another post about things I've written about repeatedly

Saturday I did something I haven't done in decades if I even ever did it before. I washed the car. It was so dirty it looked gray instead of the sparkly dark blue it is. Now I need to clean the inside which is also very dusty which I don't understand how that happens. We rarely drive with the windows down so how does all that dust get in there?

Look how shiny!

Sunday I emptied the truck of downed branches from Nickolas and swept out the leaves accumulating in the barn and garage before the leaves really start to fall again. I'm trying to stay on top of the barn after the hard work of cleaning it out and organizing it earlier this year. Then I filled and put the bird feeders out for the fall and winter. I bring them in in the summer lest the birds forget how to forage. It took a couple of hours for a lone cardinal to find it and this morning I see the titmice and chickadees and inca doves have also discovered that it's out again. So far the squirrels are oblivious but that won't last.

Stayed up late last night finishing the book I was reading and went and got my blood work done this morning. And really, that's all I've done.

The woman who leads the yoga class I go to on Monday and Wednesday evenings won't be able to be there for several weeks and she asked me if I would lead the class while she was out of pocket and so I did agree. Last Wednesday night was the first time and so I'll also be leading the class this week and next at least until Abby can come back.

I had two surprise lilies bloom this year. Some years I get a few and some years none.

And I saw this dying dragonfly in the street last evening when Minnie and I took our little walk. I picked it up and put it on a shrub so the ants wouldn't eat it alive.

------------

I want to apologize for being a little testy at the end of my last post. I was just frustrated that I wasn't making myself understood, that afib and stroke are two different issues though they are connected, and maybe a little upset that y'all would think I would trust my heart to a doctor that was blasé about stroke, though I know you were just expressing your concern for me and I do appreciate that you take time out of your day to comment on and read what I write.

Some more info: People can have afib for years, not know it, never get treated for it, and never throw a clot or have a stroke. They may just feel tired all the time or out of breath. The general consensus is that afib episodes need to last 12 – 24 hours before clots may form though some doctors think the threat occurs after about 5 hours. Mine typically only lasted 2 – 7 hours so these extended episodes are new which is why I'm convincing myself to undergo the other ablation, something I'd just as soon not do, but if my thyroid isn't contributing and the medication is no longer controlling it, then that is what I will have to do. Here's another fact that I didn't know. Beside the usual triggers, sleep apnea can also be a culprit. And, the older you are, the more likely it is to develop. Fun stuff. 

I know, more boring remodeling stuff but some bugs at the end

Rocky finally got around to the brick wall that separates this room from the garage. 

We had already taken out the short 2' or so wide perpendicular brick wall to the left of the old entertainment center that was built on the bricks that further to the right became one of the planters and pushed the wall all the way back which is why that opening into the garage in the picture exists (I have a before picture but I'm saving that for later). He had saved that section for the last because figuring out how to trim around it was being troublesome as the face of the bricks protruded out unevenly beyond the plane of the paneling. We ought to just take it out, Rocky says, we can get it done and reframed and paneled in one day. Since that brick wall was always going to be the sore thumb in an otherwise new room, I agreed.

He's just about done in there, plans to show up today and get it all finished except for the new back door which hasn't arrived yet and the base molding which can't go on til I get the flooring in and that might not be til January unless I switch to a different flooring that Rocky can install. And I ought to get it painted before the flooring goes in but there's no time for that until January.

I'm still leaning towards this sheet vinyl for the floor 

but my neighbor Gary was showing me the interlocking vinyl planks he is using for about the same price or less and easy to install, that are waterproof and can be easily taken up, washed off, and reinstalled if it floods again. Problem is, all I see online is wood patterns and that's not what I want in there. So I guess I'm heading out to the Lowe's again to see what all they have in that product.

I do manage to sneak an hour here or there to get some of the cold work done on the pieces we've managed to get cast. Here's a peek at the moon piece which is going to take some considerable time getting in all those nooks and crannies.

And finally the promised bugs...

This bee was so covered in pollen it looked like it had landed in someone's flour. Well, I guess it did in a way.

And this grasshopper was determined I would not take his picture. Every time I closed in with the camera, it would scoot around to the other side of the stem.

bits and pieces

We finally got some rain, 2 1/2” between Saturday night and til about noon on Monday. Everything looks much happier. Sunday, after the previous night's rain and before it began again, I went out to the garden and dug up more potatoes and got two really big ones and a handful of smaller ones. I'm supposed to keep all the little ones for seed potatoes for a fall crop, so say all the country boys in the neighborhood.

