172 Days, 24.5 weeks, Safer at Home

 The day started out cold and raining.  It was so cold in the house I fired up the gas fireplace for a couple of hours and turned on the tea pot too.  I had a cup of bay leaf tea, I'll get back to that now.

One thing about the way I grocery shop now, my menu has become quite boring.  I decided to try one of these services that ship you the ingredients to make meals.  A friend was using Hello Fresh, sent me a coupon, and I signed up.  My first 3 meals came on Friday.  I had worried about the packaging waste, but so far, almost everything is recyclable.  And, there is no food waste at all.  The ingredients sent are exactly what is needed to make a meal of 2 serving sizes.

My first menu item was Salsa Verde Enchiladas made with black beans.  Very tasty and plenty for 3 servings, and I think it would have frozen okay as well.

Today I made Salmon Limone on Couscous.  It was delicious.  I think it took me about 20 minutes to whip up.  So flavorful and a nice sized portion for tomorrow as well.  I took a photo of the menu card & my plate, can you tell which is which 🤣🤣🤣

I was impressed with this meal.

Next up is Apricot, Almond and Chickpea Tagine.

🍳🥠🍚

Today was my meeting of the Library Board of Directors, before I went I sewed up 7 masks to give to the librarian for her own use, her staff or others.  She is a musician and she loved the musical notes.

Great niece Stella turns 14 today and starts school as a Freshman tomorrow.

Ruby and Stella 2011

Peace ☮

What if the Covid-19 virus is the world's pause button

 What if the Covid-19 virus is the world's pause  button

To bring families closer together, 

to give students exposure to a new style of learning, 

to give student-athletes time for their bodies to heal, 

to give business owners a chance to re-imagine their businesses, 

to give friends time to connect on Zoom, 

to give Mother Earth a chance to clean the air,

to give each of a us a chance to look at what is important,

to give pets the love and attention they crave,

to give readers an excuse to read to their heart's content,

to give gardening a chance to be a loved hobby,

to give us time for writing letters & notes and mailing them,

to give us time to focus on Black Lives Matter and racial injustice,

to remind us that no matter where we live on this planet, or how different we are, when it comes to this virus, we all are in the very same boat. We all want to 

Switching gears, I have been a very lazy email inbox manager for a number of years, and my Gmail inbox had thousands of emails clogging up the works.  I'm pretty good at labeling important emails so that they go into a folder for future reference, (although I probably do a little too much of that) but I have been lax at hitting the delete key.  I have been noodling on how to solve my inbox problem for quite some time and finally just decided to take on 2 actions.  

1. First, I filed every email that had a folder name attached, 
2. Second, I deleted every other email.  Poof gone, empty inbox.  

Now, it should be easy to take care of the daily arrivals and keep the inbox empty at the end of each day.  

Back to 'What If', I had started writing this one night when I couldn't sleep, early on in self quarantine sleepless nights.  As I was deleting today, I ran across my notes.  So, I copied, pasted and deleted.

Hops likes to perch; I suppose she has a slightly loftier view of her world from atop the step stool.  

Happy Sunday.🐈

 

Saturday

Working on a little sewing project today. It was a kit I had picked up somewhere, it was missing the border fabric & I added the cat block.  It's going to be a fun fall runner.

Here is Hops posing for the cat block. She likes to sit up on this step stool.

The Morning Glory blooms are such a delite.

I planted one pot of this Seagrass about 3 years ago, it is thriving. A nice screen in fall & winter.

12 years ago 📆 today, I filled my Arvada, Colorado fridge with Coors 🍺 Light and Coors 🍺 Banquet and my friends showed up to help me pack my belongings into a moving 🚛 truck. 

It was the end of my Colorado life and the beginning of my return to Wisconsin.

I'm grateful ♥️ for these pals who spent their Saturday in a hot truck, or bubble wrapping many items, or packing the junk out of my shed, or emptying shelves and making it all happen in short order.

1000 thanks X12 to Jim Bartley, Dave Thomas, LeAnna Rosenow, Sharon Boomer Reichow, Kent Reichow, Steve Rockhold, Tammy Vogt Rockhold, Rochelle Tisdale, Tom Tisdale, and Laila Johansen.

Played Zoom-Bridge today & sewed, Life is Good.

169 days

 Today I drove to Almena, a small town about 20 miles West.  There is a couple there who have wonderful gardens and a veggie stand in their driveway.  I bought big, beautiful tomatoes and lots of them.  I spent $8.  

Lunch was a big plate of sliced tomatoes with S & P.  

