of my attempt to improve my health, and to increase resilience, I will be experimenting with making some brine-fermented veggies... With this intent, I went ahead and ordered some of the glass weight discs, as I'm pretty sure my previous effort(s) were foiled by not being able to keep the contents properly submerged. I want to try ginger garlic carrots, and also beet kvass, as both of those have been recommended to me as good to start with.

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Checking on the remaining tree fruit here... the quinces are not quite ripe, but getting close. The persimmons are nowhere near ripe yet, being mostly green. And the second crop figs are still quite hard; they almost never ripen. I really need to rewatch the Useful Video and make notes about how to prune figs for a better first crop. Indeed, I really ought to start a notebook about the various tree fruits here and how best to care for them!

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It occurred to me to try to remove the layers of frost from the upper sides of my chest freezer by sort of chiseling it off with a large screwdriver and a hammer. Carefully of course. It was possible to place the screwdriver "chisel" just past the actual edge of the freezer, and a few strong taps with the hammer had a surprisingly large "iceberg" break loose, without have any adverse effect on the freezer itself. It took eversomuch less time to work my way around the circumference than it would have to defrost the whole thing in the usual way!

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	ScribeTober 1	removed frost	yard waste bin
2	blue wolf enamel	-	-
3	shibori scarf	-	-
4	robin and holly acorn cap ornaments	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. My aged Florida aunties residence home facility is not in an evacuation zone, and is a designated "shelter in place" location, so I can only hope that she is okay...
2. I made a delicious vaguely red Thai curry inspired meal tonight with chicken, greens, and a mixture of carrot and sweet potato, and thought to put half of it in the fridge for tomorrow before actually eating dinner. Future Me will be happy
3. I defrosted the chest freezer by carefully using a very large screwdriver as a "chisel" and hitting it with a hammer
4. Did I mention how much I enjoy my Wednesday evening game time with Stef and Mischa?

Time of Isolation - Day 1549

throwback Thursday

in which our plucky heroine gets inspected...

Ever since they cut a sizeable chunk out of my arm a few years ago, I get periodic dermatological checks from top to toe. I was happy to find out today that all looks normal, at least on the outside, and I can come back in a year for the next one. Dr O was pleased with how well I am doing, and was pleasantly surprised when I showed him my arm guards (long white jersey fingerless gloves that go all the way up my forearms)

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Back at the beginning of the pandammit, just after the big Columbia Gorge fire, I made Nandina a wool felt skirt all decorated with embroidery and pinked felt, rather in the style of Salley Mavor's Wee Felt Folk. Remembering this, (as seen in the photo above) I decided to decorate the green linen side of the skirt I am making for Almandine with some little embroidered vines.

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I stopped at the store on the way home, hoping for some tasty decorations for salad tonight. Ummm, two weeks ago small avocados were $1.49 each. Yesterday they were $1.79. Today they are $1.99. What I see reminds me (in a small way) of when I visited Yugoslavia back in 1989, before it fell apart, and how the prices would change every day.

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Tuesday night I decided that whatever was making my left small toe super cranky was not going away and actually getting worse, so I made an appointment for first thing in the morning (8am) at the Immediate Care nearest my house. Got going super early so I would be there right when they opened.

Only to find out, when it opened, that they had just been notified that their storefront was closed for the day, and they needed to call everyone scheduled to let them know... but I was already there. The clerk must have apologised at least ten times. All I asked was if I could have an appointment at the only other one somewhat nearby, and she was able to schedule me there at 9am. So after riding about two miles there, then two miles back home, then maybe another mile or so in the opposite direction, I finally was able to see a clinician!

They took a look at my foot, and asked about medical history stuff, and particularly since I have had cellulitis more than one time (and one time really badly), I am now partway into a week of Keflex three times a day; the good news is my foot is improving.

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I really need to get off my duff and start doing more small fixit things. Whenever I look at my SMART goals grid for July, the middle column seems really empty and in need.  Could be housey improvement, could be mending clothing, could be ???

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	4 tiny knit vests	cleaned keyboard	recycle bin
2	tiny cargo pants	-	-
3	very smol Birks	-	-
4	silkworm print	-	-
5	4 reversible skirts	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. Two avocados! A gift from the grocery clerk who feels as bad as I do about the prices rising every week...
2. A clean dermatology checkup this morning; I don't need to come back for a year, and the two things I had questions about were normal human variations and not more cancer.
3. Yesterday I got to go a little further in the Golden Sky Stories game with Stef and Mischa. Eventually I will get the hang of it, but I am already having fun!
4. I think I caught the foot infection in time, as symptoms are improving since I got a scrip for Keflex yesterday.

Time of Isolation - Day 1461

wishful Wednesday - somatic delight

in which our plucky heroine dreams...

In the most decadent of imaginary worlds, I have access to a hot tub, maybe even in my own yard. Or maybe in that very imaginary world, every neighborhood has a bathhouse?... Unfortunately, actual full body immersion in warmth and no gravity remains forever only  a dream, since the tub here rests directly on the concrete foundation slab, and hence does not hold heat for any more than such a minimal amount of time that by the time the tub is full, it isn't warm any more...

