Mrs Soprano lives!

Friday was the Chair Installation Day, and Cody and his sidekick arrived and set to work.

How it works is pretty easy. You hold onto a switch thing indicating which direction, up or down, and it starts up slowly then gets up to speed, slightly faster than an athletic snail, and you ride sideways. 

At the top you push one of those paddles under the seat to turn the chair so you're facing the landing, and you get off, remembering your purse and carryon.

There are two remotes, so you can send it up or down, carrying stuff without a person. I could have used this the other day when I lugged up a big wandering dude, indoors for the winter. One remote stays downstairs, the other upstairs. The tech showed me how to use the seatbelt to secure big items! He knew.

I've been thinking about this for years and I'm glad it's finally done and seems to be working fine.  They are located about 40 minutes away, pretty good if service is required. 

That was one of the things that knocked some makers out of contention. One, based in Massachusetts, couldn't service where I live. Good to check because you don't want anyone other than techs trained on your brand tinkering with it. After I'd learned a bit and watched many videos, that service question was the first one I asked. 

So I'm all set to come down like Mrs Soprano and terrify people. Or, more likely, come down waving and screaming and eating cotton candy. You gotta take your fun where you can.

Interestingly, I priced these chairs many years ago when it still seemed possible for Handsome Partner to use one. They were almost as expensive then as this one now.  Maybe they were rarer then, but the various makes were comparable in price. 

And while the installation took place I went off for a nice hike to the pond, maybe to prove I can.  And to look for ducks.

I think this might have been a puffball. 

It was a beautiful day, great for walking and tossing stray golfballs back onto the course. These players are wild hitters but very strong.

And there were ducks, one male and three female friends. 

The "beef" plant stuff makes good burgers, mixed with egg to bind them, no spice needed, they're well seasoned. Just broiled and served with three bean salad, or, today, lovely roast diced potatoes and malt vinegar.

Since I'm weaving again, I ordered two more loom clamps from the Woolery, nice artisanal people to deal with. This is how they acknowledge an order 

This enthusiasm reminds me of Ivy! All joy all the time, that's Happy Whisk.

Happy day everyone, there's usually some reason to scream and wave and eat cotton candy.

Horse blankets, Misfits and a small life

This week's Textiles and Tea was a surprise. I wasn't sure I was interested in a weaver specializing in horse blankets. I wasn't even sure what they were about.

Turns out they're for protecting the horse's back from the saddle and they make a lot of difference. They're also decorative and people buy them for the back of the sofa. And this presenter was terrific.

Here she is, spins and natural-dyes her yarns,  from churro sheep fleece, classic Western yarn used by indigenous people for generations.  She grows and forages her dye material from plants and insects, as in cochineal.

She also makes garments like this

Dye samples in one of her notebooks 

It ended up being one of the most interesting episodes to date.

In other news, I skipped the knitters group because Handsome Son was visiting. He gave the chocolate pancakes a so-so rating, agreeing they'd be better breakfast food because they're not sweet. 

And the stair lift people came to measure.

Starting, as you see, at the wrong house, but I caught them before they left again and all was well. Mistake back at HQ, they called and got it corrected.

Then they measured everything including noting my height and weight! They think on account of my small size they can install the chair and preserve the banister and the grab bars on the opposite wall. 

Evidently the size, maybe height, of the user governs the installation space needed. My stairway is a bit narrow for bars on both sides, but they're important for safety. They'll be back to install Friday, and we'll see then. 

Before I get to Misfits, I have a question. I was involved recently in a discussion about living solo and getting out of the house.

The received wisdom is that unless you force yourself out and about, we're talking older people not going to a workplace, your world will shrink. And that's bad. 

But nobody can tell me why it's bad to be home occupying yourself happily with whatever you like doing.  So if you have any insight, please share. Why is it not good to have a small life? I wonder if this is another extrovert expectation, or FOMO, or what.

And on the subject of food the local food pantry is getting a windfall on account of the grifter in the White House trying to buy my vote, too late anyway, by depositing $90 in my bank account. 

He must think my vote is cheap, when in fact it's priceless. Anyway I'll round it up and send it to the food pantry to use for people whose need is definitely greater than mine.

To underline my privilege, Ron arrived to deliver another box of great food, driving a pink van evidently in the middle of a repaint job.

The makings of three bean salad, now made, black beans, cannellini on my shelf, green beans, scallions.

I made my dressing of the garlic ginger soy mix I made a while back, malt vinegar, red wine vinegar, olive oil and sugar. Now resting in the fridge.

Yogurt, different,  because my regular isn't available, but this is good. A spoonful of Meghan's raspberry spread with yogurt is a wonderful dessert.

