Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine has ongoing insomnia...

I'm tired of being an adult. There is gorram little about it to enjoy, despite the lie all children are told that "when you grow up you can do whatever you want". By the time I was a teen, I was already adding the caveat "if you want to enough and are willing to pay the price". I will, however, admit to one evening last week choosing to have ice cream for dinner instead of a proper meal...

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~ so lovely ~

Everything about the quince is a delight. It is a small tree just outside the south window in the living room. It is one of the first fruit trees here to leaf out, and the flowers are about three times as large as its other pome relatives (apples, pears, and plums). Later in the year those flowers will become the huge golden fragrant fruits quince is renowned for, that get turned into preserves, and jelly, and are added to applesauce, all destined for jars on the store cupboard shelves here at Acorn Cottage, and eventually special sweet treats.

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There is a tangle with my admin paperwork beyond my ability to solve. Things I thought were done correctly weren't. After about a day and a half of not coping at all, it occurred to me that this sort of situation is perzactly what asking for an extension to file tax forms is intended to deal with. Since the extension is only for the forms and not for the payment (still due on the 15th), I've been spending the last two days figuring out what the amounts due would be if there was no tangle, and will send that amount in on Wednesday. Then I'll arrange for some professional assistance (after April 15) and get everything properly sorted. As earlier mentioned, adulting is no fun at all.

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I've been giving self short breaks from admin paperwork to continue with assorted sewing related activity, that being as close as I can get to some sort of "treat". Since I'd already made a sewing kit for the next up pinafore, it has been possible to get the entire bodice sewn together in the last two days. Am quite tempted to make up sewing kits for the rest of my wardrobe refurbishment: 3 more pinafores (one blue/black, one indigo, and one teal); 3 more long janes (one teal, one indigo, and one brown) and the PNW landscape print blouse.

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Another oops! Recently and sadly remembered/realised that it has been days and days since any of the 100 day drawing project activity. There are 29 more drawings waiting to happen. Shall start up again on Thursday. Have been thinking that it would be interesting to find a way to pin all 100 up at once, though I suspect that there isn't any wall space large enough here in Acorn Cottage to make that happen...

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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	dual fold wallet	tiny beaded star	greenwaste bin
3	-	electric bill found	recycle bin
4	-	shirt sleeve length	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- managed to get up, dressed, and out the door for a walk around the block first thing a few times in the last week, which has been a goal of mine for months, nay years.
- decided that the best option for dealing with admin issues is to file for tax extensions this year. Stress level decreased down to dull roar from complete overwhelm.
- Helga sweetly took me to Costco today
- local transit tax only requires Schedule C's included so that one set of forms and payment can be sent in and crossed of the to do list.

Time of Isolation - Day 2104

short but very sweet

in which our plucky heroine is delighted...

Most of my Mud Bay pals were headed south this week so Kestrel could visit her great grandmama, and they stopped off briefly on their two day trip south for a bit of a porch visit/drive-by hugging from three of my favorite humans on the planet. Took some time to walk around the yard, stretch their legs, and eat some snacks. I got to meet Leche, their new dog. I love all of them so much (as well as Maeva who was staying home to mind the garden and the chickens) and hope that someday visiting with them in person will be possible again.

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~ proto-pears ~

In January of 2025 I planted the Bosc pear tree in the front yard that was my response to the Urban Forestry permit requirement for replacing the ornamental plum tree removed in 2024 While I suspect it isn't large enough yet to really support fruiting, it has done well enough to open a singular cluster of flowers this year!  The Shipova and the Seckel seem to be doing well but of course are about half that size. With luck, there will be some of my favorite tree fruit in a few years, though I expect to have to baby them and hand water every summer for quite few years to come, particularly given how hot it already is and that the forecast is for a dreadful El Niño season...

Bosc pear planted in 2025
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The disorder in the house is getting to the point where it is interfering with my ability to function. My thought is that once my taxes for the year are done (in the next ten days) I will then take at least the next six weeks or more and focus time every day on creating more order from the current chaos. If I focus each week on one aspect or room, it should make a big difference, and maybe allow me a chance to get some of the refurbishment projects underway as well. I am going to go ahead and order the window awnings that have been on my wishlist for years now; aluminum is only going to get more and more spendy, and while the prices are a lot higher than last year,  it is not yet in the "unobtanium" category, and shading the east and west windows will make a big difference in the summertime .

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Brenda Dayne has connected all her past catalog to her current Substack site. This means that I have a lot of audio content I can enjoy (again). Cast On was one of the first podcasts I ever ran across, and despite looking, I have yet to find any that I like anywhere near as much. Her voice, selection of music, and mixture of content just feeds something in me that nothing else does. I wish I could articulate what about Cast On makes it just right.

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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	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Beloved friends Bill, Jen, and Kestrel stopping by on their trip south
- meeting Leche the dog, large and quiet
- "Cast On" with Brenda Dayne

Time of Isolation - Day 2097

Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine tries to look forward...

Looked around the yard, which desperately needs mowed, but was too damp a day to do that safely. The apple tree, just barely thinking about leafing out, could be pruned, as it is obvious at this point that a lot of the tallest sprouting growth is not going to bloom and make apples. Removing these will let a lot more sunlight into the tree and help keep it "reachable". The quinceling is the only fruit tree with leaves and now showing signs of starting flower buds. There are a few tiny leaves on one of the fig trees. Plums, persimmons, and the elderberry are not fully awake yet.

The forsythia is glorious, the star magnolia is just past it's peak, and Euphorbia wulfenni is decorating the front yard with tall lime green banners. Here and there are a few pink violets just starting, and the small clump of grape hyacinths are in full flower, and the last of the hellebore flowers are a bit droopy but still visible.

