Catherine liked to accumulate kitchen tools–I’ve found three crock pots, at least, squirrelled away in various places–and much of my curation over recent months has been figuring out what to keep and what to pass on; the likelihood of needing to serve tea to 30 people seems remote, so a great mug-purge is in the offing.

But there’s also gold in them thar hills, including this invaluable tool for making apple sauce:

It’s ungainly and takes up lots of room in the cupboard, but I cannot imagine how people without one make apple sauce.

Which is what I did yesterday:

We had some for breakfast; pleasantly tart.

A late summer gift from Catherine, who planted apple trees in our back yard many years ago. It’s a great year for apples.

After a an hour or so of round-peg-in-round-hole work, the painted IVAR chairs are assembled and in place.

To take this photo required I attend to a long-accumulating pile of things-to-go-elsewhere, so we also get a clean dining room out of the deal.

Our dining room chairs have forever been a bodged together collection of scavenged chairs that forever seem on the verge of collapse. Having spent a week living with IKEA IVAR chairs while on vacation, I ordered four while we were on our way home; they arrived Friday.

I wasn’t content to leave them entirely in their unfinished pine state, so Oliver and I went paint shopping at Home Depot yesterday. To my delight, I found that we could buy sample pots of paint for $5.00 each, and these proved more than enough paint for the job. The orange is “tart orange” and the blue is “beta fish,” both from Behr.

I painted two coats yesterday and am set to assemble everything this morning.

The IVAR chairs are $45.00 each; gone are the days of $150 delivery charges to Charlottetown from IKEA: delivery was $29 for four chairs, four chair pads (and, because IKEA, two towels).

We’ll move the sketchy chairs into the basement, ready should a time come when the world allows us a dinner party.

I made a lentil soup for supper tonight with Paul Offer’s carrots, onions, peppers, leeks and potatoes, kale from Cranbush Farms, lentils from Riverview Country Market, and Purity Dairy sour cream. Three minutes in the Instant Pot. Smoked paprika, cumin, garlic and pepper to spice.

I feel like I’ve levelled up on life. At the very least I’m ready for autumn.

Mandy Patinkin:

I’m so nervous about this election I’m making my own damn campaign videos. Please get involved! Join one of these orgs and commit to volunteering. Get friends involved. Don’t have any friends? That’s ok, you can get involved twice as much! JUST GET OUT THE VOTE! 

www.swingleft.org 
www.moveon.org
www.indivisible.org
www.thelastweekends.org

The Stakes his his first video.

Remember O’Keefe Lake Provincial Park: The Park That Never Was?

Well, I was able to make it disappear, at least from Apple Maps and Google Maps, simply by using their respective “report an issue” tools.

I was able to affect its removal from OpenStreetMap all on my own, so it will gradually fade from view from OSM-derived map tiles too.

While making a place that never was disappear from the Internet is a small feat, it’s satisfying nonetheless.

I received word this morning that Ron Gaskin died in August.

This tribute to him by Rebecca Campbell makes it clear that my fondness for Ron was not something unique to me. ”Ron approached everything with resolute principle, unconditional love, and a DIY ethic,” she writes;  we should all aspire to live like that.

Nearer My God to Thee, Ron.

In case you missed it, Borgen, the well-received Danish political drama, is now streaming on Netflix. Think The West Wing but with more political parties and more Denmark. Highly recommended.

A prototype for a paper construction that’s been rambling around my head for the last couple of days. Inspired by Oliver, who had us listen to a meditation about “moving beyond grief” on the ferry sailing home on Monday, which got me thinking about focusing backward versus focusing forward.

The swooshing sound, which was accidental, is perhaps my favourite part of the mockup.