Small stuff, but vital

Yesterday was a day of small, but important, things. You know how some of us are always nagging on about voting, usually to people who always do, quoting instances of close elections?

Here's one from this year

This is a North Jersey affluent region, where Mofos for Liberty have been trying to get onto school boards, and local councils, though that wasn't an issue here. What is an issue is that we are all the more anxious to prevent a Republican clean sweep. And here you see one single vote did that.

No doubt there'll be a recount, as there was locally several years ago, when a school board member lost by four votes. He demanded a recount, got it, and now lost by eight votes!

And this week's Misfits was a small box

Seen here with the freecycle bag of bags, later picked up by a happy freecycler.

Nice artisanal cheddar cheese to go with the havarti for the Thanksgiving cheese and cracker appetizer.

And I have had ongoing struggles to get shoes that fit, my longtime style having changed its manufacturer, become heavy, clunky and twice as expensive.  Local stores have almost nothing in size wide, and usually only a couple of pairs in my size at all nowadays.  So for a while it's been online. 

 There are no athletic shoes  I've found and can afford,  that don't have a seam right across the toe box, right where I can't tolerate it. So that's a whole area taken care of.

After trying and having to send back two lots of nice looking walking shoes, with seams where I can wear them, supposedly sized wide but in fact not, I came across a note on a shoe fitting site that suggested buying a size larger. Hm. I'd already tried a man's canvas shoe in the size equivalent to mine, with only fair success, so why not.

So when Zappos had a great clearance offer of Tretorns, the shoe cut the way that works for me, I thought why not, very much marked down, worth a try. Success! These I can walk in, yay. Here's me modeling them this morning, still in night gear.

Those seams are in the right place for my bumpy old feet. 

I have a long history with Tretorns, back to the seventies,  when I could buy them easily, very cheap considering, reliable, nice looking. 

Then they were bought out by Puma. Then they vanished from the market. Then they reappeared but only in sizes they had,  I supposed, lying around the warehouse, twos and elevens. 

Then they reappeared in the whole range at four times the price I used to pay, now way out of my budget.  So these, though they're faux leather, not canvas, are like a stroll down memory lane.

Small things sometimes matter quite a bit. Happy day everyone, and I hope today's small things for you are welcome.

Prequel, US election day, Pink Rabbit demands her due

 To get a good hold on the rise of Nazism and fascism in the US and elsewhere, I hugely recommend

Her research is impeccable, and she narrates with such good humor that this heavy scholarly work is very accessible. It's an important and timely backstory to what's going on.

It also has some surprises to me -- I never knew architect Philip Johnson was a keen fascist. I only knew of his IMHO rather silly, gimmicky buildings. And Huey Long did good works as well as developing the iron grip of a Louisiana dictator.

It's good to be reading this today, election day in the US.

So yesterday, I finished, pretty much, the wall hanging, which I've changed in progress. 

Now it's trimmed around, and, unless I get more ideas, it's done. I have spare applique blocks which still need a home, but no rush.

And I cast on a sock for me.

Because I'm listening to Rachel Maddow, when I'm not listening to 

A rattlin' good story, and a change of pace, to France and cultures and tourism and women's rugby and mysterious death and great regional food.

Pink Rabbit, known to new friends Fred and Ursula as PR, had a word, pointing out that Ursie has a custom hat and Fred's scarf, Fred has boots, and PR has nothing, sigh. 

So she now has a silk scarf which she wears with panache. She can wear it like a hat when she wants a change of pace. 

Happy day, everyone! Let's hope for the best today.

In case there's anyone needing to hear this

 

And yesterday's movie at the library, attended by the custodian and me, was the classic Hepburn/ Tracy 

Wonderful fifties clothes, way beyond the budget of the office workers who wore them, but, Hollywood!

Happy day everyone, use your power for good!

Voting done and counted, tiny home dreams

 So here's my proof that I count, arrived yesterday

Next civic duty: feeding handsome Son member of the front facing workforce, this evening, menu: butter chicken over garlic couscous, dessert, apple turnovers, pot of tea.

Meanwhile I've been having  textile adventures and plans,  but they can wait for now. Today I spent some time down the fantasy path of Tiny Homes on YouTube.

