unofficially official

American summer starts unofficially official on Memorial Day weekend, and then ends the same way on Labor Day weekend. Pools will open and close, parks will do the same with bathrooms, backyard grills fired up and covered...all regardless of the weather. (at least, that's what we think we've learned so far)

It is a three-day weekend, and I am looking forward to it, my love is home, and I am off too, not even on back-up!

The temperature is lower than you might have guessed from the pictures but we will not be deterred and will take some walks, quite possibly in and around the art museum in town. I am experimenting with some bread-by-hand recipes (so far one hit, one miss) and of course I am hoping to use my new kitchen gadget again (think spaghetti). Happy unofficial summer solstice!

Rome at home

Confession: my kitchen is not really all that small (I wrote this yesterday). Definitely not in comparison to some Italian kitchens I have seen, and larger than all my other kitchens (I think) apart from the one in our last home. And, like my sister-in-law Sabine once said, the space is there, the lay-out is just not great (euphemistically speaking).

I have been dreaming about home-made pasta lately. Like the ultimate food experience I had at Francesco's two summers ago. In the heart of Rome, that helps of course. But still. I decided that I would spend my birthday-money on a hand-crank pasta machine (thanks mom!!).

Thijs and I made linguini  and learned a lot from our first trial. The recipe came from the book 'Rome at Home', by Suzanne Dunaway.    

I made a fresh tomato/sage/onion/garlic sauce with this (lately I am going for more and more handmade/fresh/from scratch) and of course Rosemary Filoncino from the book 'No need to knead' by the same author.

My love made the anti-pasti salad which we ate on the side because well, that's how we do it in my home country (the Netherlands).

For tonight we have pizza on the menu because I am just in the spirit, although I know that I can never measure up to Bafetta, which was my love's favorite restaurant.

The Fontana di Trevi is enormously baroque of course but definitely a magical place at night. If you can see it through the crowds.

Just doing a little traveling in my mind- and with my cooking/baking. Absolutely not according to any weight-loss plan I guess, although, isn't the Mediterranean diet the healthiest?

Sonntagsfreuden - Sunday pleasures - Zondags vreugden

... some words can just not be translated. On one of the floors in the hospital someone posted a definition of Gemutlichkeit (German) on a door. Gezelligheid (Dutch). Those are pretty much the same, however I can't think of a real good American word for it. No matter, you still can experience it.

Sonntagsfreuden, an idea from Frau KreativBerg http://www.kreativberg.com/

On some Sundays, we can take the time. Time to be a little lazy. Time to stop and smell the roses- or in this case the lilacs, time to contemplate the little things in life that make such a difference in the big picture (vinca/ /periwinkle/ maagdenpalm). Time to make some special treats in the kitchen or pet a cat.

Emma working on her macarons

Gus

Of course, when we all need to be in the kitchen at the same time, that's when the Gemutlichkeit stops for a little while...and my dreaming about a large large farmhouse kitchen starts. Sigh.

My love is busy though, he is working on/in the yard (a large large yard, in contrast to our small small kitchen), planting and weeding. I claim ignorance in both, since I am not a trained biologist like he is and I can't distinguish the weeds from the wants. Convenient, right? So I better get started on something he claims two left hands with (ironing).

the kitchen sink

I'm getting a new one. But just not today, as it turns out. Was all ready for the reportedly 4-hours lasting ordeal and got a call "my plumber did not come in this morning".

Well. Guess I have to clean the darn thing a couple more times then. Even 'better', the new appointment is for Monday morning 8 am, right after my night shift. Wonderful. Then again, in the grand scheme of things, this is just a minor inconvenience. After it is done, I am going to enjoy the new one for way longer than the installation lasted.

How green and lush the yard has become in the past week, with the aid of some (a lot) of rain and warmer temperatures!

So I had time to research safe drink/food containers, and take some pictures of Emma's unique hand-thrown sea-shell tea set.

Then I had a delicious brownie (handmade by Thijs) and some coffee, and now I am ready to ...hmm. What to do first?

by heart

I try hard not to, but sometimes things at work do drag me down a teeny bit.  Mostly (dumb) peripheral stuff: cutbacks, reorganization, uninformative meetings, unavoidable stress...Sometimes it is witnessing despair, pain, lives unhinged by circumstances out of anyone's control.

And once in a while, there will be a moment that makes me remember why I love my job. Or even just once sentence I will take away from a 45 minute consult : " he calls himself  father by heart". (we need more of those).

Co-workers are definitely life-savers. Joking around, or having a heart-to-heart. It should all be in a day's work too, it is what keeps us sane I think. And in the end, more productive (that's just my opinion of course).

But today, I already had had my chocolate (my roommate keeps me well-supplied) and I needed to do something when I came home to put my mind straight. So I took up the trowel and took to (a time-honored therapeutic measure) weeding.

That worked fairly well, especially because Lucy helped me by attacking the just weeded piles as if they were prey. Until, in a spur of miss-directed energy, I broke the trowel. Yep, tried to 'weed' a small tree, and the tree won.

Will have to call in the troops for reinforcement with that one.

It is late, my love will be back from his travels tomorrow, and I should direct my efforts towards some indoor weeding.

goddess of the garden...

I am not. I definitely take a very hands-off approach when it comes to yard work. Which of course results in my love having to take a very hands-on approach.

And as I probably have said before, I just don't see the point of grass. Lawn. I'm sure our kids don't see the point either when they have to mow it. I see the point of grass as a space for animals to roam and feed. Prairie. Meadows. But who came up with this idea of a well-manicured lawn for residential use? I'd like to have a word or two with this person. I imagine this was a British invention?

Now trees, that's a whole n'other story.

Today will be a slow day. After a week of abstinence from my daily (evening) glass of wine, I am rewarded with a nice migraine for breaking 'fast' so to speak last night. Not copacetic.

The girls are on the home stretch (is that the right expression?) and working hard to end their high school career maintaining their amazing grades. They do not lack for work ethic, my kids.

For the first summer in 5 years, Thijs will not work for his master gardener employer, who died earlier this spring. A very special man. We are lucky to have had him in Thijs's live, and what better way to remember him by then the beautiful ferns which were a gift from his yard and are now multiplying themselves.

As promised/threatened, I am posting a picture of (only) part my growing family as well.

Kevin, Vera, Jake, and Emma- the future looks bright and happy, doesn't it?

in de maand van mei jaja (in the month of May yesyes)

I don't even remember the whole song, but this little phrase popped into my head.

Two really glorious days we have had. Sun, warmth, the garden growing so fast now. The cats are living it up outside (and brought us gifts).

And just like that, the academic year at university is over and my boy is back home. For the summer. It feels different though, because after loading up the van we drove to meet the landlord and sign a lease per August.    

My boy has grown, this past year (if not in weight).

Art made by Emma's boss/teacher/mentor, Joanie of Girly Steel. Emma is enjoying a bit of local celebrity herself this week. She made an eye-catching conversation-making piece that was displayed in the town hall exhibition and a local newspaper wrote a nice article about her and her art.

I have been working on my socks every now and then. I have been walking more, also on the treadmill. It is still not easy to find the time and/or the energy for such things, but I am trying.