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Thursday, September 19, 2024

I Like Thursday # 419 mums the word, and poodle logic

 

I 

the sun is still intense heating the temps even more. But... Fall is coming if only in name! That means Mums to me. Back in Maryland, I could buy inexpensive pots and line the walkway to my house. 

In Colorado they are expensive like everything else. 

We ordered one 3 quart red one from HomeDepot  ($16 ) and three 1 quart gold ones from amazon ($19) and tried to make the display as showy as possible. Then I ordered a purple 3 qu (from H.D.) and another orange one too ($16 each) to show up this week. 

We didn't plant flowers this year because of the water restrictions, so I'm putting my hope in the nearly daily rains we've been having to keep these babies going. I'll water them when we don't get rain. 

Milo: I'll testify that it's still hot in the sun.... and I don't care much about the flowers but it makes Mama smile and that's enough for me! 

I ran across the show on National Geographic (NatGeo) about nature in all the national parks. 

FASCINATING! 


I watched park after park, and learned so much. I learned about eco systems and how one creature depends on others. I learned that condors mate for life, and have one egg at a time to raise. The couple I saw in Yosemite, were raising a month old baby, they'd been married 8 years. 

I watched an animal lie down next to their dead mate, and she stayed there 3 days then slowly left

I watched a land tortoise guard against a Hila lizard eating it's egg,. Watched as all the creatures lived in balance with each other, sadly eating  each other. I wondered who to root for.... 

I root for the females and those trying to feed babies. 

I saw that deer don't have a scent for the first 3-4 days of life, to protect them from predators while mama is off eating to sustain herself and make milk. 


TV shows are starting and returning, but I'm still mourning the loss of This is Us, and The Good Doctor.   (I finally got my courage up to watch the DVR'd final episode and cried through it, but saved it because it was that good)  Dancing with the stars, Survivor, Golden Bachelorette (aged 61 ) Moonflower mysteries on PBS, Big brother, the new show High Potential is gonna be great! A quirky single mom of 3, has 165 IQ and ends up helping a detective solve cases. Funny fast paced and smart

 

Painting

I'm taking the 9 day free taster class online from Tam LaPorte and 30 other artists. It's a lot each day but learning so much about light and painting it. 

Sketchook Revival starts the 23rd, overlapping Tam's course. ACK I can only really sit for one lesson a day not 5 -8 between the two courses.

If you haven't registered yet and would like to just click here!

I am not strong enough to take two awesome classes run at the same time, I can't sit at the computer for long but painted two lovely pictures  on Monday. DH said where is that? Let's move there. 

Sadly

A gift from the virus is cloudy thinking.  The flashes of light and movement from the retinal damage is lessening, 

the eye specialist said my brain will eventually ignore it. 

Audio Books 

4th in series of  school by the sea

Fine dining

I have fond memories of always eating Thousand Island salad dressing as a child. I love it on sandwiches too. But. Store bought bottles of dressing have allergens like corn syrup, and soy oil, not to mention countless chemical additives. So.... I found this recipe on Food.com and amended it a bit

https://www.food.com/recipe/thousand-island-dressing-100355 

It. was. terrific!!!! DH also gives it two thumbs up. 

photo by May I Have That Rec

My changes were to : chop bread and butter pickle slices and it's juice instead of sweet relish. I used cider vinegar. Onion powder instead of minced onion. shook in paprika, S&P, and some sugar. and just put three times mayo to ketchup and stirred. 

I'm sure following the recipe will be good too.... I made just enough for our salads to try it and we'll be making it again!

Milo's Moment

Hahaha I'm a two headed dog! 

hiya!  For my talk this week, I want to say I like my peeps together in one room where I can watch them. If I could I'd keep an eye on both of them.

This weekend we were very happy we three, outside with the peeps planting flowers then 

all of a sudden! The daddy goes in the house, the mama stays out. What's the baby supposed to do??? 

