Stocking Up

 My needles have been rediscovering socks, and I had forgotten how much fun they could be. The pattern this time is Vilai from Cookie A's Sock Innovation.

My preferred method for knitting socks is to use two circular needles, rather than a set of DPNs.

The July knit along in the Goetz Doll Lovers forum on Ravelry continues. A designer has offered four new patterns. If you buy two of them, you can get the other two for free, one for each one of the others you knit and post in the group. A project page is required for each completed project. Since I'm one of the moderators, I'm trying to support the activity in the group, so last week I made one of the projects. This week I set aside my socks to make another project.

The yarn is left over from this year's Mystery Knit Along from the Rose City Yarn Crawl. It has little bits of dark hot pink in it, so I put some hot pink buttons on the back. The pattern is called Dandelions and it was designed by Sharisse Dunn of Sugar Grove South.

It was a lot of fun to knit with some interesting features, including a crocheted connection of the sleeves at the underarm, easy to do, thanks to the photos showing before and after the process. My model for this top is "Pam," Götz Little Kidz Springtime. In my stories she plays a doll character who lives with a little girl who is diabetic.

The shaping gives the top a nice fit.

I've been harvesting the basil, but it's growing back. Not enough to make pesto, though. The Madroña Vineyards pop-up group is considering doing something with a pesto recipe for one of our meetings. I would have to buy some to have enough to make pesto, but these plants are enough to produce a few leaves for when I'm in the mood for a little basil.

We had some mushrooms that needed to be used, so I made my tuna casserole (cream of mushroom soup, peas, egg noodles) but added a bunch of sautéed mushrooms and onions with a little added salt and pepper. I think I'll have enough to freeze for camping.

We needed the weekly loaf of bread, of course. I use my sourdough starter, which is made using unbleached flour, so I add 1/8 cup each of gluten flour, wheat bran and oat bran, and then the rest whole wheat flour.

I've been going over the music for the Summer Choir. Monday's practice went well, I think. I was disappointed when it was time for us to stop. I'm looking forward to tonight's practice.

The dogs and I walked each day this week. Charlie joined us when he could, but he skipped a couple of days because of other things he had to do outdoors before it got too hot, like mowing the plants in the front and back of the house. (I wouldn't exactly call the stuff "grass.") Most of our walks were along the Larkspur trail and some off-leash time in the woods, but on Saturday, we joined the Trinity Episcopal Church's "hike" (really a nice walk) at Alpenglow Park. We made two loops in opposite directions and ended up with almost 1 3/4 miles.

Some folks were giving out "Watchtower" brochures at the park, and we recruited one to take this photo of our group.

We followed up with lunch at Cascade Lakes Brewing, which was on our way home. 

We drove by Jim's old house after lunch. Charlie wanted to get a photo of what the new owners had done to the front yard for inspiration and ideas for what to do with ours.

We've also been watching the FIFA World Cup. The last two games were especially fun to watch. Sandy wasn't all that excited about it.

Alexa and Johan are still in France. Here's Johan singing a duet with a busker at the 

Sacré-Cœur. How much fun is that? They should be on their way home today.

Sandy is storing up energy for the next walk/hike.

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 Retold, Our 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: Took some time off from the Vilai socks to make a new top for Pam (see above) and now back to the socks.

What's on my iPhone: Finished Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan on the Audiobooksnow app. Now back 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: Jolena has come back from Australia, and the boys want to see her photos. The dolls from the ski team got to go to a special zoo in Sydney where all the animals native to Australia are on exhibit. How much fun is that? Back from Down Under.

What's my tip of the week: There are special water dishes or water bottles you can get to provide water to your dog on walks/hikes. I don't have anything special. The dogs and I share the water bottle. I serve their water in a little Tupperware bowl that fits in my pouch. The lid will go back on for a leakproof seal, if they don't drink it all, saving water for the next hydration break. I don't have to throw any water away, which helps when the hike takes longer and the weather is hot.

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.

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>   

It Was the Best of Weather...Until it Wasn't!

We've had beautiful weather through most of the week, so beautiful, in fact, that the dandelions took off. I've never seen so many. We could make gallons of dandelion wine, if we chose to spend our time that way.

They're gone now. "Where have all the flowers gone?" Mowed down, every one! It's too bad. They were very pretty, and they were everywhere in the yard where grass might grow but doesn't.