There are sprouting leaves that promise lovage* stalks later this year, and I expect to see some growth in the bed of walking onions. Adding chives to the front yard would be a nice addition to "allium self sufficiency". Other perennial seasoning herbs here are rosemary, sage, thyme, and marjoram.

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~ both sides now ~

Final detailing on the new brown linen pinafore... brown chain stitch cloud motif, embroidered on a scrap of the same linen, then appliqued to the bib pocket. It was a little tricky getting the stitching done while making sure to only catch the outer layer of the pocket, and in fact there was one spot where it was necessary to clip a stitch and undo the thread back far enough to knot it off and restitch. Going forward, I'll be sure to add any and all of the pocket decoration before attaching the pocket rather than afterwards!

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Just about finished with the grey Chinese landscape print shirt. By piecing the few remaining scraps it was possible to cut out five of the seven peplum pieces, and some of the linen chambray subbed in for the rest. It felt a bit like some of those online no-waste videos, as all that was left was a literally small handful of tiny scraps. Once button locations are marked, machine buttonholes made, and the shell buttons stitched on, it will be done!

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Tamra mentioned the idea of finding an outdoor space to be social. This brought to mind my former idea of using the carport as outdoor living and crafting space, which would allow for more than one or two visitors at a time... Making that happen requires clearing years of junk from the carport, which is quite a challenge but doable, finding storage space for plywood and lumber (much more difficult), and finding tool storage space for yard tools. While I don't miss the moldy shed in the backyard, I do very much miss having some sort of garage-equivalent storage space. I've just been ignoring the issue for the last ten years, but bringing it back to the front part of my brain will hopefully eventually yield solution(s).

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	ruffle pillow shams	cardigan length	recycle bin
2	clothespin bag	cardigan button bands	recycle bin
3	brown linen pinafore	cardigan ribbon facings	cracked tote
4	grey shirt	planted rhubarb	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- dental care as a child, which has made my adult life less traumatic
- new Charles de Lint story: ICE Out
- figured out that the reason my keyboard was being weird and some keys not functioning was that the batteries were almost dead, freshly charged cured the problem.

Time of Isolation - Day 2089

* it will be worthwhile to try out making "herbal salt" from the lovage leaves, as a way to preserve the flavor for wintertime use. It was originally planted a few years after moving here as a backup celery flavor source in soups and stews. It grows without trouble or fuss and creates a spectacular vertical display, and should supply chain issues arise, having multiple ways to season food is never a bad idea.

somewhat less than ideal

in which our plucky heroine has eye trouble...

I woke up this morning with my right eye very swollen and painful, burning and gritty feeling, and have booked an express care medical visit. The first available appointment was at 8:40 am... And with my right eye so wonky/painful it means I can't do anything at all as sewing, knitting, embroidery, workshop tasks etc all require binocular vision (Last night it didn't feel quite right, so I used extra of my regular before bedtime eye drops).

There seems to be not only an eyelid infection, but it may be spreading to the eye socket, so the plan is for both antibiotic eye drops and daily pills (for the whole system) for a whole week. Yogurt will be a daily necessity, and my sleep wake will become very wonky indeed as every three hours I will be either medicating, or, alternately ingesting probiotic substances, as the pharmacist said to eat with medicines, but not dairy, and then to eat yogurt after a three hour window. Lather rinse repeat.  

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~ was a sunny day ~

The westside esplanade, where the Willamette River bisects Portland, has a short season of springtime when the cherry trees bloom. Usually I only notice this when riding transit over one of our many bridges, but since today was both not-raining, and not-cold, and since I could do none of my usual preferred activites with only one fully functional eye... it seemed that a local "adventure" was a good plan. It turned out that what seemed like half the city also thought it was a good plan! There were dogs, and kiddos, and young families with babies on blankets, new lovers and old ones, folks on wheels: bicycles, and chairs, and skateboards, and rollerblades. There were buskers, and the venerable Saturday Market handcraft tents. It was far more crowded than our plucky heroine prefers to subject herself to, but in this world of trouble and turmoil, it was actually quite lovely and benign.

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The last week has been a challenge in various ways. Never a good sign when I stop writing here, and stop contacting folks. The nightmares that in the Before Times could more often be left at sleeps door when they awakened me in the wee small hours are now far too similar to current events, and have several times made further sleep that night impossible. Fortunately being semi-retired/work from home means that while it isn't ideal, rearranging the daytime to allow for an afternoon nap is at least possible. Reminders from beloved if faraway friends that my being in their lives is helpful and a treat for them, helps my equilbrium. May the week ahead bring, if not fewer daytime horrors, at least some peaceful dreams.

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Lastly, hand stitching ribbon facings to cover the (slightly wonky) steek edges inside the Icelandic cardigan really added a finished look. This was a technique I had seen in some vintage knitwear, but never tried. I found some chocolate brown 1" wide rayon petersham ribbon on Etsy, and the instructions shared by Hélène Magnússon on her blog made the process really clear. It turned out quite pleasingly tidy, and was not difficult. Should I make another steeked cardigan, this will be good to remember...

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Last year a wee baby Victoria rhubarb came to live here, from the plant store at the end of the street. It survived in a pot on the porch next to the front door, where it was very visible, and hence watered often enough. After winter dormancy, it sent out some pencil thin stalks with leaves smaller than my palm, and surely it needed a bigger home. Earlier this week it moved to the raised bed in the backyard. That bed still needs quite a bit of topping up with good soil, but after shifting some all to one end, and adding a few shovels worth of compost, the rhubarb has a new home, where it will get good sunlight all day, and has good rich soil to send roots into. My hope is that if I can manage to care for it well, and feed it richly with compost and worm castings, in a few years I may have homegrown rhubarb. Fingers crossed and notes made on the calendar to keep it watered.

