First sightings and riddles

 Yesterday I saw the first baby rabbit of the year. Not sure if he should run or not 

So he side-eyed me a while before he ran.

And here's the first ladybug of the year, taking care of the rapidly growing hibiscus 

See how the newly moved pale green coleus is responding to outdoor light 

You can see the darker green with red streaks in the new growth.  The other flower seeds are breaking through nicely, and I'm hopeful for a flower garden this year again.

Meanwhile back indoors, I did find the name of my Corelle pattern 

I didn't realize my current plates are so old, since I got them at a thrift store.  Knowing the pattern name took me down a lovely path of finding there's probably no teapot, mainly dishes. But I found some other makes of tiny teasets, some kid size, some miniature. One pink with white dots! Oh, the temptations..

So I decided not to shop, but create a mismatch shabby chic tea tray. 

Yellow tin tray from Freecycle, teapot from Asian store, milk pitcher gift of a friend, cup you've met, batik tray cloth, round beatup Tunisian teapot holder. It's a set! Well each piece has a history, so that counts. The cup is right for my hand, nice handle design.

For people still wondering about the riddle, read on. If not, scroll past.

"Brothers and sisters have I none 

But that man's father is my father's son."

So the speaker establishes he has no brothers nor sisters. The sisters bit is just a false clue, disregard. 

Now go to the end where he says my father's son. That can only be the speaker himself. No other sons in the family. 

Then see the reference to that man's father -- he  himself is his father's son. So he must be "that man"'s father. So "that man" is his son.

Now make a cup of tea and rest your riddler!

Happy day everyone, today I'm crocheting to Rumpole, just found some audio uploads with Leo Mckern, who played Rumpole, narrating. 

Reading the rest of  Grantchester on my Kindle, and the Angela Thirkell Old Bank House. A jigsaw puzzle might happen. And a Grantchester DVD matinee. Rainy sunny chilly today.

Art, riddles and new cups for old

Yesterday brought interesting packages I'd forgotten ordering. 

Here's a salute to the environment and to Black owned business. Bamboo tp, no trees felled to make it,  withdrawing my shopping from the white owned tree felling companies.

They're very well run, organized,  and shipped fast. So I'm giving them a shout out. 

It's not enough to boycott the white owned businesses abandoning DEIA. We need to look for business run by the people they're hurting, and build them up. This too is resistance.

And the vintage cups I ordered, matching my plates, arrived. Amazing packing 

Second Joy on Etsy is the seller and I'm really pleased with them.  They're posing here with the plate to prove they're related.

This was a little indulgence,  since I rarely buy anything that's not a vital need.  I wonder if there's a teapot in this design out there..

Then to put everyone out of their riddle misery, the answer is:

The man referred to by the speaker is his son. 

After someone mentioned going online to find the answer I thought I'd see what was there. Wow! Heated debates, many weird conclusions, a lack of reading for comprehension, an insistence that it was about theology, it was hilarious. People get so serious.

I can explain if you want a roadmap. 

And accidental art down the street after a rainstorm 

Simple people, swept up in the winds of change, one minute sitting chatting, the next struggling to survive the hurricane. Artist: M. Nature.

Happy day everyone, raining again today. The hammering you hear is Gary building a neighborhood ark. 

Grantchester and Misfits

Today I made a trip to the library to return Foyle and borrow a season of Grantchester on DVD. Lovely greetings on my  front step as I was leaving,  from a family member next door visiting Gary. 

We talked about Hippolyta, J's replaced shoulder, and physical therapy. I admired her new range of motion, and it was a good start to the day.

At the library there was a rush of feet and "Leez!!"  And it was P, the librarian in charge of the knitting group, running across the room, evidently pleased to see me up and doing. She added herself to the list of people telling me not to overdo.

In other medical news, I have officially retired Walker Two-step and Carol Cane, and Greta Grabber remains downstairs. Onward!

Before Misfits came, lunch was pasta with a sauce using the last of the pasta and the last of the spicy sausage, diced tomatoes, butter, garlic powder and dried onion. Grated fresh Parmesan over it. Plenty for a couple more meals and maybe additions to soup.

It's a while since I had a good pasta with a big sauce. This was spicy because of the sausage, no need for the dried peppers I usually add. 

Here's Misfits today 

I think the Gala apples are finished for now, so I need a different fruit for morning breaks. Breaks. As if I'm toiling away and needing a rest, yeah.

There goes Haleem 

So it's the first cantaloupe of the season. I'll give it a day or two then cut into it. Quite a small haul today, replacement avocado oil, I seem to use a lot, lazy lady's bread, canned peaches and blueberries, for desserts with yogurt. I've come to prefer this yogurt to Nancy's for now. 

