So remember back when I said my little tomato seedlings would be a failure this year? They were flagging behind so badly that I had to buy transplants from the local greenhouse?
Well turns out I spoke too soon. My little tomato seedlings are bushy and green and happy. They're shorter than the transplants, and not blooming yet, but they're healthy and happy to be there.
I've mulched them with straw again this year, and I've started watering them with coffee to perk them up a bit, and I think they're going to pull through for me after all.
Now I can spend all of my time worrying about the eggplants. I'd forgotten that I planted eggplants, and discovered the seedlings in the seed starter under the deck, drowning and runty. But I put them in the garden anyway, and I think they're starting to stage a comeback after burning and wilting for a week or so.
So far, I am experiencing great garden success in 2006. Now if I could only do something about the cat fights...
6/19/06
6/14/06
New Skill Set
Last night I added another skill to my growing resumé: Tile Grouter.
Let me tell you, that is one messy job. Especially when your tiles are white and your grout is charcoal. Apologies go to the water table, and to all of the sponges in my house, and to my fingernails, which are now very black.
But my bathroom is looking fabulous, I must say. It took me approximately 4 hours, but it's worth it.
Let me tell you, that is one messy job. Especially when your tiles are white and your grout is charcoal. Apologies go to the water table, and to all of the sponges in my house, and to my fingernails, which are now very black.
But my bathroom is looking fabulous, I must say. It took me approximately 4 hours, but it's worth it.
6/12/06
Where'd the spring go?
Well it's been a long time since I last posted, and I've finally gotten around to it only after a bustling weekend of activity.
More renovations! Yes, we're insanely doing it all at once, and we're on the bathroom now. Last weekend my dad helped us put in (OK, my dad put in) a new counter, sink and faucet, which completely changed the look of the place. This past weekend, we helped my dad install a tile floor. It's starting to look spa-fabulous in there, so much so that all I want to do is hang out in the bathroom and look at it all the time. I will post photos when it's all done and the mess has cleared.
As for the garden, well, it needs some TLC. I was completely discouraged when my little tomato seedlings didn't transplant very well (they burned to a crisp), and I kindasorta threw in the towel for a week or two. Now I need to get in there and weed, and get some straw to mulch everything because I think it's all big enough. Yesterday I went to the garden centre and bought a flat of tomato seedlings. It was a major pride issue for me not to grow all of my tomatoes from seed, but sometimes you have to go to drastic measures. Whatever makes it from my transplants is a bonus, but in the meantime, I got six plants of 'Lemon Boy' tomatoes from our local nursery, where they DO grow them from seed on-site. They don't have the dark-green hard-leaf crunchy look that the one I bought at the grocery store does, which has probably been Miracle-Gro'ed into oblivion. I also bought a tray of broccoli and a tray of brussels sprouts, but we'll see what happens there - I've never successfully grown anything in that family.
Other failures in that garden include a couple of zucchinis that I crushed while transplanting, and a bit of a weed infestation. Aside from that, everything seems to be OK. I've kind of lost track of what I've got, but I think this year's list goes something like this:
- yellow zucchini
- patty pan squash
- cucumbers
- butternut squash
- one plant of a tomato-shaped hot pepper
- red peppers
- cayenne peppers
- eggplants (don't remember how many or which kind)
- golden pear tomatoes
- lemon boy tomatoes (not in the ground yet)
- (regular red tomatoes, don't remember the name! Ack!)
- thai basil
- parsley
- coriander
- regular basil
- borage (ugh)
- thyme
- 'royal burgundy' beans
- yellow beans (not up yet, just planted them)
- broccoli (not in the ground yet)
- brussels sprouts (not in the ground yet)
- sunflowers
- potatoes
- the rhubarb and mint and onions that keep coming back
- the coriander that keeps coming back all over the veggie garden! yay! This is good - we eat a LOT of it.
- on the deck: yellow cherry tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, leaf lettuce(forget the variety), romaine lettuce, and a basil. Most of these are in the same galvanized tub.
- in the perennial garden, in a tin pot - rosemary and garlic chives.
I also bought some marigolds to put here and there, but I need a few more things to fill it out. I will wait to see what it's like after I put in the broccoli and brussels sprouts, but I may go to get more flowers - maybe nasturtium or other edible ones to sprinkle into salads.
My hanging baskets are a bit sick too. The scaevola (sp?) died in two of them, so I bought some gorgeous purple sweet potato vines to replace them. I need some kind of watering system for the baskets, so any suggestions are appreciated. When I water, the soil runs out of them - they're these coir basket-liners that I don't think I'll be using again. The rest of the plants seem to be acclimatizing, but those darn scaevola make me so sad. They're so pretty, and look so crappy when they're not happy. Damnit, the most successful hanging-basket plants for my full-sun spot are petunias and geraniums, just the ones I like the least!
The perennial gardens are looking fabulous, however. I've had to do quite a bit of weeding and culling, but everything's coming up properly now, and all of the new plants that I put into the terraced garden last year are working together beautifully. The theme right now is pinks and purples, but soon I'll start getting some oranges and hot pinks and reds and yellows. I added annuals to it this year, which I've never done before, and I must say I will do that again. Also soon, my dahlias on the deck will get big enough to start blooming.
New favourite flower: Gazanias. I have put them everywhere, in all different colours.
The irises are exploding right now, as are the poppies, lupines, centaurea, tradescantia, veronica, columbines, and the malva that I bought earlier this year. The peonies are ready to go, and I'm excited. I love my peonies like crazy, they make the best arrangements for the dinner table, and they smell so beautiful. I get all girly silly around my big pink peonies.
My cleome seeds sprouted, much to my surprise. I took them from last year's flowers, and dumped them all into a barrel to see what would happen (I've not had success before), and they all sprouted. So I moved a bunch of them to various spots in the yard, and will give some to my mom as well. She gave me morning glory seedlings; we've got a little exchange program going on.
