Saturday--traditionally chore day

When I was growing up, Saturday was chore day. Today because I am getting the house ready for guests, the day became one of seemingly endless chores! Laundry is satisfying when it is done--somewhat forboding at the outset. There are now clean sheets for the new air mattress that my guests will use. Blowing that up will be an adventure. More of the living room has emerged--it is amazing what one can do to a living room if one keeps using it as a general sorting space and forgets that it is supposed to be a gracious living area. It will be closer to its real purpose by Wednesday when my sister and her husband arrive.

There is too much yarn in the living room--forget yard sale, maybe what I should do is a living room, yarn sale. (Laughing as she writes this.) Several years ago I combined red and green sport weight yarn that has since been discontinued and made a hat with a matching neck ring (the turtleneck without the sweater) and small mitts. I found the neck ring the other day and have been wearing it. One mitt surfaced today. Where is the other?

The kitchen sink has been the repository of jars and bottles that I have been cleaning out of the refrigerator as well as things that have just been left there. Wash, wash, wash, peel, scrape, scrub. They are quite pretty and will give me goodies to photograph for my squidoo lenses and I am glad--now I just have to find some place to put them. The sink is going to need either Zud or the Barkeeper's Friend to come clean.

Speaking of Squidoo lenses, I am nearing the point of 50 and am determined to bring two or three more up to speed in the next two days in between the scouring, scraping and sorting. A different kind of chore, but still necessary.

And then there are the Halloween designs for my cafepress shop. Halloween is not a holiday that inspires me. It never has been. I love All Saints and All Souls the two days that it leads up to though so I have a design for it too. Guess who is going to be busy for the next two days?

And then just as in the good old days when I was young, procrastination set in. As I dug through the contents of the red chair--a big old armchair that has been full of my stuff for the last several years--I turned on the tv and found the last half hour of Skylark, part of the Sarah Plain and Tall series. I love this series and sat enchanted through two hours of the last movie, the one that I did not know even existed.

It has been a good day and I am glad and grateful. Now I am going to go to bed and read Mary Stewart. Hoping to finish the second book before my family arrives. There is something satisfying about reading an old familiar book for the repeat time, and this is one of those.

Yogurt Cheese and the movie Witness

After pouring the whey off the first batch of yogurt cheese, I felt wasteful. The whey isn't bad, it is just wet. Tooling around on the Internet, I discovered that the whey can be used in making soup (which I had guessed would be a use) and also in baking bread.

While it is actually chilly enough at the moment to consider soup where I live, using the whey in baking seemed more attractive. Actually, I decided to use it in buckwheat pancakes. The buckwheat pancakes begin as a mix from a local grocery store, Piazza's in Palo Alto. The brand is Bob's Red Mill, which can be found on the Internet,

http://www.bobsredmill.com/

The mix requires an egg, two tablespoons of oil (I substitute two tablespoons of melted butter) and water to the consistency that the maker wishes. The whey made a perfect substitute for water, increasing the protein in the pancakes. In addition, the pancakes rose more than I have ever seen them rise and were delicious. I will do this again. Soon.

After making these yummy pancakes for lunch, I settled down to knit a bit and discovered the movie, Witness, on tv. This is one of the most beautiful movies of all time. I have always been intrigued by the uses of work sequences in a way that was reminiscent of musicals and certainly looked choreographed. The rhythm of the movement is dance like. The movie is restrained and elegant, showing the beauty of the Amish way of life and of farm living like no other that I am familiar with. The love story is delicate, sensitive and poignant.An outstanding movie and a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.