Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine thinks about winter on the way, and about how much still remains to be done...

It is cold here. But not as cold as it is further north... my pals in Olympia have snow today! This is very early in the year for snow, but we are forecast to have a colder winter than usual, unlike most of the USA

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My intention, in the very busy month of November, is to do at least one small Declutter each day, and one small Needful Project each day, in addition to my everyday chores and everyday work.

Today I removed the extra empty canning jars that had been cluttering up the countertop and put them away in the pantry, and I framed the little 3D frogsong card that S gave me years ago, when I told her how much I missed the frogsong from when I lived in the Mud Bay House! It is rather hard to see, but the card not only has irridescent glitter highlighting some of the foliage but the lower frogs, and waterlilies are raised cutouts above the surface of the card itself in several layers. I was at a loss for a long time as to how best to display the card, but when I discovered the Gunnabo shadowbox frames from Ikea also came in a small size, I knew just what to do... This makes a very nice addition to the turquoise-greenish watery artworks in the bathroom here!

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Realised I forgot to post the last two of my Inktober drawings:

30. found


31. mask
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...my current thinking about possible timeline for completing the SWAP... I intend to use my very very busy November to just do prep work. Hopefully I can manage to get a sleeve that works, since I am pretty happy with the bodice portion of Tabula Rasa. That is really where I need to start, since four of my eleven garments depend on my having a woven shirt/blouse/jacket pattern that I am comfortable wearing! (All the other patterns I am using are TNT patterns)

NOVEMBER - fit Tabula Rasa sleeves, or find another option. Prep "sewing kits" of as many garments as possible. Begin Alabama Chanin surface design process (stenciling, hand stitching and cutting away layers of motifs, on individual pattern pieces... lots of handwork)

DECEMBER - sew black corduroy pinafore, brown corduroy pinafore, begin Alabama Chanin cardigan, and surface design on indigo jacket...

JANUARY - begin brown twill jacket, continue indigo jacket and Alabama Chanin cardigan

FEBRUARY - sew indigo pinstripe dress, sew brown knit top, sew floral blouse

MARCH -continue on whatever isn't finished...

APRIL - Sew grey popover top, indigo popover dress these are both suitable for warmer weather, photograph anything that still needs photos 

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	x	garlic planted	-
2	x	worm bin refreshed	-
3	x	framed frogsong card	-
4	x	x	-
5	x	x	x
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

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Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine is rather tired...

Horrible nightmares early this morning of trying to escape wildfires, where what looked like rising fog turned into smoke just ahead of fires on two sides of a valley... Back in the late eighties, the year I lived in the hills north of Sandpoint, we had a level 2 evacuation alert for forest fire. As a child in SoCal the hills burned almost every summer, so it isn't surprising that fire is in my database as a danger, just not one that usually shows up in my Dreamlands*.

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Perhaps I am not the only one that feels ambivalent about the invasion of my kitchen by tiny sugar ants. It happens pretty much every year around this time, when the weather gets cold and wet. Suddenly they are all over my countertops, despite my efforts to keep the counters clean. And every year I wish I had some way to just ask them to not show up, but instead, every year I kill them. Mix together several common household pantry items, a spoonful or two of peanut butter, the same of sugar, and the same of borax (which I keep on hand both for occasional laundry use, and as a backup flux for soldering). After mashing those together, I add in just enough water to make a thickish slurry, so it will be both irresistible to the ants and easy for them to carry back to their colony, where it will also kill any other ants that eat it. This can be placed in small shallow containers where no children or pets can access them, and in a few days, the ants will be gone...

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Inktober continues...

21. furious


22. trail
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all the blustery weather has done a great job of knocking down lots of bay nuts from the local trees; I intend to collect some in the next few days. They do require quite a bit of processing, though. The last few years I have totally missed their very short season. I have a cunning plan, that hopefully will work out, if I can gather at least a pound or two...

