Cotton, silk and doing hard things

 The Cotton and Silk book is a great history of how the politics of Central Asia have affected their culture and with it, their textiles. 

The different powers that have swept over the area, from Tamerlane to Genghis Khan to the USSR, have impacted the available materials and markets. The basic cultural assumptions seem to have survived though, despite mass displacement and famines.

Some great illustrations of clothes and hats in this collection. Sleeves are long enough to cover the hands, and a lot of sparkle and tassels and complicated decorations, particularly on baby clothes, are believed to ward off the evil eye. Women's head dresses have a long back panel to cover the braid, same reason.

These short dresses are a modern adaptation, seen at a folk festival in the late 20th century.

Some women's hems are left raw, unfinished, as a symbol of hope for more children, and, in children, the hope of healthy growth. Images such as the ram's horn, are seen as protective. Interestingly, the women's tall head dresses and dark face coverings, looking very ominous to onlookers, are often lined with brightly patterned fabrics, usually Russian printed cotton. Veiling has pretty much gone into disuse in modern days.

On to other grown up things, which I'm taking care of next week

 It's the DNR (do not resuscitate) order, along with other instructions to medical personnel when I get to that point. It's the actual medical orders, to be signed by my doctor and copy with her files, copy on my fridge door.

Handsome Son is coming with me to the doctor meeting where doctor and I will  review and sign.  Seems like a good idea for him to meet my doctor under calm circumstances when I'm feeling pretty well, definitely lucid and able to decide these things. 

Also for him it's useful to see what decisions there are. I already have a Living Will, aka Expression of Wishes on file and Mike has a copy, but that's about final illness. This one is specifically about last moments, when medical personnel are involved.

Not saying it's easy. Especially when I'm clawing my way back to health from this draggy old virus. But I don't want any dispute over it later, with medical personnel assuming life at all costs, as I believe they usually are supposed to.

Anyway I'll set it and forget it. Meanwhile wondering what to do with my wild and beautiful today..

Happy day everyone, enjoy whatever your day is full of!

 

Christmas is coming, finally

Yesterday I removed the Dollarama, (but Cocktail Lady got an extension)  Christmas setup, it being Twelfth Night, Three Kings Day aka the Epiphany.

Here's the fake fireplace looking cheerful and today Handsome Son asked if we could celebrate Christmas on his day off, Tuesday. 

So we will. If I need to rest in the middle I will. Most of the cooking's  done anyway and the table's still laid. This year we've even missed the Orthodox dates. But we're ahead of Valentine's anyway.

I did get in an expedition to return library books to the book drop at the further away libe yesterday. I had two days overdue fine, and my account is labeled DELINQUENT until it's paid. 20 cents. I may as well rob a bank, since they've already labeled me a criminal, jeez 

 I didn't have enough oomph to get gas on the way home and get a replacement insert for the rear wiper blade which is currently a bunch of ragged bits. Another day.

I saw Gary yesterday and he evidently was thrilled about the brownies. I didn't think he expected quite such a prompt return! Anyway turns out he loves them, so maybe after Handsome Son has had a share, the rest will end up next door.

Meanwhile, here's a new puzzle. Sparkling M, bear with me, this one has more than one possible answer:

Happy day everyone, let's hope someone bakes you a treat, or, if not, diy!

Brownies, Palestinian embroidery and the moon

So I made the brownies. I never used a mix before, never eaten brownies either, so I'm not much of a judge.

Looking a bit artisanal. Anyway I took a few over to Gary where they were well received. Maybe Handsome Son will like them, too. Me, not so much , not being a chocolate fan 

And to followers of the Moon, here's a Twelfth night offering for the year

Meanwhile al Bayt posted a lovely thread on, well, threads. Palestinian embroidery, wonderful traditional form. There was a local exhibit of Palestinian embroidery here a while back,  but it was a man, mansplaining a women's art so I didn't bother.

Here's the real thing

I'm getting back into my Arabic study next week, now that my brain seems to be working again.

And my next reading is a book

I discovered about through the wonderful Eine Saite blog, which I recommend. Full of interesting textile talk and great pictures.

Happy day everyone, the world's full of such lovely stuff to enjoy, so let's. Speaking of which, the puzzle solution is:

TEENAGER

It was three pairs of anagrams, so you just needed to jumble item five to get there.

Puzzles real and toy, and surprise brownies

Yesterday I ventured out for the first time since the olden days before this virus struck two weeks ago.

 I'd planned three errands, one to the post office, two to libraries. I managed the post office, yay, gloves on their way,  and the return of the puzzle which I never got to start, to one library  then had to come home, too tired to drive safely any further. 

The other library return has to wait a day.Also increasingly urgent alerts on the dash, now complete with beeps, about the low battery in the key fob, encouraged me not to push it.

So, once home and fuelled with tea, I finally had to change the keyfob battery. I had a battery in the house, the other one from the other fob that went down.

You have to remove the key, separate the parts of the shell and after that the actual replacement isn't so hard. What's hard is opening the shell if you don't have big burly hands like the nice man on YouTube who says just insert the key, rock, there!

You can do that till the cows come home and the thing is so tight fitting it won't give. Last time I used a screwdriver blade which opened it so fast that tiny parts flew all over and required endless reassembly. I hear this is a common problem. Inside that shell the parts, all the command functions,  are just resting in shallow grooves, not fixed. 

So this time I started with the screwdriver then inserted an xacto blade to open it further until it worked. Right way up, battery visible, tiny parts safely underneath.

