knitting a hat

I made myself take yarn from the stash recently and find something to knit with it. What my hand ended up grabbing was a skein of Berroco Flicker; I got it greatly reduced when a local yarn shop was closing its doors.

I'm not sure why I chose it at the time, as the color is rather insipid, and I just ended up with the one skein - everything was very picked-over.

I chose the Simple Slouch Hat, a free pattern I found on Ravelry.  It's looking pretty good, which is a pleasant surprise. The yarn is funny and I didn't know what to expect from it - it's a braid, and if you can't see it, click on the picture and you will. It's also got a fair amount of stretch - maybe because it's braided?  There are also gold sparkles throughout, which I think I captured in the photo.

It's coming along much better than I expected, so maybe this funny braided yarn isn't such an odd thing after all. Nothing could be simpler than this pattern which is all stockinette to a certain point, then just decreasing down to a nothing. No edging, but still a very cute design.

cat naps

"Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia."

                                  - Joseph Wood Krutch

pink applesauce

After one batch of slow-cooked applesauce, I am relieved that our slightly mealy apples still made good sauce with a slug of cider to help them out. And since we don't spray the trees, I didn't have to peel. I like pink applesauce!  So, I can safely make larger amounts next time. Which will be Saturday.

fabric bow

with brown packing paper for the wrapping. I just tore strips the width I wanted; the paper got ironed this time.

I guess I'm just tired of buying wrapping paper which doesn't always thrill me. And ending up with too many mediocre bows. I'd rather use what I have.

plenty

It's been either so hot, or rainy, and I hadn't gotten out to pick any apples, but while mowing this evening, my brother thought he'd better - the branches were touching the ground.

This shopping bag is three quarters full. He said there's loads more. I guess Thursday will be applesauce day.

while she sleeps

Sshhhhh.   While Dolly is sleeping, I'll tell you a little story.

You have heard this story before, in different versions; so if you're not a cat lover go ahead and change the channel.  But we don't seem to tire of it, because Dolly is our little princess.

Anyway, I was in the kitchen last evening, the dishes draining, baking a few cookies, and it was around eight I guess. I'd heard my brother say something to Dolly so I knew she'd gone into his room to sleep for the night. The radio was on in the kitchen.

They were playing oldies and standards, but when they announced they were going to play "Honey" by Bobby Goldsborough, that was it. Said I, "there's a limit to what I'll listen to!", and I shut it off and switched on the cd player.

I've been bringing home jazz cds from the library, and what was in there was the Dave Brubeck Quartet - Jazz at Oberlin.  The first track is "These Foolish Things (remind me of you)", and you immediately hear Paul Desmond's smooth saxophone.  

my brother:  Is the radio on?

me: No!  They were playing "Honey" - I shut it off and turned on the player.

bro: The instant Dolly heard it, she woke up and sat up - she's listening to it.

I went to his room. There she was, sitting up perkily on his bed with her head tilted, reminding me so much of the little RCA Victor dog - remember him?  

I guess they sell statuettes of him - and this is just how she was looking

me: For Pete's sake, am I going to have to buy her the collected works of Paul Desmond and Stan Getz for Christmas?  (Dear Readers, I already bought her Trane's Blue Train - must we own every jazz saxophone classic ever recorded?)  

Of course not - I'm joking about that, but whenever this happens, no matter how often, we can't help laughing in amazement. She just loves those saxtones.  Funny girl.

pretty peppers

alas, not from my garden

apple bounty

We have got a crop of apples redder and more abundant than two years ago! I must take a picture. I've picked several which have absolutely no marks, dimples or holes in them, and that's sayin' somethin', since we don't spray.  I've really got to take a picture! The ones I tried so far are slightly mealy - this is unfortunate, but they're not so bad that I can't try and make applesauce out of them; if I add some cider to the pot I am hoping something nice will come out of it.

Meanwhile, they make perfect weights when cutting out fabric.

