Better walls for old, Misfits

I discovered in the course of Wednesday's work the reason the outer wall broke through so easily.

What we had, reading inside to out was: sheetrock, insulation batts, vapor barrier, stucco. Notice what's missing? Original builders cutting serious corners here 

What we have now is: sheetrock, insulation batts, plywood sheathing, vapor barrier, then stucco to come. 

I could have had more damage to the car, less to the house, if it had been complete. It's very typical that what you do to a development house is going to be better than the original materials. In this case actually better construction.

Then I got an idea. This base cabinet I used for baking sheets had to come out to repair the wall. Here's the space 

And the cabinet. Instead of reinstalling it I think contractor friend Mike can work with me on a better use. The cabinet has a useless shelf in the back where you can't reach anything. I can just not reinstall it and we can see. The flooring will be in there and the wall painted.  So there's no mad rush.

Thursday Misfits had to work differently. But I did get the bag and ice returns out for pickup while I had access to the freezer where I store them week to week.

I hoped the driver would find his bag among all the stuff that joined it.

I started an allergic reaction to the spackling in the kitchen, so in addition to the eye drops and nose drops, seasonal repertoire, I added an allergy pill. The I went upstairs to read, and woke two hours later to find the Misfits box had been delivered and kindly brought into the house.

So I figured out an alternate way of washing the fruit without access to the kitchen, and drying them.

The other grocery items are in the living room for now. I managed to get the yogurt and tofu into the fridge.

And Thursday the effects of the moving stuff and climbing started to decrease. Because I couldn't get out to walk, I'd kind of seized up, stiff and aching. I did a balance vid with April and Aiko, then ibuprofen and ice.  That worked.

The reduction in humidity helped, too. My hair loves humidity, bones not so enthusiastic. 

Not a great heat reduction, but I did get an early walk.

And the coreopsis is doing fine, considering she's a random seed result. The lacy foliage is from her.

The leafy foliage is honesty, possibly. Not a successful year up to now. Neighbors already have dried seedpods which I'd like to swipe but it's in their front yard, hmm.

The afternoon's rain saved my watering. Also put pressure on the contractors to finish the outer wall.

This is a good time to make cordage, the ambient air not too dry.  I did get the materials from the kitchen where I left them.

Happy day everyone. That supposedly non drowsy pill has left me very relaxed or maybe I'm just tired.  Either way I'm going to have a bowl of cereal and blueberries, easiest lunch prep on a building site.

My eldest brother was a bricklayer in his yoof and, in winter, lunch was the regular sandwich, but toasted, over an open fire on the site, on a shovel!  

Except the time he took the wrong bag and found he was facing the stale crusts my mom had saved for the greengrocer's horse. Late forties, a lot of horse-drawn food deliveries, no gasoline for trucks. His pals on the site were asking him what he'd done to annoy his mom.

Take the right lunch, you'll be glad 

And to everyone's surprise suddenly it's August. Well I've had better months of July, so it's okay.

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Great caroling, and timely greetings

I posted yesterday before the official first night of Hanukkah, so happy H, dear celebrants

And

Fervent thanks for my home state, from a born again, meaning naturalized,  Jerseygirl, who nevah pumps gas, nor takes nonsense. 

Meanwhile yesterday at the carol service, which, I realized at the last minute, was London time, five hours earlier than I'd planned. No time to get presentable, which why I kept my camera off 

Here's Jacqueline Bee Durban, host and MC

who was a load of fun, introduced a series of great clips, some pagan, some Christian, some just wintry, with carols in between which everyone could join in, muted, because the time lapses on zoom create chaos. 

Except at the end where she invited Christmas chaos with an unmuted rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas, some people leaping while others were drumming and dancing and milking, just great fun.

It was exactly right for my down lonely mood yesterday morning, this time of year hard to navigate, especially this year with such losses. So that was my carol sing for the season, and it was great. Perfect timing.

Then this morning I looked out to see these little fellers in the best seat in the house, noshing on squash seeds and rinds

They saw me there, started to run then obviously thought oh we can take her anytime, and returned to continue their interrupted breakfast.

Speaking of animals knowing what's what, here are dogs modeling excellent theater manners

And I needed a little batch of cranberry muffins after the caroling excitement 

About learning cording, I learned it from YouTube, Sally Pointer to start, and I also searched on daylily cordage, having learned the term from her. If you do a search on "string" on this blog, that box at the top left, you'll find my early tries.

