Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine is feeling tired...

Though insomnia has got its claws into me, am doing my best to notice the good, appreciate kindness, and manage what self care is possible these days. More sleep would help, though.

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~ kitchen motto #2 ~

Made this ages ago, when I was first learning enameling and taking classes from Oma Michele at the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle and it has graced my kitchen spaces ever since. The sentiment "when in doubt, add onions" still rings true, all these years later.

For those who may be curious: kitchen motto number one is "never argue with a woman with a knife in her hand"...

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The earrings I made earlier, from acorn caps and miniature mushrooms, already needed repair. The tiny loops I glued into the acorn cap to attach to the earwires began slipping out of place. Superglue is both strong and brittle, so not the right adhesive for the task. Fortunately it happened while I was at home, so no pieces lost. Epoxy was used to reattach the loops, and once it hardened after several hours, a few minutes with a 3M bristle wheel on the flex shaft dulled the shine to match the rest of the acorn cap. I'll use a bit more of the epoxy to reinforce the other tiny loops that hold the mushrooms in place, for security sake, and all will be well. Glad to have figured this out prior to my Calder-esque earring project.

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Was thinking earlier about how so many of my age peers are getting various body parts replaced with better functioning aftermarket options. So far I have managed all original body parts (with some missing, and greater or lesser amounts of  wear and tear). I suspect that giving up my car, which forced me to walk and ride my bike more, have been of more help than annoyance as far as my mobility. I am remembering what Dr Rockstar (Dr Winter) my oncology surgeon said to me when I asked him how best to recover from my surgery and he told me: "use it or lose it, walk as much as you can manage to". I continue to take that approach as best I can, knowing that luck as well as determination have both helped

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. 

Learn something new every day. Friday when I turned the corner there was a flicker right on the sidewalk about ten feet away from me. It seemed to be eating ants. Apparently they are mostly ground feeders and ants are a preferred food! The photos from my phone aren't that great, but the first one shows the flicker digging into the cracked sidewalk and the second one is most identifiable as a local flicker... 

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Well dang insomnia has come for an extended visit and my usual strategies are not helping. Been going to bed before 11 and  waking up anywhere between 1245 to 3am in the deepest of gloom. I plumb hate that. Even in the BeforeTimes 3am was always a Bad Thing full of bad thoughts, and now that waking life is not always an escape from that, it is an ongoing struggle.

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 Talenti shelves	Talenti shelf up	greenwaste bin
2	acorncap earrings	2nd pot lid rack	recycle bin
3	teaspoon earrings	painted mailbox	greenwaste bin
4	glass button earrings	Strombecker lamp	recycle bin
5	poppy pod earrings	reglue earrings	-
6	red cube earrings	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- epoxy is more robust than superglue. Remember this and don't use superglue on earring components
- Not having a car for the better part of 20 years has forced me to remain more physically active. This is a good thing.
- I chose well when picking my neighborhood when I moved here. That remains the good thing about living here, that it is walkable with much of what I consider necessary. Groceries, a library, a post office, and bus lines. (The art supply store arrived later but is an unexpected benefit)

Time of Isolation - Day 2225

Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine is full of plans ...

One fun weekend activity was figuring out Perlenwunderwesen's small beaded dragon pattern... It isn't on their YouTube, or in their Etsy shop. I saw their quick video tutorial on the book of Face, and also found their diagram of the beading structure. It is a great deal more complicated than the tiny frogs, but makes a quite lovely little 3D creature. In 8/0 beads it makes a dragon about 1¼" tall and just over 2" long. As soon as the first one was done, the remainder of the frog beads were turned into a second dragon, friend to the first, and they are now both on the way north to live with Kestrel. I'm quite tempted to try making one from 11/0 beads (a more common, if smaller, size that I've in a plentiful assortment of colors...)

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Ordered a mailbox delivered from Home Despot, that looked quite nice in the online photos, and had overwhemlingly good reviews. It arrived on Sunday and with great hopes of easily replacing the old rusty crusty mailbox, I opened the box. Alas it was not to be. The new mailbox was suffering a fatal lack of Quality Control from the factory. The lids were barely attached at all, one hinge pin entirely missing, and the other partially detached, missing any kind of lock washer to hold it in place and the inner and outer lids were rattling long enough in transit to scratch up the edges of the mailbox.  They don't carry that one in any of the local stores, so no chance of exchanging it, or seeing if a different one is in better shape. Instead, there was a long bus trip to Jantzen Beach to return it directly. Sigh. Searching online for a mailbox built rather more structurally sound as well as aesthetically inoffensive is going about as well as my search for a new kitchen faucet. Picky plucky heroine is picky...

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~ a working sketch ~

Just a very rough sketch of my current thoughts for the black "twill corduroy" pinafore; wanted to catch the idea before it vanished. After washing and a trip to the launderette for their extra hot dryers the fabric washed up nicely with almost no shrinkage. Since this like all corduroy has a nap, it cannot be cut as usual... Information from a sewing book read as a girl still clear in my mind, a with-nap layout means all the pieces need to be laid out with their "heads" all in the same direction.  

