Leisure Interrupted

 Yesterday after cooking and bed making and laundry  I finally sat down to do nothing much.

But first I made a huge six meal Thelastofthe quiche. This involved the last of the dandelion greens, chard, mushrooms and onions from the freezer, with the usual eggs and a lot of cheese.

Dandelion greens are peppery and a great addition, and this worked out well.

Then I got on with the latest braiding and I improved my sliding knot ability for the fastener.

Here it is in blurry action.

Then I found myself considering a PBS Passport in support of WHYY public broadcasting. Why not, access at least for now, to good drama and documentaries, while sending a modest amount to a good fairly local -- Philly -- cause.  So I did, and eventually got it to work, thinking my evening entertainment for the foreseeable future is set up. 

So I thought I'd start with a couple of episodes of the newer All Creatures Great and Small. I'm so glad I found it. 

Such an improvement in the casting over the earlier one. The Scot Herriot portrayed as a Scot, the farmer Helen as a lovely Yorkshire woman, not an escapee from a finishing school. Anyway I'm very happy with it. And Diana Rigg as Mrs Pumphrey, perfect. 

However, here's what happened in the middle of watching. A bang at the door, Gary suddenly in my midst ready to, are you sitting down, collect the splitleaf. He was in a mood, I think severe back pain though he doesn't mention it.

And after the most commotion possible, here's the uninvited guest, the plant, that is,  leaving. 

Gary may come back for the tall palm today and I hope I can shove off, I mean return, the pony palm, too. It's like having noisy people finally go home, in the way, no matter where they are. I was happy to take care of them and now they need to leave.

It took a while for me to recover from the sudden drama, I'm out of the habit.

Then today the mail brought a great tiny thing.

A while back I think I made a comment on the Modern Daily Knitting site about watercolor painting and the minis I made in July. I think that's what triggered this lovely gift. 

Anyway they got in touch for a street address and here we are. Hannah is a terrific artist, as you see, and an MDK star. Nice people, with a great website and newsletter.

I also created a couple of cards, using the protective card stock Hannah had used to mail her art, waste nothing, to attach to the back of two goldwork pieces I gave to a friend recently. She had noted they were unsigned and asked for an identifier for the back of the frame. 

So here we are 

So that's us Chez Boud! I made a little video while I was out walking early, before the heat got going, now my daily YouTube upload.

But, back to still pictures, here's the local fungi getting underway. 

Just the start. After all our rain, it should be a good fungus year.

Happy day everyone, make art if you want, or delegate it, it's all good.

Slow tired day but things got done anyway

I'm a bit low in gumption today, tired, but I did get around to a few things.

This morning I noticed a corner of the patio which worked like an illustration of plant lifespan.

Deciduous Japanese maple foliage, evergreen pachysandra, daylily with bud, bloom and spent blossom next to honesty now in full seed setting mode. That's a lot of information in a couple of square feet.

I finally got around to the quiches I've been going on about, two as easy to make as one. Here they are, smelling great coming hot from the oven.

Crustless spinach with several cheeses. Patti, if you're reading here, this is Diane's recipe from Utne Cafe days, still going!

And today's bouquet included two teeny pink zinnias. If you pick, they keep blooming to replace the flowers.

 There will soon be more black eyed susans. A couple of these items will probably root in water and I may pot them up. The peppermint and the wandering dude are what I have in mind.

I did hold up the striped fabric to myself, to remember how much there is. Plenty for a robe and belt if I don't feel like weaving a belt. We'll see. Whatever I make will be simple.

Not up for drawing today, though I think I'll eventually make an artist book from my July drawings and paintings, using  paintings for front and back covers.

But I did draw you a coloring template if you fancy printing it out and coloring it or giving it to a kid likewise.

You have plenty of choices about showing layers or depth, whatever you fancy.

Happy day! Color inside or outside the lines today.  Or both. It's all good. No colors? Use a pen or pencil to create patterns inside the shapes. Just an idea.

How does the indoor garden grow, lanyards

 I chilled my Christmas cactus accidentally when I opened the patio door, making it drop its buds, sigh, just when it was going nicely. So I've moved it to the kitchen with that collection, and it's made a couple of new buds.

All the plants in the kitchen are doing well, the ivy sprouting, the wandering dude wandering and even the peppermint which I thought was dead suddenly sprang up when I put ivy in the same pot. My first aid aloe plant, which I use regularly for cooking burns, is happy.  So all's well in the kitchen. It's west facing, and most plants seem to do well.

Meanwhile back in the studio, well the living room where the weaving was set up,  I finished the band weaving for the lanyard. I had crocheted another, and I can stickweave another.

The woven lanyard still needs finishing and joining. Meanwhile I've contacted Sister M. at the Knitting Ministry to ask if she'd like some for the people we're providing with gloves and socks. They're certainly at risk of harassment, I think. If she agrees, I'll send them.

I have more warp threads ready for another weaving, so that will happen.

And the Christmas newsletter from the sisters arrived with a picture of some of the knitted items from the Knitting Ministry. 

The gloves and socks are from your humble blogista. Nice to know they arrived safely.

Happy day everyone, keep warm if you're in the US. Well even the southern hemisphere doesn't seem to be very summery yet.

