E:\LETTERS\JunBan10.txt 6 June 2010 While walking through the art fair on the way back from church, I saw a woman in a plain white long-sleeved shirt with three thin rows of embroidery outlining the slit and neck-hole. White linen is back on the short list for my new shirt. I wonder whether I have some rick-rack stashed away? But *first*, I've got to make my "taxicab" jersey. The elastic is showing through where I clip my Halt to the pocket of my "curry" jersey, and a tear is starting near the badly-frayed collar. But the bottoms of the pockets are still sound and leak- proof. Fold-bottom pockets hold up very well. 7 June 2010 I have lots of rick-rack stashed away -- and about a pint of stuff that should have been put into other boxes when I re-organized my notions. I'm not sure I've got a box for iron-on stuff. (Since some of my reflective tape is iron-on, I put the scraps of iron-on I found into the Synthetic Tapes box.) The lace-and-other-trims box also contains a flowered ribbon with picot edges that would be perfect for trimming a dainty white blouse -- but I'd never be able to force it to curve around the neck hole. I'm not as happy with the idea of rick-rack as I was. I think I'll use bright red, just one row. 10 June 2010 Had the bright idea of riding to the library after supper -- yesterday, now; it's five in the morning and I can't sleep -- after all, it's June so there's plenty of light, and since I can put _Thirteenth Child_ in the book drop, it doesn't matter that I'm not sure they are open. Turned out that I left half an hour after they closed -- and as I was suiting up, I remembered that my interlibrary-loan book had come in. So I'm going again later this morning. I passed Owen's on the way home, but had forgotten my shopping list. I did buy a pot of sweet marjoram at Ace; they also had "hot oregano", but I tasted a leaf and wasn't impressed. And there were pots labeled "spicy globe basil" that didn't look like spicy globe basil, and were going to seed besides. But my two remaining boxwood basils aren't performing well. I also looked all around Ace for a sprayer to replace my failing Oil-O-Pump. Found a hand-pumped insecticide sprayer that was just what I had in mind, except for being huge. Otherwise, they didn't even have trigger bottles. Maybe I can check out Menards on the way home today. Scheduled the ride for after supper so I could sew in the morning, but I slept late, then when I took the "taxicab" linen down to cut it, I saw that it had to be ironed first, and I had four shirts that have been needing ironing for some time, two of them pullovers, so I never got as far as expanding the table. I'd like to cut tomorrow, but that copy of _Cyclecraft_ won't wait for me forever. I read Dick Francis' _Shattered_ not long ago. When I'd finished, I realized that it was the same exact story as _Straight_, with the artist and the jockey switched. Maybe it's a genre -- though it would take me all night to list the essential details: Small staff with traitor, volunteer bodyguards, repeated home invasions, viewpoint character temporarily can't drive (which brings on the volunteer bodyguards), subsidiary villain causes vast trouble with opportunistic theft and can't understand that theft is wrong . . . In _Shattered_, the unexpectedly-found McGuffin was less important than in _Straight_, and the protagonist was in better condition at the time. 14 June 2010 A small celebration this morning: Dave washed off the last application of hamburger cream. His face had already begun to look better. (I can see those of you who were at the party saying "This is *better*?") We spent the weekend having a large celebration. On Saturday, Dave and I drove to Alice's house, picked her up, and continued to Delaney Park (which Mia, our GPS, called "dellany") where we celebrated Nick and Amanda's graduations. We spent the night at a Holiday Inn and came home Sunday, whereupon I took a long nap. Putting stuff in the suitcase so you won't forget it is a bad plan. I put my flowered-linen hat on the suitcase so I wouldn't forget, whereupon it evaporated. Thinking I might have laid something on it, I took everything out of the suitcase and put it back one item at a time: no hat. While unpacking, I returned to the parlor after carrying the second load to the bedroom to find that the hat had re- condensed and was perched on top of the remaining stuff in the suitcase, all fluffed up and sitting on its brim and plainly *not* having been flattened between two pairs of pants. Worse, after sealing the envelopes on our presents, I put them into a pocket of the suitcase so we wouldn't forget to take them. Then we stopped on the way to the park to check into the hotel, freshen up -- and leave the suitcase. Pity I hadn't yet decided which purse I was going to carry when I stashed the presents. When we were talking about cooling off in the lake during the party, I realized that we had also left my shorts and spare underwear at the hotel. 