Off to Camp!

The kids are off to camp, at last.  That is, the houseplants are now in their summer residence, finally, several weeks later than usual.  This has been the longest coldest spring in ages, so they couldn't go out when temps were going down to freezing or close at night.  So now I feel as if I have the house back to myself.  And the patio is now a nice sort of bower the stitching of embroidery for, and reading for, and afternoon tea for.  And when the pool opens and all the local kids take their games there, it will even be quiet.

The house looks a bit empty, though....no, must resist the temptation to bring in more stuff.

And I have a sad demise to report on the tech front: my blog uploading wasn't working the other day.  Just stuck halfway through.  So I changed the camera cable, no result, changed the chip, no result, changed the battery, no result.  Finally a rush of brains to the head,and I realize, ah, it's the camera!! after several years of constant use and banging about in my purse, thousands of pics, it finally got a bit tired and worn out, aren't we all, and has been honorably retired.

Fortunately I took a tip from Handsome Son, who's the ultimate believer in backups, well, he's a computer geek,  so of course, and I had a second exactly similar camera, which I've been switching off batteries and chips with, so now my backup is my frontup.  But it's a boring old black. But it uses the same cable, software, chip, battery, everything, yay.

Perhaps I can paint it. Yes, that would work.   I'm in one of those if it doesn't move paint it modes.

Eat Dessert First, you know why..

Years ago I saw a friend, a great cook, arranging food, I think she was putting a slice of fruit beside a piece of cake or something, very simple, and the touch of arranging it made it very appealing.  I remember her when I see videos of fancy chefs drizzing stuff over ingredients and building up food in the middle of the plate, and think, well, there has to be a middle way for me.

So yesterday's dessert: anjou pear sliced, chopped walnuts sprinkled, molasses drizzled.  Very pictorial, and actually a really good dessert.

This was an interlude in a day full of rushing  about, delivering carloads to the thrift store on behalf of HS who can't get there because of his working hours, finding there a one dollar heavily beaded blouse, awful blouse, but a nice collection of beads and sequins to snip off and now they're in my collection waiting to take their turn in my goldwork, knitting more squares in my current Mindless Throw, visiting with friends,listening to the current John Grisham on CD,reorganizing my dried flower arrangements, cracking up that I have time to pay attention to dried flowers,playing music with me mates last evening, and generally having a full day.  Which is why I'm getting a later start this morning.

Decisions, decisions

There comes a time when the blogmeister of more than one blog, that would be me, has to decide which blog is graced with the next amazingly insightful writing.

Like here, I have a great Freecycle magnifier, the kind that hangs on your chest and you look through it to embroider, great once you get the hang of it and don't try stabbing your needle through the glass. I love it, was about to buy one,when this one sort of fell on me.

And that has facilitated the two embroideries I'm doing right now.

And the first goldwork is now framed, shot from the side to avoid glare on the glass, sorry.
So those would be for the Art the Beautiful blog, where my art goes.

But then there's the great collection of Martha mags, also a Freecycle,

I had a little tour yesterday, picking one thing up then another, different houses.  The mags are perfect for loafing on the patio on the warm days that finally got here, and that's Field and Fen stuff.

And there's the fact that one of the embroideries is a collaborative piece, well, that's Art the Beaut stuff.

So anyway, here are the pix, and I'll bang on in Art the Beaut about the collaborative embroidery.  

There, that'll do it.     

Housekeeping

The title reminds me of many times on a platform opening a meeting and setting out the ground rules and info, aka housekeeping, mainly about the location of the bathrooms (waving arms in directions, like a flight attendant) and more important the location of the coffee and pastries..

Anyway, today's housekeeping address is about this blog.  There are changes under way at home base, so, since the current follower function may not continue for long, I've put in a couple of options, in case you can't live without reading this blog, for which I thank you a lot.

