knitting graffiti

???

Well here's something new and different. I hadn't heard of this before. Interesting concept.

My observation? Why are they doing this in Houston where the trees don't need trunk cozys to keep them warm in the winter?

more books

It never rains but it pours. I've gone from having "nothing" to read to having an enormous amount to read. I got a call from the library, they have a book for me. Run down to get it. It's the One Skein that I had requested I don't know how long ago. I've heard a lot of good things about the projects in this book so I'm looking forward to reading it.

While I'm there I see that I once again missed the book discussion. I seem to read all of the books and never make it to the discussions. The next book discussion is in four weeks. The book? Bel Canto. I've already read this one but loved it. It was so well written and really kept me engaged. The characters were wonderful. So I'm going to read it again. Who knows maybe I'll actually make it to this book discussion.

blogher

Another place to find blogs of interest. Now I need a compression reader for my reader feeds.

books, books, books

Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer has joined a book meme and issued an open tag. I find this funny since I was just looking for good books, I have a feeling that as I go through the Linky List I'm gonna have a whole lotta readin' goin' on.

So here's my responses to the meme:

1. Book that changed your life: The Little House on the Prairie series. I've read them several times and I always love reading about the lifestyle, the joy that existed in their family and as a kid I was fascinated at this glimpse into a life that was so totally different from my own.

2. Book that you've read more than once: The Little House on the Prairie series and The Golden Key by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott, and the entire Harry Potter series (I re-read it from the beginning when a new one comes out) and The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher.

3. Book you'd want on a desert island: Hard to pick just one, I don't really know.

4. Book that made you laugh: Anything by Erma Bombeck.

5. Book that made you cry: A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

6. Book that you wish had been written: Weed While You Read

7. Book you don't enjoy: I'm really not big on thrillers, intrigue, that sort of thing.

8. Book you are currently reading: I'm about to start The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper and Dragon's Kin by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey.

9. Book you've been meaning to read: War and Peace. I'm determined to read it one day..

10. Book you remember as a real page-turner: Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, Forest and London and Sarum all by Edward Rutherford, the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. There's more but I'll stop here.

11. Non-fiction books that you have enjoyed: Cookbooks (I read them just like regular books, cover to cover -- especially the ones with pretty pictures), Knitting Books, Gardening books (especially if they're written by my Mom.

12. Children's books your family has loved: Anything by Shel Silverstein, especially Lafcadio the Lion Who Shot Back, Mrs. Pigglewiggle, Goodnight Moon, and Guess How Much I Love You. There are others but this is a good start.

If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. If you really want to you can join up with the linky list at Shannon's blog.

puppy treats

Oh...My...Goodness!!! Girls are just too funny. D and E decided that they needed something to do. So far this sleep-over week we've done pizza on the beach, gone shopping for supplies to decorate a photo box, eaten at Wendy's (urg), chased Tobi, sparkler dancing, hanging out in the tree house and a picnic lunch.

While I was on the phone the came up with a really fun idea! Making a cake for Tobi! The next thing I know they're asking where ingredients are, I hear my KitchenAid whirring away and I'm not sure what I'm going to find. Next question...how long do you preheat an oven? What temperature do you bake a dog cake at?

Near as I can tell the ingredients are dog food, water, egg, bacos, and oatmeal. They're making a two layer cake with peanut butter in the middle. Oooh, yum. LOL. I hope that the dog likes it.

update: He loved it! The girls took it outside on a plate with a "candle" in it (a rawhide twist stick dipped in peanut butter). He wolfed the treat down in less than thirty seconds and then spent 10 minutes licking the grass looking for crumbs. I guess that means it was a success.

books

I have been so busy reading non-fiction books on a wide variety of subjects and was looking for a good summer read. Somehow I couldn't find what I needed at the library. I don't know why but nothing jumped out at me.

What did I do? I called on my best book reading sources, my sister-in-law and my Aunt. I also asked a friend. Did I get a recommendation? Wow! Look at this list! I can see that I'm going to have a lot of good looking books to read.

1000 White Women
When Crickets Cry
The Historian
Every Mother is a Daughter
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Can't Wait to Get to Heaven
Dragon's Kin
Dragon's Fire
Dragonsblood
Water for Elephants
Book of Joe
Bone Weaver

I went to the library and got two that were checked in...Book of Joe and Dragon's Kin. I'll let you know how they were.

five ingredient friday

Baked Mock French Toast

My family loves this because it's tasty, I love it because it's easy to make. It's not the same as pan-toasted french toast but it's still delicious.

bread
eggs
milk (we use vanilla soy)
fruit
sugar (we use sucanat)

In a greased cooking pan (let's not count that as an ingredient, okay?) lay out bread
How many slices? However many fit in the pan. An 8 x 8 square will hold 4 if you squish 'em.
Mix together eggs and milk enough to cover bread.
How much? For the 8 x 8 pan I use 2 eggs and about 3/4 C. milk
Cover with plastic and set in fridge overnight
In the morning preheat the oven to 350
Unwrap the pan and sprinkle sliced/diced/whatever fruit and sugar on top of bread mixture
Bake approximately 20 minutes until done
Serve and enjoy

For more Five Ingredient Friday lists check out Overwhelmed With Joy.

wfmw (bread tip)

Sometimes I like to buy specialty breads as a treat. We don't go through them very quickly, especially if it's a hearty dense bread that the kids don't like it. So I put two slices at a time in sandwich baggies, rebag the whole loaf and put it in the freezer. Then we can take out just a few slices at a time. Works for me!

Check out Shannon's website for other Works For Me Wednesday ideas.

momblogs

I've recently found a new place to hang out in the blogosphere. Lots of mom blogs here. The hard part is I see my blogroll increasing, again. The good part is I like what I'm finding.

When I started reading blogs they were mostly knitting and craft related. Then I began to find food blogs, then fun blogs, then educational blogs, the list just kept going. As I've continued to read and explore I find that I have mercilessly dropped some of my older reads in favor of new ones. Some of it is time but some of it is also because I've realized I can only read so many craft blogs at one time. And I can only read so many vegetarian blogs at one time too. I do wish I had kept a list of what I used to read though, I think it would have been interesting to track the evolution of my blogreads.

But I like what I'm reading now and that's what is important. Check out the link above, maybe you'll find some new blog reads of your own.

fireflies

Of the girly persuasion. D and E decided to take some sparklers outside for a bit of summer entertainment (with permission of course). After getting a cup of water for the used stems they began to light up the sparklers, twirling, writing, dancing around with them. I sat on the front stoop and watched them. It was so sweet to hear their girly giggles as they played outside in the still air with the crickets chirping in the background. What a sweet summer memory.

stitch sisters

Lots of fun tonight. We had dessert to go with our knitting (which of course meant we had to put our knitting down for a while but no one seemed to complain). Raspberry sherbert with peaches and also including blackberries from my garden. Quite a tasty treat to go along with our usual goodness of community gathering.

We also collected 7 more hats! I'm so impressed by how many hats we have managed to make. It's really wonderful to see the collection growing. So many different styles, colors, sizes. It's going to be great when we take them to the shelter.

Speaking of hats one of our members brought a fabulous book to the meeting. So many cute designs (and babies). We all passed it around and admired it. The sister who brought it threatened to beat any of us with a purse if the book went missing :-D

All in all it was the usual wonderful get-together that it always is.

farm day

Today was farm day. D's friend E is visiting from out of state for a few days and so she went with us. She was much more excited about picking things and cutting the flowers than D is. I guess the novelty has worn off for D after doing this so often. Not for me but then again I'm not a teenager.

