spring enjoyments

 

We're going to read A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery, on the Literary Life podcast, and Angelina is explaining where her stories are coming from. This is interesting, and helpful, because her work seems depressing to me, but it isn't supposed to be. So, I should be able to read it without being brought low, so to speak. 

I realized the other day that it was May, and that means window-washing season. Except I so love to do it on days where it's breeze, dry and cool(ish), and it's not. It's like summer most of the time. But I've got to do it anyway, and I wash the bathroom window yesterday. Then I made a new curtain.

I have to figure out a valance, since I used all this gingham for the lower window. It isn't this dark; it's more of a slightly lime, summery shade, and I have a piece of cotton jersey which could be a valance, if I can figure out the shape, since it's a large scrap. 

We're back to having regular bouts of rain, which makes garden prep kind of iffy. But I've been starting some seeds inside, and have a watermelon sprout, and a few Bachelor's Buttons, too. 

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them.

                              Romans 12:6

rain and sun, bless the Lord

 Oh, the rain we've been having. And yesterday it was so cool and damp I actually shut all the windows and turned the heat back up. But I didn't hear it come on, so I used the oven twice, ironed, and made a thick soup for my supper, all the help to warm up the place

Later, the sun came out!

The trees are well past blooming, but now the azalea 

and the bridal wreath, are having their turns.

My bed is waiting cool and fresh, with linen smooth and fair,
And I must off to sleepsin-by, and not forget my prayer.

But slumber hold me tightly till I waken in the dawn,
And hear the thrushes singing in the lilacs round the lawn.

RLS

The American Robin is of the thrush family, but we don't have lilacs in our lawn.

a happy accident

 There were some cranberries in the freezer which I decided to use up, and looking through my pinterest recipes, I found a cranberry bread with orange juice in it - sounded good. I mixed it up, but then noticed it looked funny in the oven; it didn't rise up the way it was supposed to, and I knew I hadn't forgotten the baking powder. Well, it turns out I'd put in one cup of flour instead of two. What a waste! I picked at it, thinking I'd have to chuck it when it cooled, and I was suddenly reminded of what my mother used to refer to as cottage pudding. But it was getting late, so I stuck it in the fridge. That was days ago.

Today I pulled it out, and while I pondered the situation, I had another bite - it really was pretty good. More dense and moist than regular cake, but nice and tart from the cranberries and OJ. I cut it into thick pieces and put it in the freezer. And, just like that, I know what's for Easter dessert! All it needs is a sauce of some sort - maybe I'll splurge on lemon curd.

we have today

 I slept with my window open last night. It didn't get below fifty, although the wind was forceful and there was rain. It actually got up to sixty two today, for a while. Now the wind is blowing like crazy again, and colder air is coming back - this is normal for March. But the warm spells are so enticing.

I finished my skirt the other day, and got the waistband just right, thankfully. I used elastic, since this fabric is a knit - a zipper wasn't necessary. I am not going to hem it. Knits don't fray, and I'd rather not add bulk to the bottom by turning it under - I don't think anybody is going to notice. So today I took the leftover and walked around the house with it to see if the colors would look nice anywhere. The spare bedroom has a small pillow which needs a cover, and the velvet was pretty with the bedspread, so I haphazardly made a zippered cover. 

That background color was advertised as brown, but it's dark red to me - at least, a reddish brown. But at least I found a use for some of the leftover. 

I noticed this on the back cover of Plough's winter issue:

"Someday, all of us will spend our lives in our own school, the world. And education - in the sense of learning to love, to grow, to change - can become not the woeful preparation for some job that makes us less than we could be but the very essence, the joyful whole of existence itself."

                                -   Marshall McLuhan

I never look on back covers. 

It's Lent again.

