on my mind

it's been a year

2009-03-21T15:33:00.002-05:00

Wow! How quickly the time has gone by. Lots has happened in the last year:

We moved 2,000 miles away;
I finished school;
D started high school;
We went through a hurricane (that was pretty exciting);
We downsized.

All good things (okay, maybe not the hurricane) that have all turned out to be good things. Downsizing turned out even better than we expected. Smaller house (although not *small* by any means), smaller yard, more convenient lifestyle, no snow all adds up to more time to do things like ride bikes, hang out with friends, and slows down the pace of our lives just a little bit. It's all good.

boo-yoney

2008-03-12T15:42:00.002-05:00

Watching a friends kids again today. It's fun to have them in the house, even funnier to try to figure out what they are saying.

Miss P wanted a snack. The conversation went something like this:

P: I'm hungry
Me: Do you want some graham crackers?
P: I don't like graham crackers
Me: What about some popcorn (which her sister and D were eating)?
P: I don't like popcorn
Me: I have apples
P: I don't like apples
Me: Well then I guess I don't have anything you like
P: You have no food?
Me: I have lots of food but you don't want to eat what I have
P: How do you know what I want?
Me: Okay, what do you want
P: I really like boo-yoni
{took a minute for my brain to process this and realize that she meant bologna}
Me: I don't have any boo-yoni. But I have cheese, would you like some cheese?
P: I don't like cheese.
Me: I guess we're back where we started.
P: What about cream cheese?
Me: We have that.
P: Okay, I'll take cream cheese
Me: On bread?
P: Yes, on bread
P: I don't like butter
Me: This isn't butter, it's cream cheese, see, it's white
P: We buy white butter
Me: Okay, but this isn't butter, it's cream cheese
P: Okay, just checking
Me: Want some grapes to go with this?
P: Yes please

And apparently Miss P does not eat crusts so Tobi was the lucky recipient of crusts with the smallest smear of cream cheese on them. He didn't get any grapes though.

links i like

2008-03-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

Here's another list of things found on the internet that sparked my interest, hopefully you'll find something that appeals to you too.

http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003007.php - a brief exerpt from a book about hats. Pretty fascination stuff. I may have to take out the book, Fashion and It's Social Agendas. Although I already have a lot to read this one looks quite fascinating.

I like to make stuff. She lives in Wales, I like the way she writes and she's very creative. I don't really need another crafty person on my blogroll who is so much more talented than I am and I know I will never be that creative. But I like her stuff and want to read more so on the list she goes.

wfmw - yarn stash

2008-03-12T12:32:00.002-05:00

It happens to be Wednesday and I happen to have a tip so I thought I'd jump in the fray here. Don't forget to check out Rocks In My Dryer for more great tips.

I recently reorganized my yarn stash. My biggest problem is that I have a lot of yarn and sometimes forget what I want to do with it or forget where I put it. While I still have boxes in the closet I have also decided to reorganize by taking projects and their pattern and putting them into bags and hanging those bags on hangers in the closet. This way when I am looking for a new project or want to work on a project I started and stopped I can go through the bags. Makes the closet neater, keeps the projects neatly organized and definitely works for me.

update 2nd week of march

2008-03-12T12:22:00.002-05:00

Been busy but here's a quick goings on...

Spring MUST be here, or at least around the corner. Spooky, my little donkey friend, is now out happily munching away on the new grass in his yard.

Sold Girl Scout cookies this past weekend. In the cold. In the rain. There we were, huddled under the overhang of the hardware store, with the precious cookies at the back to make sure they didn't get wet. But we did well, sold quite a few and many people donated cookies for the girls to take to the Veterans Hospital next month.

S is coming home this weekend. Can't wait to see her, I miss her so much. It's only for a week so we'll have to make the most of the time.

Aside from that it's study study study...something I must get back to.

notes

2008-03-02T21:52:00.003-05:00

Just taking a break from studying...this unit I have not one but two papers due in two weeks. But my eyes are going blurry from reading and reasearch (and I can't find my glasses) so I'll stop and blog a bit.

Musing...why is it that I now need glasses to read but not on the computer? Seriously. When I read a book or magazine my eyes start to go all sploodgie and I have a hard time focusing on the page after about one minute. Something I'm not used to but I'm having to remember where my glasses are. It's kind of funny really.

Knitting...well...crocheting. I've put the shhhhh shawl aside for a bit because I have been obsessed with crocheting blankets. One is for S and the other is for someone else. Don't know why, they're just scrap blankets but I am motivated to get them done. Then it's on to flowers for our charity project, an aran square for a Stitch Sisters project, placemats for our charity project (we're making placemats for Meals on Wheels), and ----see next item

Adding to the list: Whoo boy! Somehow I just can't seem to help myself. I keep adding new projects all the time. I thought I had gotten back on top of my list but it's growing again. When visiting my Mom I saw some gorgeous beaded wristlets that someone had made. I made some notes. I just happened to see some cute, soft yarn and the right size beads. So it's sitting waiting for me. When I joined Ravelry I found the Firefly fan groups and dang-it now I need to go make me a Jayne Hat . D wants one but I think I have enough yarn to make two...when I get to it. Of course the big news is that the original will be up for auction in September. Lots of people want to get their hands on it so they can correctly chart it.

Snow, snow and more snow. Last week....8 inches of snow. This past weekend? 6 inches of snow. If I hadn't seen robins with my own two peepers I might not believe that spring is really coming. Thank goodness for the woodburning stove but seriously I could use some springtime right about now.

Movies: Watched Waitress Dont' bother. I didn't really like it, am not sure why I finished watching it. There were a couple of nice bits but overall it was about people having affairs and guy bashing. Not really my thing. Saw Aquamarine with D. Sweet movie, especially if you are teenager. Not really up my alley but it was nice to spend the time with her and she liked it so that's good.

Books: Not reading anything other than school books at the moment but hoping to get back into some regular reading as soon as I am done with my two papers (see top of page). But if you have any good suggestions send them my way.

movie night

2008-02-12T20:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Steve and I had an opportunity to watch Amazing Grace. If you haven't seen this movie you should watch it. I thought it was very well done, very moving and altogether wonderful.

Even Steve liked it and he usually is not a big fan of the period piece movie. Vanity Fair, Pride and Prejudice, that sort of movie...I love them and could watch them again and again. I love the costumes, the settings, and usually they are so well acted. Amazing Grace was no exception and even more touching for the fact that it is based on a true story and that William Wilberforce was a real person who did accomplish a great thing, the abolition of slavery in England.

Definitely worth watching.

tuesday night knitting

2008-02-12T20:35:00.000-05:00

It's snowing like a banshee here. So we decided to cancel Stitch Sisters. Funny thing is that I must have spent over an hour on the phone talking to everyone as we were all sad that we couldn't get together. One sister suggested that we need a "snow night" for when this happens. We may have to do just that.

One sister lives just over the hill. I decided to chance it and went to her house for a cup of tea and knitting. It was great to spend time with her. I brought some cookies I had made and we had a cup of tea to go with our knitting, it was great.

I've been looking for another cookie recipe to teach at my next baking class. I've successfully developed a scone recipe, have a great biscotti recipe and wanted to make a cookie as well. So I made two different kinds of rye cookies (one Russian, one Swedish). Neither one came out great although the Swedish cookies were better than the Russian ones. Mostly because the Russian ones tasted like toffee to me. If I'm eating a cookie I want a cookie not a candy.

I'm going to change both recipes further (working with fresh ground flour is always a bit difficult). The Russian cookies I will cut back on the butter and see if that helps. The Swedish cookies I'm going to make thicker (they were too thin and crisp) and add cardamom. I think they may wind up being the winner for the class but both cookies will go through at least one more round before I decide.

The hardest part is that it's really not healthy having all of these cookies around. Luckily the folks at the library, post office, yoga class, etc don't mind being my taste testers. This also gives me the opportunity to ask them what they do or don't like about the cookies.

Funny enough my friend tonight liked the Russian rye cookies better because she said they were sweeter and they were great to suck on (they were button-size) while drinking hot tea.

At the end of the evening I managed to make it down their hill and up mine to be safe and sound back at home. I'm thinking there must be lots of spoons under pillows tonight and seriously question whether or not there will be school.

howling

2008-02-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

The weather has been very strange today.

First it's grey, overcast, snowing and the wind is so heavy the snow is blowing sideways.

Then the sun comes out.

Then it goes away.

And snows some more.

Now the wind is blowing so fiercely again that it is literally screaming its way through the windows.

And it's cold.

So glad we have a woodburning stove. Sitting curled up on the sofa with the dog, the cat and a blanket I am crocheting, occasionally looking up at the flames or drinking my tea. It's good stuff.

needle card

2008-02-09T22:28:00.001-05:00

Oh my goodness. I am spending waaaaay too much time on Ravelry. Thank goodness my paper and test for session three of my class is done and I have nothing to hand in right now.

I just discovered that I can enter all of the needles that I own, sizes, lengths, types, crochet hooks and PRINT IT OUT!!! I mean HOW COOL IS THAT??? This way I'll have a little card that will let me know all of the needles that I own. Of course since I inherited all of my grandmother's knitting needles (BTW Mom this was before you started knitting, do you want any?) that's going to be a cool thing to be able to keep track of. Her needles are mostly really small sizes but still to know where they came from is neat.

I do find that I am preferring circulars more and more but that's okay, I'll have a needle chart. Love it.

snow again

2008-02-09T15:17:00.001-05:00

Just as I am getting to the part of the year where I am thoroughly sick and tired of the cold, I'm wishing mightily for spring and wondering why I live here it snows. And once again the scenery is covered in a delicate white drape of snow and everything looks pretty instead of muddy and wet and brown and miserable. Somehow when there's fresh snow on the ground it doesn't matter how cold it is it looks better. But spring had better hurry because I really am in need of some open-window therapy.

leftovers

2008-02-08T18:01:00.001-05:00

It's getting harder and harder to cook. Between picky kids, rotating numbers of people at the table and varying diets I have a fridge packed ab-so-lutely full of leftovers. I think it was Tracy Ullman who said, "My mother served leftovers for 20 years...the original meal was never found." I can see how that would happen.

love the sub

2008-02-08T17:57:00.000-05:00

Today's yoga class was thaught by a substitute. She was very sweet and we had a nice relaxing class. She did a lot of small joint work, fingers, wrists, toes and ankles which I liked. We also did eyeball yoga. Yes folks, there is such a thing as eyeball yoga and it actually feels pretty good.

