Painting a bit, Talking Heads and Boots Ahoy

Yesterday I took advantage of the new organizer, and lifted out the entire drawer of watercolor supplies. This works a lot better than assembling things every time.

Just messed about and had a lovely pointless time.  All the things available and I used very few. 

Finished crocheting the Boots. The pink yarn lasted till literally the last stitch. Then this morning I did the finishing and fitting.

And Pink Rabbit is back upstairs, booted. Here's Boots the Upstairs Bear admiring the summer icecream boots in action.

The Boot Crochet Shop is now closed before anyone else hears about it.

I watched the Thora Hird monologue from the Talking Heads series. It's confusing that the name is the same as the David Byrne group and I wonder who got there first. I'm guessing Bennett, since it dates way back.

It might account for the dislikes registered, probably people who expected Byrne and are confounded to find it's old Northern actors in brilliant form. 

I plan to watch more. They're difficult because so tragic, with funny sparks, but they're so well done. 

Happy day everyone. Mine has been less dramatic than this alert might indicate 

I live right in the middle of the red bit. No need to water today. I also got a phone alert. There's no standing water as of now, though we got a big downpour.

Painting may be back, groups, and Bert's gardening practice

Yesterday there was a question about getting into groups such as knitting groups, and getting through the first meeting. I think my best experiences have been with library-led public groups, less cliquey, and with someone whose job involves keeping the group congenial.

I've most often been an early adopter or founder, before there was a group anyway, and the early people have to be careful not to try to control events as the group grows and changes, as it will. That's where the group leader can shine.

My current knitting group has a great blend of several cultures and ages and loads of talent, but, partly because the library lady is adept, it's not competitive, but very interested in what each other is making.  The group has changed a lot over the years, people moving  in and out.

I think if you're hesitant, just go to one meeting. You don't have to commit, just see how it goes. Then, next time, decide if you want to go again. Just try the water. And let us know how it feels. Pro tip: if you can't do the craft in question, get lessons or a workshop before you join a group. The group participants are there to play and chat. They didn't sign on to be teachers!

Meanwhile, the Sock and Glove Ministry continues

I wonder if this will look anything like a pair, or like an artful mismatch, looking at the color changes coming up

I moved the coleus into its bigger home, and added in some offshoots I'd rooted in water. It can stay outside a while longer, before becoming a house plant, when the ficus comes indoors and fills the living room with foliage.

 Then lovely D.G. Strong of Modern Daily Knitting went and wrote this today

And modern daily knitting is offering this, watercolor  equipment to plan knitting designs, wildly out of my budget, but good luck to people who can go there. It did remind me it's time to bust out my watercolors again.

I love his approach, rapid studies from life, no dead on arrival laborious copies of photographs, just a quick fresh instant take, the real deal of watercolor.

Despite the prices of Case for Making's handmade custom watercolors -- you build your own palette and they're experts with questions -- I did sub to their newsletter

though I've produced some quite acceptable, some now in collections, paintings, with this pretty humble equipment. Also some duds, but that's not the fault of the equipment.

Unlike D.G.Strong, for me art doesn't start with shopping! But more power to those who shop and keep art suppliers in business. And more power to D.G. for funny and brilliant writing.

And while we're thinking plein air -- outdoor -- painting and flowers, remember Bert the gardener, and his credo

Nearer home, here's the latest flowers, from the faithful zinnias and marigolds. Here's a great watercolor subject if ever  there was one.

Happy day, everyone, enjoy your tea and activity and even shopping, if it comes to that!

Barchester Chronicles, seedlings and drawing

Since I'm taking an enforced reluctant few days off from knitting, in the hope it will, along with exercising, ice and Advil, help calm my shoulder down, I'm needing to take my mind off it and find interesting things to occupy myself that don't involve using my hands.

So I've been watching movies, and yesterday was a marathon of the best ever TV production of

Great cast, seven episodes, horses, carriages,  interiors, costumes, wonderfully funny Trollope. I have a lot of his novels on my Kindle, and he's one of the most entertaining writers. 

The casting, from Alan Rickman as Slope, Nigel Hawthorne as the Archdeacon,  to Geraldine MacEwan as Mrs Proudie, Donald Pleasence as the Warden, his daughter Angela playing the Warden's daughter, and on and on. All star production, and true to the original novels it's adapted from.

If you haven't seen it, it's on YouTube, and read Trollope anyway, anything, he's unfailing.

Meanwhile a few seeds I saved from Misfits Roma plum tomatoes last year are germinating.