So... cut strips from selvedge to selvedge that are the height of the skirt gores, then cut away between each one to create flare, which will look more graceful than a dirndl style gathered skirt. Since there is rather a lot of this fabric (our plucky heroine having placed the order forgetting it was 56" wide not 45"), it will be possible to cut all the bodice and pocket pieces from the remaining fabric and have enough plenty leftover to cut edge binding from. There may even be enough to put aside more bias strips for other future projects.

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A care package full of special kindness from my Mud Bay pals was on my porch today. There are 4 big skeins of taupe Fishermans Wool, so I can start on swatching fancy cables for a future Aran-style sweater. There is a small bag full of walking onion bulbs, so I can find a new spot or two to restart allium self-sufficiency. And there is a glorious miniature print of the tiniest watercolor artwork of a hawk perched on a sewing machine (intended as a gift for tinyfolk Kenya Ogidni) that will eventually grace the wall in a Tansu Terrace sewing and crafting space. The artist Jaimee Lee Gentile will be at Art In The Pearl in September, a chance to see her work in person...

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adapted from "Du Iz Tak"  by Carson Ellis

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this is silly, but it is also me: The Sugarcoated Sisters - Aphantasia

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One unexpected benefit to not being good about pulling out the weeds, is that when they go to seed, goldfinches are delighted with the buffet! There were many of them right outside the bedroom window this morning, more than I have seen so close before... 

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	15 tiny masu boxes	earrings recombined	greenwaste bin
2	black scarf hem	replace C O alarm	recycle bin
3	Brambly Hedge slip	-	greenwaste bin
4	5 more bead frogs	-	overgrown lovage
5	"Cats Invade" books	-	greenwaste bin
6	all the bead frogs	x	recycle bin
7	two beaded dragons	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- goldfinches outside the bedroom window this morning
- tiny beaded dragons are delightful
- yarn, and walking onion starts, and a glorious miniature artwork gift were in my care package from Mud Bay

Time of Isolation - Day 2204

Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine has a moderately productive weekend...

The first thing I saw looking out my bedroom window this morning was a charm of goldfinches enjoying the various bird feeders my good next door neighbors have in their side yard. Goldfinches are sometimes migratory, so these might be traveling north, as I usually don't see them all the year round. Not only is the yellow and black coloring (of the male birds) distinctive, but the way goldfinches fly is as well, in swooping curves. They always make me smile.

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Mt Washmore and Mt Dishmore have both been conquered this weekend, and almost all of the clean laundry has been put away as well. The only good thing about the hot sunny weather is that the laundry on the clothesline dries fast!

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Last night found the correct tiny beaded dragon tutorial online, after searching for several days. It is much more complicated than the tiny frogs that are my current Advent Swap project, but I really want to make a dragon for Kestrel, and now I can. I also found a tutorial for a 3D beaded fox, which may increase my understanding of complex beaded patterns. Besides who wouldn't love a tiny fox (or a tiny dragon)?

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~ sharing is caring ~

There is a house over near one of the local parks that has several fruit trees in their yard next to the sidewalk, all currently loaded down with ripening fruit, and apparently the folks that live there want to share the bounty. Around the corner on the other side of their yard is a similar sign for "free figs". I love how they also describe the fruit, and how to know when it is ripe. Mutuality at a neighborhood level♡

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In addition to knitting just a little bit further on my Tabby Cat cowl during zoomtime, this morning also saw me file and sand the cut edges of the cut-to-size pieces of two old yardsticks that'd been earmarked for shelf edging on the kitchen storage shelves project. Am always seeking small handwork projects that don't require high focus or a lot of space, to do during online visiting. So embroidery yes, but cutting out fabric nope, etc. Smoothing and rounding off the rough cut edges was useful, and now they're ready to be attached to the shelves. By the end of the summer there will be moar storage!!

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For the first time, I had a disappointment in my Alibris order. One of the sellers misrepresented the condition of their book on offer as "Very Good [...] pages are unmarked". This was not the case - 23 pages (almost two full chapters) inside the book were chock full of underlining and notes written in ink! I would have chosen a different seller had I known that it was not as described. I have been buying used books on that interface for quite a few years, with good results prior to this. Off to the copy store and the post office tomorrow!

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Ann Wood shared about the ten year history of Miss Thistle and the tiny rag doll pattern on her most recent blog post. A very fun read!

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In the interest of creating a safer tuna salad, today I chopped up some of my fermented daikon to add texture instead of raw celery, and used Penzeys "Justice" mix for allium instead of green onion... it was quite tasty, if a bit softer crunch-wise. Plus there is the health benefit of more probiotic goodness, and the peculiar fun of hot pink pieces.

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	15 tiny masu boxes	earrings recombined	greenwaste bin
2	black scarf hem	replace C O alarm	recycle bin
3	Brambly Hedge slip	-	greenwaste bin
4	5 more bead frogs	-	overgrown lovage
5	"Cats Invade" books	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes-
- tuna salad with pink probiotic daikon pickle is yummy
- only need to make 10 more frogs to meet my goal of 31
- Wellington is here for a few days
- found the tiny beaded dragon tutorial online, after searching for several days. I'll need to figure out how best to transcribe it from a much too speedy video reel into a usable reference format.

