realizations

 

We're back to dry, cooler days after two or three of warm and humid; there was plenty of rain, too, including a thunderstorm Saturday. We needed it.

It occurred to me that if I'm having a hard time getting a sweater going on the knitting needles because my cast-ons are a bit tight, I should just cast onto a larger needle - I believe I used to know that. I'm gearing myself up to knit the Ranunculus sweater: I've got yarn - which I've had for years and should really do something with - but can't seem to get going. We'll see. Sometimes at the beginning of a project, I feel I'm all thumbs.

Now that it's cooler I'm letting myself use the oven more. And I suddenly remembered I can actually make the dough and bake one or two dozen, chill the rest and hardly heat up the kitchen at all! This is the kind of thing I've limited myself to all summer - not baking anything that takes more than half an hour. It's worked out well with fish or muffins, but why didn't I think of cookies? I tend to see them as a drawn-out business, having to bake tray after tray, find a place for them to cool away from cats, get something to store them in, etc. It's kind of the way I like to do everything - chipping away at it, a little at a time, here and there. And it's just a good idea to have some dessert-y thing around. 

soaking dry raisins

As Gretchen has mentioned, some Christians celebrated the birthday of the Virgin Mary today. 

Mary is the full flowering of the grace of Jesus Christ. To know her is to know what he has accomplished, what his victory has won. She shows in a singular manner what all of us are called to become...She is the realization of all that he has promised us.

                                                                                                    - Fr. Paul Scalia, from Magnificat

But she doesn't seem to age, according to all those she appears to around the world. ;-)

sweet breeze! thou only, if I guess aright, liftest the feathers of the robin's breast

 That was Coleridge. And oh, a day of cool air, breezing in my window, puffy clouds all over the sky! But I didn't move fast enough to record them before they drifted away. 

I heard some birds fussing in the distance. This always makes me feel bad; maybe there was a hawk around. Oh, for a world where there is none of that! Of course, the blue jays would have to find something else to occupy themselves. They are the ambulance-chasers of the bird world - well, everybody has their place. Poirot always was glad to talk to the busy-bodies of the neighborhood - they often proved helpful.

I grew nasturtium seeds, even though it's getting late. It's such a pretty plant.

I just heard a sound behind me, and there was Annie on my back window with a claw caught in the curtain. She was trying to get unhooked and couldn't, but did she say anything? How long would she have sat there, twisting slowly, slowly in the wind (so to speak)? Daisy is the same way. 

Strange. They do seem to understand the power of communication. Daisy often is telling us she wants food. Annie was really chatty the other day, telling me something. But they haven't made the connection entirely, I guess, especially when they could really use some help! Dolly would have called out, and she did, more than once. 

Well, September is at the door, and I'm looking over my fall clothes. This skirt needs reworking.

It's just not right. I cut off the waistband and picked out the zipper here. I'll sew up that seam where the zip was, turn over the top edge and make a casing for some lightweight elastic. Then I'll see how much I need to take it up - it's too long. 

I've been reading The Jungle Book - it's so charming! This is what the library copy looks like.

beautiful summer day

 Oh my goodness, the perfect day. And in August, of all things!  It's been a summer of so many hot, hot days, and so much humidity. Today was wonderful, and I only got warm after dinner, because I had a quiche in the oven for an hour. Otherwise, under eighty, a gentle breeze, sunshine. Ahhh. A day like this goes a long way toward making one forget about the awful stuff.

And I realized how inadequate my summer wardrobe is, for days off, I mean. So I ordered three lengths of quilting cotton on sale, in order to make three of my favorite sleeveless a-line shifts. The first is black, with sunflowers all over it. 

I cut it short, so after I bind the armholes I'll decide about a ruffle or something else to lengthen it. The checked dress is on hold for the moment.

I cut some chives to dry the other day: I just snip them into short pieces and lay them on a tray in an out of the way place. I do like to do a bit of this and a bit of that, rather than spending all day on a thing. 