In today's lovely collection: sun gold cherry tomatoes, sun flowers, green beans, wax beans, a bouquet of mixed flowers, swiss chard, potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, lettuce, beets, kohlrabi, mmmmmmmmm. Lots of lovely fresh food. Even E noticed the difference as we all happily munched the green beans on the way home. I know I'm getting back on my soap box here but I am still amazed at how wonderful it is to buy local, fresh, organic food. So much tastier, to much better for you. Plus we're helping to support a farmer, show the kids where our food really comes from, and get a back-to-nature break at least once a week. All good stuff.

ps

A ps to Tackle It Tuesday...I did this exact same thing (tackling, decluttering, flying, whatever you want to call it) for my Aunt the last time I visited her. We got rid of lots of stuff, reorganized stuff and came up with a decluttering plan for other stuff.

I guess it's easier to throw out other people junk because their junk is junk and our junk is stuff. Here's George Carlin on this very subject.

tackle it tuesday

I have resisted joining in because...well I don't know why. But yesterday I tackled such a huge job that I knew I had to join here. We are in the process (don't ask me why because again...I don't know why) of rearranging several (five to be exact) spaces in our home. Some of them had to be done at the same time because we were flipping one room for another. Example: S's room became the guest room and the guest room became S's room. Never mind that two floors separate them and all the lugging and heaving up and down stairs of furniture. This necessitated the play room (next to S's new room) becoming an overflow room.

Then D wanted S's old room, the new guest room. Luckily (or not depending on your point of view) she decided that if we rearranged her room, swapped out some furniture and reorganized things she liked her room just fine, thank you very much. Then V got into the act and decided to reorganize her room. The office became the overflow area for their rooms. As you can see I'm going to have LOTS of Tackle It posts coming up.

A very long explanation to get to what I did. With the help of my dear friend Holly I now have a cleared out and reorganized one-half of the playroom. We purged while we were at it and the back of my minivan is full of junk to go to the dump today. I feel so good about getting rid of old papers, little bits and pieces of stuff I don't need and making the space more usable and organized. Holly was amazing, encouraging me to get rid of stuff, helping me sort and organize it's great. I still have a long way to go in there but now you can walk into the room, sit down on the sofa and get to the stuff on the shelves. WOW.

If you want to play along go visit 5 minutes for mom.

simplicity

I'm learning that simplicity is a relative term. I'm speaking of simplicity as it relates to life and life-issues.

For many people that term conjures up images of voluntary simplicity also known as simple living. It means living with less stuff and spending less.

For some it conjures up ideas of living off the land like Helen and Scott Nearing or even Henry David Thoreau's Walden Pond experience.

But I have recently come across another explanation which startled me. Why did it startle me so? Because I have always assumed that in order to live more simply one must follow the above examples. We, meaning my husband and I, try to live a lower impact lifestyle, recycling heavily, composting, doing things for ourselves, trying not to buy excessively, all of that; and so do many of our friends.

But now I have a friend who has shown me another example of simplifying her life. She is moving not to a more rural area where she would have to do more for herself, but to a more urban area. Her husband is being transferred but she sees the simplification of her life in not having to drive so far to get the kids to all of their activities. The simplification of having a grocery store close by instead of 30 minutes away. The simplicity of having public services, parks, amenities available. I had truly never looked at it that way before and I am stunned by the realization that if indeed the purpose is to simplify your life, the end result is the same no matter how you get there; less stress, more time, more of whatever you are looking for, less of whatever you don't like.

So now instead of trying to do more I am back to my Aunt's philosophy (which I had lost sight of for a while), do less. Do more of the things that matter but less of the things that cause stress. I'm also still following my Mom's good example and trying to re-examine what I own to see if I can part with more stuff. Less stuff means less dusting, less clutter and for me that means a lot less stress.

Sometimes that different perspective is so healthy and really opens up new pathways in the brain, we just need to be open to the circumstances around us to see those opportunities.

learning

My children go to public school. At one point I thought I might homeschool but then, for various reasons, we decided to leave them in public school. Overall it has worked out well for them. However, we do have continuing learning going on at our house because I believe that learning does not and should not stop when you walk outside the four walls that define a public school. Learning is a lifelong endeavor, there is always something new and interesting to learn. If you are in the habit of continuing to exercise your mind all your life it is better for you.

In the summer we try to do some sort of homeschool. Although the public school sends home a math packet and a reading assignment we would do more than that. When the kids got into high school they could choose an independent study project that thaty had to research, write a paper about and work with me on. When they were younger (and still my youngest) we picked a subject of the summer (one summer it was the solar system, one summer it was insects, etc) to study as our primary subject and then we would also touch on some basic history, math, science, nature, english/literature.

For the last few years I put up a Word of the Week on the pantry door. It was a word, with its definition, its part of language, and synonyms. I figured this would be a good thing for SAT practice and word acquisition. Then I started adding a quote of the week, something that I found inspirational that I thought would be good for my children to learn. In the last six months I added a place of the week. Someplace in the world that they might not know where it is, a little history about it and a graphic of a map of the area.

It's all good stuff. But here's where it gets interesting. I wasn't always as motivated as I should be to change the page every week. Then my kids started noticing and pointing out to me that I had forgotten to change the page. This summer life got very busy for a number of reasons and we (read I) chose to forgo home summer school. The youngest missed it!

In my browsings and wanderings in the blogoshpere I found This! post. I realized that I am most of the way there. I can expand this idea to help my youngest with the Spanish that she will be learning this year (and which Steve and I would like to learn) and cover other subjects that may need help. It's a fun way to share information and learning. But I am going to make it more visually interesting and colorful than it has been in the past. Hopefully this will help me regain my motivation and recharge our learning efforts for the upcoming school year.

saft sirop syrup

I have finally found a recipe for making saft which is a fruit syrup concentrate that you add water/seltzer to to make a nice refreshing drink. I have been wanting to make it for a long time and lost my recipe.

Basically you take some fruit (I'm using raspberries and blackberries), mush them up with a little yeast, let it ferment a while, strain, add water and sugar, boil and process.

The recipe I have calls for 5 pints of fruit, 1 t. yeast, 2 C. sugar and then the water is added proportionally to how much juice you have. It smells VERY yeasty at the moment but hopefully that will calm down over the next day or two. I'm really thrilled to try this and see how it turns out.

I'm hoping it turns out well and that the kids like it. I'm also thinking of trying a second batch using something other than white sugar (perhaps sucanat or honey). We'll see how the first one turns out before I make that decision.

the best laid plans....

I'm always trying to organize better. Truthfully I'm not sure why. I guess I somehow feel that if I could be better organized life would run more smoothly. That may not necessarily be true, but I still try.

I have found lots of help and inspiration at The Flylady and Organized Home.

In my continuing quest for order I decided that I was going to tackle D's room while she was away at camp. Being the procrastinator that I am I didn't manage to get to it the first week. No problem, week two was there. Steve helped me and we made significant progress in the first two days clearing out her room, cleaning, re-arranging.

It all came to a screetching halt right there. I took a day off to go visit my newest niece, K. I had a really lovely visit with my sister-in-law and got in lots of baby cuddles. While I was down there the camp nurse called home. D had a very high fever and with no air conditioning at camp they felt it was prudent to bring her home. Steve went and fetched her and all of her stuff from camp (which ends tomorrow - whether she makes it to the banquet depends on how she feels). She was happy that her room was clean and rearranged but all the stuff it out of it. I had been hoping to get rid of more than I suspect I will be able to now. But we're organizing and sorting and the end result will still be better than what she had before.

Lessons learned? I still procrastinate more than I should. I try to tell myself it's because I have too much to do (which is true) but I have also learned that part of the problem is that I never seem to find the time to do just one thing at a time. There are always too many tasks demanding my attention (laundry and cooking are two biggies that come to mind).

Other lesson learned? I have improved. As I was working in her room I realized that although I may not be as organized as I would like to be, in the last few years I have made significant progress. So there's hope.

