Freecycle rules!

After moving out bags of Handsome Son's declutter via Freecycle, I found a great offer on there for my kitchen.

Which I tested at home and it works fine. Usual story: they'd upgraded and wanted to move it on. It's how I got my microwave, scanner and DVD player at various times. 

Since my old toaster oven had quit toasting and needed to be unplugged between oven uses because the off switch quit, I said goodbye to it, and thank you.

 I don't accept Freecycle gifts from just anyone. Here's the neighborhood

Mercer Street Princeton, to Einstein Drive to Godel to Maxwell. Yes, it's  the Institute for Advanced Study where  great mathematicians and physicists hang out and upgrade their toaster ovens. I didn't have to qualify, just text on arrival.

Beautiful weather for walking, and greeting the rabbit, still there

Before I leave here are a couple of riddles my Dad drove me mad with as a little kid

If my peacock lays an egg in your yard, who owns the egg?

Which is correct, the yolk of an egg are white or the yolk of an egg is white?

A plane crashed exactly halfway across the frontier of two countries, A and B.  In which country did they bury the survivors?

Running away now, happy day everyone! Make corny jokes, they're silly and fun.

Off to the thriftie today to donate the rest of Handsome Son's clutter, good stuff worth buying at thrift store prices.

Barchester Chronicles, seedlings and drawing

Since I'm taking an enforced reluctant few days off from knitting, in the hope it will, along with exercising, ice and Advil, help calm my shoulder down, I'm needing to take my mind off it and find interesting things to occupy myself that don't involve using my hands.

So I've been watching movies, and yesterday was a marathon of the best ever TV production of

Great cast, seven episodes, horses, carriages,  interiors, costumes, wonderfully funny Trollope. I have a lot of his novels on my Kindle, and he's one of the most entertaining writers. 

The casting, from Alan Rickman as Slope, Nigel Hawthorne as the Archdeacon,  to Geraldine MacEwan as Mrs Proudie, Donald Pleasence as the Warden, his daughter Angela playing the Warden's daughter, and on and on. All star production, and true to the original novels it's adapted from.

If you haven't seen it, it's on YouTube, and read Trollope anyway, anything, he's unfailing.

Meanwhile a few seeds I saved from Misfits Roma plum tomatoes last year are germinating.

And if you're interested in drawing, here's a great diagram, with credit,  showing the proportions of the head in profile. I found it while searching for a movie. It's amazing into what a small area of our heads our facial features really fit. Say that again fast.

You could try your hand at a head drawing just from this information.

Yesterday's walk greeted the little rabbit, now surrounded by grass, not garbage like the city dump.

I take some credit here for my campaign to get it cleaned up, the current or maybe past, residents just throwing stuff over the fence instead of dumpstering it. 

Management responded, took away all the floor tiles, plastic fencing, drop cloths, rusted barbecues, and other debris, and restored it to an area where the landscapers can get in to mow again and where grass will return. 

And they've sternly informed the residents that this isn't acceptable. It's only in the last few years this has been happening . As of now it's staying clear, yay. It's a lovely greenway to walk again.

I walk there daily because it's shady in summer, sheltered from wind in winter. I wonder if the residents seeing me pass think I'm observing for the Board!

And here's an odd thing

A sun dial set up in the shade. I wonder if they realize it's a time keeper. Not  counting just the sunny hours, not counting any hours at all.

Happy day everyone, and let's keep finding bits of joy where we can. They add up.

Walking and meeting a friend

Yesterday was still a bit chilly, despite the temperature, because of stiff winds st the shore not so far away, but I went walking, and admiring the views of new foliage against the sky

Then turned a corner of the building to a waft of perfume. The honeysuckle, officially an invasive, still smells wonderful to me, on the first day it's open

Then an old friend, often buried in leaves, showed up

And here in closeup

I've often thought of bringing her home to sit in the groundcover, since the original owners probably left long ago, and she was tossed into the woods. But I think I'll leave her here. There may be other people who like seeing her.

Then home to a lunch of mushroom omelette with a green salad including garlic scapes.

And lengthy discussions with Gary about the rethinking of his patio since the fence changed it. His patio is more like a tool shed than a garden, because of all his projects. 

While we were at it, he obligingly did my Spring task of uncovering the condensation pipe from the air conditioner, and clearing out the winter build up of debris. 

The builders installed it several inches below grade, who knows why, and I have to crawl around every spring to clear it and replace the screening and rocks I put in to keep out leaves and soil. But it's hard to work that way, so I was glad of the help. 

Since we have humid summers the condensation is an issue. Neighbors who didn't realize where the pipe was, or even that there was one, have found water backing up and crashing through the living room ceiling.

We also unearthed a large S hook I'd lost to squirrels, so that's good. I use S hooks to hang plants, and now that I can't hang anything from the fence, it may as well be inside.

This week is also about lab work of various kinds, familiar annual stuff. And this afternoon is a movie, yay. At the library not the lab, I'm glad to say.

Happy day everyone.

Fight on!