Yesterday was hot, so I cooked up some chicken tenders with a piccata type sauce. For veg, I steamed some beans and then cooled them in the freezer. They were served with cut-up tomatoes and salt, oregano and olive oil. That's how we've been living - cooking things that don't require a long heating. 

trying to bloom in the cold

 It's been more like mid-March: cold, and snow predicted three times this past week. Neighboring towns got it when we didn't - until today. And it never reached forty today. But I was also looking at my blogposts from five years ago, and we had some snow in April then, too! It's helpful to have a way to remember these things.

Of course, it's gone now. The pansies I bought at the supermarket are cheerfully keeping company near the daffodils, but even though they're hardy, when it's threatening snow or twenty-eight degree temperatures, I take them in for the night, high up and out of Daisy's reach.

But everything is wonderfully green.

Love's as fresh as spring,

Love is spring:

Bird-song in the air,

Cool smells in a wood,

Whispering, 'Dare! Dare!'

To sap, to blood,

Telling, 'ease, safety, rest,

are good, not best.'

-  C.S. Lewis, from The Word in the Wilderness

 I know what we're going to eat for dinner all week - Holy Week is upon us, and to have a plan is a relief.

summer day

 It rained, heavily, a while ago. I think it's going to be drier after this - the air, I mean. This week we've had a reprieve from the high heat, but it was more humid that before, so the air conditioning was still in use. What would we do without the weather to complain about? But I won't have to water the plants outside.

The Yearling is so enjoyable and I'm surprised at it. Well, these people had a hard life, so "enjoyable" is not the best word, but the writing just brings you along smoothly and willingly. I've noticed it basically consists of lots of short, almost abrupt sentences, which doesn't sound good, does it? But it doesn't seem to matter, it's just her style and it works well. 

"Jody went around the side of the house and took down the milk-gourd from the wall. He felt as light as the gourd. It seemed to him in his liberation that he might spread his arms and float over the gate like a feather. The dawn was still nebulous. A mocking-bird made a thin metallic sound in the chinaberry. The Dominick rooster crowed uncertainly. This was the hour at which Penny arose, allowing Jody to sleep a little later. The morning was still, with a faint fluttering of breeze through the tops of the tall pine trees. The sunrise reached long fingers into the clearing. As he clicked the lotgate, doves flew from the pines with a whistling of wings."

                                               -  Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

I'm thinking of making a plain summer top, something simple that takes a yard or slightly more of fabric, like the One Yard Minimalist Top on Etsy; I have to look around to see if I've got something here. 

This morning I looked down and Daisy was playing with her reddish ball in the kitchen. Honestly, it did try to get through my subconscious that there isn't a red ball, but not quite - anyway, I picked it up to toss into the living room, but - it was a little tomato! That one in the photo above. Yeah, trying to get things off the counter, but it doesn't always work out. Which reminds me: the last time I cleaned the counter, I put some stuff on the table - she was sleeping somewhere. After a while, I turned and she was sitting on the wooden cutting board! I almost tossed it immediately, but I actually Never use it for cutting, we have something else. So, I sprayed with vinegar, etc., and scrubbed. It's mainly useful for resting a large, hot pan on it. So, it's still with us, but if I ever think it may be used for cutting by anyone, it will go into the trash. 

Yeah, she's cute. She was looking into my eyes earlier, and so earnestly, that you can't be angry for long. She tries to belong, she tries to understand, she tries to be good, I'm sure. But for some reason she can't figure it out. Annie does not look deeply into the eyes, she is a simpler being. But she's also a lovely cat. They're good companions for each other and for us.

I am very slowly going through The Distant Mirror, about the 14th century in Europe. I picked it up today, and was surprised:

"Long before Columbus, they knew the world was a globe, a knowledge proceeding from familiarity with the movement of the stars, which could be made comprehensible only in terms of a spherical earth. It was said by the cleric Gautier de Metz in his Image du Monde, the most widely read encyclopedia of the time, that a man could go around the world as a fly makes the tour of an apple... Visually, people pictured the universe held in God's arms with man at its center. It was understood that the moon was the nearest planet, with no light of its own, that an eclipse was the passage of the moon between the earth and the sun; that rain was moisture drawn by the sun from the earth which condensed into clouds and fell back as rain; that the shorter the time between thunder and lightning, the nearer the source."

                                                     -   Barbara Tuchman

fighting words

 Another day which turned out better and warmer than expected, or predicted. My thermometer read sixty eight!! We are going to be spoiled.

