Paper, yogurt, buds and self improvement

 Here's the paper recycling, where it's up to

Pulp to felts to drying, with inclusions of Japanese maple leaves. The leaves also make red dye. 

The last picture shows the output, tiny batch this time, still drying. Watch this space again for the great removal from the felts (those are the pieces of interfacing they're resting on). That was a nice little interlude.

While I was out I noticed flowers and buds. Gary's butterfly bush soaring above the trees, my little offshoot from it now budding, ready to host butterflies and moths, and my zinnias starting to bud, the morning glory climbing everywhere now

Bit too hot for me but they're all very happy.

Meanwhile I finally got a batch of yogurt done. 

It's simple but I tend to put it off, like bread making. I did a bit of figuring and find that from an approx 3 cup container, I end with 18 cups of yogurt. That's the original, minus a couple of tablespoons for starter, then three more batches of five cups, at which point it loses its strength. Not a bad return.

And I was about to embark on an interesting book about envy and how to manage it. The I decided once again, that self improvement is the enemy of self acceptance, and it's time I did that instead. 

So I'm good enough as I am, crabby old lady.  Also self improvement is a source of income, rather than a selfless offering by writers. So fine, good luck to them, they'll never lack an audience, but I think I'll be sewing and paper making and other things instead.

Happy day everyone, you're fine, I'm fine, we're all fine, everything's fine!

 

Yesterday, weather, food, today onward

 The weather yesterday, after high heat and dewpoint 78, went like this

And here's how it arrived

The white areas are rain too heavy to see through. Thunder, lightning.

Just as well Handsome Son had decided not to go to the shore anyway.

Later he came over with a large sausage and pepperoni pizza from the local cook while you wait store, with soda. I decided to avoid all opportunities for work, and we used paper plates, paper napkins ( white, with linen napkins blue, placemats, red)

And disposable bowls for the ice cream, white, strawberries, red, blueberries, blue dessert. There's a theme here. 

Handsome S had plenty of everything, but a token strawberry and no blueberries, well, I offered. It all went well, and he left with a couple of leftover slices, leaving one for my breakfast today.

 After bfast I  did a bit of weaving

altered the yellow skirt to fit better, then caught up on blog reading and wouldn't you know it, Magpie's Mumblings is at it again. 

There's a link today reminding me I can recycle the surplus newspaper Gary gave me for the skirt pattern, by pulping and making s bit of recycled paper. Soooo, here we are

Watch this space.

And  then I embarked on pockets for the independence skirt.

Left pocket in progress, right completed pocket.

In the middle of which Gary dashed in to borrow a spray bottle, something to do with his showerhead, I didn't get involved, just handed one over and let things work out. 

He also tells me those towelly things are decorative bath towels, so now I know. I thought decorative stopped at fingertip towels, the kind you dry your hands on your clothes rather than use them.

So we're here, reading another frothy, frilly hotweathery book

And here's a hotweathery puzzle. Or a wintry one if you're in the southern hemisphere.

Happy day, everyone, sometimes it's better to let things unfold, I tell myself. And one day I'll do that. I expect the weather report from Hell will be very chilly though.

Happy fourth! Skirts, puzzles, and parties

A happy Fourth to those who celebrate, Good Tuesday to most of the world except the southern hemisphere where I guess it's Wednesday.

Speaking as a proud immigrant whose family came to New York State before the civil war, I had to get here under my own steam, I remember that "land of the free, home of the brave" is a goal, not a statement of fact. It's aspirational, a work in progress, sometimes progressing, sometimes staggering back. Hope springs eternal! Enjoy the day.

Yesterday in the middle of reading The Two Mrs. Abbotts, 

I was overcome by the need to sew. Sooooo, I went for the piece of batik that's been playing a portiere awaiting orders for clothes.

And whipped off a skirt length

Which I had the best time happily making up. One back seam, selvedges, easy, no need for more than one row of back stitch, then a casing at the waist to thread in elastic.I made a back vent, because this is a slim cut. 

And today I need to finish the hem, and I'll wear it for the Fourth. There will be patch pockets,  which may get done today. 

And there's still a portiere

The beauty of a simple Fourth, where my job is to put the oven on and find plates for the pizza and dishes for the ice cream I'm providing, is that I have the day free to do other things.

Ages since I made myself something to wear, but yesterday was hot

So I wore that yellow skirt you saw me make last year. I found two things, one that I liked it enough that I needed at least one more skirt, and two,  that my weight loss since last year means I have to adjust the waist, which now wanders down a bit. Also I found enough scrap matching fabric to finally make the pockets for this skirt, too. Yay. Ellen would be proud of me!

I do love hand sewing, peaceful, very pleasing, and definitely as sturdy as machine stitching if you know what you're doing.

I finished the puzzle, which had an extra piece after it was complete, just the back of a piece, probably a factory slip, which was packed along with the complete pieces. Took it back and the library lady was amused at the notion of a spare part.

And here's the latest. 

Note that I am promoted to 750 pieces. We'll see how this goes.

Last evening Gary came over with these brand new unused items, terry towel one side fabric the other, could I use or rehome them, or should he toss them. So they're here. 

What the heck are they? beach towels? Bath sheets? Knowledgeable blogistas, please advise.

Happy day everyone, Fourth or fourth. 

Naming body parts, Y chromosome, and puzzles

I mentioned yesterday that I might give my sometimes cranky neck a name. I'm thinking Nadia, or Nadine, or maybe Niamh. She makes her presence felt now and then, usually when she's been overworked and taken for granted, so she has a personality.

I have previous, as they say in police dramas, meaning been there before. This was the Saga of Esmeralda. That's the left breast which was the cause of a battle about denying health coverage, which she eventually won. 