Last lesson? Kids are pigs. Goodness knows I love 'em to pieces, but they are just the messiest creatures ever put on the face of this earth. The good news? One day they move out, you get your house back and whether they keep their own place neat becomes totally their responsibility. Now if I can just hold on to that thought for the next however-many-years.

tag issue

In case anyone is wondering (and I suspect no one is) the tag issue has turned into a non-issue. I got two offline responses telling me that they never checked the tag links I put in. So I suppose I have a 100% response in favor of dropping tags. Actually it's easier for me so that's a good thing.

Just in case you were wondering.

However, if you wanted to learn more about tagging here is the Technorati site that explains it.

farm day

Yesterday was farm day. It was so hot and humid (up in the triple digits) that I chose to forgo the flowers but still managed to pick a quart of wax beans and my share of cherry tomatoes.

Inside the barn the mix and match selection included 8 ears of fabulous corn. Mmmmmm, so good when it's fresh. We also got eggplant (the small purple and white ones), kohlrabi, sweet carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, red onions, sweet onions, lettuce, beets, and swiss chard.

Dinner was a medley of veggies from the farm including grilled corn-on-the-cob. Boy was it good.

We're getting into the part of the season where the share equals more than we can eat in a week. Soon it will be time to begin pickle production. I have two friends who also belong to the farm who want to learn how to make pickles so perhaps we can do this together, should be fun.

wfmw - puppy treats

Our puppy, Tobi, loves peanut butter. Stuffing it into his doggie toy is a bit messy and he manages to clean the thing out in under 10 seconds. D, came up with a fabulous idea. She makes globs of peanut butter on a plate and puts it in the freezer. When we want to give him one it stuffs into the toy very easily and he really has to work at it for a while to get all the peanut butter.

It works for me.

Check out Shannon's website for other Works For Me Wednesday ideas.

parent picnic

tags

Curiousity prompts me to ask.

I have been, more or less, tagging my posts to Technorati. I figured that if someone liked what I was writing about they might be interested in reading what others had to say about the same subject.

But I confess it's a bit of a pain to tag each post (especially since I tend to break up my day into mini-subjects) and decide what the appropriate posts are. Does anyone reading this have an opinion? If so please share. Do you like tagging? Do you not like it? Do you not care?

Waiting to hear.

berry good

Today I managed to pick two quarts of raspberries. It looks like some jam making will soon be in my future. The bushes we so loaded and the berries so ripe that just moving the canes caused some of the berries to make a headlong dive into the thicket. Despite this sad and mournful loss I collected a goodly amount.

I also picked about a pint of blackberries. These things are as big as the first going on my thumb. And tasty? Oh my. MMMMMMMMMM, I think there's going to be some of my favorite blackberry pie soon too. Of course if the peaches hurry up I might even be able to make my Mom's blackberry peach cobbler.

The elderberries, which are planted in the same enclosure, look very happy. I'm hoping the amount of growth that they are putting on means that they will be producing their first crop of fruit as early as next year.

I really feel very fortunate to have such a wonderful abundance of fruits right here in my back yard.

camp days

We dropped D off for camp yesterday (with thanks to my cousin T who helped us narrowly avert a bathing suit castrophe). I think she's going to have a great time. She's going with a friend and it's two whole weeks of fun and sun and kids...what more could she want. The campground is really lovely, 167 acres with it's own lake. Swimming, hiking, canoeing, arts and crafts, etc. All good stuff.

When dropping her off in her cabin, my friend Rita (mother of D's friend A) and I noticed two other girls talking about the arts and crafts. "Wait till you see what I did" squealed the first one dragging out a pair of jeans. "I embroidered the pockets." And, might I add, they were very cute, well done, colorful, just the fun sort of camp activity you might expect. Then she flipped the jeans over. "And I shredded them myself! With a seam ripper and sissors!"

Rita and I looked at each other horrified. My first thought was 'I just bought those jeans." We're hoping that our daughters are not similarly stricken by talent. But at the end of the day as long as she has a good time I guess that's all that really matters.

tag: summer, camp

family fun

We had a great family fun night tonight. After dinner we half-played a rousing game of scrabble. I say half played because suddenly in the middle of the game it was decided that we needed to go down to the town park instead to play basketball. The others assured me that it had nothing to do with the fact that I was whompin the heck outta them but that they felt a need for more energetic activities. Uh huh. I think they're planning to sell me a bridge tomorrow.

So off to the town park with the dog in tow. S brought the big exercise ball and great, hilarious fun ensued with some sort of kickball/soccer game with the rules being made up as the game went along. After everyone was really tired from running around we went over to the basketball court and played an awesomely bad game of horse. We really are pathetic basketball people, but we have fun doing it and that's what matters most. Tobi had a great time running around with us. When it got too dark and too many mosquitos were out we finally decided to head home.

The giggles and laughter and fun made it a perfect summer evening.

tags: scrabble, basketball

stitch sisters

Was last night but I seem to be running late these days with my posts. It's a busy summer.

One of the sisters agreed to have it at her house because she has AC and the church where we meet does't. It made a nice change. We had a really good turnout, collected some more hats and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I taught one of the sisters how to make the hat pattern that I am making and she did an awesome job using handspun wool (she didn't spin it though); it turned out to be an amazing hat.

It was fun to visit and we got to see the sister-in-questions' new pet. A bunny named Nutmeg. It's rather amusing, they keep Nutmeg on a leash and he really doesn't seem to mind. Sort of like a dog run thing. The chickens are afraid of him apparently. He's very pretty and very soft.

tags: knitting, hat, rabbit,

works for me wednesday

WFMW is the brainchild of Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer. Every Wednesday you post something that works for you.

When we bought cordless phones for the house we go three and they all look alike. To remember which one belongs in which cradle we put a clear piece of tape on the back, wrote the room on it and covered it with another piece of tape. This way we always know where the phones belong for a recharge.

tags: meme, wfmw

cookbookwiki

Wow! A new cookbook resource. I love it!!! I actually found this thanks to Chili und Ciabatta which I am laughably trying to stumble my way though (having forgotten LOTS of German in the intervening years). But the pictures are nice and every now and then I find a gem. Like this link. What fun to start trolling through this one.

tags: cookbook, recipes

puerto rico

My Mom just got back. Here's the link to her adventures complete with gorgeous photographs (she's so talented). Truthfully Puerto Rico has never been high on my list of places to go but having seen these pictures now I want to go too and experience it for myself.

tag: vacation

knitty love

The new issue of Knitty is up. I love this magazine and always eagerly look forward to it's new issues. I also love trolling through past issues. Too many things to knit! The articles are fun too, I like the end tag on the home page this issue, you'll have to check it out for yourself.

Patterns that caught my fancy this time? Perdita and Fetching. I really really want to make Perdita. Of course that just adds one more to the list. But it looks like a good, light, hopefully quick project for the summer. We'll see what happens. Of course I need to finish the hat I'm currently working on and Perdita would require a purchase (shhhhh....) but it would be so cute.

tag: knit

travel dreams

While visiting with Meg and Sam today we started talking about vacations, past and planned for the future. With vacation time being so precious it is sometimes difficult to know where to go. In our case it's getting harder because the kids have different ideas than we do. Plus I seem to be getting more adventurous in my advancing years and want to try all sorts of new things like eco-vacations, vocation-vacations, girlfriend getaways, yoga retreats, language immersion vacations; the possibilities are endless...unfortunately I'm not retired and independently wealthy so I have to plan a little more.

I found a new site to play with. When you're dreaming and planning http://www.infohub.com/ seems to be a pretty good place to go. I like their format because you can choose what kind of vacation and where. Time to start dreaming some more.....

lovely day in the garden

Today I met up with friends Sam and Meg for a really lovely afternoon. We went to the Glebe House and Gertrude Jekyll Gardens.

