Barometric Changes.

The beauty of tonight's sunset wasn't viewed in the west, but in the East.  As there's Weather blowing in, the sky was was a mottled gray which contrasted spectacularly with the gold of the last of daylight and the bright green Norway buds.  How everything kept changing!

Dropped everything I needed to get done before darkness set in to just drink in the spectacle before it faded away.

Evening Light in the Norway Maples

To the East.

Watercolored sky and the Rolling Hills of Medford.

Self-Help.

Guess I've been in a rut for some time now.  Spinning the wheels and not moving forward is getting frustrating.  Rather than calling someone to tow me out (there's quite a wait for that nowadays), decided to rummage around in the trunk to see what I have in the tool kit that might help.

Found my copy of the Feeling Good Handbook, which is probably one of the best texts on how to re frame one's thoughts in order to "find the courage to get things done."  This was recommended to me years ago by a counselor friend who understood me to be the tough cookie / anti self-help type that I am.  Am glad to have given her suggestion the benefit of the doubt, and am enjoying re reading / re working the exercises.

After years of sort-of following a low-carb diet and then not, finally picked up a copy of Gary Taubes's Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It.  It's a very good synopsis about the science around what causes obesity, how the current medical recommendations are incorrect, and what one should do to lose weight.  Had a hard time warming up to Mr. Taubes's style, but now we're doing fine.  Am currently following the guidelines in the appendix, as well.  I won't say that I'm doing Great (housemate tells me I'm suffering from "induction flu;" it's a mild case, though.).  Am finding it easier to fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up in the mornings, though, and that's Really Good.

Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner.  That's from college.  Was a woodwind player back then.  Afterwards, started playing the piano Very Poorly.  That Very Poor Playing made me so happy, though.  Somewhere down the road, I lost the music.  All of it.  Need to get back in touch with that part of me that luxuriated in playing Poulenc at half speed, that cracked puns in French with a Buffalo accent, that loved messing messily with color.  It's still there; I can feel it.  Just got buried under sadness.

Baby Steps.  Weekends used to be spent on mountain trails.  Now, am lucky if I can get the daily three miles in, and maybe a 30 second plank.  Broke two fingers on my right hand late last Fall, so the Hanon exercises need to Go Slow.  Poulenc's out of my range right now, so am playing some shorter pieces from a little album of Romantic Music very slowly.  Then, there's the Putting Myself Out There business.  That's never been easy.  Right now, even contemplating it is scaring the heck out of me, though the reasonable side knows that fear is irrational.  Baby Steps.

You Can't Beat the Classics.

Groaned inwardly on seeing this article, as I knew exactly how things were going to turn out.

Plus sized or not, many of us just do not have the bodies what's as one of the testers called "fashionable as f#ck." I know that I certainly don't, having been born with these terrible deformities known as "boobs," "hips," "a belly," and "a be-hind."
Luckily, with age came, if not wisdom, at least a bit of awareness. In essence:
1.) I'll Never be weight-chart thin, much less model thin. That's fine. Have seen images of my body in all sizes hanging in places like the Prado, the Louvre, Boston's MFA, heck, even back in Buffalo at the Albright-Knox. My shape runs through history: from the Sumerian to Syriac goddesses to Renaissance / Baroque / Romantic era beauties, right on up to the Strong, Can-Do Social Realist Ladies. I even see me in the Contemporary galleries from time to time; mostly among New England artists like Andrew Stevovich (one of my favorites).

2.) Given that I'm such a classic beauty, wouldn't it stand to reason that, instead of trying to squeeze myself into spandex sausage tubes, I might stick with Classic styles? Have some go-to items in my closet that date back to even after college. Heck, tailoring outside my realm of ability really doesn't cost that much.

3.) Buying online is convenient, but I don't trust it for most places; sizing varies widely. Have had to return items from just about every on line outfit. Better stores (like Brooks Brothers) have very helpful, not to mention well trained staff with a Good Eye to help pick what looks best.

4.) Good Undergarments are *key.* These are the last items one should be skimping on. Get fitted properly for a bra; you'd be amazed at how many women aren't wearing their correct size.

