My Private Lake

About a year ago I noticed a purplish bluish papule in the middle of my lower lip. I asked my dentist about it when I saw him. He told me I had probably bit my lip, but I didn't remember any such incident. After nine months when I started searching the internet about this type of spot, I decided to see a dermatologist. A venous lake was a possibility, but sometimes melanoma starts this way.
The earliest appointment was 3 months from the time I called.

This is not me; I took this from the internet. The location and size are similar to mine.

I wasn't too concerned because the papule didn't itch or bleed or wasn't asymmetric and didn't seem to be increasing in size.

Thursday I drove to Fort Wayne (we have no dermatologists in Winona Lake nor Warsaw). I do have a venous lake. It will not go away but probably won't get any bigger because it is not a tumor. It is a weakened area from years of sun damage that fills with capillary blood. The best test other than Mohs or a biopsy, is to press it (diascopy) with a glass slide to see if the papule blanches. The blood filling the papule completely disappeared when pressed. The dermatologist congratulated me for not taking anything for granted and having it checked by a professional. I guess I could have it removed by laser for cosmetic reasons. Right now, I am just letting it be.

A venous lake appears in older people with a life time of sun exposure. Having grown up in Southern California and later living in Dallas, Texas area, I have had lots of sun exposure. It is another one of those "badges" of growing older.

Budget Beading

At the Grace Village Swap Shop a few weeks back, I picked up a beaded necklace and two beaded bracelets. One of the bracelets was a hodgepodge of beads as though somebody took all of their leftover beads in the pink family and strung them on an elastic band. The necklace was mostly a coarse silver solid chain with a section of beads just in the center part of the neckline.

It has been almost a decade since I did any beading. I never took formal lessons; a lady in my church in Dallas who did beading held a few sessions after Bible study to share where to buy supplies and show us some of her jewelry. I looked at pictures in books to see how to do some of the finishing (clasps, ear posts, etc.) A few of us tried beading. I found the selection and stringing of the beads fun, but I never became proficient at the finishing. My loops for the earrings are always crooked, and I have had a few bracelets and necklaces fall apart because the crimp beads or knotting didn't hold.

I do still have the basic equipment though, and I decided to take the Swap Shop jewelry and rework the beads more to my liking. I had leftover beads and findings (clasps, ear wires, earring posts and clutches, etc.) to incorporate in the pieces. I should have taken photos of the original pieces but too late now.

I have the roll pliers, a bead crimper, and a wire cutter. There are other types of pliers, but I didn't invest much money into this hobby. One strings beads on a fine wire or braided cording to make necklaces. I have tried both, but all I had on hand was the wire.

A beading tray allows one to lay out the beads and rearrange them before stringing. The items lying in the tray are head pins and eye pins. The head pins are the most common way to make earrings.

I had these items in this box left from my previous beading experiences, except for the lower left corner which are the beads I took from the jewelry but didn't use.

Because the necklace had a small number of beads, I needed to add something in place of the chain. I cut off the chain, which was not links but solid metal, in effect turning it into junk.

Here is the new choker necklace and earrings I made.

I added some black cone beads and metal spacer beads in place of the metal chain. Some of the light pink beads were originally on one of the bracelets.

I liked these beads that have "flowers" inside. I used some posts I had bought on sale years ago but never used. Not sure they are the best match to the beads, but they were what I had. If I change my mind I can later put these beads on ear wires and use the posts in some other way. That is the beauty of beading; you can reuse and redo things. Have you done any beading?

Lots of Reading

I have done quite a bit of reading in the past month. One book was on loan from my sister-in-law, one I found through a link on a blog that led to a free read of 15 minutes length of newer books, and the third book was one that was recently donated to the Grace Village library.

That free read hooked me on Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit.

I found the book at the public library. As it turned out, the early chapters of the book were the more interesting. When he attempted to apply what we know about habits to the way companies market and influence us, it was not as convincing.

More than 40% of our daily actions are done out of habit. We are not making a conscious choice anymore. This is better for our brains as they can conserve energy and process important things more efficiently if they are not constantly having to make decisions. The problem arises when the habits are not conducive to our well-being. Habits are established through cues (time, place, people, etc.) which initiate the act (routine) which provides some kind of reward. He has some good questions to ask to help us identify these cues and rewards so we can change habits.

A Gentleman in Moscow was a delightful though long novel. My sister-in-law loaned Amor Towles book to my husband and subsequently I also read it. In post-revolutionary Russia, Count Rostov is put under house arrest in the Metropol Hotel in Moscow, though not in his comfortable suite but in a cramped room in the attic. This is preferable to execution, but it is a disruption to the pleasant life and routines he had established. The Count is a charmer, and he learns to adjust with the help of a young girl named Nina and the staff of the hotel. Still, as the years roll by, he sees little purpose in his life, until a surprise development rising out of his former relationship with Nina changes his life forever. Character development is the strong suit of the book. Mr. Towles demonstrates how the human spirit can transcend the ugliness and nastiness of despotic and bureaucratic governments.

