tennis anyone?

V asked me to go to the tennis courts and play with her today. We put on our sneaks, grabbed a couple of rackets and a can of tennis balls and headed off.

It has been, literally, years since I've played. I discovered that I still have all the right moves. They're just not hitting the ball. It was pretty hilarious watching the two of us.

V came up with a totally new move, the "granny stroke". Remember when you were a kid and you bowled "granny style" with the ball between your legs? It's something like that except with a tennis racket and ball as a return serve.

But still and all we had fun, running around hitting the ball, enjoying the breezy, sunshine and each others company. Perhaps if we practice enough we might wind up with a set that lasts more than three volleys.

arboreal dinner

Tonight we had pizza for dinner. D wanted us to eat in the tree house. It was fun. We sat there in our folding chairs balancing our plates on our knees and enjoying the view and the location. It was a wonderful way to spend time together and enjoy our dinner.

Next I'm dreaming of this.

 

Perhaps for next year.

not spearmint

Remember the spearmint that I mentioned yesterday? Got it from a friend, planted it, watered it? It's not spearmint.

It's catnip!!!!! I discovered this by simply watching as my cat leapt onto the container that it was planted in, rolled all over the top of the pot, dug up the plant and proceeded to shred it to bits. She then staggered off.

So I still need spearmint and have just managed to conclusively prove that any catnip I try to plant in my garden will not last any longer than it takes for the cat to find it.

yeeee haw!

We own a yard tractor with a trailer on it. It came with the house. For some reason I have always been a little afraid of it and always let Steve drive it.

Don't ask me why but I've just decided that I need to stop being dependent on his being around when I need stuff hauled all over the yard and asked him to teach me how to use it. It was simpler than I thought and a whole lotta fun! He walked beside me on my first trip down the hill to make sure I had it all under control.

Later when he wasn't around I backed it up and drove it to the other side of the yard, all by myself. I actually like this little thing and am wondering what the heck took me so long to figure this out.

delicious twist

In my yoga class yesterday I forgot to mention this awesome pose that we did. The class, as always, was wonderful. Wendy is such an amazing teacher and I feel really fortunate to have found her.

We did a partnered version of Bharadvajasana. Basically you face your partner with your knees touching. Reach up your left hand, wrap your right hand around your back, then connect your left hand to your partners' right hand. Twist and gently pull. Then you repeat the pose on the other side. It opens the back so much, it was great!

garden notes

Another beautiful day. I got out into the yard again and began moving a few things from the area that I am planning on ripping out, transplanting them to areas where I want to keep them. Where I have too much I am calling friends and asking if they want plants. So for no one has said no.

In return I did take one small spearmint since mine does not look like it's coming back. I need to put it in a better container before next winter.

Steve finished the tree house. People this is the most amazing, totally awesome tree house, ever! The bridge is cool, it's on cables and slightly bouncy. The house itself is cedar shake roof with lattice sides and an open viewing area. Cool, cool, cool! I am so thrilled. And when we went to sit in it for the first time we noticed an adorable birds nest there. Steve carefully checked and there don't appear to be any eggs. The birds may not come back now that we're using it, we'll have to see what happens; but I can assure you now that it's built I plan to use it a lot, thank you honey.

huh?

I was talking with a friend today when he informed me that we have a rather unusual animal here in our tiny town...a feral goat! His name is Caspar. He belonged to a family in town, managed to escape his enclosure three years ago and is now happily living in the wild. How he managed to survive three years with the horrible winters we've had and the fact that there is a bobcat in the area is beyond me.

Apparently feral goats are a problem in Australia and New Zealand, now we have one of our very own.

whirlwind evening

Tonight was a busy night, lots of activities going on.

It started with D's Girl Scout meeting. I am helping the girls earn a couple of badges so those meetings where we are doing work specific to those badges I need to be there. Today they were picking flowers which they then pressed. At the next meeting they'll use them to decorate haiku's that they wrote which will be turned into a Mother's Day gift. It should be a beautiful project. We also worked on other stuff but that was the fun part of the evening for them. Especially the fact that they got to run around outside and burn off some of that excess energy.

