New Horizons

The whole-cloth quilt is coming along.

I'm working on what is in the lower left-hand corner in this photo. Quite a lot is done. I really should keep on it until it's done. It's a queen-size quilt. I'm not sure where it will go when I'm done with it, but I can see the end in sight.

The usual foods are growing, too. I have sprouts growing all the time. I've discovered that if I just use one tablespoon of seeds and let them grow longer, they will still fill the jar. This saves seeds. I also started some kimchi, because I've just finished what I had. This batch is just regular cabbage, because that was all we could get without going from store to store, which we're reluctant to do. People in our county are not required to wear masks in public, so we only go to stores that require them, so we couldn't get Napa or Savoy cabbage. I'm sure this will be fine, though. We ate the second "flush" of golden oyster mushrooms, and I'm spraying the mycelium to see if we can get a third one.

We have been getting some use out of our new air fryer. It's an Emeril Lagasse.

I've used it to make cottage fries and hash browns several times, and to make potato chips. I've used it to heat up garlic bread. I found out you can bake in it, and the kitchen doesn't heat up as much as the stove oven does. Since we had some hot weather, That's a real advantage. On Saturday I used it to make these chocolate-chip cookies . They were delicious. I only made four cookes for the two of us to enjoy then, but I made the dough balls for the whole recipe, which will make 16 cookies. I froze the extras, so I can just thaw and bake as needed. I put them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and popped them into the freezer. When they were frozen hard, I dumped them into a freezer bag. I want to try this recipe from Epicurious for Air Fryer Crispy Herbed Chickpeas.

The garden is coming along slowly. I think the birds or squirrels have been getting the strawberries before they are ripe, but the plants seem to be thriving. The peas have found their supporting strings.

The zucchini plants are getting big.

The tomato, eggplant and other squash plants are doing well, and we will have some blueberries soon, if the critters don't get them.

The story this week required that I clean up my fiber studio, so I spent some time on that.

Speaking of The Doll's Storybook, our granddaughter received an iPod for her birthday this year. This one can be programed to allow her to visit websites her parents allow and to text with anyone who has an iPod or iPhone, also as allowed by her parents. She has been using it to read my stories. Here she is reading the story that came out on Friday. She sent me a text to say she liked the part where Billy looked up Chile on my computer.

We had some warm weather, but it always cools off at night. Since the sun comes up at an ungodly hour, I can get up, open up the house to let in the cool air, then put on my sleep mask and (maybe) go back to sleep. DH says when the current furnace dies, we can replace it with a unit that cools as well as heats. I can't wait.

What's on my needles: The Which Came First Shawl. Only one row finished, so not anything to show, but it's a start.

What's on my sewing machine: Other than to make a repair to a dog leash, neither sewing machine has seen any use this week.

What's in my hoop: Still the whole cloth quilt. Some progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: A Ski Trip for Jolena. Emil wonders why Jolena is packing, and Billy explains that there is snow in Chile, so Jolena and the team will be going there to practice.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Listening to My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows. (I left off two of the authors in last week's blog post. Sorry.) 

What's in my wine glass: Ray Road Proprietor's Reserve Red 2017.

What's my tip of the week: Basil and dill leaves are both good in sandwiches. If you have the plants growing in your garden (or indoors, as ours are), just pluck off a leaf or two. They add a lot of flavor. (Maybe not with peanut butter and jam, but with cheese, egg, lunchmeat, tuna and other savory fillings.)

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Is This the New Normal?

Jolena's Jenny Cable Jumper is finished.

There are some mistakes in the pattern, but it's a very nice design. The pattern is available here.

I made the placket version, which is designed to be lined with grosgrain ribbon and then have snaps sewn on. I didn't have the ribbon and didn't want to waste snaps when I have so many buttons in an appropriate color, so I crocheted SC stitches along the outside edge with a chain 5 where each of the buttons was.

I also knit the body in the round, but from the inside, so I was knitting all the sts instead of purling to get the reverse stockinette.

I managed to get some quilting in this week. Progress on my whole-cloth quilt is slow, but it's coming along. To make the cross-hatching, I quilt in zig-zags across a length of the quilt. This makes the stitching flexible, so the threads are not as easily broken or popped out of the fabric, as could be the case with sewing straight across in single lines.

Stay tuned. It will still be a while.