There are quite a few YouTube videos. Try it, you'll like it! 

I really like the whole process because it's so intelligent. It's a form of spinning, and the physics of it are the same.

Briefly, when you spin, here I'm talking as a spindle spinner, you first spin your yarn single in one direction, often clockwise, known as z. Then when you ply singles, you ply, that is spin, your singles together, in the opposite direction, known as s. The physics cause the resulting plied yarn to hold tight together.

That's exactly what your fingers do when you make cording, turning one set of fibers clockwise then drawing them, counter clockwise, down over the other set. 

Now they've changed place and again you turn clockwise what was the bottom group and is now the top group. Once you see and try it you'll quickly get it. 

That's why you see my cordage staying together, not unraveling.  If it unravels you know you did something you need to fix, probably you turned the top group in the wrong direction.

I'm always lost in awe at the people who originally figured all this out, thousands of years ago, with no tutorials.

Speaking of shock and awe, you'll be mad at yourself when you see the solution to the puzzle, if you were wrestling with word meanings, derivations, semantics snd semiotics, to find:

dynaMITE

wANT

mamMOTH

brieFLY

Yes, the words all contain insects. Patti (pictou) gave a huge hint in her clever comment.  

One of those puzzles which lead you instantly down an etymological rabbit hole, instead of seeing the words as just collections of letters.

Happy day everyone, don't make life harder than it has to be, it's hard enough already!

 

 

Good news and other news

 So here's the good news

To look forward to. Two whole dozen snowdrops on the way. To be a memorial planting for Irene.

Yesterday's pleasure was to resume this

Too soon to know what it will be. This is the cordage made from daylily foliage and iris leaves, with silk roving added in. To Thrones and Dominions audiobook.

Then the other news. A major talent has left us, but her work survives

If you haven't read the Wolf Hall trilogy, put it on your winter reading list, it's totally gripping.

I have a weird connection with Hilary Mantel. I read in her memoirs an account of the view from a house she'd lived in briefly as a child, and kept thinking how familiar it all felt. 

A bit of detection revealed that in fact I had been in that room in that house. A University friend lived with her family there, and I saw that view on the morning of her wedding from the house. 

Handsome Partner was best Man, I was matron of honor, and it was a happy morning getting them all out to the local church. 

Considering Mantel's later writing on how houses are haunted by earlier inhabitants and events, it feels oddly significant.

And today's art, art will save us all

In good news, Judge Cannon has retracted the disputed classified document order completely, leaving only the other documents to be examined. The first and probably last big case of her career. Total admission of incompetence.

We need to get out the vote, keep the House, improve the Senate and keep good things going.

Happy day everyone, seeing my knitting buds today

A day of one thing leading to another

Yesterday was about not getting. I went off to the farm for Roma plum tomatoes to make tomato lemon Amish jam. Amazingly, they were out of Romas. Usually a prime crop, and advertised in their current newsletter. 

I was there early, maybe they were still picking. I can try again but will probably buy for the freezer for winter spaghetti sauce.

But I still had in mind jars sterilizing in boiling water and some interesting fruit stuff boiling away in the other pot.

So peaches, not up to eating fresh, pinch of sumac, bit of cane sugar, dash of vanilla, cooked down and blended,  became some sort of butter or sauce or something.

And, one recipe of  pancake batter later, a nice supper, and planned Sunday morning breakfast.

Then later I went walking in the lovely, not too hot sunshine, in search of early possible fallen oak galls for ink. There's a spot close to home where acorns fall in masses.

But the whole woodland edge had evidently been cut back and cleared, as if vacuumed up.  Clean as a whistle. Even the brambles I was hoping to pick were cleared out. Just too tidy. This cleanup must have happened while I was busy last week. Well, I still hope for oak galls as the season goes on.

Back home I noticed the snake plant had a large broken leaf. So instead of tossing it, I thought I could see if it would make good cord.

So I split it and it's drying now. This is one to be a bit careful with, since the sap can irritate mucous membranes if it gets near your mouth or eyes. I washed my hands after this.  This is an interesting plant to propagate. This one I grew from a plant I took care of one summer for a neighbor. It went to camp on my porch, and I took one leaf as a fee.

You can propagate by cutting sections of the leaf and just sticking them in earth. Every part of this current plant grew from that method. 