Time of Isolation - Day 2196

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine is charmed...

Earlier this week the birdfeeders next door were spangled with goldfinches, which was such a delightful visual way to start the day.

Also rabbit rabbit rabbit for the first of May!

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~ acorn tassels~

All I ever want to be speedy is my sewing machines and internet connection) As previously mentioned, I am not a fast knitter. Some folks can bang out a Sophie scarf in a few days, this one took me a whole month of intermittent knitting. The last several days of which were taken up in creating these knitted acorn and oak leaves added to the tips instead of pom poms or tassels. It was so slow because sock yarn and tiny needles. It is fairly narrow, and long enough to wrap around my neck and tie, intended as supplementary warmth over a turtleneck, which was hard to imagine Thursday afternoon, when it was 83 F (28 C) on my front porch

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Monday my friend Poni was willing to take me on a trip to Linfield Gallery in McMinnville to see "Continuality" by artist Tammie Dupuis. I've been following Tammie on social media for years now, she is one of my artist heroes. Highly skilled in multiple art forms and thinking deeply about what she intends to communicate using those skills. It was wonderful to see the actual pieces, which are so much stronger and more resonant in person than in tiny pixel images online. Rather like the difference between an LP and a live concert. I was particularly taken with the "Counting Coup On Curtis" series of portraits, which combine beadwork and mixed media in a unique way that really needs to be seen in person.

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Eeee!! new Becky Chambers coming this autumn!

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"Acorn Cottage Crafthouse"could be a good name for Discord server, I need to look up how to start one...

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	-	-
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- goldfinches first thing in the morning
- pad see ew
- Tammie's artwork is amazing, impressive, and inspiring 

Time of Isolation - Day 2121

Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine sees something pretty...

... it moved too fast for a photograph, but might have been a Western Tanager? There was a bird on the japanese maple, and it looked a bit like a goldfinch with a reddish head. Not as bright as some I've seen in years past, but late April early May is the right time of year

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~ a favorite motif ~

This is the cast iron door knocker here at Acorn Cottage. I found it years and years before ever moving here, and carried it around in my "hopeless chest" in addition to other less weighty bits of wishful thinking. Never expected it to have a door to grace, though it has now been here for over twenty years. Acorns and oak leaves, in various configurations, have been one of the oldest of my resonant decorative motifs, (along with the running horse reguardant), long before my SCA activities where they are now part of my personal heraldry.  

Being quite close to finishing the slow Sophie scarf, rather than my initial idea of finishing off the pointy tips with pom poms as a few folks have done, it occurred to me that small knitted acorns and oak leaves might be an even better embellishment. I've used those on prior knitted projects to decorate a hat, a tea cozy, and as brooches. I was hoping I'd copied out the "recipe" for them; there are two folks ahead of me in the library line for "100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet" which is the book that contains the directions.

While I only intermittently remember to add index data to my BuJo, after failing to find any helpful blog posts, and hoping not to have to wait weeks for the library book, it occurred to me to try and cross reference between when I made various projects, and the various years of journals on the shelf. Bingo! et voila!! surprisingly I had even made a specific notation in the rudimentary index. Directions for both acorns and oak leaves are both where I can access them.

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Ten years ago I was deeply into carving blocks to print on fabric, and making clothing for my Blue Cedar House SCA pals; I miss those good times we had... still, might be a fun single crafternoon one of these days to print some trim for decorating next winters long janes.

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Have been trying out two of the glucose hacks today. A spoonful of vinegar in a glass of water before meals isn't a treat, but isn't horrible either. Figuring out how to start each meal with something vegetable-ish is challenging, but possible, particularly breakfast. My usual morning museli is a bit odd following some steamed veggies! Although the protein/fiber/carb balance for my museli is pretty sane. (adding whey protein and flaxseed meal to 2T soaked rolled oats)   

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My left foot is intermittently painful again. Not all the time.  Dr Google suggests it might have a broken small bone, and is not the most accurate of diagnosicians. But wouldn't that hurt all the time, and wouldn't that have some sort of injury as a cause? So hard to figure out what response is appropriate. If every intermittent ache or pain sent me to medical care, I'd be living in their waiting room. OTOH, I don't want to foolishly ignore something either.  

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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	accordion pouch	tiny beaded star	greenwaste bin
3	bone acorn earrings	electric bill found	recycle bin
4	stripey pinafore	shirt sleeve length	recycle bin
5	-	tax papers	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- a dark almost black blood orange that was really fragrant
- helpful Past Me wrote down the directions for tiny knitted acorns and oak leaves in an earlier BuJo and indexed the pages
- phoned Poni about getting a lift to the show at the Linfield

Time of Isolation - Day 2117

not just for pretty

in which our plucky heroine continues catching up...

Doing extra drawings, to make up for what I missed during the internet fast... finding assorted bits and bobs that need mended, including the leather sole of one of my felt house shoes, coming unstitched after six years of wear... basically diving into assorted projects that promise and deliver an abundance of dopamine in proportion to the effort required.