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~ bunny in a hot tub ~

A number of years ago, Karen gave me a number of pieces of Japanese indigo textiles with assorted motifs, and this one with the "bathing bunny" seemed just the right thing to decorate the door to the little room of necessity here at Acorn Cottage. I finally made time to finish and embellish it; rather than just being pinned to the door, it now has a neat narrow binding all around the edges, (with two small loops at the upper corners) made from some of the leftover fabric from my sashiko kit. I also decided to fill the background with some "+" stitches with some of the variegated teal dyed thread, no particular reason other than I liked the additional texture and color.

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spent about an hour in the evening after dinner, cutting away dead branches and twigs from the persimmon, and pruning up the forsythia. I read that forsythia is best pruned just after flowering, which would be this week; Though it has a rather weeping growth pattern, I am hoping that with attention, it will droop a bit less all the way down to the parking strip, so I can more easily trim the shaggy grass, but still have plenty of beautiful golden flowers in the springtime. (so I thinned it out a bit, and trimmed off the very lowest of the branches)

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny angora print	computer zone lamp	persimmon prunings
2	5th God bag	blog template	forsythia prunings
3	-	grey turtleneck collar	-
4	-	indigo bunny art	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. I have WOLF-Garten loppers, and Felco hand pruners, which made spending time today cutting back the persimmon and the forsythia less trouble than had I lesser tools.
2. this morning there were a few bees in the rosemary bush!
3. I did a fair job of video visit with Mom today; I think my idea of showing her the weeks cut flowers is my best idea in a long time...

Time of Isolation - Day 1375

transmogrification and other Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine does various mending and fixit projects...

Today my handwork project added a turtleneck collar piece to my grey knit Alabama Chanin style top, as it has become apparent that if it is cool enough to make wearing long sleeves the thing to do, that a cozy neckline is also a good idea. My most worn out pair of long janes gave their leg fabric to be reused, which not only fit in with the various grey patterns and textures, but also suits the concept of this garment which was made from all salvaged materials in the first place!

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~ world of the five gods - 5th God bag ~

progress on my 5th God bag:  outer embroidery finished while on the bus Thursday... It took a bit of fussing to sort out how to transform this into a pouch of suitable size. I think I want to redo the drawcords, and use larger beads for the handholds, but other than that I am quite happy with how it turned out.

This will be replacing the leather coin purse I currently use to hold my blood sugar test kit parts on my nightstand, as that container is going to now replace my worn out beloved Totoro wallet (It was a gift, but sadly plastic doesn't last well)

Now I wonder, what if I made a set? series? of 5 bags... one for each of the gods from the World of the Five Gods.

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Yesterday I adjusted my blog post template to make it easier for me to use... also added in various symbols just to have them handy when I want to use them. I already did this for fractions, but now I have things like the degree symbol, and the does-not-equal symbol, things that I use just often enough that it will be nice to not have to look them up online

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~ this brought tears to my eyes... ~

Humans are amazing! ...folks sharing their artistry to do good and help others. Well worth a listen...

"Re-make of an '80's movie theme. Mark Knopfler wanted to do a cancer charity re-release of it, but then word got out and studio contributions started flowing in. Over 50 famous musicians sent cuts and they wove them together like a bird nest. I'm told this was the last thing Jeff Beck did before he died. Ringo and his son Zak are playing the drums. The names appear in this video as they come in, cuz there's no other way to sort them out."
~ Gryphon Black

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After our Sewing Nomads discussion online this morning, I was able to track down the instructions for how to make a "no-interfacing-storage-basket" from fabric, that is stiffened with cardboard inserts. Ruthie had been thinking about creating segmented drawer dividers, and while this is not exactly what she described, I suspect it could serve a similar function, if made to appropriate size and in multiples.

Reading the post took me back, to what for me was the heyday of creative blogs. It was always such a great delight to see what artists all over the world were willing and eager to share about what they were doing, what they were interested in, and what they were thinking about. It was much less formulaic than current social media.

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny angora print	computer zone lamp	-
2	5th God bag	blog template	-
3	-	grey turtleneck collar	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
1. I had the tools to chamfer and "unpolish" the horn toggles for my raincoat project. They arrived with a polished Very Shiny surface, and crisp sharp edges. With my perennial desire to create things that are pleasant to touch, they now have a softer pumice finish, and all the edges have been given a somewhat funky chamfer with file, sandpaper, and rotary abrasive.
2. Salad tonight was particularly tasty, if simple, being persian cucumbers cut into 1cm chunks, mixed with avocado cut into similar chunks, with chopped cilantro and green onion... If I had some fresh lime, I would have grated just a bit of lime peel. Although now that I think of it, a bit of preserved lemon chopped finely would also have been very good.
3. In the process of tracking down the fabric box tutorial, I also found this video, with instruction for a simple way to create striped fabric: using masking tape as a resist

Time of Isolation - Day 1371