do not invoke the gods

Apparently I bragged one time too many that I don’t get sick because sick I am. Damn. Can’t remember the last time I got sick but that little rug rat of a boy gave me an unwanted gift. At least I assume whatever this is came from Harrison. Started as a scratchy throat and a runny nose Saturday evening, then a cough and watering eyes, copious amounts of clear snot, can’t tell you how many tissues I’ve gone through. Two miserable nights with little sleep. Haven’t tested  but no, not bad enough to be flu or covid, just a cold. was starting to feel better Monday evening and finally got some sleep last night. Feeling much better today, not 100% but functuional.

Mostly I sat on the couch and read Sunday and yesterday, started a new book, a Painter’s Mill Chief of Police Kate Burkholder novel that takes place in the Amish community, Rage by Linda Castillo, which I’ve almost finished. I’ve read three or four in this series.

The other thing I did Sunday between blowing my nose was work on two more pages in my art journal. Not sure I’m finished with the first one, may go back and embellish it. Did the basic layout on another which I am in the process of embellishing. Felt so bad yesterday I didn’t work on either one. This is what I have so far. the first one is a bird’s eye view of the toadstools I posted the picture of last post (watercolor, colored pencil, permanent marker). I looked up the difference between mushroom and toadstool, toadstool generally refers to poisonous mushrooms and I assume the ones that pop up in my yard are not edible. 

The second page was an exercise suggested by that mysterious blogger Codex. Create a grid with masking tape, paint the open areas different colors, take a marker and  draw over the whole thing, tape and all, remove the tape. Now I’m going back and embellishing all the little rectangles. The intent is to add more detail and draw frames around each one as if it’s a display in a gallery. We’ll see how far I get with it.

    

Haven’t done any yoga of course. Abby always amuses me. When she doesn’t feel like doing the class for whatever reason she will check with me first to see if I’m coming, usually around or in between holidays. Monday was scheduled and then I got a text from her yesterday afternoon; “yoga tonight or nah?”, since I wasn’t feeling well I told her I wasn’t coming. Not a minute later she sent out a group text canceling the class, too cold (which it was) and windy, everybody stay home and stay warm.

Speaking of warm, the unseasonal warm weather last week apparently convinced the smaller fringe flower trees that it was spring. The birds seem to think so too.

Marcmas, the lost days

I started designating the week between Christmas and New Year’s as the lost days, really starting a couple of days before Christmas, when we were working because the few days before Christmas until the few days after New Year’s Day it was impossible to get any business accomplished so we generally just closed for the week plus. Even though we are retired, I still take this week to mostly do nothing. Wander the yard weather permitting, catch up on my reading, whatever else I find to do or not do with my time, no pressure. And so I wandered the yard and saw Brazilian button flower (above), bluebonnet (it’s been so dry I didn’t think we would get any next year but I counted at least 10), ball moss, toadstools.

I signed up for the next ‘advanced’ art journal workshop in January. I thought I should probably have more than the four pages we did in the first workshop so since I have this time I’ve been doing a few more after ignoring it all these months. I have limited supplies, permanent markers and water based markers, colored pencils, pencil, watercolors. I have a set of acrylics but so far haven’t used them. And I’m using my cheap Prang watercolor set with a limited (16) range of colors instead of my several sets of professional watercolors with way too many choices because I’m trying to keep these pages loose and quick, just studies instead of paintings. So far three new pages and the beginning of a fourth. The first one took me about four days to complete but the other two were quick and loose which is something I need to work on as I am not generally a spontaneous artist. 

I may not get time to work on the next page today because…

today is Marcmas! Marc’s birthday, 74 years old. We’re going out for a meal when our son, who is driving out from the city, and our daughter get here. This is the third? fourth? year we have done this. I love being around all my family; kids, grandkids, and now great grandkids and the chaos of my daughter’s house but it’s special to have just the four of us, our core family, for a few hours without the distraction of succeeding generations. Did I take pictures? No.