I had to leave early to run over to Stitch Sisters. It was busy there too. We had a birthday party for one of the members and a surprise birthday party for the another. The birthday girl was not surprised since we tend to do that. The baby shower girl was very surprised and touched. It was funny as we were passing the cards around surreptitiously in order to get them signed (without letting the recipients know) trying to make sure that each got the other's card and not their own. We had two cakes, a cheesecake and a chocolate cake, so each had her own cake to celebrate. The gifts for the baby shower were truly lovely, a mostly handmade collection of wonderful things to show how very much we appreciate, love and support the new mom-to-be. It was great.

Back to Girl Scouts to pick up Miss D, bringing a piece of cake from the shower, and then home to bed. Definitely a full evening.

garden time

It was a beautiful sunny balmy day today. I managed to get out in the garden for a little while. Not as long I would have liked because there were household chores calling my name but enough to enjoy the breeze and the birdsong.

While weeding the top bed I managed to get the whole "carrot" of a Queen Anne's Lace plant. Apparently it is edible, not sure I'm adventurous to try and I know the kids won't touch it. While I like having them in the bed around the mailbox I try to contain them to that area otherwise they would probably spread rampant through the rest of the front gardens.

The Weigelia bush by the front of the walkway has started to bloom. The blooms smell so pretty, it's really intoxicating to breathe deep.

I really need to finish cleaning out around the currant bushes. They are looking very full so hopefully it will be a good year for berries.

We have one lonely little asparagi at the moment. Since I planted 25 of the things last year I'm hoping the rest show up otherwise I'm going to be upset. I know we can't eat them this year but they need to at least grow.

I managed to get over to the raspberries on the other side of the house today. I must have missed some of the old canes last year so I trimmed them off. What is there looks like it's growing well. Some babies escaped the bed, I'll have to move them back into it when they are big enough to transplant. Some are growing in the thick of the two Rose of Sharon bushes I have in there. I'm going to have to leave them as I don't think I can get them out. I'll have to keep an eye on them though to make sure they don't overwhelm the Rose of Sharon.

My elderberries that I planted last year have little leaves on them so I guess they took. The thornless blackberries are starting to grow. I'm going to have to trim them a bit and seriously get to work on the trellis so I can train them.

In other notes the bedstraw is trying to make inroads on the garden. So far, of the front and side gardens I'm on top of it, probably not for long. The ground ivy is trying to set up a command post in the rock garden but I'm managing to stay on top of that too.

The local herb garden up the street opens on May 1st. I can't wait to go see what lovelies she has. I'm thinking of putting in tarragon this year to make some vinegar with. I think the thyme is not going to make it so I'll need another one. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to put in oregano or if I'll just get it from the farm. The cilantro will probably start to appear sooner or later, goodness only knows where in the garden it will show up. Not sure what other herbs I'll put in but I'm sure I'll find stuff when I visit her. My goal at this point it to not buy basil or dill, since I get lots of that from the farm (I dried a bunch and am still using it), but to put in things I will use. Oh, and a friend has offered me Korean Sesame which she grew last year with great success, I'm looking forward to trying it.

Looking forward to many more enjoyable days in the garden.

sights around town

Spring is here as evidence by the wild (and not so wild) life making appearances around town.

First on the list is the baby squirrels with their flippy little tails. You know, the critters who run back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth in the road trying to figure out which way to go while you are insanely whipping your steering wheel left-right-left-more left-right. They're out. In force.

Baby cows at the farm down the road. They're always very cute and fun to watch.

The first woodchucks of the season. Sitting up by the side of the road, munching away. They're looking a little slim at the moment but they'll fatten up as the season progresses.

jammin'

For breakfast this morning I decided to have toast with jam. Homemade bread toast and homemade red currant jelly (I have currant bushes in the fruit garden). It was delicious.

Unfortunately when I went downstairs to get the jam from the pantry I discovered *gasp* that this was the last jar. Last summer was the first year that I had enough berries to make jam, six precious jars. I thought it would be too sophisticated for my kids and Steve and I would be able to enjoy every last drop ourselves*. No such luck. They loved it. Here we are three whole months before I can make more and we are eating the last of it.

