High on Fiber

Let's start this blog post with some projects, since I'm "High Fiber." The table in our RPod isn't fastened to anything. I guess the idea was that we could take the table outside to eat, if we didn't have a picnic table in our campsite. Good idea, which we have't ever tried out. To keep the table in place when we're moving, there's a strap that fastens to the seats on each side of the dinette, that goes over the top of the table. We usually store our wine and beer under the table, so that helps keep it from moving around too much, also. However, it rubs against the front wall, right under the window, so we've taken to using a tablecloth to protect the wall. The tablecloth was too big, so I decided to make one to fit it. We picked up the fabric at Walmart, and I cut it and hemmed it all around the edges. (The hummingbird feeder hangs out in the dinette area when not in use.)

I even cut off the corner, so it would hang the same amount on all sides. I have enough fabric left for something, maybe a couple of dish towels. (You can see where the corner is cut off to match the shape of the table in this photo. The strap that holds the table in place is also visible under the table, along with the table legs and my little child-sized broom.

While I was getting the fabric for the tablecloth, I picked up some nylon tulle for some more pot scrubbers.

The "decor" in the trailer is turquoise and grey, influenced by the rugs I made for the 5th wheel we had, which I altered to fit the RPod. It's amazing how much dirt and sand these rugs can hold. I take them out and shake them every couple of days when we're camping. It cuts down on the sweeping.

A little progress on The Love of Spiders Shawl happened. It's getting easy.

However, I decided I had better put some time in on the whole cloth quilt, too, because the pattern printed on the fabric is fading. It's designed to wash out, like those iron-on embroidery patterns. I can still see the pattern well with reading glasses, though, and I managed to get some progress in on it, as well.

Some cooking happened. I made a silken-tofu spread for sandwiches. It can also be used as a dip. Charlie brought home some mangos, so I made some mango pudding, also using the silken tofu. We replenished our supply of carob powder, and I baked some carob-oatmeal cookies with carob chips. (They're high in fiber, too, by the way.)

Here's the recipe, adapted from one I found on a website called Yum Eating.

Charlie brought home a whole package of celery stalks when he did the grocery shopping. I still had most of a package in the fridge. It was NOT on the list. (Neither were the mangos.) I had to do something with the old celery, so I made celery soup. I had to search for a recipe. I found one here. I had to adapt it, of course, because I didn't have any of the fresh herbs it called for, and I wanted to do it in my slow cooker. it was pretty good.

Sandy went to the groomer on Tuesday and returned home looking very dapper. It won't last long. His hair grows very fast. Dusty didn't need grooming yet, because his was put off by an injury, which has since healed, and he only was groomed on May 13th. He was going to go back on June 10th, but we will be camping again, so we moved his appointment to the same day as Sandy's next one. Dusty will be looking pretty shaggy by then. The boys posed for me on the front porch before a walk.

I had noticed this plant next to the sidewalk in front of a neighbor's house early in the week when walking the dogs. I immediately thought it looked like houndstongue. We encountered it often in Utah, but I had never seen it in Oregon, so I thought I must be mistaken. I took a photo, so I could look it up.

Sure enough, it was houndstongue. This weed is toxic to some species of livestock, but more impactful to us, personally, the seeds are shaped like watermelon seeds only with an outer layer of Velcro hooks. They stick to your clothes and are very difficult to remove. They also love to cling to dogs' fur, especially poodles. On Saturday, we knocked on the neighbor's door and told them about it. We offered to remove it. The woman said if we couldn't, she would see to it, but after our walk, Charlie went back with his shovel and dug it up, roots and all. I did my part and reported it to USDA's National Invasive Species Information Center. I don't know why I was surprised to learn that it was already in Oregon. I've just not seen it here before.

This was our Friday walk. Saturday's was the same, but without the lower end, which is the trail to the recreation center. It was very hot. I'm going to have to start carrying a spray bottle of water again, to spray the dogs (and myself) when it's that hot.

You may remember these jeans planters, which I've posted before. It's always entertaining to see what this homeowner has done to the outside of his fence along the Larkspur Trail. He put these portholes in for his dog awhile back. Now he has turned one of them into an astronaut. Cute and funny at the same time.

