Purling Oaks

Approaching the end of May and.....

.....What have I been doing?  This photo may explain some of what I've been doing.......

I've also been getting acquainted with the new-to-me lawn tractor and have been remembering to duck under the low branches in the orchard.  

I found the sock-in-process.............  

.....that I started two years and one month ago.  Crazy.  Oh well, sometimes life gets in the way of life.  At least I'm ready to start a relaxed Summer of Socks 2013 with a project at hand.  

I've also been re-reading a number of J.D.Robb's stories.  Last night I enjoyed reading an on-line novella from Wen Spencer in her Elfhome universe.  I do so wish she would write more in the A Brother's Price universe...but that is unlikely.  Sad.

This weekend's largish project is to build new vegetable garden beds.  The wooden boards of the garden boxes are beginning to break down and the boxes really aren't spaced properly for the newish mower.  Not to mention ..... they  likely suffered a similar two years and one month interval of not much attention.  So, I'm experimenting with the cardboard/hay-grass/soil method of layering a (slightly raised) garden.  Our soil is so, so rocky that digging in is not a viable option.  I've got the cardboard, saved from earlier this spring.  I've got the hay-grass, mowed yesterday, that I only (!) need to rake up and transport.  And the soil.  That's my next decision, which I think will result in shoveling no matter what.  More muscle burns more calories, right? 

 

Have a safe and relaxing weekend!

 

 

All about the Food

Let's see if one post can hold a few week's worth of food photos......

 

Today:  Sourdough bread.  It is such a pretty loaf.  (says the maker)  I love it when they look pretty.  They all taste good but I'm most satisfied when they look nice, too.  Generally, the hand made ones are prettier than the bread machine loaves.  It's getting easier for me to make bread by hand now...which is something else I'm pleased about.  Two weeks ago, I was getting a bit, erm, overconfident and just flung some sourdough starter together with some flour and my other standard ingredients and did the single rise.....which fell.  (I didn't listen to the little voice that said the dough was too wet.)  But it did taste good.  I did not take a photo.  Today's bread is in the photo:  two rises -- some kneading for good measure before the first and some gentle coaxing before the second.

Lemon Blueberry Muffin Cake--probably made the day after the less than pretty loaf noted above.

It was yummy and the recipe is here.

 

Venison Pot Roast Pie

Made with stew meat and the standard pot roast veggies.  No recipe to share...I did kind of wing it by following a good chicken pot pie recipe.  Dan polished it off before the weekend was over.  It was tasty.  I'm still working on making gravy without a strainer......

 

Last night, we made shrimp tacos with avocado salsa.  The salsa was delicious and the avocados from the bit of salsa left over were still pretty to look at this afternoon.  I am certainly making that meal again.  Gottatellya, that salsa was really good.

Tonight's dinner will be salad, mini riblets on the grill and some sourdough garlic bread.  I'm contributing the salad and the garlic bread.  

I'm in awe at how the trees are responding to our abnormally warm weather--There's green in the tree canopy that wasn't there a few days ago.  The daffies are all blooming and the daylilies probably grew eight inches this week.  The crocii (?) came and went last week.  My work clothes need to shift to spring and summer but are stuck in the fall/winter mode to my dismay.  I must have relied on my black suit in DC when I needed to wear professional-business attire rather than business-casual attire in the warmer months.  Hmmm.  

I'm reading J.D. Robb's New York to Dallas and I'm on page 70 (in paperback).  I love Eve and Roarke.  I'm also reading Moonwalking with Einstein:  The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer.  I'm about mid-way through--(lunchtime reading on my Kindle).  I'm enjoying the author's description of his journey to improve his memory and hopefully I'll learn some techniques to improve my memory.   

Have an enjoyable, memorable week!

Just peeking

Happy almost end of February!  I've been absent from the blog since I've got nothing to share.  There's been drama but it isn't really mine in the most direct sense, so there you are, no blog stuff and no desire to blog around it.   I did get the crud Friday afternoon but it was fast and furious, so now I'm just tired.  

White Dot got into a big fight with the Boogie Cat last Saturday morning and had to go to the vet for stitches where his hind right leg was ripped open.  Yowza and yuckola.  He's now in second place for most *ahem* precious kitty of the house, after Fuzzle's broken-leg excitement about five years ago.   He's healing quickly and is happy to be out of his exile to a closed bedroom and paper litter.  We're working on what to do about BC encounters since that was trip number two to the vet that was BC-related.

I was able to attend my local monthly spinning group meeting last Monday -- it was fun with a lot of laughing.  I brought some crocheting rather than my wheel but they're a kind group of women and let me stay.  I helped solve a mystery of a rigid heddle loom--no biggie but it helps to know which way to point the darn thing.  0.O

I've immersed myself in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs this weekend.  I thought it would all be re-reads but somehow I missed one of the series.  I'm glad I remedied that with a download as Bone Crossed was good.  I'm about to start River Marked before I start throwing things in my suitcase for another week of work.

