E:/LETTERS/OCTBAN10.TXT
3 October 2010
All the linen sheets are in the linen closet now. I
hemmed two tonight instead of one, thanks to a malware
scanner that took twice as long as it was supposed to.
The sheets are three yards wide, but the length is less
than twice the length of my ironing board. When I hemmed
the first side after putting pink false hems on the sheet
that's been washed a few times, I was very surprised at how
much difference in tedium the difference in length made.
It will be a while before I put pink bands on the new
sheets because I want them washed several times to be sure
they won't shrink and pucker, so I wrote down how I put the
bands on so I wouldn't have to figure it out from scratch
again. Then made it into a Web page so that I could find
it. Haven't uploaded it yet.
Dave went to Kokomo Thursday, to attend a meeting of the
soaring club that met on Friday, and see other sights about
town. I took advantage of his absence to make two batches
of pickled-garlic rice. I put twice as much garlic into the
second batch, and that was overdoing it just a tad.
He came back Saturday morning before I'd left for the
farmer's market. I ended up not going even though Dave said
that the roads were dry. Later I walked downtown to see the
festival; hoped to have lunch, but only candy and kettle
corn was available. Seems to me that food vendors at
festivals used to be a more common; I wonder whether a
change in the law has discouraged them?
Doud's had a table of fruit, and I bought a bag of asian
pears to make up for missing the market.
This is banned-books week. Sometimes books really are
banned, but that's hard to remember when people post so many
lists that consist of incidents in which somebody chose not
to buy the book. If you let that mean "banned", I've banned
most of the books ever published.
Some idiot on Usenet is trying to make "most" mean "more
than half" when it's plain and obvious that "majority" in
the dictionary definition refers to a large majority. When
I called him on it by asking whether he'd say he got most of
his money back if he were repaid a dollar more than half, he
huffed that he wouldn't discuss his finances!
Ah, well, there are other idiots who want to make
"majority" mean "most".
5 October 2010
At naptime today, I learned that it's really, really
hard to kick off your blankets when you are wearing fuzzy
socks.
6 October 2010
My spun-silk shirt has moved to the top of my priority
list, and it's all together but for one sleeve, which I left
undone this spring so I could use it to test sleeve designs
for my linen jersey, but I slept until ten this morning
despite having gone to bed at midnight, and didn't feel like
doing anything as intellectually challenging as sewing in
the sleeve I pinned yesterday, so I spent the morning
working on the table of contents to the "Notions" chapter of
_Rough Sewing_.
Making a Table of Contents is harder than it looks --
before you can have an organized table of contents, you have
to have an organized essay! But I made significant
progress, with the aid of the
tag, which I learned
about on rec.arts.sf.fandom last week. (Or maybe it was
r.a.sf.written.) I don't get little hints like that on
alt.html -- you have to know enough to ask the right
questions.
Being tired, I took my nap early, so I got up in time to
set in the sleeve and make a start on flat-felling the side
seam before it was time to warm up left-overs for supper.
We had spanish hamburger on a bagel. I also had left-
over Italian vegetables, but Dave wouldn't touch them. We
both put away a lot of carrot sticks and radishes, and he
had the usual bowl of chopped lettuce. I chopped all that
was left of the head, and tossed it with a little olive oil,
thinking that it might keep it fresher. (I chop lettuce for
several days at a time so that Dave can choose how much
lettuce he takes.)
Martha had the November banner all planned out, and we
got it well advanced. Cora and I got the letters traced
onto Wonderbond, ready to iron on and cut out, and Martha
got the background mostly arranged.
But I forgot to take the banners home to hem them. I've
half a mind to hem them by hand on a Tuesday night.
Theoretically we get November off, but if possible we
are going to make the January banners then, so we can take
December off.
7 October 2010
I woke up earlier than I've been waking, but still
managed to fritter and fiddle until mid-afternoon, when a
couple of boys came to deliver our new refrigerator. Seemed
to be competent and they were very polite -- they even moved
our old refrigerator out to the garage (where we'd cleared a
space for it earlier), and wouldn't accept a tip.
