Scraps

Last week was far too hot for nature walks, or much of anything else, so I have gathered up some random scraps of chat to share:

Unrelated to knitting, alas. I do intend to cast on a new pair of socks soon, possibly even something different from my stripies or my lovely winter boot socks, but I absolutely have to get my manuscript through another couple of revisions before I can afford to get distracted. Otherwise I will lose all my ideas and the next time I'm ready to sit down with them, I will have to chase them first. And since writing a novel is already akin to herding cats, that's far from appealing.

There, that was scrap number one! a writing tip. Let's move on.

 

A can of Rio Mare tuna (tuna packed in good olive oil) dumped in a bowl with a ripe avocado and mashed up with green onion, then smeared on dry whole grain sourdough toast: definitely the most delicious thing I ate last week, or possibly ever. Highly recommend.

 

It's been too hot for anything but air-drying my hair, so I've been taking sections of it and twisting them into a series of ropes dangling down around my head. Sometimes, several hours later, I am rewarded with soft waves. But whether I am or not, in the meantime I get to look like Medusa, wearing snakes only temporarily in repose, and that's fun too. 

 

Drinking hot tea on a hot day doesn't seem to make me feel cooler, is it different for you? but it does taste delicious, so I don't care.

There has been a lot of shopping around here, by me mostly. Lots of drapey clothes or linen ones, either of which are handy for air flow or at least not sticking to one's clothes in the humidity. But also two - two! - new pairs of Birkenstock sandals. Both are the Milano model which is basically Arizona with a back strap, if you are a Birkie person. I had been considering these for a while because I kept falling out of my Arizonas on long walks and a friend has actually fallen to her knees in hers. The hazards of aging past forty, sigh. She caved first and bought a dressy pair in black with giant shiny silver buckles. I bought a sportier pair in beige with a rugged rubber sole. And... then I bought the dressy pair she had, too. 

Oh! this was a long scrap. You can tell where my attention lies! But the thing about the sporty pair is, they are wider, and I will definitely be able to slip socks in there when it's too cold to go without. 

 

Socks and sandals: is it less ick when the sandals are Birkenstocks? 

I finally finished watching the entire series of Vera, based on the Ann Cleeves books. 15 seasons! Such a shame I couldn't knit through all of that, I'd have had so many socks done. My arm is getting a lot better though. I might be able to manage needles again soon.

 

I'm now watching Shetland, also based on Ann Cleeves' books. That series is pure eye candy for sweater lovers like me.  But I will probably not risk knitting another actual sweater, after what the last one did to my arm.

That tuna/avocado adventure I mentioned was part of my journey into the Mediterranean Diet, which is not really a diet but more a focus on heart-healthy foods. I figured I'd need that eventually, and I've been slowly approaching it for a few years, but for the last two weeks I've been sticking to the (very long list) of recommended fruits, veg, whole grains, olive oil, and anything in the beans/lentils family. And you know what? I don't actually miss cookies or cake! Also I feel a lot better. And this is purely anecdotal, but for the first time in my life I'm not the primary mosquito target when I'm out at dusk.

 

This eating plan is perfect for lazy people like me. A friend was telling me about a super healthy cake she made with almond flour and date paste, and I translated it to a small dish of almonds and dates to have with tea. When I told her that later, she offered that she's been tucking walnuts into pitted dates for such snack opportunities. Guess who's planning to pair loose walnuts with dates in future? I don't even bother 'making' my own salad dressing. I just pour olive oil over the greens, then drizzle in some balsamic vinegar, and stir it with tongs to mix it. 

 

Two words: ROASTED EGGPLANT. 

Sorry, had to get that out here. I am not an eggplant person but I felt I should give it yet another try and did the whole salt/drain/rinse thing before tossing it in olive oil and shoving it in a hot over for twenty minutes or whatever. Heaven! It basically caramelized. I have been eating it hot from the oven, cold as a snack, or loose on top of a salad.  

And finally, in non-food news, I've been rereading Jane Austen's Mansfield Park lately, a chapter or two a day. It's much darker than the more popular Pride and Prejudice or even Sense and Sensibility, which certainly touches on some dark themes. In fact, sections of it are just as painful and sad as I remember. But the other bits are much more engaging than I remember, too, and I am glad I picked it up again.

 

That is all the scraps I have that are not obsessions about this writing project, which I will spare you!  

Thanks so much for dropping by to spend this time with me - see you next week, and I hope your days from now till then are full of fun.

 

 

Heatwavin

As I type this, I am bracing for a heat dome to swing our way. On last night's walk, I felt like the sky knows it's coming, too...

We are so lucky to live in a city and yet have this huge open space available to walk in! But also, to have had some cool days to enjoy before the temps go up. 

I took advantage of one of them this week to make a stewlike thing I found on The Mediterranean Dish, on an adventure day with cute fresh mini eggplants - chickpeas, tomatoes, and eggplant braised with bell peppers, onions, and a whole lotta garlic. 

In the absence of the actual spices called for, I used garam masala, but I regret this. The initial aroma from the peppers and onions was so bright, I would play that up another time with fresh herbs from the garden. Chives and lemon thyme, plus rosemary all chopped up and bright green, swoon.

What I really loved though was just roasting some eggplant slices tossed in olive oil and some lemon thyme. Wowza, delicious hot, cold, and scattered over salad. Definitely doing that again!

(note: I have no photographs of the eggplant on these journeys. they came through the door looking super cute. cooked: not so much.) 

