Strange August, So Far

I don't know how the weather is where you live, but here in Maine the weather is very strange--for August.  The A/C is not running.  We are sleeping covered in blankets.  I have on a long sleeve shirt and I am cold.  And, it's dark at 9 am.  Yes, I have the house lights on.  The weather hasn't slowed the mosquitos down though.  I went out for the morning paper and was buzzed by a ravenous mozzie.  Out for a bloody breakfast.

The art up top is something I made a few weeks ago (but I don't think submitting) for the 10X10 art auction.  I used the black fabric I like so much, mono printed it by pressing it into the surface of fabric I had painted, added a bleach discharged piece of black fabric and then added lines with yellow thread.  I get prewound bobbins (because winding bobbins is like having my teeth drilled without drugs) and I have to tear off the covering in order to insert the bobbins into my machine.  And doesn't everyone save the little paper covers?   The piece has the look of a map.  I have made a few of these over the years--one for the 12X12 challenges.  I like maps.  Inside the little hole in the bobbin cover is a tiny cross hair of stitches.  All points cross within this tiny circle.  There is hidden meaning here.

Some of this mapping business is due to changes occurring in my life.  I feel disoriented.  Confused. Am I making the right choices.  Am I just choosing paths that will make my life more complicated but not necessarily any better.  All roads do not lead to a better life.

When faced with choices: I first eliminate all the ones I don't like.  That's how I read a restaurant menu. I cross off all the things I don't want to eat and then choose from the items remaining.  We have stopped going to restaurants where I was left with no choices.  In a few instances, there was only one item and when that was removed from the menu--well, we go there rarely now, and with reluctance on my part.

I do this quite unconsciously now.  But, lately, I am seeing this as "negative" behavior.  A friend suggests that I could always ask for a salad.  Dressing on the side.  No meat or croutons.

I suggested a choice to G.  Either we go out and buy more hangers for the closets or we get rid of some of the stuff hanging on the hangers we already own.  He suggested we see how many hangers we can empty before deciding not to buy more hangers.   I routinely go through my closet--trying things on--letting go of clothing I don't see myself wearing in the next year.  I keep things that would hard to replace.  Like polka dot shirts.  Stripes.  I am thinking of letting go of the work pants that have only fit me twice in six years.  The odds are not in favor of them being worn much in the future.  But they are folded up in a bin--not on hangers.  My next choice would be to have little tags on the clothing.  Marking them with a date if they get worn.  Then eliminating them.  I tend to wear the same few items over and over.  Like a uniform.

We are spraying the tomato plants with fungicide.  Mildew.  Humid conditions and no air flow.  The beans have flowers and the cucumbers are producing.  The peppers are still short.  I think it's the soil in the bed where they are planted. Not retaining moisture.  The raspberries and blueberries are doing better than usual--the birds and beetles aren't doing the usual amount of damage.  The corn is getting tall.  My Brussels sprouts are doing very well under the row cover.  No moths have laid eggs.  The cabbages are small--in same bed with peppers.  Only cherry tomatoes and no zucchini yet, as the plants are only making male flowers right now.  I was going to make stuffed blossoms this summer--I should work on having the cheese stuffing ready and waiting.

Watching season one of Homeland.  Last time we watched three episodes.  Can't get enough of it. Same lead actor that we liked in "Life" which we watched in 3 or 4 episode chunks when we first got Netflix.

Going "cold turkey" on the breakfast cereal.  Finding I can't eat more than half a regular serving of yogurt and fruit at lunch.  Just not hungry for the foods I regularly have eaten (for 2 years) and can't find any replacements that I want to eat.  I have a pile of cucumbers to slice, salt and mix with sour cream.  I still like that.  I am also adding plain cream to my coffee--not heavy cream.  Tastes funny. The next change will be to lower fat yogurt.  2% rather than the 10% I have been eating.  Changes.  I have full fat coconut cream and ripening mangos for a trial run at a smoothie.  Interesting.