Upson Downs

One great up of the day was a meeting with the latest local grandchild, six weeks old and totally wonderful. 

She, her mom and Poppop Gary were driving by me on the street when he called  Liz, here! BABY! stopped the car and I stopped what I was doing and ran to admire. Such a beautiful little girl.  She was not pleased about the car stopping though, not having it!  Terrific lungs.

The Friday knitting group was fun as always, 

talk ranging over stealth art, firing people, MandM's latest release, grandchildren, vaxes,  car crashes, hoopla,  hybrid cars, all carefully nontopical. Blessedly politics-free zone. Knitting and crocheting were mentioned too.

On the way home I had a down. Chugging along at 41 in what I thought was a 40 zone. The friendly third grader in a police cruiser who pulled me over disagreed. Apparently I blew through a 25 mph zone. He was nice, friendly, agreed a lot of people do it, checked my deets, said just remember and don't speed along there.  No ticket, phew. That could have been very expensive. 

One one hand maybe it's a badge of honor to be speeding at this vintage. I wasn't on a skateboard though. On the other hand there's that vertiginous drop in the gut when you see the flashing lights. 

Living to speed another day!

And while that was happening, this was happening about a mile away 

Happy day everyone, if you speed try not to get caught. And if you see a bear keep driving.

Breaker, breaker: GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY

 Special post with cheers and tears.

Sad that a former president is now a felon. Happy that a brave jury refused to be intimidated and returned a great verdict.

Celebratory dinner 

Happy day, happy day. 

Guilty, guilty, guilty plus 31 more.

Misfits box, much better day

Day three is definitely better. I got a walk, tossed  an errant golf ball back, breathed in the scent of honeysuckles, saw three huge frogs dive into the pond as I got close, to lurk till I left.  Lovely.

Home to an early Misfits delivery by Jeff.  I barely caught his pink truck leaving 

He conscientiously took away the freezer block and cooler bag I'd left out for pick up,  and replaced them with this 

The local strawberries are far more expensive and not organic, so I seized the day and ordered two one pound containers. Cilantro because I always need cilantro, goes everywhere and I'm one of the lucky people who taste a good dark flavor, not soap.

Chickpeas and coconut milk are for future curries. Salmon is for simple sauteeing over rice, later today.  Spinach with it. I might add some of those dried cranberries to the rice, too, and walnuts. Cannellini beans for sauteed salmon cakes.  

Oat milk goes with toasted sweet potato bread for late evening snack.  Blueberries why not. The strawberries are mid morning snack once last week's apples are finished. And the nutritious crushed almonds in dark chocolate, well, they fell into my box. 

All planned, subject to many sudden last minute changes of mind or appetite.

I did bake the rest of the salsa with Cheddar cheese, egg broken over, at 385°f  till the egg was cooked, which happens after the tomatoes have heated through and the cheese has melted. Mini naan to make sure none of the sauce went unaddressed. There's enough for a third meal there, too. 

This is a very food oriented post, probably because I feel a whole lot better and interested in food prep. 

I'll feel like a bit of stitching too in a while, and you'll get an update, once there is one.

The Haggard Hawks puzzle solution is 

FLEXIBLE 

which quite a few blogistas not only solved but wrote terrific clues for, yay you!

 

Low key day with intervals of entertainment

Today as expected, post vax tiredness, chills, owie joints, reading and dozing under an afghan.

Then Gary showed up, took my mind off it. His cousin, ready to leave, car loaded, ac on, engine running, found himself locked out of his car.  So I was part of the squad trying to find some slimjim equivalent to get him in. 

He did eventually get away, after taking a lot of teasing about how he really wanted to stay. NADM.

I had a little burst of energy and made a kind of salsa to go with cheese on toast, not up for more.

Diced tomatoes, bit of sugar, salt, cumin, vinegar, garlic.

I'll use the leftovers to bake tomorrow with cheese and an egg. 

That got my strength up to track my ballot 

It's safely received and will be counted once polls close. I noticed I've been registered here since 1991! All that parade of signatures.

Now I'm wrapped again in an afghan, chills back, this too shall pass, while I read an ebook on Hoopla before it goes away.

 Libraries are dumping Hoopla software, expensive, badly designed, and I'm able to check out books easily now, no competition, I suppose.

Anyway, here's my latest comfort reading 

Happy day everyone, do get your vax. It's worth a couple of down days.

Perfect walking day

 I seized the day, after this morning's COVID booster and before the effects kicked in, to enjoy a walk.

