Of skunks and dresses

     It has been 8 months since I showed you the picture of Mary Lincoln in her new skin.  Since I suggested she would have a new dress by Christmas.  I am a little late!

     I had asked The Book Corner to order a Dover book with pictures of the Lincolns in their clothes.  Here are the men in their underwear.

      Here are their dress clothes.  This dress was a "back-up" dress for the Inauguration.  She never actually wore it but it is often pictured because it was very expensive. Here is my version as well as the "new" pitcher and bowl I got at the Kokomo Antique sale.  Mary now has a room of her own as it has gotten too crowded in Abe's room.  Abe himself is being fitted for a new white shirt upstairs in the sewing room.  I am very happy with Mary's dress.


     It has been so awful hot here that I am in danger of becoming an indoor pet.  My trips to the backyard are just short jaunts to turn on the hose.  I have been watering the garden though it doesn't seem to help much.  On one of these trips, I spied a slip of peppermint in the north-side shade of the house.  Leaning over to pick it, I saw a snip of long black and white fur down in the window-well.  It was small, flattish and didn't move.  "Oh, poor thing, some little skunk has gotten trapped in the window-well and died and now I'll have to pick it up and put it in the trash" I said to myself.  But first I went to water the garden.  And I forgot all about it until later that night at supper.  My Husband talked about when to do it and since he seemed to think it would be his responsibility, I was happy to dismiss the whole thing.  We watched some television and went to get ready for bed.  While I was lying in bed, propped up on pillows, reading a murder mystery, some small knocking sounds caught my attention.  Whaaaat?, I pulled the shade aside and there was a little black face looking in at me, it's nose pressed up against the glass!  A baby skunk!
     I made some phone calls.  Then people called me.  We got dressed again.  Here came the wild life rehabilitators.  With a long handled net.  Better her than me!
     But the little skunk was gone.  Not trapped at all, just happily living in my window-well.  And I've a pretty good idea why it was gone.  While we were waiting, I tried to take some pictures of the little skunk through the window.  Of course the camera flashed, it must have frightened the little thing.  The wild-life rehab left the net with me in case the little one came back though I think I would as soon climb into a garbage can as brave the skunk spray!  The pictures do show me one thing though, Little Skunk has chewed my window screen to bits!  That's how the little nose could be pressed up against the glass!

Soothing an irritation

     For the past month the phone has worked only spasmodically.  The phone guys were here 5 or 6 times, all nice guys but our wiring was old and funky.  I was very irritated.  In fact, that hardly seems a strong enough word though it wasn't
a crises, really.  I guess I just hate to miss a call.  Now I'm not a person who displays anger and irritation very well.  I found it very tempting to eat.  Food has always been my great panacea for emotion. Biscuits mostly, tempted me.  In fact several times I planned to make biscuits for breakfast and only squeaked by with tiny toast instead.  I could hardly think of anything to sooth myself.  Eventually I fell to organizing my clothes.  They are all hung in matching sets, color coordinated in my closet.  I did a lot of laundry while I was doing that.  Then I undertook to re-read all my Victoria Magazines, which I love devotedly.  I have 46 and now they are all catalogued and Bill is ordering the ones I don't have.  All except the first one, which seems to be going for $125.  I have some early ones though and could sell them on E-bay if I could bear to part with them.  When I explained to a daughter about all this she said "OCD as a calmer of emotions"?  But of course that's exactly right!  At least order is a desirable effect, in this case!

     While I was rearranging magazines, I got out some other of my favorites and among them was a volume of poetry written by another daughter and given to me as a present.  This is a treasured gift! 


 Here is one of my favorites:

Little Deaths

The trails of moths in velvet cloaks

Grow scarce in October's funeral rain;

The frost that fringes the shawls of oaks

Will hem my Mother's windowpane.

For little deaths she will not grieve,

But occupies these last warm hours

Simply;  pulls her heart from her sleeve

Look:  her arms, full of flowers!