"Faith is a strange thing. In our little church one feels it strong and firm among the farm people and the retired people and the city week-enders who have been able to stagger out for service. To lose faith in the ultimate good in life is to lose life, I thought, as I came down the steep ancient steps of the little white building. The world news may be especially grim, disaster strikes in a home, any one of the ills flesh is heir to may strike us, and it becomes easy to give up. And yet the gathering together of people to pray and worship God, according to their choice of church, whatever it be, is a strong bulwark against defeat and despair.

The very act of saying, 'I believe,' is a renewal of faith. As for the world, it has been in a parlous state so long that there is no sense in worrying about the future. It is better, I think, to go on believing in goodness and beauty and truth and in God, no matter how we define these terms each of us for ourselves.

And better to live a day at a time. This is a hard task, often, for we tend to keep going or the past and trying to live it over again or looking ahead and uselessly trying to forecast tomorrow and next week and next year. But somebody has said all the time we really have is the NOW. We have today. 

Try to use this day well, that is about the sum of it."

                                                                 -  Gladys Taber

the case of the missing pattern piece, and other things

Not the temperature they predicted, but Monday was sixty-five:  mild, hardly breezy and wonderful for a day off. Now we have finally gotten into the forties for the daytime. Outside, everything is burnished. That's November.

I picked up a biography of Samuel Adams, cousin to our second president, John, and according to British officials of the time, "the most dangerous man in Massachusetts". Considered by Paul Revere, John Hancock and cousin John Adams as their "political father", and called "truly the Man of the Revolution" by Thomas Jefferson; it's a young adult book, but full of information and interestingly written. I really knew very little about him; now I know he failed at every job he undertook. He only seemed good at "talking and writing about the rights and liberties of the people". I love reading about this era.

I have returned to a dress I was planning to sew a year ago; I don't remember what happened. I had started on the bodice, and - ?  So, now I'm ready to attach the skirt part, but I soon realized I hadn't cut them out. Okay, there's plenty of fabric there, so I looked for the pattern piece. All the pieces were there, except for that one - it was nowhere! But, looking at the shapes from the layout examples, I am sure I can just make a guess. There are center seams front and back, so - four pieces, and they're a-line. I just have to figure out how big the tucks should be and how much fabric to allow for them.

My brother had a birthday. I gave him a book of the meditations of Marcus Aurelius. He is liking it, and surprised at how interesting the observations are. 

The Christmas cactus at work is setting buds.

Things are getting more intense in Tolkien's The Two Towers, with Gandalf and Pippin flying away on Shadowfax, his tail flicking in the moonlight. Then he leaped forward, spurning the earth, and was gone like the north wind from the mountains.

like the Little Red Hen

 Oh, my goodness, what an August we've been having! So unnaturally cool - it actually did not reach seventy on Tuesday!! August, the hardest month to bear (to my mind), so warm and humid, with nights in the eighties sometimes. Not this year! It's been into the fifties at night! 

I really can't believe it; I actually could not stand to wear my summery clothes another day; I dug out some more in-between things. If this sounds like complaining, I'm really not; it's very comfortable. We did have several humid days last week, but it wasn't hot. 

I am reading Miss Read's first Fairacre novel, Village School. The descriptions of the town, the school and church, the neighborhood and children are all so real, even though things have changed so much. I also cast on a few stitches today, to try and make a little knitted bear - isn't it cute? I have a beige yarn, and we'll see how it goes.

Since I heard the owl last week, they've been on my mind. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the library was having an owl program! Yesterday! Yes, there was a Great Horned there.

a relative of the one I heard last week

The woman said that great horned owls are so fierce, even eagles won't mess with them! 

If they settle in our area, the rabbit population will decrease.

Lately, I've had a desire to bake things for the freezer. I've made einkorn pancakes, Irish soda bread muffins and today, blueberry scones - all in the freezer now. It's very nice to have things like this on hand. In case somebody drops by, or we're still hungry after a meal, or need a snack when we'll be out, etc.. Kind of like the Little Red Hen.

summer things

 We had a humdinger of a storm yesterday, while having dessert and trying to do the wordle. It wasn't dark and threatening, but very loud and bangy. It was dangerous enough - there was a "severe thunderstorm warning", as they call it. 

