Rhubarb!

 Good Morning!

It's Friday, thank goodness.  This has been a very busy week work-wise and I am so ready for the weekend.  First I have to get through this morning (3 conference calls).  I did manage to go through my closet and dresser drawers yesterday and ended up with 2 Trader Joe grocery bags stuffed (to the breaking point) for donation.  And, I don't think I got rid of enough.  I'll probably be pulling more aside.

We are heading to Colin & Mailing's for dinner tomorrow - celebrating Mother's Day.  Mailing's parents and her sister will be there too (and probably Otto...Anna's dog).  My task is to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie, so yesterday I headed out to the garden to cut some rhubarb.

That bottom leaf!  It is larger than a turkey platter - LOL.  I keep hearing in my head (as I date myself) Ed Sullivan saying "a really Big Leaf" like he used to say "a really Big Show" except he pronounced it Shew.  LOL  I'm easily amused.

Yesterday was another day where no knitting was done.  Not even picked up!  Will I be able to remedy that this afternoon?  Here's hoping.

Here's hoping too that all you Mothers (Ha!) have a very Happy Mother's Day.  Happy Weekend!

What's For Dinner?

 Hello and Good Morning!

It's a bit chillier out today...low 40's this a.m.  Fletch said his chin was cold when he walked last night (he sports a beard in the winter months, but recently shaved it off for the summer).

Yesterday ended up being a busier day than I expected or wanted.  I did manage to do a little stitching and a little reading, but no knitting.  Not good...hoping to remedy that today.  It's already been quite a busy morning workwise though, so we shall see.

Has anyone watched the new series on Netflix "Life in Color" with David Attenborough?  It's quite good - only 3 episodes and we finished watching it last night.

Well, as I mentioned, I completely forgot it was Cinco de Mayo yesterday, so no Mexican food for us.  I had taken salmon out of the freezer, so that's what we had.  One of our favorite ways to have it is:

A very simple recipe, but quite tasty.  You can up the heat or decrease depending on what you like.  Last night I did not broil it, but baked it at 425 because I had "tater tots" in the oven to go with (I prefer fries, but Fletch loves his tater tots - lol).  That and some riced cauliflower with zucchini, peppers and some spices rounded out the meal.  It was a little bland looking (all brown and white), but it did taste good!

I'm off to pour some more coffee, make the bed and (hopefully) do something - anything - on the personal side rather than work!  Hope your Thursday is a good one.

Unraveled Wednesday May 5, 2021

 Hello!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!  If I had been thinking I would have taken out something from the freezer so we could have Mexican food for dinner.  I took out salmon.  Oh well.  It's Hump Day, Wednesday and, therefore, Unraveled Wednesday.  As always, I'm linking up with Kat and friends to talk about making and reading.  First up:  Beekeeper Socks:

Oh how I love the way these turned out.  I finished them up on Monday and am just so happy with them.  They are soft and very squishy.  The pattern is just a simple K6, P2 around the leg.  I did keep the pattern on the top of the foot.  The yarn is from KnitPicks - Static (75/25) and the colorway is "Beekeeper" (not sure how they came up with that name, but...).  I used #2 needles and these are for Colin.  Not sure when I will give them to him.  For now they are sitting upstairs.  Fletch says I won't be able to wait for any special occasion and will just give them to him soon.  Probably.

Yesterday I successfully managed to avoid doing any chores or trying to reorganize my closet, etc. and instead started my Wintertide shawl.  

I managed the garter tab start and set up rows.  The Lifted Left Increases and Lifted Right Increases gave me a little bit of a fit, but I think I figured them out and I think it looks ok.  The yarn (Cascade Heritage - 75% superwash and 25% nylon) is very soft and also quite splitty.  I'm hoping to cast on a new pair of socks today.  The yarn, also from KnitPicks, reminds me of confetti or bubblegum.  More to come on that later.

On the reading front, last night I finished the 3rd book by Matt Goldman in the Nils Shapiro series The Shallows which was pretty good.  There is one more in the series that I will try to get from the library.  Fletch and I have started reading The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery.  I had read this years ago, but don't really remember it.  So far, so good.