 Elizabeth Heichelbech

     Eliyah went with us to Spring Mill Park last week and we had a grand time.  We cooked Southwestern on the grill and he doused his with hot sauce.  I didn't use the ice chest as I thought it wouldn't fit in his Mother's car.  Instead I used an insulated bag that came from Kroger years ago.  Despite being full of holes, it did the job but I thought I would buy some new ones when we went to the store.  However, I came in $2 over budget as it was and declined to spend any more.  Rather I came home and found that I could mend the two bags. Even the one with the broken zipper allowed itself to be pieced together.  Bill went through the house singing "Mighty Ana with her needle, here she comes to save the day"!

I'm afraid all our menus are very monotonous these days, although the shish-ke-babs with pineapple, onions, green peppers, mushrooms and chicken chunks went over big last night.   I am continuing to spend about $70 a week on this low carb diet and we are not hungry and I have my old energy back, for which I am very grateful.

Hyalophora Cecropia (silkmoth)

     Spring came early this year.  I was out pruning the shrubs in March.  I pruned a large, really a giant cocoon off one of our Rose of Sharon.  I put it in a muddy gallon glass jar I had used last year to protect a little tomato plant when I first put it out.  Later I found a second one, different in style.  The two jars stood on the patio table for 3 months or so.  During a period of cold and rainy weather when I didn't go out to do yard work (and check the jars)  something large came out of one and expired in the bottom of the jar.  I felt awful that I didn't catch it but it's wings weren't furled so he might have died of cold.  Then last Sunday I noticed that the other one had come out of it's cocoon and was fanning his wings!  Oh, he was beautiful!  I had never seen one like him.  Red and brown with white spots and Big!  He didn't like me taking pictures of him and so they are not so good pictures but here is the best of them.

 When we examined the cocoon we could find no hole large enough to permit the escape of such a large moth!

We think it may have been a male.  He would not come out of the jar but it was a bright sunny day. He flapped his wings open and closed and came to the lip (I had laid the jar down on it's side for easier egress) to look out.  He bristled and took a step toward me when he saw me looking at him and holding a ruler out to measure him.  6 inches wingtip to wingtip.  As  it got dark he held his wings upright, ready for takeoff.  Late in the night he left to have romantic adventures on his own.  We were so sad to see him go I made a paper replica to keep us company!

 It has been the adventure of the silkmoth!

Making my own clothes!

          I have been thinking about clothing myself without the second-hand option.  It's funny but I don't feel the same way about the clothes I buy and those I make.  When the children were small I made many items, pajamas with feet, frilly dresses, curtains and slip covers, even some underwear.  When my oldest son graduated from the eighth grade, I made his suit, of dark green polyester blend and it was not my best effort.  I had never been taught to tailor things and I didn't know how it should have hung from the shoulders.  However, it couldn't be noticed on a trotting horse and I'm sure he wore it only a few times.  The point is, one looked at patterns and fabric and there was no limit how much trouble one would go to in order to have the thing wanted.  But buying retail, I tend to look at the price tag first and then consider if it's ok.  Ok enough to wear.  Maybe goes with something I already have, sorta.  I don't seem to see the manufacturers of clothing as asking my opinion.  In fact, I have bought some items that sort of dismayed me but seemed trendy enough.  Buying second hand, even the trendyness goes.  So when I thought about sewing some things, I was perplexed.  I didn't know what I wanted!  I did some research on line.  I found articles about fashion, especially for older ladies, that mentioned classic styles, shawl collared jackets, 40's style tailored slacks, the little sheaths and full-skirted dresses I made in High School are back in style and flats but with little white socks now.  But I could not find outlets that sold these items.  Not in my price range anyway.  I began to go through my collection of Victoria Magazines, they don't show many fashions but what they do show are very classic.  I took a girlfriend and went to the fabric store.  Patterns were on sale for the same prices I used to pay, just $1 or $2 apiece.  I had a coupon good for 1/2 off a piece of cut fabric.  I looked at linen and linen-look, hunting for Taupe.  I had to settle for a medium brown but I like it.  Then a piece for a dress.  I already had some white linen for blouses, some green denim for shorts, some plaid for a casual top.  I spent $43.   When I got home I spread them all out on the bed to gloat over!

