Boxing Day

One of my aunts, born in the 1890s, used to refer to all Christmas presents as Christmas boxes. They didn't have to be in a box. In fact a bonus in the pay would be a Christmas box. And Boxing Day was when an employer would hand them over. 

So here's Maggie Rudy's take on the Christmas box sweater,  knitted by grandma, with plenty of room for growth, tried on with dismay by the little mouse, while mom cautions him to say nowt, because she understands.

And today being a wonderful mild sunny day, walking happened. So did Christmas boxes from nature.

Here's one, a silver dime on a gold beech leaf

And here are favorite scenes, shadows falling on beech trees, that grey silk trunk like a drawing surface

This beauty appreciation is all very well, but first the inner woman was attended to.

The Christmas Eve cod steak was as good as I'd hoped - very. Lovely flakes, just baked enough. Cayenne pepper. Bed of spinach, carrots and scallions. Buttered boiled Yukon gold potatoes.  

Years since I had decent cod. Locally, in the northeast US,  the fish preferences of the population are more exotic than the north Atlantic fish I grew up on, in northeastern Yorkshire, cod, herring, haddock, skate. They're pretty rare.  

But Misfits market has added in cold pack ordering which makes fish and meat possible in the Misfits box in addition to produce. This is my first trial of the fish option, expensive and worth it. 

Then today came the planned cod cakes. Flaked cod, left from Christmas Eve, mixed with several veggies, Old Bay seasoning, egg beaten in, Panko breading, baked.

Fancy bit of Thai basil, growing in a pot in the kitchen, glass of ginger ale 

Dessert was German tiny cookies and a drop of eggnog.

Speaking of potatoes, which we were back there, 

here are Yukon gold potatoes, planted as peelings, growing like maniacs in a pot in the living room. Bringing the outdoors indoors. I did get a couple of accidental potatoes in a pot upstairs, so we'll see if these deliberate ones work out.

Not long before I can go on a witch hazel blossom hunt. Even before snowdrops.

It's all go!

Goodnight Christmas!

Lovely day, outside rain and gloom, inside greetings galore, dms, texts, tweets, emails, so much.

I posted a Christmas selfie tweet.

With the Official Ceremonial Pearls, a sweater from me to me, exactly what I've been looking for for years, and the Vest of Many Colors.

New readers: many years ago my now late partner gave me these pearls as a special gift, and they've since been the official jewelry for every event, partly a little in joke, partly a serious memory of him. 

And older established readers of this blog lived through the creation of the vest, from my spindle spinning and plying the yarn, to diagonally  knitting the body and weaving the yoke and assembling it into a favorite item.

The black eye effect is the healing process from recent facial surgery and some fancy repair work. It's coming along fine. 

Handsome Son arrived at noon and set up  bread sticks and two cheeses.  Then on to ham, mixed vegetables, pumpkin puree, Yukon gold potatoes, boiled and buttered, a range of condiments, including the apricot sauce, a success, various mustards and pickles. Ginger ale.

Then German cookies, tiny chocolate snowmen, eggnog.

Later pot of tea to revive us after the feasting.

Handsome Son departed with leftovers, and a good day was had by all.

It was low-key, just peaceful chatting, catch up, very harmonious. Suits us both.

And so to bed...

Merry Christmas morning everyone!

 Handsome Son expected at noon for dinner, everything's ready or nearly.

The creche long ago lost St Joseph, and has been celebrating Mary as a single mother

She's fine,as you see.

The mantelpiece version has Joseph introducing a new smaller baby. Wonder what the backstory there is? Mary's not listening anyway.

And with those irreverent musings, I'm off to slice ham.

Merry Eve. Or TGIF. Your choice.

Christmas Eve here, solo day, lovely. Aside from laying the table for tomorrow's dinner, finding the serving spoons, little containers for condiments, it's a day of loafing.

Lunch baked cod steak, first in years, on a bed of spinach and scallions, buttered Yukon gold potatoes. Simple, good.

Then the annual viewing of

Favorite, well, only, really, Christmas movie for me.

So happy day, everyone! 

Christmas Eve Eve

Today's Christmas prep consists of taking the apricot sauce out of the freezer for Christmas dinner, and some of the cod out for Christmas Eve dinner. That's it.

I'm reading a couple of interesting books, both nonfiction, this one about how birds acquired their names. The title refers to a bird an ornithologist named for his ornithologist wife!  

