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. 

 

More shoes, Pantone art, The Crown

Yesterday I discovered this wonderful native American archaeologist, on YouTube, showing how to make sandals from broad leaf yucca, with laces from narrow leaf yucca. 

See her video for the whole process which you can definitely do if you have access to yucca, which I don't. 

It's very thoughtful and takes the foot, size, pressures in different parts of the sole, need for protection from sharp rocks, all that, into account. Shoes for dry country.

And she makes the cordage for the laces more simply than the Sally Pointer neolithic approach. Instead of twisting then bending one group over the other, she starts with the u shape but rolls the two sides in parallel, then lets them curl up together 

I had to try this, looked so labor saving. Forgetting that she's a lifelong expert, with literally thousands of years of family experience.

So I tried with daylily leaves

Best I could do. Then I tried the paleolithic way

This worked better. It occurs to me that I can make shoelaces like this for sneakers. Hm.

I haven't made it to the thriftie yet, driving not quite ready, but there will be leather slippers in my future, maybe with daylily thongs to fasten them.

This weekend, though, the library is in range, and today I'm picking up The Crown, season four. I seem to remember giving up on season three after the Aberfan episode, too much like voyeurism. But we'll see about season four. 

And today's art is the ever changing display of accordion books, this one the Pantone collection

Happy day everyone, I guess it's the weekend though my days don't vary that much. 

Cold winter's afternoon

I appear to have a working, fully connected new phone, and an old one which does everything except phone and text, as planned.  I did it all online, and after the old phone stopped working as a phone and the new one started, I added minutes to the new one.  Now to see if they applied the minutes (I do pay as you go, cheaper) to the correct phone.  My account has not caught up with all the changes yet.  But I kind of doubt they'd apply minutes to a discontinued device.  Anyway, I'll wait a day or two and check again.  I'm very pleased I managed it without the aid of a net.  Interestingly, the first text that told me the new phone had gone live, was my prescription service telling me they'd shipped me vital pills.

 

Meanwhile, the old phone

Looks exactly like the new one. Which it is, just more storage and some features which work better. And a battery that holds a charge.  The camera isn't wonderful on either, but at the price, I'm not fussing. Today, to be fair, it's gloomy and dark and rainy, so the camera didn't get much help with light.

The good thing is that the new phone, posing here, can wear all the purses I made for the old one. Several are the result of going mad making granny squares. I got on one of those tears you get on, where you are doing just one more, just one more. I folded them over and, amazingly, they work fine as purses, with a long strap, so that I can wear the phone all the time. This is vital to an older person living alone, especially in a house with stairs.

Here's one of many purses. I've given away a lot of these to people who kept on losing phones or who fell down at home where they couldn't reach the phone that flew out of their pocket on the way down.

Then, on a more peaceful and thoughtful note, I've started reading Sand County Almanac, written by a naturalist who was a professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison, a town I used to live in, though twenty years after his death, so I know some of the geographical references. He's a wonderful thinker, about history, and preserving the natural surroundings, and knows a lot about the progression in various misguided directions, of Wisconsin and its attempts to  dominate the land and farm, and unfortunate effect on the wildlife.

It's sad yet very instructive and he understands so much about the movements of wild creatures and why.  It's set up in three sections, and I just started on the first, arranged by month. I've read January and February.   Not the sort of book you plunge through in my usual fashion, but one you have to stop and think about.  His description of the lightning- struck oak on his farm and how they eventually felled it and what it had witnessed in its life since probably the Civil War era, is an education in itself.  I do recommend this.

It's illustrated by Charles Schwarz, whose signature you can just see in the bottom right of the cover

Then, this evening and maybe a couple more, will be passed under a blanket, with a cup of golden milk, watching

 I have finally got hold of the third season, only a few years behind the rest of the viewing world, who has now galloped past the next one,  and is waiting for the one after that. I'm hoping for good hats.
 

Dull soup and interesting Misfits

The Misfits box arrived two days late, but in good condition.  Holiday delay.  Meanwhile, I had made a soup that looked quite dull, but tasted excellent.  Red onion, pink bean, leek white, celery, garlic, chicken stock.  The little sprig of Thai basil I put on top because it's handy, grows right in the window next to the stove, and because just resting on the surface like that for a few minutes, gives a nice licoricy, subtle, flavor. 

This is the kind of soup that's better on Day Two, lovely deep flavor.  With a hot biscuit.

And finally, a thump at the front door, visiting Handsome Son went to retrieve two boxes, one containing my new phone, one the Misfits wanderers. Both arrived in the same van.