I was tempted, I admit, to hide the jar in the back of the fridge somewhere amidst the other jars in the hope that it would pass unnoticed. But I decided that wasn't exactly fair. Perhaps if I turn it around so they can't read the label? Nope, I decided that I'm glad they love it so much and put the jar up front where it can be enjoyed.

I did run out to the garden and look at the currant bushes to see how they were doing. They seem very happy, perhaps a little larger than last year; I spoke nice encouraging words to them which will hopefully convince them to make more berries this year. I'll keep you posted.

*side story: My mother tells that when my brother and I were little she and my father fed us lobster on the theory that we wouldn't like it and they could then always tell us, "Oh no, you tried it and you don't like it." We loved it - theory shot down. You'd think I would have remembered that when I was doling out tiny tastes "to see if you like it." hmmmph.

yarn musings

Ever since I bought those scarf-knitting needles I have been itching to knit a scarf. Amazing how that works...buy scarf needles need a scarf. Need a scarf, buy yarn. However...I've been really really good. I didn't buy any yarn. Even though I drove past two yarn stores today (well one was about 10 miles out of the way but I could have made it there if I really wanted to) (and did I mention that I was really really good?).

Instead I came home and fondled sorted through my stash. I'm leaning toward something with fun fur that I can give away. In a moment of knitting weakness mumbledy years a while ago I bought some valentine red fun fur. If I start now, in the midst of everything else, I might be able to have it done by next valentine's day.

While rummaging through yarn I came across a downloaded and printed copy of clapotis from who knows when. This made me decide to pitch the shawl that I was working on. I'll need to frog the whole darn thing and start over. But the clapotis looks so nice and will be beautiful and I've really really wanted to make one for the longest time. All the work that went into the shawl? whoosh shoot me now.

My Aunt Carol shared a story with me once about how my Uncle loved it when she bought yarn because she got more mileage out of it than anyone else he knew. She would knit a gauge swatch, rip it out, knit something, decide it wasn't what she wanted, rip it out, knit another gauge swatch and then knit the item. I'm taking her view...it's a matter of finding what the yarn really wants to be. Then and only then will the project finally get completed.

Well...it sounds good anyway.

weedly wonders

I managed to spend a little time in the herb/fruit garden today. Pulling weeds and trimming things up a bit.

The rhubarb seems to have taken, at least it's not brown and dead where I separated the babies and planted them.

The first of the asparagus is poking it's heads through the ground (I know another not fruit in the fruit garden but there it is).

Found MORE lemon balm. Boy that stuff really took off this year. Frantically giving away pots of it.

The weeds are probably winning. At this point some of the teeny weeny plants are so small I can't tell if they are weeds or flowers

Me:hello, are you a flower or pigweed?
Plant:
Me:hmmm, I guess I'll let you stay for now
Plant:

V has a bed dedicated to her flowers. She decided she wanted her own garden this year. There is some garlic at the back of it but I put it in before she decided she wanted a garden so she's living with it. Her flowers are poking through (and probably some weeds). There are also what look like a few volunteer tomatoes coming up. She was horrified that there were tomatoes in the middle of her flowerbed and demanded that I pull them.
Me: ????
I convinced her that if she could just leave them be until they were big enough for me to transplant to another area I would eventually remove them. She reluctantly agreed.

Then she informed me that we are expecting a frost tonight and would I please cover her flowers with a sheet or something so they don't freeze.
Me: ????
I did check out the weather and it is supposed to dip down to the low 30's. I think her flowers will be fine. I'm also not maintaining her bed. She wants it, she works it. That's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it...until the weeds take over and I need to take evasive action to keep them from spreading to the rest of the garden.

baking bonanza

While visiting my mom last week she gifted me with 10 pounds of King Arthur flour, 5 white, 5 wheat -- thank you mom. She's apparently not baking much anymore and it was too much for her to keep.

Today was baking day; let me tell you there was a whole lotta baking going on.