I put in an order for a whack ($76 worth) of bulbs to plant in the fall, and included some garlic. I can't wait for that - I wish I had garlic in the garden right now. There's nothing worse, in my opinion, than running out of garlic in the kitchen. Garlic powder just doesn't cut it. With these new bulbs and a lot of luck, my gardens will be riotous next spring.
Phew, so I hope that post was long enough to make up for my absence. The weather's been weird, but as soon as it warms up a bit I'll be back out there and get everything fixed up for photos. I've been busy, too busy for blogging.
More renovations! Yes, we're insanely doing it all at once, and we're on the bathroom now. Last weekend my dad helped us put in (OK, my dad put in) a new counter, sink and faucet, which completely changed the look of the place. This past weekend, we helped my dad install a tile floor. It's starting to look spa-fabulous in there, so much so that all I want to do is hang out in the bathroom and look at it all the time. I will post photos when it's all done and the mess has cleared.
As for the garden, well, it needs some TLC. I was completely discouraged when my little tomato seedlings didn't transplant very well (they burned to a crisp), and I kindasorta threw in the towel for a week or two. Now I need to get in there and weed, and get some straw to mulch everything because I think it's all big enough. Yesterday I went to the garden centre and bought a flat of tomato seedlings. It was a major pride issue for me not to grow all of my tomatoes from seed, but sometimes you have to go to drastic measures. Whatever makes it from my transplants is a bonus, but in the meantime, I got six plants of 'Lemon Boy' tomatoes from our local nursery, where they DO grow them from seed on-site. They don't have the dark-green hard-leaf crunchy look that the one I bought at the grocery store does, which has probably been Miracle-Gro'ed into oblivion. I also bought a tray of broccoli and a tray of brussels sprouts, but we'll see what happens there - I've never successfully grown anything in that family.
Other failures in that garden include a couple of zucchinis that I crushed while transplanting, and a bit of a weed infestation. Aside from that, everything seems to be OK. I've kind of lost track of what I've got, but I think this year's list goes something like this:
- yellow zucchini
- patty pan squash
- cucumbers
- butternut squash
- one plant of a tomato-shaped hot pepper
- red peppers
- cayenne peppers
- eggplants (don't remember how many or which kind)
- golden pear tomatoes
- lemon boy tomatoes (not in the ground yet)
- (regular red tomatoes, don't remember the name! Ack!)
- thai basil
- parsley
- coriander
- regular basil
- borage (ugh)
- thyme
- 'royal burgundy' beans
- yellow beans (not up yet, just planted them)
- broccoli (not in the ground yet)
- brussels sprouts (not in the ground yet)
- sunflowers
- potatoes
- the rhubarb and mint and onions that keep coming back
- the coriander that keeps coming back all over the veggie garden! yay! This is good - we eat a LOT of it.
- on the deck: yellow cherry tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, leaf lettuce(forget the variety), romaine lettuce, and a basil. Most of these are in the same galvanized tub.
- in the perennial garden, in a tin pot - rosemary and garlic chives.
I also bought some marigolds to put here and there, but I need a few more things to fill it out. I will wait to see what it's like after I put in the broccoli and brussels sprouts, but I may go to get more flowers - maybe nasturtium or other edible ones to sprinkle into salads.
My hanging baskets are a bit sick too. The scaevola (sp?) died in two of them, so I bought some gorgeous purple sweet potato vines to replace them. I need some kind of watering system for the baskets, so any suggestions are appreciated. When I water, the soil runs out of them - they're these coir basket-liners that I don't think I'll be using again. The rest of the plants seem to be acclimatizing, but those darn scaevola make me so sad. They're so pretty, and look so crappy when they're not happy. Damnit, the most successful hanging-basket plants for my full-sun spot are petunias and geraniums, just the ones I like the least!
The perennial gardens are looking fabulous, however. I've had to do quite a bit of weeding and culling, but everything's coming up properly now, and all of the new plants that I put into the terraced garden last year are working together beautifully. The theme right now is pinks and purples, but soon I'll start getting some oranges and hot pinks and reds and yellows. I added annuals to it this year, which I've never done before, and I must say I will do that again. Also soon, my dahlias on the deck will get big enough to start blooming.
New favourite flower: Gazanias. I have put them everywhere, in all different colours.
The irises are exploding right now, as are the poppies, lupines, centaurea, tradescantia, veronica, columbines, and the malva that I bought earlier this year. The peonies are ready to go, and I'm excited. I love my peonies like crazy, they make the best arrangements for the dinner table, and they smell so beautiful. I get all girly silly around my big pink peonies.
My cleome seeds sprouted, much to my surprise. I took them from last year's flowers, and dumped them all into a barrel to see what would happen (I've not had success before), and they all sprouted. So I moved a bunch of them to various spots in the yard, and will give some to my mom as well. She gave me morning glory seedlings; we've got a little exchange program going on.
I put in an order for a whack ($76 worth) of bulbs to plant in the fall, and included some garlic. I can't wait for that - I wish I had garlic in the garden right now. There's nothing worse, in my opinion, than running out of garlic in the kitchen. Garlic powder just doesn't cut it. With these new bulbs and a lot of luck, my gardens will be riotous next spring.
Phew, so I hope that post was long enough to make up for my absence. The weather's been weird, but as soon as it warms up a bit I'll be back out there and get everything fixed up for photos. I've been busy, too busy for blogging.
5/30/06
Thank You, Gods of Rain
The last few days it has been sunny and hot all day, then raining at night. Consequently, all of my recent transplants are doing just fine thank you very much (except for the zucchinis I broke - 2 out of 3 are gone).
A girl couldn't ask for better gardening weather.
And today is supposed to be 32 degrees celcius. Bye bye blackflies!
A girl couldn't ask for better gardening weather.
