WTF-Beta

@AndyD Wow! Gorgeous place. One can fantasize.

Thanks for the tips, @Rontuner . I think the iron I bought is faulty. It would melt a little solder and then completely fail to melt any more, even with the solder pressed against the iron.

Nada, most likely. I'm not terribly keen on turkey, so I won't be getting any. Might do a stuffed acorn squash, with cranberries. Might try again to make the molded Waldorf salad that's one of my faves. It failed to gel last time! Thanks for mentioning sprouts I love them; will look for them. OK, maybe I am doing some sort of dinner.

In fact, I'm chuffed.

Years ago, I bought a skeleton of a wall sconce. All the wiring had been gutted, so I used it with reall candles for a while. Then it ended up in the upstairs stair well gathering dust.

About three weeks ago I was needing a sconce and it dawned on me that I could wire up that old skeleton that hadn't really done much all these years. So I ordered the parts online: sockets, insulators, candle sleeves, wire, and a rotary switch. I bought a cheapo soldering iron and solder at the hardware store.

The hardest part was getting the wire through the arms. Oh my gosh. Finally found that picture hanging wire had just enough stiffness and enough flexibility to go through. I taped the electrical wire to an end of it and a combination of pushing and pulling got them wired.

I blew the circuit breaker twice because I didn't understand the switch. I was expecting one with a black wire and a white wire. This one had two black wires and they were both smooth. A bit of poking around the webs and I soon realized that the switch is in-line on the hot wire (similar to those thumb wheels that one can install on a lamp cord). So a quick switcheroo of wiring and no more blown breaker.

I need to investigate soldering because that was not a very smooth process for me. The solder would take a while to melt (even though the iron was on for some time) and then would ball up and roll right off the wires. I think I need a variable temperature iron and maybe better quality solder. (I did use resin core as is stipulated for electrical wiring.)

Anyhoo, I'm very happy with how it turned out and it works! I need to go get decent bulbs for it this weekend because the ones have are far too bright.

WTF retirement home! I absolutely love it.

It's a long'ish video, so I'll say up front what she's asking... she's taking offers over $699K.

@AdagioM I have that same Anemone. My fave!

@AndyD Beautiful! I envy you having bush sized Fuchsia. Here, they are sold as potted plants and only last the summer.

I really need to get some Hellebores. They're pricey, though.

@Daniel

@Piano-Dad

@ShiroKuro Oh, no. I'm sorry you've been enduring these issues with your feet. And now, a broken toe! Our toes are so sensitive, too. I hope you heal quickly and well, on all fronts.

As if they all aren't. Like the city auditor in the article says, most of these ice raids and deportations have paper work solutions.

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2025/11/when-ice-came-for-jeremy-syracuses-underground-railroad-helped-him-escape-the-country.html

I've been following Marion for a few years now. She's so inspirational; always makes me want to try something new. I love her work, and these phenology wheels are just beautiful.

(I use her recipe for my Christmas cake, which I made last month. It's in a tin aging and developing deep flavor. That video is on her channel.)

If that's from a real estate ad, I would think truth in advertising would kick in. I loathe the nonsense we're having to live with these days on account of tech giants.

Wow! Very nice, SK. Both the arrangement and the playing.

"Affordability." Period. It worked in the election a few weeks ago in 3 disparate locations.

I'm tempted. I like sweet and salty.

Spam-Butterscotch Cookies.

Imagine the possibilities... bacon cookies! Kielbasa cookies!

Love it!

Fair Isle patterns, in themselves, are not difficult as long as only two colors are used in the same row, which is usually the case. The sweater I posted above has some rows where three colors are needed and I found that it took more attention to carrying the threads. Once a person is comfortable using two colors at once (some people carry a different color in each hand, some carry both colors in the same hand), they are set to go. The pattern takes care of itself. It's like following a recipe. More often than not the pattern is given in the form of a chart which gets repeated horizontally and vertically.

A typical chart:

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wtg, your friend's sweaters are stunning.

"Counterpoint The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century" by Knud Jeppesen, (c) 1992

"The Art of Performance" by Heinrich Schenker, edited by Heribert Esser, (c) 2000