19 June 2010 We had a little gust of wind yesterday evening. Well, it went on too long to be a gust, but not long enough to be a storm. Seemed to be the leading edge of a thunderstorm. I was sitting on the sofa reading a book when a canoe knocked on the patio door. It had been down on the Wildmans' beach, and it flew over the picnic table and struck more than halfway up the door. Just before that I saw a large limb leave our willow tree and take up residence in the park. The cap blew off our chimney -- we're going to have to hire somebody to climb up and put it back -- and there are twigs and a big dead limb down, but surprisingly little damage. Something about a wire down blocked access to Stone Camp for part of the afternoon today; Dave went out after the roadblocks went away, but couldn't see where the problem had been -- Stone Camp doesn't *have* wires; their services are all underground. Another storm passed in the night, but it had pretty much worn out before it got to us. Living in the future: the glass didn't break, and I didn't finish reading the book by candle light. I went riding this morning, and bought six little greenhouse tomatoes. Forgot entirely that I wanted to go to Lowery's for hook-and-eye tape, and Warsaw Health Foods didn't have pistachios. But Owen's had onions, milk, and Prilosec. Also went riding Thursday, because Weather Underground said it would be rainy today. I'd thought it was Wednesday, but my receipts are marked June 17. Dumped some magazines at the emergency room, then picked up a few things at Aldi's, including two packets of taco seasoning and some corn tortillas, intending to make burritos. After I had everything firmly packing into the panniers without a a cubic inch to spare, I saw through the window that Aldi hadn't discontinued canned kraut when they introduced canned potato salad, but had moved the kraut into the special- purchase section near the door. So I went back in and grabbed two cans of kraut and, while standing in line, also took a package of taco shells. We had the second taco supper tonight -- really easy to prepare, since everything was left over. Microwaved the shells since I didn't want to heat up the oven, and liked them better than baked shells. We're planning on soybean patties flavored with puree of raw beef for tomorrow night, in honor of the tomatoes. Fake burgers freeze better than real ones, and I don't have to thaw them before frying. 24 June 2010 Spilled my lunch on my lap yesterday, popped the pants I was wearing into the washer for a quick rinse-and-wring, later reflected that they would dry faster outside. Then I left them out during last night's tornado warnings and thunderstorms. Somewhat to my surprise, they didn't go very far from the clothesline, but they are sopping wet. Ran out for lettuce yesterday & stocked up on soda even though the fellow re-stocking the soda shelves told me that soda would be much cheaper today. Also bought a tough little steak from the "reduced for quick sale" bin. If Dave wants a tender steak, *he* can buy it! But I'd already planned on BLTs for supper, so I decided that if the steak had to wait overnight, I might as well marinate it. Poured about a tablespoon each of basalmic vinegar and tamari sauce into a quart zipper bag, peppered the steak, and slid it in. Also a sprig of fresh rosemary, which may be overdoing it because it was rosemary-flavored vinegar. Every now and then I open the fridge and see a slice of liver lying on the shelf before I re-focus and see the steak. There's one tomato left now. I fried liver and onions for what must be the first time ever, because Dave said he'd been of the opinion that he didn't like liver and onions, but both of us nearly foundered. I cooked liver fairly often when we were first married, but I kept trying to replicate Mom's liver-in-tomato-sauce, and my versions are *horrible*. I believe that Alice and Nancy once said that they couldn't do it either. Maybe you have to be cooking for six. Heath Row wants to make a chapbook out of some of my stories and distribute it to the members of the National Fantasy Fan Federation. This makes me very nervous, as it's perilously close to self-publishing, and people over sixteen who publish their own fiction nearly always embarrass themselves. I'm co-operating, but not with much enthusiasm. I felt a little better when he said the bracketed words in "Manstealers" had to go (though I've already tried all possible alternatives to the brackets, and would withdraw "Manstealers" from consideration instead), but then he said that he wanted *me* to select the stories that went in! -------------------- It's much cooler, but I still had to undress into the washing machine and run my cycling suit through a rinse cycle. This time it came out wetter than it went in! Rinsing didn't take out the face paint on my scarf. But the face paint matches the stains from my helmet pads, which are infected with the same pink bacterium that grows in the bleach dispenser. Bleach would take out the stains, but I don't see any reason to wear the scarf out. Pleasant ride, but if I'd realized there were downed trees all over Harrison a bit sooner, I'd have gone down Lincoln Street and taken the Greenway to the emergency room. Had nothing but one paperback book to drop off this time. The only alternative to Harrison, for a motor vehicle going to the hospital, is Parker, and Parker is under construction and likely to remain closed for some time. Our street system lacks a certain amount of redundancy. It took hours to clear Harrison, I heard. Dropped off _Cyclecraft_ and asked that the library buy its own copy. Then to Subway for a "black forest ham" six- inch sub. Stopped