More Camino memories

Hello, everyone.

As we walked, we took pictures of interesting (to us) things.

Horreos are famous for being found in Galicia, but they are also found in Asturias. They were developed to store and dry grain in the humidity of a high-rainfall climate.

This slate-roofed horreo with the pointed stones on the top was along the "alternate"--read older--route before Mondonedo. It has the rectangular shape we saw on many of the Galician horreos.

This one is a square instead of a longer rectangle. The owners have hung their corn (maize for the Brits who might be reading) on the sides to dry.The roof appears to be made of tile.

These are some of the interesting things one can see if one is willing to walk through the villages instead of trying to find the remotest paths available.

About those Windows 10 updates again...

Hello, everyone.

A little while ago (like a week or three) Microsoft sent around a new cumulative update to Windows 10. Do they tell you they're going to break things with it? No-o-o-o. They just do it. And honestly if they were doing their jobs right they'd make sure that they weren't re-breaking things that they already broke once. (Or notify people, and maybe also software companies whose products are being trashed.)  Like Adobe Photoshop Elements. Which is unable to save a file.

The last time The Windows update broke Photoshop Elements, there was a lot of fussing on the internet about this stuff. A few weeks later, there was a sudden update to Adobe Photoshop Elements. And, lo and behold, the save function was working again.

Until this Windows update. Now it thinks there is insufficient RAM to save a picture. Again.

Really people? 😡

Anyway, I wanted to share a picture of a video game machine we encountered while walking after we left Tapia de Casariego. It was at snack time, and while we were sitting and having our cafe leche or whatever (I forget now) we saw this machine across the tiny bar.

The theme of the computer-pinball machine is "F-B-I" and the screen has a rotating series of silly pictures in the theme.

It was a surprise to see a game machine on this theme in Spain, on the other side of the world from where anyone would even think about that agency. But it's a small world and we never know what we will discover on the Camino.

Easter greetings

Hello, everyone.

I have been head down in a project lately--still not done--but wanted to wish all y'all a wonderful Easter.

Dahlias from the container garden, with cilantro stems as filler.

Blessings to you all.

New embroidery threads!

Hello, everyone.

I was inspired by the glowing recommendations of Mary Corbett (see the blog list on the right: Needle and Thread) and got some partial hanks of DMC Floche thread to try out.

Here it is being tested for bleeding. Though DMC has a good reputation I would hate to get the one odd bit that slipped through their quality control folks!

The threads in these twists are precut to a reasonable working length it looks like. I got them from Needle in a Haystack which is doing mail order through the internet as well as apparently having a local store in California.

Just for pretty

Hello, everyone.

In honor of spring, here is a photo from the local garden store

The flowers are white lantana, a native plant, and "Blue Daze", a low growing blue flower that surely has a real name, but I don't know what it it. They are planted in a cement planter in the store parking lot.

The pairing was so pretty that I made a picture of it with my phone.

Sewing: using a mundane shirt pattern for a hiking shirt

Hello, everyone.

I strolled through the posts of the Camino Portugues from 2015 and discovered that, while I have a picture of this blouse in action, it didn't make the blog.

This blouse was from a Burda magazine pattern. It has short sleeves, a keyhole front neck, and is otherwise a straightforward blouse.

The solid was a lightweight poplin, sadly with  DWR coating, easy to cut but did like to fray a bit. The mesh, seen in this photo being fitted with some stabilizing fabric before being attached to the bottom part of the back, was a stretch mesh. Like the poplin it was from Fabric.com.

I added a back yoke to the blouse by cutting the back bodice piece in two, then added seam allowance to the bottom part where the cut was, and to the top part, and then tracing a longer piece with a hem allowance. The top part, which was underneath, was cut from the mesh for breathability. The longer piece, which was over the mesh, was of the main blouse fabric. It was sewn at the shoulders and sleeve and of course at the neck. The hemmed top piece was tacked in the middle of the back so it wouldn't fly all over. (I did mention that the fabric was lightweight!)

Overall, the works well. The fabric is semi-sheer so works better with a light colored bra underneath. It doesn't breathe other than the mesh panel in back, because of the DWR coating mentioned above. Also the little keyhole in front wasn't easy for me to get just right on the button loop size. (Button loop was made from a piece of the blouse fabric, just a simple bias tube.)  But I found a button that worked with the loop I had.

Other times I have tried this trick haven't worked as well. It's important to consider what kinds of stabilizer you're using in seams. This goes double if you're adding in extra pockets! It's also, I think, better to use a blouse pattern than a tank pattern--well, if you have one of the Saf-T-Pockets tank patterns you're good to go. Those pockets are worked out already. Just use a lightweight fabric, preferable breathable.

It's fun to make gear for the Camino. It uses up stash if you already had some mesh or ripstop around the place, and it lets you think about the next Camino you're going to walk.

March in south Texas

Hello, everyone.

This is a picture of my garden this spring. We are well into the season now.

The green things at the front are Tuscan kale. They're really good in soup.

The tomatoes are cherries, Indigo Rose is the variety. They taste really good, so when local stores didn't stock them this year I ordered seeds. They turn very dark blue in the sunshine!

The red leaves are kale, too. I wanted some color for salads.

There were red radishes but they're almost all harvested now. I  might plant the extra tomato and kale plants into the former radish rows.

In other places there are some basil, some cilantro, and one lone parsley plant. (None of the others came up.) There are beans in two rows and another row of dill has been planted. Also there are some lettuces and arugula.

I like to sit in the afternoon and look at the garden and think about its progress.

Soon enough the nights will be very warm and the days will be hot. The garden will go dormant for the summer. Then I will sit inside in the afternoon and remember the cool days walking on the Camino.