shining egg

days fly by

i baked zucchini bread yesterday.  two loaves, using this recipe, and they're almost gone.  i'd like to bake more today, though i might not in an effort to stop eating it.  i especially love the crust.

it's raining here.  the boy stayed home from camp today.  i'm listening to brian's summer mix.  i have lots and lots of pictures from the last few weeks to share and i don't want to sit at the computer long enough to share them.  i haven't been reading blogs much lately, and when i do read i find that i'm not commenting - instead i'm sitting here wishing that we could sit together over a cup of something and talk to each other.  really talk to each other.  i have the strong sense that i would learn so much from you - i do learn so much from you all of the time, and i know that i'd learn even more sitting across a table or a lawn or a patch of sand or gravel from you, instead.  and somehow, i've been resenting the notion that a comment could come close to a conversation.  it's awful of me, i know.  but there you have it.

i've made one of my paintings into prints.  i'm stalling on printing two of my photographs really huge (20x30 huge) for a friend because i'm afraid that i won't like the quality.  i'm working on a commission - a smallish flower painting.  i cut a big board into 3x3 inch squares to make some tiny seascape paintings.  i have my easel set up in the living room lately in an effort to squeeze in as much painting time as possible.  it's not going so well - i've been spending too much time eating watermelon and hula hooping and making zucchini bread and sitting around the campfire.

i'm woefully behind on the gocco swap, yet again.  and on my pay-it-forward obligation, too.  we harvested the first two cucumbers from our garden.  and one grape tomato.  i'm pretty sure we don't get enough sun in our little plot of land, but things are coming along.  

i am wearing my hyacinth necklaces almost every day.  i am re-reading a year of mornings.  i am loving rachel's beach photos.  and zinnia's from the farmer's market.  i am waiting impatiently to pick up a second roll of film from the photo shop.  i am waiting even more impatiently for our trip to the beach in two weeks.  i am trying not to pay attention to how it is that summer is half gone.  i am here and life is full and i think tomorrow i'll go to the pool while the kids are at camp and sit.  just sit.  and try to slow down the passing of time, if only for a morning.

a new rhythm

so first i summered. and then i savored. and then i honored my melancholy. in between i bought school supplies (lots of school supplies - and some for me, too, because i just love school supplies), school clothes, school shoes. i talked and talked and talked about what if you don't get the teacher you want or your friends are not in your class. i practiced the wacky pick-up proceduce (neurotic, i know, but better prepared than worried). i met the teachers and liked the teachers and found that all of his friends are in his class. i tossed and turned and didn't sleep and hardly ate breakfast and dropped them both off at school yesterday morning and now they're gone. all day, gone. it's kind of freaky.

sure, she went to preschool last year for a few hours each week. and we have a much beloved babysitter who comes for a few hours from time to time. but i'm used to those moments to myself being a race - how much can i get done in this little chunk of time? how many errands? how long can i stay at this painting class before i have to rush away to retreive my little ones? would it be better to take a walk, or a nap, or a shower, or eat lunch? a race.

yesterday, after i dropped her off (which went swimmingly. though she told me this morning that she was a little sad after i left - "not sad like crying, mommy, just sad like this" with a downturned chin and head cocked to the side), i came home with the same thoughts - walk? shower? lunch? an errand? and that rush, rush, rush feeling in my stomach as though i might run out of time. until i realized that, if i ran out of time, it would get done the next day. or the next. or the one after that. freaky, i tell you.

so i took a walk. i sat on the porch, as planned, with my tea and my moleskine and tried really hard to just sit there quietly. it's hard, that sitting quietly, when it's been behaviorally-modified out of you after eight years of mothering. i took a shower. i sat some more. i did nothing. oh my.

and now, on day two, i'm trying to settle down into a new sort of rhythm. to become familiar with the quiet. to reacquaint myself with myself. i did have a pang today at the grocery store, at the sight of so many mothers with their children - not because i want my children to be at home forever, necessarily, it's more of a recognition of one part of our life having passed - and another part of our life beginning.

so i'm trying to sit still, to think, to consider how i'd like my hours and my days to feel and to be in this fall season. i'm mentally listing all of the projects that have been on my mind for as long as i can remember, and deciding what to embark upon now - and what can wait until the next day, or the one after that.

oh, and i'm baking cookies for an after-school snack.

more vegetables

when i started this blog, almost 100 posts ago now, i imagined that it would chronicle my creative pursuits and my attempts at living mindfully.  when i first set up and typepad asked me for a tagline for my blog, i wrote "a life of creativity and consciousness."  that's just what i intended.  and though there has been little in the way of creativity lately, and not so much either in the way of consciousness (it's summertime, after all, and i'm busy playing with children, being outside, remodeling a bathroom, traveling - where is there time for creativity or consciousness!?), i do feel like that's what the blog has been, for the most part.