I ran to the door in time to have the slider closed in my snout! The mama let me in, I ran all over sniffing to follow dad's trail, it was out the door to the car! My hears dropped down, I turned and went back out with the mama. 

Finally after about 4 dog-months, Dad came back out with flower food. He left me for flowers? I wish they'd stay in the same room for the sake of the kid!

Mama rolled my ball but it went under the big fir tree. I do not go under things like tables, trees, chairs, desks, etc. I took the retriever's stance to show mama where it was. She couldn't bend over so I just stood there. She threw another ball, but I can't abandon the one under the tree so I took up watch again. 

Finally I crouched down, and crawled under and got the ball!!! Not that Mama deserved it but I dropped it at her feet, and ran forward. She threw that ball and get this, HIT my leg with it. Well! game over. She said come on, but nope! I draw the line at being physically hit just for a game of fetch! I went to the door, and she reluctantly followed but she has to learn, right? amiright? 

 
 
Finally, I believe in/LIKE,  Women's rights....  congress' gop's blocked a bill for the second time ensuring a woman's right to IVF, 
their 2025 plans severely limit women's rights, and their belief is only white men should vote. I remember coming of age to vote and have voted every election since. 
Oh BTW, don't worry about Aurora.... it was a lie that it was taken over.  Despite being repeated often, 
it's just not true. Same with Springfield ... lies, the only ones in danger are the innocent ones blamed for crimes they did not commit. the lie is being repeated over and over by one of the candidates despite evidence to the contrary. The woman who started it on FB has apologized and said it was false.

now please visit these people to read what they liked this week
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Saturday, September 14, 2024

creativity this week.... gone color maverick!



There are no more colors of the month at RSC for the year, just "dark" and I have 8 colored blocks...

so I chose my own color, my neutral, "LIME GREEN" 

the back after basting and  hand sewing unit

I would rather have 12 colors, instead of 4 months to put the quilt together. Actually finishing a quilt isn't always my plan, I like to just look at color each month, use it, learn from it. So I plan to use these as my next 3 months focus colors

fuchsia
Gold

Gray
and went through my scraps to find great choices to enjoy. It feels great to know where I"m headed so I can relax and just do EPP when I'm ready 
I used these to help me settle on colors

close up of some of the lime patterns

loved the tiny gate scrap, barely big enough but was
Daisies, dragon flies, and the cutest gradient color lime circle fabric!

The colors so far. Now how to set them... on a white or cream background? this orientation or turned to have hexies touching on side? 
8 X 11"  the embroidery stitching is done . I loved leaving some of the top right corner fabric unstitched as the fabric is so cool on it's own. I danced from image to image, trying out stitches with different threads. No plans. Just  moving along. Now I want to sew it to a backing (no batting) on three sides, then insert a stiff board and close the last side. 
then add in the beads for sparkle and the fun of doing it
I love the variegated perle cotton thread making French knots
DH who is a more concrete thinker asked what they were supposed to be. I didn't answer because they are just pattern and color. He said, pollen? bugs? I pointed to splatter on my paintings and said, that effect. Random color dots. 
a variation of fly stitch with a flower on top. The stars were for fun, maybe little flying things

Isn't the background fabric cool? Maybe it's a hand dye... there was a small piece left
the purple blends in but I see it... lavender just sprung up next to the flower

So I hope to do my feather star blocks sing in the colors I chose to do in the next few months. They'll be easier to join, just next to each other I think. Traditional but not.

just for fun,  I saw a quick tute video on simple drawing of a giraffe and did this  on my calendar, where I try little things. He looked better before inking in but I love the quizzical look on his face


I love this little paint tute any one can do easily (by the same teacher)

https://youtube.com/shorts/Tq8TjJQGOkw?si=z8m9FeLB233fXnG7


Meditation painting of sorts


linking with

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/

finished or not

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

https://beadwright.blogspot.com/

art for


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Thursday, September 12, 2024

I Like Thursday # 418

 welcome to this week's list of likes

we noticed someone in the neighborhood had a thriving peach tree! Just out of reach! The owner was doing yardwork, so we remarked on the lush harvest this year (none last year as a late flash freeze took out all the blooms) He said help ourselves. I told him we couldn't reach them, and he shrugged....

