Spring sunset, cherry logs, and experiment

Last evening there was a succession of colors at sunset, rapidly changing and filling my house with pink light.

 And today was warm

The walk to the pond gets easier each day, less exertion needed to get there, making it look nearer. I wanted to get pictures of the fallen tree to show Chris the bark better.

They do look lenticulated, don't they? Old and weathered but I do think cherry. Around here trees are of long standing and some have hybridized.  But I think this is probably cherry, no? If you know better, please say. I like to know stuff.

Also the daffodils continue unabated, and quite a few that we planted long ago as a 9/11 memorial are coming up again now.

And I did an experiment with the spiral knitted stitch pattern, casting on the same number of stitches as before.  The pattern is k3p1, half the stitches of the other spiral,  still keeping an even number of stitches in the repeats, and an odd number total.

As you see, the spiral still works. 

And resistance continues, this time to send comments to the CDC about making the COVID vaccine available. There are three more days to comment before the window closes. Mine has been acknowledged, and here's what you need to know to comment.

You go to the gov website and they'll ask you to identify the docket, with the report number. That's the last line above. You'll get a drop-down menu to click on the COVID link and go from there.  Please do this. Takes a moment and you might help save lives. Every comment adds to the pressure to make it available universally again.

They do respond to numbers. The ballroom is held up because of the huge pushback of comments. Many of them, like mine, demanded he be forced to rebuild the East Wing! Not just me, then.

I also wrote a firm email to the nyt demanding fact checking, and retraction of the recent transphobic essay by Jesse Singal, full of inaccurate claims about trans healthcare.

Now drinking my tea, after nature study, cooking, designing, bit of gardening with Gary.

He wanted help in mourning the snow damage to his shrubs and I suggested ways to cut and prune a bit.  He hates to prune, and I refrained from pointing out that he'd have done better in snow if he had pruned. 

Anyway, he assured me that when he moves, maybe May, he will be my permanent neighbor, to call on! Such a good guy. He'll be twenty minutes away and since a relative will be his tenant next door, he'll be over here often.  So the friendship will continue to be a source of entertainment! NADM rules.

Happy day everyone, mine was pretty full.

Time change, Sock 'n glove Ministry, J,Draper, IWD

I got a late start this morning, between catching up on lost sleep and the time change, and hurried off a text in response to Handsome Son's regular check in text, to which he responded "As I thought, np". 

The weather was like this 

Opened windows upstairs to air the rooms, so long since I could.  The local kids are mad with joy, rushing about shouting and chasing, no coats on. I feel like doing that myself. I did get out for a walk though I refrained from shouting and chasing, and did wear a jacket. 

Then I had to consider lunch, all the times  being mixed up, and ended with this 

Brown rice cooked with scallions and butter, broiled spicy sausage and banana with lemon juice. Sprig of fresh peppermint for garnish. 

While I listened to audiobooks and JDraper on YouTube, I got on with the socks which are almost done. A couple of my knitting buds are interested in trying this idea, too.

I've done this in different stitch counts, to change the spaces between the spiral as it develops. It takes a bit of computation.

About J Draper, who's a historian and brilliantly funny presenter, currently honoring women, take a look. Cycling and women's history today, intrepid. 

Turns out you need to be tall to get a penny farthing going, and to get on and off. Costume history and the vote get into this account.  She's always so well researched, a free-lance historian. Definitely worth following.

Meanwhile here's what pretty much fits my celebration of women today.

Happy day everyone, especially those of the female persuasion. And those who support them, she adds hastily.

The rest of the story

Today I woke feeling so much better, and finally looked at the date. Yesterday's was my mother's birthday. I had not noticed the date but clearly my mind did. 

It explains the tiredness, the waking nightmare I got up with, about having a paralytic stroke and being completely helpless. That's what happened to her.  Clearly my mind was working on it while I was struggling and unaware.

Today is a better day, and oddly, it's the birthday of the brother I mourned in January, but it's okay.

I went out to see how the downed tree was doing, and found the landscapers had done as I hoped, cut and chipped the small branches, cut up the main trunk and pulled the sections among the trees to decay. Good stewardship, though it was probably more about convenience.

Here's a beautiful lichen that had been high above, out of sight, before the tree fell.

So I made it to the pond, thanking my foresight for the boots, since it's all mud all the time over there.

It's the last place where you can see ice at the moment. It's pretty shallow and I'm guessing it froze solid. Now it's starting to thaw around the edges. 

