May the Fourth be with you!

 Happy Star Wars Day

In other news, the Friday knitting group was just two of us, so I admired the latest grandchild pictures, she continued on the sweater you've seen before and I continued my technicolor spiral sock.

Talk ranged over spacing of children, friends with kids ten years apart, weather, book group selections, unreasonable freecyclers, people who request a change of time/day for established groups, nonworking public clocks, and knitting sleeves.

The weather is cold again so there will be spaghetti and meatballs in future forecasts.

Happy day, everyone, enjoy your weather whatever it's about.

Misfits box, fabric book, patio pottering

 Misfits arrived today and even though it wasn't the Imperfect pink van, the box arrived fine, last week's freezer block and foil bag were picked up and all was well.

Months since I bought yogurt but I thought I'd do it to make sure I'm keeping up with all the good bacteria in my own yogurt, using the last of this as a starter next time.

The coconut milk is for a red lentil curry I plan next week, leaving an interval after I finish the current lentil dish.

Did you like the codpieces? Sorry to tell you they're just fish, what were you thinking?

The Freecycle has been going well, and I do like Freecyclers who message a thanks, especially when they love the thing. 

Then there's the other kind. Like this person, name withheld, who said they could pick up one group of items "sometime next week". 

I ask for specific day and approx time, because I put them unprotected on the step. I'd already specified this but I was being patient. 

Then this, and my rather terse response 

No, I'm not giving out my address without a commitment, and I suspect they misread it, thought I was in the much bigger, busier,  town I post to, nearest chapter . Despite my saying this in the post. 

They walk among us! I bet they never show. Usually it's people who want a penpal deal who end up not committing. The old saying about how 80% of the agita is created by 20% of the people.

I did some meditative stitching on my fabric book here 

And while I was thinking about making, I'd been talking about Goats Magosh in the knitting group, where I'd got my roving from a couple of years ago. I'm low and thought I'd shop for roving from her.  

And now I can't find her. No Etsy shop now, no eBay, nothing anywhere, even searched on F***book, she's not in business. If anyone knows more, let me know. She's lovely to work with.

And to prove it, here's a completely unsolicited plug she gave me, years ago, never knew she'd done it. In fact the main Google references I found on her were my own old art blog.

Afternoon spent reading another dinner ladies mystery on the patio in the shade with a wind blowing to keep it cooler.

Next to my chair, the sage is budding up.

Happy day, everyone, enjoy whatever rolls, or buds,  up today.

Fountain views, sheep and making drawing sticks

Yesterday was a cleaners day as well as a busy freecycling event. So this meant I went out to the library to do some knitting, work a bit of the public puzzle, and walk around the square.

Near the fountain is a favorite spot for lunchers and there was one young Asian  woman rapidly running worry beads through her fingers. It's a meditative spot with little landscapes in the design.

 Clumps of mint growing round the rim, too.

Home again and all the biggest freecycling items were picked up, leaving me with several boxes to sort. More to go today but now I'm 

It turns out that the fireplace sealing was responsible for the extent of this large amount of winnowing chez Handsome Son.

In case they needed to access the roof, he'd cleared a space in his walk in closet because that's where the roof access is, and once started, figured he may as well keep going! Usually it's one small box now and then.

Out of this large consignment, I scored some black jeans, nearly new, which didn't fit him but do fit me, yay. And they're men's which means great pockets. So that's my fee for service.

About the rare breed sheep, here's a bit more information 

And here's an experiment I am absolutely going to try soon.

Where I live is more likely to be sandy rather than the desirable clay, but I may try a bit of digging in the tree area, because it's relatively untouched by amending, and see what I get.

This artist lives in Montana, different geology, and creates pastel sticks and watercolor from natural materials around her.  I would just like to create a couple of sticks to draw with, always love making my own materials. So we'll see.  

Meanwhile today misfits arrives and, at the local farm, a sign of spring

Happy day, everyone, have new adventures. And

Mayday! Celebrate the workers! White rabbits!

 

Tuesday knitting group brought a new member, and the announcement that we're expanding our range to include any needle arts. So everyone there said, lovely, I'll bring my embroidery! Turns out we all embroider.

No pictures, but talk ranged over Maryland Sheep and Wool next weekend, rare breed sheep, (human) newborns, Shave em to Save em (rare sheep breeds),  spinning, and other vital topics.

Home again and handsome son arrived to visit, bringing a car load of stuff for me to free cycle, several boxes as well as these, 

all of which were requested right away. Haven't checked  what's in the the boxes yet. 

He declared the ANZAC biscuits terrific, and did I only make them once a year? 

He also approved the chocolate covered almond bits. I may make ANZAC biscuits again soon.

