Walking, pruning

 I think the insects must be carb loading at the end of summer. Suddenly there's a mass of clearwing hummingbird moths all over the butterfly bushes, literally couldn't count them. They were fearless, landing inches from me. 

I did a big prune of the butterfly bush and they went right on feeding, even when I was cutting branches. Just switched to another branch. 

There were even a couple of aerial battles fought. In among them several kinds of bees, monarchs, tiger swallowtails, lbbs -- little brown butterflies -- all feeding like there was no tomorrow.

And at the pond there were several small turtles swimming, frogs sitting up at the water's edge

Near the leaves there's a frog, then look further up for the little turtle.  

Across the pond were ducks, which means either the turtles weren't snappers or maybe they were too young to bite the ducks' feet.

And the morning glories are beginning to set seed.

I think I'll let the seeds fall naturally and see if they self seed next year. I'm definitely up for letting nature get on with it, aside from a bit of pruning when I can't get past the butterfly bush.

This is all offsetting the grinding constant fear we're all living in with this so called government. Nature and art will save us all. And good food. Resistance wherever I can, and self care.

Speaking of which, it's over two months since I had a microwave and I find I'm not missing it at all.  I thought it was vital but I manage the reheating,  baking potatoes, all that, in other ways. So maybe I won't replace it.

Happy day everyone, play and have fun, or the bad guys will have won sez Ted and Big Ursy, rhyming neatly.

And Fluffappalooza agrees

 

 

First daffodil, storms ahoy

 Friday morning brought these sights

First daffodil on the patio

New foliage on the butterfly bush. And I saw the first white butterfly flutter by.  Also the mourning doves trysting on top of the fence, their traditional hangout in spring.

And there will be weather

We're in a red bit for high winds and a green bit for high water. An indoor weekend.

No new pictures from the knitting group, however plenty of chat, over public transit, Dune, Star Wars,  library apps: hoopla soon to go away, Libby to get bigger, cross stitch, storms in forecast, SXSW speakers, six degrees encounters, cast iron Franklin stoves, and more!

Then two participatory pods, one a follow up on the SOTU, one about the British Royals,  the second of which is hilarious since all we have are uninformed opinions, and plenty of them.

Happy day, everyone, and may your chat be as lively and varied as mine.

Indonesian weaving, patio find, and joy, it's cool!

Today brought the promised relief from heat, windows open to enjoy it

And yesterday there was an excellent online presentation about textiles from Indonesia. 

I was particularly glad they showed the simple looms these highly complex works are made on by master weavers, often members of the royal family. Where you see an inset photo, it's the weaver shown with her work.

I learned that mud dyeing, a common technique used in this area, means the river mud, an iron rich  material, is the mordant only, not,, as I had wondered, the dye. People who've been reading here will know the mordant is what enables the dye to bite into the fabric -- that's what mordant means. 

The dye material is found in the bark and inner fiber and roots of local trees. For other weavings, other dye sources.

The two funeral pictures show the dozens of textiles heaped onto the body as a mark of honor, to this day. And a line of mourners

This island was a Dutch colony until independence, and some of the earlier works show the Dutch coat of arms, now replaced with local symbols of their traditions.

And today's patio discovery, a purple butterfly bush, among the white, very welcome. 

Gary will probably want an offshoot, because he now only has white blossoms. Speaking of butterflies, I notice they're mainly interested in the zinnias, so I'll note that for future reference. Mainly white butterflies, with a single monarch recently and one dusky swallow tail. 

Happy day everyone, here's the current bouquet

Paper, yogurt, buds and self improvement

 Here's the paper recycling, where it's up to

Pulp to felts to drying, with inclusions of Japanese maple leaves. The leaves also make red dye. 

The last picture shows the output, tiny batch this time, still drying. Watch this space again for the great removal from the felts (those are the pieces of interfacing they're resting on). That was a nice little interlude.

While I was out I noticed flowers and buds. Gary's butterfly bush soaring above the trees, my little offshoot from it now budding, ready to host butterflies and moths, and my zinnias starting to bud, the morning glory climbing everywhere now

Bit too hot for me but they're all very happy.

Meanwhile I finally got a batch of yogurt done. 

It's simple but I tend to put it off, like bread making. I did a bit of figuring and find that from an approx 3 cup container, I end with 18 cups of yogurt. That's the original, minus a couple of tablespoons for starter, then three more batches of five cups, at which point it loses its strength. Not a bad return.

And I was about to embark on an interesting book about envy and how to manage it. The I decided once again, that self improvement is the enemy of self acceptance, and it's time I did that instead. 

So I'm good enough as I am, crabby old lady.  Also self improvement is a source of income, rather than a selfless offering by writers. So fine, good luck to them, they'll never lack an audience, but I think I'll be sewing and paper making and other things instead.

Happy day everyone, you're fine, I'm fine, we're all fine, everything's fine!