I was reading in the first chapter of St. Mark's gospel this morning. Verse 1:  "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
I have Bishop Barrons' Word on Fire gospels, with loads of commentary from the past two thousand years - a lot of it is his.  He said something about this verse which I never heard before: "The opening line of Mark's Gospel.....can sound anodyne and harmlessly pious to us, but in the first century, those were fighting words.

Mark's Greek term, euangelion, which we render as 'good news', was a word that was typically used to describe an imperial victory. When the emperor won a battle or quelled a rebellion, he sent evangelists ahead with the good news.

Do you see how subversive Mark's words were? He was writing from Rome, from the belly of the beast, from the heart of the empire whose leaders had killed his friends Peter and Paul just a few years before, and he was declaring that the true victory didn't have a thing to do with Caesar, but rather with someone whom Caesar had put to death and whom God raised up.

And just to rub it in, he refers to this resurrected Lord as 'Son of God.' Ever since the time of Augustus, 'Son of God' was a title claimed by the Roman emperor."

blooming

 It was cold today, mid-thirties and breezy, but the sun was bright and there's something in the air - spring! The birds are singing a lot more now. It's so welcome. 

The Christmas cactus at the library is blooming again! 

Does that mean it's spring?

with us intertwined, please

 We had two or three summery days last week. I had the week off; my co-workers have often told me that I pick the best weeks to be on vacation, and it seems to be true. I had no way of knowing ahead of time of course, but it was a treat. Still, by Saturday evening, I was ready for some cool breezes. After dark they came, and I sat on the back step, watching leaves fly over my head - from the roof, apparently. I tried so hard to photograph the flying leaves, but have no idea how to do it, or even if I can. Now, it's thirty degrees cooler and we have to get used to it. 

I went to Pinterest to get inspiration for dinner, and saw a recipe for colcannon that I'd saved. Well, I had a cabbage, cheddar and potatoes. But it was getting late, and I didn't have time to examine the instructions, so I just cooked the cabbage with an onion, added savory, salt and pepper, then shredded  a few potatoes in the food processor, sprinkled cheese all around and put it in the oven. It was pretty tasty, but I know I didn't do the potatoes right, and I used red cabbage - very unsightly! We had kielbasa with it. I'll have to try it again, properly next time.

Every day I break up more cardboard and lay it around in my beds outside. We've had more rain and there's standing water out there now - these beds I bought aren't exactly thick wood - I hope they survive their first fall and winter, before succumbing to rot! 

I've been hemming and hawing over my dress: to line or not to line, to face or not to face. I guess I should use a facing, like the pattern suggests. I don't like iron-on interfacing, though. And am not even sure if I have any. I'm old enough to remember how it was before it existed, and they were all sewn-in, woven interfacings. I may do that. But I need to stop the dilly-dallying.

God, be in our thinking, always as a guide;
God, be in our yearning, high and deep and wide;
God be in our caring, with us intertwined,
As we grow to love you, heart and soul and mind.

Carl Larsson - his home and studio

strawberry season

 Juicy strawberries from the farmers' market, courtesy of a very nice friend.

greening

The snow has vanished - it's fifty one degrees. Tomorrow is the feast of St. Patrick, and the grass is suddenly green!

first real snow of the winter

 

Well, the last day of February, and we have our first *real* snowfall. And, contrary to what I expected, a snow day! The library and other town offices are closed for the day. I had really given up the idea of snow, and even the desire for it, but - here it is, and I do love to see it. But.......it does make one feel like we may be going back in time - to winter's beginning - which is not what we want for March!!

It isn't that much, at most five inches, and we are above freezing, so it won't last very long. The transformation will be of short duration; the magic will soon be gone.

My brother said the snow blower started right up. 

endurance

Jack came by; he does beautiful work. It was nine below zero this morning, and during the day in the teens, with excessive wind yesterday - we kept exclaiming about it at work, with people coming and going through the staff door (naturally!), and the howling and blowing outside. 

January, on the other hand, was so temperate that we didn't need a "January thaw". It was never below freezing during the day, all month long. I'll try not to complain about the lack of appreciable snow, since we may well get clobbered. We have plenty of time for that! But it isn't like our usual winters.