And earlier I was thinking about the next page of my fabric book, maybe that Indian free form quilting, so I took a look at my collection of silk stitched stars and found I had a whole lot of completed cotton stars, too, that I'd completely forgotten

This is only some of them. I must have been on a starmaking tear.

So my next page may not be quilting, but applique, we'll see. 

I organized the drawers of floss, lovely visual experience, and it will be better than rummaging every time I need to change colors. 

One drawer is what Marion calls her tangle, a mass of threads to pull out as needed, and now it's not concealing the other skeins.

Happy day, everyone, whether it looks more like tangle than skein. All good.

All the pieces  I found are stitched and finished, ready to use. I must have made them when I made those English paper pieced pillows. The silk stars were hanging in the kitchen window as a mobile, until I moved on.  As you do.

Page one done, hello sun, and spiral socks

Here's the first page of the fabric book completed 

Leaving a space in the creation continuum for Ministry Socks, this time spiral tube socks, a while since I knitted any. 

This was in the afternoon, and I made good use of the morning by sending off packages to various people. I hope they please, and arrive okay.

There was quite a bit of user error in the mailing process, since I picked out what I thought were regular priority mail cardboard envelopes, laboriously addressed and stuffed and sealed them, trying to get the right items in the right envelope.

Nice man at the counter said before we do this, did you realize the blue printing means overnight, and it's $35 per? Well, no, since it didn't say so. 

He provided me with sympathy and new envelopes and labels and I went through the whooooole thing again, after opening the wrong envelopes, transferring the contents to the right, affordable, kind, and wrote alllll the addresses again.

Nice man said we usually try to catch people picking up the blue ones, sorry I missed you. All fine now.  No thanks to whoever designed the $-$-** blue printed envelopes.

It was warm, even to the point of  finally pushing me into washing down the patio chairs. 

Which I did, after reading outside and possibly sleeping and dreaming of stitching, lovely afternoon. Lemon tea. Woodpeckers working, little butterfly, maybe a red admiral, a bit early for the butterfly bush. 

The chives are budding up, as you see,  and I might make paneer and stud it with chive blossoms when they appear.

Handsome Son plans to visit Tuesday after I get home from Tuesday knitting group, so the little stash of ANZAC biscuits in the freezer will come out, along with some chocolate covered almonds. Weather back to the 60s, so it's an indoor extravaganza.

Happy day, everyone, and here's a thought 

Speaking of annoying insects, I have an update on the ants on the counter. They're gone. Except for a few tiny corpses. The mixture evidently worked. Down from dozens of them all over everything, to maybe two enfeebled survivors.

And, another clever update: the dryer that partly broke down? I decided it was a computer related issue so I did the classic unplug everything, go away, try again next day, plug in, reset dials. And to my complete astonishment, I mean my complete expectation, it works fine again. 

So I'm better at complex electronic repairs than at posting parcels. Or something.

Afternoon on the patio, season opener

The temp suddenly went from below freezing to 80°f, not unusual for NJ April, at least no blizzard this year.

So I had a wonderful patio afternoon of tea and stitching and reading my cosy mystery, quite a body count, and listening to woodpeckers working hard, rattling away,  also pecking nest sites. Probably the flickers I saw nearby. Leaves on the old trees soaring above the roofs that  spring bright green.

I'd taken a walk, no biting insects, this is a blessed time. Just a couple of wild golf balls rattling off the trees near me.

And I had a chat with Billy The Pup, who's growing up to be a great big dog, who now chews his toy, not Gary's sneakers 

You lookin at me?

This morning I spent cooking from Yeung Man Cooking on YouTube, and recommend him for, aside from good food, the ASMR of a calm, lovely guy, explaining quietly, no drama, great contrast with a lot of excitable presenters.

Today it was 

He used basmati rice and I had only white jasmine, but it was okay. I remembered to put the lentils in to soak the night before. 

And here's some of the process. It's worth cutting the ingredients finely, to spread the flavor better.

Recipe wanted ground coriander, and I had only coriander seeds, so I ground them with my heavier rolling pin, and that worked. Easier than my tiny mortar and pestle.

And this really came out well. Every forkful was a bit different with sparks of the various spices and ginger and garlic. There's tomato, too, and I think I'll add more to my next helpings, because it was a great contrast.

It also made a lot. Another bowl in the fridge, three more helpings in the freezer. It's the kind of recipe to make when you have time and the right outlook for chopping and adding and several stages. I even remembered to rinse the rice. 

And I'm about to embark on Wilma's recommendation 

It's relevant to the 1619 Project, another part of the black history of the US, the many years of migration north in (a vain) search of a better life.  It's another of those books that may be hard reading but I owe it.

Can't end on a sad note, so

Happy day everyone, tend to whatever sheep or maybe ship,  you're tending today! Which reminds me I may have neglected to give you a couple of haggard Hawks puzzle answers. Catching up, just in case

MOONLIGHT

FURLONG