Sad day.

 I woke up to the bad news. 

Taking a little break.

Waiting, breathing, hoping

Tuesday I dressed in election Day appropriate gear

Best pearls for Kamala, iconic jewelry, and blue and yellow for freedom for Ukraine. This picture went viral on Spoutible!

I went online and posted helpful calming things including the last of the cosmos I picked 

Handsome Son visited in the afternoon, warm enough to sit outside with our tea and Indian treats, most of which he took care of! He enjoyed them a lot, including the spicy bits.  

Squirrels and chipmunks were hanging around a lot, since they've realized that humans outside eating probably means great crumbs for them. 

He left with the rest of the snacks and the leg weights I gave him. He's perfectly fine after the test, all back to normal again. It was great to have a distraction from my own thoughts for a while. 

And I'm off soon to my online election watching party, hoping for good news. The research I've seen looks good for Kamala. We'll see.

We may not have results very quickly, but I refuse to be daunted by that, after all we've gone through. We can go through a bit more!

Happy day everyone, we've got high hopes, we've got highighigh hopes 🇺🇸🥂

The national airport waiting room

The whole country feels as if we're in an airport waiting room, idea I swiped from online. It's a time when everything's about waiting, calories don't count and treats are in order. 

We don't know which direction we'll be going after Tuesday's votes, and we've done all we can to ensure success for the good fight we're fighting against fascism. 

There are safeguards in place against election denial and violence.  This will not be a repeat of the chaos of 2020, when we had a President fomenting trouble instead of an intelligent administration managing it and keeping the peace.

Meanwhile I'm breathing, snacking,  walking, watching Trollope and listening to Trollope -- many parallels to today's shenanigans in Trollope. And knitting. I haven't done any making for days, one thing and another.

So here's where we are 

Whatever happens, and I daren't be more than cautiously optimistic, after the trauma of 2016, at least my people will get their gloves and socks.

Happy waiting day, everyone, breathe, knit, and if you are eligible to vote and haven't yet done so, please do. 

In the hope of a Harris win I have a couple of screenshots to celebrate. And Tuesday night I'm in a watch party with my Kamala pearls and chucks, with online friends.

Monday night, another meeting with Christopher Bouzy's most recent political maps of the current state of play, with votes already cast. He has a great record of knowledgeable observation and forecasting.

Meanwhile

 

Diwali, Mickey mouse and grab bars

Sunday morning, in the middle of cooking lunch, l had a sudden flying visit from two Indian friends who moved away some time ago. They make a point to make a detour if necessary on their way somewhere else, to stop in, and so it was today.

In the briefest time -- they were already late somewhere -- G and R stopped in to wish me a happy Diwali, with a hug, yes, they're on my hugging list,and two bags, one stuffed with treats. G loves bags and usually seizes the chance to give me them.

Then after what husband,R, calls the traditional selfie, they were off again, leaving me a very happy lady. They take trouble to stay in touch and I so appreciate that. And I have a new project bag also a new carrying bag. 

If handsome Son visits this week which he might, he's got treats waiting.

Then I got on with lunch, a pumpkin carrot soup with spinach heated up to wilt, and seedy bread with lovely citrusy hummus.

After I took the picture, I noticed the definite Mickey mouse effect.

For the benefit of people not yet bored about grab bars I thought I'd show you a few around here 

 

Main bathroom, for when Handsome Partner used a shower stool. This bar is right where he needed to grab in order to stand and get out of the tub. He modeled it so I could mark the tile for the contractor. And it's the right height for me standing.

The stains are from a previous unsuccessful attempt with high suction cups on a non ADA bar, which kept falling off and left permanent stains on the tile.  

Here's the other bathroom where I had the bar installed for back when I took tub baths, to help me to my feet. It's still useful for showering anyway.

I installed the clamp handle on the side myself,  needs no tools, and it's great for helping me step out of the tub, highly recommend.

And here's a strategic one installed right where I have to make a left turn at the head of the stairs. I marked the spot where my hand would reach. This is a tricky point, very helpful to have something on that turn.

Now we've turned and are going downstairs.

And here are grab bars opposite the regular banister rail. Two because handsome partner needed to hold the bottom turn on the second one as he climbed up. One long one wouldn't have worked. It's very helpful to have something on both sides of the stairs.

At the foot of the stairs you see Carol hooked onto the small hallway bar, because right there is a step down to the living room.  And there's  a downstairs half bathroom door on the right, at right angles to the front door. The bar is also useful for hanging masks and visitor parking hangtags. 

All these placements we measured and modeled and marked for Mike the Contractor. We bought the ADA designed bars from Medicare approved local suppliers who advised us, and Mike studied the ADA guidelines before he installed the bars.

There are a lot of decorative products out there which will not work even to steady a dry hand, let alone a wet one. Don't buy from name brand home decor plumbing sources. They don't usually carry the approved designs, which aren't as pretty, but are functional and tested.

Okay, that's my PSA for the day. Back to Trollope and treats.

