Adventure dog at rest (Lewisville Park)

Finally, it feels like summer, hot and clear. Not, too hot, but with crystal blue skies – sun glinting of the leaves and water, glaring off the rocks. Two rafts with two teenage shipmen in each, just floated/bumped by; they are now out of sight. I am now free to return to just my sports bra in attempt to get some sun on my rolls of white flesh.

Sam is happily bushwhacking, obviously feeling like quite the adventure dog as he tramps through the grasses that tower four feet tall. In an uncharacteristic move he is also trailblazing through the water and, with wet and muddy feet, over my book.

Happy (oh and 3 days, 3 posts)

Happy is the other current theme. Nice combo huh? Hot pink and happy. There was a brief depressed, angry, annoyed, and alone explosion over the past weekend, and if I think too hard about it it’s easy to fall into one of those four categories, especially when considering the black void that is my romantic life, but it’s day four of doing almost nothing. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Currently ranking in the top set of happy things in my world.

1. The dog park.
I am seriously convinced that any dog park would give Disneyland a run for it’s money in the smiley people/animals department. Where else can happy adults of similar dispositions stand around, and watch exuberant creatures frolic. I mean sure, I suppose that kids playing in the park might be similar, but with dogs there’s so much less responsibility. I don’t constantly have to worry if my dog is going to grow up to be a productive member of society. He won’t. Why? He’s a dog.

2. Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series
Young adult lit, maybe even a bit before that, but this series is great. The main character is son of a god, and hangs out at a camp for heroes, has a Cyclops for a half brother and a satyr for a best friend. Oh yeah, and if that wasn’t enough there are all these great esoteric Greek mythological references, none of which I can place but all of which are really interesting.

3. Summer
Not just am I not working. I’m enjoying my summer in not Texas, and while some people may espouse the virtues of the lone star state, and I miss the music, I’d be hard pressed to find ANYONE who would consider it a great place for a summer vacation. It hit 90 here today and might get up to 95 tomorrow, but there’s almost no humidity and the mosquitoes wait until dark to descend. The most taxing thing I’ve done all day was take a yoga class, at 10:30 this morning. How crazy when your workout can go anywhere during your day, it doesn’t have to be squeezed in between IEP meetings and getting home to take the stupid dog out.

4. Projectplaylist.com

This site is idiot proof and I don’t have to buy a darn thing. The best things on my list right now? Katy Perry’s, “Waking Up in Vegas” (which I especially love because the video has a returning character from Bones) and a live version of The Indigo Girls’, “Closer to Fine”. Cake’s, “Rock and Roll Lifestyle” also is on there, really because it makes me feel better about not being a black wearing, tattooed, hipster, and I always love the subtle irony of Portland radio stations playing this song.

a fuschia themed world

I recently painted the walls of my study in this exact shade....Alter of Roses is what it says on the can. American Vetch, is what my plant bible, Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar and Mackinnon. This is the coolest plant book every with lots of random facts and interesting information, including but not limited to a recipe for wine using Oregon grapes and salal, two native evergreen plants. Normally, I'd side with mother nature over Walmart but truthfully Vetch sounds like a curse word.

The lion, because I know you're jealous, cost me 10 cents at a crazy yard sale somewhere east of Mount St. Helens.

Summer goal: post everyday

Day 1 of 1

I noticed the other day that cherries were on sale for less than a dollar a pound. It got me thinking about what I could do with them. My thoughts have been about strawberries and freezer jam, but at less than a dollar for a whole mess of cherries there must be something I could do with them. It couldn't involve actually canning though for two reasons.

1. I'm sort of afraid of it. I know in theory it's not hard but the specialized equipment is a turn off...even though there's not that much equipment.

2. I don't have either a pressure cooker or any canning supplies.

Luckily, the Oregonian helped me out. There was an article entitled "Summer in a Jar," written by Lynne Sampson Curry with ideas on how to seep cherries in simple, flavored syrups. I made four jars of the amaretto flavored cherries. Beautiful, and so easy. But, it will be at least two days before I can see how they taste, but I imagine ice cream would be a nice fit.

Soup picture, a few weeks later.

Okay, this is late but this is the soup. It turned out great. Mmmmm. Soup.

progress on multiple fronts

Okay, so I got a lot done today. I cut all the strips of cloth I will need to finish my stripey quilt. I also sewed a bunch of the segments together but I ran out of thread. You can see the end of my spool hanging sadly. So, for today the limiting reactant was the thread. I could go get more but then I would have to leave the house, and I'd already decided against it.

My apartment also smells like soup as the turkey stock has been simmering for a few hours. It is not appetizing to look at. Hopefully the soup pictures will be more appealing.

less family, more soup

My family, although mostly wonderful, has gone back to their respective homes and I am left with turkey left overs and a blessedly empty apartment. It is so quiet and still tht I can here the silly dog snoring on the couch and neighbors stomping around below me. My agenda for today is as follows:
1. walk dog
2. make turkey stock
3. work on quilt project
4. make soup from turkey stock
5. watch Ironman, there may be popcorn involved

I plan on posting pictures and the turkey soup recipe. We'll see how that goes.