Gripe, gripe - June 24, 2026

Yesterday, I tried to make a beaded rope necklace, not one with actual rope inside, but one made of nothing but beads and thread, to use as something from which to hang a clay pendant.  I had all the stuff  - beading needles from "way back when" and seed beads in a wide range of sizes and colors.  I watched a how-to video, multiple times.  Got this.  

The thread was a recent purchase (the "way back" stuff has dry-rotted), thin, clear, nylon line.  The video said I'd need 5 meters of it, which amounts to 20-something feet if my math is approximately right.  I measured about 6 arm lengths, threaded it through a needle, poured up a bowl of sparkly size 11 beads, sat down in my recliner, and got to work.

For one thing, I can't see worth a shit.  Tiny beads, miles of nearly invisible thread that kinked and curled and knotted, needles with tiny eyes.  

Lord have mercy.  

Do I have a beaded rope necklace today?  

Nope.

I gave up.  The battle was mostly with the nylon line.  It fought hard.  There's about 40 feet of it in the garbage can this morning.  And every time I sit down in the recliner, I hear beads raining onto the floor.  

Following that failed attempt, I found a pattern I like just as well and understand a little better.  I'm going out to buy groceries in a little bit, and while I'm out, I'm going to check the hobby store for a different kind of thread.  Going to the hobby store could be dangerous to my craft budget.

Speaking of buying groceries, have I mentioned how I hate this chore?

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Yesterday afternoon when I went to retrieve our garbage can from the roadside, I noticed that Nanny's garbage can was still at the end of her driveway and decided to take it home for her and check the garden while I was there.  I had not set foot in the garden in a couple of weeks.  The tomato plants never got staked and were just running across the ground, almost invisible in the weeds and grass.  It has rained a lot this month, so the ground is mushy.  In places, there are strips of landscape fabric and mounds of wood chips left over from last year.  The garden is a haven for fire ants, ticks, frogs, and no telling what else.  

I waded in and pulled enough weeds to find the tomatoes.  They do not appear to be faring any worse for laying on the ground.  We've had so much rain that the some of the fruit is baggy with water.  But there were a lot of firm green tomatoes.  I picked some for Nanny and some for us for fried green tomatoes.  The mosquitoes nearly ate me alive.