10/25/18

Gloom Arrives

The Portland Gloom has set in.


We've had a lovely (and long) fall this year. Usually around Columbus Day we get a big wind storm that blows all the leaves off the trees. We weren't Portland residents when the big Columbus Day storm blew through in 1962, but that storm is the stuff of local legends. Our annual wind storm never materialized this year, and so we've been able to enjoy the leaves for longer than usual.

The photo-a-day prompt yesterday was "two colours," or "colors" as we Americans like to say. That had me out taking pictures of the leaves. My submission for yesterday's prompt was a cropped version of this one.


Farther down the hill, the red leaves of the red Japanese maple are fading to a brilliant orange.


Don't let that abundance of leaves hanging on the trees fool you. They are falling too...everywhere.


The water droplets on things were enchanting enough that I was motivated to get my DSLR camera with macro lens and try to capture some of those up close.



Here's one last remnant of summer.


Of course, I had company on my walk around the yard.


Smitty is generally relaxed when we're outside. Sadie always looks surprised. It must be their tails that make the difference.


Gloomy weather puts me in the mood for baking, and I realized with horror that it has been about two months since I've fed my sourdough starters. Somebody report me to the authorities immediately! Before I could get arrested for neglecting my babies, I got them out and fed them. As long as I was pouring stuff off, I decided to feed the poured off portion and bake something with it. When everyone was fed and taken care of, I had this one sitting on the counter. We'll just hope it's still alive.


After that, I moved into the sewing room to start making 72 square-in-a-square blocks for the cardinal's border. They'll be made with each of the five values of red, and the same two values of green. I started with the darkest red. There are 12 of these.


Smitty was helping.

It wouldn't be immodest of me to declare how handsome I am. It's simply a fact, and it would be silly to purrtend otherwise. 


By day's end, I'd only gotten through the darkest reds and the dark reds. By lunch time, I was feeling puny again, and so I laid down for a nap before heading out to pick up our CSA share.


Hopefully, I'll get the remaining three values of red finished today, although I'm threatening to go to the grocery store. Since I'm still able to put it off for a day longer, I'll probably stay in and sew. To be clear, grocery shopping hasn't yet been crossed off the list. On the other hand, I have a strict policy of never doing today what I can put off until tomorrow. It is especially applicable to grocery shopping.

Smitty was using the powers of his mind to will Sadie down out of the clubhouse about that time. They don't get their dinner until they're both available to consume it. This avoids the problem of piggishness on either side of the cat equation.


When we headed upstairs for the day, I peeked at the sourdough starter and was happy to see some bubbling action. It appears I haven't neglected it to death.


By bedtime, it had risen some. Remembering the runaway starters from our last bread-baking extravaganza, I stirred this down before we headed to bed.


By morning, it had risen even more.


Just before sitting down here, I perused my recipes. I think this time around, I'll make a Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin bread. I've made it once before. We'll be taking this bread along with us when we go to Cape Disappointment next week, and it might be good to have something that will toast up nicely for breakfast. For now, I'll just keep feeding the starter for a few more days before starting on the process of baking something up.

Also, I promised to report back about the needles. Either I bought cheap ones or the wrong ones because the ones I tried yesterday had a point too blunt to work with. My fabric is backed with a stabilizer, and I was having a hard time poking the needle through the fabric. This morning my friend Wendy and I were corresponding, honing in on the correct needles, and I think I've got the right ones on order now. I won't get them until next week, but that's okay. (Certainly I wouldn't want to leave the house to purchase anything that isn't groceries.) I'll just continue on with the larger-eyed needle I've been working with. This is only the first of 12 blocks, and so there will be plenty more stitching to do before the project is finished. More to come before I've finished making the point about needles. (Ha! Get it?)

Okay, all this talk about needles has me wanting to get at that slow-stitching. We'll see if it puts me in the mood for grocery shopping. Highly doubtful.

15 comments:

Julierose said...

Beautiful leaves--our colors are very muted this year--sort of grayed-off ;(((
and still have a lot of greenery left on our trees.
Do you use a bread machine? I like mine except that you only get one really crust on top--and I love the crust...I don't have any sourdough starter left--mine didn't survive ...neglectful moi!!
I think you got a lot of sq in sq blocks done...
I am not doing anything much today (fighting off a migraine--ugh!!
Perhaps the sudden cold temp--or more likely that bit of chocolate I couldn't resist--!) hugs, Julierose

Sarah said...

Love those outdoor photos. Our leaves are still quite behind in color and are therefore still on the trees. If we get hit by a freak snow storm (rumor mill changed it's mind but they had suggested this weekend) there will be a lot of tree damage if they don't vamoose soon. Could Sadie's look of surprise be in part due to her size and head position? Smitty has his head down looking at something on the ground but she had her head up. I don't know the position of the camera in either case but maybe that is what makes her look different...just thinking out loud...

QuiltShopGal said...

You are so lucky to have all those beautiful Fall colors. In So. California everything just dries up and turns brown. I'm still wanting to learn to feed & care sourdough starters. Glad yours survived. Maybe this Fall/Winter, I'll get a starter going. Best pancakes I've ever had were sourdough pancakes. And we enjoyed yummy toasted sandwiches this summer, from homemade sourdough bread (a friend gave us).

Michele said...

The leaf and flowers pictures are fabulous.

Sue said...

I wondered about the needle- it didn't look very pointy and more like the needles I used to use for cross stitching on aida cloth or linen- hopefully, you'll receive the new ones soon.

Kate said...

Love your fall photos! My Guy and I were talking on the way home last night that it doesn't look like we'll get a spectacular fall this year. It's been wet and warm up till about the last week and then we went right to frost and near freezes in the mornings. The leaves tend to just fall off when that happens.

piecefulwendy said...

Well, I hope it's the right needles this time! Oh boy, those border blocks don't really look like much fun, but I'm sure they will add to the quilt. I'm with you on grocery shopping, as you know! I was thinking about you the other day as I opened my fridge and saw my sourdough starter, which I realized I haven't fed in weeks. It's going to have to hang on until next week. We'll see. I'm pretty sure it's not going to have the pizzazz that your starter does. The bread sounds yummy!

mangozz said...

You have some incredibly beautiful foliage! I was disappointed this year, as all the rain knocked down most of the leaves before they had a chance to turn brilliant colors. You are quite the photographer!

betty-NZ said...

It's always nice to have archives to cheer you up! I love your autumn colors.

Dixie @ Arranged Words said...

Gorgeous photos. The red/orange leaves are so pretty.
Your kitties are beautiful!

kiwikid said...

Beautiful photos of the leaves, water drops and your cats. Good to see the sour dough starter has survived its dieting time. Very nice square in square blocks.

Anne said...

Your cats are adorable and your leaf photos so pretty. I really do love the colours of Autumn and you've captured them perfectly. I hope your bread turns out well.
#wanderingcamera

quiltzyx said...

We had a little bit of gloom here this week - fog on the way to work in the mornings. Was even thick enough to have to run the w/shield wipers! But the temps still were in the high 80s-low 90s. Today is predicted to be 88*.

That is a lot of square in a square blocks! I'm guessing that you're finished with them now. Looking forward to seeing it all together.

Sourdough cinnamon raisin bread sounds wonderful! Glad the starter was still alive. ;^)

QuiltGranma said...

I just want to say, you are always a fun read, inspiring in all that you get done, and when you prepare a food you usually include a recipe or a link to one. And the beautiful photography is always a delight. Thank you, Barbara!

Brown Family said...

it has been up in the 80's this week and has stopped raining after 29 plus inches in a month! I had a rose to bloom and now we are getting a shower of acorns!