A Little Bit Of Everything

It's been an awesome week.

• I made the Dean's List for last semester! Although I know full well how hard I worked, getting that letter in the mail brought tears to my eyes.
• I have income again. Huge relief.
• I'm booked into Ste. Anne's for three nights in August. After a little dithering I decided to splurge large. I can't wait!
• My husband and I went to Richmond Nursery and picked over 40 lbs (!) of strawberries. It's all berries, all the time now in the house... most went into the freezer but some were dehydrated and of course shortcake was consumed with copious amounts of real whipped cream.
  
• I worked like a dog the last couple of weeks to get the homework situation under control, and now can sit back (just a little!) and relax. However, midterms still continue... pardon my questioning, but doesn't "mid-term" imply that the tests should be... um... in the middle? And not continually throughout? Of course, exams are in a month, too.
• The garden is insanely fertile. The radishes have come and gone, I planted a second round of rapini, and we're eating sugar-snap peas to surfeit daily. The sweet peas are beginning to perfume the air at the front of the house.

On the "what the hell?" side of the coin is city council's decision to make students over the age of 27 pay full price for bus passes; we're no longer eligible for the student prices. This is apparently because older full-time students obviously have less need for money than the city does. I don't understand this move at all, aside from the blatant cash-grab. I've already written my city councillor.

Pictures! Yes!

Ever wonder what 40 lbs of strawberries looks like?

What else has to happen after you pick that many berries?

There was baking last weekend... cinnamon rolls with pecans and cranberries. Ooooh yum.

The cat gets everywhere...

...including, on occasion, stuck between the screen and the glass patio door.

Ummm... help? Anybody?

My Second-Day-of-Summer Garden

As little time as I have had this spring, I still have a lovely garden going full-swing, with an amazing assortment of flowers, vegetables and herbs. I consider it my therapy... when staring at a laptop for hours gets me down, I go and weed or water or simply admire my lovelies.

My sweet peas are reaching for the sky! I can't wait for their heavenly scent.

Happy little cherry tomato plants.

Peas and beans and chives, oh my!

Clematis. Don't you think that a flower this lovely should have a name that doesn't make everyone think of a venereal disease?

Snowy, showy lilacs... these don't get full sun so they're much later then the lilacs elsewhere. Suits me fine.

The veggie and herb garden, featuring rapini, kale, chard, dill, basil, thyme, radishes, carrots, cilantro, beets, peppers, cucumber, tarragon and more. Square-foot gardening is amazing!

Momma's pride and joy: 120 some garlic plants, Siberian Red and Fireball. Wooot! Fresh scapes for supper sometime this week! (My gal pal Lisa and I always hit the Carp Garlic Festival hard; last year I bought $70 in garlic so I never again have to eat the relatively tasteless crap you get in the stores. This year, I've taken another approach to solving the problem... though I'll still be going to the festival!)

Not sure what it is, aside from durned pretty. :)

At Least My Houseplants Think it's Spring

Last Gasp of the Garden

It's harvest time, more or less, and I have to say I'm pleased with the overall performance of my little square-foot garden. This being the first year, there's definitely tweaks and changes I'll make, but overall, I got good veggie bang for the buck.





Out:
Zucchini. Not overly fond of the stuff to begin with, and the single seed I planted used up so much real-estate and gave me so many squashes that I was filled with despair. Not a bad outcome for someone who actually likes the stuff, granted. Don't ask me why I planted it.

Marigolds. Planted as a pest deterrent, these cheerful blooms often crowded out the actual veggies they were intended to protect.

Peppers: Three plants, two tiny little peppers all season, only one of which was edible. Not worth the effort, IMHO.

Strawberries: I've had both climbing and alpine strawberries going for two years now. While I enjoyed the berries, this summer was so very wet that the majority molded on the vines. As they're good for two good bearing years anyhow, I pulled 'em up.

In:

Garlic: All that real-estate cleared up by removing the strawberries is now turned over to two varieties, Siberian and Fireball. If everything goes well, I'll be self-sufficient next year as far as the stinking rose goes.