Happy day everyone,  try to stay safe, mentally and physically! Eat treats, it's a good time.

Self care in a time of high anxiety

The next couple of days are about keeping my nerves in order by watching favorite Trollope productions with great actors 

While sipping on the new favorite, oat milk with honey.

And future, winter,  self care involves these 

Artisan made, Somerset Designs, suede slipper soles, with fleece lining. You can get a pattern and knit socky things to attach, holes already punched. But I have another thought, which is to attach them to current handknit socks to make slippers a different way. If it works, it will probably cut down on darning. Either way, happy customer here.

She has a range of leather items, worth checking out.  No, she isn't monetizing this shout-out, I just like the quality and prompt shipping and correct color, size, all that. 

About Carol thee Cane, I have to admit it was bit difficult to acknowledge I needed to try it.  

Our house is a testament to the gradual decline of Handsome Partner into almost total paralysis. From the portable ramp, often lent in recent years to people for visitors, to grab bars everywhere, bathrooms, entryway, staircase, the shower stool in both upstairs bathrooms, currently used to hold stacks of towels. Then there's Carol Cane, a walker and a transport wheelchair.  I kept everything for lending where needed, and now I find I'm needing the cane to help me walk. I do use the bathroom grab bars though.

So, not an easy decision, because it may be the new normal. Then I found it helpful. And I thought well, this body is doing a terrific job, all these old parts still ticking over nicely, getting to do things I like. So it's okay to get a bit of help where needed. As for Ruth and Laura, the journey to actually saying okay I'll try this, was fairly long. 

But considering how many of my contemporaries, those still around, that is, have all kinds of aftermarket parts installed, I'm doing fiiine! 

And here's a great passage from Padraig O'Tuama, Irish poet, whose newsletter I read. That's exactly why I write about food in this blog, sometimes with recipes, often not, just to add a connection point with you, and invite yours in return. I think people who wouldn't dream of cooking what I do, especially the multi ingredient multi stage recipes, still like to know someone does.

Meanwhile, breathe

campaigning, fountain and art going up

 Since the cleaners came Friday I made myself scarce as usual, pausing only to leave out a few clothing items in case they'd like any or all.

Then, forgetting Ruth and Laura, still on the charger, can't think of everything, me and Carol Cane went to the library.

Between reading the latest Osman, a really funny, very good read, with new characters to be the future cast in the series, I noticed two men in the gallery arguing and laughing and hanging a show.

I'm always so proud of the gallery and how we bet, correctly, there was enough art talent in our little town to keep a gallery supplied indefinitely with excellent art. 

I was sitting in the food-permitted area, and at the right you'll see the table where the public puzzle is set up.

And I found another use for Carol. To protect my neck I have to hold books and screens up to read, which I do at home using a pillow.

I found that Carol's handle stood in just fine. It's padded and soft, just the ticket.

And I did some stealth campaigning, leaving postcards in the bathroom and the area for newspapers and flyers

And I added a post it note to the community message board, intended for encouraging messages. I think telling people they matter is encouraging.

Campaigning down to the wire. It's not over till it's over.

The morning turned out so beautiful when the sun appeared that I went for a stroll around the fountain.

I wanted to visit it before it's shut off for the winter.

When I got home I found my cleaning lady had accepted a painted and stitched top, yay. Very glad she liked it, or possibly it's for her daughter. The rest of the pieces can be donated locally.

Nice day. Too much activity to fit in the knitting group, so I'll catch up with them next week.

Happy day everyone, enjoy any sunshine you can catch. I was wearing my speckled shirt today with a blue linen jacket and ancient bluejeans. That shirt is working nicely.

Diwali is the feast of lights. Photo AC.

Misfits day and assistive devices

After the hours stuck yesterday in the surgical waiting room chair, despite my getting up and stretching and trying not to get stiff, my dodgy hip was in a state this morning.

I hadn't walked yesterday and really wanted to today, so I bowed to reality and rummaged in the coat closet for the cane last used many years ago by Handsome Partner.

I fiddled about to get it adjusted to fit then went to YouTube to learn how to use it! To be exact, which hand to hold it in. Turns out you do best using the hand opposite the hurting part.

So I did that and took a trial short walk to test my skills. I got the hang of it and the hip definitely hurts less with the support of the cane.  The only tiny hitch was bursting out laughing at the comic figure I cut trying to get my feet moving right, the cane mixing me up at first. Like the caterpillar forgetting how to move his feet when he starts thinking about it.

So I got home and posed on the deck as a scary old lady sitting leaning on her cane ready to judge people and wave it about threateningly. It gives a new meaning to raising cane.. You kids get off my lawn! It's a plain cane, and I'm thinking of decorating it.

I did see an interesting lichen on my walk, not many lichen this year, maybe because of the drought, which looked like a white freehand drawing on a tree.

Later I did stretches and weights and the standing up exercise, to get back in trim, or as near to trim as I can get anyway.