First, I've put in a following device, bloglovin, and you can click on that if you want to follow posts or comments, or both, via various pathways.  If you don't have them or don't like the option, I also put in a direct email option.  See that line right under our main heading? tells you to enter your email address there.  Do that and you'll receive posts into your own email box every time there is one.  I've tested these with my other email address and they seem to work okay.  But let me know if you encounter any surprises.

New Arrivals in Dolliver Country

So (!) a great surprise arrived at my door the other day:  two ladies of Minnesota come to stay, and meet their colleagues in the World of Dolliver and Friends.  

They couldn't wait to fight their way out of the package and get into the party.

And here they are, a gangshot of handmade dolls.  I realize I now have a collection, don't know how this happened.  Everything exept Elton and the bigger porcelain doll,  is handmade -- the Ds are home products, the button dolls, new ones and Annies, the porcelain doll, the peasant wooden doll with her basket, the Canadian penny doll, a motley crew if ever there was one.

The Ds made them welcome, and noted that as long as they're the biggest dolls in the house, they're fine with new arrivals.  And Elton serenaded them with Hey, Hey, the Gang's All Here, and a few Bon Jovi and Springsteen hits, to give them the flavor of their new home..ending with that NJ son, Sinatra's I Did It My Way, which the Ds have taken on as their personal motto.

And I can't think of a better way to cheer up a day than to get a box of dolls in the mail!

All go chez moi

It's been one thing after another -- after the girl scout team left, another neighbor presented me with a couple of lettuce plants and arugula, from the farm, with a request to accept them, and while I was at it, plant some more of them for my neighbor who's away and might miss them!  I sampled them as I went, not bad lovely fresh lettuce.

Then I had to get dressed for our monthly embroiderer's guild meeting, for more on which see here

I had to leave a bit early and fly across town to meet a friend at a concert of the local symphony, with Jimmy Lin playing as guest artist, and after I'd struggled through incredible traffic, driven around for nearly forty minutes in search of parking --this used to be a quiet place! -- I made it, to listen to the first part of the event from outside the door, had got there just too late to be seated. But I made it in, and we had a wonderful afternoon of Bartok, Prokofiev, Ravel and Stravinsky.  Russian and Hungarian composers, conducted by a visiting Bulgarian conductor, played by American musicians and with a Chinese soloist.

If you read the embroidery bit over in Art the Beautiful, the link for which I gave up there a bit back, you'll see what an international day I had yesterday!  it's all good.

Today: playing music with the group, then an artists' meeting where we will be making collaborative work.  

After that I plan to sit down. But first I have a great recommendation of a documentary movie, a Sundance one, that is just great: First Position.  It's about a group of very young dancers trying to break into the big time of ballet via an American based competition that takes place all over the world.  You'll have favorites in no time!

  

Greencycling with the girl scouts

Today I had a delegation from a local girl scout troop, connection via Freecycle, to collect pachysandra from me to plant at their school to beautify the entrance.  It was much colder than expected, hence the quick wrap up for the kids, as they collected the plants.  

Anna, the girl scout, her brother and mom and grandmother, all came to take bags of plants from me.  And Anna watched as I demo'd using a bulb planter --much easier for kids than a spade -- to plant a sample, then she tried her hand at it,successfully, as you see!  so now she's the expert and can show the troop members and the adult volunteer helpers, how it's done.

In the fall I invited them back to get divisions of bearded iris, too, and I hope they will.   The nice thing about pachy is that you don't need to be tending it, and it will still flourish, green all year round.  And the iris will flower while the kids are still in school, a big point for school gardens,

and is also very easy care.  Just plant and walk away.  It will multiply and spread like the pachysandra.

Nice family, nice encounter.  I threw in a few sprigs of rosemary and sage and oregano for immediate cooking, and a little root of spearmint for planting in a pot.  So we were all happy.

Signs of Spring

Wonderful walk today, by the pond, and spring really has arrived.  Smell of the water on the wind, the honey scent of the blossoming trees, the shout of the first redwing blackbird across the water and a sole goldfinch, our state bird, in fact, in full brilliant yellow mating plumage, flitting around my head.  