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	ruffle pillow shams	cardigan length	recycle bin
2	clothespin bag	cardigan button bands	-
3	-	cardigan ribbon facings	-
4	-	planted rhubarb	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- I walked five miles today
- cherry blossoms along the esplanade
- being able to get medical attention for my eye, and having the medicine needed be available
- zoom with Jen and a bit of Cathy
- baby rhubarb remains alive and well
- making it back from my doctor visit in time to have some Sewing Nomads zoom this morning

Time of Isolation - Day 2081

Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine gets unwelcome news...

Today I got a "denied payment" letter telling me that my emergency room visit in October for my injured left eye is not an insurance covered service! WTF!?! I am going to challenge this denial, of course...(not that adding an additional metric crapton of dealing with paperwork and bureaucracy was on my bingo card, but what else can one do?)

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~ sour, savory, salty, spicy, sweet ~

Doesn't this look delicious? Just realised it is another "five flavor" recipe... Made enough salad on Thursday to have for lunch for the next several days...The fresh persimmon is so pretty and so tasty!!

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This evening had a visit from Ashe & Co - and an exchange of unexpected gifts. They kindly brought me the half pound of organic black-eyed peas from OFC, and the swift from Karen, both of which I'd asked if they would be willing to bring me from Olympia. They were coming down here to pick up their Advent Of A Better Year boxes, but also brought some surprises: one of their Halloween Trick or Treat bags full of treats: homemade crayons and coloring pages, a fancy pencil, stickers, a glowstick, and a few mini candies. They also made me four little advent surprise packages to make up for how I only accidentally gave myself 27 instead of 31 of the tiny gifts.... Awww, they are so thoughtful! Plus I got hugs!!

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Today was sunny in the middle of the day, and after hanging laundry out to get partially dry, pruning seemed like a good next thing to do starting by cutting back the overgrown mint under the clothesline. Moving a bit further east down the chain link fence, the feral grapevine got quite the haircut. Not only as much as I could reach of what has grown into the neighboring yard, but rather a lot of the vines as well. Next in the wheelie bin, valiant Juliet, the tomato plant met her end. Late November is beyond tomato season, and while she was still attempting to get her remaining fruit to ripen, the rain was causing it to split open, and the leaves were beginning to look rather blighted. (I imagine that in a greenhouse, one could keep tomato plants going far longer than out in the open: I remember that Chuck and Joan had a little room upstairs in Boxborough with a huge cherry tomato growing under lights all winter.)  Finally, as there was still plenty of space in the bin, I got the pruning saw and cut away some of the excessively tall elderberry branches, and the larger end of what I'd already pruned away from the green fig.  Not pruning related, but in outdoor news, earlier in the day I saw two hummingbirds, both with a vivid red spot on their necks that flashed when the light hit it just right...

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An interview with Naomi Kritzer, a SF/hopepunk writer I enjoy very much, and some links to two of her stories... 

"So Much Cooking"
"The Year Without Sunshine"
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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	clothespin bag	horse kerchief dots	greenwaste bin
2	5 jars pickled beets	more chopshop repair	recycle bin
3	1# hand weights	printer connection	greenwaste bin
4	a dozen owls	black knit slip	recycle bin
5	many jars of Awesome Sauce	15 origami giftwrap	recycle bin
6	24 more owls	case for phone	x
7	7 jars of Awesome Sauce	horse kerchief details	x
8	8 dishcloths	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
- Ashe & Co came to visit, bringing unexpected gifts
- a new yarn swift from Karen to replace my broken one
- found six yards of waistband elastic in the notions cupboard, which will make my intention of several new pairs of long janes much easier to accomplish, having all the materials needed already on hand 

Time of Isolation - Day 1981

a successful Sunday

in which our plucky heroine speaks about how...

"Homegrown Tree Fruit Can Be Easy"... This morning I gave an online presentation based on my own experiences and the knowledge I've gained from "Grow A Little Fruit Tree", and it seemed to be very well received. There was plenty of discussion afterwards, which is always a good sign.

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~ Escheresque ~

Out and about on a cold wintery day yesterday, on the way to the farmer's market, before the rain returned...

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Oak gall progress report: the liquid contents of the jar full of crushed galls in rainwater are becoming darker, as the water slowly leaches the tannins from the galls. The plan is to give it several weeks to a month of steeping before taking any of the further steps to turn it into ink.

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many plans for future projects - sewing garments (long janes, slips, pinafores, undies, and a flannel shirt), sewing cross-body holders for phone and camera, finishing studio work commissions, an abalone horse brooch, insulating windowshades, etc etc.

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Much to my surprise, there are yet additional Juliet tomatoes starting to turn color on the plant in the backyard; perhaps the salad to go with the turkey roulade needs to be a tomato salad!! It has gotten close a few times, but not yet had an actual frost, though it is cold enough at night that I am making good use of two half size oil radiators, one under the computer desk while working online, and one in the bathroom for warmth while showering. 