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~ hydration station upgraded ~

Why, you may be wondering, did I head out to Ikea Saturday morning?... The original vision for the hydration station was a pretty blue pottery water dish, and this new iteration is much closer to my idea. Despite searching locally all last year, there weren't any just-right glazed flowerpot saucers, or thrift store platters, so using the big serving platter from my dishes set was the best option at the time. Said serving platter now is support for the new slightly smaller dinner plate purchased from Ikea.

It was worth the long Tri-Met trip out to Cascades Station and braving the crowds of Valentine's Day shoppers, as the variegated blue glaze with dark brown edges is lovely, and very close indeed to my first concept. Plus, unexpected free chocolate bar!!

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Finished the teal linen pinafore; note to self - remember that the basic pinafore is an easy and fairly fast sew, taking about three days or less of spare project time. Preparing the bias strips (marking, cutting out, and sewing the lengths together) to bind the raw edges was Monday's task, and takes about as much time as cutting out the entire rest of the pattern. Not sure if I want to add a front bodice pocket, it is wearable without, but that extra pocket is handy, and a good spot for embellishment.

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This project, long planned, was another of the "must needs feel like some sort of progress is happening"... The boards for the shelves, and then the shelf brackets and cleat lumber were acquired when friends were visiting in January. Once I'd marked and cut away the outer corner to a smooth curve, rasped and sanded down the edges, it only took moving all the various bags and boxes out of the corner of the room to make space to install them... 

This allowed for moving the handknits, the lightweight jackets, and the popover huipil tops into the garment zone next to the shirts, dresses and pinafores, and will free up the Ikea IVAR shelf to eventually move into the righthand side of the linen closet. All part of the grand plan to turn the linen closet, full of random "stuff" into Useful and Necessary pantry storage.

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CW: this dance piece is beautiful, and political, and references the horrific murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. It brought tears to my eyes.

“ResistDance” - a tribute and act of artistic dissent
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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 -
- found the long missing striped indigo fabric for Karen
- a lovely bit of ephemeral lunar new year collage and flame artwork
- the half size oil filled radiator that fits underneath the computer desk, that keeps my legs warm 
- the block printed tiger sample from last year is almost, but not quite the same color as the new teal pinafore... may become a decorated pocket.

Time of Isolation - Day 2050

appealing rather than appalling

in which our plucky heroine is almost ready...

My first intention of the day was to steadily if intermittently make progress on getting the guest futon suitable for hosting guest(s) ... considering how untidy that room started out, my goal was to clear space on both sides of the bed as well as the multitude of textile scraps, yardage, cardboard, and yarn from the surface. Now with fresh bedding, and space to move around the room, it looks appealing rather than appalling!

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~ day 15 ~

This lovely handmade ceramic pitcher was a gift from Achaxe quite a few years ago. It is sturdy and well balanced, and I use it as a flower vase. The glaze is darkest inside, a blue almost black. The exterior is mostly varying colors of indigo blue, with the carved leaves at the base being mostly shades of greyish neutrals.

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I've tried making a new to me condiment "Fig Mostarda", using the frozen figs harvested last year from the trees in the front yard. It is sweet and savory, a little sour and a little spicy. I think it will be very nice with goat cheese (or riblets, if ever they were available), or other rich and savory things. I did add an extra glug of vinegar, and about another ⅛ teaspoon of cayenne, as it seemed to want more intensity to balance the sweetness.

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Some strange bird flew into my porch, and was roosting on the back of the chair. I wonder if it could have been some small raptor as it was bigger than a songbird, more the size of but definitely not a corvid. As soon as I opened the curtain it flew away, faster than I could get any identifying data other than "mid size bird, sitting upright, variegated coloring"... looking up raptors found in Oregon, it may have been a Coopers or a Sharp Shinned Hawk??

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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	-	large broken bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- tidied and decluttered the futon bed, with most of the stuff getting put back on shelves or into boxes, and a good two grocery sacks to discard. Now it looks a lot nicer in there
- Fig Mostarda, a new to me condiment, that is going into the keeper recipe book. I actually like it better than the fig/lemon marmalade I was going to make.
- mysterious bird visitation to the front porch, possibly a raptor

Time of Isolation - Day 2027

Monday musings

in which our plucky heroine wakes up early...

and while sitting looking out the living room window, enjoys seeing juncos foraging amongst the weeds and undergrowth in the front yard. They may be common, but they are so delightful.

