The directory outside my office door is outdated too, but in less of a historic preservation sort of way.
Walking through the same space where all of that thinking happened was powerful. Whether the work was original, derived, or a bit of both, there’s no denying that the inventions attributed to Edison changed the world.
If you have a chance to visit, definitely take the time.
Coats and Hats of the Thinky Men
On the Back Path
The back path burst into bloom this week.
Summer Kitchen Adventures
My standard dinner rotation has been feeling stale. I enjoy being in the kitchen, I don’t enjoy being bored. An infusion of new flavors and new skills is long overdue.
Lima Bean’s birthday dinner out reminded me that we all enjoy Indian food. I was sure I had at least one cookbook to start with, so off I went!
I am using Indian: deliciously authentic dishes by Shehzad Husain and Rafi Fernandez, published by Hermes House. I cannot speak to the authenticity at all, just the fact that most of the recipes look good to me. When I flipped through, almost all of them were already starred, proof of my long-ago intentions to start cooking.
My first step was to beef up my pantry. I made a list of spices, flours, and seeds and purchased a few to get started. I imagine I’ll be adding all summer long. No need to buy it all at once.
I also don’t need to cook it all at once. The Kettle Slayer gently informed me he wasn’t sure how much Indian food he could comfortably eat. No worries. My goal in June is to try five new recipes. About once a week I’ll dive into this world and see what I can learn.
Tonight we made Onion Bhajias. From the recipe, these seemed similar to the pakoras we live so much at the restaurant. The internet tells me they are essentially the same snack, named differently in different regions.
It took less than ten minutes to mix them up and about twenty minutes to fry them all. I already know I’ll be using this recipe again, adding fish, shrimp, cheese, and more. (Not all at once!)
I was nervous about the besan (chickpea flour) as I am not a fan of the musty, bean-y taste I often end up with from the grocery store variety available to me. For my summer adventure I ordered Deep brand online. This was a completely different experience – light, not bean-y, and just delicious!
Now I need to learn how to make some chutneys to go with these! Condiments are next on my list. Who’s coming to dinner?
Diversion
I’ve had my eye out for a sewing machine cabinet for some time now. Yesterday, I found this lovely one at a tag sale down the street. It came with a machine that didn’t work.
No worries. I figured I’d take this one out and put my machine right in. My machine is at the shop for its annual tune-up, so I thought I’d just poke around a little and see if I could solve this puzzle.
I peeked inside and underneath. A little rust, but nothing obviously wrong.
Then I took off a faceplate and found this:
That took a bit of cleaning!
Still the needle didn’t move. The hand wheel turned, but no other action. The belt looked great. I took all of that off and found a washer inside the handwheel was on upside down. The projections meant to engage the next piece were facing the wrong way!
I reassembled the wheel and it worked!
The feed dogs are rusty.
I soaked them overnight in cola and scrubbed them well today. They look much better, but I’ll still probably try to replace this piece.
A new lightbulb went in and that worked too!
The next mystery was why the presser foot lever would not bring the presser foot down. I tightened a screw, tapped on the shaft from below, polished off some rusty bits and still no luck. Eventually I used my screwdriver to gently force a piece above the lever up and back down again several times. Suddenly the lever engaged and the foot came down!
There are more bits to figure out. The next two tasks are to learn how to move the feed dog height lever and how to make the stitch width lever work. It has a knee control instead of a foot pedal and that will take some getting used to.
What a fun puzzle to play with!
The Tafty Bits
My dear friend, the Anne-girl, gave me the best advice today. We were discussing my latest ambitious read and how I wasn’t sure I’d get through the nearly 900 pages of early twentieth-century US politics even though the people were so interesting.
Can you just focus on the Tafty bits?, she asked. And we dissolved into giggles at the dinner table.
I love it. I’ve been in a funk lately. Not answering letters, general blah, post-house-buying overwhelmedness. What if, instead of drowning in the details, I just focused on the Tafty bits?
Tafty is so close to tasty that I think we can declare them synonymous. I can imagine it in colonial script when the f symbol was written without the crossbar, making it look like a giant flowy ess.
Today’s Tafty bits:
Two walks in the bright spring sun
Dinner made by The Kettle Slayer
Both bears home safely
Rhyming words for no reason
Finishing a quilt back
Learning to use my new weights
Warm milk with honey
Having a few minutes to read
This is a good plan.
A Year in Faith: Close, but…
On our way to service this morning, I asked the bears if they knew where we were in the church year.
Lady Bug yelled from the back seat, “FLINT!”
Lima Bean pulled her best older sister eye roll. “Not flint. And I know for sure it’s not Ash Wednesday.”
“Are you sure?”
Lady Bug tried again, “LINT! It’s LINT!”
“Well…”
“It’s not lint. That’s in your pocket. Or maybe your belly button.”
“And maybe your ears,” I contributed. “Not flint. Not lint. Listen today andsee if you can figure it out.