The prose is very readable, even the introduction is interesting, but the font is holding me up, a bit small. 

Bird names originate all over, often the folk names which preceded the official ornithologist ones still hanging on despite all efforts to insist on the correct taxonomy. Some, such as goose, are so old we don't know the origin, other than speculating it's Indo-European, very old. 

And then the pilgrims arriving in New England, with no knowiedge at all, naming birds because they reminded them of European species. 

Hence the burly American robin, a completely different species from the tiny European robin redbreast. If you love this kind of thing you'll love this book.

And here's another lovely thoughtful one, part sewing instructions, part memoir, part illness journey, part musing on body image, arranged by season.. 

The photography, much of it her own,  is wonderful, pictures of projects and tools and fabrics, worth seeing even if you don't sew and really don't want to. She also has some intriguing thoughts about the therapeutic value of making in general, sewing in particular.

Behind Sanae Ishida, waiting in the wings,  is the  2022  Making calendar she illustrated, which is how I found her, a gift from dear C. 

You'll see more of it when the New Year gets here.  It's a series of animals and their arts, one each per month, lovely illustrations. 

I seem to have picked up Handsome Partner's Scottish New Year inhibition against studying the calendar before the New Year comes in!  

The number of Scottish traditions he followed.. he also had a wicked sense of humor, and it wouldn't surprise me if he made some of them up. 

His lifelong sorrow was that, as a redhead,  he couldn't first-foot our house -- be the first person over the threshold after midnight, bringing fuel (lump of coal) and food (bread or cake) and good cheer (Scotch), to be greeted with a kiss by the woman of the house. 

That's because only a dark haired male can do it. Our dark haired son was the official first footer, once he was old enough to stay awake.

Back to the present and the passage of time. I've been gradually moving spent flowers from the birthday bouquet, most of which is still going strong, either to press or to add to the dried flowers.

I have a little group of air plant, statice, and spent roses, the last from the bouquet, and yesterday I was just moving another rose into the arrangement when it exploded, making a lovely still life on the hearth, thereby illustrating exactly what I was doing.

Collaborative art.

And yesterday,  friend/ artist/contractor Mike, who designed and installed my mantelpiece and my library table as well as my deck and various great things around here, stopped over for a visit.

Bringing his homemade peppermint chocolate bark for Christmas. He's a great cook, baker and candy maker and we had a good catch-up before he, wife Dana and dogs, drive to Florida to spend Christmas with their Disney employee daughter.  

He gave me an animal update too. I knew their old Jack Russell died last year aged 19, leaving the middle aged Westie alone. So they now have a whirling dervish puppy of a Cavalier King Charles terrier, black and tan, who is leading them all a merry dance. His wife has been wanting a CKC for years. 

Brief health update around here: new med added in to address the blood pressure issue. So I got all my errands done, since I start on it today, and need to observe how I handle it. Hoping for no drama. No driving, just in case.

It's a good feeling to be all caught up, cleaners here last week, laundry done, food organized,  few cards mailed, just take walks and generally loaf about now. Wheeee!!

Textiles and Tea, Molly McLaughlin

Yesterday's T andT featured a weaver and dyer who until recently has been working in silk, hundreds of warp threads to the inch. Very slow work and she spends months at the design stage before warping.

She's a design then execute worker, and the slowness of her medium explains how few slides she had to show. She's also moving into working with linen thread because it's now difficult to get the fine silk she uses.

It was a very talky session, and I went to her website to see if I could find more images, pretty much the same few. They're beautiful.

She used to use synthetic dyes but moved into more earth friendly natural dyes some years ago, and has a dye garden, with indigo, woad and black eyed susans. 

Despite questions from the interviewer she did not identify these crops, but the black eyed susans are evident. 

Here's the studio she designed to suit her work, one of those presentable studios beloved of art reporters.

And here's work she's created in it

She noted that during the pandemic she's moved away from abstraction and into more representational work.  I wonder if other artists have noted shifts from one form to another. Interesting observation.

She also had interesting comments on studio space, saying it pays to get a space that supports your work, because it can influence your output.  

In the case of some art forms, a dedicated workspace is vital. You need separate quarters if you're working in materials which are hazardous to daily life.  But with benign materials it's a different issue.

