Ordinary Time

This afternoon I decided that I needed to do something about the sweet basil. The plants look great and they're huge, but just growing the plants is not why basil is in the garden. Pesto is the reason we have basil in the garden. Step one was heading out and collecting some.  I guess it's more than some.  That bowl it's all in is one of my largest bowls. It's at least 12 inches across. It's not a small bowl. So far I have washed it, pulled off the leaves, and dried them. They're now in the refrigerator waiting for tomorrow when I shall make a lot of pesto. I don't know how many cups of basil leaves I have, probably more than twelve. It's going to be a lot of pesto. (I'm not complaining, by the way.)

The perpetual question of, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" baffles me a bit these days. Living with more farm yard-y types of animals is illuminating sometimes. Let's take ducks, for instance. Everyone makes jokes about having their ducks in a row (or not) as if this is some stellar achievement. I hate to break it to you, but having your ducks in a row is a very low bar. Ducks walk in a row. They just do. I think it would be far more difficult to get them to not walk in a row, though short of perpetually walking through their row, I'm sure how you'd do it. Aim higher, folks! Now, if you got your chickens to walk in a row, that would be impressive.  Chickens do not walk in a row. They will sometimes run together as a clump, but far more often, they just wander about looking for bugs and thinking their little chicken thoughts. I often think they must day dream, because sometimes they just stand there, not moving. This happens most often when standing in the mi...

My blog this week seems to be about me writing about the books I've been reading. Today's installment is Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. I'll admit that for the first several chapters I wasn't sure if this was a book I was going to finish. The main character, Vera, I initially found more than a little grating. And then I realized it was (yet another) book told from different character's points of view. That's been a thing recently and I'm pretty much over it. If I had known this ahead of time, I might not have even picked it up.  But forty or so pages in seemed a bit premature for dumping it, so I persevered. I'm glad I did because I'm the end I found the book charming, even coming to terms with Vera. It actually ended up being less about the mystery and much more about the characters. I'll also warn you that you might also experience cravings for Chinese food as you read it.  There is one thing that annoyed ...

Months ago, a friend had shared a photo from the book, Still: the art of noticing by Mary Jo Hoffman. I was intrigued, so immediately put it on hold. I finally arrived recently and I have been enjoying looking through. The photographs are stunning.  One thing I've found interesting, though, is that in one section, she has decided the year into two week spans. I think this is genius. First, because I think we humans have difficulty with moving through larger slabs of time. Currently, for instance, I'm feeling as though summer is endless and I have been fantasizing about twenty degree weather. (True story.) But the idea of breaking summer up into smaller bits feels more manageable. For instance, the author call the period between July 17 and August 7 as the "Time of Indolence". This seems about right to me, especially with another heat wave heading out way. When it is unbearably hit, indolence is about all one can manage. But then, on August 8, comes the "Time of R...

I just finished reading The Second Chance Convenience Store by Kim Ho-Yeon. Originally published in Korean, it has been recently translated into English. Basically, it's a story of how kindness makes a difference and changes people. It's also an interesting glimpse into Korea and Korean culture, which I found nearly as interesting as the actual story. So if you're in the need for a short, light story that is an escape from current events, you might want to check this one out. 

The pond plants that W. gave us are thriving and a side benefit is that the frogs love it. My new past time when I walk by it is to see how many frogs I can find. They love to hang out and sit on the pond plants or float in the water with just their eyes and noses showing. I think it's cute.  Can you find out little froggy friends?

I have started weaving the project I showed you the colors for last week.  I am pretty happy with how it is turning out and it looks much as I had pictured it in my head, which is always satisfying. There's six feet of warp, so I'm hoping to get a couple of dishtowels and four dinner napkins out of it.  If you briefly wondered why I was only weaving four dinner napkins and since I routinely feed twice that many people, it's because these aren't going to be for personal use. I am starting on making the things I will be selling at the Holiday market this December in an effort to finance my own family's Christmas. I will probably make several sets of dinner napkins.  I also spent some time figuring out the draft to put holiday figures on the ends of guest towels. Cute guest towels seem like something that could sell well, right? Here's the designs so far.  These will be a woven border on the towels. For instance, one towel will have trees all the way across. The ne...

Here's some more pictures by K.  (I particularly like the composition on this one.) And K. helping L. with a stratigraphy assignment she had in her Intro to Archeology class she is taking this summer. 

A friend requested I post any new recipes I had, and since I'm still feeling more than a little queasy about money worries, that seems like an easy blog post for tonight. Plus, I really did make up a new recipe.  Tonight we had Indian Oven Baked Tilapia, which we all really liked. To go along with it, I found a recipe for a curried vegetable couscous, but ended up changing it significantly, because I rarely follow a recipe exactly these days. Plus, I made this one so it can serve as a vegetarian main dish as well.  Here's what I did: Chop a variety of vegetables into pieces that seem as though would work well in pearl couscous. Ours were kind of small. We had broccoli, carrots, onions, and garlic, so that's what we used. I thought we had some bell peppers, but we didn't. Summer squash could also work. If you want to add protein, drain and rinse a can of chickpeas and add it to the vegetables. Toss with olive oil and spread on a baking sheet. Roast at 450° until the veg...

I'll have something of substance to write, but between the oppressive humidity, paying more than we actually have to get the van fixed, dropping off J.'s car because something is also seriously wrong with it, and then peopling at our church's inclusive game night, I'm done in.  I'm going to curl up with a good mystery while I listen to the thunderstorm outside and then go to bed. Some days are like that. 