We started our afternoon with a lovely picnic under a shady tree, chatting and eating leisurely while we caught up with each others news. Then we started our tour, receiving a docented tour of the house which was fascinating. Among other things I learned that a Glebe House was a house that was owned by the church. All this time I thought that it was named for a family named Glebe. Now I know different.

After the home tour we toured the garden (twice) and then headed back to my house for further conversations. I really enjoyed the day, it was great to spend it with my friends. We're already planning a couple more garden-themed trips in the future.

tags: garden, glebe, jekyll

quotes

I was talking with my brother yesterday and he told me a number of his favorite quotes. He collects them. Some of them were very good. Actually my Dad started our fascination with quotes creating a random quote generator that he would fill with quotes and every morning when he fired up his computer he would get a new quote.

Unfortunately I can't seem to remember any, I love quotes but not many remain in my brain. However I do have a some favorite quote sites including this one which includes a very applicable quote for this time of year (it's listed under the gardening section in case you want to find it on your own):

“Gardening requires lots of water, most of it in the form of perspiration.” Lou Erickson

Too true!

home harvest

Just a few currants clinging to the bushes. I'll try to harvest them and just put them in the freezer for later use of some kind.

The raspberries have really started to ripen with a vengeance. I'm picking over a pint a day which is really fabulous. They're so tasty that at this point we're just eating them raw or in smoothies.

The smaller of the two peach trees ripened. D actually was the one who tried the fruit, thereby beating the squirrels this year. I've picked what I could reach, there are a few out of reach but I'm hoping to shake them loose in a day or two. The larger tree is just chock full of peaches. It's going to be time to make peach jam one of these days soon. Mmmmmm.

tags: garden, currants, raspberries, peaches

garden helpers

This was my first week with my hired garden helpers. I managed to get a total of 5 hours of help and it's amazing how much got done in that time. Well worth the price, especially with the weather encouraging the weeds so much these days. All the rain followed by hot, sunny weather.
Turns out Tobi will eat weeds indiscriminately from plants. I don't think he's trainable to eat only weeds, nor do I think he can eat enough to make a difference. So it's hired help for now. If we can just make some inroads into the gardens around the house I'll be happy. The hill will have to wait. Part of it is going away in the future but it would be nice if it didn't look quite so overgrown. We'll have to wait and see how far we get.

The woods have successfully been returned to their natural woodlands state without much help from yours truly. I think I have managed to rescue the vast majority of plants that were in the woods, the rest will just add "woodland interest" as they bloom. We're in the process of hopefully widening another path this year, it's slow work with all that has to be done but eventually it will get there.

tags: garden, weeds, woods, tobi

friday farm day

Today is blisteringly hot. 95 degrees F and I'm not sure what the humidity is but it's enough to melt you into nothing. It was hot work at the farm. Gleanings on the peas were available and I picked a salad bag full, some to eat fresh some to dry for soup. Also one quart of beans and a bouquet of snapdragons. The hot picking work took me over an hour.

Miss D decided she was so hot waiting for me that she poured water all over herself in an effort to cool down. Unfortunately that was the water that I was going to use to keep the flowers from dehydrating and wilting on the way home. I wrung her out (just kidding) -- there was another bottle of water that I was able to use to protect them.

Inside the barn the pickings included lettuces, cabbage, bok choy, garlic scapes, tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli rabe, swiss chard, and broccoli. All very delicious looking and some great dishes will be gracing our table this week courtesy of our lovely farm.

tags: farm

works for me wednesday

WFMW is the brainchild of Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer. Every Wednesday you post something that works for you. Today's post is showing up on Thursday because I didn't get to it on Wednesday, but it still works for me.

When I get invited to a wedding I always give the same gift. It's usually never on anyone's registry list and yet it is always appreciated. A cake plate. It's so simple, so useful and works for me.

tags: meme, wfmw

day late dollar short

This is the Tuesday post. Of course this is Wednesday Thursday but we won't pay any attention to that. Wednesday Steve bottled up the wine. He's been letting it sit or steep or whatever it does in that bottle with the funny thing-y on top. It smells delicious. Now it just needs to sit in the bottle for two to three months and then we can taste it. He got 28 bottles, a bad investment. S and V have elected themselves in charge of the labeling and are busy designing the label for a Privee Reserve.

Garden. uh. Still weedy. I actually went so far as to hire a high school kid to come help me. He showed up. One-half hour later it rained absolute buckets with a horrendous thunder and lightening storm to go with it. Not much weeding going on there. I've also hired a couple of neighbor boys to come and help me get some of the lighter stuff done. My kids won't work for me but I guess other kids will.

Stitch Sisters was great. We are up to 21 hats whoo-hoo!. We've got till November so at this rate we should generate quite a few. I did more de-stashing and donated the remnants to the group for people to use for making hats. Serves a great purpose twice, what an awesome idea.

tags: garden, weeding, wine, knitting, hats

d-mail

There are two donkeys that live down at the bottom of our neighborhood. My grey and white spotted friend, Spooky, and Teddy, the miniature donkey who lives a few doors away from Spooky.

Tonight while sitting on our beautiful screened-in porch, listening to the crickets, enjoying the bug-free breeze Steve and I heard a braying coming up the hill. I shared with Steve that Teddy's owner told me how when one starts braying the other answers back. She calls it d-mail, we thought that was a pretty clever description.

jammin' two

While visiting my in-laws this weekend my Mom generously gave me some sour cherries from a farm near her house. They look absolutely luscious.

I've decided to make Sour Cherry Walnut Conserve with them. It's meant to be used as a filling for cookies or cake.

3 pounds fresh sour cherries (about 2 quarts after pitting)
2 medium oranges
2 lemons
1/2 C. water
1 C. walnut halves
5 C. sugar

Stem, rinse and pit cherries, saving all the juice, place in a pan
Grate zest of the oranges and one of the lemons, add to cherries
Pare off membrane from oranges and lemons, cut out pulp. Chop and add to cherries with all the juice
Add water to the fruit
Set pan over medium heat and simmer uncovered until cherries are soft 15-20 minutes
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread walnuts on a baking sheet and toast them until they are fragrant, about 10 minutes
Cool nuts then rub with a cloth to remove loose skin, chop coarsely
When cherries are soft add sugar, raise the heat to medium hight and cook until the syrup has thickened
Add the walnuts, return to boiling and cook 5 minutes longer
Ladle into jars, seal and hot water bath

Mmmmmm, sounds yummy, can't wait to lick the pot (purely for testing purposes) after making this.

tags: recipe, canning, cherries, preserves

jammin'

Steve helped me pick even more currants today. Then we finally stemmed, cleaned and rinsed them to prepare them for jellying. It was really nice to have the help and certainly made things go faster.

The recipe I use is from Preserving by Oded Schwartz:

For every 2 C. currants add 2 1/2 C. water
Bring to a boil
Simmer 30 minutes
Hang in a jelly bag 30 minutes
For every 2 C. juice add 2 C. sugar and 3 T. lemon juice
Bring to jelly point
Jar, seal, hot water bath

Today was so busy that I only had time to make the juice. I'll process it tomorrow. We have quite a bit and there are more berries ripening so I should get a nice amount of jars this year. Definitely more than the six that I got last year.

There is something ultimately satisfying about preserving fruit that you grew yourself. Somehow any preserving effort is good, but having grown it yourself makes it even more special.

tags: jelly, currants, recipe, canning

fabulous fourth

We had a really great Fourth of July celebration at my in-laws. As usual they did a bang-up job creating a great party with good food, good company, and a good time was had by all. Lots of friends and family, including my folks, were there.