Misfits box arrived, and the recyclables from the last box were picked up 

I'm trying purple garlic, new to me, but you can't go far wrong with garlic, oat milk which I could make at home but why not, Nancy's yogurt likewise,  honeynut squash I think I'll probably bake and stuff, since they're small and a nice flavor. Black beans to keep up my bean department, you always need back up beans.

This was a small order, between larger ones. It's such a luxury to have great food appearing reliably on the step. I used to hate grocery shopping and get in a blur with the choices and finding where they'd moved my things this time.

I think rearranging the store is a marketing idea, to bring you past different items you might suddenly need. It backfires with me, just making me annoyed when I'm traipsing around in search of something that was right there last week.

I'm now reading the latest Osman 

This is the first of a new series, different characters from the Thursday Murder Club series, and up to now looks like fun.

Happy day everyone, use whatever you need to do what you need to do!  When you read this it will be November. How did that happen?

 

Medical appointment, cosmos still

Wednesday held a sleepless night because of anxiety about Handsome Son doing prep for a colonoscopy, his first. The prep schedule involved taking the rx liquid in two sessions, one at 6pm, the other at, this is not a typo, 3am. He called the medical center to check if this was correct. Yes.  He managed fine but his mother was a wreck! 

It really doesn't matter how old your kid is, he's your kid! Then I had high anxiety about being over there early enough to drive him to the surgical center, and about finding it, and about having a passenger for the first time in 20, that is also not a typo, years. 

He managed fine, I needed to come home and sleep, which I did. He was wobbly, so first I walked him up the stairs to his condo,  and wanted to make him a cup of tea and a snack. He ended up doing it because he insisted I wouldn't be able to find anything and I wouldn't do it right..his home, his stuff!

Then he was looking much better, normal color, talking fine, so I eventually made it home after what turned out, after all my drama, to be a perfectly successful enterprise, some minor issues found, all very manageable. 

Bowl of chicken soup, and I fell asleep for an hour, woke to find he'd texted to check on me! Then a pot of tea out on the deck, beautiful warm day, no mosquitoes after a couple of light frosts. I fell asleep again while officially reading more Barchester. 

My view

 Cosmos laughs at frost. 

Online meeting with friends this evening, and that's Wednesday. So glad it's done. I can handle a lot for myself, but when it's Handsome Son, who's perfectly fit and capable, well, that's different.

And one bright spot: Wednesday's supper was bangin'.  Baby bella mushrooms, firm tofu seasoned with red chili oil and that umami spice mix I made, blurt of soy sauce, in an omelette. 

Cheered me right up, just five star. Having the seasonings ready made, learned from Yeung Man Cooking, is the difference between long cooking when you're hungry and fast great food.  No pictures because it wasn't pretty, just delicious.

My street is full of houses decorated with lights for Diwali, and frantic police reminders that the state is tinder dry, so fireworks are not a good idea.  In fact this year they're banned, because we're at high risk for fire, very unusual around here 

Here's the speckly shirt in action 

Happy day everyone! Try not to get as worked up as I, if possible. Eat well.   Enjoy Diwali, don't burn the place down.

 

Great Tuesday, all fiber all the time, and other things

Gary is going away for a couple of weeks, so he entrusted this anthurium plant to me, no pressure there..Someone else is watering his houseful. 

And I have another mystery plant suddenly showing up. 

The leaf is a bit geranium like. What do you think? This is what happens when you strew seeds in a carefree way then months later find puzzles growing.

Before I went to the Tuesday Knitting Group, I was overcome by the need to do this project. Including finding the materials, 15 minutes start to finish of doing, then  left it to dry while I was out.

Nice random speckly design. The spaces where the straws and spaghetti were suggest trees.

Speaking of sudden ideas, I just discovered lumra work, hooking roving through canvas. Thinking about a little mat for my feet at the sofa.. 

The knitting group was lovely, beginner knitter soldiering through a lacy pattern, experienced knitter helping her,  beginning crocheter continuing her first chain, now with her own hook and yarn, and signing up for the classes another member is teaching.

Shawl needing minor repair, done by another participant 

Who is knitting a hat for her mother, and a matching cowl.

Chat ranged over plumbing excitement, playing with babies, Aida,  movie locations, The Sound of Music, aging parents, local memorabilia, Elsie the Borden Cow, local resident, Elsie was her stage name, buried here, upcoming singing recital, stitch markers and Rhinebeck.

Then home to Textiles and Tea, which presented a brilliant young fiber artist,

who incorporates her Indian heritage and materials, including her grandmother's saris, into her work. 

She interprets Indian culture and tradition, the male gaze brought by colonial rule --when women began to wear a blouse with the sari-- the expectations in earlier generations about widowhood, in amazing dyed, spun, crocheted and woven enormous installations. 

Her work is powerful and she'll be an artist to follow, still so young but so wise and intuitive.

Happy day, everyone, this was another cool Tues.

Trying to keep my election nerves in place. This too shall pass.