Potatoes now parboiled and ready to roast, to serve with burgers of plant "beef" actually mushrooms and other plants.

Look at those beautiful eggs! I never get over how lovely they are. And they have sturdy shells which take a good thump on the counter to crack them.

Loads of spinach for future quiche and maybe soup with potatoes and veg stock on the shelf. Bananas for breakfast on toast. Apples for midmorning.  Small chicken on the freezer for whenever I feel like eating chicken again.

Beautiful happy day, and I sat on the deck in the sunshine, drinking tea, watching butterflies and feeling very good with my life. I hope yours has days like this, many of them.

Exhaling, baking experiment, final flowers

Update on the stair lift and permit: after I decided to go ahead anyway, this morning the township engineer got back to me to say no permit needed. So I've filed that away just in case. 

He was very prompt, considering I'd written close to closing time Friday and he got back early this morning. Clearly a man who attends to email first thing on Monday.

I had also given the go ahead to the stair man, at the weekend, and he too got back promptly, and we're on again. By Friday, all being well, the doings will be in place and carrying stuff up and down for me.

Meanwhile the cleaners wondered if they could use a newly opened slot this morning at my house, and that seems great timing to me, stairs newly cleaned before the installation. So they're at my house and I'm at the library.

And just now I heard from my contractor that he's ordered the bathtub kit, for delivery this weekend.  So with any luck that will move ahead too. It's all go.

In other news, I'm reading via audio while I weave, stay tuned, a book by Ashton  Applewhite about ageist stereotypes. 

It's a manifesto about ageist approaches to almost every aspect of living, written by a woman in her sixties coming to grips with her own aging, who used to believe a lot of the stereotypes herself. 

She's her own audiobook reader, and it's pretty good. I'm finding it a little disheartening to study all the ways, but it's useful reading.

Then last night I watched Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, from a wonderful novel by Elizabeth Taylor. I'd read and appreciated the book long ago. 

But the premise, an older once affluent now widowed lady, real sense of the word, moves into a cheapish residential hotel and what happens then, was much harder to tackle. 

With actors like Celia Johnson at work, and now in my own old age, my understanding is much greater. The poignancy of the people trying to keep up the appearance of having caring family was hard to navigate.

I'm baffled that it was marketed as a comedy, maybe to render the subject of old people having to live out their lives in a hotel more palatable. It would fit with the stereotypes described in Applewhite's book, if so.

More cheerful doings is the new weaving. I'm making a kitchen floor mat. At first I tried making a long warp, using the frame loom with the end piece unscrewed, but I had trouble keeping the tension as I warped. 

I've done it successfully before but this time, maybe the nature of the cotton yarn, not so much. So I decided to make it in sections to join together, rather than struggle.

It's the cotton yarn I made that long summer scarf from, nice color transition tan to pink to slate to white. It will be good against a white floor. And I really enjoy working with that curved shuttle.

 I did a baking experiment. Oatmeal chocolate pancakes, like a cake type thing.

I've added the recipe in case you fancy trying them.  I'll test them on Handsome Son next time I see him. He's done baking experiments himself so he gets the idea. Again I used aqua faba instead of eggs, and it works fine. 

And on the grounds that I'm worth it, I gave myself a present, from As Ever, a top of the line food source, owned and run by Meghan Sussex. Here's the unboxing 

Marmalade, raspberry and strawberry spreads. I've had the apricot spread and it really was excellent. I wonder if a touch of one of them might be good with the chocolate pancakes.

And in case I ran out of things to do, I repotted a couple of plants, creating a mess in the kitchen but finally getting done a couple of jobs I've been meaning to for eons.

Our state is now officially out of drought emergency, thanks to all the inches that fell lately.

 And the little bouquets are tapering off for the year, here Russian sage and chrysanthemums smelling wonderful.

That's Chez Boud for now, and my quiet uneventful days don't sound that way when I write it down. 

Happy day everyone, whether quiet or uproarious.

Stairs and steps and food

 Look at nature's art. With a bit of help from hybridizers.

Misfits this week is a nice array, with the makings of the giant quiche, using onions and kale from the freezer with the eggs and carrots and cheese that just arrived. 

Also raspberries, can't often get them because they don't ship well, and two kinds of yogurt because my regulars aren't available. 

So I'm trying a coconut cashew yogurt, and I'm not sure if I'll repeat it. It's a bit oily in texture compared to dairy yogurt. Nice with raspberries, though anything would be, really.

A lot of bread for the freezer, in case I don't feel like baking, and these loaves aren't available often these days.

