Short life of fungi, also muffins

Yesterday I went to get more pictures of the chicken of the woods which had been exploding on all sides of the fallen logs, and found it has a very short life.

Wonderful October day

Where there had been big brackets, only a couple of shriveled little bits remained.

A short and vivid life. I also noticed a downed tree trunk from a couple of seasons ago showing what I think is damage from Sandy. 

That twisting happened to a lot of mature trees from the force of the storm, bringing them down all around us. Think Ian, only over my house.

The short and merry life meme can't be said of the endless jigsaw puzzle about the parrot. After about three months of occasionally managing to get a piece in, I'm here

I may have to apply for an extension of my lease on life to finish it. But I'm less convinced that there are pieces missing now that the choices are fewer and the discoveries easier. I puzzle while my tea's brewing. It may take a vat of tea to get there.

And as a change of pace, I marked out the lines for overstitching around edges of the upcycled vest.*  The lines are done in ink which disappears in heat, so if they don't disappear with handling, ironing will do it.

And since the pumpkin walnut bread was so great, completely displacing banana bread as a go-to, I thought I'd make it again, but ended up changing it.

It became pumpkin cranberry muffins, same batter, higher oven temp, shorter baking. Handsome Son is visiting tomorrow, so he'll have a selection of paneer cookies, the last one, pumpkin walnut bread and pumpkin cranberry muffins.  I don't think he comes for the food, but it doesn't hurt.

Rain today,  and I still haven't put on the heating, mild October despite recent light frosts.

Happy day everyone, enjoy your stitching and knitting and cooking and puzzling and walking, or just sitting peacefully on the sofa not bothering anyone.

*New readers: this is made from an upcycled pair of jeans, and lined with sari fabric. I'm a hand stitcher. Anyway this is a way to stabilize the lining at the same time as echoing the sashiko stitching on the back, as well as the running stitches on the original pockets.

Vote. It's important for Ukraine as well as many other causes, that we keep the House and Senate.

Maybe I'll goof off today then

 Beautiful rainy cool morning

Good day for reading, knitting, traipsing about wondering what to do.

Yesterday was a maelstrom of activity

Tomatoes collected and and ripening, need another windowsill

I finished the sock heels, here's a clean pair of heels, so to speak

And I now have a completed vest, seen here with the pink top that used to be a dress I never wore

It's a pleasure handling that soft old denim and the sari silk.  And the vest slips on so smoothly. Lining for the win.

I did finish the Fethering audiobook while I was knitting and sewing. 

In the evening, comfort food, here pink blancmange, because I needed a little something

Marie's great explanation of the difference between viceroy and monarch butterflies over on her Island Musings blog (go there for wonderful wildlife photography and knowledgeable nature observations, from Prince Edward Island) set me off on a tangent, why are you not surprised.

It's this: what hierarchy-crazed lepidopterists ran about naming butterflies for monarchs, red admirals, viceroys, and moths for emperors? What equally crazed grammarian named the comma butterfly? Were they rewarding their benefactors who financed the expeditions maybe?

And what about the naturalists who angrily named beautiful plants lousewort, scabious, henbit, hogweed? Were they mad because all the grant money went to butterfly people flittting about with nets pretending to be Nabokov?  I only ask. Because that's how my frivolous mind works when I have no one to talk to.

Happy day everyone. Try to be silly, it's good for you and entertains the neighbors.

Finger loop braiding, more soup shared

I should have known I'd get involved with yet another fiberart skill. This one's finger loop braiding, great way to create lacing and bands for various uses. You pass long loops back and forward, cat's cradle style, to create strips.

I found it on Sally Pointer, but she was doing a braid of multiple loops, bowes as they called them in medieval times, way above my pay grade. So I searched for a beginner one, five loops, and found good old Morgan Donner had made a video.

This one has a tutorial from a medieval manuscript. And you see a team of friends making a fairly advanced version.

 But before I start making loops and attaching my loops to a doorknob for tension while I learn how to braid, I thought I would get that upcycled denim vest done.

Still attaching the lining, here to an armhole

The combo of soft old denim and silk is great to stitch, making stitches vanish into the weave. It's working nicely. One more armhole, and the hem, and it will finally be done. Also I need to clear the decks for sock yarn incoming from Joanne, on its way.

Meanwhile the Misfits  butternut squash is now soup. Along with a homemade stock, carrots and red lentils, chickpeas added at the end. I now have choices of soups in the freezer, for when I just can't be bothered to cook.

Sprig of flowering thyme, half a wholewheat pita.

Butternut Boy, even as I was ladling this out, was already on the deck making short work of the seeds and rinds.

Dragging them about and leaving a mess for me to clear up.  What else are humans for, anyway?

Happy day everyone, knit on, braid on, cook on, read on, stay cool if that applies, here it does.

The storm that wasn't

After a day of increasing warnings, just in case outdoor cancellations, and Gary coming over to storm proof my patio

which included dismantling my new table, this is the entirety of what happened

For 15 minutes. Just torrential rain, no hail.

Then today it's all like this

So I guess it turned south and out to sea.

