03.28.09
Popping up, putting in
I put two more rhubarb corms in the garden in February; they’re coming up just exactly with the older plants.
And A. helped me put in the last of the potatoes yesterday–it’s the first time I’ve tried growing them.
We also transplanted A’s peas, and I planted 10 rows of spinach and lettuce. The garden is underway!
Leaving flowers in the rain
One of K’s classmates (both last year and this year) passed away unexpectedly. I don’t have any words, except to say that K.M. was loved so much by so many.
03.25.09
What’s purple and white and steamed all over?
Banish the thoughts of a mightily enraged Mama. Yes, I’m posting about dinner. And a long-standing color aversion that’s fading with time. Purple cauliflower is so weird and pretty (pretty garish?), I can’t help but like it. Furthermore, it tastes exactly the same as its pale sister.
And it doesn’t lose its color with steaming, although the water in the pot turned a lovely shade of purple.
03.21.09
Wakeful
This morning was a Gustavian palette–a calm world of white, gray, and blue where the harbor held various wakes longer than usual.
03.18.09
All warm inside
Sakai Intermediate School, 11: 44 a.m.
Me: (wrapping up weekly book discussion) Okay, guys, it’s time to gather your things for lunch.
5th grade girl: Aww, I don’t want to leave. This is my favorite part of the week!
03.17.09
A little-known appliance
K.: (to a sleepy-eyed A. this morning) Would you like me to make you some scrambled eggs on toast?
A: Um, I think you’d better make them on the stove.
03.14.09
St. Patrick’s Day Party
Duration: 2+ hours
Number of kids: 17
Ages: 5 through 11
Food: green stuff (grapes, limeade, mint ice cream); Irish stuff (Irish soda bread made with an out-of-this-world Old World recipe by A.M.–thanks!); leprechaun stuff (mini ice cream cones, mini cupcakes, mini corn dogs)
Games and activities:
1. Dancing Irish jigs and whatnot until everyone arrives. (We played An Dochas‘ Firefly–if you get a chance to see these guys perform live, they’re fabulous.)
2. Reverse Irish hot potato: The kids sit in a circle and pass a hot baked potato while someone mans the music; when the music stops, whoever has the potato wins that round. Extra squeals when the potato bursts open, which happened twice.
3. Meal and a movie: The Secret of Roan Inish.
4. More dancing (this time to The Chieftains), keep the balloons in the air, etc.
5. Blarney stone circular story: Again sitting in a circle, the kids pass the stone and make up a bit of the story before giving it over to the next child. Biggest laughs: “and the leprechauns showed up holding a bag of lemons” and “then stuff happened.”
6. On the way out: grab a party favor bag from the pot of gold.
03.12.09
The upside to Daylight Saving Time
A. and I get to spend late afternoons at the park once again.
The ducks were a little shy even though we brought bread (c’mon, what’s wrong with slightly freezer-burned whole-wheat heels? Picky, picky.) This red-winged blackbird had no inhibitions, though. He flew down over the water, plucked out a floating bit of bread, landed a foot away from me and begged for more. I swear. It sounded just like this.
Also out in abundance: the Battle Point bunnies.
03.09.09
Now that it’s snowing again…
What do you do with a cold snap, a bunch of extra fabric, and some extra time?
Make blankets for Project Linus.
03.08.09
Eco Tour
The students at Sakai made Tibetan prayer flags to decorate the Eco Village, hub of Bainbridge’s Eco Tour.
After stopping in at Sakai we had time to visit one of the sites, the McCabe-Pardy residence, a sustainable remodel and all-around gorgeous house. Molly McCabe presented the time-line and details for the deconstruction, storage, recycling, repurposing, and design of the house (every bit of the original dwelling was recycled except for about 4,000 lbs of sheetrock and tile).
We came away with more ideas for finishing our basement with green materials and methods, and met Kathleen O’Brien, author of The Northwest Green Home Primer. I’ll be settling in with this book later on this evening, my notebook ready to catch all the ideas that are already swirling.
