That Didn't Go As Planned...

Well. Merry Christmas. And Happy New Year. 

Christmas wasn't exactly Christmas. Or, it didn't go as I expected. I was honestly dreading it, since it was a reminder of the last day I saw my sister alive. 

But...almost simultaneously, Mother Nature threw a hissy fit and a couple of the immediate family came down with Covid, so we cancelled it. Initially, we put it off till New Year's Day - but with the fam having Covid, we had too many of us say, "You know, so far, we've been lucky and we feel like a cat on its 8-and-a-halfth life." 

So my mom pulled the plug, and we'll be doing a porch-drop of the various gifts. We even cancelled our Christmas Eve church service - winds howling over 50 mph, icy roads... I know there were churches in the area who did in-person services, but our own supply priest would have to have come in from north of Chicago. Maybe that was a knee-jerk reaction, but sometimes, you have to take that risk. 

All things considered, I'm somewhat relieved. Kid #2 came down for dinner today, which was fun. I ate some vegan cookies, and they were pretty good! In the larger tub on the left are variations on the ones I've made, and in the bowl on the right are things the Kid came up with. All are vegan, and the Snickerdoodles (a specialty) are delicious - you can't tell the difference between the ones I make (with egg) and the ones here, without egg. 

For some reason, Hubby won't touch them, so I have a whole batch of lovely cookies to myself! Fine with me. 

It's funny - you know when your oldest friend "gets" you. Check out this wrapping paper! She also is a person who can shop for me. I have a new, lovely, burgundy sweater that looks like it's a cowl neck, with a pair of gorgeous hoop earrings. She also gave me some lovely lotion and yoga-themed items. Hubby always rags me about the number of water bottles I have. So of course, in this year's box, was a yoga-themed water bottle. This one wasn't MY fault!

We've been exchanging gifts for a long time. This year, I found a vintage Mickey Mouse cookie jar, and at our church auction, I got a hand-quilted table runner (tones of green and ivory, just like her kitchen) and a set of cream/ivory soapstone candlesticks. I also got her a cosmetic bag, just for fun. She's a "fancy purse" kind of gal, and I found a glittery rose-gold one from the Kate Spade outlet website. It looks like much more than I paid for it! She loved all of it, thankfully. I'm particularly happy that she didn't have the cookie jar - she's got so much Disney stuff that I'm never sure what's what. And I'm not a Disney person, so I can only guess at this stuff. 

New Year's Eve...

In typical fashion, I'm watching "The Twilight Zone" marathon and will be knitting. I'm bummed - I had to change balls for the afghan in the final third of the row. Not cool. I was hoping to get the change done at the end of the row. 

I've prepped Quinn for the upcoming fireworks - which have already started. The diffuser in the bathroom where she sleeps has lavender in it and she got a round of hemp chews. I'll check on her in a bit (fingers and paws crossed, it's been quiet so far) and see if she needs a lavender butt rub. If it gets worse, I'll have to give her a shot of Sileo (vet prescribes it).  I'll have to be up with Quinn till she settles down and I don't have to worry about dragging her out from behind the toilet anyway, so I may as well relax and get comfy. I'm about to go change into my jammies and get situated in my chair. I know that while it's quiet now, around midnight it's likely to go nuts. 

Can you see how thrilled she is in her hat? Honestly, she does like wearing these things, but for some reason, this picture doesn't show her true feelings. Or maybe it does? All I know is that Raisa always looks like she's gonna crap in my shoes when I make her (rarely) wear a headband. 

Thankfully, Raisa isn't bothered by the noise, so she's conked out in the kitchen. 

I'm also praying for rain. Lots of it. So that the fireworks are kaput. It would make my new year nicer. There's church tomorrow, and I'd like to be fresh, since I'm playing a couple of the carols. 

We shall see what happens.

The Knitting...

The afghan, as I noted, is just coming along. It's at that weird spot where it looks like I haven't done anything much. I'm about 17.5" into it, and I've got to get to 35" before I can do the last 20 rows of the final border. 

I found that the turquoise and the taupe yarn balls are slightly off. It's not unusual, because in the factory they have wiggle room for that "5 oz" measurement of yarn. It can be plus or minus a couple of feet of actual yarn. In my world, I'd make sure that they're all even. Heck, I'm happy there wasn't a knot mid-hank - that's happened to me before. 

I have a small ball of turquoise left; and I might go really wild and put a little fringe on each corner. That would be very weird - I'm not normally a fringe gal. But in this case, maybe just a little one at the corners might not be too bad. 

I'm a bit annoyed... I'm not sure how I'm going to make these ends disappear into the afghan. If I could've made it to the end, I could've woven them up the sides. But I was literally 2/3 of the way across the row. Maybe I should've just frogged it back, but it's done now. 

I'm getting nervous about the Baby Surprise Jacket. I think I'm more concerned about getting the gauge right - I'm not usually a gauge person. My "typical" sweater is a knit-and-go because I always use the same yarn and the same pattern. But this branching out is a bit different for me. 

I keep telling myself, "How bad can it be?" So I guess I'll give it a go. It's only yarn. 

I have to get skippy though - the shower looks to be in March, so I suppose I'd better move it along!

The Baking...

Merry Christmas to me... Our old white Kitchen Aid is on its last legs. Hubby already opened her up and re-greased, and re-tuned her motor. And she was still struggling through some basic cookie batters. However, the nice thing about those gazillion pre-Christmas sales is that you can get your mixer replaced at a decent price so you may as well do so. One of our friends has christened her "Big Red." She's a commercial grade Kitchen Aid and I'm still getting used to her. She's a lot quieter than Snow White, but she's got a bigger bowl. Hubby also got me the scraper/beater, which I haven't used yet. 

I did try her out on some casserole bread, and the fact that it was screwed up is entirely my fault. Anyhow, I was surprised at how deep her bowl was. The dough did rise nicely, but I have to adjust my eyes to the depth and realize what's in there.

Honestly, it was the same with Snow White. Her bowl was bigger (went from a 3-qt. to a 5-qt.) and it took a minute to figure out what I could do with her and what she was capable of. 

And Big Red is an 8-qt. She's got some girth on her. 

So we didn't bake a couple of the batches of cookies that we planned. We didn't do the M & M cookies or the date balls. Not to worry - we have plenty of cookies to go around anyway. So I guess the ambitious list was just not going to happen this year. All I can say is that, were we to do those cookies, Big Red can handle them with ease. Snow White was, frankly, struggling with the almond crescents. 

I'm dropping a platter off to my mom. She gives my cookies to her friends, which works for me because then I'm not tempted to pick at them. 