More:

Beans: I loved the taste of the fresh and dried-on-the-vine beans. More, please!



Peas: Despite the weird rust that claimed these late in the season, we enjoyed many delicious sugar-snap peas.

Carrots: A sweet heritage seed, these carrots were tasty.

Kale/Chard: What's not to love about these hardy, delicious, healthy greens???





PS: Spot the kitteh!

Positive ID

Now that I've gotten over the shivers, I've done a little research and identified my hairy garden visitor as the European Garden spider, Araneus diadematus. (Do go to that last link for a lovely close-up photo.)

Apparently this species is not prone to jumping on humans and sucking their brains out through their eyeballs. I am so relieved.

Not (Usually) A Girlie-Girl

I'm not a girlie girl. There's a lot of things in this world that don't faze me... I throw grenades, I shoot rifles (and have since I was a little girl), I don't care if I break a nail, and I drive a pick-up truck. I'm not afraid of hard work, confrontation, change, rain, and getting old. There is, however, one fairly simple thing that gives me the heebie-jeebies by just existing (aside from small grubby noisy children, that is.)





This porker has made a home between my raised beds and the fence. I reached through to pick the last of the remaining sugar snap peas and almost put my hand into him.

*brief pause for helpless, horrified shiver*

I had the presence of mind to grab a camera, as he's huge- his leg-span is larger than a toonie. I realized though that I needed something in the picture for comparison, so I ran in the house to grab a toonie. When I got back, he was gone.

How can anything that big move that quickly? Where is he? Did he scamper up the fence and even now is poised to jump upon me and do unspeakable things to me? Or is he taking the low road- is he in the grass, eyeing my naked toes, and waiting to strike?

I became suspicious of everything. No, suspicious is too gentle a word. I panicked. And ran.

I still feel a little nervous and antsy, though I'm in the house and reasonably sure he's not. These simple little creatures have the power to terrify me utterly.

A calming shot of my abundance of colourful flowers to end with and calm me, if not you, down.

Taking a Deep Breath

For a week now, DH and his daughters have been in BC, visiting family. I was invited to join them, but for me, a quiet week with the house to myself is the best vacation ever. I declined the invitation.

This is the stuff holidays are made of, in my world. The house bears no trace of the family; no crumbs on the counter-top, no grubby fingerprints on the white fridge, no Wii or Barbie crap all over the basement. There is no pile of dress shirts on the settee in the bedroom, awaiting drop-off at the dry-cleaner. Everything is clean and tidy and in the place where it belongs.

The house is silent. No TV blaring just because, no persistent pop music whining out of the SD's rooms at all waking hours. CBC Radio 1, my good friend, has kept me company when I wanted stimulation.

I have eaten whatever I feel like this week; stuffed myself with salads and vegetables and fresh blueberries and toast for any and all meals of the day and strawberry protein shakes for dinner. I have drank gallons of tea and snacked on golden honey tomatoes and sugar snap peas straight from the garden.

I've stayed up late and slept in every day, despite the best efforts of two needy, hungry, and at times pissy cats. I have read two whole novels while sitting on the sunny front porch (Terry Brooks' Armageddon's Children and The Elves of Cintra), sustaining a wee sunburn while doing so but not sorry in the least.

I've set up a knitting station on the floor of the front room, and watched the last five episodes of Grey's Anatomy that I was saving for this holiday while finishing off the plain brown socks. I'm glad I was done knitting them by the end of the season finale, because I will admit to weeping freely when Derek and Meredith FINALLY got their act together. I've also watched a couple of episodes of Dark Angel (second season), Ghost in the Shell, and a lot of Sex and the City. Also a couple of those reality modelling shows. You know. Stuff I just can't watch with DH around.

I've played Guild Wars for a good couple of hours daily, just hacking about in Elona, working on my cartographer title as well as general game progression.

I've also clocked a load of time in the sewing room, working on my niece's quilt. I've started piecing the whole thing together, using the "grout" method from Reversible Quilts. I think it looks fantastic, and when you're quilting-as-you-go, the whole project just seems to move right along. I may be working on borders by day's end.

