Would you feel safe using one of these masks?

I've been making masks off and on since March 2020, but only in the last month or so did I become kind of addicted to it. 

 

I've done a lot of reading about them and I think I've learned three things: almost certainly, three layers of fabric is best, it may help to use a non-woven synthetic material for the inner layer, and fit matters a lot. Oh, and of course that no hand-made mask can beat the professional masks. I just want mine to be as good as, say, those standard blue disposable masks.

I've been trying to perfect my technique and have made about 15 masks so far, starting with some unbelievably crude first passes with rudimentary ties, followed by some  made with rubber bands for the ears, finally settling in with my current recipe: one layer of high-quality quilting cotton, one inner layer of nonwoven fabric, and a third layer cut from a medium weight tee shirt. And I now have pre-made ear hooks or straps instead of rubber bands. I'm making them by hand because I hate using sewing machines, plus my machine only barely works anyway. And it's easy and Zen like. Typical craft fixation.

I've been using Pellon fusible interfacing because I read (somewhere) that it makes a good inner layer. I read that chiffon is good too because "Chiffon fabric, both silk and synthetic, is extremely strong as a result of the twists of the yarns and the tight weave of the fabric." So I ordered some of that and will use it in future masks. I also bought some inexpensive shopping bags made of a fabric-like material (polypropylene) for some masks. It's another non-woven synthetic material that I read (somewhere) can be effective. 

I give my masks the very unofficial Bill Nye test: can I wear a mask and still blow out a lit match held about a foot away? If not, it passes. There's the "suck in" test: when I suck in air does the mask pull up tight under my nose? If so, it passes, although I'm a bit lax on that one. Finally, can I see light through it? If not, it passes.

I gave one mask to a friend and although she was gracious in accepting it, her look was a bit skeptical (maybe?). I gave that a lot of thought. Then it occurred to me, duh, giving someone a mask isn't like giving them gloves or a scarf. It's a medical device, more or less. Should I send these off here and there to friends and family even though they might not be as good as the ones they're already wearing? My husband wears one of mine most days and I really think it's better than the blue disposable surgical masks he generally wears. They always buckle out on the sides near the ears, and they don't fit tightly over his chin. 

It then occurred to me that none of the commercial masks being sold or given away have been tested because there really isn't, as yet, standardized testing for commercial masks so who knows which are effective and which aren't? Isn't that a depressing thought? I shouldn't even post this, right? But it's sort of true, don't you think? And get this: I read (somewhere) the other day that some European countries (Germany? Belgium?) are going to start requiring that citizens wear ONLY N95s or equivalent when out and about.

So, tell me if you'd wear one of my masks and feel as safe as you currently feel. Assuming you're not wearing one of those N95s or equivalent. 

But I've buried the lede: Trump is gone! Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Covid it still here and I haven't seen my baby granddaughter since early September but that bad bad man is gone. Joe and Kamala all the way. What a job they have. 

And here is my sweetheart grandbaby, enjoying life in Brooklyn while her parents try to keep up with full-time jobs from their apartment while handing her off to each other. 

And finally, look at this mask for singers. Wouldn't Lady Gaga have looked amazing wearing this while she belted out the National Anthem. I loved her on Wednesday. 

My slight obsession with food in general, delivered boxes of food in particular

 

I'm not sure exactly how it started but a few months ago I subscribed to Every Plate. You probably know about these services -- clients receive each week a box of uncooked, un-prepped food that you turn into a meal for 2 or 4 people in 45 minutes or less. I love them. They are the answer to a prayer I didn't even know I had. 

How do I justify paying someone else to shop for and plan meals? It took a while but I think I have.

Then my daughter gave me a "free" box of food from Martha and Marley, and a friend gave me one for Blue Apron. Then I tried Home Chef and Hello Fresh. So for about 2-3 months we've had these dinners.

I'm in the process of cutting back to just one weekly delivery of 3 meals, which will be Every Plate. The plans are all quite similar except for price and Every Plate is the least expensive. I'm also hooked on giving away "free" boxes of food to friends and family, which the services promote heavily. 

