Entry tags:
vital functions
Reading. Tales from the Inner City, together with accompanying notes.
Feel Free, Zadie Smith: reappeared on my auxiliary internet device via the magic of the library e-holds system. This is... not entirely in keeping with my attempt to do Reading For Fun, but let's see how it goes, eh? So far I have successfully read the foreword, which is further than I got last time.
Watching. Orphan Black! We've started Season 4. I love all their faces. I had forgotten how much this season makes me go BABIES but oh dear babies.
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rydra_wong, 2019 PSO Atlantic Pole bronze medalist, Deadpool. It was sufficiently beautifully observed that I actually got A to turn the sound on toward the end, and am vaguely contemplating rewatching the entire thing with its soundtrack.
I'm also having a specific craving for Elementary S01E04, but I like it best with the build-up of the intro, so probably I'm going to sit down and rewatch that (possibly with A, if he decides it sounds like a good idea).
Cooking. Batch #2 of refried beans! This time with bonus cinnamon and thyme, and cooking the chipotle paste in from the get go. Yes good hurrah.
Adam got me a Larger Proving Basket for the sourdough; I have continued making A Bunch of it; for bonus points a dried fruit and nuts order arrived, so some of it's been date-and-fig-and-walnut in addition to Just Plain. Unfortunately it turns out I've levelled up... again... such that I am keeping the breadpet happy enough that it is overflowing from even the larger basket, w h o o p s. And, er, a larger baking stone has become... more urgent.
Also: another round of scones, which has helped me refine my ideas about How To Make Them Effectively. This does of course mean that I will have to make yet another experimental batch, Woe Is Me. (Possibly via taking an aliquot of the last tub of buttermilk to establish a culture of my own, in the hopes that I'll manage better at it this time.)
Creating. Dyed A's hair and buzzed it! Still haven't quite got the hang of the yellow strip, grump, and I want to have some more of a think about how best to dye for display both loose and in a plait.
Less creating, more mending: I Dealt With the disintegrating cover of the memory foam travel pillow, which I've been stalled on since at least... January? I Am Very Pleased that it is done.
Growing. My allium are coming up (at least some of them) (though I think I might have pulled up a patch of spring onion because they were indistinguishable from grass, whoops, so I'll be a bit more careful going forward). I had been feeling really very discouraged about the plot since the discovery of The Carpet, so Some Things Growing is a very welcome boost, as is the rent rebate for the year. (I have two types of shallot, some garlic, and some red spring onions in the ground.)
I have also continued Removing A Piece Of Carpet Every Visit. On Monday evening I decided that the world would be much improved if, in the first instance, I removed a strip covering the path between two beds, on the grounds that having once done that I might be able to move the middle bed over to the edge in such a way as to progressively remove its underlay, and then I'd (at least in principle) be able to put the edging in around in. (In fact I strongly suspect the majority of the carpet under the bed in question is actually natural fibre -- there's a notable difference in structural integrity between the overlapping definitely-synthetic and the next carpet over -- so I'm also Contemplating the merits of just leaving it to continue rotting down. If I'm going to go for that option I think I probably need to take a deep breath and a sample and convince myself it really is entirely natural fibres, though, because I've a nasty suspicion it might be wool on a synthetic backing.)
Other good news: my comfrey continues establishing itself. The pak choi seed pods are formed and enthusiastic and probably nearly ready to harvest (I need to leave them a little longer to dry out on the plant). The Ribes various are forming berries; my neighbour's redcurrant is a little further along than mine, but my jostaberry is starting to have visible fruit. The bin remains warm and happy; the greenhouse seems to be largely working in spite of my slightly dubious approach to actually levelling and compacting the site; I'm really enjoying having space to store trowels and woodchip and shredded paper on site. At home, my strawberries are flowering cheerfully and my remaining chillis haven't died yet; I've got a small handful of cherry tomato seedlings (from seeds I saved!) coming along nicely; the lemons are starting to swell up; and the orchid is producing some flower pods.
Other... news: it turns out that the stuff I'd thought was wild garlic is in fact three-cornered leek, which is invasive, whoops. NEVER MIND IT'S TASTY.
Expotitions. Down to the West Country, on Sunday, for my deceased grandfather's birthday. Caught up with relatives various, including my baby brother's girlfriend, who is p great. Picked up a pile of Treasures From The Mouldering Ancestral Pile, some of which will need to go back to my mother (I currently have my great-grandmother's monogrammed napkins, for example, which my mother would prefer to have At Least For Now). Stopped off in Oxford for dinner on the way home.
Feel Free, Zadie Smith: reappeared on my auxiliary internet device via the magic of the library e-holds system. This is... not entirely in keeping with my attempt to do Reading For Fun, but let's see how it goes, eh? So far I have successfully read the foreword, which is further than I got last time.