This year we made family history by remembering to eat the watermelon. In past years we have had so much dessert that we have forgotten to carve and serve the watermelon, leaving my poor mother-in-law to eat it all by herself the day after. Although we remembered the watermelon...we forgot the rolls! Maybe the tradition is that we're supposed to forget to serve something, I don't know.

The fireworks were great, we all crammed onto the boat and the dock to watch them. Tobi was a little afraid at first but then calmed down and watched them with us. That was great because it meant we all got to enjoy the show instead of one of us having to hide in the house with a nervous dog.

After the holiday we drove our niece and nephew home so that we could admire our newest niece, Miss K. She is so precious and beautiful. I managed to get in a good baby fix, it's so miraculous to me how perfect they are, how tiny, and how sweet they smell. There's also something really amazing about that cuddle they have; melts me everytime.

walk.jog.run

h/t to Misty for this.

This web site for walk.jog.run is awesome, or, as my kids might say, way kewl. It allows you to plot out your distances and keep routes. I'm definitely adding this to my keepers list.

weekend update

It's been a busy time here in our little town. Lots going on, so much that I've been far to busy to blog and it all seems a blur at the moment.

Stitch Sisters this week was wonderful, as always. Funny enough three of us were working on hats for our charity project. I had decided that I had quite enough of the blanket at the moment and turned my attention to something smaller and, more importantly, lighter...a hat. One sister realized that she had yet to make a hat so she started one. Another sister needed a mindless project for a bit so she's making a hat. We're up to 12 completed hats at the moment. I imagine that there won't be too much activity over the summer but expect a flurry (hah!) of activity once we get to September.

Farm day was fabulous. Gleanings of strawberries, we managed to get two quarts. One quart of amazingly delicious peas. Bok choy, broccoli, salad, garlic scapes, kohlrabi, salad turnips, radishes, mmmmmm, happy tummies in our house. We had steamed peas and broccoli with our dinner on pickup night, it's amazing how much better this fresh, local, organic stuff tastes.

Garden activity...hah! you need to ask? It's been awful! The weeds are everywhere. In good garden news however the currants have been producing like gangbusters. We're harvesting a little at a time and hope to make jelly next week. The raspberries are starting also. Just enough to eat and savor, not enough for a pie...yet.

In other good news it was someone special's birthday this past week. I don't think they want to be mentioned by name to the blogiverse at large but I wanted to wish them a

happy birthday!

Last but not least we have been cleaning out. Taking a cue from my Mom who has been decluttering and, obviously, paying much more attention than I to her surroundings. Our local library has a barn sale every year. We loaded up the van and drove it down, making a rather substantial "stuff" donation. I hope someone else finds a good home for it. Next we went back home, loaded up the trailer with JUNK (and that's with all caps no cutsie que on the end) and hied off to the recycle center. $50 and well worth the price to be rid of the various doorstops (aka old non-functioning computers) and odds and ends that are of no use to anyone. Next on the list is freecycle for the stuff that's not quite good enough for the library but too good to throw away. It feels good to be paring down. So much so that it has encouraged me to delve *ack* once again into my books. I've purged twice in the last few years but I think I need to be more ruthless, possibly even viscious! Argh! LOL But seriously I need to work harder at denying my inner packrat non-accumulation.

tags:knitting, hat, gardening, currants, raspberries, garden, birthday , freecycle, declutter

knitting games

For those who have too much time on their hands even with a full knitting schedule (note: this would not be me) there are games you can play around the theme of knitting to keep yourselves amused.

One is sudoku. Not your ordinary sudoku by any means. Check it out.

Then there are word scrambles, word searches, crossword puzzles and more. It boggles the mind.

works for me wednesday

WFMW is the brainchild of Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer. Every Wednesday you post something that works for you. I was too tired to post last night so my contribution is a day late.

We try to re-use the plastic bags that come from the grocer store. But where to store them. Three ideas that work well.

1. Stuff about 8-9 of them into an empty paper towel roll and leave that in your car. Then when you need a bag you have one.
2. Stuff about 30 of them into an empty large tissue box and put it in a closet (such as in the bathroom). Then when you need one there they are.
3. Stuff about 60 of them into an empty, clean milk carton with a hand hole cut near the top. It has a handle and is very compact. I keep mine under the sink in my kitchen.

It all works for me.

tags: meme, wfmw

the war of the weeds has been lost

Nothing else needs to be said on that topic.

It was raining again today. Like most days so far this summer. Either that or blisteringly hot. Courageously I waded out into the thicket that used to be my garden to start harvesting currants and rhubarb.

The currants are just starting and I'll be picking as they ripen in order to beat the birdies. The rhubarb is probably done for the year. About half of what I tried to harvest was either woody or dry. I have enough for one more batch of something so I think I'm going to make Blackberry Rhubarb Jam. I'll use the frozen blackberries that I have from last summer. I had gotten some thornless blackberries from a neighbor of my Mom's a few years ago; last year was the first year that they really produced for me. The berries are as big as the first joint on my thumb and very delicious.

Here's the recipe:

4 C finely chopped rhubarb
1 C. blackberries
4 C. sugar
1 T. lemon juice

Cover the rhubarb and blackberries with the sugar and lemon juice and let sit at least 3 hours
Put in pot, bring to a boil
Cook 20 minutes or until jelly point has been reached
Ladle into sterile jars, seal and process 10 minutes in hot water bath

tags: rhubarb, blackberries, jam, recipe, garden

beach fun

It was our first day at the town beach. D and her friend A had so much fun diving and splashing as they tried to catch minnows. We saw a beautiful blue heron land across the lake from us and perch on a boat. A really wonderful sight.

It was a quiet time of day and before the crowds at the beach have really started...my favorite time really.

farm day

Today was farm day again. D took her friend A to the farm with us. It was pick your own strawberries, two quarts of the most luscious, fragrant strawberries ever. Plus salad mix, arugula, broccoli, napa cabbage, lettuces, radishes, and scallions. Yum!

It was really wonderful to spend the time wandering the fields to the strawberry patch and seeing all the growing things and watching the girls enjoying running around outdoors.

what kind of flower are you?

Thanks to my Mom for sending me this one.

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

suburban war stories

I've come to realize that living in suburbia, or rural-urbia if there is such a thing, there are certain things that come to be part of the collective experience. Putting in a dog fence is one of those things. Several of our neighbors have dogs. They all have invisible fences. They have all gone through the same experience...you'd think we would have learned by now.

First you call the fence company. They come out and give you a totally unrealistic quote to fence in part of your property. For 20% of the price you can buy the fence and do it yourself. You check by calling a neighbor who tells you they got the same awful quote and did the work themselves and by the way another neighbor happens to own a trencher. Call that neighbor. Oh yes, they got the same awful quote and did it themselves. Sure you can pick up the trencher.

Then comes laying out enough wire to fence in 1.5 acres. Tromping through woods, over rocks, through garden beds ?!?!?. Then comes the trenching part. Two people not required but it goes faster that way. One to trench one to bury. Hot, sweaty, mosquito-y. Then putting out all the flags. And we haven't even gotten to the training part, that takes 10-12 days. But I hear that it's a huge success. And of course once you're done with putting in the fence you're done.

We can now sit by the neighborhood fireside and share our own war story of climbing up a 30 degree grade of rock to lay invisible fencing (wondering why the dog would be that far but not wanting to wade into the thicket of wild raspberries and multiflora rose to avoid it) among other adventures of life in this small town.

tags: tobi, http://technorati.com/tag/dog rel="tag">dog, fence

part what?

Tobi, our dog, is part Boxer. We're not sure what the other parts are but lots of people offer opinions, Ridgeback, Weimaraner, Labrador.

