This blog is in shock and mourning...

He's heading west...

womenspace

Before the weekend gets too much further behind us, I want to post some pics from the women's drumming circle I hosted in my yard this weekend! It's something I have wanted to do for some time now, and the women from the bookclub I belong to were interested. So, we made it happen. The weather was amazing - a little on the hot side but the shade came and made for a more comfortable gathering. Oh - wait - I guess it wasn't exclusively womenspace - Rusty and Lincoln were there as well!! I thought maybe they wouldn't like being around the drums, but they stayed in the circle with us the entire time (except to take a break for supper of course).

Drumming is so healing on so many levels. I have no formal training, yet my hands just seem to know what to do. I need to do more of it and plan to make it a priority. (and if anyone is interested, there is a community drum happening in Manchester on 8/16 with Akwaaba from 12 - 3 Bronstein Park, between Hanover and Union streets).

Anyway, back to Saturday. 3 of the group who attended were in not so great emotional spaces. Names and details do not need mentioning. I found it interesting though, that for each of these women, it was as if the universe say a healing space in their future and so threw them each a curve ball, knowing they would have the opportunity to shift things by drumming.

Sunday was equally as fun. I did something most unusual - got up at 6 and out the door shortly after 7. Wow - Sunday mornings are a whole lot cooler than weekday mornings!! For one thing, there is like no one on the roads. And the radio! There is a Beatles Breakfast on 100.7 at 8Am that I think I will listen to at home ( assuming of course I get up in time). So I picked up my friend Melissa in Portsmouth and we proceeded to the Museum of Science in Boston (Cambridge really) to see the Baseball in America exhibit. OMG. It is so worth going. In fact, I have convinced my brother that be must go and we will be going in a few weeks. Unfortunately there were signs all over explaining that this was a low light exhibit and no photography was allowed - which I totally understand as some of the displays were 100+ years old! Bonus points for being in the museum before 10, no crowds. Then we had lunch (also very reasonable) and took in a wonderful Planetarium show. We emerged from the cocoon of the Planetarium, hit the gift shop, and then realized the place was PACKED!! Time to go. Kudos to the MOS for making some much needed improvements. Can't wait to go back! (sidenote: ya know how the MOS has overnight lockdowns for scouting troops, church groups, school groups, etc? How cool would it be if they had a KNITTING OVERNIGHT?!?!?!?)


One week later...

I guess it is a good thing that I don't spend alot of time on-line these days, eh? Finally getting around to adding the pics and posting this...

Before everyone arrived:
Zoom in if you can and check out the expression on Lincoln's face... i love that dog!

Did someone mention that I should grow a pair?



Rusty and Lincoln were there the whole time!

Rosy was happy to find a new drum!

If a tree falls in my driveway and no one is there to hear it...

Tree

Walked out the back door this morning and didn't see my car in the driveway...click on the picture to see the rest of the pics I uploaded to Picasa. Neither car had a scratch on it!! Don't know if it was lighting, or wind - it's obviously a healthy tree, so lightning? Scary storms last night, that's for sure!!

Neighborhood News

I know I have shared many stories of the fine neighborhood I live in. These tales have perhaps painted a rather bleak picture of said neighborhood. I was thinking this morning about how great the place I live is. The women who own the house are so cool, nice and amazing. I have a rare city perk and that is a backyard. There is all sorts of great stuff growing back there, and I have a nice raised bed garden to grow veggies in, shade from trees, and at the moment a bumper crop of raspberries. My apartment is charming to say the least. The whole house has a very positive, healing energy to it, as though it has always had good people living in it. Wood holds the energies of the past you know.
The house formerly known as the crack house has quieted down - the dealer was jailed last year and I never see the police over there anymore. The house formerly know as the tenement, scene of a bad fire in April, is getting a makeover. The screamers aren't screaming as much these days.
So tonight I am out walking Rusty and Lincoln, and I glance out in to the road and I see this . Warning - do not click on that link if there are children around, you are at work, etc. I'm l ike, are you kidding me? Is that really? I walked over and sure enough. Luckily I had my ph one with me and snagged that picture. Came home and had to text it to my one friend I knew would appreciate it. Her reply, "Was it buzzing?" I could not stop laughing!! Seriously. How does something like that end up in the middle of the road? I'm not sure I want to imagine!!!

Sox on the Beach

I brought some socks to the beach to work on today. The one on the left is Monkey, in some yummy Skinny Socks yarn from Spunky Eclectic, gifted to me on my birthday. The one on the right is some Noro Silk Garden sock yarn I got last night at Yarn and Fiber. I cast on 63 56 49 stitches and knit the cuff swatch in the 5+ hours I spent at the beach.

This is me and what my skin looks like after those 5+ hours at the beach:
This is the list I sat at this very desk and made this morning to insure that I brought everything I needed to the beach with me:

Feed Opie He is our turtle. I fed him.
chair
knitting
sunblock
water
sammich
towel
hoodie
umbrella

So I loaded everything into my knapsack that was on the list, secure in the knowledge that the sunblock was already in there, because that's where it has been for like the past month, and off I went! Got to my usual favorite beach in Rye and there was actually a line to get into the $10 parking lot. I lucked out and got in right away and got a nice shady spot on the grass to park.

Set up my camp on the sand (the place was PACKED) and reached into the knapsack for the sunblock...what the...? Yeah. I took it out last night because I took the knapsack to knitting and was afraid of leakage. I distinctly remember thinking at the time that I probably shouldn't take it out as I would probably forget about it. Well, I had my trusty beach umbrella with me, since I have only been to the beach once all summer, and that was a month ago, I didn't want to do any damage to my skin. So no sun block, no problem, right? Wrong. Apparently the umbrellas don't block all of the UV rays. And the sun reflects off the sand. And I spent at least an hour unprotected while swimming or walking. And then there was that 1/2 hour that I took the umbrella down because it got windy and blew off at one point, landing on the chair of a woman who moments before had been sleeping there and luckily had gotten up to take a dip. Oh well, it was worth it, it is a mild sunburn and I am not in any discomfort, just feel hot and not used to feeling like I am on fire. Luckily I had put moisturizer on my face right before I left the house that is SPF 15 and I had my hat on for most of the day as well, so the face was spared. Kind of.

