Bits and pieces
Jun. 1st, 2010 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidThanks for all your concern yesterday; today I'm feeling a lot less wobbly, with just a few lumps, and I'm not sure how much the bike will end up costing (possibly new handlebars, new helmet, new gloves (mine are worn out enough that I'd been wearing them inside out to keep the padding in), and sun sleeves (I got a touch of sunburn yesterday, so it's really time to get these)). In the long run, this is really annoying, but luckily, a bit of time and throwing money at it should help. (A friend used to say that there were two kinds of problems: those that you can throw money at to solve, and those you can't.)
I'd been starting to get myself out of the house for bike rides a bit more, starting last Tuesday (when it was miserably hot, so I tended to use the bike path, since it's fairly shady as well as flattish). I'd worked up to some hilly bits (nothing too challenging), and had already noticed how things felt a bit easier, even factoring in the weather. I hope this doesn't put me back too far. (Once I'm back on the bike, I'm happy to go out for rides with people, btw.)
It amazes me that the smoke from Quebec has made it down to Boston. Strange how mobile trees are in their death (also when harvested, but less dramatically so). At least smoke doesn't have the particulates that lava does...
I hung out with my apricot friend part of yesterday. He's the reason I started making fruit liqueurs, when he gave me far too many apricots to can in one week, two summers ago. Last year, his tree didn't put out much fruit, but it looks like this year there will be much more, which is exciting. He doesn't want the tree to overtax itself (there's not nearly as many leaves as one would expect, and his thought is that the tree put too much energy into fruit), and does want the quality of the fruit to be undamaged as much as possible, so he's thinning the number of apricots when they're close together. We tasted one of them, and they're quite astringent. Still, I know that green mangoes are used in something, so I thought it would be worth pickling them. I did that yesterday, in sweetened cider vinegar, and it'll be interesting to see how it turns out (side note: one of the jars didn't seal, even the second time I tried, so it will live in the fridge). When I was poking around the internets to see if there were any relevant recipes, I found that Japanese pickled plums (ume) are really made from the unripe fruit of some kind of apricot, using a brining fermentation process rather than a vinegar one. If there are more fruit thinned when just a bit more ripe, I might try that process on them and see what happens.
The newest Doctor incarnation is fine, but somehow not quite what I'd like. No, it's not about still wanting Tennant back; there's something else that is close, but not quite spot-on, in Smith's role for me. That said, it's always good to have new episodes on a regular basis :-)
I'm working on another hat, this one the first time I've cut up old (stained/hole-y) T-shirts to use as yarn. It's interesting, and rather messy, with cotton dust happening when I cut and crochet it. Laundering will be useful before wearing. (Photos to come once I've got it finished.)
I'd been starting to get myself out of the house for bike rides a bit more, starting last Tuesday (when it was miserably hot, so I tended to use the bike path, since it's fairly shady as well as flattish). I'd worked up to some hilly bits (nothing too challenging), and had already noticed how things felt a bit easier, even factoring in the weather. I hope this doesn't put me back too far. (Once I'm back on the bike, I'm happy to go out for rides with people, btw.)
It amazes me that the smoke from Quebec has made it down to Boston. Strange how mobile trees are in their death (also when harvested, but less dramatically so). At least smoke doesn't have the particulates that lava does...
I hung out with my apricot friend part of yesterday. He's the reason I started making fruit liqueurs, when he gave me far too many apricots to can in one week, two summers ago. Last year, his tree didn't put out much fruit, but it looks like this year there will be much more, which is exciting. He doesn't want the tree to overtax itself (there's not nearly as many leaves as one would expect, and his thought is that the tree put too much energy into fruit), and does want the quality of the fruit to be undamaged as much as possible, so he's thinning the number of apricots when they're close together. We tasted one of them, and they're quite astringent. Still, I know that green mangoes are used in something, so I thought it would be worth pickling them. I did that yesterday, in sweetened cider vinegar, and it'll be interesting to see how it turns out (side note: one of the jars didn't seal, even the second time I tried, so it will live in the fridge). When I was poking around the internets to see if there were any relevant recipes, I found that Japanese pickled plums (ume) are really made from the unripe fruit of some kind of apricot, using a brining fermentation process rather than a vinegar one. If there are more fruit thinned when just a bit more ripe, I might try that process on them and see what happens.
The newest Doctor incarnation is fine, but somehow not quite what I'd like. No, it's not about still wanting Tennant back; there's something else that is close, but not quite spot-on, in Smith's role for me. That said, it's always good to have new episodes on a regular basis :-)
I'm working on another hat, this one the first time I've cut up old (stained/hole-y) T-shirts to use as yarn. It's interesting, and rather messy, with cotton dust happening when I cut and crochet it. Laundering will be useful before wearing. (Photos to come once I've got it finished.)
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-01 07:28 pm (UTC)I'm hopeful things will settle down when everyone's not feeling the need to constantly prove themselves by throwing everything they have, like spaghetti, onto a page hoping for the one idea that will stick.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-02 12:47 pm (UTC)