Last couple of days I have been feeling bedraggled, for lack of a better word. I am not physically unwell. I could blame superficial things, but those aren’t really the problem. I think sometimes we all have days where, for no reason, we just feel down and exhausted.
So I have been trying to think what can I do to lift myself up. I never been one into massages or manicures. I have almost been taking too many naps lately. Somehow strawberries were the first word in my mind. And I’m like hmmmm…. Maybe buy some strawberries, angel food cake, and whip cream. Lately I have developed a great love for fountain pens. What I love most are the inks! I am sort of tired of writing quotes and working on my handwriting. This could backfire, but I want to try and make art. I completely suck at making art, and when I feel up for trying I am usually more stressed than before, but I feel like giving it a go!
Written later:
I am home now and the strawberries, waffles, and whip cream were lovely! I went with waffles instead of angel food cake. A Facebook friend wondered if there were any married couples on the Andy Griffith Show (while it was called that, not after it was renamed). That was a fun conversation and as best we know there were not. I no longer feel the need to potentially stress myself out trying art. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I am going to spend the rest of the evening watching the YouTube channel AlmazanKitchen. Outdoor ASMR cooking at its best!
In 2013 I worked my way up to running 4 miles. I was as slow as a turtle, but I could still run 4 miles. Then I strained my hamstring (I don’t think running was the cause of that), so I stopped running for a couple months, fell back into bad habits, never picked it up again.
A few months ago I tried to get back into running and it wasn’t happening. Maybe something to do with being 8 years older, who knows. So recently I switched my focus to 10,000 steps a day. Turns out it was a number chosen by a Japanese company in the 1960s who created a pedometer. The 10,000 steps caught on as a goal that should be achieved. Research has been done since them and it seems if you do 5,000-7,500 steps a day, that is good enough. I guess that will make me feel less guilty if I don’t get 10,000 steps, but 10,000 steps is still my goal. After this last week it seems I can make my goal 11,000 steps.
It seems getting my steps in at work is fairly easy. My workplace building used to be an industrial building then turned into an office building. There is a lap you can do inside the building that is shy of a quarter mile. So when I use the bathroom I do a couple laps afterwards, unless work is really intense. But if I can spare the time, it is really nice to get away from the desk and just breathe a bit. If I can’t get all my steps in during the day I have two options. I can either go on the treadmill in the gym in the basement at work, or I can go on the nearby bike trail after work. I bought the bag to take with me so I can store my phone and keys and water and not have to take my purse and work backpack with me.
The real challenge for me is getting 10,000 steps on my days off. Unless I have errands to run, I can be pretty lazy, staying home in my PJs watching TV, knitting, and maybe cooking. After a usually stressful week at work I feel I deserve it. But I am obese and diabetic and what better time to try to get 10,000 steps in.
I have tried this two ways. One is just go for a long walk first thing in the morning (I am a morning person) and get it all done right away. Nice to have the rest of the day not to think about it, but it is very wearing on the body. Today I tried to do a laps around my four building apartment complex. One lap is .3 miles. 4 laps was 1.24 miles. The idea is to do it again a couple of hours later. Problem is, I didn’t feel like it. I really had to force myself. So I did and I just kept walking laps until 10,000 steps was achieved. So I think I prefer to get it done in one walk even though it is hard on my legs. Doing stretches afterwards are a delightful necessity. Stretching feels good.
What I most hope to achieve is improving my energy. I have really only been steady at this for a week. Yes, one day I didn’t get there, but close enough. I think it is too soon to talk about the difference it is making for me. I have a community of other people doing the same thing which is nice. The one screenshot is from the Virgin Pulse app which my work uses. I am in the middle. The one person on the top has a job that keeps him moving around more, but he also makes the effort to get more steps in. I also have family and friends outside of work doing the same thing. When you have that, it is even more motivating. I still hope to get back into running, but I will need to take baby steps. I remember how meditative it was!
