Darning. Again. Bee on cosmos. Black walls

Sunday was about slow everything. Lovely sunny walk, cool morning, warming up to 70s later.  More junk tipping on the common area, and I took pictures, sent them to management requesting a cleanup, with the numbers of the two houses, so the contractors can find them. 

At home the cosmos is the last flowering plant and it's had a lot of traffic, from this fat bumble?bee I think, to brown butterflies and other stripy buzzy fellers 

 

How lovely it is with the morning sun shining through the petals, six front ones, two behind 

And I stitched a bit more on my autumn leaves, with people sending me pictures of their mothers' crewel work from long ago. It's usually English crewel, more solid and filled in than American. 

American Colonial era crewel was airy, more delicate designs, largely because crewel wool was hard to get in the colonies,  so people had to work with less material. To look at the early bed hangings you'd never know those wonderful designs arose partly from scarcity. No scarcity of great talent, though.

As I was doing dishes (says Boud virtuously, just to show I got around to it) my assistance was called on to look at Gary's sample painting of the black wall. 

He's not just doing the alcove. It's the whole fireplace side of the room. Oh. I liked the warmest sample, and turns out I agree with his daughter on that. So that convinced him! It's very rich. Also very dark.

From fancy stitching to plain, I found yet another sock needing help, so I inserted my glasses case and got to work.

with Kate of the Last Homely House knitting and chatting in the background as I darned along. If you knit socks it pays to know how to repair them,too, especially if you're a walker. Under the toes goes first.

And here's an artwork of spices, many of which blogista cooks will recognize right off.

Since I've been making my own mixes, umami mix, garam masala, baharat, berbere, curry powder, I've come to appreciate the flavors so much more than buying mixes. 

It's fun to handle and grind them, wonderful scents. Also things like mayo, red chili oil, are just better, I think because they're fresh and personal. Even grinding your own pepper as needed, has more flavor than ready ground.  I don't grind salt, but some people do. And I do buy sugar as crystals, not in a loaf!

My spice taste is more south Asian and middle eastern, and Ethiopian,  than Mexican and US Southwest. Though I do make chili sometimes. 

In fact now that I have ground turkey to hand, also various beans, I might do that today. I'll check my World Central Kitchen cookbook. 

They have recipes for feeding huge crowds which they kindly present for family size, too. Chili is a big crowd food, needing vats rather than my little pot. They're still feeding people hit by the latest hurricanes, I believe.

About which, the NJ first responders are home again after working in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.  

Happy day everyone, eat well, rest a bit, enjoy what you can.