More Old Friends

While I was at the California condo I had the chance to visit with some other old friends! 

 When I am in California I sew on a 1948 Singer Featherweight. 

She's a little rough, showing a bit of rust here and there,

but she sews like a dream, with perfect stitches. 

I made this cover for her, and quilted it, using the Featherweight.

Another old friend that was in my sewing box is this 'bobbin' from an even older Singer machine.

This bobbin would have fit inside a shuttle. Singer originally used shuttles for the

lower thread. The shuttle was mounted in a piece that wagged back and forth allowing the bobbin thread to move behind the thread in the needle to create a stitch. 

Our new machines with their computerized stitching and time-saving features like automatic threaders and cutters are great, but they can't hold a candle to the older machines when it comes to reliability and longevity! 

Old Friends

Old friends, old friends

Sat on their park bench like bookends

A newspaper blown through the grass

Falls on the round toes

Of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men

Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sunset

The sounds of the city sifting through trees

Settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today

Sharing a park bench quietly?

How terribly strange to be 70

Old friends, memory brushes the same years

Silently sharing the same fears

                                          - Paul Simon

I have some 'old friends' too! Just before my senior year in college I was taking a few summer classes before student teaching in the fall. My parents had moved from the area and I was staying with my former next door neighbor. My birthday was approaching. My sweet mom and arranged for the neighbor to pick up a sewing machine and a sewing box for my Birthday present.  I was definitely surprised. The gift was way beyond my expectations. 

I regret that I passed the machine on to a needy friend many years ago, but before that the machine worked with me on many projects. I loved it! 

I still own the sewing box. 

It's lost it's handle,

And inside, there are many sewing tools and notions from the past, 

as well as some of my newer tools. 

 

My mom had a knack for buying the perfect gifts for her children. 

Thanks, mom! 

 

Water Woes

It seems our country either has too much water....or not enough. It seems rare to have it 'just right'! 

In California arguments arise over what percentage of water should be made available for agriculture, which is a huge industry in the state, and what percentage should be made for residential use. Complicating the argument is the use of huge open canals that transport water from the Sierra Nevadas to farm lands throughout the state. The water in open canals is subject to evaporation. The LA Times reports: 

California's 4,000 miles of canals and open aqueducts lose an estimated 63 billion gallons (roughly 193,000 acre-feet) of water to evaporation each year. This evaporated volume represents enough water to meet the household needs of approximately 2 million people or irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland annually. [1, 2]

There are growing concerns about drinking water contamination as well. 

Having lived in Colorado, where our annual rainfall total was only 15-18, and now in Florida where until recent rains we were well below our annual rainfall amounts and our aquifers are lower than usual, I am sensitive about water use. 

So, now after all of that blabbety-blabbing, I'll get to the reason I am writing this post!

Over the years at my California Condo I have made a little succulent garden. In February I was awed by how large and healthy my garden had grown in my absence! Look at the size of some of those 'flowers'!

The secret? My hose irrigation system that waters the plants on a schedule. 

But, my hose bib leaks.

 It drips.

And, those drips add up.

At one point I 'solved' my problem (assuaged my guilt), by putting a plant under the faucet, in line with the drip. But, that proved to be far too much water for the plant and it died. 

I decided to leave the irrigation off, letting the plants fend for themselves.

They are succulents, after all, and they don't require that much moisture.

When I arrived at the California Condo last week my garden was a sorry sight. 

By the time I thought to take a picture, I had already trimmed several plants,

but you can see it was a far cry from what it had been six months previously.

I kept thinking about that darn leaky faucet (it drips from the back blow preventer...next time I'm out here I"ll replace it) and my life-giving irrigation system! 

I thought of hooking up some sort of funnel, attached to a hose, to redirect the drips.

I grabbed a water bottle, and discovered that my hose would screw on the end of it. I could cut the bottom of the bottle, and suspend it under the drip somehow.

Then, I hit upon the solution. I had in my possession a brightly colored ceramic planter I found the last time I was here. I brought it in to wash it, thinking I might use it to hold kitchen spoons, spatulas and other tools. While washing it I noticed that it did have a small drain hole at the bottom edge. The irrigation tubing fit perfectly in that hole. 

Can you see my bright 'drip' pot amongst the succulents, under the hose bib?

Here it is...with a black tube coming out of the bottom on the right, going behind the blue pot.

(amongst the spaghetti of tubes going here and there!)

I ran the tubing under the door, tacking it about 6" above the patio,

slightly lower than where the tube exits the pot.

The tube runs behind the pile of stuff in the corner, 

continues down along the fence of the patio,

and drips on the ground by the pot I placed to hold the tube between the two plants. 

If you look closely you might see the end of the tube. 

And why did I bother to reroute the water to this side of the patio?

There is a large massive Sequoya tree at the corner of my property.

The local arborist has explained that the tree needs more water.

The residents do put out a soaker hose, but it gets moved, it gets turned off,

it isn't necessarily doing the job.

I've created my own version of a soaker hose! 

One drip at a time! 

Stone Mountain & Daughter

 On Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, CA, not far from my home away from home, one can find Stone Mountain and Daughter. This is a delightful fabric store that I am drawn to every time I visit.

It helps that the shop is a short 1.7 mile bike ride...or an easy bus ride, from the condo. It helps when it is a beautiful summer day, perfect for a ride through quiet Berkeley neighborhoods, and it helps that they always have 50% off fabrics up stairs - bolts and bolts of them! 

Stonemountain & Daughter was founded in the early 20th century in LA. by Steinberg, an ancestor of the current owner. Steinburg means Stone Mountain. When the shop was opened in Berkeley it acquired its new name. 

M

Upon entering the store one sees aisles of fun fabrics that draw you in to browse, and touch, and to think and imagine.