Neighbor's roses

And at home my potatoes are growing at warp speed 

And my lavender is nearly ready, to pick little bunches for neighbors 

This afternoon, I waved my arm about to dissipate the swelling, and stayed home to rest instead of Tuesday knitting. Also to field doctor calls about recent test results. I need to increase one pill, but otherwise I'm fine.

Then I read peacefully on the deck, while various relatives and their dogs showed up next door because Gary's home. He sounds and looks pretty good. Party time!

Textiles and Tea this week was about braiding, which turns out to include, but not be limited to, kumihimo. There's a lot of braiding traditions, and this Brit weaver and braider does research on fibers, embroidery, and creates freeform braiding on various frames.

The last slide shows her at work on a bigger frame, with a smaller one shown at the side. Her very open-minded approach is so happy, light-years different from the rigid rule-bound kumihimo workshop I attended years ago and really hated.  

Holding the little frame in one hand, juggling bobbins with the other, only one way to do it or you were WRONG! I finished the project, not to let it defeat me, then gave the frame to someone who wanted to try it, and I hope she liked it.

But Jacqui is adventuresome, likes to let the  fibers, usually silk, direct the work, and it shows. She's written several books on braiding and embroidery, which are available from her. She commented that if you don't sell through Amazon they list you as out of print, even if you aren't. That was news. I'm guessing her classes are fun, judging from her enthusiasm about it.

She started out in mathematics, but one thing and another, found herself in fiber arts. Where I think she's probably giving more value than as a midrange, non creative mathematician, her own description. A lot of people in weaving have a numbers and science background, probably the planning and symmetry appeals? I'm guessing.

Happy day, everyone, and here's another Haggard Hawks puzzle, which at first I got instantly, dogmatically, wrong!

Memorial Day and the weather is rainy

Remembering those who died in war in the hope that we would have peace.

Quiet day, cool and rainy, great for the flower seeds.

I overcame my phonophobia, to call Gary this morning and got great news. They've been able to disconnect the machinery, he's breathing well, feeling much better, voice stronger and more cheerful. 

He's hoping to get out soon. Meanwhile an out of state cousin arrived at the weekend to hold the fort at home. So all's much better on that front.

And here's what happened to the linen and cotton napkins from Florida, thank you Ms Moon.

Lovely piece of linen I'd dyed and stamped for a possible skirt, just temporarily in place in the upstairs bathroom cabinet doorway. Narrator: temporarily? Several years. 

And here's the new hanging 

Three napkins strung on the rod no stitching required. The rod slid easily through the hem.

Likewise downstairs, the other three napkins replacing a plain white piece of linen, which you see on the floor.

So this easy fix has freed up two pieces of good linen for other uses. I'm beyond pleased. 

I used the rest of the sweet potatoes to make a sweet potato walnut bread.

Same old recipe for banana bread but mashed sweet potato instead.  Very nutritious cake. Yes.

I thought a rainy holiday might be good for a bit of Freecycle, so I'm offering these magazine holder things. 

The two remaining on the shelf are in use, and they show how the holders work.

Happy day, everyone, indoors keeping dry, or outside, with an umbrella,  trying to fire up the grill.

Reading, planting, weaving, stitching

 Hot today, but I did get my seeds in. This was later.

The deck was in shade, but when I was out it was 85 feels like 90. I did get the seeds in, labeled and squirrel proofed, and the lemon balm cut back,  but it was heavy going.

I had planned on sitting out to read, but it felt too hot, so I came in, drank a large glass of water, and dozed a while. Officially reading 

It's fantasy with a bit of magic and I can't remember who recommended it. I'll stay with it a while, but it's pretty far out of my comfort zone as they say.

And the couple of hot days reminded me to switch out the red felt winter door curtain for the summer green and white stripes canvas.

This canvas is excellent at blocking heat while letting light in. I bought it years ago and still get Amazon questions I can't answer about it. Such as what's the exact content of the fabric.  Can it be stitched on a machine. How many yards will the asker need for their porch! They don't ask how high is up, but close.

I did get into stitching, and the design is finally coming clear to me. You can see the radiating lines from the core of the dress to the edges.

And about the pinloom weaving puzzle, today I solved the mystery of what I kept doing wrong while chatting, and how to fix it without taking work out, yay. A workaround.

I've pretty much finished this yarn and might have to think what it should become.  Not today, holiday.

Aside from the Crows, there's currently 

 

One of the "daughter marrying wealth, to rescue the family from the brother's improvidence" group, less entertaining than the comedy of errors novels. 

Pretty businesslike approach to the barter aspect of wealthy marriage and settlements, and some unnerving abduction and blackmail aspects. Normal scenes of English Regency family life..

Happy day, everyone, quite a few people have a holiday weekend, what with Whitsun and Memorial Day.

I think AC's Little Light works for both