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years exposed me to black middle-class America after the Civil War, through the Jim Crow years, into the Harlem Renaissance, and into modern culture.

Sadie (104 years old) and Bessie (102 years old) were a hoot. A look at the family's ancestry made it clear there was probably as much "white blood" as black running through their veins, but they were judged and treated in the same way as all blacks in the United States. Some of their forefathers loved but could not marry their black sweethearts; however they produced offspring. Their mother was a free black whose light skin made people think she was white, but she never tried to pass as white according to the sisters.

Their father who was born to slaves was just a boy when Emancipation came. His parents had served in the house and been taught how to read and write, and he saw how that made a difference in the opportunities available when they were freed. He sought education, becoming the first black bishop of the Episcopal church. He raised his family in Raleigh, North Carolina.

His 10 children were all directed to attain higher education which eventually led most of them to move to Harlem, New York. Bessie and Sadie graduated from Columbia University while working jobs to support themselves and pay tuition. They rubbed shoulders with famous blacks in New York City.

Neither married. They lived together most of their lives (a brief interlude as young adults pursuing employment). Sadie was the easy-going sister; Bessie the feisty protester, but they both lived by the values their parents imparted of helping others, especially other blacks, and being godly moral examples.

In the book, they both speculate about whether/when the United States would have a black president. Bessie was doubtful, but thought a black woman president would be best. Sadie felt strongly that there would be a black president but probably not in her lifetime. The book was published in 1993. How tickled they would have been to see Barack Obama elected. Bessie died in 1995, Sadie in 1999 at 107 years old, so neither saw that momentous occasion.

They were outspoken about the injustices they felt and saw, but they loved the United States dearly. They present from an interesting perspective life in a racist society, yet they were proud to be Americans.

Cabin at Wildflower Woods

Yesterday was such a beautiful day. My husband and I drove to the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site in Noble County. As we arrived, one of the state park employees gave us a heads-up about 40 school children on a field trip expected to arrive in about 15 minutes. We were invited to tag along on any of the tours of the smaller groups. We mostly did our own exploring, but we did join one of the school groups to tour the house as the normally-scheduled tours would not start until noon because of this field trip.

There is no charge to wander and enjoy the grounds. A private tour and a tour of the house is $7, $6 for seniors. There is a pleasant picnic pavilion next to the parking lot.

According to Wikipedia, the Hoosier author was born Geneva Grace Stratton on a family farm near Wabash, Indiana. Her family shortened her name to Geneve and she shortened it further to Gene. She was the youngest of 12 children. She married Charles Porter, a druggist, in 1886 in Geneva. To be close to his businesses in Decatur and Fort Wayne, the couple built a house in Geneva near the Limberlost, wetlands that Gene loved. She was an excellent nature photographer. She especially studied birds (owls a favorite) and insects (moths a favorite).

After becoming wealthy from her novels (she wrote 12 total), she decided to build a house of her own design on Sylvan Lake in Rome City. Her beloved Limberlost was being drained for agricultural use. The "cabin" was completed in 1914.

Imagine sitting on the porch enjoying the natural beauty.

Gene dictated her writings to a typist. The typewriter is still in her cabin. In her plant room, she would open wide the windows and put bird food on the wide sills. She didn't mind at all if the birds chose to visit her inside as she potted plants.

The property was used as a Boy Scout camp for several years after Gene's death, but the state purchased it during the Depression. Some of her original furnishings are in the home. The chair above with its rope is an example.

Perhaps because of her exposure to Wabash with its early electricity, she installed electric lights in her cabin. She also had a coal-based central heating system and designed an outside feature to have ice blocks collected and stored in the ice house put in her kitchen icebox without entering the house. She had a darkroom built in this house to accommodate her photo avocation.

At the rear of her home, she planted formal flower beds (35) and erected an arbor.

The 120 acres also had natural woodlands which in the spring were full of wildflowers. We saw lots of trillium both in the garden and along the trails in the woods. A few other small flowers, too.

The formal garden is designed to have blooms spring through fall.

A reconstruction of her carriage house is a nature interpretive center and gift shop. If you are wanting to purchase her books, both novels and nature studies, the shop has a good selection.

My husband who is a woodworker and likes to find new specimens for his "goblet collection", bought a book about Indiana trees.

Gene was advised to move to California for a climate better for her health. In 1919 she and her daughter Jeannette did relocate to California for most of the year, but she returned to the Cabin at Wildflower Woods for some of the summer. She was busy building a workshop on Catalina Island and a house in Bel-Air, a new Los Angeles area development. Because her books were being made into movies, proximity to Hollywood was beneficial. However, she didn't like the productions so started her own film company.

