Jake Kupiec

August 2026 Bookstack

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:August 30, 2026
Post category:Bookstack

The August read-aloud selection was Sea of Charms, another charming romantasy by Sarah Beth Durst, author of Enchanted Greenhouse and Spell Shop. This is the third book in that series, and it did not disappoint. I love the characters and the amazing worlds and creatures Durst has brought to life. It’s also a beautiful book. This series was recommended by Carrie at The Dog Eared Book, which recently relocated to Edenton, North Carolina. She offers great book recommendations on Instagram and easy online ordering with fast shipping.

We just started Brigands and Breadknives, the third book in the Legends and Lattes series by Travis Baltree. It’s great to get plunked down with the Legends and Lattes crew again. Not sure where the story will lead, but it’s cozy fantasy for the moment.

My August 2026 makerspace

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:August 30, 2026
Post category:Makerspace

Declutter summer concludes

August brought dumpster days, recycling, and Freecycling galore to Chez Haiku. We had never rented a dumpster before. A 19.5-yard dumpster in one’s driveway is a sight to behold. (Why the half yard? No idea.)

Unfortunately, our house and yard were full of random stuff when we moved in. We got rid of some things over the years, but some items proved harder to get rid of due to size and shape. Our neighbor rented a smaller dumpster, so the lightbulb came on, and we made it happen.

It took two days to get almost everything into the dumpster. (We had allowed ourselves four days, so we did more than we planned.) We didn’t fill it top to bottom, but we did fill it front to back. We feel so much lighter, and the garage is practically empty now.

The big win was metal recycling. There’s a new place for metal recycling, and they took everything and—surprise!—paid us money for it. We need to get rid of a recalled A/C unit, and it turns out they’ll take that, too.

Most of my Star Trek toys went to father-and-son fans, via Freecycle. Habitat for Humanity ReStore took a load, too. We have more room to breathe, and we opened up space for creativity and maybe even a home gym.

Photo by Shannon Kunkle on Unsplash

Machine of the month: August 2026

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:August 30, 2026
Post category:Sewing Machines

Saved from the parts pile: Kenmore 158.1813

Brin, our first rescue dog and my heart dog, had the world’s worst photo on her adoption profile–think ugly duckling. It was bad. So I was surprised how beautiful she was when we picked her up–and she just became more beautiful. This Kenmore has a similar story. Its adoption photo (auction listing) was similarly rough, and I didn’t feel bad buying her for parts. I acquired this sewing machine mainly for its foot controller to get my 158.1913 operational again.

Then I kinda fell in love with it, started to clean it, and discovered she was a great machine that suffered from bad studio lighting and years of neglect. She was soooooo sluggish and the lever that lowers the feed dogs was stuck, but some patience and sewing machine oil got it moving again. Now she purrs and is quieter than some of my newer machines.

The only problem was that I needed to find another foot controller. It’s an unusual model; only a few Kenmores use the #6817, but they show up on eBay now and then. Finally, one was listed on eBay last week for a decent price. It arrived yesterday. Now my parts machine is whole again, and my 1913 has its own foot pedal. Since I found a complete set of accessories for the 1913, the 1813 gets the original set of pattern cams that I acquired. I also have extra super-high-shank attachments, and I think I can put together a good set for each of my three high shanks.

Ultrasonic cleaner: the gadget I didn’t know I needed

I got an ultrasonic cleaner a while back and finally got brave and set it up. Wow, it’s loud. But also a miracle worker. It’s cleaned up dirty, greasy, and rusty parts and makes everything shiny. First I cleaned the spool pins, needle plates and screws, hook assembly, and bobbin case. Then I got brave and put the 1813’s bobbin winder in there. It was stuck open and caked with grease and dust. It came out good as new! Magic! It took some care to get all the water out of the winder, but it wasn’t too bad.

The good and bad (it’s mostly good)

Now that the bobbin winder is operational again, the 1813 still needs a new bobbin winder tire, and that might prove to be an adventure since it looks bigger than my other Kenmore bobbin winder tires. This is a mostly metal machine, but the thread stand and back nameplate are plastic and discolored. The plastic pieces on some old Kenmores become an orange-y-yellow color over time. There’s a way to restore the original beige using hair color developer cream that I might try on the thread stand, but it won’t work on the nameplate. The process removes the lettering, too.

