On the Road Again

While getting ready for our long camping trip, I decided I didn't want to take my good scissors, so I went ahead and cut the steeks for my Oregon Autumn Cardigan. I'm hoping to get a lot of knitting done on the road.

I needed something mindless to work on during meetings and the Olympics, and who doesn't need more dishcloths? I had some Peaches & Creme cotton yarn left from the trailer rugs I wove for the old 5th wheel and then resized for the r·pod, so the color is perfect for the trailer. I picked the pattern because it's slightly different from Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth, which I've used before, but still mindless.

We have a new addition to our collection of tiny poodles in our china cabinet. Do you recognize Rocky? A friend and very kind person created this replica for me. He arrived in the mail a few days ago.

She used a photo of Rocky in his later years as a model. He's perfect, even down to the haircut. (Usually poodle figurines have a show haircut, like they come that way.)

Now we keep the hair on the body and legs shorter, for ease of maintenance. Dusty and Sandy went to the groomer on Thursday. We wanted to get their haircuts shortly before leaving town, so they wouldn't need too much attention while we're traveling and would stay in good shape until we get back. They will need regular brushing, however. Gracie, the groomer, said that Sandy has grown up to be very easy to work with. (He has always been easy, but when he was a puppy, he was...a puppy.)

I'm still walking the dogs early in the morning and managed to get a 2-mile hike in every day this past week except for one day, when the AQI (air quality index) was in the unhealthful range. Sometimes it clears up if I wait a bit, and it still isn't too hot, but not always. I don't want them breathing the smoke, and it isn't good for me, either.

Sometimes we meet someone on the trail and have a chat, which is nice. The pups always attract attention.

We're leaving today and expect to get as far as...Winnemucca, Nevada! Remember Winnemucca? Our three weeks there with no vehicle during March 2023? Our Arizona vacation? We plan to stay at the same place: Silver State RV Park. They were so nice to us. It was a good place to be stuck if you have to be.

On Saturday, we hooked up the r·pod and moved her to the curb, so we could load her up. It will be interesting to see how the shelves work out.

We plan on meeting up with Alexa, Soren and Johan, in Utah. They set off a few days ahead of us for a family reunion and the some camping along the way to Utah. Here they were, in the car, ready to take off on the trip.

I don't know if Johan was asleep or if he was just saying, "Can we just get going?"

We'll be picking up Peter at the airport In Salt Lake City and doing some camping with them. We plan to see Alex, too, who lives in Utah, while we're in that area.

 

Peter works for Laika, the film studio in Beaverton that produced Coraline, Missing Link and several other stop-motion films. They are working currently on a film based on Wildwood, by Colin Maloy. They will use Coraline to introduce the film, as explained in this article. The film is due out next year.

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: In Hidden Talents, the dolls speculate about how Emil can see and hear what animals are saying.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service by Anthony Fauci. Also still reading Elfen Königin by Holly Black, translated from English.Didn't get very far with the physical book. I'm taking it along, in case I have an opportunity to read.

What's in my wine glass: Delta Cabernet Franc from 2020. Not sure whether it's named after a body of water (in California?) or the airline, but it's nice.

What's my tip of the week: Have some leftover rice? As you may know, we lived in Indonesia for five years. One of our favorite Indonesian dishes is Nasi Goring. Here's my recipe.

Nasi Goreng à la Balikpapan
Servings: 4 servings
Categories: Indonesian, Main Dish

Ingredients
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp red chili flakes,

1-2 small red peppers, chopped
• 1 small onion , diced
• 3 cups cooked white rice , day old, cold
• 2 tbsp kecap manis (usually available in Asian food stores)
• 1 C frozen green peas
• 8 eggs, scrambled, cooked flat (as for an omelette) and cut into strips

• Garnishes / side servings (optional)
• 2 green onions, sliced
• Tomatos and cucumbers, cut into wedges/chunks
• Lime wedges

Directions
Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat.
Add chili flakes, red pepper and garlic, stir for 10 seconds.
Add onion, cook for 1 minute.
Add rice, peas and kecap manis. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes until sauce reduces down and rice grains start to caramelize.
Top with egg strips
Serve with garnishes of choice (green onions, red chili).

(Shown here without the egg on top.)

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

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook is available from the BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. 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.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. 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. 