Tasty.  

I love to eat seasonally and seasoned, ha!

I love this blue Tomatoe Knife from Pampered Chef.

My niece is a dealer, and this is one of the best products I have purchased.  

Covid19, cases overview

Barron County

Total cases 363

Recovered -

Deaths 3

Wisconsin

Total cases 78,307 +878

Recovered -

Deaths 1,122

United States

Total cases 5.9M +43,814

Recovered -

Deaths 181K +1,118

Worldwide

Total cases 24.5M

Recovered 16M

Deaths 832K

Be safe.

😷

168 days of self quarantine

 When I typed that number it felt like it had some significance.  After thinking about it awhile, it comes to me that my pager number at the Brewery was 81-068 for a number of years.  It is still embedded in my brain.  Funny how that works.  Today I had a Rose Breasted Nuthatch at the feeder, the last time he was here was one year ago tomorrow.  Those little birds have such precise calendars for their migrations.  Funny how that works.

Today I had my first visitor, other than the plumber a month or so ago.  Nephew Kyle came with some bank papers for me to sign.  We sat outside, wore our masks and stayed 6 feet apart.  It was quite pleasant to have a little chat, I have missed seeing him and his family.

I sewed up some more cloth napkins, keeping a few sets on hand for gifts.  I think I have a couple of ideas for who might like to have a set.  I have never used a paper napkin in my house since I sewed my first set at quilt camp about 3 years ago.

More Morning Glory flowers today.

So pretty.

📕

As part of my responsibilities as a board member for our local library, I am asked to participate in Trustee Training annually.  Today's session was so timely and well done.  There was so much information given that I will watch this one again.  

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion: What Library Trustees Need to Know 

and the presenter was excellent.  

A couple of resources she recommended are on the screen below.  She suggested a study at Project Implicit examine your attitudes, preferences and memory.  I'm taking the test tonight and I'll let you know what I learn.

I started a little project kit that I had picked up in some quilt shop a while ago.  It is a pumpkin and is to end up a placemat, I'm planning to adjust the pattern slightly and made a runner instead.  It is fun to do a small project like this from time to time.  I'll update as I make progress.

I ran across this picture of Dad from 10 years ago.  We were on the ferry to Madeline Island out of Bayfield, WI.  He loved this hat and this was such a fun day.  

My niece Erin sent me this photo of her boys from today, 

2020-1st day back to school.

They are really changing.

And talk about changing, Erin has been an Elementary Art teacher her whole teaching career and this year, because of Covid needs, she is teaching 2nd Grade.  It can't be easy to make a major change like that, but I loved that she said, at first she was sad, but then she realized she just needed to do what was best for the kids. 💗💗💗

Peace ☮☮☮

166 days, 23 1/2 Weeks, 5+ months

 Creeping up to the 1/2 year mark.  All is well here.

I'm going for my first salon haircut in about 27 weeks, 

that is about 5 haircuts I gave myself in the backyard.

I thought I would add some close up photos of the stitch-work by Aunt Johanne.  

All of these pictures are scenes from Denmark.

Traditional style Danish church, much like our West Denmark here in Wisconsin.

Windmills are part of the Danish energy management plan.

I should have taken these close ups before I hung the valance, owell, you get the idea.

This is the second year I have planted Morning Glory seeds in my hanging planters.

Last year, I did not have a single flower, I think because I was fertilizing with grass fertilizer, which promotes greenery, but not blooming.

This year I am using bloom booster, and I am so pleased to see many flowers open this morning.

It's going to be a great day.

Memories of Aunt Johanne

 My cousins sent me one of the valances that Aunt Johanne had made using counted cross stitch.  It was long and it took me a little while to figure out where it could be used in this house.  

I ordered a new curtain rod and it arrived today, so then I got busy.  The only curtain rod that I could find that would clear the current wooden valence over the doors to the deck, was double wide.  So, I spent some time un-sewing the curtain rod pocket and then sewed a new one.  The rod went up pretty quickly and the valance is exactly the right length for this set up.

Before, wooden valance came with the house.

Aunt Johanne's counted cross stitch work.

I love seeing her work in my dining room.

I finished up some cloth napkins to go along with the table topper I made for my friend on Maui.  

Off to the post office tomorrow.

Today is 165 days of Covid19 self quarantine.  A few Colorado friends were exposed to the virus through their golfing group, they are getting tested.  It's worrisome, and a reminder that the virus is out there in circulation.  I don't feel like I am 'living in fear' like some folks seem to think I am, but I feel safe sticking with my essential travels only routines.