Daisy is scheduled to be spayed on March 20, and she is uncomfortable in the meantime. She goes through periods (no pun intended!) of crying, squirming, distraction, not eating because she can't seem to focus. Until finally she gets so tired and can sleep for a while. Annie puts up with her as best she can.

It seems that Annie's lot in life is to play second fiddle; she is a stoic, if not by nature, then by circumstance. I often wonder how she feels about it. 

She is a nice cat.

little miss Daisy

 My new camera is a trial; I keep taking (what I think are) good photos of Daisy, and they turn out to be mp4's. All I want is a camera that takes pictures. Then I remembered that I still have the old one, so...

The cord is from the vacuum; she is not afraid of it!! She is fearless about everything, in fact, and I think that helped to wear down Annie's defenses. I toned down the saturation in this photo, but she is a tabby,  light gray and tan. And very sweet. Annie suddenly looks like a horse.

Anyway, they are doing well together, running around and seemingly having fun. With cats, you can't always be sure., but I think so. Annie rarely growls now. 

My boss brought her over one month to the day after our Dolly passed away. Funny how these things happen.

The heat went on this morning for the first time, and I was glad - I had a multitude of coverlets over me, and still shivered. And it was cooler than I expected, so I didn't wash any windows. The clouds had drifted over from Hurricane Ian, I think. It seems cooler than normal but I wonder if I'm just sensitive right now because I've been sick.  

My brother had grown carrots this year in a rectangular container, and he pulled up some. I cooked them today, our own carrots!  They have a yellow tinge which is different from the supermarket ones. I just steamed them, with butter. Very exciting. We're still getting tomatoes, by the way. Those smaller ones, like the camparis at the grocery store.

I saw three large birds circling above earlier in the day, and ran out, supposing they must be hawks. I thought I could chase them off. Of course, they have to eat, but I just don't like to see them. (the hypocrisy of a meat-eater) Anyway, these were all black, and not so hawk-ish looking, but too large for crows. The bird books said vultures would have a six foot wingspan, and ravens a five and a half. So, I'm thinking ravens. I have a liking for crows and other blackbirds, so I just watched them, and they went off. But I'm not sure what they really were. 

water

 We had rain today. The real thing, and not for just two minutes. 

dog, not cat days

 My intention in blogging is to say something at least on my days off, but here I am after almost two weeks absent. It seems that every now and then I get immersed in something and blogging just falls by the wayside. 

It's very hot here; there's a heat advisory in effect until tomorrow night at eight, but there is air conditioning. Noisy as ours is, I appreciate it and am sorry for what our British friends went through recently, without much in the way of air conditioning. It will still be hot after eight tomorrow, so I'm not sure how they figure it. These are the dog days of summer. I did a google search for the cat days of summer, but I didn't find anything. 

We found ourselves frequently noticing that the rabbits seemed content to feed on the clover, or whatever it is, in our lawn, but now we've seen a rabbit bolt out of the garden twice. Time will have to tell what they're up to in there. 

We're doing a lot of watering - the side garden, the larger back garden. There are things in pots and assorted containers near the driveway, and then the young trees. My brother tells me he's ordered another tree, a kousa dogwood. I really didn't want one; I'm not sure if I like them. There are several in town and they're so messy-looking. But it's really because no one shapes them properly. They end up like a scraggly bush but they can be made to look like a tree. So we've got a white crabapple, an ornamental cherry, a linden and a purple-leafed plum tree. And the assorted box, and holly. Lots of water needed in this dry season. 

It's one month since Dolly's diagnosis. I look at her and wonder if the cancer is spreading to other organs inside. Outwardly, she doesn't appear any worse. I remember Dr. P. said the average time is 347 days. So that would be minus 30 at this point, if she follows the average. One day at a time. 

A young woman came to the library to get her card updated. I noticed her address - she lives on my street. I don't even know my neighbors! Well, they don't know me, either. It's a modern disease. Meanwhile I read my Gladys Taber book, and feel nostalgia for a community where they all interact meaningfully. 

