Leon, socks and scarves

Valentine's day cookies delivered yesterday, and I had a catchup chat with A. next door. She was happy to see me, because her husband is in India for most of the month, so she is alone with the kids. She said she does feel safe, though, in this neighborhood, with people close by, so I was glad to hear that. It's a quiet area. 

And finally the socks are done, this pair seemingly a long running feature.

I finished it to this backdrop, reliably good Donna Leon.

And continued with the lacy scarf. I'm getting to know this stitch pattern well enough to know when it gets off track and fix it, always a good sign.

Happy day everyone, misfits box later this morning, so a planned veggie stew will happen.

And I just have to show you this painting which just flooded my mind with meaning and calm

Misfits box, azalea gone wild, weaving stage two, and burgers

 Today's Dove sighting

Still patiently sitting, the calm before the feeding frenzy.

The weaving is moving along, and today I unrolled the panel and realized it's plenty long enough for a skirt length, including waist and hem allowance. 

See the skirt I handmade a while back, laid on top, for length

I woke up this morning thinking about weaving pockets for the skirt, rather than knitting them. 

So today I figured that when you want another item off the same warp threads, you just leave a space and continue. Which is what I did.  

I left enough warp to have a fringed hem and maybe pocket. I've no idea if the weaving police will get me for this, but this is where I am. Pocket under way.

Once the pocket's done, the two current pieces will be freed from the windowsill and finished.

Then I'll do the same thing again. Once the current Sock Ministry pair is complete, I'll send it off then get to work on the knitted parts of the skirt. 

I'm spinning a while each evening to keep up yarn supplies. The colors will work nicely with the woven sections, I think, all rich but not shouty.

And, not having enough to do, I found an interesting idea for burgers using ingredients I have, so that's what happened

Onions, garlic, mushrooms, walnuts, chopped fine with a knife, since I don't have a food processor, unlike the YouTube lady. 

I started the pan with avocado oil, salt and chicken stock powder, then added in the doings. Fried ten minutes, then into a bowl to cool, with panko, an egg, ketchup because I don't have Worcestershire sauce, unlike the YouTube lady. 

It's chillin now in the fridge till I get some out to cook for supper, using a pita bread because I don't have sesame seed buns, unlike the YouTube lady.

The Misfits box arrived, and was hoisted into the house

The contents arrayed on the counter for forthcoming attractions. The apple juice and fancy raisins will go into a planned chutney, to go with a planned fish curry, using some of the tilapia in the freezer. Take that, YouTube lady!

After all this, the day having started with early morning fasting blood work,  I was ready to get into the sunshine and walk about admiring the quarreling birds duking it out for nesting rights, and this azalea

Which is not a giant cake, though you may wonder.

And now my time's divided between reading this

And this

One an eBook the other a bookbook.

So I think I'll get a cup of tea and wander out to the patio to do that.

Happy day everyone, enjoy all the things!

 

Planning ahead, honey, socks, and Celestine

The season's finally cooling down, and I realized this patch of ground cover killed by the fence project, is staying open.

To the right is where my six, this year only three, snowdrops blaze away each January. So this year my annual $30 gardening budget is going on this dream 

Well, not a river of snowdrops, I can only run to two dozen, but I can still dream. And maybe these will, unlike the others, multiply.

Another sign of fall was this little guy

who was apparently sitting inside the storm door, and when I opened it, fell on my head, giving us both a start. I ushered him out, go on, Jiminy, and was glad he hadn't made it indoors to drive me nuts chirping all night.

The bees are amazing. After inviting the cricket to leave, I noticed the very faintest tinge of pink on the Autumn Joy sedum, and instantly bees appeared

There must have been a memo.

Yesterday was a gardening rather than a walking day, tying up the Russian sage which had been blown all over, and pulling out the last of the iris and daylily foliage, cutting back the spent black eyed susans and marigolds. I also took out the spent foliage on the patio, and saved that for future cordage

And I expect this beautiful skeleton is the result of some deadly critter eating my Japanese maple, but it's still lovely

Meanwhile indoors to read, I finished the Donna Leon, Give Unto Others, and it was the best yet, full of ambiguity and coded dialogue. 

She found ways to acknowledge the pandemic and its impact on daily life without making it a central issue. And Brunetti, main character, being a thoughtful man, she always introduces moral issues often based on his favorite Greek tragedies. 

