Chocolate-y goodness

On our way home from seeing Dr. Vinny, Cap and I stopped off at our local chocolate shop. I picked up a bar of this. I just had my first square and it was heaven.

Last night, at around 10pm, maybe 10:30, there was a police-accompanied graduation caravan that started and ended at the high school, which is a block away. Sirens, blaring car horns, screams and shrieks---a parade at night with no onlookers, but much revelry nonetheless.

It was so...sweet. Most of the time, I think of our town as very cosmopolitan, but every now and again something like last night happens and something true and "small town" is revealed, in a good way.

Oh and here's some hot gossip. Our next door neighbors, whom I have had an edge of disdain for ever since they left a letter in our mailbox addressed to "second floor tenants" about an issue that involved the whole house (and not just us) and after we'd had an introductory conversation where names were exchanged (and she's a real estate agent so I don't buy that she's bad with names...ooh I still have a sizzle in me)---they are selling their house!

They flip houses. I knew this about them when they arrived next door, but somehow, the house is so huge, and well, I don't know, I guess despite our own nomadic existence, I can't imagine creating a home out of a house and then repeating over and over again, when you have kids. So, I thought maybe they were settling down next door.

But, just a few days ago, when the umpteenth contractor was over doing yet some more work on the house, I thought that maybe they were going to sell it. In the less than two years that they have lived there not a month has gone by without some new project being started on the inside or outside of the house (even in the dead of winter).

Well, I'm glad because I never did get over that slight. And now I understand why they never made more of an effort to be more friendly.

Ooh la la

Pippa says: follow me and see what changes have been happening in the yard and garden!

Hydrangeas are starting to bloom. The delicacy of the color beginning to infuse the petals is breathtaking...

I don't know what this flower is called. It's been blooming for weeks now along the driveway of our house. They are almost finished.

The wild roses in the wisteria are wasting away.

The corn which was decimated by the furious digging of a squirrel looking for that nut it was certain lay beneath the dirt in this pot.

I'll admit I haven't been by the garden in five days or so. It's been raining in stormy bursts nearly daily. What growth has occurred! Front left are the cukes, front right is the summer squash, back left are the beans and back right are the spinach.

To think that the cukes were grown on a whim. These plants have been a source of joy. I love the tendrils.

So much.

I've long been drawn to spirals in designs and textiles. It is so cool to have them reveal themselves to me in the natural world.

I probably have to get or make some stakes that are taller than the ones in the planter right now. The cukes are almost as tall as them!

A detail of the squash plant. The big leaves are initially impressive, but this stalk, whoa, really thick and strong. When I took the picture I didn't notice the little bud there (where the stalk branches out).

The spinach looked big enough to eat!

These are the tomatoes which were grown from seed. They may not be getting as much sun as the rest of the plants. They're growing, but don't seem to be thriving. I also need to cut back the bushy growth behind the plant.

This butterfly (and/or members of its tribe) are frequent visitors to our yard. I was excited that this one stopped long enough for me to photograph!

May your day (and week and month and summer) have that swinging feeling!

Knitting adventures to come

Dare I say it? I am thinking socks. Take a look at this beauty.

I guess I am making it official, I will knit my first pair of socks by summer's end! Anyone else care to share their summer goals?

A wonderful post

There's a wonderful post over at Sue Senator's blog. She's the mom of a guy with autism and two younger sons, a writer, a belly dancer... I think this post will resonate with you if you have any experience with autism, but I think it will strike a chord, also, to some of you other folks :-)

The post is called My-Blindness and you can find it here.

Swiss chard

The festive stalks (yellow! pink! purple!) of the swiss chard were a stand-out at Farmer John's stall Saturday. I sautéed the chard this afternoon with some olive oil, pine nuts, garlic powder (it was too late to toss in fresh garlic by the time I remembered I hadn't added garlic) and salt.