at the dollar store on Market hoping (in vain) to find a pocket mirror. It being Thursday, the "Mountain Man Indoor Flea Market" was open & I went in. I expected to find Mountain Men swapping camping equipment, but it was a regular flea market with crafts and furniture and all sorts of second-hand stuff. There was a nice old Singer treadle machine, but the shuttle and shuttle cover were missing. Looked easy to repair apart from missing unobtainable parts, and the table -- it was just a table, and a dust cover sets over the machine; it has no storage and doesn't fold out of sight -- was in good condition. Worth the asking price to someone who wants it for a decoration. Then along the railroad to Winona Avenue and a tour of Pretty Pillow. They still have the singer treadle. Appears to be in working condition and has some of the attachments; I can't tell whether the folding mechanism is still there, but those mechanisms were pretty tough. But the finish is terrible, and with all the carvings, it would be very expensive to have refinished. I should find out exactly how expensive; I'd like to have a sewing machine in the church parlor. Bought nine inches of hook-and-eye tape at Lowery's. Sure beats hand-sewing six hooks and six eyes! Also stopped at Sherman & Lin's, and bought eleven cans of seltzer. 25 June 2010 I tried out my new gelatin mold. For a long time, I've been wanting something more interesting than my stainless- steel mixing bowl to jelly fruit-juice concentrate in, but every mold and bundt pan I've found was either way too small or way too big. Then the last time I went to Goodwill there were *two* molds of about the right size, one shaped like half a watermelon and ridged like a cantalope, and one like a truncated cone with little round blobs on the flat surface. I didn't like the blobs at all, so I bought the half-melon. Big mistake. I don't have an oval plate to turn the mold out on, and it looks silly on a round one. The curved shape makes it unstable to put into the fridge -- I chilled it in a loaf pan, just in case. And it's almost impossible to run hot water over the outside without getting any inside; in addition to being full almost to the top, you can't tip it hardly at all without risk of dumping it entirely. I think one is supposed to bake fruitcake in this mold. Dave didn't like either the steak or the marinade, but he'd had a tenderloin for lunch and wasn't hungry -- and we have a bottle of worcestershire sauce. I'm kettle-baking a plain white-wheat loaf of bread, just for the practice, and getting rid of some of the downed limbs in the process. Looks like enough banked coals in the fireplace to do another kettle; I shoveled only halfway back. But I also removed all of the whole sticks, which I used to build a crib around (but not too close to) the kettle. Bakes better when you heat the sides as well as the top and bottom. Bread out, after only fifteen minutes. There were more live coals in the hot ashes I spread on the platform than I thought, and the bread burned on the bottom. I'd been planning to turn it over and bake five more minutes -- away from the fire, with coals on the lid -- to brown the bottom. Hope it's done in the middle. I'm now frying the last of the bacon to eat with the hot bread and the last tomato. It was done in the middle, and quite edible, though not the best bread I've ever made. Tad heavy in texture, but even. 27 June 2010 I've started punching in "The First Arrangement" so that I can send it to Heath. I haven't had a copy holder since we got rid of the TRS-80. I think that propping the manuscript against the keyboard and leaning it on the monitor stand will do. I must have used 12-pitch type. Have to look close to read it. We had smoked chicken yesterday. Turned out very well; I suggested doing it again on Saturday & Dave said he didn't think one chicken would be enough. Sometime this week I'm going to have to ride over to Lake Street to buy some more *real* tortilla chips. Also to Kroger for two boxes of whole-milk yogurt. Friday night, knowing that I would go to Marsh after the Farmers' Market yesterday, I sat down, read the Marsh ad carefully, then put the two sheets that had items circled into my pannier. Got to the store and discovered that one sheet had blown out and the other had only one item circled, an item that I wasn't sure I wanted. Ah, well, I did remember that sirloin steak was one of the specials, and I'll start getting ready to fry it in about a quarter hour. I forgot baby-back ribs entirely, but it looks as though the weather won't be fit to barbecue any time soon. The Fourth seems to be sneaking up on me this year. I've heard other people saying the same. 28 June 2010 I faked out a cat! That's something you don't get to do every day. I was coming back from the clothesline with a basket on my hip and three shirts in my other hand when I saw Al watching me through the patio door, eagerly waiting for me to open a door wide enough to let a basket through when I didn't have a free hand to catch the cat. So I turned and headed for the other door, watching Al from the corner of my eye. As soon as I thought he couldn't see either door I turned back and popped in. Found him in the hall halfway between doors, and he said "meow!!" indignantly. I've better get those clothes in pretty soon. The way the wind