Birds, Bees...

...and knitting, of course... But first, another batch of masks. These will eventually be in the big bag that's going to the local hospital. I worked on ties today and pinning up a few more. And a friend asked me for 4 of the fitted ones. Hey, it keeps me occupied! 

Today was glorious outside so I spent a bit of time knitting on the porch. I had a few things "fall off the needles" into Finished Objects, which is always a good thing. 

I was mending some of my knitted wash cloths; I use them mainly for face cloths, because they're gentle on my skin, but they're really nice for exfoliation. But some of them are verging on ancient. So while I'm building up the "new" stash, I figured I'd just mend the old ones. Actually, after a few years of constant use, the 100% cotton kind of softens up a bit, and is even nicer on your skin. 

I did maybe 6 stitches (yeah, STITCHES) on the Simple Shawl, and I sit with envy looking on Facebook at people's knitting where it's some elaborate Estonian lace shawl and they're like, "Oh, I just did this in 18 days, it's my COVID project." Really? Or: "Oh, here are the 8 pairs of socks I've knitted since March 15..." Really???? Mind you, I'm mildly jealous only because (a) either these folks knit in their sleep; or (b) their needles are melting because of the friction because they're speed knitters. Which, maybe, should be an Olympic sport? 

My contribution to the COVID-19 Finished Objects compilation is this: 2 fresh wash cloths (well, actually FOUR of them; but I have to go dig the pics out for you). And one sock. In my defense, I'm going to count the "mended" blue cloth there. See the crochet added to the knitting? It just worked out that this seemed the best method. It doesn't have to be gorgeous; it's just the 2 of us and not like I'm taking them to the State Fair or anything like that. 

The one wash cloth is, obviously, crocheted. It's a simple "cast on about 25 stitches, then single crochet till it's about 6 inches high" thing. Crochet goes faster for me, but it does use a whack more yarn. On the other hand, this bias-knitted wash cloth was done this evening - about 3 episodes of Poirot. Maybe 4. Started it about 2:30 and just finished it, at 10:15 p.m. But I wasn't knitting steadily on it. I did cook dinner (see below). And eat. 

Also in my defense, I finished the Green Travelling Socks, so there's that. 

Dinner Plans...

Normally, lately, Hubby has been doing the bulk of the cooking. Since he works from home, it's easier. But - another benefit (?) of COVID and shelter-in-place is that I can cook more. And I do enjoy it; I just got out of the habit. 

So these beauties are from my friend C. I gave her a bunch of empty egg cartons, and I got 2 dozen of her hens' finest. They're lovely, aren't they? 

Frittata was on the menu tonight. So I layer potatoes in a pan, season with a little bacon fat, and this time I used some paprika, Penzey's Mural of Flavor, and Fox Point (which has salt in it). FULL DISCLOSURE: I get no $$$ for recommendations. I just love Penzey's spices. 

While the sausage and leeks were cooking in a separate pan, the spuds were browning nicely. I used the full dozen eggs (we'll be eating this dish for the next several days, so nothing gets wasted). Added a bit of skim milk and whisked the bejeebers out of it. Poured it into the pan then chopped up a tomato and tossed it in there with some roasted garlic, chopped up parsley (the first bit from the herb pots we did in April). And then I used a good handful + a half of Asiago cheese. And then, dotted it with some goat cheese that Hubby had gotten me. 

He's not altogether sold on actually EATING goat cheese himself, but he ate this... Under mild protest. It didn't kill him. But I bet he races me to make the next frittata... 

I had an avocado that was about 2 minutes from total destruction so I sliced it up. They're small; and I hate wasting them. Because you know they're rock-hard for about a week, and then just about the time your mind says, "Hey, there's that avocado"... they SENSE it. And they ripen in a flash. And then they die because you missed your nanosecond of opportunity. 

Anyway, eggs and avocado are delicious together. It's the perfect combo for when you want something sort of substantial but that doesn't take a day and a half to plan. It took about 45 minutes in the oven (just in that big saute pan there - it's oven-ready). And that's only because the tomato was pretty juicy. 



The Birds and the Bees...

