Homemade butter, writing bits, and a serendipitous sewing room

Hello dear readers,

I write to you once again from my office, the windows shut tight to the wildfire smoke that’s travelled to us over the mountains. Much of southern British Columbia is on fire right now, and while I’m lucky enough to live near the coast—where the wildfires generally don’t reach—we still deal with the side effects of the fires.

Today, holed up in my office, is a get things done day. I have this blog post to complete, and a patreon post to record audio for, and another chapter to write in the first draft of my novel. I also need to film and edit a video for Wednesday, figure out what I’m posting for Friday, and pack for a short road trip later in the week¹. Then add in measuring the space where our new fridge² will go, and ordering an omnichord³, and today is a busy day indeed.

This all comes after a blessedly relaxed weekend, where the most I did was make my own butter for the first time⁴. Well, that’s not entirely true—C and I finally cut the drywall away under the stairs, which was the next step in the redo-the-entire-entryway-and-new-little-basement project. This mouthful of a project is coming to an end, which I can only say I’m relieved by. Nothing went wrong—I’m just tired of the house being a construction zone!

On the basement project: since I finished painting a little over a week ago, it’s transformed into a mini sewing room, which was never the intended purpose but appears to have happened anyway. I have an old china cabinet of my mom’s down there—stuffed full of fabric, with two shelves for actual china I had languishing in bins—and a table with my sewing machine on it. We also moved a bulky old mirror down there, which was terrible where it was before⁵ but works perfectly in the new space.

Because of this serendipitous move, I’ve continued sewing a pair of pajama shorts and a pair of the widest pants I’ve ever seen, plus worked on a short-sleeved blouse I’ve been wanting to make for a while. Before, I put off sewing for other projects because it meant hauling out the sewing machine and the ironing board, and cluttering up a space I used for other purposes. Now, everything is in one place, and nothing needs to be put away, so I envision a lot of sewing in my future!

In other news: I’m trying very hard to enjoy summer while it’s here, but with the heat and the smoke, I can’t say I’m finding much joy in it. I am reminding myself, though, that it’ll be autumn before I know it—then I can harvest my pumpkins, drink tea every day, and wear all the cozy sweaters I’ve knit in the past couple of years. Until then I will pine, and yearn, and get lost in the book I’m writing in hopes it’ll make me forget how hot I am.

Until next time,

—Catherine

FOOTNOTES

¹ Though, honestly, this is up in the air (no pun intended). The place we’re supposed to go is close to where a new wild fire sprung up last week, and frankly, I don’t think I can handle the air quality there—I’ll get an instant migraine, and that sounds like the worst way to spend time away from home.

² We’re getting a second (small-ish) fridge for our basement, since the fridge we got last year for our kitchen is quite a bit smaller than the old one.

³ I’ve been coveting this fun little instrument for over a year now, and it’s about time I order one.

⁴ It was so easy. I can’t believe I’ve never tried it before, but now I don’t think I’ll ever buy butter again.

⁵ In the midst of moving things around, it ended up near a door between mine and C’s offices. It was mainly in the way, but we didn’t have anywhere else to put it, so I’m glad it’s found a new home where it’s useful.

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