Panko because there will be breaded shrimp at some point. Tony's chocolonely needs no explanation except that it's been a while. Fair trade sugar, more expensive but a better food chain than supermarket granulated. Also with an actual flavor, not just a hit of sweetness.

And peacefully getting on with it near the kitchen window, the celery heart is putting out growth. See the little sprouting bit in the middle.

Happy day everyone, I'm going to watch Grantchester with a pot of tea.

Rain again today, what a surprise. I still have two doors, destined for the outside storage area here and next door,  leaning against the living room wall, because there have still not been two consecutive dry days to prime and paint them. 

Handsome Son's development has been trying to pave and stripe the parking lots for weeks. Up to now one section is done and all the others are repeatedly rain delayed. 

The water company sent a flyer reminding us we're still under water restrictions from last year. Still not enough in the reservoirs to compensate for the drought. Maybe if they moved the reservoir to my backyard the drought would be addressed.

Happy day everyone. When all else fails, try a nap and a piece of chocolate.

Ted sez 

Meanwhile a riddle, Shug made me do it.

Brothers and sisters have I none

But that man's father is my father's son.

Who is "that man" in relation to the speaker?

A Thing-Filled Wednesday

Rain today, gentle and just what my newly planted containers needed. There are tiny signs of flowers coming up, and hair like fronds of chives, last year's cosmos pushing up tall, and I'm hoping for reseeding forgetmenots.

This morning was my annual physical, or what Medicare grandly calls wellness check. Which they start with a form to fill out and bring,  asking about depression and illegal drugs -- would anyone ever really fill out those details? -- and go downhill  from there.

My doctor is one of the good ones who seriously does the whole exam, not just pro forma.  And she was very impressed that a month out from joint replacement, I was driving, dressing and undressing with no dressing aids, climbing unaided onto the exam table, and feeling cheerful about life. I lost a bit of weight, from my already meager total but she says it's due to the general circumstances of surgery, fine. 

All good. And on the way out, I met a baby. The mom had just put down the carbed in the lobby, waiting for their car to pull around for them, and this little guy was not having it. 

Grumbling loudly, shoving aside the pacifier, looking around indignantly ready to call for the manager. I asked their age. One month!  I had never seen so alert a baby at that age. Lots of luck to them. I bet they're standing at five months like Handsome Son and walking soon after!

While I was at the medical building, I left ACLU  Know Your Rights cards in  the waiting room where caregivers might see them, and in the exam room, possibly cleaners might see. A lot of documented and undoc. residents not citizens in those jobs around this area.  So a little bit more sand in the gears.

Home again very pleased with my day, to soup and cheese toast. Then I continued reading the Grantchester stories.

Now here's how it goes. At one point there's a discussion of a disputed old painting, expert says it doesn't have the careless seeming virtuosity of a genuine Goya.  Then someone explains it as sprezzatura. 

So of course I had to look that up and see the etymology and origin. Turns out it was invented for the purpose of describing the ideal courtier in Castiglione's classic work. He said it described making the many skills and talents of the courtier, from combat to table manners, look unstudied and natural.

So I had to find and read a bit of the sixteenth century The Book of the Courtier.  And so it came to pass that he is now in residence on my Kindle, zero cost after credits were applied. 

You never know what rabbit is in wait down which rabbit hole. Speaking of which, go to She Who Seeks' blog for a great rabbit themed post today. 

 Finally I returned to Grantchester, enriched.

Happy day, everyone, get rich in events today! They're all over.

PT and thoughts arising, Textiles and Tea, Jean Pierre Larochette

Tuesday's physical therapy session, now near the end of our series, moved me far ahead. Squats, wall sitting, diagonal hip moves, trick to put on ankle weights safely. Just a long way from a few weeks ago. I'm very encouraged and feel more competent.

PT's mother is my age mate, and he wishes she would buy into getting stronger.  I think it's largely about self image. If you see yourself as a person who can, too, lift weights and keep progressing, it's easier to go ahead, no matter your age. If you see yourself as a weekly swimmer, nearing the end of your days, ticking over, different picture.

Sometimes I believe we can give great support to another person's self image without even knowing it. Two examples from the Great Me. One was long ago when I quit smoking, after being a  heavy smoker for decades. I suddenly had a compelling motive, child's health, and acted on it. Stubbed out the cigarette I'd lit, tossed the pack, never smoked again.

Weeks later, working in a office full of smokers, people smoked at their desks then, I was barely clinging on, such withdrawal. My boss, puffing away, said "You never went back to it, did you?"  I realized she now considered me a nonsmoker. So it gave me permission to do the same. That kept me going.

Another colleague commented, unknown to me, when I was under pressure to "settle to one job" instead of changing fields every few years, that "she's a person who reinvents herself". 

