Odds and ends

I was "getting on with myself" for taking so long to weave towels when I realized each new color is about a month apart. That's not too bad, so I lightened up. Especially when I listed twelve new red towels, which is the number I had cut to hem. I hemmed a couple straight away, so I could photograph them and list on the web. Then they began selling at once! At the end of last week I was taking them from the loom, and now only five are left.

A friend down the hall, Jane, rang my doorbell tonight and invited me to come look at her just finished Cathedral Window quilt. She began the quilt in the beginning of time, and especially because it is so portable, one block at a time.

I did not know it was a Cathedral Window until I came around the corner of the room. It took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes. "My mother would be so proud of you!" was the first thing I said. I know the years of work in such a quilt! She's giving it to the daughter "who started it all" by spending forty five days in the hospital as a child. That daughter is coming tomorrow to take Jane to an appointment, and will be asked to come upstairs "for a minute" to help her mom with something. She's in for a tremendous surprise!

Kitty seems to have a cold, or else her throat skin flaps are irritating her. Fortunately, I've made an appointment for her to be examined by the vet who will be her permanent vet. It is Ruth's vet from the days she had cats. 

I recently needed to have a tooth extracted. It was the last molar on my upper left quadrant. It also is/was the final tooth in a bridge on that side. About a year ago Dr. Kate lifted the bridge to fill a cavity in that molar. Recently the bridge broke loose from that tooth. I went in to see Dr. Kate and she gave me the sad news about my tooth, So, it is pulled and I have an appointment with Dr. O about implants. That is not until July 10th! Kitty sees the vet on the 5th, lucky girl!

I need to go home and give my cat a treat

We have a joke at dinner. Margaret used to say it was time to go home and let out her dog. But now we say I need to go home and give my cat more treats. Kitty has transformed to a lovely, acceptable cat. I enjoy her company, though I'm sure she has only advanced to being a cat who knows where the next handout of treats can be obtained.

I am very concerned about a new behavior. It is, of course, mostly my fault. If I get up in the night to use the facility, Kitty gets up, too, for treats. Now she is persistent enough to be in the vicinity of my feet, begging a treat. Unfortunately, it can be quite dark in the apartment. I have begun shuffling at night, never lifting my feet between the bedroom and bathroom, though it generally has been the return trip that is problematic.

One night, at the turn along the kitchen counter, I solidly encountered a solid impediment. I sent Kitty scooting, with a firm "No, Kitty! No treats now!" It probably will take one more warning to be effective. The good news is, she already knows "No!"

In other interesting news, the car is closer to being sold. I turned it over to my daughter, and she tells me it will be gone this weekend. I wanted the proceeds to underwrite Uber trips to doctor appointments. I actually have been asking my sister to help me with that, and she graciously stepped in. Yesterday she took me to the dentist for remediation of a dental bridge from my previous dentist.

I wanted an implant, and the doctor's song and dance talked me out. As I feared, a tooth has failed and needed pulled. My current dentist turned the remainder of the bridge to a cap for a single tooth, but now the implant need cannot be ignored. So a chunk of car will go for an implant, too.

Now that I have quit driving, my older daughter tells me simply to rely on family. And so far she has stepped up to the plate, too. She helped me unravel a mystery with the pharmacy. I could not get my drugs delivered by mail, no matter which buttons I pushed. Beth and a kind pharmacy assistant, also named Beth, worked out that one. 

But a certain tier of drugs would not go through. Since the pharmacy had no restriction on that tier, it must be on my plan's end. So, my job for the weekend is to be on the phone, learn about the restriction, and try and get it lifted. Groan. I hope it goes quickly. I really want to finish my red towels and start the yellow.

A project for several days

I last posted that Kitty broke my grandma's vase, made by her in the 8th grade, her last year in school. Ethel Cox had mastered math through algebra, and her family needed her working income, so she quit to take a job at Hough Bakery, in downtown Cleveland. 

It was an accident; animals generally do not plan acts in advance. Kitty simply wanted the doily under the vase, and her tug on that sent the vase to the floor.