Our kalanchoe plant is blooming. It isn't a very pretty plant, so I pruned it, and when this is through blooming, I'll cut this stalk off, too.

Outside, the fruit trees are getting some attention. The birds and squirrels usually get the fruit before we have a chance to, but eventually the trees will be big enough to feed everyone. I wonder if we'll still be around then.

There's always a new scam. I went to UDOT's website to report this one, and right there on the home page was a warning about this very thing. I reported it, but they already knew about it. I gave UDOT my contact info in case they want to get more information. We used a toll road in Illinois last summer, but other than that, we have not been on any toll roads in years.

I read through my manuscript again, made some changes and am fairly satisfied that it's ready to go to my proofreaders, two of whom will be in Ireland in another week or so as our daughter's family and our younger son's family connect there and then vacation separately.

Stay safe. Be kind to others and enjoy life!

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: Now listening to The Widow of Fallbrooke Court by Kasey Stockton using the Chirp app.

What's on my sewing machine: Finished the tablecloth for the RPod. Now perhaps some dish towels, while I have the grey thread in the machine.

What's in my hoop: I've gone back to my whole cloth quilt. I decided I'd better finish it before the design fades completely. 

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Mariah is featured in this week's story from The Doll's Storybook. She needs to write an essay, but she's having trouble finding a place without distractions. Here's Being Distracted.

(Note: This story appears in our first book, [Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook.)

What's my tip of the week: Cooking while camping can be a challenge. During our camping last summer with the kids, I was introduced to Overnight Oatmeal by our DIL. I've been making it frequently ever since. I'll make it up to a day before and keep it in the fridge, at least overnight. I have some widemouth jars that are about 2 C in capacity with lids that can be tightened down well. In each jar, I put 1/2 C uncooked rolled oats, 1/3 C powdered milk, 1/2 t. cinnamon and a small handful of dried cranberries or raisins. I close the lid, shake the jar to disburse the powdered milk and cinnamon, then open the jar and add cold water almost to fill. Then I close the jars, give them another thorough shake, and store in the fridge until I need them the next morning.

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.

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Spring. Finally!

Things are waking up at last. The lilacs are in full bud, with a few blossoms beginning to open.

My in-house gardener has begun to accumulate plants for outdoors. Chard is one of my favorite vegetables, and the marigolds are lovely. The other plants are zucchinis, a staple at our house.

We've actually had these hanging baskets for several weeks. DH brought them into the house when it was cold. Now they can stay out all night.

 

We did SIX WALKS this week! DH joined us when I could get him out of the garden. Dusty runs along beside the stroller. It's much easier to keep him going, maybe because he likes running next to something that rolls, sort of like chasing a ball. When we go on the trail, I let Rocky out of the stroller in a few places to sniff around and stretch his legs, and then when we get within 1/4 mile of home, he can walk the rest of the way. If we go around the block, We just keep moving.

You may remember my Brioche Shawl Feathers shawl is in hibernation because I lost a game of yarn chicken. I tried to contact the company twice to see if they would sell me a smaller amount but never heard back, so I finally bit the bullet and ordered two new skeins of the yarn. It will probably be several weeks before I can knit the last few rows of the project, and I will have a lot of yarn left over, but I'm sure I can find a use for it.

Needing something to knit while I'm waiting, I cast on a dress for Pippa. I used a pattern I've used before, Top Down Trio by Jacqueline Gibb, a pattern designed for 18-19" dolls with a choice of three different skirt options.  Pippa is much smaller, but I used thinner yarn and smaller needles and got it to work. Anyone interested in doing the same thing can find my modifications here.

It was part of a KAL in the Goetz Doll Lovers group on Ravelry, Formal Garden Party. We are making dresses.

She's very patient when she has to model for photos. I think she looks cute with her bear, though.

I needed something to knit (again), so I CO another dish mat, like the red one I made, but this time in grey.

Unlike the case with the red cone, I was able to get the cone out of the center of this one so I'm using one strand from the inside and one from the outside. This way the leftovers will be all in one continuous strand. I got rid of the tangle that came out of the middle, so now I'm working on this only when I need something portable and mindless to work on.