This afternoon I moved some wood chips from the driveway pile to front yard, using refurbished wheelbarrow. Also reconfigured the mulch around the future pear thicket, to keep it from right against the young tree trunks (which is not healthy for them), and moved some bricks into circular edging to keep the mulch in place. Then I was tired. Picked up the not currently needed watering buckets and moved them next to the back door, rather than leaving their uncharming selves in the middle of the front yard. Considering getting this "bubbler" from Lee Valley, and timing how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket. Could instead of repeatedly filling plastic buckets in the summer, just set a timer to remind self to move the gizmo from tree to tree once the right amount of hydration has been delivered to each one, which would have the added benefit of encouraging intermittent movement

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~ hams and bacon ~

I've been thinking about overlays, the way that history leaves traces, the way that memory adds a veil over what remains or has changed... when I was young, encyclopedias or even sometimes dictionaries would have visual diagrams where there was information printed on a transparent page that would show the locations of body parts, or of the interior of plants, and suchlike. Now it may seem quaint, but it is a resonant concept. When I walk around the downtown, or in places from my past life, my mind populates the spaces with what no longer exists. There is no "Powells Technical Books", no "Daisy Kingdom", and Winks Hardware is now across the river.

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a better shoelace knot ... will have to try it out for myself

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The oldest of my Fiskars spring loaded snips, the pair that lost its orange little closure toggle several years ago, has been kept shut ever since by looping the handles closed with a hair tie, which is less than ideal. Instead, a scrap of upholstery leather, a bit of time with the lacing punches, and a dab of Barge Cement et voila, there is a little narrow sheath that the snip blades slide into and are held in place by the pressure of them trying to open. Much safer and more tidy.

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went to Pearl Hardware to buy some of the special candles that fit in the camping candle lantern. Used to be able to get them at REI. Not that it is camping season, but after The Way Forward this weekend that went over some of the ways to be prepared for Unknown Future Challenges, one of the topics was emergency lighting. I have a lantern for the windowless bathroom, of course, but a second lantern with the correct acoutrements seems like a good idea

Walking east across downtown to get transit home again, stopped in at Dick Blick, and while window shopping, found that they carry a vast array (the full line?) of DMC floss, and also Cranfield Caligo Safe Wash printing ink, two needful handcraft supplies that it is excellent to have available locally. Especially the floss, so difficult to judge the colors accurately online.

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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 - 
- leatherworking tools and the knowledge of how to use them
- the varied vivid gradients of maple leaves this time of year
- I splurged on a small bit of black cod for my dinner. It is my favorite fish.
- 'twas a minor adventure: Pearl Hardware + Dick Blick. Adding minor adventures at least once a week might be a way to increase well being.

Time of Isolation - Day 1952

hummingbird and moon

in which our plucky heroine reiterates...

Noticing the beauty of the natural world is one thing that sustains me in these times. As does noticing that others also take joy in seeing the same. Last night and this morning both, strangers commented to me about the especially large and beautiful full moon, and my dopamine reservoir gauge no longer registers empty. We are all in this world together.

And later, while walking next to a rosemary shrub taller than me, there was a small buzzing sound. At about face level, a dark green hummingbird, busy with the blue flowers, hovered watching me for a moment before turning back to their breakfast.

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Ellie Cordova is a performer of original skits and music, and this thought experiment video of hers came across my online feeds yesterday. Reminded me of the point of the practice of "daily gratitudes" aka "three good things"...

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My neighbor Karla seems to take great joy in decorating her yard in various ways with lighting and inflatables, some of which remain all the year round (an assortment of twinkling and moving LED colored lighting turns her backyard into the memory of festival spaces every night), and some just for holidays. Christmas and Halloween in particular, and as we are almost a week into October, there are new delights arriving almost daily. New this year, strands of purple lights are adorning her entryway today. S ome of the "spooky" dragons from last year are already starting to arrive. These all make me so happy.

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This origami envelope is another useful way of wrapping flat or mostly flat things for the Advent of a Better Year Swap. It will require a bit of experimentation to figure out the best size of square to start with for whatever you want to wrap. Ive played a bit to start with: 5"=3"x1¾" or 4⅜"=2⅝"x1⅝" or 3"=1⅞"x1⅛"...

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Returning to my digital camera might be my next step. If the venerable card reader can be found (put it away "somewhere safe"), it might be possible to send images to the laptop from the camera, process them, and put them onto a memory stick, along with plain text content, and take frequent bike rides to the library to upload actual posts. This was how I did it for several years before home internet. And both my digital cameras are much more adaptable for photography than the phone. Just means carrying another thing around, but either one is Very Small and comparatively light.

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Moomin movie - Rebecca Sugar!

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	6 very tiny lunaria decorations	-	greenwaste bin
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Karla's joyful yard decorations
- LED lights
- medical tests from last week came back a-okay

- hummingbirds 

Time of Isolation - Day 1934

do corbies fly at night ?

in which our plucky heroine is startled (and also grumpy)...

Wednesday night, walking the dog just after sunset, something flew overhead, barely caught in my peripheral vision. A silent darker shape silhouetted against the dark blue night sky, and at first I thought it was a bat. But it didn't move like one, and then swooped up to perch on a power line. Was too dark on dark for me to identify what it was. Could it have been an owl? I'm pretty sure that our local crows roost at night, and don't wander about in the darkness??

*edited: Thursday evening I spoke with a woman in her yard near there, who told me they do have an owl in their neighborhood! She's heard it but never seen it, and congratulated me on my good fortune.