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	fig cottage syrup (jam)	repot lg spider plant	wood scraps
2	puzzle ball toy	pinafore mended	bag to Goodwill
3	laser cut name pendant	U-lock loosened	bag to Goodwill
4	laser cut horses	Sterret scribe	bag to Goodwill
5	braided knit ball toy	destem elderberries	bag to Goodwill
6	five Inktober drawings	treerat mesh cloche #2	bag to Goodwill
7	four more Inktobers	planted green onions	bag to Goodwill
8	another three Inktobers	wheelbarrow tire	yard waste bin
9	three more Inktobers	workroom wall patched	x
10	two Inktobers	studio shelf sides	x
11	laser cut wreath	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

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* There are specific and interconnected neighborhoods, places, and buildings that I return to again and again when I am asleep, I call them the Dreamlands, and someday I will draw a map of them in my bright world life... it would be interesting

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine can barely look beyond the cottage walls...

IMHO Xandy Peters is a genius of a knit designer... just look at her newly released "Fly Away" scarf pattern... Later on this winter, I will dive back into the peculiar world of stacked increases and decreases. Fox Paws was one of the most unusual, satisfying, and challenging knitting projects, and this looks to be equally wearable and visually different than any of my other knitwear...

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More Inktober drawings:

13. teeming


14. fierce


15. mysterious


16. fat


17. graceful


18. filthy


19.cloud
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Just for the record, this is the progress so far turning the open shelving in the workroom into closed cupboards.  After removing the upper shelves, which were only accessible using a stepstool, and repairing the wall with spackle and paint, last night I attached the side panels to the shelving. Still need to create and attach blocking to the wall, and the front of the shelves, to make tracks for the masonite sliding doors. The doors will be latched, or rather lashed in place with cordage and cleats attached to the side panels, the whole plan intended as part of the ongoing earthquake safety efforts here at the cottage...

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I didn't realise til tonight that this song, long a favorite, was actually written by Mary McCaslin and Jim Ringer...

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	fig cottage syrup (jam)	repot lg spider plant	wood scraps
2	puzzle ball toy	pinafore mended	bag to Goodwill
3	laser cut name pendant	U-lock loosened	bag to Goodwill
4	laser cut horses	Sterret scribe	bag to Goodwill
5	braided knit ball toy	destem elderberries	bag to Goodwill
6	five Inktober drawings	treerat mesh cloche #2	bag to Goodwill
7	four more Inktobers	planted green onions	bag to Goodwill
8	another three Inktobers	wheelbarrow tire	yard waste bin
9	three more Inktobers	workroom wall patched	x
10	x	studio shelf sides	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

Thursday thoughts

in which our plucky heroine has a slightly better day -

Last night I started taking an online class, taught by my pal Kaðlin (who is an actual scientist) on research techniques and skills, which is an area that I feel sadly weak in, considering all the years of education in my past. But still, never too old to learn more. My activity in the SCA involves not only making interesting things, but in studying what was done in the past, and sharing that information. Getting better at doing the research will allow me to also be a better teacher!

I also took a weatherisation workshop this evening, which involved riding over to the Old Kenton Firehouse in the rain. While some of the workshop was more like review (good to know all the things I am already doing "right"), I did learn a bit about weatherstripping I didn't know, and everyone eligible got weatherisation kits that include things like pipe insulation for water heater, outlet insulation, door weatherstripping kits, and nice sturdy window film kits that are reusable and removable (unlike the cheap ones that gets stuck on with tape and heated with a hairdryer). It was rather a challenge riding my bike home trying to keep the large bag full of useful supplies from falling out of my rear bike basket, but I made it home safely. Looking forward to some additional weather-proofing of the Very Drafty Cottage. Incremental progress is still progress...

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The pair of anti-tree-rat mesh cloches to protect my salad table plantings from the depradations of the nasty squirrels.. some bird netting, flexible plum branch whips, and a bit of hardware should let my efforts actually grow undisturbed....

Cut off the lower few inches of green onions, and replant them... I have been doing this for years on and off, and it is a great way to get more green onions pretty much indefinitely... The winter greens, kale and mizuna, which I replanted after they were torn from their first planting by tree rats, seem to have mostly taken root and started growing again. The bird netting has kept them safe!

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I am starting to look forward to drawing every morning...

