Early Monday morning, dentist. But first..

 

My dentist has a more up to date drill

And I expect we both hope this won't happen

But first, if you want to try the quiche I made, here's the recipe from an Internet friend long ago in the 90s in the old Utne Cafe. Thanks, Diane, dianesowo!

Best I can do.

My dreams have involved a lot of knotting lately. It's weird to dream you've continued your current work with different knots, not very good design,  then wake up to realize you don't have to fix it. It's like a fiberarts nightmare.

About the template I offered you yesterday, I know some adults like coloring pages, restful, I think. So I made it in case anyone wants to try it.

Me, I've never done coloring books or painting books, or enjoyed crosswords or jigsaw puzzles much, or jokes. What I've liked since I was a little kid was making them. 

I remember laboriously cutting pictures onto shapes to reassemble as  puzzles and giving them to other kids to play with. Likewise crosswords. I created them when I taught seventh grade, to teach grammar terms. And I made up jokes very young.

I think it runs in the family -- when Handsome Son was about five, long before he broke through the language barrier, he would create toys like airplanes and people out of paper and scotch tape.  He couldn't manage scissors so he tore the paper to size and shape.

The people had a door in front with a knob drawn on.  You opened the door to see their organs all drawn in place, as he'd seen in the encyclopedia.  He'd give the toys to other kids, busy making more and not interested in collecting them.  

He created wordless comics too, with a cast of characters drawn from various toys. 

Now I'm off to learn how to do knotting finishes so I can end my current bracelet.

Happy day everyone. Everyone can make something even if it's just a fuss!

Every day, that is.

No Kings online

If you're not up for marching in person for No Kings, you can be part of the movement online. Cut and paste, whatever your system permits, and sign up at this link.

Or find it via search engine. I've signed up. Note that the times are Mountain Time, so do the math for your region.

In the subject of showing up, I looked at the ballot tracker and confirmed that my vote for Governor was received.

Once again the dentist chatted about the way time flies, checked my new x-rays, emptied my wallet and gave me an appointment for this time next year.  

I ran out of toothpaste a couple of weeks ago, switched to baking soda.  The hygienist had asked how come I had very little staining compared to last year. She said that definitely accounted for the improvement, and to keep doing it unless my teeth get sensitive.  

I didn't know they kept records of staining, and the dentist did his own cleaning and polishing last year, so maybe he did it. Meticulous. Anyway I can save buying toothpaste now.

And I got a lovely offer of sock yarn from a blogista, thank you, P, complete with news of old online friends, so I'm looking forward to resuming socking soon. People coming through, again. 

Meanwhile I'm finishing the current pair, just turned the heel on the second sock. I love the mechanics of short row heel turning, very satisfying to do.

Tuesday evening Gary came rushing over to show me a picture he'd taken a few minutes before of a beautiful yellow and white cat sitting on my step in front of the wooden cat ornament! As if Mr. Cat is asking if I'd rather have the real thing instead of a wooden one.

I wonder if he's trying to move in. Wouldn't be the first cat to try that. Gary's seen him several times recently at night. I wonder, too if he's being let out at night. 

He looks well fed and clean, a pet, not a stray. Gary wants to feed him, but I warned him he'll end up with a time-share cat with two homes. We'll see.

I wouldn't mind a visiting cat as long as I didn't have the responsibility and expense. A grandcat. That would be nice.

Happy day everyone, do you have grandpets? I like the concept. Billie the Pup is like that. My grandpup.

Mary Wesley, instant soup and all change

 I just finished a great Mary Wesley, they're all great, that atmosphere she creates immediately, that surrounds you to the end of the novel.

I also like the way her characters wander in and out of each other's stories. Here Calypso, from Chamomile Lawn, has a cameo, and her son, Hamish plays a small but important part in this story. It's like Barbara Pym, where someone is described and the reader knows them from having read the novel where they were leading characters. You feel you have the inside track. 

This one is about recovering from crushing grief and the loss of a child, trigger alert in case you don't want to go there, and people plunging about trying to make life work with varying degrees of success. 

It's set mainly in London with a quick business trip to the US, and some excursions into the country. And there's a lurcher. I'm always game for a lurcher 

There's also a little echo here and there of Margery Sharp, the rangy, unconventional heroines, the men whose appearance is nothing like their inner longings, the rough trade that appeals surprisingly to some conventional women. I wonder if Wesley read Sharp. 