The 1813 is a flat bed machine, so it needs a base or a cabinet. That’s a downside. Although I see cases without machines, the case for a flatbed Kenmore hasn’t come across my radar yet. It made me long for shop class again. I wish I had learned more when I had the chance! There’s a chance that a 3D-printed piece will support the needle end of the machine and keep it steady. I also plan to expand by thrift store searches. A flatbed case is out there! I briefly considered buying another Kenmore in a case for the parts, but we see how well that worked out here. No machine left behind!

This will be a great machine for someone who likes to sew through phone books! That’s a joke, of course, but these old metal machines have a reputation for handling heavy-duty sewing with ease. I want to do a full test sew with the pattern cams once I have the bobbin winder tire. So there might be an update!

Gardening journal: August 2026

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:August 30, 2026
Post category:Gardening Journal

August has been hot and dry. It’s the toughest month for me. I water to keep things from dying, and that’s not the most satisfying work.

But you know who doesn’t care about the heat? Dahlias. Dahlias don’t care. I started with three tubers about four years ago and added another last year. When I first bought the tubers, I wasn’t sure anything would come of them. But boy did they! And they multiplied. This year I had to scrounge enough big pots for them. I planted them somewhat willy-nilly as a result, so there are a few dahlia mashups. I finally got proper tags to label them and hope to have some to give away in the spring.

You know who else laughs at August? Geraniums. If there’s an employee of the month among my flowering plants, the award would go to the geraniums. They started blooming early, and they are still at it! I brought my geraniums in for the winter for the past three years, and I have some giant plants at this point.

Give me the slip(s)

I dove into the wonderful world of sweet potatoes. No one is as good as my friend and master gardener, Darrel. He’s the sweet potato whisperer. I got going too late for this year, but I learned that if you half-bury a sweet potato in potting soil under a humidity dome, and mist it to keep it from drying out, it will produce multiple slips (or seedlings). It’s been a little piece of gardening magic.

Burying the lede

I forgot to lead with the REALLY BIG NEWS. We have apples! Our mini apple tree that we added in April was enough to jumpstart our mature, but previously non-fruit-bearing tree, and we have been eating apples for a couple of weeks.

AND, I successfully grew beans for the first time. After an epic fail with bush beans last year, I bought some Turkey Craw pole bean starts at a plant sale in May. A squirrel demolished one seedling, but the other three thrived and are now doing their best Jack-and-the-Beanstalk imitation. I need to use a ladder! I have exactly one sunny-ish spot in my yard, four raised beds off the sunroom deck with a southern exposure. I learned about shellies, and I’m going to try my hand at seed saving with these and keep the tradition going.

AND, we had an echinopsis bloom for the first time in the PNW. I really had given up hope. I was so excited that I texted Darrel at an ungodly hour. I think he understood. The blooms only last a day, after all.

So many gardening surprises for one month.

You gotta eat: how to learn to love tofu

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:August 30, 2026
Post category:You Gotta Eat

We eat a lot of tofu. We are running low when there are only three packages on hand.

Some people don’t like tofu: this post is for you.

So why eat tofu? I can think of several reasons:

Add protein to your diet without the downsides: cholesterol, calories, carbon footprint
Avoid dairy intolerance
Trying to switch to a plant-based diet
Low-cost protein
Versatile
Easy to buy
It’s a “clean” food
Trying to impress Jake

Okay, that last one’s a joke.

Tofu is plain on its own. I can eat it plain, but I wouldn’t start there.

If I were trying to work tofu into my diet, I would focus on cuisines and dishes I like, and then look for recipes that include tofu or use tofu as a swap.

Here are four recipes that give tofu a good name.

This Vegan Chicken Salad recipe by Sam Turnbull of It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken earned a spot in the regular rotation with its ease and versatility.
The Best Vegan Chicken Nuggets from Sweet Potato Soul. Great as a chicken substitute in other recipes.
Brown Sugar and Mustard Glazed Tofu, another recipe from Sam Turnbull at It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken.
Cold Tofu Salad With Tomatoes and Peaches. Nothing says summer like this salad from Hana Asbrink for the New York Times. We serve it on lettuce or mixed greens. Equally good with pears in place of the peaches. This might not be the dish to start with if you are new to the wonderful world of tofu, but we have made it more times than I can count.

Let me know if you go on a tofu adventure. Don’t give up easily. Stay open if you can. Bon appétit, y’all!