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	clothespin bag	horse kerchief	greenwaste bin
2	5 jars pickled beets	more chopshop repair	recycle bin
3	1# hand weights	printer connection	greenwaste bin
4	a dozen owls	black knit slip	recycle bin
5	many jars of Awesome Sauce	15 origami giftwrap	-
6	24 more owls	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- My presentation this morning went quite well, and I did all the specific prep work writing earlier this morning (a benefit of talking about a subject I know well and am excited to share information about)
- have finally transcribed all the contacts into my mobile phone
- a surprise porch visit from Beth and Karen, who made an unexpected unplanned trip to Gresham and stopped by here on their way home

Time of Isolation - Day 1976

a parliament of owls

in which our plucky heroine makes more than enough...

Yesterday what I thought was the final box of treats sent here for the Advent Of A Better Year swap arrived on my front porch. Now I can have the fun of doing the mix-n-match of all the gifts to give all the thirty participants (and bonus boxes) the widest assortment possible. So much dopamine! Then two additional Advent Swap packages arrived today, which brings our official total up to 32!! I am astounded and pleased!

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~ full of personality ~

I love how different each of the owls looks, the slight variations in how the eyes are drawn, and how their feather tufts/horns turn out, really adds so much character... Once they all get their legs-gripping-twigs added, they will be all set aside until next years Advent of A Better Year Swap gifts.

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11 more jars of Awesome Sauce, done before midnight last night, but there were three jars that failed to seal. Sigh, that rarely happens, but I was using a different brand of jar lids (Anchor Hocking) than usual, perhaps that was the cause? Going to start on a single batch using white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar, so it will be Ashe-safe (my friend has a really bad apple allergy)

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Samsung S9 my nephew sent me was activated, and while as he told me it does indeed need a new battery but is nonetheless totally useable, holding a charge for at least a day (much less problematic than Moto-E had been, which required being recharged several times a day) 

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I seem to have misplaced the clamp that attaches my yarn swift to the table in a useable position. While surely the clamp must be somewhere in Acorn Cottage, it is not with the yarn handling tools, which all were perzactly in their designated home. This is perplexing, as well as a minor challenge, since the swift is useless without the clamp. Draping the skein of yarn to be wound into a ball over the back of a chair, while rather old-school, did work okay. With luck, hopefully the swift clamp will show up again at some point, as it is a lovely useful tool that does one job, but does it really well  ...

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In the process of sorting through my wardrobe to see what is worn out enough that needs to be replaced, I realised that I never wear the black knit slip with embroidered hemline, as the shoulder straps are much too long, which makes the waist too low, as well as the neck. It was not too difficult to cut away excess and hand stitched the added seams neatly.

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Apparently mid-November is much too late to be harvesting persimmons, as at least half the crop has been destroyed by squirrels. Must remember to start harvest next year once the fruit begins to be golden yellow, and not wait for tree-ripened, as the rodents will not wait anywhere near that long before beginning their depredations. If only they ate all of one, then on to all of another, but instead they take several bites from many. 

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	clothespin bag	horse kerchief	greenwaste bin
2	5 jars pickled beets	more chopshop repair	recycle bin
3	1# hand weights	printer connection	-
4	a dozen owls	black knit slip	-
5	many jars of Awesome sauce	-	-
6	two dozen owls	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

Yesterday's gratitudes -
- was able to activate the phone my nephew sent me yesterday, so am back in the land of the smartphone once again, albeit learning a new interface, but very glad it is thankfully Samsung and not Motorola...
- my "clunky" venerable Keen workshoe/oxfords with the massively thick soles - when I caught my foot on the support for a moveable street sign, not only did I not trip-and-fall, but I didn't harm my foot at all either! These shoes are getting old, and the join between the sole and the shoe is starting to crack, but I will keep wearing them as long as possible, since Keen no longer makes this style of shoe.
- Jen's box of Advent Swap treats arrived on my porch this afternoon, after its "scenic route" excursion from Olympia to PDX via Anchorage AK
today's gratitudes - 
- have managed to salvage some persimmons, at least enough to yield some dried fruit for the year ahead
- being able to read e-books again via Libby
- Ånni sent me an amaryllis bulb, in with the most recent box of advent swap treats. I have always wanted to try growing one of them.

Time of Isolation - Day 1970

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine mends and makes do...

Finished the decorative refurbishment/mending of my beloved ChopShop cardigan yesterday evening. Given that it was created from pieces of old wool sweaters cut and pieced into a new form by my pal Karen, from time to time it has developed holes or parts of the hand stitchery come loose. I love it and wear it often when the weather turns cold. Most recently it wore through at the center front, where the back of the I-cord button loop rubbed against the body next to the placket.

Rather than sew on a patch centered at chest level, which would be an unfortunate focal point, I instead made a virtue of necessity and created an extended decorative motif running down each side of the center front adjacent to the placket which incidentally also covered the hole. I used some two color horizontally striped grosgrain ribbon, couched some handspun dark brown wool, and folded some of the wide twill tape into little triangle shapes that tucked behind the ribbon and yarn. Once the whole long pieces were appliqued in place, the final step was to add a bit of fern embroidery stitches on each of the triangles: darker brown on the tan and lighter blue on the navy, in a sort of counterchanged effect. The whole combination references "folk art" in a non-specific and urban fantasy sort of way, which is just right for my personal style. 

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~ proto kweepeergelei ~

Since yesterday was dry and clear, seemed like the best time to harvest the quinces... while not as much as last year, still twenty-four pounds is a hefty haul. Will take a bit of doing to convert these into shelf stable foodstuff, but in the meantime, the house smells wonderful!

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Eeeee! This Ursula LeGuin exhibition is close enough that I can bike there!