This afternoon is my last few hours of holiday. DH and the crew get back tonight and the house will again be filled with the delightful sound of children squabbling over everything and nothing, random piles of kid crap everywhere, meat, meat and more meat for meals, and total loss of control over the TV remote.

I think I have saved up enough Zen shui-shui from the last week to get me through a few days with equanimity. After that, there are no guarantees.

You must excuse me, I have a hot date with a sewing machine and CBC Radio 1. Got to store up a few more hours of shui-shui before the barbarian hordes descend.

Wordless: Day-Glo Roses and Curious Cats

Quilting, Knitting, Painting and Stitching, Too.

I've been no slouch in the crafting department, either; it's just that nothing is near completion or terribly photogenic. All the same, here's what's going on in the sewing room.

These are so boring they make me want to weep, but in a few short months, I will be grateful I took the time to knit these knee-high, worsted weight ribbed socks. They're nothing fancy, for sure, but an essential all the same.



This is a whole lot fancier. Pretty much opposite from the socks, actually. It's Askew, done in Berroco Suede Deluxe for a lovely sparkle. This top also has so much negative ease planned in that it might actually be unwearable, but I'll keep plunking away. I have never finished a top before, so too small or not, this one's getting done. I hope it fits, it will be sexy as hell if so.



On to quilting. I'm still wading through the quilt I'm making for my niece. It's quite the work of art, if I do say so myself; reversible and quilted-as-I-go. Here's what I have so far, the "A" side.



A close-up of my quilting:



And with a square flipped over so you can see the "B" side:



I also painted the bed-side tables I talked about oh, a year ago. These were a dark emerald green that didn't go with anything. The decorator who chose our paint colours made me swear we'd get rid of the furniture before we painted... a little late, but the problem is being taken care of (complete with gratuitous cat tail.)



I've also done some cross-stitch. I used to be an avid stitcher, but quilting and knitting has taken over because I enjoy the added dimensions- cross-stitch is just so flat and ornamental. However, I have a lovely stash of fabric and patterns and I am determined not to ignore my first love. No pictures of that, because the progress is so small, but I'll keep plunking away and maybe one day you'll see a finished work.

Solstice

Saturday will forever be known between my husband and I as "the little sangria incident". That's inaccurate, though... actually it was a string of incidents. We were looped before we turned the BBQ on. Hell, I was looped before he even got home. Quality assurance, you understand... it took a long time to get the ratio of orange juice to alcohol just right. And I am a perfectionist, what can I say?

The neighbors will be scarred for life, I'm sure. Between the topless sunbathing, the barefoot dancing on the grass, and assorted naughtiness after dark by the twinkly garden lights, it was perhaps the most perfect first day of summer ever. Ever.

Thanks, Domesticrafts, for the sangria recipe. I'll have to try the passion fruit recipe after my mild, persistent, and totally worth it headache goes away.

Happy To See the Sunshine

I think that what I endearingly call "Hell Month" is over. The step-daughter whose behaviour was driving me and my husband collectively nuts seems to have gained a little equilibrium. Either that, or the locks that we put on all the interior doors are cramping her style. Hard to say. Really, though, I think her only problem is that she's 12, has ADHD, and misses her mummy.

Her mummy's in Afghanistan on deployment and can't be bothered to call home to talk to her daughters. Frankly, I think I'd have emotional problems, too, if my mum treated me like that. I KNOW it's the mum's choice to remain so distant... when DH was in the 'Stan last spring/summer, he called me twice a day, pretty much every day. Don't tell me she can't. I am far from "(Step-) Mother of the Year" material, but this woman drives me mental. Seriously. Seriously! (said in the voice of Izzie Stevens, and with a tinge of the same hysteria.)

Anyhow. Between SD1 setting down, and spring here full force, I'm feeling better every day. I'm done my Philosophy course... I don't know my exact mark yet, but it's a doozy... I went into the exam with a 100% average (!) and got 94% on the exam, which was worth 30% of my total mark. Since my strong point is apparently philosophy and not math, I don't know what that leaves me with, but I know it's good. (Edited to add: it's 98%. Not because I calculated it, but because they did.) I loved that course, and will pursue further courses on the topic.

