weekend whimsy

in which our plucky heroine looks all around...

or at least up and down. Parts of the weekend were a treat, and parts were a trial. Successfully trying out a new to me handcraft technique, remembering the frozen Roma tomatoes, and visiting with friends online were treats. Spiraling down into dark weasel territory on Saturday night was hard; the worst of the brain weasels don't actually lie, they contain just enough truth to really hurt. Erroneous choices can't be undone, and chances noticed too late will not come again in this lifetime. The trick is to find the small joys still possible.

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~ Rosa ~

Mischa and I are gradually setting up a new Wanderhome game (our first since Steph left the bright world), building new characters and a new place to create stories. I'd only barely dipped into the world of "gaming", in a particularly gentle, interactive, non combat-driven way, when my newest friend Steph was diagnosed and C all too quickly took them away. The rough sketch above is Rosa the maned wolf, my new character. They are a peddler/trader and deal primarily in spices, dyestuff, incense, miniature bells, colored floss, and tiny shrine furnishings.

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The tiny shreds of fabric and ends of thread leftover when sewing become frelch and have apparently a magnetic attraction to caster wheels. Rather than my vain efforts to neatly dispose of them in the large waste bin in the workshop, it occurred to me that small scrap holders in the immediate vicinity of the sewing machine and serger would be a better and more direct option, easy to empty into the larger bin as needed.

Ann Wood's "Stitched Vessel" tutorial (which has been sitting in my file of patterns-purchased-but-not-yet-made for ages) seemed like it was a perfect solution. Several hours of hand stitching turned into this boro-esque thread basket. A second one is already on my work table, also using the random cabbage from assorted wardrobe sewing projects; there are so many potential uses for such appealing small containers! 

2 ½" high, almost 3" diameter
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With the weather so hot as to make actual cooking less of a treat, a glance in the fridge showed the ingredients for a sort of panzanella. Well, there was a slice of leftover bread, cucumbers, feta, salad greens and suchlike, all that was missing was a tomato... Then I remembered that there were Roma tomatoes in the freezer, intended for making another batch of Awesome Sauce! Peeled and partially thawed, it was cut into chunks and added to the proto panzanella. The tomato did collapse into shreds, but added good flavor and moisture. A hack worth remembering.

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was not expecting thrilled to see this on Saturday morning when I checked the weather for the rest of the weekend: 
Issued: 10:57 AM May. 2, 2026 – National Weather Service...
HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 8 AM TO 11 PM PDT SUNDAY... 
- WHAT...Temperatures up to 91 degrees F expected. Significant cooling expected overnight. 
- WHERE...Greater Vancouver Metro, Lower Columbia River and Cowlitz River Valleys, Inner Portland Metro, and East Portland Metro. 
- WHEN...From 8 AM to 11 PM PDT Sunday. 
- IMPACTS...Hot temperatures may cause heat illnesses. 
- ADDITIONAL DETAILS...There is around 5% chance of high temperatures of 95 degrees or greater in urban areas around the Portland-Metro area. Overall Moderate HeatRisk with relieving cooling temperatures overnight. Highs will be near record breaking temperatures for this time of year.
So it wasn't a big surprise that the temperature this afternoon on the front porch was 94° F (34.5° C). Very grateful for the magic cool air machine aka heat pump.

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I've rather fallen in love with the printed motifs of this fabric, and think it would could make a very fun autumnal shirt. Rather more colorful than my usual wont, but there are almost all the colors I do wear: brown, and grey, and teal/turquoise, and blue, as well as all the rest of the rainbow, in a playful admixture of shapes that reference mid-century design.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	-	-
2	boro thread basket	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- heat pump aka magic cool air that falls from ceiling
- left foot less painful
- using frozen tomato as salad flavoring
- anti-weasel serum from friends
- riding my bike past the park, seeing families celebrating birthdays or other special occasions, life happening in a pleasant public place. 

Time of Isolation - Day 2123

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine has mixed feelings...

I've finished putting together the digital images for my 2025 calendar, now all that remains is getting the pages printed up, assembling, hole punching, and collating them, and getting them in the mail to everyone I want to share them with. My idea of using the photos from my 2023 100 day stitchbook project pleased me with the results; it is quite a change from my previous tinyworld set, but my creativity is rather varied in how I express it, and hopefully folks will still find it enjoyable.

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~ Day 24 ~

a bag containing enough black glass faceted beads to fill a small bowl, which may at some point become part of a necklace

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Today we began Wanderhome. It felt a bit odd to be meeting my gaming pals in the middle of the day. I am starting to figure out "Brin" the character I've chosen that is a tiger and a Smith. I may have to do some drawings, perhaps a portrait, or an inventory of their pack of tools and supplies...

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I really enjoyed this festive seasonal concert from 2020, including a very Early Pandammit version of "Christmas Wrapping" which I had never heard done before by Richard Thompson..

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Not sure what I will do tomorrow, which feels a bit peculiar...

I might make some quincemeat tarts, attempting the brown butter brown sugar modification of shortbread, and mixing together several of my home preserves together with assorted spices for a combination rich and strange.