And today is supposed to be 32 degrees celcius. Bye bye blackflies!
5/29/06
Weekend Warriors
I never got around to writing about the evening I weeded my brother's garden. I showed up and got eaten by blackflies. After spraying myself with so much DEET I worried that my skin might melt off, my mother joined me in fixing up a bed running the length of his house. Turns out, he's got some lovely gardens in place, once all of the weeds wer removed.
Then his girlfriend came over, and that's when the plan went awry. She brought with her a bunch of annuals and some pots and soil, and since planting up colourful pots of flowers is much more fun than yanking out dandelions and mint (oh, the mint - he's got a serious infestation. I hope he likes mojitos), that's what we ended up doing. We did weed some areas, but at the end of the evening, his pots and the raised strip by his door looked fabulous. He was very appreciative. I also managed to scam a small piece of his very-eager clematis, and will go back for some hosta; he has this variety that seems to spread quite a bit.
This past weekend was stellar - amazing weather, a huge garage sale, plants, sun, beer, barbecue - everything a girl could ask for. On Saturday morning, we went to the Great Glebe Garage Sale. This chaotic annual event is about 10 x 10 city blocks of garage sales, and the entire city seems to go nuts. One of the best aspects of it is that there are so many nice gardens in that neighborhood, which I get to examine at close range, and many people are selling off parts of their plants. I picked up the following:
- 2 japanese painted ferns
- 3 pots of variegated perennial grass
- a geum (don't know what colour - oops)
- something else that has little white flowers on tall stalks, don't know the name of it.
I also got a great old galvanized tin pail, which now has 6 holes drilled into the bottom of it and holds a bunch of pretty annuals.
On Sunday my mom and I made a pilgrimmage to the local garden centre and bought a whack of annuals. I got $45 worth of annual flats. That's a lot of flowers. I spent the rest of the day potting up colourful containers, weeding, flipping the rest of my veggie garden, planting out all of my vegetable seedlings, trimming the edges of the yard, planting the new perennials that I bought Saturday, installing my soaker hose in the veggie garden, transplanting another fern for my shade garden from the woods, cleaning up the deck and doing minor outdoor-decorating tasks. The place looks terrific now, and in a few weeks when the flowers start to go nuts, it will be beautiful.
I am worried about my hanging baskets. I bought 4 of those black iron and coir things, and then four big hanging baskets of: profuse hot pink mini-geraniums, trailing purple petunias, bright yellow drooping strawflowers, and blueish-purple scaivola, as well as a flat of bright orange and pink gazanias. I split each of the hanging baskets into four and made four mixed baskets, with the gazanias added into the dirt in the top to keep the baskets looking full, not flat-topped. Well, now they're all a bit droopy, either from the trauma, the sun, watering badly or all of the above. I hope they pull through - I may put them in a shadier spot for a week or so just to let them establish themselves, and then put them back into the full sun. The one that gets the most shade at the moment seems the happiest.
I ended up hardening off my tomatoes and peppers and squash for a couple of days under the deck. I put the tray out into the sun for a few hours on Sunday and when they didn't turn white and crispy, I figured they'd be ok to put into the veggie garden. I planted them, put the sprinkler on them, and then what do you know but it rained overnight. So with all that water I think they'll be ok in the sunny 29-degree weather today. Keeping my fingers madly crossed. I was also an idiot and tried to carry everything to the garden in one load, and in so doing, I managed to break the stems of three of my zucchini plants. I just planted them very deeply, we'll see what happens. I have 8 or so of them so it should be ok.
I had to buy a flat of cucumber seedlings. I know, I am ashamed to admit it, but the ones I direct-seeded were eaten by something. Only one survived and it doesn't look too hot. From six, I ended up with one, and I am mourning my losses. But the new seedlings have a bit of a head start and were at least started by the nice ladies at my local garden centre, where you can see all of the little shoots growing away in the greenhouses. I love that place, I've often thought of getting a part-time job there just for fun. Hoping perhaps that it would satisfy my garden urges and save me some cash, or at least support my plant habit. But when? I am too busy on the weekends maintaining my own yard!
At any rate, the initial work for the 2006 version of my garden is pretty much done. After this, I will need to plant beans, mulch with straw, build up the soil and mulch my shade garden, and then just mow and weed and deadhead as required.
Phew!
Then his girlfriend came over, and that's when the plan went awry. She brought with her a bunch of annuals and some pots and soil, and since planting up colourful pots of flowers is much more fun than yanking out dandelions and mint (oh, the mint - he's got a serious infestation. I hope he likes mojitos), that's what we ended up doing. We did weed some areas, but at the end of the evening, his pots and the raised strip by his door looked fabulous. He was very appreciative. I also managed to scam a small piece of his very-eager clematis, and will go back for some hosta; he has this variety that seems to spread quite a bit.
This past weekend was stellar - amazing weather, a huge garage sale, plants, sun, beer, barbecue - everything a girl could ask for. On Saturday morning, we went to the Great Glebe Garage Sale. This chaotic annual event is about 10 x 10 city blocks of garage sales, and the entire city seems to go nuts. One of the best aspects of it is that there are so many nice gardens in that neighborhood, which I get to examine at close range, and many people are selling off parts of their plants. I picked up the following:
- 2 japanese painted ferns
- 3 pots of variegated perennial grass
- a geum (don't know what colour - oops)
- something else that has little white flowers on tall stalks, don't know the name of it.
I also got a great old galvanized tin pail, which now has 6 holes drilled into the bottom of it and holds a bunch of pretty annuals.
On Sunday my mom and I made a pilgrimmage to the local garden centre and bought a whack of annuals. I got $45 worth of annual flats. That's a lot of flowers. I spent the rest of the day potting up colourful containers, weeding, flipping the rest of my veggie garden, planting out all of my vegetable seedlings, trimming the edges of the yard, planting the new perennials that I bought Saturday, installing my soaker hose in the veggie garden, transplanting another fern for my shade garden from the woods, cleaning up the deck and doing minor outdoor-decorating tasks. The place looks terrific now, and in a few weeks when the flowers start to go nuts, it will be beautiful.
