New issues for old, and oh well

So I called the doctor's office to postpone, and the first lady I spoke to spent ages checking before offering me an appointment in June. I said I already had a physical scheduled for May, so maybe not. Whereupon she wisely said I'll leave a message for the nurse and maybe she can do better.

Nurse Christine called back in minutes, and I'm now scheduled for late February, a Tuesday, so I may miss knitting and Textiles and Tea, but oh well. 

I'd tried for two days with three devices to message Christine over the patient portal, which kept hanging up and not letting me far enough in to message.  Christine said hm, I'm getting other messages, let me inform IT and see if it's an issue with your account.

They emailed promptly with instructions on how to use the portal. So I replied with a terse explanation of how long I'd been doing that just fine,  and a screenshot of the hangup point, with notes on the workarounds I'd tried. So we'll see. 

I understand explaining from scratch might be their routine first response, and they didn't have details on what was happening. But I think asking me to describe would be a better first step.  Maybe we'll get there soon.

Meanwhile Handsome Son is coming over, and I got cake out of the freezer saved for the purpose. He usually comes over after lunch, and last time said he skips dessert assuming there will be cake here. No pressure there!

Excellent lunch today, shrimp cavatappi, pasta cooked in the sauce, shrimp added in last two minutes. Enough for a second meal tomorrow.

Dessert was peach chunks in syrup.

And there are plenty more shrimp. I'm thinking shrimp salad and I'll make mayo. With the rest of the green beans. 

I texted my driving crew yesterday to let them know I didn't need a ride to knitting today and got them up to date on the cotton. 

M, who gave me the cotton, tells me she's found yet another fiber skill for us to learn. Shepherd's knitting and various other names, done with a flat hook.

 

I checked this out and it turns out to be slip stitch crochet with a fat hook if you can't get the genuine flat hook, in various patterns. Hm. Even when I don't get to the group I'm still active in the group.

Speaking of activism, words matter. When our government fails in its job, when the Republicans have a clean sweep, President,  Senate and House, let's not say Congress didn't do this or that. Correctly its Republicans who didn't do this or that and repeatedly blocked Democratic initiatives. That's not Congress, that's Republicans.

Similarly, in coverage of the Epstein abuses, don't accept the word women, they were children. And don't accept the expression underage women. They're children. And don't accept the expression sex with a minor. It's rape. Words matter.

Off my soapbox now, to organize a spot of tea and cake.

Happy day everyone, have your equivalent of tea and cake. 

Back to the pond, Texas snitchline, baking and Alaska

 1-866-786-5972. Texas snitchline, I mean tipline. Just sayin'. I'm supplying you with sand here. Especially if you're in Texas. 

I made it to the pond Friday, hot but manageable and not too wet underfoot. Frogs basking on the banks screamed and flew through the air into the water. Some already in the shallows with heads out, just watched me quietly. 

The Friday duffers were out on the golf course. I'd already found and shied back a golf ball far out of bounds. Good thing there's a belt of trees outside the boundary. I hear shots rattling off them before they land near me. There's a great Wooster and Jeeves scene like that, ball ricocheting wildly and Bertie ducking.

And the cooking requirements of the day, spinach quiche and plum torte, both need the same oven temperature I find. So why not do both at once. In my two Corningware pie dishes.

They'll both work to avoid cooking for several days.

The quiche is crustless, as I like it, so it needs a lot of eggs, five, to hold it together. 

The torte, look up Marian Burros if you want to bake it, really needs 12 small prune plums halved.  We rarely see them, so I use whatever plums I can find in August, plum time.  These are larger, so I cut them in quarters and all the plum quarters that fit got in there.

Sprinkled with lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon, seen here,  as the quiche comes out, the torte goes in. 

Here's the baked plum torte with the quiche, missing the piece I had for lunch. I used sharp cheddar and crumbled feta for the cheese component, very good combo, which added salt.

Afternoon tea with a murder matinee and plum torte.

And I decided to make a dessert of key lime yogurt with plums 

Meanwhile Alaska was on it, protests everywhere 

Not a bad day in the kitchen. Or in defence of democracy in Alaska.  Some of the signs they carried were great.

Happy day everyone, keep finding and applying sand. We can do this. Next, since creating is resisting, I need to choose and frame the artwork for the fall group show. We can do this, sez Ted and Big Ursy 

Afternoon tea, skirt finale and muffin things

The recent comment about afternoon tea and tiny sandwiches reminds me of a series of teas I gave a few years ago. Everything homemade, tiny egg salad and chicken sandwiches, little fancy cakes, homemade jam for homemade bread, pot of tea, choice of milk or lemon, the works. Great fun to prepare, and friends loved the event.

One person at a time, because I can't cater to more, not enough dishes. Also I've experienced having two guests who've chatted to each other while treating me as a waitress, no, not the caterer! Very few people, likewise cats, can handle a group of three comfortably. Two's nice for conversation, and my friends are usually up for that.

Anyway, some people were uncertain what to expect, so I explained it's an actual afternoon meal, usually women like it best, so they came prepared to enjoy, and we had a lovely afternoon. 