Wesley published her first novel at 70, so I expect there was a lot of reading in her life before then. And some of her writing comes from her lived experience with her own family, uncaring and callous to her, but paid out in her fiction, maybe after their deaths.

The storm seems to be coming to nothing much. The library closed because of the declared state of emergency, cancelling our art opening, and I cancelled my dental checkup. Then I thought I may as well cancel the cancellation, and found my dentist, who evidently works Sundays, had already reassigned the slot. 

He'll call with an appointment for the same day. Gary, who's driving me,  assures me no problem, Monday is flexible for him, so it will work. I was being courteous, not wanting to cancel last minute, but oh well. 

Lunch was soup, made from the rest of the chickpeas, tomatoes and spinach from that pasta dish. All heated together, worked fine. Canned mango chunks and yogurt, beaten with lemon juice and sugar for dessert. Easy, A noncooking day.  Another can of mango goes to the food pantry. I think someone will like it.

There being no rain, I caught up on walking, A nice half hour. It's surprising how soon your strength falters when you don't walk daily.  Weight training Sunday evening.

This account was interrupted by Gary rushing in with a pot of boiled eggs, to practice shelling them! 

He's been working on his eggs lately, unfamiliar with boiling and shelling them successfully. Many consultations! I think he's cracked (!) it now. He's very happy. I'm encouraging him to buy free range, easier to work with, more nutritious etc.  

He suddenly said "I'm going to go nuts when I don't live next door to you! So many questions answered." I think there may be a lot of calls after he moves, what with plants, cooking, medical decisions, the gamut.

Happy day everyone, teach your grandma to shell eggs, sez Ted and Big Ursy.

And resist 

See Portland's brilliant turnout for further information on the frog.

And a Happy Thanksgiving, Canajuns!

Sad dentist, happy patient, lunch and misfits

Thursday my chauffeur arrived promptly and got me to the dentist early, and I was seen early. X-Rays using child-size plates, cleaning done by dentist no hygienist in evidence. No work found to do, so no boat payment for dentist, but a happy patient. 

He happily talked about skiing in Western Massachusetts as a kid, all the way to double black diamond, the cost of lift tickets now, modern designed skis, all very technical, requiring ohah urfh umph from my side.

Then I got my $270 toothbrush and Handsome Chauffeur Son drove us home after checking what I had available for lunch. Soup, no thanks, shrimp salad, no, chicken sandwiches without greens added in, yes. I explained no baked goods this week, sorry. 

When we got home misfits had arrived so he obligingly carried in the box, 

The tuna for future tuna salad, fettuccine and diced tomatoes future partners, strawberries why not, likewise chocolate cherries. Dark chocolate is nutritious. Right.More beans, there's never too many, I use them all over. Broccoli for steaming with maybe a poached egg on top.

Handsome Chauffeur was very happy to accept chocolate covered cherries for dessert. Pot of tea. 

While I assembled sandwiches, I asked him to put the kettle on. Which he did. Then it occurred to me to ask if he'd filled it first. Oh, wait, I'll do that, he did,  and it went back on the stove. Classic y chromosome, assuming the kettle fairy would have filled it, no need to check!

He also reset the my car display, dispensing with the tire pressure alert, keeping it in English, and retaining the total mileage display, three items I can't manage all at one time. 

And I recruited him to do some postcards to voters, so he took home the cards and information, after looking at mine to see what it entailed. He's a person who will do what he says he will, so this is a done deal.

A successful day, I'd say.

Good news from the Tampa and area friends up to now, wind and rain, but people and animals fine. I haven't heard from everyone, but I'm hopeful. I was dreading the news this morning, but was so relieved.

 Happy day, everyone! 

I hope everyone's day goes as well.

Dental joy, freecycle in reverse, and alerts

Today I overcame my driving nerves, now necessary since the pandemic knocked out my driving confidence, and made it to the dentist for the annual ( I refuse to go more often, if it ain't broke, etc) cleaning and measuring and xrays. 

This was the five year interval for complete xrays, not just the annual bite wings. I have a small mouth, which some might dispute, but it's really trying to have those inserts wedged in for xrays. 