Today, though - not a baking thing, but still... I made my first curry. I have to get more fresh ginger; I had a stash in the freezer, but somehow, it's not there, so I had to use powdered ginger. It was a sweet potato curry with red paste, and served over a rice blend. It wasn't too bad. We roasted Brussels Sprouts and I added some to my dish. They gave it a surprising amount of "crunch." Oh, and it also had garlic, chickpeas, and spinach in it. It kind of made me wish I could taste and smell. 

The original recipe called for a bag of fresh baby spinach, but I used a bag of frozen chopped spinach. That actually worked better because you weren't having to wrangle full-sized wilted spinach leaves. The Kid approved, and Hubby made chili-roasted spud slices, which they enjoyed. 

My commitment this year is to try to eat more veggies & fruit and less meat. I'm not a huge meat-eater anyway. But also I do need to de-junk my habits. I got into a rut with eating after yoga class: a ham sandwich or a grilled cheese... maybe a yogurt. 

It wasn't cool, and my stomach (and blood pressure) can tell. 

It's not necessarily a "resolution," but a plan. I'm setting a goal for myself, and I want to introduce more vegetarian options. I'm told that curries are addictive because they're super easy. Well, ok. Lucky for me, I don't get bored of the same meal over and over. 

The Hip...

So I'm still rehabbing. I'm not sure when I'll be bringing prenatal yoga to our studio, because you can't just teach that from a chair. 

But not to worry; I'm still positive that things are getting better. I have one more shot to do, and I'm going to talk to the doctor about a PT program. 

At first, he said, "all I could do for you for therapy, you can do with yoga." But -- I'm not always motivated. I need a nudge. If I'm tired or hurting, I'll sit my butt in a chair. That's fine, in one respect because it is important to listen to what your body is telling you. But to the point, I do need someone (other than Hubby) to nudge me to do stuff. If I know I have to be responsible to a therapist who's set goals, then I'm more likely to actually get off my butt and push myself a bit more. I would like to get more steps in, and one way to do that is to have a plan to get up out of my chair (at work it's worse!) and walk the hall a couple of times. If I can tour the office, or (weather permitting) take a tool around the building, it'll be good for me both mentally and physically. 

Once I can ditch the cane, I can get back to my yoga therapist. I can feel that it's a lot of muscle rather than bone pain. It's just getting my strength back in the muscles. 

I've taken to talking to myself. "It's just lifting your leg, you can do that." Or "One step at a time." Or all that positive stuff. If I do that regularly, I do see that I'm moving better and feel more motivated. 

Who knew? 

I'm not sure whether I should be bummed or pleased. Hubby got me a quad-foot for my cane and a spike for when Mother Nature gets back to her winter mode. After nearly killing us the week of Christmas, we've had that weird week "in-between" where it's almost been spring. 

No wonder everyone's sick. 

Random Picture...

I rearranged my table. I was given some lovely Lake Superior rocks and I wanted to display them. I also moved my Mary Magdalene icon. Of course, in my opinion, Mary Magdalene was robbed. Her entire story was created by the patriarchy in the church who couldn't stand a powerful, spiritual woman. And so they made her pay for it. 

But I digress. 

Today, after a long while, I decided to fire up the diffuser in the living room. I normally use the one in the bedroom every night, but I'm careful about the one in the living room because Raisa doesn't like it. I've heard about dogs who don't like the oils, even at the most mild, and that's fine. My friend's dog hated lavender, and when she'd diffuse it, the dog would go to the farthest reaches of the house to get away from it. 

Much like people - they don't have to like everything! So anyhow, she was in the kitchen, so I fired it up, using Young Living's "Celebration" blend. I hadn't pulled that one out in a while, because frankly, I wasn't feeling celebratory after this year. But I thought I should maybe try adjusting my own attitude. 

As you can see, I set my rocks out. The round one at the right, Kid #2 used for meditation, so it should be full of good juju. Now I just have to layer my own on top of it. I like to hold a palm stone when I meditate sometimes. Sometimes it's Labradorite, sometimes Shungite or Black Tourmaline or sometimes...it's just a rock. I have some Lake Michigan rocks that I picked up last time I was on the beach and they're just lovely smooth stones with stories to tell. 

I'm also hoping to get back to a regular meditation practice in 2023. Last Thursday, I held a free Metta Meditation class and one of my students said, "My heart feels so light." 

I want that feeling in 2023. What is your desire for 2023? What are your goals? And you know what? It's ok if you don't have any right now. 

Cute, but Useless...

 Yeah, that covers a lot, doesn't it?? Well, in this case, I'm talking spatulas. 

The Cookie Baking Season has begun and is almost done here in my house. And I dug out a spatula that someone gave me a while ago. Honestly, it's too long ago - I could've bought it myself, thinking it would be a cute addition to my kitchen. 

Cute, yes. Useful? Nope. All style, no function. 

The snowflake design is adorable, but it's a pain in the butt to clean, and to be honest, the "tips" of the snowflake make it impossible to get a good grab on a cookie. I tried it. The cookies pushed themselves to the edge of the parchment, and the spatula had no grip, in spite of the pebbled surface. And the snowflake cut out? Yeah - not easy to clean. 

So back in the drawer it goes. And I go to my old standard - the GOLD standard, in my opinion. By the way, as always, I don't do "affiliate" things. Whatever I suggest here is just because I think it's a good thing. 

My absolute favorite spatula is the Wilton one. It's got a nice sharp edge. It can actually dig into the parchment paper, but it's a boon for the more delicate cookies. It can also stand up to the sturdier cookies, like slice & bake, chocolate brownies, etc. I got this at the local Michael's store when they had a decent selection of Wilton stuff. Now, lately, it's mostly their own stuff. Sorry - I'm a snob when it comes to some products, and I know that I'm lucky to have the ability to buy the things I buy. It's a good idea to always get the best item you can. It doesn't help if you skimp on some basics, because you just have to spend more to replace the cheap stuff. I think this spatula was maybe $10.00 and it's lasted me for years. 

We have a rule with scissors and spatulas. If I say they're my fabric scissors, and you cut something other than fabric? It's not going to end well for you. 

And if I tell you "This is the COOKIE SPATULA," then don't be using it to lift fish sticks off a baking pan. I will be very upset! 

Anyway, we're mostly done with the cookies except for the Pineapple Crescents, a/k/a God's Fiddliest Cookie. I'm doing the dough tomorrow; it will sit in the fridge all day and then Tuesday & Wednesday nights, I'll bake it all. My kitchen will be a wreck, and I'll be dead, but it'll be done. Actually, Hubby will help me do some of it. He's been a great help in keeping me balanced. 

In order to rehab this hip thing, I'm learning the balance between "pushing" and "don't push." I'm feeling better, and I have to work on the "don't push" thing. 

The Knitting...

Just moving right along...Knitting for about 18" now. I have 35" or so to complete. I'm loving the heft and squishy feel of this afghan. 

Barring any emergencies or injuries, I'm going to sail through this and move on to the other items in the layette. 