Okay, that's it for now.  I hope you all have been warm, safe, and happy.  I'll stop by again...hopefully soon.

 

Lists, Tuesday, and Books

This morning I'm drinking coffee and making my lists for the weekend.  Let's see...groceries:  black beans for some black bean soup, mixed bean soup for some, well, mixed bean soup.   Looks like a theme of fall is here, to me!  The plumber is here to fix the toilet that has been slow for longer than I want to say..check!  Bedding in the laundry...check!  I need to expand my work wardrobe with more business attire so I've got go clothes shopping on the errands list, too.  

Tuesday was a good day.   I met up with Vicki in Appleton for dinner and coffee with knitting!  I really enjoyed seeing some of Vicki's recent projects and to see the results of her dye pots in finished form.  She really has a great eye for color.  

We rarely remember to document our meet-ups with photos but Tuesday we both pulled out our phones for the barista.

There!  Documented meet-up with friendly blogger...check!  :D

Next on the list is waiting to have our annual boiler inspection this morning and to finish up the laundry.  I'll probably have to slip some work-work into the morning, as well, since life will be smoother for the next week or so if I get this project finished.

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 I've been reading a lot lately.  Admittedly, it is one of the ways I use to escape stress.  No matter what, reading is always a pleasure.  I've been reading quite a bit with my iPad Kindle app but also a few "real" paperbacks.  The titles have been heavily weighted lately in the urban fantasy/werewolves & vampires genres:  I've read through ALL of Ilona Andrews' books and a good portion of Jeaniene Frost's.  I like both Andrews and Frost.  Andrews builds strong worlds and has a pleasant writing style.  Frost builds good stories but is not as strong a writer--although still very readable.  For Frost's writing, I mean that sometimes I'm "bumped" out of my reading trance by illogical sentence structure or some odd construction from a technical sense.  That happened less frequently as I read the series so perhaps her editor is paying closer attention.  I'm currently on the fourth (hmm, maybe make that the sixth) (Amazon link) book in the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn.  I read Kitty Goes to Washington a while ago (yes, while I was working in DC) and recently decided to read the whole series.  I was surprised by the turn of events in the third book; Ms. Vaughn is not formulaic in her writing and, obviously, I'm pleasantly entertained since I'm so far into the series.  

 I've also been reading Vicki Pettersson's Zodiac series.  When we were in Columbus, Georgia, we stopped* at The Book House and I purchased the first two books in this series.  Ms. Pettersson's story line is original - to me at least - and I'm enjoying the stories.  I don't always like the heroine as she is so self-centered and, at times, immature, but I think that is also an essential component and keeps me reading to see if this girl will break-out.  Perhaps this heroine is just a bit more "real" compared to my typical expectations of a fictional character. I definitely recommend reading this series....at least through book three which is where I've put myself on hold to give my Amazon account a breather.  

On the more serious side, I've been reading this version of Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson.  I finished it last night and I'm thinking of reading it again, soon.  I recommend it.

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Mid-way through typing this post I noticed the sun was high enough to turn the frost on the outbuildings into vapor.  Beautiful.  (That is vapor, isn't it?)  :D

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Have a lovely weekend everyone!

 

*As a traveler, I have the opportunity to sample a lot of things and one of them is used book stores.  This Georgia book store offered a very nice, yet new to me, selection of used books.  I wonder if I happen to visit there again, would have the same experience?  There were a LOT of new to me fantasy/sci-fi books on the shelves of this store.  Do readers in Columbus read and trade different books than those in Madison, Wisconsin?  Hmmm, probably just a happy circumstance....

An FO, a little update and PURSES!

A finished object that, someday, will become a finished object!!

It is 1,042 yards of worsted weight yarn (2-ply) of my own spinning.  The fiber is wool.  Wool from Woolgatherers in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.  Unknown vintage or donator-sheep but I do know that the color is a sheep color, that is, undyed and I like it.  Finished spinning and plying during my July 2011 staycation.  Started maybe last year some time.  It may become a vest in the future.

I've been absent from the blog, I know.  Job changes, emptying the DC apartment, the trip home from DC, having to set up another apartment in a Milwaukee 'burb, summer heat, and just not wanting or having the energy to talk/write about it all are factors contributing to my absence.  DH and I are still tight--all the change-related stuff is for the job--so don't get worried about the marriage.  It is very nice to be home and closer to home.  And I do mean Very.

