Count to Ten, Count to Five

 

Spring housecleaning this year kicks off with dealing with the jars of coins that have been gathering dust on a shelf in my office. While the science fiction trope of "the before times" became a reality with the start of the pandemic, it wasn't necessarily the bright line we think we remember.

Sure, starting with the national lockdown we all stopped going to stores and leaving or taking pennies from the jar beside the cash register. But only a few weeks into the pandemic my local bank branch closed permanently, a decision I suspect had been made much earlier, as more and more people moved to electronic payments and online banking.

In truth, there hadn't been many deposits to the Blue Door Bank of Hard Money (not FDIC insured) in some years. I maintained four jars, for pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. For some reason my recollection was that the marvelous CoinStar machines didn't take pennies, so last week I spent some time one evening after dinner counting and wrapping pennies, an evocative activity for me. I recall helping my father wrap pennies. It was an absorbing task for a young child who had just learned to count. Count ten pennies and place them in a neat stack. Count five stacks of pennies. Very satisfying.

When I noticed them, I pulled out the Canadian pennies. I'll toss those into streams that look like they might have spirits in them who could use an offering.  Maybe I'll toss one into the Pacific Ocean.* Dream big.

*I used to pour a little wine into the ocean, but wine now gives me headaches, so a penny now and again will have to do.

A Marmalade Day

 

The first Marmalade Day of the year was last Wednesday. Seville or sour oranges, the best type to use for marmalade, are available for only about six weeks, starting in late December. Some years I can find them, some years I can't. In this part of the United States they aren't common.

If I'm able, I'll stock up. I simmer the oranges whole in plenty of water. Then I put on big apron, have a seat, and cut open the oranges, separating the insides from the peels and slicing the peels into shreds. It's a good job to do while listening to the opera or an audio book. Depending on how chapped one's hands are, it's a bit sting-y at first.

In Britain, where they take marmalade seriously, one could buy a special marmalade cutter. I make do with a sharp paring knife, but gosh, isn't the marmalade machine tempting?

Fellows & Bates Marmalade Cutter

I do have a Foley food mill (first picture,) which I use to separate the seeds from the pulp. Seeds, pulp, peel, and poaching liquid are then frozen in single batch sizes, allowing me to make marmalade throughout the year.

Marmalade simmering on the stove is a terrific antidote to a grey winter day, which is why I typically wait until February to make a batch. The house smells like orange Lifesavers and the additional moisture in the dry winter air is welcome.

I give away some to friends and keep a few jars for myself. 

It's remarkable how fast a person can get through a 12 ounce jar marmalade without even trying very hard.

Ghosts

 

Whatever you may call this, from Victor's perspective this is a cat toys automat. It's a little tricky to get to - you have to negotiate a swivel chair that may have stuff piled on it, but after that, the table underneath provides an excellent perch from which one may select something nice to pull off and play with. Or several somethings. And of course, the cat toy automat is open 24 hours if you absolutely positively need a new toy at 2 am.

Because of the way the house is laid out, it's just about impossible to keep Victor out of the sewing room. The best I can do is cat-proof it. So one day recently when it was far too cold to get outside to do a little gardening, I decided to put the cat toy automat out of business, at least for the next few years.

The toys are gone but their ghosts remain. In truth, many of the items on the board were only supposed to be there until I took the time to put them away in their proper places. Obviously, some items had been there several years without my taking the time to deal with them. 

The ribbons have gone into the plastic tubs where ribbons belongs. Likewise beads, needles, insect pins, bits of lace, patches, embroidery, quilting, and knitting samples all have their places. The feathers don't fit into the box in which I currently store millinery supplies, so I'm still puzzling out that one.

It's still January, but I notice that the streetlights don't come on until a few minutes after 5 pm.

Victor and a rain boot cat toy

A January Task

Is there a more January task than carding buttons one has cut off of worn-out clothing so that they can be re-used? If I didn't sew some of my own clothes, and if I didn't hate shopping for buttons, and if the outside temperature today wasn't well below freezing, I'm not sure I'd bother. The only way I've found to keep track of these salvaged buttons is to sew them onto small rectangles of cardboard, cut from tablet backs that I keep for the purpose. 

You can never have too many sets of white buttons. I think these came from a much-loved LL Bean shirt. Their clothes typically have nice buttons and I like the pie-crust edging on these.

 

The Well-Dressed Santa, 1920s edition

 

Do you lie awake at night, wondering what Santa wore in the 1920s? I have the answer! See the full posting on Unsung Sewing Patterns.

Merry Christmas, everybody. I'll be hibernating until the New Year.

Nice Try

 

I love the Search feature in Google Photos. It tries so hard. This is one of the photos it showed me when I searched for "gloves." I had even added a description to this photo reading "stockings."

This is the time of year for wool stockings. I knit these years ago, because it is so delightful to have a pair of stockings with secret purple feet.

(But on a serious note, the search results are a good reminder to us that recognition by machines is imperfect.)

Almost Antiques

 

Christmas baking started this weekend, and a fair amount of ground nutmeg was required. My nutmeg grater and I aren't officially antiques yet, but we're both headed in that direction, long may it continue. I bought my grater new, about 35 years ago, in Bethlehem Pennsylvania, appropriately enough. I think I paid about $2.00 for it. These little graters were a pretty common item in gift shops in those days. They may still be, if there are still gift shops.

If you're ever in need of a small housewarming gift, a shiny new nutmeg grater and a jar of whole nutmegs might be appreciated.

My Christmas baking requires prodigious amounts of almonds, honey, candied and dried fruit, and chocolate. Some years, this was a significant bump in the grocery budget and I'd start laying in supplies in November. Some years almonds were in short supply. Or candied orange peel. Or the only other person on the planet who needed candied citron got to the grocery store ahead of me and cleaned them out.

Thus far this year there haven't been any hiccups, long may it continue. The lackerli are done, the dough for the pfeffernusse has been made up and is mellowing. Cinnamon stars are next on the list.