Since so many of you were interested in the roasted tomato sauce, here's the recipe I found on-line:

5-6 pounds medium or small tomatoes, stems removed

1 medium head of garlic, peeled (you can chop the garlic if you want but can keep cloves whole if you'd like)

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Place the tomatoes on large baking sheet with a raised 1-inch lip. Add the garlic cloves and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Use your fingers to mix well to coat. Top with torn basil leaves and season with kosher (I used pink himalayan) salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 4 hours or until tomatoes are soft and bursting (it was 3 hrs and about 20 minutes or so for me so keep an eye on them). Allow to cool then pour into a blender in batches. Pulse 2-3 times then blend for 1 minute or until desired chunkiness. Pour into quart jars or pour into freezer bags to freeze flat. Will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week or 4 months in the freezer.

a moth and a butterfly

You might remember my birthday was last month. I think I mentioned it in a previous post. Our usual celebration is a movie and dinner but we had to wait until the following Friday since the movie I wanted to see, Guardians Of The Galaxy II, didn't come out til then and it even starred my only still living heartthrob, Kurt Russell. I'll spare you the trailer because if you are a GOTG fan, you've already seen it. However the other thing about my birthdays is that I buy my own present. This year I bought a small stone sculpture by fabulous stone sculptor Jennifer Tetlow who lives and works in North Yorkshire, England. I've followed Jennifer's work for several years and I really love her aesthetic so I finally am the proud owner of one of her pieces...Flutter.

my pink crinum lily

One last item of note...another surprise in the mailbox, Barbara at Kittrell/Riffkind Gallery sold another piece for us. I guess if she's going to keep doing that, I need to start making some new work.

more stuff that isn't about the job

It never seems to fail that I finish whatever book I am reading either Friday or Saturday nights usually in the wee hours. This time it was Friday night. So no going to the library since I work on Saturday and they are closed by the time I lock up. I am once again on overload from FB so no entertainment there. I don't really watch TV but Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is on so there is that.

My wound continues to heal. I got my stitches out a week ago last Wednesday and the doctor was satisfied with the healing process. The point of entry and the most jagged side was pulling apart so he put surgical tape strips over it but by five days later it was looking pretty icky since it continued to seep and weep and ooze icky stuff that had no way out so I took the tape off and cleaned it up. 

But since the most jagged side still wasn't completely stitched back together, I put on three strips which I wore for another 5 days. 

I took those off last Friday. So now it's mostly the point of entry that is still healing and I may not have much of a scar beyond a small triangle. We'll see.

Our bodies are pretty amazing things. Meat suits, as my friend Dee calls them, organic ever evolving renewing regenerating (to a point, we don't regrow things that get cut off) repairing healing...alive, the vehicle that allows the mind to interact with the physical world...breath, circulation, elimination, sustenance. Strong and fragile all at the same time. They grow, mature, wear out, and release the rider.

One thing I didn't mention about meeting up with Dana last week was that the butterflies were migrating through that area. I must have killed hundreds driving up there and back. I really hate driving when the butterflies are migrating. Birds get it and will get out of the way but butterflies, well, maybe they just aren't fast enough. I kept exhorting them to fly higher, fly higher. I was out in the yard earlier and there was a frittilary, a big bright yellow sulfur, a long wings, and then a swallowtail fluttered up and another big sulfur. 

   

I've never before seen that many different butterflies in the yard out here at the same time so maybe my gardening is starting to take hold. I've been trying to plant for bees and butterflies.

The skies have been pretty dramatic the last couple of weeks.

And then this happened.

And I guess I lied because here's a picture of Marc's progress on the first panel as of the end of day Sunday.

And the second panel with the stencil cut and marked.

same song, different verse

I've been busy and fairly single minded. Still working on these waxes and small castings. I haven't heard from our glass blowing friends about whether or not there will be an open house in December. When I spoke to Kathy weeks ago she was uncertain. They still had not been able to get in the studio and turn the furnace on. They haven't quite emerged from the turmoil that has been their lives for the last couple of years. A fellow glass artist who also participates says they are planning it though so I'm trying to see what I can get done in the way of small castings between now and then. Not much time though, 22 days. And still no funding on the small animal hospital job but they did send me some new images.

Because of the above, I haven't had time to post much and this isn't much of a post so I'll pad it with some miscellaneous pictures.

 green lacewing eggs on the glass of the storm door to the Little Backyard

 bumblebee foraging in a confederate rose

 the totems illuminated up by the rising sun

 green frog on the storm door to the Little Backyard

 the dog thinks shoulders and arms are for standing on

I've been chasing wrens out of the house lately

 the magnolia bud and baby seed pod casting, cleaned, finished, and ready to be affixed to the wax leaves

 the spring iris are emerging and this one speared a maple leaf

the yellow butterfly ginger liked the rain

tiny things

More gardening planned for today. Banana trees and bougainvillea first on the list.

I started noticing these tiny flowers and bugs this spring. Mostly these are from the grounds of the shop. All these little flowers and bugs are 1/4” or less in size with one or two exceptions.

 ants inside the squash flower

 scarlet pimpernel

 baby praying mantis

 pink flower

this little spider was closer to 1/2”

 this deer pea vetch flower was 1/8”

 the bug on the pea flower...so tiny!

 the little dayflower was about 5/8”

little lawnflower also about 1/8”

 yellow wood sorrel (?)

 tiny venus' comb flowers in a cluster

1/8” black medic bloom

coral colored flower