Misfits, art, shrimp and treachery

Today a friend came over to pick out an artwork. A hiccup here and there with the timing, but she got here before I had to attend to the groceries.

We had a lovely visit and she went home with a stitched piece, or nue (provide your own acute accent) and stump work, butterflies and moths on a black silk ground printed with metallic copper paint.

It includes a Luna moth which has a special significance for her daughter. She'll send a picture when she hangs it.

Meanwhile I did the stitching on the fronts of the linen jacket, which I like a lot more now.

More stitching might happen. 

Then Jeff arrived with the Misfits box.

The last image is a true still life. As you know, the still life is about the short trajectory from youth to maturity to death and decay. 

Green bananas youth, ripe apples maturity, last week's overripe plums near decay.  No dead pheasants, favorite of old European painters. 

Anyway here's the week's Misfits selection. Sad news, I had splurged on a Tony's Chocolonely, and it was, sob, unavailable. 

However there's Bananaz, cans to share with the food pantry, lovely Envy apples, crisp and juicy, beautiful yellow tiny potatoes to be perfect roasted with the chicken thighs.

Yogurt and honey, desserts, raisins for snacks or maybe baking. Maybe I'll bake Garibaldis with them. It's a raisin filled pastry known to school kids as flies'  cemetery, moving along.. fair trade organic sugar supporting the good guys, mixed green salad. 

To the right, a pan of Cajun shrimp cooking, thanks to Sandra for a terrific recipe. One thing and another I didn't get rice organized, but it was a good lunch with a green salad, so it worked.  

The shrimp were small though the recipe wanted large, but you go to lunch with the shrimp you have, and this was great.

I had to make a Cajun spice mix, not hard, I had all the ingredients, and this is now a go-to for shrimp. And those chicken thighs too, I now think. 

And my reading is 

About Jane Boleyn, sister-in-law and lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn.  Back to the Tudor court.

Speaking of horror movies, I caught a Xerces Society online presentation about pollinators and all kinds of insects and arachnids. Those guys lead a brutal life. 

However, the society has a very undemanding approach to its members' observation practice

See the first recommendation!

And, this one's, seriously, a life and death issue, please go here and listen. 

Ash is a wonderful trans person, brilliant costume designer, historian, fearless defender of every human right, and they've just put out this compilation of videos full of knowledge, suggestions, lived experience and high value.  One thing they suggested for cis people was to spread this information, hard earned, on whatever platforms we can. On it, Ash!

 

I've followed them for years for their historical knowledge, clothes design -- made a couple of skirts based on their information -- and for their killer sense of humor. They're also kind and forbearing when people mean well and say the wrong thing. Anyway, it's long, so get a cup of tea or a piece of stitching and listen. There's stuff to see, too,but the words are vital.

Happy day everyone, full one around here, and now for tea and Gregory on the deck.

Friday Knitting Group

 Friday again and amazingly no house nor car issues, so I made it to the group.

 The Friday knitting group was a full house, with knitting, finishing, crocheting amigurumi, and other projects. 

One knitter, with her upcoming trip to Rhinebeck in mind was finishing the ends of a Shetland wool hat, another two creating toys, one working a vest from yarn, and Boud on her everlasting sock for the Knitting Ministry.

Talk ranged over height, counter size, mismatched couples, cars, Rhinebeck, mutual acquaintances, sweater design, alpaca yarn, local thrift stores and how to donate, kneading bread, cold weather, brain function, counting sheep, childbirth at an advanced age, baby care, the Northern lights and who missed them, that would be D and I, and more.

Earlier Friday I'd done some stitching, starting a mottled leaf.  This is an interesting project,  deciding what stitches I'm in the mood for. It's slow and deliberative. 

I also started looking for a taker for my bass recorder, too difficult for my hands now, with a note to a friend in the recorder society. I'm hoping for a good home for it.

Happy day everyone, online chat with friends coming up  Friday evening, also chicken soup and chocolate cherries in the plan.

Leaves and late harvest

I got back to the stitching today, and having decided Bayeux stitch won't work here, went to long and short stitching for the leaf. Three colors.

And here's what's up at Tatters in their ongoing embroidery workshops

Embroidery supporting people in place of the crops they can't count on. Whole communities are engaged in this art form. Climate change economy.

 In the middle of thinking about all this,  I realized that a forgetmenot we found at Gary's yesterday and he gave me, still needed to be housed.

So I took out the second potato harvest and planted the forgetmenot in its place.

Considering how many times this potato plant was dug up by squirrels, it's amazing it didn't just quit. Two little potatoes are pretty good considering.

Since this forgetmenot found its way yards over in a different garden, I'm hopeful of more of them next year. 

And it was time to finish dealing with the chicken which I've been eating in various forms for a week. Also to cook the shrimp.

I now have a container of chicken breast slices and a pot of cream of chicken soup full of pickings from the simmered carcase. 

Also a bowl of shrimp which will be Boud's Plain Mayo Shrimp for Sandwiches.  No fancy extras. You want the good shrimp salad, you go to Mary's.

Thursday Handsome Son is taking me to a dental appointment late morning, so in case he needs a quick sandwich and soup, once we get home, before he gets on with his day, I have the makings. 