New hygienist, after a couple of pictures said, you know what? The adult equipment is too big, I'm going to switch to pediatric inserts, half the size but the same pictures. This was the easiest time I've ever had.  I blessed her. She also said to head off a gag reflex, uncross your feet, lift them both up just a bit and it interrupts the gag! She has a lot of trouble herself, so she does it. I learned something!  

Dentist declared me to be in great dental health, nothing to do but empty your wallet,  go home, goodbye, see you next year.

The only hard bit was paying for it.  Except that as always, on the way home,  the car suddenly beeped loudly, flashing screen, as if there was some major issue, this one shouting TIRE PRESSURE LOW. 

It's always on the dentist trip that something alerts the car. I think it hates going. Anyway I took a couple of cranberry muffins next door, admired the very nice floor going in upstairs, and when he gets a minute, Gary will attend to the tires. He has an inflater/compressor thing, and it's a short job. Two muffinsworth.

Then another Good Thing happened. There was a whistling kettle on free cycle, local, which I lucked into. My current kettle,  though pretty and good quality, boils silently, to the point where I've forgotten it all night.. After a couple of gosh, could have burned the place down episodes, I put an alert on my phone, to clang loudly at 10pm CHECK THE STOVETOP!

This Revere Ware kettle has a piercing whistle which I don't think I can forget. So I've retired the phone alert, from the many notes to self to keep my tricycle triking. I don't think I could cope with a partner now. It's all I can do to cope with moi. That shot reminds me of those early oil paintings where the painter showed off their technical skills, sneaking themselves into the image.

Happy day everyone!  Keep triking, whatever that means for you, and I hope Canadian friends had a good Thanksgiving, and will soon recover.

And we leave you with

Not  talking about war except to pray for the civilians on both sides suffering what a few warmongers on both sides, with outside funding and directions,  are unleashing

Photo AC.

Funny folks, vote arrived, stitching, a pair and a spare, and more

Remember when I sent in my mail-in ballot, and mentioned a few things we'd fought for and got? Above you see the results of one such campaign. It's called Track my Ballot. Allowing time for the mail, you go into your official passworded account, to check on your voting history to date. 

At the bottom  you see the official acknowledgment that the county voting officials have my ballot safe. Counting doesn't start till the polls are closed on election day, but meanwhile, it's safely there, and the voter knows it.  It encourages public confidence in the mail in ballot.

And stitching is continuing. Here's the whole piece

And here's a detail showing the worked part.

 I did knit that third glove, and I feel better offering a pair and a spare now that they look more as if they all belong together.

Food keeps happening, today fritters of tuna, cannellini beans, in panko crumbs, heavily spiced with long pepper, of course,  and a pinch of ground cardamom. Ketchup. The last of the strawberries for dessert. 

And I found a great labeled chart of photos, waxcaps, including a few I've noted in here lately. This is worth bookmarking, if you're interested in fungi.

 

Before I wrap up today, speaking of odd ducks, I've met a few, in various workplaces, and among my readers here!

My favorite was the lady who'd read in here and emailed me to say she was doing the genealogy of her  family, and wanted me to supply her with information on my Boud ancestors, since she had found an Elizabeth Boud several generations back and wondered if we had relatives in common.

We got into quite a thread of emails, I trying to explain Boud is only a screen name, no connection with people, in fact it was the nickname of my late cat, Boudicca.  So named because small but fearless, like the warrior queen who came close to routing the Romans at the battle of Colchester, but I digress.

My correspondent wasn't having it and wanted to know why I wouldn't help her, when she'd been referred to my blog from a genealogy website. I asked her to please give me the website reference, so I could put the record straight, and she said, oh, er, well, um, she couldn't remember it. 

After emailing me several times with demands, she finally  declared it was people like me who made it hard to research,  refusing to share information. Once again I  explained it wasn't my family name, and wished her luck! She said she'd report my refusal, to save other people from wasting their time, which I thought, but didn't say, was a good outcome. 

So there, a little episode of the endless comedy that is people.

Happy day, everyone, off to the annual dental visit, where I hope  they'll clean my teeth, tap on them, make measurements, and tell me I'm fine before emptying my wallet and seeing me out.