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Very much enjoyed the presentations from Block Printing Fest, as I was able to fit in watching a wide assortment of both project and interview based videos. "Studio Visit : Making Friday" video interview with Heather Moore was a treat, as I remember reading her blog many years ago:

"Skinny laMinx is the pattern-filled, colourful brand of Cape Town designer, Heather Moore. Heather retreats to her studio every Friday, where she plays with cut paper, stencils and block printing to come up with her fresh and delightful prints and patterns."

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My intention today had been to make the tarp gutter to span between the porch roof and the walkway roof, before the "atmospheric river" arrived. The rain is begun, and surely playing hob with the children's Halloween, but my gutter project is nowhere near finished. Placing screw hooks overhead on the rafters of an angled porch roof is more challenging than initially thought, particularly when they need to line up with the screw hooks that are more than a foot away and on a different axis. These are the sorts of challenges that tend to stop me in a paralytic way, which isn't useful. At this point, all the holes are drilled, all the screw hooks on the walkway side are in place, and most of the ones on the angled porch side are at least started (those being much more difficult to screw into their spots)

When it was obvious that the project wouldn't be completed, getting the part done that required the electric drill took priority, as our plucky heroine will not run outdoor power tools in the rain, much less clamber about on stepladder ditto. If I cannot find a tarp on hand that is at least 8 ft long, I will kludge the tarp aspect and overlap two smaller tarps like flexible shingles. My plan is to make a sort of gradual trapezoid shape with grommets on the edges to connect to the ceiling hooks and hold the tarp gutter at enough of a slant to guide the water out to the front yard. At least that is the concept. Which I have only been trying to figure out for years and why there are at least two boards on the porch that need replaced. Incremental progress is still progress.

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	6 lunaria pod ornaments	wheelbarrow tire	greenwaste bin
2	5 more lunaria ornaments	cardigan cuffs	recycle bin
3	5 golden origami dragons	reattach wheel to wheelbarrow	recycle bin
4	5 mini amanitas	vegetable steamer leg replacement	recycle bin
5	18 penny luck envelopes	leather scissors sheath	LFL books
6	10 holly&bells ornaments	chopshop cardigan mended	recycle bin
7	more penny luck envelopes	x	greenwaste bin
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- I bravely spoke to the appliance repair man in the shop near St Johns while I was out on my bike yesterday. He phoned me back with more information, once I was able to tell him the make and model number of my broken dryer. They can get parts, but given the age, the parts are hard to get and spendy; his advice was my money would be better put towards a new used dryer rather than an expensive service call. Food for thought.
- new chapter of Super Supportive to read today
- I learned about two new block printing techniques 

Time of Isolation - Day 1956

things of unexpected size and other tidbits

in which our plucky heroine takes advantage of a sunbreak...

Yesterday when speaking with Maeva about if the quince might be ripe, her advice was to go outside and have a good sniff, and if they were, that would make it clear! Sure enough, when the weather allowed earlier today, not only was it obvious even before immediate proximity, but one of the larger ones was on the ground next to the downspout. (Wondering if they were thinned early this year, as the ones on the tree now are so MUCH LARGER than any prior year) The one windfall quince weighed over 1½ pounds and is about the size of a baby's head. There will be much preserving this year.

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~ no bigger than my own wee paws ~

Time for a bit of exploration and adventure, an excursion to part of the city far from Acorn Cottage. PDX Dinorama had mentioned online a "tiny Little Free Library, and sure enough, it was so small, being only a bit taller than my (admittedly stumpy) hand length. And there was an assortment of very small blank books, one of which came home with me to eventually join the other volumes in the Shadowbox Library, once it acquires some content...

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Next week there will be three days of free ephemeral online presentations as part of  "Block Printing Fest 2025"... I'll definitely try and find time to view some, betwixt and between. 

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(whinges) Day four of medication. Less heartburn (which was not my main complaint), but throat "lump" sensation (which was) is, if anything, more bothersome, and appetite has not returned. Sigh. 

Further attempts but still the laptop doesn't know there is a printer. Deleting and reinstalling Photoshop did not give me a useable program, so now there is no image processing program either. Snapseed on my phone can do some image correction, but the photos remain too large in dimension and in data.

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Lovely alternating rams horn variation card weaving pattern, seen on FB's "suggested" and managed to track down. Has me wanting to set up a band loom of some kind again. The pattern is from Cerelle Woods, who says "Picks 1-16 repeated yield the band pictured. Picks 17-32 repeated will reverse the twist." There's S threading, which is when the thread comes through the holes from the back side of the tablet, and there's S slant, which is when the threaded tablet, when it's tensioned in the warp and viewed from above, has the same slant as the letter S (\). For Z threading the thread comes through the holes from the front of the tablet, and for Z slant, the warped tablet has the same slant as a Z (/). So! Depending on the weaver, S and Z can mean one thing OR its exact opposite. When I use S and Z, I'm referring to the threading, not the slant." 
If I try this, I will have to experiment to figure out if the threading shown in her diagram matches or is opposite from the Applesies and Fox Noses notation for threading, which is what I prefer.

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	6 lunaria pod ornaments	wheelbarrow tire	greenwaste bin
2	5 more lunaria ornaments	cardigan cuffs	recycle bin
3	5 golden origami dragons	reattach wheel to wheelbarrow	recycle bin
4	5 mini amanitas	vegetable steamer leg replacement	recycle bin
5	18 penny luck envelopes	leather scissors sheath	-
6	10 holly&bells ornaments	x	x
7	more penny luck envelopes	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
- the scent of quince fruit
- having Mindy show up at Crafternoon
- found a free online utility to resize JPEG images (one of the several tasks that I'd normally use Photoshop for, sigh)

Time of Isolation - Day 1951

a long and busy day

in which our plucky heroine sets her alarm for early...

because the current garden task is raking up the plums on the ground under the thicket, which task has to be done in the coldest part of the day, just around dawn, before too many danger bugs wake up. It is satisfying to rake everything out onto the burden cloth time and again. It usually takes at least four or five mornings to gather it all up, but just with today's rakings the greenwaste bin is almost half full of windfalls and weeds.

