Shades of Typhoid Mary!

Well, my fever didn't go up again on Monday, even in the afternoon. I was also monitoring my O2 levels, which fluctuated from low (for me) to excellent. I was tired and had to blow my nose a lot, but after the first day (Sunday, Sept. 15th), when I had a fever, I didn't really feel sick. I stayed in the guest room unless I had to go to the bathroom, when I put on my mask. I got my own breakfast, wiping down everything I touched with a sanitizing wipe and taking it back to my cell to eat. Charlie brought me my lunch and supper, leaving a tray in the laundry room, which is next to the guest room. I took the last dose of Paxlovid Thursday morning. 

I had been told to continue to isolate for 24 hours after finishing the medication, and then, if I didn't have a fever, I could leave isolation and roam about while wearing a mask. It wasn't clear whether the 24 hours began as soon as I took the last dose or after the time I would have taken the next dose. I had been taking the medication at 8:00 PM, beginning Saturday evening, and 8:00 AM each day. I decided to play it safe and go by the more conservative option, so I started my 24 hours at 8:00 PM Thursday. Since I planned to continue sleeping in the guest room during the time I had to be masked, so I could at least take off the mask at night, I figured I might as well wait until in the morning to free myself from my cell. That meant that by the time I left isolation, it had actually been almost 48 hours since the last of the medication. I had started some overnight oatmeal (see recipe, below) when I was getting my breakfast on Friday. (It sits in the fridge overnight anyway, so a few more hours wouldn't hurt.) Saturday morning I ate it in the dining room, accompanied by my first cup of coffee in a week. 

When Charlie got up, he insisted I take a Covid test. I didn't see the point, because I was going to keep masked anyway, except when eating or drinking, but to make him feel more comfortable, I tested. This was the result: negative.

Now, I understand when people take Paxlovid, or even if they have Covid without taking it, they sometimes test negative but then can have what they call a rebound, in which the disease comes back. They can test positive again, even if they are without symptoms. This happened with President Biden, who also took Paxlovid. The only reason they knew he had rebounded was they were routinely testing him every day. He had no symptoms. This rebound effect is more common with older patients. So...I'm still wearing the mask and planned to continue wearing one until the end of the day on Wednesday or symptoms reappear, after which I would have to isolate again. That was the plan.

I was absolutely dying for a nice walk outdoors in the fresh air, if we had such a thing. I hadn't walked the dogs in more than a week. Charlie walked them several times during the week, when the AQI was low enough. I went online and checked the monitoring station closest to us.

Yay! It was good, so we walked, but only 1 1/2 miles. I was ready to go further, but Charlie didn't think it was a good idea, so we peeled off from the trail at the entrance closest to our mailbox.

We welcomed Autumn by walking again on Sunday, because it was a beautiful day, with a low AQI and moderate temperature.

While I was recovering, I had to go up and down the stairs every morning to let the dog out and then back in again. Early in the week I noticed my legs getting tired, and I was getting a little out of breath when I climbed the stairs, but by Saturday I could run up again without feeling tired or out-of-breath. Still, would be better to take it easy until we know I'm completely recovered.

I wasn't planning on going to choir practice on Wednesday, of course, but on Tuesday I received an email from our choir director, saying that between people being sick or out-of-town, she was canceling our practice. We weren't scheduled to sing on Sunday anyway, but we had planned to work on some upcoming pieces. OK, I knew I was sick. I knew one person who was out-of-town, but to cancel practice because of two people didn't make sense. It had me wondering. Was anyone else sick? Then on Friday I received a text from one of the other sopranos, asking me how I was doing. I'm guessing she had learned from the choir director that I had Covid. She told me that she and one of the altos had also come down with it, as well as another person from the church who isn't in the choir but was supposed to play the piano and the organ on Sunday. My first thought was that I might have infected someone at choir practice the previous week, before I had any symptoms, but that other person hadn't been there. I had wracked my brain, trying to figure out where I could have picked up the bug. I thought the most likely place would have been the Condega project event two weeks ago. It turned out that we all got sick about the same time, and all of us had been at the event. Besides the four of us, a fifth person from church has come down with it. Some of the others are having a harder time with the bug than I have (so far...knock on wood). I don't know who else, if anyone, might be taking the medication for it, but they're all younger than I am, I think, so maybe it wasn't recommended. I'm hoping everyone is well again soon.

I didn't feel much like knitting during the early part of my isolation, but by the end of the week, I was back to my Oregon Autumn Cardigan. It won't be long now.

That gave me something to do while listening to my audiobook. How ironic that I have just reached the part where he talks about the Covid epidemic! Coincidence?

In family news, Johan is taking up the French horn. (Based on the attire, I assume it was hot when this photo was taken.) 

Soren has a refined ear for music, having listened to a lot of actual performances but not much practicing.