And the humidity: it's been a rough summer in that way. A week or so ago, I was recalling how I used to bring Dolly out and we'd sit outside on a quilt for a while - often. I realized I wasn't doing anything of that sort, and determined to start. But - well, frankly, when it's ninety out and very humid, it isn't conducive to any kind of enjoyment. So, I'm in the house, keeping busy. This week is going to be very much cooler but still humid. We'll have to see how that feels.

I wore my blue skirt to work the other day and found that the buckles on my sandals - both feet - were catching on the hand-stitched hem. This skirt is down near my ankles. So I'm going to have to machine-sew it. Most modern store-bought clothing has a machine sewn hem, but it's nice when you make your own things to hand sew it. Not this time, though.

I was unprepared for dinner today, so I whipped together another cassoulet with lots of fresh vegetables and some leftover meat. It worked, even though I'd hardly plan such a meal at this time of year. But of course the air was on all day. We had to eat something. The ingredients I used wouldn't have half so nice if served up separately. 

My beloved bedroom chair is a painted rattan, and the cats - well, mostly Daisy - have been picking at it on the lower legs. She has taken off parts of the wicker that goes around the leg, peeling it off, so to speak. I got some tape of the same dark green color and covered those areas. Now it looks so much better. 

You can see they also pick at the rug. And everything else in the house. 

I have almost finished The Yearling, but I know what happens. I looked ahead the other day - why, I can't say what caused me to. And I was sorry, so sorry that I thought I couldn't finish the book. But after a while I remembered how I'd been liking it, the writing, the well-drawn characters, and I'd known to expect a difficult ending. But I didn't guess how painful it would be. But I decided to keep reading, and I'm just about at the hard point now. That's all I'm going to say.

May the Lord, our God, bless us in all our works and undertakings. Amen.
                                                            -  Deuteronomy 15:10

summer day

 It rained, heavily, a while ago. I think it's going to be drier after this - the air, I mean. This week we've had a reprieve from the high heat, but it was more humid that before, so the air conditioning was still in use. What would we do without the weather to complain about? But I won't have to water the plants outside.

The Yearling is so enjoyable and I'm surprised at it. Well, these people had a hard life, so "enjoyable" is not the best word, but the writing just brings you along smoothly and willingly. I've noticed it basically consists of lots of short, almost abrupt sentences, which doesn't sound good, does it? But it doesn't seem to matter, it's just her style and it works well. 

"Jody went around the side of the house and took down the milk-gourd from the wall. He felt as light as the gourd. It seemed to him in his liberation that he might spread his arms and float over the gate like a feather. The dawn was still nebulous. A mocking-bird made a thin metallic sound in the chinaberry. The Dominick rooster crowed uncertainly. This was the hour at which Penny arose, allowing Jody to sleep a little later. The morning was still, with a faint fluttering of breeze through the tops of the tall pine trees. The sunrise reached long fingers into the clearing. As he clicked the lotgate, doves flew from the pines with a whistling of wings."

                                               -  Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

I'm thinking of making a plain summer top, something simple that takes a yard or slightly more of fabric, like the One Yard Minimalist Top on Etsy; I have to look around to see if I've got something here. 

This morning I looked down and Daisy was playing with her reddish ball in the kitchen. Honestly, it did try to get through my subconscious that there isn't a red ball, but not quite - anyway, I picked it up to toss into the living room, but - it was a little tomato! That one in the photo above. Yeah, trying to get things off the counter, but it doesn't always work out. Which reminds me: the last time I cleaned the counter, I put some stuff on the table - she was sleeping somewhere. After a while, I turned and she was sitting on the wooden cutting board! I almost tossed it immediately, but I actually Never use it for cutting, we have something else. So, I sprayed with vinegar, etc., and scrubbed. It's mainly useful for resting a large, hot pan on it. So, it's still with us, but if I ever think it may be used for cutting by anyone, it will go into the trash. 

