HighFiber: ballet

Showing posts with label ballet. Show all posts

Monday, October 28, 2024

Moving on to the Future

The books arrived right on schedule on Monday. One of them didn't even make it into the house. The UPS driver already has the first four books. He was happy to take home the new More Classic Tales Retold for his kids.

I love having my books go to new homes, where they will hopefully teach kindness, appreciation for diversity and some science as well as entertain. When I get a chance, I will deliver one to each of the Little Libraries in my neighborhood, where they always disappear, never to return. I will also take one to the church library and another to the public library.

We watched the first two games of the World Series. One of the Dodgers was injured in the second game trying to steal second base. Apparently it wasn't too serious, because he will be playing in Game Three. My beloved Red Sox aren't in the Series this year, but Charlie is cheering for the Dodgers, having grown up in Southern California. We were talking during a commercial break, and I commented that I couldn't understand why some people think baseball is boring. "It's like a walk in the park," I said. "The sun is shining, the birds are singing, you walk along, admiring the flowers, when suddenly...."

"You get mugged!" he said.

That explains baseball.

I got some knitting done while watching the games. The border pattern on the second sleeve is starting to take shape.

I needed to bake some bread, along with another batch of granola.

We didn't get too much walking in due to rain and cold at the wrong times. On Sunday, though, the pups and I got in our usual two-mile amble up the trail in each direction. We stopped at the bench for a photo. Sandy was happy to pose, but Dusty just wanted to get down from the bench. He enjoyed the rest of the walk though.

Daphne and Zachary's other grandmother and one of her aunts came to visit. They got to watch Daphne play the flute in the band at her high school.

Here she is actually performing.

She and Zachary performed as dancers over the weekend in the Ballet La Crosse production of "Alice in Wonderland." Daphne was in the points corps and Zachary was a playing card.

Daphne also played Alice's reflection in another scene.

In yet another scene she was a horse's...um...back two legs

The Beaverton grandkids expect to be with us for Thanksgiving, so we have that to look forward to. In the meantime, I'm working as a volunteer to get out the vote. This will be a busy week.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back next Saturday night, and if you have a minute or two, please go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble online and search for More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart! They order based on searches. They don't have the image of the cover available yet, but it will look like this.

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 or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Our Favorite Verses: Poems 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 or Classic Tales Retold, 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 Oregon Cardigan.

What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows.

What's on my sewing machine: Still its dust cover.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: This week's story from #TheDollsStorybook is A Baseball Game with a Strange Ending. It's a coincidence that it coincides with the World Series. Did you know that some people don't like to be touched?

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Started listening to Dean Koontz's new book, The Forest of Lost Souls. Also reading a physical book, In the Shelter of Each Other by Milree Latimer. Still not very far into either yet.

What's in my wine glass: Yellow tail Cabernet Merlot 2021. We've had it before. It's very nice.

What's my tip of the week: If you need oil and and honey in the same recipe, see if you can measure them in the same cup. Measure the oil in first, then add honey to the oil. Almost all the honey will come out without sticking.

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

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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, because the publisher gets a cut.

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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Monday, November 7, 2022

Stalled!

The closet is coming along, but we had a problem yesterday, on Sunday, with the saw. (I think it's called a hack saw or a miter saw.) Anyway, the guard came off, and we had a terrible time getting it back on. I thought that was going to be it for the closet until it was resolved, but Charlie got it back together by using a washer (which it didn't have before) with the screw. Now it works. He has one side of the closet done and the opposite side partway done. It's hard to get a photo without a wide-angle lens, but this will give you an idea. The cedar goes all the way up to the ceiling. What you're seeing is the old stuff. The new cedar boards are longer and thinner. Those will go along the back.

Most of my time this week has been spent trying to get people out to vote or to return their ballots. We checked on our own ballots, which we turned in right before the weekend, and they were received on Monday, but not registered until Wednesday. Every ballot is important, especially in our area. This will give you an idea:

The signs closest to the camera are for Democrats. The house next door has only signs for Republicans. This is pretty typical for our neighborhood, although only a few people actually put up the signs. Regardless of your political affiliation, please vote. Our vote is our voice. If you live in Central Oregon, you might want to turn your ballot in today. Tuesday we might get more snow.

We managed to get our flu shots on Monday. I saw a witch coming out as I went in to get my shot. It was Halloween, after all, and witches and other strange beings can come and go without having anyone get frightened by them.

We had a lot more kids come trick-or-treating this year than we've had for a while. Besides candy, we handed out cards for my story blog to kids who looked like they might be the right age range. We always told them to give the card to their parents to check out the website before they went to read the stories. It's always a good idea for kids to have their parents approve of their interactions online.

Daphne performed in Marushka, a ballet with La Crosse Ballet. Here she is, warming up before the performance.

Here's Daphne with some other cast members.

I did a lot of laundry and cooking, but no fiber fun. I hope to get back to it after the election this week. We had choir practice, too, and we watched the World Series.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. 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 our other books, Emil and Mariah, 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 the Hinterland Pullover (no progress this week), Pauly's Wonderland Turtle and the EmPower People Kerchief (still hibernating).