We got another crop of Golden Oyster Mushrooms. This "flush" wasn't as big, but that was good, because we had only just finished eating the last ones.

I've been making my own salad dressing. I use a Good Seasons jar, fill the vinegar to the -V-, water to the -W- and oil to the -O-. Then I throw in some seasonings. This one uses lemon juice, dill and Dijon mustard, but lemon juice is very sour, so I started out with water first and then the lemon juice in place of the water on the jar. Salt, pepper, 2 teaspoons of mustard, a tablespoon of chopped fresh dill (dried only takes 1 teaspoon) and topped off with olive oil.

In other news, I braved the outside world to visit the dentist. I had a good visit and was impressed with their precautions. They had patients wait in the parking lot until it was time for them to come in. They had hand sanitizer at the door. Masks were required by everyone inside. The counter now has a big clear-plastic wall separating patients from the office staff. You have to take off your mask for them to X-ray, clean and examine your teeth. Patients can only walk through the hall (wearing masks) one at a time, so I had to wait for someone else to depart.

The dogs went to the groomer. The procedures were the same as last time. Our groomer came out to get the pups and I handed her a check. We're wearing masks, all except the dogs.

We're continuing to have our weekly Zoom meetings.

What's on my needles: Just CO the Which Came First Shawl. I've named my project "The Egg Came First," because there were dinosaur eggs before there were chickens.

What's on my sewing machine: Still waiting, but I may have to get them set up for more masks.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In this week's story, "All About the News," Mariah interviews Emil for an article for the school paper about a doll with a disability. Billy takes some photos, and the school newspaper uses one of them. It's all about journalism.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith. Now listening to My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand.

What's in my wine glass: Martha Clara Vineyards Pinot Noir 2016 from The North Fork of Long Island.

What's my tip of the week: An update on mask information can be found in this article. The bottom line recommendation is: Wear a mask. The Coronavirus seems to be found in the lower respiratory tract primarily. Being next to an infected person who is simply breathing is low risk, even indoors, although outdoors is safer regardless of what the person is doing. Singing, yelling, coughing, sneezing, etc., however, brings up moisture particles from the lower respiratory tract. (It is NOT okay to remove the mask to talk.) A single layer of quilting cotton provides some protection for the wearer, although the protection is greater for others. An increase in layers increases protection. (The masks I was making for the hospital provided eight layers if the filter is included, unless the folds need to open up to shape around the wearer's face. No mask is total protection, and the virus can enter through the eyes. If everyone wore a mask, protection to society would approach the effectiveness of a vaccine, but at virtually no cost, and we could have it now. It's an interesting article.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Things That Grow.

More mushrooms are sprouting. Here's Sunday afternoon:

They started becoming visible Saturday morning. This morning they looked like this.

I spent a good part of the week working on my book from The Doll's Storybook. Here's a screen shot of the cover in the Pages layout.

I'm planning to include three stories featuring Mariah: "Being Little," "Besties" and "Distraction." I think the book will be about 60+ pages. I'm looking into self-publishing. The tricky part will be how to get the proceeds to go directly to a charity that supports pediatric cancer. I've approached another charity. I hope to hear something soon, because I would like to include the wording about which charity is getting the support.

Because of the work on the layout, I didn't get much knitting done, but the Jenny Cable Jumper for Jolena is coming along slowly. I had to frog the yoke three times (not all the way back, but just a few rows) because I dropped stitches where the increases were made and couldn't figure out how to pick them up again.

Church services are still online, and I found out Sunday morning that the bishop has decided that we will stay online until after Labor Day, which is probably a good idea. However, the choir met (via Zoom) on Wednesday evening. We are going to try to do a virtual choir performance that can be shared as a tribute to our local first responders.

As you know, mushrooms and sprouts aren't the only things we're growing. Our strawberries are coming along.

The peas are about 6" high now. DH built a lattice of string for them to climb.

We've always had good luck with zucchini. (The hardest part is picking them in time. You go to bed one night thinking they are almost big enough only to wake up to zucchinis big enough to use to beat off a bear.)

The blueberry bushes are thriving, but we won't have a big crop the first year. Still, they will be a nice treat.

I'm really looking forward to the chard, though, and it isn't in the ground yet. 

We also have winter squash (butternut, I think), eggplant, tomatoes and pepper plants. They are growing slowly. The nights are still pretty cool here.