An extra benefit to the class today...she was a new teacher...she didn't have a good sense of timing or pacing...we got an extra half hour of practice. What's not to love about that?

i did it myself

2008-02-07T21:38:00.001-05:00

Helping a friend out her lovely daughters came to my house for the afternoon. Misses J and M were only too happy to traipse after D (who they think is the bees knees) while the youngest, Miss P, decided she wanted to help me make cookies. Here's how our conversation went:

Me: I thought we could make chocolate chip cookies today
P: I don't like chocolate chip cookies
Me: Really? Who doesn't like chocolate chips?
P: I don't!
Me: Okay. What kind of cookies do you like?
P: I like peanut butter cookies!
Me: Okay then! Peanut butter it is.
--worried voices from outside the kitchen -- you're still going to make chocolate chip right?--
Me: Yes

As we were happily baking away I asked Miss P about her prior baking experience

Me: Have you ever baked before?
P: Yes
Me: Do you like baking?
P: Yup
Me: How often do you get to bake?
P: I like to bake but I never get to because J does all the baking
Me: So what do you do if J does all the baking?
P: I don't know
Me: what about dishes, do you like to wash dishes?
P: yes a lot
Me: That's good because we're going to have a lot of dishes to wash
P: Oh I don't wash dishes anymore. I used to but not now. My favorite part is the eating part but I really like baking right now
Me: So you don't want to wash dishes?
P: *giggles* No!
Me: Are you sure you want to eat the cookies when we're done?
P: Yes!

We wound up making both peanut butter AND chocolate chip cookies and mysteriously many many taste testers came out of the woodwork when the cookies were done.

It was a lot of fun to bake with a little helper, it's been a long time since I've had that pleasure.

links i like friday

2008-02-07T21:38:00.000-05:00

It seems I'm always finding new sites. And they're all so good. I know no one really pours through my blogreads list to see what's new so I've decided that every now and then I will post a list of all the new links I've found. Not sure how often I'll do this but at least this way if I find something neat you might like it too.

http://krisknits.blogspot.com/ - awesome site, she does the most amazing dishcloths. Very talented knitter, can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

http://www.rebeccablood.net/ - my Mom sent this one to me. I kinda like it, lots of interesting stuff here. Thanks Mom!

oh help

2008-02-07T21:22:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Lime and Violet (and if you don't subscribe you really should...lots of good stuff there) I have just found out about the bust your stash promotion. *wimper*

Bad enough I went on a yarn diet. Even worse I gave away yarn. Then I participated in two Stitch Sister Stash Reduction Projects. And still I have too much stash (I'm embarrassed to admit how many boxes so I won't tell you). When I discovered two boxes I had forgotten about I hauled another mess o' yarn off to Stitch Sisters to see if anyone wants to start a new SSSR project. Luckily for me they did, Mrs. F loves brown and so I can ~~pawn off~~ share the brown yarn that I seriously overbought years ago and have moved I am not kidding here seven times!!!!! as we all make a blanket for her.

But Sonny & Shear are too kind. All I have to do is save ball bands. And the faster I knit the more yarn I use the more coupons I get the more I can buy. Hmmmm....wonder what the ratio works out to. But you better believe I'm saving my bands. Shouldn't you?

wfmw - bulkfoods

2008-02-06T10:14:00.001-05:00

Haven't done one of these for a while as I've been busy studying. This should be a great way to find a lot of good online resources, don't forget to check it all out at Rocks In My Dryer, or better yet, play along.

My favorite online resource? Well truthfully I have several but I think one of my big favorites is bulkfoods.com. They have a wide selection of a lot of different things that we use and the shipping is only $4.95. Take a look, you'll be amazed at what you find there.

vote fibertarian

2008-02-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

Okay folks, I'm changing my party affiliation. Thanks to Franklin at The Panopticon it has come to my attention that Dolores is running. Her party platform is as follows:

1. Elizabeth Zimmermann's birthday will be declared a national holiday.
2. All fiber-related purchases will be fully tax-deductible.
3. Knitting will become a mandatory subject in American public schools.
4. Government subsidies for the establishment of independent yarn shops in high-need areas.

In all seriousness, what ever your affiliation please go vote today.

shhhhh-awl

2008-02-04T14:13:00.000-05:00

I'm still working on the secret shawl for *****. I'm going to be working on it for a while. Especially since I had to rip back two whole inches!!! I hate ripping back. I'm a go-with-the-flow knitter and if I make a mistake try to correct it on the fly. Unfortunately this was not correctable. Luckily for me one of my stitch sisters was around to help me reset all the stitches after I ripped. It's depressing how long it takes to create and how quickly to undo your stitches.

But the shawl is coming out lovely if I do say so myself. One minor modification to put in a little texture since I'm doing all one color instead of multiple colors as the pattern calls for. Now it's going to be round and round and round and round until we get to the lacy edge.

babies

2008-02-04T13:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday D got to help bottle feed a four day old baby goat. Unfortunately her mama passed away from toxemia and her brother was too weak to survive. The fact that Nibbles has made it four days is a good sign. It was the sweetest and funniest experience to feed her. She couldn't decide between nursing from the bottle and jumping around. Plus every now and then her legs splayed out on the floor as she took a Bambi-like tumble. D was thrilled to be allowed to help and plans to go back next weekend and help out with feedings again.

After an hour of playing with Nibbles we went to visit a friend whose German Shephard had six male puppies. They are three months old and so adorable. A rough and tumble bunch of playful nipping puppies. So fast moving that it was almost impossible to get a picture. D plans to help walk them when they start to leash train next month.

xtreme knitters rock the yarn

2008-02-02T20:05:00.001-05:00

This link came to me from Israel via Denmark! How's that for travel? Fun and interesting, the pictures are great.

xtreme_knitters

grains of gratitude

2008-01-27T16:16:00.001-05:00

As with journalling, blogging is sometimes sparse these days. But I am and try to always remain grateful for all I have. Today some of the gratitudes foremost on my mind are:

The wonderful morning at church

Making a delicious soup for dinner (which is cooking on the woodburning stove as I type

A nap - an infrequent occurance for me but something I needed today

A great conversation with V - she is growing into such a wonderful young woman

Catching up with a friend today

The woodburning stove

The sunshine pouring in the windows

The robins, their colorful flashes in the trees reminding me that spring is indeed on it's way

My husband and children, they truly enrich my life in so many ways

With good wishes for all who are reading this (and even those who aren't) for a blessed Sunday.

church

2008-01-27T16:07:00.001-05:00

Church was fantastic today. As always, it's great to see people you feel connected to. Even better when you find inspiration and learning there. Today we were fortunate to be visited by a woman from the local Islamic Society who came to talk to us about her faith and about Islam. She was kind, funny, thoughtful, sincere and truly respected the fact that although our belief systems may be different we are all seeking the same things, a closer connection to whatever your spiritual guide is, to be good people and to do good things.

I was surprised to learn that Muslims regard the Torah and the Bible as holy texts containing messages from God. They also regard the line of prophets to include Moses, Elijah, Zacchariah, and Jesus. She explained that they believe there have been 240,000 prophets, each being sent at the time that God felt humanity needed to have a prophet sent to them. And that each of the religious texts builds upon the previous one with their believing that the Qu'aran is the final version.

She also explained many things about the Five Pillars and about how they incorporate their faith into daily life.

It was truly wonderful to share that time and space with such a gracious person and she also seemed very pleased that we were so open to hear and so willing to learn more. I truly believe that if people looked at the basis of other faiths they would find lots of similarities and that this in turn would lead to more understanding and tolerance and less violence.

It was truly a thoughtful Sunday at church today.

chloe tv

2008-01-27T15:43:00.000-05:00

The robins are back. There's a small flock of about 8 sitting in the calary pear tree in front of the bay window. Chloe is hiding in the plants that overwinter there. Switching her tail and, one supposes, thoroughly enjoying herself. Hopefully since we've removed the muntins and mullions from the window we won't have any birdie crashes this year.

I think they're a little early but once again I forgot to write it down. My mom keeps reminding me that if I would journal this stuff I wouldn't have to rely on my aging brain cells. True and yet again true. But somehow something else seems to occupy my time.

I love journalling. Would love to do it more in fact but it doesn't seem to be one of those things that I can keep up with. Dawn is so very organized and her notebooks/journals are always an inspiration. Not that mine look anything like hers, but I try to pull bits and pieces.

Then there's Hanna with a cute new idea for a journal. Plus she is always offering journalling links. I love the idea of a quotes journal but seriously know that at this point in my life it will never happen.

I did start daily journalling with an idea that Hanna had given via a link to Tracy's Flickr Set. I did this. For three months. Then it got put down. Still have the journal, perhaps I'll return to it one day. But I have looked back over a landscape littered with partially completed journals and realized that for some reason it's a difficult practice for me. Of course if I would do just that, practice, it would get easier.

Currently I have the aforementioned daily journal, a gratitude journal, a writing journal, a knitting journal (just started - what can I say I'm a sucker for ideas), and a miscellaneous journal plus my daily planner. I've at least gotten better about the fact that I only write when I can. I no longer worry about the enormous gaps in some of the journals. If these things are still around when I'm gone (and there's no guarantees) and anyone wants to read them (even less guarantees I'm sure) they'll get a true picture of my busy life.

But then again living comes first.

oh boy

2008-01-23T14:55:00.000-05:00

ummmmmm

I'm supposed to be studying but instead I'm blogging. But I promise, I'm going to get back to studying in just a moment. I just had to share. I got a Ravelry account. Not sure how I managed to get through 6347 people between when I requested and now (about two weeks) but I did. It's going to be a sickness, I can tell already. I have to choose friends, forums, groups, add my stash, patterns, needles, wips. It'll keep me busy for a while, that's for sure. If you want to check me out my ID is miradessy.

Update:

The special knitting I was talking about last time I posted? I went to visit my folks and got to go knitting with the Cafe Knitters that my Mom knits with. A very lovely group of ladies, they take over almost all available table space at their local cafe every Wednesday for 2 1/2 hours. Lovely food, good tea, great conversation and fabulous show and tell. It was a lot of fun, not least of which was because I was knitting with Mom.

motherly love

2008-01-12T19:10:00.000-05:00

I have said this and I still stand by it. "True mother love comes in letting your adolescent daughter pick her room color."

It's time for D to redo her room, finally, she's been waiting for a while. Her sisters were pretty easy. S wanted French Vanilla walls with lots of purple and flowers in the room. V wanted a soft grey wall with an Asian border and lots of Asian artwork. D? Hot cha cha cha - Oh mama! It's Red. It's really Red. A magenta-y pink-y red color called Cherry Devine. And it wins the prize for boldest room in the house.

