Tuesday tidbits

... in which our plucky heroine must spend the afternoon hiding indoors, away from bright lights

Today featured another eye exam this morning, and hence another afternoon with "monster eye". And only now at after 7PM can I actually DO anything that requires at least partially clear sight... Sigh. Vitreous separation shows no sign of abating, but fortunately also no signs of increased damage to retina. Apparently this can either resolve, or turn into a lifelong condition.

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These tiny maneki neko patches came here all the way from Japan, courtesy of my friend Luz Clara. Whilst traveling she found them there, and remembered that the only thing I "collect" is maneki-neko that are under 1" tall, so they came along until she could post them here to me. I was surprised and delighted!! At first I thought that the two gold and white ovals were zoriis, but then I realised that the were actually intended to be gold coins for prosperity. I am torn between making some kind of wearable art jewelry with these, and making some tiny noren, for a display shelf, for my other 17 + tiny maneki neko...

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Started making a batch of blood orange marmalade, probably the last for 2018. It was a task I can do without needing to see really well, and yesterday there were some amazingly dark blood oranges at the store. When I cut them open after boiling them, they were such a dark red inside that they looked like venison... I have never seen this variety of blood orange before, they appear to be a cross between blood orange and navel orange, as they have no seeds and a tiny "navel bump" on the blossom end. Their skins were an unusually dark greenish blackish red color, and the proto marmalade is very fragrant. I call this a win! Photos tomorrow once the mixture is fully cooked and bottled.

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"If only the best birds sang, the forest would be a quiet place."

methinks this would be a great quote to turn into a small scale charter to paint.

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	celtic enamel pelican	bathrobe shoulders	bag to Goodwill
2	trapunto knotwork	taxes done	bag to Goodwill
3	pliers rack	apple tree pruned	spare lawn mower
4	x	-	-
5	x	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x