Misfits, bookmaking and houseguests

Thursday was more eventful than expected so what else is new, involving many Gary sightings ranging from taste this turkey is it safe(!) to bringing in a heavy glass table, two man job, neighbor from across the street recruited, for safety while the moving upheaval next door is in progress,

large plant likewise

Then there was a consultation about a couple of other plants he wants to put outside and I persuaded him that from a shady indoors to full sun might be a bit sudden. So he'll set them under an umbrella.

Misfits was a late afternoon delivery so, since my hands were tired from knitting, I adapted that little art catalog nobody wanted on Freecycle, and created a single signature notebook.

 

That bookmaking book is the best I ever found, with everything you need to know to make all kinds of bindings. I've done practically every kind she shows. This simple one is a favorite though. And there are two internal pages from the catalog which might make another couple. Knitting friends might need these.

Then drumroll, Misfits and Haleem arrived. While I was bringing the food in, the UPS truck arrived with two large packs of potting soil. The step was a bit crowded.

Small selection this week because I'm pretty stocked up. Two bags of sugar while they had them in stock, two loaves likewise, not my favorite but okay. 

A whole raft of blueberries at a great price because they were caught by hail and knocked around. They look fine to me but the supermarket wouldn't accept them. They'd have been plowed under if Misfits hadn't bought them. So I have three packs in the freezer for all kinds of uses including sauce. 

Two bags of ground coffee because they don't always have it, and it's become a morning need because of the state of the world,  lovely green salad for the season, Envy apples, Bananaz needing a day or two, block o' cheddar because it's my security food. 

The pasta I made from the Yeung Man recipe needed a lot more sauce. I've since added a mozzarella sauce and now it's fine. Just as well, since I'll be eating it for days yet.  Along with the green salad.

Then, before I sorted the food,  Gary helped me heave the potting soil into the storage area, removing a large package of his which has been there for years, no idea what's in it. 

We had our annual argument about why I buy small bags of potting soil I can handle instead of saving money by waiting for him to, eventually, get a huge bag I can help myself to, etc. 

In the middle of all this the mailman arrived, with 

Both together, yay. The reveal 

The lucet and the rigid heddle. From artisans, who need our business more than ever.  Lucet from Pennsylvania, heddle from Minnesota. 

That's almost enough for what was supposed to be a low-key kind of day. Good thing I started the day with back exercises from Yes2next.

Happy day everyone, I did all the things so you don't have to.

Chicken soup, visitors and Shakespeare

Yesterday I simmered and simmered the rest of the roast chicken, still with meat on it, with plenty of garlic powder and onion powder, then added in the last of the corn and peas from Christmas, and the spaghetti. 

And now I have half a  dozen bowls of really good chicken soup, doesn't look exciting, but it's really lovely. Those little free range chickens from Misfits evidently have a short life but a  happy one,  judging from the old fashioned flavor.

And yesterday's plans to read and veg out were punctuated by many sudden  irruptions from Gary  with a variety of things he suddenly wanted to tell me, largely about wildlife he'd found indoors in the course of removing built-ins in order  to replace the floor.

Evidently he had a colony of crickets and a habitat in one place, a nest of ants in another. So he's added in  removing these to the plans.

Then in the evening, these plants came to visit until after the floor is finished. The bear is  examining them with interest.

 

Yes, this senior is far from isolated and lonely! For someone who lives alone, it's amazing how often my activities are interrupted!

And after I'd finished shellacking Shakespeare the other day, the poem of the day yielded this gem, to remind us he's a great poet.

Happy day,  everyone, when the rain stops and our local flooding recedes, I'll get out walking, to see the  shapes of winter trees again.