All kinds of birdsong, some of which I could recognize -- phoebe, robin, Carolina wren, blackbird, and various twitterings that served as a ground bass for the singers. Kayakers having fun on the water, their shouts and arguments blending right in.

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So, for your viewing joy, I took a few pix.  Click to see better.

Afternoon delight, freecycle style, that is, I can't think what you thought I was going to say...

 

Anyway, or "so" (have you noticed this is the new way to start every sentence?) I was gloomily perusing the freecycle site this morning, thinking oh well, there's nothing I'm going to need and want and oh well, taxes due to the township next week, very broke right now, and there it was:  slipcovers in creamy white with sort of pink flowers, Ikea, for three seater sofa.

Just when I realized there is no money whatever in the budget to replace my old green cover which I'm so tired of that even the cats don't like it much, here comes a lovely new one.  So I was invited to go pick up, I guess I was an early responder for once, and brought home a BRAND NEW slipcover set, complete, which FITS my sofa, in a nice loose shabby chic fit.

So once in a while the universe thinks, so, let's send her a treat for being such a Good Person, So Nice, So Kind, So Thoughtful, No Matter What Anyone Says, and here it is.  Totally clean, no need to do anything but put it on.  And take a picture as a brag unit.

So the old green tie on slipcover thingy from Target can move to the loveseat at right angles to this sofa, and the ancient quilt ,currently covering it and tending to be hard to sit on, since it ditches the sitter gently onto the floor, will be retired to the spare bed or something.

See, or so, things is good.

One foot in front of the other

I think I'm in a kind of secondary phase of recovering from the stresses of earlier years.  Eighteen months, and I am still not quite there yet.  Big waves of loneliness, and being at a bit of a  loose end, while still being busy.  I try to remember that I have a lot of physical recovery to get through, too.  

This too shall pass.  Meanwhile, art proceeds inexorably, life making little or no difference to the creative energy, in fact the work is pretty good all things considered.  If you'd like to see what's up at the moment, take a look here 

Latest DVD watching that has helped a whole lot with the loose endedness:  Call the Midwife, brilliant series, Your Sister's Sister, very complex and funny and sad and appealing and just good, Dalziel and Pascoe, two latest seasons, great drama.  And tonight on the menu is Mr Selfridge.   

Any other recommendations that I might get on DVD at the libe, gratefully received! 
 

SAASA2013

This is the South Asian student group at one of the local high schools, and the annual bash, of student written script, dancing, staging, organizing, including a great dinner, was last night, despite terrible torrential rain.  

The slightly damp audience had a great Indian dinner, served in the school commons, just like being back at school except the food was great, then we trooped into the auditorium for an evening of music, dancing,skits, and general great stuff.  Tarang J. my honorary grand daughter was the person in charge of the whole event this year, as president of the association and what a great job she did.  

She organized the whole thing, dinner and concert, wrote the script for the skits, organized the program printing, danced and sang in the event. Gosh do I sound like a proud grandma or what!

 Handsome Son came with me to visit his old high school for the first time in the many years since he graduated and had a weird experience revisiting it in a different part of his life.  The auditorium we were in for the concert is newly built since his time, which made him feel quite, um, mature!

Since the students we know are now seniors, we won't have any connections with next year's cast, but I think we might go again anyway, just to support a nice event.

Pix are not great because the lighting was pretty low, but you get the gist!

 

New Tiny Toy

See that little gizmo, slightly bigger than a postage stamp, attached to my music stand?  my new metronome.  For them as don't do music, it's a device meant to assist in playing at tempo, and makes various sounds to enable you to do this.  You set it at the number you need, it ticks or beeps or flashes or whatever you want, to keep you on track.

It's great for practicing solo the pieces you play in a consort, so you don't get to be the person dragging behind or trotting ahead (that's my besetting sin, always too alert), and though it's not something to use all the time, it has its value.

This is amazing, new to me, so tiny and with all kinds of functions, meter, value, volume, you name it, shipped to me from Betty Lao, if I remember rightly, in Singapore.  Anyway, this is a great new toy, very portable.

