HOMEFREE

This'n'That on last day of the month

I like the last day of the month; feels like a stepping-off point;  feels like a Friday no matter what day of the week it is. 

Something about the day, this morning, prompted opening of windows.  It wasn't an obvious reason like unexpected warmth outdoors or a wish to air out the old month and let in the new, albeit a bit prematurely. Nope, it was just a sudden wish to open doors and windows.  Felt grand, both to do so and to feel the fresh air saunter in.

Then, as usual, I wondered how bubbles would behave.  They scooted back into the house with the curious wind.

 I persevered because the birds were at the feeders and I wanted to see how they would react to the bubbles. The nuthatch immediately stepped around to the back of the peanut column feeder, out of sight, but then peered around and sidled back into view.  The chickadees seemed more skittish with a bit of dramatics of hasty exits stage front but as hasty returns to the suet and the peanuts.

It then occurred to me to find out what good ol' Google had to offer about bubbleologists.  Lots and lots! 

This was the first one I came across and since I did not get a photo of my bubbles and the birds watch this to see others delighting in bubbles.

Teeny tiny tutorial : dream enhancer; sleep inducer

My old one had 'sprung a leak' but after months of faithful service it was time to release it and make another.

First a browse through some of  the handkerchief collection;  the blue one my father sent to my mother from 'Overseas' during the Second World War;  the others were thrift store finds or 'souvenirs' from places I have been and much enjoyed (New England) but brought back by tourists other than I.

The lovely top one has a red and blue stain on its hidden side which perfectly matches the flag colour on the French handkerchief.  Note to self - when washing hanky collection in a fit of spring cleaning do not lay them to dry one on top of one another on counter without careful attention to possibility of dye running.

Get  the pillowcase from the closet where it scents the air with the dried potpourri  of many gardens, bouquets, street combing of urban orchards, gifts,  scented leaf falls etc. and the bag with recent acquisitions which have dried but not yet been added to the pillowcase. 

Take the time to let the fingers and the nose choose .....

 

Place the plant material on the chosen handkerchief.....

....... secure with a length of handspun yarn.....

 

...... put it on the pillow beside a lavender sachet made by DIL  Samara.

Squeeze and sniff as wanted or needed.  It works on daydreams as well.

I have given many of these over the years; they have been well received  and  cheer me in the giving .  This gift to self has both aspects, of course.  And I am reminded once more to dare to dream.

The old one has been placed on the deck so the sun and wind and moon and weather can spread it back to the earth.  Then the handkerchief will be 'planted' when I dig my next garden.

I do this with the old linen dishcloths as well.  It feels fitting.

 

Street combing .... makes me wonder .....

Yes, there is the excitement of discovering just what the tide of humanity causes to wash up, overnight, on urban streets;  I truly never know what I will discover.

But there is also the aspect of the unexpected:  I am not going looking for such 'treasures'  (unless specifically with a project in mind).

Today the early morning walk had progressed from experiencing the movement of body in fresh air and fresh light (it was cloudy but the sun does filter through or it would be dark) and other people out and about.  It had reached the stage of walking turning more into strolling, less observation of the world around me, more thought of what I wanted to do next, turning my steps toward home.

That's when I noticed this wagon.  With its load of branches. Had a small wonder at when it would be off to dump and was the spare tire for the wagon and was the levelling log permanent or opportunitistic.

Then I noticed the orange.  The mandarin orange.

Eye lenses stopped and stared.  Camera lens was dug out of purse.

 

 

Had a major wonder:  who left it there, so perfectly positioned?  Why?  When?  Had the deer family who usually wander by earlier seen it?  

Had anyone else stopped to admire its incongruity and perfection in the midst of rusty metal?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I got home I took a mandarin from the basket in the kitchen that is  filled with such oranges as long as they are available in the stores which now seems to be  for months and not just Christmas;  I took that mandarin and thoughtfully peeled it and ate it.

Smorgasbord _______ Dining

The bi-weekly breakfast meal at the nearby deli with its more than eighty offerings continues;  I first posted about it  here more than a year ago.  (I have discovered not everyone knows to click on the underlined word to access the link so I mention this fact.)

An adjective is needed in the title of this post - thus the space between Smorgasbord _____ Dining.  But I cannot think of an appropriate word.

When I began to drink coffee without lots and lots of cream and lots and lots of sugar I - eventually - began to enjoy the taste of - coffee. When I - gradually and finally - overcame the sugar addiction then I began to taste the food itself, did not crave sweet foods (what a liberation that was!).  That is the adjective I need;   the "food-by-itself" meaning.

For some reason I did not feel like the conventional bacon/eggs/toast a few months ago, as well as the buffet, and, on occasion, consider ordering them again.  But once I get in front of the buffet I remember how good and satisfied  I feel after the unconventional meal.  

And the food choices, the flavours, are - surprising in their everchanging complement, delightfully so.

Aaaaahhhh..... chooooooo! .....

..... but not HERE!!!!

The magic of mobius

A mobius is magical.  Take a length of paper, bring both narrow ends together and join them with a piece of tape - but! - before you join them - twist one of the ends so you are joining the front of one end of the paper to the back of the other end.  Now take a pencil and draw a line from that join until you meet that join again.  Magic!!!

