Garden :: Grows!

 Beans, yellow squash, zucchini, pumpkins, strawberries....

 cucumbers....

greens....

Not pictured: tomatoes, spinach, kale...all growing just out of the line of sight from these photos.

Gardening for me is at once a leap of faith, confirmation of the physical laws of the universe, irrefutable botanical science, and yet a completely magical and mysterious process.

The fact that each of these things was a seed, mere potential, not four weeks ago? Plus the fact that these have grown by no less than 35% in the few days since I took these pictures, standing barefoot in my backyard?  This plus that equal awe, every single time. It never gets old.

On Father's Day we had dinner at my mom's house. Standing in her garden, troubleshooting tomato death, marveling at her beans and the way the hummingbird sage starts I propogated from the native  beauty in my front yard are now so huge they need to be transplanted...AGAIN...I could very nearly feel the thread that connects me to her through the roots of those plants, and then through her, connecting both of us to my grandmother.

One thing I'm pretty sure Grandma Dot never asked my mother to do, however, is hop into a 50 gallon garbage bin and jump up and down on it (holding onto the eave of the garage for balance) to make room for a final bag of garbage. That crazy is so patently Mother that I couldn't help but remember the time she had dad's gray bomber truck loaded sky high with pruned branches from, among other things, a dozen rose bushes ambling around her property. When she ask me and my brother to hop in the back to "pack it in", my brother raised his eyebrows at me and shook his head ever so slightly. Thank you, no he seemed to be saying. 

He's been in every kind of pickle imaginable because of that woman, so I didn't question it....my turn, I thought to myself.  I climbed on the edge of the truck bed using the wheel hubs as a makeshift step ladder and scooted toward the cab. With one hand on the top of the truck, and my left foot planted on the edge of the bed, I toed my right foot around until I found my footing and I lept onto the top of the branches. It was no less than a 40 inch vertical leap, and I can't remember exactly what I was thinking when I fell through the tower of branches, cracking and snapping my way as I plunged hip deep into the thorny wood that scratched and gouged first my ankles, then my knees, and finally my thighs...but I'm pretty sure it was something like GODDIZZLE.

My brother shook his head and gave me a (not unkind) I told you so look before my mom started nagging at me that I need to do more I hadn't packed it in  enough and there's plenty of room just start jumping. So I did what I can only hope my own kids do one day...I started jumping.

That's A Lot of Sage

After this four day week is a three day week and then my summer begins.  I'm not going to lie to you: I am ready. Oh, I know, after the first couple of weeks, I'll miss my students, I'll miss the creative aspects of designing lessons and trying to figure out what each little squirrel needs just right now, but let me just state:  I'm looking forward to missing it.  That is all

I was thinking today, about all the people who have died in military service to the United States (as it is Memorial Day) so I decided to do an internet search. I found this sobering tally right off the top, and it really set the mood for my "three day weekend".  I mean....I sort of can't comprehend, on the one hand, how many precious lives have been lost (how many families have ached for their loved ones?) and on the other hand, I can't bring myself to accept, on face value, that this is a wholly inclusive total.

We took advantage of our three day weekend by doing some long-needed chores around the house.  Here, Erik "fixed" the dead bolt lock on our front door.  Ahem.

And I even managed to clean this front window, which the pup has taken to rubbing her nose on while pacing back and forth, awaiting our return any time we leave the house.  I mean. Gross.

It's better now : ). I can see out it now.  Oh, except for the two huge cracks that are spiderwebbing across the top of the window.  I mean, we're just keeping it classy around here, really.

I also went into a bit of maintenance mode in the garden, even this early in the season there is so much yummy work that needs to be done!

Complex tasks like caging the tomato plants. A chore made even better by adorable fuschia, yellow,  and orange cages. Yay! Oh, but that sage plant is out of control.  See it there, in the background?

A quick shearing and I had cleared enough space to stake my adorable bean plant experiment.  Oh, they're little arms, forever reaching to hug something....I love you, bean plants!

Which left me with some newly harvested sage.  Quite a bit of it, in fact! My immediate response was, of course, to do a quick internet search.  Now I have another (can't really call this a) chore I can't wait to try.

What did people do, before the internets?????

A Special Mother's Day

On this Mother's Day, it seems appropriate to talk about my dear friend Maia, who became a mama just a couple of weeks ago.