Below are some photos from my walk. See more photos on Instagram @ rainysaturdaycreative
I have been subscribing to Bon Appetit for a few years now. I don’t subscribe to magazines so much anymore, so I get super excited when Bon Appetit comes in. I don’t ever cook as much as I think I will, but it is still eye candy!
I received the June/July 2022 issue on Friday. On Saturday I made the curried tomato sandwich on page 56. Today I made the grilled corn with chaat masala on page 54 and tomato salad with jalapeño ranch on page 53.
The curried tomato sandwich was super easy. You are basically toasting bread on the stove top in oil and curry spice. Then you make your tomato sandwich as usual. I did like the recipe and just used mayo and tomatoes, but it would be good with additions like lettuce, bacon, or avocado. However you like your sandwich. You can also use your favorite spice if curry isn’t your thing.
I had to make some adjustments to the grilled corn with chaat masala. The first being that chaat masala has too much of a licorice taste I don’t like. I used Chana masala instead. I also don’t have a grill. I used two frozen mini ears of corn, wrapped them in wet paper towel and microwaved them for five minutes. Separately I combined the butter and Chana masala. Seemed like too much spice to the amount of butter, so I added more butter. Then I heated some oil in a pan on the stove so I could get that charring. Then on the plate I rubbed the corn in the Chana masala butter and added some shredded Mexican queso cheese, I couldn’t immediately find cotija cheese. It was all really good. I will save the Chana masala butter for when I make it again. I am sure I can use it for other things.
One might argue I did not make the tomato salad with jalapeño ranch. I didn’t use jalapeño and I didn’t have any chives. I forgot to add them to the shopping list. So I added more onion spices. I also didn’t rub the tomatoes with oil and garlic. I am sure that is delicious, but I like tomatoes as is too. I used the ranch as a dip. To be honest I think it is kind of weird to throw them on top. It is really good. Maybe next time I will make it more proper, but still leaving out the jalapeño.
Maybe next weekend I will make the Bloody Mary salmorejo on page 52.
I went to the laundromat right after work on Friday. I was the only one there and it seemed like it was freshly cleaned. I love taking photos at the laundromat. I usually use filters for fun, but I loved the photo below as it was. So I took the photo and then loaded up two washers. Normally I stay in the laundromat during the half hour wash cycle and run errands during the one hour dry cycle. If I don’t have errands I may stay the whole time. I read, catch up with social media, or play phone games. This time I only had one quick errand, so I did that during the wash cycle and hung out in the laundromat during the dry cycle.
When I came back to put my clothes in the dryer, there was another man there. He must come every Friday. You see him silhouetted in the photo I took on a Friday night a few weeks ago. Before sitting at another booth, I put my clothes in the dryer and then I settled in. I forgot my phone (I had it during the wash cycle, but left it at home accidentally before returning for the dry cycle), but I had my newest Bon Appetit magazine with me, a notebook, and the book A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold. I didn’t need my phone. I started with Bon Appetit making note of recipes I want to make and ingredients I need. I then finished reading the February chapter of the Aldo Leopold book.
Not long after I settled, a young mom came in with her young son. She had a lot of loads of laundry. Her young son, who was maybe 4 years old, was running around the laundromat. He reminded me a lot of myself when I went to the laundromat with my mom when I was 5. It was always an adventure for me! Seeing this little boy made me happy. Shortly after that a mom and her daughter loaded the washers with their clothes. The daughter was probably mid teens to early adult. Once both families finished loading the washers they left to return later.
By the time my clothes were dry, even the other man was done and had left before me. So I was once again by myself, putting my clean towels and clothes in my laundry bag, which I also washed. As I was going back to my car the young mom and her son were returning for their dry cycle.
I had always wanted to learn knitting in the casual way I thought learning archery might be fun. I still haven’t learned archery. Knitting always looked difficult and intimidating. I was really scared to ever learn.
When I moved to a new place, my new commute route took me past a yarn shop. All that colorful yarn in the window looked more delicious than candy. That was it! It was finally time to learn. The class was two Saturdays in a row.
