Juneteenth, Walking and Misfits

It took a long time for the news of the January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation to get around.  Slave owners were not in a big rush to lose their source of wealth, the enforced labor of Black people. 

This date in June commemorates the arrival of the news, finally, in Texas, in 1865. Two and a half years to get there. 

Celebrate while we can before someone decides to abolish the holiday. Nobody can abolish the day and its significance. 

I've taken to early morning walking before it gets too hot, amazing for someone who has never been a morning person. I'm out with the dog walkers nowadays. 

Looking back towards my house, down there on the left past the little red aralia. 

And home again after about half an hour, and the empties are now out for Misfits pickup 

I bless them for retrieving the ice blocks and insulated bags, saves my trying to find homes for them, too bad for such good items to be single use. The ice blocks go to Gary once his summer sports with grandchildren start, for his cooler. He'll let me know when.

The Envy apples ran out, sad, but everything else showed up. I remembered yogurt and eggs and cheese as you see. The pumpkin filling is for a bread with the dried cranberries. Cilantro because I add it in all over, and chocolate covered nuts and raisins,nutritious.

Yesterday the tofu katsu plan didn't happen because I found one more container of the spicy black beans and rice in the freezer.

I added in chunks of fresh apricot, which worked well enough to make a note to do it again. The combination of spicy rice-and-beans heat, and fresh fruit was very good.  And I'm reheating on the stove, up to now working fine.

Maybe the tofu sticks will happen today.

 Narrator: they did.

This time I skipped the batter, but dipped the sticks into aqua faba then the panko, and they worked just as well. More to come, too. 

The dipping sauce you see is just enough for this number of sticks. Tablespoon of ketchup -- organic, not that brand name metallic-tasting kind-- a bit less of soy sauce, splash of apple cider vinegar.

The salad was spinach with a few bits of scallion I'm growing from a previous one, and a dash of lime juice.

Also summer seems to be here, so I broke out the hand-stitched linen top from last year, cool, loose fitting. Not seen here, there's an inverted pleat detail on the sleeves. 

 And another sign of the season, the lavender is out, bringing bees, well, one bee

And the first little bouquet of the season 

Lavender, poppy dropping her petals, philodendron, coleus.

Happy day everyone, when apples don't arrive, you're obliged to eat chocolate.

Sez Ted. And Ursy agrees mrmph.

Wordy Wednesday

After Gary kindly helped me this morning dispose of the deceased microwave, and offered to pick up a new one wherever I ordered it from, I got off on my walk before it got too hot. 

The wild daylilies are out near the pond 

And it seems early for the fungi I'm seeing, probably the wet spring and recent days of rain. 

Home again and there's an apprentice mechanic next door, showing a keen interest in what's under the hood.

When they were leaving she ran to the driver's side and had to be redirected to the passenger seat. Quite ambitious.

I'm decluttering the kitchen of things that belong outside, such as clay pots and saucers, and in the recycle, such as old tin cans, unusable metal baking dishes, an oven thermometer which is impossible to read, terrible design, plastic algae ridden containers. To name a few. 

It's looking better, still a lot of stuff, but I use everything that's now on the shelves, the best criterion.

I recently noted a YouTuber I like very much,  a simple-living non dogmatic, good natured Dutch woman, pointing out that there can be an addictive element to winnowing. 

Now that's an interesting thought, and may well be true and worth a moment. When it gets to be an activity for its own sake, rather than a useful improvement, hm, that's a thought.

I like to do it with care, and I have little respect for attaching numerical goals, so many items per day, over so many days. That seems more of an invented fad than a useful way of working.   

It might also be useful for a person who agonizes and can't get organized. Not judging here, just thinking.

And while I'm thinking, here's another think*

bundled car and home policies for a better deal. 

* I lost wifi in the middle of a thought so I made a screenshot to avoid having to rewrite, hence the different appearance of part of this paragraph. Back to the narrative:

And after we finished talking I felt a whole lot better.  I think it wasn't loneliness after all, it was feeling untethered. Being asked for information drew me right back in as an active neighbor. Ah. Claro.

Happy day everyone, what's your take on any or all of these random bits of trivia?

Finally, bread, Tuesday knitting group, Textiles and Tea

The endless cold rainy weather finally pushed me to making bread. Yesterday's soup, of tomatoes, chicken and chickpeas, in a broth of chicken and dandelion greens, needed an accompaniment.

So here's whole-wheat, AP and chickpea flour, big loaf to cut into four, three now in the freezer. 

It's got great flavor and you see a nice dense texture. The crust is crisp, not hard. This is so much better than the bread I bought for several weeks till I got my baking mojo back. One slice is as satisfying as a couple of the air filled shop loaves, even though they were wholegrain with seeds and good stuff.

This is helping with my current struggle with being a civilian again, no medical people hovering and advising and encouraging, neighbors off high alert.  There's a lonely re-entry phase and it's not easy. 

The drama's over, things are pretty smooth, and all the people have gone away again. I wonder if old people who often consult doctors are in need of personal attention as much as medical guidance.  Anyway, I knew there would be a letdown and it's here. 

It's made room to be more distraught about the endless bad political news, so I need a new coping strategy. I'll let you know if I find one. 

Activism I always have, and here's where I remember to say thank you to readers, particularly new and helpful commenters. 