It used to be that only your music teacher had a metronome, which in the early medieval period when I learned piano, was a triangular wooden thing with a removable front behind which lurked a pointer that could be set to tempo to tick and wag back and forth, little tyrant.

One of my recorder friends, a very firm lady, now long gathered to the recorder group in the sky, used to whip her old wooden metronome out when we played at her house and insist on using it.  She lived in an old house with a wonky wooden floor, and when she set down the metronome, not only did the clicking echo loudly, but it clicked out of rhythm, as the machine swayed a bit on each iteration on and off the floorboard.....like tick,tick,tiiiiiiiiiickticticiticiticit,tick, tick.  

But all my protests were in vain.  She insisted that it MUST be accurate because it was a MACHINE!   So we sort of blundered along, but we weren't very good anyway, so I guess it wasn't much loss.  I think I play better now!  We always hoped the metronome had been tidied away and we 'd assure her that it was no trouble, we'd manage without it.  She was loads of fun, most of it unconscious on her part.

Daffodils, spring, and remembering

Finally the daffodils have sprung officially, and I made a couple of pix of the 9.11 memorial area Handsome Son, Handsome Partner and I planted in the fall of 2011 in memory of the people who died on that day.  Each spring we are so thankful for life and how it returns, and all the daffodils people planted to celebrate the life of Handsome Partner, all over the world, are there dancing along to the melody.  I added in a picture of giant daffodils in front of a garden chair -- I planted these long ago on the patio when I was overhauling it,  at HP's request for "those great big ones, the REAL daffodils".  He meant the King Alfred variety, so I was happy to plant them and see them come up faithfully year after year.

Once in a while there's a jarring note -- as this morning when one of my neighbors ran out to the 9.11 plantings in the trees and forcibly stopped a woman from digging up entire daffodils, bulbs, foliage, the lot, and then to the woman's amazement, made her return the bucketful she'd taken, so we can replant!  the culprit insisted that these were "public flowers" that she could dig and take.  Yeah, that'll work.  And said she planned on reporting this to the HOA.  My friend happily encouraged her to do so!  then perhaps she will learn that there's a difference between common areas and free for the taking areas!  so some of these daffodils will be in another home soon, when we replant after they've recovered from the shock.

Meanwhile my friend investigated and found that this woman had already stolen a few and planted them around her home!  I guess in the end they can be seen and enjoyed by everyone but dang it's annoying to have larceny of this barefaced sort.  I understand gardener's larceny, having appropriated a few little cuttings of my own, but the ethics of the situation are that you do nothing that stops the growth of the plant.  In fact my little prunings are good for it.  I don't dig up the entire thing!

And then I remember that this kind of incident is one of the rough dark threads in the shining shawl of life, and we move on.

The Last of the Harvest of 2012

Here's the very last of the 2012 farmshare about to become a lovely soup, with the addition of carrots (farm doesn't do carrots, our soil not very good for them).  So, since the new season opens in mid May, I'd say this was a terrific investment -- farmfresh veggies from mid May to mid April, and that's only what I froze for myself.  It doesn't count what I gave to friends.  And ate fresh, and cooked right away.   All I had to buy was a few potatoes and a couple of carrots, aside from the potatoes I grew in containers on the deck, that is.

Smug.  that's me.  Also the Big Wall is nearly finished....stopped before I reached a place where serious furniture and glass ornament moving will be needed.  Anyway the tray was empty of paint. This is a very sane way to redecorate!  I have a painting date set for a few days' time after other obligations are met.

So now I can get on with my current lovely embroidery, a biscornu designed by one of our embroidery chapter members.  This is while I think and plan about goldwork, in anticipation of the book's arriving. and practice my trills on the recorder and other pieces.  

It's all go!

How doth the busy bee, or stitcher..

Blogistas who would like to know how I improved the shining hour today, can go here and turn green with envy at What I Did!

I definitely think that joining the Embroiderers' Guild was one of the nicest things I've ever done for myself.

