Laowai

Well that was fun. I like this new style of Halloween celebration. It started last year when we were so deep in the covid crisis and everyone sat outside and handed out candy at a distance. I like sitting cozy in my garden bench while the kids ramble up and down the street. I tell them take two – from the bowls of candy I have sitting in the yard. It's especially fun when we get a beautiful fall day like today and our Maple tree has perfectly timed its most vibrant yellow for us. Our neighborhood goes all out and the houses are pretty close together. We get lots of kids. I stopped counting after 100!

Bea and I made a crow costume for her. She started out helping me to hand out candy (take two please) and then she did a little trick or treating with some friends.

Claire's costume was a preteen dressed in black… or a robber. I didn't get to help make a costume for her and I'm bitter. But she is winning in the enjoying Halloween with friends category. She spent practically the whole weekend with her little band of girlfriends. Lots of laughing and lots of candy.

There is something to be said for a holiday that is purely for kid enjoyment.

Why do we need Hanukkah candy canes?

And why do people paint over outlets?

I've started another painting project – long overdue.

I took a nice walk at the Chicago Botanic Garden this week. It's starting to be less busy there – which is nice. All the workers were busy putting the garden away for winter. Blowing leaves, flushing out the irrigation system and pulling the tender plants out to go to the greenhouses. The English Walled Garden was looking particularly pretty with it's big mums spilling out all the orange, peach and yellow colors.

Fall

the black oaks fling
their bronze fruit
into all the pockets of the earth
pock pock

they knock against the thresholds
the roof the sidewalk
fill the eaves
the bottom line

of the old gold song
of the almost finished year
what is spring all that tender
green stuff

compared to this
falling of tiny oak trees
out of the oak trees
then the clouds

gathering thick along the west
then advancing
then closing over
breaking open

the silence
then the rain
dashing its silver seeds
against the house

  ~ Mary Oliver

 

We're having a rainy few days just like Mary Oliver describes. I love her poems. Fall is really here now.

I've been enjoying gangs of robins who come and fight over my bird bath. 

Speaking of birds – Bea is going to be a black crow for Halloween. 

I'm still getting veggies from my garden. The swiss chard was a small harvest but it is so pretty. I should just put it in a vase and look at it.

I think I need fewer tomato plants next year. I'm going to make some tomato sauce out of the ugly ones.

Mostly lately I've been a bit knitting obsessed. I started a knitting class several weeks ago and I am just so excited about it. I finished my first project – a green scarf.

My teacher is such a treasure – she says she can't remember a time when she didn't know how to knit. And she's not just an experienced knitter, she's an experienced teacher. This is one of her many amazing project – a big beautiful counterpane.

I told her I have enough scarves and I'm really interested in making a sweater. I asked her how do I get from beginner to sweater maker. And I was thrilled when she encouraged me to just jump right in. So I went to this huge yarn store and drooled all over the yarn. The woman at the store was so helpful, pointing out all the options that would be good for my pattern. I picked out some blue wool yarn with little bit of a speckled texture. I just want to sit and listen to the rain and knit.

Today I completed my first wood window restoration. I chose to work on a storm window on the side of our house as my first project. We don't see that side of the house too often so if I screwed up it wouldn't be so bad. But it turned out fine. I've learned a lot and I already feel better about my work on the next set of windows.

Here's my window work uniform – I ordered these overalls a while back and I just love them! They are so comfortable and they have about a thousand pockets. When I put them on I feel ready to work.

Here's how the storm windows started out.

Lots of peeling paint and failing putty and an interesting (??!!) method for attaching the window – see the rusty nail above. I removed lots of layers of paint and patched holes.

And then I primed, and put new glazing putty on. The putty has to dry for about two weeks. Just a couple days ago I was finally able to put on a final coat of paint. You can see my other project in the foreground below. And don't you like my clever easel? It makes painting the muntins much easier.

So here is the final before and after photo.

So now I just need to finish the casement window that I have in the works. The weather has been great but I'm wondering how much longer I'll be able to use my garage workshop. 

Here's what's been happening around our house this past week.

I've been making slow and steady progress with my window restoration project. Both windows have the paint removed and I've sanded them. I also rubbed some boiled linseed oil into the wood because it was so dry. Part of the reason I'm moving so slowly is I'm afraid! But I try to learn and I've discovered that the beauty of old windows is that they are meant to be taken apart and repaired. Today I'm going to start priming.

Still harvesting tomatoes.

I roast them on a low temp and then puree and freeze for later.

Brian and I went to another opera – The Elixir of Love.

I do love the Lyric Opera building – it's all gold and peach and shiny – so pretty.

Brian took the girls into the city to the WNDR Museum. It's an imaginative interactive type space. I think Claire loved it.

I made cookies for Bea to take to her Science Olympiad Club. 

I let Bea pick out all the Halloween candy at Target.

My windowsill

I'm enjoying all the details of Fall on my walks.

Lastly, I've started a knitting project. A green scarf to go with my green winter coat. This little bit was hard won. I kept making mistakes and had to rip it out. Several times! Uhg.

I feel like my family is busy with activities and it's exactly what I was wishing for last year during the Covid restrictions. 

Brian spent last week working in Switzerland. Finally, he was able to do the parts of his job that he loves. He had lots of meetings and presentations and he got to hang out in Switzerland. And… cheese.

And of course he brought back some of my favorite chocolates.

I have started taking a knitting class. I might be the butt of my family's jokes because it's at a local senior center.

I made some tomato sauce – the last bits of summer from my garden.

Claire had a piano recital. Her teacher made a big effort – he had musicians to accompany each kid. It was a perfect day for an outdoor recital and she did a good job! There she is with her teacher, George, below.

Bea's buddy Mabel played the violin – she is so so good! She's standing next to Claire below.

My biggest challenge last week was giving two girls' bedrooms a deep clean. Oh goodness – messy, messy, messy!

I recently realized that Bea is only going to be living with us for a few more years – so I better get going removing wallpaper and painting her room. She wants a dark color – I don't want it to be more of a cave – let's see if we can agree on a color. 

I let my beans get too big but they were still good – I cooked them up and put them in some Tikka Masala.

And look what else I found in my garden. He was on my sad, brown dill plant. I just hope he can find enough to eat and doesn't get too cold.

This is a case of it has to get worse before it gets better. I've started repairing another one of our windows. These photos show how they desperately need attention and how bad they look while I'm working on them. This is one of the upstairs windows on the back of the house. I took the windows out and discovered that they are very thick and heavy. They are well made and I have high hopes for making them shine again.

This is the first time I've tried taking out the panes of glass for a full restoration. It's better to do this, but also harder and more time consuming. I broke two out of 16 panes – which is fine as they are easy to replace.

Stay tuned.