Does the blog that this will be posted to already exist or is it a future blog as well as a future post?

“India Street Lettering” hardbook by Pooja Saxena in yellow dust jacket with many pictures of Indian street signs.

Interior page of “India Street Lettering” showing three images of street signs.

Tariff delayed. Not tariff denied.

Brick fireplace with field stone border with the edge of a yellow loveseat and a blue and white rug on a hardwood floor.

SURGERY UPDATE:
Current view from my chair because I am already home!
Thank you all for the positive vibes and healing energy you sent.

POV pic over white hospital blankets of toes in grey grippy socks at the end of a hospital bed.

SURGERY UPDATE:
Woke up from surgery around 4pm today (Thursday.) I am feeling OK, but have been asleep most of the day. I recently got out of bed with a nurse’s assistance and walked a dozen steps and now I am settled into my hospital bed for a night of recovery.

I am lucky enough to have a day job and, therefore, health insurance. There are folks on here I am fond of & no good way to share this news. Surgery is this week & I have the support of a loving community. Looking forward to recovery & a chance to practice, and get better at, painting letters.(2of2)

Color printout of an illustration of a colon with colored numbered boxes labeling various sections. A small jagged burst of red has been painted within a cluster of pointer lines and hand-painted black letters over the full image say, “SICKNESS COMES FOR US ALL”

For someone that has never had health issues, it is shock to get a colon cancer diagnosis, even if I’ve previously claimed to know that anyone who lives long enough will face illness and disability and have longed for a country that supported people accordingly. (1of2)

(I was literally fighting with the materials at times while making this because I mixed the paint wrong.) Woodbadge is, by the way, adult Scout leadership training that we will be recruiting for at Saturday’s Klondike Derby, competition of winter Scout skills among many local troops. (2of2)

Large brown hand-painted hardboard sign with “LEARN ABOUT WOODBADGE” in white block letters around a Wood Badge Scout logo with hand-lettering that say “Free Coffee Here” in a blank and white outline.

Social media is often limited to sleekest, shiniest and most perfect. Beginner foibles appear less often. But (Surprise!) my very first hand-painted sign is not up to the same standards as decades of practiced hand-lettering carved on clay. But it can still be celebrated as a first step. (1of2)

Big sheet of paper on a Formica table with rulers, a protractor, eraser and Heavy Pages Press pencil. Starter block letter sketch of “ASK ABOUT WOODBADGE” with a carefully drafted Woodbadge logo pentagon and script that says”Free Coffee Here.”

Dug out the Heavy Pages Press pencil to sketch my first draft of my first hand-painted sign (for Scouts.)

15 newly pinched grey stoneware pots on a canvas covered studio table.

Round two of production potterying.

There is no method for a multitude of likes from the same account, so I can only give one like, but there are more head kisses in my heart. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

18 small to very small pinch pots of still wet dark grey stoneware clay sitting on a canvas-covered studio table.

It has been a very long time since I last sat down with a newly purchased bag of stoneware clay and just pinched pots for a full evening.

Double crust apple pie cooling on the kitchen counter with “ONE A DAY” inscribed in the top crust.

The 3rd Sunday of each month is potluck at Lake Forest Friends Meeting (Quaker.)

Five golden brown pancake spheres on a white dinner plate.

By the third batch I had almost learned how to turn an aebleskiver. (Made with Danish Windmill mix from Elk Horn, Iowa and Grandma Samson’s pan.)

Honey-toned beer with white foam head in a vintage graphic New Year glass beside a big brown beer bottle with a gold highlighted label with images of holly leaves and an abbey.

Happy New Year! The third of the big Belgians this season, a gift from the head of my department, Val-Dieu Winter Ale. Absolutely charming, but difficult to describe: light with a Riesling sweetness a very subtle undertone of beer bitterness.

Dark copper ale with foamy head in a vintage graphic Christmas glass beside a Southern Tier beer can

Second and final beer of the requisite Christmas beer triumvirate, Southern Tier 2XMAS Spiced Double Ale - the entire holiday spice box overturned into a lively effervescent dark copper ale.

Big St. Bernardus bottle beside a vintage graphic Christmas glass sitting on the Christmas dinner table with. Marimekko tablecloth, plaid napkins, teak MCM flatware, Christmas patterned plates and two gingerbread houses

Christmas dinner’s beer was St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, one of the requisite triumvirate of Christmas beers (although only two are currently acquirable, RIP Anchor Steam) with a high alcohol warmth, perfectly balance dark, sweet, fruit-flavor-tinged ale is rounded out with a lovely full maltiness.

