Turkey Time

Hopefully I'll be able to update this with photos in the days to come, but Solish/Siegel Thanksgiving went off smoothly this year.  Though I'm not sure anyone actually reads this, I will weave a story for you that reaches back to Thanksgiving 2010.

I arrived in San Francisco at about 10pm Monday night, having left Corning at 5pm after working for most of the day.  My flights went off without a hitch, my spirits were pretty high, but I was crispy fried and ready for a bed.  I'm not very good at sleeping when I fly west, at least, not the first night.  I usually come home, munch something tasty from the fridge, and then end up reading, on my computer, or "cleaning"/rediscovering things in my bedroom.  My sister and I stayed up until about midnight, her reading a book for school, me sorting through bags and boxes from my last visit home.  I kept at it for another hour and finally fell into bed.

A quick caveat about my bed:  it's wonderful.  It might only be a twin, and the mattress might be the one I got for my original "big girl" bed, but there's a quilted mattress pad that makes it soft and cozy.  On top of that I have delicious Pure Beech sheets (this time in a soft green), and a down comforter.  Over everything, I have a hand sewn quilt bought at a craft fair in Maine, a gift from my aunt Jo and uncle Sam.  It's blue and done in the log cabin style.  I love it.

The next day my mom and I drove my sister to school, after eating breakfast with my dad.  My mom had some work to finish up and at about noon got frustrated enough to throw in the towel for the day.  I'd been buzzing around the house, cleaning, exploring, knitting, etc.  We drove to Filoli Estate but they were closed for the season.  We then decided to conduct a driving architectural tour of the area near our house, with a focus on seeing the Woodside Store.  This place is one I remember from my childhood; a 3rd or 4th grade trip on which we learned about tin-punch lanterns and striking redwood shingles using a "froe".  I'm sure we also used the 2-man saw with a lethal blade, patterned to sweep wood chips out of the cut!  We continued to explore, and then went to pick up my sister.  My mom drove me up the peninsula to meet one of my dearest childhood friends, Daniella, at Copenhagen Bakery.  Bakery, coffee, food... delicious!  She had a banana surprise (chocolate covered banana on top of cream, jam and a cookie/biscuit!) and I had an almond croissant.

When my father came to pick me up, she gave me a bottle of home brewed mead, and my dad and I hit the grocery store to grab things for dinner.  Dinner was amazing.  Mashed butternut squash, pork loin, corn and pepper cakes, and roasted root veggies.   The next day I focused on getting ready to ride to the Ranch, and getting crafty things around.  I picked my sister up from school around noon and we stopped at a great local, authentic Mexican restaurant for burritos!

We arrived at the Ranch around 6pm and had vegetarian pasta with bread, butter, sauteed broccoli, and salad for dinner.  Thursday was a bit subdued, as we were remembering last year.  We made Turkey, a roast, amazing chestnut stuffing, pies, and most importantly, Grandma's vegetable soup.  I couldn't go without it.  Last year, she was very sick, but she waited until everyone had eaten dinner before she decided it was her time to leave us.  Thankfully she was in little pain until the end, and the only person who was late was aunt Jo who couldn't get away from work easily.  It was very hard and everyone was a blatant mess about it. Of course, flights were changed/cancelled, there were tears and a hush over the house.  I'll never forget how her breathing would stop for a few seconds longer and Papa would look up with tears in his eyes, struggling not to go with her.  His heart was breaking for all of us to see and parts of our hearts were breaking too.

So this year, we made her turkey, and her roast, and her vegetable soup using her good dishes and celebrated family and her life.   We had Thanksgiving the way we have had it for many many years (the roast added after she developed an avian protein allergy).  We spend much of Friday, remembering her.  Papa has spent the last year, cleaning the garage and working on projects with his newly clean space to celebrate Grandma.  He's created a beautiful arbor with benches, a fountain, a magnolia tree, a rock (waiting for a plaque), and holes for grape vines to be planted in.  He's thought up mosaic projects to honor her and written a beautiful poem that he shared with us at a ceremony we started in that special memorial spot at the Ranch.  We said a prayer and read his poem and words from my mom, and then proceeded to the cemetery to say Kaddish, more words, place Ranch stones, and to release monarch butterflies for her.  We feasted afterward with fish and chips at our favorite place, The Little Hut in Morro Bay.

Dinner was Vegetable soup (which I can now make for Jake, having successfully made it without Grandma telling me what to do), and then dad and Elena and I headed back to Palazzo San Carlos so I could fly out at 7am.  It was a hard but beautiful Thanksgiving with everyone there (Sam and Jo too!), and I came back to NY in time for the Shaw/Bloise Hunters dinner and Indy playing sax in the Parade of Lights on Market street.