This week Karen had a small piece of her ear removed because of potential cancer/precancer (I forgot the actual diagnosis) as the result of sun exposure when she was a child and teenager in Texas and Southern California, right about the time the hole in the ozone layer was at its biggest. Put sun block on your ears!

Saturday I resumed my duties, masked and energetic. I made another batch of granola, and then some stir-fry to have with rice for supper. Yesterday I made some bread.

Back in the saddle again!

I was feeling good, but I didn't want to be like Typhoid Mary and accidentally infect others while feeling OK myself. Well, that's not likely now. My nose is running again and the dry, scratchy throat has returned. I still tested negative, so maybe allergy?

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, but it's calling to me.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In Emil's Big Problem, Emil wakes up in the morning and can't find his special glasses. He remembers putting them into the charger at bedtime, but they're gone! How will he deal with that? A story about problem solving.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Almost finished with On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service by Anthony Fauci. Also reading paperback book 

What's in my wine glass: I had my first glass of wine in a week Saturday evening. It was left over from before I got sick and had aged OK. Sunday we had this one: Chateau Le Roudier Bordeaux Superieur 202

What's my tip of the week: Here's how you make Overnight Oatmeal: In a 1 cup or larger jar, per person, put 1/2 C each slow-cooking rolled oats and milk and 1/2 t. cinnamon or to taste. You can add honey or maple syrup, if you like it sweet, and about 1/4 a chopped apple is also a nice addition. I usually use water and a couple of tablespoons of powdered milk instead of the milk, because we usually need the milk for other things.

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.

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Rose City Yarn Crawl!

Pippa's Red Crocus sweater is done.

As part of the knit-along in the Goetz Doll Lovers group on Ravelry, I cast on this Dressing Gown pattern. I had 51g of the turquoise yarn for a project that was supposed to take 49g. I thought it might be close, but I ran out of the turquoise yarn before I even got the skirt of the dressing gown finished. The yarn must be much heavier than what was used in the pattern. I didn't want to rip it out, so I decided to add a deep border at the hem and then continue on with the bodice and sleeves using some yarn I had, Wool of the Andes Sport in "Bare." I picked up stitches from the inside loops of each cast-on stitch and have been knitting in the opposite direction (toward the hem) with the white. 

When it's long enough, I'll bind off and continue with the white for the bodice and sleeves. This rework of the original eliminates three buttons, because I had started the buttonholes at the stated point in relation to the cast-on edge, and have to stop and make the armholes. I think I can do something decorative that will make it look as if that were the design from the beginning.

We've started the Rose City Yarn Crawl, which is entirely virtual this year. DDIL and I got together yesterday via Zoom to visit our first two shops. The first one was Close Knit. I purchased three skeins of Harrisville Highland worsted-weight yarn. One in "Silver Mist"....

....and one in "Aubergine"....

....for these Mummers mittens from Saltwater Mittens.

I picked up a skein of the same yarn in "Russet"....

....for this teapot cozy. DDIL picked up this kit, but she doesn't crochet (yet), so she was getting it just for the yarn.

Then we went on to House of A la Mode, where after much looking around and contemplating I picked up this  Things Created Equal "Basic Sock" yarn in "Frosty"....

....and "Glacial"....

....for this shawl. The pattern appears to be very entertaining. It uses the brioche stitch, but in a curved design. DDIL wanted this kit, but they were sold out, so she bought the yarn for it from what was available. She also picked up some DK from the Things Created Equal line.

It was a very busy week in my personal life, too. First, because my mammogram from the week before was questionable, I had ultrasound on Wednesday. Because that didn't show enough, they did an additional mammogram. The result: "See you in a year." It was nerve-racking, however, waiting for the radiologist to come to a conclusion, but his time was taken up with all the regularly scheduled results to read, and they had to squeeze me in. Everything was normal, and they didn't think it was because of my vaccine, although that's sometimes an issue.

DBIL came for dinner Thursday, as he planned to fly back to Arizona on Friday. We didn't use masks, because guidance indicated that we could socialize indoors without masks if we've all been vaccinated, and we had all three had the second dose of vaccine. We've all been very careful, anyway. He will be back when the weather warms up down there. DH drove him to the airport on Friday morning. I hope we can go camping together this summer.

I managed to get the photos for two stories taken this week and a third one written. Once the photos are done for the third one, I'll be scheduled through March 19th. That's the most ahead I've ever been.

Today I'll be "visiting" all the shops in the Crawl. Each shop gets an hour to show off or demonstrate. If you're interested, click on this link and scroll down to "Zoom Shopping Event." I don't know if this will be available after today, but they may have a recorded version on the website later.

What's on my needles: Charlotte's Sleepover Dressing Gown.

What's on my sewing machine: Getting bored with nothing to do. The machine, not me!