The first week I took to knitting like breathing! I was completely in love! The day after the first class I went with a couple of friends to Lapham Peak State Park to hike around. We decided to sit in the pine woods and I had my scarf I was knitting and I sat there happily knitting as we chatted.
My first knitting project, a scarf, complete with accidental yarn overs and dropped stitches. I treasure it!
That first week before the second class I could hardly put the needles down, but then the night before the second class tragedy struck! When I was heading into the grocery store, I tripped and fell over nothing. Just like me to have something goofy like that happen. I did my grocery shopping, but I could tell not all was right with the world. I went to urgent care and sure enough I fractured my wrist. I had to have this big cast on my arm that covered my hand but not the fingers and went all the way up my upper arms. I wasn’t going to be able to knit for 6 weeks. I just about died. It also meant missing the second week of knitting class. In hind sight I should have gone and watched, but that didn’t matter. When the cast went off I binge watched videos on knittinghelp.com. It is still out there with excellent videos.
Shortly after I found craftster.com which unfortunately is no more. It was a crafting forum. I spent most of my time at the knitting forum, but it was fun to explore the other craft forums.
Eventually I got the courage to do craft swaps. Those were a lot of fun and I made some life long friends that way! There was usually a theme that we would craft around. It might fiction, or animals, or maybe even supply swaps. I was jealous of the people that would get hand spun yarn from their partners. It never happened for me! So I had to make it happen for myself. I learned how to spin yarn on a drop spindle. The following picture is yarn I spun and knitted into a hat. The leftover yarn I used to knit a choker necklace!
Hat and choker knitted from yarn I spun myself.My first hand spin yarn.
Over the years I have knitted mostly dishcloths and hats and a few other odds and ends. I have even taught it some out of my apartment. I have yet to knit a sweater for myself, that is still a goal. I work a full time job and am a slow pokey knitter. So I don’t really take requests anymore, rather I might surprise someone out of the blue with something. Arthritis in my right dominant hand makes knitting some things difficult. I learned English style, so I still need to learn continental to see if that helps.
One of the first gifts I received was a needle roll for my knitting needles and a project bag from my sister. I later received another needle roll in a craft swap. I rarely use straight needles anymore, but I still use both needle rolls for the straight needles I still have left.
In the needle roll you will see 5 large dark brown needles. They are DPNs aka double pointed needles used for knitting in the round. I had a hat I really wanted to knit using super bulky yarn and it is hard to find needles for that kind of project. I was visiting a couple of friends in Minocqua WI and there was a knitting store there. Sadly it is no longer around. They were able to order me specially made wood DPNs hand made by a man in his 90s. I had to wait a few weeks, but they mailed them to me! What a treasure! They are very special!
I later learned that my mom and aunts learned knitting growing up, but I was never raised around it. I come from a family of crafters, but I am the only one person who ever really took to knitting. A couple of nieces have dabbles in it. I have done some crochet but never really took to it. It is like reading a cryptic alien language. Only stuff I can do is from Attic 24 because she has really detailed photos to accompany her instructions. I really love doing the ripple afghan.
I don’t know what will happen to my stuff when it is my turn to leave this world. It would be nice if it got donated to a charity or nursing home. Not sure if others will treasure my hand made wood DPNs like I do, but whatever happens, happens. Maybe one of my great nieces or nephews will get into knitting. One can hope!
Back in the 90s, I fell head over heels in love with the book Cowboys are my Weakness by Pam Houston. Stories of adventurous women whose lives were nothing like my own. Then I read the story A Blizzard Under a Blue Sky. Having suffered depression since grade school, I could relate, except I would happily choose pills over winter camping. Still, I was fascinated with the story and winter camping and it sounded oddly freeing. I would say you couldn’t pay me to go winter camping, but I dream about maybe winter camping in Newport State Park in Wisconsin some day.
