Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine wakes up extra early...

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

Every weekend now we have a siblings and spouses zoom, at what is currently "o'dark-thirty" on Sunday morning. For some reason this bit of poetic doggrel was running through my head that morning. It was pitch black when my alarm went off. I have a very vivid memory of the illustration that went along with that poem

※※※

~ 100 day creativity challenge - day 76 ~

A handy herb and spice jar shelf... for years now have thought it would be a good thing to keep them handy in the unused space just beneath the upper cupboards, and today, rather than continue to wait for inspiration, or the perfect object on some design blog, I decided to use pieces of what I had on hand. I am getting tired of how cluttered Acorn Cottage has become during the pandemic. I used random wood scraps, and hardware bits, and while it isn't Fine Woodworking™ , it will hopefully do. Done is better than perfect.

.

This undercabinet shelf will work better than my previous arrangement, and free up space on the corner turntable for the jars of oats, and kasha, and rice noodles to move off the countertop. The turntable was full of a lot of little jars of either back stock spices or the kinds of random clobber that kitchens accumulate, and now that bit of countertop can be cleared, and cleaned, and be useable...

※※※

I got to have a video chat with The Aunties, and Auntie Beth gave me a wee bit of a harp lesson. I am one of the testers for the new book that Beth and Ceilidh are writing on how to learn to play the small harp. Since I know very little and have no native musical aptitude, I am a good tester. Eventually my hope is to be able to play simply medieval tunes...

※※※

beauty in the time of isolation - day 276:

holiday lights nearby 

※※※

This article is full of food for thought, and an extended perspective not commonly found... I have a fair amount of agreement with what the writer has to say, if not their clear and experiential perspective...

※※※

December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny patchwork	Nandina's nose	recycle bin
2	2 Kiki biscornu	worm bin rebedded	yard waste bin
3	2 sample masks	dainties bag patched	yard waste bin
4	spiral tea towel		recycle bin
5	new spice rack	-	knitting sets
6	x	x	moar cardboard!
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

today's gratitude - that was quick, my new glasses from Zenni arrived in the mail Saturday morning, just two weeks exactly from when I placed the order. They need a bit of fit-tweaking with my trusty pliers, and I am not sure if I will also need to replace the nosepads (which I often must do because contact allergy). The difference having the correct prescription is noticeable! Now if only the computer glasses and the shopwork glasses will arrive soon as well. EyeBuyDirect didn't think my prescription was correct, so waited two weeks to contact me to ask?