Honestly, with a project this big, the changes are pretty much invisible in pictures. But I can tell by the weight of it. This is the heaviest one I've made so far. The Encore yarn I usually use has a gorgeous loft, but this Softee Baby is HEAVY. 

I can feel when it's not quite right on my lap because the whole thing lists over. 

Now, I'm wondering if when I do the Baby Surprise, I ought to just do one strand. I was going to hold 2 strands together, like the blanket, but I'm thinking that's gonna be a COAT and not a sweater. So maybe I just use the 1 strand and work it that way. 

I can always cast on and see how it goes. 

Bad Book...

Back in the way-back, when I had a Kindle Gen 3, I was still unsure about how this "e-book" thing was gonna work. Much like farmers never thought a tractor would beat a horse. 

(sigh) Ok, call me converted. But there are still glitches that wouldn't happen in print. 

I bought a great Agatha Christie mystery and I was so eager to get into it. But...The upload sucked. I mean, there was code or gobbledy-gook on every page. I got to Chapter Two and my eyes wanted to vomit. 

I found out how to report it to Kindle, and then I went on Amazon. I thought, "Maybe it's just me..." and lo & behold -- MANY readers rated this gorgeous mystery as a 1-star because "the upload was crap and we can't read it!"

I mean - zoom in on that picture and you'll see what I was looking at. You can't read that. Your brain searches for the word stuck in all that crap, and your eyes are literally twitching. 

I hope that Kindle sees this stuff and updates the book. I went on to another mystery, but it makes me sad to see how bad this is. 

As an editor, I'm used to being the last set of eyes before a book goes to print. This stuff? It's unacceptable. 

Random Picture...

Well, we finally decanted the Mother Jar of vanilla. Hubby re-upped the vodka and we put it in the pantry till next year. He found a bottle that I think used to carry honey mead. I remember one of the kids got it for him for Christmas. 

He's not a mead drinker... But the bottle is cool. 

I knew it was down there, and I'm glad it's now holding our precious vanilla. I have my original -- I mean from like 2000 -- vanilla where I used Svedka. Hubby decided to get me Tanqueray Sterling Vodka. 

Honestly, when making vanilla, middle-shelf is fine. But I must say, this vanilla is quadruple-strength and it's smooooooooooooth! 

I have Indonesian beans coming. The vanilla comes from the POD, not the bean. So I've been scraping some of my beans to make cookies and frosting. Now, I'll add the Indonesian beans to my Ugandan beans; likely, I'll start another Mother jar, because this one should be split up. Too many beans in the jar. It'll be easier to make 2 jars, as long as we have enough vodka. 

I wonder about transferring the vanilla out of the Svedka jar. I just love it because it's my "vanilla history." It's something think about. 

Christmas Has Commenced...

 So, "White Christmas" is on the TV, I've got a cake and 2 batches of cookies baked. Hubby has the tree up...He's going to put one batch of Lemon & Cherry cookies in the oven this evening. 

It feels like we might have some momentum. I've got 4 gifts wrapped, and most of the shopping done. Though, to confess, in the past many years, I've just done shopping early and had it over with. That worked out especially well with Covid, of course, but lately, I'm not even in the mood to get out and "people" a lot with shoppers. 

I will say, however, that I'm a bit bummed that the local "Christmas Pop-Up Shop" which opened in one of the mall buildings has not decided to come back. That was fun, even though I certainly do not need one more ornament or decoration. Period. 

I finished a large editing project. I actually even caught up on the blogs I usually read regularly, but I let them slide. There's been a lot going on. 

I hate to jinx it, but I'm actually slightly ahead of myself at work, considering it's Advent and we're embarking on the busiest season for the next few weeks. Fingers crossed that I haven't just put a pox on the copier or something... 

The One Problem...

The fact that I still have just about ZERO taste & smell is particularly problematic. I can smell strong smells. I often misidentify them. Many times, I've said to Hubby, "Something's burning..." and it's not. But taste is the most elusive now, and it's hitting me funny. I don't want to eat. 

I was just kind of eating out of habit, even though (a) I couldn't taste it; and (b) with the hip injury I was certainly not moving a lot. That caused a pretty nasty weight gain. Now, I'm not a waif. I never have been, and I've not been obsessive about my weight. I'm pretty strong, and I have good (or HAD) muscle tone. Could I be thinner? Yeah, my cardiologist would like that, but I was active and  ate mostly clean, so he wasn't too fussed about it. 

But at my last check up he was not a happy camper. I don't know if that's what lit the lightbulb for me, or it's (which is where I'm tending to land on this issue) the anniversary of the last time I saw my sister alive that's hitting me between the eyeballs. 

I have to do something to re-create a sensible balance. I'm committing myself to introducing more plant-based meals into my cooking rota. Hubby is a definite carnivore, and that's fine. Dude never sits still...he's always doing something. So that's good on him. But for me, I find meat to be "heavy." I always have, apparently. I asked my mom to make sure I wasn't imagining it. 

So yeah, this is definitely a First World problem. I have a house to live in, I have food in the fridge, I have good health insurance. And I also have long-Covid. Which pretty much sucks. 

I really saw something disturbing on the socials recently. As you may have heard, Celine Dion said she has "Stiff Person Syndrome," and some people have linked that to the fact that she took the Covid vaccines (as did I - and I had Covid before we had vaccines...). 

The fact that these people are all, "She took the poison so she's paying the price"? That is inhumane. Unkind. Scurrilous unless you know for sure whether that's true, and reading it off a list of "side effects" doesn't count unless you know her medical history. I mean, honestly, I thought she was quite frail after her husband died. Who knows what she's been through?

And it's none of our business. 

Why can't people be kinder?

Knitting On...

I'm knitting apace with the baby blanket. I've got about a foot on the needles. It's 33" long, so I've got another couple feet to go. 

I'm enjoying how this is feeling. It's very squishy, and honestly, is going to be one warm blankie for the kid! 

I'm anxious to get on to the Baby Surprise Jacket, but a bit apprehensive, too. I mean, I've seen a lot of "genius, so easy" as well as a lot of, "OMG, I'm so confused!" And knitting on a deadline doesn't help that. I did see a version where they seamed up the front and made the neck wider - making it a jumper or pullover. That's an option. 

Anyway, it's going to be an experience. 

So my friend D sent me a note and said, "I have these socks..." They're adorable: red heels, cuffs and toes, and a grey background, with a motif of candy canes. I don't do color-work like that. I love the design, and I love the other colorwork socks I've seen, but frankly - self-patterning sock yarn is my jam. 

She said the sweetest thing: "You're a better knitter than you think you are..." That's quite a vote of confidence since she's such a great knitter herself. 

I'm also kind of getting my knitting mojo back, so I'm anxious to get knitting on some other stuff; finishing up Long Sands, finishing up at least another pair of socks. Perhaps starting something from my stash. I have a couple projects set aside: a nice beret, a cowl, and a vest. And maybe those colorwork socks that D wants me to try. 