It actually looks good and will look even better when we get everything back in the room. Lots of white going in to help tone it down, white mini-blinds, white sheers, white shelves, white desk, you get the picture. Maybe I'll even try to take one after the room is done.

streamlining

2008-01-12T19:01:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to decomplicate my life. It complicates itself very nicely without any attention or help from me, of course, but every now and then I feel a need to step in. Now is such a time. Not because it's the beginning of the year or anything mind you. And I'm most certainly NOT making a resolution...but I do have a few things to do to clear some space:

cross-stitching

I've given away most of my patterns (still have a couple that I would like to make "one day") and allowed the girls free rein of my carefully color coordinated and wound floss for friendship bracelets and other things. I don't have the time or the eyesight anymore.

tole painting

Still have the books, love them. I've given away four boxes of gen-u-ine Vermont roofing slate from our house in VT (over 10 years ago...we've moved these boxes several times but I won't discuss that here). I've given the girls free rein of my paint for arts and crafts.

scrap-booking

I've decided, as mentioned here, to pull back on this. So I have given the girls free rein (are we sensing a pattern?) of my papers but am selfishly keeping the cut-outs, stickers, and scissors for myself.

I wish I could just allow myself to part with all of this and stick to knitting and crocheting since that's what I am really enjoying and I have more than enough projects to last me for years. But. I hate to throw away good stuff. Good art stuff that the kids can use. My hope is that they will use it up faster than I could (actually the floss is almost gone) and I can just defend my ~~hoard~~ stash from all comers.

ps

2008-01-12T18:56:00.000-05:00

If you ever need help with your knitting there is a wonderful place called knittinghelp.com where they have really fabulous voice-over videos that explain just about everything you need to know.

pps

I broke down and signed up for Ravelry. For those of you who don't know about it it is facebook for knitters. I was afraid to sign up because the last thing I need is to get sucked into one more thing but I keep hearing how wonderful it is so I'll jump in. Of course they are s-l-o-w-l-y handing out invitations so there are 6,341 people ahead of me, want to be next?

beautiful day

2008-01-12T18:49:00.000-05:00

My lovely friend Holly came to visit today. She blogs here (along with a few other folks). We went off to the yarn shop where she saved an amazing $36 on yarn!!! She got some really yummy stuff....blanket and two scarves worth. Ooooh, it's so much fun to help people spend their money.

We took our darling daughters out to lunch where we dined on mozzarella sticks, penne a la vodka and baked ziti. Cheese and marinara were the order of the day. Finished with cappuchinos and a trough-sized bowl of zeppoli.

Then we went home and I helped Holly relearn to knit. It was so much fun to curl up on the sofa, drink tea and knit together. Of course we had to keep fighting Tobi off as he felt that if there were people on the sofa he belonged there too because he's a people isn't he? Ummmmm. No! So he went and ate the brand new cat toy that D bought for Chloe. I haven't told Diana or Chloe yet, I'm sure they'll both be very upset.

I worked on my shawl for ***** when I wasn't helping Holly, but she really didn't need any help at all. Just encouragement to get started. She even changed colors and did it beautifully. Can't wait to see this scarf when it's done, I'm sure it's going to be fabulous.

finger update

2008-01-08T22:16:00.000-05:00

I have recently started being able to type again. Over a week ago I injured a finger. The middle finger on my right hand to be exact. I was closing the hatch on a car, pulling the inside handle. Don't recommend it. This is of course in spite of the fact that I have done this very thing a bajillion times before. Unfortunately for my poor finger this was not a good time and it got caught. Fractured the tip, blood behind the nail, which I will lose, swollen to three times normal size. It was a painful experience.

I had a hard time typing. I am a 10 finger typing and the three last fingers on the right hand weren't working (the ring and pinky fingers do not know what to do without their middle apparently). Tonight I have taken off the brace for a while and have found that I can type although the finger is starting to throb a little so I'll stop here.

But the service announcement of the week? Please close your hatch by pushing gently on the outside of the door. It's much safer that way.

stitch sisters field trip

2008-01-08T22:08:00.001-05:00

We took an outing tonight and visited a yarn shop in a neighboring town. They've recently moved from across the street into a new shop that is 3 times the size of the old one. Whooooo! What fun we had fondling all of that luscious yarn. The owners were so very nice. They had tea and cookies for us and had set up a knitting area. We felt like royalty. AND there was a 30% off sale. What's not to love?

I bought *ahem* but not yarn. I got a ****** as a gift for ****** for ****** and I hope they love it because if they don't I'd like it back. I also bought myself a copy of 365 Knitting Stitches a Year, a Perpetual Calendar. Looks like a great reference book.

I had finished Friday Night Knitting Club and brought it for the next sister to read. Overall I liked the book, I thought it was pretty well written and the story was engaging. I was disappointed in the ending though. The last half of the last chapter and galloping away we went. But as I said, overall is was a good book. I'll be interested to see what the others think of it.

I started a new project. A shawl. In the round. A BIG shawl. 1950 yards big. Whoof! It's a challenge. It's a gift for ****** (who I'm not sure reads this but I'm taking no chances). I need 17.73 balls of yarn. Luckily I bought 20 on ebay. I really like the yarn, soft feel, pretty color, should be faabulous when it's done. I think I'm going to try to seriously not knit anything else because otherwise this will take too long. I also made myself some stitch markers to use with the project...bought cute stones and joining rings at Michael's and put them together. Voila!

Special knitting coming up next week, check in to read all about it.

how to make the worst baked beans ever

2008-01-08T22:02:00.000-05:00

Start with a brand new recipe

Forget that your stove is running very hot (by 50 degrees F)

Forget that your upteenth-hand dutch oven cooks dry and you need to add moisture

Leave the house to run errands, return to a delicious smell

Open pot to discover a cement like blackened lump in the bottom of the dutch oven

I admit I actually tried to taste this. As soon as it got into my mouth I ran for the garbage. Spit it out. Into the compost mind you. Steve asked how it tasted. I licked my lips and realized the sauce (what miniscule amount was left) was actually pretty tasty and said so. But I warned him that the beans were inedible. He tasted it anyway, silly man. HE ran for the compost bin. He managed to somehow pry the stuff out of the pot into the compost bin and then let Tobi lick the pot.

I've decided that no matter how pretty this dutch oven is it has got to go. I'm thinking of taping a note to the bottom that says, "Do NOT cook in this, just admire it" when I drop it off at Goodwill.

cards done

2008-01-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

Christmas cards are done and gone. Thank you notes are also done and posted. 364 days to figure out a better way.

Here's a perfect cartoon for this time of year:
from my favorite cartoon Sherman's Lagoon

Every year I swear I'm going to be so organized. Most years I'm better than this year but at least they got out on time. Most years I get the cards out early enough to send them to Santa Claus, IN for a special cachet; very cute and worth the extra postage. This year? Oh well. Next year? I dunno, maybe if I start now?

I also usually send a picture of the girls. You know, so everyone can see how much older they are (a whole year, really) and still feel connected to us by this, as my friend Sue says, "truly American way of staying in touch." This year? No picture. Mostly because all three of them did not want to take pictures. "I look terrible" "You're not going to take a picture are you?" "Why do we need a picture" "I'm having a bad hair day" every excuse in the book even though they all look beautiful and it could have been cute. It's getting to the point where I think next year I'll have to throw a pair of antlers on the dog and send his picture instead.

Now there's an idea. Take a picture of the dog now. Address the envelopes now. Then I could be 360 days ahead of the game. Of course that means I would have to remember where I stash the cards for 2008.

books

2008-01-01T22:26:00.001-05:00

Just a quick roundup of a couple of books.

Over the winter break D started reading a book series Twilight. She was so enthralled by this book from the Young Adult section of the library that she devoured the book in two days (600 pages or so?). Then got the other two books and went through them equally quickly. She talked the books up so much that S started reading them. She loved them so much that I had to read them. They are good. Basically a vampire love story but a little more complicated than that. I won't give anything away but will say I really liked it and am looking forward to the next book.

At Stitch Sisters one of the sisters decided we needed a new group book so she bought "the Friday Night Knitting Club." It looks really good and I get to be the first reader. Our last group read was "The Knitting Circle" and it was interesting to pass it around one at a time and then after everyone had read it to discuss it. That's what we'll do with this one too. In some ways it's hard to be the first reader because you have to hold your tongue waiting for eveyrone to get their turn. We'll see how long it takes to all get through the book.

Then I still have my reading list....whoo boy it's a long one. I think my next book will be "Water for Elephants" which came highly recommended by my sister-in-law.

Of course all of this reading needs to be squeezed in between housework, family obligations, class work, work, and volunteering and knitting. Hmmmmmm....if only I could learn to do laundry in my sleep. Because of course one does not want to knit, spend time with family or read while sleeping. But scrubbing toilets, washing dishes, etc. I don't think you need to be awake and conscious for that.

happy new year

2008-01-01T22:16:00.000-05:00

January 1. A new beginning. Life continues on and is as hectic and chaotic as always. Not bad, just a lot to do. Today was spent reorganizing my household notebook for yet another attempt at an organized life. It makes me feel good to at least set off on the right foot.

We did have Stitch Sisters today, and it was a birthday meeting too so there were fudgy brownies, cake and chocolates. Ooooh, what a way to start the new year. The meeting was fun because we all talked about what our thoughts, hopes, expectations were for the new year.

I'm not making any resolutions...I never do, but I am hoping to make some changes. This year I hope to start a knitting journal. I have a new project just about ready to go and it will be my first entry. Keep the ball band, keep the gauge swatch (who am I kidding...make a gauge swatch), keep notes, take picture. I think it would be a neat and fun idea so perhaps that will motivate me to attempt to keep it going. Another change is to try to be a calmer person. To simply take things as they come. I seem to get better at this as I get older but there's always room for improvement.

Our New Year started with snow and lots of it. We were supposed to have a Sitch Sisters outing to the birthday sister's house but by the time we picked up our last car pool sister from the north side of town (a five minute journey) the roads had gone from visible to non-visible and slippery. So we headed home. It was sad because we had the best part of the birthday breakfast with us but better to be safe than slide down the mountain into the lake. Luckily the weather cleared by the evening so we could have our usual meeting at the church.

