My Bee's

"That buzzing-noise means something.
 If there's a buzzing noise,
 somebody's making a buzzing-noise,
 and the only reason for making a
 buzzing-noise that I know of is
 because you're a bee...
 And the only reason for being a
 bee that I know of is making honey...
 And the only reason for making honey
 is so I can eat it."

~Winnie the Pooh

I had hoped to have my
beehive set up this year.
I have been reading
several books and the
Mr. grew up with hives
in the yard. I was all
set to begin raising
bees and collecting
my own honey.

Last month I realized
I needed to wait a little
longer before this
dream could happen.

This weekend I
discovered that I have
bees....hundreds of them.
I am not disturbing
the hive, but I did
take a few pictures
of the bees as they were
enjoying my rosemary bush.

It won't be long before
I can make honey caramel
with honey from my land. xx

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

this moment is inspired by Amanda Soule. xx

TEA

"If man has no tea in him,
 he is incabable of understanding
 truth and beauty."

~Japanese Proverb

Hot and cold:
we drink a lot
of tea in my
home.

Very excited to
add tea plants
to my land this
year.

Now if I could
just grow coffee. xx

Yarn Along

My sweater now has arms!

I am now on the yoke and

then comes the neck. I am

so excited to almost be finished.

I have already started thinking

about the next sweater I

want to knit.

I am reading One Thousand Gifts

for the second time. It is  a book

I wish everyone would read. It

is really good. XX

Linking with Ginny at Small things:

Yarn Along.

GLAD OF LIFE

"Be glad of life,
 because it gives
 you the chance to
 love and to work
 and to play and
 to look upon the
 stars."

~Henry Van Dyke

Yesterday the Mr. took
a rare day off and we
headed to a state park
for a day of play.
With the weather a
breezy 79 degrees,
a picnic basket full of
homemade goodness,
and some wonderful
company, it was great
to have a chance to
relax and enjoy life. xx

RESIGNED

"Live each season as it passes;
 breathe the air,
 drink the drink,
 taste the fruit, and
 resign yourself to the
 influences of each."

~ Henry David Thoreau

I seriously underestimated
the amount of blueberry smoothies
that would be consumed
this past winter.

I have one bag-
one three pound bag
and that is all.
I took both freezers
apart looking for bags
that just might not be
in their proper place.

Zilch!

I now must resign
myself to be patient-
blueberry picking season
is only four months away. xx

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

xx

ROSEMARY

"There's Rosemary for you,
 that's for remembrance!
 Pray you, love remember."

~ William Shakespeare
   [Ophelia in 'Hamlet']

I have a beautiful
fifteen year old
rosemary plant
in my yard:
It is six feet tall
and always has
flowers covering it:
I need to
remember to
use a lot more
rosemary in
my cooking.

Played around
in the kitchen
and created a
sweet-savory
candy that  is
being inhaled
around here. xx


Almond-Rosemary Butter Crunch

1 cup whole blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons raw honey
3 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped

1. Butter a 13x9x2 baking pan. Set aside.

2. Roast almonds at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes, stirring
    occasionally, until lightly brown. Set aside to cool.

3. Combine butter, sugar, honey and water in a medium saucepan.
    Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to 300 degrees on a
   candy thermometer.

4. Remove from heat and stir in almonds and rosemary. 
   Quickly spread in prepared pan. Cool until firm. Break
   into serving pieces.

REUSE

"The purpose
 -where I start-
 is the idea of use.
 It is not recycling,
 it's reuse."

~Issey Miyake

I've been practicing:
using some recycled materials
and a great tutorial
I was able to sew eight
reusable sandwich/ snack bags.

They are not perfect,
but my lines are a little straighter.
And...
it only took me eight hours. xx

Microorganisms

" Come on friends and lend me an ear,
  I'll explain the connection between wine and beer,
  And sourdough and yogurt and miso and kraut,
  What they have in common is what it's all about.
  Oh the microorganisms,
  Oh the microorganisms..."

~Nettles from "wild fermentation"
  by Sandor Ellix Katz

The cabbages have been
growing for months and
are now ready:

Using one of my favorite books
I will be spending the weekend
making kimchi and sauerkraut.

I hope your weekend is a
productive and joyous one. xx

Raglan Sweater: The Sequel

"There is practically
 no activity that can
 not be enhanced or
 replaced by knitting,
 if you really want to
 get obsessive about 
 it."

~ Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

  I have an obsession-
  it's called knitting.

  I knit while I teach
  math or a history lesson.

  I knit while I bake bread
  or read a novel.

  I knit when I should be
  filing papers or working
  on tax forms.

  With all this knitting
  it still wasn't enough
  practice to knit a
        sweater.

 I frogged it
 and started
 completely over.

 The yarn is great,
 I love the pattern.
 I have more help
 in understanding what
 needs to be done.

 My obsession is being
 fulfilled...

 I knit. xx


   

 

A Necessary Ingredient

"I like nonsense, it wakes
 up the brain cells.  Fantasy
 is a necessary ingredient in
 living.  It's a way of looking
 at life through the wrong end
 of a telescope.  Which is what
 I do, And that enables  you
 to laugh at life's realities."

~Dr. Seuss

Thank you so much
for playing along
in a little nonsense.

The answer to the question is
papaya seeds.


Papaya-Avocado Salad

Peel and cube one ripe papaya.
Peel and cube two ripe avocados.
Combined in a medium bowl.
Mix the juice of two lemons and
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil,
pour over the papaya and avocados.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and
fresh ground pepper.


Please do not be deceived by the
simple ingredients. Give it a try
and I think you will enjoy it as
much as I do. xx

Shall We Play?

"There are only
 hints and guesses,..."

~T.S. Eliot

...and sometimes only guesses.

Shall we play guess the objects? xx

Pizza

"One of the very nicest
 things about life is the
 way we must regularly
 stop whatever it is we
 are doing and devote
 our attention to eating."

~Luciano Pavarotti



 One of the other nicest

 things about life is cooking

food with the ones you love.

We use this recipe for the crust,

our own sauce recipe ,

and a variety of toppings

[my favorite is caramelized

onions, roasted red bell pepper

and black olives].

My only problem with this

is eating too much. xx

Clover's Pizza Sauce

32 oz. tomato sauce

3 oz. tomato paste

3 oz. water

2 Tablespoons Italian Seasoning

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 cayenne pepper

Saute' the minced garlic in olive oil until soft, add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Raglan Sweater

"Properly practiced knitting
 soothes the troubled spirit,
 and it doesn't hurt the
 untroubled spirit either."

~Elizabeth Zimmermann

The book title isn't quite true:
tears have been shed.
The wonderful community
of Ravelry answered all
my questions and now
I am once again on my
way to knitting my
very first sweater.

The body is almost complete:
A sleeve has been cast on
with one more to go:
A neck and some ribbing:
the weaving of threads:
A Soak and a block
and it will be ready to wear.

A troubled spirit soothed. xx

Let It Rain

"The best thing
 one can do when
 it's raining is to
 let it rain."

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


It's raining, again. So, we are finding indoor projects to keep busy. I had a roll of paper towels that a well-meaning family member thought I needed. [I have cut up cloths that  I use and wash. ] With a few water-based markers and a spray bottle of water, we made a simple tie dye. Tomorrow we are making mud pies! xx