Watching. Orphan Black! We've started Season 4. I love all their faces. I had forgotten how much this season makes me go BABIES but oh dear babies.
Via
rydra_wong, 2019 PSO Atlantic Pole bronze medalist, Deadpool. It was sufficiently beautifully observed that I actually got A to turn the sound on toward the end, and am vaguely contemplating rewatching the entire thing with its soundtrack.I'm also having a specific craving for Elementary S01E04, but I like it best with the build-up of the intro, so probably I'm going to sit down and rewatch that (possibly with A, if he decides it sounds like a good idea).
Cooking. Batch #2 of refried beans! This time with bonus cinnamon and thyme, and cooking the chipotle paste in from the get go. Yes good hurrah.
Adam got me a Larger Proving Basket for the sourdough; I have continued making A Bunch of it; for bonus points a dried fruit and nuts order arrived, so some of it's been date-and-fig-and-walnut in addition to Just Plain. Unfortunately it turns out I've levelled up... again... such that I am keeping the breadpet happy enough that it is overflowing from even the larger basket, w h o o p s. And, er, a larger baking stone has become... more urgent.
Also: another round of scones, which has helped me refine my ideas about How To Make Them Effectively. This does of course mean that I will have to make yet another experimental batch, Woe Is Me. (Possibly via taking an aliquot of the last tub of buttermilk to establish a culture of my own, in the hopes that I'll manage better at it this time.)
Creating. Dyed A's hair and buzzed it! Still haven't quite got the hang of the yellow strip, grump, and I want to have some more of a think about how best to dye for display both loose and in a plait.
Less creating, more mending: I Dealt With the disintegrating cover of the memory foam travel pillow, which I've been stalled on since at least... January? I Am Very Pleased that it is done.
Growing. My allium are coming up (at least some of them) (though I think I might have pulled up a patch of spring onion because they were indistinguishable from grass, whoops, so I'll be a bit more careful going forward). I had been feeling really very discouraged about the plot since the discovery of The Carpet, so Some Things Growing is a very welcome boost, as is the rent rebate for the year. (I have two types of shallot, some garlic, and some red spring onions in the ground.)
I have also continued Removing A Piece Of Carpet Every Visit. On Monday evening I decided that the world would be much improved if, in the first instance, I removed a strip covering the path between two beds, on the grounds that having once done that I might be able to move the middle bed over to the edge in such a way as to progressively remove its underlay, and then I'd (at least in principle) be able to put the edging in around in. (In fact I strongly suspect the majority of the carpet under the bed in question is actually natural fibre -- there's a notable difference in structural integrity between the overlapping definitely-synthetic and the next carpet over -- so I'm also Contemplating the merits of just leaving it to continue rotting down. If I'm going to go for that option I think I probably need to take a deep breath and a sample and convince myself it really is entirely natural fibres, though, because I've a nasty suspicion it might be wool on a synthetic backing.)
Other good news: my comfrey continues establishing itself. The pak choi seed pods are formed and enthusiastic and probably nearly ready to harvest (I need to leave them a little longer to dry out on the plant). The Ribes various are forming berries; my neighbour's redcurrant is a little further along than mine, but my jostaberry is starting to have visible fruit. The bin remains warm and happy; the greenhouse seems to be largely working in spite of my slightly dubious approach to actually levelling and compacting the site; I'm really enjoying having space to store trowels and woodchip and shredded paper on site. At home, my strawberries are flowering cheerfully and my remaining chillis haven't died yet; I've got a small handful of cherry tomato seedlings (from seeds I saved!) coming along nicely; the lemons are starting to swell up; and the orchid is producing some flower pods.
Other... news: it turns out that the stuff I'd thought was wild garlic is in fact three-cornered leek, which is invasive, whoops. NEVER MIND IT'S TASTY.
Expotitions. Down to the West Country, on Sunday, for my deceased grandfather's birthday. Caught up with relatives various, including my baby brother's girlfriend, who is p great. Picked up a pile of Treasures From The Mouldering Ancestral Pile, some of which will need to go back to my mother (I currently have my great-grandmother's monogrammed napkins, for example, which my mother would prefer to have At Least For Now). Stopped off in Oxford for dinner on the way home.
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I am so delighted by your sourdough adventures! I've got most of this week off; perhaps I shall make some banana bread as I have a bunch of them and baking regular bread myself never seems quite worth it with how many varieties of bread I can buy here.
That carpet sounds like such a damn trial. I'm glad things are growing at least so you're not feeling entirely discouraged! <3
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GROWING THINGS. Is better. (Or at least less bad.)
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