I am worried about my hanging baskets. I bought 4 of those black iron and coir things, and then four big hanging baskets of: profuse hot pink mini-geraniums, trailing purple petunias, bright yellow drooping strawflowers, and blueish-purple scaivola, as well as a flat of bright orange and pink gazanias. I split each of the hanging baskets into four and made four mixed baskets, with the gazanias added into the dirt in the top to keep the baskets looking full, not flat-topped. Well, now they're all a bit droopy, either from the trauma, the sun, watering badly or all of the above. I hope they pull through - I may put them in a shadier spot for a week or so just to let them establish themselves, and then put them back into the full sun. The one that gets the most shade at the moment seems the happiest.
I ended up hardening off my tomatoes and peppers and squash for a couple of days under the deck. I put the tray out into the sun for a few hours on Sunday and when they didn't turn white and crispy, I figured they'd be ok to put into the veggie garden. I planted them, put the sprinkler on them, and then what do you know but it rained overnight. So with all that water I think they'll be ok in the sunny 29-degree weather today. Keeping my fingers madly crossed. I was also an idiot and tried to carry everything to the garden in one load, and in so doing, I managed to break the stems of three of my zucchini plants. I just planted them very deeply, we'll see what happens. I have 8 or so of them so it should be ok.
I had to buy a flat of cucumber seedlings. I know, I am ashamed to admit it, but the ones I direct-seeded were eaten by something. Only one survived and it doesn't look too hot. From six, I ended up with one, and I am mourning my losses. But the new seedlings have a bit of a head start and were at least started by the nice ladies at my local garden centre, where you can see all of the little shoots growing away in the greenhouses. I love that place, I've often thought of getting a part-time job there just for fun. Hoping perhaps that it would satisfy my garden urges and save me some cash, or at least support my plant habit. But when? I am too busy on the weekends maintaining my own yard!
At any rate, the initial work for the 2006 version of my garden is pretty much done. After this, I will need to plant beans, mulch with straw, build up the soil and mulch my shade garden, and then just mow and weed and deadhead as required.
Phew!
5/24/06
My Brother's Pushy Big Sister
Woo hoo the sun is out!
For those of you in this area, in case you haven't been counting, it rained for 12 days straight. And it was cold, but you knew that already. What that means for us gardeners is that May two four weekend, (Victoria Day weekend) was a total wash-out, as that is traditionally peak gardening time.
Yesterday I came home from work a bit early, and we managed to pack a ton of yard work in before dinner. DH mowed the lawn, and removed all of the coverings that I'd put on my little annuals and veggie seedlings two nights before. I made up my hanging baskets. This year, I bought 4 of those black-metal-with-coir-insert hangers for $4.15 each (a steal!) and then bought 5 hanging baskets of flowers. I split the baskets up and re-assembled them into my metal ones, so that I now have 4 mixed baskets. I will take pictures so you can see what I mean. However I think I did some major damage to the plants chopping them into pieces and reconstituting them. We'll see. But they look fabulous!
Tonight I'm going over to my brother's house to perform a wee favour. My baby brother is a new homeowner, and as a 24-year-old bachelor, he'd much rather be fishing and tooting around on his ATV than gardening. But he's started a bunch of vegetables and fully intends to have a veggie garden, the foundation of which is already in place from the previous owners. He just hasn't gotten around to cleaning it out and flipping the dirt, etc. and doesn't even really know what he's already got in there. So I have volunteered to put in a couple of hours of weeding because I love it so. Yes I said it - I love weeding. I will don my best bug hat and yank all of those little suckers out, and perhaps label the plants that he should keep so he knows what he's got.
Then i will put my seedlings outside for their first night out. I'll put them under an overhang of my house, so they are in the shade. I haven't hardened them off properly, and I want to plant them all this coming weekend, so I had better do something. Last night I compulsively stuck my cathedral bell vines into the garden, and this morning they looked a teensy bit shocked. I think they'll be ok though.
Tomorrow I'm going to wander down to the Byward Market at lunchtime and buy a whack of herbs. 3 for $5 - I'll get basil, a few thai basils, rosemary, more chives, and maybe just maybe I'll get some for my brother as well, just to kick-start him. I am a pushy big sister.
Ironically, his girlfriend works at a major garden centre here in town (thank YOU brother!). She loves to garden. But because he stubbornly won't give her a key to his house, I think she wisely refrains from putting too much investment into his yard. Plus she works crazy hours and goes to school on the side, so she's probably too pooped to manage two gardens (she has one at her place too). I feel it's OK to step in, to a point. He's taking DH fishing this evening, so I will fix up his garden. Mmm I can't wait - the first sunny day in two weeks and I will be out until dark!
For those of you in this area, in case you haven't been counting, it rained for 12 days straight. And it was cold, but you knew that already. What that means for us gardeners is that May two four weekend, (Victoria Day weekend) was a total wash-out, as that is traditionally peak gardening time.
Yesterday I came home from work a bit early, and we managed to pack a ton of yard work in before dinner. DH mowed the lawn, and removed all of the coverings that I'd put on my little annuals and veggie seedlings two nights before. I made up my hanging baskets. This year, I bought 4 of those black-metal-with-coir-insert hangers for $4.15 each (a steal!) and then bought 5 hanging baskets of flowers. I split the baskets up and re-assembled them into my metal ones, so that I now have 4 mixed baskets. I will take pictures so you can see what I mean. However I think I did some major damage to the plants chopping them into pieces and reconstituting them. We'll see. But they look fabulous!