Six’s golden pies just taken out of the oven

Six golden pies cooling on a wire rack

Mostly tasted like current day mincemeat, but the coarse minced meat added a dinner appropriate heartiness. Half of a pie of indifferent bigness was an ample amount for a meal. (3of3)

Crust filled with mincemeat with minced dates on top

Mincemeat pie with top crust sealed

Six pies on a jelly roll pan

Six pies ready to go on the oven with egg wash applied

These pies are hand raised, i.e. made without a pie tin, which is basically making a pastry pinch pot! The raw dough is dark because of the high brown sugar content (220g of brown sugar to 600g flour for all six pies.)

Whole 6" mincemeat entree pie sitting on a Christmas plate with Swiss chard and roaster root vegetables on a red and Green Marimekko tablecloth with a Christmas plaid napkin and MCM teak-handled flatware

Whole 6" mincemeat entree pie sitting on a Christmas plate with Swiss chard and roaster root vegetables on a red and Green Marimekko tablecloth with a Christmas plaid napkin and MCM teak-handled flatware

Six dough balls waiting to be formed into crusts

Rich brown dough pinched into a bowl-shaped crust

Ye Olde Pie Shoppe, Graeme’s pie of the month (20th birthday present): Six Minst Pyes of an Indifferent Bigness (1624) example of an authentic late Tudor, early Stuart pie. Made with lamb and veal this old mincemeat recipe is from back when mincemeat, despite its sweetness,was an entree.(1of 3)

The pie is a custard that is made with boiled cider (a syrup made by reducing cider to one quarter its volume) and crushed common crackers. (I am not sure what a common cracker is, I used Ritz.)

Bird’s eye view of a pie in a grey and white speckled enamel pie tin with bits of a lattice crust visible where it didn’t sink into the dark cider-colored custard filling.

Forgot to post Graeme’s Ye Olde Pie Shoppe pie of the month (a 20th birthday present) made last weekend: Boiled Cider Pie. When published in the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook in 1990 they figured the recipe could be 150 years old.

Exactly what you’d expect from a Belgian Christmas: alcohol warmth from the high ABV, dark and sweet with notes of anise and stone fruit. Looking forward to comparing it to tonight’s St. Bernardus. (2of2)

Big Scaldis Noël brown beer bottle with a shiny blue, winter-scene label beside a vintage graphic Christmas glass filled with dark beer with a cream-colored foamy head.

Fortunate to have multiple big bottles of Belgians in the queue for this Christmas. For Christmas Eve we had this Scaldis Noël with, per Grandma Samson’s tradition, beef barley vegetable soup. (1of2)

Artfully arranged stack of vintage Marshall Field Christmas boxes atop a cabinet with vintage paper houses, wood reindeer and a hand-carved Santa scattered throughout.

Annual advertising display for Marshall Field (The Store of the Christmas Spirit) was put up last night. (Sponsored post?)

Delightful! Cherry/berry flavors from the wine barrel + Christmas spices are reminiscent of Glühwein. A true winter warmer: sweet and lightly malty with an ABV (12.5%) that’s NSFW. (2of2)

Beer the color of wildflower honey in a vintage graphic Christmas glass beside an Off Color can depicting mice at a chaotic office party, including one in a Santa suit.

Off Color’s Barrel Aged Beer for Dealing with Your Job: winter ale aged in pinot noir French oak barrels with spices added (The ribald office party on the can art confirms that this is a Christmas beer.) (1of2)

Golden-hued hazy cider in a vintage graphic Christmas glass, next to a silvery cider can with a cool tone winter skating scene and lovely “Happy Holidays” lettering.

Stormalong Holiday Spiced Cider - The best canned cider I have ever tasted. The first ingredient is Fresh Pressed Apples (not apple concentrate) and you can taste the freshness. The spices are a perfectly balanced Christmas mix, but the cider itself is the true standout. Highly recommend!

Very malty, very dark. Spiced, but in a way that I can’t pick out which spices. It is a very different beer, but the dark earthy profile of the spice mixture reminds me of the dearly departed Anchor Steam Christmas Ale. (2of2)

Very dark beer in a vintage Christmas tumbler sitting next to a Schafly Christmas Ale bottle with a vintage inspired label featuring an illustration of a Christmas tree lit with candles.

Found some new Christmas beers this season. I am surprised I hadn’t had Schafly’s before since they were around when I still lived in St. Louis, but I don’t remember ever seeing it before. (1of2)