You are more important to my mental health than you know. Much more, particularly the good humored people, who, despite their own struggles, are still generous enough to encourage me.

I continue to be a bit accident prone, in the style of the Three Stooges. Today's feat: I managed, while rinsing a cup, to aim about a pint of water up my bathrobe sleeve, then when I looked down at it, it poured back over my feet. So by seven am I'd already changed to a second, dry, robe and socks.  This wasn't the coping strategy I had in mind.

But this sustaining lunch was a good step 

Cod baked with butter, salt and black pepper, with fresh apricots, celery including clippings of foliage from the celery heart growing in the kitchen.

Today's Tuesday knitting group was my reentry! Welcomed back by old friends, and there were three new people all wanting to learn. So, our usual great teacher absent on family business, two of us heroically offered to teach crochet. They were all adept and it was a fun session.  So good to be back.

In the foreground, my crocheting staggers on

Lovely stitch pattern for a headband.

In between learning and showing, talk ranged over antique dolls, garage sales, Indian embroidery, grandchildren, weather, flying with knitting needles, the Dollivers, "Amelie", and more. 

Then home to  Textiles and Tea with Johanna Norry,  who works in collaborative and solo weaving,  with photography, examining personal and social history.  She's a professor of textiles with degrees both in textiles and anthropology.

two collaged family photographs of the same people, different times

A relative whose figure was described more than the crime she was accused of, a social commentary.

This is an indigo painted piece, woven ikat style

here's one of my favorite techniques, clasped weft, dramatic results but simple in execution, a collaborative pair.

This is a cross stitch selfie, 6" x4", with about 100 hours of work in it. She designed it with an app then stitched the result.

here are photographs of her daughter and her, woven together and paired with a collaged weaving

Happy day, everyone. Mine certainly was.

Sunday, Sunday...

I've had better days than yesterday. 

I realized I really have to replace my three bathroom faucets, over 30 years old and builder's standard. 

They're all getting difficult to turn, corroding, generally aged out. They're not leaking, which is why I haven't rushed to fix them. Then I checked the price for even modest replacements and the potential plumber's bill.  About three times my estimate. 

I want to hire a plumber because local friends have done enough lately, also I've done better with an expensive plumber than with willing but less experienced friends. I can't do the contortions required myself though it's not that skilled.  Soooo, big sigh...

Then while I was moaning about this I thought I'd melt some butter in the microwave for pancakes. I'd made a little supply of strawberry sauce with the last of the strawberries getting overripe. So pancakes with strawberry s. seemed like a good idea. Melting butter is part of the recipe. So I did, using the same butter, dish, cover, everything as usual.

Whereupon the microwave literally shot flames out. I unplugged and checked the back, and found the panel completely blackened, oops, could have been a fire. I also found the label saying this appliance was made in 1995. Another 30 years of service coming to a close. 

Now I have a heavy thing to dispose of if I can lift it. And I'm deciding on whether I need to replace it or whether a different appliance might be good, or whether a new replacement would last long enough to be worth it.

Hippolyta is a bit achy this morning, lack of walking because of rain, and I was about to reheat my rice bag then remembered that was one handy use for a microwave. Ah.

So I posted a request on Freecycle, my usual shopping outlet. That's where I got the current microwave, many years ago, in excellent condition from a nonprofit whose staff used it to reheat lunches and tea. Their boss gave them an upgrade and they Freecycled the perfectly fine as-new one.  

All this is so first world compared to what a lot of my countrypeople are enduring. But I think a brief whine is okay now and then.

And there's Foyle. Last evening I watched  the anthrax episode. At least I don't have anthrax. And I didn't burn down Notre Dame, nor throw a military snoozefest in the rain.  So there's that.

Happy day everyone, cold rain here again. The flowers like it, good for them.  And there's a sparrow out there breakfasting on little bits of pancake leftovers.

And the first daylily came out yesterday, among the lavender 

I think these are seedpods from the vetch growing all over. Officially a weed, I like it, along with day flowers, various creeping viny things, bittercress,  sorrel, with which I'm blessed. This used to be farmland and it still supports all the plants that used to drive farmers mad.

I think I'll make soup today. Mid June and soup weather, doesn't seem to compute. But I have stock and chicken bones, so I can see a tomato chickpea soup in my immediate future.  And crisp tofu katsu sticks maybe.

When life hands you lemons, make chicken soup sez Ted and Big Ursy. And it's Bloomsday, and I finally did finish reading Ulysses. 

Yesterday millions showed up, thank you!

Tragedy in Minnesota, and triumph in many places, No Kings Day was a day of contrasts. Thank you everyone who was on the right side of history. And especially thank you to Minnesotans who still turned out, refusing to be terrorized out of their right to protest.

Somewhere here in this crowd is blogista Chris! For red Idaho, this is massive. And with great signs. Meanwhile the man who would be king had a quiet day, tanks squeaking down empty streets.

Yesterday we had torrential rain most of the day, and I made this, comfort food.

Baked tomatoes, cheese, baby bellas,  capers and aqua faba. On toast, it was about right for the weather and my needy mood. No idea what to name it.

Back at the lookout, Ted has recruited Big Ursy as a bodyguard, complete with pussy hat from the last time we were in this fight. 

Good morning, everyone! Happy day, let's keep up the pressure and the hope. Just for today I'm being low-key. But first, check this out on YouTube. It's the Chicks.