Soup's up and the bathroom's done

It's soup weather and I made a pot of soup with all the vegetables, plus vegetable broth, flavored with Better than Bouillon, smoked paprika, turmeric, cumin, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It's very good. 

Chickpea, mushrooms, spinach, kale, carrots, potatoes, chives, onion and garlic. I think that's all the veg spectrum in a bowl.

And Contractor Mike finished up the bathroom, which, newly painted, partly tiled, bathtub in use now, is so much better.

That insert in the wall is one Mike installed years ago at my request. It pops out and gives access to the plumbing behind the shower in the other en suite bathroom.  I also had him create a couple of other access panels like this, to save sledging walls in a plumbing emergency.

The bathtub is officially open 

Here's the insert, ready for use. See how low the step is, very useful.

And here you see how he hung the shower curtain to hang low enough to catch splashes.

He did a lot of detail work, new door hinges and switch plates, new caulking round tub, toilet, door, vanity. He kept finding just one more thing to improve before he finally declared it done. He's a meticulous craftsman.

And to our payment meeting, he brought homebaked pumpkin bread and a hot baked sweet potato. He's the family cook and we snapped tips and hints while doing business.

Someone commented yesterday on how lucky I was to afford the changes in the house. Hm. The more frugal I am, the luckier I get.  

I've been saving for years for this. Then all the savings were wiped out when I had to replace the heat pump at the condo. 

I started saving again. Then I applied the proceeds from selling the car to this end, and all's well. More planning and saving than luck, I'd say.  But it's all good. If it looks effortless, that's fine.

Yesterday I found this little guy waiting to either get indoors or be stepped on. 

I moved him to safety and hibernation. 

And here's a glimpse of the kind of passing scene I love, created by early morning sun.

My fall and winter project arrived, from Gina B Silkworks, UK. I had pictures but removed them when I read the small print. She's had design theft, so I respect her patent. She has a YouTube channel if you want to see.

Tiny acrylic looms for creating woven leaf shapes.  I had thought of making them from cardboard, then decided it was better just to get the real thing and buy from an artisan. 

So watch this space. The little woven pouch I started will be finished soon. And these new tiny products are portable for the knitting group when I get there.

Happy day everyone. This about sums up where I am just now

 

Textiles and Tea, Misfits, Knitting group, third party Freecycle

I made it to the knitting group this week, bringing my new portable weaving.

M brought her wheel and was spinning some bluefaced Leicester and silk roving. I made a video for the YouTube channel which caught her explaining the process. 

Here's my new little weaving, a seamless pouch for my phone. The loom is the side of the box my Ashford loom clamps came in.

You see how you weave round and round to make it a seamless tube.

Such talent in this little group. Chat fell into many tributaries rather than group, for various social reasons.

Home again for Textiles and Tea with high energy 

She's an English woman, former professional oboeist, now wildly creative weaver and teacher, currently based in southwest France, in this great studio/teaching space 

 Here's her latest book, full of fearless ideas and philosophy 

Behind her are stalactite forms woven in a variety of threads including paper

She pursues seemingly impossible results and gets them. When she teaches, she limits the group to two or three so as to give maximum attention to each person's journey. 

I asked her if high jinks pretty much summarized her life and adventures and she cheerfully agreed that was a fair assessment.  I've rarely seen a happier more joyful worker, who tackles steep learning curves with total energy. 

Meanwhile back on earth, Wednesday saw me in the cardiologist office 

Shortly before being seen by a procession of nurses, nps, and the cardio, all of whom told me I was doing well and needed an annual ultrasound, or something, come back in two weeks. 

I notice my doctors now all have a walker at the scale, good thinking. Stepping onto that wobbly platform is a fall waiting to happen.

Then Misfits arrived so early today I never saw the driver, being upstairs getting dressed.

A couple of items were out of stock, dandelion greens and salty chocolate mix. Too bad about the greens.. 

I ordered a couple of starkrimson pears, of one of which I gave a sample slice to contractor Mike, who made a note. He and his wife are once again eating healthier, so he was glad to learn about a pear he'd never had.

The carrots are partly cooked for future quiche purposes, with the rest of the kale and maybe mushrooms from the freezer.

This is why I stocked up on the various cheeses. They're not in stock often, so I seized the day. Lunch may be a tuna melt, haven't had that in a while.

The strawberries will accompany the favorite yogurt, now back in stock. And maybe a smoothie or two involving bananas. Black beans to go with other pulse foods in the house. 

The bathroom is almost complete, soon to be usable again. I'll be glad to get my house back. I haven't seen so many people in years, more than I need really. 

The knitting group, all the doctor personnel, Handsome Son, who's always welcome, contractor Mike, neighbor who brought over a fall chrysanthemum, on and on.  My social cup is overflowing and I need recovery time. 

I put up a "spotted locally" Freecycle notice about this bicycle 

I know little about bikes, but I see the chain is rusty and needs attention. Maybe someone will want to rehab it.

Happy day everyone, well done, Alberta,  and everyone keep pushing for the good people. Most countries are in a right wing wave just now, and resistance is required, sez Ted and Big Ursy and Pony and Ursula 

Forsytes, Freecycle and Floor cloths

I'm currently watching this 

It's a good production, wonderful interiors, costumes, carriages, all that, and great casting. It takes some liberties with the original plot but it works anyway.  

Francesca Annis looks a bit youthful for the matriarch,oddly, since she's actually about the right age in real life, but her facial acting expression is wonderful, great communication.

The Forsytes Saga is the gift that keeps on giving. I've seen at least three productions on TV, all good.

Meanwhile back at the maker space, I checked the weaving of the proposed floor mat and realized it could be slippery. So I rethought and made the pieces into kitchen cloths instead. 

It's good cotton, so it will work. And now I've got all I needed from this yarn, so today I'm passing the rest on to a keen knitter anxious to get hold of it.

There were any number of potential takers on Freecycle, and it's going into grateful hands.

I'm looking for takers for any or all of these items 

And there's another folding bookcase as soon as I can get it downstairs to take a picture. It's like the other one I Freecycled recently, in fact it can be stacked on it

And this will probably get a taker

I use a steel, so I don't need it. Someone will be happy, I expect.

The less stuff I have around, the better I can breathe. The house looks bigger, too.  Ed addition: both knife grinder and bookcase had takers within minutes.

I was up very early Sunday so I improved the shining early hour by baking banana bread, with a bit of coffee essence added in. 

Second Sunday breakfast. That's Chobani yogurt, plain, on top. 

And here's a local warning from the county prosecutor's office (?)

The thing is they're warning about phishing, links, all that. And they give a link to find out more. I'm not clickin' no link!

Happy day everyone, so much good stuff around, hopeful about the elections, including the Alberta referendum.