What's on my loom: Still dust, but waiting for placemats.

What's on my sewing machine: Still ready for back of T-shirt quilt.

What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress..

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Mischief. Pippa is concerned about some vandalism in the neighborhood and wonders how to figure out what's wrong to do.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Now listening to Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor. Just barely into the story.

What's in my wine glass: Wine.

What's my tip of the week: We have a cabinet over the fridge where we keep supplies like cases of tomatoes, beans, etc., bags of flour, pasta sauce and other things that don't fit into the regular pantry. It's impossible to get into without a ladder. It's hard to see what's in there, even when you get up there. I keep a list of what's in there and cross off whatever we take out.

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

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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.

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Monday, September 12, 2022

Things Come Together

The first sleeve of the Hinterland Pullover is almost done. I had started the colorwork on the sleeves, but I began to think about having baggy sleeves and decided I would probably wear it more if the sleeves were plain, with ribbing, so that's what I'm doing.

I bought the fabric for the backing for the T-shirt quilt. This is what I picked out. It sort of reminds me of SCUBA diving, which was one of the activities we participated in in Indonesia, so suitable to go along with the T-shirts from those days.

We laid out the quilt top upside down on the floor and played around with the two blocks that we planned to put on the back.

In the end, we decided to put a square in the middle using the dark batik left over from the top. When I cut the tracks of footprints off the two blocks we will have four strips of footprints. We decided to put them in each corner, all running in the same direction, but one on each side and floating just a bit from the edge. This complicates piecing the back, especially, since the fabric has a pattern that is different when the piece is vertical versus horizontal. I wish I had noticed that when I picked it out. However, my diagram shows which way the pattern goes on each piece. Now I have to press the fabric and cut out the pieces with the pattern going the right way.

The nights have been getting cooler. The days aren't too hot, and probably won't be again until spring/summer '23, but our little garden is doing its best. The birds and squirrels got some of our tomatoes and our entire first crop of apples (two).

This little squash is almost ready.

Choir has started up again. We had a fairly small group this week, as some people are still away or otherwise occupied. It's hard to sing with a mask. I took mine off for the anthem and for the communion piece, but in a couple of weeks I shouldn't need it at all, because the new bivalent boosters are available here now, and we're getting ours on Tuesday. It has been five months since our last booster, so we're having to be more careful again.

The Oregon grandkids started school. Here they are, ready for the first day.

Daphne is going en pointe! This week she was fitted for her first pair of toe shoes.

The proofreading is finally done and my book is off to the publisher. Timing is still OK unless I have some problems with photos, as I had last year. This book has the same format as the first two, but the type is smaller and it has 10 more pages. There are still three stories, but this time the dolls act out the roles of characters in familiar stories.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. 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 this book or our first one, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them. The new book is going to be Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook. Here's the cover.

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

What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland Pullover (more progress made) and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating).

What's on my loom: Awaiting ?

What's on my sewing machine: Still ready for back of T-shirt quilt.

What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress..

What's in The Doll's Storybook: This week's story is School Days––a Poem, and it's a poem (no surprise). The dolls show us what they do at home before and after school and think about the coming cooler weather.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finishedl listening to Come a Little Closer by Rachel Abbott. Now listening to The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz.

What's in my wine glass: Villa di Mare Nero d'Avola from Italy (Sicily). Very nice. (I couldn't find a vintage on the bottle, but sometimes the type is too small.)

What's my tip of the week: Flu shots are available now, but the height of flu season is January/February. The vaccine looses its effectiveness over time, so we will be waiting a bit longer.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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.

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Monday, May 30, 2022

Competitions and Endeavors

I've been trying to cut back on dairy fat, as my cholesterol was up a bit at my last checkup. We had been drinking whole milk, and I was using half and half in my coffee. We're now using skim and I'm putting Nut Pods original unsweetened coffee creamer in my coffee. We'll see. Our daughter-in-law shared this quiche recipe with me. She's using it because one of the kids has avoid dairy, and it has no cheese. The cheesy flavor is from nutritional/brewer's yeast. I adapted it considerably, using my favorite silken tofu to replace the egg whites. The recipe below is my adaptation.

No-Cheese Quiche

Ingredients
• 2 9-inch pie crusts (gluten-free, if needed)
• ½ teaspoon olive
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 cup chopped red yellow or orange bell pepper
• 1 teaspoons dried basil

• 1 teaspoons dried oregano
• 8-10 oz frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained*
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 1 box silken tofu
• ⅔ cup milk or non-dairy milk
• 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

*If you don't have frozen spinach on hand, you can use fresh spinach, sliced zucchini or shedded broccoli. I used fresh kale, chopped up and added with the onion, garlic and pepper.