The Baking...

First up was a Poppy Seed cake, which I put in a Bundt pan. I've sliced and double-wrapped it so that I can add the slices to the cookie trays. 

CPS Butter Cookies were next. I scrape in 2 vanilla beans, and I add 2 tsp. of vanilla (which is a tad more than they call for. These are family favorites, especially since I've added the vanilla bean. Those were a last-minute addition to the list - so Baking Kid told me there would be a vegan option. I just said go ahead and do them, and I'll keep mine for the cookie trays we're giving away. 

If we don't tell the carnivores that the baking is vegan, 90% of the time, they can't tell... 

These are great cookies if you're tired of shortbread. See, even though they ARE basically shortbread, they're somehow fluffier and not as dense as shortbread can be. One year, I dipped them in chocolate as a "half & half" cookie. 

It was gilding the lily and we didn't need to do that. The vote was to "do what you did before," and skip the chocolate. Heck, even I decided that doing that was a bridge too far... 

Next was Jewish Honey Cookies. This was a recent addition - as in, I only started adding these to the Cookie List a few years ago. They were an unexpected hit. 

But there are caveats. Apparently, the recipe should not be doubled...It's a dairy free recipe, and uses oil. I doubled it one year and the cookies sucked. Don't ask. I don't know. I figured it was easy enough to do them one batch at a time, since one batch makes about 36 cookies. 

(We make A LOT of cookies.) And -- I discovered that putting two pans at a time in my oven caused some issues. It looks like my oven may need a recalibration. 

To my eyes, the far left batch (I did 9 to a pan, because they do spread) is the darkest. That was at the full 12 minutes. The middle batch went in when the first pan was about 5 minutes in. And then the last pan was slightly too pale. 

This is one we'll do another batch of, so I have another shot at getting it right. 

The remaining cookies need chilling before baking, so we'll work on those in the coming days. As Hubby said, "It's only December 10." I have to have a large chunk of them done by the 3rd Wednesday, for a gathering, but I find that I can stand and bake, and manage to hobble my way from one end of the kitchen counter to the other, so it's not hurting me to do that. 

And he's a good baker - we work well together. 

Quick kitchen hack: Stick a chopstick in your sugar and flour canisters. Give them a stir before you use them. I rarely sift flour, but recently, I've been toying with stirring the flour a bit to sort of "fluff" it a bit. I've noticed that it not only makes the bread lighter, but it also helps the cookies rise a bit better. 

The chopstick also helps as a handy leveler - when you're dipping your dry measuring cup in there, you don't have to reach for a butter knife or spatula - you have your nifty chopstick which will help you without giving you another utensil to wash. 

The Ornaments...

The batch of ornaments this year was small. I hadn't realized that till I looked at the spreadsheet. Yes, I do have a spreadsheet - I need it to keep track of 18 years of ornaments per kid. 

And after the holidays, I'll have to order another 18 for the May Baby. 

The Joy and the Christmas Tree will go to Montana for the last of the Montana Kids... I think there's only a year or two left for one of them. 

The rest stay here in Illinois. 

Fun fact: I used to be able to pick these up at a local craft store. Gradually, they became harder and harder to find. One year, I ended up with these really crappy "ornament" looking things. No character at all. I had to really fiddle with them to give them some personality. 

But then I was lucky enough to find a website where they had the actual ornaments I was used to seeing. Some, of course, were no longer available (like a lot of the Santas, surprisingly). But I made do with what I could find, and each kid gets their own theme. 

It used to be more random when I had better access to the wider variety. 

Nice thing is: the kids don't care. I see my siblings' kids putting theirs up and it's really heartwarming. Makes me feel like this little thing mattered. 

The Tree...

This year, we did what we usually do: Tree on Table. It's the only safe way to have a tree with two dogs who masquerade as bulls in a china shop! 

Way back, my husky Topaz would sleep under the tree, and she was so graceful (even though she was huge) that she could get under and out of it without disturbing anything. 

Quinn & Raisa? Nope. Just easier to put a small tree on the table. Sometimes we do my Grandma's ceramic tree (my mom made it for her years ago). Sometimes we do the 4-footer. 

This year, Hubby found a different tree topper, and so we're kind of really bright. We have both colored and white lights on it, and mostly the Hallmark Frosty Friends ornaments on it. I've been collecting those for years. Since they first came out, actually. 

As you can see, too, we have them surrounding the tree. We haven't quite chosen a nativity set yet. That's another foray into the basement. 

I also got some Xmas cards out. Yeah, we send them. Shorter list, though. 

Random Picture...

My happy place. With my mixer. I have several happy places, to be honest: with a book, knitting, on my yoga mat, in my garden. But this time of year, I really do like to make time to spend in the kitchen. Whether it's baking or cooking, it's just a place where I can tune out the rest of the crap happening. 

I feel like I use an entirely different part of my brain in the kitchen. Even without a lot of sense of taste & smell, I can still cook. 

Recently, however, my good old Kitchen Aid has been making some oddball noises. Don't die on me now! First Kid has my avocado-green smaller Kitchen Aid from the 70s. That's when they were all metal. 

Now, they're not. We've already done "open heart surgery" on it once. I'm not sure what more we can do if it decides to crap out. Other than buy a new machine, which I don't know that I want to do. And if we do, it's likely to be another Kitchen Aid, because we have accessories for this one, like the grinder and pasta maker. 

But lately, nothing lasts like it used to, so I shouldn't be surprised. 

What's YOUR happy place? What does it feel like, sound like, look like? And if you've never thought about it, maybe it's time to do so!

A Small Miracle???

 No, not that I'm actually back here. Though, it's a thought. 

To say it's been a rough year would be an understatement. Actually, the last entry was just before my mom needed her hip replaced, and I'm now her medical person. So there were numerous medical appointments, the surgery itself, post-op care, etc. 

It's all fine, she's walking better than I am, and she's not in pain. 

I've had my second PRP shot in my left hip. That picture right there is the plasma they spun down from my blood. All that goes into the joint where the injury is, and it acts like your body's own "cortisone." It takes a while; I had 3 or 4 INSTANCES only after the first shot, where I was pain free, and they didn't last. But the effects are cumulative, and I have great hopes. They were very happy with the amount of plasma I was able to produce. 

I've noticed muscle atrophy in that leg and I'm a bit confused, but working on rehabbing it. The JOINT doesn't hurt, but I have some pretty interesting and intense muscle cramps. I'm using a cane, which my doctor and his nurses suggest that I decorate for the holidays. Little do they know that I'd actually do that... 

And, in one of the most bittersweet moments of this year, my nephew announced that his wife is pregnant. My sister won't be here to see that grandbaby. 

Let's start there...