I'm also done the quilt I showed you a while back, in the sandwiching stages. I'll post pictures soon, but it's way upstairs, and I'm downstairs... :) Plus, it needs a little attention to get the chalk marks out of it. Quilters... what do you use to transfer quilting patterns onto your fabric with? My method sucks. There must be a better way.

Speaking of quilting, there's the Ottawa Quilter's Guild quilt show this weekend at the RA Center. Do take some time to go and get all inspired; there's some lovely pieces as well as a merchant's market with some nice prices on fat quarters.

In the knitting corner, I'm still plunking away on the cardigan. I've also (nearly) finished a sock and have cast on the next one... I want these to be longer socks, but without the benefit of a scale, I can't tell when I've used half the ball. I'll knit the second sock until it's the length of the first, and guesstimate how many more rows I have left from there.


Wendy Johnson's Double Eyelet Rib, in Fleece Artist Merino. (Say it with me. MMmmmmm, Fleece Artist.)

Before I go, shots of spring from the garden.


Golden Locust buds.


The strawberries are VERY happy to see the sunshine!

5 More Days

Though spring is persistently absent, I have begun to turn the house upside down and shake it out. Saturday I picked up the paintbrush for the first time in a long while and painted the trim in the upstairs hallway, main bathroom and got a start on the ensuite bathroom. The trim includes no fewer than 7 doors, two of which needed to be painted on both sides.

I hate painting doors, as no matter how smooshy your roller is, there are invariably textured lines that didn't get the paint. I'm a little obsessive about my painting. That's what today was for... travelling all over the house with a tiny paintbrush, touching up the assorted nicks, gouges and dings the walls have taken over the last couple of years. They (and the people who so carelessly inflict them) drive me mental.

All this frantic painting-cleaning-patching-decorating has absolutely nothing to do with the fact my mom and dad are coming on Friday.

Concerted Efforts

You may recall some time ago I was debating about adding some vivid colour to SD1's room. Check it out...



Makes SD2's room look sleepy and sedate. I can just hear her indignation that her sister's room got The Grand Treatment and her room just got painted. *shrugs* I am open to inspiration for her room, too... it just hasn't hit me yet. I settled for "done in time" over "perfect but late".



(The two rooms are not the same shade of blue, though it's fairly close.)

I'm on a time-line here. Or at least, I was... now that the rooms are done the pressure's off. I get hubby back this weekend, and then the SD's come home to roost sometime between then and the beginning of school. Although it would have been logistically possible to paint the rooms with them in residence, I'm really, really big on keeping the peace in the house. I'm pretty sure jamming two pre-teen girls in the same room after years of separation would result in fights and bickering... hell, everything else does, so why would this be an exception? (can you tell that I am in the mourning stage for my soon-to-be-lost solitude?)

I've begun the toe decreases on the last Monkey and have swatched for the next pair. Check it out.



(KnitPicks Memories in Rocky Mountain Dusk)

Since I have to learn something new with each pair, these shall be toe-up socks. I don't know exactly which pattern yet; inspiration will strike.

After a concerted effort over the last few days, I put another 8 or so hours into quilting the duvet cover (Project 3.) No pics 'cause it looks pretty much the same, just a few less basting pins. It's a bitch, no doubt about it... jamming the better part of a king-sized quilt, thin though it may be, under the arm of the sewing machine doesn't leave much freedom of movement for the quilt, or myself. I end up swaddled in it... always appreciated when it's 30 degrees with what seems like 200% humidity. I am dropping by my favourite quilt shop in Kingston on my way to pick up DH this weekend... I'll choose a backing and get a length of snap closures so that this duvet cover will be keeping us warm this winter. Better late then never! :)

The sewing machine is in for a tune-up now so the hand-work takes the stage for the next two weeks.

Can you believe that I walked into both a quilt shop and the best yarn store in Ottawa today at lunch and bought... nothing??! I'm still feeling guilty about that little Kauni incident, I suppose.