Not including the 24' trailer converted by a couple of builders,  with an additional loft, bigger than a lot of city apartments, complete with fullsize everything.  Doesn't count as tiny in my book. No pix for you!

The ones that intrigued me were the creations and adaptations done by solo women, of all ages. Some are stationary, some are traveling vans made into homes, and there's the Skoolie movement, adapting old school buses to live in.

Back to real tiny homes, I like this Vancouver BC  lady a lot. Finding herself alone, divorced, kids grown and gone, she learned carpentry in her sixties in order to build her retirement tiny home. Indomitable. She has so many clever ideas. She and her dog are happy.

Loft bedroom with emergency window exits both sides.

Sitting in a multipurpose chair which tilts, works for naps as well as reading.

she rents the site, owns the home. And she's so honest about what she's learned. 

She's got one of those scary flights of stairs up to the sleeping loft, but she's already planning on a downstairs bed, just in case. The stairs in tiny homes  are often steep because they're also storage drawers, good for storage, not so much for climbing.

Most of the videos I saw of single women show them with their dog, whose requirements are also built in to the planning.

This is a van traveler, working on the road in sales, who explains she didn't have building skills so she paid for help to retrofit the van to her own ideas.

A couple of younger women are professional traveling woodworkers and consultants, one a lawyer,  all working full-time and staying on the road.

They're so resourceful and ready to learn, and shape their own lives, it was fun to follow them. They're also generous with explanations of the logistics, WiFi, mail, electric, plumbing, much of which they learned as they went.

I notice that to be happy living tiny, you need access to loads of outdoor space, on a big lot or on the road. And the ones I saw were largely rural and in milder climates.  

Several of them said they avoided winter wherever they could. The were hikers, climbers, fishers, their homes comfortable but less important than outdoors.

They all named their tiny home! Daisy in BC, Freebird the renovated fried chicken van, it seems to be a thing.

It seems to be a white world, too, at least from what I've seen. I wonder, well, I exoect, there are more barriers to minority women.

The miniaturization interests me, homes as organized and compact as boats. In fact one owner said she bought marine cabinets where she could afford to, more expensive but great weatherproof quality.  And edges on shelves to avoid falling objects..

It also pays to be small and fit! Low ceilings, lot of bending to retrieve items, bed can be fitted in better if you're not six foot plus.

It was a dreamy trip of what if.. even though I'm not planning on a tiny home. Heck, in the eighteen months since I've been pondering selling this house and renting a little condo, the rent on the type I had in mind has gone up nearly 40%. Thereby putting it pretty much in the realm of fantasy!  I need to regroup.

Meanwhile, may as well enjoy the space I'm in. Happy Day, everyone! I'm still Winnowing.

Ready to vote and other, less important, things

So here's my voting outfit. Ballot, mask, gloves.  I'm ready.

Meanwhile last night's supper, half of which is tonight's supper

Shiitake mushrooms, plus mixed mushrooms, farm tomatoes, sharp cheddar, egg, 400 till the egg cooked. Technicolor food.

I had fried the mushrooms in butter and oil first, then added them in. Then the liquid from the tomatoes was a bit too much, so I spooned most of it out, did a reduction on top of the stove, which powered up the flavor, poured it back over the doings. Very nice on top of a slice of whole-wheat bread.

Took about 20 minutes total.

About teaching, yes, I seem to have been doing it one way or another starting back in schooldays. It's mostly been art workshops for the last fifty plus years. My art blog Art, the Beautiful Metaphor is largely a teaching and sharing blog, same idea.

Originally, back in the pleistocene era, I arrived in this country with a terrific degree, figured teaching might be good, French, Latin, English lit, did a teacher training in Wisconsin where we lived then, complete with classroom teaching resulting in job offers, but we left Wisconsin for husband's job in NJ. 

Wisconsin ed people assured me they had teacher licence reciprocation in all states, it was portable, no worries.  And, once in NJ, I started the process of getting a NJ licence.

Only to find I'd moved to one of two states which will not issue teacher licences needed for public school teaching to noncitizens. The other is Texas. Or was at that time, mid sixties.

