Testing an Adage

It was a lovely day here yesterday...sunny, but chilly. Smitty demonstrated how to keep one's paws warm on a chilly morning. It's easy. Just tuck them under yourself, and your fingers will be warm as a kitty's paws.

My morning started as usual, blogging, then doing my slow-stitching. We were planning to take my new bike into town so I could ride it on a flat, paved surface. It was chilly and windy, and so we decided to wait until after lunch, hoping for warmer temperatures. So I made the divinity early. This stuff is so good. 

It's practically pure sugar, and so for we sugar fiends, it's almost a perfect food. On the other hand, it's easy to get icked out pretty quickly. After just a piece or two, you've had enough. So, if you think about it, it's kind of diet friendly! (Always thinking. The woman is always thinking.) 

After I'd chopped my pecans, I noticed an image online where someone had left the pecans whole and stuck them into the top of the candy, like a thumbprint cookie. The nuts are important since the bitterness offsets the sweetness of the candy. My mother made divinity every Christmas. (I inherited my sweet tooth from her.) She was long gone by the time I made it the first time. I don't imagine there is much difference between recipes, and this is the one I'm using. Just now I noticed the recipe says to chop the pecans, but the associated image has them whole. Go figure. I'd like to try that next year if my memory will hold for that long.

Okay, so eventually, the moment of truth arrived. And by "truth," I'm speaking of that old adage that says a certain skill set is “just like riding a bike." It means that some things are second nature and should be easy to do. It suggests that we know everything about an activity and can take off where we left off, no matter how much time has passed. And, I gotta say...it worked for me. I hopped back on that bike as if I'd ridden it yesterday...which I had...but only a few feet. Prior to that, I hadn't ridden a bike since 2017.

As I look at this image, I'm noticing all the handicapped parking spaces behind me. It gave me a bit of a premonition, as if they're beckoning, saying, "You too can park here. Just keep riding that bike for a while, and I think you'll earn yourself a spot here." Well...I did fine, and it was great fun. When we got home, Mike's bike had been delivered and was sitting in the driveway. I'm sure he'll spend some time riding it today, but our plan is to go down to the Fanno Creek Trail tomorrow (where Sue and I have walked for years), and ride down there. We're hoping our nice weather will hold until then.

While he was messing with his new bike, I went to work tracing out Calendula Patterdrip's next motifs. I'm not in any hurry with this, so I'll just do it in fits and starts until it's finished.

Meg Hawkey is so clever with her drawings. I knew you'd want to see the "Hissing Cat Bat Wine."

While I was working on that, Mike brought in the box from his bike. It's a nice big box, and it will make a splendid cat trap. Within a minute, we caught one cat.

A few minutes later, we caught a second cat.

There's a two-cat limit, and it didn't take long before we'd caught ours. By the way, Smitty is closer to the camera, which makes him seem much larger than Sadie. On the other hand, their apparent size differential isn't too far off.

So, I just kept working away at Calendula Patterdrip's Cottage while I was catching cats. This is the section I'm tracing. It spans three sections of the quilt.

When I stopped for the day, everything to the left of the pink line in the image below was finished. It's hard to see the lines where there is a seam on my background fabric, and so I was using the pattern cover as a guide in those spots.

There was a gorgeous sunrise this morning.

I'll be taking off relatively early for a doctor's appointment. We're still trying to nail down a diagnosis and treatment for my knuckle pain. I had a test that would indicate rheumatoid arthritis several months ago. I've spoken to the rheumatologist in a video conference, and she's skeptical about the "rheumatoid" part of that. She wanted to see me in her office, and so I'll see her today. The pain is intermittent and not serious, and I wouldn't be seeking treatment for it ordinarily. It's the positive test that has my PCP worried, and so I'll follow through and see what the specialist has to say.

After that, I'm meeting up with Sue, and we're going to walk. I want to give her some of the Cranberry Apple Mustard I made recently. I'll drop some off with Erik and Mae along the way too. We're supposed to have nice weather today. In fact, our weather is supposed to be nice into next week. It's nice...but it's very chilly...and that's the way it is in the Northwest. Sunny weather is usually bitterly cold and windy. I'll have to bundle up for our walk. When I get home, I'll get back to tracing Calendula Patterdrip's Cottage. 

It's a busy day ahead, but once I get finished at the doctor's office, it should be a fun day too. I hope all is well in your world.