This year I left picking the plums a bit late, so while a bit more of the year's harvest has been lost than usual, the available freezer space is almost full, and there are enough frozen plums to last the year. Have made a note in the journal to start picking early in September rather than mid-month

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Betwixt and between working on the conundrum project, the tomatillos from the weekend trip to the farmer's market have turned into eleven+ 4 oz jars of salsa verde. This is a savory/spicy addition to the pantry, although the jalapeno peppers bought at the same time were not spicy at all! I added about a quarter teaspoon of cayenne to the triple batch which added zing without adding pain. Peppers are so variable in their capsicum content

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While I may have missed Karla's yard sale, the remnants were on her lawn today with a sign: "FREE"... and there was a big old wheelbarrow. The only thing wrong with it was the tire was a mess. I think I can swap out the tire from my own wheelbarrow (the one with the damaged handles) and create one whole functional garden tool from two dysfunctional ones.

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Just about done with the flat piping pillow sham conundrum project. Had I left the salsa verde for a different day, the final pillow would have had all the corners hand stitched tonight, but since it is too late for V to pick up the finished pieces, it may as well have the final stitching done early tomorrow. Sigh and alas, despite increasing my estimate, the total hours worked are double what I allotted and charged her for, (even without including all the time spent figuring out the tiny mitered corners, which I had no idea was in store for me). Each sham takes about three hours apiece, between cutting out the pieces, basting, sewing, pressing the piping, then hand stitching down both sides of each corner. Live and learn.

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	4 barkcloth tea towels	box fan grille	greenwaste bin
2	yellow triangle pouch	needle gauge herb stripper	greenwaste bin
3	knitted pony	pruning elderberry	recycle bin
4	8 jars quince apple  rosewater sauce	pruning nandina	-
5	6+ jars fig lemon marmalade	picked moar figs	-
6	dried pears	picked plums	x
7	4 jars pickled beets	small radiator foot	x
8	11 jars salsa verde	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- burden cloth is one of the best ideas I had and made, years ago, and use regularly
- WD-40
- free wheelbarrow, hopefully to make a Frankenbarrow.

Time of Isolation - Day 1920

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine writes a paragraph...

Tomorrow is the memorial for Stef... "(Unlike most here) I only knew Stef for a comparatively short while, but I could tell that we would probably be lifelong friends. I had no idea when we met how short that time would be. Though we never met in person, his generosity, creativity, and wide ranging knowledge was a joy to experience. When he found out I was interested in trying out role playing games he found egalitarian non-combative options (Golden Sky, and Wanderhome), and gently opened the door to another shared activity. I miss our weekly talks, and am sad that the future SCA road trip we had imagined will never happen. My life, and the greater world, are better for his having been a part of them."

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~ botanical bits ~

These tiny shiny things are the insides of the seed pods of Lunaria annua that seemed like a fun option to be decorated and turned to ornaments to share in the D3* Advent of a Better Year swap. Even after painting them on both sides with clear nail polish, they are still really fragile, so my thought is to back them with some wool felt. They might also be good to distribute to Free Little Art Galleries, the next time I feel like a bit of a ramble

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Pruning pruning pruning - the European Black Elder has been greatly hacked back. Next up will be the Three Figs, lest they overgrow into the yard of my good neighbors, some additional thinning of the backyard apple tree once all the apples are harvested, and a bit of careful cutting back of the plum thicket (while it is still engine summer and not raining) just to remove the dead branches.There will be at least another two batches of applesauce, but without quince, as there are no more in the freezer, and those on the tree are not quite yet ripe

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	4 barkcloth tea towels	box fan grille	greenwaste bin
2	yellow triangle pouch	needle gauge herb stripper	greenwaste bin
3	knitted pony	pruning elderberry	-
4	8 jars quince apple  rosewater sauce	pruning nandina	-
5	6+ jars fig lemon marmalade	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- new chapter of Super Supportive
- the food dehydrator from Sam and Bob, that I use every year since they gave it to me when they upgraded
- bountiful homegrown tree fruit

Time of Isolation - Day 1909

not a one trick pony

in which our plucky heroine is somewhat improved but still groggy...

Hoping for better sleep tonight. Managed to get things prepared for the pillow sham sewing job, made samples of the flat piping in several sizes before the customer arrived with the fabric, and yes, the ¼" width is what she wants. I cut her fabric into two 4 yard pieces then serged them into cylinders, which will behave better in the washing machine than if left as one extremely long flat piece. V will do the pre-shrinking in the same way she will wash finished shams, then bring me the washed and dried fabric. Hopefully soon, as they need completed before 9/28.

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~ a clever hack ~

I've been considering an herb stripper for ages, mostly because cilantro. Once saw a pretty ceramic one on Etsy, but never took that any further. Started thinking DIY yesterday, looked at a few tutorials, and suddenly flashed on my little spiral anodized aluminum knitting needle gauge... Never thought to use it in the kitchen, but it worked like a charm!

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Spent over an hour in the middle of the day pruning the black elderberry in the parking strip, and filled the greenwaste bin again! And managed to get most of the Very Tall straight up water sprouts from the persimmon as well, which is a little difficult to work on as it is also currently full of unripe fruit

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well that was odd... when I looked at my original P100, I noticed that the elasotmer had a worn out spot going right through the center of the top. So is no longer anything like airtight. I will contact Lee Valley, as I would have thought it (the structural mask) would last longer than a few years...