On the way home I saw what's probably an abandoned houseplant, looking elegant and the rabbit approves.

Yesterday I prepped all those Misfits strawberries -- all totally ripe, not one had to be discarded --and threw out the tops thinking squirrels might like a bit of fresh fruit.

He and his friend were stuffing them in this morning,  and carrying them away.  They both looked pretty sleek, great food around this neighborhood.

Happy day everyone, good to know what was up yesterday, though the state of the world still leaves a lot to be desired.  But I feel more capable of doing my bit today.

  

Tired Friday, comfort cooking

Rainy, chilly, day and I was tired. The kind of tired where you take a shower, sit and rest before drying off, rest again before dressing, go downstairs for a midmorning snack, rest again, read to the end of The Correspondent, rest, listen to a podcast while knitting, rest again. 

Anyway I had planned on making Baking on a Budget baguettes, and did so. This is my first try and it came out well. 

He's a Brit, so metric, and I had to convert all the measurements first, hence the notes, legible only to me.

In the absence of baguette pans I

created a divider with parchment paper 

And they came out lovely and crusty outside, tender inside. One's in the freezer now. Pouring boiling water into a pan one shelf lower right before baking helps make that crust.

 

 And a couple of slices went with a simple stew of cannellini beans and diced tomatoes, with tomato paste, oregano and Italian seasoning 

Definitely doing this again. It's a no-knead recipe. You have to be around because you have to prove (raise)  it twice, but the actual work on it is minimal. So it fits in with doing other tasks at home.

Next time I'll use a bit more salt, and since it needs bread flour and I only had ap, I'll add in a bit of vital wheat gluten. Maybe a pinch more of yeast, too. But it was pretty good. Bread flour has a higher protein level, more gluten and a better rise. But I can replicate that.

My energy's not high today, probably the barometric pressure. I made a strengthening smoothie with peanut butter, strawberries, milk and cane sugar. 

Happy day everyone 

 

Misfits, Haptic and Hue

I listen to several podcasts regularly, some because they're accurate news reporting, in the absence of balanced mass media coverage, some for other reasons. 

One textile-related one is the great Haptic and Hue, created by Jo Andrews, a weaver and textile historian, a monthly event you can follow anywhere you find your podcasts. I use Spotify again, now that they've stopped running ICE job ads.

Today's episode is a moving account of textile scraps used to identify foundling babies in the eighteenth century. 

The illustration is the general purpose one, not specific to this month's episode. 

And it's Misfits day, rainy, not fun for the driver, Jeff.

Here he is, a bit wet, unloading cheerfully. I notice the van is scraped and dented all along this side, maybe a casualty of icy weather. 

There was a great price on strawberries so I stocked up, one for the fridge for smoothies and sauce, note the sugar there, that's why, two for the freezer, maybe frozen dessert, who knows.

Cans to share with the food pantry, I have a heavy bag to take in, must get onto it, Bananaz for breakfasts and smoothies. 

Flour, finally, so I can bake bread, no whole wheat available but I have some to mix in, and I'm planning on baguettes, from Baking on a Budget. 

Yogurt, my staple, with fruit, blueberries or strawberries, no other veggies because I have various greens in the freezer.

I'm well stocked now. I'm planning on red lentil tofu, already have supplies, including the soy sauce and ketchup I got recently. 

And I have rice, which I keep forgetting to use. With tofu cubes and green vegetables, and a sauce, that's an easy meal or two. Next week there will be shrimp and tuna. I seem to have lost my taste for chicken just now but there's plenty of protein in my plans.

This afternoon is about listening to rain and reading 

Which I've been awaiting for ages, an epistolary novel by an old woman corresponding with various people. 

That's about all I know of it, except that I like the epistolary, letter,  form a lot, love reading between the lines. 

My favorite part of Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon is the opening chapter of letters, full of different perceptions of Harriet and Peter's wedding.

I have high hopes for this first novel which made a hit.

Speaking of hits, Ursula (means little bear) one of the upstairs bears, with Pink Rabbit, found out about Pony. Nothing would satisfy her but to have a ride. 

Pony's a nice character and was quite happy to meet someone smaller, because she's feeling a bit towered over by the downstairs bears.

So the result was a ride. And maybe a permanent home with Ted, Big Ursy and Pony, sporting pussy hats 

On a serious note, here's an explainer about why many women prefer the bear. In real life.

Happy day everyone, speak up! 

Still there, still fighting