 I'm finally trying to make a Dottie Angel frock - we'll see how it comes out.

making quiche

When I made this very tasty quiche recently I grabbed what was at hand, using Julia Child's basic formula: into a 2-cup measure, beat up three eggs, and then add enough milk or other liquid to bring up the level to one and a half cups. When I say other liquid, it means milk, heavy cream, light cream, half and half, buttermilk, watered-down yogurt, etc. Whatever's in the fridge.

I also like to pre-bake the crust for these: I do that at 375 for fifteen minutes or twenty, and then let it cool for the same amount of time.

So, for this quiche, I took the cooled crust and sprinkled some shredded parmesan on the bottom - it may have been one quarter or one third cup. I had already seasoned the liquid mixture with salt, pepper, oregano and maybe some onion powder. I then poured it into the shell. There was a bit of leftover zucchini around, so I put that inside, and topped it with some fresh tomato slices and dried basil over all. This baked at 375 for about half an hour or slightly longer.

This is all you have to do to make a quiche: just have your cooled pie shell ready, remember the amounts of egg and milk/cream, season accordingly and include whatever leftovers you think will make it tasty and interesting; cheese is often a good idea.  Voila!

oat bread loaves

with the ever-present cat food can nearby.

the cat who loves greens that much

Did I ever mention how Tootsie loves greens?  Like a rabbit. Back when she lived with us, I was concerned that she'd eaten some long green thing which I feared was an elastic band. Turns out it was a corn husk which had fallen near the fridge. So, I gave her some more. I said corn husks. She ate them. I waited for consequences. There were none.  (by the way, I've never know her to throw up, in the common way of cats - ahem)

I would never give corn husks to Dolly or Henry. (well, they wouldn't eat them, anyway) But there's something about the little Tootsie-cat  - my brother says she's like a street kid, and I think it's apt. I could give her a three inch piece of lettuce - and I have - and it would disappear into her mouth as if she were a bunny. She gets all excited when she hears the rustle of greens.

So yesterday I couldn't see the onion greens in the garden so I decided to pull them out. Well, I'm not sure they are any larger than when I planted the sets - but I don't really know what I'm doing in the garden, anyway.

When she realized there were greens, she jumped onto the counter. These were greens I didn't want her to have! I have heard that onions and garlic can make a cat very sick. So, down she went. But she sure wanted up again.

The onions are now in a bowl atop the secretary.  Otherwise, she's been a good girl.

The End.

meager fruits

As pitiful as my garden is this year, it still is amazing to be involved in the mysterious growing process.

yellow wildflowers

growing abundantly across the brook. They look like small dandelions with long slim stems, but they're not.

his fluffy self

listening to Doris Day

It's Magic

a cat by any other name

has the same little habits, doesn't she?

return of the ninja

Well, Cindy is back for another visit - two weeks this time. And that has to be the last time I call her Cindy, because she's been Tootsie at her new home for a while and I must get used to it.

a little sad I think, on top of the fridge

It's going to be like playing the shell game, shuffling cats and litter boxes. I'll keep you posted.

Pinterest dinner

I made two Pinterest recipes for today's dinner. Chicken with Lemon, which was delicious, although I used "thin cut" but thicker-than-they-called-for chicken breasts, and not the tenders I was planning to buy; so I just cooked them a little longer - very lemony and good!

And I made zucchini cakes. The recipe called for a large zucchini - well, what is that, exactly? I had three small-to-medium ones, and an end of another. I grated the lot. After mixing everything together I could see it wouldn't hold, so I ended up adding two more eggs - perfect!

the recipe:

grate a large zucchini - i.e., whatever that means to you!
squeeze the liquid out of it, and mix it up with -
1 egg, a cup of panko (I used regular bread crumbs), a half cup of grated Parmesan (mine was more like shredded), one quarter teaspoon of paprika and one eighth teaspoon of nutmeg, a few shakes of pepper and half a teaspoon of salt.

When you mix it up, you'll probably see it needs something to keep it together, so add an egg or maybe two - you'll know when it's right.

