School colors, Sock Ministry and the Provincial Lady

 These are off to the PO this morning for the Sock Ministry 

Then on to the next socks. 

Yesterday I walked to the park for a change, and noticed that the entrance to my development is planted in my old school colors, maroon and gold. The camera doesn't handle reds well. I didn't handle the colors well, though they suited my coloring. Wearing them day after day for seven years gets old.

On the way down the street is a bed of marigolds alive with bees and wasps, going pretty late this year

The little flock of warblers is still active, flitting up and down the street via shrubs. There must be good insect hunting.

The park was lovely, a few walkers and young basketball and soccer players.

And my current reading is the perennially funny Provincial Lady, all of which series I have permanently on Kindle

Wry and funny, great character sketches. I've never looked for an audio version because I don't want my imagined voice trespassed on.

And I just came upon this

And it's Halloween, which to me is very different from partying, more of a quiet, prayerful day about the dead who've gone before us and a hope for  calm.  Interestingly, Christie's Hercule Poirot says something much the same. I was surprised that Christie knew of that religious aspect.

But some people party, so

Happy day everyone, however you spend it.

Fungus update, soup and paying respects

Another check on the chicken of the woods shows it's a bit past its prime, but definitely has a texture like chicken breast.

But I'm not biting.

Still flowers holding on

And the rabbit still guarding his territory

No mast at all this year, acorns, black walnuts, nothing. I wonder if the heatwave is the reason.

While I was scrabbling about searching for beechnuts among huge fallen leaves, bigger this year

I found a mysterious coin

I wondered if it was a long lost treasure, and once home set it against a new dime

Once cleaned with lemon juice and salt, it revealed itself as a 1970s copper dime, exciting. You can see the sandwich effect on the milling around the edge, copper core. Mounting excitement, checked on the value

So it seems that my thin dime is worth one thin dime. Ah.  Unless finding it in the woods constitutes the special circumstances they mention.

Then to lunch and the toaster oven, now in daily use. I found I had a small glass baking dish which will fit, and made parmesan potatoes. You need glass for this. Bed of shredded parm, roast the potatoes, let them sit five minutes, then break them apart and enjoy the best toasted cheese potatoes ever.

I also used up the frozen cherry tomatoes in soup with hot sausage and lentils.

Browned the sausage, hot Italian turkey sausage, with the onions and garlic

Then removed the sausage and continued. Added lentils too, then blended it, bit of milk to oppose the fairly acid flavor of the green tomatoes, then added the sausage back in

 

Sturdy, hearty, meal in a bowl soup.

While we're in the season, nearing Samhain

And respect, nearing the election, to people who do this in order to vote

The current audiobook is an old one I have somewhere in hardback, good old Margery Sharp, she of Cluny Brown

It's heavily abridged, leaving out some good parts and leaping ahead, with a rather poor reader, Hoopla cheaps out on audio buying. But, for now, not so bad.

And in book form, in case you were running out of Mma Ramotswe, there's a new one, quick and pleasant read.

This is why I waited for a pet free house to do puzzles, the current one being a whole lot more fun than the parrot in the jungle.

Happy day everyone, puzzle on. If your clocks just changed, try not to get confused. In the US we have the clock confusion yet to come.

Sandy, sashiko and stumpwork

Sandy, enormous storm system, hurricane-close winds, inches of rain, local tornadoes, broke overhead ten years ago today. 

We've had big storms before and since but the hour upon hour of screaming wind, roofs trying to lift, houses demolished, trees bringing down power lines everywhere, cutting people off for days, roads everywhere blocking evacuation,  that was one I'd like to forget but can't quite. 

Damage is still evident years later. There are still people fighting to get the insurance payout for their demolished homes.

So, thankful for today's calm cool sunshine let's move on to the newly arrived edition of Tatter and a lovely kit and class offering

Tatter is an online magazine about hand stitching and natural fibers. You've seen sashiko stitching in work I've done, a peacefully calming stitching form.

It originally was a way of reinforcing warm outdoor work clothing in layers against the Japanese winter, and of repairing and preserving garments. Done in beautiful formations, it's also a stitching art. 

If you fancy trying a bit of embroidery, it's definitely possible as a starting place. A simple running stitch in a contrasting color, often white on blue fabric. Definitely worth a look. 

This reminds me to take a look at my jacket of many embroideries, a gallery in garment form, to see about finishing the sashiko stitching I marked out 

Also my goldworked signature piece which used to grace my exhibits, in its own frame , and some butterflies. These are goldworked, done as stumpwork, wired so they can be posed.

Tatter always reminds me of something I need to do, along with the energy needed to do it. 

Soon I'll need to organize a way to hang the robe better than on a clothes hanger.

Happy day everyone, do what you feel like doing as well as what you have to do today. If you're lucky, they're the same thing.

Farm and library day, and the divine Karolina

Yesterday was a beautiful  day, perfect for visiting the local farm

for Gala apples and one (!) Asian pear, one of my favorite fruits, but expensive this year.

It's pumpkin and hayride time, too with Halloween setups in the field and waaay over, the pumpkins you can pick for yourself. 

Dogs are permitted this time of year, but there weren't any when I was there. They love the smells and company in the pumpkin fields.

Then on to the library to offer the parrot puzzle for their new puzzle collection. They had to confer by phone with the ptb to see if they were accepting donations, needed to know who I was etc, then when I gave ny name, all was fine.  I guess they needed to know there was nothing weird in the box.

Then I borrowed my next puzzle from their collection, updating my card in the process. I rarely borrow from my own library, more about program and art there rather than the collection. I borrow from my other, knitting group, library.  Yes, I'm totally spoiled.

As you see, all buildings, and a frame. This one's full of cheerful colors.

And I followed through on the idle thought about using the apple crumble filling in the freezer for cake instead. Whoa, was that good. 

The flavored fruit, with ginger and cranberries, worked fine. Thanks to Marie for mentioning apple cake and setting me off here.

There's just about enough cake to hold the fruit together. Breakfast was a warmed slice, very good. 

I'm definitely on to variations on banana bread, since I just replace the banana component with other interesting fruit or pumpkin. I expect I'll think of more. If you have any suggestions, please make them. I'm up for it.

I finished the first sock and I'll be picking up the cuff of the second at my knitting group this afternoon .  Then to paw through the box of yarn for choices for the next pair.

But I think on the sewing front I'll start on the fleecy pants, soon they'll be useful. I'll probably use Sonia Phillips' pattern from The Act of Sewing, unless I just model it on an existing pair which I might. 

I recommend her book all the time, such a great spirit of pleasing yourself, making and wearing what you want. Whatever you do someone will disapprove, so don't try to please them. Please you!

Have you seen the brilliant Katerina Zebrowska's latest YouTube video, men complaining about women's fashion for five hundred years?

At the end of the video, she tosses the phone..

Happy day everyone, please yourself!

Photo AC, who probably never thought how many meanings I would attach to it.