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Seeing ( and making) the Forest and the Trees

 First of all, to everyone who has been sending me messages to delete my data from 23andMe, the task has been done. Clearly so many people were trying to do the same thing that the site was/is terribly slow and glitchy. It took two days to get my code for two step sign in. Once I got into the site it took several minutes for each page to load. So thank you and the task is completed.


At long last,



the forest stripe is stitched.



I clearly still have to trim all of the loose threads.


I love drawing with the sewing machine. I guess it is the textile equivalent of carving with a chainsaw.  This is 45 inches of forest all stitched freehand. I suppose I could have sketched out the design on the back of the fabric but i liked figuring out each tree individually and adding bits of color to trees as I worked my way across the fabric.


As I worked I thought about Nini's photos













and I also thought about my own memories of my first conscious trip to Halifax when I was five and the looming dark evergreens that lined the roads from the airport to town. They were so dark and looming and so different from the evergreens i knew from home.


It is soon time to create some other bits of the Nova Scotia coast.


But before I begin on those tasks my home is beginning to pivot towards Passover. I have been pre-cleaning getting ready for the big switch on Tuesday. Until then I have been working on getting rid of Chametz.


I started this bag of yeast right after Passover last year.  The bag lives in my freezer along with 



this jar which I keep refilling from the big bag of yeast.  I know that normal people will go through such a jar in a year or in many months, but this is a house where bread baking takes place on the regular.


This is the second loaf that I have baked since Shabbat. Since you asked it is mostly white flour but enhanced with lots of  coarse cornmeal and rye. It has a really nice texture and a wonderful crust. I ate a slice with our dinner last night. Most of the bread eating is done by my husband.



My mother always looked forward to the blooming of the pussywillow and the forsythia.  She used to send us to the local woods to cut branches so she could arrange them in a ceramic vase on our kitchen table. Those early blooms always felt like a promise of springtime. Like my mother seeing the forsythia bloom always makes me happy. I guess it is the springtime equivalent of the first snow of the year.

The photo was taken looking into the empty lot a block from my apartment.




After I took the photo of the blooming forsythia I noticed the glimpse of my building with the green cornice. I quote from one of my children's favorite books from their childhood, "Hello House!".


The other day I got my hearing aids tuned up. Today I get my eyes checked so I will be functioning among the hearing and seeing once again.



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