Brown on medium heat four minutes per side, in some olive oil. Good hot, cold or in between.

good prayer for protection

O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; Grant us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

detail of the Nativity window at church

a sweet surprise

A heavy box arrived in the mail; I wondered what the heck I had ordered and then forgot about. Put on the glasses, only to see Beth's name on the package. What did she send me?

Several jars of homemade jams: rhubarb, strawberry, grapefruit!  And a grapefruit marmalade! But you know which one I opened first?

How cool is dandelion jelly!

ever green

Beauty, strength, youth, are flowers but fading seen;

Duty, faith, love, are roots, and ever green.

                                                                           -  George Peele

stuffed vegetables

I have to make an effort to remember that you can stuff vegetables with anything; it isn't something my mother was in the habit of, except the well-known stuffed peppers with the rice and ground beef mix and tomato sauce to cover.

I recently bought some inexpensive yellow peppers and just layered leftover rice, shredded zucchini, lots of basil and shredded parmesan in them after parcooking. Into the oven in a covered dish and - that was easy.

"quite a task"

"To live fully, outwardly and inwardly, not to ignore external reality for the sake of the inner life, or the reverse - that's quite a task."

-  Etty Hillesum,  from Simple Abundance

"no thought of burdens"

"...they both made her feel a burden when they fussed and worried...How wicked to think of burdens on this still and peaceful morning, with the gulls here. They were no burden to the air that supported them, nor the air to the fields to which it brought the sunshine and the rain. There should be no thought of burdens in the mysterious interweaving of one life with another."

                                                   The Rosemary Tree,   Elizabeth Goudge

(emphasis mine)

ambrosia

I really think that peaches are the closest thing we have here to a heavenly feast.

and Dolly takes a Blue Train

where she meditates

while listening to this.  The wonder of it!

In a Mellow Tone

Henry, relaxing to some Count Basie

service in the Kingdom of God

"I stand in the service of the Kingdom of God; therefore I do not build up my own kingdom, nor hold myself as the engineer of this kingdom. The gifts of God, his Kingdom, is anywhere a tear is dried, where a conflict is brought to a halt, an unacceptable social framework is altered and an acceptable one found, where faith overpowers doubt."

                                                                      - Fr. Vladimir Koudelka, O.P. 

following

"There is an inward world into which they enter who come near to Christ, though to men in general they seem the same as before. They hold the same place as before in the world's society; their employments are the same, their ways, their comings in and goings out...But if they have drunk of Christ's cup and tasted the Bread of his Table in sincerity, it is not with them as in time past.

A change has come over them, unknown indeed to themselves, except in its effects, but they have a portion in destinies to which other men are strangers...They are soldiers in Christ's army; they fight against 'things that are seen'...

To their surprise, as time goes on, they find that their lot is changed. They find that in one shape or other adversity happens to them. ..they almost murmur; they have not yet mastered the great doctrine that endurance is their portion.

O simple soul, is it not the law of your being to endure since you came to Christ? Why come you but to endure? Why did you taste this heavenly feast but that it might work in you? Why did you kneel beneath his hand but that he might leave on you the print of his wounds? Why wonder then that one sorrow does not buy off the rest? Does one drop of rain absorb the second? Does the storm cease because it has begun? Understand your place in God's Kingdom, and rejoice, not complain, that in your day you have your lot with prophets and Apostles."

                                                            -   Cardinal John Henry Newman  1801 - 1890

Jesus said to his disciples: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul? Or what can one give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay each according to his conduct. 

-  Matthew 16:24-27

sour cherries

which I cooked up into a compote for my yogurt.

bread in summer

I don't know what's come over me this summer, but when I had to bake a loaf of bread last week on a hot day, I didn't mind doing it. Over the past two summers I put my enjoyment of learning to bake bread on hold because I couldn't bear to think of using the oven.

I also have not put on the air conditioner nearly as often as in previous years. Only when it's been 90 or above. I don't know what's up with me, but I'm glad of it.

a picnic outside

at home, just three of us. And Dolly, of course.

Who had her own chair, of course. And who, twice, when I had to go inside for something,  moved over to my chair while I was gone - for some reason.

Of course.