Yarn and things

I've been very "knit-happy" recently, and finally made some progress!  I managed to spin, skein and wash my first ever hank of handspun wool!  I'm in love with it and believe it wants to be a cozy, lacy hat!

I'm very excited to see how the project turns out, though I'm worried that I won't have enough yarn to make the piece.  I may have to try to make more...

First skein!

I've continued to spin, and been successful at a skinnier "single", though I have yet to skein and wash it.  I have managed to finish a few scarves to sell at a local boutique here in Corning.  Hopefully the sales go better than last year.  I'm not sure that any of my handspun will be sold yet, though I do know that the price of those will be much much higher than that of pieces made with acrylic.  Not astronomical, but if I'm using handspun, I think they're worth more!

These are the beginning of my collection, each one done in a different style.  I'm excited about them, and hopefully they sell!

Past Pickles

Thoughts from early September:

I shared the beginnings of my garden, but not the intervening bits...

I had enough cucumbers between my garden and Jake's Mom's garden that pickles were a new adventure I embarked on this summer.  I made savory, refrigerator pickles which turned out pretty darn good.  However, I learned a valuable lesson the 2nd time around:  let the brine COOOL down.  It really helps in the long run.

Gardens are for Summer

Late September thoughts:

My wonderful, overgrown garden (which has not been featured nearly enough...) is *starting* to wind down.  My tomatoes FINALLY started to ripen!

Obsessed

I really am, and I have no problem admitting it.

I love fiber. Wool, silk, acrylic; yarn, roving, pure fleece.  I love it all.

My mind has been going a-mile-a-minute for the past week or so as I've renewed my efforts to start hand spinning again.  The roadblock in my way?  Several UFO's dying to be finished and posted here or Etsy, or wrapped up for gifts to deserving family members and friends.  I have several scarves, a cross stitch, and a pair of socks to complete; wouldn't it be nice if they were done in time for the holidays?

Usually I try to be very articulate and easily understood, but sometimes my excitement gets the better of me and I send emails or have phone conversations like this one:


"Hi Momma,

I forgot to call this AM.  I've been so preoccupied with work on auto-pilot and "fiber arts" dominating my mind.  

One thing I think I forgot to mention about my mini vacation to the 1000 islands is that there was a farm market/wine festival at Boldt castle.  One of the reasons I was so hot to go that weekend was because of the festival.  I bought DELICIOUS smoked cheddar cheese (which was quickly demolished!) and saw some beautiful knit pieces and SPINNING WHEELS!!!!!

I've decided, well I decided a long time ago, that I wanted a spinning wheel.  I play with the thought of having an angora rabbit too.... (to spin it's fur of course!)  I do have a very cheap drop spindle and some roving (processed wool ready for spinning) that I'm going to play with soon, and look into nicer, better spindles for the interim.  Eventually I will own a house where I can have my very own diana-crafty-yarny-fireplacey heaven.  With comfy furniture of course and walls and walls of books.  Think John Adams library (remember that?) meets woman's solar without lacey pink nonsense.  Oh, and big windows.  probably a window seat or alcove with small pleasure-book book case and chaise lounge.  

See I have it all planned out, you'll have to visit. 

I'll *hopefully* have my hand spinning started by the wedding so that I can really finish up UFO's (unfinished objects) and make more!

Ok, enough of the crazy ramblings.  Love you, xoxoxoxxo,

Diana"

I really can be crazy at times but it's a matter of my excitement and ideas piling onto each other so fast and thick that my mouth can't keep up with my mind and I eventually become incoherent.  If I had any sense at all, I'd carry the kind of notebook that would allow me to jot down and draw all of these fantastic ideas and commit them to paper to clear out my head space a bit. 

Below is an image of the John Adams Library in Quincy, MA that I mention in my email to my mother.  I loved visiting it because of the walls and walls of books.  I am a firm believer in fireplaces accompanying books and fiber arts, as well as leather chairs near the fire place.  I won't have something as large as this, but I loved this space so much so that I wanted to sit down and sketch the entire thing and forget about the rest of the tour...

Another library, far more sumptuous than that of John Adams, is the one at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. It goes beyond luxury, and is far too much for me, but the raw elements of it are what draws me in.

I love the spiral staircase up to the second level, as well as the huge fireplace.  The windows, if I remember correctly, are large and make the room feel open and airy despite the dark colors and heavy mantle.

