Friday folderol

in which our plucky heroine is doing her best to keep cool...

I ran the fans this morning before heading out to get my bike from the bike shop, so the house is not awful. Showering in the middle of the day helps. I've been trying, with just middling success, to shift my sleep/wake cycle to a bit more crepuscular one.

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~ printmaking ~

day 19/100 - first attempt at a reduction print is done (an edition of 20). They will need to dry for several days now. The various individual prints vary in quality, a few are completely out of register, and while most have obvious flaws, I'm pleased nonetheless.

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well double dog dang! I was going to work on my indigo day pack project, but I don't have the interfacing. I must have used it on some different project, probably the day pack for Tullia. I guess I could cut out the various pieces of denim and of the lining so I will be ready when the interfacing I just ordered (a 10 yard piece of the Pellon 20" wide cotton woven fusible interfacing from WAWAK (where it is half the cost per yard than at my local fabric store) which should be here sometime next week)

I do have a chunk of fusible fleece interfacing in the storage closet and am considering using that to interface the shoulder straps, it might be a good use of something I'm not really sure why I purchased?? The straps get a layer of webbing sewn on top of the folded fabric, so it wouldn't matter that the fleece is not as stable as the shape-flex. Might need to make a small sample...

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Since it was nice and cool early this morning, I spend a bit of time cutting away at the under growth along the side yard. The feral ferns have become really tangled with dead fronds, and while I meant to trim things back earlier in the year, I can't do it any sooner than right now. I really need to remember to use gloves, and maybe to wear long sleeves tucked into them. It seems like each time I attempt this task, something in the undergrowth bites my hands...

Still, I treated myself kindly, only doing a modest amount of pruning, remembering that I could do a little bit each day. which would eventually show significant progress. And, sigh, the warm weather means that the lawn REALLY need whacked back again, which means I need to acquire the second extension cord ASAP! Maybe a bike ride to the hardware store is in order?

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	grey canvas hat	front yard mowed	apple tree prunings
2	tiny pomegranate	hooks on drying rack	more dead ferns
3	print drying hooks	scarf printed	recycle bin
4	layers 1-5 linoprint	re-done engraving	more dead ferns
5	-	bike refurbished	-
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. I had the resources available to get my bike tuned up and repaired. It is in much better shape now, and should be able to give me years more of good service.
2. the bite on my hand responded to topical benedryl, whew!
3. the dwarf lilac in the front yard is blooming

Time of Isolation - Day 1066

a bird list for Kestrel: House Finch, Scrub Jay, Crow, Dark Eyed Junco...

wistful Wednesday

in which our plucky heroine remembers the Before Times...

This morning I got up early to ride over to the bike shop, to drop my trusty steed off for the remaining needed refurbishments (and I asked if they could add a kickstand to my bike while it was in there getting work done anyway). It was already quite warm before I arrived there at 10 when they opened. It took me about 1¾ hours to get home on transit, since it required three different transfers, and the heat and sunshine were really opressive by the time I returned to Acorn Cottage.

While I was walking along Alberta to the first bus stop, I was washed over by a wave of sorrow, remembering the comparative ease of how it was when I first came to the city, when exploring and adventuring were an option, when I didn't have to ration my entry into shops and buildings with exquisite care to minimise the time spent indoors, when if there was something particularly appealing for a snack, my only concern was "can I afford this luxury" and not, in addition, is this luxury of a restaurant treat something that I can carry home so I can safely eat it, and that will still be edible after several hours in my day pack?...

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~ printmaking project ~

day 17/100 Yesterday was, as always "tinyprint Tuesday".  Had this image in my sketchbook for a while, so turned it into a little 1" square linocut print. It turned out better than I expected.

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I just finished adding the first grey layer to my Akita print, and I think I made an error with the color of the ink. It looks much too dark to me, and I may need to overprint it with a lighter grey before adding the two final layers, in order to get an appropriate value range. Ooops! Or, maybe I could call that layer the dark grey, cut that away and print the lighter grey and then the black?

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Made such a yummy slaw for dinner: red cabbage, yellow peppers, carrots, green onions, mango, avocado, with a lime/rice vinegar/fish sauce/olive oil/mint/thai basil dressing, and cashews as a garnish.... (Instagram inspired, but using what I had on hand here, though I picked up a mango on the way home from the bike shop). This was good enough that I will have to make it again!

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	grey canvas hat	front yard mowed	apple tree prunings
2	tiny pomegranate	hooks on drying rack	more dead ferns
3	print drying hooks	scarf printed	recycle bin
4	layer 1/5 linoprint	re-done engraving	-
5	layer 2/5 linoprint	-	-
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. The bike shop requires masking!
2. It felt a bit easier today to ride the three miles to the bike shop than it did last week
3. I have the resources to make myself healthy food, and a kitchen and tools to make the food in, and a safe and quiet place to eat.

