Gus' birthday

 

a great day with family and friends (and a wonderful cake from the Dutch Epicure Shop in Litchfield - my apologies for not getting a picture without the candle marks)

Sewing update

I feel like I've been sewing up a storm this week, but really its just one project that's been keeping me busy...that and some knitting for my niece's birthday.  The sewing project I've been working on is a flag banner, based on the idea in Amanda Soule's book The Creative Family.  Growing up, we always had paper versions of these decorating our kitchen for our birthdays.  They were one among a small collection of decorations that my Mom brought to the States from the Netherlands and I really liked the idea of creating one out of fabric so that it would be more durable than the paper ones we had always used. 

I started the project this spring with the goal of having it done for Gus' birthday mid-November.  It's been a long project, but good in that it has really (in hindsight) gotten me thinking about ways to make my sewing more efficient - like using a rotary cutter and mat, instead of scissors - that I just never would have thought about otherwise.  My Mom helped me in the beginning with washing and pressing all the little fat quarters that I picked up to use for the flags.  Since then, I've made myself a pattern based on our old paper banners, cut all the fabric (this is what took me the longest) and sewn the flags.  With the help of my wonderful husband, we turned the flags right-side out, poked out the tips, ironed them flat and then sewed them onto the bias tape - late last night after getting home for my niece's birthday...and just in time for celebrating Gus' birthday today.  :)

I ended up being very happy with how the flags turned out and ended up having enough flags to make a second banner.  Just need to pick up some more bias tape and then sew them all together.  

The knitting that I've been doing has been some legwarmers for my niece's birthday.  I'm just realizing now that I didn't take a picture of them.  Darn!

My other current sewing project is another Amy Butler bag, the Sophia Carry-All.  Thankfully I have Hilda from the Fabric Tree helping me out with this one in class because the piping and zipper have definitely been new territory for me.  Here's a picture of the work in progress (still need to make the lining):

The fabric I'm using (both the grey and the orange) are from Ikea.  They are a nice lightweight canvas which seems to be working well for this bag so far.  They have so many great prints at Ikea, but most end up having designs that would have been too large for the size of this bag (better as curtains or some other large thing).  I'm happy with the way this one turned out.  I like the little bit of pattern variation that shows up on this side (and the other side as well). 

...and last, a couple of pictures of the baby quilt I finished up last month:

I used cotton flannel for both sides of this quilt, as I couldn't find any cotton sherpa at my local fabric stores.

(Dutch Oven) Beer Bread

Today while reading Mother Earth News, I came across a recipe for Beer Bread baked in a dutch oven.  Bread made with beer sounded interesting, but what really got me was the simplicity of the recipe.  It has three ingredients and requires no kneading or rising.  I was out of fresh bread, so no excuse was needed to whip up a loaf and see what it tasted like.  Since I didn't have the self-rising flour called for in the recipe, I did a little digging around and found a similar recipe using regular flour, baking soda and salt in place of the self-rising flour.  I ended up doing a combination of the two recipes (used all-purpose, instead of mix of wheat and white), using some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  I cooked it in my dutch oven, rather than in a loaf pan.  The end result was super tasty with a wonderful crunchy crust on the outside and an almost scone-like consistency on the inside.  I think I ate half the loaf as soon as it came out of the oven.  It did end up being a bit on the flat side - I suspect that a smaller dutch oven or a loaf pan would help it go up rather than out, but it was good nonetheless.

 

Highly recommended!!  Would be great with soup, salad, really anything that beer would go with (as the beer flavor does subtly come through).  Not recommended with butter and jam - although I did it anyway, as I can't resist putting butter and jam on fresh bread (especially since I'd just acquired a jar of lemon curd - boy have I been missing the boat all these years not knowing what that tasted like!!).  

A visit to the Beardsley Zoo

This summer I took Gus and his friend Zach to the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, CT.  I'd never been before and the three of us enjoyed the visit - even though it was incredibly hot that day.  The zoo rents double (and single) strollers so we packed our water and snacks and strolled around.  I like that you can see the whole zoo in an hour or two.  With two year olds, that seems to be a great size/time frame for a visit.