He loves the Oresteia, which reminds me to continue into the second part of it, and discusses Electra's power with his teenage daughter. Not incidentally, one of the more powerful characters in all the Brunetti books is an admin named Elettra.

This book also gets into the concept of the  prime mover, the force which causes action without itself being changed. This plunges you from Aristotle straight into Aquinas. And you consider who in this novel wants to be that prime mover. This is why Leon is such a satisfying read.

And it required a batch of wholewheat scone things and Manuka honey. This is a treat from Misfits, expensive and worth it. A tiny little jar is how it's packed, seen against the usual honey size I get 

And a dab packs such a flavor that you need a lot less to get the impact. This is the official real NZ thing, the retail grade.  Thank you NZ blogistas 

Not the high octane Manuka you can heal wounds with as in the Crusades, where battlefield wounds were sometimes treated by pouring on honey then wrapping and hoping for the best. I think it's also why honey and oil are mentioned in the New Testament parable of the good Samaritan.

Anyway back to teatime chez Boud, here is a scone thing split, Vermont butter, spread of Manuka honey

Glass of lemon iced tea because it's still hot in the afternoons.

The personal socks are progressing turn by turn, and soon we'll see how far the blue goes. I think I'll have to add to it to make the length of leg I like. 

I've been making Ministry socks either nine inch foot, seven inch leg, or ten inch foot, eight inch leg. Not knowing the calf size of recipients, it's better to make them that size rather than trying for over the calf size. Tube socks bypass the issue of foot and calf size, so they're more flexible.

Anyway my socks are planned for nine inch foot, seven inch leg, so we'll see how far the blue gets me. 

Today's art is a selection from the Fall collection of  lovely Karin Celestine, aka Celestine and the Hare. She's Swedish living in the UK.

She's a wonderful artist in fiber, metals and imagination. She also works with other miniaturists to make accessories for her animals. She's been in nationally juried and invited events in the UK and you can see why. On Twitter she's @andtheHare 

Her Lightbringer books helped a lot of schoolchildren in the UK get through lockdown. 

And she's very happy to be introduced to you here, I checked.

 https://www.celestineandthehare com 

will get you more info.  No, this isn't a business arrangement for me, just signal boosting good art.

Happy day everyone, may all your crickets stay outside, enjoy your day

Salt, Jorts and Donna

Yesterday I added a salt to my  collection, thank you Sandra. Basil salt. 

Reading clockwise from the clear container: kosher, coarse seasalt, basil salt, mix of dried basil and seasalt,  here wrongly labeled, but now corrected, can't get good help these days, regular iodized salt, Himalayan pink. My little container of spicy ground kosher still in the cabinet, camera shy.

I use them all for different purposes including cleaning. Kosher salt and olive oil make a great scrub for cast iron, preserving the patina and the nonstickitude. Table salt and lemon juice clean copper on the rare occasions when I clean my only copper, a tiny little pan.

Yesterday was a perfect sitting outside watching clouds day. Mare's tails or contrails, still lovely.

While reading ny latest Donna Leon

Taking place in the pandemic.

And for people interested in the phenom that is Jorts

Right side of history, I'd say. 

Speaking of phenoms, goodbye and thank you to Serena, best of all time tennis player and fighter of racism. Never forgot her parents.

Also a more permanent farewell to Barbara Ehrenreich, whose Nickel and Dimed among other writing, spoke for the working poor, RIP.

Happy day everyone, rest on, fight on, never forget where you came from.

Photo AC 

Textiles and Tea, Donna Leon, tomato harvest

Yesterday's Textiles and Tea was a celebration of Nigerian cotton textiles and indigo. It's used for dyeing and medicine in Nigeria where it grows in abundance.

Here's several different dyeing techniques. Adire, a tapioca method, dyes one side only .

There are traditional motifs, such as the gecko, significant to daily experience, and the spiral and other shapes.

Here he's using a sponge to apply motifs to the design

The guest now lives in the US but travels a lot teaching dyeing techniques and a respect for indigo, the magic dye. He loves the community of textile dyers and workers and the mutual respect of dyer and material.

He's a joyful man and a happy artist!

From simple magic to high tech magic

And in the garden this morning, see that lone ripe tomato? 

Yesterday it was a ripening cluster. I see I have to keep ahead of the squirrels here.

Meanwhile I'm reading a Donna Leon

She does great titles. This is not the latest, for which I'm in line.

Happy day everyone, a couple of good election results in, Dems won a special House election in NY,  straw in the wind maybe for the midterms.