Sunday, October 1, 2023

Updated

 Gray Kitty has taken over the bed. He takes the comfiest spot and poses very sweetly to try to avoid getting kicked off.


On Friday I texted my friend Judi because I hadn't heard from her in awhile. I ended up inviting her for lunch today. She requested barbecue, so we ordered takeout from the place nearby. I ordered a lot of extra food, knowing that I could get her to take some of the leftovers home. She's in her 80s now and doesn't eat enough, in my opinion. She's restricted her eating most of her life and I suspect that now she mostly lives on coffee and Triscuits. (She did say that she's been eating a lot of sugary things, meaning cookies.)

Judi brought her dog and he and Chance ran around for awhile before Chance tired out. Chance's hips are in really bad shape these days and sometimes he can't get up at all, so one of us (mostly Dave) has to help him up. Today, Judi helped him up once (she insisted and I let her) and Dave helped him up at least twice. You know where this is going.

It was a nice afternoon because we got to visit with a friend, but it was also kind of sad because our friends are getting older and Chance is getting older and he is not in great health. Hard times and hard decisions are coming.

Fall is here, too. Some of the trees around us are changing color and some are starting to drop their leaves. Climate change is causing trees to drop their leaves sooner than they have in the past, which is not great because trees use the time between their leaves are changing color and dropping their leaves to extract as many nutrients from the leaves as possible. With everything happening sooner, the tree is left with less of a reserve.

I'm feeling a bit melancholy this afternoon, I think. 

We had a full moon recently and I find that these days I respond very strongly to the full moon. I am starting to understand now, as I cross from perimenopause into menopause, where some of the ideas about witches and crones and the full moon come from. It's a strange unmooring, this time.

I've been sewing, but my pace has slowed again. I've been working on a quilt for Dave to give to his mother for Christmas. I don't know if I'll get it done in time. I had to order some fabric for it and that led to a fabric buying frenzy. I picked up six yards and three spools of thread from a local quilt shop and I ordered another six or so from an online retailer that is shipping it to me. I was looking at another online shop that I've purchased fabric from in the past. They sell quilting fabric very cheaply ($3.99 a yard versus $12 a yard) and I have 35 yards in my cart (but I have yet to check out). 

Here are a couple of progress photos of prairie flower blocks, one done in solids and patterns and one done in solids only.

These blocks are 13.75 inches square, and there 20 of them in a 4x5 pattern. They're going to  be sashed (that is, strips of fabric sewn between the rows and columns of the blocks) in a burgundy fabric with a small border in burgundy and a larger border in  indigo. I'm not sure where I'll go after that.

 

These purple, yellow, and green blocks are sashed together with orange. You can see the one with the different center in the lower right quadrant. That was a tester block that I made before I decided to make the centers in  yellow-orange (Tula Pink's fabric in the shade "nacho cheese"). I realized after I had made most of the other blocks that I wasn't going to have enough purple fabric to make twenty new blocks, so I would have to use the one with the white center. I suppose I could have unsewed just that one block and replaced the white center with a nacho cheese one, but I don't like unsewing I only like sewing. So I left it. (Sorry the angle is weird. Dave was standing above and off to the side when he took these photos).

There's still lots of work to do on both.

Most nights recently I've been making golden milk or turmeric milk (same thing) before bed. It seems to help with some of the aches and pains I've been having recently. For two servings, I use two cups of milk (whole milk or unsweetened soy milk), one teaspoon of turmeric (from Penzey), two cardamom pods, a bit of cinnamon stick, and a small bit of candied ginger. I heat it up, pour it into some mugs and drink. It's really good!

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