Tonight I'm going over to my brother's house to perform a wee favour. My baby brother is a new homeowner, and as a 24-year-old bachelor, he'd much rather be fishing and tooting around on his ATV than gardening. But he's started a bunch of vegetables and fully intends to have a veggie garden, the foundation of which is already in place from the previous owners. He just hasn't gotten around to cleaning it out and flipping the dirt, etc. and doesn't even really know what he's already got in there. So I have volunteered to put in a couple of hours of weeding because I love it so. Yes I said it - I love weeding. I will don my best bug hat and yank all of those little suckers out, and perhaps label the plants that he should keep so he knows what he's got.
Then i will put my seedlings outside for their first night out. I'll put them under an overhang of my house, so they are in the shade. I haven't hardened them off properly, and I want to plant them all this coming weekend, so I had better do something. Last night I compulsively stuck my cathedral bell vines into the garden, and this morning they looked a teensy bit shocked. I think they'll be ok though.
Tomorrow I'm going to wander down to the Byward Market at lunchtime and buy a whack of herbs. 3 for $5 - I'll get basil, a few thai basils, rosemary, more chives, and maybe just maybe I'll get some for my brother as well, just to kick-start him. I am a pushy big sister.
Ironically, his girlfriend works at a major garden centre here in town (thank YOU brother!). She loves to garden. But because he stubbornly won't give her a key to his house, I think she wisely refrains from putting too much investment into his yard. Plus she works crazy hours and goes to school on the side, so she's probably too pooped to manage two gardens (she has one at her place too). I feel it's OK to step in, to a point. He's taking DH fishing this evening, so I will fix up his garden. Mmm I can't wait - the first sunny day in two weeks and I will be out until dark!
5/18/06
Are you kidding me?
Where does the time go?
It's been a month since I lamented my raking injuries! I can't believe it. I'm the world's worst blogger. I am not cut out for regular updates.
In the past month, I've made some nice progress on my gardens but it's really been, overall, a bit of a disappointment. Due to some renovations and minor disasters, I never got around to terracing the other half of my hill as I'd promised myself I'd do this spring. Perhaps I will get started on it this weekend, but the weather's so crappy that I'm not inspired. It's a lot of physical labour, and colour me daunted.
But I have got the veggie gardens ready to go, been taking care of my seedlings, and purchased a few new perennials. I have big plans for next weekend as well - annuals, hanging baskets, vegetables, you name it and it's going into the ground. We've mowed our lawn once, and I've been dutifully weeding even though it makes the blackflies hot to take chunks out of my flesh. My new 'look' is smeared in mud with dead blackflies smooshed into my hair. It's very sexy.
So you've been waiting with baited breath to see what happened with my renovation project, haven't you. Well, it's mostly done. There's still some trim to install, etc., but we bought it, have cut it to size, and it can go in this weekend after we stain it the right shade of faux-maple. Here's a nice shot of the new spare room/t.v. room:
In the middle of the project, after we'd finished off the floors in what is now our office, we shifted our giant aquarium into its new office home. A day later, I heard burbling, and lo and behold, the aquarium had cracked. Both of my back rooms were flooded. All the laminate flooring that we'd already installed - a day's worth of work because it took us awhile to figure the stuff out - had to be torn out. I had to put fans and dehumidifiers in the back for 3 days. Oh, and it all went down, so flooded the basement too. So that was a setback. But a few days later a friend came over and we finished it. Needless to say that ate up my holiday, and the terracing of the garden was last on my priority list.
Next - On to the bathroom!
It's been a month since I lamented my raking injuries! I can't believe it. I'm the world's worst blogger. I am not cut out for regular updates.
In the past month, I've made some nice progress on my gardens but it's really been, overall, a bit of a disappointment. Due to some renovations and minor disasters, I never got around to terracing the other half of my hill as I'd promised myself I'd do this spring. Perhaps I will get started on it this weekend, but the weather's so crappy that I'm not inspired. It's a lot of physical labour, and colour me daunted.
But I have got the veggie gardens ready to go, been taking care of my seedlings, and purchased a few new perennials. I have big plans for next weekend as well - annuals, hanging baskets, vegetables, you name it and it's going into the ground. We've mowed our lawn once, and I've been dutifully weeding even though it makes the blackflies hot to take chunks out of my flesh. My new 'look' is smeared in mud with dead blackflies smooshed into my hair. It's very sexy.
So you've been waiting with baited breath to see what happened with my renovation project, haven't you. Well, it's mostly done. There's still some trim to install, etc., but we bought it, have cut it to size, and it can go in this weekend after we stain it the right shade of faux-maple. Here's a nice shot of the new spare room/t.v. room:
In the middle of the project, after we'd finished off the floors in what is now our office, we shifted our giant aquarium into its new office home. A day later, I heard burbling, and lo and behold, the aquarium had cracked. Both of my back rooms were flooded. All the laminate flooring that we'd already installed - a day's worth of work because it took us awhile to figure the stuff out - had to be torn out. I had to put fans and dehumidifiers in the back for 3 days. Oh, and it all went down, so flooded the basement too. So that was a setback. But a few days later a friend came over and we finished it. Needless to say that ate up my holiday, and the terracing of the garden was last on my priority list.
Next - On to the bathroom!
4/18/06
Ye olde raking injury
Ah, spring.
It's the time of year when my back muscles go "oh yeah, raking! I totally forgot about that!"
It's the time of year where the cats plot out new places to poop in my garden. Toxomoplasmosis, here we come. Guess I should be wearing gloves...
The season where I have no idea what to wear. I'm underdressed in the morning, and overdressed by lunchtime. (sigh). My life is so difficult.
I have raked and raked. Then I raked some more. And a friend raked too, the entire yard, but then I had to rake again. And I will be raking tonight, and probably raking tomorrow night as well. The problem? We haven't mowed the lawn since approximately July 22, 2005. We don't have grass, we have hay. I could bale it up and feed a horse for a week. In fact, we have horses around, perhaps I could rent one for a few days to avoid raking. If I could get a set of four horse-sized aerator sandals, we'd be all set.