We had choir practice in-person on Wednesday. We could only have eight people, vaccinated, masked and distanced, to rehearse indoors with windows and doors open. It was lovely singing in-person with a group, even with masks on. Saturday I went in for an appointment to be recorded for our piece for Pentecost Sunday next week. Then I went to the library. We have learned that vaccinated people will not be required to wear masks in our state, except under crowded conditions, as per the new CDC guidelines. The librarians were still masked, however, when I stopped in there. The person I talked with said she was vaccinated, but they are still bound by OSHA protocols for now.

Daphne had her birthday on Friday. She knew she was getting a doll, but it's always a surprise finding out who the doll is.

She told her mother to hurry and untie her, so she wouldn't suffocate. (I wonder where she gets her imagination.)

Saturday, she went shopping at Target, where she bought some accessories for Lotta, now renamed Rebekah after Daphne's friend.

Rebekah probably thinks she has struck it rich! (The orange thing is a neck pillow on top of a carry-on case full of doll activities to use during a flight. Planning ahead, because the family will come here for Christmas.)

They also went to B&N to use her gift card from her prize in the writing contest. (See how the proud grandma threw that in? Oh, and she also has learned that she will be dancing in Ballet La Crosse's production of Heidi.)

I had shopped for some accessories, too, but I used the Maplea website, for some items I knew I would be needing for upcoming stories. The delivery came this week. The sports equipment was on sale. (I bought two rackets, so they can actually play.) Their stuff is excellent quality, and the details are very realistic.

Here's the rest of what I got.

Daphne tried to read the story that came out on Friday. I received a text that she couldn't view the story. She had received a deceptive website warning. It said the blog was charged with suspect malware and/or computer virus. I checked on it and got the same thing: a bright red screen with a warning that the website I was trying to visit may be involved in phishing. I reported it to blogger. Then I called Apple to see if they could help me straighten out the problem. They had me go back in to the website, but the warning was gone. I didn't know if the warning was down because I reported to them that there was nothing "phishy" in my story or if it was something website-wide, as it also affected this blog. Sunday morning I discovered (buried among spam emails) two emails from Blogger, first saying they had taken down the post "The Survey," for breaking their guidelines, specifically for attempted phishing, etc. It warned that if I violated their guidelines again, my whole blog could be shut down. The second email (which I found first) said they had reviewed the blog post and found nothing objectionable, so they had returned it to my blog. I had to republish it, but it published with the original date of March 5th. Anyway, it got straightened out. I suspect that someone who was trying to make trouble for me filed a complaint.

We Zoomed on Sunday. It was just the Wisconsin family and us. It was good catching up. (Look! I'm working on my quilt!)

Sunday afternoon we took our ballots (school board and other local administrative races) to the drop box in the Old Mill District, so we could walk  along the river with the stroller. We clocked 1 1/3 miles, with Rocky walking about 1/4 mile. He got out of the stroller to dip his toes in the water, as it was warm. This was a good spot under a bridge.

Dusty trotted along, but he stayed out of the water. We made a point to end up at the dog park, though, and he got to run and play with a couple of terriers. (Rocky wandered around a bit.)

It was a taste of summer, as it was quite warm. We saw lots of people wearing bathing suits.

I received my updated report from Book Baby this week: 161 books have been sold so far, either through their store or through other vendors. That means over 200, if you count the 40 books I have sold from home, given to friends and grandkids, or donated. This is only through January 31st, because the reports run three months behind. I think it's selling well enough to make it worth getting the next book ready to go.

Where's my blog: As you may know if you've been on Quilt With Us, the venerable social media platform has closed down. As you may not know, the entity that notifies followers when this blog posts will discontinue notifications in July. Those two things motivated me to link my blog to Bloglovin', as I did some time ago with The Doll's Storybook. If you are following my blog and want to continue following after July, I recommend you go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Another dish mat, and the Brioche Shawl Feathers Shawl is hibernating until I get more yarn.

What's on my sewing machine: Sleep mask for Pippa and some other items.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Work in the Workroom." The dolls couldn't stand the mess in the fiber studio anymore, so while DH and I were out for a few hours, they tidied up.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor on Audible. This writer is so funny at times, I would read her novels even if the plots weren't any good, but they are. And the characters. Zara Ramm is an excellent narrator, too. It makes it easy to keep straight who's talking. Now listening to The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer on Chirp.