Chop Spring Wood, Carry Spring Water, Paint Walls

Just so tired of waiting for actual Spring weather, so I decided I couldn't be pestered waiting any longer and I set to work to paint the living room this morning.  One wall at a time, my usual policy, so that I've finished the plan before I'm worn out and regretting getting into it. And I use cheap old rollers and toss the sleeves promptly. Also swathe the paint tray in a plastic bag which I invert and toss after the painting session, thus avoiding boring cleanup.  I just think the whole world should follow my method, it's that good.

Full disclosure:  I've been glancing up at this particular wall, between living room and kitchen, the dining area, focal point, for about two years and idly wondering if I would ever regain the strength and the balance and the interest to actually paint it.  I do have the paint in the house, a mix I made for myself of a semi gloss white and a flat yellow, which gives a lovely low sheen in palest yellow.   Well, anyway, there it was waiting.

Then suddenly, today was the day to test my strength.  And I found that an hour and a bit was enough to do a very nice job on one wall -- and I went over the next a bit just to use up what's in the tray -- so this is good.  I was amazed to find I was very steady on the steps, no problem at the ceiling level, or the floor level, equally a challenge.  This is where I brag that my weight training is, too, useful, neener!

Now I won't have to cringe at the drips down the wall where dear little kitties knocked stuff off the pass through.  Or the fingermarks left by the installers when the thermostat was replaced.  All that.  Not to mention that the old color was a very nice pale dusty pink which looked terrible against the newly painted adjacent hallway and opposite wall which I painted last year in this nice yellow, very mildly sunny.

So there you are, after all the highflown musical and art adventures of recent times, it's back to chop wood, carry water, paint walls. You have to take my word for it that the wall in the pix is in fact pale yellow, a shade that refuses to register on my camera.  Just imagine pale primroses nestling in the glen. Yeah, that'll work.

And the rollers are tightly wrapped in plastic to bring out in the next day or so to do the Big Wall, the biggest in the house, in fact.  After that most of the room is more or less accounted for.  Smaller walls, corners, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it..

No foolin! late breaking March news in April

This is virtuoso recorder playing in action! to be exact, a celebrated member of our Recorder Society chapter, and well known early music performer,John Burkhalter. John marked March as Play the Recorder Month 2013 in characteristically generous style, playing solo free "popup" performances around Princeton on Friday March 29th and Saturday March 30th.

He played selections from The Beggar's Opera and music of the Netherlands to audiences in Princeton University Art Museum, the Music Department Woolworth Building, in the lobby of Princeton Public Library, and, specially for children, on the third floor of the Library. At the libe, a small dancer suddenly joined in, an unexpected bonus! He also played at the Firestone Library and Labyrinth Books.

These were all short concerts, all in walking distance one to another, played solo to different audiences at each location, as a series of spontaneous events. This was such a gift to the community, in honor of recorder playing and his own belief that though he himself is a virtuoso player, respected in the world of early music, anyone may enjoy, listen to, and play music at their own level. You've heard me banging on about how art is for everyone, and now you see a musician doing likewise, putting it into action. Couldn't resist showing you here!

He encourages everyone to try, and the conductors he engages to lead our monthly Recorder Society meetings, themselves well known performers, are very much in agreement with this approach! Thank you, from all of us, John, all year round.

So that's our entry into April, with a tribute to the end of March!Please note that the photo credit goes to Darryl Kestler, recorder player and, as you see, photographer.

The Recorder Society gets it on!

Yesterday was the annual day long workshop of our Recorder Society, where great conductors come and run sessions for amateur players like me, well, better than me, all day long, great fun, great meeting up with old friends you only see at this event, experts on hand to sell music and instruments and advise on their care and feeding.  No playing in these pix, since I was too busy playing to make pix during workshops, so you just get a glimpse of the down time! 


On a completely different subject, go here to see what I was up to today at the Museum of the City of Trenton.  In heaven once again.  Nice weekend all in all.

Spring Equinox is knocking!