 

but today, as i look back over the past few weeks, i realize that somehow this has become a vegetable blog.  i never could have imagined this, but it seems as though that's all i've posted lately - vegetables, vegetables, and now, more vegetables (but look at these peppers - how could i resist!?).

the second week of our csa was delivered last thursday.  we were camping that night, so my friend naomi picked up our produce and held it for me until friday (she even delivered it to me when i forgot to take it home after eating dinner at her house - picked up my produce, fed my family dinner, delivered the vegetables to me, and so much more - she's a dear friend).

this week's bounty is even more stunning than the last.  this week there is: one head of red leaf lettuce (my favorite lettuce), one bunch of basil (not pictured, it wilted), two heads of green cabbage, three cucumbers, one bunch of onions, one bunch of beets, three green peppers, three purple eggplants, and three purple peppers (yes, purple peppers!).

have i mentioned that it's all organic?  what could be better?  local organic produce, tasty, and a delight for the eyes. 

vegetables!

no, not from my garden, yet. 

a friend has organized a csa in our neighborhood, with the produce coming from a local organic farm.  we've been buying this farmer's produce at the farmer's market for weeks, but now it's delivered on thursday afternoons to my friend's house around the corner.

i took the kids yesterday for our first pickup.  i had hoped to take photos of the produce all laid out in bins on the table, but, alas, my camera battery was dead.  instead, last evening, b. waited very patiently for our card game while i photographed our vegetables on the back porch. 

aren't they lovely?

i'm pleased by the variety - i love everything here.  i'm pleased by the quantity - just right for one week.  and i'm overjoyed to be supporting a local organic farmer.

this won't satisfy all of our produce needs for the week, so there will still be reason to visit the farmer's market (even better!).  and i will have to be particularly mindful about planning our meals so as to use what we have, but that's a bonus as far as i'm concerned.

so even though i said there would be photos of nails and screws coming next, this lovely bounty found its way here first.  nails and screws and other dusty things will have to wait for another day.  today, i'm off to wash and prepare and store our food for the week.

color week - blue

dessert tonight was homemade shortcake, fresh whipped cream, organic blueberries.  yum.

and that's the end of kayte's color week.  fun, of course.  turns out that andrea is doing color week next week.  seriously, i can't resist.  but i'll be posting next week's colors on flickr and go back to (somewhat) regular blogging here.

happy summer weekend.

mustard and watermelon

my children don't eat sandwiches.  l. would, probably, except that b. doesn't, and as his little sister eating a sandwich would be like crossing a picket line.  this makes lunchtime challenging, but truthfully, i don't much love sandwiches either so i have empathy for them and i work around it.  usually.

on sunday, i had some really nice roast beef and a great loaf of crusty multi-seed bread and i announced that i'd be making sandwiches for lunch.  i waited for the cries of protest, but nobody said "boo" until i asked what they'd like along with the roast beef on their sandwiches.  nothing.  nothing at all.  because, of course, on the rare occasion that my children do eat sandwiches, they eat them plain.

but really, this roast beef was crying for mustard.  or russian dressing.  so i pulled all of our condiments out of the fridge door and i made a little plate of dollops: dijon mustard, yellow mustard, honey mustard, russian dressing, mayonnaise.  i gave both kids a piece of this delicious crusty bread, and i bribed said anyone who tasted all of the condiments would get a (whole wheat-oatmeal) cookie after lunch.

l. didn't much like the mustards, but the mayonnaise was ok.  b. liked one thing better than the next!  there's been dijon mustard with his lunch every day since.  tonight at dinner, he ate this

he even said i made the mustard look like it does at the ballpark (where, of course, he's never eaten a hot dog!).

in other food news, we've been eating a lot of watermelon around here - with our new napkins!

they're finished and i'm so pleased.