When the old fridge began to show signs of failing, Dave
asked whether I wanted the freezer on the top or the bottom;
I said that I didn't want a freezer at all. Ended up that
that's exactly what we bought! Took some tracking down:
it's an upright freezer with a rocker switch to put it into
refrigerator mode. I was rather pleased to see that there
are two control panels, and there's a light on the one in
use, so one can be re-assured that the rocker hasn't gotten
bumped. And the rocker is carefully placed so that
accidental switching is unlikely. The new fridge is much
bigger than the old one, even though it sticks out from the
wall less.
Druther have had one with just an ice-cube compartment,
but those are sooo twentieth-century that I'd be surprised
if even the Net could track one down.
After selecting the fridge on the Web, Dave went to
Smith Appliances and discovered that they had one in stock.
Well, the clerk discovered that they had it in stock; at
first they thought it would be a special order.
I did manage to pin the side-seam for my new shirt
somewhere in there. I hope to have it to wear to church
next Tuesday.
When we'd recovered from the excitement, we went out to
Greek's Pizzaria, which we've been wanting to do ever since
the grand opening. I was rather disappointed that there was
nothing explicitly Greek on the menu, even though I knew
"Greek" was the owner's name. On the other hand, I didn't
read the list of salads; we'd come for pizza, and the server
took our order as soon as we'd chosen one, so I didn't get
to the other columns.
Excellent crust, I thought. Too much sugar in the
tomato sauce, which pleased Dave very much. (In savory
dishes, I am to sugar as Dave is to garlic: if you can
detect it, it's way too much.) But there was very little
sauce, so that didn't spoil it.
We took the Greek Special; I think a simpler array of
toppings would be better. We'll just have to go back!
8 October 2010
Buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup and turkey sausage
for breakfast. We used up all the butter, so I had sour
cream on mine. (Awww!) Dave added "butter" to his shopping
list even though it isn't corn season. But I didn't buy a
pound at the beginning of corn season this year, so I guess
we are entitled.
I'm zapping the maple syrup in the hope of dissolving
the sugar at the bottom; Dave is sorting the warranty-and-
instruction-books drawer. The papers for the new fridge
wouldn't quite fit.
One booklet he found was for a washing machine his
mother threw out.
If I were to make that one little change to the chapter
on ripping seams before I start sewing, would that
constitute fiddling?
Got the side seam finished. Now all I have to do is to
finish the bottom hem, and put casings and elastic in the
ends of the sleeves.
Dave bought frozen hamburger at Walmart, and is thawing
some to grill for supper. Also bought three huge blocks of
cheese, a basket to put them and the lunch meat in, and a
replacement for the grungy old rack we'd been keeping the
sponge and scouring pad on.
After Dave went to bed, I read _Dr. Who: The Two
Doctors_ by Robert Holmes, which I enjoyed a lot more than
eavesdropping on Dr. Who fans had led me to expect.
I wasn't much impressed with the episode of the TV show
I saw once; perhaps I got a sub-standard sample, perhaps Dr.
Who is cumulative. Probably some of each.
9 October 2010
The farmers' market is winding down, but I got a bag of
Golden Delicious and two pimentos.
I read somewhere that "pimento" means "pepper". Poor
fruits just don't have a name of their own, except for
specific varieties. I don't know where "mango" got in. By
the same stretch that gave us "peppermint" you can say that
some peppers taste peppery, but mangoes and mangoes have
nothing in common except being about the same size. And it
isn't too much of a stretch to say that they have similar
shapes.
I wonder whether people reading old recipe books wonder
where midwestern housewives got all those mangos! I also
wonder how many of the recipes would give a decent product
if you substituted mangos for the mangos.
I suppose I should tell the younger readers that at one
time small round sweet peppers were pimentos, large oblong
sweet peppers were mangos, and peppers were small, pointy,
and hot.
We should follow the Australians and call them all
"capsicums".
Though I think maybe only the sweet ones are capsicums.
Since I first heard the word in some old story where
"capsicum ointment" was used to raise blisters, this isn't
exactly easy to bear in mind.
End of an era -- I bought a set of aluminum cookware the
winter before we were married, and kept the griddle when
(sometime near the end of the twentieth century) I gave away
the pots and pans.
