Thinnings

I love arugula. If you're not familiar with this most wonderful garden green, let me sing you a song of praise (it's silly, are you ready?):


OH ARUGULA

A little spicy, you add succulence to salad, sandwiches, fruit! You are easy to grow, you make a fine row, you spread but I don't give a hoot. You are eager, impatient, the first to come up, you give the garden such confidence! Oh arugula I love you, I'll eat you with gratitude, your nutrients give me intelligence.

THE END

Well, I'm not a poet, but sometimes these things just come out when you feel passionate. I hope you don't mind. This is the first harvest from my garden this year, and of course, it's arugula. I'm having it as a salad for breakfast! These are the thinnings, so they will be especially tender and are best eaten with little else so that you can really experience the full effect of their yumminess. Maybe a little olive oil?

Little Darlin' Here Comes the Sun

Woo-Hoo! It is sunny today. That means I'm kicking myself off of the computer for the day and will be outside working in the garden and drying off from all of the rain. I need to do some thinning today, and to plant my basil. I will also be hanging clothes on the line; one of my favorite and most satisfying of chores. Maybe I will practice the guitar outside, too: that sounds delightful. So much potential in sunshine, isn't there? The pictures here are of chives (top), Lettuce (left), and Swiss Chard.

Am I Crazy?

I've taken up yet another new hobby. Yes, really. Here is my insanity: there's always a good reason.

My husband and I have been looking for an activity for us to do together that doesn't involve spending a lot of money or having to leave the house. We tried playing cards at night, and board games but c'mon: how many games of scrabble can a couple really play before you look up and say, "I got nothin'. Wanna watch TV?"? So Brian suggested that we learn how to play guitar. What an awesome idea!

As it turns out, we both actually have our own guitars. Brian got them out of the deep recesses of our closet and brought them to the music shop for a tune up. He picked up a self-help book for guitar virgins and came home with our instruments.

Hope and promise shone from the velvet-lined cases and the brand new strings. My guitar is a classical, nylon stringed variety, while Brian's is an acoustic steel stringed version. We sat down. We started with tuning. Right away, I struggled with even being able to reach my fingers around the massive neck of this instrument (a classical guitar has a much wider neck than the other kind). My hands are small, and my fingers are a bit stubby. I was reminded of my first attempts at knitting when I thought, "Are you kidding me? This is just not natural!" And if I didn't have a mountain of evidence to the contrary I would've said, "I'm sorry, but this is just not possible." Giving up already?? No worries, let's switch guitars, says my sweet man. WHEW! Disaster is thwarted. But now I'm playing on steel strings! I am not exaggerating when I say that my fingertips are now white hot globs of stinging pain. And at the same time, they are numb, which I didn't know was possible. BUT, I can now switch between these chords smoothly (if I play slowly enough): E, A, and D. Pretty good, eh?

The picture of the guitar case is a vintage, 1970's. The painting is an original by a friend of my Mom's named Monica Rice. I remember her being a beautiful gypsy woman with insanely long blonde hair and she was not afraid to dress in costume. This guitar used to be my Mom's and so I am happy to be giving it life again.

Good Morning

It is overcast and a little chilly today. And poor little Bronwyn; she has a late spring cold, and is very snorkely and is now coughing. She will miss most of a week's school, which is stressful because I rely on her time away to get work done. Oh well. I can pull a couple of late-nighters to make up for it.

We're currently reading the book "Charlotte's Web" aloud and she's really enjoying it! I think I was about 6 or 7 when I first heard it, so the timing is nearly right. We'll probably make it through a couple of chapters today. Luckily, Brian made some sauce from our rhubarb plant and it has that wonderful summery tang that will remind me that summer really is coming and that the clouds will soon pass.

In an earlier post, I wrote that I'm working on a project for a wedding. Here is a prototype of the design that I will use for the bridesmaids' clutches. I'm also making a couture clutch for the bride from that lovely dupioni silk that I scored a few weeks ago. I will be sure to take photos of that!

Introducing a Genius

Today I am going to do you a visual favor and introduce you to one of my favorite artists. (And so you know, just because I have a lot of favorite artists in no way diminishes the value of each and every one).

Today I give you Kathi Kimmins, woman of so many talents they are impossible to list. She just started blogging, which gives me no end of excitement because now I can see more of the inner workings of her mind. Here's her blog, The Contented Home. And her Etsy store, Ruby Valley is new, too! You can find it here.

Story of a Bag: The End

This is the end of my tiny story of two big bags. Remember in my post a few days ago, I said that I wanted to take some better pictures of the Fireweed bag? Well, I sold it before I got the chance! So we'll have to make do with these cloudy day pictures until I make the next one. And while making these bags I remembered a great little tip that was passed on from my Great Grandmother, Ina. To keep her pins sharp, she would scrape the pin lightly through her hair before she inserted the pin into the fabric. The purpose of this was to put a micro layer of oil onto the pin so that it slid more easily into the fabric. I had purchased some new pins and they were very "sticky" when I was trying to work with them. I tried Grandma Ina's trick, and it really works! She actually would stuff her pincushions with the hair from her hairbrush and swore that it kept her pins in fine working order better than anything else.

I also have a little bit of news from my other shop at Art Garage Sale: there's a BIG BIG giveaway happening sponsored by 16 artists from the Art Garage, including me! You can enter the giveaway at ScoutieGirl for your chance to win ALL 16 items! This is a value of over $600.00 worth of great handmade items, including one of my wallets. HOORAY for free art!

Someone's Mama

Happy Mother's Day to all of you nurturing women out there! I got the honor of being a special kind of Mama this spring! Here's the abridged story:

Bronwyn and I were out working in the garden a couple of weeks ago when we heard a lot of commotion in our big Eucalyptus trees nearby. Then a crash. I went over and found a little baby squirrel lying there. His eyes had just opened. I have done wildlife rehabilitation in the past, and so I made sure he was okay, but then put him in the crook of the tree so that his Mama could find him. He hollered and cried for a long time, and still no Mama. So I thought I would help him out and then try again to reunite him with his nest later. He was very hungry!

The next day, I put him back in the tree, and still no Mama. Well, usually the Moms come right away when they hear their babies crying, so I think something must have happened to her. Anyhow, this is Rocky! He stayed with us for a couple of weeks on got very fat and sassy! Then we found a woman nearby that is licensed to rehabilitate small mamals, and we decided to take Rocky to her place. He was begining to be a very busy boy, but he didn't want to be too far away from me. I thought he should be with other squirrels so that he could learn how to do squirrely things! So we said goodbye to Rocky this morning, but I'm sure he will have a very happy life.