But as it is, I have the sandals, and I have been raking like a mad fool to try and get grass to grow where once there was only hay. This weekend, I will be spreading seeds as well, in the rain because I don't want to tax our well too heavily, and because I am lazy that way and actually enjoy the smell of wet dirt and grass.
I haven't started photographing the garden yet, but I'm going to have to take some 'before' shots this week because I predictably have a lot of work to do. On the horizon this year? Behold the following list:
1. Terrace the other side of my front hill, adding to the work I did last year (MAY).
2. Build up and add to my shade foundation garden (MAY).
3. Fill a hole in our yard with dirt and plant grass seed on it, so that we can string up our badminton/volleyball net (APRIL/MAY).
4. Get some flagstones for in front of the shed and around the firepit (MAY/JUNE).
5. Build (or at least plan) a basic platform for a treehouse. If built this summer, we could get a mosquito net and sleep in it on hot nights. How romantic is that?
6. Plant and maintain a cohesive bunch of containers on the deck, possibly containing herbs and/or veggies, but definitely colourful annuals and vines (MAY).
7. Get the lawn into working order, try to eradicate the creeping jenny - organically of course (ONGOING).
8. Make some kind of progress on the border garden (ONGOING).
9. Re-do the compost bin. Possibly buy one of those black ones (JULY).
10. Maintain a healthy veggie garden all the way through the season.
I think this list is very doable. That's in addition to replacing the roof over our kitchen (over the shade garden, grrr) ourselves, finishing the back room, staining our staircase, and renovating the bathroom all before July. Hey, it's gotta rain sometime!
I've said this before in this space, but there's nothing better than coming home from work, grabbing a cold beer or a glass of wine, and wandering the garden, puttering here and there, coddling the plants. That season has already begun.
It's the time of year when my back muscles go "oh yeah, raking! I totally forgot about that!"
It's the time of year where the cats plot out new places to poop in my garden. Toxomoplasmosis, here we come. Guess I should be wearing gloves...
The season where I have no idea what to wear. I'm underdressed in the morning, and overdressed by lunchtime. (sigh). My life is so difficult.
I have raked and raked. Then I raked some more. And a friend raked too, the entire yard, but then I had to rake again. And I will be raking tonight, and probably raking tomorrow night as well. The problem? We haven't mowed the lawn since approximately July 22, 2005. We don't have grass, we have hay. I could bale it up and feed a horse for a week. In fact, we have horses around, perhaps I could rent one for a few days to avoid raking. If I could get a set of four horse-sized aerator sandals, we'd be all set.
But as it is, I have the sandals, and I have been raking like a mad fool to try and get grass to grow where once there was only hay. This weekend, I will be spreading seeds as well, in the rain because I don't want to tax our well too heavily, and because I am lazy that way and actually enjoy the smell of wet dirt and grass.
I haven't started photographing the garden yet, but I'm going to have to take some 'before' shots this week because I predictably have a lot of work to do. On the horizon this year? Behold the following list:
1. Terrace the other side of my front hill, adding to the work I did last year (MAY).
2. Build up and add to my shade foundation garden (MAY).
3. Fill a hole in our yard with dirt and plant grass seed on it, so that we can string up our badminton/volleyball net (APRIL/MAY).
4. Get some flagstones for in front of the shed and around the firepit (MAY/JUNE).
5. Build (or at least plan) a basic platform for a treehouse. If built this summer, we could get a mosquito net and sleep in it on hot nights. How romantic is that?
6. Plant and maintain a cohesive bunch of containers on the deck, possibly containing herbs and/or veggies, but definitely colourful annuals and vines (MAY).
7. Get the lawn into working order, try to eradicate the creeping jenny - organically of course (ONGOING).
8. Make some kind of progress on the border garden (ONGOING).
9. Re-do the compost bin. Possibly buy one of those black ones (JULY).
10. Maintain a healthy veggie garden all the way through the season.
I think this list is very doable. That's in addition to replacing the roof over our kitchen (over the shade garden, grrr) ourselves, finishing the back room, staining our staircase, and renovating the bathroom all before July. Hey, it's gotta rain sometime!
I've said this before in this space, but there's nothing better than coming home from work, grabbing a cold beer or a glass of wine, and wandering the garden, puttering here and there, coddling the plants. That season has already begun.
4/11/06
Projects up the Wahoo
I have been a busy little bee these last few months, building, the bookshelves in that back room, and an overhaul of that space in general. 
This is a picture of the shelves mid-stock, after my mother dropped off every book I've ever owned, which she's been saving in boxes in the basement since I moved out.
These puppies are made out of pine (uprights) and MDF (shelves). That was fun, as it seems that "12 inch" pine really means 11 inches, and "12 inch" MDF really IS 12 inches. I wish they would standardize that sort of thing.
Here's a BEFORE photo:
Anyway, between those shelves and the Lucky Clover sweater from Stitch N' Bitch Nation, my fingers have been busy lately. I am almost done the sweater; I hope to sew it up this weekend.
Also on my horizon are a number of babies. Spring has sprung and there are mummies everywhere - my friend in BC is expecting in a month, my friend here in town is expecting this summer, Angelina Jolie is getting ready to burst, my my there are babies everywhere. I would say it's something in the water, except that I drink a ton of water and am getting nowhere in my quest. I don't think that's how babies are made. In better news, I have learned that I have a standard body temperature of about 36.2. What a freak I am. Truely a cold fish.
