Reaction setting in

Here's the empty cup from the hibiscus blossom 

I feel like this today. Maybe reaction after all the recent relief and excitement.

So I walked, not too hot, catching this new view of the debated plant 

It's now about two feet tall, and I thought evening primrose opened in the evening, but this is mid morning.  I think this may be blogistas 1, Boud 0. 

And here's my cure for feeling low.

When I can get there, yesterday too tired, but a few minutes, with leaping frogs and turtles swimming, is a great natural remedy.

And on the way home, a greeting from Billy the Pup, licking my phone 

Then backing up to get her picture taken, looking Big and Fierce 

Happy day everyone, and for the etymologists among us 

And, another reason to love her, she's a legit great cook, here making stuffed dosas with Mindy Kaling

Afternoon on the patio, season opener

The temp suddenly went from below freezing to 80°f, not unusual for NJ April, at least no blizzard this year.

So I had a wonderful patio afternoon of tea and stitching and reading my cosy mystery, quite a body count, and listening to woodpeckers working hard, rattling away,  also pecking nest sites. Probably the flickers I saw nearby. Leaves on the old trees soaring above the roofs that  spring bright green.

I'd taken a walk, no biting insects, this is a blessed time. Just a couple of wild golf balls rattling off the trees near me.

And I had a chat with Billy The Pup, who's growing up to be a great big dog, who now chews his toy, not Gary's sneakers 

You lookin at me?

This morning I spent cooking from Yeung Man Cooking on YouTube, and recommend him for, aside from good food, the ASMR of a calm, lovely guy, explaining quietly, no drama, great contrast with a lot of excitable presenters.

Today it was 

He used basmati rice and I had only white jasmine, but it was okay. I remembered to put the lentils in to soak the night before. 

And here's some of the process. It's worth cutting the ingredients finely, to spread the flavor better.

Recipe wanted ground coriander, and I had only coriander seeds, so I ground them with my heavier rolling pin, and that worked. Easier than my tiny mortar and pestle.

And this really came out well. Every forkful was a bit different with sparks of the various spices and ginger and garlic. There's tomato, too, and I think I'll add more to my next helpings, because it was a great contrast.

It also made a lot. Another bowl in the fridge, three more helpings in the freezer. It's the kind of recipe to make when you have time and the right outlook for chopping and adding and several stages. I even remembered to rinse the rice. 

And I'm about to embark on Wilma's recommendation 

It's relevant to the 1619 Project, another part of the black history of the US, the many years of migration north in (a vain) search of a better life.  It's another of those books that may be hard reading but I owe it.

Can't end on a sad note, so

Happy day everyone, tend to whatever sheep or maybe ship,  you're tending today! Which reminds me I may have neglected to give you a couple of haggard Hawks puzzle answers. Catching up, just in case

MOONLIGHT

FURLONG

Chicken pot (comfort) pie, plants next door, and Billy the Pup

I made the chicken pot pie from Chef Andres' wck book, and as usual did some subbing. I never have peas when they're needed, but I did have a baked golden potato,  which I diced and added and liked.  I had all the fresh herbs and celery ready though, and carrots.

I did the filling, the stove-top part using one pot which can go directly on the flame

then switched everything to an earthenware pot which is terrific in the oven

there were two spare biscuits which I baked on their own tray

I had them refrigerated longer than intended, on account of being needed next door, and I think next time I won't do that. They're not as light as planned, though still airy.

I also might make the biscuits smaller, but this worked fine, see the filling bubbling and smelling wonderful.

So here's dinner, and three more to come. I have had this book a little over one day and there are food stains on it. A land speed record. But a good sign. And the chicken bones will become soup quite soon.

The interruption was Gary urgently needing help to tie up a big plant in the house that Billy the Pup had knocked about and was now trying to eat. There is no end to the trouble that girl can find. 

The downstairs floors are being replaced and it's a full-time job keeping wood scraps from her, let alone potentially dangerous houseplants! She already found and chewed the new cove base lengths, the quarter-rounds that join wall to floor. I've had dogs who teethed on the bottom-shelf books, but they didn't eat the floor!