All present and in nice condition, the delay not having hurt anything, it seems. So now I can have carrot and cashew soup soon, and immediately a lovely salad. My onion supply is topped up again, and I even broke out and ordered a butternut squash, thinking it will probably go well with the pumpkin I have in the freezer, one way or another.  The lettuce is lovely, huge and very crisp.

I also added in two Meyer lemons, as well as the other lemons,but I don't know which they are, not being familiar with them, so I'll have to to a bit of spot testing I guess. They are unknown in our stores, as far as I've ever observed, but I hear such good things about them, that I thought I'd try them.  Tons of apples this time, several varieties. Various potatoes.

And here's the salad I've been waiting for, red cabbage, lettuce, cilantro, dressed with the walnut vinaigrette I was talking about.  And it went down very well.

The new phone is up and running with everything except the phone function, which I will get activated tomorrow at the Tracfone site. It looks very much like my old phone, except the case is smaller, but the screen is the same size.  Right now everything seems to be working fine, and it's doing okay.  I was able easily to transfer my contact list and virus protection, and passwords, no problem at all. These were the items I wondered about since in the past I've had to hand carry the contacts and deal again with the virus people.  Very handy that HS was here, since it shortened considerably the time needed to set up the new phone with two people, one at the new phone, one at the old, sending stuff back and forth.  He also picked out the most vital bits of print information that came in the box, ready for me to activate. 

So tomorrow I'll have the carrier transfer my old number to the new phone, activate the phone, and carry over the minutes I already have on the old one. All on line. This phone has an intact rocker switch, what a treat, I'll be able to adjust the volume.

And tomorrow if the ice storm doesn't materialize, I'll be picking up some interesting items at the library:  the Crown, Series Three! which they bought at my request.  This should be interesting, since the second series ended at the point where I left England, so it will be a new view of what's fictionally been happening there since then. I'm years behind on this one.

And there's the Half Baked Harvest cookbook for the next Bite Club selection. That might incorporate some of the produce from this week.  And Sand County Almanac, which was recommended by various naturalists, and I thought I'd like to see what they're all excited about.

I think Tartine has pretty much had its turn.  The shortbread was lovely, and I can't see much else calling to me. Even if it does have a ribbon bookmark. So it can return to its friends in the cookbook section.

The Crown, Sugar Cookies Redux, and Libe Case in Point

Today being wildly cold, and since I was coughing, probably cold and dry atmosphere,  I stayed home and warm, with the cats, and watched more of Season One of The Crown, now on dvd at the libe.  PIcked it up yesterday, good timing.

Since I remember a lot of the era it covers, and the footage from then, it was interesting to see it from now, if you follow me.

Claire Foy plays the Queen, and does a terrific job of doing the weird accent she used to speak in, which always sounded like a parody voice.  She's moderated it a lot in recent years, and now sounds just like a horsey countrywoman, which I think she'd like to be anyway.   But back then, when poor old Margaret wanted to marry, shock, horror, a divorced man, pearl clutch, Elizabeth says, yooo went to meddy Petah?  Yes, yes, Margaret says, I doo went to meddy heem!

There are some scenes of the King's surgery which I had to not watch, tmi for me, lung cancer.  But other than that, no big scares.

I remember watching the coronation, I think I was about 12, up the street at one of the few houses with a tv in those days, kids all over the floor invited over to watch the endless doings, and falling asleep halfway through.  

The best part is definitely the Zadok the Priest passage, wonderful music.  Funny that I, a staunch anti-monarchist, should like the soap opera aspect of their lives.  But in my family much more significant was that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing climbed Everest, a big first.  And, an even bigger first, Gordon Richards, famous jockey, won the Derby!  all in the same few days.  Great mood of jubilation about the latter two, but, not being Londoners, but Northerners, fairly modified interest in the coronation.  

We did like Queen Salote of Tonga, refusing to use an umbrella in the usual English downpour, insisting on riding all the way in the procession in an open car, through the streets waving to the crowds, soaking wet, and very gracious about the whole weather thing.

Anyway, when I was picking up, at the library, I saw the usual kid's collection exhibit. Kids get to put their legos and teeny erasers and stuff like that in the glass cases, for a time, usually very young kids, doing their own labels proudly and getting all sorts of praise.  

So the legal notice made me fall down laughing, but I see it's one size fits all.  I didn't notice it on the case in a different part of the libe where I exhibited my artist books, come to think of it.  Maybe it's only little kids who are likely to have subversive finger puppets and dangerous keyrings.

And this afternoon, a pot of tea and a couple of sugar cookies seemed like a Good Thing. 

It's the rest of the Martha recipe, which I froze, and I am here to tell you that it works just fine.  Last minute sprinkle of sugar and lemon zest. Cookies came out lovely, and I have some frozen now again, but cooked, ready to take out next time I have a guest to tea.