The people there are definitely compos mentis, glad to say.

The rest of the story

 The Case of the Mistaken Deck Billing has been resolved happily. After an exchange of emails, the manager  asked if my contractor could attest to having done the work on the deck.  

It occurred to me that I could send pictures from the blog of the work in progress. I'd been keeping contractor Michael informed because I was talking about him and I'm a believer in Nothing About Us Without Us.

So to save contractor Michael from being imposed on further, I sent this to the HOA

Proving that the deck was never an obstacle to the fencing, and that the small work required was done before they arrived, pictures dated. 

And promptly got a response thanking me and agreeing to correct the record. So there was an unexpected bonus to blogging. 

I felt like a character from a TV detective series -- "perhaps THIS will refresh your memory!" -- flourishing in court the proof which will make the bad guy confess, then, like Perry Mason, all the lawyer's team adjourn to a Chinese restaurant.

Anyway it's settled and Michael didn't see the texts and emails until it was resolved, so he read it all with some amusement. I wonder how many other mistakes the fencing company made in their billing, they not being so good at the paperwork back at HQ.

I think I might consider this as a retirement income -- claim to have done work I didn't, bill for it, and force the victim, I mean client, to prove a negative. Not many people will have the receipts as I did. This could work ;)

And in other important news,  my vote has now been cast, in the dropbox outside the town hall. 

The building you see is the Police department, and the dropbox, you can just see the top of it, is in a 24/7 camera surveilled area, security guaranteed. It's emptied daily by officials from the Board of Elections. So I'll soon be able to track that it's been received.

Meanwhile reading has been happening, and this is very entertaining, beachy but still fun to read and very well researched. It's the next part of the lives of Emmy and Bunty, now crusading journo and sidekick

And this is the upcoming weekend treat

Mma Ramotswe rides again.

.

The dental visit went well on Thursday,  hygienist Courtney giving me an excited account of her new pregnancy, she must just have found out, her Lasik surgery, her husband's color blindness, her hopes that the baby would escape it, a very entertaining background to the cleaning process. 

Then while the dentist followed up with the permanent crown installation, I got his concerns about water in the western states, and how dams with reduced flow are generating less power and what a contrast with Florida with more water than they can handle.  Quite an educational time, I thought as I left with my $150 toothbrush.

Happy day everyone, today I'm sorting two boxes of stuff winnowed by handsome Son, for Freecycling or thriftie donation. He's so pressed for time that it's a great help to his decluttering now that it occurred to me to do the disposal for him.  And he certainly needs to declutter.

Hoping all our lives are decluttered, educated, and the good guys win the billing, and other, wars. And Happy Thanksgiving, Canadian friends!

Early one morning, Sock Ministry, now it's teeth..

Early this morning, window open all night because I can, and here's the late summer view

My little yard, then left toward Gary, right toward Aditha. Mourning doves giving background music.

And yesterday was a day of consultation with the dentist after my tooth collapsed Sunday night, then with the doctor about whether to do the Prolia injection Friday for osteoporosis, because of this new situation. 

After a miserable day of passing time till my late afternoon appointment, I finally got to the dentist, who said a crown is needed. First dental work in years. Usually they clean, xray, empty my wallet, wave goodbye. 

He tells me the Prolia isn't an issue since he's not touching bone. Apparently if they extract a tooth, that's different. So I expect my doctor will get back to me today to let me know.

This is shaping up to be the Summer of Expensive Doctors, this week being the most: 

Monday dentist,  $1100, Thursday eyedoctor, $3000,  final post operative checkup, Friday rheumatologist injection, the only one covered by Medicare.  Gosh, hardly time to knit. Or to figure out how to keep up with the medical bills.

Handsome Son will drive me to main dentist appointment, end of next week, because it's long and I think I'll be tired out, not good for driving home, otherwise I could have got step one done yesterday.

But the good news is that yesterday I drove to the dentist, two towns over, traffic, complex intersections, and home just fine. I was exhausted from the general doings and slept as soon as I got home.

And the car did one of those loud clanging alerts and flashing screens on exactly the same stretch of road for the third time, nearly sending me off the road in surprise, all to say low tire pressure. Not a blowout as you might think from the hysteria. But I wonder why the same stretch of road, yet again. Seems woo-woo.