So I searched the statute and came up with an exception: I was certified to teach French. Foreign language teaching was exempt from the citizenship rule. Whereupon they came back smartly and said only if it's your native language. Oh.  And by the time we qualified to start the citizenship process, my Wisconsin licence would have lapsed couldn't be renewed from out of state, nothing then to reciprocate with. Catch 22.

So I taught Latin and English in a private middle school at approximately half the salary of a public school teacher.  In the end it was okay because I was finding adult instruction much more interesting, and kids not so much. I've taught kids now and then, special workshops, homeschoolers, etc, but my energies have gone into adults.

This was in addition to full time work in various organizations.  Yes, I've done a lot of things. 

Not just art. Antique identification, freelance writing, other material. This was professional paid, work, sometimes very nicely, when the organizers wrote me into grants.  But I've done a lot as a volunteer, too.

The thing I object to is the, frequent, assumption that  artists should be happy to teach and demo for nothing, on demand. For "exposure".  I usually point to my fee schedule and explain I can't buy groceries with exposure. And that my volunteer plans are already filled.

No, I will not donate a large artwork for permanent display in the Town Hall, if you can buy furniture, you can buy art.  No, I will not make videos for your library YouTube channel for free! The most recent outrageous request, couched as a terrific honor for me, hehehe.

People who know better typically do better, though, as when my embroidery guild chapter paid me to teach workshops. No question. And fellow artists always pay for individual teaching.

End of rant! 

Back to checking if the rain has let up so I can go vote, and save the world.

.

Neighbor's appliance woes #476

 Soooo friend next door with the two broken freezers followed by the broken fridge, is redoing his kitchen. Interrupted by coming over to cut shrubs for me yesterday. In the course of laying a new floor, found water under it. Broken pipe.

Fixed that, started unpacking new kitchen units. And found the corner cabinet will not fit through any available aperture, window, door, passthrough. May have to deconstruct the cabinet before proceeding.

This, and hot weather, created a backlog of laundry. Put in the first load this morning. Washer broke down.  Brought it over dripping, and I did it at my house. Another load tomorrow.  Still waiting on refrigerator, and washer repair.

The worst I've ever heard him say, under extreme provocation was: oh, MAN!

In more cheerful news, mail yesterday

Vote received, counted. I've been voting by mail for years but usually you go online to check its progress. This year they're making sure you know.

After the first universal mail in vote. It went fine.

Voting and various thoughts

 Today is voting day in several US States. If that's you, please vote. Safely. Handsome Son and I, both mail-in voters of long standing, whose primary happened before the current disastrous appointment at the post office, were talking recently about workarounds. 

For the general election, we'll use local dropboxes, plenty available, rather than trust the mail.

 Sad to be figuring out workarounds, but we're hanged if we let this election be suppressed. And judging by the current mail slowdown -- small package for me has been sitting in my local po, small town, since last Wednesday. Arrived today. Two miles away. Couple of bills arrived several days late. So we make allowances, just in case.

Meanwhile bits of trivia. I noticed how my bits of Chinese porcelain, some antique like this lovely rice grain bowl, and modern saucer

 mix happily with cheapo cups and teapots from the Asian store. This design is still being made, because it's beautiful,but this one is antique. 

 Teapot lid works as cup lid.

And my Golden Guide to insects arrived.

 In case you're squicked out by them, I've opened to a page most people will like.

To me they're all animals, just as "weeds" are all plants. I am going to study this afternoon.

Teatime now. Pot of tea, lastuv the banana bread.

What a difference a day makes

Indoors: sitting up and taking notice, patient much better, not quite up to stitching or knitting , but energy roaring back. And considering how rugged the shots are, I certainly don't want to experience the ailment they're shielding me from. Very happy with modern medicine today.

And outside the daisies are bustin' out all over, the daylilies showing up loyally.

My daisies, lavender and foliage are the colors of the suffrage movement. So if your state primary is today, please vote. It's being made very difficult, but please do your best not to let your vote be suppressed.

Thank you everyone who posted and emailed and texted yesterday. I feel quite spoiled. A neighbor looked in yesterday, nice chat about attic fans, offer of shopping if necessary. Handsome Son came by mid afternoon with groceries, cornbread and chat. 

It was only last night that I noticed, after staying in night clothes all day, unheard of for me, that my nightgown was inside out. Some people say it's lucky, some wonder about the wearer's marbles.