Thursday's food has far to go

Thursdays after the Misfits delivery often devolve into a frenzy of food prep, to avoid waste. Many processes going at once.

Yesterday's case in point. I macerated and cooked apples and plums 

Then started apple cider vinegar using the cores from the apples 

This is a new experiment, suggested by blogger Leigh of 5 Acres and a Dream, check her out for a lot of interesting country narrative.

At the same time I was making strawberry jam, which came out one of the best batches in a while 

while I washed and froze blueberries.  Today I slice and freeze mushrooms and nectarines and make three bean salad, using the green beans I steamed while the fruit was macerating. 

Thursdays are perpetual motion. The upside is pretty much zero food waste and plenty of good meals. The downside is that I'm worn out at the end. Yesterday I slept a lot of the afternoon away. 

Today's breakfast was toast and strawberry jam. Dessert after lunch will be banana strawberry jam smoothie. Lunch  three bean salad and quiche. Mid morning snack a helping of apple and plum mix.  Not in this order.

Food tends to be at the forefront late in the week. 

And there's always flowers at this time of year. This is peak flowering time.

Zinnias, cosmos, cornflowers and baby's breath. Cut from the container garden. Plenty of buds maturing out there still.

Happy day everyone, there's usually something nice to see or taste or sniff.

Sez Billy the Pup

Bouquets and Misfits

The flowers are doing very well this year, and picking has promoted more buds. So here are two bouquets, one in the living room, one in the kitchen.

Misfits day, and the returns are out ready. Notice the bags of garden debris are gone, clever me, tossed out back to feed the ground under the trees.

Green beans for three bean salad soon, hydration additive for water, just trying this because water isn't always enough in this heat.

Honey wheat bread until I bake again, for toast with those beautiful brown eggs. Baby bella mushrooms to slice and freeze for future omelettes with those eggs.  Bananaz for smoothies with the berries, straw and blue, which will be jam or sauce.  Not eating raw berries for now.

Little sugar plums to macerate and cook with the apples, nectarines to slice and freeze for future crumbles. Shrimp because Mary's not the only person who can have shrimp, so there. I might toss them in the three bean salad. 

All good. I'm taking advantage of the fruit season while the going's good. It's wonderful to have such food literally put on the step. Another friend has signed up for Misfits, said they had her at heirloom tomatoes!

Early mornings are good just now. I'm out in my bathrobe before six, while the water's heating for coffee, to visit the plants and pick little bouquets. 

There's more shade now as the Japanese maple has extended her canopy and the butterfly bush overtops the fence. 

This is good for the people and the house, but raises an issue for next year's flower seeds, which may need more sun than they'll get. That's next year's issue.

 Speaking of issues, I had a little jolt when I got an alert from the bank about a deposit from my Brit (tiny) pension. This is deposited in my bank every thirteen weeks. Don't ask me why HM Gov works on lunar quarters, but anyway I looked again. Forty cents.  Yes, that's what it still said. 

Now this pension is small, based on a few years of work before emigration, but it's not usually that small. After panicking then trying to figure out who to ask, the bank certain to be no help, I went online and after plunging about all over the various websites the Brit gov directed me to, I'm a niche recipient, finally found my little slot.

Which told me to expect a credit of about $1 about now,to put right an underpayment. This is definitely granular accounting. Evidently it's what's left after the bank calculates the exchange and the handling fee.

However I usually have a time trying to figure out the thirteen weeks, usually miscounting, and thought it was time to be paid. But I rationalized that I must still be in the system since they're sending me my 40c.  And I think I should be paid next week. Everything crossed.

I should explain that unless they're sure you're still eligible, meaning alive, they'll stop payments. This happens when their mail fails to arrive so you don't know they're asking. It happened to me after 9/11  because of the anthrax attack.  

Our post office was the target, as if there wasn't enough to worry about, already being within the footprint of the 9/11 attacks.  Local people involved with all of it, local lives lost.

All the post office workers had to be tested and observed and injected with Cipro, after battles with the Feds, Bush the Second unwilling to release lifesaving vaccine to a blue state, sound familiar? 