Tonight, I mixed some garlic scape-basil pesto into the last of the brown rice, sprinkled some shredded Jack cheese on top, and then tossed some chard on top of that. Zapped it for a minute and a half in the microwave, gave it a good stir, and it was de-lish.

The chard stalks were verging on sweet, the leaves were so tender...amazing. (The kids ate up their vegetable side, beet roesti, tonight. Better beets than chard for them :-)

Blueberries

These Jersey blueberries are the farmer's market hit of the week. Yum.

Sun cake

I added this photo to the Party On post. It's the sun cake I brought to Kelly's. Bright, GFCF goodness.

Take me out to the ballgame

Cap recently took the boys to a minor league baseball game. They had a good time, the cotton candy was a highlight :-)

Sag in the morning

He can most often be found drawing at the table. Usually he is the first up. He quietly slips out of bed and starts to draw. He is working on a comic book right now with some fantastic panels. He would only let me post the cover. The truck picture is one he did a couple of weeks ago.

I love food

Gem and I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday morning. I wanted to get some more garlic scape because you just can't have enough. As we pored over the lovely greens, herbs and veggies, I realized that I still hadn't used the beets from last week.

So, I flipped through some of our books looking for an olive oil and fry recipe this afternoon, and made Mark Bittman's beet roesti. Yum. The rosemary essence is seeping warmth into my body as I type.

As I ate, I hopped onto the computer and went over to Gluten-Free Goddess' blog. She's organized her fave summer recipes and what was at the top of the list? A Rockin' Guac. Those who love me know I love my guac. Check it out, it sounds scrumptious.

Atmosphere cracking thunder and a strong summer rain are rolling through here.

It's time

I've been feeling it for a few days. No maybe a week. I want to do DW again because I am spiraling out of whack. It's past 2am and I'm well into second wind. Reading posts on Ravelry, watching the first episode of Slings and Arrows. Finishing the pint of Karmel Sutra I made Cap run out and get for me last night. That's how I've spent the last couple of hours.

I don't feel bad, just...aware of how strange it is to be staying up so late. I'm freewheeling and cannot reconcile it to myself, in a way. Some sort of transition is in motion. With transformation to follow either way. I think I'll choose to take the path I know will reap benefits.

To bed, to bed.

Party on

Kelly and Todd hosted a sending off BBQ for Mary and the girls (they're off to Ireland for three months). It was the Fiber Arts gang and it was a fun party.

Sag and Gem spent the first couple of hours in the pool with Malik. Sag tried on Lila's goggles, loved the nose covering, and a few minutes later stunned me by swimming! There he was with his head under water, arms and legs going, making forward progression :-)

They also loved climbing up and down the ladder to the "treehouse" and caught some episodes of Avatar on dvd (a show many kids we know love, but they remain lukewarm about (I really like it :-)

Cap had a good time chatting with some of the grown-ups for a long time (he rarely gets to socialize with these folks---true of most of the dads in this group).

I love Kelly and Todd's yard and found myself simply zenning out to the sounds and feel of splashing water, drinking in the variegated greenery, and floating amidst the colors and laughter and hearts of the kids moving in and out of my space.

The food was excellent, as usual. Kelly's grilled tofu with a to-die-for miso-mayo sauce, Mary's potato salad, Kate's kale dish, and the cold herbal tea that matched quite nicely with a couple splashes of lemonade. And my sun cake for dessert. Yum.

Lately, I am finding myself almost giddy at times because we are not moving this summer. Part of my mind is hardwired for it, moving, because it's what we've done the last two places we've lived. At two years we picked up and moved. Far. But, not this year. It's nice.

I am grateful for the community of friends we've made here and am eager to settle in for some more time together.

No pics of the party---I wanted to just go and be.

Happy summer

We went back to the pond with Lukas, Anna and Silke to celebrate the summer solstice. Roger was nursing a sore neck and missed the outing. Here the kids are quietly gazing at a deer on the other side of the pond. I didn't see it till later, when we were on the other side of the pond and it looked very much like Bambi in a dappled glade-like spot munching on grass.