I am a summer girl! I hate winter, I hate cold, I hate dark, I hate snow, I hate ice. Once years ago, when I lived on the East side of Milwaukee Wisconsin, I had a horrid headache. I didn’t have any headache pills and I was too broke to buy any. I tried taking a nap and that didn’t help any. That day was a sunny day in Milwaukee, below zero, arctic sea fog hanging over Lake Michigan. I didn’t know what else to do, I was miserable. I went for a walk. I figure I couldn’t be much more miserable than I already was. At first it seemed like a really bad idea. It was sun that affected me first, giving me a sense of peace. The cold gave me a sense of clarity. The arctic sea fog was strongly beautiful. I came home feeling refreshed and no headache!
There have been some recent changes at work that have been more stressful than usual. Then a week ago I had a bad bout of bad food poisoning that left me with a date with the toilet and a lost voice for several days. Yesterday I was feeling dark. I remember a social media I started on a platform called Ello. It never really caught on with my friends, but I chose the name @disappear and posted nature photos of longing. The kind of thing that gives me peace when I feel alone and distant and dark. Since no one really uses Ello, I decided to start that same concept on Instagram, @disappearintonothing.
This morning I was going to go to the gym to do a couple of miles on the treadmill and then go take some photos for my new Instagram account. Then I realized I can just go for a two mile walk, or almost two mile walk, at Lion’s Den Gorge in Ozaukee County Wisconsin. It was less than 10° outside. But it was sunny and no wind. It seemed like a good time to accomplish two tasks at once. But I ended up accomplishing a third task. My spirit felt lifted. I felt calm. I felt renewed.
A note about depression, it is different for everyone. A walk in the cold, eating right, exercising, yoga, meditation, and so forth, are not the answers for everyone. I am on anti depressants. Many do need pills and/or therapy.
I have been on Instagram for almost 11 years using @sunrain which is my personal Instagram account. I am sorry people have found negativity on Instagram. It has always been a place of peace for me. I follow photographers, artists, friends and other creatives. I have four other Instagram accounts.
@gas.stations – I don’t use this one much, but I find gas stations aesthetic.
@rainysaturdaycreative – the Instagram for this blog
@sunrainrunning – My health and fitness Instagram.
@disappearintonothing – photos I take that I feel invoke longing and/or peace. I am atheist, but still consider myself spiritual, and this is what spiritualness is for me.
Sunday night I had a special date with the toilet after eating some rotisserie chicken that wasn’t as good as it looked. The process was full body and left me aching and with hardly any voice. Today, Wednesday. I feel a lot better but can still hardly speak. Yesterday (and part of the day before), I stayed home from work. Problem is yesterday I had a craving.
I really wanted Campbell’s cream of tomato soup and I didn’t have any in the apartment. I don’t live with anyone, none of my friends were close by and delivery would cost too much. I wasn’t in the mood to go out to the store. Then I realized I thought I had all the ingredients to make it. I looked up a bunch of recipes and came up with my own version.
Sunrain’s Cream of Tomato Soup
1 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 ounces tomato paste
4 cups vegetable broth
28 ounces canned diced tomatoes
Salt, pepper, onion powder to taste
1 cup whipping cream
Cook onions in the oil. After a couple of minutes add the garlic. When the onions and garlic are fragrant, add the tomato paste. I know that is a lot of tomato paste, but I was working with what I had and it worked out. I also started to add a little vegetable broth so things wouldn’t burn. Maybe 1/4th cup. After 2-3 minutes I added the rest of the vegetable broth. I also added in the seasonings. I probably did 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and maybe 3 to 4 tablespoons onion powder because that is the kind of girl I am. I then added the diced canned tomatoes.
At this point I blended everything together with an immersion blender. A couple chunks of tomatoes got missed but I was okay with that. I let the soup heat up more and then finished off by slowly stirring in the whipping cream. It made a lot and tasted great! What I didn’t eat right away I put in souper cubes to freeze and eat later.