Yeah, she's cute. She was looking into my eyes earlier, and so earnestly, that you can't be angry for long. She tries to belong, she tries to understand, she tries to be good, I'm sure. But for some reason she can't figure it out. Annie does not look deeply into the eyes, she is a simpler being. But she's also a lovely cat. They're good companions for each other and for us.

I am very slowly going through The Distant Mirror, about the 14th century in Europe. I picked it up today, and was surprised:

"Long before Columbus, they knew the world was a globe, a knowledge proceeding from familiarity with the movement of the stars, which could be made comprehensible only in terms of a spherical earth. It was said by the cleric Gautier de Metz in his Image du Monde, the most widely read encyclopedia of the time, that a man could go around the world as a fly makes the tour of an apple... Visually, people pictured the universe held in God's arms with man at its center. It was understood that the moon was the nearest planet, with no light of its own, that an eclipse was the passage of the moon between the earth and the sun; that rain was moisture drawn by the sun from the earth which condensed into clouds and fell back as rain; that the shorter the time between thunder and lightning, the nearer the source."

                                                     -   Barbara Tuchman

elf patterns

 I thought Daisy was asleep on my bed, when she suddenly got up and went to the window, obviously seeing something. I looked out - a rabbit. She actually heard a rabbit, eating grass (or whatever). Well, everyone knows rabbits make the earth shake. But really - she heard a rabbit hop in the lawn and eat grass. Amazing.

It rained and stormed yesterday evening, and I saw a rabbit sitting in the rain - they like it, I've noticed, and they like eating the wet grasses. And I like watching them. You knew that.

I'm sorry to say I've made no progress on my dress, as there's been other sewing to attend to. One of them is this pretty blouse.

It has a wide-ish neckline with elastic all around. It's fine when it's on, and it covers my narrow shoulders all right, but it makes me nervous, because if the neckline were to get caught, who knows what would happen? I thought if I made the area stable, it would be better.

I took a double strand of embroidery floss and stitched on the inside all around, into the folds, to inhibit the stretchiness.

You see how I did it, and it was just like basting stitches, but it really reduces any stretching, and the neck is wide enough that I can easily put it on and take it off. So I didn't really sew on the elastic, I just stitched the bunched folds together so they can't open out again. 

A friend gave me a Lenten Rose (hellebore) and I want to put it on the north side where I can see it from my window, but the stockade fence there is partly collapsed and we have to decide on if we'll change anything over there first. 

From the defining conversation between Tolkien and Lewis:

You look at trees, and call them 'trees', and probably you do not think twice about the word. You call a star a 'star' and think nothing more of it. But you must remember that these words, 'tree', 'star' were names given to these objects by people with very different views than yours. To you, a tree is simply a vegetable organism, a star simply a ball of inanimate matter moving along a mathematical course. But the first men to talk of 'trees' and 'stars' saw things very differently. To them, the world was alive with mythological beings. They saw these stars as living silver, bursting into flame in answer to the eternal music. They saw the sky as a jewelled tent, and the earth as the womb whence all living things have come. To them, the whole creation was myth-woven and elf-patterned.

                                                  - The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis, by Jason M. Baxter

the emphasis is mine

The beauty in the world, making things fit, and life with Daisy

 "The old way of thinking about the world helped heal the 'tragic dilemma' of being human."

                                                 -  Jason M. Baxter

The cherry has begun to bloom.

I don't think any other tree blossoms are more beautiful.

Several years ago I did a repair on my bathrobe, replacing the bodice part which was worn. I traced the robe's upper part and made a pattern; I was so afraid of making it too small, that it ended up too roomy. I put up with it until now. 

It's got a dolman sleeve, with the seam going from the side neck edge, over the shoulder and down the arm. It needed taking in about an inch up there, so I just re-did the seam from the neck and then tapered it down to nothing by the time I went over the shoulder. It's just right now! 

