End of the Weekend

Little Charlotte Rose Sweater

Here is a pic of Charlotte Rose’s sweater.  And here is a pic of the buttons — I went with the flower buttons.

Flower button on Charlotte Rose cardi

And I have finished one of the hunting socks.

Brown Woolease and Alpaca Hunting Sock

I had the recipient try it on this morning, and it fit perfectly, so now I can start the second sock.

This weekend has gone by fairly quickly.  Sent a box off to the fashionista — her 22nd birthday is Tuesday.  Hard to believe she is 22.  Where does the time go?  Sheesh.  Went to a prayer conference most of the day Saturday.  I intended to take the pug for a walk at the park, but dark clouds and rain rolled in when I got home.  So I cleaned and worked around the house instead.  Watched a documentary that I had tivoed called The World According to Monsanto.  Unbelievable.  I have been thinking a lot about the food we eat lately, and I will probably write more about that later.  This morning was church.  Then I came home and had a light lunch and took the pug to the park.  It is pretty cool here and very windy, but the sun was out and she was happy to get out.  I am always amazed when I am out in nature and see the clouds, and the flowers and the trees and listen to the birds and see other animals, etc. how people can view all these things and not believe in God.

I cooked some brown rice this afternoon and ate it with black lentil curry and roasted cauliflower.  Watched a documentary on the Elephants of Sambura on BBCA and knit on a dishcloth.  Need to finish some laundry and clean up the kitchen and get ready for the work week.  I am currently reading an interesting book called Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter.  She created an urban farm on a vacant lot in Oakland.  And I have the newest Amelia Peabody mystery — A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters.

Wet Wednesday

Today is a drizzly rainy day.  But as the weatherman said last night — April showers bring May flowers.

Yesterday after work I stopped at the opening day of the Tuesday evening farm market in the Green Acres parking lot.  It was pretty sparse, but it is early in the season.  I did score some hothouse tomatoes and a seedless English cucumber.  I bought a Lemon Boy tomato plant and a Celebrity tomato plant, local honey and local sand plum jelly.

When I got home, I put some new potatoes on to cook for my dinner, changed my clothes, and headed out to the backyard with the cat and the pug.  I finished cleaning out my herb garden area, but this year I am doing something different.  The chives and the sage that came back after the winter will stay in that area, but this year I am planting all veggies in the plot.  I put the two tomato plants at the very back.  In front of those, I planted one cucumber and one zucchini area.  Then I put in my four green bean plants.  And at the very front I put in some lettuce seeds.  I planted cherry tomato seeds in a big pot.  I currently have basil, rosemary and parsley in my kitchen window, but my plan is to plant herbs this year in large pots outside in the back.  Herb Day at the local extension office is coming up on May 1, and that is where I tend to buy all my herbs for the season.  I want to get cilantro, dill, and more basil.  I have thyme in a corner of the back yard plot next to the chives.

After the gardening was done, I had a simple supper of smashed new potatoes with some fresh chopped dill, butter, salt and pepper.  Later in the evening, I made a batch of hummus and had a small portion of it with some pretzel thin crackers.  Yum!

I finished reading the rest of The Kind Diet yesterday.  It is an interesting book, and I agree with a lot of what she writes, and I would make a few of the recipes, but a lot of her recipes use more asian ingredients and are macrobiotic.  I have never seen umeboshi plums in ICT.

My current read is La’s Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith.  And then I have books 2 and 3 of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.  The Percy Jackson books are okay.  Out of the two or three young adult series I have read lately, I would have to say that the Hunger Games books have been my favorite.

Tuesday’s child is full of grace

I loved that poem as a child.  I would recite through the days of the week and each time I wanted to be born on a different day — dependent upon my mood.

Studious Sweatercoat

I found this awhile back and saved it to look at and savor.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!  Not that it is something I could realistically wear.  But I would love to be able to make something like this.  I think it was from Anthropologie.

I have been watching The River Cottage documentary series that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall did and seeing factory farmed chicken reinforces my decision to stop eating meat.  When I did eat meat, I bought free range and natural meats as much as possible — but it does cost more and I can see how it might be difficult for people with lower incomes and larger families to buy.  I have been impressed by Fearnley-Whittingstall’s dedication to educate people on eating organically.

Saturday was a lovely sunny day and I got quite a few things done.  I took the pug with me in the a.m. while I ran some errands and bought some flowers and soil and veggie seeds.  After my errands, we took our walk and then went home and I worked in the flower beds.  I planted yellow and orange marigolds in my big planter and then along the front flower bed I planted dark red dianthus and white vinca.  Along the side I planted four mixed canna bulbs behind the spot where my orchid iris is coming back in.  On either side of my earth kind fairy rose I planted a yellow tomato plant and an eggplant plant, and I put up a short white fence to keep the pug from traipsing through it.  But of course the little fence just made that area more appealing to her.

Then I repotted houseplants and divided my huge African violet into three smaller ones.

Then it was COLD and windy on Sunday! So I stayed in and made veggie fried rice, drank hot black tea, knitted a dishcloth, and watched two of the movies from The Librarian trilogy starring Noah Wyle. Perfect Sunday afternoon/evening.