This morning, when I plugged in the griddle intending to
use up the left-over pancake batter for breakfast, the light
in the controller didn't come on. When I checked to make
sure the cord was plugged in at both ends, sparks came out
of the connector. Inspection showed that a pin had come
loose. We dithered most of the day over whether to repair
or replace, but ended up putting it in the recycling bin and
planning on making pancakes in a skillet from now on -- we
don't eat pancakes often enough to get fussed over having to
bake one at a time, and have no other use for an electric
griddle.
West Bend is still around; I don't know about Miracle
Maid.
By the way, one third buckwheat and two-thirds hard
white wheat makes pretty good pancake flour. I've got a
recipe somewhere for a pure-buckwheat pancake. Involves
making the batter the day before, if I recall correctly.
And one tablespoon of molasses.
A quart of molasses lasts a looooooong time.
10 October 2010
Last night I read _Project Pendulum_ by Robert
Silverberg. Tour de force, page-turner, and all that, but
when I finished I did not have the sensation of having read
something.
The water seems to be clean again. I didn't notice in
the morning because I got up too late to have breakfast and
took my pills with milk, but after church Kathy noted that
it looked like cider. By the time I got home the cider was
diluted. I drank seltzer the rest of the morning!
12 October 2010
Ah! It was a ball of string.
I wanted to take a long ride yesterday, but didn't feel
like going to Wong's for lunch, decided to go to Walmart --
but when I was rolling along Park Avenue headed for the
hospital, I still couldn't remember what I wanted at Walmart
and a trip there was sounding like less and less fun, so I
hung a right at Union Street and went to the library by way
of Southtown. Picked up two George McDonald books.
Stopped at the hospital on the way back -- only one
magazine to drop off -- and at Owen's East, so I guess I
went to the grocery store the long way.
13 October 2010
One day when I was slamming a bag of Cajun-style
mirapoix on the counter to break it up, I reflected that
when I learned how to make spanish hamburger, I had no idea
that the recipe would one day include "whap frozen
vegetables".
Blister still hasn't broken, but it's a lot bigger than
when I first noticed it. The first-degree burn around it
seems to be entirely gone, so I'm getting impatient for it
to start drying up.
I've bumped or rubbed it hard enough to hurt several
times, so I think that it's been getting bigger instead of
breaking.
I didn't feel like cooking Monday night, so I baked the
sixteen-inch pie I'd bought at Owen's on the way back from
the library. When it was ready, I pulled the iron griddle
out of the oven and set it on the stovetop, then used a dish
towel as a potholder to pick the pie up and transfer from
the griddle to a hot mat on the table. Halfway there, the
paper pie plate started to deform and by the time I set the
pie down, I had boiling gravy on my little finger. To add
insult to injury, as I stepped back from the table, I
slipped in spilled gravy and landed with my seat in the
gravy, so in addition to being delayed in getting cold water
on the burn, I had to change clothes. Luckily, I had not
yet changed out of my pajamas.
It was a good pie, though.
When Mr. Howie asked whether we had an electric heater
to fill in while he was swapping the furnace, I thought "or
I could bake bread!" -- that always puts a lot of heat into
the house. We expected him yesterday -- he didn't show and
didn't call; I hope he just got caught up in another
emergency and forgot. I wonder how people can have a
furnace emergency at this time of year. He said it was old
folks; perhaps they need to keep the house super hot.
So yesterday morning after putting the wash in, I
started to stir up a batch of bread. Didn't think until I
was well into it that if he has the furnace out, he has
turned off the gas. Reflected that I could take the bake
kettle out of storage and went on -- to realize that with
the blister on my finger, I could knead only with my left
hand. The scalded finger is much less obtrusive than most
kitchen burns, which are apt to occur when one picks up
something hot, but kneading is done with the knuckles.
At least the blister was no impediment when I rolled the
dough into balls. We had spanish hamburger on rolls for
supper, and butter and currant jam on rolls for dessert.