And the mail had to be irradiated. This was a hit or miss operation and many people including me, received a bag of charred scraps, with an apology. 

Among the cinders, aside from now overdue bills of all kinds though a lot of agencies waived overdue fees and penalties because of our situation, was evidently the Brit pension are you alive form. 

When I finally found I'd been dropped I got in touch explaining and they were very helpful, also seemingly quite excited to be corresponding with an actual survivor, and they resinstated me after a few paperwork issues, many weeks late.

This is why I won't change my bank, after all the obstacles to getting this foreign, oh dear, foreign currency, oh dearer and exchange rate and handling fees oh dearest, set up in the first place years ago.  I don't think I have the fortitude to move banks and go through it again.

All good now though. Delicious food helps.

Happy day everyone, we got this, sez Ted and Big Ursy and Pony and Ursula 

Gary Telephonicus and weeding

In case you were worried that I might miss Gary, be assured. He called early this morning about some urgent information he'd lost. Also about something he'd done for me, which in fact I'd taken care of after it stopped functioning, no problem.

So I tracked down the info and got back to him to his great relief. And he plans a run over to next door to check into things..

Meanwhile, this morning while the front yard was in shade, I cleared the daylily foliage, and a lot of dayflower spent foliage. This revealed the remains of the flowering Russian sage the landscapers had hacked down which is evidently trying for a comeback.  The area looks much better, less end-of-summer now.

After the exertion, filling two bags with debris, I was too tired to tote them out back to dispose of. 

When I retrieve my energy, I'll do that. They'll dry a bit and get lighter too in the meantime.

Meanwhile I'm very happy with the new knotting,  mainly because I can do it without stressing out my hands. 

The summer of bandweaving and related projects has been a success. I now have skills I didn't have before and projects I didn't have before, and friends now own items they like. It's all good.

Happy day everyone! 

Departures of a palm and other good things

Yesterday Gary and friend came to collect the tall palm, and the next door tenant seized the chance to make him take another big plant he wanted to leave there. Timing.

The palm is reclining in there, on two seats.

 Shortly to be joined by a large pony palm 

Here's the open space left

And the rearranged plants looking much more compact. I like this.

Meanwhile the wheeled platform I'd made for the tall palm is now reassigned to my  box of weights. They're under the coffee table so that I remember to use them. Now they're movable, too.

This was great. Turns out the other pony palm belongs to me. I thought I only had custody.  So we're all done with the plants.

Then Tuesday Knitting group, and a lively group with new and returning members.

I started a new knotting project with more threads. This could be any width, really. Another participant watches me a while and plans to try this herself.

 

Marvelous sock knitting, expert level, and she's always happy to show beginners how to get going.

Here's the beginning embroiderer, no longer a beginner, doing very well.

This expert knitter is wearing her own work 

So's this one 

Knitting, knotting, crochet, embroidery, all in action.

Talk ranged over cat behavior, afternoon concerts, English pronunciation, poutine, Montreal, social media, Ravelry, early cellphone use, group chat, diamond rings and more.

Then home to a pot of tea, and Textiles and Tea with a fifth generation weaver, closely associated with the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

Here she is with her granddaughter, another weaver

Here, underneath, an overshot piece woven by her granddaughter, on top an overshot piece woven by her grandmother. 

Here's part of a retrospective exhibit for her 85th birthday 

She makes garments too

 Early pictures of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts 

She survived the 2016 Gatlinburg Tennessee,wildfires which ravaged large areas and many homes

Her home and car were incinerated, the car melted and running down what had been the driveway. She lost a lifetime of looms, yarn, everything.

In response to my question about recovering from the fire her granddaughter showed pictures of weavings from after the fire, with pieces of the melted car incorporated. 

Frances gave the weavings for permanent holding to a local exhibit venue, just didn't want them around her after she worked through the losses of all kinds 

Look her up, she's a treasure, an artist and weaver, a survivor and a historian, from a long line of similar women.

Happy day everyone. I certainly had one.