Several friends have used these kits in the past and quit for various reasons, including not wanting to generate so much plastic waste, or not wanting to invest 30-45 minutes chopping and stirring, or simply not willing to pay someone to do what you can do yourself. 

I've justified the expense because I'm spending way less money each month by not going out to dinner or lunch with friends, the meals are so much more interesting than what I've been slapping together and flinging on the table each night, and as a bonus my husband is learning to cook! 42 years married and suddenly he's interested in cooking.

By the way, if any of my readers--all half dozen of you--want to try one of these services, let me know in a comment. I'll get your email and send you a free box (the catch is that you have to pay for shipping, $9, with your credit card so they have your billing info and consider you a client. But you can cancel after the first free box). 

23 more days until that deadbeat is out of DC and I hope he never comes back, although he's threatening to be here on Jan 6 when Pence counts the votes and declares Joe our president. It's been torture to know that he's been sleeping and eating and tweeting just 10 miles from my home. Creepy. I propose that the White House remove everything from his bedroom, fumigate, repaint, and turn it into a storage room. No human should ever sleep in the same room he slept in.

My path

I didn't exactly create this path in my backyard but in a way I did. A stone path has been there for about 20 years, maybe a little less. But over time the stones sank, or they were overgrown, and were sometimes hidden under grass or weeds. So I dug them up, one by one, filled in soil or rocks underneath each one, added a bunch from elsewhere in my yard, and raised them up. I also changed the path's direction in places to avoid shrubs that had grown over the path. I wish I'd taken a before picture.

There are dozens and dozens of such tasks I can do in our backyard, side yard, or front yard. See all that ivy way in the upper left corner surrounding the white door? I should pull all of that down. Spending so much time at home since March I've had lots of time to survey my various overgrown yards and make decisions about what should be done. Mostly cutting back vines. I'm not at all good about follow-through. So doing this path repair was quite fulfilling. I'm now working on thinning out a large patch of forsythia, a shrub I heartily dislike but tolerate. 

Very nervous about the election today. Here's my guess/prediction as of 4:30 pm. Biden can win with either AZ or PA. Trump has to get PA to win.

It's November first twenty twenty

Well we're finally here, almost upon the election. Am I nervous? Yep. By Tuesday I expect to be on high alert, feeling very engaged, on guard, attentive to news updates. Am I over-dramatizing it all? No doubt. 

Almost 4 years ago in the days before Trump was inaugurated I entitled a post The last of my political thoughts until 2020. "Since I seem to be blogging again... I wonder if I can restrain myself from posting about politics. I'm gonna give it a try."

Well, I did give it a try. The result was that I blogged very little in the 4 years of this horrible presidency. I never stopped blogging but too often I started to write and found myself talking about him. Such a waste of everyone's time. So I managed not to talk about him (much) but only by just not blogging at all. I'd like to blog daily. Why not? Or at least regularly. I certainly don't have much to do each day.

Here's my baby granddaughter, yesterday, all 15 pounds of her. She's a 4-month-old delight!

 

 

I thought she was a kitty or a mouse for Halloween but was told that she was a character from the Japanese animated movie My Neighbor Totoro. She attended an outdoor party in the courtyard of their apartment building in Brooklyn. Nice old building with a lot of nice old residents. She was cooed over, at a social distance of course. I'm jealous.

 

I

Trying something different.

It's Wednesday night, September 23, 2020, and I'm here to record that I haven't looked at Twitter for 4 days. This is a big deal in my little life. I've been spending way too much time, either on my phone or on my PC, reading, reading, scrolling, scrolling, checking, checking. I follow strangers, not friends or even acquaintances. I follow people who write about, report on, and talk about national politics. A few politicians, a lot of ex-Trump employees, a lot of news organizations and reporters, pundits and comedians. It's gotten to be too much. And so depressing. Aren't we all just a little depressed as a species right now? Why add Twitter.

I'm hoping to keep up my little boycott. I think I feel a little better today compared to Saturday.

Here's my babe. She's the apple of so many eyes! Three months tomorrow. Unexpectedly, I saw her in person for about an hour on Monday -- long story. It was wonderful. Every minute with her is golden!