My Gro-op is in full swing in the basement. The seeds are reluctant to start this year (can't I conceive ANYTHING?), i don't know if I just need new packets of seeds, or to stop trying to save them from the peppers I buy at the store. So far I've got two kinds of tomatoes, yellow zucchini, thai basil, tarragon, and oh my, i guess I really didn't put much thought into it this year huh. I need to get started on my cukes, pumpkins (from last year's surprise pumpkins! Yay!), regular italian basil for pesto, and maybe some nicotiana. I have eggplants, ground cherries, hot cherry peppers and red peppers on the go as well but I've not seen hide nor hair of them. I also have some of these puppies waiting to germinate, we'll see what happens here. Perhaps I can grow enough of these so that I won't have to repaint my house this year.
I have also started a number of seeds from a dragon fruit, slices of which I found on a chi-chi poo-poo deli tray at work. I picked the little seeds out before eating the fruit, and soaked them in a paper towel until they germinated. Now the little seedlings are all poking out of the dirt, just happy to be alive. I am excited, and i see future gifts of Dragonfruit seedlings on the horizon for all of my family and friends. I have probably 35 seedlings so far.
I guess that's all the news that's fit to tell. Nothing's going on in the garden yet, though a few perennials are poking their little heads out of the ground. I have to re-seed the lawn because it's currently a mole-torn disaster, but it needed it anyway. My lawn is terrible. I am thinking clover.
Stay tuned for more seedling excitement, plus possibly some news on that Lucky Clover sweater!
This is a picture of the shelves mid-stock, after my mother dropped off every book I've ever owned, which she's been saving in boxes in the basement since I moved out.
These puppies are made out of pine (uprights) and MDF (shelves). That was fun, as it seems that "12 inch" pine really means 11 inches, and "12 inch" MDF really IS 12 inches. I wish they would standardize that sort of thing.
Here's a BEFORE photo:
Anyway, between those shelves and the Lucky Clover sweater from Stitch N' Bitch Nation, my fingers have been busy lately. I am almost done the sweater; I hope to sew it up this weekend.
Also on my horizon are a number of babies. Spring has sprung and there are mummies everywhere - my friend in BC is expecting in a month, my friend here in town is expecting this summer, Angelina Jolie is getting ready to burst, my my there are babies everywhere. I would say it's something in the water, except that I drink a ton of water and am getting nowhere in my quest. I don't think that's how babies are made. In better news, I have learned that I have a standard body temperature of about 36.2. What a freak I am. Truely a cold fish.
My Gro-op is in full swing in the basement. The seeds are reluctant to start this year (can't I conceive ANYTHING?), i don't know if I just need new packets of seeds, or to stop trying to save them from the peppers I buy at the store. So far I've got two kinds of tomatoes, yellow zucchini, thai basil, tarragon, and oh my, i guess I really didn't put much thought into it this year huh. I need to get started on my cukes, pumpkins (from last year's surprise pumpkins! Yay!), regular italian basil for pesto, and maybe some nicotiana. I have eggplants, ground cherries, hot cherry peppers and red peppers on the go as well but I've not seen hide nor hair of them. I also have some of these puppies waiting to germinate, we'll see what happens here. Perhaps I can grow enough of these so that I won't have to repaint my house this year.
I have also started a number of seeds from a dragon fruit, slices of which I found on a chi-chi poo-poo deli tray at work. I picked the little seeds out before eating the fruit, and soaked them in a paper towel until they germinated. Now the little seedlings are all poking out of the dirt, just happy to be alive. I am excited, and i see future gifts of Dragonfruit seedlings on the horizon for all of my family and friends. I have probably 35 seedlings so far.
I guess that's all the news that's fit to tell. Nothing's going on in the garden yet, though a few perennials are poking their little heads out of the ground. I have to re-seed the lawn because it's currently a mole-torn disaster, but it needed it anyway. My lawn is terrible. I am thinking clover.
Stay tuned for more seedling excitement, plus possibly some news on that Lucky Clover sweater!
3/14/06
Too Many Blogs
What's happened? There are so many blogs out there, I think continuing with this is almost completely pointless; I think it's only for my own amusement.
If anyone cares, I've been really busy lately. Work has been zoo-like and not at all enjoyable, and I'm in the middle of a nearly-over-my-head renovation project that takes up all of my spare time. I'm re-doing my back office, which was in terrible shape for the first four years we spent in our house. Now finally, at the four-year mark, I've gutted the room and fixed it up. All the furniture and the mess is piled into the middle of the room, there are wires everywhere, I ripped off the barnboard siding and exposed a wall the surface of which looks like one of those giant termite mounds in Africa. I've plastered, sanded, peeled wallpaper, caulked, painted, painted, painted and painted, re-did all the plugs and outlets in the room (they were dark brown), changed a light fixture, now I'm building built-in bookshelves over one entire wall out of painted pine and MDF. It's a ton of fun. Despite the fact that I think I'm allergic to the dust of MDF (an all-body rash clued me into this fact), it's going pretty well, and I'm almost finished half of the 30 shelves.
When this room is done, it will kick off a massive shift in the way we inhabit our house. When we moved in, we put things in rooms instinctively instead of really thinking about how we might use the space down the road. It's been really willy-nilly. That room was the 'office' or project room, or spare room, or husband's room (he kind of took it over) or computer room or whatever, but it's really large, too large to justify dedicating it to that kind of secondary undefined purpose. When we moved in, we used it as the box depository - we put all the boxes in there and settled into the house from that point outwards.
Aside from all of that, we've been reconfiguring the basement a bit, I've been knitting a sweater, trying to stay warm, skiing, and putting off starting my seeds for this spring. I think it's time to get at it, though, because it's the middle of March already and I don't want to end up with a bunch of green tomatoes in September. We're also trying to plan for a trip to Europe late next fall, all things permitting. We'll see. Things are busy, but not busy enough to justify blogging about.
I think my blogging days might be limited. (sigh).
