unsuccesful

Because I actually need to do tons of other stuff, I decided to go shopping. For work clothes. I typically get quite warm during work, so I like cool breezy cottony tops that look good enough to make me a bit presentable. However. If I may ask, who has decided that nice cottony breezy tops are not in style for well-rounded women, ever? Why am I supposed to wear polystery sweat-inducing large/wild/busy patterned thingies?

Perhaps I do not shop in the right store, that is entirely possible. Luckily I found something, a dress that E has been wishing for 'forever'. A dress with bicycles printed on it! And it is cute! Although R commented that there really was not enough dress.

Another time, I will introduce some family members with for instance a picture of E actually wearing the dress, but for now, I need to bake some focaccia to go with our pasta dinner, which will be attended by an assortment of teenagers and needs to be early because there is a concert tonight !

already

And it is weekend again! There was a lot learned this past week. I can't tell you all about work, due to confidentiality laws and regulations ( a good thing!). So that leaves little to report, because this past week I was having some irritating problem with my neck and shoulder muscles and was thus exhausted at night. It follows that I will have to do major damage control in the home this weekend, now that I am doing a bit better. I am actually looking forward to it now that I can move without  pain!

hosta flower

Yesterday I started a little later and I had an actual stroll on the garden path with Lucy, a cup of coffee, and my garden shears to dead-head some daisies.

We still have a major heatwave going, but at 7.15 am, it was really quite pleasant outside! The weekend looks promising with all kinds of plans for everyone. I hope to share a few of the events with you all later!

progress

Sunday dinner is sort of an institution/ritual at our house. We used to have other rituals and habits over the years, which faded into history while we adjusted to the changing times. There was Friday night TV-dinner featuring a home-made towel blanket and home-made pizza.

There was Sunday-morning breakfast (pancakes or waffles and fruit) and there were times when weekday dinners were pretty much set menus. And for Christmas, we have always had sauerkraut, ever since R and I moved in together. 

Tonight, Sunday dinner was a little different, and even more fun than usual. T and his girlfriend L cooked dinner, and E and her boyfriend Z made dessert! V rolled in from an inspiring weekend among photography friends just in time to join us for dessert and shortly after K arrived. By then, I was enjoying this so much (and having everyone here!) that I instructed V & K to be next in this cooking extravaganza. A new tradition is born ?

Above you see one of the quilts I made for T. This one is called 'storm at sea'. T likes it, but it is a heavy quilt and thus not that practical, because when it gets cold, he uses a comforter. So I set out to design a thinner quilt. I gathered some solids and some patterns.

Then, I gave them to T and L for review. They made yah/nay piles. Now I can cut some trial blocks!

When, that remains to be determined. It usually takes me far longer to make a quilt than I wish in my optimism. And I do have a full-time job now. Will keep you updated on the progress!

Weekend

Gooooodmorning everyone! It was to be foreseen that I would not have much time or energy to update y'all on my daily experiences and musings once I started my job training...and thus it went. The camera (a 'hand-me-down' from V, but a very very nice Nikon D60) lay forlorn around the house. The garden path had to do without my admiration this past week. The cats were at the mercy of my teens, and the laundry...well, you can imagine. It is an adjustment process for all of us!

doesn't this look so refreshing? 

But of course, in a few months time, we will have that routine down-pad! Right?
Also in a few months time, it should be autumn, but because of the record temperatures and the drought, fall seems to be right now, at least in our backyard.

When the cats come in from their roamings, they flop down on the cool kitchen tile and don't move for a while. And then they go out again. Things are more exciting out there. My little Lucy is now unofficially the largest cat in the house (she is technically still a kitten).

Lucy and Mila- telling tails

Well, my coffee cup is empty, so I am going to have to attempt some conquering of the chaos. Greetings!

home-grown hot peppers, and mini garlic (the result of a planting mistake by yours truly)

as good as it gets ?

My last day before I start my job- I should finish some things up, get ready. Get set.
For starters, I fiddled with the settings of the blog. Real essential stuff...ahem. Lucky for me, Marjan from CowRoad  (http://cowroad.blogspot.com/) rescued me once again and what you see now are the results from our collaboration, more her work than mine. She has such an eye for the artistic details! She also magicked me a new header which you will be able to admire later on, I just couldn't wait to show off.

Also, I started another craft, after finishing two small crocheted round baskets, I am now knitting some cloth to fill those up for my pregnant friend. With a baby, you can never have enough of those things cluttering up your every room, right?