But I did take a few Christmas Day over at Sarah’s house. Harrison is 11 months and can stand but not yet walking. He found Paisleigh’s discarded apple that she took a few bites of and he spent the day gnawing on it with his one little tooth. Meanwhile Paisleigh was putting on all her new clothes, modeling them for me. I think she has on three layers here though the pajama shirt on top is on backwards.

Now that all the days of gathering are done for the year I’m ready for the empty lost days.

observations and sewing woes

Saturday evening’s sky.

Today is my grocery shop day but so far only one thing on the list. It’s unseasonably warm this week, average temperature for this time of year is about 69˚ and it’s supposed to get to 81˚ today. The tallows, the ginkgos, crepe myrtles, the maple, and the pecans have lost all their leaves. The red oak and water oak not yet. This morning when I got up and let the dog and cat out I could hear the crows going nuts in the wild space at the back corner of the property. When I walked back there to see what was what, the entire large flock flew off to settle in a farther tree with their cacophony. I potted the three cuttings from the morning glory bush and the green onions yesterday, just the root end on some and two that had been in the fridge too long that I had growing in water. And I’m formulating a new plan to trap Ghost.

I finished Paisleigh’s blanket on Sunday. Saturday went fine, even to the point of running out of the pink thread I was using as I made the last stitch. Sunday, not so much. I had to go to the Evil Empire for more blanket binding and yellow grosgrain ribbon because what I had wasn’t enough so I picked up a new spool of pink thread to match the blanket binding. Once home I cut and pinned the yellow ribbon and the blanket binding (took me a half hour to figure out how to turn the corner) and threaded the machine with the new spool of thread and that’s when the trouble started as I was trying to sew the blanket binding onto the edge of the blanket. There’s a hook attached to the bar that moves the needle up and down that carries the thread  and about every six to eight inches it would slip out and the thread would become knotted with the bobbin thread. So, stop, clip the thread, remove the tangled clump, rethread the machine and try again. About the sixth or seventh time the thread was so knotted that I couldn’t move the needle up or down at all and ended up breaking the needle. FINE! Be that way.

I’ve had this happen once before but it was with a very old spool of thread and when I replaced it, everything worked fine. So after I replaced the needle I yanked that new spool of thread out and threw it away and finished sewing the satin blanket binding on with a much darker pink. Then I stitched the yellow ribbon down and was done.

And then since I don’t buy wrapping paper because I have a huge roll of white paper that I used for full size drawings 

that I bought before Hurricane Harvey and the house flooding and subsequent retirement from the etched glass so I did what I always do when I need wrapping paper. I painted my own. Quickly done with markers and watercolor, amateurish, did the marker first then the watercolor and should have done the other way around but gets the job done.

I’ve done everything I wanted to do, have already gifted two of the four presents I’m giving this year so let the day come and the Lost Days begin.

 

failure

Minnie snoozing next to me last night on the couch. Cat was draped across my thigh with the most contented look on her face.

Trying to trap Ghost was a dismal failure Tuesday afternoon and evening. I planned to get Twin in the catio first since the other two would be easy. I figured Robin would be in at the door and open it when I was coming up the stairs with Twin in my arms and he would be in before he knew it but when I got across the street Robin already had Lovey and Handsome in there. So when I came up the stairs with Twin she was not at the door, she was holding Handsome to keep him from going out so I had to use one of the hands I was using to hold Twin firmly to open the door. Twin freaked, pushed out of my arms claws extended and landed on the floor just inside the open door determined to escape. Robin dropped Handsome, we’re both crouched trying to block Twin and get the door closed. We succeeded but not before Twin got Robin good on the meaty part of the outside of her hand. And then Twin was frantic to get out, trying to push through the screen and chicken wire (chicken wire on the outside of all the openings because the indoor cats had torn the screen in many places). I slipped the food dishes and bag of food through to door to Robin and then set up the trap while Ghost watched. And then we waited. Twin claimed down a bit but only as long as one or both of us were in there talking to him and petting him. The other two were fine though Handsome tested a few spots. And we waited and waited and waited. Ghost got close to the trap only once sniffing at the food at the back of the trap. Nope, not going in there. Ghost has been feral all his life I suppose, he’s been hungry, he knows hungry, he can deal with hungry, and he’s wary, has to be to have survived, and he definitely wasn’t hungry enough having eaten the day before. 

