Inge Leonora-den Ouden

Aurora House wrote: ...
dill and fennel are able to hybridize with each other so I'm not surprised they look similar. (I couldn't get the quote button to work)

Hi Aurora. That's interesting. I didn't know. So now it's possible I have a new cultivar, something like 'fennill'?

John F Dean wrote:There is an old saying that, “ life begins at 40.”   I found it offensive when I was younger.  I thought it discounted anyone younger. But when I hit 40 many things changed in my life.  I became far more directed in my goals….both defining them and seeking them.  

Yes, that's a saying here in the Netherlands too ('het leven begint met 40'). Of course when you're under 40 you have a life ... but about around 40 there's often a change in life. It may sound strange, but at the age of 40 I had my first paid job! That wasn't my own choice (I'm glad to be retired now), but it was a big change.

So, Dez, enjoy your new phase in life!

Dez Choi wrote:
Have you ever been 40-something..?

Is that a question? I can answer 'yes'. It was long ago I was 40-something ... (at the moment I'm 67)

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Two things about line drying:  the clothes are “stiffer”.  I have found that if I hang them over the line so that the two halves rub against each other, and turn them at some point, they get softened.

The other:  the lint never gets filtered out or blown away, nor the dog and cat hair.

I used to run them 10 minutes without heat, but in my current homeless state I have been doing laundry here and there, and am finding that many new and modern dryers don’t even HAVE an ‘air only’ setting!

Anyone have any suggestions how to clear the lint from time to time?  The best I can figure so far is when I take dry clothes off the line is to shake them, if possible producing a snap, as in shaking a rug…

I don't have a dryer. For a few years I had one (second-second-hand) and from that time I remember everything (clothes, towels, bed sheets) was softer. because during my life I had many more years without a dryer than with one I am used to laundry being 'stiff'. And I am used to the needed shaking (before hanging and afterwards when it's dry) of every item. Yes, with a 'snap'.

Hanging outside in winter here doesn't work (I think I wrote that before). Our winters are too wet (rainy, cloudy, foggy, etc.) and not so freezing. Indoor drying racks are not unusual here. In this neighbourhood with cheap housing not everybody has a dryer. Luckily I have a kind of mud-room, there's my indoor laundry-line.

Dez Choi wrote:Post 918
Day 169 [timing]
2023.11.20 monday, morning entry

Hi Dez ... Where are you? How are you doing? I haven't seen news from you for a whole week!

If I had made the right photos I could have this BB too ... Next bag I'll try not to forget.

Today I harvested my parsnips.
The first frosty night was there (last night) and the soil at the allotment garden was frozen ... So I thought: if it goes on freezing like this, I can not get the parsnips out!
Most of them were in one bed. Some were in the next bed between raspberries ... I did not get all of those out.
Because I'm totally new at growing annual vegetables I am very happy with my parsnips, even though they are only about a dozen. Four of them look like real parsnips (same size as the ones that are for sale), the others are smaller, or have a funny shape ... One had four legs!

I sliced the larger parts and they're in the dehydrator now. Of the smaller parts some were in my risotto today, some in a smoothy, and some waiting for tomorrow in the fridge.

Almond Thompson wrote:some things I have found over the years:
Get your clothes on for the day-pajamas may seem nice but it's not good for your sense of time.
Keep a schedule-eat on time, do your morning chores/routine.
Go to bed early+get up early. Keep your circadian rhythms consistent.
Craft projects+handy projects are fun but be very careful not to overdo it, I have a bad habit of working on yarn projects all day and then my carpal tunnel acts up for a couple days.
VERY IMPORTANT to make yourself get outside at least once a day!!!
Get projects done indoors that you don't ant to in the summer, like home repair.
Go visit friends!

I agree. I do a lot of knitting and other 'creative projects', but do my best to do some things outdoors every day too.

In a different thread on about the same topic I showed some of my recent knitting projects.
So I can put the same photos here too:

this will become a blanket. I started it in the round, then made it into a square, then into a rectangle ... and now I'm waiting for more yarn. The wool is from Kempisch Heideschaap, a Dutch type of sheep, and plant-dyed by 'Wools Of Holland' (sounds like a brand name, but it's a small two-person business in the south of the Netherlands).


Because I can't do without a knitting project, while waiting for the yarn I started another project. This will be a 'capelet'. The yarn is unraveled Swedish wool (don't know the brand, I bought it from someone on Ravelry).

Cat, thank you for what you did as a Boot. I loved reading your thread.