The Knitting...

I have put aside the Long Sands Tee, not because of baby knitting (well, sort of) but because of the project below...a HUGE book editing gig. 

But once I heard the news, I was back in "start" mode. I had started, a few years back, a baby afghan for them, thinking I'd get a jump on things. It was going to be a feather-and-fan (also known as Old Shale) in the colors of their wedding afghan. I remember I set it aside because I managed to screw up the pattern, and one of my fans was off. And there was no news on the baby front, so I thought I'd eventually figure it out. 

In the meantime, JoAnn Fabrics had a sale on their Bernat Baby Softee, and I picked up 4 bundles: 2 each of aquamarine and "little mouse" (a sweet tan/taupe). I had no plans, but I figured the colors went well together and who knows - someone will turn up pregnant sooner or later. 

So as you know, my habit is: baby sweater, afghan, hat and maybe booties. This little one is going to be born in May - no need for sweaters. So we have to think differently. Still doing a sweater but had to look at my original "standard" - which doesn't go beyond a size 6 months. While that may work out mathematically, I've made the 6-month size for EVERY baby, and it fit them at birth. We grow 'em big here...

And... I decided to do a version of the Encore 8-hour afghan that I've done before. I'll tell you my theory on that in a second. I had enough Baby Softee to do the afghan. But not enough to do the rest. 

No more of that color combo at JoAnn (of course)... And I really wanted to do "simple" instead of what I had initially chosen for them. 

So I hoped on to Jimmy Bean's Wool. What with my own hip issues and a schedule that has gone from "nuts" to "impossible," I wasn't going to be making the 4-hour trip to my LYS anytime soon. 

I wanted something coordinated. What I found was a freakin' miracle to which I can only attribute the powers of the Knitting fairies or my sister, whatever plane she's on. The colors match. Two different yarns entirely: one set of Cascade 200, a superwash wool, and the Bernat Baby Softee, an acrylic. And they MATCH. Of course there's the sheen on the acrylic, but holy moley... the bottom knitting is the Baby Softee. The top two balls are half of what I bought for the sweater, the Cascade 220. 

I am so gobsmacked and jazzed! I was prepared to be ok with something "close enough." Well, near-perfect is certainly "close enough." 

So the sweater? (Insert drumroll here) I've decided to try for a Baby Surprise Jacket. I figure a 12-month BSJ can have rolled sleeves if by chance the baby is smaller, but if at 6 months, the peanut is more like a 9-10 month old, it'll still fit. And garter stitch is remarkably stretchy. I can do the turquoise/aquamarine for the body, and add random stripes of the cafe latte. And then reverse that for the hat. Yippee!!

Ok, now my screed on simple knitting. The pattern I'm using is off the Bernat site, and it's actually for a gradient, where you'd have a pale color, with two darker colors, and switch the darker colors half-way through. So, let's think green & cream. The green would be perhaps a grass green and then an emerald color. You'd hold the emerald + cream together for the first half of the afghan and then switch to the grass green + cream for the last half. I've done that in an Encore pattern with a different pattern: 2 of the darker colors first, then dark + light in the middle, and then 2 of the light at the end. It's gorgeous. 

But since I only had 2 colors, this is going to be very tweedy and I already love how the colors are patterning themselves. 

And let's face it. For me, at least, if I screw up a lace pattern, or have one more stitch or whatever in a complex pattern, I can fake it. It's a "design element." Here, with just garter border and stockinette body? There's no where to hide. Your skills, such as they are, shine (or not) in plain knitting. 

Besides which, this particular afghan is draping like a dream and the texture of the yarn is bouncy and yummy. And, thank you, grandma - my tension looks really good so far. It's a 20-row bottom, and then 12 knit at each side. Alternate knit and purl through the body for stockinette and you're good to go. Then 19 rows of garter at the top, and a bind-off for row 20. Easy as pie. 

If I had more colors, I certainly would've used them. I should work on some sort of scrappy baby blanket, but this is going to be good. For what it's worth, they're not revealing the gender, even to themselves. They want to go "old school." Which is fine - this colorway will work for whatever they have. 

I also have my "travel sock" which I'm piddling with. Honestly, since this hip injury, my hand-made socks are easier to get on than the store-bought ones...so I should get skippy and just finish a pair! 

One stitch at a time...

The Baking...

The last time I saw my sister alive was on Christmas Eve. Needless to say, this year is going to be hard. Well, let's just put it out there. SUCK is kind of the order of the day. 

There was a small family melt-down over the timing of Christmas Eve, which I will for now ignore (it'll go in my novel). 

I digress. 

My sister's favorite part of the dinner was the cookies. All baked by hubby and me. Her favorites were M & M cookies - take your basic chocolate chip recipe and instead of chips, put in Xmas-colored M & Ms. We made big ones, soft and chewy. We'd set aside a dozen for her and she'd take them home, hoarding them. One a month. 

To be honest, so far, they're not on my list. I'm not sure I can make them. My list is actually short-ish, all things considered. 

We did, however, do potica. And the dough was not happy. It was pretty stinky, as a matter of fact. It would roll...and then Slowly. Go. Back. Hubby had to fight it every step of the way. They weren't pretty. I was ready to chuck the whole thing and start over, but he persevered. 

They baked up pretty. The taste and texture were there. They got rave reviews. And they never knew how close they came to getting binned! So we're stocked for Christmas, though we may do another single batch for Easter. We make 1 batch of dough (unless we get crazy and do a double -- which results in anywhere from 6 - 10 loaves and is a marathon weekend of baking). And we make 1.5 batches of filling. My family has come to like just a tad more filling - actually about 1.25 batches, but I don't want to "math" that much. 

Hubby has a fix for that extra filling. His granny's Never Fail Pie Crust, and a mini cupcake tin. Voila, my mother's new favorite cookie and lots LESS fiddly than Pecan Tassies (or nut cups, as my granny used to call them). 

So the list is, so far, brown sugar cookies (rolled with our Ukranian cookie press rolling pin); lemon cherry cookies; coconut macaroons; chocolate shortbread; poppy seed cake; almond crescents; chocolate chip bars; lemon bars; pineapple crescents; snow-on-the-mountain and filled cookies. Oh, and Jewish Honey Cookies just because everyone loves them. 

I'm not sure if anything else will make it to the list. Probably not. We're giving a lot of it away, aside from the platter we do for the family dinner. It's a labor of love, but there's someone missing. My brother's favorite is the pineapple crescents - he gets his own bag too. 

So anyway, that's the plan.

The Project...

I've snagged a great editing gig. I've done 6 books already, and I'm on #7, for a publisher that I've worked for before. I'm the "last set of eyes" on the books before they go to press. A great gig, the books are all pretty good, and the only problem is -- with my hip. Because I can sit a long time editing 8 or 10 chapters. Then I figure I need to stand up. 

