STOP. BLOWING. THINGS. UP.

For the love of God... Since MEMORIAL DAY, there has not been a night that goes by that my neighborhood isn't ablaze with booming fireworks. We're not talking the rat-a-tat-tat of the regular ones, or the ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzPOP of a bottle rocket.

We're talking M80s and quarter sticks of dynamite. And if that's not bad enough? Last night we had a severe thunderstorm - wailing winds, sideways rain, thunder, power went out...And I honestly thought, "Ahhhhhhhhhh, BLISS! I'll get some sleep before midnite!"

Nope. The guys (and I know it's guys, sorry) started right after the T-storm blowing things up again. Really. REALLY??? 

I'd like two things: To not have to dope up my dogs every single night. And to get to sleep before midnight. It's not too much to ask. 

How Does The Garden Grow...

Well....We have cherry tomatoes. Lots of them. And we harvested a handful of snap peas. I think we can start plucking the kale. 

But there was a casualty today. And I was rather heartbroken to do it. We removed two very large Lemon Balm plants. 

I mean, they were 3 feet high and 3 feet across. Each. They took up the entire corner of one garden bed -- this year they just exploded. Last year they were reasonable. But this year, they managed to crowd out the gallardia and almost kill off the snapdragons, lavender and cosmos. 

This is the "after" --- before removal, you couldn't see the marble stepping stone there, and you can see where everything else was just being smothered. 

I hated to do it, but they were just too far overgrown and it would've been detrimental to the other plants. I want Lemon Balm, but I have to look for a smaller variety. 

The flowers at the studio are doing nicely: the alyssum is blooming in the one pot and the mixed wildflowers are coming along fine in the other. 

So perhaps the folks at the employment agency next door have stopped using my flower pots for ashtrays...


Speaking of which, I'm opening the studio back up!! We're in Illinois, and we're in Phase 4 of the 5-phase reopening. We've dropped in number of cases - precipitously. For those saying that the "virus ran its course," y'all are wrong... What happened was that our governor clamped down and most of us paid attention... 

What worries me is that as we can go about more, people will get complacent. And then? We get bit in the backside. Again. And I'm thinking most of us with small businesses won't survive a second shut-down. 

Just Breathe Yoga Studio...

Today, we went in, did a clean, and set up to open on July 1st. Hubby taped the floors so that everyone knows where their mats go. We can open at 50% capacity, but we're being a little more cautious. Our studio can hold 30; but we're topping out at 11 students per class right now. We'll see how it goes.

I wrote out some protocols on the one whiteboard. And I've notified the students. We're still going to do online classes - we're just doing them in a new way. We're back to doing in-person classes soon and quite happy about it. 

It's hard (in my opinion) to teach to a camera. I need to see people. Especially if I want to teach them something a bit complex. I need to see where your body is and where I may need to adjust your alignment. Can't do that the way we've been doing, but what we were doing was better than nothing. 

Each person gets a little more than "social distance" for his/her mat. And we're requiring everyone to have their temperature taken at the door...and we're lucky in one regard: once you're on your mat, you don't have to wear your mask. But it has to be worn inside and as you leave. 

I'm going to encourage everyone to be safe, but I can't police everyone. What I can control, I will. What I can't? I can't. 

Polish Sausage Risotto with Peas...

Bet you never thought of that combo...Neither did I till I was faced with dinner, a sore tooth, and lack of inspiration. Here's the recipe.

1 Polish sausage (or 4 links) cut into thin rounds
1 T. olive oil or bacon fat
1 c. risotto
4 c. hot water + broth cubes
1 1/2 c. leeks
Salt & Pepper to taste (save for last)
1 c. shredded Asiago cheese
1/2 c. goat cheese
1/2 c. half & half
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 c. frozen peas
Penzey's Green Goddess spice blend
Penzey's granulated garlic

In a large saucepan, melt the butter, and then add leeks. Stir and cook till translucent. Add the risotto and stir around, till the rice has a bit of a shine to it. The leeks should be slightly golden. 

Add a bit of the water. Turn heat to low and simmer; stir every couple of minutes. When the rice has absorbed the water, add more; keep repeating that pattern till the water is used up and the rice is slightly al dente. 

While the rice is cooking, put the sausage into a large saute pan with a bit of olive oil or bacon fat (live large...). Stir it around till the sausage is warmed through and maybe a little browned around the edges, just for taste. Set aside. 

When the rice is al dente, add the peas, spices and pepper and stir. Then add the cheeses, stirring. Add the half & half and stir. Then add sausage. Taste. Salt here, if needed. The whole process takes about 45 minutes. You may have to add more water - if your rice is exceptionally dry. 

This serves 5 people. Or 2 people with really lovely leftovers... 

If you want to use this as a side dish, omit the meat. 

It's a Bird, it's a Plane...

It's a bell tower! The bell tower project is about 98% done. There's some clean-up work to do, but it's all in place. The grass is growing; we're planning a labyrinth and adding a deck to the office space to make it ADA compliant (there'll be a ramp to access off the church property). 

And tomorrow, because I said yes before getting all the details? I'm participating in another peaceful march. We're marching in support of Black Lives Matter again, but our destination is to go to a prayer meeting that the black pastors are organizing. 

Yes, in case you're wondering, we have their permission to march to their event; the timing is that we'd be there before they start. No way do we want to take away from what they're doing...we want to support them, because unfortunately, the neighborhood is kind of ... um... racist, actually. It's kept under wraps, but those of us familiar with the area? We know. And we want it to be better.

Back to the bell tower....The bell has been in the church garage since the late 1980s. It was given to our church from another church. And I have to do some research; it's from the early 1900s we think. It'll be fun to do that kind of detective work.

Knitting...

I'm still beavering away on the Breathe & Hope Shawl; only because I've been busy on other stuff. Not knitting, sadly. 

I'm half-way through Section 8. According to the change the designer made, the colors in this section are actually backward of the way I am doing it. She wants B/A/B/A and I did A/B/A/B. It looks fine to me. 

I don't think it matters in this section how the colors go. It's an interesting one that's going by quickly. See all that pink there? That's Section 6. Which was FOR. EVER. Honestly my least favorite part of this shawl. 

Section 7 in this pic is barely started (sorry, been busy knitting and haven't photographed it in its latest iteration)... it's the striped section, which is the unifying component of the whole thing. 

I'm finding that this is now going faster as I'm closer to the end. When I finish Section 8, there will be 193 stitches. Section 9 brings us to 208 stitches, and Section 10 gives us 211 before we bind off. 

Random Picture...

Well, Raisa is totally untroubled by the fireworks. She sleeps through most of it. And here's her teddy-baby. 

Which she disemboweled this morning. End of that one... I caught her before she could ingest any of the stuffing. 

I have to take a rake to her tomorrow. That will not be fun. She hates to be brushed. Another oddity. 

Every other Siberian Husky I've had has (a) been terrified of fireworks; and (b) adored --- ADORED --- being brushed. She's merely tolerating me plucking her floof. 

I have enough now to knit a small spaniel. 

And it just keeps coming...