Strawberries are in, more or less, mammo art and Boyz with Toyz II

This morning I retrieved my car from the next street, noticed both my own slots at my house have been illegally claimed by who knows who, and went for the squashogram. 

 In the waiting room there was this bowl of art, made from paper and other natural materials

 On the way home I noticed this

So I pulled in and found

Ah. I was a few minutes early, but worth waiting for the first strawberries.  So they opened up and I found this year -- no mention of this on website or in email -- a small container has gone from last year's high of $6 to $8. 

Which was more cash than I had available. I'll take another run after I've been to the bank. I rarely use cash but was hoping the $7 I had would work.

Homeward, reparked in the place I used yesterday in the next street, and then Boyz with Toyz II started up.

Eventually leaving me with nice fancy patchwork outside my door 

I'm hoping to retrieve my parking spot soon 

And lunch called, with no plans. So I made what I call Welsh rarebit, sister Dogonart used to call that thing Liz makes and my Mom used to call just eat it, nevermind.

In at 380°f for 20 minutes

On pita bread but good on toast, too. Enough for two more lunches.  

The drink is the liquid drained from the tomatoes, with lemon juice and a drop of water, very nice too. 

I expect this could be a brunch idea with a drop of vodka or gin in the glass, and maybe a stick of celery.

This afternoon I plan to finish and press that second sock to get a package out in the mail tomorrow,  with the scarf and the other socks.

Then I'll get on with the knitted parts of the skirt.

Happy day everyone, let's hope all our test results are good. I won't know mine for a day or two.

Butternut Boy in a seed frenzy, new week new art

Yesterday. Butternut Boy and another squirrel friend, followed by a chipmunk, came over to stuff on canteloupe seeds. They could hardly jump on the fence to leave once they'd finished.  Total enjoyment of great food. They're wise 

And the human followed their lead, making this supper, eggs, sharp cheddar cheese and tomato, baked.

Served with toasted maslen bread and Vermont butter. I've rediscovered that this tastes best baked in a glass dish for some reason that escapes me. Dessert was more canteloupe and blueberries, sprinkle of ginger powder.

I did make that soup, collard greens and cooking water, stock, leeks, potatoes, lentil pasta spiced mixture, chicken bone. A powerhouse soup.

Then I decided to retire watercolor for now, in favor of drawing. That entailed putting away the painting doings and going in search of the drawing doings.

Which also resulted in finding blades I thought might work for my box cutter, which is having a harder time breaking down the Misfits boxes for recycle. It also resulted in my finding I in fact have three, count them, box cutters. One was labeled by Handsome Partner, pretty much antique. 

Then, on opening the newest looking one I found it had two spare blades already loaded in the handle. Different from the blades I'd found, which are now stored safely again.

My inner mechanic enjoyed taking apart and reassembling the cutters, so I'm now ready for any box, however large. After the picture I retracted the blades, in case you were wondering.

So that little tangent was on the way to assembling my drawing gear ready for use today. 

It was a joyful reunion with the ink stick and rubbing dish, conte crayons, pens, carpenter pencils, graphite sticks, charcoal pencils, kneaded erasers, all for future drawings.  

Some great art has been made using tools like this by far greater artists than this one, but the joy of it is available to anyone wanting to try it.

 

I had made a little painting first though

Eye doctor appointment today, and we'll see if I need a new rx and if he thinks I can wait longer on cataract surgery which is sometime in the future. We'll see.

Happy day everyone. New week, new hopes.

Mystery pics, rehoming of spiders, Welsh rarebit, too

Today the cleaners come and I go out to be out of the way. A bit chilly, it might mean knitting and reading in the car in a sunny spot.

Meanwhile, blogger, or my phone in a conspiracy,  did weird stuff yesterday. I had posted two different daffodil pictures, then later noticed after I'd published, that one had vanished and been replaced by a duplicate of the other. 

Went to find the missing one, found it had been replaced on my phone with a screenshot of my home screen. Hm. So I deleted the dupe, and found where I'd posted the set on Twitter, did a screenshot, and here it is, unless other weird stuff happens.

And I'm ready to rehome houseplant cuttings and offshoots. My cleaning family are interested in the spider plant babies, so they're getting a bag of them today

All wrapped in damp paper towels.

The parent plant is looking a bit more kempt now, just a few offspring instead of a riot of them all over the floor.

And I revived an old favorite Sunday supper dish yesterday, a sort of Welsh rarebit, baked cheddar, tomato and egg, over toast. 400°f for about 20 minutes.

And a salad of mixed greens, tomato, apricots and walnuts. 

No need for dressing, plenty already going on there.

I took a picture of my vaccination certificate for my records, and my dance card is now full. I wonder if I'll get a second card, or a bit added on to the current one, if we continue needing boosters. It's like having a jammed full passport.

Supper before the Bite Club meeting

Since this is a new group, I have no idea what to expect.  They encourage people to bring food they've cooked, but since I didn't actually cook anything from Alice Waters, her book being nice but not new to me, I decided I'd bring a handful of fresh late season herbs to share.

So I can do that, bringing sage, lemon thyme, English thyme, peppermint, spearmint, oregano and hope people are interested.

Meanwhile, I picked up my farmshare this afternoon, and found some lovely late season big tomatoes.  Perfect for a quick and favorite supper:  diced big, with cubes of sharp cheddar, two eggs broken over, kosher salt, black pepper, sprig of lemon thyme laid on top, half an hour at 380 F.  

Yet another dish in search of a name.  Possibly Welsh rarebit.  Or Independence for Scotland, depending on how you feel.  

And perfect with a slice of toast from that big loaf I made with the wholewheat and a.p. and oat flours.  It has a lovely crumb and a great crust. Must remember that combo.

The wine is just for the shoot -- I'll drink it when I get home again, not wishing to drive after even a single glass of wine.