Oy, the creaking! So I've settled in to doing 2 chapters, then I get up and walk around, get some tea, take a trip to the bathroom, pet a dog. Anything to keep me moving. 

And I'm still able to make my deadlines. The books are all coming out in 2023, so I'm looking forward to seeing them in print. 

I've started thinking about a book I'd like to write or at least be the lead author on. Maybe that'll happen soon. Stay tuned!

The Bat...

I work for a church. The church buildig itself is old, from around 1910-ish. And occasionally, we have visitors. Of the animal kind. During Covid, when we were in lockdown and not permitted to have services, we battled the spiders, who promptly saw this as an opportunity to reclaim the entire building. 

Then, we had a cat in the basement - which I actually was hoping we'd be able to lure into the office to keep the mice at bay (a different building). That didn't happen. 

We've had a bird fly into the church while we had the doors open. We've had bats - mainly dead already.

And then there was last week. A parishioner comes up and says, "There's a bat in the sacristy and if So-and-So sees it, they're going to freak out because they don't like bats."

I go take a look. It looks dead. There are cobwebs around it. It's about 12 feet up. 

I call Animal Control. In our county, bats are supposed to be removed and tested for rabies because it's a problem. I think, "No worries, we'll get the little critter out of there and it'll be fine."

Well. Animal Control isn't allowed to get up on ladders. Dude says to me, "I can do this because on this one step, I can reach it, but next time, the bat should be within reach." Seriously, in my head, I'm thinking, "Ok. I'll leave a note for the bats..." And then... It's alive. I hear peep-peep-peep...and he's got it in some salad tongs, wings flapping, a very peeved bat. 

He can't let him go; it's his duty to take it in and send it to Bat Heaven. I'm gutted. And now we have to figure out how he got in (the bat...). 

I'm still a little concerned about the "bats have to be within reach" thing though - who tells the bats??

Random Picture...

It's Advent. This was from last year; this year, I'm not sure I'm going to set up our Advent Wreath - which is what this is. Two years ago, our vicar had a "make your own wreath" project for us, and this is what I came up with. 

In spite of the fact that I knit, I'm not entirely a craftsy person. I thought this looked pretty good; I didn't want real candles, so these are the battery-operated ones, and the ribbons and gold balls just look nice. 

We are going to have a tree of some sort on the dining room table. Tomorrow, I start the annual Ornament Extravaganza, and I know I'll have to order 18 ornaments for the gestating Peanut, but that's going to happen later. 

And in the meantime, knitting continues, and I bake. 

Pizza Sauce and More...

 As the weather changes, thoughts turn to canning... Or at least they do in my house! We usually make our own pizza sauce, and we make our own jams and preserves. We tend to do them in batches - so we have supplies for a couple years at least. 

This time, it's pizza sauce. Though, in the search for jars in the basement, Hubby found two cases of old sauce - like embarassingly old. Which we pitched. Canned goods - home-canned, I mean - don't last forever, in spite of what we'd like to think. But luckily, the rings and the jars are reusable. The lids aren't - or at least for the canning part. I like to have a few used lids, so that if I'm using a canning jar to shake up some salad dressing or the like, I can have a spare lid or two around. I don't re-use them for hot water bath canning. 

So my recipe is simple: I cut tomatoes up and freeze them as we go through the season. I don't bother blanching them or anything, but I try to use home-grown, because I think that, for the most part, store-bought tomatoes taste like nothing. So I've also been known to scrounge from friends - "do you have tomatoes that you're not using?" And usually, I'm rewarded. 

I also buy organic peppers, mostly red and yellow, because they're more ripe (though it looks like a small bag of green peppers made their way into the sauce). Core them, cut into quarters and freeze them. I use home-grown leeks (if we're growing them), home-grown carrots, and home-grown celery. I roast garlic and squeeze the cloves into the sauce. This time, we didn't have leeks, so I used shallots, which I sauteed lightly. Add 4 Knorr Vegetable broth cubes (mostly because I don't have home-made veggie broth), salt, pepper, Italian seasoning. If you can get away with it (and I forgot this time!!), toss in some shredded zucchini for extra veggie power. Make it vegetarian/vegan by sauteeing everything in either olive or avocado oil. 

Herbs, you may ask? Okey-dokey.... Parsley, rosemary and basil -- again, from my garden. Lest you think I'm Martha Stewart, I'm a person who likes to grow herbs mainly because they're pretty. 

A bit of lemon zest, just because. And adjust as you go, because it may need more of something. Also add about a quart of water. This time, we had a HUGE pot. I mean, insanely huge, which Hubby bought because he thought it was a good idea. Well - it's so tall that I can't stir it without getting my tender bits too close to the hot pot! So he's really handling it all. I'm doing the recipe mainly from memory, as my tastebuds are still shot, thank you Covid. 

He ended up, on a trip to get some groceries, stopping by the local restaurant supply place to get an extra-long spatula to stir the pot because nothing I had was tall enough! When it's reduced down by about a third or so, we usually add 2-3 small cans of tomato paste. Then, turn on the stick blender and whiz till your preferred texture. 

You could, if you weren't making a Lake Michigan-sized batch, whiz it up in a blender - and of course, only fill the blender about half-way because hot sauce + a fuller blender container = an explosion that seriously causes burns as well as some amazing "sauce splatter patterns" on the various kitchen surfaces (ask me how I know this...). 

We think that, this time, we'll get over 40 pint jars (update: we got 50 pints!!!). That's a lot of sauce. The pot just keeps giving. I started calling it "Mary Poppins' Pot" but Hubby refers to it as 'The Loaves and Fishes" because the sauce Just. Keeps. Coming. 

In the next few weeks, we'll be doing jams/preserves. I'll have to see what we have in the freezer for berries. I know we at least have blueberries and strawberries. Hubby says we may have apples...in which case, I'll make some applesauce. Extra chunky, which I love with pork. Or over ice cream. It's all good!

The Spurtle Is Found...

Well, my great-granny wouldn't have called it a spurtle, because that's a Scottish term for the spoon they stir their oatmeal with. But it looks like a spurtle - it's her polenta spoon. For years, we thought it was lost. My mom has been doing her Swedish Death Cleaning - she'd been at it since before her hip replacement. Actually, since my sister died, my mom has been on that tack. It's kind of making me crazy because she's giving me stuff. I have no idea what to do with it, because my kids aren't going to want it. And I can't bear to toss it just yet. But I know it's a lost cause when I'm dead...to be honest, I'm just about the only one old enough to remember the people associated - and as well as remembering, CARING about them and the history behind some of these items and pictures. There's maybe ONE other person who would be interested, but that doesn't mean that anyone younger than me actually wants stuff.  Anyway - she gave me an apron of my granny's, and I do honestly wear her aprons because they're big. Great-granny was a substantial woman, and the aprons were nothing fru-fru...they were meant to cover her up when she was in the kitchen and those aprons meant business. 