Photo by Christina on Unsplash

Poets and Poetry, August 2026

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:August 30, 2026
Post category:Poets and Poetry

Poems for every occasion

I checked out The Poetry Remedy: Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind, and Soul curated by William Sieghart. If you have searched for a poetry resource that offers something for everything that life throws your way, this might be a good volume to have on hand. Think of it as a poetry first aid kit! There are some fan favorites here: Rumi, Hafiz, Derek Walcott, Mary Oliver, Walt Whitman and more.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Be a Slo-Pro: Slow productivity tips

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:August 30, 2026
Post category:Slo-Pro

Master Your Stories

This post is inspired by Crucial Conversations. Everyone has a story. For some of us, it’s easy for that story to become a resentment narrative. One of the steps in the Crucial Conversations framework is to master your stories. We are meaning-making machines, and very often in our attempt to understand a person or a situation, we let our imagination masquerade as reality. We play both parts of a conversation, sure that we know what the other person is thinking. We don’t, and we are lousy at guessing. Our brains are trying to quickly interpret incomplete information, and those quick judgments are often wrong.

We think we are telling a story about what happened, but we are protecting who we are.

I love the three “peaces” from Sonya Renee Taylor’s book, The Body is Not an Apology, especially this one:

“Peace with Not Understanding: Accept that you do not need to understand someone’s choices, appearance, or life to give them love, honor, and respect.”

So my slow productivity tip is to make peace with not understanding. Protect your boundaries, of course. But be okay with not understanding. And be okay with people not understanding you.

Also, this classic from Jen Sincero bears repeating:
“Do not waste your precious time giving one single crap about what anyone else thinks of you. Imagine how liberating that would be!”

Photo by Maegan Martin on Unsplash

July 2026 Bookstack

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:July 26, 2026
Post category:Bookstack

The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett. I picked up a well-worn copy of this book several months ago from one of our neighborhood Little Free Libraries. It was a “don’t judge a book by its cover” moment. This was our read-aloud selection, and pretty quickly into the story, we were reminded of Fredrik Backman. Ann Patchett seems like his sister from another mister. She made a trip to a stalled small town in the wintry Midwest riveting. The main character, Sabine, lives in Los Angeles and has lost the love of her life (loves, really—read the book). She lives in a big house with the magician’s white rabbit, named Rabbit. (“It’s minimalist.”) It’s a book filled with magic, and it’s magical. The dream sequences are the best I’ve read. It’s one of those books that reminds you that people are complex.

I’m realizing that this is the third book in a row with a magical theme: The Keeper of Magical Things, Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter, and now The Magician’s Assistant. That’s quite a series of coincidences.

Coincidentally, I saw this Seth Meyers interview with Ann Patchett just a few days before I went searching my stacks for this book. (Her latest book is Whistler.) We needed a new read-aloud selection, and this seemed like a contender, although I was not exactly sure of the author. Some say there are no coincidences.

Photo by shraga kopstein on Unsplash

Nerd alert

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:July 26, 2026
Post category:Makerspace

It’s late, I’m tired and ready for bed. Indy Silk is already snoring. But wait: an article about cross-wound and stack-wound threads. What’s the difference and why should anyone care? Standing at a Crossroads – Thread: Cross Wound vs Stack Wound | The Archaic and the Arcane

My brain reboots, and I’m transported to sewing land!

I have vintage and modern machines. I know the spinning top effect of a newer cross-wound thread spool on a vintage Kenmore. The struggle is real! I’ve looked at some of the add-on spool holders for vintage Singers, and I was left wanting. Standalone thread stands are equally anachronistic. Does no one care about aesthetics? Matching the vibe? It makes me appreciate those old spools of thread. Nonetheless, I was charmed by the glass-and- binder-clip solution worthy of MacGyver. So I set that up on my Kenmore 6, AKA Employee of the Month.

I am not a thread purist. I have never experienced thread rot. No one’s life is jeopardized using Coats and Clark thread. Definitely buy the best thread you can afford, but don’t let anything stop you from making stuff. Given the number of quilts I see at thrift stores, more of us need to let go of delusions of grandeur when it comes to our handmade items. Besides, even though I love them, those fancy threads break, too.

Photo by Michelle Goggins on Unsplash

My July 2026 makerspace

Post author:Jake Kupiec
Post published:July 26, 2026
Post category:Makerspace

Declutter summer continues

Declutter summer continues at Chez Haiku. I’ve been thinking long and hard about what I enjoy and would like to do more of—and what no longer holds my interest. Some projects are fun to do exactly once (looking at you, macrame!)

Plus, I can always change my mind. (But probably not about macrame.) I have come to appreciate the allure of kits and classes. You can try something out without it taking over your space.

Photo by K8 on Unsplash