What we are sure of is that he is part pig and part termite. His favorite thing to do when going for a walk in the woods is to chew wood; maybe that should be part beaver but he hasn't started taking down any trees yet, just chewing on the ones that are already down. He also LOVES to eat the compost from the compost pile {urgh}. Doesn't make one too happy to recieve puppy kisses now does it?

tags: tobi, dog

works for me wednesday

Works for Me Wednesday is the brainchild of Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer. Every Wednesday you post something that works for you. Not rocket science but fun.

When I go to visit people if I have things to bring I try to bring it in a laundry basket. This way I have a place to keep my purse, my return dishes, the kids stuff. It definitely works for me.


tag: wednesday

rhubarb rhapsodies

Having lots of rhubarb in the garden I decided that it was time to use more of it. I made two rhubarb recipes today. The first is a cake courtesy of Nina and she was very kind and converted the recipe from metric for me. The conversion is:

2 cups finly chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup of hazelnuts (or almonds), ground roughly
1/2 cup brown suger
7 T. melted margarine
1/2 cup milk
2 cups plain flour
2 ts cinnamon
1 ts vanilla sugar
2 ts baking soda

I used ground almonds, forgot the cinnamon and doubled the recipe so I could have one for now and one for later. I must have done something right because mine came out looking just like the picture she posted. We'll be eating it tomorrow, hopefully it will taste as good as it looks.

The second rhubarb goodness was rhubarb strawberry preserves since I had all those strawberries from the farm:

2 1/2 pounds rhubarb, de-stringed and diced
2 1/2 pounds sugar
1 1/3 pounds strawberries, de-hulled and halved

Let soak 3 hours

add juice of one lemon

bring to a boil, boil 20 minutes or until jelly point is reached. Jar and process 10 minutes in a hot water bath. Makes 8 8-ounce jars.

It looks so red and juicy and smelled fabulous when I was making it. The tastings off the ladle while I was ahem cleaning it were delicious. I love having this stuff in the house, it tastes so much better than what you buy in the store.

I love the fact that the rhubarb is from my own garden and the strawberries were fresh picked today from the local organic farm. It really doesn't get any better than that, unless you happen to have a lemon tree in the back yard.

farm adventures

Today was farm pickup day. Wow! Two quarts of the most fragrant, juicy, delicious strawberries. Mmmmmmmmm.

Plus bok choy, scallions, huge globe radishes, arugula, romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce and one small head of broccoli. I'm so happy to have this. Stir fry for dinner probably on Monday and salads for lunches all week!

adventures in bread

Today we needed bread, so I baked. I ground a flour of 1 C. hard white wheat, 1 C. hard red wheat, 1 C. spelt, 1/2 C. lentils and 1/2 C. pinto beans. Instead of making two 1 pound loaves I decided to make one 1 pound loaf and two half-pound loaves. I cut a half pound loaf for lunch and it was delicious, a really nice combination of grains.

One of my children didn't see the cut small loaf put back in the bread basket and cut the large loaf. Not a problem as bread always seems to get eaten in this family. The problem was that the loaf in question was left on the butcher block...within sniffer range of a certain dog...who discovered for the very first time that has was tall enough to stand on his hind feet and reach the top of the butcher block. The loaf was in the process of being devoured when he was spotted enjoying his mid-day snack. Rats. I guess this means I'll be baking again fairly soon. Hopefully this will be an additional lesson to certain members of the household that nothing is safe if it is within puppy range.

frisbee fun

Today there was an assembly at the local school followed by an evening event. It was the Spinning Bees who came to show the kids how much fun frisbee can be. The evening event was lots of fun and Gary got the parents involved too. Fun to watch, entertaining to listen to, everyone had a great time. We came home with a spinning trainer and a regular frisbee (autographed!). Hopefully we'll be able to keep them away from Tobi. I'm sure he'd love to learn to be a frisbee dog but I'm not sure the frisbee could stand up to his puppy-jaws-of-death.

tag: rel="tag">frisbee

fun on the farm

Today I picked up D from school and we drove to my friend's house. She in turn took us to her friend's house where there is a mini-farm. We got to hug, hold and admire baby pigs (very sweet but noisy squeekers), baby bunnies, baby goats, a baby miniature donkey named Priscilla, plus see angora rabbits, turkey poults, geese, chickens, cats, dogs, ponies. It was a fun afternoon.

One funny event that happened while we were there, we noticed that there were two chicken eggs in with the Vietnamese Potbellied Pig (who is rather large). I guess the chickens like her pen for their nesting box. The eggs had to be retrieved very carefully but retrieved they were. Pretty speckled things, still warm.

tags: farm, chickens, pigs, bunnies, donkey, pony

works for me wednesday

WFMW is the brainchild of Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer. Every Wednesday you post something that works for you. I was too tired to post last night so my contribution is a day late.

I bought a drawer organizer for my socks. It may seem silly but now I can easily grab a pair of socks in the morning. And because the drawer is a little wider than the organizer boxes of knee-highs and mis-mated socks fit perfectly. It definitely works for me!

tags: meme, wfmw

running away

Listening to my last audioblog I realize how very tired I sounded.

We went back to my Aunt's apartment for a little rest before going out to dinner. The little rest turned into a 12 hour nap! But that's a really good thing...something I can't do at home with kids.

The next morning we were going to head over to The Frick Museum but I was still tired and so we lounged all morning. This means we also did not get to go to Gourmet Garage - with a name like that it's a place you just have to visit! Oh well, next time.

Packed up, bought real New York Bagels from the shop around the corner, ate a quick bagel sandwich in the park down the street, and headed off for Grand Central. I did manage to stop at Zaro's to pick up some Black and Whites for my kids. [my Aunt claims the bagel place around the corner is better than Zaro's -- I have to admit they were very tasty]

It was a great get-away and nice to be able to take some time to myself.

running away

day two

links:

United Nations
All Roads Film Project
Tasty Falafel
Strand Books
The Museum at FIT

running away

matzoh brei

This morning we had matzoh brei (a.k.a. Jewish omlette) for breakfast with maple syrup and blueberries. So delicious, so yummy. I love it a lot, rarely eat it and wonder why I have never made it for my children. I'm going to have to change that.

Here's my Aunt's recipe:

1 matzoh per person
wet the matzoh slightly then pat dry
beat one egg per matzoh with a little milk
break up the matzoh
put into egg
let sit a few minutes
fry in a pan
serve and enjoy

So easy!

running away

at the ballet

For some reason the cell network is refusing to connect me to my audioblog settings so this post is courtesy of my Aunt's computer.

Last night we went to the ballet at the Met and saw Giselle. It was an amazingly wonderful, beautiful performance. I was swept away watching it and words cannot describe how very much I enjoyed it. Giselle was played by Xiomara Reyes, Albrecht was played by Julio Bocca with an amazing pas de deux performance by Erica Cornejo and Herman Cornejo.

After the ballet we went to the all night Star Light diner for dinner. I had a bison burger. I had never eaten bison before and found it to be very tasty. Very lean and in some funny way beefier tasting than beef (if that makes any sense). This was served with an absolutely yummy New York half sour pickle and a great cole slaw. Followed by an all-chocolate cake which had chocolate mousse and kirsch filling. Wow! Yum.

Then back to the apartment to collapse for the night. A very fun day, can't wait for tomorrow.

Links:

The Metropolitan Opera
Xiomara Reyes
Julio Bocca
Erica Cornejo
Herman Cornejo
Giselle

running away

exploring the city

Links:

Agra Indian Restaurant
The Container Store
Really Cool Foods (H/T: Doris at Metroblogging for the blurb)

running away

on the train

Link:
Grand Central Station

birdies

Two birding events today:

I was in the treehouse today and checking out my little feathered friends in their nest. I had to stand on tip-toe to see them and I overbalanced, falling toward the nest. Suddenly three birdies flew out and perched in the tree near the tree house. I guess this means they are fledged! I didn't think they were. I'm so glad that they have survived to this stage.