What's in my wine glass: Madroña El Tinto. A favorite.

What's my tip of the week: Ask your local library to carry Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, so children in your town can read it, too. If they buy it from Book Baby, nearly half of the price goes to St. Jude, so that's the best place to buy from, unless they get a discount somewhere else or free shipping.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby, Barnes & Noble 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.

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One Thing at a Time

The second pattern of the Which Came First Shawl is starting to be apparent. 

It's called "Chicken Feet." It's an entertaining pattern.

I finished a hoop-sized section of the whole-cloth quilt this week. Now I've moved on to another section.

We needed more kimchi. Neither Napa nor Savoy cabbage was available at the store where DH was shopping, so I settled for regular green cabbage. I've found that it works better when using regular cabbage if you cut it up into smaller pieces, as the leaves tend to be thicker than the other two varieties. The big chunks are fine, but I serve it in tiny bowls, so it will last longer, and the big pieces don't fit as well. I have read that the pickling process produces beneficial bacteria, similar to yoghurt. Of course, if you can the pickles, it kills the bacteria, so this kind of pickle has to be kept refrigerated and eaten in a fairly short time, like a week or two. Ours doesn't usually last because we eat it.

I might try pickling red cabbage sometime. 

We aren't planning to fly anywhere, but we get to see planes come in to land at the small airstrip about a block away. I was knitting on the front deck when this one came in to land. I heard the hum of the engine and grabbed my phone.

I read in the local paper that a newcomer to Bend saw this and called 911 because she thought the plane was crash-landing. Depending on the wind direction, they sometimes come in low over our street. 

So do the geese who like to graze on the field a few blocks away. They honk instead of hum.

I had to make a trip to the audiologist because I couldn't hear my audiobook out of one of my hearing aids. I was afraid something was broken or that I had wax in my ear. The technician came out to the parking lot, took both hearing aids into the lab, found that they both had wax in them. While she was cleaning them, the audiologist came out and checked my ears. No wax. When I got my hearing aids back and tested them, they were fine. Everyone wore masks.

The Wisconsin grands have been enjoying their huge swimming pool. However, they have decided that it's more fun to take turns.

This was an interesting study on the efficacy of face masks. You may have heard that a Missouri hairstylist became ill after face masks were required in the salon (for stylists and clients). A few days later a second one became ill. The 139 clients they had served were notified and followed. During the maximum incubation period of two weeks none of the clients became ill, leading to the conclusion that face masks worn by both the persons who had COVID-19 and the uninfected people who were in close contact with them prevented the spread of the virus. This would be good news if we could get everyone to wear masks when they go out.

Our zucchini plants are starting to fruit. They are already a few inches long. Here's Mandy, showing Jolena one of the blossoms, part of this week's story, The Homecoming, in which Jolena comes home from Chile and finds out all the news she missed while she was away.

The YouTube video of our virtual choir performance is now available for viewing. You can see it here, if you like. Not everyone in the choir was available or wanted to participate. I'm hoping for more from the next one.

The new microwave is working out in it's new location. I'm liking it better than the one over the stove (besides that it works).

The pups go to the groomer today and Dusty gets his teeth cleaned on Thursday. Busy week.

What's on my needles: Still the Which Came First Shawl. Some progress.

What's on my sewing machine: I'm not sure what's next for them.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: The Homecoming. Jolena comes back from Chile, and the dolls catch up with each other.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Just finished listening to Mary Trump's book, Too Much and Never Enough. It was like a soap opera. Very well written, narrated by the author. I can recommend it. Back to listening to D. E. Stevenson's Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, which I left off listening to because the Trump book had come out.

What's in my wine glass: Pedroncelli Petite Sirah 2017 Sonoma County Dry Creek Valley. Nice!

What's my tip of the week: Does it get hot in your house sometimes in the summer? Have hot flashes? Get a dish towel and dampen it. Wrap it around your neck. Unless your climate is very humid, the moisture in the towel will evaporate and cool your neck. You (if you're human) have big blood vessels that come close to the skin at your neck. The towel will cool these vessels and the blood inside, carrying the cooling effect around in your body. (This is safe.)

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.