And now it is Saturday night and I am home and I don't have to be anywhere or do anything until Monday morning! Feels good to have some down time. Not complaining - the weekends have been packed with fun activities, but it is nice to have some time to myself.

Mindless Fun

and because giving credit is the polite thing to do, here is where all the pics came from...

1. Melissa, 2. Cheese shop (3), 3. Arlington High School, 4. purple haze, 5. Jason Varitek 2, 6. Bowling pins, 7. Rooftops - Barra de Navidad, Mexico, 8. Good News Ice Cream!, 9. Eid Mubarak - عید فطر مبارک, 10. New family on Garda lake...., 11. A Boatman & His Dog Cruising Along in the Cannaregio Sestiere, Venice, 12. You are here in my Heart, my Dearest..

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions (and my answers):
1. What is your first name? Melissa
2. What is your favorite food? cheese
3. What high school did you go to? Arlington High
4. What is your favorite color? purple
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Jason Varitek (even though we all know it's Rachel Ray, couldn't find a nice pic so went wtih #2!)
6. Favorite drink? a fine merlot
7. Dream vacation? Mexican coast
8. Favorite dessert? ice cream
9. What you want to be when you grow up? wealthy
10. What do you love most in life? my family
11. One Word to describe you. authentic
12. Your flickr name. jasminenh

CSA Week 1

So I want to keep a blog of the CSA each week and recipes we come up with. I'm too lazy to create a separate blog, so if you're not interested, just move along :o)

Wow. I can't believe how much my eating, cooking and shopping habits have changed in a few months. Saturday we made the first pick-up at the CSA.

What we got:
Kale
Pac Choi
Beets
Carrotts
Lettuce
Garlic Scapes
Radishes
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Pickling Cukes
Salad with the lettuce, radishes and cukes

First recipe:

Sauted Greens

1/2 bunch kale
greens from 1 bunch beets
1 garlic scape or 1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 pkg mushrooms
4 oz bacon, coarsely chopped (can use turkey bacon or veggie bacon)
1/2c chicken broth (or veggie)
1 Tbsp fresh thyme

Remove stems from kale and greens. Rinse. Add to a large pot of boiling water and cook for 6 minutes. Drain.
In wok, cook bacon until done, but not crisp. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.
Saute mushrooms in bacon fat (there won't be that much). Add garlic scape or garlic. Cook for 6 minutes. Add greens, bacon, broth and thyme. Cook for approx 6 minutes or until broth reduces.

It.Was.Amazing.

If anyone told me 6 months ago that I would be eating greens and loving it, yeah, hahahaha...

So me and Cindi are going to take turns coming up with ideas each week for cooking with the stuff we get, and posting our recipes here.

Plans for the rest of the haul are:
Juicing the beets with carrot and celery
Using the pac coi and carrots in a stir fry
Steaming the yellow squash and zucchini

4 July

Four July is my favorite holiday. Think about it. There is no gift giving involved. No holiday dress-up. No traveling unless ya wanna. No cooking huge feasts unless you wanna have a cookout. Outdoor activities. Fireworks. I rest my case. It's also the only holiday I really have any fond memories of from childhood. Memories of feeling free, running around barefoot, cheeseburgers, favorite shorts, sparklers, screen doors, damp grass, holding hands in the the back of a station wagon, time stretching out endlessly, ice cream, baseball, more ice cream, fireworks, beach trips, skin warmed by sun, running and playing and laughing and ponytails coming undone and sleepy rides home. Way better than Christmas. Seriously.

This was an awesome 4 July.

The Don't Feel Like Its"

Ever get them?

I was planning to go to knitting tonight - I sorta feel like it.
It would require showering though - don't feel like it.

My garden needs weeding from all the rain we've had. Won't have time this weekend unless the weather is decent when I get home on Sunday - don't feel like it.

Lot's of yummy stuff in the house to make for dinner - don't feel like it.

Do you sense a pattern here? lol.

Hey, look who's back!

Worked from home today. We had a most wonderful kick-ass thunderstorm this afternoon. It was still kind of crappy weather when 5:30 rolled around and I called it a day. Did something I never do - laid on the couch and fell asleep watching the news. Woke up an hour late. I know! Think of all the weeding or showering or knitting I could have been doing instead! And when 11 rolls around tonight and I am wide awake, I will remember why naps on school nights are a no-no.

Tonight however I am indulging my I Don't Feel Like It-ness. (or IDFLI - pronounced "i-dee-fly" with kind of a ghetto accent.)

Haven't even turned on the Game yet. IDFLI. Yet. Silence is nice for now.

This was the scene today in the (home) office:

Hundreds of dogs were seen milling about, I know, the camera couldn't capture them all, but here are Rusty, Lincoln and Sabre try to restore order. Then the kick-ass thunderstorm came along and it looked like this out my window. I was trying to get some of the giant forks of lightning, but missed them.

This was the garden last week. Now it's several inches taller and in need of a good weeding. Maybe Friday morning before I leave town.

On that note, I now feel like dinner and baseball. I shall leave you with these:

And this one is for Gigi. I had been hoping for a better picture than this, but ms Zuni is spending all her time on top of the refrigerator because of what she refers to as "the big goggie" I remind her that "big goggie" has been nothing but a gentleman to her and promise he won't chase her or eat her, but she will have none of that.