The daffodils are struggling to get through the ice and bitter winds and sleet to greet what is, officially anyway, Spring.  Happy Spring all.

Meanwhile back on the patio, I'm just sayin.....it's now Squirrels 4, Boud ONE ONE I tell you!  they have tried mightily with teeth and all four paws to wrench open the suet holder, with zero success. And as of today, a nuthatch and a couple of chickadees have been happily chowing down.

And it might be that a couple of mourning doves, who have been scouting out the plant hanger I put out in the hope of attracting a nest, might just move in.  I've seen them testing it out, sitting in it, flying in and out, and yesterday the male was out tugging out bits of grass, looks like a housing start it on its way.  I hope so.  They're wonderful neighbors, very calm. Even their babies are calm and will let you climb up and look without panicking.  We'll see.

This Means War! aka it's all about suet

The local squirrels and I have had a sparring relationship for years now, they determined to ravage all my attempts to feed local birds and encourage them to nest on the patio, and I trying all means known to deter them. The suet feeder is the current source of disagreement. I put out a block of suet and seed in the hanging thing, which snaps firmly shut.

At first they just ate from it like everyone else, then one day they figured out to to snap it open and let the suet fall down, and eat it there. Then they realized that this meant sharing with the birds, so they hauled the suet off to some hiding place, leaving the birds wandering around rustling in the leaves and looking for their suet treat, and wondering what had happened to the service at this restaurant. So I tied the hanger shut. And they learned to bite through any string or rope and open it etc.

 Then I wound paperclips around the locks and they learned to unwind them etc. then I wrapped a string artwork which was over with its hanging life, and soaked it in peppermint oil, hated by squirrels. They stayed away one whole day. Then they came back and bit and tore the string work off and made off with the suet.

Up to now it's Squirrels 4 Boud 0. So now I've put snap rings around the locks and we'll see if the squirrels hire a parrot or someone to snap them open....for now it's one day and the birds are still able to get their suet. We shall see.

Happy Pi Day, and hippo birdies Einstein, too

To get why this is Pi Day, you need to be in a culture which expresses the month before the day, so that March 14 reads as 3.14 etc. etc. etc. out to many many digits. The Dollivers are annoyed that I made soup instead of Pi today, but I explained I'm still using up the freezer veggies before the new season arrives. This soup is a wonderful mixture of cabbage, tomatoes, split peas, lentils, garlic onions and all kinds of interesting spices. It may be shared with friends, too.

Meanwhile, the Ds decided to write up a nice wish for Einstein whose birthday it is, or would have been, and to celebrate their mathematical knowledge of Pi. The i of friends got into the pi, but what's a lost eye among friends....

ou sont les livres d'antan....plaintive misquotation from Villon

Which really refers to the snows, not the books, of yesteryear.  In this case, a little expedition to the Cranbury Bookworm, for decades a destination of choice on wintry afternoon weekends, or warm weather before walking around the village, or any old excuse really, came to a skidding halt.

Turns out that after all these years, the building is to be sold, the owner wanting to retire, and the business has had to move down the street to tiny quarters, no resemblance to the huge and interesting building it used to house.  Still in moving progress, in both senses.

This was the scene, the Dollivers point out, of their very first photo shoot, and of many happy hours spent among old books, long ago when the building had an open staircase to the furnace, you could huddle in the warmth and read their magazines, in ancient comfy armchairs.  And there were two floors and a porch, all jammed with interesting items, artwork up the stairwell walls, and a general sense that anything might turn up.  And the modern day issues of the recession, small business woes, the introduction of the accursed ereader, and buying and selling via internet, all of today's reality, for better or worse, and this is for me, anyway, a sad result.  Oh well.  I did promise to go back to the new location

This is now, and the following were then:  

March of time, not sure if it's progress.  But then I wasn't ready to wave the old Bookworm, with its great parking, goodbye. But it occurs to me that the photshoot was of the only two Dollivers in existence at that time, three years ago..so maybe there's progress, if multiplying Dollivers can count as progress.