Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine returns to everyday life...

Somehow, the day afterwards seems to drag. My friends are far away once again, in the same way that in the Before Times, the day after one returns from a lovely holiday can seem most banal. Still there were tasks useful done, and sparks of beauty found.

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~ day 20 ~

I have two of these plaster Japanese Akita dog figurines, this one is about 4" tall, and white with golden accents and a red collar. (the smaller one I have is about half the size, and red) In 2023, this same dog was my subject of a reduction linocut print.

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An additional benefit of sorting/decluttering is finding things that have been missing or "lost". Since I have tinyfolk and their tiny world here, some of those things are very small indeed, and easy to overlook. I was very happy to find Opal's missing Birkenstock sandals, which are about the size of my fingernail. They were quite complicated to make, as shown in this blog post from 2024
In addition, while sorting through much of the paper clutter hoping to find where I'd written down Kate's address for the valentine postcard exchange, I remembered where it was, and could add it to the list for next month.

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Most of the birds I see every day in my yard are crows, juncos or chickadees, and sometimes hummingbirds. This morning I saw a small bird, with a reddish head and chest. According to the internets it was likely a house finch, also a very common local bird, just not one I had noticed here before.

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Many years ago, while travelling, we stopped at Rumiano's retail store in Crescent City, and bought part of a wheel of their dry jack cheese. Amazingly, I still have a very little bit of that cheese left; stored in the freezer it has been doled out over the years, thawed and grated to use as an ingredient. It is a long aged jack cheese, similar in texture to parmesan with it's own unique strong flavor. Why this is in my mind?.. While B & K were here, Beth shared some of their "cheesy buns" with me, a gluten-free roll made with tapioca and flax meal, egg, and a mixture of cheddar and strong dry cheese. (they use Romano) It occurred to me that some of my Rumiano's dry jack could also/instead work really well to flavor the recipe, and I am planning to give it a try...

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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	drawstring cords	large broken bin
4	page 2 resipei	workbench tidy	2 bags paper
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
- cold dry wind makes laundry line dry faster
- finding more lost things (Opal's sandals, and Kate's address)
- the button bands on the plaid flannel shirt project do interesting things where they intersect the bias bodice fronts.

Time of Isolation - Day 2031