An odd offshoot of all this change has been my need to change my day-to-day purse.  Flying weekly and having desk drawers to stow things at work allowed me just use my back pack and a wallet or my "city" bag (actually a Lexie Barnes bag from last year (not the print pictured) - Love!) and my wallet.  Now, I don't have a fixed place I go every day and I've got to--or want to--use a larger purse but the old "city" bag isn't the 'image' I want since I would like to project a more polished look due to contact with what I'll call the public.  A big flowered bag just isn't working for me; unfortunately, because the interior of the bag is the best with tons of pockets and the exterior never shows wear...but I'm digressing.  I'm alternating weekly between my old purses and briefcase bags to see if they'll work for me in this phase of work.  One of my "old" bags (ha!) holds everything but just in a jumble-irritating.  (I think there's a Freudian slip there somewhere)  Do you have any favorite bags that you think I might like?  Feel free to make suggestions.  Please.

I just finished reading Theirs Not To Reason Why: A Soldier's Duty by Jean Johnson.  It was a good read and is also the beginning of a series.  I believe this author is starting to write SciFi after spending time in the Romance genre.  I will probably look at some of her other work; she had an interesting and enjoyable writing style.

I'm enjoying the cooler weather Wisconsin has been blessed with this weekend and, as usual, doing my laundry on Sunday.  I hope you all enjoy the coming week.

Getting the broom out and....

*Brushing away the blog cobwebs.....*

I've found that getting adjusted to a new travel schedule, setting up and moving to POE, and a seemingly heavier work schedule took some, well, adjusting.  More adjusting than I thought but after a few weeks the schedule has been smoothing out and the psychic adjustments that DH and I have had to make are also smoothing out.  We are continuing to make changes and find more time together, quality time.  Maybe more than before, which is nice.  We didn't know we were missing that.  Anyway, I thought I would check out the blog and show you a few things that are interesting at Purling Oaks Central this weekend.

Lamb's ear has spread around my garden.  I've been harsher with it this year to contain it but I still love it for the texture and color of the leaves and the pretty lavender flowers.  

Lime thyme is flowering....along with all the other thymes.  This one does have a citrus aroma, leaning toward lime, but I think the color of the leaves may have as much to do with the name of "lime" as the fragrance.

 The black raspberries are just beginning to ripen.  Fortunately for berry production, we've been getting rain.  As I type this it is raining---of course, I am also wondering what the rain will do to my flight schedule today.  No big worries though.  I'm reading Nora Roberts' Kindred in Death in paperback and have a book or two available on the iPad.  

Yes, iPad.  I gave in to my inner geek and bought one with 32 gig - wifi only.  I really like it and found that I don't miss having the 3GS service.  My back up plan, should I need constant wireless access, is to buy one of the wireless access points I can carry in my purse or pocket so it can be used for multiple devices.  I'm not at that point yet.  I like that the screen is large enough to actually *see* something and I can stream Netflix over the wireless at the apartment.  

Blue on the Rock on an early summer Wisconsin day:

 

Have a great Sunday and a very good week!

 

  

Straightening up

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe Thanksgiving Day.  DH and I enjoyed the day with his family, including (real*) ham and turkey as well as a killer apple pie with a yummy crust that just melted in my mouth.  I hated to refuse bringing part of that pie home but it would have been consumed within 24 hours if I had not said no.  Just saying.  

Today, besides wishing I had not refused to bring part of that pie home, I'm catching up with the laundry mountain generated by being away and hunting for a week.  The TODO list is growing and I'm happy to have a few days more this vacation to finish some of the list.  My plan of avoiding the malls today is in place although I'm getting organized for the next holidays and may have to brave the crowds sometime this weekend.  I hope to get the Christmas tree up and decorated but I still have one more weekend in reserve for that task.

I found a new podcast/audio book, that after listening to the first two segments, I'm downloading them all.  While cutting up venison, we usually like to listen to an audio book to make the time go faster.  In the past, the Harry Potter series was popular but we've exhausted our J.K. Rowling resources.  However, I found The Secret World Chronicle by Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libbey on iTunes.   It is a bit pulpy and definitely sci-fi, but the production is well done and the stories are engaging.  Besides, the podcast is free.  :D  We started with the first book and only got through the second chapter but I know I'm going to listen to the rest and so is Dr. E.  I just Googled and here is their web site, if you don't do iTunes.

 

Here's one of my favorite photos from this past week.  We were all joking that Mom needed to "stand up!"  She had been crouching as a joke and was standing but our men are so tall....well, you had to be there, but it was one of many fun moments. 
 

Happy Friday!

A July Friday

Storms to the North last Sunday

How did it get to be the end of July all ready?!

