Postcards, walking and other events

The postcards are ready to mail early next week 

And Saturday, beautiful October day, almost hot in the afternoon, I walked to the pond and admired foliage and reflections.

And the random oak leaf tangled in other leaves

On the patio yet more flowers

And yet another bowl o' blooms.

Gary was doing everything everywhere all at once, wanting input on planting a tree and putting pavers around. Then a while later input on color choice for walls, to work with wallpaper and floor already in place. 

It's all a bit somber for my taste, but he loves dark shades.

Then I got to my stitching and finished the mottled leaf 

Mottled leaf sounds like a nightclub Bertie Wooster might go to.

Then, officially reading Tey's The Singing Sands, but in fact sleeping and even dreaming,  I woke to make a nice supper of steamed broccoli with an omelette on top. 

What a life of luxury, to be able to rest when I'm tired, take a walk without extensive planning and preparation, stitch without checking the clock. 

None of these was possible during the nine years of caregiving for dear Handsome Partner. I did it gladly, and now I'm glad of my freedom.

Happy day everyone, check what we take for granted, sometimes we're on velvet and don't realize it. 

I did all the things

I put together some exciting little packages for blogistas, to mail out on Monday.  No pictures. Classified.

Then, since I'm going to the post office anyway with them, I finished off the second glove for the Sock and Glove Ministry, to send at the same time.

Two pairs of gloves, one of socks. I think my next socks will be spiral ones for a change.

Then Gary came over with a request, which we'd talked about a few days ago.

This is a Japanese silk window sail I made for him, he tells me ten years ago, which hangs in his loft skylight window and moves gently when there's a breeze.  It's held in place by tension rods. He'd seen this one I made for my own similar window, 

and admired it until I took the hint and made one for him. 

His is wearing out a bit at the rod, so I'm going to do a repair on it. It's a lovely piece of fabric. My own is just an upcycled pillow case. 

So that will happen. And, speaking of critter deterrents,  I'm trying yet another approach to fighting the ants on the kitchen counters. None at the baseboards, so they must be in the wall. Everyone has them. These are so small they can get into screw cap jars, just climbing in the threads.

The latest WMD is equal parts borax, baking soda and confectioners sugar, in a shallow container, some artfully spilled, to attract them. I notice a lot fewer ants on the counter this morning, so I'm hopeful.  I'm certainly tired of sharing my own food with them.

On a cheerier subject, in response to various messages I've had about the construction of the slot and tab fabric book, I deconstructed mine to show you 

Here's the constructed book with the pages temporarily numbered with masking tape and marker, showing you the usual page sequence.

Then I took the book apart, and now you see how the numbers work before you construct it.

One side 

Other side 

Done this way you can slide the pages together into the right sequence. It's a kind of Chinese puzzle of a project. This is why I referred you to Ann Wood's website, where she gives you number diagrams and a step by step of the construction sequence. 

You need them if there's a sequence to your stitched pages, such as seasons, or some such progression. Mine didn't have that kind of logical progression, aside from deciding which pages I wanted for front and back covers.

And yes, I did get it reassembled after the pictures!  Some people try this out with blank fabric pages before getting into all the stitching it entails. 

My current stitched book might become a tab and slot, or maybe an accordion. We'll see.

When Elizabeth of York gets a bit heavy -- oh, Weir doesn't accept the Josephine Tey version of Richard III's innocence of the Princes in the Tower disappearance. As laid out in Daughter of Time, which is worth reading if you haven't yet.

Tey discounts Thomas More  as using third hand gossip to accuse Richard. Weir clearly accepts More, and has staked her credibility on Richard's guilt. A lot of writers and academics have. They have a lot to lose by backing down. And Weir gets very defensive on the subject, aha!

Where was I? Oh yes, when it gets heavy going, I've started on this, another Dinner Ladies adventure.

Happy day, everyone, no need to do all the things. Some is fine. None is okay too.