I received the tracing paper a day late and was working, so I haven't gotten back to the dress. But I am beginning to think it would be much nicer looking if I lined it. I'm not sure I'll like the way it hangs if I don't do it. Bother. But before I put the green thread in the machine I want to make a few cleaning cloths that I like to use in the bathroom. Just seven inch squares of cotton, zigzagged around the edge. They work very well for cleaning in there.

Have you ever seen such a sight as this?

Double jointed is hardly the word to describe her. 

Anyway, before my brother came home for lunch, I heard things falling in his room; I looked, and there was an accordion file folder she had tipped over or something, and then dragged it to the doorway. I left it, so he'd see the full force of her exertions. I think he was suitably impressed. 

My "project" today was to make a special dinner just because it's my brother's name day. I was going to make chicken soup, and I did, but I had pinned a recipe for one of those vegetarian loaves, and I made on with mushrooms, brown rice, sun-dried tomatoes, kale and lots of other tasty stuff, but no cheese. I substituted different mushrooms, and kale for spinach, but recipes are just suggestions anyway. Very nice! And then I made a healthy dessert with ground up dates and assorted nuts, a kind of brownie. I didn't have pistachios, but I had cashews. I used what was around and it is good - I highly recommend it!

"The saints in heaven, as they are variously described in Paradiso, shine brighter than stars, move more swiftly than lightning, produce a more lovely harmony than the planets, glow like an unending sunrise, smile more radiantly than the sun, rush swifter than cold, mountain winds. Each saint outdoes, as it were, the entirety of the old celestial order. A saintly soul is a new creation, and the re-creation of a human being is as dramatic an event as God's creation of the first cosmos."

                      - Jason Baxter, talking about C.S. Lewis' admiration for Dante's Divine Comedy

            from The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis

staying dry

 We had rain all day again; so much that I ordered the groceries for delivery. 

Puddles everywhere.

But we were cozy in the house, and I made broccoli soup. Which is so easy, so little effort, and while it's cooking, there's the onion, garlic and chicken broth aromas, which are very salutary when you've recovering from a headache. That, and tuna sandwiches were a perfectly fine supper.

I made the casing for the skirt today, and I've got to thread the elastic through it to see if I like the fullness. If it's too much, I'll have to re-do one of the side seams to make it narrower. Which is a relative term, since it's going to be as gathered as will look well. It's a very drapey and thin-ish rayon fabric, so it shouldn't be bulky even with a lot of gathers. We'll see how it looks.

I make small granola batches on the stovetop, which are very fast to do. The other day I was about to put away the rolled oats, when the container dropped and oats went all over the floor - I probably spilled two cups or more! Without a second thought, I scooped them off the floor and put them back in the box. Please don't imagine my floor is clean; I just could not bear to lose those oats, so I put the idea of any grossness right out of my mind instantly. But I also told myself that maybe I should make a batch every day for a while, basically to keep my eye on any unwanted somethings in the container, rather than be wondering if any crawlies are in the box. To use it up sooner than later seemed a good idea. So I made another batch today; it takes fifteen minutes or less from start to finish. And I didn't find anything unusual in the oats, so far. 

Well, Holy Week is upon us. There is a little piece in Magnificat today about Elizabeth Jennings, the poet. She struggled with mental illness, but her poetry and her faith kept her going.

Teach me how you love and have to die
 And I will try                                         
  Somehow to forget myself and give        
   Life and joy so dead things start to life   
    Let me show now an untrammeled joy     
     Gold without alloy.                                    

Something to remember for this week, I think.                           

it must be spring

 Oh the day was absolutely dreamy!  Late morning as I was opening the east-facing windows, I realized the bird singing far in the distance was a mockingbird; they never sing in March. But they don't know months; they only know air temperatures. And possibly they also get Spring Fever. 

Speaking of spring fever, I was able to set up my little greenhouse.