I started with a double batch of Cuban Bread which I made 1/2 wheat 1/2 white (recipe is for single batch):

4-5 C. flour
2 C. hot water
1 T. yeast
2 T. sugar
1 T. salt

add yeast, sugar, salt and 2 C. flour to hot water. Stir well. Mix in remaining flour until dough is no longer sticky, knead 8 minutes. Oil dough, cover, set to rise 1 1/2 hours or until double. Punch down, form into rounds, let sit 15 minutes. Bake 325 degrees 30 minutes or till done.

Then I made Bath Buns. They're a yummy treat but I don't make them often because they are fattening. I have been craving them though so today was as good a day as any other to give in to the craving. These were made solely out of white flour:

3 C. flour
1 1/4 C. milk
1 t. yeast
1 t. salt
1 C. butter
2 T. sugar

Warm milk slightly, pour a little over yeast. Rub softened butter into flour, salt and sugar. Add creamed yeast and mix to light dough with the milk. Cover and let rise 1 1/2 hours until dough has risen very high and is light and puffy.

Form 12 buns and place on a greased pan. Cover and let rest 15 minutes. Bake 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.

Glaze & sugar, eat warm.

2 T. powdered sugar 1 T. milk in sauce pan. heat and brush over buns. Sprinkle with sugar. Optional: Adorn with stripes of lemon or orange peel.

Next up was strawberry-banana muffins:

1 C. whole wheat flour
2 C. white flour
1 t. baking soda
1 C. oil
1 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1 egg
1/2 C. honey
1 T. vanilla
1/4 C. wheat germ
2 bananas
1 C. sliced strawberries
1/4 C. water

Throw all into mixer and mix until batter forms. Spoon into muffin tins and bake 250 degrees F 25-30 minutes until done.

That was followed by a double batch of King Arthur's Whole Wheat Brownies. This is the recipe from the back of the bag and it's awesome (recipe is for single batch):

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspooon salt
1 stick butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix everything together, bake in a greased square pan at 350 F for 30 minutes.

And after all of that baking I still have enough flour left to make a batch of bread (mostly whole wheat). But I think I've created enough baked goods for one day.

Next on the list? Cleaning the ungodly mess I've made in the kitchen.

yipes stripes

From Kiss Your Shadow (I found it from a mention on the Cast-on podcast (shhhhhh...it's all the way back at episode 5, or 4, somewhere in the beginning. I'm rotating podcasts to listen to so I'm waaay behind on all of them, back in the past if you will -- but eventually I will catch up).

This site/tool is so cool. I spent far too much time playing with the little stripeys. I did manage to restrain myself from running to the nearest secret hiding place closet and grabbing a bin bringing the colors back to run a Real Life Simulation (TM).

Not that I have anything striped that I need to make at them moment. I am working on a striped hoodie for myself but it's from a pattern and considering that I am probably close to 2/3 done I'm not ripping the thing out now and starting with new stripes.

But this is fun to play with and could be very useful in the future if I want to make something with stripes.

knitting update

Not a lot of knitting got done over this spring break. There were high hopes, but no actual activity. There was a minor amount of knit shopping as mentioned in on the road part one, it (the minor part) may have had something to do with the fact that Steve was standing there while I was shopping, I forgot my wallet and my mom had to bail me out but then again maybe I was just being good and restraining my stash enhancing impulses (yeah, that's it! *snort*).

Over the break however there was a lot of knit reading. I don't know why but I somehow came home from the library with three knit related books and managed to read them all in one week (sort of). If you knew how very little time I have for anything in my life these days, much less reading, you would understand how amazed I am by this feat.

The first book was "At Knit's End" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot. I love her blog, she's very funny. Since I like her blog it was no surprise that I liked the book. I tried to space it out to prolong the enjoyment but found myself racing through this book, giggling hysterically at some parts. Of course I also tried to read some parts to Steve but he didn't understand the humor. Stephanie has other books out, "Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter" and "Knitting Rules", I'm going to have to try to get thse from the library next (hopefully convincing the librarian to buy them so I can read them).

The second book was "The Shop on Blossom Street" by Debbie Macomber. Funny enough I had read the second book in this series "A Good Yarn" first. It was sweet, they both are. Light reading, cute story, a very nice quick read. The fact that I was on vacation and not at home probably accounts for my finishing the book in two days. It was nice to curl up and just read...something I haven't done in a long time.