Talking things over with mom

Son in law says the conversation was basically "where are those boobs and when can I see them again?"
Note James in window. James and Robert are adjusting very well to baby's presence.

A good reminder.

"To anyone who feels like they “wasted” the time during quarantine because they didn’t write a book or learn a second language or get their bodies in shape, I have good news: Quarantine ain't over, get back inside."
Denzel Washington 7/4/20

And this looks like something I have to try:

Credit: https://leitesculinaria.com/21020/recipes-eggs-in-purgatory.html

Eggs in Purgatory

From Chef Joanne Weir, star of Plates & Places on PBS

With a can of tomatoes and a few eggs, this hearty meal is less than 30 minutes away. Some know the dish as Shakshuka but Italians call it Uova in Purgatorio, or Eggs in Purgatory, and Weir's many travels to the Boot to film her award-winning PBS series inspired her version. “We are kind of in a purgatory now,” Weir says. “This dish is perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner, served along with some focaccia or other rustic bread.” The following recipe serves two.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 ounces of bacon, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 small red onion, minced
• Pinch of crushed red pepper
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 1/2 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 4 large eggs
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano cheese
• Toasted bread or focaccia

1. Preheat an oven to 400°F.

2. Warm the olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat and add the bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until very light golden, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the minced onion and crushed red pepper and cook until the onion pieces are soft, about 7 minutes.

4. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute.

5. Add the white wine and reduce by half.

6. Add the tomatoes and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.

7. Transfer sauce to an ovenproof baking dish, or cast-iron pan. Make 4 indentations in the sauce. Break the eggs, one at a time into a small bowl, and with the spoon, add 1 egg into each indentation.

8. Place on the top shelf of the oven and cook until the whites of the eggs are firm but the yolks are still runny, about 7 to 10 minutes, or until desired doneness.

9. Season the eggs with salt and pepper.

10. Sprinkle the cheese atop the eggs and serve immediately.

The Evil in the White House

DJT today:

Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!

 

Tim Miller, The Bulwark dot com, today:
"There are only three ways to interpret Trump’s remarks: 1) He is purposefully instigating racial tensions because he believes it will help him politically... 2) He is a racist with no self-control... 3) He is too stupid to realize what he is doing..."

These are some of my many passionflowers. Three or 4 years ago I planted one little cutting from a passionflower vine. Now they are completely out of control. A post on this exciting topic to follow.


 

Dare me?

I'm definitely buying a dozen doughnuts; I've needed an excuse for a long time. And I will definitely make the mask. But the test is whether I'll wear it. Maybe for a walk around the pond, but what I really want to do is wear it in the grocery store.

I'll just leave this here.

How true.

All is well in Brooklyn.

I hope her parents don't object to me posting these pictures. They may have known that I blogged in the past but I'm sure they've forgotten. If it comes up and they ask me to take them down I will. But until then, here they are!

This has been a very long week. Time just stretched and stretched. I don't know understand why but I guess it has something to do with this little babe.

I'd really like to blog more -- about politics, about my garden, about covid, about small things. That's something else I don't understand: if I really want to do it, why don't I? I don't think it's laziness.

I will post this screenshot that makes me very happy.

Red = trump disapproval. Black = trump approval.

She with the beautiful name

She'll be one day old later today.
I am, as expected, in love.

She seems healthy, despite being in the NICU. I haven't had an update since about noon today, over 6 hours ago. But mom and dad have had almost no sleep for 2 days so I shouldn't expect to hear anything right away. I guess. This is all so new.
My daughter's first and probably only, or so they said at one time.
I’m not particularly superstitious but maybe if I post this I’ll get a text or a call.

Praying mantises being born

Every year praying mantises build their nests around my front yard. I've been watching this nest for 2 months and finally saw the birth. What looks like a huge bunch of bananas are hundreds of tiny babies. They crawl out of itty bitty holes in the nest and using, apparently, some web-like material hang together until each one crawls over the others and finds his or her way off to a big life of eating mosquitoes and other bugs. In a few months the big ones will be peeking in my front window taunting my cats.

