First bouquet, the gardener revealed, and nostalgia

This morning I went out to mosey about the deck before it got warm, not very hot today but very humid, and picked the first little bouquet of the year.

Daisies and sage, in an antique Trenton Potteries pot, probably 1890s, and the faithful white Herendt porcelain hound.

Newer readers: every year I make little bouquets from what's growing at my house, in a very small area. It's surprising how many flowers there are. 

Soon there will be zinnias which I plant as seeds for my cutting garden, posh term for three containers. I also have various wildflowers coming up in containers. 

And I got out walking not wishing to miss a day before the heat comes back. It's important for my spirits to walk on grass under the trees, and my spirits have been flagging lately, one thing and another.

We'd had a lot of rain so I had to stay on the sidewalk. That worked out fine because I finally met the gardener who created a lovely small area down the street, all kinds of flowers and ideas. 

Cinder blocks lining the walkway with flowers growing up from them, all kinds of interesting containers, great thought put into a tiny area.

She was sitting on the path weeding when I passed, nice very old Japanese lady, maybe with not much English because her side of the chat was smiling and nodding and making modest little hand gestures at my compliments.  But that explains the meticulous care of the area year round. She knows what she's doing and does it.

Another person that's true of is Marion, multi talented YouTuber from my home territory. 

Today she was at a flea market, with great old items, and she chatted with a number of stall holders. Oh, the lovely northeastern voices! It was heavenly to be among them for a while.

Go there if you want to hear the sound of home to me. In this blog, there's Suzanne who's heard me many times, probably too many, on Spoutible pods, so she can tell us if these are my people!

Marion is wildly talented, from stitching and embroidery to gardening and diy, I don't think there's anything she can't do, and she's so good humored with it.

Reading is still in Tudor times, and now Jane's husband and Anne Boleyn are gone, but Cromwell has brought Jane Boleyn back to court as his spy now Jane Seymour is Queen. The plot keeps on thickening. Tudor history has so few names, trying to keep the Janes and Annes and Marys and Thomases and Williams straight.

Happy day everyone, tired day today, but I did get the chicken roasted and the potatoes parboiled ready for quick food, also custard. 

And I'm getting ready to make a belt with these colors 

It's going to be another clasped weft with orange and purple main weft colors and yellow for the warp threads. 

And I'll weave in a slit at one end,  tapestry style, to slip the other end through, to fasten it.  Fancy stuff. If I set this up tomorrow I'll have it ready for being occupied indoors later in the week. Be prepared!  

Happy day everyone, don't be like Gary who cut a bunch of weeds then came running over this morning, to show me, in a panic in case it was poison ivy to which he's very sensitive, and we have a lot of it. Once again I identified it as Virginia creeper, it's usually Virginia creeper, so he went away calmer. 

Hats off, it's fall -- see chrysanthemums

Saturday morning early I looked out at the weather and saw on the step

Complete with its own water supply, clearly from Gary, his touch. 

Fall has arrived. Also an official state of emergency declared by the Loot Guv,   because of the upcoming storm. I'm postponing the dentist. The library will close, so our group art opening is off.  

So I finished the hat ribbon

And the summer hats will decorate the staircase wall till needed. Some people like to collect antique hats as decor. I like to wear my decor.

Meanwhile I'm rereading Penelope Lively 

About life after the death of the domineering mother, and the effects of her death on the lives of her adult children. 

It's elegiac but funny at times, the characters drawn with great understanding and insight. Well, of course they are, it's Penelope Lively.

Before the storm knocks them down I thought I'd better pick the few remaining zinnias.

Happy day everyone, see if you can find a few flowers, real or metaphorical. One flower: I was finally able to delete the offending links and replace the words without links. I couldn't do this before -- wouldn't delete! Now it's done. Good.

Thursday Misfits

The weather being cool enough for a jacket on my morning circuit of the development, all on sidewalks because of the rain, I did get out for half an hour good walk. 

It's such a luxury to walk without cringing, just painfree, I'm not used to it yet. I hope I continue to remember what a treat this is. My body is finally getting back in balance after the months of limping. It takes a while. 

Then home to various online activity and the walk caught up with me and I slept a while.

Robert brought my Misfits right after lunch.