Home after the meeting, listening to the whooshing wind outside and the warm crackly fire inside. How grateful I am to be safe and warm on this winter day and looking forward to the year ahead.

still digesting

2007-11-24T16:03:00.000-05:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving, hopefully everyone else did too. Six adults, three college kids, three teenagers, one toddler, two dogs and an enormous amount of food. I read somewhere that the average American eats 5,000 calories on Thanksgiving Day! Wow! While I don't think we ate that much we certainly had an abundance.

I think one of the reasons this holiday resonates so much for me is because it is getting together with loved ones, eating a wonderful, seasonal meal, and relaxing, playing games, reading books, talking, all great down time activities.

While the day after is a personal horror (I confess to having shopped a couple of times on Black Friday but truly don't like it and avoided it like the plague this year and hope to continue to do so from now on) the overall holiday has not been over commercialized. There's only so much one can do with food after all.

We did receive a Happy Thanksgiving card which shocked Steve and he asked, in a horrified tone, "We're not sending THOSE are we?" To which I replied no.

I'm sorry to say that I'm seeing signs of Christmas already though. After Halloween the decorations went up, the music and lights have started and I dread the countdown to overconsumptive excess. But I'm not going to think about that right now, I'm going to bask in the warm glow of a fun family Thanksgiving just a little while longer.

the first

2007-11-20T14:06:00.000-05:00

snowfall of the year. More of a sleet fall really but it's white and it's sticking so it counts. Definitely late for a first dusting. The funny thing is that the maples are still in full flame colored leaf and the calary pears are still firmly green leaved. Wonder what will happen.

Looks like I brought the rosemary in just in time. Most of the garden is done for the year, just a little more trimming to do, hopefully after Thanksgiving.

popping in

2007-11-18T21:51:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a very long time. Life has been full and busy and good. Lots of wonderful things going on. As I get ready for Thanksgiving I find myself thoughtful and meditative about all that I/we have been blessed with.

I confess that I miss blogging, I miss some of the "routine" things like Grateful Grains and Tackle-It-Tuesday (boy could I really use one of those right about now!). But I know that with the ebb and flow of my life I will at some point get back to it.

On the sad news front I have to report that my farm share is over for the year. We're very sad about it. Last Friday was the last pickup. It was a good one though, the haul included a large bag of spinach, celeriac, beets, potatoes, red cabbage, red onions, garlic, hot peppers, parsnips and lacinato kale. Mmmmmmmmmm. I have a freezer full of goodies from this year's share plus a bunch of jars of canned goodness. I'll miss seeing the farm folks every week and miss the peaceful serenity of picking in the fields but I know it will come again next year.

Goods new abounds however:

S & V are coming home from college this week! I am so excited to see them. It's hard to believe the last time I laid eyes on them was in August! Of course it's also hard to believe that they are both in college. I'm not sure how that happened, they were little not so very long ago. V is bringing a guest; the Japanese exchange student from her college is coming with her. It should be wonderful and we are looking forward to meeting her.

D won an essay writing contest for the Veteran's Day assembly here in town. The Veterans Association is giving her a $50 savings bond and two people called to ask for a copy of the speech. I'm trying to get her to let me post it here. Only two essays were chosen, it's really an amazing achievement.

My knee is almost completely healed. I can't sit on my knees the way I used to but with stretching and yoga I am slowly gaining back some of the flexibility I had and believe it will all come back.

We (ahem...read Steve) finished ripping out 1/3 of the garden in the back. It's cleared and grassed over and looks much better. Steve also managed to get one of the two terraces in the middle section done. The other will be done next spring. Then to clear the final third and rebuild the walls around the two sections we are keeping. We (and this really does mean we) also managed to rearrange the "vegetable" garden (don't know why we still call it that since it no longer has vegetables) and it looks much better. It should also be easier to maintain now that everything is more clearly grouped. Unfortunately I forgot to plant my elephant garlic this year so we won't have any next year; we will have garlic from the farm so it's not a total loss.

We got to see my brother and his family last week. It was great to spend time with them. My brother was so helpful and converted some old family VHS stuff to DVD. Much better. Tobi had a great time playing with his cousin dog, the neighbor dog, and the dog down the street. He was sad for two days after we got home! While visiting them my sister-in-law very kindly took me over to the farm to visit my niece's 4-H cows. They are both Jersey's; Pumba is the sweetest, jumpiest, silliest little thing. I got great enjoyment out of watching my niece trying to walk Pumba with Pumba jumping in the air, legs splayed at different angles, and then charging in the opposite direction pulling my niece after her. Bittersweet, her other cow, is going to be bred as soon as she is in heat. Truthfully she is so small I was surprised to discover that she was old enough to breed. This pretty lady is t-i-n-y. I bet she'll make a cute calf though.

We're heading off to my in-laws for Thanksgiving. Should be a lot of fun. My brother-in-law and his family with be there. So we are going to be 13 people, one a just-walking toddler, two dogs, and an upstairs under construction. Should be fun.

I hope all of you have a wonderful, happy, safe, blessed holiday and that you are with those you love.

cookies

2007-11-07T15:08:00.001-05:00

In a vain attempt to conquer my sugar addiction I have once again banned all cakes, cookies and candy from the house. Unfortunately this means that my family suffers along with me. After lunch today Steve wistfully looked around for a cookie so I made a batch. This recipe is based on those found in Small Batch Baking but they have been modified to fit our whole grain baking lifestyle.

Chocolate ChocoNut Cookies makes 10-12 cookies

Preheat oven to 375F

mix together:
6 T. fresh ground flour (I used hard red and spelt)
2 T. sucanat
2 T. cane juice crystals
1 heaping T. Ghiradelli Sweet Ground Chocolate
1 t. ground flax seed
1/4 t. baking soda
pinch salt

add in:
2 T. + 2 t. melted butter
2 T. egg
dribble of vanilla
mix well

add in:
2 T. coarsly chopped dark chocolate (I used 80% dark)
2 T. coarsly chopped walnuts

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet
bake 8-11 minutes
let cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet
transfer to wire rack to cool completely
enjoy!

still here

2007-09-26T21:03:00.000-05:00

but taking a break.

Thanks to all who have emailed wondering where I am. I made a decision over the summer to go back to school. I know, I know...send two kids to college and decide to go back yourself...what was I thinking?

I'm studying to become a Nutritional Educator and have to say that I am really enjoying using my brain cells in this new (old) way. Having to write papers, do homework, listen to lectures, read about and learn about all sorts of new and interesting subjects; it's all very cool. Doesn't leave me much time for blogging though. I'm still trying to visit my favorite blogreads but have come to accept that posting is probably not going to happen for a while.

For those who read (and comment) thank you!! I will be back, I just need to reprioritize and refocus for right now.

hum

2007-08-30T21:15:00.001-05:00

I did something today I've never done before. I joined the church choir. I was surprised at being asked to join because I am haunted by the memory of 5th grade choir when I was politely told that I was tone deaf and perhaps I would prefer orchestra. So although I sing I do so fairly quietly and hope no one notices. Later in life I was told that I was a combination of alto and mezzo but with only half a range, useless as far as the other person was concerned.

Well guess what!!! It doesn't matter. Not only did I have a whole lot of fun, the choir master put me in the alto section and seems to think I sing pretty well. I was able to not only stay in key but to keep my descant going properly with the melody and the drone going at the same time. Wow! I'm so excited about this, what a wonderful activity for me and a way to participate more in my church, I like that.

produce update

2007-08-30T16:05:00.000-05:00

Went to the farm this week and got my usual haul of goodies. We are sure enjoying all this fresh food. Luckily this week we were able to again "help ourselves" to saucing tomatoes. I love this!! I took 15 pounds home with me in addition to the bag of corn, the bag of veggies and the basket of tomatoes, herbs and flowers. How fortunate we are to have access to this farm.

I took the 12 ears of corn and parboiled them, cut them off the cob and froze the kernels to use in the winter.

Cooked another batch of beets but left this one out to be eaten since D has discovered that she likes beets.

Made 3 quarts of tomato juice (the best tomato juice you will ever drink if I do say so myself) and 8 pints of barbeque sauce. The sauce tastes a little sweet for my taste but then again it's not meant to be eaten by itself straight out of the pot. If I make the recipe again I think I will also add more garlic as I didn't think there was quite enough.

Canning can be hard, hot sweaty work but we are always grateful for what we have once the canning season is over. As I was making the sauce and the juice I was reflecting on how very grateful I am to not have to feed my entire family with the results of my labors. If I had to grow all the food and then process it to ensure we had enough to eat I'm afraid we might starve. Although I produce enough for us to enjoy for the year and a little to give away as gifts I certainly do not produce enough to be our sole source.

My Mom has her business Creek Road Crafts and has at this point in the season made, I think, 300 jars of preserves. That's a lot of preserves.

Bottom line is that I am grateful for the produce, the knowledge and the skill to keep this "craft" alive. And also grateful that I can do it because I WANT to and not because I HAVE to.

wow

2007-08-30T15:53:00.000-05:00

This is a creative and very organized Mom. Of course I don't think college kids want you making book covers much less those that match their book bag and I KNOW that 8th graders don't. But it's still very sweet.

grains of gratitude

2007-08-26T22:59:00.000-05:00

Started by Christine. It's been a while since I've posted one of these.

Today I am grateful for:

A wonderful sermon at church and a great coffee hour afterwards. Funny moment, I met my 9th grade math teacher there! That was a blast from the past. Even funnier was introducing D to him -- she thought that was just too weird.

A good walk with Tobi. He loved getting out and even got to see his friend Colby who lives down the street. I got in a walk before it rained.

A lovely harvest of blackberries and raspberries from my garden. So delicious.

Quiet time spent with S this evening. I'm going to miss her once she heads back to college.

AC - it has been hot and humid the last few days and I am so grateful to be able to sleep in cool comfort -- which is where I am headed now.

free camera

2007-08-26T22:43:00.000-05:00

See that cute child? What about the adorable puppy? How would you like to be able to take pictures like that? Well...no guarantee that you can but DevDad is giving away a free camera and some accounts to SmugMug.com, allowing you to try to take such wonderful photos. Mike is a SAHD (Stay at Home Dad) who works from home to be able to raise his daughter Alex. I apologize for the borrowing of the photo but it was the only way to illustrate the point -- hope that's okay.

Of course this post is a shameless plug, who wouldn't want to win a free camera, not to mention one of those power user accounts? If you say it's not you I won't question that statement, better odds for me.