The souper cubes when I used them for butternut squash soup
It all started last week. I made scallion pancakes. I was going to use a mix of onions. The shallots I had went bad and were not used. My red onion was huge, but I sliced and cooked it up anyway. Then I sliced and cooked the scallions. Since scallions were the star I used them all and there was only enough room left for a tiny bit of cooked red onions. So I bought two packages of puff pastry with the intent of only using one of them and saving the other for whatever future. I also bought already shredded Gruyère/Swiss cheese. Two 6 oz packages. Figure I would make an onion tart.
I used up all the onions and cheese. What I didn’t realize is the box of puff pastry comes with two sheets of puff pastry and I wanted only one. So I asked Google what should I do? Seemed the most logical answer was cheesy bread sticks. Layer out the sheet, egg washed it, sprinkled on spices and cheese, cut them into strips and twisted them and baked them.
These are the cheesy bread sticks cut in half.
So by now you think I would be done. I still had some egg was and cheese left. It wasn’t really enough egg to make an omelet, so I added another egg and some spices. Then I scrambled the mixture and cooked on the stove top, flipped, added some cheese, flipped the omelet onto itself and plated it. May be the best omelet I have ever made.
Truth be told I still have about three ounces left. Hmmm…what to do? 😺
It is really called common place book, but my heart prefers the word “journal”. Perhaps I associate the “journal” with “journey” and I love to travel and I also love to learn about people’s journey in life. I am no etymologist, but I should research if the two words are related at some point.
I first heard of a commonplace book maybe a year ago, but I don’t remember where. I quickly forgot about it. Then recently heard it mentioned for one split second in a video. I remembered I wanted to look into it. It has been around for hundreds of years. It is a place to collect inspiration. These days a lot of people use it for quotes. Thing is, there are no rules. Look it up on YouTube and you will be overwhelmed. Some even use a note card method. It can be poetry, recipes, art, or even things you find interesting in a scientific journal. The absolute best place to start learning about commonplace books is Wikipedia. Then you can delve into how people are doing them now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book
Collecting quotes was never my thing, but I may start. I already put in a couple of poems. I will try doing a commonplace journal. It will have second purpose of trying different writing utensils and working on my handwriting. I am pretty happy with today’s entry. The brush pen was a pain. I had that set for eons. I don’t know if it is a bad set, or that they are old, or that I suck at brush pens. Maybe all of the above. I may at some point I may buy a new brush pen or two and look at tutorials on YouTube. For now it is far from a priority. I ended up using Pentel EnerGel Infree 0.5mm. Possibly my favorite pen I own. I just ordered a set with many different colors, but 0.7mm because the 0.5mm were sold out for now. I am sure I will like the 0.7mm just fine. I am using my Quo Vadis dot grid for the commonplace journal.
This exchange had me wondering, why are our resolutions all about self improvement? Why aren’t we more like Ina? I don’t think there is anything wrong exercising and eating right, but we are humans, it is good to live a little. Of course I long ago stopped making resolutions and made goals. Arguably the same thing but I wasn’t going to attach a must do agenda to feel guilty about later. This year it morphed into a bucket list which really doesn’t suggest guilt if something is not accomplished. It will go on next years list if I want it to.
I did put some indulgent things on my bucket list like making peach cobbler. I love eating it but I have never made it. Drawing faces on eggs has been on my goal lists for years. Until this morning I still hadn’t done it. What does it accomplish? Making me happy and connecting with my inner child. Doesn’t need to accomplish anything more than that.
Here are some ideas for you:
Have a manicure
Archery class
Trip somewhere you always wanted to go
Sleep in on the weekend
Better yet, spend the whole weekend in your PJs watching (or reading or listening to) your favorite guilty pleasures and eating junk food
Take yourself out to dinner somewhere nice
Have a dinner date with a friend
Take a class for something you always wanted to learn
Buy a nice piece of clothing
Eat that decadent dessert
This is is just a starter list. What would you add?
Rainy Saturday Creative 