Canned goods for the food pantry, then potatoes for roasting and salad, also to go with the fish I have thawing. Apples for mid mornings, plums for freezing, until I get to deciding on crumble or torte. Tofu for crunchy sticks, cauliflower for a spicy Will Yeung recipe, mushrooms for omelettes, eggs ditto, cheese for that tomato egg cheese bake I like. Blueberries with yogurt. Coffee, whole beans for grinding. All set.

Once everything is washed and the box broken down and tied for recycle, the delivery is complete.

Happy day everyone, some days are about tasks and maybe this is one.  I'm still intent on stitching along with a podcast but we'll see if that comes to pass. This may be the last quiet day before Gary returns..

Meanwhile a quiet time on the patio watching quite a few clearwing hummingbird moths, then I picked flowers. 

Late breaking news, Gary called, he didn't take the flight, sick and will return Sunday. He didn't sound so well, so I warmly sympathized with him. He's with family and he's in good hands.

Bee lecture this evening online, from the county extension people. I can always learn more about bees.

New daisies, visits and Textiles and Tea postponed

A couple more daisies join the daily arrangement. Picking the first blooms pushes the next to bloom.

I watered outside flowers early, but already at 9 am, too hot to walk.

Yesterday Gary ran over to see how I was doing in the heat, while officially returning containers.  Shortly after, the letter carrier delivered a package of meds into my hand, and asked how I was managing. Some of our local carriers are unofficial social workers. 

Since the stolen meds, he's insisted on personal delivery and even checked whether the man who accepted them during my recovery was my son! Just being careful. And much appreciated. 

I notice since T2 started, it's been like the days after 9/11, people checking on each other's welfare. For new readers: 9/11 was very close to home, we all knew casualties in the Towers,our train station parking lot was filled with cars whose owners were gone. Our post office was the center of the anthrax attack. So we looked out for everyone, strangers, didn't matter, for a while after.

Food notes. I tried mixing canned pumpkin with yogurt and got an excellent dessert. I used to buy mango yogurt from the Asian market until they moved away. Now I realize that with a bit of amchur and turmeric or pumpkin, I have a good lookalike.

I also plan to try Suzanne's idea about Graham cracker crumbs on lime flavored yogurt. Collaborative food! 

And I plan on crushed berries in yogurt. I've always added ingredients but not mixed them in to a pudding idea. I think this will be the Summer of Yogurt. Please weigh in with ideas. The Boudian Cooking Co-op Calls.

Lunch was several ideas drawn from Will Yeung, minimal cooking. I made brown rice, heavily seasoned the water with cayenne, salt, smoked and sweet paprika and tomato paste. 

While that was cooking, I roasted chickpeas with salt,minced garlic and ginger, avocado oil in the toaster oven at 400°f for about 25 minutes. Scallions for garnish.

Nice lunch,  and enough chickpeas left for tomorrow with rice.  I like the idea of seasoning the rice instead of the other ingredients, then serving them together. And I want to try making a dipping sauce but pour it over cooked rice once the dish is assembled. Same flavors coming from different directions.

Since I can't get out walking today, I've got more serious about indoor fitness. Quite a few of the moves I learned in PT are classic and you can find them on YouTube. I have favorite workout people, including this mother and daughter team. The mom is in her eighties, daughter in fifties, so it's good for mid and older women.  

The mom is so good humored about what she can manage and what's hard, the daughter clearly skilled at not pushing but keeping up a challenge. Here's what I watched today.

I used 5lb dumbbells throughout, the daughter switched between 5,8,and10. The mom used 2lb. You use what's right for you, not too easy.  And they take rest and water breaks. I took an extra couple of minutes about halfway through. I really like this pace. There's a timer, with a  second hand going,  top right as you work, so you can see how long to the end of each exercise.  They're about fitting in eight to twelve reps in approximately 30+ seconds.

Quite a few of my PT exercises show up in this workout, so it's a good reminder.  I'm still in recovery mode in my left leg muscles, some of which had shortened over the months of joint issues and compensating. The muscles in front and below the knee are tighter than they used to be, too,  so this is good. None of it hurts, but you know you've been working. 

Meanwhile 

I did not go to the Tuesday knitting group, as you probably guessed.

Textiles and Tea featured Valeria Maldonado, an architect and 3D fiber artist. This post is already full, so I'll talk about her tomorrow.

Happy day everyone, hang in there