We had an incident that messed up our week, and it had nothing to do with the dandelions. Dusty somehow injured himself Wednesday night, either by encountering something in the dark backyard or by too-rough play with Sandy out there. He was supposed to have a spa day to celebrate his birthday on Thursday, but we had to call the groomer and reschedule his visit. I had some expired Vetprofen and had given Dusty some at 4:00 AM so he could sleep. (It's an anti-inflammatory medication for dogs.) I called the vet Thursday morning and was able to swing by and pick up some carprofen, which is the generic form of the same drug, while I was dropping Sandy off at the groomer's. Dusty had a sucky birthday, but he was feeling well enough by late afternoon that we could go for a short walk. We went through the woods, so we could let the dogs off-leash. That way, Sandy could have the zoomies while Dusty could do what he felt like doing.

We've been using harnesses on the dogs to reduce the pulling. Dusty doesn't pull very often, but Sandy does. I think it's a way they have of keeping the connection with us, because they are happy to stay close to us when they're off-leash. They only pull when we use the leash. They don't pull at all with the harnesses on, perhaps because they can feel the connection with us all over their torsos instead of just around the neck.

We gave each dog a piece of carob brownie by way of celebrating Dusty's 9th birthday. I found out dogs can have carob, and there's only a small amount of honey to sweeten it. The other ingredients are dog-friendly.

By Saturday, Dusty seemed about back to normal, but the weather was no longer nice. It was cold, and it rained off and on. We went for a shorter walk. I couldn't let the pups off-leash on the trail, but i got them to stay put so I could take a photo. I didn't have any treats with me, so they don't look very happy. Sandy looks incensed.

Earlier in the week, I planned to make some tuna-noodle casserole, but I didn't have any condensed mushroom soup, which I usually use to make it. I found this recipe, which seemed suitable, but it would make way too much, so I cut it down to 25% of the quantities called for, so basically one can of tuna, 4 ounces of pasta, etc. I added about 12 ounces of frozen peas, because that's what I put into my tuna casserole, and it was delicious! We've had it as leftovers, and we still have enough for another meal.

We had some bananas that were beginning to get ripe, and I had been wanting to try the "Breakfast Cookies" recipe I found. I had to make some substitutions, but they worked out well. There are a number of "Breakfast Cookie" recipes. The one I picked was this one. Here's my version.

Here are the cookies:

I used olive oil instead of the avocado oil, honey instead of the maple syrup, dried cranberries instead of the raisins and left out the flax seeds (which I didn't have). They turned out great, and fine for tea time like regular cookies, although we ate some for breakfast, too.

We had a gentleman come to give us an estimate on replacing our old fiberglass bathtub and enclosure in the guest bath. We will still have a tub, but it will be nice and new. The old tub and enclosure is faded, stained and cracked. It has a big rectangle in the middle on the tub where someone left a bathmat that leached dye into the fiberglass. At one point it had glass doors, which are gone, but the track is still there. This will be a big improvement to the house, if we can afford to do it.

I was able to gather and organize the photos for my next book, then edit and do the layout for the title page, table of contents and the first story (of five).

In my spare time, I was able to get some knitting done. The Love of Spiders pattern is interesting, but I have to pay attention to where I leave off now that I'm into the second section.

I call it "Catch and Release," because that's what we do with spiders at our place. After several warm days, it cooled off. I hope the spiders don't mind the weather as I release them to the outdoors, where they're likely to find more bugs to eat.

We're going to try to go camping again soon: La Pine in a couple of weeks and Timothy Lake in June. Let's hope it warms up again.

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 More Classic Tales Retold or 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, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses or More 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 Love of Spiders shawl by Melanie Berg.

What's on my iPhone: Still listening to Secrets and Lies by Selena Montgomery using the Chirp app. I haven't gotten very far. It's interesting, but it has been a crazy week.

What's on my sewing machine: Still waiting to do some repairs.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In Changes at School the boys become concerned when they learn that the school is going to be opened up for dolls without elbow and knee joints. How will that change their school experience? This week’s story from The Doll’s Storybook.

What's my tip of the week: Use a bread machine to mix your dough. That's how I make mine. I spray a little cooking spray in the bottom of the pan before I put the paddle in to provide some lubrication for the paddle to move smoothly against the pan. 

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. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well.

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.

<a class="blsdk-follow" href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/highfiber-7365001" target="_blank" data-blsdk-type="button" data-blsdk-counter="false">Follow</a><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))</script>

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>