Others not so much, such as the lady who said of course I'm familiar with it, I've been to Harrods! I had no idea what that meant, found later it's a shop in London where tourists get an afternoon tea, lovely posh food. Si i concluded she knew what to expect.

This lady said she couldn't come to me because of the cats, even in another room. I understood it was a phobia, and she offered to reverse the idea and invite me to afternoon tea at her house close by. She would do it all. I asked was she sure, it was quite a bit of prep, and she insisted she was.

So I showed up as invited. No food nor prep in evidence. Finally she produced a small glass of iced tea each. Total. We did have a lovely chat though.  As they say in my native Yorkshire, nowt so funny as folks!

The pandemic put a hold on my tea party adventures, and unfortunately, several prospective guests have died in the meantime, how annoying of them. But it was lovely while it lasted.

I'm wondering what new adventures I'm up for. At a bit of a crossroads. Meanwhile you'll be happy to know the yellow skirt now has pockets so its positively final reveal is here.

and currently on the Freecycle site is this offering, for animal use, maybe fosters or rescue

I needed to use up some milk that soured, reminding me I will have to replace my 35 year old fridge soon. So this is the result

Cranberry walnut muffins, suitable for all occasions. I used to use olive oil in this recipe and recently tried avocado oil, with very light results. So that's now my choice. Makes me look like a good baker.

Happy day, everyone! It's a good policy to ask questions if you're not sure,  especially if it's a meal or is it..

Tearin' it up and morninglories

Last evening a sudden email from HOA management saying that paving work was scheduled for 7 am today, in front of, and a list of house numbers including mine. Cars to be moved or towed.

So I went out, amazingly found a parking space at the other end of the street, outside the range of specified numbers.

Then this morning another email,  now including the entire street including the slot I parked in. 

Soooo I went out, retrieved my car and went in search of another spot. There are more vehicles than spots, so I was lucky to find an overflow spot, not one someone would need in front of their house this evening. 

Then boys with toys arrived

And tore chunks out of the paving here and there. I won't be able to return until they've filled them back in, I expect.

So, not wishing to lose my spot by doing errands and probably coming home to find it occupied, I got on with setting up and starting the new woven panel

And hoping to improve the fell line, though my selvedges are much more competent than before.

And I did a bit of puzzling here and there

You'll notice the aspect ratio --a rectangle -- of the picture on the box, is different from that of the puzzle, which is a square. Springbok puzzles pull visual stunts like this, a bit jarring. I do like the irregular piece shapes they make though.

And the morning glories are now planted and hanging outside, 

replacing the Thai basil which is now next to its friend, the curry leaf plant

It was a great afternoon for sitting out with tea and the Mitfords. And sleeping might have happened, too 

The last couple of years have been very poor all over the neighborhood for iris, and here's this year's total bloom Chez Boud

Tomorrow I have the annual squashogram, so I'll have to get my car out of its precious space and hope to find another when I get back home. 

The parking situation will be fraught for a while as each street is repaired, because those residents will be displaced in turn and my own spots might be at a premium. We'll see.

Nevah a dall mament as a Mitford might say!

Happy day everyone, enjoy the good bits, rise above the rest!

Full and amazing day yesterday

Please vote if you haven't already. NJ voters who still have mail-in ballots at home please get them to a dropbox or, if you mail, specify you want a postmark. Particularly if you're in District 7, redistricted to bring many gop voters into a formerly juust about Democrat district.

 Meanwhile, yesterday. I returned the puzzle to the library and went to pick another, about Central Park 

And saw the parrot in the jungle puzzle I donated recently, there in the collection for someone else to struggle with, I mean enjoy

While I was there I checked the gallery for the current exhibit, some favorites 

She's a retired medical illustrator and you can see she's a good draftsman. Now she's exploding in color and collage and energy.

You'll notice the homage to the book reader there!

Home again and, after my walk,  I did the promised upstairs plant care in honor of my sister's birthday, including taking sansevieria cuttings. These are slow growers and when they get established I'll probably Freecycle them to some happy recipient.

The parent plant I grew from cuttings I took years ago from a friend's plant which I took onto the deck for a summer, like a camp visit 

This is an interesting plant, which I've propagated before this way and given away.  You just cut the leaf into sections snd shove them into  potting soil. 

I never use rooting hormone though the plant experts always say you should, and considering the reproductive success of my attempts, I think it's not as necessary as they say.

This is also interesting in that it will root only if you plant it the same way up as it grew. Apparently it senses north from south and doesn't like standing on its head.

Last time I made quite short cuttings and this time I'm trying bigger ones to see if it roots any faster. 

And I found yet another rogue potato plant trying to grow among the dracaena, see the fingers there for scale against the miniature spuds 

Then I seized the day

and set up tea and a little something, banana walnut cranberry bread, on the deck, reading Provincial Lady and watching the flock of warblers still here and flitting about the trees.

Amazing to be doing this in November, and lovely. Such a good day. An evening of knitting and then suddenly finding myself dicing a bowl of vegetables for an upcoming batch of flour tortillas. More on that anon.

Meanwhile happy day everyone, seize whatever kind of day you're given, some better than others. 

Vote. Rejoice if the good guys do well, refuse to be crushed if they don't. It's an endless struggle. La lucha!