Whole bean coffee, though I don't like grinding coffee early in the morning. The ground coffee wasn't available, but maybe I'll grind it all at once, I'm not a coffee purist. Hot, strong and in a cup will do it.

I'm back to eating apples raw, and up to now it seems okay. 

Meanwhile back at the stairs, I decided to just go ahead, not wait for the bathroom work, who knows when that will happen.

So I had a brisk correspondence with a stair man, exchanged pictures, questions, got a quote, name brand products, clear quote, all answers handled well, and decided why not. 

I have to say he wasn't pressuring me, in fact I was driving the tempo. So we set up first visit, measurements, deposit, for Tuesday, then installation, since everything's in stock, Friday.

Then I seem to have put a stick in the spokes, because I suddenly wondered if I needed a permit. 

Now, for a removable, battery operated device attached only to stair treads, it seems unlikely. But I know the town I live in, and the building department, and I don't want to complicate life later for Handsome Son. So I put in a question to the building department.

Meanwhile the stair man said well technically NJ does have requirements, which will take months because it has to be approved by state, county and township. And we can handle that for, whoa, $1800.

I think he's mixed up with the state requirements for public spaces and ADA compliance. I looked it up, I found it does exist, but does not apply to private homes. So I put a hold just for now in the process until I hear back from the township. I'll still go ahead soon 

I may be worrying about nothing, not unusual for me, because the company has a buyback policy, where they will remove and buy a stair glide when it's no longer needed. 

Tactful way of saying when the user dies.  Which means it needn't be an issue at sale time, my real concern, not wanting to burden Handsome Son with complications after I die. He'll have enough to deal with. 

Same permit thought crossed my mind about the bathtub cutout but it's hardly likely to need permitting, since it's not changing plumbing or redoing construction. So I may decide to calm down 

In good news, my bone doctor liked most of my blood test results, except one high parathyroid one but she said let's just watch, no need to rush to surgery. 

She meant at my age, I expect, and fine by me. My bones are doing fine.  She instructed me not to fall, please, and I agreed to do my best.

So that's where I am.  I finished the gloves and may have a taker, and that's my knitting chapter closed.   I'm thinking about several weaving projects next. 

I like to have something happening, particularly when the season changes, not being a big fan of Fall, and I can't handle Halloween. So I need a project to turn to. That's usually not hard to find.

Happy day everyone, don't worry about being in the minority among people who love Halloween so much they've been counting down for months. It's okay not to.

Weaving and other complications

I'm continuing to cut back on activities, because I get tired. There's a lot to do at home and I have to budget my energy 

The bathroom is still in the works and after that, this is the staircase for the stair glide 

Today I skipped the knitting group and got a text filling me in on the doings, complete with a picture of the writer's current project! Not my picture so I'm not posting it here, sorry.

My ballot arrived and is already set for the dropbox.

Also in the same mail bad news: my trusted longtime doctor who has seen me through a lot of difficult years, through the caregiving and on, is retiring. This isn't unexpected but I was hoping for longer. 

I have an appointment with her already for mid October, so that will be the last. She sent a list of other doctors in the practice and I've already set up an introductory appointment with one of them.

She's young, so she won't be retiring soon, wears a Moslem hijab, so is probably excellent, knowing the barriers she must have overcome, to get into a first rate practice. And she has her office in this town, saves me traipsing all the way to the other practice office further away. So I'm hopeful this will work out.

Then some very nice chukka boots I ordered arrived, really nice, ordered, at the retailer's suggestion, one size bigger than usual. But so sad, too small. 

They're going back tomorrow and I find they're charging me to return them. That's it for shopping with Lands End. I took their advice, they were wrong and I still have to pay shipping.   Sigh.

I have been struggling to finish the last pair of fingerless gloves, not easy with my current hands, but I'll get them done and given and it will feel complete.

And the embroidery is moving along 

I'm planning on a trailing vine down the front appearing to grow from the pocket.

And I have a weaving idea I want to get into soon, using a lot of yarns.

Then there was Textiles and Tea with 

An astonishingly versatile artist, painter, printmaker and now weaver, on every kind of loom, from antique to frame, to TC2. 

She really understands art and expression and using the medium of weaving for meaning. My new weaving impulse is coming from watching her energy at work.

Gold tokens. All her pieces are meaningful as well as free standing artworks.

She weaves large pieces for public spaces and teaches through residencies. She's a young and gifted artist, definitely worth following.

So that's Boud for now. Happy day everyone, vote, please, don't settle for tight boots, and remember recharging is important.

More than ever, after the hideous attack at Cornell we trust women. Then bears.