Maia is so dear to me, such a precious person in my life.  You might remember her as my London Friend haha since she and her husband just came back last summer after living in England for two years.  They were here about two minutes, and then she became pregnant.  I was (and am) so happy for them, especially because I know that they were waiting until they got back to the States, and they are both so wonderful with kids. What a lucky baby they will have, I thought to myself when she told me they were expecting.


One night, a couple of months ago, they were at our house for dinner when Maia got rather serious, and rather emotional.  Neither of these things is unexpected from her; you know what they say about 'opposites attract'?  haha!  There's our friendship, right there.  


She said that they wanted to ask us something, specifically me something, but that it also involved Erik.  I glanced at Erik, and thought, well this is strange.  They are Jewish, and we are Atheist, so that rules out GodParents.  So what the heck?  


Then they asked me to be there when their baby was born. Um.  YEAH!  Of course!!  As Kelly said when I mentioned it on Facebook, what an honor, and I have to agree. It felt like such a privilege to be asked, even considered for such a thing. They were both really committed to an unmedicated birth, and as is their nature to totally and thoughtfully plan and prepare for every little thing, bless their hearts, they had made a list of potential Birth Day Helpers, narrowed the field through a series of late night discussions, and landed on me (me!) as the person most likely to be helpful, and, perhaps even more importantly, to not be an ass. 


I got The Call (or, because it's 2011, The Text) on a Tuesday afternoon.  We went back and forth and who knows what, and by 10 pm that night, I was headed over to Stanford. I pulled over on the side of the 880 freeway so I could snap a quick picture of the moon on my way over to the hospital. This picture, in absolutely no way, does the moon justice. It was a huge, low hanging, harvest moon. Really magical, just like the one on the night Tommy was born!

Her birth story is hers to tell, but it's worth noting that I am pretty sure I was helpful on at least 3 occasions that night; Maia went from 5cm to baby born between 10pm and 230am, without even one aspirin; I was so moved by the two of them together, how much they loved and needed each other, so much sweetness; and, finally, they had the cutest baby I've ever seen.

 Oh!  Those little folds....I could positively swoon : )

Easter 2011

dipping a toe in....  : )

 My famous annual Mr. Bunny Cake....

 First time ever using the mini pie maker my mom got me

results:  apple and cherry yumminess

 My job:  salads....Berry Fruity and cold pasta salad.

 festive egss

 festive project

 the season of peeps!

 contemplating grandpa's hammock

 my brother's kids are trouble lol

 mama

and her great granddaughter

(George's daughter, Sarah, her daugher, Lola)

Valentine's Day...Elementary Style!

If you were to insist that there is a place on earth where one might feel more adored on St. Valentine's Day than as a teacher in an elementary school classroom, I would politely but firmly tell you that you are either crazy or a liar.  No offense.

Real roses, fake roses, chocolate roses.

Oranges and ginormous kisses.

A dozen boxes of drug store chocolates.

A helium balloon in a cardboard "flower pot".

 Nearly three dozen tiny valentines, proclaiming undying love and affection.

What could possibly be wrong with any of it?!  Hope your day was as sweet.  :)

Handmade Christmas ~ In the Mail Part Two

I sent my cousin and his family a box in the mail for Christmas.  For Aunt Betty, I sent a pillow that I had made using an applique block from the flower series I was working on.

 I had said I wasn't sure about this blue one, and she mentioned it was her favorite one.  Perhaps she was just being polite; that'll learn her!  haha!

The pillow form comes out (the back of the pillow overlaps) and it was kind of a breeze to put it together.  The applique seems well done, which was a pleasant surprise, considering I made it!

I also sent two (semi-)matching candlesticks I had painted.  You know, what can I say?  They look like they should match, but one has more flowers than the other.  Whatever, I figured they can ignore the imbalance, or simply keep them in separate rooms, so as not to offend.  What a great gift!  oh dear.

 I found this dish towel too, when Cori and I went to Bizarre Bazaar a few weeks ago, so that went into the box, of course!

And we put in a letter from Tommy to his favorite "Uncle Moose", some pictures of the boys, and finally, there was this:

Also made from the applique blocks, using all three from the red series, I made them this 'table runner'.  I had decided a long time ago to make this for them, because Kelly had written in her blog about wanting to paint their dining room "eating room red", or something like that.  They have an amazing historical house mansion, and she was researching traditional paint colors, and so she mentioned it in passing and god I hope she meant it or this is going to be awkward.  haha


This table runner was very nearly the death of me, and there were three different times that it nearly didn't end up in the box.