But here's the cool part -- the plant knows up from down, and you have to plant each leaf section the same way up as it grew, or it won't root. So even plants have a better sense of direction than I have. Sad for me, really.

And last noontime, while my salmon and roast fries were cooking, aka fish 'n chips, here with capers and fresh picked thyme 

I set up a new accordion book display of a series of botanicals, very seasonal.

Right after lunch, Gary came dashing in, he was about to grill, could he make me a hamburger?  On realizing I was clearing up after lunch,  he said oh man, timing's out!

I did a bit of Sally Pointer study later,  reminded of her by the oak gall search and because I'd tried something like this as a kid, always fancied handmaking my own shoes.

Hers are pretty authentic though, style dating back 5,000 years.

She cuts and stitches as shown, then wets them through, eases them on for a good fit, and lets them dry on her feet. Custom fit.

I was pretty young when I made mine, no pattern or leather tools, just an urge.

Somewhere I got a scrap of pink soft leather I was able to cut with scissors and stitch with a darner, and made a pair of sandals with a strap. I cut soles, then stitched the upper on, added a Mary Jane type strap to keep them on. 

I remember they were very thin underfoot, not real suited to the sidewalks, no fields at that point in my life. These soft shoes do better on grass and earth. But I was so pleased about trying anyway, despite side-looks from older sibs, now what does she think she's doing.

I fact I wonder now if I can get a soft leather or suede bag or jacket from the thriftie to try for fall house slippers. I'm putting that on the list. I don't have a leather punch but I have a big nail I use for punching book pages, and a hammer. I'm ready.

I also ordered a fleece remnant in charcoal grey from Firecracker Fabrics,  to make  pants for cold weather, thinking ahead here.

And because what is life if you can't be amused by silly stuff , here's the Dance of the Dish Brushes

One day I really must think about growing up. No rush though.

Happy day everyone! Laugh at silly stuff, it's good for you.

Cordage, up cycling and pop tarts

Remember a while back,  I cut down a couple of rarely worn t-shirt dresses to use as summer tops with added attractions? I've been wearing them in the heatwave. Cool, loose fitting but not clumsy .

The pink one I decided to leave plain, but here's the blue one with a vintage applique.

I painted this directly on a white tee years ago, the tee wore out, I cut off the painted section, making dusters of the rest of it, added it to a bag, handles eventually wore out, cut it off, into scrap bag.  Now it's resurrected here.

And yesterday I made yet another accordion book, from Inuit artworks.

This collection is easy to rotate so there's always something new and interesting to see from the sofa.

And I was in the mood for junk food, after a struggle to play tenor recorder yesterday,  Just trying to recall the fingering of the C instrument, gah. Tenor and soprano are C, alto, bass and sopranino are F. 

The F seems more natural, and I easily find myself playing tenor with wrong fingering. In a group, this would be disastrous, because it would be all wrong notes. so it's important to keep it straight even solo with no listeners, and yesterday this seemed harder than usual. Rusty!

 

So, after doing my poor best,  I made pop tarts. Jack Monroe's, to be exact, if you want to find the recipe.online..

It's buttery pastry pockets, jam inserted, iced with confectioners sugar.  I used some of the plum sauce as jam.

You don't toast these like the shop bought ones, because they're tender and buttery. Just a few seconds in the microwave if you like. But they're lovely cold too. 

Heroically , I promised to save some for Handsome Son. They kept up my spirits to come back and fight, I mean play,  again another day..

Then by evening I was going mad, mad, I tell you, with withdrawal from making with my hands.. So I checked out a wonderful Sally Pointer video on the Venus of Brassempouy.

And I just had to make at least a bit of cordage, out of gender and history solidarity. Note the improved skill level. I'm being careful not to overdo, so I,  heroically again,  refrained from making yards of it.

This ancient artwork deserves the homage, as does Sally's recreation of it for a major museum commission. She has such respect for the skills of paleolithic makers and their ingenuity in using and adapting natural materials. Including using your own body for measurements. She decided on the gauge by using the first joint of her finger. And her handspan to measure the fit of the piece.  

This particular  artwork, carved from mammoth (!) ivory is tiny, just over an inch long, probably broken off a bigger work,  and the carving skill is world class.  Look at that beautiful nose.

So this was an education in itself. An unexpected adventure on an otherwise dull old day. Or as G and S would say, an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative!

Happy day everyone, keep making and getting nourishing art into every day. It's the good fight, I mean play,  against the darkness.

Photo AC