Changing of the doves, soup redux, lilac, cactus and dumpster finds

Yesterday after recycling various small items which never found a home on Freecycle and are not worth a long drive to the thriftie, I found a couple of  Good Things among a riot of stuff in the dumpster/recycling enclosure, someone's moving.

I love blue glass, 

and this bowl's in perfect condition, as is the big scarf, silky but probably not silk. It's got advertising,  I think, printed on it. Can anyone translate? It's possibly inside out, alphabet unfamiliar to me.

It's in new unused condition and I can definitely employ it one way or another.

Both items can probably be freecycled when they've run their course Chez Boud.

And here's the Christmas or by now practically Memorial Day cactus

Putting out a single blossom but what a winner.

Then there's chicken and cappellini soup. Yesterday's lunch, with pita bread toasted with sharp cheddar

And today's lunch with spiced (chili, cayenne, cumin) toasted chickpeas and tuna, dried sage toasted crisp and chucked on top of the soup.

Yesterday's reading outside involved smelling lovely lilac in bloom next door, and seeing the changing of the nest guardians. 

There was a sudden flutter behind me, and I looked up, to see Partner Dove on the fence waiting to take his place 

He saw me and I thought it best to sit unmoving, to let him calm down and fly down to the deck, which he eventually did. 

He strolled about looking elaborately casual, until the sitting dove left the nest and flew off,  the way the other dove had come. Then after a bit more strolling, I suppose not to betray the nest site, he finally took his place.

And here's the guardian in place this morning

I felt honored that they'd gone ahead despite the presence of a giant human. I think they've decided I'm basically harmless. Maybe I'll get that on my gravestone. Here lies Boud. She was basically harmless.  

 

There's worse things to be known for!

Happy day everyone, later there's Textiles and Tea which I'll catch you up on tomorrow, a Scotswoman, Cally Booker, weaver and teacher.

Soup, muffins and dumpster finds

 I've been wanting to make carrot cashew soup for a while, and had some misfits carrots already prepped and in the freezer for that purpose.  Then I found that the can of cashews was not as full as I thought, so I added in a handful of yellow split peas, so as to keep the golden color.  

Cooking down the onions here, and a rind of Parmesan cheese, always a terrific flavor addition to soup.  If it doesn't dissolve, you can fish it out, rinse and reuse later.  I keep them in the freezer.  This one ended up dissolving.  And there was a little container of chicken flavored liquid in the freezer, which I added.

 Beautiful color, and here with Thai basil as a garnish, also a flavoring, this is all it takes to flavor soup with it.  And since the split peas thickened the soup a lot, it can be thinned with milk if I feel like doing it. Half a dozen helpings in this pot of soup.

Then, last evening I realized, shock, horror, all the banana bread, and the cornbread, was gone.  The bakery larder was bare!  so I made a batch of misfits blueberry hot biscuits. 

A slight hitch when I realized that until my misfits olive oil, a lovely Greek choice this time, arrives tomorrow, I didn't have enough for the recipe. It takes five tablespoons, the way I do it.  Sooooo, I used the one remaining Tb and used melted butter and a spoonful of plain wholemilk yogurt for the rest of the liquid.  

I needed to bake it a couple of minutes beyond the usual 10 minutes at 425f, and it was really great.  Very light, but holds together enough to pick it up and eat it.  I may do this again. Usually you're careful about subbing in baking, chemistry more delicate than in cooking, but here it worked just fine. They look a little eerie, because of the blue color showing through, but they taste just fiiiiine.

Then, at the dumpster yesterday, a find.  First in ages, since dumpsters around here don't yield much in recent years.  Different population, don't shed things as lightly as previous residents.

And here it is, seen from outside, weighs a ton, some blond wood, very nice looking, pretty new, and I thought it would get a couple of plants up off the floor, always a good thing.  Makes the area look more finished, too.

So that was a Good Dumpster Dive. I know since the winnowing I vowed not to add things in, but in my own defense, I have been moving things out all along, so there's that.

And then, you know how I've been doing that long long arduous project on the spun, plied, knitted, woven vest?  Took months.  And the Robe likewise.  Here's another long arduous project, mainly one about procrastination.  This is one of my favorite thriftie buys, a linen vest, lovely greyish and white stripes, fits a treat.  And that middle button came off several months ago.