The first time, was when I had sewed it together.  Using no pattern, and apparently no skill or sense, either, I managed to fashion a table-runner-esque object around the original three blocks.  Here's a picture of me, using my mad measuring skillz, to try and figure out what I needed to do:

Erik actually came up with the idea about how to do the red border and blank blocks.  I was pleasantly surprised that he was willing to play that game with me, and I think it was a mistake on his part, because it's a game I never grow tired of.

By the time I got it to here, I thought it was going to be great!  Then I layered it and pinned it, sewing the edges and turning it, and I was so bad at doing this that I actually considered cutting out the white blocks with the applique on them and starting over.

The second time it almost didn't make it into box, was when it was finally put together, and I realized there were some smudges on the fabric.  It was just dirty in spots, but who could complain?  That little square has been kicked around and lugged to football and baseball games for, like, two years or something.  What?  I'm slow.  I was REALLY afraid to put it in the washer, though, because for all I know, it wouldn't even survive one washing.  I mean, isn't it better for it to disintegrate on somebody else's watch?  Common sense prevailed (eventually) (barely) and it went into the washer and came out sparkling clean.  Yay!

The third time it almost didn't go into the box, was when I took it out of the dryer and saw the good news that my applique skills have come a long ways since I first started the flower block project!  Wow, am I getting good at it!  The bad news was that these red ones were among my first blocks... aaaannndddd....it showed.  :-/  In my defense, circles are hard!  Well, then, that's that!  I thought to myself.  I definitely can't send this out now!

But then I remembered this blanket:

 My mom made and gave me this blanket, and I LOVE IT.  I really, really, do.  And you know, my mom is not the most patient, detail-oriented person I've ever met.  These octogons had to be pieced together, and where I have spent weeks meticulously weaving in tails my mother simply tied the knots so tightly it was like she was mad at them, then snipped the yarn tails to a low nub, and moved on to the next one.  The combined effect is to have little pieces of yarn sticking straight up from various points on the blanket (my OCD was happy to discover that one side was less like this than the other, so now it's a directional blanket, for my sanity) AND I've had to resew the octogons in several spots, just because the little knots don't always hold.  I was able to pick up a few pieces of the actual yarn she used when making the blanket, so it still looks great.

Did I mention how much I love it?  Because the truth is, my affection for this blanket (and the person who made it for me) is no less diminished by these (slight) logistical issues. 

I thought about all these things while I used the blunt edge of a flat, wooden toothpick to push the tiny edges back under, in the (many) various spots that they should have been tacked down with my needle and thread, and when I ironed the whole thing, I was this close to saying, yeah, this might just work.

When Erik held it up from across the room though, I thought all those mistakes just went away and it actually looked nice, from where I was standing.  That sealed it.  Into the box it went.  I should have thrown in some toothpicks, as I'm sure it will need a washing at some point, but I leave it up to Moose and Kelly, who are very competent and will, I'm sure, attack this situation with the vim and vigor it requires.  Including, but certainly not limited to, tucking it away, ready to pull out and decorate the table, should we ever come visiting.  There must be some statute of limitations on how long somebody needs to give up valuable cupboard space for such an occasion, but I want to publicly say, here and now, that I will never ask them how the table runner is working out for them.  It's considered part of the gift, at this point.  Just do what you need to do.  ;)

To summarize:  I will send you a box of half-ass gifts because even though I'm not very good at something, it looked great when I pictured it in my head.  Is it my fault that the execution doesn't come to the heights of my vision?  I say no.  Merry Christmas, Moose, Kelly, and Aunt Betty!!!!  :)

Handmade Christmas ~ In the Mail Part One

 The Stitch Family ~ oh how I love them! ~ are so perfectly perfect.  They are, collectively, the funniest family on the planet.  They are also sweet, sassy, intelligent, generous, and friendly.  It's a mind-blowing combination!  Because of all their hippie-goodness, I was pretty sure the gnomes were a must have...It looks to me like this picture is missing one or two.  Well, no matter, because I need to make more for the boys because these are for Brit.  Never underestimate the need for gnomes felt by every adult woman I've come by in the last few weeks.  :)

I wrote about making this rag rug before, too, and it was always going to be for The Stitches.  I think it's so wonderfully thick and yummy!  On a post I wrote last year about how to make these rugs, a commenter recently left a note that her mom made a crocheted rug out of thrifted wool clothing that took years to make, and eventually covered the entire living room floor.  The kids still have it, having inherited it after their parents passed away, and it weighs more than 300 pounds!  I mean really!  More than 300 pounds.  It's so joyfully absurd, I just LOVE that story!  This rug is not big enough to cover a room (instead, it's about 2.5 x 3.5 feet or so), but it really made me think that if I ever did make one big enough for a room, The Stitches would most assuredly be the recipients. 