Sag was really into these water clovers (I don't know what they are actually called). They were tiny and much greener than they photographed here.

Gem walked ahead and found this secluded pond-side spot where...

he startled this turtle who swam away quickly.

Can you see the heron-like bird in the center of the shot?

Anna was the first to find these freshwater shells. Here Lukas shows his off...

and here is Cap's.

These green grasses can be found on either end of the pond.

I loved the ages old look of this rock.

Silke found this insect cocoon-like thing. You can see the tiny hole from which it emerged.

Anna's collection of treasures put down while we had a snack mid-walk. Lemonade, sunflower seeds and banana bread with walnuts and choco chips.

The water lilies were in full bloom, very pretty and bright. We did not remember them blooming so beautifully a year ago.

Milkweed blossom buds.

A gorgeous blue damselfly.

The gang at the end of the loop.

Lukas.

Sag.

Gem.

Anna. (Wearing the bracelet I made the kids last year and holding the bee I made them this year.)

Morsels

• loving mango nectar---I drink some every day

• dinner at Donna's last night---mint and parsley from her garden in the quinoa taboule and lettuce from the garden in the salad---yum

• Lukas and Anna are coming over for the day today while S&R celebrate their anniversary

• heard a Jonas bros. song for the first time today---it was adult and canned which surprised me...a part of me tends to translate hype to quality

• have I mentioned the brown rice tortillas from Trader Joe's---Gem doesn't like them, but I do

• haven't loved a Louise Erdrich book this much since The Master Butchers Singing Club

• yesterday spent a lot of time researching our possible free (gift from brother and father) timeshare vacation for August---possibilities: New Hampshire and colonial Williamsburg ---unlikelies: anywhere near a beach

• and from the tinkering mind and fingers of Sag our artist-engineer:

Math in the morning

Sag and Cap working on a sudoku while Gem takes a bath. I taught Sag how to play checkers yesterday which he seemed to enjoy. Though any game that involves "winning" is a potential minefield for Sag...and whoever he is playing with.

Celtics

They did it! They rocked the game. Very exciting.

The Plague of Doves

I started reading Louise Erdrich's new novel, The Plague of Doves. It's satisfying. Thanks, Karen. Here is Louise being interviewed on NPR.

Ad for chess

Again today. Was it yesterday or the day before? A feeling of depression is creeping in. It has been so long that it feels wrong. Which is good.

The skies are darkening and the wind is kicking up. The gray and chill bring me to a vision: wrapped in a dark shawl, by the sea, hair whipping my face. Wish I was there. I guess I already am in a way.

Seated by the open window with the laptop. Five, six, seven species of trees in view, their branches and leaves flailing and dancing about. The boys giggling as they watch a video Sag shot (an ad for chess!) hunched over the silver camera, their heads touching gently.

Ask

Cap's mom gave Gem a subscription to Ask magazine for his birthday. He was pleased when the May/June issue arrived in the mail yesterday. (We had thought his first issue would be the July/August one and were not expecting it for another few weeks.)

Here he is imagining a giant devil toad ambushing a baby dino from thick underbrush...

Kiitos Mummu!

End of an era

The lamp I bought at the unfinished wood furniture shop which also occasionally dealt in antiques on Mass Ave. in Arlington way back when, crashed and burned this afternoon. It has moved with Cap and me from Bellis Circle to Sargent Street to Plympton to Sacramento to here.

I was a bear during clean up. Mostly because broken glass in the house, on the floor, is one of my things. You know, those things that stop you in your tracks and turn you, momentarily, into a crazy person? I fill with dread and fear that someone will get a sliver in the sole of their foot because there is never any way to get every single piece up. And would that be the end of the world? No. It's irrational, baby. So there.

Sag expressed his condolences, intuitively and immediately. That was uplifting.

Who knows. Maybe there is a milk glass lamp shade out there, waiting to hook up with this handsome lamp some day....