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	4 barkcloth tea towels	box fan grille	greenwaste bin
2	yellow triangle pouch	needle gauge herb stripper	greenwaste bin
3	knitted pony	-	-
4	8 jars quince apple  rosewater sauce	-	-
5	6+ jars fig lemon marmalade	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- my brain made a Very Clever leap today
- knitting needle gauge=herb stripper for cilantro etc 
- seeing Gersvinda at the grocery store

Time of Isolation - Day 1907

Saturday surprise and other snippets

in which our plucky heroine heads into harvest season...

After looking up the recipe for fig and lemon marmalade it occurred to me to check if there were any more figs on the trees. Much to my surprise, there was almost a pound of ripe 2nd crop figs*! As there is about a pound and a half of figs, and the store only has organic regular lemons, no organic Meyer lemons, it will be necessary to make a few adjustments. Math for a proportionally slightly smaller amount of sugar, and substitute orange for some of the lemon (Meyer lemons = cross between oranges and lemons). The pears currently residing in the maslin pan had better get peeled, cored, and sliced onto dehydrator trays, as the pan is needed for making preserves

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~ cool tool ~

Right before the end of last week, just before the de minimius exemption was removed, I lost my mind a tiny bit and ordered this agate burnisher (item G in photo) from a UK supplier. Wasn't sure if it would even be able to be delivered, but much to my delight it arrived safely in the front porch mailbox this week! It is a beautiful and well made tool, with a curved angled stone tip, and a solid metal ferrule and wooden handle. I'd been much inspired by the traditional manuscript gilding demonstration by my friend Raven Qara Ton, and while I had been given a kit of gilding supplies many years ago, it didn't include a burnisher. Perhaps in the months ahead, I'll return to scribal activities...

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This simple knitted pony toy seems like additional handwork (which I am always looking for), and something I can make and donate for SCA childrens toys largess; it calls for a relatively small amount of worsted yarn, plus thicker yarn for the mane and tail, and I've both yarn and stuffing.

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It has been a bit of a struggle bus week, so it really is time to get back to daily daily gratitudes. That simple practice makes a huge difference in my everyday well being.

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Most of the bark cloth purchased last month has become 4 new tea towels for kitchen use; leftover fabric can be pieced to make a kitchen apron, later on this year when that sort of faffing about seems like it would be fun...

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I lack equanimity about some of the changes in our local neighborhood. When I first moved here, one of the corners of the shopping street a few blocks away was the sort of site I refer to as "cursed", it held a building intended as a restaurant, with some off street parking, but just a bit too big and with what I imagine just a bit too high of a rent for the folks who tried to make a go of it. Over the years, there were many attempts made, but the various restaurants soon closed. Then in 2013 Green Zebra opened there, as a sort of natural food corner grocery convenience store. They did really well, adding greatly to the mix of our neighborhood, expanded out into several other neighborhoods as well, but were finally done in by the supply issues of the pandammit, and closed in 2023. I shopped there purposefully and often, as the way to have good useful local business is to "vote with your dollars". 

Once they closed, the site remained empty and "for lease" for the next two years. Now it is surrounded by fencing, filled with builders and machinery, and is being turned into a McDonalds. The fruit trees planted by the Green Zebra owners are being cut down. There is a local burger place a block and a half away, a little Mexican restaurant, a Thai restaurant, and two different bars-with-food, and there is another McDonalds three miles west down the same road.

Two blocks west on the shopping street, the moribund Arby's site is being turned into yet another Starbucks. On the same road there is already a Starbucks two miles to the west, and another one a mile to the east; it seems that every three miles isn't enough of that particular caffeination corporate saturation. The local coffee-and-pastries shop saw the writing on the wall and relocated to a different neighborhood.

Struggling to find anything positive at all in this situation at least a walking distance Starbucks means that acquiring bags of free coffee grounds for garden compost will be easy to do on a regular basis. On the other hand, I cannot find anything positive about McDonald's.  Green Zebra made our neighborhood a much better place to live. McDonald's adds nothing at all.

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Carson Ellis is one of my favorite illustrators, so when her 2026 calendar showed up on social media feed this past week, it went to the top of my list for next year. I'll visit the BuyOlympia warehouse next week and pick up a copy. And, this reminds me that it'd be a good thing to get busy and finish up my own 2026 calendar, which will revisit the theme of "AlphaBeasts".

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	4 barkcloth tea towels	box fan grille	greenwaste bin
2	yellow triangle pouch	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- independent mobility - our plucky heroine is still able to ramble around reasonable distances on foot, and indeed plans to do more of the same
- adequate public transit, to access a new to me part of the city
- I saved the tiny shiny screw found in the carpet, which turned out to be the one that fell out of the box fan grille!

Time of Isolation - Day 1903

*Yet more proof of climate shift, but the figs are welcome even though the extra heat and dryness isn't

Thursday thoughts

in which our plucky heroine does some early morning yardwork, and gathers more windfall apples...

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~ big and little... ~

what a difference a few cuts make... this is why you thin treefruit! Doesn't stop them from becoming windfalls, but does increase the useable fruit to labor costs. I don't spray my trees, so there is often insect damage that needs to be cut away before the good parts can get turned into something tasty. (I keep meaning to remember to cover the tiny fruit with nylon "footies" at the same time as thinning, to prevent bug access) but have not managed to do so yet. Maybe I'll remember to do so next year... Nonetheless, there will be applesauce made!