Plant surgery, reading discovery and gloves

 I just found this, now I've put it on my Kindle, and realized the reason I didn't know about it is that it was originally published under her other pen name, Gordon Daviot. It's been reissued under the better known name, but the style is quite different.

So we'll see. No Alan Grant here. Large family, tyrannical religious father, downtrodden mother..

And the gloves are done, ready to go.

While we're talking knitting, take a look at this candy, created by Yolande of the blog Fils et Aiguilles, usually a great embroiderer, but it turns out she knits, too.

If you go to her blog, don't be put off that it starts in French, because she always adds the English translation. Also a third language which I'm not sure, Danish or Dutch. It's a beautiful blog to scroll through in awe. Her  title translates to Needle and Thread.

And yesterday I finally got tired of wrangling this awkward plant, name escapes me, originally brought to me years ago,  as a dumpster rescue by Gary, which I cut into three, giving him one which is doing fine. 

This one was growing long and tall and bending all over, so I cut it back, you see the white stump. Another plant will spring from there. And I just pushed the cut off top, having discarded a long stem, straight back into the pot. Last time I did this, they all flourished, so I hope it happens again. It's better than having it collapse out of the pot, anyway.

On the subject of winnowing, Handsome Son asked what about my plants after I'm gone.  Good thinking. And I realized I don't have to wait that long. They're a lot of work and I don't have energy to burn. 

So I've arranged with the library to pass on the big ones, including the ficus, to them. I'll see them when I want, but they'll care for them. The library  building is all windows, great for plants, and they're keen to build up a collection to make the environment greener. They've taken good care of the begonia I donated. 

 I need to wait for milder weather to do this, so it's a spring plan. No more wrangling the ficus outside again! I've given her fifty years of care, so it's someone else's turn.

Happy day, everyone, and is there something you can hand over and stop wrestling with? Kitties not included.

Happy thanksgiving, if it applies. Or Thursday.

 Yesterday we had a lovely afternoon, the food was simple: precooked turkey slices, tender and very good, heated up with baby preroasted tricolor potatoes, with peas and corn, steamed, cranberry sauce. Cheese and crackers. Pumpkin pie, baked at the store, whipped cream fired from a can. All easy, still with leftovers, low labor. 

He asked after Pink Rabbit (predictive text thinks that should be Floyd), and went up to my bedroom to see her on the baby rocker with the bears. While he was there he kindly adjusted my shower stools, two, one in each bathroom, which I use outside the shower. 

They were both a bit low, different height from the ADA -compliant toilet and the bathtub sides, but right for Handsome Partner, for whom I installed them. I think this is a safety issue, so he raised both to match the fittings. 

This involved wrestling with pliers to pop the leg-adjusting buttons which had been in place for years and were beyond my strength to press hard enough. I suggested silicone dabbed on with a qtip, and that and brute force did the trick.  Much easier to rise from now.

So I'm thankful for a  good son who doesn't mind doing a safety job on a holiday. 

After he'd left, I finished my socks

Which are much redder and less purple than the camera thinks.

While I knitted I listened to the rest of an old favorite in a new recording on YouTube

 I like this because it has a couple of my favorite female characters, the Sharpes, mother and daughter, the wrongly accused, very independent, and nonconformist. They're not unlike my other favorite, Catherine Oliphant from Less than Angels, for similar reasons.

Now the knitting is done, I think, after a day off to rest my neck, just in case, I might make a few comfort pocket dolls for children. I've made many of these in the past and I think there's even one on the needles somewhere. I'll keep you updated. 

So while Handsome Son was here, we planned for him to visit mid December and cook me lunch for my birthday,  then get out my small bag of Christmas decorations to set up. Lunch is  going to be garlicky chicken breast and mozzarella on toasted long rolls whose name escapes me, a special request from me. It's my birthday present.

And I did a selfie, complete with the official Good Pearls, to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving, or happy Thursday, whichever applies. Rayez ce qui est inutile. One of my favorite French bureaucratic commands -- delete that which is inapplicable!

But do have a happy day. I plan to.