In my little world, I'd have something in the middle of these two spaces, with comfortable furniture, large windows, large fireplace, and loads of books.  A spinning wheel in a corner, baskets of projects, hidden storage for supplies and friends and family around with me.  I imagine good food, tea, and excellent conversation.  And now I sound like I belong in the Victorian era.... Time to get back to work!

Memorial Day

How about a blast from the past?


In the not so distant past, we did some work with a bulldozer at Jake's family property in Hornby.  Now, I use we in a very loose manner, since the most work I did was to help paint trim, and sleep.  Jake's friend Nate jumped into the 'dozer cabin and had a glorious 2 days playing with the heavy machinery and moving dirt.


The first day of our adventure opened with the boys tearing down a tree that stood in the middle of the water-logged field between the road and the cabin.  once that was down, Nate began to move dirt around and started to dish out the pond space.  At the end of the day, we had a bit of water starting to take over the small indentation we'd created:

Day two was a bit rough since the top layer of soil was absolute SLUDGE.  And by that I mean super-saturated mud so thick the dozer was sinking quite a bit!

While Jake and Nate were conferring on how to proceed with the mud and dishing out the pond, Indy and I found a useful way to keep ourselves busy!

About 4 days after we'd finished playing in the mud and Nate had made his final passes with the 'dozer, Jake and I came back to investigate the height of the water in our pond hole.  We'd been quite skeptical from the beginning about what height the water would in fact reach, and thought that the picture below would be the view we'd see for years to come....

About 2 weeks later, we saw that there was clearly more water pouring into that old water-logged field than we'd expected!

While we were up there, we started trying to smooth out some of the ruts that the 'dozer had left behind with Jake's pick and the garden hoe.  We made some headway, but mostly I looked around for interesting pictures and frogs.  The water is still so cloudy and green from all the reflected light off the trees that this photo was too good to pass up!

Yeah, I know...

.....Long time, no write.  I've been bad; it's been months.  Needless to say, I have plenty to share in the form of backdated posts, however I will wait to do that and give you a current update.

My major bike ride, the Tour de Cure (in Watkins Glen, NY) will be here in less than two weeks!!! I'm a little apprehensive, since it'll be a very big ride for me, but I'll be having a great time doing it with the wonderful boyfriend in tow.  I have several rides that I've done recently, though most of them don't come with pictures.  Honestly, that doesn't bother me overly much because it simply means that I'll need to do those rides again.  Luckily I haven't found a single route that I don't like.  

About 2 weeks ago, I rode around Keuka lake in the Tour de Keuka.  It's a similar ride to the one I'll be doing in the next couple of weeks, but the funds go to JDRF the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  It was about 97 degrees out and the 46 miles seemed to drag on a bit, but finishing felt incredible.  I spent most of the ride alongside a lawyer, Greg, from Florida.   He was visiting his parents (who have a cottage on Keuka lake) with his wife and kids, and decided to do the ride on a whim.  He had wonderful encouragement and advice for me and helped push me to ride harder and faster (Jake was off with the front of the pack going about a bazillion miles an hour...).  

Bicycling always makes me feel so good about myself, that I often am led to the question of what am I going to eat?!?! (once I get home).   Recently this has blossomed into a few different things.  I made "refrigerator pickles" and promptly fell in love with them.  The recipe came from a blog link on Tastespotting, one of my absolute favorite gold-mines for recipes.  Once I come up with my own spice blend, I'll submit it there and post pictures here!  (Maybe some intermediary ones firsts...)  I also made Amish zucchini bread which is delicious.  I brought some to my cousin Amy's bridal shower, and everyone gobbled it up in the space of an hour or two!

Tonight, I made scones.  I love scones.  The English Rose is one of my favorite places to go when I'm home, and their scones don't have eggs so they became an instant favorite in my house since my grandmother and mother were/are both afflicted with an egg allergy. 

Yes, stolen from the web, but honestly the best shot I could find of the English Rose!
...And to the right, my scones.  Before they were covered in butter and munched!

I made blueberry scones tonight (because Jake LOVES blueberries) and they taste fantastic.  I used some  frozen berries picked last year or the year before at Jake's Uncle's property.  We love to go berrying there and I think we're due for another berrying date with Jake's grandmother!

My garden also deserves an update.  I'll have to add photos of the foliage, but as you can see, both my garden (the zukes) and Jake's mom's garden (cukes & pepper) are thriving nicely.  Which really is an understatement but alas, it's too late to take photos outside..