Hot air, poached cod and art

Yesterday the chimney people came, blew out the dryer vent, inspected the chimney, pronounced all was well, emptied my wallet and left.

Followed up by a couple of neighbors wanting to know how I'd found them, how to contact, etc.  Written clearly on the van, but they'd missed it! 

It pays to do business in a development, because people are happier to hire someone who's already been seen around than an unknown Google search.  They certainly earned their money yesterday, climbing on the roof in torrid heat, even early morning. 

Here's what explains the feeling the heat 

And this explains my swollen and itchy eyes

And this is why I've been coughing for days, smell of woodsmoke around this week.

And there's this

All in all, we've had better days.

Meanwhile there was cod to poach, and carrots and dandelion greens to steam, and capers to strew around.

And apricots to finish, with nutritious chocolate almonds.

Outside, when it was cooler in the evening, I did a bit of spotting, a little fungus, balsam flowers self seeded, and other self starting plants 

In other wildlife news, I was filling my rinsing water bowl for daily dishes last night, when I spotted a little clump being swept around the bowl by the hot water. 

I fished it out and found it was a little spider, waterlogged and half drowned. I tried to dry her out a bit without damaging any legs, then maneuvered her onto a paper towel. 

This morning she's gone, so I guess she lived to fight another day. Us spinners have to stick together, through hell and hot water.

Textiles and Tea featured a wonderful Japanese scholar, artist, painter, artisan in shibori dyeing, ikat weaving and boro, the preservation of tatters.

She spoke of this cultural museum in Basel, Switzerland, as a repository of fiber culture from many regions and centuries.

Boro is the preservation and respect for tattered, patched cloth, showing its history and place in the culture.

She wrote the classic English language book on shibori dyeing, before then the texts were in Japanese.

She believes in keeping a flexible mind, letting the materials suggest the next move, and not grimly holding onto the first design idea.  It was an education to listen to her. Check her website for more.

Last evening I finished the next page in my fabric book. Mary will recognize the original fabric, but maybe not its current form 

and yes, the fabric suggested each move, tearing, raveling stitching. I just followed her lead.

Happy day everyone, hang in there, despite climate and political setbacks, we, with nature and art, will survive and thrive.