July magic

 I finished washing the dishes rather late - it was almost dark. Almost, but you could still see shapes of trees and other things. And fireflies were twinkling across the brook. In past years I've watched them out my north window, flashing along the forsythia hedge where the catbirds sleep. Or a little farther off, in front of a big clump of tall things growing there forever, whatever they are. Big weeds. They show up well in front of dark bushes. But this summer they seem to mostly appear out my east window, in the back yard across the brook. This evening I followed them.

The twinkling! It's indescribable. Either you've seen it a thousand times (which means you need to read some fairy tales before it's too late for you), or it doesn't matter how often you see it - magic is still magic. It's always new. 

"borrowed" from the internet

soothing

 It was still pretty light out at five to nine. I was about to close a kitchen window, but pushed up the screen instead and stuck my face out into the cool air; it was so pleasant. And I saw a firefly across the brook, visible in the not-quite-dark. I suppose they must fly around during the day. Or do they know their movements take on an enchantment after dark, and save their efforts for the night? 

I am happy to indulge my fancies after a day of struggling over a migraine. After three ineffectual doses of Exedrin, I tried garlic capsules, which I've found helpful for sinus issues. Now I'm almost giddy with relief. 

I bought this hanging plant two months ago. Is it possible the blooms that were on it then, are the ones still on it today? Because I tell you, I have had no blossoms on the front steps, nothing dried up on the plant I have to pick off. I just realized this the other day. A bloom can't last that long, can it? I must be dreaming. But this is an amazing plant, and look how full it is. I only water it. I have no idea what it is. The one I had last summer was also very pretty, but I had to remove the spent flowers; that's to be expected. 

I am back with Gladys Taber for a while, one of her Cape Cod books. It's very soothing to read her. And I picked up a Frances Mayes, about bringing a Tuscan decorating style to your American home. She's also very soothing to read. And I am finally trying the Fairacre series by Miss Read. I've got Miss Clare Remembers. It's very nice, and deeper than I expected. Not as light as the Thrush Green stories. 

All very pleasant to read when one has headaches and sinus problems.

a fresh day

 The windows are all open and it's almost cold in the house, but I'm okay with it. It was up over ninety the past two days, and oppressively humid - this bright sun and crisp air is welcome. I can hear a lawn being mowed, birds having a conversation, things are growing - it's wonderful. 

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet

 We had a bit of a thunderstorm at suppertime. Well, it's been hot and humid for a few days - like July! I wonder if summer has already begun. 

Anyway, the storm. There wasn't much to it, but then while it was sprinkling, the sun came out and you know what that means. A rainbow! 

It was a double - you can see it! 

I have never seen the colors so clearly in a rainbow before; I saw every single shade.

You'll have to pretend that dark spot isn't there - my camera is old. 

It got brighter and brighter; it lasted so long! And then I looked over to the right, and could see the other end 

This is unusual for our neighborhood. It was lovely! 

And now it will be comfortable and in the seventies for a few days. 

third Sunday of Lent

 The grass turned green the day before St. Patrick's; it's been warm. Friday it was in the seventies! One hardly knows what to wear, when the clothes in the closet are for the forties. New Englanders always have something to complain about in the weather. :)

                                                           

When I brought pieces of the gluten-free, sugar-free cake to work, it was very well received. So, I'm making it up tomorrow for Wednesday's celebration. Meanwhile, I still haven't done my taxes. It's always this way - I wait long enough for all the pertinent forms and things to come in the mail, and then things like this come up and before you know it, it's the eleventh hour. But I still have a little time.

In Malcolm Guite's poetry guide through Lent, this week Dante will accompany us. He says: "Most of us are under pressure, external and internal, to do everything, be good at everything, be accountable to everyone for everything! It is not so. In the divine economy each of us has a particular grace, gift and devotion. Finding out what that is, and learning how to be guilt-free about not doing everything else, may be part of what our Lenten journey is for." I underlined that last line! But I still must do my taxes.

                                   

I like this magazine

At the supermarket I thought to get a kielbasa for Easter and the local brand I like was twenty two dollars! I bought the ten dollar one - they taste the same to me. I'm not quarrelling with their price - maybe they source better ingredients, maybe they pay their employees better wages and benefits, I have no idea, but I just can't bring myself to pay that much. 

The Gospel reading at Mass today was from St. Luke, chapter 13:

"Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus said to them in reply:

Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!"

St. Patrick pray for us