As for the rubber duckies Mike? I vote you write everyone's name on a duck, dump them in the tub with your adorable Alex and whichever one she picks is the winner. It would help if the duckie's name started with an M and ended with an A but I'm sure she can figure that out with a little help from you.

new toy

2007-08-26T22:32:00.000-05:00

Isn't that cool?

h/t to Ima on (and off) the bima for this link. Build one yourself at Spell with Flickr.

saturday special

2007-08-25T16:23:00.000-05:00

Oooh, another meme....

This one is The Saturday Special which I found via Ask Laane.

1. Quiet evening at home or Out on the town?:
Quiet evening at home...I don't have the energy for a night on the town these days.

2. Watch a movie or Reading a good book?:
Can I pick both? Depends mostly on my mood but I will confess to a preference for books.

3. Order a meal or Cooking one yourself?:
I love to cook.

4. Going for a walk or Taking a ride in the car?:
Walking is a great form of exercise and something that I like to do, especially if there is nice scenery involved.

How about you?

catching up

2007-08-25T16:19:00.001-05:00

One thing about being away is the backlog at home. I'm still catching up on podcasts and blogfeeds. It's great because I get a huge feed at once and bad because I get a huge feed at once LOL.

I'm also once again pruning through, trying to bring my blog reads down from the 176 currently on my list. Oh my goodness is that hard. I like them all for different reasons. Part of the problem is that I keep adding new ones! I love these little communities that form through blogging, if only I could read faster.

cool calendar

2007-08-24T14:46:00.000-05:00

h/t to Lifehacker

for sharing this link to make dodecahedron calendars.

wmfw - project notebooks

2007-08-22T20:33:00.000-05:00

I just handed off a notebook to a friend of mine who has young children. It was from when my children were young and we don't need it anymore. In it I kept all sorts of ideas for games, projects, craft ideas, snack recipes, anything to do with the kids. A lot of those ideas became family favorites like how to make a mini-journal out of one slip of cut/folded paper or how to make origami animals. But now she can use it and I'm on to making other notebooks.

As adolescents my kids aren't that into projects with mom but I have some ideas for when they do want to do stuff together. Fun crafts, interesting projects, little games, they're all in there, just geared toward bigger kids.

I have a project notebook full of decorating ideas for the house and future houses. I go through it regularly and reshape it room-by-room to keep the ideas flowing and to see where my 'home thoughts' lie.

I also keep a separate notebook with the girls awards and certificates and clippings from the newspaper. I'm not one of those moms who keeps a lot. School papers? gone. Projects from elementary school? gone. I just don't have space for all of that (well, I do really, but it's overwhelming to try to keep up with all of the paperwork from the past let alone all the junk we own).

Each of these notebooks doesn't get added to very often but when I need them they are there and that works for me.

To see what works for other folks head on over to Rocks In My Dryer.

hp7

2007-08-22T20:28:00.000-05:00

I've finally started reading, I know I'm a little behind the pack on this but it's truly the first opportunity I've had. Wow I'm enjoying this book. Unfortunately I didn't follow my usual pattern of reading from the beginning before I read the new book (because I don't have that kind of time right now) however I am finding that I remember certain things from past books and can appreciate some of the foreshadowing that goes on. She is a very complex writer when it comes down to it, lots of interwoven story lines.

Cool, cool, cool. Now I'm going to have to make time to re-read the whole thing (whenever).

jars and jars and jars

2007-08-22T20:26:00.000-05:00

Today was sort of cool and rainy. With all the produce I had from the farm it seemed like a perfect day to make stuff. So make stuff we did. Steve helped from start to finish and we have now added significantly to the pantry:

3 pints of cucumber pickles
5 pints of zucchini pickles
8 half pints of dilled carrots
5 quarts of tomato sauce
3 quarts of shredded zucchini in the freezer (too tired to make more pickles)

Whoof! That's a lotta work. But it all went well and we had fun working together in the kitchen. Sasha was our official taster and pronounced everything satisfactorily edible. Next week there'll be more......

stitch stitch stitch

2007-08-21T21:22:00.000-05:00

It was so much fun to be back at Stitch Sisters. We laughed and joked so much, it's a wonderful way to spend the evening.

The charity blankets are coming along. The multicolored one is very pretty, and is still making the rounds of the group. The aran blanket is almost done, a few more squares and then it can be assembled and presented to the Dream Come True Foundation. We're thinking about ideas for another charity project when this one is done. I really like that we have a lot of personal knitting and great interaction time but that we also have this one communal charity project every year. This is our fourth year as a group and our third charity knitting project. It's also kind of neat to pick a different organization or effort each year to support as I think it keeps everyone's interest up. If we were doing the same thing all the time it might get a little wearying after a while.

Tonight we were joking about having a lock-in meeting. We would all come in our pj's and knit until we dropped. Of course we would have to be careful to put down our needles before we fell asleep or we might wind up having to call 911. In our small town half our members have husbands on the Volunteer Fire Department. It might be embarassing to wind up with one of them on the phone, "And what is the nature of your emergency?" "Well...we have someone here who fell asleep and impaled herself on a knitting needle." "Phyllis, this isn't funny, don't bother me at work."
"But I'm not joking."

Of course when half the town shows up and we're all in our jammies the picture of startled knitters in pj's and curlers might wind up on the front page of the Small Town Gazette. Hmmmmmm, perhaps we should rethink this idea. But in the meantime we'll continue to enjoy our Tuesday nights.

foodie day

2007-08-21T21:10:00.000-05:00

Today was definitely a foodie day. It started with my co-op pickup this morning. I have recently joined an in-town food co-op. Once a month a truck comes to the local church and delivers our order. I haven't been ordering huge amounts but can see the possibility for doing a lot more of my shopping this way. It saves time, gas and is frequently cheaper than the cost of similar items at the grocery store (especially for the vegan items for D). One big score today was a case of her favorite cereal

Barbara's Wild Puffs. No artificial ingredients, organic, tasty. What more could you want.

This afternoon was farm day. In the rain, not pouring but definitely coming down steadily. Even though we all know I am a wimp when it comes to rain I picked anyway; I wasn't going to miss out on all those luscious goodies. Pick your own was plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, herbs, flowers and sunflowers. The share was carrots, watermelon, corn, garlic, onions, summer squash, kale, peppers, yukon gold potatoes, kohlrabi. Plus they had a "help yourself" box of saucing tomatoes. I brought home a full grocery sack which will be made into sauce soon.

As soon as I got home I sliced up the plum tomatoes and three red peppers and set them to dry in the dehydrator. Next was making two batches of pesto. One for tonight's supper and one to keep for sandwich spread in the fridge.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to do some canning and make pickles. I'm also planning some yummy meals like Portuguese Potato and Kale casserole. Love this time of year, it's so delicious.

off and running

2007-08-20T22:10:00.000-05:00

We dropped V off at college this weekend. As we drove up to the college Steve and I resisted the temptation to try to shove last minute parental admonitions into her ears. She's going to learn, or not, on her own at this point and it's part of our job to let go.

Obviously she was far more ready to let us go. We realized that if she hadn't needed us to hike her stuff up to her fourth floor dorm room we probably would have been dismissed three blocks from school. "No, it's fine, just drop me off here. I'm sure I can find my way around, why don't you head back home; don't worry about me, I'm fine." The age-old parent-young adult conversation as they wend their way into the world of higher education.

We did manage to leave her with one very important piece of information as we finished dinner together (a true test of parental love, paying to eat dorm food with your child instead of going out for a nice dinner in a restaurant): always take a pice of fruit when you leave the dining hall. Other than that, I guess she's on her own.

kov

2007-08-20T21:57:00.001-05:00

Knitting On Vacation. A wonderful thing to do. Passes the time, enjoyable, relaxing, a GREAT reason to visit new "local" yarn shops. I did actually manage to squeeze in some knitting "stuff" along with the hiking. The Lilac Lily was staffed with some wonderful, friendly people providing very enjoyable conversations and laughter. Beautiful yarns, lovely buttons, great accessories. They even had a husband waiting area, how thoughtful.

I was fortunate enough to have a fabulous conversation at a Farmer's Market with a woman who owns eight fleece producing animals and who grows, shears, cleans, roves, spins, plies, dyes and knits all of her own fiber. She had some amazing stuff. I didn't buy any but my sister-in-law did and it was gorgeous stuff.

In Bar Harbor we managed to stop by Bee's Inc. . They have some truly fabulous yarns at really great prices. Lovely stuff. It's hard to explain to a non-knitter why it's so much fun to fondle yarn but trust me...it just is. This shop also carries a wide variety of candy to appeal to the non-knitters in your ~~entourage~~ party.

Lessons learned from knitting on vacation:

1. A pencil will not stand in well for a cable needle. This necessitates a trip to a knitting shop to buy a cable needle and a possible yarn purchase to soothe the anxious knitter.

2. Do not knit cables while driving on curvy mountain roads. Straightaways and highways are much better.

3. Instead of saying, "Wait till I finish this row" find a better euphamism. When you find one please call me so I can use it.

4. It's better to innocently walk past a yarn shop and then remark, "Oh, look, yarn." Than to wake up first thing in the morning with a yarn shopping plan in hand before your spouse has even had his coffee.

5. Bring phone numbers of knitting friends back home so that when you realize line number 42 is missing from your charity knit square pattern you can call someone for an emergency reading.

going my way?

2007-08-20T21:49:00.000-05:00

We brought our GPS on vacation with us. With all of the twists and turns to get around the area we figured it would help. At one point, for a goof, Steve started looking at different languages and we would play the "guess which language this is" game which was pretty amusing.

Then he found Canadian. It wasn't what we thought. What did we think we'd get? Something along the lines of

"Turn left ahead eh"

Instead it was Canadian French. Perfectly understandable but not the regional language we thought we'd get. We started talking about different types of English (possibly prompted by thoughts of the PBS program "Do You Speak American?". This lead to a discussion of different accents and then we hit on the best GPS variety of all...Jamaica GPS. "Oh mon you go dey wrong way...dat's okay, no worries" "Ya mon turn left up ahead" "Okay mebbe turn right"

I think I've just hit on another GPS function that could make millions for the manufacturers. If interested contact me for more details and a mailing address for that check.

back in the saddle

2007-08-20T21:16:00.000-05:00

We went away for a vacation to Maine and have just returned. It was lovely, wonderful, marvelous, I wish we were still there. The house we rented wasn't much, no insulation, on stilts, sort of a painted handy-man special. But it was big enough, dry enough and had a fabulous view. Even better it was just around the corner from my brother-in-law and his family who were also on vacation with us.

