New soup, new element, resist!

Today, glumly wondering what to make for lunch, I took a look in the small freezer, the fridge one, where I put leftovers and future soup makings.

Found

The salted milk I poached the cod in, and the rest of the crushed tomatoes from a tomcheese bake.

Big handful of red onions, umami seasoning, cumin,  garlic, no salt because both the milk and the tomatoes already had salt.

Simmered for quite a while, maybe half an hour, then blended,  and finally added in the last chunks of cod.

Dill thrown on, and this easy shortcut turned out to be good enough it should have a fancy name. Bouillabaisse is already taken, hm. 

While I think, and invite your naming participation, here's a thing

I was talking about designer bookcases today online with an artist friend, both of us wondering why you'd have a whole big bookcase and put three curated items in it.

I have a couple crammed with books, then there's this 

As you see, the Dollivers and their dogs,  in their retirement home, upstairs from various materials involved in making.  Not designer fodder.

Happy day everyone! Resist. And those of us with privilege, let's use it for good.

Lapghan almost there, Misfits box

 This morning I finished the crocheting part of the lapghan 

It's about 40"x 30". Now I plan to back it with fleecy grey fabric to make a non drafty wrap, then steam press and send off, with gloves.

I like how the lapghan colors work, with the grey acting like a rest for the eyes, and a uniting element. I'm hoping it cheers the heart of whoever receives it. I have a box ready to go.

And today's Misfits arrived 

Raisins, first time I ever saw them at Misfits, so I got an extra bag for the freezer. They'll feature in various baked goods. Also in a nice tangy sauce recipe I like.

Mushrooms for an upcoming omelet  mixture with chard. Blueberries with yogurt.  Simple stuff just now. January doldrums, low energy time.

I wonder if there's something in the chiming bowl meditation? I did one yesterday for pain and was encouraged by how much better Helen did. And one this morning for relaxing the jaw.  I'm a grinder, and that seemed to have an effect, too. So we'll see. 

I can't see any harm, given that I'm not in the actual room where the video is done. I imagine there the vibration would be more intense.  

I'm told that people with pacemakers are cautioned for this reason, the chance of interference with the set rhythm. I doubt if I'd do an in person session with afib, either.

Anyway happy day everyone, whatever rings your chimes.

Computer assisted art Liz Adams 

MLK birthday, and Philomena

Today's the birthday of Martin Luther King, so I'm centering him. 

Monday is the official observance and I'm disregarding other events that day in favor of looking for counter programming about centering Black people. I'll probably find them on Spoutible.

And there's a new online publication, a consortium of journalists, The Contrarian. I've joined. I'd rather have their unbought take on the news, and starve the MSM. 

MSM, incidentally, are now running news about how well Biden did, how great the standing of the US, how well the economy has recovered, everything they ignored for four years. They must have noticed the hemorrhage of subscribers and clicks after their election "coverage".  Bit late now though.

But comic relief today is Philomena Cunk, wonderful YouTube channel in her downright northern voice and stage name. The premise is that notable experts in their fields interview with her, as she puts the sort of question a smart five year old might. Every parent has met these almost unanswerable questions.  

And some experts get in knots struggling with it, while others with less personal vanity, can handle it. People at the top of their field are likely to say, well, that's interesting, I don't know but I'll think about it.  Then there are the academics who can not bear to say I don't know, and go down blustering!  Meanwhile you can learn a lot.

Today cold,  windy and sunny and I made it around the short block. Yay me. 

Happy day, everyone! 

Meditative singing bowls, and Textiles and Tea

This morning I came across a long video of a meditation using singing bowls, which the musician struck with various hammers and forces, resulting in an amazing sound tapestry as the notes interwove and pulsed against each other. 

It was long enough to play while I showered. The only tiny drawback was an omg moment when I heard trickling water  that was not from the shower. 

I peered around the curtain, dreading to find leaking from some part of the plumbing. Then I looked at the screen. He was using a rain stick. Oh. That rain pattering sound, mixed with the shower,  seemed like something ominous. Now that I know, I can resume being calm.

The icy wind kept me home from the Tuesday knitting group today. It quickly saps my energy, and caused some sharp protests from Helen at the prospect of library chairs.  So I bagged it and worked at home on the granny ruggy thing, now with the end approaching.

Textiles and Tea was right up my alley, a young Chinese woman, Lin Qiqing, who spins, dyes and weaves mulberry paper into wall hangings. She's now Brooklyn-based and here's what she's about, great design. 

Details of the top image, "Phoenix"

And these ceramic fortune cookies are a departure!

Detail of the figure higher up. 

These are dyed, spun, or made into a paper collage then cut up and reassembled on an eight shaft loom, as the weft, with a linen thread warp.

She's a very good designer of the human figure, blocky, expressive and interestingly light in weight. Definitely worth a visit to her website. 

This is a second career, since she started as a reporter in Shanghai, but left because the political climate hamstrung reporting. Then, in New York, decided on a big change of work, and got credentials in textile design, before becoming an art weaver.

Happy day, everyone, you do you, when you find out what that is.

Me, Carol and 15,486 geese

First priority today was a bunch of armchair activist jobs. I finally set up a monthly sub to the Guardian newspaper online, pretty much the only msm not in bed with the oligarchs. This accompanies my Dame indie pub sub and the usual ACLU membership and BotSentinel, which underpins fact checking in the Spoutible platform I use.