One last shout from the back, “LENT!”
Third time’s the charm.
Admin Rights
My workplace is in the middle of a large project. I get to help a little, mostly by sorting out small things that may or may not be big things and getting them to the right people. Sometimes I get a little more responsibility, but right now I am in an in between role.
Tonight I was on deck to help with printers. This is a little amusing because I don’t even have local admin rights to add much to anyone’s computers. Even so, I am good at troubleshooting and am even helpful most of the time.
We had an urgent call from a department working on printing out many reports before one of our applications would be unavailable. “Magic Princess!” The summons came loud and clear across the phone line. “Quick, we need your help!”
I knew this was serious. We were on a tight timeline and any delays could become problematic. “I will go,” I answered quickly, “but I’d like to take Flutterby with me. She has more priveleges than I do.”
Permission was quickly granted and we hurried downstairs.
We were ushered into the locked department and greeted by a harried, but friendly coworker. “We’re here to help,” I announced.
“Great! So the reports are going to spit out here and you’ll need to put each patient in their own packet, staple them, and alphabetize them. When the whole unit is done, they go over on the other table.”
I looked at Flutterby. She looked at me and smiled just a tiny smile. “I do have stapler rights.”
An Actual Conversation: The Natural Order of Things
Several Years Ago –
Lima Bean (the eldest): I don’t want to eat this. I don’t like it. It’s gross. (She shoves her plate away.)
Lady Bug (the youngest): Thank you for makin’ dinner, Mama! It’s delicious! (She eats another bite, clearly not enjoying the food, clearly enjoying her sister being in trouble.)
Today –
Lima Bean – Why is the heart fairy leaving us messages?
Lady Bug – Thank you, Mama, for the nice notes!
Birth order is a real thing.
Affirmation
My smallish bears are both of the female variety. They, and I, are keenly aware of the messages given to them by society, messages that most often center on appearance. In our house, I work hard to balance those messages with other, more lasting, and maybe even more true, truths.
This February, I’m doing a tiny project. Just fourteen days of non-appearance affirmations. From tomorrow through St. Valentine’s Day (an incredibly strange celebration in its own right), I’ll add a message to each bear’s door. The mindfulness of focusing on what I admire in them helps balance the sometimes heavy burden of parenting, shifting us back towards the glorious joy that is shepherding little minds towards independence.
I don’t know if they’ll take much notice. I don’t know if this will be a memory they will carry for years and years. I do know that they need to read and hear these things. They are more than hips and eyelashes and hairstyles. They are whole souls with boundless creativity waiting to be unleashed. And they should hear these ideas at home.
What message do you want your loved ones to know deep in their bones?
Sunday Sunshine
Today was a good day for collecting joy. I was encouraged in my faith and in my parenting journey by my second church family. It is still amazing to me to have found this place in addition to my regular faith community. Hooray for the music and friendship that brought me here!
The sermon was challenging and funny without being pithy. A call to live apart from vengeance and apart from division. I want to listen again when I’m not distracted by music work.
This was a split Sunday, with me dividing my time between the organ (isn’t she beautiful?) and the piano. A bit of back and forth led to an unforeseen moment that nearly caused me to giggle my way off the piano bench.
I played half the postlude leaning precariously to my left, trying my hardest to keep the sun out of my eyes. Just at the end of the last verse to the last hymn I knew it was going to be a problem, but couldn’t shove the piano the right direction in time. I did manage to shove it, oh yes, but only made matters worse.
Better the postlude than the hymn. At least I wasn’t trying to sing any words! I can only imagine what the parishoners thought. They were kind enough not mention my sideways shenanigans. Maybe they didn’t notice!
And sunshine! I cannot complain about sunshine especially on these bitterly cold days. The drive back home was full of light.
After church I ran two errands that involved minor blips threatening to become impossible barriers. I do this. Do you do this? One small thing isn’t in the right spot at the right time and suddenly a simple thing becomes large and unconquerable.
Not today. I didn’t have the gifts, but ran home to pick them up and made sure they were delivered on time.
I didn’t have the receipt for the wrong-sized tablecloths I purchased yesterday (how does that even happen?), but I went to the store and they let me exchange them without any trouble at all. Done and done!
I found beautiful things at the second-hand shop. What lovely things will these yarns decorate?
And do you see that tablecloth? The Kettle Slayer has been hinting to me that Christmas is over. I’ll get to the little tree and Nativity later. Before Easter.
Another find from today is this cross stitch picture. I’m not sure exactly where this will end up. I have ideas. Maybe the center panel of a quilt?
My sunshiney day wrapped up with another Fine Cooking success and finally quiet time by the fire. Snacks, writing, knitting, peace.
Where did you find joy today? Sometimes we have to dig deep to find it. Sometimes we have to stock up for a joyless day ahead. Keep your heart open!
Naming Mountains 