I got to wondering who discovered this and imagine there is some wonderful scientific explanation but I also think it could have been that some child was playing with paper and glue and came up with this shape and took it to his mother and said, "Look what I've made" and she said, "I'm busy, go show your father" and his father said, "I'm busy, go show your grandmother" and his grandmother said, "Wow, that is neat, but I am busy too so go show that guy down the street who is always mumbling about formulas and stuff like that."  The rest is history.....

This is a mobius scarf or necklet made from Stephanie's handspun yarn.  I did it in     Tunisian crochet,  used a very large ordinary crochet hook;  it  drapes nicely and the shape of the mobius displays all those gorgeous colours.  It is made from a rectangle joined as mentioned above.

I found a piece of knitting in with my stash of fibre;  it was a WIP but from so long ago that a) I could not remember what it was intended toward  b) the name of the stitch and thus the method escapes me  c)  the content of the wool is also lost to memory.  But it was so pretty and nicely rectangular so I turned it into a mobius as well. 

This handwoven scarf was a find at a thrift store and since it was also a rectangle, albeit a lonnnggg one, I wondered if it would translate into a mobius.  It did!  Instead of joining end to end with a twist I chose a spot partway down, did the twist, and secured with a knitting needle, which means you can adjust the dimension at the neck.

 

I am aware you can  knit a mobius that is not a rectangle with ends joined but which you knit as a complete unit.  To find out more about this I googled  origin knit mobius and came up with oodles of information:  this  gave a brief history of the mobius in knitting ( it was on the first page which is always appealing and satisfying) and answered a bunch of my questions. After reading through several instructions on just how to knit an intrinsic (as compared to an extrinsic) mobius - well, I may have to do one simply to meet that challenge - but, in the meantime, I am very glad I can knit a rectangle and do the twist and join.

 

 

Furthering this adventure - a day or so ago I came across in a book on hats the instructions on how to knit in the round and it cautioned about keeping all the cast on stitches "untwisted, or you will end up with a mobius which is interesting but not what you want....."    

 

Well, I did want..... and within minutes I had found a small circular needle and some yarn and cast on a bunch of stitches and - twisted them - and knit around and around and around.  Sure looked like a mobius to me!!  Had I, by chance, discovered  a simple way to knit an intrinsic mobius??? 

No, I had not.  With a mobius, as in the paper model in first photo, the pencil  line goes around and around on both sides and ends up at the starting point.  On my  ????????  a chalk line goes around and around but only on one side.

So what have I unvented?  This one makes a nice wrist band or would look kind of cute as a ruff on a small dog.  I plan to do it with only one strand of yarn (the purple ??????  has two strands:  I was in a hurry of discovery) and make it a bigger circumference to see if it can also be used as a  mobius  (faux?)  scarf. 

 

 

 

 

Words scarcely needed except for .... pop .... pop .... pop ....

Snowberry bush ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a child I would also put some of these treasures in my pocket but they did not travel well or please my mother on wash day when she checked my pockets.

The ones tossed on the road had a more satisfying result.

 

 

 

 

 

Ready .... set ......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pop ... pop ... pop .........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A noise from high in the tree made me look up.

It was not asking  "Who, who, who?"

It was more "Tsk, tsk, tsk,tsktsktsk ...."

Perhaps I had disturbed its nap. 

I am so glad I saw it.

Bird feeder for the fruit eaters.

Simply putting halved apples or oranges on the deck railing has been fine but the increasing incidence of wind storms had me planning to once again make a more solid feeder with a spike and a piece of two by four wood.  Or finding a stone with a hole in it.

Hadn't gotten around to the construction but I did have my antenna out  because I know I did see a lovely rock with a hole in it at a park or a dollar store or  somewhere I frequent regularly.

Then at the mid-week church sale I saw this potato baker tool - perfect!  Now the fruit is anchored and wind proof.

I'd still like to find that rock .....

 

Cycle .... unbroken ....

Last leaf on the lilac tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buds already in sight ....  resting

Chestnuts and spiders.

Sounds kind of like a recipe.  Maybe  "Spiders and chestnuts"  is better.

Usually I collect chestnuts when the trees have dropped them in their shell which I delight in opening  and viewing those gorgeous, shiny works of the artist,  Nature.

After  they have been in displays around the house, carried in a pocket,  admired on the dashboard of the car they lose their shine and are ready to be put here and there around the house to deter spiders.

On the weekend I noticed a spider on the wall in the kitchen. I prefer not to notice spiders in the house.  Especially since I stepped on one in the dark; actually it was a raisin but I thought it was a spider. Outdoors I like them just fine.

But kitchen spider reminded me I had not collected chestnuts this year.

Just so happened I was in Cook St. Village later that day and the chestnut trees that so grandly line the streets reminded me to get chestnuts.  

Could not find any!!!  Most of the leaves were down.  The ground in the Village had leaves but no chestnuts. Was beginning to think the spiders in my house were going to  have to be deterred by purchased, fancy, foreign chestnuts.  Marrons!  Sacrebleu!

Then I walked away from the Village and finally found some in the next block.

Whew.  Bare feet in the dark are safe.

Now I am wondering why there were no chestnuts under the trees in the Village.  Maybe the squirrels 'went shopping'  for them.