When growing up, there were the classic four seasons to the year: winter, spring, summer, and autumn. Now there are at least five as fire season intertwines with summer and autumn, and I sorrow at the change*... This morning after an early bike ride, went out to run errands knowing this was in the offing. By 2pm on the way home the air was becoming visibly hazy. After leaving the bus to walk the rest of the way home took off my mask, smelled how strong the smoke had become, and immediately put it back on. Our AQI is already at 114 right now (Unhealthy) and forecast to be over 200 (Very Unhealthy) later tonight and tomorrow and to then slowly decrease back to merely Unhealthy again over the next several days. Both indoor air filters will be deployed and no more outdoor activity at all until a necessary medical appointment later in the week, this will be an opportunity to focus on indoor housey chores.
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~ incremental improvement ~
One of the two new small storage shelves is in place on the kitchen wall next to the chest freezer, sized just right for 5 "talenti tubs**". When I defrost the freezer later this month, shelf number two will go underneath this one, and have room for another five. My plan is to use these to hold dry goods like grain, pasta, and lentils etc, move the larger storage jars currently on my countertop into the pantry instead, which will free up counter space in the very small kitchen.~ incremental improvement ~
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Saturday at the Hollywood farmers market in search of local cilantro, it was a surprise and a treat to run into my old friend SueJ, who I'd not seen in almost ten years. After that unexpected visiting, I did manage to find cilantro, and cucumbers, and some beautiful Japanese eggplants. The plan is to make some 5 flavor eggplant, and preserve most of the cilantro not used immediately, using this suggestion about freezing it in cubes with oil.
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This idea of turning googly eyes into miniature drawer pulls seems quite clever, and there might be a few of those googly eyes left from last years Advent Swap. Hmmm...Another tiny-ish treat is the creativity of Liza of HodgePodge Art Studio. Her world building and storytelling about Mosshollow is delightful. While much of it is shared on Meta platforms, there is some here on YouTube.
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August SMART goals (x=extra)
| # | THINGS MADE | THINGS FIXED | THINGS GONE |
| 1 | 2 Talenti shelves | Talenti shelf up | - |
| 2 | - | - | - |
| 3 | - | - | - |
| 4 | - | - | - |
| 5 | - | - | - |
| 6 | x | x | x |
| 7 | x | x | x |
| 8 | x | x | x |
| 9 | x | x | x |
today's gratitudes -
- I have two good air filters
- quite a few Talenti tubs
- making some progress every day
- local produce at the farmers market
Time of Isolation - Day 2211
* I realise that Acorn Cottage currently is quite privileged to only have to deal with windblown smoke when so many locally and worldwide are dealing more directly with fire season, having lost homes, land, livestock and in some cases their own lives. This is not the timeline I signed up for...
** "Talenti tubs" are the very useful sturdy plastic containers with screw top lids that Talenti ice cream originally was packaged in. The current containers are somewhat less sturdy, and ice cream doesn't often make it onto the grocery list any more.
