Monday, August 10, 2026

Socks, Boxes and Pots

One Vilai sock is done. It isn't blocking yet. I'll do them both at once when I finish the second one, but I put it on a sock blocker to make it look a little better.



I spent some time tidying up my workroom some more, and I think it looks better now. The closet is still full, but I removed a lot of stuff from it. Now I need to dust and vacuum.



I took another box of stuff to the thrift store. I have no doubt that another box or more will follow, but that's all I had time to go through for now.

Speaking of boxes, we had lots of boxes of wine in the garage over the winter. When the weather started to warm up, Charlie brought them in and arranged them on the floor of the family room. We're expecting company (friends from our days in Indonesia) to come to visit in two weeks, so Charlie decided to use the quilt I made for him out of a bunch of his old Hash House Harriers T-shirts from those days to cover the boxes. I would like to hang it on the wall, but we would either have to get some help to put it very high up or remove one of the other quilts.



Remember the basil plants from last week? 



They've been plucked. I was able to get half a cup of leaves (firmly packed) from the old plants and still leave enough on the plants to keep them going. I used the new pot from Trader Joe's to finish filling the cup for my recipe, which requires 1 cup of basil leaves, firmly packed. There is still quite a bit left.



On Tuesday, before our meeting of the Madroña Vineyards "Zoomies" pop-up group, I used my Oskar food processor to make the pesto. I used walnuts instead of pine nuts because we already had them. Otherwise, I made no changes to the recipe.



We used the pesto spread on whole wheat pita bread as a base under the vegetables and cheese for individual pizzas. Here's what they looked like going into the oven.



Here's one of the finished pizzas, baked and on a plate.



We had the frozen corn salad and a 2023 Madroña Riesling with it. Paul, the winemaker, put his pesto on naan, which is a little smaller than our pita bread. Other people who made the pesto used the pesto on chicken, fish or pasta. Some served it with a Riesling, but some chose a red wine instead. The Madroña Riesling is excellent, but the pizzas really enhanced the flavor.



We had another landscaper come to give us an estimate on what we want done. Here are the dogs, looking out the front door, to watch Charlie show the man what we want done.



The dogs went to the groomer on Thursday. The groomer noticed that Sandy's right ear was somewhat inflamed, so we made an appointment for the next day with the vet. It turned out that he had a yeast infection in both ears. We had some of the ear cleaning solution and the ointment left over from a previous infection, and they were still good, so we saved some money on medication.

I worked on my music a lot this week. The performance is at the new Bend Library on August 22, and Christian (our director) wants us to have the notes down by this week so we can work on dynamics and expression.



We were only able to walk twice during the week. It was either too hot or the air quality was bad...or both. Sunday the Purple app told me the AQI was excellent, but we had to go out early to avoid the hot sun we knew was coming.



That meant I had to miss church, but it was broadcast, and I was able to "attend" online after we got back. There was just enough time to finish the service before it was time for our family Zoom meeting.


I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry, BlueSky or Spoutible if you need information.


If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon or B&N and search for Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales RetoldOur Favorite Verses, More Classic Tales Retold or Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still working on the Vilai socks.

What's on my iPhone: Still listening to Wildwood by Colin Meloy. 

What's on my sewing machine: Still put away until the next project.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Charlotte wonders why her friend doesn't like to practice the violin but thinks playing a violin is a hobby. What's a hobby, anyway? This story from The Doll's Storybook is "Need a Hobby?"


What's my tip of the week: If you get a "basil plant" from Trader Joe's, it's really a pot full of plants. You can repot it and break it up into several plants.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog, and they are reproduced in print with a few changes.

Book #7 is in the works.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, only 8%, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your local library to order the books.

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.

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