This morning, after taking care not to lose the button all this time, it's a special one I can't replace, spending more energy not losing it than dealing with it, I finally got it stitched on.  See, it's the second one down in the picture.

Really, it took literally less than two minutes, including finding needle, thread, and scissors.  So this deserves some sort of Procrastinators' Award.  I repaired two pairs of knitted slippers this week, too, wearing one pair right now. So I guess that was the dress rehearsal for Stitching On The Button.

Hold the applause, please, oh, you are holding it already? Oh well, then.

A Guided Tour of a Dumpster Furnished Home

 For many years I've lived in a condo then a townhouse where people are constantly downsizing, sometimes after they've moved in and found they can't fit everything into the smaller place. I've done the same, put out useful items in my turn. You use something for a while, then put it out for the next user.

After the lampstand find, probably the only item I've allowed into the house since the Great Winnowing, I thought it would be fun to see various bits of furniture I've acquired via dumpster or streetside.

Starting in the loft, here's the piece of finished pine I've used over thirty years as a dining table top, a bed head, and most recently as an art worktop. It might be a bedhead again, since my platform bed doesn't have one.

And a heavy glass slab I used for many years as a printmaking top

One of two folding chairs

Down a flight, handy bedroom chair

Storage units spare room art supplies and musical instruments

Kitchen butcher block island on casters, which I rebuilt, oiled and use daily

Spare bedroom table

High stool, one of two, used in the studio and as plant stands. Or bedside tables. The rug it's standing near, too, come to think of it

Display shelves, lovely old wood

Coffee table, oak, mission style, porcelain drawer pulls, dovetailed drawers

Fred's chair

Sofa table, craftsman made, hand rubbed and wax finished drawer pull. I know all this because it turned out a friend, woodworker and contractor, had made it. He put it out in the hope of a good home, and was very pleased when he saw it in my living room. Always wanted a table behind a sofa as a room divider. It also works for seasonal decoration, and a spare serving surface for holiday food, the dining table being just to the right of it.

Patio chair you've often seen, from neighboring development renovating pool area and replacing perfectly good lounge chairs. There were two, I gave one away.

I've never bought patio furniture. At the end of the season I'd usually put out my old pieces and drive around to find newer ones.

I think it's good to have custody of things for a while then pass them on in turn. It's just stuff, enjoy but attachment isn't required.  Around here, anyway. I've found and passed on a lot of items to good homes. It's good for the planet, too, not to buy new very often.

Dumpster diving yields console table. FBI considering charges.

Today a find appeared at the dumpster, and now lives in my house despite all my vows not to add anything. In fact something else will go, an ugly, dumpster-sourced, piece of furniture I have upstairs, so that  it will come out even.

What's happening is that the renovation, of which I have moaned, despite being a great proponent of it and happy we're finally updating our development, is causing some internal upheaval in various households.  These are comparatively small townhouses, and a lot of people store masses of items in the eaves of the roofs. 

However, since all the roofs are being completely torn off and renewed, this means the eaves have to be empty, so that the insulation can be taken out and replaced. Also since the roof is open to the sky when the top's off, you don't want stuff in there anyway.  

My own eaves, says she virtuously, are completely empty.  Partly because I think if you have to fill more and more storage places, you have too much stuff, and partly because of the squirrel problem. Bad experiences with mice in an earlier house, and good things laid carefully in the attic, sad story, never again.

But my neighbors are largely of a different frame of mind, and store, or stuff, stuff merrily in the eaves till they're groaning. So  all the household organization and pruning that they were thinking of doing if ever they sell, or if they get a big spring cleaning urge, has to happen very suddenly, like now.  

The result is a steady stream of interesting items at the dumpster areas, particularly at weekends, when other neighbors take a look, before the garbage detail comes early Monday to remove everything.  I have a feeling items are traveling around the development in slow motion this way.

And this is my find today 

It's pretty nice, and you see, totally clean, the drawer possibly never having been opened.  It's playing the part of a console table behind the sofa for now, always wanted one of them.  

