Jigsaw anyone? New socks in action

 The socks are done and in action.

After I'd knitted to my preferred length, I even had leftover yarn, to my great surprise.

Knitting them side by side is definitely the way to go. Once one was cast off, the other was ready to cast off, and it was so much less laborious than one sock at a time. I think that's my m.o. from now on. 

And what treat to just keep knitting the same yarn instead of having to figure out stripes and other ways to eke out the supply. I did make some nice designs, but it's easier if you don't have to.

They're so comfortable, a bit warm for this weather but they'll be great when it's colder. 

Now the denim vest and the socks are done I feel free to think what next. 

Maybe the string mat thing. 

Meanwhile to my surprise I got out one of the jigsaw puzzles I acquired last winter for winter entertainment and never started.

And even found I quite liked doing my San Francisco street scene. Amazing, for someone who isn't a puzzler, crossword, Sudoku, Wordle, scrambles, all leaving me pretty much uninterested. So this is new. 

As a kid i liked to cut up pictures to make into puzzles, just straight cuts. And I created some pretty simple crosswords, and made up riddles to drive my sisters mad. But doing puzzles already thought up,  not so much. Maybe I'll actually do this puzzle thing this winter. 

The library puts out a puzzle now and then for anyone to sit and work on for a while. They set it up near the reference desk, because of experience with obstreperous kids and oblivious parents. 

I think their puzzles might be a bit beyond me, those solid color million pieces type. But we'll see if they resume,  now the pandemic is more or less manageable.

And food continues to happen, Roma plum tomatoes with seasalt, black pepper, blue cheese crumbles, parsley and flaked baked cod. 

Writing a blog like this one, with many ideas and observations and projects, it's always fun to see what people comment on. Often a random throwaway thought is what interests readers more than the ideas I thought were the point. Always good to see what people really like to talk about. 

So here goes again, from my desert island of a life, so many days with no company, no conversation, just my own resources. It's good to have a blog to anchor myself in the human race. 

Happy day everyone, puzzle on!

Photo AC 

Fish and chips, what a Brit! 6WS

Yesterday Handsome Son came to dinner, and had what you could call fish and chips, again, but it always goes well. Especially since it was at short notice.

This time it was a nice piece of flounder, with a  marinade of plain yogurt blended with Dijon mustard and Colman's dry.  Then added in some extra flavoring I had in the freezer, fish sauce from an earlier meal, and it worked a treat.  Then after this pic, pretty much smothered the fish in the sauce.  Or enrobed it, if you like fancy cookspeak.

With roast potatoes mixed with all the usual spices, but with the addition of a little dish of spiced radish salad, courtesy of Indian friend, all mixed in and roasted together. And peas, and nice glass of red.  I interrupted Handsome Son's meal to take the pic before I forgot. He's very patient.

 I recommend this idea, of mixing some very spicy addition to potatoes, comes out more interesting.  And since both the potatoes and the fish go in at 400F, the fish for half the time of the spuds, it works well with the oven, too.

Served after carrot and cabbage and chicken soup, and before banana bread with a pot of tea.  Followed by an Agatha Christie dvd.

Before he left he noticed the latest slippers in progress, I seem to urgently need slippers to match my blue robe as well as the pink ones, and promptly dashed up the the stash, picked out an exciting grey yarn, and ordered a pair for himself. 

So I traced around his foot on a piece of paper, and he wondered if I needed to trace the other foot, as well, for left and right. It reminded me of the question about when you turn the elbow if you're knitting a sleeve. Well meaning, good thinking, but a non- knitter at work. 

Oh, and Bev, from whose website I got the free pattern, came in to Rav to explain to me that there really was an Aunt Maggie, and she really did design these slippers.  Bev transcribed from her handwritten pattern, and published, to share and to honor her.  So I'm glad to know all that. She's long gone, but we still honor her when we knit her slippers.

Simple food and meditation

Such a relief to eat simple food after the Tgiving extravaganza.  Here's today's Alaskan fillets, with egg and panko breading, plenty of spices in the panko, especially turmeric, together with broccoli from the farm.  Also it's fast food, took about 15 minutes fridge to plate!

And here's day two of the Great Natal Caper:  a little thing to do for yourself, particularly if you have never managed to get okay with meditation.  It's very good indeed for your health, calmness, bp, all that, but the monkey mind tends to interfere with it.

So here's a new one I sort of hacked from a series of other attempts, and it works nicely for me.  I found that it reduced the pain in my arm significantly, probably because the related muscles and tendons calmed down, and only the actual hurt part hurts, much better to deal with.

Anyway, it's ten minutes twice a day if you can remember.  Usual getting very comfortable, lying, sitting, whatever works.  And start to count your breaths, one count for in and out, while you visualize scenes or items that please you, and are not related to your work or your worries.  

I find that the counting gives a structure that keeps my mind on the job and not galloping about on hobbyhorses, and if I lose track of the number, I just estimate where to start again, and resume the counting and visualizing.  If you make art you will have a bonus: great new ideas will swim up, but don't act on them right away, get through the session first.

I find that by about breath 80, I've reached the 10 minute mark, nice chiming bell timer on my Ipod tells me.  You may have fewer breaths to the minute, if your lungs are not permanently degraded by scars as mine are, misspent sick youth (!). 

But anyway, it's not hard to fit in, and it really helps with mood and ability to cope.  So here's a present from me to you-- just give it a shot and see if it's working for you, too.  I'd feel honored if you were to do that.