What's on my needles: The pullover for Jolena, Jenny Cable Jumper by Tanya Dubinina.

What's on my sewing machine: Put away for now.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Cats and Dogs," in which Freckles and Marmalade talk about the dolls.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, which was excellent. I have another book by this author on my Audible wish list. Now listening to The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J. K. Rowling).

What's in my wine glass: Another Colossal Reserva from Casa Santos Lima. We have several bottles. It's pretty good.

What's my tip of the week: An old pair of pantyhose or nylon stocking can be used to make a great yarn sock. I pushed my newly-wound ball of yarn into the foot of the pantyhose, then cut the foot/leg off the right length (as for the two on the left). For the third ball of yarn, I knotted it first (right).

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

The Four-day Sabbatical

Our campsite was pretty private for the first three days of our camping trip.

We were hooked up to everything but sewer at Belknap Hot Springs and Gardens located on the McKenzie River in Central Oregon. There are flowers everywhere, especially rhododendrons. (That pagoda statue is leaning.)

The favorite color seemed to be red.

A special area of beauty is the "Secret Garden," which is enclosed by walls. 

There were several water features in this more formal garden.

The resort has a number of hiking trails within it, but its location right on the border of the Willamette National Forest adds miles of trail access right from our campsite.

The dogs had to be on a leash, but I let go of Rocky just long enough to get a photo of my boys, hiking. Misty's old retractable leash was in the trailer, so we gave it a try for Dusty, so he could have the feel of being off-leash, and it worked very well.

Some of the trails have access to water for the dogs. Because of his medication, Rocky is always looking for a place to drink, and both dogs enjoy playing in the water.

The McKenzie River is a tributary to the Willamette River. the current is too strong for the dogs to swim, but they had a good time wading or getting a drink whenever we found a beach at the water's edge where the water was fairly calm.

The river is big enough for rafting and kayaking, and some people were doing these activities, but formal groups were nonexistent because of Covid-19.

Large trees that had fallen in the forest had been cut to allow hikers to access the trail without climbing over huge logs. Sometimes Mother Nature stepped in to decorate for us.

We saw a lot of mushrooms. This one was a nice specimen. Here you can see the gills on the underside of the cap.

There were lots of different kinds, but we didn't sample any of them. However, my Golden Oyster mushrooms were ready to eat during the trip. We had taken them along, propped up in our 5th wheel's tub, so the box wouldn't fall over during the trip. When we were ready to eat them, I twisted them off from the mycelium and chopped them up.

Sautéed in a little olive oil with garlic, some thyme, salt and pepper, a splash of white wine and finally a tablespoon of cream at the end, they were tasty.

I cooked them all, but we didn't eat them all. They are best cooked right after picking the flush (mushroom talk for "harvest"), but cooked, they will keep in the fridge for several days.

Veronika and Emil went along with us. I was hoping to get some photos of them out in the campground, but by the time I was ready to do it, people had hooked up on each side of us. These campsites were very narrow. I had seen how casual our fellow campers were about social distancing, so I was reluctant to attract the attention of anyone, especially all the children running around, so the dolls stayed in the trailer. They got to see the outside though and seemed to find the campground interesting.

My "men" enjoyed sleeping in each morning. (The pups would get up early to potty and have breakfast each day, but then they liked to climb back into bed to curl up with Daddy for a nap until he got up.)

We hiked a total of over 16 miles in four days. It was great to be able to hike without foot or knee problems, although my arthritis acted up when I was at rest the first day, because of the cold. We had power, so I used my heating pad. The weather was lovely after that.

"Take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints" is what we practice, but I brought home a little souvenir by accident. I thought I just had a spider bite with a little scab in the middle, but it turned out to be a tick, and the culprit was still there. This photo is much larger than life-size, unless you're reading this on a very small screen. It measured just under 1/8." 

I had been putting alcohol and antibiotic creme on it. I'm guessing the alcohol killed the tick, so when I was treating it the day after we got home, it came off. Then I picked it up and had a look with a hand lens. That's when I saw that it had legs. The brown deer tick is a possibility, so I called the doctor. He was out driving near us, so he came by and made a house call (actually a porch call) to pick up the tick and have a look at the bite. He's going to try to get it identified, but he called in a prescription for antibiotic right away, just to be on the safe side. The swelling has gone down, so there is just a small red circle where it was. I expect all signs of my little souvenir to be gone in a day or two.