My life lately is all about medical appointments. I'm perfectly well, but all these appointments. I was complaining about this to a retired nurse recently, and she said that's how you stay well, so hush up

About cars, if it's not doors it's cars. Gary got to work on the tire pressure situation. Then our friend across the street, the one with a good tire gauge, joined in and we had Men at Work 

After establishing that neighbor's Florida daughter is as safe as possible considering, they checked and inflated my tires to the right levels, then did a couple of other cars. 

I wheeled the crying grandbaby around. She fell asleep and we were all happy, I because I got to wheel a baby, so long since I did that. When the convo got to serious male car talk I withdrew quietly.

I have to admit to shameless larceny from She Who Seeks, go there for a whole lot more funny ghostly items,  with this very great Gallery of Ghosts

Stitching and other concerns

 I found a selection of colors in yarn for the leaf page 

Mary will recognize the chartreuse thread there

And I started on the stitching.

And quickly realized this design isn't blocky enough to use the rather heavy Bayeux stitch. It's got a lot of movement, so I'll work it to suit.

First started with a backstitching for the veins. I love the sound of the needle piercing the muslin and the hiss of the thread following it 

Because this yarn is fairly bulky, to avoid bumps from finishing the thread the usual way, I slid it back and forth on the back, using the head of the needle, then cut the tail. You can see a couple of places where I did this.

Not up to a lot today, dealing with a call I got yesterday with the worst news about a mutual long time friend. She and I have been co-conspiritors for decades, wrote an entirely imaginary local newsletter about the neighbors, and have done diy on my house. 

I knew she was sick, though up and about and driving, saw her a while back, but now she's found she has very little time.  She's much younger than I, though I'm not sure why that makes it harder. People don't die in age order. It just feels wrong.  

Anyway I called, left a message on her voicemail, and I'll do that at intervals if she doesn't want me to visit. People who know how sick they look often don't. 

Good thoughts for her, please, and let's have a happy day if we can.

The squirrels found my front step pumpkin and started to bite into it. So it's now cooked and in the freezer for soup and the seeds and rind are out for Butternut Boy's dining pleasure. So he'll have a good day anyway.

Photo AC 

Nature walk, stitching and shopping

Saturday was cloudy and 80s, great day for walking, so I did. Some reminders that the season is already moving on, with blackberries starting, fungi everywhere and black walnuts falling, with leaves turning color already.

Here's a great scene, water, trees, moss

See the frog looking at us?

And here's a groundhog's front door 

Black walnut, after squirrels have thrown it about. There were quite a few opened and eaten, as there, bottom right. When you know how hard it is to crack black walnuts, you develop a respect for squirrels' tiny jaws and hope not to get into a dispute with one.

At home I had a lovely old fashioned ginger beer, exactly like the ones of childhood, snarling with ginger. 

There are cocktail recipes on the packaging, but I wouldn't ruin it with spirits. Every now and then I treat myself from Misfits, and this is this week's splurge.

About Misfits, I think some readers have it confused with a CSA farm share. With the farm share you get your share of whatever's ripe this week, and you may get surprises and need to be inventive. I've done that in the past.

Misfits is simply a giant supermarket online, with about everything you would usually shop for. I order what I want to cook, and there aren't any surprises. 

What you see on my counter is what I ordered from many aisles and choices. It's mostly an organic source, with some other items too, and since they buy what's available, you might not find everything. Mostly I do, though. 

So I'm happy to be credited with interesting cooking, but it's not a creative use of random items!  I do like to experiment, and it's wonderful to have only myself to please. Which reminds me to make some Leigh mayo.

My goldwork and beading is coming along with spangles now, too. It's so peaceful doing this.

It's not very portable because of all the threads and beads to choose from, so knitting is what I usually carry around. 

Yesterday this came to me library with me.

The spiral sock still in progress. The other one, with the patch toe, is still going.  Same yarn, so I hope it's enough to make both pairs. I've been swiping some for weaving, too, as if it were an endless supply.

Happy day, everyone, enjoy getting a bit of nature and a bit of making if you can. They're  great tranquillizers.

Tuesday knitting group, Textiles and Tea

 Tuesday I dropped off my ballot in the dropbox 

Then on to the knitting group nearby in the library, only two today, but here's the table set up with books to borrow.

Talk ranged over making hats, embroidery, Maryland Sheep and Wool last weekend, freezing weather, gardening, Misfits market, local farm CSA and more.

Home to Textiles and Tea with a spinning wheel restorer, John Sturtevant. Not being at all into spinning wheels, I was surprised at how interesting I found it, largely because of his love for what he does and his love of learning. And what a range of wheel designs.

this is his wife Kathy, testing restored wheels before they go back to their owners. She originally got him interested in wheels repair and restoration.

Here's a trolley wheel, really unusual, which he demonstrated on video.

His website is on the id slide, for more info.

Then I got back to my embroidery, which is my happy place just now 

A range of stitches, some improvised, and I'm starting to see what I'm doing here.,and what needs to happen next. Wednesday is always quiet, so it may be a stitching day.

Happy day everyone, do your own happy stuff if you can. Sometimes in hard times it can be only a fleeting experience, but worth looking for. I know this is true right now for some blogistas. I see you. Been there too.