Between Hubby and I, we've been enjoying the wildlife in the front yard. I have yet to get a good picture of the hummingbirds, but they are there! We have 2 female and one male rose-crested grosbeaks - they've kind of taken over the front yard. The blue jay is back! And we have goldfinches. And new this year: orioles! You can see the one pic where he's in flight trying to figure out my home-made orange + grape jelly feeder. 

The backlight from the sun today was nasty. We did the best we could without scaring everyone away. The bees are enjoying the hanging baskets as much as the hummers are. And we have a plethora of bunnies. Which are driving the dogs nuts. 

Oriole in flight

I'm hoping we get the indigo buntings back. The cardinals and woodpeckers have been frequent fliers. 

I think we may have a meadowlark hanging around, but I'm not sure. I haven't been able to spot it quickly enough with our Audubon handy. 

I hope you're getting time to look out at Mother Nature and really enjoy the show. It's not often we get the chance (forced on us or not - depending on your opinion) to really slow down. 

Rose crested grosbeak

So wear your masks (OVER your nose, please!), wash your hands, practice social distancing... 

The quicker we do what's right, the quicker we'll be able to get back to work and back to our families. 

PS: If you're looking for tools to help you work through some of the stress, connect with me and my teachers at Just Breathe Yoga Studio! www.just-breatheyoga.com -- upper left corner of the website: Livestream Yoga. Ten bucks a class... 

Don't Do This...

...seriously strange day today. 

Don't go to work at your church hall when it's being renovated. And there's no water. And no heat. But when you have to do that, at least plan your Whole30 lunch so that you're not (a) tired; (b) cranky; (c) needing to pee (no water, no toilets...); and (d) are next to a fridge filled with donuts. 

Lest you worry, I didn't even peek into the fridge. I did, however, stand over the heat register in the sanctuary to warm my toes and fingers... I spent the morning taking Hubby to the doctor and knitting (more on that below) and then ran to the church, intending to only run off the upcoming week's bulletins. 

Except that I had to do a total re-vamp of the format. Love when that happens. So, I ended up being able to have some hot tea, but crikey!! It was about 65 degrees in there and it was pretty frigid. 

But it got done. And I came home, just about jumped over the dogs, and made a beeline to the "necessary room." 

If only I could print from home! 

And I really wanted to practice my guitar today, but my hands were frozen!! 

Whole 30...

So we did another grocery run and got a few things. As well, I delved into the Whole30 book, and decided that I needed to make homemade mayo. I love a good mayo, and I needed something to bind together a tuna salad, or chicken. Avocado is fantastic, but it only goes so far, and honestly, I'm turned off by the browning, even when I dip the cut half in lemon juice. 

You can look up various Whole30 compliant mayo recipes, so I won't post any here. But it's super simple: lemon (1/2), an egg, oil and salt. I used an immersion blender (stick blender) because even though I have a nice blender, it's a stinker to clean. And I also just blended it all up in a canning jar. Easy and no extra bowl to clean. 

You'll notice that I used my Depression glass reamer. And that's a pretty huge lemon. I let that sit out till it warmed up a bit, rolled it on the counter, and then sliced it in half. It was incredibly easy to ream out the lemon - as opposed to squeezing it and spritzing everything with juice! And then having to chase seeds. 

I grabbed the last of the cheesecloth and strained it into the canning jar, so that I wouldn't be spitting seeds. All told, it took about a minute to do everything. Since it's such a large lemon, it was a bit more juice than the recipe called for. And I just about ran through my (fairly pricey) organic extra-virgin olive oil. 

But it tastes amazing. I can see adding some fresh herbs or my favorite horseradish (fresh or ground, not the "horseradish sauce" you see). And I can see using this as a base for a nice ranch-style dressing. 

I like experimenting with my stash of balsamic vinegar, but I was getting tired of V & O for the salads I've been eating. 

I've been reading about the "expense" of the Whole30 plan, and I agree. To some folks, it can be expensive. I think it depends upon how you shop in the first place. Except for the chocolate addiction I'm trying to ditch, we usually shop pretty close to Whole30 standards. We've been lucky that way, and I know it. If you had to totally revamp the way you shopped and were not used to buying organic or skipping the processed stuff, it would knock you for a loop. Thankfully, Hubby and I usually try to eat "clean" for 85-90% of the time. 