Peace.

164 days since March 12th

This time of year, the bees really move in on the Hummingbird Feeders.  From what I have observed, the Hummers are not interested in a fight, they just move on.  When I have seen bees bothering the Orioles at the jelly, I have actually seen an Oriole grab a bee in the beak and toss it out of the way.

I am keeping 2 small feeders going for the Hummingbirds, hoping if the bees are thick at one, they can get a slurp at the other.

"Silphium perfoliatum, the cup plant or cup-plant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern and central North America. It is an erect herbaceous perennial with triangular toothed leaves, and daisy-like yellow composite flower heads in summer.

A coarse perennial, 3-6 ft. tall with numerous large, yellow composite flowers. Each flower head has 20-30 yellow rays and darker yellow disks. Stout leaves are joined at the square stem to form a small cup that holds water and attracts birds."

The flower just opened and shows you the cup that is formed at the base of the stem.

I dug this plant up in the yard of a photographer friend about 3 years ago. I came home with a carload of these plants but this is the only one that survived the transplant. It spreads via rhizome, so I'm hoping to baby it and get a patch of these to thrive under the bedroom window.

***

I updated the chalk on the driveway yesterday.

This industrial spray chalk is very much like paint, it doesn't wash off.

I might be looking at these messages in the spring.

✓✓✓

Today I am celebrating 10 years since reconnecting with my very close friend Mary.  I had moved to Wisconsin 2 years earlier.  Through the magic of Google, I had found Mary's address and wrote her a letter.  We had been close pals back in the 70's but then had lost touch for a many years.  Mary called me as soon as she got my letter and we planned a meet up in Ashland.  Dad & Ev wanted to meet some of their snowbird friends so we combined the trip.  We stayed at a quaint little motel right on the lake, with only about 10 rooms, each furnished with cabin type of old furniture and decor.  It was a great weekend.  Mary and I are in touch at least every other day on the phone now and by email in between.  I'm grateful for this friendship.

Peace.

Happy Birthday

Wishing a very Happy Birthday  to my good friend Suzi.  We had such a fun Zoom visit yesterday with Boomer & Louise!

Suzi is my most avid reader, keeps me on my writing toes.  Enjoy your day Suzi.

 

161 Days of Self Quarantine

 Essential travel only is not all bad.  I'm not doing anything I don't want to do, and I think I even found a new hair salon to try so I might even get a haircut after 6 months of DIY haircuts.

Today, I went to water the Morning Glory plant by the front door.  It has finally bloomed.  I'm so pleased, now I better be more diligent about the watering.

As I was trying to give this basket a drink today, the water was just barely coming out of the watering can spout.  So, I took the nozzle screen off thinking it was plugged with leaves, and out poured this little beauty.  I hope he is okay, maybe he wants to live in the Morning Glory pot?

My niece Michelle called me today.  We had a wonderful and long chat.  It made my day.  She's battling cancer and also facing a major lifestyle change with Alyxis heading off to college.  It was good to hear her perspective and also to offer some of my own.  I value her friendship so much.

💕💕💕

Life is good.

Ta Da, 160 days

It feels so great to finish a project.
I started this project well before quarantine.  My friend posted a photo of a decorative item she and her bf had brought home from Japan.  Shortly thereafter, I saw a bundle of fat quarters at the grocery store, of all places, and I thought the colors looks like they coordinated.
I decided to sew up a table topper for my friend.
Not long after, she announced that she was engaged to the bf, so then I thought I would send it as an engagement gift.  I had a pattern that I had sewn before, and started cutting and did some sewing.
Then, it got put aside.

Then came Covid & quarantine came and there was plenty of time to sew.

I started back working on this project and I was so shocked to see how big the finished project would be.  I had barely enough fabric and not enough to follow the pattern for layout, I used every bit of fabric that I had and rearranged the blocks to make it all work.

I used a fancy stitch on some of the quilting around the middle hexagon. 

I always like this fancy stitching looks, just a little bit special.

I didn't know what to do for a backing, but found this yardage in my stash.  

I thought the table topper might be kinda, sorta reversible.

A local quilt shop ran a special on these little wooden tags during Covid, I ordered a few.  
A nice finish.

I had just enough scrap to piece together the binding. Almost zero waste.

 Well, here we are at least 6 months later and now they have announced that they are getting married in early September, so I'm just in time to send it as a gift.

This is the inspiration piece, I'm not sure my fabric really does coordinate afterall.

So it goes.

160 days of Safer at Home

Peace

☮☮☮