So what's a few biscuits when you're saving a puppy from herself?

I had one of the extra biscuits, split, toasted, buttered, this morning for breakfast, very good, too.

Yesterday was a tired sort of day, only managed half my usual walk, and I concluded it's the allergy drops and pills knocking out my energy along with the histamine. But if that's all I have to complain about, it doesn't amount to much.

Happy day, everyone, and if you feel like grumbling, remember writer J. B. Priestley used to say, "I might not have had a good time, but I did have a good grumble!"

Grandpups and Czechs rule!

 Yesterday Gary had a sudden call to help yet another relative urgently, so Billy the Pup, still needing care and attention after her spay, came chez Boud for a while. 

Officially "half an hour tops" I know how these things go, and it was nearer three hours, fine by both of us. Various other things happened, as they do around Gary.

She wambled about all over the house,  helped me with my tuna salad, tiny taste, and her first try at homemade yogurt, teaspoonful, before falling asleep in mid wamble and being guided into the bed she'd brought, where she snoozed peacefully for quite a while. I checked her chest was going up and down, as you do, because she's so small, her breathing's almost undetectable.

And here's a few pictures. 

You can guess which picture was related to her exciting introduction to yogurt. It's a wonderful food for animals, and I never had one who didn't like it. Especially important if anyone, human or animal, is on antibiotics. It keeps the gut balanced. She just liked the taste!

So we had a lovely time, she dozing, checking every now and then that I was still there, I finishing this airy fluffy work

And starting this, which arrived just as Billy did

 Yesterday saw a great women's Wimbledon win for a Czech woman, Vondrousova, unseeded, even, so I dashed off congratulations to my Czech cleaning family, who reminded me she's the third Czech woman to do it. 

They're keen sports fans, very proud of the Czech tennis tradition, daughter herself a high school champion track athlete.

So,  nice day of unscheduled events. Happy day everyone, I hope your day has puppiness of some kind.

Billy the Pup, Korean fashion history, twigs

 Yesterday I realized I'd missed a livestream of a presentation on Korean fashion history, around a new book, but I found it on YouTube and here's a few shots in case you'd like to check it out. 

Very learned presenters, and appropriation was an issue they tackled, wearing another culture's iconic dress, here the hanbok. 

They agreed that if proper credit is given to me origin, and you don't make commercial use of appropriated looks or ideas, it's more or less acceptable.

 In other questions, is this giant trying again to take over, despite repeated removals, pigweed, aka amaranth?

And yesterday was Billy the Pup's Spay Day. She came through pretty well, but it was touch and go with Gary. He came over last evening, she was shivering what to do?

I went over and sat with them, stroking Billy's ears till she fell asleep after happily  taking a few drops of water off my fingers.  She was shivering on the inhale, not the exhale, pretty sure she was doing fine. 

She was alert ish   and clearly knew me, so I stayed a while and chatted about all kinds of unrelated things, to talk Gary off the ledge. He planned to sleep downstairs with her.

This morning I called, quiet night, she's getting on okay, he sounds done for.  He loves his dogs so. I've heard him singing made up songs to Billy when he doesn't know anyone's around! Lovely guy.

Today I'm wearing my Hamptons Skirt, east coast people will know the snooty reference! So named for the ocean colors and rock references. 

I finished it last night and made an interesting discovery. As  you know I use either hand for a lot of things. But I'd never tried stitching with my left hand. But, the appliques being long, reaching the end of a side meant turning the whole thing around and getting all reorganized to stitch back up the other side.

So I tried just switching hands to stitch back, not moving the work, and found it worked just fine. Another late in life discovery,  along with whistling.

And this morning on my early patio prowl, I found small dead twigs inside the Japanese maple, and wondered if I could make something with them. 

While I'm wondering, I put them with the current little flower arrangement

Happy day everyone, you never know what you're going to discover next.

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