Every once in a while, Brit or I will email each other with blogs we like to read; she told me about Soulemama's blog, which I quite like.  Poor sweet Amanda Soule, who seems like a lovely person, also seems to be the recipient of an inordinate number of angst-ridden posts re:  every mother's inability to be her.  Oh, folly!  :)  I have so many hobbies, but this constant comparison is not one of them...even on the one hand, that I can enjoy a voyeuristic peek into somebody's life through their blog, I don't seem to experience the other hand of that, of wishing for what they have or do or believe.  It's not that I'm so full of esteem for myself, nor am I so full of disdain for others; I think it's a gene, inherited from my mom, that if you're busy (enough of the time), and happy (enough of the time), and choose to still feel busy and happy (the rest of the time), then it's okay to be cool with that and not worry about anything, or anyone else, while you're at it.   I will point out that my mom probably takes this to a mind-numbing, socially-embarrassing extreme, but she's rad so we ignore that.

The point of all that, I suppose, is to say that Brit is sort of my "Soulemama"!  I've always thought of Brit's blog as a love letter to her children, and in the best possible way, I'm a fan of her perspective and choices and mama-ing, plus she's so creative and talented; it's like a great big lovely-ball-of-wax, and I'm so glad to know her and her husband in both my real and virtual lives.

They might move pretty soon, and I know it's too much to ask for, but I do wish on a star that they might find their way down to my neighborhood.  :)

Handmade Christmas ~ Mom and Baby

My mom and my niece's baby, that would be!  Erik and The Boys got my mom a Rolling Stones Package of the Keith Richards' autobiography Life and the Martin Scorsese film, Shine a Light.  My mom, you should know, thinks the drug-addled and semi-insane Richards is hilarious.  Okay, Ma. 

She is a huge Stones fan...for years, when we were growing up, she had one of those license plate surrounds that said, "Hey you, get offa my cloud".  It was custom made, people.  Custom made.  So, that was a good call.  I picked up a dish towel with a squirrel screen printed on it from an etsy shop.  Stones and squirrels, she loves them both.

Then I also made her this:

It's just a fabric banner, but I really like the jewel-tones.  She asked for one to hang over the french doors that separate her dining room from the living room.  The french doors are from her grandmother's house, and she wanted something that wasn't a flower garland.  Why?  I don't know why.  She got a bug up her butt, and this is the result.

I couldn't get a great picture of it on my bed, so I hung it up in the kitchen.  The white of my grandma's hutch is similar to the white of her grandma's doors, so it's a pretty fair representation!  These garlands are an absolute snap to make.  And, looking at it here, it seems I need one too.  Dammit.

My niece's baby is due in March, and I gave her this crocheted swing coat.  It's so cute!  The pattern is from one of the first pattern books I ever purchased....it must have been 6 or more years ago, now.  It's all patterns for babies and toddlers.  My FAVORITE knit and crochet projects are for babies and toddlers!  Partly because every babe needs a handmade welcome, and partly because the time frame for these wee little projects suit my complete lack of focus and commitment.  ahem. 

Handmade Christmas ~ My Brother's Family

 I already wrote about the rag rug I made my brother for Christmas.  We don't actually exchange adult presents in our family (except we all get or do something for my parents, and them for us) so I technically could have given him the rug at anytime.  I was going to give it to him a few weeks ago, when I finished it, but then my mom was all, "No!  Give it to him for Christmas!" and I was all....okay.  Besides, I had found an online sale on good bath towels and got him and my sister-in-law (not through him, through my other brother) a half-dozen towels each.  So there you go.  Together, they made a very practical present.

Anyway, my brother has two of my favorite girls and I like to make them things.

I made Kaziah this totally adorable corduroy skirt that has running horses embroidered on it.  I could die.  I want this so badly in my size!  It could not have been simpler to make, using the Oliver + S Lazy Days skirt tutorial (or, more to the point, what I remember of it from when I made the skirt before) and with no measurements and no pattern at all, I managed to nail it in both length and width.  High fives, all around.  She also loved the skirt, and wore it on Christmas Day after she opened it.  Love!  I also made her this sweet, slouchy, cap which I knitted.  (The pattern is free, if you sign up at their website.) 