I considered the options and the last seemed the best. I should dispense with the vase and free other family members from responsibility for it. The broken vase sat on table, waiting for the trash bag. But then Fresca suggested repair with the Japanese technique of Kintsugi, highlighting the repaired areas with gold powder. I sent for a Kintsugi kit straightaway.

The kit (and a bag of cat food) came yesterday, but were hidden away for an open house today. I was deterred until I could ask week end people to look for the package. A short search turned it up.

We have a bottle of two part epoxy to mix, and a sort of injection device to dispense equal parts. I could not open either. The gold powder opened at once. There also was an ample supply of tools. A Google search told me that my trusty vial of gorilla glue was adequate for the job. I was straight in.

What I could read of the minute instructions said to line things up in the order of repair. I was that far on my own. It would be at least a three part repair; first the handle upright, then attach that to the vase, a two part operation. The directions said to prepare the glue and add the gold powder. I did, and began putting the handle together. What a disaster. I got the handle together, and had a mess that I set aside to dry.

This is the worst side. Back to Google, how do I remove Gorilla Glue? With WD-40. Let it soak through and the glue lifts up. And it does.

Now WD-40 is washed away with soap and water and the glue can finish setting up for 24 hours. Tomorrow I will finish the repair with Gorilla Glue alone, let it set up for a day, then carefully paint the golden line along the repair seams.

The instructions did have one of those scannable squares, to use to open the official book of instructions. This is so irritating. I don't know how to do that. I don't have a stand alone scanner. Do I use my phone? Then I could send it to my printer, I know. Another piece of technology that got away from me.

 

Some ice cream for energy

Yes, ice cream for energy. Some coffee for stamina. Some water for hydration. And hearing aides for comprehension.

I've been busy all day. After breakfast and the obligatory cat corner clean up, I emptied all the waste baskets. I cannot believe how many there are in a studio apartment that has not been cleaned in three weeks and won't be for another week. This housekeeping situation is dire. What with Diana out sick a week and every housekeeper Robin hires not showing up or quitting after a day or two, we may never see clean beds.

All the wastebaskets were loaded and I've just kept stuffing them. I emptied one under the desk, one under the kitchen sink, one under the loom, one under the sewing machine and the bathroom wastebasket. There is a tall waste bag for housekeeping to take away tonight.

I wove a couple of bobbins of scarlet. It's nice, and I like it. Beth stopped by yesterday and brought in the incidentals from my car. I drove the Subaru so little, it's as if nothing in there belonged to me, when of course it did. She brought in the handicap placard and the I-Pass transponder.  The former stays with me and the latter goes back to I-Pass, by registered mail and wrapped in foil. OK, not a problem.

Then there is Grandma Rolf's vase. The one she made in 8th grade, whereupon she quit school. Kitty gets quite antsy in the morning, urging me to hurry, hurry. She really has not grown accustomed to my speed. It is slow, and I eat my breakfast before I move on to her needs. One morning Kitty slid the vase right off the shelf. A handle broke.

At dinner that night, when someone asked about Kitty, I reported her transgression. "What will you do?" was the immediate question, and I replied that it now was one less thing to find someone to be responsible for. On the other hand, I probably can mend it.

It has been months since I reported on the construction of new units beyond my window.

The building progresses steadily. The roof construction arrived as pre-assembled angles. I think they used all of them to build the roof over elevator and the unit behind it. I wonder what they will use as they progress.

Short report on weaving

I just finished the Periwinkle towels and put them up on the web for sale: Everything Old is New Again. I've been almost a month getting these twelve towels woven and finished!

The next batch of towels will be red of some sort. I can't tell yet if this is scarlet or cerise. I'll ask my sister, or a granddaughter when I next see someone. In the meantime, I'll just weave.

I must tell you something that never really crossed my mind. It's about cats and looms. They go way back with me, all the way to Scotty sleeping on the rugs in the studio. All my cats have blended with the weaving, rather than bothering it. Kitty has not put herself to the test--yet. May she never!

Some warp adjustments and I'll be ready to weave when the red bobbins are wound! That will be tomorrow, definitely before noon.