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Not much progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "The Survey." Emil and Billy get some surprising advice from Pippa. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Black Madonna by Stella Reilly and Love Is the Way by Bishop Michael Curry. The second has given me inspiration for at least one story.

What's in my wine glass: Provare red wine from David Marchese in California. A new one for us. I liked it. It's slightly spicy.

What's my tip of the week: You don't really have to add water to frozen vegetables when you cook them in the microwave. There is usually enough ice in the package to cook them nicely.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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. 

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.

Heating Up and Cooling Off

Another week, another few rows on my "Which Came First?" shawl. I'm on the third color, "Red Dawn" by Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock.

It has been slow going, because I've been committed to completing my whole cloth quilt, which I've been working on, on and off, for several years. I did get quite a bit done this week. 

It's a little warm working under that quilt, so DH bought me a little portable evaporative air cooler. This will only work well in a dry climate. It's about the size of a tall coffee can. The blue tape is there to show up where the water level was at 10:00 AM on Sunday morning, so we could see how much water it used. It can be used as a fan, too, and has lights you can turn on, I guess so you don't trip over it at night if it's on the floor. It's by Imikeya. The instructions are not worth much. They neglect to tell you to put water in the top. (That seems important to know.) The tiny thing won't cool your house, but it does cool an area where you might be sitting or working. Apparently you can also put ice in the water chamber to make it even colder. I haven't tried that yet.

Now I can close the window at night and put down the room-darkening shade. We're still missing the screens for two windows, so we get bugs. Fortunately, we haven't had any mosquitos.

We're lucky to have pretty cool temperatures most nights.  We open up most of the windows and outer doors when it starts to be cooler outside than in. DH puts down the locks on the windows when he goes to bed, so the windows can stay open a couple of inches. I've been getting up at 4:30 or 5:00 AM to open up again and then close everything up again when the temperature outside starts getting close to the temperature inside. During the cooling period, I have fans set to try to move air through the house, in through the upstairs front and out through the downstairs back, and I run the vent fans in the laundry room and one bathroom. With the new windows, even on a hot day it's tolerable, especially with my new little cooler.

The pups are lazy when it's hot. Here's Dusty, relaxing on the couch. (That little pink spot is the stitches where one of his adenomas was removed last week when he was out for teeth cleaning. There were three of them. The stitches will come out on Thursday.)

Masks are mandatory in Oregon if you can't stay 6' apart, and I think that's too close. Even with the mask requirement, some delivery people or sales people come to the door with no masks, ring the doorbell and then wait right in front of the door. We made a little sign with instructions and taped it by the doorbell. I hope this works. Fortunately, we have a side light I can look out and see. I don't open the door anyway without putting my mask on, but we're starting to see 10-15 new cases in our county now. People are just too lax here.

The Doll's Storybook will be getting a new cast member, probably in October, or perhaps November, if delivery is delayed. This is Götz "Lotta," but she will get a new name. I already have a Charlotte (Lotte), and the name is too similar.

Lotta is one of the new Little Kidz line, smaller than the Happy Kidz. Here you can sort of see the size difference, though the Happy Kidz doll is on ice skates, which gives her added height. The Little Kidz are proportioned and shaped like younger children (all girls at this point.) The face is a younger version of my Mandy, but this doll has blue eyes and blonde hair. I think this character will give me an opportunity to do something new in the stories. I haven't decided yet how that will go.

This week's story is a poem about brothers. It's called Little Billy.

The plants in the garden have grown since last week, even with the cool nights. It's hard to get a photo of the zucchinis, which should be ready to eat soon.

We have two eggplant plants and a winter squash plant, in addition to the zucchini plants.

The pea plants have pods on them. I think they will be ready to eat soon.

Some of the radishes are ready.

The little tomatoes (I think these are "grape" tomatoes, but the other plant is "patio.")

Our first set of chard plants were eaten down to the ground as babies, so we replanted. Now some of them are a couple of inches high, so maybe we will have some before our first frost if we're lucky.

We're using our home-made compost now. We have decided not to put eggshells, avocado peels and pits, and orange or tangerine peels in anymore. They will break down eventually, but we're operating on a small scale, and it takes too long. The used tea bags (without tags) and used unbleached coffee filters, filled with used tea and coffee, melted away. We remove any stickers or price tags on the produce before throwing them in the compost container.

What's on my needles: The "Which Came First?" shawl.

What's on my sewing machine: I may be sewing again, starting today, now that I have a way to stay cool in my fiber studio.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Little Billy.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson. Not much progress this week.

What's in my wine glass: Torero Mendoza Tempranillo 2019. Not terrific, but not expensive and perfectly drinkable.

What's my tip of the week: Warm air rises and cooler air sinks. You can use this to your advantage when cooling your house, with or without air conditioning.

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.