And I noted the appalling tv interview comments by Paul Sarlo, State senator from NJ, a Dem (!) about trans women in sports. Shot off a firm message to his office, followed by one to my own state senator, blessed Linda Greenstein, asking her to speak to him and fight back transphobia in the State House among Dems particularly.  Then I declared my activism done for the day.

Today was cold but not too windy and Helen, Carol and I, accompanied by many shouty Canada geese, took a walk.

But first I had to reattach (we say attach and detach, why not retach?) the hood to the coat. I don't like hoods with floofy faux fur,  and had zipped it off when it arrived, thinking I'd never need it. Famous last words. 

Today I thought I should try it, maybe it would cut out the drafts round my neck.

So there followed a long period of trying to figure out which way out, which way up, which end to start zipping, then many tries at getting the zipper started. I decided that if ever I got this redacted hood in place, it would redactedly stay in place forever.

Finally we got going, and were accompanied by huge numbers of Canada geese, grumbling because the pond was frozen, so they couldn't swim, and they had to just hike about the golf course, pooping and eating the expensive greens.  

Hard to see, but definitely present strung out the length of the course.

I made it almost, not quite, to the pond, proud report, and spotted a sad little bundle of bluejay feathers strewn around where I've seen hawks recently. January is a hungry month for hawks, and, with snow on the ground, prey birds are easy to spot from the air.

See Carol Cane's round footprint on the right, opposite the left toe. I notice my stride has shortened this last year.

There's a tiny plant, all over the place, at ground level, with many leaves maybe a millimeter across, too small for my phone to pick up, well it can't even catch Canada geese, and I wonder if the plant is really a lichen or some sort of grass. If anyone has a guess, please say.

Since I've established my credentials as an assistive device user, here's a great cartoon 

And yesterday's supper was a nice frittata, two beaten eggs, broccolini, feta cheese crumbles. 

Happy day everyone, take a hike, well, that didn't come out quite right. Eat well and enjoy.

Up at dark o'clock, and why I won't take people walking. Again.

Now and then I wake up way before dawn, ready to start the day. Today, for instance. Up at five and having coffee, reading, enjoying watching dawn break.

Of course by nine I was sleeping on the sofa. In fact most of the day, with intervals of texting, blogging and spouting. Also making lentil squash soup. Not really a morning person.

The soup was a bit low-key despite umami mixture, garlic, onions, smoked paprika, all that. Then I added cumin and tomatoes and suddenly it cheered up. I blended it then added a drop of coconut milk. Now it's really good. 

It used up some leftover red lentil croquette things in the freezer, and a butternut  squash.  It's a beautiful color, always a good point with food. And the texture works. I can't remember the ingredients of the lentil things, but they're sure to be what my mom used to call "all good ingredients" when something wasn't as good as hoped.

And I had a chat with Gary. The chocolate cake I took over the other day, enough for two, vanished fast, evidently, his guest helping. You can't go far wrong with chocolate cake.

He's at it again to get me to haul our neighbor out walking, and I said firmly fitness is something you have to do for yourself. I suggested they walk together, taking his dog. At which point he said, but I don't do that myself, don't like the cold! I guess he's happy to send his friends out though, too funny. 

And I got a walk a bit more like the usual distance, figuring if Helen doesn't get worse, okay to push a bit.  Then home to a heat pack, well, a heated rice-filled sock. I certainly feel a lot more cheerful and hopeful for doing it. Walking, not heating socks.

I need to get potting soil soon, as the longer days make it feasible to repot a couple of small plants outgrowing and exhausting their pots. One of them is Gary's tiny anthurium, which has put out a new leaf, so I'd like to encourage her.

And, hearing local friends' stories about their retirement communities and politics, reminds me that I'll do whatever it takes to stay here!

Happy day everyone. I guess soup would be a good idea for Florida friends, not just the frozen northern wastes just now. 

Mrs Miniver, good neighbor,

Today's reading is Mrs Miniver, the book from which the Oscar-winning WW2 propaganda movie of the same name was made.

I feel a kind of cultural obligation to read it, despite itself. The writing is women's magaziney cranked up to 11, labored attempts at poetic descriptions, with some more graceful parts.   Wealthy Londoners with a second home, servants, two months vacation in summer, late 1930s.

It opens as she comes home from vacation, carrying flowers, finds a fire already going, teatray in place, and she doesn't go to put the kettle on, she rings for tea. The scene is set, and you know her social setting.

Anyway the Miniver family ( even the name is opulent) suddenly find they're facing war, and what happens then.

I think I'm going to like it, if only for the social history. I'm looking forward to the dresses and hats. Chapter one already introduced the new car.

Meanwhile we had snow overnight and I looked out this morning to see my good neighbor, not Gary, the other side, quietly cleaning off my car. 

He'd done both of theirs and kept going. I opened the door to call thanks and he gave a little ah tis nothin shrug.  Why I love my neighbors.

I did get a walk, determined, despite the cold wind, and Helen's objections.  It wasn't  long but it was out, walking, mailbox then on round the block and back, blessing the length of this coat, and feeling quite smug. It's a far cry from making it to the pond, but that's going to happen in warmer weather.

This afternoon is a pot of tea -- it's barely two cups in size but there's something good about even a small pot -- piece of cake, knitted afghan on me,  crocheted one in progress. 

The house is so clean, I bless the cleaning family,  they leave me with little to do  between visits, just enjoy my surroundings.

I launder all the cloths they use, top up the spray bottles of cleaning fluid, put back the things I put out of their way, and my part's done for another month.

Happy day everyone, maybe we can find our bit and do it.

Meanwhile