in which our plucky heroine is still slightly off balance, but improving...

Not sure what waking every three hours does to one "proper" sleep cycles, and I've never timed how often my non-alarm-driven night waking occurs. There were no nightmares last night, though. And most remarkably, in my final dream before getting up today, I dreamed I could skip! Would that it were true, as I've been peculiarly disturbed by the loss of that coordinated ability, and have tried from time to time to re-learn it.

There was also a benign verbal interchange with an analog dreamland person (who was reminiscent in ways to both G and to B) concurrent with my skipping down a woodland pathway similar to but not OCF... (it most certainly wasn't OCF or analog OCF, as it was empty of any other human people)My intent had been to stencil a patch for the pocket of the new brown linen pinafore with a cave horse, just like the one that is "worn to a ravelling" and past re-use. However, apparently my cave horse stencil set has been misplaced, alas... Fortunately I did write up the process used to create the stencil, and posted it to my blog years ago. Making up a new stencil likely guarantees that the missing one will show up soon; it will also be good to have a second stencil, albeit slightly different. Before long, there will be a new cave horse patch for the pocket, just requiring a few additional steps.  
I put up various foods in shelf stable jars all year long, as a way to have things otherwise unobtainable, or just for the frugal pleasure of storing local bounty. The few apples from the backyard tree, and the quinces from the side yard often end up as "sauce" for pantry storage, and are usually brought out as a special treat for dessert from time to time. This week, however, those jars are a necessity. Antibiotics four times a day ie every six hours, that are best taken with food, but not with dairy. The dairy, in the form of live culture yogurt, is also every six hours, on an alternating schedule. (My phone alarms every three hours 24/7 for the next week, sigh) Other than the doses that line up with mealtimes, food with pills seemed a bit challenging, as string cheese or cottage cheese are my snack of choice. Turns out that a few spoonfuls of applesauce, or in my case quince-apple sauce is both easy to deal with nocturnally, and light on the tummy. Today there was also a midafternoon trip to the store to get some crackers, and Toby's Tofu Pate, which will work well for another speedy middle of the night micro-meal option. I rarely keep crackers in the house, and rarely eat soy products, so ditto for Toby's, and they are spendy for how "easy to eat" they are. I tend to forget though, how delicious they are. Somewhere I have a recipe for DIY tofu pate that is very similar to Toby's, and it is likely time to return to making my own version of "Goddess Dressing", which has completely vanished from the local grocery stores One recipe lasts me for about a week of everyday salad dressing, and is also delicious instead of mayo for use in tuna, egg, or noodle salads:

⅓ c oil 2¾ T tahini 2½ T cider vinegar 2 t tamari 2¼ t lemon juice ¾ t salt 1 T minced parsley 1 T minced chives 1 minced clove garlic (or ¼ t garlic granules)

Mix together the tahini and the oil first, to allow the tahini to be smoothly incorporated. Then mix in all the other ingredients. You can add some water at the end, if the dressing is thicker than you prefer.

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	ruffle pillow shams	cardigan length	recycle bin
2	clothespin bag	cardigan button bands	-
3	brown linen pinafore	cardigan ribbon facings	-
4	-	planted rhubarb	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- homemade apple-quince sauce
- a useful and useable search box on my blog
- single use bandage scissors turned into kitchen scissors, still going strong ten years later
- the metal lid I found at Goodwill that fits venerable crock pot perfectly  

in which our plucky heroine has eye trouble...

I woke up this morning with my right eye very swollen and painful, burning and gritty feeling, and have booked an express care medical visit. The first available appointment was at 8:40 am... And with my right eye so wonky/painful it means I can't do anything at all as sewing, knitting, embroidery, workshop tasks etc all require binocular vision (Last night it didn't feel quite right, so I used extra of my regular before bedtime eye drops).