I've been away from the blog so long, TypePad had forgotten me.  And now there's this "new" TypePad that I'm previewing.  So far, it isn't quite intuitive but that could be me needing another cup of coffee.  I slept "in" this morning, having thought ahead and not scheduled anything until this afternoon.  Just those two extra hours of sleep make me feel so good, especially after yesterday's typical end of week travel.   Laundry's in process as I type.

Wilson's been making kim chee lately.  It's very tasty and simple to make.  The recipe that he currently favors is the fifth one on this collection of recipes. 

The jar on the left had aged in the refrigerator for over a week and had been sampled.  The two other jars were freshly made when this photo was taken last Sunday.  I just checked and the two new jars have taken on a golden color like the one on the left in the photo.  Yum!

I'm planning (with the services of my stylist) to do a little hair color adjustment today.  The recent "golden" (aka red) color is growing out and I'm not enjoying it.  I hope that my stylist can come close to my natural "dark" (do I hear snickering!?) blond with some low-lighting to disguise the transition between old and new growth.  Why do I think "forest" when I read that?   

There's no knitting or other fibery progress to show this week.  I've been re-reading S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire in light of just picking up The Sunrise Lands, one of the books in his "Emberverse" world.  I've read one of the others in the "modern-day" portion this series and one or two of the "Nantucket" portion.  I have to be in the right mood as sometimes the author is just too descriptive for my attention span.  However, I enjoy the character development and the alternate Earth-universe premise of this series.  I'm also reading J.D. Robb's Promises in Death and I'm more satisfied (can I say that?) with this one than the last one I read which I believe was Salvation in Death.  There's more of the Eve/Rourke relationship and other character development in Promises.

Happy Friday!

Take that! (as shouted to Old Man Winter)

One knitting-related post coming up!  I have surprised myself by being very crafty/creative this week (a little) and weekend (a lot).  However, two projects underway are stealth projects so that leaves some blog material very much in an unpublishable draft form for a while.   No worries though.  I actually have real knitting content.  Not BIG knitting content, but I know you're not here for that.  I started the Simple Yet Effective Shawl (Rav link) on the train down to Chicago on Tuesday and worked on it again on Thursday, you guessed it, on the way from Chicago.  And yes, I did spend some of that time in conversation with my DH. 

The yarn is even brighter in person.  It will be interesting to see how the colors stripe between the two different balls.  It is a perfect use for sock yarn that probably shouldn't be used for socks.

Friday took me into Madison for an oil change (for the Jeep), a massage, and general errand-running.  Fortunately, I had time to stop at Lakeside Fibers.  You know, just to look around.  Well, look what came home with me.    
There are a couple more balls of the yarn, Rowan Kidsilk Haze, that didn't make it into the photo.  I was paging through the book in the LYS and I was immediately struck with the need to knit Veronique.  I didn't put up much of a fight. 

I know, black fuzzy yarn may prove to be a challenge but a fellow knitter in that LYS commented that all I would have to do is use light colored needles.  Ta-da!  Enabled. 

Besides getting a fix at Lakeside, I came home to find this in the mailbox!    It is of very nice quality and I love the patterns.  I also ordered the electronic version of the patterns.  I fell in love with the doll, but I'm sure I'll make several items from the book.  Nice job, Ysolda!

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Finally, to thumb my nose at last night's snowfall^X (!!!!), here is a view of some of the crocus (crocii?) in the yard last Thursday and they're just fine this afternoon. 

^X I'm so glad it was sunny today because the two inches of snow that fell were having a serious impact on my mental well-being.  It *is* almost April, you know. 

Soaked Saturday

I think Mother Nature likes balance but I wonder if she is working on balance somewhere else besides North America.  We've had probably over 4 inches of rain this week in Wisconsin, while my friends on the left coast are suffering with none.  Perhaps the balance is that we are all less than happy with the situation.

My brother and his sons are in Wisconsin for a quick visit so DH and I will be in the Fox Valley for a day then back home to host a small family gathering on Sunday.  I don't have much in the way of knitting content so I'll share a few other fun things.

I won Kim's contest and my loot winnings arrived this week.  I'm looking forward to knitting two socks on one needle.  Perhaps that will be the key to me having more socks.  :D  I'm really enjoying the sandwich cookbook.  I love old cookbooks and this one has a copyright of 1941, so it is older than I am.  I'm going to try a few of these recipes, especially the ones for fancy bread in the beginning.  Maybe not the prune bread though........

Here are the purchases I made a short while ago in Mayville at Loose Ends Yarn Shop.   All of my goodies were locally made.  Michele made the bag from upholstery book samples and adorned it with buttons  The yarn is handspun and is really a coral pink.  It changes in different lighting.  I don't know the yardage but I fell in love with it and had to have it.  The pin was also crafted in Wisconsin.