Feather in my hat

Monday's fitness was about doing 20 sit to stands, not difficult at all now, ten minutes visualizing, and a walk to the pond, that's about half an hour round trip not counting stopping to visit with ducks. Later a five minute HIIT.

There were half a dozen ducks, turtles lying about and frogs jumping. It's a whole small world there.

Coming home there were clumps of fleabane.  

I wonder if botanists don't like their work. The miserable names they give beautiful plants, I ask you. Fleabane, hogweed, lungwort, henbit! 

Notice the hobnail boot rhythm - - BANG pop, BANG pop, TIN ear,  need I go on. No wonder people learn the Latin, at least it's presentable.

And I found what I think is a redtail hawk feather, now home with its friends in a Shelley cream pitcher, Stocks pattern. 

The downy part is so soft you can't feel it. It may end in my hatband.

Speaking of which, I cut out the two layers of the crown and found silk thread and a fine needle to stitch them together. That's the next stage. 

Brown inside, yellow outside. Or possibly a reversible hat, then it could be brown outside. We'll see.

And I read this brief book 

more of a long essay, about allowing yourself grace as you handle life and illness, balancing rest and activity, indoors and out. 

I'm still recovering from the accident, very nervous about driving, forcing myself to do it so as to keep my nerve. Monday I went to the food pantry with a donation and to the library to return and pick up. I find if I add in something like the food pantry, thinking about other people, I can get to the other errands. It seems to work. That and it was the last day I could pick up the Recovery book.

It occurred to me that I'm really convalescing emotionally and physically from all the events of the year, major events to my body, house, car, savings, so I thought I could get some advice here.

He's the same doctor who wrote the book I loved about being human, a compassionate man.   I think what I'm doing is pretty balanced, so I'll keep doing it.  I don't want to medicate if I can manage not to. We'll see.

 Francis likes people to let themselves recover as they need to, without feeling they have to meet a deadline. And he makes the point that the doctor's work is done long before healing has got underway. 

In other news, Amazon has made a huge settlement because of deceptive enrolling practices in Prime.  Like the way they caught me. Maybe they'll  owe me??

Happy day everyone, chances are you're doing the right thing already so we can stop trying to improve! Me, I can't take much more character building. 

You got that right, sez Mme. Fluffinaire

The role of serendipity and that kind of thing

Sunday's walk in a high 70s, low humidity day was about wild snakeroot flowers still going,

 tiny fungi appearing

Shoe for scale

and, home again, a tradescantia which had sprung from Gary's hanging plant which summered on my deck,  

now with its own pot and no doubt planning to join its friends indoors. And another zinnia

They slow down then, when I think they're done,  we get a couple more warm days, and they go right on.

Then there was a rummage around my small stash for possible hat material, which yielded a silk waistband saved from a skirt made from a sari piece, clearly wanting to be hatbands, enough for two.

So invited an international spy to model this simple upcycle.

And another happy find, a shibori-dyed length from an old pillowcase, already doubled and hemmed, for the side of the new hat. 

I thought I'd better fit this part first, then add the crown and after that the brim. The crown part is tricky, stitching a straight piece around a circle, and needs a bit more energy than I had, so that's for another day.  

All the pieces need to be double, so I'm thinking about that brown batik for inside the crown and the brim, to cast shade. I have various gauges of wire, no need to buy millinery wire for the brim.

One of the pleasures of upcycling is figuring out what parts are already done for you, so everything doesn't need to be from scratch. 

Stoking the inner spy, the fish goes on and the broccoli. Different sauce each day keeps it interesting. Today it was some of that five alarm hot Indian condiment, mixed with yogurt and a splash of malt vinegar.

This is the heat level that needs you to dip your fork in, then pick up the food, not dip the entire piece in the sauce.  Dessert was lime yogurt with blueberries.

I'm still (not) getting used to the loss of my friend. She used to watch me out walking, from her house overlooking my walking path, to see if I was doing well, and her house is close. Hard to accept she's not there, when I go to text her. I pass her house daily. 

Happy day everyone, we got this.

Reading reports, Fall falling

Bookworm Boud checking in to say Still Life is back in the library. I did my best but I just couldn't. Stilted, trying hard to be significant, oh well, some people liked the Italian art history take, the wartime setting, the love interest, maybe, I dunno.  I was just not in tune with this writer.

Likewise A Well Trained Wife, by Tia Levings, a nonfiction account of a woman growing up in Southern fundamentalist church, finding herself in a violent marriage, eventually,  managing to leave. 

It's a well written, and chilling, account of white male church-centered patriarchy and family dominance, enforced by husbands with violence. 

I read as far as I could, out of respect, and would recommend it, if you have the tolerance. My own trauma, not of marriage, but of war, got in the way.  Mainly I think it was her helplessness and isolation that got me racked up. And her courage in the face of massive social coercion and danger.