Yeah, that's me.

Unraveling.

Normally, this is considered a Bad Thing.  I don't see it as such, though, as what is unraveled can be put to better later, when one finds the time / talent to do so.

Have a good start to the New Year.  Am seriously trying to do so, myself.

Maybe you can, maybe you can't see the fault in the design that caused me to tear this difficult yarn  apart and start over again.  (Will show pictures after the completed project's been blocked.)

Tannenbaeume Take Many Forms.

Mine's my mother's ceramic tree with a few accessories from friends.

Enjoy your day, however you may be spending it.  Am wishing everyone a good, peaceful and happy move into 2015.

Patience.

Since the north paw* is still on the mend, I'm doing my best to take it easy.  Occasionally I'll whack my hand, or touch something on the keyboard just right to make me cringe.  Happily, though, I'm not being woken up by the pain anymore.

Tried knitting some swatches recently, but that bothered me, so laid off.   The moratorium isn't too bad as it's causing me to look for other things to work on, like messing with watercolors, taking pictures or playing with the sewing machine.  I do miss knitting, though.

* As lefties are called "southpaws," I'm assuming that a rightie is a "northpaw."  I've never heard that term used before, though.

Cicadas.

Birds and bats don't buzz humans like the cicadas do, especially during daylight. It's unnerving, but nothing that one can't get used to.

Tonight, after dinner, had a little one buzz its way behind a screen on the back porch. I worked for a bit to get the poor confused, and probably immature thing dislodged. Finally just left it where it was, with enough room for it to figure out how to exit.

"I'd never be able to do that," housemate marveled.

"Do what?""Touch that insect like you did.""Oh, Pshaw. It's not venomous, so what's there to be afraid of? Besides, you do understand that I have a background in etymology."

Easy to Overcome Obstacles.

Ooch - had a weird accident that broke my right pinky and sprained the same-hand ring finger. 

As I’m left-handed, generally just pooh-pooh the right hand. This is a humbling experience, in that I’m learning just how useful my right hand is.  The vast majority of piano music favors the right hand.  Knitting's possible, but difficult if one's working on a large project, even for the minor hand.  Opening Jars Kills.  Then, there's typing.  Ooch.   (Hurts to stop sentences, for example. Don’t even get me started on how many words end in P or L or M … gritting teeth.)  As stuff heals, I remember that there are folks who've lost so much more than I have, and permanently.

Since I couldn't knit very well, dyed stuff.  Didn't think that I was too pleased with the results until I started turning the hanks into balls.

Have also found that the new colors (tea dyed natural aran wool over dyed with various food colorings) play incredibly well with navy blue or brown.  

Food wise, it's been tough, as I'm the main shopper / cook.  We've been eating a lot of chops and steaks with broiled onions, as this stuff's low - prep.  

Have you ever tried a whole broiled onion?  Easy to fix:  just cut the ends off, peel the top layer of skin,  place on a piece of foil (or better yet - parchment - ran out of foil tonight, so tried the paper.  Wow.  Stuff caramelizes, as opposed to steams), then give a dollop of butter or bacon grease.  Seal and put in oven to broil.  When it's soft, it's ready.  Wicked good stuff.

Maintenance.

Did a number on my back yesterday while tackling the task of taking care of the grounds of the Spring Hill Grange.  Last night's hot bath helped, as did the Icy Hot treatment.  Sleep was still disturbed, though, since moving wrong in bed would wake me up.

Today, mostly confined myself to Indoors.  Dyed some wool, did a lot of laundry, cleaned.  Stretched.  Did what passes for me as meditation.

Hate feeling so tired.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  (Just heard some thunder; thought I saw lightning.  Maybe that will help things.  We really need rain.)

Dynamic Stationery.

Am getting back to my old habit of actually writing letters.  Am ashamed to not have responded to a long one (30 pages) from a long-standing friend who I hope to meet one day in real life.  Anyway - letter-writing paper's in short supply and can cost a fortune for a large letter-writer. 