While driving home this evening we were priviledged to see a male peacock walking by the side of the road! It was certainly a surprise. I'm sure that he must live somewhere in the neighborhood what a lovely treat it was to see him though.

baby blessings

We spent the afternoon with family celebrating the arrival of our new niece. My sister-in-law looked wonderful, all of the family and friends looked great, it was a very fun afternoon. It turned out to be a "Jack and Jill" shower with men invited. They seemed a little puzzled and almost hesitant about the games...the women, being more practiced, dove right in and had a great time. I won two of the games, the "how many things in the baby bottle" and the nursery rhyme game.

The men barbequed, there was tons of food. I brought my favorite carrot salad:

14 carrots, peeled and grated
1 C. raisins
1 C. walnut pieces
2 T. lemon juice
1 C. mayonnaise

Mix all together, chill then serve. It's really yummy.

There was an embarassing display of desserts and I'm afraid to confess, but I ate one of everything (and it was good too!).

Then came the opening of the gifts. The men sort of shuffled around while the women oohed and aahed. I was in charge of the "shower hat" which came out quite cute if I do say so myself.

The father-to-be asked me what the significance of the hat was. I replied, "ritual humiliation?" I don't really know why we do this for bridal and baby showers but it's FUN! That's why. The women all thought it was great, especially the mom-to-be, that's what matters.

tag: baby shower, carrot salad, recipe

sunday blessings

Church today was very special. It was an intergenerational Flower Communion which is a service that I really enjoy. And the intergenerational services are always wonderful.

The congregation has hired a new pianist and he played a lot of different music, tango, swing, classical, it was a fun service.

I feel so fortunate to be able to participate in such a diverse community of spiritual support.

tag: church

puppy playdates

While walking Tobi today we went past a dog in our neighborhood who is also part boxer. His electric fence was apparently not working as he came right out to greet Tobi. They hit it off and when Colby ran back to his yard Tobi practically dislocated my shoulder trying to follow. When he reached the end of his lead he started struggling out of his collar.

Before I got hurt I decided to let him off the lead. They had so much fun!!! They chased each other back and forth and forth and back and all around. Jumping, running, they exhausted each other. I'm going to have to call Colby's parents to see if we can schedule another playdate for them as I think it was good for both dogs.

Tobi came home and took a nice nap. I needed that.

tag:Tobi

and the crowd goes wild

D had her softball tournament today. A triple header! Her team won all three games to walk away with the league championship! They were so excited to come home with their trophies. What a fun season for them.

She actually wishes that softball would continue through the summer. I guess this means she's playing again next year.

dinner yummy

We had stir fry for dinner last night with veg from the farm. I love when this season comes and we can start using fresh, local, organic ingredients in our meals. The bok choy and the scallions were from the farm. I added peppers, carrots, celery, garlic and water chestnuts. Served over basmati rice (2/3 white 1/3 brown) it was delicious. No leftovers.

tree house update

I went out to my tree house yesterday to enjoy the peace and quiet. A peek into the nest reveals the babies are getting bigger. I can see them without standing on the chair now. They were, I think, surprised to see me but sat there without a peep. Still very downy and soft looking, I'm not sure what they are but I'm happy that they are growing well.

floppy bread

Having a new puppy in the house is just like having a baby around. He needs LOTS of attention, he's very distracting, and routines need to be adjusted.

Yesterday was bread baking day. I did alright until the point where I set it for the second rise. Since it's been a bit cold I was doing the rise in the oven. After walking Tobi and starting on the after-school routine with the kids I completely forgot the bread. It overrose and started to deflate! Aaaaauuuugh. I baked it anyway. It's okay. Not great. The top is very flat and wrinkly looking and the crumb is nowhere near as nice as it normally is. A lesson to go back to using my timer for now.

yog aahh

(Blogger was down yesterday so I'm catching up on posts)

Went to my yoga class yesterday. The instructor has moved to a new studio space and it was nice. Looking out the windows you can see trees and green instead of the parking lot in front of the strip mall.

It was a great class, lots of stretching and core work. I find my class to be so beneficial on so many levels and am happy to have such a great teacher. This week she lent me a video to work with at home so that I can regain some of the ground I lost when I wasn't able to go for a while. Should be interesting to see how it is doing yoga to a DVD instead of her gentle voice.

works for me wednesday

Works for me Wednesday is the brainchild of Shannon.

My contribution this week comes from years of having moved all over the country. I invest in a box of "calling cards." They are personal cards with my name, address, phone and email. I always carry a few in my purse. That way when I meet someone and they need my information I can give them my card. If I drop something off somewhere I can write a quick note on the back. It definitely works for me.

stitchin' the night away

It's Tuesday and so that means Stitch Sisters. It was fun. Today was Sweden National Day so one of our sisters made a Swedish cake to celebrate, it was yummy.

We also shared prom pictures from our youngest sister, she looked beautiful. It was fun to see the final result after we all helped her pick her dress.

One sister is going on a cruise next month and we had an in-depth and serious discussion about cruise projects. The final result was: sock (small and portable), cotton (not wool, too hot), green (very festive, it will remind her of the cruise everytime she wears them) (she had brought four different sock yarns to pick from). We told her that we expect to see pictures of the sock enjoying it's vacation.

I finished another square -- yippee!! It only took me three Tuesdays to do that. hrrmph. At this rate I don't even want to think about when that first blanket will be done. But I shall forge ahead. I cast on the fifth square. After that is done I will make a hat to mix it up a little and because I am behind on my hat allotment for our charity project.

A great evening. So great we stood around in the parking lot getting eaten alive by mosquitoes as we finished our conversations. Finally one of the ladies remarked, "Let's go home before we're all down a quart of blood!"

what's for dinner?

One of my blogfeeds is to a cartoon that I find hilarious Sherman's Lagoon.

I've been following the last few comics on podcasts, today's is especially funny, check it out.

first farm day

Today was the day!!! It was so nice to go to the farm, see a few returning apprentices and meet one of the new ones. Today's pickup was great, a half-pint of early glow strawberries, radishes, scallions, arugula, bok choy, butterhead and red leaf lettuce. The first few weeks are usually a little slow. but this is a delicious start and we know the bounty that will be forthcoming.

I think it's BLT's for dinner tonight and stir-fry on Thursday.

tobi

I was wrong, his name isn't Toby, it's Tobi. Miss D chose the spelling. We're not sure if he's staying because he and Chloe are not attacking each other but don't seem to be working it out. Hopefully that will change as we cannot live with the cat hovering behind the toilet in our bathroom caterwauling everytime she wants food or water.

He's very good with her, lies down, wags his tail and only whines a little, no barking. But she's not having any of it. We've told the kids to stay out of their way and to let them work it out. We've also decided to keep Chloe inside for the duration until they come to an agreement as we don't want her to disappear.

Tobi has lots of toys at this point which is a good thing because he's chewing on them like crazy. He's manage to destroy one "tough chew" already which obviously did not have the right caliber rope for his extra-strong-puppy-jaws-of-death TM. He's in love with rawhide and catfood and it's difficult to convince him to eat his dogfood. I think we may have to get a different brand. He also likes MY chair, hmmmmmm.

hey batta batta batta

D had a softball game last night. The girls have improved a lot since the beginning of the season. They really worked well together as a team and there were some great hits. They won 10-5. One more game, I think -- not sure with all the storms we have had where the schedule is at this point, and then comes the playoffs. Exciting stuff.

It was interesting watching the game with cottonwood fluffs floating gently over the field in the dusky light. It really looked like a surreal version of a light snow.

gardene meme

My Mom is at it again. Here's another meme this one related to gardening. If you garden, or even if you don't, and want to play consider yourself tagged.