When Gus asked to go to the zoo again this fall, I decided to join as members - both to support the zoo and so that we could go back as many times as we wanted.  The zoo focuses on North and South American animals, so its great to get to know some of our "locals", so to speak.  Our favorites, so far have been the wolves and the waterfowl in the barnyard area.

We went to the zoo again today and found some spots that we hadn't noticed last time we were there.  The first place we checked out was the sculpture garden.  I don't recall the name of the sculptor, but do remember that the inspiration for the pieces was nature.  It was a fitting and beautiful exhibit and the garden was fun, both for me (especially with a new camera to play with!) and for a two year old to explore.

 

Next stop, the maze:

Then we watched a couple of the resident peacocks boss everyone around:

visited our favorite goose (this critters chats you up big time whenever you stop to pay your respects):

and spent some time getting to know an elephant:

Last stop of the day was a visit to the lions (one is asleep and the other awake - they guard the entrance to the greenhouse):

...note the camel medallion - I'm not sure how much premeditation there was with that, but it sure was fitting for the day.

Fun with cameras!

Lately I've been thinking that it would be nice to own a digital SLR.  I've been missing the flexibility that I had when taking pictures with my film camera, but didn't want to drag it out again and have to get photos developed on film and converted to digital.  ...so I did a little research online, spoke with some camera store employees, solicited some recommendations from friends and decided to purchase a Nikon D5000.  According to the site I ordered it from, the shipping estimation to my zip code was only 2 days - with the 24 hour order to ship time they promised, I figured I'd have the camera in a few days.  Boy was I disappointed when I finalized the order and they told me it would take a whole week!  ...not very long in the grand scheme of things, but I'd been all ready for it to arrive before the weekend and had my hopes up for using it right away, especially since it was Halloween.  I managed to temper my expectations and wait (somewhat) patiently until today when it arrived on my doorstep.

Gus knew that I had been waiting for the camera all week and was almost as excited as I was when he woke up from his nap and I told him it had arrived.  We opened the box, unpacked the camera and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing with cameras - me with the new one and Gus with our older camera.  Here are some of our shots...

Photo I took of Gus:

Photo Gus took of himself:

Photo I took of Gus:

 

Photo Gus took of me:

 

The Flying Trilobite

As I was a Geology major in college and am still fascinated with anything geological, I had to check out the blog, The Flying Trilobite, to see what it was all about.  Much to my surprise I found some very cool artwork. What awesome imagery!  If you have any interest in science at all, you must check out this blog.  I am in awe of the concepts Glendon Mellow has come up with and put to paper, so to speak.

Books: Real-Life Homeschooling

When I first started thinking about this post, I'd mentally planned a whole history of my early disaffection with traditional schooling, my high-school and college-age interest in (or maybe I should say fascination with) education, my training and work as a teacher in both a private and public schools and how it has all culminated in my interest in Montessori education and homeschooling...but, now that I actually sit here at the computer, the urge to write all that is gone. 

Instead, I'll share with you a fun little book that I just picked up at my local library: Real-Life Homeschooling: The Stories of 21 Families Who Teach Their Children at Home.  Ian and I have been thinking about homeschooling Gus, so I've been doing a little research on the topic here and there.  I really enjoyed reading this book, as it gave a great feel for what it would be like for us to actually homeschool our own child.  Through the stories of the twenty-one families in the book, the reader is exposed to a wide variety of differently homeschooling styles and philosophies.  You not only get a great sense of what worked for the families and what didn't, but you also get to see what resources they each like to use and how they schedule their time.  I was surprised to read that so many of the families had started off trying to replicate a traditional school (by creating detailed lesson plans, schedules, etc.) and then had changed their focus over time to be more child-centered and organic.  To me, and I suppose to most homeschoolers, this is the beauty of homeschooling - the ability to customize the learning environment to the unique needs of each child....but even still, I think the initial urge is to try to replicate the school at home because that is what we all know - that is how most of us all were educated and we don't know another way until we dig into it and try it ourselves.  How very exciting!!  Now, of course, as this book points out, homeschooling is a LOT of work and a huge decision on the part of the family... but it is great to be able to hear how different families have struggled through that choice and why they have persevered with their homeschooling choices.  A great read for anyone who is thinking about homeschooling. 