The other good thing is that the injection and possible aftereffects will be a week in rhe rearview mirror by the time of the first crown appointment.

Also the thriftie is in that neighborhood, so after the second crown appointment, maybe I'll stop in  and check the leather bags for that slipper-making I was talking about.  Just a carrot for the falling-apart donkey here.

Meanwhile on that most miserable day, the mailman brought two parcels, and a surge in good spirits, contents for the Sock Ministry, courtesy of Joanne

The two wooden tools are an old darning egg and and a future nostepinne, for winding center-pull balls of yarn.

Wonderful plans here. And the donor agreed I could legitimately divert some yarn to a sock or two for the knitter, having made a lot of pairs to donate. I've been very careful to use the Ministry-donated yarn only for the people it's intended for, despite some temptation.

The other good news yesterday was a shout-out from the Knitting Ministry sisters' newsletter, very nice to keep the knitter's spirits up

All in all, on balance a good day after all.

And I watched the end of The Crown, definitely best season yet. It was so much better acted, directed, everything than Season Three.  I think the actors were a level up, just very moving. I even began to feel for Charles, amazingly. They're a pretty grubby bunch, all said and done. Great drama though.

And here's a piglet taking her bath at the Squirrelwood Sanctuary. 

This was a while back. Now all grown up, she could nicely wear the tub as a hat.

Happy day everyone.  Keep well, make sure, if you're in the US, that you're registered to vote. Good vibes to Ukraine on their upcoming counteroffensive. 

 

Dentists, pumpkins and cats

Today was the annual dental check-up at which I get x-rays, cleaning, polishing, dentist chatting about his grandchildren while looking in my mouth, then he says nothing to do here. So they empty my wallet and I come home.

And, exactly like this time last year, in the exact same stretch of road, a loud clang which nearly sent me off the road, announcing low tire pressure. I guess the Fit has decided that this, too, is an annual occurrence. 

On the way home was the farm, with cute figures, pumpkins to pick and other fall ideas.

Here's my haul. 

Misfits is not due till Friday, managed to change back the delivery day, and I ran out of fruit. I tend to panic without fruit. Also tomatoes. The pumpkin is a sugar, pie, one. After it's served its purpose on the step, before the squirrels eat it.

And here's the wooden cat getting into the act, testing various ideas. No, I didn't make it. It's folk art, except made with power tools. I found it at the dumpster. It likes my step so it's lived here for years. The daisies are Montauk, the very last thing to come into bloom in my yard. My couple of square yards.

Dentist, thriftie, flowers writing their own epitaph

High anxiety today, routine check-up at the dentist, great precautions, temp taken, questionnaire to fill out, shoved instantly into exam room, no loitering in the waiting area. Hygienist equipped to do surgery, masked, face shielded, gowned, all to clean my teeth. Dentist arrives in N95 mask. While the cleaning was happening, two alerts sounded on my phone, across the room, too bad.

So no work needed, no deterioration , just keep doing what you've been doing. Empty your wallet, dear, and you can be on your way.

Since I had already ventured across two towns to the dentist, I wasn't far from the thriftie, so I seized the day, found a shortcut to there, and unloaded the Fit of the stuff that's been rattling about behind me for weeks. Nobody was watching, so the hatch opened easily, first time. This never happens when there's an audience. It's a law of nature.

Home again, feeling that I'd acquitted myself well under fire, even simple errands are like this nowadays, and found the phone alerts were about a power outage, one from the power company telling me about it, one from a neighbor asking me about it. Nobody seems to ask the power company. They ask me!  And it was already restored anyway, just had to reset various flashing clocks.

Gardening convo with another neighbor restored my balance, and I noted the Montauk daisies now coming out

 near the Autumn Joy sedum.

 Notice how the ground cover fills in so you don't get that collapsed effect sedum has when it flops out from the center. I can't claim to have completely planned this, more like hoped for it.

Even that daisy head I knocked off is opening in the house, intrepid feller.

Down the street two roses, all  about seizing the day, and time flying.And on that elegiac note, good night!

 After you see a more cheerful sight, a pan of fresh baked cornbread

Life's a banquet, let's enjoy cornbread before our petals fall off.