What's on my needles: I cast on the Jenny Pullover for Jolena using the Jenny Cable Jumper pattern from Dolls Boutique right after we got home from our trip. It starts at the neck.

The Covid-19 Rewilding Shawl, which I was working on during the trip, is all done except for blocking and the tassels (if I choose to use them).

What's on my sewing machines: Both sitting idle for now.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Mandy's Mushrooms. Mandy explains the difference between mushrooms and plants and how they are alike.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, a strange but interesting novel. I hate to put it down, but we've been doing things, so I haven't had as much time to listen as I'd like. I still have about 3 1/2 hours to go out of 12 hours and 20 minutes. I'm looking forward to finding out how it comes out.

What's in my wine glass: Atico Cabernet Sauvignon 2019. Interesting. Our first time to try this wine. We'll probably get it again.

What's my tip of the week: I've discovered that when you're growing sprouts in a quart jar, you can used just 1 T and almost fill the jar by letting them grow a few more days. Just keep rinsing them morning and night. It saves seeds, and I like the longer sprouts, too.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Growing Things

My Covid-19 Rewilding Shawl is growing....

And growing....

The eyelet section is a little more interesting, although the garter section has been fun to do, because the increases and decreases along the edges kept it from being too boring.

Other things are growing, too. You may remember that I received my Golden Oyster Mushroom Kit from NorthSpore.com the same day as my 25-pound (!) bag of rye flour. That was Wednesday, May 20th. I started the kit right away. You remove the front panel on the box of the kit, spray with tap water, using the little spray bottle that comes with the kit and put it on the kitchen counter, spraying at least twice a day, or more if you're in a dry climate. There wasn't much to see by the time I wrote my last blog post, so I didn't include a photo, but by a week later, it looked like this.

Here's Thursday, May 28.

Then all you-know-what broke loose and the stuff started to grow. Here's Friday, May 29.

Saturday, May 30.

....and then....

I bought the kit on impulse without doing any research. Since I've had it, though, I've done a little reading. It seems I lucked out on on choice of variety. This type of oyster mushrooms does best at room temperature (65-86ºF), which we have been able to count on here. We'll see how it does in the 5th wheel when nights are likely to be cooler. Harvest from when the first "pins" (mushroom buds) appear is supposed to be 2-5 days. It took a week for any action other than the white bloom that appeared after a few days. We should be able to harvest by later today.
More photos next week.

We're camping now with our 5th wheel (photos next week), so I had to take the mushrooms along. They will be ready soon. The sprouts are coming along, too, but I made some sourdough wheat bread on Saturday, so I wouldn't have to take the starter along. It can go a week between feedings. I feed it every time I make bread with it.

The lilacs are really lovely now. I took a photo of one bunch of each color in situ. Here's the white.

Here's the purple. They smell lovely.

The strawberry plants we (DH) transplanted from the other side of the yard have been growing as well, and now they have blossoms.

We had to move them last year when we put in the pad for trailer storage. Rocky is photo-bombing the strawberries. His main job, however, is to be one of my throw rugs.

DH has been repairing the bear house, which was damaged when we moved. The grandkids are really pretty careful with it, but pieces had been falling off. Now that it has been glued back together, all it needs is for the flower boxes to be replanted. (The original ones were removed by Zachary when he was too young to know better.)

The Oregon grands plan to come next month to visit. They had planned a trip to Norway, Sweden and Finland, but the virus took care of that. They are coming here instead. We'll stay away from other people for two weeks before, and they will do the same. Then we'll be careful when they are here.

We missed the Zoom meeting with the kids and grandkids on Sunday, because we were already on the road. They organized it on their own, though, and I expect to hear that all went well.

What's on my needles: The Rewilding Shawl.

What's on my sewing machine: Sitting idle.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Bear. It's about original work, some imagination and dealing with a bully.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow.

What's in my wine glass: Montevina Zinfandel 2016 Amador County. Excellent, especially with Thai food.

What's my tip of the week: We keep a word-processing document with a checklist of the things we need to be sure we take with us when we travel with our 5th wheel. I cross items off as they go into the trailer. That way we don't find ourselves stuck miles from home missing medication or a toothbrush, but also we can be sure we have dishwashing liquid and the hearing-aid chargers.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.