I went home about 4:30, needed to walk Minnie and start dinner. About five Robin reported that twin as still trying to get out and she was afraid he would hurt himself so she basically stayed out there only going in for a few minutes now and then. Wasn’t long before Twin was frantically trying to claw his way out again. At seven she reported that not only was Ghost not in the trap, he had left. We decided to stick to the plan and keep the other cats in all night. At 9:40 she reported two more escape attempts from Twin and now Handsome had teamed up with his brother to try and get through a particular spot they felt was the most vulnerable (where the bricks are in the picture). I told her to go ahead and trip the trap and let them out but she decided to wait a little longer. Then it started raining and the food in the trap would not be tempting. She waited until it stopped raining and then opened the door. All three run out, I asked her. She said Lovey went first, then Handsome who was still trying to tunnel out and she had to show him the open door. And then Twin who took the longest as if he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. I think he really liked the cat bed a lot, she said, but he finally shot out. How funny, Twin who was the most frantic and determined to get out was the last to leave.

Now I don’t know what to try. There’s no way we can lock the other cats up every night on the off chance that Ghost will get hungry enough to venture into the trap. It could take days and I’m not sure I could get Twin in there again, at least not right away so there’s no way I can feed the three brothers and not Ghost even if I don’t put a portion out for him. He’ll manage to get some of it. I’m thinking a big net and a blanket if we can get close enough to him. Plonk the net down and throw a blanket over it but how do we get him out from under the net/blanket and into a carrier without him shredding the net/blanket and more importantly, us. In the meantime I'm leaving the trap out where they see it all the time to get used to it and maybe in a couple of weeks, try again only this time using canned food for bait instead of dry.

I decided to put the monarch wing painting in the other frame with a mat. I like it better with the mat. I took it over to the HH market yesterday for their extended hours today, open until 7 pm. 

Haven’t worked on Paisleigh’s blanket the last several days trying to tie up various loose ends so that’s my dedicated activity for the weekend.

painting, sewing, and so far no luck

The tallow in the little backyard illuminated by the outdoor light.

We had our coldest two nights Sunday and Monday nights. Near freezing but not, I decided to tempt fate and not cover anything or bring anything in and so of course Sunday afternoon in the north wind blowing I was out there covering my enormous Queen Of The Night and a few other things and bringing the enormous stag horn fern into the garage with a few little tender things. Already on a warming trend now which I knew and was the reason I initially decided not to protect anything. 

My new trick for rolling out my yoga mat on these cold mornings before the house has warmed up and I’ve slept later than usual is telling myself it doesn’t have to be a lot but it has to be some. Once on the mat it’s easy to just go through my basic routine. Regardless I did not roll out my mat Monday morning which I justified with the knowledge that I was going to class that night.

I finished the little painting, pulled off the tape, slipped it in the frame I measured it for and, oops, some of the white border showed because my measurements were off so I painted the white border trying to smudge the hard line created by the tape. It worked mostly but because I know I can see, although once in the frame it’s not really noticeable. I had two solutions, the one I acted on or using the bigger frame I have and cutting a mat to the tape line. I do like matted paintings so I may ultimately do that. We’ll see. I’m mostly happy with the background though the ‘clouds’ are too evenly spaced. Nothing I can really do about that now except remember for the next time I do something similar. I created those by using a paper towel to randomly pick up the blue color while it was still wet, not so random as it turned out, but it’s fine since the butterfly wing is the focus.