Gary was very amused by the table and is giving me two more cinder blocks to make another. The tiles I'm using as table tops are his, stored on my deck since the beginning of the fence project, two years ago, when we still believed the work would soon be under way. He's fine with this, since he's looking to dispose of them anyway.

Meanwhile my doctor called with the results of the bonescan which shows my spine's fine, hips not so much. Now osteoporotic. 

So she's having a rheumatologist call to set up a consult to see what's next.  This feels like a real setback, scary. Anyway we'll see. 

When my doctor calls me herself it's when there's something important, but she doesn't want to alarm me, and doesn't want her assistant to make the call.  But her calling alarms me!

So I got on with stitching on the pockets, here just pinned in place.

Next to decide on the length, before attaching the lining.

And since calm was called for, I found myself doing this

And, in case you didn't realize the great lift your participation in this blog means to me, you all do this already

You matter, blogistas. Never doubt it.

Happy day everyone. 

New clothes for old and Misfits box

Today, before I got up, I was thinking about what to wear, fancied the jacket I'd altered from a sweatshirt, then realized I'd cut it months ago, but not finished the fronts.

So a search for some form of edging ensued, I found this, which a knitting friend tells me is blanket edging satin, works fine for my purpose.

So breakfast was about stitching.

I found I didn't like the top corners of the fronts, so I altered them to work this way, and I like it fine now.

Wore it to my knitting group this afternoon, in fact. I'll see, after I wear it a time or two, if I want to remove the cuffs and edge the sleeves, too, with a narrow band of ribbon.

This is a different project from the denim vest and sashiko stitching, which was yesterday's adventure.

Here's the back (the front will be occupied by pockets with sparkle, no need for more) and the French curves I used to draw around. The pen marks will vanish with heat.

Then I stitched around the shapes, white several-ply thread on the faded denim. It looks subtle and as if it's always been there. I like this effect.

And I really loved working with a hoop again. It's been a while. When I put in the lining, I may run white topstitching in sashiko around the perimeter.  

Food happened, too, fish and chips! 

Cod baked in seasoned panko, roast yellow potato fries, vinegar on. As soon as the curry leaves touched the hot food, the scent was amazing. I also had an amazing burst of energy after this meal. In fact I attribute the sashiko stitching to it.

Today I had another section of cod for lunch, chunked and added to a bowl of curried cauliflower soup, turning it into kind of fish stew, and very good it was.

When I got home from knitting group, fun as always, after returning the orchid to next door and pruning the massive fiddle leaf fig, which was brushing the ceiling, while I was there, my Misfits box arrived.

Just as well, since several items, the salad, blueberries and chocolate chips, were part of the supper I'd planned. To be exact, tuna and chickpea and green salad, heavy fish motif around here, then blueberries and chocolate chips over plain yogurt.

I hope to finish that second sock this weekend, do the finishing, then mail off the current four pairs to Knitting Ministry HQ.

Many marches tomorrow to protest the danger to Roe v Wade. My state has declared we will not work with any demands from non abortion states to penalize anyone coming here from out of state for health care. No extradition, no penalty, no putting people in danger. 

It's ridiculous that a person can be a full citizen in one state and a deprived felon in another for the same actions. People who say the states should decide don't grasp the principle of human rights. Your rights shouldn't depend on your address.

 Fight on, be like Ukraine! Happy day, too. We can do both.

My roots are showing

Around now it's birthdays and feast days, my aunt Kitty, Shakespeare, St George, patron saint of England. So

Yesterday's Misfits arrived early and welcome. 

Prices are up enough that the minimum order is now a weekly, not biweekly event. And some common items are either not available, like yellow onions, or might as well be, like apples, at those prices. Nonetheless we eat okay around here. Thankfully.

The Friday evening salad includes some garlic scapes from the garlic you saw me plant. All the sections are growing, and it's pungent and lovely.  Dressed with a few crumbs of blue cheese. Dessert was blueberries and walnuts, a sprinkle of cane sugar.

Current cookbook to see if there's anything I fancy in here

Often cookbooks have only one or two recipes that interest me,  but good general ideas. I like her fearless slinging together spices and changing old traditional recipes. 

I think I'll try her savory Welsh cakes, and definitely veggie pancakes.  Simple ideas, and the kind you wonder why you didn't think of them yourself. 

Speaking of which, I thought of this in the middle of the night: using some of the sari silk I showed you when I got the cut price sari for the fabric, to line the denim vest. A statement!

It took a few minutes to locate the silk because I was so used to seeing it as a portiere, that I'd forgotten it was meant to be fabric. Duh.  There's still yards hanging in the doorway, saris being very long.

And I'm lining the pockets, too, bespoke touch.

The fence is complete, I put the bird feeder up and just now here's a female red bellied woodpecker breakfasting, yay. 

That cheered me up no end. If the birds can handle it, I can.

Here's one of the latest paintings from  Dave Flitcroft's studio, selling as a benefit for Ukraine.

I love his loose flowing style. He's painted a series of sunflower studies, all fresh and different.

Happy day everyone!