Spoke too soon -- I got to the church fifteen minutes
early, went to the kitchen to help with clean-up, and broke
the blister when I bumped the corner of a pan handle. It
was under hot soapy water at the time, so I'm not worried
about infection. Probably should put some triple antibiotic
and a band-aid on it before I go to bed, though. (Did, now
have trouble typing because the blister is on a joint.) The
break in the blister seems to be at the end where my body
was mostly done with it; the other end is re-filling.
Macaroni and cheese is hard to get off a plate.
Supper here was Wal*Mart hamburgers on Aunt Millie's
Slimwiches. I had a couple of rolls as a bedtime snack.
With butter.
I'm still looking in the wrong places when I want
something from the refrigerator. I think I've got over
saying "Gaack! We're out of milk!", though. (There is a
gallon-bottle shelf in the door.)
14 October 2010
The broken skin glued itself down, and the blister seems
less annoying than before -- if only because I'm no longer
worried about breaking it. The speck of exposed injury
looks like a first-degree burn; I'm coating it with A&D
ointment now and again; it's hard to get that little out of
the tube.
Fiddled with the computer all morning, then read _The
Light Princess_; found Al in the Lazyboy with me when I
finished. He's still asleep on the foot support, as far as
I know. (It's hard to get out of a lazyboy without un-
reclining it!)
15 October 2010
I'm getting good at getting a trace amount of A&D out of
the tube. The blister has finally flattened; when the
first-degree burn around it disappeared so quickly and
completely, I got overblown ideas of how fast I could heal.
The whole finger looked boiled right after the accident.
(Though some of that appearance was gravy!)
Looks as though the blister isn't going to leave a
persistent mark like the first-degree burn on my belly from
leaving the handle of a fresh-from-the-oven skillet sticking
out over the edge of the stove -- it's already paler than
the old burn. I presume that's because finger skin is
thicker than belly skin.
Another moment of well, duh. Ever since I got an
overhead light in the sewing room, I've been complaining
that I needed a third light, but had no place to put it. I
tried putting a Y socket in the overhead light, and I broke
a true-color bulb -- which I haven't been able to replace,
thanks to the greenies in Congress -- proving that that idea
wouldn't work.
The problem is that a light that's bright enough for
sewing is too bright for anything else. Tonight when I sat
down to type, grumbling "do I feel around for the keyboard,
or do I squint" the dime finally dropped, and I snitched a
clip-on shade from one of the lamps in the parlor.
16 October 2010
The only conspicuous part of the burn is the bit exposed
when I broke the blister -- it's still an angry red, while I
have to look close to see that there's dead skin over the
rest of it. There's a lesson in burn management in that.
A guy who advertised on Freecycle took our old riding
mower away this morning.
Now I can get at the shelves to put the bake kettle away
for the winter. I need to wash off the ashes and oil it
first, though.
He drove up just after I got back from the Farmers
Market with three tomatoes and a quart of little potatoes.
Yesterday, I finally got around to calling for an
appointment to have blood drawn. The voice mail wasn't as
tedious as I remembered it.
Opened the box of duck tenderloins and found out why
they were seconds -- they are trimmings and small bits that
fell off. So I tossed a bag of mixed vegetables and a
handful of tiny potatoes in olive oil on the jelly-roll
sheet that fits the toaster oven, scattered duck tenderloins
on top, and I'm baking them for supper.
20 October 2010
And it turned out very good.
Usually I consult a map to find out where I am. When I
got to the bridge over Eagle Creek on Country Club Road, I
got out the map to find out how I got there.
I went to the library to swap MacDonald for Tolkien -- I
didn't want to read the copy of _Back of the North Wind_
that I had because it has been "specially edited". I meant
to compare it to the library's other copy, but that one was
checked out. Perhaps both will be in the next time I go.
Having gone on a Tuesday instead of a Monday, I finally
got a tamale at Tom's hot-dog stand. It was dreadful. I
think it was intended to be boiled in salsa; microwaved, it
was dry, and you couldn't tell the filling from the wrapper.
Ordinarily, I like my corn coarsely ground, but not served
this way.
Then I blundered my way to Country Club Road and came
back by way of Southtown.
My appointment for a blood draw is tomorrow. Fasting.
