Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine maintains forward momentum...

My hand is improved enough that I can manage to use it for delicate work, though not yet for anything requiring strength. Some house chores are getting done.

I made a wonderful (if incidentally vegetarian) lasagna a few days ago - used up spinach I had steamed (chopped small) and some rehydrated dried shitaki (also chopped small and then sauteed with onion) as inner layers, along with cheese and my homemade tomato sauce. I usually add some cooked chopped meat or sausage, but all the meat is buried some ways down in the freezer, and I didn't want to try and rummage around with one hand. The mushrooms served the same function albeit with a different flavor profile, and I will definitely remember to try this combination again!

※※※

~ outdoor views ~

This is the underside of a lovage seed head... The plant itself is pretty architectural, the blossom stalks are taller than I am. I planted it for the taste of the leaves, which occasionally are used in soups and stews etc. It is a stronger version of the celery flavor, and since it is perennial, I will probably have it forever, which form of  "celery self sufficiency" was my intention. (While the seeds can be pickled, and were so in Roman times, the one time I tried it I didn't end up using them. Maybe next year I will try again and see if they would work well similar to capers?)

※※※

So very happy that my pal Tamra came over here on Monday in the middle of the day to cut back my shaggy yard. She did yeoman service in making the backyard passable again, which was not an easy task. The yard is not flat, and parts had been neglected since early spring. Now I have access to do needed pruning, and cut back the things that the string trimmer couldn't tackle, and prune back the apple tree, and hack away at the Feral Rosebushes so they don't hack away at me, and suchlike. She also cut the grass in the south side yard, I can now get to the quince and the plum to keep them pruned back as well. I will have to think of something really nice to do for her, since she did such a nice thing for me!

※※※

~ regalia - it is what I make ~

I've been working every day on this current Pelican medallion, which must needs completed before the event this weekend. Grateful that my bruised hand is continuing to recover enough that I can work. Today I am beginning to build the pendant setting for this piece, slowly and carefully. Another few hours and it will be completed, the enamel set, and the whole thing polished and packed for travel...

※※※

Sometimes I feel like my writing here is becoming very boring, but this blog is after all a somewhat attenuated record of my everyday life, which is purposely not terribly exciting. I am continuing to do most of the various things in my life, albeit slowly.

It sort of alarms me when my "things made" column is empty, so completing the current enamel was a bit of a relief. I'm thinking that one of the four other enamels waiting for me to build their settings might be better need to be redone, as the background is looking like it might crack, which would be a disaster were it to happen once it leaves my studio. It would be another two or three days work to redo the enamel, but that time is well worth it compared to harming my good name.

※※※

July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Pelican enamel	many apples thinned	recycle bin
2	-	grapevines cut back	-
3	-	backyard mowed	-
4	-	side yard mowed	-
5	-	-	-
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

today's gratitudes -
1. cool mornings, and waking up early so I can enjoy them
2. My pal Tamra who went way above and beyond to mow my yard
3. pruning the sage plant is a way to enjoy the delightful scent... it isn't finished yet though, because I don't want to remove the parts that are still flowering, because bumblebees!

Time of Isolation - Day 1114