Oh, Canada, go, Canada!

Celebrate our Canadian sisters and brothers today, on the birthday of the maple leaf flag, replacing the old ensign one, colonial relic.

Closer to home, you know you live in a small town when the local police issue this alert 

On the apple front, there are containers of sliced apples in the freezer, ready for when the mood strikes.  And delicious roasted potato dice again today. Also potato, carrot and red lentil soup. Are you seeing a trend?

My current escapist reading continues to be Hamish Macbeth, good thing MC Beaton wrote a lot of them. 

The picture is from the TV series, which was good but only vaguely based on the characters, not the books. This is the TV dog, westie Jock. Also the real Hamish has flaming red hair.

The book animals are Towser, who died old, Lugs, named for his ears, and Sonsie, a wildcat who moved in and coexists happily in the police station/home of Hamish, with his sheep and chickens. 

There was briefly a poodle, after Sonsie went away for a while, but she, the poodle, moved away with a constable who got married, it's all a bit soap opera, you need to read it for a bit of complicated light escape.

At this point I could try my hand at writing it, too. Fan fiction.

Yesterday was a day of many parts. Art exhibit, house clean, laundry done, bills paid, bed all changed, reading, qi gong, great food, a very good day. 

Also my first sighting on the patio this year of a Carolina wren. I'm hoping they'll nest close by. They're great for repelling squirrels once they've got young. Won't be long before the mourning doves start mating on my high fence, too, favorite love nest every spring.

All in all, there are good things to be glad about. That's first. First be joyful. Then we can resume our resistance.

I just thought: people who are worried about eggs, safety, price, there's a great chocolate cake that doesn't need them. It's been around for ages, originally an eggless cake in some other era. 

Look for it under eggless cake, crazy chocolate cake, wacky cake, something like that, you'll find it. It's the recipe I always use, no complaints so far. And a nice slice of chocolate cake  (buy cocoa powder while you can) helps with a lot of problems.

And winnowing continues, with these materials for weaving and linocut, hoping for a good Freecycle home. 

It's a winter holiday weekend, Presidents' Day, maybe good for Freecycling.

Happy day everyone, and here's a nice couple of thoughts to be considering. Beauty is still happening in Fils et Aiguilles, a blog about traditional embroidery, here hardanger. The blog is bilingual in French and English, easy to follow.

And here's a great reminder, like the shakuhachi effect

Hardanger, applique, fast food, and tea

While I was pawing through materials in search of the Tunisian crochet hook, about which more later, I found this sample of hardanger I stitched yea these many years ago.

I dyed it with tea to knock down the whiteness and age it a bit.

And here's where we are with the stitching

Some sashiko got in there. One more block and that's the first of three columns completed.

Meanwhile upstairs the rug is coming along. 

I'm seeing the end of the supply of roving now, which, as much as the warp length, may dictate the size. The wire needle is okay, but a bit flexible, so today I'm going to use one of my long Tunisian crochet hooks to draw weft through, and we'll see.

Handsome son visited yesterday for tea, card, present and plum crumble on the patio, lovely afternoon. When I mentioned the rug, he instantly said how will you make it nonskid, joining the chorus who are convinced I'm going to crash out and break something as soon as I step on it. I think I'll stitch some of that nonskid shelf lining to it.

Later Gary presented me with a bunch of fresh cut celery, the stems of which are a bit bitter, but they're now in the stock bag in the freezer, while the leaves are also bagged and frozen for future cream of celery soup.

Caro, this one's for you, fast food for lunch, sharp cheddar and foraged tomatoes on toast, romaine side. 

With the hand hemmed napkin formerly lost under the old fridge.

A couple of people were unfamiliar with the honesty plant whose seedpods I showed you yesterday, so here's more

It's a pretty flower in spring, then lovely seedpods later.

Happy day, everyone, and when a recipe says cups, tablespoons, etc, they're statutory measurements, not just whatever spoon or cup you have lying about! This has come up in rl and online. It's the English language getting everyone all confused again. 

Enjoy your Sunday,  well, Monday for some and go Spain!! First time winners of the World Cup.  What a day for them. Close, tense match. Class play.

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