Down In The Dirt

1) Ignoring that mythical holy grail of a soil high in organic, moist yet well-drained - would you choose clay or sand? sand
2) What's worse - too much rain or a drought? drough
3) Do you garden bare handed or do you wear garden gloves? gloves - I kept getting nail infections and finally gave in to gloves
4) Are your garden beds foursquare and formal or casually informal? strongly informal (and heavily weedy but don't look too close)
5) Their edges, do these beds have a spaded edge or do you use some form of edging? spaded edges or rocks depends on the bed
6) And the plants in those garden beds, are they informally mingled and weaving together or carefully arranged in a formal, thought-out design? see number 4 above

Coping with Pests (Know Your Enemies!)

(and understanding that there will be differences of opinion in town or out in the country:)
7) What's worse - deer, woodchucks, rabbits, or squirrels? deer
8) Do you drown Japanese beetle with kerosene / gasoline or dish detergent? dish detergent and hot water

Plants, the Heart of the Garden

Bulbs
9) Do you prefer the early blooming species tulips or extravagant opera diva parrot tulips? Don't have any, see number 7 above
10) What's your preference - Oriental or Asiatic lilies? don't kow the difference

Perennials

11) Daylilies - Do you prefer the true species and older cultivars or contemporary spider, double, highly developed varieties? I like them all but don't get to see many, see number 7 above
12) Yes or no - Is it possible to have too many hosta? no -- if the deer don't eat them all
13) What's more attractive - cool silver foliage or subtle glaucous blue leaves? any foliage is good foliage in my book

Annuals

14) Yes or no - are all those temperennials - bananas, cannas, and such - worth the yearly merry-go-round of dig in fall, store in winter, cosset in spring, and enjoy in summer? No
15) For yellow and orange daisies (not that there isn't a huge assortment from which to choose) - do you prefer pot marigolds, Calendula or French and African marigolds, Tagetes? I like them all
16) Hollyhocks: single or powderpuff double? single
17) For autumn interest - asters or chrysanthemums? asters

Shrubs
18) Shrub roses or hybrid teas? shrubs
19) Hydrangeas: lace-cap or mophead? mophead

And now a truly zen, yin / yang kind of question -

20) Do you prefer a slow stroll around the garden at dusk or do you saunter at dawn with the rising sun? dusk, definitely

to be or not to be

On our way to D's piano recital we saw a wet shivery dog who looked like he was lost and hungry. Heaven only knows what possessed us but we brought him into the garage, fed him cat food and locked him in until we could get home and find his owner.

When we returned a couple of hours later he was waiting for us by the door and was happy to see us. Ran straight into the house and started sniffing around. We called the neighbors. He was wet because he fell into one neighbors pool. Two other neighbors had seen him around several times. One knew which house he lived in on another street.

We drove him to his house and the owner said the dog had run away that morning, they were going to take him to the pound on Tuesday and did we want him. We weren't prepared to have a dog but somehow he's sleeping downstairs and his name is Toby (it was Chester but we didn't think that suited him). We'll see how it goes but at least he's not going to the pound. We think he's part Rhodesian Ridgeback and part Boxer. He's a mutt whatever he is but a cute one. He's 8 months old and will need obedience training, a crate and a few good toys...

Funny how these things happen.

marvelous melody

Today was D's piano recital. As always it was fun to get together with all of the other families and listen to the kids play, their faces all scrubbed, dressed in their nice clothes. D did a really beautiful job, she has so much feeling for music and puts a lot of emotional shading in her playing.

Afterwards there is always a dessert buffet where each family brings something. In this case it was brownies. Out of 20 families there were 6 plates of brownies. And they were all delicious!

garden update

It looks like it's going to rain again later today so I made sure to get out into the garden to finally plant a few things.

The caraway, Korean sesame, and tomatoes are now nicely settled in their new bed. I did get some weeding done while I was out there but it didn't make as much of a dent as I thought it would.

Steve helped me pound some posts into the ground so that we could tie up the currant bushes. They are so full and heavy with fruit that they were falling over.

We also discovered that the bunny-pest that has been chewing holes in our fence is making more holes and helping himself to more and more plants. Obviously the fence we have is not strong enough to withstand his onslaught. Steve went to the hardware store to buy metal fencing and we'll start installing that tomorrow. My blueberries have been savaged of all of their new growth, I have approximately 1/3 of the sunflowers that I planted and somehow all of the weeds remain untouched (imagine that).

Hopefully the new fencing will do the trick, otherwise I may have to resort to this.

breakfast

Thanks to Kim over at Large Family Logistics I garnered this recipe for a Dutch Puff. I made it for breakfast and it was really delicious. It does puff a LOT so you really do need a 9 x 13 pan. We served it with two choices of toppings: Maine blueberries/maple syrup and a peach compote. Served with crusty bread, fresh juice and some soy sausages it was a really nice breakfast.

Next time I think I'll try her suggestion for halving the recipe as it is a lot and very filling.

oh help

It has been raining for almost a week. I'm not complaining mind you because we need the rain and I'm sure at some point in the summer we're going to have no rain and that's going to be a bad thing.

But as some of you may recall I really don't like to garden in the rain. Between the rain, the extreme heat, and other factors I have not been in the garden for over a week and it really shows. As soon as the weather is decent I'm probably going to have to spend a good 6-8 hours cleaning up the fruit bed *sigh*. Who knows how long the rest of it will take.

The back garden? Don't even ask. The weeds have definitely won there. I'd like to win the lottery so I could pay someone to help me weed that sucker and redo the hardscaping there to make it more manageable (of course if I played that might help *grin*). I've tried the neighborhood kids. I'm offering $10 per hour and they still don't want to weed! What the heck is wrong with them?? Mine don't want to do it but that's because I'm their mother...I can understand that. Apparently the teens in my neighborhood aren't in need of cash, pity.

baking day

It's baking day because we are running low on bread and the temperatures have finally dipped to something reasonable enough to bake. Unfortunately it's still raining. When you bake bread and it is moist out, the properties of the dough change and it requires more flour. I was literally scraping the side of my flour mill bin to get more flour before I realized I just had to grind more for today's bread.

Next on the list was desserts. I made a double batch of brownies (gotta scroll down the recipe is at the bottom of that post); one for us and one for D's piano recital tomorrow. Unfortunately one batch did not come out of the pan cleanly. I guess that one is ours. That's okay, they may not look pretty but they are still tasty.

It was also a jamming day as I really need to start working on the rhubarb harvest. I made a batch of rhubarb apricot jam. Easy easy recipe.

2 pounds of rhubarb, de-stringed and diced
2 pounds of sugar. Let this sit overnight in a non-reactive pot
Next morning dice up 8 ounces of dried apricots and cover with a little water for 10-15 minutes
Add apricots to rhubarb and sugar
Bring to a boil and boil 20 minutes or till jelly-stage is reached
Jar, seal, process 10 minutes
Yummmmmmm

what time is it

With thanks to Melissa for this interesting link.

It's call the Human Clock. Check it out!

outing

Lots of errands to run today. While I was out I had to drive past the ball fields which were full of Canada Geese all busy munching away on the grass. There were enormous numbers of cute little goslings there too. Several different sizes all waddling past their parents.

A quick stop at Agway to pick up some marigolds for the garden turned into more herbs and some potting soil for the catnip. Among other things I decided to try some caraway. If it works well I'll have some to use in baking rye bread this fall. Hopefully it will work out. I got another catnip, after Chloe destroyed the first one, and am planning to pot it up on the upper deck where she doesn't go. Hopefully it will survive and then we can keep her well supplied with catnip.

I was going to plant the stuff when I got home but it was too hot, over 80 degrees F. I decided to wait until later. Now it is storming like mad, huge booms of thunder, flashes of lightning and furious downpour. I guess I won't be planting today.