Sunday snow day, also pumpkins

 I woke up to this on Sunday 

And this 

Getting snow in mid December is pretty early for this region. And here's to not having a car to clear and move for the plows!

This arrived in my library account after a long wait 

Which reminded me of the sweet potato in the freezer, what to make. Also the mashed bananas. Snow tends to bring on baking.

During the morning I heard a crashing noise, sounded like something big hitting something metal maybe. So I searched the house, found nothing out of place. 

Then Gary came over to report his butterfly bush, about 20'  tall, had snapped off at the base and fallen. That accounted for the crash. Too soon to see if it damaged the fence when it fell.  

I had knocked snow off my Japanese maple which was touching the ground. The butterfly bush was lying over but probably not broken. Too much snow to see.

I refrained from gloating at all my neighbors digging a lot of  heavy snow to get their cars out ready for the plows.  I definitely sold my car at the right time.

I had the luxury of just admiring the sun on the snow covered trees, and the cast shadows.

While boyz with toyz bustled about clearing the parking lot

I wouldn't mind playing with this one myself 

 Sunday is the last day of my 86th trip around the sun, wheeee. Ready for another. When you read this Monday, I will have embarked on another trip! Yay me!

Happy day everyone, especially Sags, sez Ted and Big Ursy 

And Fluffina 

 

Sand in the gears, Misfits and Mma Ramotswe

Let's try this. And urge our MOCs to oppose the ridiculous tariffs.

And it's Misfits day 

I really like being able to send back these ice blocks and cooler bags for reuse/recycle. One of the many good things about dealing with Misfits.

Canned goods, stocking up.  I make a  very simple stew with a can of diced tomatoes, can of cannellini beans or chickpeas and spices, good too.  Potatoes for another soup maybe, with chard, and chicken chunks in the freezer.

Yogurt for desserts with berries, and other meals, brown rice to go with tofu stirfry, coffee in case I run out (!) and Tony's because the rainy weather is tough on Helen Hip.

Today's sand in the gears: messages of thanks to my senators, Booker and Kim, for this week's marathon speech,one delivering, one supporting. And I asked them to lead shadow hearings on signal gate and illegal deportations, to shine a light on them and not let the fascist admin move on.

All good, and now I'm reading 

Peaceful reading, distraction from pain and politics.

And for the viewing pleasure of grammar  police officers

Happy day, everyone. And if you want to end your sentence with a bird, or flip one, go ahead.

 

Sunday, miscellaneous thoughts

 I was thinking idly about cross stitch, as one does, yesterday, and wondering if that was another seeing ability restored to me by the cataract surgery. One of the curses of severe astigmatism is that it confuses the outlines and directions of what you're looking at.

Mostly I adapted , but anything built on diagonals such as cross stitch, is, except for big gauge work, close to impossible. Not that I felt it as a big loss, it not being a favorite stitch. But it was annoying in the same way as my bafflement with kumihimo, many part braiding, same diagonal and directional problem.

The recent studying of braiding brought this to mind, and I realized this isn't half the issue it was a few weeks ago.

And I also realized I can probably dust off my birding binoculars, same reason. 

I tested yesterday and they work a lot better. I don't see one and a half jumping birds now, yay. Just bird by bird. 

This serpentine train of thought came about after I'd been out walking and saw the fluttering of what looked like a couple of warblers. 

A bit early for fall migration, but nothing has been on schedule this year anyway. We have some year round warblers, yellowrumps, but these were much darker, flitting about like butterflies ss they do.

And of course, having given up my binoculars years ago because of the vision issues, I couldn't get a close view 

Home again to one of my favorite pages in Peterson's guide, Confusing Fall Warblers. If even Peterson got confused, fine for me to be, too.

I still don't know what I was seeing, except they were much darker than yellowrumps. Since we live bang in the middle of the Eastern Flyway, could be anyone. Particularly if storms have blown them off course. 

Anyway my binoculars can come to the Preserve with me again now, good. And I may or may not bother with cross stitch, jury's out.

In other unimportant news, I seem to have run out of the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books, but there's still the writer giving very funny interviews and well worth tracking down. 

He's all over YouTube at book events.

And, to show I can be as trivial as anyone, remember the titanic struggle I had with the mouthwash bottle cap a while back? Where I concluded that it was a bad batch since the interior prongs were too long ever to slip past the other bit? I opened a new bottle yesterday, just squeezed, turned, it opened. Because the prongs were about half the length of the faulty ones.

I rest my case. And my prongs.

Today's art is my contribution to a lovely project online about walking, collecting s few natural objects, arranging them and posting the photo online. It's part of a calming process, so people can enjoy just a few minutes' respite from stress, the person walking in nature and the people seeing the results.

The project is particularly being directed to people in the UK who are facing an ever worsening daily situation.  Many people I know simply don't know how they'll face this winter's fuel costs. I feel for them, having just seen the cost of my cooling for the heat wave months of July and August. But at this point I can manage my bills, more than they can. 

Meanwhile here's my woodland collection

Extra credit for identifying the leaves!

Happy day everyone, hope we can see things straight and true, not one and a half wobbly versions, in every sense.

August already? White rabbits then

 Elephants and jewelry  this month from C's calendar 

Lammas, too, loafmas which has to do with harvesting wheat and baking bread. A bit hot for baking today.

Here's a bit of iris cordage

Iris handles differently from daylily, tougher, but just as good for string. It looks very much like daylily string, so it's joining the collection.

And here's s bit of indoor gardening

Some of the Italian basil I grew from seed, now rooting in water, very handy for cooking.

And yesterday saw the entire 2022 potato harvest, steamed, pat of Vermont butter, sprig of parsley,with the last of the lox and some baby spinach. 

Poifect.

And here are sliced baby bellas, slow cooked in butter and oil, ready ahead for today's roast chicken thighs and a side of the pasta I had yesterday.

Current reading was a wise little Mma Ramotswe story

And, the triumph of the Lionesses yesterday, in the beautiful gane, celebrated by my favorite, usually NSFW,  Forest Friends

Yay team!! Winning goal in overtime even. Glorious stuff, two great teams 

Women, with art,  will save us all.

Happy day everyone, let's all be Lionesses, keep going to the last minute.

Library and blossom catching up

 Still in Olivia Goldsmith, and today picked up two more attractions, print books this time

And the current Bite Club selection

On the way home, after chats with a couple of friends,  into the park, lovely blossoms smelling like honey

And lovely other blossoms, without smelling of anything other than spring.

And forsythia in the park, all sprawling about, the way I like it, not all tailored and neat the way nature isn't

And my little patio cherry bushes returning after I pruned them down wildly because the fences were going to be replaced any minute. Last summer, that was.

Spice bush likewise

And this little plant is back underfoot, I think chickweed not sure.

 The English version of this smells like ripe apples when you pinch the flower. 

Asparagus here soon. When I grew it, I'd bite the tips off newly picked stems, tasted like green peas. 

Then home to reading, knitting and Irish soda bread

The aggrieved expression on this loaf cracks me up. I bet her relief $$ hasn't come.

Not a bad line-up, all in all.