Hot air, poached cod and art

Yesterday the chimney people came, blew out the dryer vent, inspected the chimney, pronounced all was well, emptied my wallet and left.

Followed up by a couple of neighbors wanting to know how I'd found them, how to contact, etc.  Written clearly on the van, but they'd missed it! 

It pays to do business in a development, because people are happier to hire someone who's already been seen around than an unknown Google search.  They certainly earned their money yesterday, climbing on the roof in torrid heat, even early morning. 

Here's what explains the feeling the heat 

And this explains my swollen and itchy eyes

And this is why I've been coughing for days, smell of woodsmoke around this week.

And there's this

All in all, we've had better days.

Meanwhile there was cod to poach, and carrots and dandelion greens to steam, and capers to strew around.

And apricots to finish, with nutritious chocolate almonds.

Outside, when it was cooler in the evening, I did a bit of spotting, a little fungus, balsam flowers self seeded, and other self starting plants 

In other wildlife news, I was filling my rinsing water bowl for daily dishes last night, when I spotted a little clump being swept around the bowl by the hot water. 

I fished it out and found it was a little spider, waterlogged and half drowned. I tried to dry her out a bit without damaging any legs, then maneuvered her onto a paper towel. 

This morning she's gone, so I guess she lived to fight another day. Us spinners have to stick together, through hell and hot water.

Textiles and Tea featured a wonderful Japanese scholar, artist, painter, artisan in shibori dyeing, ikat weaving and boro, the preservation of tatters.

She spoke of this cultural museum in Basel, Switzerland, as a repository of fiber culture from many regions and centuries.

Boro is the preservation and respect for tattered, patched cloth, showing its history and place in the culture.

She wrote the classic English language book on shibori dyeing, before then the texts were in Japanese.

She believes in keeping a flexible mind, letting the materials suggest the next move, and not grimly holding onto the first design idea.  It was an education to listen to her. Check her website for more.

Last evening I finished the next page in my fabric book. Mary will recognize the original fabric, but maybe not its current form 

and yes, the fabric suggested each move, tearing, raveling stitching. I just followed her lead.

Happy day everyone, hang in there, despite climate and political setbacks, we, with nature and art, will survive and thrive.

Triangles, couples and jam

 This morning's patio prowl before it gets too hot shows new buds happy with the heat and intermittent downpours

The Thai basil is flowering happily and new seedlings are coming in

No buds on the morning glory but it's swamped the shepherd's crook

tiny buds starting on the alyssum

And the first zinnia flower wheeee! These seed packets are more than paying their rent

 And yesterday I got a bag of prepped, pitted plums from the freezer to make an exclusive batch of jam

Which came out a lot better than the accidental apricot crumble stuff, so evidently I can still make jam

About the current skirt. Here's the inside showing the rectangle of fabric pinned in place

Then I laid dowels along the stitching line to show how I'm getting triangles off the pieces of batik

And here are the triangles ready to applique. I may take a strip off the biggest, for a bit of trim for the pocket edge. Today's about direct applique.

You'll notice I did this the easy way. A stitcher who's part engineer or who works for a dress pattern company would probably have painstakingly measured two triangles to fit the spaces, using protractors, slide rules and a piece of string tied to a pencil to determine the exact angles and slopes. So much easier to do it  this way, 

The inside finishing involves turning under and stitching the raw edges of the triangles. 

A couple of bloggers have posted early stories of their relationships very engrossing reading, and I have one, not so old, that became a family joke.

For many years  Handsome Partner and I were a married couple who couldn't in the end continue, divorced fairly amicably, continued as friends, more years, gradually realizing we were bonded for life but couldn't live together. 

Then came 9.11 and we realized it was ridiculous to be apart, who knew what could happen, so we coupled up again, with the proviso that we keep our own homes, share both.

We both owned the townhouse, bought together earlier, and I'd bought the condo personally.

Then his health deteriorated dramatically and we were forced into my moving into the townhouse where he had lived throughout the separation. Neither of us wanted this  but he simply couldn't manage alone with just shopping help from loyal and tactful handsome son.  He navigated his parents' unconventional relationship heroically, not taking sides, just being the grownup, and deserves tons of credit.

Anyway, neighbors noticed I seem to have moved in, and one, clearly out of the loop, fell in with me one day while I was walking KC the Dalmatian. How nice of you to take on the dog as well as the other tasks, she said. A was so smart to get this arrangement. I wish I could persuade my dad to do it, too.

I was sort of listening and wondering what we were talking about. Set up a relationship for her elderly frail father, what? Then she went on, would you mind telling me what agency sent you? I'd refer dad, too. Live-in is so good.

I explained that we were a couple, had been for many years, Handsome Son, whom she knew, was our son.  Her face was a picture. She recovered and we've had a lot of nice chats in the years since.  To be fair, she'd seized the wrong end of the stick because she was wanting to set up something for her dad, can't fault that. She'd assumed I was a live in paid  companion.

Evidently It had not crossed her ageist little mind that old frail men can have a relationship. Nor that older women can, too. Without consulting the neighbors! 

Hp was creased laughing when I told him and if we argued I'd threaten to get a new assignment from my agency if he didn't shape up. And he'd better upgrade my pay too, while we were at it!

Happy day, everyone, no need to get the neighbors to consent to your life! That's not what consensual means, hehehe.