On the other hand, volume two of the Cazalet Chronicles, continues to be very good, with some piercing insights from the younger characters. 

I'm reading this on hoopla, since only volume 1 was available in paper form.  I could use the diagram showing the family tree. A lot of characters.

Still to be read is Penelope Fitzgerald's The Blue Flower, another Susan Hill favorite.

It's fall, wonderful walking weather, and the cod and broccoli continue to please, also the afternoon tea with Misfits snickerdoodles, much bigger than the ones I've made. I've put a a couple in the freezer for Handsome Son's next visit. 

He needs his strength, because I'm going to ask him for help turning the queen size  mattress, a test of ingenuity and strength in my smallish bedroom.  Usually one or other of us gets pinned in a corner and we're laughing too hard to escape. You can't just flip it, it's a onesided mattress design. You have to turn it through 180° in a pretty confined space.

Happy day, everyone, and I hope your mattress turning is rare, safe and successful. Sounds like something else..

As well as walking there was stretching, surprisingly energetic.

They say gentle, hm.

Later I did 20 rapid sit to stands just to see if I could. In about 45 seconds.  S to s is a great exercise for anyone.

 Keep resisting,sez

Ted and Big Ursy 

Except when it's futile like here

Hat patterns, 🐠 and other vital things

So I started creating a paper pattern for one of this ambitious group of hats that might happen.

Here's the old hat and I drew around the brim allowing for a hem

Then I fitted paper around for whatever you call the side of the crown 

In the background you see the brim and the crown drawn in the middle 

Here I'm fitting the paper around the crown 

And the pieces are assembled, looking like the Mad Hatter, and I taped them to try on, after which I can get on with cutting two layers of fabric one for the lining, one the visible part.

As you see, the brim is pretty good and the crown will be about an inch lower when the seams are stitched. So far, not bad. I can enlarge the brim if I decide to. 

This millinery making is serious  stuff!

There was also food, the cod now up for lunch,

Here's the set up showing the production line. I'd dried and cut the pieces, made a batter which I seasoned with sea salt and long red pepper, dipped the pieces then rolled in panko 

Here on the right is lunch and in the blue dish a couple of future lunches in waiting, toaster oven 425°f till brown and crisp, the fish inside moist, lovely.

I had some of the broccoli heads I'd steamed yesterday, and used the leftover batter to make a cheese sauce, with a bit of butter and grated sharp cheddar. 

After it thickened I added in the broccoli so it got sauced and heated up at the same time.

And here's lunch, crunchy fish, cheese broccoli with a dab of Annie's Ketchup. I like the different textures on this plate.

Energy food. Yogurt with lime and blueberries for dessert.

After that it was about resting then reading the next Cazalet volume on the deck, lovely skies and shadows 

Earlier I'd walked,  and caught this late blooming hibiscus at the neighbor's house 

It flowers later than my Angel Eye, and blooms longer.

Lovely day, all kinds of things, and the evening online with friends to complete the day.

Happy day everyone, hoping your Friday was good. It amuses me when people ask what I'm doing for the weekend. Like it's different from the week!

Mario Guevara, misfits and gentle request

If you want an urgent resistance task, please do this. You need to cut and paste the link, because this is a screenshot. Please sign.  Read the precis and sign. 

It's about the law and the first amendment among other things. And a journo doing real reporting, live streaming ICE activity.  Here legally, on a citizenship path, till ICE defied a judge and is moving to deport him after many years in the US.

In other news, it was raining a lovely gentle warm rain, saved my having to water plants, but dented my walking plans. It gets a bit slippery underfoot with leaves starting to fall. 

Kareem brought my misfits box mid- morning. Quite a small order this week, pretty well stocked already.

The van looks repainted, but same design 

Canned goods for the food pantry, bread for the lazy baker, cookies, unheard of, buying them, but I've been stressed lately. 

Toffeed crushed almonds likewise. This is a clever upcycling, turning almond casualties into a sweet snack by mixing them in toffee and making bite sizes. I rationalize that nuts are healthy.

Oatmeal because I'm running out and I want to try making oatmeal wraps soon. Next week my flaxseed for the wraps will arrive. I'm thinking tuna salad wraps, with spinach rolled in, also arriving next week.

Plenty of blueberries to go with yogurt when it's not making a mayo substitute for the tuna salad with Dijon mustard and vinegar.

Broccoli heads, rescued tops, to go with the cod now thawing in the fridge. Already steamed. Cheese sauce will happen. 

So many plans, so much knitting, so much reading,  and there's civic duty. Here's my mail in ballot for the November election.

And the latest reading in waiting

I have a request: going forward, please read the comments ahead of yours. 

Check yesterday's post to see how many times I re-explained that my fun birthday question was directed at singles, just a bit of fun for us solo folk. 

Anyway, just askin'. And thank you to the blogistas who caught on and humored me!

Happy day, everyone, yes, everyone (!) and give yourself a little reward for stress. Toffeed almonds, maybe.