More dolls, and a pattern

 I realized I could post the pattern for the Izzy doll, so here goes

If you (can) read the bottom para you'll understand the construction.

You can Google on Izzy doll to see its poignant history. Please note, Izzy's mother made her pattern universally free and available for dolls to give to children in crisis, not just cute toys. And always to be given, not sold nor bartered. 

And here's where I am with this group 

Aiming for half a dozen to get in the mail next week.  The person who will distribute them is eagerly waiting now.

And friend C. is coming through with more small quantities of various colored yarns, just right. Possibly also for stripey socks for the Sock 'n Glove Ministry, we'll see. And for the use of beginners at the two libraries I go to for knitting groups. 

Lunch today is a bowl of lentil carrot soup with fresh spinach wilted in, followed by chocolate cherries. All food groups in attendance.

In the course of looking for audio to accompany knitting, I came across an old favorite, QI.

 I also  found another advantage to hearing aids: I can get all their jokes now, not just some. Highly recommend.

Happy day everyone, my power company tells me I'm one of the most economical customers in my house size and (house) age. Yay me. 

Wednesday, day of visiting, soup and keys

 Short of pictures for Wednesday, which was about a great afternoon with Handsome Son, where he made inroads into the last of the pumpkin cranberry loaf I saved for him from the neighborhood sharing loaf. We both enjoyed the first of the fruitcake. Two pots of tea.

He made sure he has various bits of information about my mailbox, and other updates, and plans for vaxes, doctor appointments while his Obamacare is still intact. Calm, but planning. We had both sent birthday wishes to Biden earlier!

I made brown lentil soup using a new batch of veggie stock, but, good as it was, it's not photogenic, so take my word for it!

Happy day, everyone, mine was great.

Thoughtful Memorial Day, first strawberry, the Calgary marathon, food capers

 Yesterday strawberries were in at the farm

And I took the first bite of the year. I learned this pleasure, like a lot of other pleasures, from Handsome Partner. He loved strawberries, and made a ritual of the pure enjoyment of that first bite each year.

His birthday was in June, so I made him strawberry shortcake each year.  We remember him on his birthday rather than the day he died, since that was on Handsome Son's birthday in August.

This morning's breakfast was pita bread stuffed with fruit as it often is. Today it's strawberries. Everything in season.

And since recent storms flattened the flowers, including the sage blossoms, I brought them in as edible cut flowers.

They'll go in the freezer once they fade, for future cooking.

Speaking of which, there's a current exhibit of paintings from the 18th century Mughal era in India, where smells and touch and taste are all part of the experience. 

It's curated by a perfumer, currently involved in creating edible perfume,  and an art curator.

Here, in the last picture, the narcissus, symbolic of desire and the evocation of scent, is in action.

Those paintings are so much more life-filled than I realized, full of sensuous experience.

Crashing back to my kitchen, I used up most of the mushroom mixture I'd made for ravioli, and the roasted vegetables you saw a while back, only I filled the last of the frozen pasty dough with them, along with hot sausage.

And made artisan all looking big pasties.

Then, since the mixtures were now thawed, I needed to use the rest of them up. 

So here goes red and brown lentil and pasta soup, using the rest of the roasted vegetables and the mushroom mix, plus that tomato water I saved from earlier. I knew those pulse foods would come in handy. Sooner than I expected.

But, best for last, my honorary grandie ran the Calgary marathon yesterday, raising a ton of money for cancer research, and a personal best! She sent me a Garmin link to follow her progress in real time

The link came complete with stats including heart rate, and like a true grandma, I checked that hers was raised but not too high!

A big yell of excitement here when she achieved her goal, well, a couple of goals. In recent years she's run marathons and shorter races, getting huge fun out of what seems to me like the impossible! 

Celebrate life with us, while remembering today the people who died in war and who enable us to celebrate life.

Thoughtful and grateful day, along with grieving. The shakuhachi effect.