Have to run out for milk today. Hope I remember to drop
off the banners at the church on the way. No banner meeting
tonight, because Martha has a higher-priority appointment
and all the warm-body work is done.
When Dave went to Menard's to buy a replacement for the
lampshade I snitched, he discovered that when Congress
banned light bulbs, they inadvertently banned clip-on lamp
shades. So he bought a harp and a lampshade.
20 October 2010
It's rather annoying of Facebook to send me a "welcome
to Facebook" message when they won't let me in.
22 October 2010
Last night, as I was trying to fall asleep, I noticed
that my burned finger has reached the itchy stage. And A&D
rubs off easily and completely. The new skin looks much
healthier in the part where the blister peeled off on its
own.
Which reminds me that many of my tiger lilies are still
hanging onto their stalks; I'm getting antsy to dig them.
I've already selected a box to put the excess bulbs in, so I
can put them out by the road marked "free".
Anybody around who didn't get tiger lilies when Alice
thinned hers? Though it must be time to thin that bed too,
since I started mine from hers. And mine were planted
farther apart than she left hers.
Yesterday was pretty much taken up with getting blood
drawn, even though I was called before I'd taken my hat off,
and the samples occupied only a few minutes. I stopped on
the way back to buy a turkey pie at Owens, on general
principles. Then in the afternoon, the office called to
tell me I'd flunked one of the tests, so I had to drive to
Owens after supper to pick up a prescription and buy some
cranberry juice. Also got some ham and English muffins so
Dave could try out his new egg rings this morning.
Which made three debits on my account in one day. Which
was annoying, because the previous day Dave had notified me
that the fiscal month was almost up and I had only five
debits -- haven't been going out much, for some reason -- so
I'd gone to Owens and gone to considerable trouble to get
three more debits, since interest this month will be a
hundred dollars more if I have eight debits.
Wouldn't have been so much trouble, but on my second
trip, I went to a regular line instead of the express
because it had only been a few minutes since I'd gone
through the express, and got behind a woman with an enormous
cart of groceries.
Which I did on purpose, because most of her groceries
were back in her cart in bags. But just before she
finished, one of the bag boys brought a bottle of -- water,
I think -- to replace a defective bottle or something. The
bottle had no bar code, so the check-out called a more-
experienced clerk to teach her what to do about it --
there's a key ring of plastic tags with pictures of products
and bar codes -- then the inexperienced clerk showed the
scanner two bar codes at once, was shown how to void the
entry, tried again holding her hand over all the tags that
weren't meant and got the bottle checked through, then when
she tried to total and print, the computer went bananas.
The more-experienced clerk called over *her* mentor, they
consulted a while, then sent the inexperienced clerk to man
the check-out he had abandoned, tried several more things,
then finally decided that there was nothing for it but to
void the whole transaction and scan the groceries again.
The most-experienced clerk went off with the customer and
her cart, presumably headed for an idle check-out, and the
more-experienced clerk checked me through. By this time she
was so ruffled that she put my stuff in a plastic bag
instead of the canvas one I had given her and was aghast
about it; I was quick to say no sweat, of course. I sure
hope things went smoothly with the customer behind me!
The third time all the regular checkouts had long lines,
so I went to the express -- which was still being manned by
the inexperienced clerk. We said "hi".
The fridge in the garage is filling up. I've decided to
store all the canned and bottled beverages in it to save
space in the cupboard.
It is groovy to have a crisper drawer deep enough to
take a head of lettuce. And to just put a bunch of celery
in, instead of fitting it in.
24 October 2010
I got a slightly-out-of-focus look at my silk dress
today, and realized that the maroon ovals with white edges
and white centers look like cartoon steaks.
I don't think I'll ever see the print quite the same way
again.
I was complaining to myself about how even the opaquest
of my hose turn transparent where they stretch over my
dirty-looking toenails when I realized that I can wear two
pairs. Unfortunately, I realized this while taking them
off, not while putting them on.
I've switched from A&D on the burn to 15 SPF lipstick.
It is now time to dig the tiger lilies.
I am now allowed to drink milk only with full meals.