Here's a nice creek picture instead.

I love the ravine park so much. Apparently it was at one time a wealthy man's personal estate, not unlike the grounds around a country home in England. He donated it to the city and I am glad because trespassing woulda been a drag, ha! 

Three guesses what I've mostly been doing this week, though. Yep, it's REVISING. It takes so long to finish a first draft of a 300-page novel, and then after that you have to revise it like, eight times. Knitting and sewing things are so much faster... I almost miss designing knits, because it's almost instant gratification. 

My right arm disagrees, however. It's telling me that as long as I'm going to play games that require moving my index finger over a screen, it will not let me knit with impunity. So I am keeping my eyes on my writing until I finish the path to a polished manuscript... 

... and come fall, hopefully I will have weaned myself off all these stressors sufficiently to start a new sock. Maybe one with a cool patterned ankle? I mean, it's the least I can do. 

Hope you have a lovely week ahead, heat or no heat. Thanks for dropping by and I will see you next Saturday! 

 

Some Pretty

Today in the continued absence of anything crafty - though I did remember a shirt I have to mend before ignoring that cue - I am sharing a discovery from earlier this week:

Ravine path! It's my new favourite way to come down from the high bit to the low, before dragging myself back up to a second high bit. I mean, who needs a gym membership when you can get in your cardio among the trees?

Here's the view from just over the fence:

Most paths in this part of the ravine don't have any kind of protection, so when I saw this guy, I figured there was a reason for it. Falling down here would be an Owie. Much better to follow the trail.

 

This route should be passable well into the early winter when all the leaves are gone, but right now everything is ultra green and bursting! Check out this unrelated flowering plant I also pass while walking:

I am very lucky to live in a place that is more than just concrete and billboards. Even if that includes coyotes. I haven't seen any lately but in a chat with neighbours the other night coyotes were mentioned, and also our local hawk. Who, unbeknownst to me, took a liking to a family down the street and regularly left half-eaten offerings on their back deck. Glad I'm more aligned with the crow.

Speaking of whom, it's been hanging out down the street from us and poopin' on the sidewalk below. Maybe that's where it's roosting when I hear its random call in the morning? Nobody else seems to be as enamoured as I am, which may be related to said poopin'. And also the random squawky call, which does start quite early.

In the absence of the crow I've been enjoying the antics of this year's litter of squirrels in our front and back gardens. There's a little family of five tearing around, some grey and some black. You can tell they're babies because even though they're full-sized, they are playing instead of gathering food, and they stick to their group instead of dividing off into twos like last year's grey squirrel and black squirrel, ahem. 

It's so nice to see these guys having fun before they hunker down to the business of being grownups.

You know what else is nice, and doesn't make me *at all* jealous even though I have the same plants at home and they still haven't filled in this much? The bed of wild geraniums next to the aforementioned flowering bush.

Isn't that gorgeous?

I'm going to leave you with a pic of today's breakfast graze tray. The radishes aren't very matchy but, delicious!

 

Thanks again for spending a little time with me. Hope you have a wonderful day and a great week to come! 

 

 

Light reading

Jane Austen did needlework - just sayin'. I was thinking about this while deciding what to write about today, when all I've been doing lately is writing, and rereading Emma. 

Also, simultaneously, reading Little Dorrit! If you're only going to read one Dickens in your life, I recommend it, or otherwise Bleak House which is much greater in literary riches than one might guess from the title.

Things are very lush and green around here, as one might expect in June (how is it already June??), both indoors, in the form of the plant I've kept alive the longest, and its cutting, from when it got too big for its original pot...

and outdoors, in the form of a weed tree in our neighbour's yard that will probably knock our fence over if we let it get any more weight onto our side. 

I hate to trim this guy every year, because the birds and squirrels love running around on the branches in there, but I remind myself they also love running across the top of the fence.

Meanwhile, I'm writing a new manuscript while letting the last one cool its heels before another revision.

And not knitting, because I have only so much arm capacity still and am trying to focus my energies on typing and building some muscle, as one keeps hearing is essential for anybody over, like, twenty. 

I comfort myself with the thought that Jane Austen managed to write and do needlework too, though it wouldn't surprise me if her needleworkings were most energetic in the realm of Cool-Lookin Clothes which isn't such a pressure for me now as it was when I was, like, twenty. I must also temper the comfort with the knowledge that I am not Jane Austen.

Nonetheless, I'm confident I will get back there some day! Not to twenty, but to needleworkings and maybe even Cool-Lookin Clothes too. For now I hope you're here for my and whatever nonsense I decide is worth sharing, because if you're here for the crafty bits you may be disappointed and that would make me very sad. I do hate to disappoint!

In the absence of visually creative work I've been leaning into healthy breakfast tray art, using one of the Emma Bridgewater tray-shaped plates I picked up when we vacationed in England a few years ago. 

The trays are still sold, but in tin, if you want one too - mine are melamine, and my fave breakfast one is covered in images of chickens, slowly revealed as I work my way through greens, nuts, and fruit, in that order. Apparently dates are quite good for you and as it's Saturday, I included some today... normally I have them with tea in the mid-afternoon, paired with pecans, in lieu of cookies. I can recommend this treat as highly as I did the two Dickens titles above.  

I hope you've got a lovely weekend lined up? and that you get to do all the creative things you'd like to, over the course of the week. With luck we'll be having those things in tandem till I see you here again next Saturday. Thanks so much for spending this scrap of time with me!