I can and do make art practically anywhere because I use so many forms, pretty much all nontoxic. I never mix art and food, though. No snacking at work.

I've had dedicated studio space which ended up being handy for storage and teaching more than conducive to work. The other amusing thing about a studio is that it impresses people! 

I've been taken more seriously when I had a studio even when most of my work was created outdoors or in my kitchen and living room. 

I think it's a marker of some kind to nonartists, and I was often asked for invitations to visit. Which I declined, it not being a social space.  And I never showed work in progress anyway.  

I notice that now that I've moved my materials out of the loft in this house, given a lot away, and am making art everywhere, some people assume I've given up making art at all.  

I'm guessing they think it's like going to the office. Give up going and you're probably not working. I wonder if the changing location of work, with technology and the pandemic will shift this assumption. I guess we'll see. 

It also implies a demarcation between making art and living everyday life, like the difference between workplace and home. But I like my art integrated into everything else in my life.  Art is more a way of living than an occupation for me. 

But that's me! Not everyone's cuppa tea.

I like very much how each presenter on T and T triggers thinking, and not always about the art they're showing! 

Happy Solstice, winter and summer!

 Yes, we have blogistas in northern and southern hemispheres. Sandra Boynton never forgets

Some other thoughts about the season which is about looking forward to the return of light, and the reason Christmas was put about now. It's all a metaphor.

This is also a thank you to some of the people I follow on Twitter, who are wise and funny and gentle and scholarly. 

And they remind me that January in the northern hemisphere is not the time to be leaping around starting new projects. It's for resting. And maybe doing jigsaw puzzles. In that cosy terry robe I made a while back.

Happy Solstice, everyone!

Dyeing stage two

Here's the current dye batch, after being overnight in the dyebath as it cooled. 

The liquid running out as I lifted them was clear, meaning exhausted, fabric won't take up any more.

Then I took off the rubber bands and rinsed the fabric under running cool water, to see the first stage of design

Then put on a pot of water with turmeric to boil, while I banded again, different designs.

Now it's all simmering for an hour or so, before I turn off the heat and leave it to cool and then I'll see how much longer it might need.

Turmeric's a strong dye as you'll know if you've cooked with it and got stains everywhere. No need for mordants with any of the materials I used to dye with in this batch. They can stand up for themselves!

After this stage, I'll see if stamping might be good, or if it's complete already.

The pot and tools you see here are strictly for dyeing. Once used for art making, tools never go back to cooking.

I stitched a tray cloth from half of another of  these napkins. The other half, once hemmed,  will make two tea napkins. 

I'm so fancy! They're heavy linen so stitching is tricky, getting the needle through. 

So that's the current State of the Studio.

Dyeing, soup and postscripts.

 A couple of postscripts: 

About the hats, the very day after I posted the Silk Road hat program, I saw a little Afghani boy out walking with his father, we have an Afghani population here, have for decades, and -- he was wearing a small hat just like those tall ones! Felt, I think. Such a treat. A genuine Silk Road hat. 

Also, about the paper plate art, I let the artist know about our interest, he was thrilled, and invited anyone on Twitter to tag him with pictures, if you want. Not pix of kids, he's very careful, but of the art. He's @DarrellWakelam, in case anyone wants to do that.

And on to today and the last of the Thanksgiving turkey breast. 

It made about ten meals and there was still plenty of meat to pull off for this great turkey, carrot,  macaroni soup, using a couple of quarts of homemade vegetable stock. I simmered the turkey carcase after removing the meat, in the soup. Removed it, blended the carrots down, added the macaroni, then  the meat to heat through. Several meals of this, too. 

I had some for supper and fell asleep shortly after, no doubt the usual effect of turkey on the unwary. 

However, here's the point of today, aside from mentioning that the extra nutmeg from Misfits is going next door, she being very pleased because she meant to buy it and forgot.

Anyway, dyeing is underway. 

Black walnut, yellow onion and beet. Should make a good brown mixed color. When the containers thaw enough to tip out the contents, it will be a dyebath. This also had the effect of emptying part of the freezer which is getting a bit crammed.

Two napkins, lovely fabric, but stained, all rolled and pleated, soaked and secured for a bit of shibori dyeing.  Future tray cloths. Or tea napkins depending on the configuration of the planets. and how well they turn out.