I can put in the shelves another day, and the plastic cover when it cools off. An if we have a snowstorm - I'll take my chances.

There was a recipe in the March British Country Living for an Irish soda bread with some cheddar in it which caught my eye. I grated some whiskey-laced cheese from Trader Joe's that I bought just for this purpose, the St. Patrick's Day dinner on Sunday.

It also called for bacon, but the corned beef will be quite salty enough, so I decided on some raisins. A good decision!

How yummy it is. But when I make it again I'll have to figure out a better baking temperature. It was quite high, but the outside was getting burnt while the inside was still gummy; I turned it down a couple of times and had to guess. But it worked and now it's in the freezer. I'll cook the corned beef on Saturday, and cook the vegetables in the liquid on Sunday, as I won't have time to do the whole thing then. 

I have a better photo of my rayon skirt fabric -

I'm just going to cut two rectangles, but I have to figure out how much fullness I want in the gathered waist.

Another poem by Christina Rossetti:

SISTER MAUDE

Who told my mother of my shame,
Who told my father of my dear?
Oh who but Maude, my sister Maude,
Who lurked to spy and peer.

Cold he lies, as cold as stone,
With his clotted curls about his face:
The comeliest corpse in all the world
And worthy of a queen's embrace.

You might have spared his soul, sister,
Have spared my soul, your own soul too:
Though I had not been born at all,
He'd never have looked at you.*

My father may sleep in Paradise,
My mother at Heaven-gate:
But sister Maude shall get no sleep
Either early or late.

My father may wear a golden gown,
My mother a crown may win;
If my dear and I knocked at Heaven-gate
Perhaps they'd let us in:
But sister Maude, oh sister Maude,
Bide you with death and sin.

*I did get a charge out of that.

cassoulet, at last!

 Oh, what a day. We are to have three days of temps in the fifties, but cloudy. Well, today wasn't; we had mostly sun! Windows open, birds singing. So hopeful and springlike!

I like to buy meat on sale, of course. But sometimes the manager's specials don't amount to much; I got a one-pound package of Angus stew beef for six dollars but there wasn't another. So, I browned it, thinking of what an insipid stew it would make. What other protein could I put in? And then I thought of cassoulet - something I never made but always wondered about. I did some research, then found a vegetarian version  I used that as a starting point. 

After browning the beef, I cut up a leek and a red onion. I put in a good handful of "baby" carrots and sliced two celery stalks in thick pieces. I sauteed this with half a teaspoon of salt and one quarter of pepper, for fifteen minutes. I then added three cans of cannellini (drained and rinsed), a bay leaf, some parsley, lots of thyme, a (smaller) can of diced tomatoes, quart of water with some soup base - some garlic, some chicken - and the meat. Also, since cassoulet usually has some sausage in it, I had a little bag of sliced pepperoni, so I put in lots after cutting the slices into half moons. This cooked for half an hour.

I suppose the deliciousness of it came from the pepperoni, but whatever - I used what I had and would have made do without it. I am really pleased at this idea, since I don't tend to think of the beans when I want more protein. I think of them as carbs and don't want to eat lots, but this recipe is a keeper and I'll add cannellini to the new shopping list.

building up and repairing

 When you are fasting, i.e., eating much less than usual, you find you have more time to do other things! Not to mention that I have more energy; I'm becoming more aware of a sluggish digestion, and it's just better to have less. And I never have been one to stuff myself, so - well, it's very interesting. 

When I was sick, I ordered some groceries and I got a load of bananas, thinking fruit might agree with me. Of course, one can never eat all the bananas, so today I made up a batch of double chocolate banana bread, and now it's in the freezer, waiting for Easter, or later. 

My red and green Christmas rosary, of which I'm very fond, has painted beads, not colored glass, and they've been peeling. I found matching nail polishes and am slowly touching them up. I do no more than one a day, because I don't like the smell of the polish in the house. 

So it will take a little while. 