Lo and behold -- wrapped in the apron was the Polenta Spoon...in reality, a wooden spoon which she had my grandpa (my mom's dad) carve down into a smooth stick. Because, in the Old Country, you used a stick to stir your polenta. 

To be honest? THIS thing will be something one of the kids will latch onto. Not the china or silverware or pictures. Now I have to grab a pan and make some polenta, especially with the weather getting cooler. And with the pizza sauce? Yummy! Or for breakfast, with butter and a touch of honey. 

The Knitting Continues...

I'm plugging away at the knitting, and for some reason, it's just dragging. On. And. On. And. On. It shouldn't be like that, but sometimes, knitting just is a tremendous drag. I have a few WIPs that I am not sure I want to complete; and I'm not sure I want to frog them either. It's a quandry for sure.  

I'm torn. I have start-itis, and I need another WIP (work in progress) like I need a hole in my head. But the socks aren't doing their usual magic. I feel like casting on another pair, but the singletons are mocking me from their project bags: "Finish ME for Pete's sake!!" and I should - that way, I actually get a PAIR that I can wear! 

I'm in knitting ennui. A slump, if you will. I hate slumps. 

I had wanted this tee (the pattern says it's a tee - I'm considering it an "overlay" to a tank top or long-sleeved tee) to be done so that I could wear it this summer, since it's linen. But all kinds of crap interfered with my knitting mojo and I'm actually forcing myself to work on it. That's never good, in my opinion, but it's sort of where I'm at right now. 

I got a lot of compliments on my Fluoromania socks when I finally decided that it was now cold enough to wear socks again and posted a picture of them on Facebook - that yarn that was all the rage a few years (or more) ago where the colorways were actual fluorescent blends in outrageous combos, such as flamingo pink and electric blue, and a vibrant tie-dye blend of violet, lime green, yellow, and magenta. I have one hank of this Regia yarn left and it's in chartreuse with lime green. I really, really want to whip up a pair of socks in this, just for the shock value alone. I kind of wish it was still "in" because these days? Who doesn't need shocking socks? 

Right now, none of my projects are "portable and mindless." Which is why socks are drawing me in again. I can just do a vanilla pattern and let the yarn do its thing. The "let the yarn work for you" thing is why I do a lot of vanilla (plain) socks. And when I do patterns, they're usually only on the leg, mostly because I don't like the feel of patterns across the top of my feet. It's just me; there are stunning sock patterns all the way down to the toe decreases, but if I'm knitting it, the pattern stops when I start the heel. 

Maybe if I can whip up a simple shawl, it'll take the edge off? Seriously, who am I kidding? 

The Thing is Now Legal...

Well, not like I was NOT legal, but this past weekend, I did an assistant teaching gig with my teacher, Linda, and I officially picked up my 500-hour certificate. So now, I'm good to go. I actually got confirmation a few weeks ago, so technically, I was "legally" a 500-hour teacher. And now, I've got the paper to prove it. 

I'm glad it's done. That, with the Prenatal Yoga certification, means I'm good for a while. I do have enough CEUs for a couple years! 

As yoga teachers, it's up to us to keep up with continuing education. Things change. When I first trained, in 2014, one of the cues for Trikonasana (Triangle) pose was "as you move your spine over your front leg, imagine your body pressed between two panes of glass." Well, first off, that's a horrible cue. Second, that actually takes your sacrum (lowest part of your spine) and jams it in bewteen the pelvic bones. 

AND - it assumes that every body is the same. That nobody has any issues in their spines, that everyone moves the same way. That all students look like cookie-cutter figures. Which is patently untrue, and it has been untrue for many years. 

After some years of studying biomechanics and the history of yoga-related injuries, we now know that you should let the top hip "roll over" a bit - so that your lower spine can move a bit... THAT is why you continue to train. You don't have to go nuts, but attending at least one workshop a year isn't a bad idea and it doesn't have to cost thousands of dollars. You can attend some great workshops for under $100, most of the time. 

And now that I'm 500-hour certified, I can actually teach workshops to other teachers. That's pretty cool!

Random Picture...

Every morning, Raisa greets me with her giant Kong bone. Usually by chucking it at me. Thankfully, she waits till I'm out of bed - when I'm in my chair, that's her cue. 

She thinks it's fun to tug and for me to toss it to her. She'll either catch it in mid-air, or I can sneak it past her and she's got to go find it. 

This is an endurance test for her and a reflex test for me: am I awake enough to not get smacked in the noggin with a slimy rubber bone? Most mornings, I'm actually good. Surprising, isn't it? 

She's quite an efficient "pitcher" and has only missed a couple of times. This picture was the result of one of her throws. 

Yes. Right on the arm of my chair. She's pretty cautious about going after the bone if it's near Hubby's orchids, near the TV, or near any of my stuff, so I'll give her credit. And this was right next to my arm. She waited patiently for me to take the shot and then I tossed it back at her. 

It's those little routines every morning that start your day out the right way...

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Pregnancy Begins With a Penis...

 ...so perhaps THAT should be regulated by the "party of small government." (See what I did there??) My postcard campaign continues, and honestly, I don't know whether to smack Lindsey Graham upside his entirely EMPTY head, or... THANK him for galvanizing women young and old. Because he's such a chuckle-headed nitwit. Great move, dude...national abortion ban? Great strategy. 

Pink Tsunami, here we come. Duck & cover, Lindsey. You own this one. 

The party of small government wants to get into my uterus (even though my child-bearing ship has sailed a while ago), but perhaps they ought to look at the teeny-tiny penises. They're all so busy bloviating and thinking that they've got the biggest one in the room. 

Got news for you, boys. (And girls, where IS your common sense?) The uterus brought you into this world. Women voters will take you out. 

And while I'm at it, let's talk about student loans. I have a disclosure to make: I have never had a student loan. I had a grant. Hubby had loans, but the interest rate was 1-2% - whereas now, they're the equivalent of a mortgage. My kid doesn't have student loans, but friends do. People I know have declared bankruptcy because the loans are basically usurious... Seriously, do some math and understand DAILY COMPOUNDING OF INTEREST. 

Have you ever seen a closing statement for a mortgage? Or a car loan? I have. You buy a car for $30,000 and after you tack on interest, your loan paper says you're paying upwards of $60,000 for that car over the life of the loan. And that's calculated on SIMPLE interest. The interest is figured in with your payment, and is amortized through the life of the loan. 

But with student loans, interest is compounded DAILY. Daily compounded interest means interest is accumulated daily and is calculated by charging interest on principal plus interest earned daily; therefore, it is higher than interest compounded on a monthly/quarterly basis due to the high frequency of compounding. So think about this, because the math looks "small" but if you consider that the rate is DAILY, you can see how this is just...insane. 