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The last of the now overripe bananas were made into banana bread, which will be cut into little slices and frozen for future teatime treats. The recipe is as good now as it was decades ago, though now it is gluten free baking mix and pecans instead of wheat flour and walnuts...

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I am more than displeased. Just got a text from Century Link that they can't fix issues today and rescheduled for tomorrow. That will make 4+ days with no service (insert bad words here)

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I very much enjoy adding photos to my blog posts. But until I get internet again, and can do the convoluted contortions that get images first to my laptop, then processed and uploaded online, I'm limited to tapping out words (and HTML punctuation) one finger at a time, hunt and peck on my mobile phone. Plucky heroine says "bah!

edited 10/4: I can, with some difficulty, capture already posted blog photos and re-use them, like this corbie enamel pendant for example. No easy way figured out yet to use any of my current photos, alas...

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	-	greenwaste bin
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- found a laundromat so I can use their dryer to preshrink the plaid flannel
- plenty of varied clothing layers to don and doff as the weather demands
- dogsitting adds at least a mile or two to my daily steps total

Time of Isolation - Day 1930

do you know where your towel is?

in which our plucky heroine is uncertain but does her best...

Whilst out and about on my bike this week, my brain came up with an alternate idea for the Babs brooch project - to use flat back bezels for the pearls instead of pearl cups! That project has had me stymied for months. When I mentioned this idea to Bill last night he agreed it was an idea he had used more than once, and gave me a few additional suggestions. I miss the days when we shared studio space and could bounce ideas back and forth so easily. Indeed, I miss a great deal from the Before Times and Days Gone By... but that world is gone forever, and it is up to us to make the best of the world we do live in.

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~ back in service ~

In the last week or so, ever since it rained, there have been bees again at the hydration station. I don't know if they need more water this time of year, or if it took them that long to find it again, but it makes me happy to see them drinking. And in other buzzing news, while out walking Wellington this morning, we passed a wall covered in ivy, that was all abloom, and so full of bees that the buzz was audible half a block away. On days when despair dogs my footsteps, the life of the natural world lifts my heart.

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Noticed yesterday that one of the few remaining bath towels are getting a bit threadbare in places. They must be almost forty years old now. The first one acquired in 1988, and the others made from fabric bought in Idahell a few years later. 

Years later on one of the trips to West 12th Night, there was some fabric shopping in Berkeley and in Oakland. There is still a length of black waffle weave cotton on the fabric resource shelves, originally meant for a bathrobe, but now it will probably become as many bath sheet size towels as can be fit into however much yardage is there. And if needs must, fabrics-store.com also carries a very nice linen-cotton waffle weave.

Even more years ago than that, a waffle weave towel was a surprise and a delight in the hotel we stayed in in Rome, being eversomuch nicer and more functional than terrycloth. My travel companions thought it very odd that my souvenir was a towel, which took a good deal of effort to find a shop that had them for sale.  

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~ elaborated lunarias ~

Earlier this month my original idea was to paint decorations on the lunaria pods. Even after a coat of nail polish on both sides, they were still really flimsy, and a backing of bright purple felt somehow wasn't just right. So each one was embroidered with a border of beads, and another layer of lighter purple felt attached, with a ribbon for hanging sandwiched between

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One side of my blue computer spex broke apart at the temple hinge. Since there is nothing to lose by trying to DIY repair it, given the expensive repair the last time the other side broke, I'm trying some JB Weld epoxy. They can sit on the workbench overnight and shall hopefully be somewhat solid in the morning. Fortunately my shop glasses serve almost the same function, and tis probably time to order another computer pair from "eye buy direct".

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At my yearly well woman oncology exam on Friday, found out that all the eastside facilities are moving to single new building, that is unfortunately a lot further away. Currently it's a single twenty bus ride from home; the new building isn't even in Portland, though thankfully still can be accessed on transit. I am not relishing the idea of spending over an hour and a half each way (two transfers/three different buses) plus a fair bit of walking in a location that is not intended for or amenable to pedestrian access. Grump!!

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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	greenwaste bin
5	6+ jars fig lemon marmalade	picked moar figs	recycle bin
6	dried pears	picked plums	x
7	4 jars pickled beets	small radiator foot	x
8	11 jars salsa verde	spex temple	x
9	5 jars strawberry rhubarb	x	x
10	5 jars spiced applesauce	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x

several day's gratitudes-
- the Hydration Station is in use again
- passed an ivy-covered wall that was humming, covered in bees
- waffle weave towels
- back up spex
- former shared studio with Bill was both educational and encouraging.
- unexpected old friend showed up at Crafternoon
- there were bead needles at the art store, and the set came with a very thin needle threader; for such tiny needle eyes, the tool wins!!
- after much rummaging, may have managed to find the vital bit of paper this afternoon after my unsuccessful attempt to get the jab this morning. (I've never needed it in the past for vaccination, only my insurance card...)

Time of Isolation - Day 1925

wistful Wednesday

in which our plucky heroine remembers...