Decided to tinker with some printer paper and an old set of watercolors to start towards getting to speed with my girlfriend from Away.  I think that I have packed away in the boxes down below, both a paper cutter and some better quality than the copier stuff that we run through the printer.

Kind of like my results.

Jams and Jellies, ii

For the inexpensive fruits at market that I just can't resist buying in quantity, I use this basic recipe:

3/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of either fruit or juice.

For each six cups of fruit/sugar mix, I add either two tablespoons of lemon juice, or 1/2 a squeezed lemon, peel and all into the pot (the fruit makes a nice treat after being fished from the recipe and cooled for a bit).

Wash fruit, pit and peel.  Slice up and pack into measuring cups.  Mix with the proper ratio of sugar and lemon juice.

Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil.  Turn heat down.  If foam's a problem, skim it (have found it a huge problem with berries; not so much with stone fruits or apple juice).

When the mixture starts to gel (my best gauge is seeing how it runs off the spoon - if it doesn't drip like water, but rather sits for a couple seconds, then drips slowly from two sides of the spoon. You can feel it.  There are references for this stuff online, too.  Google "Soft Gel Stage," for example.), usually after 25-40 min, turn heat off, fish out lemon peels (if you used a whole lemon), spoon into sterilized jars and seal.

Part of this year's peach batch

Jams and Jellies, i

This year, despite the cool temperatures, production's been pretty good.  Since Spring, I've put up a dozen or so jars of each of several different kinds of jams and jellies, mainly for gift-giving.  We don't eat a lot of sugary stuff.

Now, I have a whole politic / philosophy around the fruit used for preserving:  it has to be good, but not so good that one would rather eat it raw.  It also has to be cheap.  For this reason, I almost never use local stuff, unless I've foraged it.  We have such a short growing season in New England, that the fruits and veggies that we do have are *precious.*  For example:  I am totally willing to pay $6+ for a quart of local strawberries, but not to boil them for 1/2 an hour or more with sugar.  That stuff gets eaten raw.  However:  when the grocery stores start selling the California or Florida berries at maybe $1.50 - $2 / quart, I'm all over these deals.   Though it isn't my favorite, I like to make a lot of strawberry jam, as my friends seem to like it a lot.

Same goes for the peaches.  Gosh, how I miss my old place on Winter Hill with the weird, bug-bitten peach tree in the neighbor's yard.  Despite our best efforts, the fruit was more or less inedible unless cooked.  We made such good jam, cakes, pies and other pastries from those rock-hard fruits, though.  Maybe New England isn't Peach territory?  I would someday like to visit points further south (like Georgia, for example), to sample the fruit in season.  That not being possible right now, have sort of just resigned myself to the stuff that goes from rock-hard to moldy mush in as little as an afternoon.  At peak transport season, however, those rock-hard peaches for for something like $.70 / lb.  Prime Jam Fodder.

Jam time for me is dependent on the value of the bargain fruit, the price of sugar, whether or not I have enough jam jars / lids, and my energy levels.  When all of this comes together, am happy to spend a good day in the kitchen, even in mid-Summer, to make what becomes my main holiday gifts.

Apple Wine and Strawberry Jam.  My recipe for the jam's pretty well established, now.  The wine one needs tweaking, though.

A very interesting read:  Virginia Postrel's take on how both local food and trucked in stuff can (and should) happily cohabitate.  Please enjoy.

My First Crush was a Saxophone Player.

I'd give my remaining eye tooth to see Mme play live.

Someday, maybe.

Protein Power.

Over the past couple years, it seems that I've acquired this spare tire.  Having battled with weight all my life, this doesn't throw me into a panic.  It does pose some inconveniences, though.  Namely:  the vast portion of my wardrobe that no longer fits.  (I'm stubborn, not to mention on a very tight budget, so haven't run off shopping yet, or anything.  Did make myself a couple skirts, though, so I'd be able to vary what I wear somewhat.)