     It was not so easy to get back into the sewing mode.  I made the green shorts first and made a slight cutting error.  The same thing with the plaid blouse but I fixed it.  The button holes aren't as nice as I wanted but practice makes perfect, or at least better.  Now I'm working on the first white blouse and it's coming along nicely..  It makes me feel happy to be working on these things for myself.  And already I've become picky about what I'll wear of what I already have.  Also I've hemmed up good pieces left languishing for lack a little hand-sewing.  This is gonna be fun!


     Friday I took the day off and went with a friend to see the Indiana Pioneer Mothers' Memorial.  It consists of 88 acres of virgin timber just south of Paoli, Indiana.  I took pictures but it was a cloudy day and virgin woods are dark always but here is a view of the Memorial wall in the center of the woods.  Quite a walk for these old legs.  But I loved it and thought it well worth the effort.  Afterward we had lunch in Paoli, came home and took a nap!

     There are no menus this week,  I've been busy so Bill did the shopping and I've just been making easy things.  Meatballs and tiny bits of pasta tonight!

A tea to celebrate a marriage!

     My youngest daughter has quietly gotten married.  Nothing wrong with that.   I knew about it, but still I missed seeing and experiencing  a ceremony.  It's a Mother thing, of course!  But I was delighted to have them over for tea and presents later.  We had Lemon and garlic cream cheese and sliced chicken sandwiches (on Sour Dough bread for them and Rosemary crackers for me) and fresh fruits, strawberries, raspberries, pear and nectarine.  Irish Breakfast tea and  Earl Grey tea to drink.  We wish them well.
                                                                                                            

We lit the lamps though it was still daylight.                                             

      We used the "Dali Llama's teapot".





     The bride brought her Mother a gift of Lavender blossoms tied with a green ribbon.  Not to mention the bread and fruits.
 

     The happy couple received a gift of a Waterford Chrystal bud vase, among other things.   We lingered over tea almost until evening.  I teared up once but I did not cry!

Big Day!

Mother's Day is a big day, at least it is for me.  A lot of expectations.  I was a little worried when Saturday's mail brought only one card, from my best friend in Tucson.  Sunday morning there was a card from my Hubby, of course, on the breakfast table.  But almost immediately Fedex brought me a huge box of roses.  So many I couldn't get them all in one vase!  Beautiful!  Then a welcome photo of my Arizona son and his girlfriend and one of his lovely compositions via e-mail.  All day the phone rang as offspring called and chatted and wished me good and expressed their love for me.  There was a gift of meat from my favorite butcher shop.  Fancy and good-smelling cosmetics too.  The last one squeaked in at 11 pm!  I love you all!
     Eliyah and I made some more candles, much longer this time and smoother and more beautiful.

     When we moved here I relegated my butcher block on a stand to the front porch to hold the grill.  It had a big top and made a thing to bump into in our narrow kitchen.  Of late I have begun to miss it though.  So I thought I would get or make a smaller top for it and try it again in the kitchen.  Now I am not much of a carpenter, so I found I was dragging my feet.  I got some wood out but when I contemplated sawing it, well, it just seemed so hard.  However, I still had the remains of a gift certificate to Amazon so I went looking.  I was delighted to find several to choose from.  I got one which is really a bread board and has the circles for rolling various size pie crusts out, as well as rulers for cutting noodles.  It was not expensive at all and is from Kentucky, and I have always liked Kentucky!  Catskill Craftsmen sent it to me in 5 days.  It was a perfect fit!  My children all remember this in my old kitchens.

     I have really enjoyed using it again.

     Another new addition is an old blasting powder box for Miss Hickory's room.  It is darker but I have added two lights.  I think Miss Hickory likes it very much.  It is roomier!