My house and car insurer tried getting into health insurance, back before I was old enough for Medicare and had to buy my own. I was always checking into coverage for cheaper rates, and they'd promised to bundle all three coverages. Sounded good.

Until an insurance underwriter denied coverage because my gyne, a brilliant and respected doctor, had done an extra test to verify Esmeralda's health. The results  proved that I had, in my doctor's angry words to the insurer, better than average breast health. But she insisted that just ordering the the test proved I was high risk. 

Esmeralda was not going to let this happen without a fight. So she  had me mention that I was planning on legal action, including getting the NJ insurance commissioner involved.  

Finally they apologized, offered coverage and the agent caught in the middle said I hope we didn't make you lose faith in your doctor! To which I responded that it would take more than an insurance clerk to do that, but I'd be sure to let everyone know the story. 

By this time I'd found good coverage so I said no to their offer. Shortly after that I heard they'd got out of the healthcare insurance attempt. But I think naming Esmeralda definitely stiffened my resolve to defend her.

So naming my neck will help me treat her more kindly. Fo you have a preference for a name? All suggestions will be considered, and the owner's decision will be final!

Meanwhile here's the progress of the current jigsaw puzzle, a very well designed one, with different ways to interlock the pieces

If I finish it in time, I'll return it today and borrow a puzzle for the holiday.

 The Fourth celebration will be an evening visit from handsome Son bearing pizza and Coke. I asked him yesterday, as we were planning, to let me know when to put the oven on, so as to keep the pizza warm as we went. 

Meaning of course, to text me tomorrow, as he was waiting to pick up. In true guy Y- chromosome fashion, he instantly texted "about 6 pm, but I'll keep in touch". This is going to be like the peppermint leaves. 

Maybe I can get him to bring a handful of peppermint when he comes over tomorrow..

Meanwhile, happy day everyone, missed communication notwithstanding. Intent is all. Let's take care of each other.

Better day all around

 Here's my early morning view from the patio door

Air you can breathe, a working phone, lovely cooling rain forecast.

Weaving with a minimum of pain, yay

Yesterday was a different story, mainly phone related. Handsome Son and I usually exchange early morning texts, just to know all's well. 

Yesterday we couldn't, no matter what we tried. Ended up Skyping dms just to establish the people, if not the phones, were operating.

I found I'd lost not only texting, this happens at busy times, but all service. No phone no voicemail. For an old person living alone, this is more than an inconvenience, it's dangerous,  to have no way to communicate.

I checked the service for outages, none reported. Went into the website for help, and couldn't get in till I changed my password. Up to now it's been fine. 

Then the site explained how to phone or text for help. How, I wonder?  Then I found the chatbot which had  me enter all sorts of secret handshakes then my zipcode, and told me there was no outage, must be my settings.

I went through all the hoops, I mean workarounds, they suggested, no joy. They said good day and thank you. I'd dmd the carrier via Twitter, no response. 

Back to the website, found a help person, spent two hours trying to fix the issues, whatever they were. Finally, none of them working, they said they had to refer me to a higher help level. Which was only accessible by phone. They couldn't dm nor email. Since I don't have a second line, neighbors all out, handsome Son at work, I couldn't continue. 

I asked them if my phone had become obsolete -- July 1, maybe new protocols, they don't always tell you.

Then my nice helping person said they'd tried checking the higher level people who told them there was in fact an outage in service. 

Now they admit it! Shortly afterwards I got a text from handsome Son at work who said a whole string of texts arrived suddenly. His phone and mine are working again.

I checked back on Twitter which had been down on and off, got in and found the carrier had responded then cut off when I hadn't picked up in two minutes. They gave me numbers to call and text..

I dmd them a cranky message, that since I don't monitor constantly it was unreasonable to cut off after two minutes, that when I was telling them I couldn't call nor text, that was the problem,  and that the carrier had acknowledged it was their outage, my service was now restored   

Their answer came that they were sorry about the bad service, what was the trouble.... botspeak . Evidently the same program as the live chatbot which cuts out if no rapid response. Or even a slow response. Which mine were.

The other "challenge" " was that the stress had triggered an ocular migraine with visual disturbance. I couldn't see all the screen, full of gaps and flashing jagged lights,  a word here and there.  Just guessing their instructions but I did pretty well considering. 

Anyway by mid evening the service was back up and running and my vision gradually returned. I was ready for a better day.

And today, as God is my witness, I'm having one!

Happy day everyone, enjoy the good bits, snarl at the rest!

Paris, life offering lemons, White rabbits

White rabbits, for July 1st, also Happy Canada Day

 Edith Holden's tribute to July

And a special day for Lucia and her fans

I may reread her in tribute. 

Then life, well Misfits,  literally gave me, well sold me,  lemons, so beautiful I had to take pictures. 

I zested two of them then pitted and sliced them for the freezer. The other two will keep on the counter where I can enjoy seeing them 

Speaking of famous people and streets, more or less, this suddenly showed up on my timeline

This is the street I lived on when I worked in a Paris family as an au pair. I was there in the late 50s.

See the very top floor, under the roof? My private room was a tiny place up there with a marvelous view, much better than my employers ' affluent apartment several floors lower.  The attic floor was the servants quarters when the boulevard was built, dating back to live-in help. Also suitable for starving artists.

Right across the street lived Francoise Sagan, of "Bonjour Tristesse" fame, very young, newly affluent,  and my employer used to grumble at how badly she treated her wildly expensive cars. I used to wonder if a little bit of envy got in there.

Fast forward to now, and this morning I started weaving skirt panel four, 

so happy to be making again. I tried a bit of knitting yesterday, 

and found my neck wasn't quite ready, but getting there.

 Happy day everyone, when life brings lemons, we can try looking for the workarounds. Sometimes there's a workaround.

June's over, Pride isn't.