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.

Bracelet undergoes reassignment, buds

So much cooler, windows open today.

After hours of torrential rain and flood warnings, though long-term we're in a drought, I got out briefly on the deck to show you a couple of things.

The little flower that came up right next to the gatepost turns out to be a coreopsis, tiny flowers with big color. There was one last year around here, so this may be its offspring.

And since it started raining again and I didn't want my phone wet, I quick took a couple of bud pictures 

The hibiscus is definitely going to pass last year's three blossom total 

And the zinnias will soon be ready to pick a couple for little bouquets. One there on the left may be red, always interesting to study daily. I planted only the dwarf ones this year, probably better for pots.

The potatoes are all going well, but too rainy to add their picture. All in all, pretty hopeful.

On the craft front, I declared the bracelet, if not done, as done as it's going to get, braided one end and it's now a handy scissor fob. 

I learned that perle cotton isn't good for this kind of project, too resistant to knotting, just slips away and tries to come undone. I've learned a lot one way and another. Still going, though. I'll try just embroidery floss.

Also still waiting for the antibiotics to arrive. Promised for Monday but who knows, holiday weekend. I need them in hand before I call the dentist about the tooth which has crumbled further, since I take them one hour before appointment. 

However nothing's really hurting, just some pressure, which might also be sinus reaction to the weather. So I'm trying to stay calm and occupied, and I'm starting another bracelet or something without the perle cotton and we'll see. 

I did some weaving this morning, always nice to have the loom ready to do a few inches.

 I've been amusing myself with puzzles online, mainly the math kind where the comments fill with furious arguments about the terms of the puzzle and how there's a better answer etc.  It's amazing how worked up nerds can get 

I'm pretty good at spotting puzzles that ask for logic rather than computation and usually know when there's not enough information to derive an answer. And the trick ones, like the one my teacher gave us and I've never forgotten from age 11.

We were doing mental arithmetic where she read out the question and we promptly  either shot up our hands or clasped our heads depending on aptitude.

It was a rapidfire addition which I'll improvise:

What's 3x6x4x8x2x8x5x6x0?    Some kids got the joke because she rattled out the number and dwelt on the zero. Some panicked after the first couple, some zoned out. It pays to listen to the end. 

While we're at it, how long is the 92nd Psalm? 

See end for answers if I remember to insert them 

Happy day everyone, unclasp your head if it applies, the world's full of puzzles. My nephew, the one I taught the macrame bracelet too, was a dab hand when younger at questions. What color is blue? How high is up? You know the sort of thing.

Answers:

Zero.  And a minute and a half. Sez Ted and Big Ursy and Pony and Ursula 

Puzzles, lavender, half birthdays, fantasy

The best news of the day

We can breathe again. Yesterday was improving but I wore a mask for a short walk, plus hat for sun and sunglasses. I looked like a bandit.

And today here's how the lavender looks, best in years. 

Last year it didn't bloom at all, so I guess it's catching up.

My neck is still a pain in the neck, icing, gentle exercise, still going on. I finally realized this recurs and has for most of my life. 

I forget it between bouts then get taken by surprise. Last summer I was getting cataract surgery while in  neck pain, so this isn't as harrowing, good to remember. 

I do remember that the tranquillizing drugs did help with my neck, too, but it's a bit drastic to get eye surgery to fix a stiff neck.

Onward, there's worse stuff. This too shall pass. The sooner the quicker, I say.

And here's a lovely Sendak illustration, 

I discovered Sendak while shopping for picture books when handsome Son was young, and this was a great fave. Sendak gets it.

In other news, June 15 will be my 84.5 birthday, now celebrating half birthdays because you never know, and this is my present to me

It's a paperback, some proceeds to charity, and I hope it has not only answers but explanations. Sometimes I need more than just the answer.

Meanwhile try this

I think there's one preferred answer but I came up with more.

Happy day everyone, be glad we're breathing!

Puzzles real and toy, and surprise brownies

Yesterday I ventured out for the first time since the olden days before this virus struck two weeks ago.

 I'd planned three errands, one to the post office, two to libraries. I managed the post office, yay, gloves on their way,  and the return of the puzzle which I never got to start, to one library  then had to come home, too tired to drive safely any further. 

The other library return has to wait a day.Also increasingly urgent alerts on the dash, now complete with beeps, about the low battery in the key fob, encouraged me not to push it.

So, once home and fuelled with tea, I finally had to change the keyfob battery. I had a battery in the house, the other one from the other fob that went down.

You have to remove the key, separate the parts of the shell and after that the actual replacement isn't so hard. What's hard is opening the shell if you don't have big burly hands like the nice man on YouTube who says just insert the key, rock, there!

You can do that till the cows come home and the thing is so tight fitting it won't give. Last time I used a screwdriver blade which opened it so fast that tiny parts flew all over and required endless reassembly. I hear this is a common problem. Inside that shell the parts, all the command functions,  are just resting in shallow grooves, not fixed. 

So this time I started with the screwdriver then inserted an xacto blade to open it further until it worked. Right way up, battery visible, tiny parts safely underneath.

Changed out the battery, then comes the other issue, shutting the shell again without exploding the parts. The burly handed man acknowledged that even he had to bring pressure, so I stood up, fob on hard surface, full court press with upper body, thumbs whining, till yay, it clicked into place.

I tested, it works, no further hysterical alerts on the dash. Quite proud of my success there. Boud 1, tech 0. For once.

However my less than two years old Fire tablet has gone to a quiet murmur when I use it for audiobooks, inaudible. Every workaround tried, it just wore out, I think. 

It's my go-to for audiobooks, sigh, Hoopla installed, which won't install on my phone whose sound is much better, even using all the sneaky tricks I used to get Hoopla onto the Fire. 

I notice other users with similar media sound issues, and I've already tried all the remedies they suggest. Everything except the media sound, all other sounds, all the video, work fine. 

If you have any good ideas, and they're not on the btdt list, I'll be glad to hear. 

Then Misfits arrived 

with lovely spinach, sardines and wholewheat pita, some of which became supper, lovely fresh spinach leaves wrapped around sardines in best olive oil, inside a pita bread. So good , I could feel strength coming back!

Later Gary came over, with this

He had got it before Christmas hoping his daughter would make brownies. Too busy, didn't. Her mother likewise. He wondered, knowing my habits, if I would ever use a mix. I think he's dying for some brownies. So I accepted it and he'll get a share. I'll add in walnuts though, because they just arrived, and anyway I think you should.

He changed the lightbulb at the top of my stairs, expressed dismay that I'd tried errands, and I explained I think you have to try just to start getting well. 

He's not convinced, but he's never known about managing chronic illness as I have. There's a psychological component to consider. If I didn't push a little I'd be on the sofa till spring.

Speaking of which here's a new puzzle

Once again, don't make it too hard! And if you solve it, don't post the answer, just try a funny clue.

Happy day everyone, may all your fobs, real and metaphorical, work, even if they need a little help.