I heard this many years later from the mutual acqaintance she'd said it to. That was exactly what I did, and wanted, but I hadn't had any outside support for the concept, until I heard that by chance. 

So that's my thinking. I believe a brief acknowledgement can go a long way to improve someone's life. Worth considering.

Today's Textiles and Tea guest was Jean Pierre Larochette, third family generation weaver in the Aubusson tradition of tapestry. If you've seen the Unicorn tapestries in the New York Cloisters or the Cluny Museum in Paris, you've seen Aubusson style, worked from the back and  across the design. 

Today's tapestries are usually worked from the front, though the design can be worked side to side.

Along with his wife, designer Jael Lurie, and daughter Yadin Larochette, he has created amazing tapestries over 60 years, now in churches, temples, museums and libraries, and a classic book on the art of  tapestry. 

It's a collection of knowledge and tradition in the art, a kind of encyclopedic approach.

Now to admire the works, some of many. These were mostly commissioned pieces, sixty years of word of mouth -- he's never had to write a proposal!

Left, drawing of a weave structure, top right the town of Aubusson, his family roots, bottom right a weaving about a weaving pattern 

Detail of the piece seen on the wall behind him

 Comparing and contrasting the flowing, transparent styles of two Lurie designs 

This was a temple commission, about the unity of religion and observance across cultures, a menorah with natural forms and symbols.

This is Wall of Tears, about the Mexican US border, a joint work of seven world renowned weavers including Susan Maffei, long time collaborator with the late beloved Archie Brennan.

And here's the work being cut from the loom

He's already wondering about a sequel to this massive work!

Sample of many small weavings and drawings explaining tapestry weave structures, to be found in the book referenced above 

Wildly free and complex tapestry about movement

This was a wonderful afternoon with a kind and brilliant man. 

Happy day everyone, Tuesday was a banger!

Holiday on the deck, baked tofu katsu

Memorial Day was mild and sunny, perfect weather for decking. Reading, dozing, listening to birds. 

Also being nearly dive bombed by a pair of crows who zoomed past at the exact moment I stepped out, missing my head by inches. I'm guessing a courtship dance, as I watched them in sync,  up and down the sky, skimming the fences.

And when I repotted the bigger coleus I broke off a couple of branches, coleus being brittle. It looks fine anyway, and the chipped teapot is back in service rooting the small pieces in water.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, 

here's a celery heart in water, ready to sprout for a bit of instant salad.

About the tofu sticks. I always get the tofu block very dry before slicing. And to bake, I just battered and breaded as usual. I preheated the toaster oven to bake at 400°f. 

Then I spritzed a flat shallow metal pan with avocado oil, arranged the sticks then spritzed them with a drop more oil, not much. Baked for twenty minutes, turned them over, ten more minutes. Done. And just as crisp as fried.

The rest of the uncooked sticks I covered and put in the fridge. Today I had a second helping and they were still crisp.  

They're pretty much fast food, and they've reintroduced me to the pleasure of dipping sauce. 

This morning wasn't exactly like a holiday around here. I took care of the recycling, and the garbage, three trips, swept the kitchen floor, reorganized the outside storage area, where I found a broken old garbage container, another trip to recycle. Shook out little rugs. Swept the front steps and the patio. I got my steps in.  Gardening was quite restful in comparison.

Happy day everyone, if you get the urge to rush about organizing and sweeping and tossing, lie down till it passes.

Ted sez 

Memorial Day 2025, garden update

Today we remember and honor our troops who died in combat, without glorifying the wars.  The price is too high.

Yesterday I did make those tofu sticks, with a dipping sauce. I baked them with minimal oil and they came out just as crisp as fried. No pictures, because they looked the same as the last time I made them. More for today.

And while I was sorting out pots for my flower seeds, Gary got involved, supplied me with some pots, carried my bags of potting soil through to the patio, and set up the pots for me to plant. 

So I got to do the fun part. I scattered forgetmenot seeds, gypsophila, and mixed wildflowers, and gave small and large zinnias their own pots, also snapdragons and California poppies. 

And I transplanted the coleus you saw in the teapot to its own container. 

So now I watch and admire. And maybe water a bit.

Meanwhile I'm reading a Grantchester book and I like it much more than the TV series, so I think I'll continue. I much prefer my imagined Sidney to the actor in the series who looks like an awkward knitting-pattern model to this biased observer, and about as interesting.  But you do you, I know he has admirers.

Happy day everyone, if you're in the US, be aware of our debt to our people who died in war, and let's work for better solutions than combat.

And though you'd never know it from most weather around here, summer is officially under way. Shore resorts open, pools and tennis courts, too.  Golfers never stopped except in snow. 

Happy day, all, Ted sez.