 Notice that the icebox has a big chunk of ice on the top shelf!

Last of all I would like to complain.  Have you noticed that the dish detergent doesn't cut the grease like it used to?  Even though I change the water and rinse copiously, I always end up putting the last few things back to be washed again next time.  They look alright but when I go to dry them, they are slippery with a thin film of grease.  Now is this a good thing?  Maybe the old detergents were too harsh for our ecology?  Hard to get out of the water?  Certainly they  strip all the natural oil off the skin of your hands.  Trace amounts left on the dishes?  Or is this just a way to make more money?  I wish someone would tell me!  I remember back in the 50's when we used to use soap powder for washing dishes and it made everything very slippery.  It didn't cut the grease much either.  I welcomed the new liquid dish detergents and never questioned that it was a vast improvement.  My favorite was Joy and I bet I used it for 45 years!

 

A week filled with new information!

     One of my daughters said to me recently:  "I have been making Prayer flags out of the linens you have made me."  I may have gulped.  I have been making special glass towels for all my friends and family for a couple of years, using vintage linen and old and new lace. some hand-made, some vintage.  Sometimes I make them all by hand with careful tiny stitches.  I have this belief that hand-made gifts are the way to show people that I care for them.  I think that my Mother taught me that long ago.  I remember embroidering stocking bags for Grandmothers back in the '50's.  Of course there were always Thank You cards, but I guess I took it on faith that these little hand-made gifts made people happy. I can't imagine my 11 year old embroidery was all that beautiful.
     After I gulped, I thought, "Well after all, it was a gift.  It shouldn't matter to me how these things are used.  We either use them up or do something else with them.  So I refrained from making a negative judgement about it.  Indeed, I gradually came to like the idea of these spotless white damask and pale blue linen towels flying in the breeze on some porch.  But I must say that I felt a little less happy when I found some at a local Charity resale store.  I was surprised to find that I recognised my own stitching.  There were two and they sold for .25 apiece.  Luckily I found someone who wished to use them as table covers for a family alter and learned a little more about the uses for things and my own shortsightedness.  And I have tried not to remember who got the those particular ones.

     I am learning how to eat low carb  I am now getting advice from a professional and it has helped me immensely  I have had to add some carbohydrates.  I am starting to develop some recipes that taste good, can be eaten several ways, and don't cost the earth.  Last week I made Pulled Pork in the crock pot.  I used a boneless pork loin bought on sale for $1.98 a pound.  I made about 2 1/2 pounds and it lasted for three meals.  The marinade contained 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 T. honey, garlic and chopped ginger, 1/3 piece of star anise 
      So here are some of this weeks menus:
Hot Pulled pork on low-carb buns, with cheese sauced broccoli and tossed salad.
Tomato soup, sliced chicken and cream cheese with garlic and olives sandwiches on dark rye bread.
Cold pulled pork sandwiches with swiss cheese, salad
Chichen Fajitas with refried beans. salad
Hot Pulled pork in pork gravey, Fauxtatoes (whipped cauliflower), salad with our own fresh radishes
Quarter Pound hamburgers and cheese and broccoli soup, chocolate.


     Last week Eliyah and I made hand-dipped candles for two days and had a lot of fun.  Even Bill got in on it.

These are hand-dipped candles twisted into "trees".  They are difficult to burn though!

 Two weeks ago I went to a popular second-hand store and tried on some t-shirts.  One of them had some sticky sesame seeds on it.  I took it off but I wasn't really sure there was anything wrong with it that a good washing wouldn't cure.  In the end I didn't buy it.  Later when I researched the "sticky" seeds, the search brought up bedbugs.  Now I believe that that store puts all it's clothing in the dryer before putting it out on the floor but I am still disturbed and thinking that I might not want to buy any more second-hand clothing.  I believe that second-hand is a responsible way to acquire things but if it spreads pests, we'll have to stop doing things that way.  I would be interested in your opinions.