We spent a lot of time in Acadia National Park. It's so beautiful there and the hiking is just wonderful. I didn't go on any of the strenuous hikes, but still managed to get in several good hikes while we were there. The blueberry picking was great, we picked and ate handfuls of the luscious lovelies. Amazingly none of them survived the journey down the mountain to be turned into blueberry pancakes this year.

Of course we made the obligatory stop at Jordan Pond House for popovers.....mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

We had many wonderful meals while on vacation but the one I definitely want to mention is a simply marvelous meal we enjoyed at Red Sky Restaurant. The food was amazing, the service impeccable and the atmosphere truly lovely. The servers were extremely attentive bringing Miss K and her lovely little one-year-old self an impressive number of spoons as hers kept jumping from the table with alarming tendency. The chef sent out the hugest most delicious carrot we've ever seen for her to gnaw on. Everyone loved their meal. I had a lovely celery soup as an appetizer and for my meal combined two appetizers, a polenta, swiss chard dish and a leek and tomato tarte. For dessert I shared a lemon tart and a Belgian chocolate pudding. Both were good but the pudding was incredible.

It was one of those vacations that sort of melts away, leaving you feeling as if you are on a different time cycle.

Now it's back to life as usual but with a smile on my face.

filling the freezer

2007-08-09T19:30:00.000-05:00

Being too tired and too busy to do much canning up to this point I nonetheless have lots of produce that needs to be taken care of. Today was designated "the day" and I chopped, sliced, diced and prepared for the freezer. I almost got rid of the freezer thinking that we have two adult-sized children leaving for college and it wouldn't make sense to keep it. Hah! Hah I tell you. When you start freezing stuff suddenly there doesn't appear to be as much empty space and one might have otherwise expected.

I prepare all of my frozen items in freezer bags, laid flat on a cookie sheet to chill and then stacked sideways to take up less room. I learned this trick from Amy Dacyczyn of Tightwad Gazette fame.

New packages gracing our shelves include:

3 quarts of shredded zucchini
2 quarts of shredded yellow squash
2 quarts of salsa
pesto
3 quarts of fresh picked blackberries (some of these are as big as my thumb!!)
1 quart of kale
1 quart of swiss chard
3 quarts of green beans
1 quart of beets
plus I have a red cabbage dehydrating on the back porch

Whew! I'm tired. Somehow looking at the list does not adequately describe all of the preparation that goes into putting this food away. But I know that in the frozen depths of winter we will surely be grateful for this bounty.

more than one

2007-08-08T12:33:00.000-05:00

Melissa's moving, K is running and more. Lots of people seem to have more than one blog. It's an interesting thought because I've sometimes wondered if I should start another one...but then I wonder what I would write. Then I wonder why I write.

I know some of the people who read this are family and friends. Just keeping up with me and my musings. Some people find me because of the meme's that I irregularly participate in. And then there are those who find me by accident.

When I first started writing it was to document what was going on in my life. Life got really busy and I began to post less and less "thoughtful" posts. I confess that I mostly use this blog as a "happy place." I don't tend to talk about the not-so-nice stuff that is going on in my life. It's a sweet reflection of all the good things. I sit down occasionally and browse through the good bits or the funny bits and it makes me feel better. I do wonder how many people really care about what I got at the farm or how my knitting meeting went, etc. But I'm writing mostly for me and so I don't get worried overanalyzing that.

I do have some favorite bloggers who write long, thoughtful, interesting posts and I wish I could be more like them, especially bloggers like Dawn. I have other favorites who are so funny I can't wait for their next post like Laurie and BooMama (please write faster I need all the laughter I can get) and I certainly wish I could be more like them.

Every now and then there is a rant but not often. Most people who respond to my posts do so off-blog (which I find pretty funny).

I don't know how people find the time to write so much. I would like to write more but then I wonder what I would write about. In addition to blogging I journal. I've recently started an art journal with thanks to Hanna for sharing such a lovely list of inspiration links. I have a couple of other journals including a daily journal that I just got inspiration for from craftster. I find that I'm really enjoying the creative aspects of journaling. I've never included a lot of photos or graphics on my blog; as I've mentioned I don't have time to scrapbook. But the journaling is done in small bits so it seems easier to handle.

I find that I keep thinking the if/thens of life. If I get this organized then I'll have more time. If I make it to this point then things will calm down. Never seems to happen. But I certainly don't blog that much, probably don't have time to create another blog, have no idea what else I would blog so I guess that answers that.

wfmw - scrapbooks

2007-08-08T08:56:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've participated in one of these, but life has been pretty hectic here. Not much sleep, let alone blogging going on. But I always check out the tips at Rocks in my Dryer.

Given that time is so tight these days and that I am about two years behind on my scrapbooks I have finally come to accept that they are not going to get done (at least not now anyway). My new idea is to make sure that I have collections of photos for those things that are really important to me, vacations, holidays, special events. I upload everything to my Snapfish account and build a memory book. I can do lots of layouts, different backgrounds, etc. The difference is that I leave blank pages for those things I know I need to put down (handwritten bits, souvenirs, etc) and if I want stickers I can add those later. I can even add handwritten journaling if I want. It's faster, easier and most definitely works for me.

teen complaint

2007-08-07T20:01:00.000-05:00

"I have nothing to wear"

This is the current complaint from Miss D. She's wearing a shirt she just received from my Aunt that says "Fashion is not a luxury!" Very cute shirt, looks good on her, not a sentiment that I can get into. I told her the shirt looked good on her and her response was...it's just about the only shirt I have. I think I only have four shirts, I REALLY need to go shopping for more clothes. Really? And the three baskets of your clothes that seem to have taken up permanent residence in my room?

I guess it's a teen thing and I just don't understand.

stitching slowly

2007-08-07T19:57:00.000-05:00

It was very hot at Stitch Sisters tonight. Although there was a fan and we opened windows and doors there was definitely a feeling of lethargy...in the knitting...talking...even in the laughing. It was all done in slow motion.

We celebrated a birthday tonight and the sister who brought dessert brought frozen chocolate confections that are a no bake recipe. Very smart on her part, very delicious for the rest of us.

the heat

2007-08-07T17:23:00.000-05:00

Urgh it's been hot. We've had the AC on for three days now and I am so very grateful to have it. Not looking forward to the bill for the electricity but happy for the ability to sleep in a cool bedroom. It makes me wonder how we managed before. I remember having window box fans when I was a kid. No AC in sight.

Picking at the farm, sweating like a pig (no glowing here when it's that hot) it makes me wonder how the migrant workers manage to pick and work all day. I asked the local farm apprentices how they did it. They told me that they take frequent breaks for water and shade and they wear big hats. I still don't know how people can do that. We've become to accustomed to our luxuries, like air conditioning and not having to do hard physical labor to earn a living. Not that I want to go back to that as a way of living, believe me I like my running water, indoor plumbing and other luxuries, but I do question how distant we've become from the source of our food labor.

A startling thought that comes to mind is the lessons learned from history about when cultures become too soft and luxury bound the barbarians come charging over the hill, take over, become luxury bound and here come more barbarians. Could it happen again? Who knows. But I do believe we need to be more aware of, and appreciative of, those who work so hard to provide the food that graces our table and fills our bellies.

farm update

2007-08-07T17:19:00.001-05:00

The farm has, as always, been great. This is the time of year when I start feeling abundantly blessed to have local, organic produce right "down the way." I also know that I am getting far more than the $28 per week that it is costing me. The recent haul included:

8 ears of corn - fresh and delicious
zucchini
tomatoes
yellow squash
broccoli
salad mix
garlic
cucumbers
onions
carrots
lacinato kale (sorry Mom you left it here...we ate it)
cabbage
flowers
herbs - this week we only took basil and cilantro

It's getting to be a challenge to use all this produce each week so I'll hopefully start up the canning machine soon and start cranking out pickles, tomato sauce and the like.

too much?

2007-08-07T17:15:00.000-05:00

I've not been blogging much lately as we busily count down to back-to-school. With two heading off for college it seems even busier than I would think. That seems to be taking up most of my time.

But...

I found myself starting to reorganize my craft closet (still trying to reorganize, reduce, declutter) and realized that it's gone too far. You know you have too many knitting projects when you start hanging the bags on hangers in the closet!

wfmw - dating

2007-08-01T21:02:00.000-05:00

Today is the WFMW Parenting edition. Don't forget to check out Rocks in my Dryer for more advice from others.

Not being an expert but having survived so far I have one real piece of advice that I share with anyone who asks for advice is...date your spouse. Make sure that you go out a minimum of twice a month without the children. It doesn't have to be fancy, a picnic at the local park, a coffee at the coffee shop, a free concert at the town center, go out for breakfast, etc. The important thing is to go out without kids and just the two of you away from home.

We didn't mostly due to my husband's schedule and my feelings of guilt at leaving the kids. The mistake? When they became adolescents and we needed that break we not only had no foundation for it they were not used to it and played the guilt card big time. They're better about it now (and so are we) but it is very important to remember that without you (the two of you) there would be no them. And happy parents make for happy children. jm.02

wha?

2007-07-30T20:51:00.000-05:00

h/t to iHanna for this

I'm really not a Simpson's fan. I don't watch the show and probably wouldn't get most of the humor if I did. Steve took V and D to see the movie, I stayed home. So why did I feel compelled to come up with this?

go here to get yours.

she's home

2007-07-13T22:17:00.000-05:00

Miss D is back from camp. Banquet was tonight and they gave out all of the awards and everybody had hugs and pictures and goodbyes. It's wonderful to see how much these kids love being at this camp and what great friendships they make.

D had such a wonderful time that she decided she didn't want to go to the Wilderness Camp and begged us to sign her up for another week of Bible Camp. Ummmm...okay. She's happy there and having a great time, what's not to like.

So once again we've packed up all of her belonging from the bunkhouse, brought it home to be washed, dried, folded and repacked so that she can go back on Sunday. I'm stunned by the sheer volume of STUFF that she seems to think she needs to bring with her - two suitcases so full that you need to sit on them to close them -- comforter, sheets, three (3?!?!) pillows and assorted hair products that wouldn't fit in the suitcase. I'm thinking she may not grow up to be a light traveler but that's okay, she's having fun and fun is what sleep-away camp is all about.

beach baby

2007-07-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

Today I spent some time at the town beach with a friend and her young daughter. It's a nice little lake beach. The town brings in a truckload of sand every year to refill the shore and make it more beachy. It was a gorgeous balmy day, perfect for hanging out down there. It was wonderful to have a little picnic (my friend made guacamole but added kalamata olives into it which was a really nice addition) and watch all the kids running around squealing, digging, swimming and generally having a good time.