Peaceful Revolution: Why Support for Breastfeeding Matters More than Ever

Ellen - thanks for writing such a wonderful article. Some day we'll get to the point where we have paid long-term maternity leave the way they do in some European countries and that will go a long way toward supporting the breastfeeding mother ...in so many ways that we aren't now. We have a long way to go before we get there and articles like yours are a step along the way.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Mother Nature is laughing at us...

this past weekend, i bought a mini greenhouse, thinking i'd put in on my screened in porch and get some salad greens going, so that we could harvest them for the next few months. 

it was in the 60s this weekend, which would have meant the greenhouse would be nice and warm for the seeds to germinate.  well, gus and i just went outside to plant the seeds (lettuce, kale, spinach and mesclun mix) today and it was 39 degrees outside.  not quite what i'd been expecting for this week.  nevertheless, we planted anyway, in our warm winter coats, labeled everything, watered the soil and came inside.  as we were taking off our coats, we looked out the picture window in the living room to see... SNOW!  darn it all - those poor seeds.  we're going to keep our fingers crossed that the temperature will go up a bit soon so they have a chance.   who knows, maybe the lettuce seeds planted under the extra plastic lid will make a go of it.

little kids do the darndest things

my son has a pair of red rain boots that his oma bought for him. they are probably his favorite pair of shoes to wear and also happen to be fashioned to look like strawberries.  we got them off our screened porch this morning to wear to oma's house, as it was somewhat rainy out, and put them down in the kitchen, as we usually put our shoes on and go out the kitchen door because it leads to the driveway.  the boots happened to be quite muddy from our last outing and so left a small pile of dried mud on the kitchen floor.  we were in a hurry and so, as is quite common in our house, we left the pile of dirt right there on the kitchen floor, to be dealt with later.  this evening we got home on the late side and i was ready for a bathroom pit stop after drinking too much water on the way home - i heard my son, gus, in the hall closet (which isn't unusual, as the novelty of being able to open and close doors has not yet worn off) and didn't pay too much attention to what he was doing until i got out of the bathroom and he told me that the dustpan was stuck.  he'd gotten the little broom and had that (and a cat hair removal brush) in his hands, but clearly also wanted the dustpan, so i helped him get it off its hook.  from there he went straight into the kitchen and started to clean up the little pile of dirt that we'd left there this morning, saying that he'd made a mess with his strawberry boots and wanted to clean it up.  my husband, ian, snapped this shot of him in the act...

While there is still a glass ceiling for women in the u.s., at least we...

don't have to consider resorting to the use of an artificial virginity device in order to get married and be respected by our family and friends.  for those of you who didn't hear it today, the npr story of this little device and the concerns it is bringing to some in egypt is worth a read.  it sounds so naive of me to say that i was surprised that there would even be a need for such a device but its easy to forget that we women living in the united states have it good in so many ways that women elsewhere in the world do not.  i am deeply humbled by stories like this and forever grateful to be living in a society where previous generations of women have worked so very hard to make stories like this quaint (but yet still horrifying in so many ways) and very far removed from my own personal reality.

Freecycle

i think the nobel peace prize committee should seriously consider awarding the 2010 prize to the developers of freecycle.  well, ok, this might be a bit of a stretch, but freecycle is a pretty darn amazing piece of social architecture, you've got to admit that.  where else can a person who really needs something go and find it for free - request it even, from fellow citizens who might have such an item and no longer need it.  and where can those of us with too much stuff (i.e. most of us) find a good, loving home for those dear items that we don't really use but hate to throw away?  in the past few months, my family has given away a sewing machine, a backpack, a stroller and a set of four wheels with snow tires - and i have to say that each time, i felt really great to be passing my stuff on to someone who really wanted or needed it - so much better than i would have felt about receiving money from selling those things and so grateful to not be filling up the landfill with perfectly useful items. i have to say that i think my small amount of freecycle "gifting" has also increased my feeling of a sense of community and care for others - why, you say? well, because it has given me the opportunity to connect with a few extra people with whom i probably would never have connected otherwise and to get to know just a tiny bit about who they are and what their lives are like.  even though the contact made between gifter/giftee is just a moment in time, it is a strangely intimate connection, in that a need was openly expressed by one party to another - i find that the expression of need (well, really asking for help in any form) is such a rare thing among my friends and family - almost as if we are all afraid to in-debt ourselves to one another, whether for lack of time or geographic closeness or other unknown reasons - yet the relative anonymity of the internet seems to remove whatever inhibition we had about expressing needs and allow us to open up to perfect strangers to offer what we no longer need and ask for what we do need.  who knows, maybe with enough freecycling, we'll all become more open and honest with each other about our needs - well, ok, maybe not, but we can hope...and support freecycle along the way.