10. gigantic


11. run


12. shattered

While #10 and #11 were really easy, #12 was really difficult for me to come up with an idea - I was pleased to finally combine various medieval figures to "tell a story" (the tale of the unintended vegans), and created the naughty dog who stole the whole joint of ham entirely out of my imagination.

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	fig cottage syrup (jam)	repot lg spider plant	wood scraps
2	puzzle ball toy	pinafore mended	ø
3	laser cut name pendant	U-lock loosened	ø
4	laser cut horses	Sterret scribe	ø
5	braided knit ball toy	destem elderberries	ø
6	five Inktober drawings	treerat mesh cloche #2	ø
7	four more Inktobers	planted green onions	ø
8	another three Inktobers	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

Monday musings and some vintage media

in which our plucky heroine makes incremental progress...

the Inktober project has been turning out to be rather fun so far. Looking up medieval drolleries and marginalia, and drawing pictures first thing in the morning whilst I wait the hour between meds and breakfast is a lot more pleasant than doing chores while hungry... and doing chores after breakfast means I have more energy to actually get stuff done!

7. shy


8. crooked


9. screech

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Managed to put together a second "tree rat barrier" for the salad table, so the other half of the flats will be protected, and part of todays tasks will be to plant out green onion starts. It is no real trouble to cut off the white rooty ends of the green onions from the store and replant them, which gives many months of small amounts of allium goodness, which is often all I want at one time (a few bits to sprinkle atop soup, or eggs, or whatever) I read about this way of growing green onions years and years ago in Mother Earth News, and have been doing it ever since. (You can even grow them indoors, if you have enough light, and no cats)

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Times have changed, but techniques remain the same... this period piece from 1961 is fascinating for the glimpse of cuttlebone casting, a home studio of the period, and the amusing beatnik commentary. No one I know smokes tobacco while working; but I wish I had a vintage fireplace built in to use for a fume hood!

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	fig cottage syrup (jam)	repot lg spider plant	wood scraps
2	puzzle ball toy	pinafore mended	ø
3	laser cut name pendant	U-lock loosened	ø
4	laser cut horses	Sterret scribe	ø
5	braided knit ball toy	destem elderberries	ø
6	five Inktober drawings	treerat mesh cloche #2	ø
7	four more Inktobers	x	ø
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

Inktober

...in which our plucky heroine takes up the challenge tossed by her pal Vandy, and agrees to participate in Inktober

No, Inktober is not a celebration of wearable ink, though in Portland one might be forgiven for thinking that, as seemingly everyone has body ink of one sort or another. Though I have done drawings over the years that have ended up as permanent artwork on other folks, my own skin remains uninked...

Actually the challenge is to draw every day for the entire month, and to post the drawings online. So, this is my first drawing, done from a photograph:

Kipenzi, the beloved Basenji companion of my sister Gigi and her family for twelve years. They said their goodbyes yesterday, now he waits on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge...

The House-Dog's Grave

I've changed my ways a little; I cannot now
Run with you in the evenings along the shore,
Except in a kind of dream; and you,
If you dream a moment,
You see me there.

So leave awhile the paw-marks on the front door
Where I used to scratch to go out or in,
And you'd soon open; leave on the kitchen floor
The marks of my drinking-pan.

I cannot lie by your fire as I used to do
On the warm stone,
Nor at the foot of your bed; no,
All the nights through I lie alone.

But your kind thought has laid me less than six feet
Outside your window where firelight so often plays,
And where you sit to read‚
And I fear often grieving for me‚
Every night your lamplight lies on my place.

You, man and woman, live so long, it is hard
To think of you ever dying.
A little dog would get tired, living so long.
I hope that when you are lying
Under the ground like me your lives will appear
As good and joyful as mine.

No, dears, that's too much hope:
You are not so well cared for as I have been.
And never have known the passionate undivided
Fidelities that I knew.
Your minds are perhaps too active, too many-sided...
But to me you were true.

You were never masters, but friends. I was your friend.
I loved you well, and was loved. Deep love endures
To the end and far past the end. If this is my end,
I am not lonely. I am not afraid. I am still yours.

~ Robinson Jeffers