Strawberries are in, more or less, mammo art and Boyz with Toyz II

This morning I retrieved my car from the next street, noticed both my own slots at my house have been illegally claimed by who knows who, and went for the squashogram. 

 In the waiting room there was this bowl of art, made from paper and other natural materials

 On the way home I noticed this

So I pulled in and found

Ah. I was a few minutes early, but worth waiting for the first strawberries.  So they opened up and I found this year -- no mention of this on website or in email -- a small container has gone from last year's high of $6 to $8. 

Which was more cash than I had available. I'll take another run after I've been to the bank. I rarely use cash but was hoping the $7 I had would work.

Homeward, reparked in the place I used yesterday in the next street, and then Boyz with Toyz II started up.

Eventually leaving me with nice fancy patchwork outside my door 

I'm hoping to retrieve my parking spot soon 

And lunch called, with no plans. So I made what I call Welsh rarebit, sister Dogonart used to call that thing Liz makes and my Mom used to call just eat it, nevermind.

In at 380°f for 20 minutes

On pita bread but good on toast, too. Enough for two more lunches.  

The drink is the liquid drained from the tomatoes, with lemon juice and a drop of water, very nice too. 

I expect this could be a brunch idea with a drop of vodka or gin in the glass, and maybe a stick of celery.

This afternoon I plan to finish and press that second sock to get a package out in the mail tomorrow,  with the scarf and the other socks.

Then I'll get on with the knitted parts of the skirt.

Happy day everyone, let's hope all our test results are good. I won't know mine for a day or two.

Boys 'n Toys, Soup, Socks and Molas

 Happy Valentine's Day!

On to boys and toys. Remember the tree I showed my neighbor knocking down the giant paper wasp nest from? Awkward grammar, awkward situation.

After doing the worst pruning over the years, the boys showed up and in no time it was a pick-up load of sawdust.

Meanwhile I was occupied with making what turned out to be a great soup, butternut squash, cashews, sweet potato, milk added. Here's the result, and the containers for the freezer, and the process.

The onionskins added to the broth gave it a lovely rich color.

Also a lemon blueberry cake happened.

And, fortified, I knitted on and tried on the current Ministry Sock

I try  on over another sock, out of respect for the future owner. Next some ribbing and I can cast off ready for Ministry Sock Two.

Here come the molas, presented for the New England Rug Society,  by collector Tom Hannaher. 

He provided a lot of explanatory slides of the history, culture and techniques of the mola. I was surprised to find it dates only back to the mid 19th century.

It's an intricate form of applique, reverse applique, in repeated layers, skilled stitching. One of the slides illustrates the sequence.

The  Panamanian women who make them seize on all kinds of ideas, from traditional to current pop culture, great sense of humor.

Anyway here come the molas, created by the Guna women of Panama and Colombia. The captions are very helpful.

It was a detailed presentation from Tom Hannaher, an enthusiastic collector, who really appreciates the art and social awareness of the artists.

Handsome Son coming to dinner tonight, and we get to tackle that lasagna I wrote about lately. Also cake.

Happy day!