After watching Tom Naughton's "Fat Head" a while back, my housemate decided to do a bit of research into low-carbohydrate / high protein diets to see if this might be an interesting course to follow.  He ended up losing around 30 lbs in a few months, having a life-long acne problem clear up, and seeing a serious abatement in this weird gut - migraine sort of problem he'd have fairly regularly. 

As the house has a decent library on the subject, have been reading a fair bit on the theories behind why all that bread / pasta / sugar is not good for us, as well as some of the different takes on low carb, be it the Eadses' plan, Paleo, Primal, etc.  Am currently kind of loosely following  the Thirty Day Low Carbohydrate Solution, and finding it not difficult at all.  It sort of reminds me of the old Weight-Watchers before it got kind of loosey-goosey and started pushing low-fat in general, their products specifically.  

The only thing that's been kind of weird has been no oatmeal / muffins / tartines for breakfast.  Still, resourceful sort that I am, am managing to find ways to not get tired of eggs for breakfast.

This morning's breakfast:  a bit of avocado for the potassium, veggies and a couple of deviled eggs.  Made them with homemade mayonnaise (surprisingly easy to make - here's my go to recipe, with a couple tweaks:  1.)  I use all olive oil.  2.)  I use the whole egg.) and some dill from the garden.  

Lemons? Lemonade, not to mention marmalade, chiffon pie, citron givre, etc, etc...

This Summer's been an odd one, in that it's the first in a while that I've stayed in New England.  Normally, I'd be crisscrossing the Hexagon, visiting Roman (or even Greek) ruins, wandering around the foothills of the Massif Central, or furtively tip toeing my way through the dunes along the Atlantic Wall.

Stuff happens.  As it currently happens, have been enjoying the relative quiet of my urban cocoon.

 Instead of ruins from Antiquity, I have beautifully preserved 18th century farmhouses to examine.  I get my exercise climbing and descending the Seven Hills of my city.  Haven't made it to the beach yet (a pity, as I'm less than five miles from the ocean), but do wander along the banks of the two rivers that sandwich my neighborhood.  There, there are plenty of trees to look at (and bring fruit home from); plenty of birds to add to the life list.

Picturesque Sunset.  It weirds me out to no end to not have the sun set over the ocean.

To make things at home seem more resort-like, scrubbed down a couple patio chairs and an inherited little Ikea table.

Thought about painting the chairs, but decided against, as they seem to be on their last legs.  The table's in great shape; all that was necessary was a citronella candle.  Oh, and a little placemat I found at the dump Downeast; gives things a rustic look.

I'm spending an awful lot of time up here in my little treehouse perch.  It isn't much, but it's nice.  Have convinced the landlord to sit out and drink a cup of coffee every now and again.  The best are the Working Lunches, though.  Food tastes better out doors, even if one's view is of the cinder block building out front.

Mediterranean Salad and Green Tea

Il faut cultiver son jardin.

After a couple years of just not caring, I finally got back into gardening a bit.  Nothing particularly high-yield or intensive, as I'm just not invested enough in where I am to wage serious battles against the nuisance wildlife or petition the landlord for better facilities.  Still, the current combination of fruits and flowers is pleasing me.

The particular high-yielders have been the kale which keeps reseeding itself, the sage and the mint.  The squash plants are absolute monsters, but they're producing more flowers than fruit.  (Not a problem, as I've a serious weak spot for squash blossom fritters / omelets.)  My tomatoes aren't doing so well, as, apparently, my random plant purchase at the local Stah Mahket turned out to be a variety that doesn't do so well in containers.

Flower-wise, the now four-year-old geranium plants are absolutely stunning, as are the firecrackers (purchased along with the tomatoes).  Picked up a couple chrysanthemums yesterday to fill in the gaps left from a disappointing cilantro and dill turnout.  The former were kind of expensive for what they are, but seem like good replacements.  I promise a photo of all this in a bit.

Anyway, despite what appears to be a sort of bloom-end blight in some of the plants, the tomatoes are actually producing.  

I'll end up with something, even if we just harvest the fruits while still green.  Turned the housemate on to fried green tomatoes.  Wouldn't mind making green tomato pickles, as I've been craving them lately.  Other options:  green tomato marmalade and chutney.