Thought I'd have to give up calcium pills too, but the
antibiotic is taken every twelve hours, you have to wait six
hours after taking calcium to take the antibiotic, two hours
after taking the antibiotic to take calcium -- that leaves a
comfortable four-hour window. So it's antibiotic at nine
and nine, and calcium at twelve and twelve.
Only ten days, and this is the fourth.
Had another run to Owen's yesterday. When I started to
refill my pill stick Friday, I realized that I had only
three Tricor left.
And this debit was *also* before we start counting on
the next cycle.
All I got at the Farmer's Market was a bunch of
radishes. Next Saturday will be the last market of the
year.
26 October 2010
I put some pillowcases on to soak yesterday, then forgot
to wash them today -- and I plan to be gone tomorrow.
I'm glad I also forgot to put the Oxyclean in before
going to bed!
I frittered away all of this morning fiddling with the
table of contents for the Notions chapter of _Rough Sewing_,
and didn't even finish. Did get it advanced enough to
upload to the Web site, though.
I dug the tiger lilies yesterday, and today Dave saw
someone stop and pick them up. I put every bulb I found
into the FREE box, figuring that I couldn't possibly find
them all. Also I didn't dig the area they had spread into
at all. I found a lot of daffodil bulbs, and broke up the
clumps and spread them around. Only one small bulb -- a
purple one. I've forgotten the names of the purple and
white bulbs that I planted. Should have written it down
somewhere. They don't seem to be flourishing anyhow.
I saved one lily bulb to plant by the other telephone
pole, but when I came back later to plant it, I couldn't
find it. So I took another out of the box.
Also ran one load of wash yesterday, and picked some
seam out of the silk-shirt sleeves and hemmed it to make
openings for the elastic.
28 October 2010
I didn't feel like going to bed until late last night,
so I slept until after ten this morning, so I won't fall
asleep until late tonight . . .
The pillowcases are on the rinse cycle now. We shall
see whether soaking for three days, with a few hours in
Oxyclean yesterday, got out the sweat stains. [It didn't.]
The whole point of driving north yesterday was that it
was the last Shipshewana flea market of the season, and I
put pillows and blankets in the car so I could have a nap in
the parking lot before going in, but when I finished my tour
of Middlebury just at naptime, instead of reading the map to
see which road led to Shipshewana, I headed south on SR13.
Turned on 200N after getting to Koscuisko County, missed
the turn onto 300E, ended up in Center Center, pulled into a
parking lot to read the map -- intersection didn't look
right from this angle -- and discovered that even though the
intersection of Parker, Center, and Argonne has definitely
been improved, turning left off Center onto Argonne is even
more to be avoided than before.
And I don't like the street lights they put up on
Parker. (You can't see them from Center, but I feel like
complaining.) *And* there is a good light of the same style
along the canal -- why didn't they use those for all of
them? It can't be much more expensive, and not lighting up
the whole universe would allow them to use less electricity.
Surely that matters when you are putting up hundreds -- they
put up blinking lamps of eye-searing blue to save
electricity, putting up lamps that don't glare in your eyes
to save electricity should be a no-brainer.
Got to Bristol with no incidents -- rather surprised
when I realized I was there already -- turned right, stopped
at the first parking lot to read the map and make sure it
was the right road. This was the Pay n Pakit -- a small-
scale Aldi. They sell all their own brand, so it must be a
chain, though I've never seen another. I'd forgotten to
bring fruit-and-grain bars, so I went in and bought two
boxes of granola bars, banana and blueberry. And some
pickles and juice and a can of soup. If I'd brought the
cooler, I'd have gotten eggs too; we are down to two. Be
down to none, but Dave had a breakfast burrito, and because
I got up so late I'm having lunch -- I found an "organic"
box of seasoned brown rice in the freezer, and it is
simmering on the stove. The seasoning packet smelled quite
nice when I poured it in. [But Dave hates basimati rice and
threatened to spray the house with Ozium, and it turned out
that there was "evaporated cane juice" in it, so I didn't
like it either, but I was so hungry I ate it anyway.]