In 1924 her chauffeured convertible car was struck by a streetcar in Hollywood. She was ejected from the car and suffered a mortal head injury. She was buried in a cemetery in Hollywood though her desire had always been to be buried by the chinquapin oak on her Rome City property. Eventually her grandsons moved her body and that of Jeannette to her preferred site.

Many of Gene's books are available on the Gutenberg Project site for download. There are lots of YouTube videos by reputable organizations like Ball State, Indiana History Museum, etc. She was ahead of her time in the preservation and appreciation of natural areas and creatures in the state of Indiana.

Cookie Celebration

We can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Though the maintenance man asked us to keep running two fans (they are taking two back to the main campus) and the dehumidifier until tonight but not through the night, the end is in sight. Unfortunately, the flood damage abatement company is closed Saturday and Sunday so we have no way to get the probe to test for dry padding. However, it is really dry in the house. My little temperature/humidity gauge says 30% and my skin and mucous linings are feeling dried out.

I bought the Ghirardelli cookie mix with a coupon previously and when it went on sale I bought another box because they are good. Of course I like dark chocolate, but these seem richer than the refrigerated cookie dough. Time to bake up a treat in anticipation of the end of the flood mitigation efforts.

You add one egg and a stick of butter (hence the richness). This mix makes about two dozen good-sized cookies.

I did a little more KonMari folding.

In the spirit of the Young Mum, I am not showing my underwear drawer. These are my nighties. The brightest square is my swimsuit. I have a new dresser I ordered with one less drawer coming in 4-6 weeks; I am trying the folding to see if it saves space. I think it does. The YouTube videos take quite awhile to go through with this purger/organizer but she mostly adheres to KonMari. Her folding is a little different but works.

This afternoon I am going to Goodwill for the half-off-price sale to look for some decorating books. The sun is shining and my whole day is looking brighter.

Tuckered Out

We are still in the flood mitigation process. After about 28 hours of working to dry things out, we have made good progress. Instead of  squishy soggy carpeting, we just have damp spots. It is a lot of work to keep rotating the fans though.

 The little black box is an ionizer to keep smells down. The maintenance man who used a wet vac along side my husband's wet vac, then a water extractor on Tuesday, came back Wednesday afternoon to use a shampooer with just water to rinse the laundry detergent out of the carpeting. Then he applied a spray the housekeeping supervisor supplied to capture molecules that might mold.

We were really blessed that Grace Village had the equipment and knowledge to tackle this clean-up project. They did rent a dehumidifier from a Warsaw company that does water damage abatement. The company told them to run it for at the minimum 2 days. It was started Wednesday morning and will continue to at least lunch time tomorrow (Friday). Tomorrow sometime a probe will be borrowed which can measure dampness in the carpet pad. That will determine whether to keep running the dehumidifier or whether we are done.

It doesn't look like much water being collected but there is a steady movement of water in the tube.

With the constant hum of the dehumidifier and the roar of the fans, I haven't slept very soundly the past two nights. Tonight we should be able to turn the fans down to the low setting which will help a lot.
Hopefully, tomorrow we can start putting back the things we had to hurriedly move out of the path of the seeping water.

The shoes out of the closet where they were lined up on the floor.

The books quickly taken from the hall bookcase so the furniture could be moved.

I have been sorting through the books; not using the Konmari method much since that requires holding each book to see if it sparks joy. While I am stressed out from the constant noise, joy is in short supply. But I have purged out some, mostly cookbooks.

I will be glad when life returns to normal. We probably do face a reflooring job in the bathroom.

A Bit of Kondo-izing

I decided to sort through my kitchen towel drawer while the maintenance man and my husband ran the wet vacs and water extractor machine. It kept me out of their way.

One of the characteristics of the KonMari method is folding. She does not like piles of things on top of each other. I didn't do that in my bedroom, but I kind of like the result in the towel drawer. I was getting in the habit of using the same top towels over and over again. Now I can see the pretty colors and choose something else. I did get rid of 6 towels. I do not store my Christmas towels in the kitchen; they are with some Christmas placemats, etc.

Since I had to take a lot of my books off the hall bookcase so we could move it from the creeping water, I guess I will at least get started in going through those books, which are mostly cookbooks. May as well have something good come from my crisis.

Flood!

I started my washing machine, added the detergent, and left to remove some withdrawn books from the computerized data base. After awhile, I realized I didn't hear the washing machine agitating. As I walked toward the hallway, there was a strange white swirl pattern on the carpet. Yikes! The washing machine overflowed!

In the hallway bathroom, the bath mat and one of the throw rugs was actually floating there was so much water in there. Our bathroom flooring is a wood-look-alike laminate. I immediately called maintenance to report my flood. I started mopping up water into a bucket from the bathroom. Unfortunately, the water soaked the carpet in the hall, into the living room, into the closets in the bedroom next to the laundry area (which is behind doors in the hall). Most of the water was vacuumed up in the bathroom; now we are trying a water extractor on the carpet.

Please pray that we will be able to take steps to prevent mold. I have asthma so mold would be very bad.