Time of Isolation - Day 1064

a bird list for Kestrel: House Finch, Scrub Jay, Crow,...

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine takes a longer than usual bike ride...

I don't usually ride for four miles at one go, and apparently I ride about half as fast as the little glyph on the Google Map thinks is how long it takes to get somewhere. It took me over an hour to get to the bike shop this morning, and a lot longer to get home on the bus afterwards sans my trusty bike.. Since the brake pads were worn completely down, (much to my embarrassment, that it took me so long to figure out just why my bike was making "a funny sound") I was most grateful that they agreed to let me leave my bike there overnight in order to have new brake pads attached, and I will make an appointment tobring it back to have the rest of the tuneup and the assorted needful things replaced in a few weeks when there is room in their schedule.

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~ goodbye, now ~

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Today I finished the carving the last of the 2" square blocks. . At 15 minutes a day, any actual printing will have to wait for the weekend. I can put in time on sketching,(maybe also on drawing up a design, and perhaps starting on carving...) A few daysworth of sketching would be a really good foundation for some tiny prints, maybe looking back through some of my photos will be helpful. Decided that I will also start on a reduction linocut, as Turquoise is doing; I will be able to learn a lot by doing the same technique

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I wonder if every cohort feels as if the music of their youth was the best? It seems like there was such an explosion of talent in so many styles back then, I am grateful that I got to hear so much live music as a young person, in small coffeehouse clubs, and huge shows, though of course always tempered by my own idiosyncratic preferences, and by luck.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	front yard mowed	-
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
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. salad, it's what's for dinner
2. a good bike shop within biking distance, that requires masks
3. the beauty of the quinceling

Time of Isolation - Day 1049

you snooze you lose

in which our plucky heroine realises that she should have called earlier...

My stalwart bicycle needs a tune-up, and a number of parts replaced (new brake pads, a new rear tire, and a new chain), and my trusted local-ish bike shop is no longer in business. There is another good shop further away, so I called this morning to find out how far in advance I need to make a work appointment. Turns out that at least two weeks ahead or more (probably due to the sudden heat and sunshine wave we have had; today will be close to 90 F). I should have phoned in last week, when I first figured out that the strange sound I was hearing when I stopped was caused by my rear brake pads being completely worn down! Now I will have to wait until next week to find a way to get it over there to be looked at during their "intake hours".

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~ 100 day stitch book project - day 99 ~

Day 99/100 (page 20) - Decided that simple outline embroidery for the fox would work, as long as I chose a less busy background, so I picked out a scrap of very pale blue tinted linen. This allowed the additional benefit of simply holding it and my sketch up to the window as an informal light box, in order to pencil in the outline of the motif. I'll be finishing up the embroidery, cutting out the tall archway shape and stitching it to the page on day 100, and then it is on to actually assembling the book!

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Mt Dishmore has been undergoing geological uplift, and I need to spend a fair amount of time on excavation of the kitchen countertop... this being a direct result of my actually cooking meals...

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"Sunday Night With The Scribes", which I occasionally visit, had a Zoom workshop on "Diapering, The Prayerbook of Besozzo" last week. I was so very charmed by the source material, which has floral diaper patterns unlike any I have seen, that I tracked it down on Alibris, where I found a very inexpensive used copy. Said copy just arrived today, and truly, I cannot find whatever flaws caused the seller to mark it as only "Good". It is a small hardback book, not quite a facsimile as at 5 x 7 it is slightly larger than the original, with a velvety green cover embossed with golden floral motifs. I think it will be a good resource for scribal projects, scrolls, or perhaps even for charter designs; I am eager to dive into it.

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The weather today is more like, say, July, than is appropriate for April. I am hiding indoors from the unrelenting sunshine, and the temperature on my porch this early afternoon is over 80F. If I am good, perhaps we can return to seasonal moderation and a bit of kindly overcast, at least for a while. There is drizzle and high 60's in the forecast for late next week, and if I hustle, I just might have a raincoat by then...

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	page 15	taxes done	jars to Mud Bay
2	custom Tullia daypack	shoes painted blue	recycle bin
3	page 16 and 17	shoe elastics transferred	extra plant pots
4	page 18	roses on shoe toeses	yard waste bin
5	page 19	light fixture replaced	grapes to compost
6	x	ferns pruned	yard waste bin
7	x	hardy fuschia pruned	recycle bin
8	x	apple partly pruned	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. the hot weather is good for drying clothing on the clothesline
2. book ordered from Alibris arrived safely today
3. there are flowers opening on the Quinceling!

Time of Isolation - Day 1045