I didn't want to actually stand begging and ask him to hand us a few.... but we noticed them dying on the tree yesterday. I'm not in shape to jump a fence, reach up high, then jump a fence again... 

Aren't they pretty? I want a peach tree in our yard. Our yard who's soil can't support grass. 

a couple houses down had this pretty vignette
I love evergreen trees.
It's been in the 90's F still here. Waiting for Fall temps. 
I ordered some mums which if they arrive alive will make me think it's Fall. 3  1 quart orange, 1 3 quart in red for the back porch. 
my painting last week. 
I like that another sparrow has taken refuge at night on our front porch wall of stones too. The real sign of Fall is the birds fly south so as long as he's here.... hot weather continues.

Quigong Tai Chi classes online

her style is similar to the one I used to do along the banks of the Hillsborough river, on the grounds of Tampa U. Saturday morning, free, the nicest group of people. We became friends. 
I was coping with feelings from a recent break-up with my fiance, and this was like tonic. I made several male friends, which filled in the gaps... One was a dog walker, red hair, large.... as it turned out years later he walked me down the aisle when I married my now husband. He stayed at my house to watch my labradaughter Chelsea during my honeymoon, which allowed me to not worry for her. 
One was a lovely Jazz lover, with a dog. He and I often did precision dog walking together for years. The dogs tangling them selves as we untangled leashes in between laughter. I was smitten with him in the beginning, we tried going out to hear music together but he was worried we'd be shot since he was black and I was white. The three of us these two men and I would often have breakfast together after Tai Chi. Others came along too. It was a safe place and our growing friendship bond forged a safe haven for us all. 
Jazz lover read a poem at my wedding to dh 30 years ago. 
Now and then a Quigong Si-fu (expert)  came. I remember him telling me in broken English, to let the evils thrown at me by work flow past, how to dodge it, move away sway away and let it go past. To this day I remember him with appreciation and kindness and love. 
They are all firmly in my past now, but love never dies does it? 

reading the next in Fortune series by Jana DeLeon   once I get hooked on a series, it's heaven to have lots of books to read. Same with TV, discovering a series that has 20 seasons is a happy dance!

good eating

it is like firm custard, and so delish! We make home made whipped cream to go on it. The bit missing there, was from my spoon to see if it was cooked and how it tasted. (Last two pieces to photo)

crustless pumpkin pie  recipe: https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/crustless-pumpkin-pie/

wanted some more custard/pudding and this fit the bill. Just like pumpkin pie where the crust fell off!

5 ingredients, I would add in some graham cracker crust crumbles on top next time for texture. DH and I disagreed about the sweetness. I liked it, he wanted more sweetness. 

seems like breakfast food to me

 Milo's Moment

Mama: Milo baby, why is it you refuse to keep walking when it's hot, but will come out back and lie in the full sun? 
MILO: well Mama, not all dog logic is easy for hoomans to understand. Walking in heat is just exhausting and there are no waterbowls for me on a short walk. If we go outback, I'm just a short step into the house for water, plus I like the sun for short times. PLUS I can keep two poodle eyes on those pesky neighbors all around us who don't have the dog sense to stay in their houses. 

Mama: well, I might not understand like you said, but I love you and hope you don't spontaneously combust out here. 

now please visit these people to read what they liked this week
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Saturday, September 7, 2024

Creativity this week, Painting of a bird, hand embroidery on an orange flower

 

I am grateful that I found strength enough to paint and sew a bit this week! An improvement if not total recovery! 