This, from an article in Plough magazine:

"When you build a thing, you cannot merely build that thing in isolation, but must also repair the world around it, and within it, so that the larger world at that one place becomes more coherent, and more whole; and the thing which you make takes its place in the web of nature, as you make it."

                                                   -  Christopher Alexander

It sounds like God's work.

cats and things

 I'm working on adapting a new bedskirt to my day bed; I always have to cut off one long edge and attach some of it to a short edge. 

I found it where I get all my bedskirts - on ebay. This one is so pretty with the crocheted lace.

I enjoy reading Christina Rossetti's poetry and admire her gift, but many of them are on the same theme: lost love. I'm in the "lyric poems" section, so maybe things will be different in the other parts. I also have a biography of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and it's way more interesting than I expected it would be. The author seems to be a friend and has nothing bad to say about him, but that doesn't seem to get in the way, since every chapter is full of details for each situation described. I think there are still many in this country who do not know he's running for President. The press hardly mentions him. 

It's so cold this week, that the iced bushes from Tuesday's storm still sparkle in the sun. And tomorrow another inch or two will fall - not ice, just snow. 

I just finished a charming children's book I've always wanted to read, called "Whittington", by Alan Armstrong. 

This is the cover; you can tell why it intrigued me - the cat. Not to mention the fellow in his Renaissance garb. Well, turns out it was a Newberry honor book, and worthy of the recognition, a very enjoyable story about the life of Dick Whittington and his cat, legendary figures to British schoolchildren, I guess. Of course, it's fictional; Dick Whittington was a real mayor of London back then, but there is a cat in the story who is the real person of interest. However, the author found that Mr. Whittington did not come from a poor background; it seems his story got mixed up with a poor boy's and the cat may have been his. I don't know, but this book was well-written, going back and forth from our age to the fourteenth century. 

Another important cat, our Annie. I actually managed to get a fairly nice portrait of her, a very pretty girl.

And I'm still with the Chesterton Christmas book. It's supposed to be for Advent, but since I received it at Christmas, I am reading it now.

The world will never starve for want of wonders, 
but only for want of wonder.

- G.K. Chesterton

magazine solutions

 I made out very well at the thrift stores on Thursday. An off white flat sheet, brown velvet scarf, wood desk organizer, a little mason jar - I never pass those up - an oval mirror with an eagle on the top, rather Federal-looking, and sturdy basket.

This is a figure eight shape, if I can call it that. It looks the same on the back as here on this side. I have three years worth of Country Living (British edition), and some Organic Gardening, Mother Earth Living and Country Gardens which were withdrawn from the library. I thought if I took out the issues pertinent to the season, I'd make better use of them; no sense keeping things unless you can benefit from them. So I put them out, along with a few Tasha Tudor books in a bag on my floor. It didn't look very well. I decided a tall basket was what I needed, but at Goodwill this one caught my eye. Could it be more perfect? The magazines curve into the sides and the books fit in the middle! It looks so orderly and... intentional. I'm working on organizing my desk area now.

About the Country Living - I had a subscription through the publisher, Hearst. Several months ago I noticed that I'd missed a couple of issues; this wasn't always easy to be sure of, since it was coming across the ocean and was often late anyway. I didn't want to claim a missed issue and then receive two because the original was just later than usual. Anyway, I finally thought to look at my account online and discovered it had been cancelled! I emailed, and they told me CL wasn't shipping overseas anymore. This was painful for me, since I love it so much. (an uncharacteristic lack of communication) Anyway, I immediately checked Amazon and they were still offering it! So, I quickly subscribed there. But after a few months they also ended it. 

I can't say I blame them. Since COVID, mail delivery isn't what it was. (Have you noticed that?) They were probably losing money over lost issues which needed replacing. So, I'm going to reuse my old ones until I've exhausted their usefulness. And I actually can see the current issues of it online, with Libby, which is free through the library. 

two somebodies

 I went outside to put more cardboard in a raised bed, and somebody was at the door when I came back.