There seems to be not only an eyelid infection, but it may be spreading to the eye socket, so the plan is for both antibiotic eye drops and daily pills (for the whole system) for a whole week. Yogurt will be a daily necessity, and my sleep wake will become very wonky indeed as every three hours I will be either medicating, or, alternately ingesting probiotic substances, as the pharmacist said to eat with medicines, but not dairy, and then to eat yogurt after a three hour window. Lather rinse repeat.  The westside esplanade, where the Willamette River bisects Portland, has a short season of springtime when the cherry trees bloom. Usually I only notice this when riding transit over one of our many bridges, but since today was both not-raining, and not-cold, and since I could do none of my usual preferred activites with only one fully functional eye... it seemed that a local "adventure" was a good plan. It turned out that what seemed like half the city also thought it was a good plan! There were dogs, and kiddos, and young families with babies on blankets, new lovers and old ones, folks on wheels: bicycles, and chairs, and skateboards, and rollerblades. There were buskers, and the venerable Saturday Market handcraft tents. It was far more crowded than our plucky heroine prefers to subject herself to, but in this world of trouble and turmoil, it was actually quite lovely and benign.
The last week has been a challenge in various ways. Never a good sign when I stop writing here, and stop contacting folks. The nightmares that in the Before Times could more often be left at sleeps door when they awakened me in the wee small hours are now far too similar to current events, and have several times made further sleep that night impossible. Fortunately being semi-retired/work from home means that while it isn't ideal, rearranging the daytime to allow for an afternoon nap is at least possible. Reminders from beloved if faraway friends that my being in their lives is helpful and a treat for them, helps my equilbrium. May the week ahead bring, if not fewer daytime horrors, at least some peaceful dreams.Lastly, hand stitching ribbon facings to cover the (slightly wonky) steek edges inside the Icelandic cardigan really added a finished look. This was a technique I had seen in some vintage knitwear, but never tried. I found some chocolate brown 1" wide rayon petersham ribbon on Etsy, and the instructions shared by Hélène Magnússon on her blog made the process really clear. It turned out quite pleasingly tidy, and was not difficult. Should I make another steeked cardigan, this will be good to remember...
Last year a wee baby Victoria rhubarb came to live here, from the plant store at the end of the street. It survived in a pot on the porch next to the front door, where it was very visible, and hence watered often enough. After winter dormancy, it sent out some pencil thin stalks with leaves smaller than my palm, and surely it needed a bigger home. Earlier this week it moved to the raised bed in the backyard. That bed still needs quite a bit of topping up with good soil, but after shifting some all to one end, and adding a few shovels worth of compost, the rhubarb has a new home, where it will get good sunlight all day, and has good rich soil to send roots into. My hope is that if I can manage to care for it well, and feed it richly with compost and worm castings, in a few years I may have homegrown rhubarb. Fingers crossed and notes made on the calendar to keep it watered.

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	ruffle pillow shams	cardigan length	recycle bin
2	clothespin bag	cardigan button bands	-
3	-	cardigan ribbon facings	-
4	-	planted rhubarb	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- I walked five miles today
- cherry blossoms along the esplanade
- being able to get medical attention for my eye, and having the medicine needed be available
- zoom with Jen and a bit of Cathy
- baby rhubarb remains alive and well
- making it back from my doctor visit in time to have some Sewing Nomads zoom this morning

in which our plucky heroine remembers to celebrate...

I always mean to, each year, but rarely remember in time to cook something special. This year I managed to. Dinner was shepherd's pie, made half from leftovers, some diced up frozen lamb slices from when Beth and Karen visited a while back, and some of yesterdays cooked carrots, added to some sauteed onion, and sugar snap peas. I made gravy in the same pan as the onions, seasoned with homegrown thyme and some of Penzey's Justice herbs, and a splash of tamari. I never make gravy, but pie needs it. While doing all this, was also steaming two little yellow potatoes, so the 6" oval dish was topped with some golden mashed taters and stuck in the convection oven to brown. Made enough for a meal tomorrow as well.
Once the improvisational shepherd's pie was in the little convection oven, I started working on the tiny pecan pie(s). It turned out that there was no pan of a suitable size that the recipe called for; switching to using silicone cupcake liners made a half dozen tiny "pie-lets". The only change I made was to use Lyle's Golden Syrup instead of maple syrup. The recipe was not at all difficult, other than dividing the shortcrust, and later on the pie filling, into six individual compartments. OTOH, it is as easy as pie to peel the liner from one of the rather sticky baked miniature pies, and the (⅙/recipe) small thin confection is just the right amount for dessert.
There are two green eggs in the remaining egg carton from Drusa. I shall save the shells, once the insides are used for cooking, with the intention of making some sort of eggshell mosaic for the tinyworld.  I did that ages ago, back in May 2020, with an excellent result.  The Icelandic cardigan remodel has been quite successful! It is currently already wearable, as proven this morning while out and about. The length is just right, and the new front button bands look like they have always been there. The too long ribbed cuffs will be removed in favor of the narrower double row of matching dark I-cord, and might add a neckline edge row of the lightest color. Maybe.

It is being fun sorting through not yet stitched up fabrics and current wardrobe to pick out all the various possibile options, and I've devoted an entire page in my journal for the notes. There are plenty of knit tops, and several print blouses already in the closet; enough lycra cotton jersey for two pair of fresh long janes, and the already dedicated brown linen for a new pinafore. A second pinafore would not be amiss, maybe using the brown ikat wrap that was originally a gift from Marian? I'm much of a mind to turn things currently stored on the resource shelves into garments to actually wear. You can't take it with you after all...
I've been enjoying Brenda Dayne's textile and knitting podcasts for many many years now, and wondered why her posts had stopped. Her story is fascinating and horrifying at the same time: a routine antibiotic treatment causes unexpected and anomalous long-lasting neurological effects.

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	ruffle pillow shams	cardigan length	recycle bin
2	clothespin bag	cardigan button bands	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- there has been enough of the various colors of Lopi yarn
- years of cooking has me able to improvise. 
- no howling wind last night, so sleep was easier