The only thing lovelier than roasting the seeds from cleaned out jack o lanterns is saving them to plant the following season, because you never know what you're going to end up with.  I swear:  melons / cukes / squashes are the poodle hybrids of the plant world!  

A few years back,  we planted a few seeds from an oversized, kind of watery cantaloupe that the Frenchie brought home from Trader Joe's.  The resulting fruits varied between golf-ball and soft-ball sized;  tasted like a combination between cucumber and cantaloupe.  We found the lovely, pale-green fruits an amazing salad component after chilling them and slicing thinly.

Anyway, this is one of the fruits from last year's pumpkin.  Kind of looks like a combination butternut / zucchini, doesn't it? 

I'm keeping an eagle eye on this one, as I'd really like to both taste it and save the seeds for next year.

Rest Well, Sir.

http://youtu.be/VfEudWUUrEo

Simple Stripes.

Years ago, Boston had something called the “Women’s Educational and Industrial Union.” To fund it partly, they had a gift shop and a tea room, if I remember correctly. On the upper level of the shop, there was a little needlework boutique. I don’t remember their having many knitting supplies; seemed as though it was mainly geared towards embroidery and needlepoint.

At about the start of their decline, they phased out the needlework section. Had absolutely no use for it, but ended up buying something like six skeins of a fine Persian wool (from Paterna / Paternayan, I think) more suited to crewel or cross stitch than knitting. The ridiculously low price and a little improvised knitted pattern convinced me.

This yarn has sat in my stash for something like 20 years - the longest of anything.

From just the blue and the gray, made a Morehouse inspired triangle, all garter stitch. It's served me well, but is currently residing across the ocean. Decided to use the leftovers, along with the lovely lily pad green for another of the prime-number stripey / Scandinavian-inspired shawls.

Good, peaceful, mindlessly mindful knitting.

First World Problems.

I'm really bummed that all my nice Summer clothes are on the other side of the ocean. Over there, I have four skirts (two are sportswear ones - for hiking and such), two wonderful pairs of dressy/sensible sandals, a pair of seersucker pants, a marine striped hoodie in light cotton and my lovely, lovely paper hat from the milliner near the Old Port in Marseilles.

Since surface mail is no longer an option, sending this stuff back to me makes absolutely no sense, as the fees would cost more than the clothes are worth. What I have in Boston that fits is largely threadbare, knockaround stuff.

Am thankful to have my sewing machine and a good supply of fabric. I'm also thankful to be living in close proximity to a couple good thrift stores, as well as a Target. For my most immediate needs, have been hacking up tee shirts and giving them the Wobi-Sobi treatment. (Have two skirts in the works; just cut up one of the Frenchie's one euro tee shirts into a nightie.) Also turned a couple pairs of pants with frayed cuffs into pants.

With a little bit of time, I'll lose the spare tire and acquire the good quality basics I need. I'd really like my pair of Born sandals back, though. Miss them desperately.

http://wobisobi.blogspot.com/

Keeping Cool.

For as long as I can remember, the transition from Cool weather to Hot in my part of New England has never been a gentle one.  One day, you're wrapping yourself in shawls and donning the fingerless gloves to enjoy the morning coffee.  The next, you're struggling to get the air conditioning unit into the window and seeing how few clothes you can get away with wearing without being considered 'indecent.'

This season, my hair's in an unwieldy transitional phase and the layers are all curling in the wrong directions. Since it's too thick to be properly restrained by barrettes, figured I'd try knitting a headband to keep things out of my face.  This one's a simple pattern knit in my favorite classic lace:  the Gull Lace pattern found in Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitter's Almanac."  I chose a worsted weight cotton, Lily's "Sugar n Cream," because it knits up quickly, is soft, absorbent and easy to care for.  Honestly:  not only do I love knitting with this yarn (even in Summer), I like to see it used in things beyond the usual dish cloths and market bags.

Enjoy the beautiful weather, and keep cool!

Gull Lace Headband  (Pattern Available Here.)