If we are Very fortunate and very determined we may be able to build a liveable world among the ruins of the collapsing current systems. Being an adult is when you know that there are some parts of current reality that can't be shifted, while still doing what you can to shift what only seems to be immovable. I know that no matter how much I wish it so, I will always be short. And no matter how much I wish it so, and however bitterly I miss the life I worked so hard to create, the careless ease of the Before Times will not come again. But I also cannot say that there is no chance we can create a future worth living in, for the children that come after us.

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Today there was a new-to-me, though actually common, butterfly amongst the insects enjoying the mint blooms, a gray hairstreak butterfly. Very elegant grey coloration, with some subtle dark/light lines, and a vivid orange "false eye" at the rear end of the wings, and pointed "false antenna". Am enjoying looking at the varied life that is gathering nectar and pollen? from the mint underneath the side yard clothesline...

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Currently under an Extreme Heat Watch for Friday through Sunday, with the forecast in the triple digits. Have been doing what I can to prepare, it may be frivolous but extra ice cubes in the freezer will be welcome, as will meals cooked ahead that can either be eaten cold or merely heated in the microwave. Little Wellington will be here Saturday morning for a long dog sitting visit, but there will be no midday dog walks, only early morning and at dusk or later. Puppy must needs become crepuscular as much as our own plucky heroine is...

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~ nature was fun... ~

Stopped in at the local Goodwill, and found a square frame that was a good size for this favorite Strange Planet cartoon. With the frame painted black, it can join all the other water themed artwork on the bathroom walls...

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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	frame for Pyle cartoon	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- mobility and sight, and paying attention
- it is cool enough tonight to open the windows and deploy the fans
- my life allows me to nap when tired

Time of Isolation - Day 1857

Elderberry season

in which our plucky heroine continues enjoying small views of the natural world...

Tuesday morning I'd once again watered all the young trees and potted plants so they could survive another day of triple digit heat... and I noticed a bee had approached the empty hydration station (that I was about to refill). I slowly and carefully added water to halfway up the stepping stones. Got to see her stay and drink, and hopefully take the information back to her hive sisters.

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~ the harvest begins ~

One of this mornings activities was clipping most of the easily reached elderberries, and removing them from the stemmy clusters, to facilitate starting the process of preserving. This year my plan is to make an alcohol based tincture, as that is the most shelf stable option. It will require me to purchase some suitable alcohol, and most of what I've read suggests 100 proof vodka, not something I keep on hand here at Acorn Cottage!

Last year I tried freezing the berries before removing them from the stems, but ended up with a big bag full of stem fragments mixed with fruit, which was so annoying to try and separate that the whole thing went in the compost bin. It wasn't terribly difficult to pull the fruit off the stems this time, and now there is a tray of nice clean washed berries in the freezer awaiting the next step... Hopefully more berries will join the party, as the plan is to thin the black elder and gradually bring the whole plant a bit closer to the ground level for easier picking! According to my reading, they either get pruned in early spring, or after the fruit is ripe (which makes sense, so as to not cut off future abundance) Pruning video, and web info

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Slow if steady progress on the Laurel wreath circular border printing block - with only carving one leaf per day, my wrists will remain less cranky, and the block will still be completed by the end of the month.

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In the credit card saga, it continues being a terrible tangle... As you may recall, in the middle of July suddenly and unexpectedly I found my card invalidated. Apparently at the beginning of last month, the company decided for some internal reason having nothing to do with cardholders to reissue new cards to all, with new numbers. They did not mail out any notification of this change, and no new card showed up here at Acorn Cottage, despite being posted at the beginning of July. So, after contacting them, I was eventually (two weeks later) reissued a new card with a new number, so all should be good?? 

Not so fast... the new card, like all new cards, needs to be "activated" which usually (in the past) involves phoning in and answering many repetitive queries before finally being able to sign the back and use said card. Well... the phone tree was so troublesome, sending me round and round without ever moving on to the next stage, that it seemed like a better option to attempt to speak with an actual customer service person to make progress. Sigh. The polite gentleman on the phone kept trying, asking all the same questions over and over again, but finally told me that he could not activate the card and that it would be necessary to speak with some sort of upper level customer service. Who would (probably) phone me in the next several days. In the meantime, no useable card for at this point at least a month. 

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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	-	indigotiger popover  hem extension	recycle bin
4	-	-	window AC
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
- Kanopy has one of the films I had been hoping to access
- I found a local source that sells single replacement gaskets for Le Parfait, so I can reuse the jar I foolishly used to hold lacto-fermented red onions!
- watching a bee drink from the hydration station
- Even though the clusters are fragmented and partially empty, there still is quite a bit of ripe fruit on the European Black Elder in the parking strip.
- cooler weather this evening
- I managed to not lose my temper at the unfortunate customer service person, after I'd already spent an hour on the phone tree carousel, and with him not being able to help me either. Indeed, I apolgised to him for my grouchy voice, since it was not his doing that caused the problems. There is a special hell for the people who create and program dysfunctional phone trees, and I hope those people spend their afterlife in a forest of useless queries

Time of Isolation - Day 1850

Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine embraces crepuscularity...