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>  

Cover Problems

I'm continuing to make progress on the whole-cloth quilt. I'm getting really close to the swag pattern on this side, as you might be able to see.

The Which Came First Shawl is still waiting to be blocked. Why didn't I get it done, you might ask? Well, I need to clean up the table where I put the blocking mats, for one thing, and that didn't happen because of more problems with my end of the book production. I had the cover to the book finished (I thought) and it came back with some problems. It all worked out in the end, and the sample copy of the book is in the works.

The problem was with the logo for St. Jude's. I had asked for permission to use the logo, and I thought I was told it was OK. However, the resolution wasn't good on the copy of the logo I was able to download, so I had to go back to St. Jude to ask for a better copy. That's when I found out that I couldn't use the logo after all. Either I misunderstood or the person I talked to told me the wrong thing. I can't mention St. Jude in the book at all. However, I can say that the proceeds from the book will to go an organization that provides research and treatment for pediatric cancer, and it will. I removed the logo and the description of what St. Jude does and replaced it with a summary of how The Doll's Storybook got started and a group photo of the dolls. It should still be ready before Christmas. It was a good thing the publisher held things up with the resolution problem.

I still have nearly two weeks to work on The Big Send. We (all the people nationally working on the project) blew through our goal of 10M letters by the end of the week, so the "powers that be" upped it to 15M. We now have another 5M letters to write in two weeks. This should be possible because more people have joined the team. I stamped most of the letters I had finished already and ordered more stamps on Saturday.

The letters still in the box (with rubber bands around them) still need stamps. I have 400 done and am going to try to do 100 more before time to mail them, October 17th.

I had to have something to knit while on calls with family and others when I couldn't be writing letters, so I made two more dishcloths. I've been using the yarn left over from the dish mat I made a few weeks ago. I had wound off half of the yarn so I could knit with two strands. Then I used single strands to knit the dishcloths. I ran out of the yarn from the cone when I was about three-fourths of the way through the last dishcloth, so I had to join the remainder of the yarn from the ball I had wound off. Since it's cotton yarn and the dishcloth is just for me, I decided to just tie a square knot. I think I might get a coaster out of the tiny amount that's left. In the photo, you can see where I added the leftover yarn.

We had to pick up Rocky's medication during the week, so we all went along for the ride. We stopped off at the park on the way back, and the pups had some play time.

When Dusty was suitably tired, someone came with a little dog and was waiting, so we left to let them have the little-dog park to themselves. It's nice to be able to get out again, now that the smoke is gone. We've started walking in the neighborhood, again, too.

Daphne and Zachary had another dance performance outdoors. The videos were fun to watch. They are both getting to be very good dancers.

They have become used to doing their classes online with minimal supervision from parents. That's good, because the parents have their hands full with college students, some of whom contracted the virus early in the semester and have gotten behind in their work. They're mostly in an age group not always willing to be responsible.

We've been eating some of the last of the vegetables from the garden. This stir-fry was a mixture of our zucchini and chard, and purchased vegetables with Quorn "Meatless Pieces," which is made from mushrooms.

We've also still had grape tomatoes and some yellow pear tomatoes. It's getting colder now, so I expect the garden will be done soon. Before that happens, though, we will enjoy what we can get from it.

Another virtual choir performance has come and gone. This year's annual "Blessing of the Animals" had to be virtual, so we sang "O God, Your Creatures Fill the Earth" while photos of people with their pets and other animals showed on the screen. Our photo with the pups was in my blog last week, so I won't show it again.

The new doll is expected this week, and she will be introduced next week in person, assuming she arrives safely in time. As I write this, she has already gone through Customs and Immigration (!) in Los Angeles, so the rest is just catching the right flights. That will give me something to look forward to.

What's on my needles: The Which Came First Shawl is still waiting for blocking. Still working on dish cloths.

What's on my sewing machine: Still waiting for costumes. I hope to get on it this week.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. More progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: The Interview. Mariah interviews Jolena and asks some interesting questions. Some of the answers might surprise you.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I've still just been listening to music.

What's in my wine glass: Radford Dale Syrah 2017. Nice, but not exciting.

What's my tip of the week: Halloween is coming up. Children should know that regular Halloween masks are not adequate protection. Our Oregon Health Authority has posted this recommendation, and I see that there are some masks that are suitable AND scary.

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.