Gloves, gardening with friends, and granola

 Yesterday I knitted. The new exercise for my neck seems to be pretty effective. I did this much on the second glove

with no ill effects this morning. This is great. And yes, before you say it, I won't go wild knitting. I'll keep it to a mild gallop.

In the middle of this, I brushed a hand across my eye, and got a stark reminder that earlier I'd been shaking Serrano pepper seeds I'd dried, into a container. The pain was amazing, and I ran to flush my eye with saline drops, then, once I could see out, checked on remedies for the burning eyelid. 

The handiest was vinegar, to neutralize the capsaicin, the hot stuff, with acetic acid. Like bee stings. Anyway bathing the eye area did gradually reduce the fire, gosh that wasn't fun. I'd also evidently inhaled it, and ended up sipping dilute apple cider vinegar till all was well, the desperate coughing subsided and I resumed knitting. Good thing knitting is calming. 

Those peppers, grown by Aditha, are very good indeed, chopped with homegrown plum tomatoes and diced yellow Gary potatoes, all doused with olive oil and fine sea salt and roasted. With a pita bread, I've had a couple of nice neighborhood suppers from them. The seeds are ready to shake over spaghetti. I was sure I hadn't handled them, too. Next time I'll rinse my hands in dilute vinegar afterwards, as insurance.

In other exciting news, I removed the morning glory

and hauled it out to the trees, here

This is a good place to toss organic material, good for the earth and the groundhogs and other residents appreciate it. Since I never spray, it's clean foliage.

And back home I noticed I was being observed from the Japanese maple

First praying mantis I've seen in ages. *She leapt to a lower branch, see her posing diagonally here, still watching me closely.

I wonder if I have her to thank for very few insect bites lately. They're fierce predators. *corrections made to sex of the pm, thanks to Ellen's greater knowledge.

I'm thinking about making granola, haven't had any in a long time, and the latest yogurt batch turned out very well, so together they'd be a great breakfast. I expect thinking about the 7up series brought back the granola days of the seventies! I have various ingredients that will work together. Watch this space.

Happy day, everyone, oh yes, the puzzle answer is

MEDIOCRE

I mean that's the actual answer, not a description of the puzzle.