The cradle, house, doors, windows, trees and I will rock. As predicted, the wind has whipped up. We measured sustained winds over 40 knots with gusts over 50. Our trusty wind gauge shows it.

No true damage, small branches down, except the garden has suffered from the wind and salt water that has sprayed it. Unfortunately for the garden, these winds are here until at least next Thursday! I’ll keep rinsing and propping and protecting my fragile seedlings.

So we worked on indoor projects, food, fiber and woodworking. The double bed frame is almost complete. We have to test how close we want the slats for the foam mattress. It’s always interesting when two control freaks work together on a project, but we ultimately jelled and did good work together.

On the food front, I tried two experiments and they both worked. I wanted to see if I could make yogurt from the probiotic supplement, Culturelle. I recommend it to my patients all the time as a great source of lactobacillus acidopholus, also found in yogurt, so I thought why not. A quick Google search showed that it might be possible. I made it the same way I make yogurt from starter (which is just 1/3 cup yogurt). I boiled water, added the milk powder (delicious whole milk powder is readily available and inexpensive in Australia, why not in the United States?) and let it cool to 115 degrees f. Then I opened one Culturelle capsule and tapped it in. I preheated a wide mouth thermos with boiling water, emptied it and added the warm milk – probiotic mixture and let it sit overnight.

I only tested it with two cups of milk, which I don’t think was enough to keep warm in the large thermos and although the flavor was good, it wasn’t firm. So I used some for a cucumber salad and saved 1/3 cup to do it again with a liter. It worked and is delicious. Plus one capsule costs less than a dollar so it may be economical too. I’ll try to use it again as a starter in a couple of days.

Next I made potato chips in the microwave. I have a gadget at home, thin mandolin and silicon baking tray, but alas it’s 16,418 km away! And Tim was out of chips. So I pared thin slices of potato salted them and placed them on a tray with ridges. And nuked them until they were lightly brown and crisp in two minute intervals. I checked the in between and turned them once. They were crisp, salty and delicious. Next time, I’ll try a little vinegar too.

Somehow, I have managed to knit, weave and spin with very little accessories. My shetland lace shawl is more than a yard long and past the halfway point.
I’m enjoying spinning cotton on the little charkha book loom and have used my cotton yarn in inkle and tablet weaving projects.

Just trying to stay warm until the wind stops blowing. Waves were crashing at least 100 feet up the cliffs, not really captured in this photo. And yet, another pretty sunset.