Changed out the battery, then comes the other issue, shutting the shell again without exploding the parts. The burly handed man acknowledged that even he had to bring pressure, so I stood up, fob on hard surface, full court press with upper body, thumbs whining, till yay, it clicked into place.

I tested, it works, no further hysterical alerts on the dash. Quite proud of my success there. Boud 1, tech 0. For once.

However my less than two years old Fire tablet has gone to a quiet murmur when I use it for audiobooks, inaudible. Every workaround tried, it just wore out, I think. 

It's my go-to for audiobooks, sigh, Hoopla installed, which won't install on my phone whose sound is much better, even using all the sneaky tricks I used to get Hoopla onto the Fire. 

I notice other users with similar media sound issues, and I've already tried all the remedies they suggest. Everything except the media sound, all other sounds, all the video, work fine. 

If you have any good ideas, and they're not on the btdt list, I'll be glad to hear. 

Then Misfits arrived 

with lovely spinach, sardines and wholewheat pita, some of which became supper, lovely fresh spinach leaves wrapped around sardines in best olive oil, inside a pita bread. So good , I could feel strength coming back!

Later Gary came over, with this

He had got it before Christmas hoping his daughter would make brownies. Too busy, didn't. Her mother likewise. He wondered, knowing my habits, if I would ever use a mix. I think he's dying for some brownies. So I accepted it and he'll get a share. I'll add in walnuts though, because they just arrived, and anyway I think you should.

He changed the lightbulb at the top of my stairs, expressed dismay that I'd tried errands, and I explained I think you have to try just to start getting well. 

He's not convinced, but he's never known about managing chronic illness as I have. There's a psychological component to consider. If I didn't push a little I'd be on the sofa till spring.

Speaking of which here's a new puzzle

Once again, don't make it too hard! And if you solve it, don't post the answer, just try a funny clue.

Happy day everyone, may all your fobs, real and metaphorical, work, even if they need a little help.

Embossing returns also Textiles and Tea, and pancakes

 I needed to make a few cards yesterday, since I never replied to any Christmas mail, so I assembled the doings for embossing.

Took ages to find the burnishers, hiding among other art materials. I always forget how small they are.

So here's how you do it

Plain cardstock over stencil held to window, just run the burnishers steadily around the edges of the cutouts. 

Card and matching envelope flap. Done. No artistic skill required. But it's very pleasing.

You can use a light box too, but I find the window in daytime easier. Also I've taught groups of kids, easy to have them spread out around classroom windows.

And they don't need fancy burnishers. A blunt knitting needle, even a pencil, if you don't mind pencil markings on the back. Kids usually don't, they're so excited about the embossing. Maybe this is one to show Kira, little nextdoor visiting grandchild, come to think of it.

Speaking of fun, here's a medieval scribe with a sense of humor

Yesterday's Textiles and Tea featured Chris Acton, an enthusiastic speaker whose delivery was so fast it was hard to follow, but she was lovely and she teaches online weavalongs. I had a bit of help in the chat function with some words, nice group.

 Happy day everyone! Enjoy making something, or thinking about it if that's your speed. I started my day with this

Beets galore, very timely

Yesterday I finally noticed the dish of posh Misfits organic beets I'd cooked before I got sick, and finally did something about them. 

I know they're nutritious, full of iron, all that, but I don't like them. I admire the color, but only like them pickled.

So, after I finished those lovely Misfits olives, I had saved the liquid, thought I'd like pickled beets, just add to the readymade pickling liquid, and had ordered them. 

I finally diced the beets and added them. But I had  more diced beets, so I bunged them into jars and filled up with malt vinegar.

I used up the rest of the bottle then seized the opportunity to use up a couple of dozen of the hundreds of single serving packets I have in the crisper drawer. 

This is the result of my checking the wrong box on the online order.  Supposed only to get the bottle, got that and a  sudden parcel packed with these little packets, each about a teaspoonful.

Anyway I have enough vinegar to leave some in my will, and now I have beets galore, too.

Very timely as it happened, since Gary came over shortly after and cautioned me not to plan dinner, there would be roast turkey breast, cooking (amazingly) for his little granddaughter, planning to share around neighbors.

So later this happened

He added in baked potatoes, and I now had cold cuts with my beets. Perfect. He's talking about doing it again in a couple of days. 

Honestly, just sitting here being fed like the prophet in the Old Testament being fed chunks of meat by ravens, you can't beat (or beet) it.

Happy  day, everyone. Keep your knife and fork ready, you never know what might happen. Don't carelessly order vinegar though, that can get away from you.  

New year, new project

Yesterday I felt well enough, this is a very slow recovery, to make last year's lovely craft calendar into this year's handy note keeper.

Each month is now a folded-in section, sealed with tape, for notes, appointment cards, grocery lists, all the stuff usually falling about my bag or being magnetized to the fridge where it falls down behind the counter.

Last year's cover cut down and inserted on the back.

Purse sized and already with bits of reminders in different months.I was happy with this and had to sleep all afternoon to recover from the excitement.

However, as I keep pointing out to dismayed handsome Son, I'm not worse!

Happy day everyone, recycle something just to enjoy it and please tell us your favorite recycle.

Woke early to the New Year

 Happy New Year again.

New start, and I'm feeling bit by bit better, normal optimism starting again. White Rabbits.

Last year's calendar, usually recycled for the new year, will this year be cut down to make a notebook. The illustrations are too good to discard. 

And I have plans about cardboard art. And today being rainy and mild, soon I'll be looking out for the first signs of the snowdrops I planted in the fall.

Plenty to look forward to. 

Happy day everyone, happy year, everyone! I hope we all have something to look forward to.