Today I'm heading to the office for a short while, so I'd best pour another cup of coffee, dry my hair and get dressed.  Wishing you all a great day.  Be sure you head over to Kat's to see what others are making and reading.

Tiny Needle Tuesday 5/4/21

 Good Morning!

We had some rain yesterday and it sounded so nice last night when I went to bed - like a lullaby on the roof.  I slept well!

Yesterday was a weird day and I just felt off.  It started in the morning when I decided to run to the library around 9:15 or so to drop off a book.  From there I drove over to Target - was looking for 3 specific items, none of which could I find.  Normally I would have wandered around the store - just glad to be out, seeing if there was anything I "needed," etc.  Luckily I did not do that but instead drove home.  I got in at 10 and was going to go back out to cut some Lily of the Valley but decided to check email first.  I had completely forgotten that I had a conference call at 10 a.m.!  That is so unlike me.  Anyway, I dialed in and joined the meeting.  The rest of the day was kind of the same - no more conference calls, but I kept forgetting things I had to do.  Hopefully today will be a bit more focused.

Well, it's Tuesday which means TNT - Tiny Needle Tuesday.  I have started a new sampler!  The one I picked is a little smaller than the Quaker Autumn one I just finished.  Here is a picture of the design from Needlework Press:

Creatures, flowers and angels!  What's not to like?  As I mentioned yesterday, the silk floss that I wanted for this arrived on Friday.  Once I had all the colors, I was able to lay them out against the fabrics in my stash and pick one that let the colors shine.  I don't know the brand or the specific color name...it was just sitting in my stash.  I actually did a running stitch on the side to determine the count as that was not marked either.  Turns out it is 36 count (so, stitching over 2 threads it works out to 18 stitches to the inch).  I started this on Saturday morning when I got together with Dee, and here is where it stood as of last night:

The silks are hand dyed (Belle Soie by Crescent Colours) and I am stitching with one strand of silk over 2 linen threads.  So far I'm loving this one.

It has already been a busy morning (and a busy evening last night) work-wise.  On the docket this morning is working on the org charts for our FY 2022 budgets.  It's a ton of numbers as for each account/facility I list not only the director's name, but the revenue, profit, number of managed employees and adjusted gross income.  Between the 3 divisions I support, it totals approximately 475 accounts...so, a ton of numbers.  I'm hoping to get to my closet today as well, but time will tell.  It's another grey one here and was raining lightly when I got up earlier, so no real incentive to go out.  Hopefully there will be some time later for knitting, stitching and reading.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Weekending

 Hello and Good Morning!

How was your weekend?  Mine was very good.  Filled with all kinds of things that I love.  Our winds finally died down...but not until after breaking one of the limbs on our apple tree.  Luckily trees and our house both stood during the days of high winds!

Saturday dawned early - birds singing shortly after 4:30 a.m.  I got up and showered and then headed up to see Dee!  We are both fully vaccinated and decided it was time to get together.  What fun!  We had a lovely morning of sipping tea, knitting, stitching and chatting.  So much to catch up on!  My silk threads had arrived on Friday, so I was able to start my new stitching project (more on that tomorrow).

Walking around the yard, Fletch and I noticed that our fig tree is producing!  Woo-Hoo.  Two years ago the deer chomped the poor tree down to the ground.  Fletch put a fence around it and somehow it managed to come back.  Last year it produced 2-3 figs, but they fell off before ripening.  This year it looks like a bumper crop!!

The branches are loaded!  I had not realized that the fruit begins to form even before the leaves emerge.

One of our gifts at Christmas from Colin & Mailing was a lemon tree.  It is in a pot and we have it in the living room in a west-facing window.  We noticed it was beginning to have some buds and now - voila!

I wish this were a scratch and sniff photo - LOL.  These little blossoms are extremely fragrant.  The scent reminds me somewhat of jasmine.  Very, very sweet.  I had not realized, but lemon trees have very sharp thorns!

So, good discoveries on the weekend.  Also good cooking.  Fletch grilled burgers for us on Saturday which we had on rolls with sliced red onion, tomato and lettuce.  I made a broccoli salad to go with that.  Sunday I cooked French Toast for breakfast.

