Daily Notes for Tuesday, November 18th...Sunshine and 42 degrees today.

 Dairy Fat- Good or Evil??????   My milk is whole milk.  I use Butter and not mechanically made "margarine". My Cheese is not processed hopefully..  I'm Elderly and Disease Free.  Knock Wood.

I prefer less than five items on the ingredient list on ANY food I eat..  Cheese should be cheese.  Butter should be butter and Milk should be milk.  I read the list in the tiny print- if it looks like Chemistry- I TRY NOT to buy it.  Even if I WANT it.  Cookies are an exception. And Dark Chocolate. Very dark.

1.   Now that that is off my To Do List-  I'll get to other stuff.  Why is CNN showing 9-11?  I was changing channels (terrible football game) and there was the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. I wasn't expecting it and ...so I cried.  Recalled the Fall of Marigolds book...And the woman watching the plane hit as her husband waited for her in the restaurant  Windows on the World.  

2.  Five additional black flies yesterday.

3.  Found another fabric to add to the orange square.... it's in the very tiny center square....so a repeat. I always like a repeat.  Connie, if only there was a table in my house that deserved a runner!!!!

4.  The book I opened to the very center and started reading was not the book I thought it was but is a book I have read before...... and I had given up on Hallmark and Law and Order.  And CNN had made me cry.. And I will likely give up on this book as well.  I've read it before- more than once.  Always by mistake.  It's never clear WHY he is attracted to her...so as a Reader I am wondering why????  For the entire book.

5.  Daughter is on repeat with stores selling soup....which I should be buying...I have soup that I make myself.  It's simple and easy and not great.  It's soup.  I'm content.  

6.   Soon I will move on to Toasted Cheese Sandwiches.  With extra pickles.  Toasted and not "fried in butter" Cheese Sandwiches.  And then?  Not a clue....I do have things that I could put in the Air Fryer....and eat those...but easy enough to just fry them up in the frying pan.   Or leave them in the freezer.

7.   And even at that...my Life is MORE interesting than it has been in decades.  REALLY.

Daily Notes for Monday, November 17th. Clouds and temps around 39 degrees.

 I have ALL of these.   I found the Williams Sonoma catalogs on the Internet this morning.  Same block but not the same knives.  I use them all.   My son's knife block sits next to mine.

1.  I made Strawberry Rhubarb Jam yesterday and it needs a bit more thickening...I don't have pectin but information says I can use lemon or the peels from an apple.  To get the mixture thicker.

2.  Watched Curling yesterday the regular, always wins USA team, did not win.  A new team won. And they deserved to win.  Great Job.   I also watched some European Soccer- World Cup.  Norway and Italy. Norway, as one team member said, got fed up with being pushed around and scored two goals. That was that.  Big tall guy with his long white hair in a bun (Manchester United)...  and that happy note ended my day yesterday.  I may or may not have Soccer set to record.  This was a first for Norway in World Cup.

3.  Oatmeal this morning and more recipes from my Master Gardening Partner.  She must have a different system on her computer and phone..  Not MAC.  Nothing translates as being "easy"...she mentions a "jump to recipe" thing I should press...well, I saw nothing like that on my screen.  And, honestly, I don't need the recipes.

4.  I never think cooking with vegetables actually needs a recipe...they all taste great together in my opinion.  I chop and stir in a pan and eat.  Add water if I want soup.  Which reminds me that I have one jar of soup left....for lunch today.  I might be wrong- NO SOUP.   I need to make more. I do have salad greens and grocery store made chicken nuggets- crisp those up in the toaster oven and dinner is served.

5.  While watching American Football (Chiefs and Broncos I think) I sewed strips to a large center square and now have something larger than usual that needs spray starch and a hot iron.  Not a clue as to how to move forward with this cloth...after I iron it.  I don't need potholders.  I don't need placemats. I sure don't need quilts.......and I sure as heck have TONS of fabric......

Daily Notes on a Damp Cloudy 41 Degree Day here in Coastal Maine. House temp is 65. Heating Oil is extremely expensive this year.

 Something colorful.   I noticed the flowers at the grocery store on Friday but nothing as bright as these. And it'a actually pretty dark in my living room right now...I have one lamp turned on and will do another and be right back.  Yes, that's much better.

1.  One black fly and son "reported in" yesterday that he had flattened one on the front door glass...so added that to my totals.  Five yesterday down from a high of 15 on Wednesday.   One so far today.

2.  The numbering helps one reader of this blog post keep track of subject changes. I do what I can to keep the small number of you all happy.

3.   Soccer yesterday and - World Cup behavior (of one game) was unsportsmanlike.  I might have given out a second red card. To the guy who got the first one. And I would have had words with him.... sorry excuse for sports conduct.  The Ref usually refuses to talk to the guys. Just holds the red card in their face. The guy argues and he holds up a second?????  Or just escorts him off the field????

4.  I noticed a missing button on my very old sweater (during the soccer argument)- one of the sweaters rejuvenated by the cold water gentle cycle in my new-ish washing machine.  I went shopping for a button in the button box by the sewing machine. I also had my Grandmother's Button Collection (from after she died).  Could NOT find the same size but did find an almost color match- larger button and it's now on the sweater.  While sewing the button I enjoyed looking at all the variegated colors of the mending....holding the sweater together.  Wondering what "mending" is holding me together.

5.  My daughter has my Grandmother's  Vintage Treadle Sewing Machine at her house...as a table----I doubt she will ever use it to sew anything.. it's a really old Singer and could sew thru layers of wool or leather. What a Machine!!!!!  It could also sew right thru your finger nails...... My Bernina can also do that and I did sew right into my finger nail.  Getting the needle out was worse than it going in.

6.  I need to reheat my coffee and settle into my space on the couch....pull the down lap quilt over myself.

Daily Notes- Saturday. November 15th. Sunshine here and 35 degrees.

Okay, images of Winter Seed Sowing...  top image is of seeds (way more than needed) on top of a nice potting soil mix...second photo is of the MANY seedlings produced over the Winter.  Notice the little weed seedlings between the bricks??????  This might be how the idea was discovered.

NOW...when I was teaching I always suggested using clear plastic milk bottles.  With the top half cut open with a hinge uncut so the top could be folded back giving you space for the seed sprinkling. Also making it easier for snow, rain and sleet to moisten the soil and the seeds.  I'm not even sure those exist in these days of recycling.  But the black plastic pots are just as nice.

You sprinkle the seeds on the soil and then put the pots out on the back deck or the front walkways or up against the house or foundation or where ever they won't get knocked over.... but will get some Sun and will get rained on or snowed on.  No need to check on them.......unless you worry about some animals knocking them over.....????

We usually were growing perennials.  Plants that came back year after year all on their own...  Seeds and seedlings that have more gumption regarding staying alive in unpleasant weather.   Herbs?  Yes.

Okay the Master Gardener in me is finished for the day.....

No British Soccer on USA Today... Gigantic Bummer.  I have books and I once again.....travelled to t the sewing room looking for a certain color of fabric with black dots......as FATE would have it- the light brown with tan dots was actually a much better choice........for ONLY one specific square....but one is better than NONE.

I made Rhubarb Strawberry Jam yesterday using the frozen fruit, sugar and water.  Set it to simmer gently for a long time..... some pectin would have helped but...all fruit has some in its DNA so...it looks and tastes great.