this afternoon b. scolded l. for not treating her napkin with the proper respect!  i was touched.  though we did then review the fact that they're napkins and can be handled as such.

i have another napkin project brewing.  in the meantime, you can see more here.

summer vacation, day 3

today is day three of summer vacation.  my kids will go to day camp for a few weeks (a marvelous camp that i can't say enough good things about, so i won't even start - though i'll surely tell you more once camp begins), but this week we're whiling away the days, enjoying each other and the quiet (or sometimes raucous noise) of spending time close to home.

we've begun our summertime journals.

oh how i'd love to show you what the kids have done.  but they're journals, after all - private places for recording personal thoughts, ideas, images - and that just wouldn't be right. 

in addition to the embroidery (i have finished six watermelons!), we made father's day cards for a certain grandfather who (i'm pretty sure) does not read this blog.

    

yesterday, we made molly's banana bread.  the kids did all of the baking, i gave directions and handled the hot pan.  it was super easy, incredibly delicious, and lots of fun.

and, many thanks to blair, we won't be searching for things to do this summer.  she's compiled a fantastic list of summertime activities with kids.  that list is going to keep us plenty busy - but next, we're tie-dying!

i so enjoy these lazy early-summer days.

watermelon and peonies

i've become obsessed with watermelon.

i've been eating the fruit like it's going out of season - which, clearly, it's not.  i read today that a whole watermelon stays good on the counter for four weeks!  i had no idea.  i might stock up at the farm truck on tuesday.

i've also been painting watermelons like crazy.  my kids have been saying things like, "another watermelon?!"  and, "mom, when are you going to do something else?"  it's bad.

today, i embroidered for the very first time in my life.  of course, it's a watermelon. 

it's tiny.  and not exactly how i imagined it, but close.  you couldn't pay me to show you the reverse side, though.

i've been admiring the embroidery floating around lately.  and then i found these tea towels.  i loved trying it, and i'm going to do a few more.  i'm not sure what i'll ultimately do with them, though.  i'm thinking about cutting the towel and turning it into four smaller napkins - that might be just perfect for eating certain drippy summertime fruit.  i have two more towels, too (that would make for a set of twelve small summer napkins) in two different shades of this pinkish-red color that i think i'll call "watermelon."

in perfect keeping with my current obsession, my mother brought these flowers to our dinner on friday night. 

there are so many photos of peonies around right now.  i love this flower.  and the palette is, of course, compelling, given the fixed state of my brain.

a secret, and vegetables

so much creative work happening here.  but i can't show you.

i signed up for andrea's postcard swap.  i'm really excited about making the postcards and about swapping with creative people all over the world.  ever since i signed up (a few weeks ago), i've had this idea bouncing around in my head.  but i was traveling and couldn't do anything about it.  so the idea bounced and bounced and bounced until i finally thought it was going to pop out of an ear, or something.

anyway, i've been working on the idea since i got back, and loving it - the process and the product.  i can't wait to show you.  postcards are to be sent on the first day of summer, so i'll share details after my partners have received their mail. 

i thought i'd give you a peek.  but i decided i can't do that.

so instead, i'm sharing this photo from our trip to the farmer's market this morning.  such beauty in vegetables.  speaking of which, i'm reading this book which i highly recommend. 

you can see more of the beautiful radishes here.

enjoy the weekend.

may 5

today is my mother's birthday.  and her mother's birthday, too.

if you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll realize that the birthdays in my family of origin come in quick succession.  my brother's in march (my father's was in march, too), mine in april, my mother and grandmother today.  my other grandmother's birthday is next week.  funny, how it falls that way.

we're having a lovely weekend celebration - my brother, sister-in-law, and my niece are here for the weekend.  this morning, we had breakfast at my house - homemade whole-grain waffles, eggs, english muffins, lots of butter and jam.  lunch was tasty sandwiches and salads from this excellent bakery, carried out and and eaten as a picnic with my grandmother.   my grandmother's sister came, too.

dessert was coconut cake, their favorite (lucky, isn't it, that they could have the same favorite cake!?).

i found the recipe last year, and it really is the best coconut cake i've ever made.  unfortunately, i forgot to photograph the whole thing before we cut into it.  but it sure was yummy.

i thought i'd share the cards i made for the occasion.

happy birthday to two marvelous women.