I remembered that the road to Bonneyville is hard to
see, so found it with no trouble -- a moment of hesitation
at a driveway, but no trouble. I went straight to the mill
and bought four five-pound bags of hard white wheat and two
five-pound bags of hard red wheat; I hope that will last
until spring. I must have looked as though I knew what I
was about, because instead of warning me to keep the flour
cold, the -- clerk; I don't think he was a miller -- said "I
suppose you know how to store this" and I assured him that
I'd put it into the freezer.
Then I walked around a bit; no fun with nobody to talk
to, and the gift shop was closed. I ate a banana granola
bar and a blueberry granola bar to tide me over to lunch,
and set out for Middlebury. The back roads aren't marked as
well as it's possible to mark them, but I didn't make any
wrong turns. I had trouble finding the Quilt Shop because I
remembered it as being on the corner, where there was a
large sign saying something like "Yarn and Craft Hardware";
turned out to be a hardware store belonging to Mr. Yarn &
Mr. Craft. Were it closer to home, I'd be greatly
interested in it, but I didn't need any hardware at the
time. I did notice a fine assortment of lamp chimneys,
wicks, etc. This isn't a tourist store like Yoder's, it's
the real deal.
As is Gohn Bros. next door. No longer a sign saying
"quilts", but they still have a full assortment of quilt-
making supplies. Perhaps I should schedule a field trip
with Cora! I think Lowery's duplicates everything they
have, though.
I bought a pair of "merino" socks -- despite knowing
full well that merino is about as far from sock wool as you
can get -- a pair of black wool-blend work socks, and a pair
of "opaque" pantyhose. Two balls of crochet cotton,
mercerized but reasonably close to bedspread cotton. And he
threw in a mail-order catalog. I rather wish I'd taken blue
thread in addition to white and pink.
Then I crossed Route 13 for the sole purpose of seeing
the Middlebury Mercantile, but it was a furniture store.
Then I had to get back to the side where I'd parked the car.
This morning, Google Maps told me that I'd missed all
kinds of fascinating little shops, but on zooming out I saw
that it was showing me Middlebury, Vermont. One of the
times I modified the search, I failed to notice that
"Indiana" had vanished from the search field.
The scheme of taking calcium at nine and nine didn't pan
out. I forgot that while I'm on the antibiotic, I have to
take calcium with a full meal. I often have two half-meals
at lunch, and at midnight, I have no meal at all.
So I took one of Dave's vitamin D pills today.
29 October 2010
I'm wearing the merino socks. I don't think I'll like
them as well as the cheaper work socks I hope to buy at Big
R. Must go there soon: we are almost out of dry cat food.
31 October 2010
Went to Big R that evening. Didn't look at the socks.
Did pick up a few things at Aldi, including two bags of
single-meal bags of mixed vegetables to bake with pre-fried
chicken and duck.
Wore my new pantihose today. Buying them was a mistake:
if Fashion Collection considers these hose "opaque", then
their sheer hose must be altogether invisible.
And the waistband not only works its way down, down,
down, it drags my underpants with it. I was not a happy
camper while walking home from church. But the waistband is
a hem; I'll put cord elastic through it and see whether that
makes it work.
I helped serve a memorial lunch Saturday, and picked up
the ham and beans I forgot to take home on Wednesday -- and
forgot to take the gallon of cider that I'd bought at the
Farmer's Market on my way to the church. So I had to carry
a gallon jug home today.
I think I'm all square at the church now! I took the
second iron out of the parlor and put it with the banner
stuff, since with any luck we'll have three people working
next Wednesday.
I took my last antibiotic this morning. I'm planning to
pig out on milk, cheese, and yogurt this evening.
Kroger's Christmas dishes include pressed glass this
year. When they first appeared, I picked up a small serving
dish and thought that Al would lick less food out of it than
the oatmeal dish we had been serving his dry food in,
because the sides are straighter. That part worked out --
but pressed glass is quite invisible in dim light; makes it
hard to check the chow level. And I didn't notice that it
is a smaller bowl; he runs out more often.
I've resumed eating huge bland supermarket peppers, and
feeling abused about it.
My burned knuckle is still pink. Spun-silk shirt still
needs a few stitches. Still haven't washed and oiled my
cast-iron baking kettle.
I'm still impressed every time I open the fridge and see
all that space.