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Add oil to a medium skillet over medium-high. Add onion, garlic and bell pepper, and cook until onion is translucent, about 6-7 minutes. If you're using fresh spinach, add it after about 5 minutes and continue sautéing until cooked down. Set aside to cool.
If using frozen spinach, make sure the spinach is as dry as possible by squeezing out all of the water.
In a Blender, Blend together eggs, tofu, milk, seasonings and nutritional yeast. Scatter veggie mixture and chopped spinach on the bottom of prepared crust.
Pour egg mixture over top and push under any ingredients not covered by the egg mixture to prevent burning. Bake uncovered until set and golden brown around edges, about 45 minutes. Let quiche rest at room temperature for 10 minutes, then cut into slices and serve.
Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days.

It was yummy. I'll definitely make it again.

You will probably remember my political activities from previous blog posts. Since we're coming up on the midterm elections, I've been busy trying to help candidates I feel have good values and who I think will work for their constituents, not special interests. I've been unhappy with the Congressman in our district, so I was happy that redistricting put us in another district. (He's running again.) Then I looked into the Congressman currently serving in that district and was dismayed at his record. A big issue for me was when he voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, especially in light of the fact that the pharmaceutical industry donated a ton of money to his campaign. There were other issues, too. However, a candidate I've liked ever since we moved to Oregon was running against him in the primary, so I jumped in to give her my support. It really has cut into my knitting/weaving/quilting time, but she has won the primary. It took some time for the race to be called because of a bar-code issue in one of the counties, but she won by a lot, sending a 7-term Congressman back to the private sector. I will be working to help her win in November.

Last week I went to see the dermatology clinic because of an itchy place on my upper chest I've had off and on for two years. It had suddenly started bothering me a lot more, and applications of cortisone or antibiotic hadn't seemed to help. It was right where I had had a tick two years ago, when we went to Belnap Hot Springs to camp, just when the pandemic was in full swing, and we weren't really sure if it was safe to be with other people. (You can read about our adventures there here, if you like.) I picked up a tick during that adventure. I couldn't tell what it was at first. I thought I had a spider bite that I scratched and caused a scab. I put some antibiotic ointment on it. I took this photo, so I could enlarge it and see the wound better. (The shiny stuff on my skin is the antibiotic ointment, which incidentally killed the tick by stopping up its breathing holes.) This photo is much enlarged. The tick was only about 1/8". Our doctor gave me an antibiotic to take just to be sure I didn't get something like Lyme Disease from it. Last week, when I went to the dermatology clinic, I showed the place that itched to the technician and the photos I took. She identified the itchy place on my skin as exactly where the tick was in the photo and decided to remove the tiny bump that was there.

She assured me that any tick parts would have long since worked their way to the surface, but she would send it off for biopsy. We got the results this week. Pathology said the itching was caused by altered cells resulting from the tick bite. Interestingly enough, the technician removed a similar bump from a man's back around the same time. It was the same thing. The spot is healing nicely. The itching is almost gone and is probably now from healing.

We took the stroller and went to the dog park on Thursday. Rocky got to walk around and socialize with the other dogs at the park, and Dusty got to play and have some competition to chase the ball. Then we went on to the groomer after that. Rocky was groomed last week, but it was Dusty's turn. We walked home from the groomer. Rocky decided he wanted to get out and walk when we reached the trail, so he got a little more exercise. You can see Rocky in this photo, but Dusty is entirely under the covers!

Peter's family came down with Covid on Monday. As I write this, they are recovering well, but still testing positive. Peter may have to work from home this week. They were supposed to come here over the long weekend, and it would have been fun, but we certainly didn't want to get Covid or anything else, and I'm sure they didn't feel like driving. So now all of our grandchildren have had it.

Meanwhile, Karen's family has had visitors. David's mother and sister. They came to watch the kids' dance recital. Daphne has had some exciting news. She was accepted into the Pre-Pro program for ballet, which is very competitive, and has made it to Level 4 in all the styles of dance. She will get to go en pointe next year. (For laypersons, that means she will get to use toe shoes.) Zachary is dancing well, too. Both kids really enjoy dancing.

I had hoped to start sewing the T-shirt quilt during the week, but it was just too busy.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. 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 our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left 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 the Hinterland Pullover, a few more rounds done, and the emPower People Kerchief, which is hibernating in Rocky's stroller. Also CO another striped sweater to check the pattern. I want to try to make the transition from stockinette to ribbing a little more tidy. Not much progress on that, either.

What's on my loom: No progress this week.

What's on my sewing machine: Still some trousers for Pauly.

What's in my hoop: Still waiting.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In A Scary Story, two dolls get lost in the big juniper forest and have some adventures that might seem somehow familiar.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone on the Audible app. No progress this week.

What's in my wine glass: Motacilla Alba Monastrell 2019 from Spain. Not bad.

What's my tip of the week: If you keep kale, zucchini or frozen corn on hand, it won't matter if you run out of lettuce for salad. Kale can be chopped or sliced thinly and used just as lettuce. Zucchini can be shredded and mixed with dressing. (I like to make a dressing from equal parts olive oil and lemon juice.) I have a great recipe for frozen corn salad with tomatoes, green onions, red onion, cucumber, sweet peppers, avocado and spinach or other greens with a dressing that includes pickled garlic and salsa. I think I've shared it here before.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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.

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