Now that I’ve finished the painting I can put my paints away and get my sewing machine back out and start on Paisleigh’s name blanket. If you read Ms Moon who writes Bless Our Hearts you know that she made name blankets for each of her grandchildren which I thought was a lovely idea. Since my grandkids are all adults in their 20s, I’m making them for my great grandchildren starting with Paisleigh. Harrison’s will be done when he’s older. So Saturday between working on the little painting I started on the blanket. I cut the printed fleece to the size I want and then made patterns for the letters and omg, that girl has nine letters in her name (thanks Mikey who decided the spelling), set up the spacing and measured for the solid color rectangle the letters will go on. Yesterday I cut the blue background piece for the letters and cut the letters out while Cat insisted on helping. 

Today I try to trap Ghost. Got the other cats in the catio where they will now spend the night since Ghost knows something is up and has shown no interest in the food in the trap. So we’ll see if he’s in there in the morning.

ornaments, pecans, soup, painting

I took this picture of one of the gingko trees yesterday. You can see all the dead branches from the drought summer several years ago when the squirrels desperate for food and water stripped the bark off the branches, 2” x 1/2” pieces covering the ground. I was afraid both trees would die but they’re doing fine. Once they turn yellow like this the leaves fall rather dramatically. The trees will probably be bare by tomorrow, Monday for certain.

I don’t dislike everything about this time of year. While I don’t care for the inflatable decorations which are a puddle of plastic on the ground more often than inflated, I love the light displays that people put up outside. I like christmas trees, or rather the trees of my youth, asymmetrical naturally grown holes and all, not the ones farmed and manicured into a perfect  unnatural cone shape. Unnatural being the key word here. Might as well be fake which so many are nowadays anyway. More specifically, I love the ornaments. I have a small collection, four antique German glass ones from my youth, one cross stitch and one starched crocheted snowflake that my sister made, and eight that I’ve bought from artists or otherwise acquired, and one faux stained glass one that my brother gave me. I’d have more if I had a way to display them all the time. Most hang on the armature I found at an estate sale (I've shown these before but it's been awhile), one on the hook to the side, 

the other four hang above the kitchen sink. So, fifteen in all. Well, 17. I have two more in a drawer, also antique German glass from my childhood, that are not in very good condition.

I’ve been shelling pecans and have shelled enough for the ones I give away. Out of 24 pounds of cracked pecans, I got a little over 10 pounds of nuts (already given three away). 

I still have five full boxes of pecans from my yard and four full boxes from the neighbor’s two trees that overhang the fence around the shop yard. Those I’ll sell along with the ones from my trees. I’ll hold out maybe another 30 pounds, that should give me plenty for the next year or longer if I don’t get any next year. The trees are still dropping nuts, you can see them high up in the trees now that most the leaves have dropped, but I’m over picking them up and probably about half the ones falling now are dried up inside. Edit: I held back about 32 pounds and sold the other eight boxes yesterday, 153 pounds of pecans.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a can of coconut milk and then couldn’t remember what I bought it for but when I looked at the recipe for the soup I wanted to make I remembered. I had a cup of cooked butternut squash left over from the casserole I made for Thanksgiving which weighed out to a little over a pound. I needed 2 pounds for the butternut cashew soup so bought a little over a pound of sweet potatoes which stand in nicely for the butternut and made that last night. Onions, garlic go in it as well as curry powder, ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, salt and pepper of course, chicken or vegetable stock (I used both), the coconut milk. Sauté the onions, garlic, and cashews, add the stock and spices, the uncooked cubed butternut and sweet potato and simmer for 20 minutes. Puree it in a blender, back in the pot and add the coconut milk and a sprig of rosemary and simmer for another 20 minutes. Since my butternut was already cooked and mashed I didn’t add it in until I was ready to puree the rest. Makes a very good creamy rich soup. Naan and a green salad on the side. If anyone is interested in quantities I can give those in the comments.