I'm thinking of a second run, too after they've been unfolded and rinsed, overdyeing with turmeric, to pick up the pale stripes in the design.  And there might be stamping, depending. Each napkin will make two tray cloths. Or four tea napkins. I may soon have enough.

I'm just going to leave them simmering for the foreseeable future, or at least while the banana bread, with chocolate chips, golden raisins and walnuts, is baking.

If you're alarmed at the seeming close quarters of food and dyes, the dye mixture is in dedicated containers, and it's literally edible material. I wouldn't be doing this with anything that shouldn't mix. 

I suddenly realize quite a bit is going on today. Never notice till I start writing it up.

Happy Sunday!

Mending as art, and another birthday

First, vital, today is the birthday of -- New Jersey!! 

We're known as the Garden State. Should be the Sagittarian State. Sags rule. And NJ Sags rule even more.

Onward, now that that's established, to humble local artworking. 

This is the tea tray you've seen many times bearing various afternoon teas. 

I originally found it in the street in western Princeton. It had been left by the recycling truck, sheet iron not being what they collected. 

At that time it was decorated with a stuffy faux colonial painting, not my taste. So I enameled it white, touch it up now and then, and it's the best tray ever. 

Big enough to set everything out, sturdy enough not to bend when it's loaded. The main area is 20"×9+. This is much better designed than your average teatray.

And I've never bothered to make cloths for it, just folding up a handy napkin, which never fits right. So, in anticipation of a long winter when I'll be seeing a lot of it, I'm thinking about sewing a few cloths, maybe patchwork, maybe leftover fabric bits. 

I remembered this idea which I have vaguely thought about for ages, when today's issue of Tatters came, featuring this artist. 

She makes repairs into art -- you'd like her, Mary -- and loves slow process stitching of all kinds, quilting, too. It's not about just producing things so much as putting together old and new fabric and their associations as art.

Like this

I have quite a few donated linen sample squares, and silk samples, cotton, all kinds of scraps which might live well together and be a pleasure to see every day. Just when you're needing a cup of tea is a good time to see this kind of thing.

First I have to finish the underwear I got diverted from with health things, couldn't settle to stitch. But now I can. Today should do it. It's not every lady who has matching tea napkins, those yellow ones, and underwear. You just never know!

Misfits and winter looks

I noticed this,

the winter remains of the Montauk daisies, the other day, and was going to cut it down, but realized it's beautiful. So I left it.

And Misfits came today, bigger than ever because I ordered a cold pack of lovely fish, halibut, hardly ever see it, cod likewise, and salmon, not so rare but a good price and shrimp, which I rarely fit into my budget.  

This was in a new aisle, and as well as the minimum for the regular box, which I always surpass, there's the same minimum on a cold pack. 

Meat, fish, that kind of thing. Special packing. It's in its own insulated pack with freezer blocks, in the main box.

It's not a lot of fish because the price soon gets to the minimum $30. So this week's bill is large. I might skip a week at some point, to catch up with my supplies. But it's high time I had fish not from a can.

Anyway the box was too heavy to lift over the step so I carried it in in installments. Hence the crowd.

The potatoes, listed only as yellow on the website, are in fact Yukon gold, yay. And there will be salad for a couple of days. And they sent basil tomato pesto sauce, instead of the whole tomatoes I'd ordered.  No trouble using it, but not what I'd planned for. They've refunded me. So I accidentally got the pesto sauce, also a jar of ground nutmeg which I didn't order. That might go next door. 

So we're good.

Great new art discovery and a flower head will ride again

A flower head from the bouquet got bent in transit, so I'm pressing it. 

Waste nothing,  it's beautiful. I borrowed the smaller one which was looking thirsty.

And here is the pressing set-up, whatever was to hand at the time. See the paper towel sandwich under the Pressing Tower?  I think the full weight of Jerusalem should definitely  do it.

And I hugely recommend this artist, who freelances in UK schools working with even very young children, making excellent art from simple materials. 

This becomes one of these

Currently he's into paper plates and cardboard and using every scrap. His website has videos showing exactly how. 

Kindergarteners! Working with cardboard. 

I think these are by fourth graders.

You don't actually need children around to do this, but they love it and are a great excuse. Solo adults are making Christmas trees and rocking reindeer from paper plates. Or so I hear.

So try it.

But first,my beloved family of cleaners were here this morning, leaving the house lovely for the holidays. 

And a poinsettia for my Christmas decor.