Stolen from Twitter: Fake Melania, meets Diane Arbus, meets Kubrick

My lettuce!

Small things amuse me these days. Facebook finally paid off. I saw that putting the remains of a lettuce head in water will give you a new head of lettuce. This picture was taken yesterday when the new leaves were 2 1/4 inches tall at about 3 PM. Right now (11 AM) they are 2 3/4 inches tall. I also planted lettuce seeds this year. We'll see how they do if warm weather ever comes to the DC area. Right now we've swapped weather with the PNW. Generally I'm just fine with that, hating the hot, humid DC springs and summers as I do. But come on--my seeds need the heat!

My hellebores.

“Please, please, please, we’re begging you here, just put an end to it immediately."

From The Onion:
EVERYWHERE—Claiming that they just couldn’t stand this bullshit anymore, Americans across the country confirmed Friday that someone, anyone needs to please, just make it stop. “Please, please, please, we’re begging you here, just put an end to it immediately,” said sources, noting that it had all gone way, way too far and they would do almost anything for even a few glorious minutes of respite. “We’re on our hands and knees, pleading with you to make it all go away once and for all. What’s it going to take? Jesus Christ, just stop it! Stop it right now!” At press time, sources confirmed that they knew deep down it was never going to stop.

Friday

I just decided to fast today. Or at least to eat very little. So a baby-fast. I put on my "go out shopping" pants and they are too tight. Now is the time to do something. I'll report back if I succeed, or not.
Meanwhile I found this at the library. A must read! Or at least it's worth a try. Not today but soon.

Hot peppers

I grew these

So I'm going to try this recipe:

Homemade Louisiana Hot Sauce with Fresh Peppers

Ingredients

• 1 pound red chili peppers use cayenne, tabasco, red jalapeno or others
• 3 tablespoons salt
• ½-1 cup white wine vinegar to your preference

Instructions

1. Roughly chop the chili peppers and add them to a pot with the salt and vinegar.
2. Bring to a quick boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Cool, then add to a food processor. Process until smooth.
4. Strain the solids out through a strainer and discard (or keep them for dehydrating – they make great seasonings).
5. Pour into bottles and use as desired.

Recipe Notes

Makes about 2 cups of sauce or so.
For storage: Vinegar affects acidity levels. Homemade sauces should be kept at 4.0 ph or below to keep longer term. If your hot sauce is not acidic enough, add more vinegar or citrus to bring the ph down. Keep in the fridge for freshness and longer keeping. You can also bottle your sauces with proper procedures.
Heat Level: Medium, though you can up the heat factor with hotter peppers.

From: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/hot-sauces/homemade-louisiana-hot-sauce/

Question: how do you know if the sauce has a pH of 4.0?

A small dilemma

For several years I've been a volunteer at a big, old, beautiful Catholic monastery-church in DC. This came about because of my interest in beekeeping. The Monastery has a robust beehive operation and I volunteered to be a helper. When I got a call back from the volunteer people at the Monastery I was asked if I was interested in any other kind of volunteer work and I said "sure, what do you have in mind?" They had in mind minor office work, which is right up my alley -- I like the busywork of office work. So I've been going to the Monastery once a week for years, and have enjoyed it immensely. Some good friendships have resulted, and I'm particularly close to the friar who runs the business office.

I'm not at all religious and if I had to check off a box I would have to check "agnostic, with an admiration for most, but not all, Buddhist thought."

The most recent scandal in the Catholic Church has made me question why I'm devoting my time and effort to this particular volunteer job. My work there has never been about religion or about god or about any particular belief. No one there has ever even asked if I'm religious and they do zero proselytizing. But suddenly I'm very self-conscious about just walking into the building. Does working there, or even visiting there, suggest that I'm OK with the scandal that seems to touch many corners of this religion?

What to do....

This book! Making me nuts. False pride is involved, I believe.