I finally started back on the painting I began before Thanksgiving. It’s been two or three weeks since I last worked on it and I’m almost ready to do the background. I found this tattered Monarch wing on the ground and envisioned it floating against a blue sky though I’m not painting it tattered. 

After the fact, I thought it would have been better if I had painted it not quite so perfect but it’s too late now for that.

Haven’t trapped Ghost yet, appointment isn’t until Wednesday.

 

SHARE social and Ghost

Today was our holiday potluck social at SHARE. I made my offering last night after spending about an hour trying to find the main ingredient, pearl couscous, which is really a form of pasta, not a grain, so I don’t know why they call it couscous unless it’s because it’s round. There are two grocery options in this town, HEB (the Texas chain) and the Evil Empire (aka Walmart). A few years ago the HEB here upgraded adding a larger variety of goods, so they told us. However to do that they had to discontinue other items which invariably were the things I buy. So because I had previously bought pearl couscous (also called Israeli couscous) in the pasta section at HEB, that’s where I went. Guess what, it wasn’t there. I used the phone app to see where else it might be in the store. Guess what, nowhere. So off to Walmart and not in their pasta section either but then I thought to look with the rice and other grains and voilà, success. It’s a fairly quick little dish, cook the pearl couscous, add chopped cucumber (sans seeds), chopped green onions including the tops, chopped dried fruit (I used cherries this time but also have used dried apricots), toasted slivered almonds, and this time I added chopped parsley as well and a little salt, then mix in Newman’s Own classic oil and vinegar dressing (that's what I use but I suppose you can use whatever you like). Quantities whatever you feel is enough (I don't measure anything) and really you can use whatever ingredients you like.

Another cold front blew in yesterday afternoon putting an end to our few days of warmer weather. One minute it was still and the next a very strong wind started blowing immediately dropping the temperature and continued to blow for the rest of the evening. Currently 46˚ and dipping down into the 30˚s tonight but they are promising temps in the 70˚s and high 60˚s for a week starting Wednesday. It was so windy I was surprised to see the two plumerias and the pink trumpet flower in pots by the barn still upright this morning.

Robin and I have decided that something has to be done about Ghost, well, not some thing but a thing in particular. 

Ghost needs to have his little balls clipped. When he first showed up he would hang back by the back of the shop until the other cats had eaten and dispersed before he would come eat what was left. Then he would wait by the front of the shop. When we started putting out food for him as well he hung out by the shed and would submissively come join the other cats. Over the months he has gotten bolder and bolder and now he is well fed, has shelter under the house, and while he still won’t let us touch him and hisses when we try, he lets us get within touching distance. The problem is that now that he’s confident that he has a place to live and food he’s getting aggressive with the other cats. Lovey has never accepted him and hisses at him but Twin and Handsome were more accommodating. Not so much now. Handsome will hiss at him and I’ve seen Ghost attack Twin, who of the three is the most timid, and Handsome and all three now keep a wide berth between themselves and Ghost. The three would take shelter under the house but not now that Ghost has moved in. I see Ghost come out from under the house but not the other three, not anymore. They hang out in the front. And now Lovey has basically moved across the street over to my house much to Cat’s displeasure, only going back when I feed them. We think he spends the night under our house now as he is always here when I open the garage every morning. I don’t mind except for the fact that it upsets Cat, they face off and snarl at each other, and she doesn’t want to go out when he’s here. 

So we have a plan. I’m going to borrow my neighbor’s live trap, call the local organization that helps with the cost of spaying and neutering feral cats and get a voucher sent to the vet and make an appointment. Lovey and Handsome will voluntarily go into the screened back porch and I’m pretty sure Twin trusts me enough now to get him in there and I’ll feed them in there and bait the trap with food for Ghost. The problem before was getting the other cats isolated and Ghost being untrusting but that’s not a problem now. Hopefully Ghost will fall for the ruse and I can take him to the vet before they close for the day.