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	rainbow cowl tassels	more clothesline	recycle bin
2	85 origami squares	cardboard down	random book parts
3	heraldic potholders	set up paperwhites	recycle bin
4	pine needle stars	grey linen pinafore	yard waste bin
5	solstice sweets	bandanna hem	yard waste bin
6	2025 calendar	calendar pages	recycle bin
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. managed another bike ride today, which though it started out rainy, before too long the clouds cleared away and it was much improved riding
2. I have all the pages for the calendar prepared for printing, and Lesley pointed out that I can also send them as digital content to my pals on the other side of the great water.
3. The wilted cilantro in my grocery order reconstituted well with topical application of cool water in a tea towel, so I can transmogrify it (with knifework and water) into small frozen cubes for future use. Thanks to Elizabeth for the suggestion

Time of Isolation - Day 1622

beauty in adversity

in which our plucky heroine has a pleasant surprise...

...today while heading out in the morning to prune a few wayward forsythia branches, I looked down and noticed this sprig of hardy fuschia still had a few blooms in late December. I snipped it off to bring inside. Winter has not really been that cold, we have had frost, but no ice or snow, and some days, like today, are surprisingly moderate.

As a maker of things, I imagine that a trail of objects large and small, and more or less ephemeral, lie scattered behind me, drifting away into the created world. Some are gone quickly, some are lost but not gone, and some are my legacy to whatever future may exist.... Enamel lasts for centuries, at least

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The more time I have been spending reading the book, the more I want to live in the world described in the game Wanderhome. We start tomorrow, and it is going to be so much fun...

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Further adventures in drying laundry without a tumble dryer. It is possible. Not as convenient, but OTOH, not as energy intensive. If we had the sort of winter that up until recently has been common, with many days of rain and even snow, it would be more difficult. But this winter there have been occasional partial days of simply grey damp, or even sunbreaks.

Since I work from home, I can take advantage of this, and choose to run the washing machine then, and put the clothing out to get mostly dry on the tangle of lines I've set up across the middle of the yard. When I hear the rain returning, I run outside and gather it all in again, and hang it on the big ceiling rack in the laundry zone, or across tension rods over the tub or in the hallways, and socks as always on the octopus in the "furnace" closet.

the big drying rack
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~ day 23 ~

- a translucent opalite glass heart gathers what light there is in these times of minimal daylight

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Apparently chop shop of used tech on Ebay is not unknown, other than to me, as mentioning it to other more tech savvy friends I see knowing nods. So, I have ordered a salvaged key cap set, with great hopes of successful refurbishment. Stay tuned...

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	rainbow cowl tassels	more clothesline	recycle bin
2	85 origami squares	cardboard down	random book parts
3	heraldic potholders	set up paperwhites	recycle bin
4	pine needle stars	grey linen pinafore	yard waste bin
5	solstice sweets	bandanna hem	yard waste bin
6	x	calendar pages	recycle bin
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. hopefully within a week I will have a key cap to repair the keyboard, seller has sent several info emails
2. starting work on a calendar for 2025, have all the pages numbered and background colored
3. hardy fuschia still has flowers in December!

Time of Isolation - Day 1621

Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine wishes bootstraps were not so distant...

... or that maybe I didn't have such short little dinosaur arms! Today I was all grumbldy-grump, and not until I went out for a walk in the cold rain just before sundown did my mood turn around. Moving the body through time and space shifts my spirits so much better than any other accessible option, (and I am so grateful that I am able to do that still!) It is silly to let any weather other than deep cold and ice keep me indoors.

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~ day 22 ~

The tinyfolks will be delighted to add this very tiny shrinky-dink wonky heart to Caer Cardboard's festive decor.

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I can tell I am going to need to read the Wanderhome book more than one time through before I even paritally grok how it is intended to function, but I already like the various premises. I am going to be a smith, and a tiger (being both a patient and strong animal), and am gradually looking through the various options available to be that flavor of character.

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Eva gave a really good talk today about life purpose, and shared these as possible overall guidelines:

Your purpose should be:

• Possible (something you can do)
  
• Pleasing (you find satisfaction in it/enjoy it)
  
• Personal (your own thing, not someone elses)
  
• Positive/Prosocial (does not do harm, and preferably does good)
  
• Process-oriented (stated in terms of what you are doing or causing in an ongoing way, not achieving a set goal)
  
• Particular (specific enough to help you make decisions)
  
• Portable (not tied to one job, act, or identity descriptor)

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My experiment with the half-size spinach rice bake worked really well as far as the size goes. I'll save the full size recipe for when the plan is to wrap and freeze sections for future "can't cope" meals. The experiment with the medium cheddar instead of sharp was less successful IMHO, as it made the dish less toothsome. (I am pretty sure the original recipe called for mild cheddar and only ¼ teaspoon of dried herbs! I don't remember ordinary food as that bland back in the LongAgo??) I slathered a good spoonful of Awesome Sauce over the top of my slice for lunch, to add a bit of zing on this very grey day.

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	rainbow cowl tassels	more clothesline	recycle bin
2	85 origami squares	cardboard down	random book parts
3	heraldic potholders	set up paperwhites	recycle bin
4	pine needle stars	grey linen pinafore	yard waste bin
5	solstice sweets	bandanna hem	yard waste bin
6	x	x	recycle bin
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. when I decided to go out for a walk despite the cold drizzle, it wasn't more than half a block before my mood improved a lot. I should remember this always
2. This silly filk really made me laugh...
3. Eva gives really good presentations of ideas, that spark good discussions
4. I can walk around, I can ride my bike, I can, with care, be mobile in the world.

Time of Isolation - Day 1621