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Just before lunchtime, remembered that tomorrow is wheelie bin pickup day. Decided that some pruning would be a good way to fill up the greenwaste bin, and that cutting back (more of) the half of the apple tree that broke would be helpful, and also allow easier access to pick the ripening apples. When most of that was four pieces were cut away with my little japanese pruning saw, I was well into the pruning rabbit hole, and nibbled at some of the dead plum thicket branches, then headed for the front yard and got the water sprouts from the persimmon, and lastly a few Very Long inner shoots from the elderberry. Wheelie bin is full, and I need a shower and some electrolyte drink, since it is over 90°f out there. I was wearing my white sunhat, and had been careful to drink plenty of water.

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Invariably, every day around 3pm a wave of snoreons rolls in and all I want to do is nap. Seems unrelated to whatever lunch consisted of. Going to try some in-the-house activity, since it is over 90 outside, and maybe a tepid shower. I have tasks for this afternoon that aren't "becoming horizontal"!

given the approaching triple digit temperatures, I watered the baby trees twice today already, and plan to do at least that much again early each morning til the air temperature moderates next week

wondering if this clever combination of stitchery and twig could be made much smaller and suitable for advent swap treats...maybe with orange beads instead of thread wrapped ones?

continuing to slowly carve the circular Laurel wreath printing block, which is on track to be finished by the end of the month. Haven't yet decided what fabric will be printed, since I don't really need new SCA clothing. Maybe a border print for my next modern dress or pinafore would be fun...

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	4 jar storage trays	tiger block	greenwaste bin
2	4 jar storage lids	bright rayon top width	recycle bin
3	dried basil	indigotiger popover  hem extension	recycle bin
4	3 jars apple/quince rosewater sauce	bike rear wheel	window AC
5	-	new apron straps	apple tree prunings
6	x	frame for Pyle cartoon	greenwaste bin
7	x	x	recycle bin
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Past Me thinned the apples
- Emergen-C electrolyte drink mix
- Ursel will be bringing me her unused salad spinner

Time of Isolation - Day 1858

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine purposefully focuses on what is positive...

As it had cooled off a bit before sundown, a bike ride along the edge of the bluff seemed like a pleasant idea. High clouds were patterned like the fur of a mackerel tabby cat, which according to the internet precedes a change in the weather, and the forecast for the weekend is dreadfully hot once again. We shall have to see, but tonights bike ride at dusk was just delightful

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~ a beautiful windfall ~

The great benefit of thinning apples on the tree is that with fewer apples total, the resources available allow individual apples to grow larger. There will be more quince apple sauce in a few days

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making gradual progress on clearing the dining table of detritus and random papers... the box of sewing patterns returned to the sewing shelves, and the 8 page tutorial on sleeve plackets I'd printed out has been carefully placed in sheet protectors, which I cleverly in the past had bought a whole carton of, and stored with the printer paper. (that tutorial still needs the photo images to be redrawn or detailed, as the quality of the printing isn't as clear as would be desirable)

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that was baffling: while out riding my bike, saw a sign on a large fig tree for "free figs" but the whole tree only had (many many) unripe small second crop figs, nowhere near ready to eat. Indeed second crop figs almost never ripen here, and don't easily detach from the branches either.

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The podcast interview with T Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon is now available online, and I look forward to listening to it soon! 

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	4 jar storage trays	tiger block	greenwaste bin
2	4 jar storage lids	bright rayon top width	recycle bin
3	dried basil	indigotiger popover  hem extension	recycle bin
4	3 jars apple/quince rosewater sauce	bike rear wheel	window AC
5	-	new apron straps	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- two beautiful windfall apples
- Past Me cleverly bought a box of 100 sheet protectors
- completed the second of four admin tasks (for this week)

Time of Isolation - Day 1856

shades of green

in which our plucky heroine does a little overdyeing...

Last year I picked up two native mock orange from the EMWSCD plant sale, and along with those bare root baby plants, there were giveaway treats: pamphlets about native landscaping, and a bandana with line drawings of invertebrates and plants. While the bandana was useful, it was also "caution sign" yellow, not a favorite color... so it had long been my intention to overdye it. Thinking about what color could combine with the vivid golden yellow and give a wearable-by-me result, it had to be a cool blue (hoping for a turquoise or teal result) 

While the initial dip into the Procion dye was not very promising, looking more like army-man green, eventually, and with the addition of the soda ash solution and some strong salt solution, after 40+ minutes of stirring over a simmer heat on the stove, the results are much improved: turquoise green. Actually the colorway is a lovely match for one of my summertime popover dresses, and will be a good addition to my headscarf and bandana collection

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The basil picked yesterday and tucked into the dehydrator is mostly crisply dry, and has yielded almost a 4oz spice jar full of spicy herbal goodness. Winter will be less dull for my preparing ahead...

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~ so kawaii ~

This painting of a tiny green cat sitting in the flowers (tulips?) is the other bit of artwork I brought back from my trip to the St Johns F.L.A.G. Some of my miniature linocuts are good to bring with to swap for new artwork.

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Listening to Grateful Dead - Live at Harpur College 1970-05-02

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	4 jar storage trays	tiger block	greenwaste bin
2	4 jar storage lids	bright rayon top width	recycle bin
3	dried basil	indigotiger popover  hem extension	recycle bin
4	-	bike rear wheel	window AC
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
- Internet Archive Grateful Dead archives of live music
- past me made tasty applesauce
- My friend Maeva is recovering really well from her knee replacement

Time of Isolation - Day 1854