Of course, there is my lazy knitting still around (was it Homer or Mila who managed to capture the ball of yarn and donate it all the way to Ginny's food bowl I wonder?) and my two-at-a-time-toe-up socks which I should have taken the time to finish by now. But mentioning these projects serves as a distraction for what I did finish and am having a hard time letting go of- the thousand pyramids quilt I made for the daughter of a dear friend. Have you ever had that feeling, for instance when you are about to finish a good book but you don't really want to finish it ?

A long time ago, a friend explained to me that the function of the thousand pyramid quilt was to keep an ill child entertained: there were to be triangles of all different fabrics with only one repeat, which the child had to discover. That is not how I made it, however I did use a range of different fabric that I have used over the years to make quilts. I think there is a lot to explore in this quilt for little O- there are fabrics that I have used in quilts for her mother as well as two previous ones for herself.

I have poured all my love for her (and her mom) into this quilt to send it overseas. This is my wish-I-were-with-you quilt for them. Even now I see spots that might need some more quilting, like V struggles declaring some of her pieces of art finished, perhaps like my friend Julie (http://julierowanzoch.wordpress.com/) has to decide that a draft is as good as it gets.

But hey, now I can start one of my other thousands of ideas! T is in desperate need of a quilt to take to college (I imagine). Something more masculine and adult-like than the two he has now. And that's for starters!

Recipe

The day began nice enough- strolling with my coffee through the yard, getting my vitamin D while enjoying the birds singing, feeling the slight breeze.

I guess I should have know that it was going a little downhill from there when I couldn't understand the nurse who was giving me my tetanus shot. I was wearing my hearing aid, but I had forgotten to turn it on...
With my arm slightly sore but otherwise fine I decided to do a little shopping. The buttermilk turned out to be leaking on the new rug for the kids' bathroom, but hey, I've got a washing machine so no big deal. (the rug has just turned a whole load blue, thankfully just a whole load of towels).

 R loves rhubarb crumble and I found nice rhubarb at the store, which soon was cooking on the stove...I didn't bother to look up a recipe because I bought an unspecified amount of rhubarb and I usually cook with ' a little bit of this, and a little bit of that...'- turns out, it was a little bit too much water.
We were in need of bread and I bake one every week so I know that recipe by heart. I think. I have no idea why the bread turned out on the bricky-side today. I guess this way it will fit better in the sandwich container.

Did I learn to be more careful when squinting at the recipe for 'perfect lemon torte' (Luscious lemon desserts, Lori Longbotham)? Eh, no. Of course not. Too lazy to get my reading glasses and read carefully, in addition to being too eager to finally use my pan with removable bottom, I mixed all the sugar and lemon zest into the crust. I guess this time we will forgo the 'generous amount of powdered sugar' that the recipe instructs me to sift over the top before serving.

yes yes, I can see that my version is just a bit less perfect

 I already made the crust dough for the goat's cheese torte. Still not quite getting the idea that I might be experiencing 'one of those days', I took several liberties with the recipe for the cheese crust (The enchanted broccoli forest, Molly Katzen). I ignored the 'up to 1/4 cup' whole wheat in favor of at least 1/2 cup, and got sudden inspiration when I spotted some dried sage to crush that into the dough as well. Finding more than half of the sage on the floor might have been my final clue. Do I dare to proceed with the filling and the baking? I cut up a whole watermelon for granita (with lime juice and fresh mint from the yard- Ellie Krieger) but I am waiting until another day to try that out!

Natural

harvest from the yard: basil, cherry tomatoes and a hot red pepper- thanks to R

I kind of like things natural. But I guess it all depends what that may mean- your definition, and certainly mine...For instance, I don't like to use artificial stuff, not in my food (that's one of the reasons I make some stuff myself, so I know what is in it), and also not on me. I do not like to use 'products' in my hair. I do not own any kind of make-up. I have never in my life had a manicure/pedicure. At this point in the post, you are probably thinking I should have titled it weird instead.

the natural stone of the path with naturally growing moss which I love

 In the yard, I like things to grow or not to grow, but I am not even a big fan of landscaping. I do some weeding though, now that we do have landscaping, because there is something to be said for letting the things that we want in there indeed grow, in favor of some intruders. I dislike lawns, they don't make sense to me. But I am not following through on everything with this life style, for instance, I do like air conditioning. This morning I voiced my doubts about this frivolous preference to R, who laughed and said that one could question a lot of modern habits and before you know it, we could be living like Neanderthals. How is that for support?

hosta