is whipping them, they'll be wearing as fast as they would in a tumble dryer. Only one load this week. I've sworn off Tricor, red meat, and mammal fat until after my appointment with Dr. Snider this Wednesday. That complicates menu planning. Left-over smoked chicken for supper tonight. Told Dave he gets all the left-over steak. Having the chimney cap put back may prove expensive. After a competent person looked around up there, we were reminded that the shingles went up about one roof-lifetime ago. Nice to get all the debris shoveled off. Maybe "taxicab" is a good name for the linen. A pickup truck about the same color as my jersey-in-progress just drove by. 29 June 2010 I bought a pair of Smartwool socks at the Goodwill store, same style as the pair I already have. I noticed that they felt thinner and more synthetic than the other pair, but thought that that was wear and washing. Then the Smartwool logo washed off. (It's knitted into the other pair.) So is Smartwool making socks for K-mart, or did I buy a counterfeit? Wondering what to prepare for supper when I've sworn off mammal fat, I found a tube of "Italian flavor" turkey puree in the freezer. Apparently, Italians taste like chile peppers. I thawed it, browned it, stirred in two chopped celery stalks and some olive oil, and let it simmer for a while, then threw in some Mirepoix Cajun Style and about a serving spoon of three-pepper blend, stirred it around until the onions were translucent, and served it on hamburger buns. Pretty good. I'm going to stir in some canned salsa when I re-heat the leftovers. I realized after a bit that I didn't have to make the ribbon curve to use it on a poncho shirt -- if there's enough of it, I can applique' it on in a diamond shape, so that there's a V front and back. Alas, I have also realized that I'm replicating the essence of a dainty white blouse made of embroidered linen- rayon blend -- which blouse I hardly ever wear because it has to be washed and ironed every single time. But the poncho shirt wouldn't be as hard to iron. It's a simpler shape, and it doesn't have embroidery that has to be stretched back into shape after every washing. 2 July 2010 Lessee . . . I've got a gallon of lemonade and a fresh lemon to garnish it, I'm making half a gallon of iced tea -- using a tile of Dave's brick tea. We have over a carton of diet 7-up and several other diet drinks, including ginger ale and decaffientated Mountain Dew. And there are chips all over the coffee table in the parlor. I hope I can get the chips into the freezer after the party -- I'm overstocked on frozen vegetables, the fruit- and-nut basket is level full, the cat-food bag has only a couple of six-cup cans out of it, and even though we've been gobbling peanuts, there's a substantial part of the twenty- five pounds Dave bought still under the cat food. I can't find my flour to see whether I have enough. And I'm sure I had a packet of noodles in my hand while looking for something else a few days ago, which I'd boil in left-over chicken broth for supper if I could find it. Can't even find the rotini I used last time. (Did find elbow mac.) Later: the space loosened up when I noticed that there were a lot of TV dinners and other things that belong in the meat basket in one of the sacks of "vegetables". Rode to the Mexican market on Lake Street to get real tortilla chips this morning. Took three-fourths of an hour each way, but I did stop at Warsaw Health Food on the way out and a garage sale on the way back. So *that's* why my jersey was so hard to get off. There was a book weighing down the back pocket -- I couldn't add anything to my panniers without re-arranging everything and maybe breaking chips. Couldn't even hang it off the side, as I'd buried the bags. Drove to Big R for cat litter and Aldi for chips and lunch meat yesterday, and stopped at Aunt Millie to see whether I could serve something more interesting than sliced bread with the cold cuts. Turned out they had both mini- subs and Thinwiches, neither of which I can get at local grocery stores. But Big R was out of the better cob litter again, and there's only one change left in the old bag, so I had to buy a bag of the coarse stuff. I think they kiln-dry the cobs before grinding; I don't remember cobs breaking into sharp shards. On Wednesday, Dr. Snider told me it was unlikely that the Tricor was causing my mysterious pains, and diagnosed pulled hamstring, which he says takes ages to heal. I can't remember the stretches he taught me, but enough come back to me to make getting out of bed a more- complicated procedure than it was. I never heard of needing stretches before you walk before. And another pill to take, when I find ACI-fruit pills. Perhaps I should have stopped at CVS on my way through town this morning, but I studiously avoided Center Street. Fort Wayne isn't too bad, and it gets you across Detroit. I went mostly on Market, but switched to the ally at the health- food store to get around yellow cones, and stayed in the alley until it was interrupted by a church. Drat. I took careful note as to which street comes out on Lake at the Mexican grocery, and forgot it. Would probably remember if I looked at a map -- but "blunder west until the streets are blocked, then turn north" works. Almost nothing done on my sewing this week, for some strange reason.