I skimmed this book because a neighbor recommended it to me. It's causing me to fret way, way, way more than it should, and for all the wrong reasons. I'm not going to tell the whole story right now--because I seem incapable of blogging a short story (see, for example, yesterday's overly long story about a micro dog bite). But friends and family will get a sense of why I'm wringing my hands over the book when I reveal that the neighbor who suggested it is my Tea Party/Trump Supporter/Conspiracy Theorist Neighbor, with whom I have a love-hate relationship.

Skimming the book led me to this article, which is also why my brain is so muddled right now.

A scene from my very uneventful life

The other night I was walking to a neighbor’s house at 11 pm to feed her cats when two dogs from another house across the street rushed over to me, in the dark, barking, and not in a friendly way. I barely know these dogs—the neighbor, Cari, is new to the neighborhood. I tried talking to the dogs but in a split second I felt the smaller dog bite my ankle. Not hard, and the skin didn’t even break. But what a shock! I yelped, I think. Cari was right behind the dogs trying to get them under control, which she did, and then profusely apologized. I laughed it off and went on my way. She didn't know the dog bit me.

I confess that it shook me up a little. I have no experience with dog bites. When I walked home 15 minutes later I was nervous and hoped the dogs—there are three of them—were back inside or at least on leashes. I told Doug about it and he was annoyed to say the least. In the 2 months she's lived here, Cari has often let her dogs off their leashes while outside her house. It's not unusual for people to do that around here since we live next to a large park.

The next day Doug ran into Cari in the park. He told her he wasn’t happy and gave her a little lecture on the dangers of unleashed dogs. He even told her that the previous owners of her house were threatened with a lawsuit after their two part-pit bulls raced off their property and into the park where they encountered someone walking a single dog. Something ugly happened but I'm not sure exactly what. We do know that there was a financial settlement. Cari assured Doug that she would be more careful in the future and he replied “you’d better be!” And then he apparently repeated it as he walked away: "you’d better be!”

Doug has a very high boiling point for anger, but once it's reached it's not usually a pretty scene. He felt sorry almost immediately and we agreed that he would apologize when he had a chance.

The next morning we found this quartet of goodies on the front porch, with a very nice note from Cari apologizing again. So both Doug and I wrote notes back to her, with thanks and more apologies. Tough way to get some chocolate but there's no bad way to get chocolate, right?

A little art from my friends

San Fran Margo, my good friend of many years, has become a great water-colorist. She recently sent this lovely card depicting a B&B Doug and I visit at Bethany Beach, Delaware.

PS: I swore in January 2017 that I wouldn't blog about that maniac in the WH. Believe me, it's hard! But every time I post without mentioning him I feel a little stronger.

Hi Kathy! I don't save the bee balm seeds but I'll start if you want them. Sorry about the deer and your purple hyacinth beans. They love mine too.

My unruly but zero maintenance front porch

It gets harder and harder, as the summer rolls on, to find our front steps. Most of these plants/flowers/weeds show up each spring and summer with no help from me. I'm going to start blogging again, but I don't know why. Hello out there!

Plant ID request—never mind. It’s wineberry.

Anyone know what this is? It's a berry, I'm pretty sure. And it's wild because I didn't plant it. Reverse Google images tells me it's lobelia but I think that's wrong. Any ideas?

Useful and Timely (sad!) Public Service Announcements

These might come in handy. I swore not to post Trump comments and these are of course directly about that POS. But I can't stop myself. You can skip the first half of each to get to the "funny" parts. Last week I thought they were funny. Today, not so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NId2BHU6_b0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jIs-Lwh6U0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGPetxZ3iMM

Animals. And sugar.

This Christmas card from a dear friend shows most* of the critters that roam through our property. From left: tufted titmouse (I think), cardinal, chipmunk, fawn (deer), squirrel, blue jay, raccoon, snail, fox, and another cardinal.

Speaking of deer, the Park Service is holding another hunt, or managed kill, in the park next door. The hunt happened last year too and we saw a difference -- the number of deer that sleep, roam, and give birth in our neighborhood went way down. They're still around but not nearly as many of them. Which makes you wonder why they're having the hunt again. Maybe on the theory that they must stay one step ahead of the deer because they are nearly impossible to control around here.

The article under the card about sugar was good too.