I signed up for a free online workshop called Art Soul Gathering. There were several teachers, but I wasn't inspired by more than two. I'll show you what I learned... 

the quote is not attached yet, just trying out locations

the little bird was taught by Tam LaPorte. Mine isn't like hers exactly but it's like my way. It's so colorful with a cute gesture. 

after it was done and dry, I added  in a quote found online, printed it in italics, dragged a tombow marker along the torn edges and this is where I think I'll attach it

I like birds, in fact we have another sparrow sleeping on our front porch. It's a young fledgling and getting bigger every night. I'm happy he chooses to sleep here, safe on our front porch rocks.

The hand sewing is small, 8 X 11" and it's purpose is to provide a place for me to do meditative stitching. I ordered 8 spools of variegated threads on sale from Liz Kettle at textile evolution. 

I have lots of other pretty threads too. I like variety. It is in progress... I've stitched the petals, stem, two leaves and grasses. I'm trying to decide how to continue. 


I thought I'd do just running stitch but.... 


needs a filling stitch to go with the shading at the bottom
the leaf is done with dmc variegated, 2 ply in a loose back stitch
before starting I pressed on shirt tailor stabilizer to the back so I wouldn't need a hoop

the back at the moment



I also painted this meditating woman from the workshop


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Thursday, September 5, 2024

I Like Thursday # 417 Be calm, pudding, and a poodle

 

Cooler overnight temps are causing leaves to start changing color. 

welcome to this week's list of likes... starting with a painting

I painted one lesson this week, sorry you can't see the gold sparkling
 then on  with treats...

good eats

I love tapioca pudding and my mother made it for me when I was little & sick. She never taught me any recipes but I found this one without eggs. 

https://www.butteredveg.com/eggless-tapioca-pudding/ 



I would leave out the cardamom next time (I only used half anyway) I subbed in almond milk for half the milk. I added in more sugar as it's for dessert.  Let it soak the way she says, you won't need more starch or eggs as it's so so SO good, warm or cold and set.

no pics, it went fast, so next time I'll double the recipe. 

General

Reading and tv same as last week Weather still quite hot but I saw a brown leaf this week... means it's cooler at night, not in our house (outside temps never come in open doors or windows sadly. 

I am slowly regaining some strength if not endurance. Sewing a little. Talking to Joy on zooms.

DH successfully renewed his passport this week, I painted my nails again a cheerful coral, we survived all the loud neighbors parking right next to our house over the holidays.  

together we got the wood floors cleaned. Admittedly my part was mostly supervising and instruction. The rugs are washed too, it all looks so good. Like when you finally clean the microwave.

video Love.... love shared. I considered adoption when I realized I wouldn't be able to make a baby 

https://youtube.com/shorts/6ddfcuboAio?si=d2Ip9ARIytQnkm4x

Quote

The measure of strength of a leader is not who you beat down

The true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up. K.H.

 

Prompt: What calming exercises have you successfully used in the past to maintain a level mood?

I take slow deep breaths, hold, then release, repeat. When really stressed I like to talk to friends about the problem (stopping the fear merrygoround in my mind for a momen) If my body is cooperative I take a walk although it's stressful in this 'hood' 

 

I'm all ears! poodle humor!  I'm listening... go ahead

Milo's Moment

Oh Mama! you're showing my too trimmed ears back there

Milo: hiya, I survived another grooming and am cooler again, I needed a lot of ear hair gone this time but for dogs sake they aren't as short as they look here! Look at the first pic...

 I found out I love dates. 


I'm not adventurous with food but like those things and remind Mama every time she has one, that she has another mouth to feed, heh heh. Oh I'm gentle not to bite the hand that feeds me, I am so gentle and have taken to drooling when I see a treat. I never did that before. Gotta dirty up the freshly washed kitchen floor or people might forget a poodle lives here.

please visit these people to see what they liked this week

https://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

 http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com/

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/  

https://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/

https://wordweaverart.blogspot.com/


 
taking a break:
 

   LINKING WITH 


https://brianshomeblog.com/ 

http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/   

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com

https://llbinourbackyard.blogspot.com/

               friday smiles


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