That being said, tonight's dinner was a slice of salmon (made with dill + lemon), 1/2 an avocado, a handful of cherry tomatoes, broccoli and a small baked potato (no butter, but with avocado, it was pretty good!). Since I basically skipped lunch, I could afford a bit of a heavier dinner. I plopped a generous teaspoon of the mayo on top of the fish (I know - it's salmon, but I love tartar sauce and this was as close as I was getting). 

We usually have salmon or cod for a Friday - holdover of being Catholics as youths. And I like fish, so it's all good. 

Tomorrow & Sunday will be meal prep for the week. Normally, I'd do it on one day, but my sister and I are taking my mom to see a play, so that kind of chews up the late morning and afternoon. I'm looking forward to it, but it does cramp my weekend. 

I'm surprised that the sweets craving hasn't really bothered me. But I'm still waiting for the "miracle fat consuming" to happen. I know cutting out the processed foods and sugar will help, but I'm hoping it'll help sooner rather than later. I'm getting anxious. 

Tasks...

I have a task list for the weekend (as we all do, right?) and today I knocked a few things off. Tomorrow looks pretty good if I can get an email and yet another newsletter out before I go with my mom and sis. I hope, in the evening, to either knit or get some practice in. I'm working on a piece or two to start playing in church during the summer. 

The meal prep is part of that. My list in my head is about 3 miles long. But I try to be realistic and not bombard myself. I think it took me a decade or more to learn that balance. But I'm also still learning it...

As, I'm sure, are most of us!

Knitting...

At the doctor's, waiting for Hubby, I did get more done on the Traveling Sock. It doesn't look like much, but it's the cuff done and the plain knitting starting. Now, it'll zoom by. 

Yes, people were looking at me. Like, "what is she doing there?" Not like DPNs aren't seen around town, but perhaps in this office, they're foreign?

Anyway, I was thinking as I was starting the first couple of vanilla rows. 

What if, at random every 4th and 5th row, I threw in 2 pairs of purls, sort of as a little "pop" in the leg? I'm looking at the yarn and trying to decide if the colorway is just too busy or if it would look like I made a mistake. 

But a consistent set of purls would stand out from a random "oops, I forgot where I was." But maybe I need a plainer yarn. Maybe this is just too wild (because of the striping). Would it look better in a pooling kind of set up where you have blocks and blobs of color as opposed to a pretty regimented set-up of self-striping. 

I have to think on that. And -- these are to be "traveling socks." Do I really want to keep track of rows, or do I want to just carry a measuring tape and the instructions on the heel flap? Though, come to think of it, maybe this is a good time to try the Fish Lips Kiss or Sweet Tomato heel. Or revisit the Strong Heel - which I've done on one pair, using Opal yarn, so I'm pretty sure that even though it comes out as a single-knit heel, since Opal wears like iron, I'm not worried that it'll wear thorough before the rest of the sock. 

Random Picture...

This is a throw-back from way, way long ago when we had a gazebo-like bird feeder in the front flower bed. One year, a robin made her way into the thing, pushed the acrylic tube out of the way and decided that THIS was HOME. 

She had a major stink-eye going on, so we weren't bothering to dislodge her. We got some fascinating pictures, and Hubby was able to photograph the babies as they hatched. 

Unfortunately, our usually quiet neighborhood went through a spate of idiot vandals coming around cracking people's car rear-view mirrors and lawn ornaments, and some creep took a ball bat to our feeder. It was pretty devastating. Not because it was hand-made or anything...just for the violation of someone coming into our yard to destroy something. We never replaced it. 

The vandals stole the robin's house. 

Making Hay...

...while what's left of the sun shines.

Knitting...

Today being Saturday, I got up, taught the 9 a.m. class I'm subbing while Janae is out on maternity leave, and then got home to get cracking on that project...

New Arrival Cardigan

So far, I've done 21 rows of the right front on the baby jacket. I'm plugging along and working to get the other 39 rows done. Probably not tonight, but this weekend, for sure. 

I'm also catching up on one of my favorite blogs, and on a "Dual Survival" marathon. Using the idea that you shouldn't just focus on one thing for long periods of time.

True story: I was zipping away on a prayer shawl with a definite deadline, and I didn't shift my field of vision. I looked out the front window at Hubby, and realized I could not see.