After the holidays it may go upstairs for a plant stand at one of the windows.  I have a feeling that meanwhile, two cats might find it a nice place to sleep and look out at the birds better. 

On the food front, no pix, just a satisfactory Friday night dinner with Handsome Son.  Soup of leeks and kale, then baked flounder in crisp crumbs with lemon zest on, edible pod peas, roasted french fries.  Plum cake for dessert with a pot of tea.  Nice evening. All the vegs and fruit from the farm, always like to make that point.

I've done this before and realized that, though it's a many-stage meal to make, it comes out as fish and chips and peas, a trad brit Friday dinner.  Must be the subconscious at work, or something.

Speaking of which,  old trad language, to be exact, that Lake District shepherd whose books on the Shepherd's Life are huge best sellers, terrific writer, was on a book tour in this region this week, and was on one of my fave public radio stations, wnyc.  

They were talking about language, and he mentioned that shepherds count their sheep yan tan tethera methera pip.  This is directly from the Norse, which a lot of my Yorkshire language also harks back to.  It was suddenly an emotional moment to hear that old language on my radio!  

You can google on it if you want to see more. Shepherding is an ancient farming craft and art, and the language still is ancient.  His family has been in it for possibly a thousand years, using the old language all the time.  Tup for ram, yow for ewe, beck for stream, sneck for latch, and on and on, familiar to me but not useful to my current life!



 

Follow Me! Shop at the Dumpster! 6WS

Well, shopping at the dumpster is a metaphor for acquiring, bartering and otherwise becoming the custodian of, items that improve your life and the life of the person who shed them!

To wit: my living room, which is almost exclusively equipped with freecycle gifts, dumpster finds, larcenous cuttings to make wonderful houseplants, rescues, handmade items (Jean, see the tissue box on the table, the one I learned on before making yours)  and one or two actual purchases. And that's only one room.  Much more elsewhere.

The main furniture pieces sofabed and loveseat, were bought secondhand thirty years ago, and are covered in various fabrics and rugs depending on the season and mood.  The loveseat also has a stack of blankets and rugs under the cushions to store them and make it softer to sit on.  And it's been passed around father to mom to son to mom over the years depending on who needs it.

The current covering of all the big pieces is various parts of a complete bedding set, new in package, from a friend who couldn't use it. I like the shabby chic effect!



 The pillows I knitted from freecycled novelty yarn, or made from linen napkins from Target, which I stuffed with less good looking pillows. The crocheted items on various tables are rescued and are beautiful handmade artworks from two generations ago, after the family had taken all they could use and needed a good home for the rest.

The coffee table, a mission oak style beauty, with two drawers and porcelain knobs, was found in a parking lot after somebody moved out and jettisoned a lot of items.  

The recliner in the corner was the gift of a friend, fourth hand, for my napping comfort when I was taking care of Handsome Partner in his last couple of years.  It's my birdwatching and breakfast and meditation corner.

The begonias, two of them sharing a pot, are fifteen years old and grown from cuttings taken from a friend's house.  It sits on a little table from the dumpster, artfully covered in a Greek embroidered cloth, gift of a friend as she downsized before moving. A lot of my plants are from cuttings or starts which I took from other plants, often in return for looking after the parent plant over the summer.

All the furniture you see on the patio, Adirondack chairs and pool loungers, came at no cost other than getting them here, one from an entire set being thrown away at a nearby development as they overhauled their pool area, the chairs from a deceased friend's porch since it was easier to get them here than anywhere else. All the outdoor furniture is considered community property -- if there's a party at my friend's next door, he knows to come borrow if he needs any.

And so it goes.  I give a lot, too, it's a two way street.  But, aside from fitting my very modest budget, it's also  a lot more fun than just shopping for new items.

The art is all mine, that big paper piece over the recliner the first big piece I ever made in that medium and exhibited.  At the time I had very limited artmaking space -- a galley kitchen, to be exact -- so I made it modular style and assembled it.  It has a whole array of techniques, since it was for a final exam in the papermaking course I was taking at the time, and worked out quite well.

This living room would not pass the Better Homes sniff test, but it is definitely the Suits Me living room.