And if you're interested in drawing, here's a great diagram, with credit,  showing the proportions of the head in profile. I found it while searching for a movie. It's amazing into what a small area of our heads our facial features really fit. Say that again fast.

You could try your hand at a head drawing just from this information.

Yesterday's walk greeted the little rabbit, now surrounded by grass, not garbage like the city dump.

I take some credit here for my campaign to get it cleaned up, the current or maybe past, residents just throwing stuff over the fence instead of dumpstering it. 

Management responded, took away all the floor tiles, plastic fencing, drop cloths, rusted barbecues, and other debris, and restored it to an area where the landscapers can get in to mow again and where grass will return. 

And they've sternly informed the residents that this isn't acceptable. It's only in the last few years this has been happening . As of now it's staying clear, yay. It's a lovely greenway to walk again.

I walk there daily because it's shady in summer, sheltered from wind in winter. I wonder if the residents seeing me pass think I'm observing for the Board!

And here's an odd thing

A sun dial set up in the shade. I wonder if they realize it's a time keeper. Not  counting just the sunny hours, not counting any hours at all.

Happy day everyone, and let's keep finding bits of joy where we can. They add up.

Friday and all's well

Yesterday I did a hake bake. Hake has a nice flaky texture, and not a lot of flavor, so you can add to it.

Here a bed of scallions, plenty of za'atar and some salt. This made enough for several meals, and yesterday I made roasted fries with it.

It's less than half the cost of salmon, a big point around here.

Then while the stove was hot, a batch of buttermilk biscuits with walnuts and golden raisins

And the weather was fine for reading a Hamish Macbeth mystery out on the deck, and a bit of painting. There may have been a nap in there somewhere, too. 

And a hot biscuit with tea.

Misfits later today. All good, hoping for the same for you. Happy day everyone.

Rosy dawn, Textiles and Tea

Today I woke to a bedroom full of pink light. Rosy-fingered dawn, thank you, Homer.

This lasted only a few minutes, lucky to have caught it.

Yesterday's Textiles and Tea was a high energy production weaver who designs and sells towels and blankets, with occasional clothes. She shows with the American Craft Council, too, high-end stuff.

And does a lot of yarn dyeing, where she and her husband are a production team. Great presenter,  more technical than I could keep up with, but get those yarn colors!

I seem to have a permanent achy shoulder, maybe irritation from knitting, so I'm alternating with stitching in the hope that helps. Meanwhile Sock One of Pair Seventeen of the Sock Ministry is done. 

I'm running low on the donated yarn, so only a couple more pairs to do before I ask for more supplies.

Yesterday I spent an entire morning online trying to complete the pre cataract surgery information. 

I had all the relevant cards and numbers ready to go, and went to the website following the directions on the sheet.

But  The sheet I'd been sent, created by the surgical center and forwarded by the eye doctor's office, gave wrong information on how to access the info site. 

The link did not go to the screens they illustrated, and after a number of fruitless searches of their site, trying every link, I called to ask if I could process by phone, which they'd offered as an option. 

The nice lady who answered said oh no, that's not the right link, you need the medical passport link. Which I explained was not on their website, insist they ever so much. So I followed the right link she gave me, and found I already had an old medical passport on record, dating from years back.

Fine. But my now outdated password didn't work. And my user ID was refused on the grounds that it was already in use. Well, yes, by me. Eventually they let me create a new password, and finally let me in. 

The actual filling out was pretty simple, once I'd got in there, and I had to make updates and corrections. But now it's done, and acknowledged and sent to my doctor. So far so good.  

After my procedures are done I hope I get the chance to evaluate their coordination. It looks as if the website was changed without regard to the paperwork they'd sent to patients, and without anyone checking they were still sending valid material out. 

Likewise one of my Rxs was different from the listing I'd been sent with instructions. But I checked with the pharmacist, who pulled the rxs and confirmed they'd put up exactly what doctor had called in. She reviewed the directions for the rx, confirmed them, too. Evidently another place where they do something different without catching up the paperwork. 

This is not good patient care, when it involves leaving patients struggling with outdated information. So there! They'll hear about it once I'm safely done.

Different doctor this afternoon, rheumatologist. She'd better be good, since this patient is prepared to take no prisoners!

But a few minutes' painting last evening with a big flat brush cheered me right back up.

To get a palette with bright clean color, I sprayed the dry pigments. Old trick, works nicely.

Happy day everyone. Reports on the rheumo recommendations later. 

Meanwhile, please don't despair. Good people are working to repair the damage done by a few bad ones. We still matter.