October Garden Bounty

this year, our family is trying to stretch our garden season through as much of the fall and winter as possible.  we've covered our small raised bed with some hoops and plastic (not all too securely fastened at this time because we have a tomatillo plant which has almost ripe fruit all over it and we are trying to keep it alive - on its "too tall for the hoops" trellis - until we can harvest some fruit), so that we can extend the harvest season for the spinach, lettuce, kale, cabbage and other mixed greens we still have growing in there.  for the first time i sowed a late summer batch of seeds (and luckily found the kale seedlings at a local garden center) and these have been so very nice to have still at this time of year - don't know why i never did a fall sowing of these things before - its so easy to do and so very rewarding. in furthering my quest for fall and winter greens, i've bought a mini greenhouse, which i've assembled and put out on my south-facing screened porch and will attempt to start some spinach and mixed salad greens in there.  it may be too much to ask of those little seeds to sprout and grow much this late in the year, but heck, i'm going to give it a try and see what happens.  worst case is i'll have a great spot for starting seeds come spring, since we have no table space for seed flats in the house.

one of the most mysterious things to come out of our garden (well really out of our compost pile - and the foundation planting in front of the house - where no vegetables have EVER been grown) is a squash plant, the likes of which we have not ever planted.  it vaguely resembles the acorn squash that we planted last year (and which grew prolifically, especially from the compost), but its so much bigger, that i can't imagine that its the same thing.  i suppose cross-pollination is at work somewhere in there, but i haven't had the time to look it up and see what might really be going on.  here's a photo of our mystery squash, which is pretty close to being the same size as my two-year-old's head...

yeah, yeah, gratuitous kid shot, i know...

and here is a pic of the yummy salad we made from some locally picked (well, while i was in maine last month) apples and the greens from our now-covered garden...

Sewing (previously titled "the sewer in each of us)

so, this spring i bought myself a new sewing machine.  i'd had one that had been my grandmother's, but i never used it because it always seemed to frustrate me in one way or the other.  it took me a while to start using the new one, but i'm really getting into the swing of things now.  i got a boatload of sewing books for my birthday and having been drooling over patterns since then.  this summer i took a class at my local fabric shop (The Fabric Tree) and had fun making an amy butler bag (Amy Butler Birdie Sling Tote Bag Midwest Modern Sewing Pattern)

which i then promptly made another of for my friend michelle's birthday (in different fabric).   i stitched up an earring holder...

that had been rattling around in my brain for a while and a couple of little pillows for the car. this week, i got excited to make some things for my friend jen, who is having a baby shower, so I made her a fun little baby quilt from the pattern in Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made with Repurposed & Organic Materials and a pair of the cozy fleece baby pants from the Crescent Moon Yoga Pants Pattern.  as I was finishing up with the quilt last night, I realized that I was feeling so fulfilled after finishing this project.  the combination of making something, having it be useful and beautiful and being excited about the end result - colors, texture, patterns, feel, etc. is really, really satisfying for me.  don't know that i've really gotten that feeling out of my knitting, paid work or other projects.  next step - take some photos of the finished products and post them.

p.s. i changed the title of the post, b/c it finally hit me that it sounded like i was talking about a sewer - you know, the public infrastructure that transports human waste.  yes, i'll be the first to admit that i'm a bit slow with things like that

Who reads cookbooks?

the other day - don't know where i was - i had the sudden realization that I really enjoy reading cookbooks - not just looking for recipes, but actually reading them, from cover to cover.  now, i do also cook some of the recipes, but that's more of an aside.  is this weird?  who else shares this interest?  where the heck did it come from?  off to relish "The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook: Whole Foods To Nourish Pregnant And Breastfeeding Women - And Their Families
".  ;)

Beginnings

welcome. i'm up. it's quiet. i have time to think. i like to share. enjoy.