My plan for children cooking one dinner each per week is still working well. They have all become excellent cooks who need very little assistance and neither J. nor I need to cook four days a week. Sometimes they choose to make something new, or to make something new to them, or because they really just want a certain dish. I get final approval because I just don't enjoy eating the same thing over and over. I generally need a month to feel as though we haven't just had something. There is great excitement when I agree to a favorite meal because there has been a long enough break from the last time.  [Interestingly, I feel the complete opposite about breakfast and lunch and will happily eat the same breakfast every day for weeks on end. No, I know none of this makes any sense at all.]  But back to dinners. Tonight was one of those nights where a family favorite made an appearance. L. made a copycat version of Panda Express' orange chicken.  If you want to try it yourself, ...

I don't often feel old. I'm sure having six children still at home with my youngests being sixteen has something to do with it. Many of my friends who are my age have been empty nesters for a decade or so now. When I stop to think about it, it makes me realize how far outside the norm we are.  But sixteen is pretty darn close to being at an age when children start going their own way. With homeschooling, I am pretty much done with the heavy lifting years. G. and L. will be juniors this coming school year, but they will be moving more towards dual enrollment at the college where J. works. My role has become a maker of suggestions and a finder of resources. At this point, everyone has taken charge of their educations. But technically we still homeschool, so I stay in the various groups. It pays off because next month we got discounted tickets to see a special art exhibit in the area, but that is really one of the few reasons I stay. The other reason is that I do have 28 years of ...

"Our society has an entrenched way of thinking about behavior. We almost always assume it derives from a person's will -- that people behave consciously and purposefully. When people misbehave, we likewise assume that they're doing it intentionally. As a result, whenever individuals in almost any social setting act out or misbehave, those in charge usually respond by punishing the bad behavior. When you were a kid, did your parents take away your TV time or allowance when you misbehaved? Most did. When you continued to misbehave, they probably just stepped up the intensity of the consequences and rewards. And they probably also bestowed privileges when you did the right thing. School discipline is similar. We assume when kids misbehave in school, they do it on purpose either to get stuff (special attention, for instance) or get out of stuff (like doing their work or coming inside after recess). In the early school years, teachers will punish kids with time-outs. They are t...

First off, I finished the project that has been on my loom for a few months.  This came about because I had leftover warp and weft from another project and I wanted to use them up. There was a pattern that I had been wanting to try, so this seemed like a good time to do it. I pretty much measured out a four foot warp of the silk until I ran out. It ended up being about 8 inches wide. My plan for this is to use it as fabric and put it and some denim I have together to make a casual jacket.  It's pretty long. I will probably end up cutting it in half and hand sewing the selvedges together to make a slightly wider piece of fabric to work with. I'll need to figure out how it best makes sense with the pattern I'm using.  This was my loom waste. It's a six-ply 100% silk and is buttery soft. I've discovered that it makes as excellent embroidery floss because you can separate it as you can DMC floss. I was going to save it anyway because of that. But I realized that it'...

This may be heavily animal themed. Let's talk about whippoorwills. It's a bird previous to last weekend that I had only read about. I imagined that the little whippoorwill song that they sang was sweet and charming. Well, it seems I was mistaken. Their song is the bird equivalent of someone typing in all caps. Instead of whippoorwill , whippoorwill , it's actually WHIPPOORWILL!! WHIPPOORWILL!! at the bright and early hour of 4:30 am.  G. is doing a fantastic job with the new lambs. This one is Caspian. Fred wanted his picture taken, too. It turns out that sheep love mulberry leaves. Fred and Clark have both become very good at balancing on their hind legs to reach them.  And some lamb pictures, because they're cute. The chicks are getting bigger and their feet are getting feathery-er. There is a huge squash plant growing in the sheep pen. I didn't plant it. The seed must have been dropped or buried by some passing animal. It is the healthiest squash plant that we...

When children were younger, I would go through phases of having them memorize poetry. I know that I had several sets of children learn Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley and The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. I think everyone should be familiar with these poems, one reminds us that human achievement and perceived greatness is fleeting, the other reminds us of how to really be great.  In case you don't know The New Colossus or haven't read it in a while, here it is: Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse...

It's been a hard day for those of us who are still sane in the United States. We have been betrayed by those who had promised to keep us safe, and I fear we will look back upon this moment and wish we could go back to it and relish our ignorance at what is to come.  The words of Julian of Norwich have been echoing through my head all afternoon.  "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."  This isn't some trite positive thinking line, because she also wrote, "He said not 'Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailled, thou shalt not be dis-eased'; but he did say, 'Thou shalt not be overcome.'" This is the long view.  So take care of yourselves and do what you need to do in order to be ready to do the hard work when it comes. Do what you can right in front of you. Help the hurting right in front of you. Feed the hungry right in front of you. Speak the truth to those around you. Stand up for t...

I flew home this afternoon from the training I was doing for Athena this past week. It went really well. The learners were great and the facility we were at was pretty amazing. I admit to having more than a little barn and horse envy. There's something pretty amazing about working with a herd of 14 horses. When I win the lottery...  It was also really good to catch-up with my brother-in-law and his family and get to know the older versions of my nieces and nephews. They were so generous to give me a place to stay, and it really made the training that much more enjoyable. And can I just tell you how much I love the little Manchester, NH airport? It's so human sized, it almost makes travelling stress-free. I will never complain about a security line with no one in it where the guard checking your ID uses your first name and wishes you a good trip.  And now I am home and it's good to be back. Tomorrow I will start to dig out from being gone. I think I need a good night's ...