Well, two somebodies.

a kitchen day

 I couldn't get the chick photos off my tablet for some reason, so I'll have to take some more tomorrow. They grow fast.

I made the pear sauce in the crockpot today, with some ginger and vanilla; it's in the freezer now, for Thanksgiving, maybe. It might be nice over ice cream or gingerbread, too. And four of the avocados got turned into chocolate mousse pudding. I was glad to discover the recipe in my box, because the link on my Pinterest board goes nowhere - the original site is gone. 

I rarely see rabbits anymore, but my brother seems to see them after dark, in the front yard. It rained today, a gentle on-and-off rain and before it got too dark I saw one, almost camouflaged against the hedge. They seem to like it when it's wet out. 

He wasn't moving, just resting, I suppose. I really wanted to wash this north window in my room, but the kitchen detail kept me busy. When you buy almost ripe or overripe produce, you have to put other things aside. Although I'm sure I could be more efficient with my time. But I have pear sauce in the freezer and some nice healthy-ish chocolate pudding for snacks, if I need one. And dirty windows and bathroom wallpaper I want to finish removing. 

pears, parsley and other things

We're having some nice weather, but it still feels like summer, just late summer. I can hear the katydids outside now. 

A customer gave my brother three beautiful eggplants the other day, but they are hard. It threw me to feel them; they never feel hard from the supermarket. I asked somebody who's grown them and who loves eggplant. She said they're not ripe if they're hard, and they may not soften up. But I'll give them a little time and see if anything happens. I hope we can use them! She said maybe I could slice them up, salt 'em and roast. If they aren't too bitter. 

 I saw a license plate today that said AWSUM. 

They had bags of pears on sale at Stop & Shop. I think I'll make some pear sauce in the crockpot when they get softer. And there was a bag of six avocadoes on the reduced produce shelf for two dollars. I am not crazy about them, but maybe I can make a batch of chocolate avocado pudding. 

My Panasonic iron finally gave up the ghost after fourteen years of ironing two or three times a week. I bought an Electrolux from Amazon - terrible. It doesn't glide! How can you iron with something that doesn't glide well? And the dial is underneath the handle and hard to move. It's just a terrible design, and I need a good iron! Back to the reviews. 

I like the way people hang up their fresh herbs to dry from hooks in the kitchen. I bought a bunch of parsley and ties up some small bunches, hanging them in four places above the sink. You-know-who was watching me; she may jump on the counter overnight and try to reach them. She was even chewing on some of it that fell out. Annie, on the other hand, seemed repelled by it. She's the sensitive one. I remember the time she gagged after sniffing a banana. (sorry, Annie, but I thought that was funny)

foggy mornings, garden dreamings, plans for jam

 Today was dry and beautiful. Which is saying something, because it's been so humid and un-September-like. But at the beginning of the month, we had some of those foggy mornings of mystery.

At the library, four of the chicks hatched; the photos are on my tablet - I'll have to get them off. Two never developed, the other one just wasn't strong enough to complete the hatching process. So sad.

I finally ordered a raised bed and have been saving up cardboard and papers. It's a mess out there but I want to set it up as soon as I can. I've recently discovered Huw Richards on youtube, and what a marvelous gardener that young fellow is! I bought two of his books already and also one by Liz Zorab.

Hers is not only advice, but her story of ill health and how she came to permaculture - very interesting. She and Huw are both Welsh and in a milder climate, but that isn't going to be a problem.

I finished reading The Man Who Was Thursday, and Gretchen wanted me to say a bit more about it. I liked it very well, it's quite a short book, it was unexpected at every turn, and I'm not sure I understood it completely. Basically, it's about anarchy. I'm not good at book reviewing, and it had me surprised all along the way. It was good! Read it, it won't take you long. :)

I bought a bag of clementines really cheap at the supermarket, and would like to try a freezer jam; but I've got to figure it out first.