Admittedly it felt a little strange to be there without a kid of my own (because my beach baby is at camp) but I think I can handle it.

One funny observation, there's a new food truck in town, a hot dog stand. It was set up there for about two hours. Then it left and five minutes later the ice cream truck came by. They must have some sort of deal so they are not competing for the same customers (remember this is a small town and a tiny beach). But I thought it was pretty amusing that if you timed it right you could get lunch and dessert without having to leave the beach. That's big news around here believe me.

fine art and the farm

2007-07-13T21:07:00.000-05:00

Today I went to the farm. Lovely as always. It's so wonderful to run into people I know. It's even wonderful to run into people I don't know. Everyone seems to smile a lot when they are at the farm. The kids are running around barefoot and dirty footed having fun. The adults seem to slow down a bit, it's a leisure break that is also productive.

Today's share was amazing to say the least. Pick your own was peas, flowers and basil (more yummy pesto coming up!). Then in the barn we selected lettuce, salad mix, zucchini, cucumbers, five tomatoes (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm tomato sandwiches mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm), carrots, garlic scapes, fennel (I took one even though I am the only one in the family who will eat it -- not sure what I'm going to do with my prize just yet but it will be delicious I am sure), and broccoli. I am certain that I got more than my $24 worth but believe me I'm not complaining.

The image above is called Country Road by Lene Casey. Found on Art.Com.

frittata

2007-07-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

It's Favorite Ingredients Friday (Healthy Edition) from Overwhelmed With Joy. In the summer we usually eat foods that are a lot lighter. Since we belong to the CSA our menus also incorporate lots of fresh veggies, yum. One of my absolute favorites is a frittata. Here's the recipe:

In a large cast-iron or other heatproof pan lightly grease and heat.

In a separate pan lightly sautee thinly sliced onions and minced garlic

In a container mix together:

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 t. mustard beaten into eggs
pinch of salt
generous pinch of herbs de provence

pour egg mixture into pan.

top with:

thinly sliced fresh veg
favorites are asparagus, spinach, tomato, summer squash, combinations of the above

top with grated cheese

Turn oven on to broil

Cook over medium heat until bottom of eggs are firm

remove pan from stovetop and place in oven under broiler until top is firm (usually 2-3 minutes)

Remove from oven, slice into quarters and serve.

Delicious when paired with a fresh spinach salad and a hearty whole grain bread.

kids/zits

2007-07-11T20:35:00.000-05:00

Okay, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman are geniuses. However I'm starting to get concerned. Do they have a secret camera in my house?

Want proof? Look here, here and here.

gardening today

2007-07-11T20:29:00.001-05:00

Steve and I worked in the garden today, weeding mostly but a little bit of transplanting and trimming as well. I have come to realize that my idea of an ideal garden has changed dramatically. I used to dream of big, lush, overflowing gardens. Riots of color and nooks, meandering, etc. All those lovely magazine type ideas come to mind.

The areas of the garden that now bring me the most pleasure are my herb/fruit gardens and a section that has flowers in it. I do take care of the rest of it to the best of my abilities but having ripped out a large section of the garden I have come to the stunning realization that I am not a large scale gardener anymore. I am looking forward to the redesign of the back yard and then possibly considering redoing the front yard to make it more manageable and allow me to concentrate on the areas of the yard that I enjoy the most.

I know so many people who garden constantly and are continually on the prowl for the newest botannical score. We were attracted to the house in part because of the garden but it has proven to be more than we can handle. Amazingly enough I find that I am not sad about this as I had thought I would be.

last night

2007-07-11T20:25:00.001-05:00

was Stitch Sisters. It was REALLY hot!!! I brought a standing fan to the meeting to help us all stay cool. It was a really fun meeting (of course when are they not fun?). One bit of silliness...we celebrate birthdays. I got someone's birthday wrong, brought a present and made someone bake a cake! In this hot, humid, awful weather yet. Turns out her birthday is next week. So it was a big surprise. Oh well.

I finished seaming up the sweater. It's too tight!!! I'm setting it aside for now and will start working on our charity blanket square. It's too hot to do the neck and waist bands. Unfortunately I can't take out the seams and put in panels as one sister suggester because I have run out of the purple yarn. Also unfortunately I have gained 15 pounds since I started the sweater over a year ago. Not sure who will be the gift recipient when it is done but I admit to a twinge of sadness as I had wanted my first sweater to be for me. Another oh well.

my evening

2007-07-02T21:47:00.000-05:00

The bread came out fine. Very tasty, not as hole-y as the all-store-bought-flour version but very tasty nonetheless.

The red currant tart was delicious!

My latest google search? Look here and that will give you a hint of what I've been doing this evening. Now it's time for bed.

strange

2007-07-01T21:19:00.000-05:00

I often hear about people who have odd searches that lead to their blog. This usually doesn't happen to me. Today in checking my blogstats I did see one odd search that lead to me

can a weimaraner eat water chestnuts

I don't recall ever mentioning weimaraners on my website (although I love Oliver. I'm also wondering why someone would want to know this...most dogs eat anything whether they are allowed to or not.

Well, it made me smile anyway.

whew, i'm tired

2007-07-01T20:56:00.000-05:00

It's been a long afternoon evening. I've made 9 jars (8 oz) of Rhubarb Apricot Jam, so I've gotten my yearly allottment in. Not sure if I'm going to make another batch of Rhubarb Lemon since I'm the only one who likes it. Last year I made Rhubarb Blackberry Jam using frozen blackberries that I had on hand. This year I've cut up the rhubarb and frozen it for use when the blackberries are ready.

I also picked more currants. It's beginning to become a contest between me and the birds. I did get enough to make a red currant tart tomorrow. I'm hoping the rest will ripen enough that I can get them tomorrow as I really want to make some red currant/raspberry syrup.

In going through my cookbooks for recipes I started re-reading my Mom's book. Preserving Memories: Growing Up in My Mother's Kitchen I really like reading this book in part because she's a great writer but also because I love the stories. The recipes are neat too. I'm trying to decided between making her Rhubarb Ginger Jam and trying Rhubarb Pickles from another cookbook. The pickles sound interesting but I'm not sure if anyone in my family will eat them. I should confess that I still have two jars left from the Watermelon Pickle that I made a couple of years ago. I'm the only one who likes it and even I can't eat an entire widemouth pint jar of the stuff.

While I was in the kitchen I started another batch of kombucha. Not hard to do but it kept me busy washing pots as I moved from one activity to another.

Then I began a batch of the no-knead bread that is still going around bloggityville. I confess that I think my experiments with making this bread completely with fresh ground flour are grinding to a halt. It's not working well and I'm getting fed up with not being able to figure it out. Half fresh ground and half store bought seems to be the best I can do. Usually I make it with spelt flour but decided to try using half Ezekiel flour and half store bought. We'll see how it turns out. Research has not come up with anyone else who has successfully made this bread completely with fresh ground flour (unless they're not telling) althoug a few people have blogged about trying or wanting to try. In any event the bread is delicious and my family loves it which is all that really matters.

It has been a busy evening.

grains of gratitude

2007-07-01T16:45:00.000-05:00

Started by Christine this blogprompt has certainly begun to spread it's way through the blogosphere. I love reading other posts and really to enjoy taking the time to think about what I am grateful for (even if I don't post it every week).

This week I am grateful for:

The wonderful weather we have had. Yes it has been hot at time but it has been sunny and beautiful, the birds are singing, the butterflies and bees are out. It's really been fabulous.

D having such great camps to go to. Last week was a career camp to try and convince girls to consider careers in math and science. They had a fun field trip, did a confidence course at a wilderness center and had a great time doing experiments and making new friends. Today of course she is at Bible camp for her second year and so happy to be there.

Having the opportunity to do community service. These days it doesn't always happen or if it does I find myself feeling overwhelmed by it. Filling the gaps here and there seems to work best for me.

All of the fruit that we are starting to harvest from our property. I LOVE that.

My hard-working wonderful husband who comes home from a long day at work and still helps pick currants and fix raspberry fences.

My farm share. Reconnecting with the farmers, other share members and the peaceful quality of my time there. Not to mention the yummy food. Our dinners have been great lately because there is so much fresh produce to work with. We all love it.

My ipod nano. I have been listening to several very thought provoking and some very funny podcasts this week (catching up). I'm really glad to have this little device that allows me to listen to my shows when it is convenient for me instead of being tied to the radio or the computer on a schedule.

There's more, there always is, but this is a great list of things to be grateful for. The fact that there's more is even more of a blessing.

check out what others have to say

camp

2007-07-01T16:39:00.001-05:00

I have dropped D off at camp. She's thrilled to be there. Some of her friends from last year were there already. One of her counselors is the same as last year. She got a top bunk (and these things are three beds high!). And I bought her lots of vegan goodies for Chef J to store in his kitchen for her. What's not to like. Two weeks no parents no sisters in a real old-fashioned camp. There's nothing like dropping off a happy child. She'll come home for one night in between and then return the next day because they need that day for clean-up before the next session.

On the way home from dropping her off I stopped and bought a magazine, a puzzle book, chips, cookies, and a disposable camera. I was going to send gum but she already had her own private stash of 4 super packs so I figured she had enough.

I can't wait to hear about her camp adventures when she gets home.

church

2007-07-01T16:27:00.000-05:00

D and I volunteered in the nursery at church today. It was not that difficult as we only had one customer...a beautiful curly-headed, blue-eyed chubby blond. She is 11 months old and very sweet. We had lots of fun playing, reading, giggling. It was great.

When church was over on the way out I notice a huge box marked "Summer Reading" full of freebies to take. Wow! I restrained myself and only took three books:

Return of Merlin because it looked interesting. I didn't know he wrote fiction.

Georgiana: Dutchess of Devonshire which also looked interesting. I always like period stories and this one sounds pretty good.

Chang and Eng because they were interesting. I really don't know anything about then other than the fact that they were famous conjoined twins who lead remarkably full lives.

Reading continues apace this summer. I'm finishing up How Doctors Think which was recommended by my sister-in-law's sister. It's a fascinating book and certainly gives you pause for thought when thinking about medicine and medical matters. It also underlines that the few times I have had to practically stand up and shout at a doctor to be heard I was right to do so.

I also started reading The Historian which my other sister-in-law had lent me. It's quite good and I am enjoying it very much but I am saving it for bedtime reading so I'm not getting through it very quickly.

