A few things that are of perhaps no interest to anyone but me.

 

A while back I had repaired two pairs of boots using a bit of leather that I had on hand and some barge glue that I had purchased for the task. The dark pair at the bottom of the photo also had some rips in the heel area. The boots are so incredibly comfortable but the rip at the heel made the boots look really shabby.

My fabric stash is sort of like the state of my brain, meaning awfully messy. But the other day a leather skirt that I had purchased at a thrift for the sole purpose of mending, emerged form the chaos that is my fabric stash.I traced the back heel piece onto newsnapaer and cut it out to be a pattern for this mending adventure.

I plunked my newspaper pattern onto the suede side of the leather and traced around the newspaper with a pencil.I then cut out the piece using a pair of scissors and then repeated the process so my two boots would match.

I spread the barge glue (it's rubber cement but stronger) onto the back of the leather piece using a very specialized tool, a popcicey stick, let it dry for a second and then put it in place on the back of my boot. I used a clean  popcicle stick to help me smooth everything into place.

I swear that writing about how I did this took longer than the actual doing.

This is exactly the sort of repair that often feels beyond the skills of mere mortals. This is actually a reapair that a moderately handy elementary school kid can do without much difficulty. This is easily within the skillset of anyone who can collage without destroying their home, or can make a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich without wearing the contents of both jars.

Another thing you may not care about at all but I am writing about it anyway.

While cooking for Passover this year I sliced my left index finger pretty dramatically. I sliced not just through skin but also through my fingernail. I patchedmyself up using a couple of butterfly bandages.  Butterfly bandages are incredible and my DIY repair knitted up pretty well. my finger looked great but my finger just felt a little funny.

I cut the very same finger with a knife in almost the same place while cooking. This time around the damage wasn't very bad at all.

Amazingly though this new cut seems to have fixed the "not quite knitted together" feeling  that my finger had since that Passover disaster. I wouldn't have asked to have another slip of the knife but this latest one has done  a world of good.

We are at peak cherry season. The early sour cherries of the season are past us.  I bought 3 pounds of deeply colored beautiful cherries yesterday. They are crisp, and deeply flavored and just at the ideal cherry flavor. We enjoyed some for dessert last night and this was my breakfast this morning. You just have to eat cherries while they are at their best.

I love this ghost ad for a travel agency just south of the Port Authority.