Clarity about the different levels of heat danger announcements... while it won't be as bad as the year it got to 117°F on my front porch, it will still be plenty doggone hot for the next few days. ("Extreme Heat Warning" is the current forecast: 97 to 100+°F (36 to 38°C). It is often a few degrees hotter than the forecast here at Acorn Cottage, and indeed the thermometer on the front porch passed the 100°F tickmark this afternoon.

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~ wall and oak ~

Just in case it wasn't obvious, the retaining wall is labeled "THE WALL". And the oak tree is huge, with a diameter wider than my arm span, branches that shade the sidewalk and over the street on both sides of the intersection.

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Well that was fascinating... apparently hoverflies will land on wet laundry to get a drink, if the landscape is dry. First thing this morning while hanging the freshly washed "Mt Washmore on the clothesline, I'd observed (between trips indoors to get another armful) there were two of them hanging out on one of the tea towels on the line. Learn something new every day!

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Made another batch of kale salad, because it makes a large batch to store in the fridge as it is just perfect for future meals without additional cooking... but there were no raisins, which while not original add delightful tiny pops of sweetness. Karen suggested rehydrating and dicing up some of my dried persimmons, which was an excellent substitution, being both colorful and homegrown.

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Rather than edgebind the indigotiger popover hem extension, it will be easier to simply use the babyhem variation, since it is now long enough that losing a bit less than ¾" will be acceptable. The very bottom edge was serged to prevent fraying. Now if that edge is just turned towards the inside two times, the serged portion is enclosed and the whole triple layer can be topstitched. It is narrow enough that it just lays flat. I'd forgotten about this easy method, until I took a closer look at my second ever popover dress, the "blue moon batik" and noticed its very narrow hem...

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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	-	indigotiger popover  hem extension	recycle bin
4	-	-	window AC
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- YouTube is its own sort of Wayback Machine
- my plan for making canning jar storage boxes is well underway
- someone left a almost new copy of "smitten kitchen Every Day" in the little free library in front of Karla's house. Even if I don't make any of the recipes, Deb Perelman writes enjoyable commentary... and cookbooks make the best bedtime reading: the "chapters" are really short, and there is no nightmare fuel in the content...

Time of Isolation - Day 1847

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine enjoys a bit of nature...

Along the narrow north side of the yard here at Acorn Cottage there is a concrete pathway bordered by a chain link fence. Years ago it seemed good to attach some brackets to the fenceposts and support clothesline (the brackets last, the line needs replaced every few years) In the narrow space between the path and the chain link, various weedy things grow, and usually get clipped back when they encroach on the vertical space reserved for laundry. 

There is, among the cat's ears and rapunzel, a sizeable patch of some feral variety of mint. It never gets watered, so it spreads Very Slowly indeed; in twenty years it has maybe doubled in size and still only a few feet long. Brushing against it is a small pleasant sensory experience. For the last few weeks it has grown taller and been blooming like mad, making necessary a bit more thought than usual to laundry placement, since much to my delight it is very much a pollinator magnet. There are honeybees, probably from the hives a few door down the street, but also what look a bit like miniature hornets, but are likely to be hover flies according to the internet, and also some unusual wasps. I move carefully around that part of the path, doing my best to not disturb the insect folks who are so hard at work.

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~ a prime number ~

Each tray holds one dozen wide mouth pints or half-pints... or nineteen quarter-pints or narrow-mouth half-pints. The lidded trays will be stored underneath the sideboard and bakers rack in the kitchen. Once the four storage trays and fitted lids are all fabricated, any remaining jars can be stored in delivery boxes in the pantry area (I'll probably turn those boxes inside out as well, because plain kraft paper is nicer than adverts). 

The big roll of gummed paper tape that turned up on the hardware shelves will be very useful indeed, both for reinforcing the lid edges, and sealing up the open corrugations. The last step will be an internal grid to keep each jar just a bit separated, and it may be that a salvage trip to Trader Joe's will serve that purpose very well, at least it is worth taking a looksee to check sizes, since they always have a huge stack of wine boxes to give away. 

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The last few days, there is a droning whine whenever I'm outdoors. It is racing season at PIR, and even though it is on the other side of the slough, it is loud. I can't imagine what it must be like for folks who live closer. There are many who enjoy that activity, as either participants or spectators, but all it brings to my mind is how finite a resource petroleum is, and of the many vital uses it could be put to, the decadence of just burning it for amusement

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Eventually the jar storage trays will have handles, to aid in pulling them out from underneath. Karen showed me some that she had made by braiding remnants, and using lid plastic scrap as washers to prevent pulling through the cardboard. It occurred to me today that I have a wonderful assortment of colors of wide twill tape, that will be ideal for making handles, needing only to be folded over once or twice and stitched to be really sturdy. In a house full of stuff that "may be useful for something, someday" once in a while, that something someday actually happens!

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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	-	bright rayon top width	recycle bin
3	-	-	recycle bin
4	-	-	window AC
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- found an entire LARGE roll of gummed paper tape in storage!
- Feral mint is a wonderful attractant for pollinators
- an assortment of various colors of twill tape

Time of Isolation - Day 1845