Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine takes joy in the arrival of autumn...

Somehow, even though it is still hot during the day, the cool and lengthening nights provide respite. As the year turns away from summer, my spirits and energy rise.

※※※

trying something new... top bulbs of walking onions currently in brine, on their way to becoming a few probably 2 small jars of pickled pub-style onions. Later they'll go into spiced malt vinegar and a round in the preserving pan before resting for a month or more in the pantry.

I grow walking onions for allium self sufficiency backup. They take almost no care, and mine are a link to my beloved Mud Bay pals, who gifted me with the initial starts. I've only ever used the leaves before, but, in a British cookbook found in a local Little Free Library, found a recipe that mentioned Dorothy Hartley recommended using the top bulbs in this way. These are the largest I'd managed to harvest, being rather smaller than marbles, and quite a bit of work to peel. It will be interesting to find out the hopefully tasty results of this experiment later this year...

※※※

stepping outside my ordinary comfort zone this past weekend, I gave a short online zoom presentation, on "Using SMART goals to counter imposter syndrome"... I'd been asked if I was willing to give a five minute talk on a "topic of interest" to a group I participate in, and after mulling it over for a while, decided to a. countradict my automatic no by agreeing to do it, and b. realised that my untraditional use of the SMART goal concept might be suitable. While I am the first to state that I am a professional artisan and a maker and in no way a mental health professional, the way I use this easy technique has made a huge difference in my state of mind. I was quite surprised that my presentation was very well received, with more than one attending telling me that I had given them a new perspective on a tool that is more often insensitively used as more of a bludgeon by administrators than a help to individuals...

※※※

~ creativity challenge ~

Starting over. First step is to create a deeper and sturdier bezel, and I decided to join my favorite serrated bezel wire to a strip of fine silver. In order to hold them in place while soldering, I used titanium strips, for the first time, as clamps. I was surprised at how simple it was to bend the strips into a roughly useable shape, using a bench vise and rawhide mallet. The bezel cylinders were straightforward to create. Next step is to mark the sheet silver needed for the actual rings, form and solder them. Once the ring blanks are made, I can begin the process of fitting the bezels. I am making notes of all the incremental steps needed to bring this concept to the material world. More steps than I realised, more than my norm for sure!

I also discovered a handy chart that shows how long to cut a band to make rings of various sizes, using various gauges of metal. This made making up the initial ring blank a bit more straightforward than I initially thought it would be.

※※※

September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	7 tiny sunflowers	6 pants for Beth	yard waste bin
2	poppy pod vase	4 box fans clean	recycle bin
3	grey canvas hat	heraldry painted	yard waste bin
4	-	M skirt waistband	recycle bin
5	-	-	-
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

today's gratitudes -
1. The right tools - titanium strips, bench vise, rawhide mallet
2. allium self sufficiency
3. several web sources for ring length charts

Time of Isolation - Day 942