 

The third book, "Weekend Knitting" by Melanie Falick accounts for the sort of part of the second paragraph. I flipped through it, read through it focusing on the patterns I like, and am now reading it for a third time more carefully. I'm not sure that I could actually complete any of the projects in a weekend even with unrestricted time but the projects are cute. I'm a little dubious of egg cozies shaped like sweaters. I mean it's cute but unless you give it to another knitter I'm not sure anyone else would want them -- maybe I'm wrong. It probably also has something to do with the fact that I knit so slowly I cannot even fathom the thought of investing that much time and effort into a sweater for an egg, but that's just me. Some of the projects in there really made me want to run out and buy yarn [side note: why does it work that way? Why doesn't it make you want to run to your stash first? Or is that just me again?]. I restrained myself but will definitely have to make note of some of the projects in this book so that I can check it out again in the future and knit something from it.

It's nice to have knitting books to read, I like that two of them were not actually pattern books and may have to look for more along those lines. If you have any recommendations please leave them in the comments and let me know.

podlistening

I had to run some errands today including the dreaded Sunday-at-Costco-hordes. But while driving around I was able to listen to my favorite podcasts which I have burned to CD and listen to in the car. I'm really enjoying this stuff, it's great. MUCH better than radio.

I think it would probably be more efficient to listen to them on some sort of a portable device that I would overwrite but for now this works. One bad side-effect is that many of the podcasts are starting to mention other podcasts! Aaaaaah. I can't listen to that many at once but I want to check them all out. We'll have to see how it goes but I think I'm going to have to firmly remind myself of just how little time I spend in the car. And I certainly can't listen to them at home otherwise I would get no housework done. So for now it's car listening only.

But check out Podcast Alley and see if there are some podcasts that you like. They're really alot of fun. Once again, kudos to Meg for my newest addiction hobby.

yuck and yay

Yay! I posted some bushes I no longer wanted on Freecycle and someone came to get them. Actually I got a lot of responses I was amazed. But they have gone to their new happy home.

The yuck part? It was raining cats and dogs today and I had promised to dig up the bushes. Silly me. And we all know what a wimp I am...I loathe gardening in the rain, especially the downpouring type. But I trudged out there and dug up all seven bushes. Only managed to haul four of them up the hill; luckily the people who came to get them were more than happy to fetch the other three.

Step one towards the garden redesign has begun. As Confucius said, "A journey of a thousand miles..."

rhubarb

My rhubarb has started poking it's lovely leaves above ground. As I had mentioned in an earlier post it looks like it will be a good crop this year although I have a bald spot where I gave away too many babies. I think we'll still have plenty to eat.

This is where I'll have to go to find other uses for the rhubarb. I already have a rhubarb apricot jam recipe from Steve's grandmother and a lovely rhubarb raspberry crumble. I think this year I'll expand my rhubarb repertoire.

back home

Yesterday we arrived at my in-laws house mid-day. After exchanging a few pleasantries Steve was put to work, again. This time helping my father-in-law install the new sink in the kitchen. My poor husband...his entire break has been spent working, building my tree house, digging holes for my mom, installing sinks for his dad. Some vacation, huh? We're calling it the "Handyman Special."

The kids were happy because they have friends who live in the area. Phone calls were made and they were all able to get together.

We went out to dinner to an Italian place down the street. It was nice to walk into town, enjoy a good meal together, stop for ice cream at the local shop, and walk home. There are definite benefits to living in or near town.

This morning we had a lazy day...it was raining. D's friend L came over and they were able to play together again. They tried to go fishing but between the rain and the tangled fishing poles it didn't quite work out. It's really not exactly fishing season yet anyway. I'm sure the next time we visit they'll be able to catch and release all the fish they want to.

An easy drive home, put away all of our stuff and now settling back in to enjoy our last day of spring break. When we arrived back at the house we were greeted by the loveliest vista of our garden. All four calary pears are in full, glorious bloom. The front yard is awash with daffodil blooms, and the small rhododendron's in the front yard are blooming a vivid purple. The lawn also looks very green and luscious (probably from all the rain). It was certainly a wonderful welcome.