It's funny, I have dropped out of the reading challenges because I felt overwhelmed by how prolific these other readers were and how thought-filled their lists seemed to be. I now realize that I don't need to have a "challenge" in front of me to read. I love to read. It's more a matter of making the time in my busy life and making sure that I am reading what grabs me at the moment.

Even funnier my local library misses me, when I run in to drop off magazines and plunder the magazine basket they remark how long it's been since they have seen me and ask me what I'm reading. I guess I'm very fortunate to have all these wonderful books flowing into my life these days from whatever source they arise.

What is anyone else out there reading? Just curious.

fruitilicious

2007-06-30T18:44:00.000-05:00

Today has been about fruit. Steve and I went to the garden and picked a huge bowl of red currants. All the ripe ones. There's still twice as many berries on the bush so over the next few days we'll be picking them trying to stay ahead of the birds. Tomorrow I'll start washing and freezing what we have as I do not have the time to make jelly right now. I plan to make jelly, syrup and tarts with the berries when I am done with the rhubarb.

Speaking of rhubarb I ran out to the garden tonight and grabbed a huge bunch of stalks and have a container of Rhubarb-Apricot Jam starting on the counter. I'll process it tomorrow.

The gooseberries are doing very well, getting plump but still green. I think there will be enough for a pie. Not bad since I only planted it last year.

I then wandered over to the raspberry bed (on the other side of the house) and found the first few ripe raspberries. There was an unfortunate accident on the 20 steps back to the house and somehow none of the raspberries survived. However it looks like a good crop is forming so we'll start picking those soon.

The blackberries are setting an unbelievable amount of fruit. Every branch inside the fence is loaded. The ones outside the fence? I think the deer have been nibbling. Good thing the fence is up.

farm again

2007-06-26T21:24:00.001-05:00

Farm day again, how lovely it is. I really find my time on the farm to be very calming. It's so serene and peaceful out there. Amazing to think that people used to (and some still do) live that way. It's a lot of hard, hot work but there are benefits to be sure.

Todays share was:

strawberries - the last of them *sob*
spinach, garlic scapes, salad mix, buttercrunch lettuce, curly kale, salad turnips, radishes, a huge tomato (brandywine?), and basil. Boy did my car smell good driving home.

canning again

2007-06-26T21:21:00.000-05:00

Today I made a small batch of Rhubarb Lemon Jam. So tart and tangy. So delicious. No picture because it wouldn't look that different from yesterdays.

Recipe? I'm glad you asked

Rhubarb Lemon Jam

2 pounds of rhubarb
1 thin peel of a lemon (no pith - the white stuff)
1/2 C. water

bring to a boil then simmer covered for 30 minutes

add 2 1/2 C. of sugar

raise heat and cook on medium-high for 20 minutes

process in sterilized jars in hot water bath for 10 minutes

Mmmmmmmmm.......

knitting around town

2007-06-26T21:16:00.000-05:00

While doing my banking today I was knitting in line at the drive through. I have started keeping a small charity project at hand for just such an opportunity. I managed to get three rows done.

At Stitch Sisters tonight we sat outside for the first hour as it was VERY hot inside. We had two new people show up. One is a crocheter and the other brought her spinning wheel! That was pretty cool. She has a flock of sheep and this is her own fiber.

We had our usual fabulous meeting time. I'm done knitting the sweater. Just need to sew it up and do the neckband and the waistband. I'm really bummed because one sleeve is a couple of rows shorter than the other due to the fact that I ran out of that yarn. No ball band and I'm sorry but I'm not buying a whole skein of yarn just to do two sleeve rows. I think it won't show too much and it's supposed to be a beach throw-on anyway so I think it will be fine. Not happy with the way the seaming is coming out so I'll need to experiment with different methods until I find one that looks the way I want it to.

just because

2007-06-25T19:20:00.000-05:00

I don't normally put pictures up here. Too busy/distracted/lazy to get out the camera, transfer the pictures, upload the pictures...oh well. Today for some reason I happened to be at the computer with the camera and the stars aligned so there are a lot of pictures coming to blogityville. This one is of Chloe, just because, because she's cute, because she's a silly cat who sleeps on paper, just because.

berries to come

2007-06-25T19:18:00.000-05:00

While wandering around the yard today I noticed that my blackberry bush is in full blossom. It's so pretty and will provide a lot of tasty fruit later in the year. I'm starting to plan now for all of the yummy crisps and jams that will come from this bush.

weeding with a chainsaw

2007-06-25T15:23:00.000-05:00

Steve and I got out into the garden today before it got too hot. I was weeding and noticed that a couple of things needed to be moved. Then I noticed that a couple more things needed a haircut -- badly.

Steve obligingly came over and move a rhododendron (a small one) and then tried to move a couple of barberry bushes that I no longer want. They've gotten too big and are impinging the other plants around them. They are so big he had to get the chainsaw to hack them down. I'm not putting anything in their place other than mulch as I figure the tree and remaining barberries will fill in and the hole will not even be noticeable next year.

After that he gave the juniper a haircut; also with the chainsaw because the branches were too thick to cut with shears. Now I'll need to separate out the hosta and fill in the blank. Hopefully it will all look good when I'm done.

rhubarb marmelade

2007-06-25T15:20:00.000-05:00

That time of year again. The rhubarb calls.

I've made a lovely rhubarb cake, yesterday, and a wonderful batch of rhubarb-apricot jam from Steve's grandmother's recipe. Mmmmmmm, we love this stuff. And just in time because we finished the last jar a few weeks ago.

Recipe? Of course.

Take a bunch of peeled and chopped rhubarb
take the same amount of sugar
let the two sit overnight
take a handful of diced apricots and let them sit in a little warm water
put rhubarb mixture and apricots into a pot and start to cook
bring to a boil and boil 10 minutes
can in sterilized jars, process 10 minutes in hot water bath

Enjoy!!!

yippedy dippity

2007-06-25T15:17:00.000-05:00

It's Miss K's birthday!!! How wonderful to have this little bundle in our family. Her very first birthday surrounded by lots of loving arms to hold her.

thanks to Barb's Pics for the graphic

graduate

2007-06-23T14:42:00.000-05:00

Yippee! She's done it! She went and graduated! V has joined the ranks of graduates, the class of 2007. She has worked so very hard to get to this point and now will be heading off to become the class of 2011. Hard to believe that two out of three are one foot out of the nest.

Congratulations on a job well done!

where's the food?

2007-06-23T13:52:00.001-05:00

small rant coming up.....

I'm probably dating myself but I do very clearly remember the Where's-The-Beef? lady in the Wendy's commercials. These days I'm beginnig to wonder where the food is? It started with trying to remove MSG and all it's aliases. Then came colors, preservatives; things with numbers. Now it's High Fructose Corn Syrup and folks, I've got to tell you, I'm shocked at how pervasive this stuff is in our diet. Then I find out that almost all HFCS is made with GMO corn. YUCK!!!

Read this list and see for yourself. It's getting harder and harder to find real food. Why is the public unable to convince agribusiness that we do not want this stuff? Probably because most people go for cheap and convenient over more expensive and harder to obtain. We don't think we have time in our busy lives to pay attention to what goes into our mouths.

As I learn more about this stuff I find myself wishing I had known a lot of this earlier so that I could have been more proactive for my kids. It also makes me talk to them about food, hopefully helping them to make better choices down the road.

book backlog

2007-06-23T13:39:00.000-05:00

Currently reading too many books. I just finished Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It was really good, very thought provoking. Made me realize that although I believe there is a lot that I am doing right in our diet there is a lot more that we could be doing and should try to do. Not that I plan to raise and harvest our own meat animals and not that I plan to give up my farm share. But we could and should be more conscientious about our food supply miles.

I'm also reading Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral -- given to me by my sister-in-law as a birthday present. It's okay but I'm not enjoying it as much as she did. I don't know maybe I'm not in that reflective a mood to be able to appreciate the story as much.

Next on the reading stand, started and eagerly waiting to get back to:
The Historian -- lent to me by my sister-in-law. Seems great so far. It's also a really big book! I love those, you can get lost in the story.

And, as the rest of the world is, we are waiting for The publication of the last Harry Potter. I think there's a feeling of unreality about this book because no one wants to believe that J.K. Rowling would actually stop these stories. But that's what she's said she'll do. My modus operandi is to let the kids fight over who gets to read it first while I start all the way back at the beginning. Obviously this means it's going to take me a long time to get to the very end...woe betide those who try to tell me what happens because I DON'T WANT TO KNOW until I've read it for myself.

Gonna be a busy summer for reading.

'tis that time

2007-06-23T13:34:00.000-05:00

To make Nina's lovely Rhubarb Hazelnut Cake. My rhubarb is growing very well this year and we're going to a party tomorrow. Should be a lovely thing to bring (along with perhaps some whipped cream?)

Here's the recipe in standard measures as Nina very kindly translated it for me:

Nina's Rhubarb Hazelnut Cake

2 C. chopped rhubarb
1/2 C. ground nuts
1/2 C. brown sugar (I use sucanat)
7 oz melted margerine
1/2 C. milk
2 C. flour
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla sugar
2 t. baking soda

I forgot to write down my baking directions so it's 350 degrees F until done unless otherwise specified in my house. Works for most things.

farm farm farm farm

2007-06-22T17:02:00.000-05:00

farm farm farm farm FARM Loverly Farm, lovery F-A-R-M.

Today's share was Broccoli Rabe, Chinese Cabbage, Radish, Lettuce, Spinach, Strawhberries, Sugar Snap Peas, Arugula, and Bok Choy. Yummmmmmm

national chocolate eclair day

2007-06-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

Ooooh, yummmmm. Today is National Chocolate Eclair Day. I LOVE chocolate eclairs, craved them when I was pregnant with V. MMMmmmmmmmm. Eat one today!

awwwww

2007-06-13T14:13:00.001-05:00

We were treated this morning to the sight of a fawn nursing from it's mother. Given how wobbly it was on it's feet I think it must be very young. It was tiny, spotted and very sweet.

back to the farm

2007-06-13T14:12:00.001-05:00

Yes folks, the CSA has started up again. Our first yummy share was broccoli rabe, bok choy, arugula, three kinds of lettuce, the most fragrant and delicious strawberries and snap peas. Yummmmm. Tonight was are having stir fry for dinner. I'm so happy to be going back to the farm, it's really wonderful.

too funny...

2007-06-07T13:58:00.001-05:00

and too true!

this is not to be missed.

funniest phrase of the day

2007-06-06T21:24:00.000-05:00

Overheard:

"Don't make me kung fu your dupaw."