I mean, my distance vision was totally blurry. Scared the heck out of me. So now, I make sure that I have a few things going: computer distance, TV distance, out the window distance, and I did several other things as well today. 

Oh, and I got the new Piecework magazine. But I haven't had a chance to look through it. I'll save that for later...

Dinner...

The perennial "what do you want for dinner?" question is a pain in the rear. Especially when I get that question at 10 a.m.! I know we have to think about defrosting something, and I really dislike the idea of nuking it because Hubby has the annoying habit (sorry, dear!) of nuking it in its original container. Drives me nuts. 

So he pulled out a roasting chicken early this morning. I roasted it today. Just some lemon, salt & pepper, and a spice rub that one of my SILs gave us for Christmas. Veggie broth was the "marinade" for the roast. Brown rice, a salad, and we had dinner. 

And enough left over for me to do chicken salad for lunch tomorrow. 

Easy Chicken Salad...

I've finally conquered a simple chicken salad without too much fuss. It uses leftovers. Plus some other stuff that most people have in their fridge.

Chop up about 2 c. of cooked chicken (or you can shred it)
Add 1 T. yellow mustard (plain old yellow is fine, thanks)
Add 1 T. dill pickle relish (use sweet if that's all you have)
Add about 3 - 4 T. Hellman's Mayo (this is my preferred mayo)
Add about 1/2 c. diced celery
Add a dash of onion powder (unless you have fresh spring onions - use fresh spring onions, diced, if you have them)

Mix this all up in a large bowl. 

Add 1/2 t. dried dill, and a pinch of salt & pepper (fresh ground, if you have it)

Place in a covered container, chill through (overnight, if you can) and eat it on a bed of lettuce with a cut -up avocado, or in a sandwich.

You can add more mayo if you need it a little looser. 

Easiest thing ever. So that's on the docket for tomorrow. 

Bike Ride...

Now, in spite of TWO falls on the left hand within a month, I have, thankfully, not broken it. But I've got a brace (which I'm not wearing so I can type and knit). Tomorrow is supposed to be lovely, so I'll strap on the brace and we'll go for the first bike ride of 2016. 

I got notified last night that they're shipping out a new Jawbone UP-3, so in the meantime, I'll use the other one and see if it works with the bike ride. Pedometers don't work, and it's frustrating. 

My activity level goes down over the weekend, unless I'm at a workshop or we go on a ride. But I get my steps in during the week, with the day job and the teaching, so I don't fuss or fret when the Jawbone says "you're slacking off." 

Yes, I am. 

And I'm ok with that. I need my vegetation time. I need to recharge. I need to work on projects that I neglect during the week because my schedule is so packed. 

So be it. I'm good. 

I have my favorite mug filled with chamomile tea; I'm watching TV and typing this blog. I'll knit more in a bit. It's Saturday and I need to let my brain unhinge itself from the busy-ness of the work week. 

Politics...

So I've been relatively quiet on this score for a while. But I can't keep quiet any longer. 

I'm so disheartened with the "Bernie's gotta go" crowd. One of them is someone I've known for a long time, and she's bound and determined that nobody but Hillary is going to be elected. 

Which is fine if it happens. But at this point in Hillary's campaign in 2008, she was still in it and "inevitable" till Hurricane Obama came through. 

Bernie may not win. But let's make this an election. Not a coronation. Let's listen to both of them and let's see what happens. We're in the midst of a too-long and too expensive primary season. Let it play out. 

I'm a liberal, tree-hugging yogini. I'm not even going to address the mess that is the conservative wing of this nation. Except to say that it is my firm belief that Paul Ryan's "no" means "yes."

We shall see. 

Random Picture...

My favorite mug. Given to me by my oldest friend. And Hubby hasn't managed to break it yet (he's a mug-destroyer, and he doesn't mean to be). Tonight, it's filled with tea and sitting next to me. 

Mugs are an easy way to get my attention. I have more of them than I need, and it's a standing joke with the kids. I call it "their inheritance."

They call it "after the funeral garage sale."

I think they're joking. It's hard to tell sometimes. 

Either way, I won't be in a position to argue, then, will I?

It's time for me to get back to work if I want to get that front done this weekend. If I can get to that point, then maybe I won't feel so bad about setting it aside for another week. 

What are you working on now? How's it going? What's the next thing in your project bag?