You first take the annual interest rate on your loan and divide it by 365 to determine the amount of interest that accrues on a daily basis. Say you owe $10,000 on a loan with 5% annual interest. You'd divide that rate by 365 (i.e., 0.05 ÷ 365) to arrive at a daily interest rate of 0.000137. That daily interest rate looks pretty tiny, doesn't it? Well, it's different from your car loan, which is calculated MONTHLY - every 30 days. This student loan interest is calculated DAILY, so you can see how that would add up. 

Anyway... Look at the postcard above. Good old Marge Greene got $180,000 in PPP loans FORGIVEN. And she's screeching like a stuck pig about $10,000 in student loan forgiveness. A bunch of  'em got HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in PPP loans FORGIVEN. But hey, why would you want to give someone a hand up, when you can kick 'em while they're down? Is that the new "christian way"? Seems so. 

I've gotta sit with DeathSentence and The Texas Idiot for awhile before I talk about the racist, abhorrent, disgusting, dangerous thing they've done. All I can say is that I hope that the backlash from this is like a herd of elephants, butt sides facing an industrial fan on high speed, with said elephants having the runs. Simultaneously. 

Hip, hip hooray...

So my mom's total hip replacement has occurred. She's home, after an overnight in the hospital. I'm very glad she stayed. 

We got her to the hospital at 6 a.m. and the surgery was scheduled for 7:30. I stayed, with my hospital knitting (see the sock). And I had a fully-charged Kindle, and they had HGTV playing in the waiting room. And I could people-watch - which was weird. 

Because about 60% of the people IN THE HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM couldn't quite figure out, nearly 3 years into this, that a MASK GOES OVER THE NOSE, TOO. Seriously, people. The signs (with pictures) are all over the place. 

Anyhow, as I was waiting. And waiting. And waiting, I noticed that there were a lot of codes being called, but I was ok because none of them were "code blue," so I wasn't too concerned. But the time came and went for her to have been done, and I was still sitting there. Then, the manager was coming around asking for various families...turns out that somehow, the hospital was full. As in "no room in the inn" full - no rooms available. So if you lived close, they suggested that you go home. Anyway - I got to see her for a few minutes in the recovery room. She cracked an eye open, said, "I've been hit by a bus," and fell back asleep. That was my cue to go home. 

I got home and took a nap; then they called me around 4:30 p.m. and she'd finally gotten a room. I'm so glad I wasn't stuck there all day. I wasn't doing any good; just taking up space. 

Her neighbor is helping her out, we have the food lined up, and all systems are go. She hates the compression socks. "If they come up any higher, I might actually have a perky bustline." Yep, no filter... 

Now it's time to focus on fixing MY hip. Doctor's appointment on Monday to figure it out. 

The Garden...

I was poking around the back pot of parsley and found...caterpillars! I usually do flat-leaf parsley in the front yard for them, but somehow, they made their way to the back (curly-leaf) and have taken up residence. Started out with 5 of them, and I'm down to 2...so I hope that 3 of them have gone on to be chrysalis-to-butterfly, and not bird food. It should be safer back there, because the birdfeeders are all up front. 

These are Swallowtail butterflies in the making. My milkweed never even bloomed. So Hubby tells me he prefers the taste of the flat-leaf parsley, but I warned him to still be careful about the caterpillars. They blend in so well that they take you by surprise!

The birds have been enjoying the seeds from the coneflowers and the Brown-eyed Susans, and the hummingbird feeders were reorganized. I pitched the ones that weren't working or were ignored. Usually, it was because hornets and bees could get to them, or -- my favorite one finally broke down beyond repair and I couldn't find a replacement. So I have three that they seem to like and we're sticking with them. 

And at work, my wild flowers in pots have done well, considering that they're somewhat neglected. I bought a bubbler. We have a "flower pot drain bowl" that we've been using as a bird bath, and I added a bubbler to it so as to cut down on mosquito eggs. The birds seem to enjoy it.

When the office door is open, the sound of the bubbler is quite soothing. And of course, Flat St. John had to pose to show himself off in this "water feature." 

We have nasturtium, salvia, begonia and windflowers, so it's a nice assortment, as I said - considering that I've virtually ignored the whole thing all year. It's been busy...

We're planning The Great Tomato Sauce Canning for the first weekend in October. I'm considering something that I've seen another friend do: roasting the veggies and then puree them in my Vita Mix. Or I'll do it the way I always do: in a huge stock pot, simmering for hours. We'll see. I think it's about the same amount of time, maybe less doing it via the roasting method. It might be worth it to do 2 batches, one in each method, to see how it goes. 

Welcome...

To the new Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, Paula Clark... The first woman, and woman of color, to be a bishop in this diocese. She's had a long, hard road since her election and we waited for nearly 2 years to have her consecration ceremony. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry was heading the service. 

Her vestments, hand-made, honored her membership in the International Order of the Daughters of the King, and the ceremony was planned specifically by her.  

Hubby and I were going to join the choir, but after looking at Covid numbers, looking at my own risk factors, and the fact that my mom just got out of the hospital and we're her primary humans...we decided, reluctantly, to withdraw. Which is a shame, because the music was pretty awesome. 

You may recognize Bishop Curry from his preaching at Harry & Megan's wedding. He's pretty dynamic, to say the least. 

Bishop Paula wore some awesome red kicks! And some purists objected to the tennis shoes. OK, let's break this down... About 18 months ago, she had a traumatic brain injury, brain surgery, a long and difficult recovery, and then her husband died. She's got some lingering mobility issues. She's lucky to be alive, through much prayer and dint of hard work on her part...What did you expect? Manolo Blahniks??? Get real. Comfort and ability to walk and stand -- that's important. She's not here to make a fashion statement and those folks who object to this? They can kiss the north end of a south-bound horse. Or my pasty white rear end. Whichever...

Random Picture...

This is Quinn, getting a Saturday Skritch. She turns into "oozy dog" and just melts. she loves her belly rubs, for sure. She's healing up very nicely from the nasty cysts she's had lately. 

She turns 12 soon. She's really getting older, and I can see subtle signs, such as a little less spring in her legs when she gets up on the couch, and sometimes a bit of deeper sleep where she startles. And her tail is not curling - that's kind of a classic Norwegian Elkhound "old dog" phase, when their tail stops curling over their rump. 

Shyness has never been her problem. When she's in "flathound" mode, she's totally relaxed. 

Looking for yoga and there's no studio nearby? We have Zoom classes!

In the area? We have THREE new classes, including Prenatal on Saturday afternoon, an additional chair class on Saturday morning, and Yoga with Gratitude & Grace on Wednesday nights. 

Check our website at www.just-breatheyoga.com or 

text/call us at (815) 546-2770 if you have questions about which class is the best one for you. We are a safe, inclusive space - and welcome you as you are.