The shop has samples of shirts, skirts, dresses and pants that one could make.

I think something like this shirt would make a cool Florida top! 

In addition to quilting cotton the shop has Japanese and Indian imports, voile, flannel, lawn, linen and linen blends, chambray, wool, knits, coatings....and more!

They have shelves of notebooks with hundreds of patterns for inspiration. 

A rainbow of motivation meets your eye, that just beg to be made into something!

Stonemountain & Daughter is not huge, by any description.

But they have an incredible variety of soft goods. 

The rolls in the bottom corner of the photo above are similar to what used to be referred to as

'oil cloth'. These have a clear plastic of some sort, waterproof layer that protects charming prints,

perfect for table cloths, slickers or waterproof bags.

Upstairs all of the fabrics are half off, and half of the fabrics, or more, are behind me in the picture above!

.I always wander up the creaky stairs, and invariably I find at least one thing that I must have. 

As I approached the cutting table with my arms full, 

another helpful shopper pointed out that the store does have a few shopping carts.

I smiled, and explained that I found it a chore to carry the cart upstairs,

and bump it back down after collecting the bolts needing cutting! 

She agreed! 

Sew, I bought a bit of this,

and a bit of that,

and wandered around a bit more and bought some fabric to make a blousy shirt,

like the one in the picture!

I haven't made garments in eons....

but the fabrics are so inviting.

Mayhaps I'll have to try my hand at making more of my clothes. 

Maybe selecting a yummy fabric and making a garment can become a tradition for my California visits! 

Just a thought! 

Hunting Vermin in the Yard

Be vewy quiet....

I'm hunting wabbits squirrels....

Kaitlyn patiently watched squirrels gamboling on the fence.

She was waiting for one to stray too far from the fence or the nearby tree. 

Don't you just love her choice of camouflage?! 

 

What's the Diff?

Two years ago...almost to the day...I was diagnosed with Clostridium perfringens. This is a cousin of Clostridium difficile. It took some time, and some tests, and some visits to various doctors, but after almost 2 months, my problems were all behind me (oh you just know I couldn't resist saying that!)

Everything in that region of my body has been fine, until recently. On a Friday afternoon, not too long ago, I developed a pain in my stomach, which is very unusual for me. After several hours, the pain had lessened, but I had developed other issues. I figured it was just some sort of bug going around, and laid low for a week. But, the problems continued, and actually worsened. I decided that the colitis I had two years ago must have returned. We were planning to go away for a week and I was concerned. I called the Gastroenterologist to see if they could fit me in, hoping to get some medication to help. I explained that I might have a 'colitis flare', which seemed to do the trick and I had an appointment, just like that! I saw a nurse practitioner. I was impressed. She prescribed a medication to ease cramping and one that might help my system, and gave me a take-home test. The rest of that day, and the next day, I felt great and had no symptoms, so I actually called the pharmacy and had them put the medications back on the shelf. Wrong thing to do! A few days later it was back, and almost a week later I received a call from the nurse practitioner....the results of the test showed that I didn't have C-perfringens, I had the real deal. I had acquired C-difficile, or C-diff. 

What?! Where? When? How? Why me?! 

If you have ever read about C-diff, it's one mean bug. It can run rampant in hospitals, and is becoming more frequent outside of institutions. It can be lethal. Everyone has the c-diff bacteria in their gut, and often, if people are taking an antibiotic that kills 'good' bacteria in the gut, c-diff, being resistant to many antibiotics, has a chance to flourish and take over. That wasn't the situation in my case, and I still don't know why c-diff took hold, but an antibiotic was called in. Both the pharmacist and the nurse practitioner stressed that I must take the medications evenly spaced at 6 hour intervals, in order for it to be most effective, and I must finish every pill. I set alarms on my phone, and customized them! I selected music. My alerts included, "What Do You Got?", "Bad Medicine" and "Getting Better All the Time"....I used a soft "thud" for the 1:30 AM alert, since rock and roll music would be a bit too startling at that time of day night! I've finished the course of antibiotics. Things seem to be on the mend, and I am keeping my fingers crossed. I don't want to be messing around with this bug again! 

However, despite my being impressed by the nurse practitioner at my initial visit, as I read more about the disease, and how devastating it can be, and how difficult it can be to eradicate, I became disenchanted. The nurse practitioner never suggested that I read anything. She never explained that C-diff bacteria spores can remain viable on a surface for several months....and up to a year in some cases!! The nurse practitioner never explained that household cleaners, and alcohol-based hand cleaners are not at all effective against c-diff. The nurse practitioner never explained that the growing c-diff bacteria populations release toxins that can damage cells in the intestinal lining. 

I realize now how fortunate I was to have licked this thing so promptly. It generally doesn't work that way!  I worry that I might have shared the bug with others. I worry that the Mister, who is vulnerable due to antibiotic use, is vulnerable. I worry that this is not the last I see of this disease. I keep waiting for the shoe to drop....it isn't a good feeling! 

Salt of the Earth

 I flew to San Francisco to visit my boys and grandkids. It was a very early flight, so most of the way across the country the blinds were down and folks were snoozing. As we neared our destination I lifted the window shade and watched the land below. As we came into the Bay Area I noticed these colorful 'fields' below me. 

As the jet continued toward the airport, I saw more 'fields' below

and realized they were evaporation ponds for salt! 

The green, rich brown and orange colors are from organisms growing in the salt slurry. 

I looked online to find out more about salt production in the Bay Area. 

There are over 12,000 acres of solar evaporation ponds in the area.

They produce 500,000-1,000,0000 tons of salt annually. 

Who knew?

I looked at the salt ponds on Google maps. 

Hmmmm, they remind me of a Salmon seen in native Alaskan art!