 

 She put that one on right away, too, and as I predicted, it looks awesome on her!    It's exhausting being right all the time.

 Her entire prize package also included her own pointy scissors (which may or may not have been immediately confiscated by her mother) and Emily Martin's new paper doll book. 

 

 For my brother's ex-wife, I crocheted this rasta-inspired hat.  I've made this hat for her in several colors, and she loves them and they look adorable on her.  She had asked me for one in these colors, and I'm glad I finally made it.  When I got to my mom's, Monica was already wearing a gray one I had made for her last year!

  

And for sweet-girl Giannah, who is just as sweet and sassy as my brother was when he was growing up, I made this little gnome village.  This was easily my favorite thing to make this holiday season.  It involved a jigsaw and a drill, for one thing.  Plus, I am totally in love with these gnomes and their gnome-y kids from Wee Folk Art.

I also loved making the accessories; sleeping bags and a bushel of apples and a basket of eggs, and I even put in a Christmas tree with presents underneath.  I crocheted a rug for the bottom floor and had little tables and a flower pot with a rose bush.  *swoon*

I can't tell if Giannah actually liked it...I also gave her a Melissa and Doug wooden pizza party play set, and she loved that, but gave no attention at all to the gnome village or anything in it.  It may be something that she re-discovers in the quiet of her home;  I left lots of room for her to be creative, and to find rocks and wood to use as furniture, so she may end up liking it more when she's made it her own.  Or it may have been a (oh-so-fun-to-make) miss.  Either way, it's so cute!

Taking Suggestions

We added to our family this weekend, and now we have this to deal with:

She's pretty dang funny.  I don't care for an overly-confident dog, myself.  I like my dog's slightly insecure.  This one's self-esteem is fully intact, however, as evidenced by her proud and regal stature.  There's only room for one top-dog in this casa, my friend, so stand down.

Fortunately, she has personality to spare and she seems very bright.  It's the little things, you know?  I put a harness and collar on her, then hooked up a leash and took her for a spin in the court.  I've had dogs who lay down and make you drag them under similar circumstances, but she got right with the program.  She also had the good sense to immediately remove the plaid sweater I was going to make her wear.  So I have hope for her.

I can't believe we finally got another dog.  We loved our Howard so much, and when we lost him (over two years ago now) I thought I'd NEVER get another one.  We've always had big, working, busy dogs, but I insisted that we have a totally different experience this time.  A shitzu-toy poodle mix seems about as far from Australian Shepherd as you can get.  It barely seems like the same species, and I've never owned a small dog in my life.  In fact, I'd probably still be dogless, except my brother found these and got the sister, then Erik shocked me by approving the purchase.

She loves to play fetch.  Another point in her favor.  We got her situated with a crate today, so forget about sleeping in the bed every night, chump.  Now we just need a name.  We usually give our pets human names, because we think it's funny to have a goldfish named Keith, a dog named Howard, or a cat named Tim.  For some reason, my family has lost its collective minds with this one, though.  Without your intervention I'm going to be stuck with Brain (Scotty's choice, who is an Inspector Gadget fan) or Tron II (Erik's choice, who is an ass) or Sparky (Tommy's choice, who seems unconcerned that our new dog is a girl and might want a less gender-ambiguous name).  The phone lines are open, and we clearly need a voice of reason.

Merry and Bright

Scotty believes.  We had a box of 10 specialty bakery cookies for Santa.  By the time My Boys were finished 'snacking', he was left trying to convince me that one cookie would be enough for Santa.  haha!

 

This week we watched the lunar eclipse in full awe of nature's miracles.  The weather was stormy that day, but at just the right time that night, the clouds were blown away and the sky was crisp and clear, the air was cold but without breeze, and Erik laid in the driveway and told me, "I can't believe how spherical the moon looks!"...it was the perfect solstice gift.

The rest of our week was spent visiting family and friends, doing a bit of shopping (Erik) and a bit of making (me), and spending entire days (and nights) without even leaving our house.  I'm feeling grateful (always) and wistful (slightly) and overwhelmed (vaguely) and if I know one thing, it's that I'm so glad to be right here, right now.

Merry Christmas!