Not one of my favorites, but it was a nice change of pace.  Last night I made a new eggplant dish that ended up being delicious.  Like eggplant parmesan minus the frying, so a bit healthier.  Here's a link to the recipe:  https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/sheet-pan-eggplant-parmesan  I peeled the eggplant and I added fresh basil before baking, not after.  Also I used shredded mozarella rather than sliced.  I only used one large eggplant and there is enough left over for lunch one day and also another meal that I froze!

Last night after dinner, we finished reading Radio Free Vermont - A Fable of Resistance which was pretty good - entertaining.  Today we will try to pick out our next "after dinner read."  I guess I will probably do a little work too - HA!

All in all, a very satisfying weekend!  Plenty of knitting, stitching and reading also took place.  I hope yours was as nice.  Now it's the start of a new week!

Friday Felines on a TGIF

 Good Morning!

I'm happy to report that our roof is still on the house and, in fact, the house is still standing.  I was wondering about that in the middle of the night when the wind was whipping around at a fierce level!  It is still windy this morning.  The good news is that the wind blew all the clouds away and the sky is a gorgeous blue.  It's a little cooler than previous days, so perhaps a walk this afternoon (I've got a conference call at 10).

This was the scene last night:

The kitchen table in all its messy glory.  Piles everywhere (including on the chairs).  I was working on the Beekeeper sock and Tyg jumped up to keep me company,  And then he took the DPN protector/cozy I had been using and tucked that right under his head like a little pillow!  The lilacs are droopy.  I cut them yesterday but they have not perked up in water.  They might just be too heavy.  The scent is divine though.

The silk threads I ordered for my next stitching project should arrive today!  I'm looking forward to getting started on that.  Once the threads arrive, I can pick out which fabric I want to use, get it ironed and then start in on the project!

My second Beekeeper sock is progressing nicely and I now have 200 stitches on the French Market Bag.  From here out (for a little bit anyway), it will be straight knitting around and around and around.  The thicker yarn and the #7 circular needle give my hands a workout and at times I need to put it down and just rest my fingers.

Bottom line:  there is no lack of projects on which to work - LOL.  Looking forward to a productive day and weekend.  Enjoy!!

What's for Dinner?

 Good Morning!

It's a bit grey out there this morning and almost a little foggy/misty (or it could be that the window upstairs I was looking out of is really, really filthy!).  The temperature climbed into the mid-eighties yesterday and it felt like summer.  In between bits of work yesterday I managed to change to a lighter color pocketbook (pale pink instead of winter brown) and moved my summer shoes into an easier place to grab them and shoved my winter boots into the nether reaches of my (very small) closet.  Still to be moved are my wool sweaters...didn't want to tempt fate too much...but I may tackle that project today and get out some shorts and summer shirts.

Meanwhile, it's Thursday, so lets talk food.  Here was dinner last night:

The first corn of the season (which was really, really good!!).  I don't know what you call the other things on my plate, but here is what I do.

• Asparagus - trim and steam or boil for only 2-3 minutes, then drain.
• Slices of Italian Bread - brush with EVOO and put under the broiler for a little bit
• Pull the bread out and layer on bruschetta (in the summer I might make my own, but yesterday I just bought it at the grocery store) and top with asparagus
• Fletcher's had parmesan cheese sprinkled on top...I wanted mine plain.
• Stick it back under the broiler (in this case till the cheese on F's was nice and melty...and you could use mozarella or provolone or even cheddar...they are all good!)

A quick, easy and delicious meal!

And, a bonus recipe for a chicken dish we had the other night - delicious!!

Another dish that is so easy to make and really tastes great.  We had this with steamed green beans, some cherry tomatoes roasted with EVOO and Agave Syrup on them (just threw them in a separate pan in the oven while the chicken baked) and some rice.

The other day we noticed a hummingbird coming to our lilac bush and also to the petunias.  And now look what is beginning to bloom:

Wisteria!  It is so fragrant - really overpowering in scent.

The Towhee was back yesterday afternoon while Fletch and I were sitting on the patio.  And this guy kept us company:

A handsome fella for sure!  Have a great day!