*To be complete the picture would need a groundhog, a rabbit, a cat, and a opossum. We got 'em all in our deep suburban abode.

The last of my political thoughts until 2020.

From the mouth of Kellyanne Conway:

“Why is everything taken at face value?” she asked. “You can’t give him the benefit of the doubt on this and he’s telling you what was in his heart, you always want to go with what’s come out of his mouth...."

This explains everything. It's the new world order. We aren't supposed to listen to what our next prez says or believe our lying eyes when he acts. Kellyanne will tell us, for the next 4 years, what our prez really means and thinks. I see. If I could block him from my thoughts and off the pages of the news I follow I would do it.

Since I seem to be blogging again -- but only in the early (this is early to me) morning when I first read the news -- I wonder if I can restrain myself from posting about politics. I'm gonna give it a try.

The picture is some impromptu wall art that my daughter made on New Year's Eve at a small party. She's not taking this whole election sitting down. She's mad as hell and not getting over it.

Exactly. I'm still not over "it."

Thanks to my sister for passing this along to me. Unfortunately I have one "friend" who I can no longer look in the eyes without thinking about who she voted for. In a brave and honest moment this is what I would like to say to her. But I almost certainly won't. I will carry the script with me just in case.

Recipes in novels

 

I'm going to try this recipe tonight. From the novel Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Enjoying the book; plan to enjoy the eggs too.

Oh come on..

Ivanka Trump — who’s supposed to be running her dad’s “blind trust” — wants to move to Washington D.C.

 

As Elaine Benes would say,"that's a big coincidence."

The cover of the latest New Yorker, on the right, is obvious in its meaning. The cover on the left is from the week before (dated April 25 but we all know that magazine cover dates and, what's the term? drop dates? are different).  The adoring-fans-in-red-and-blue-with-guitar-in-foreground issue arrived in my mailbox after Prince died on April 21. I remember thinking, very briefly, wow, that was fast. I even thought, oh that's clever, they used red and blue, which of course together makes purple. The title of that cover art is Closing Set, appropriate title for a farewell to Prince, who was a great guitarist, something I didn't appreciate until after he died. 

Today the Purple Rain issue arrived so I checked on Google just to be sure I was right about the magazine devoting two covers to his death. I mean I get that he was beloved, talented, and successful but two covers? In the New Yorker? 

No, they didn't devote two covers to him. The left cover is by artist R. Kikuo Johnson and is described by him in the New Yorker this way:

“Everyone in Brooklyn is a d.j., so I rely on my much cooler friends to take me out,” the artist R. Kikuo Johnson says. “I have been taken to many one-night-only warehouse parties—I love dancing—but this was my first time at the Palisades,” he continues, referencing the underground venue in Bushwick that was the model for his cover of this week’s issue.

I say R. Kikuo should be credited with some unconscious foreknowledge. 

-------------------

**From "The Statue," Seinfeld, April 11, 1991:

RAVA: Yes, that's all, a coincidence!

ELAINE: A big coincidence.
RAVA: Not a big coincidence. A coincidence!
ELAINE: No, that's a big coincidence.
RAVA: That's what a coincidence is! There are no small coincidences and big coincidences!
ELAINE: No, there are degrees of coincidences.

Sad Beautiful Tree.

My neighbor has trained a wisteria plant, or plants, to create this tree -- picture taken in May 2015.

Here's what it looks like today, April 22, 2016.

It's getting very late in the wisteria season...I've seen wisteria shrubs and overgrown vines in full bloom nearby. But this guy has only a few emerging leaves. My neighbor is worried. I'm worried too, mostly for her mental health. This lady is very attached to that tree and will mourn grievously if it dies. I suspect, but really don't know, that it might need a serious pruning, now rather than later. Any opinions?

A frost we had a few weeks ago got to it for sure, although there wasn't much visible spring growth at the time. But much of the emerging greenery got fried by that frost -- it just didn't seem like enough damage to make the entire tree stop producing leaves and blooms.

I know wisteria is a wildly invasive plant, scorned by true gardeners. But with care you can prevent it from spreading.