If anyone cares, I've been really busy lately. Work has been zoo-like and not at all enjoyable, and I'm in the middle of a nearly-over-my-head renovation project that takes up all of my spare time. I'm re-doing my back office, which was in terrible shape for the first four years we spent in our house. Now finally, at the four-year mark, I've gutted the room and fixed it up. All the furniture and the mess is piled into the middle of the room, there are wires everywhere, I ripped off the barnboard siding and exposed a wall the surface of which looks like one of those giant termite mounds in Africa. I've plastered, sanded, peeled wallpaper, caulked, painted, painted, painted and painted, re-did all the plugs and outlets in the room (they were dark brown), changed a light fixture, now I'm building built-in bookshelves over one entire wall out of painted pine and MDF. It's a ton of fun. Despite the fact that I think I'm allergic to the dust of MDF (an all-body rash clued me into this fact), it's going pretty well, and I'm almost finished half of the 30 shelves.
When this room is done, it will kick off a massive shift in the way we inhabit our house. When we moved in, we put things in rooms instinctively instead of really thinking about how we might use the space down the road. It's been really willy-nilly. That room was the 'office' or project room, or spare room, or husband's room (he kind of took it over) or computer room or whatever, but it's really large, too large to justify dedicating it to that kind of secondary undefined purpose. When we moved in, we used it as the box depository - we put all the boxes in there and settled into the house from that point outwards.
Aside from all of that, we've been reconfiguring the basement a bit, I've been knitting a sweater, trying to stay warm, skiing, and putting off starting my seeds for this spring. I think it's time to get at it, though, because it's the middle of March already and I don't want to end up with a bunch of green tomatoes in September. We're also trying to plan for a trip to Europe late next fall, all things permitting. We'll see. Things are busy, but not busy enough to justify blogging about.
I think my blogging days might be limited. (sigh).
2/10/06
Finally some additions
I've had some very good suggestions for things to add to the list. They include:
-Change a tire
-Cook a meal for 10 or more (nothing like cooking for two)
-Make jam or jelly
-Clean a fish (from my husband, who insists that I use the list already compiled by Ontario Out of Doors, but I have refused because there's too much hunting cockiness on it)
So we're up to 54.
-Change a tire
-Cook a meal for 10 or more (nothing like cooking for two)
-Make jam or jelly
-Clean a fish (from my husband, who insists that I use the list already compiled by Ontario Out of Doors, but I have refused because there's too much hunting cockiness on it)
So we're up to 54.
1/31/06
Martha's List
So apparently Martha Stewart has decided on the list of 30 things that everyone must know.
I read this list and thought: this is a list of 30 things that every '50s housewife should know. And priviledged ones at that. Does everyone in the world need to know how to pop a champagne bottle? Eat a lobster? Arrange flowers? I'm sure there are people out there with better things to do with their time than learn these specialized skills, and can risk muddling through the opening of a champagne bottle if the situation arises.
In typical fashion, I decided the list was a load of hooey and came up with my own for my own amusement. A couple of the things on it are a nod to Martha, but mostly they're things that most north american humans should know, whether male or female. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Build a fire.
2. Grow something from seed.
3. Change a diaper.
4. Write a proper letter.
5. Basic first aid.
6. Make a perfect grilled cheese (Damn grilled cheese is good.)
7. Operate power tools.
8. Do laundry with shrinking or dyeing anything.
9. Clean a toilet.
10. Remove red wine stains.
11. Make soup stock.
12. Build something.
13. Budget money.
14. Record a tv program with a VCR.
15. Basic computer functions.
16. Tie some good basic knots.
17. Drive a standard.
18. Hem pants or a skirt.
19. Bake some kind of bread.
20. Mix an old-time cocktail (maybe this fits in the opening-a-champagne-bottle category but I don't care. I enjoy an Old-Fashioned myself.)
21. Iron a shirt.
22. Make banana bread.
23. Make tomato sauce.
24. Patch drywall.
25. Change the oil, fuses and sparkplugs of a car.
26. Remove porcupine quills from a dog's face.
27. Basic hair cuts (sideburns, bangs).
28. Speak a second language.
29. Make a good pot of coffee.
30. Clean the trap of a sink.
Now I'm not purporting to be able to do all of these things myself; in fact, that's the next part of my post - I scored pretty well on this list but I live in the country, where skills like building fires and removing porcupine quills come in handy. I only scored 25 out of 30 (for all of those interested in my deficiencies, I cannot do 5, 13, 14, 16 or 25 with any confidence) so even I am not perfect.
How do you score? Do you have any more skills to add to the list? If we get up to 100 I'll send them to Martha, I swear.
I read this list and thought: this is a list of 30 things that every '50s housewife should know. And priviledged ones at that. Does everyone in the world need to know how to pop a champagne bottle? Eat a lobster? Arrange flowers? I'm sure there are people out there with better things to do with their time than learn these specialized skills, and can risk muddling through the opening of a champagne bottle if the situation arises.
In typical fashion, I decided the list was a load of hooey and came up with my own for my own amusement. A couple of the things on it are a nod to Martha, but mostly they're things that most north american humans should know, whether male or female. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Build a fire.
2. Grow something from seed.
3. Change a diaper.
4. Write a proper letter.
5. Basic first aid.
6. Make a perfect grilled cheese (Damn grilled cheese is good.)
7. Operate power tools.
8. Do laundry with shrinking or dyeing anything.
9. Clean a toilet.
10. Remove red wine stains.
11. Make soup stock.
12. Build something.
13. Budget money.
14. Record a tv program with a VCR.
15. Basic computer functions.
16. Tie some good basic knots.
17. Drive a standard.
18. Hem pants or a skirt.
19. Bake some kind of bread.
20. Mix an old-time cocktail (maybe this fits in the opening-a-champagne-bottle category but I don't care. I enjoy an Old-Fashioned myself.)
21. Iron a shirt.
22. Make banana bread.
23. Make tomato sauce.
24. Patch drywall.
25. Change the oil, fuses and sparkplugs of a car.
26. Remove porcupine quills from a dog's face.
27. Basic hair cuts (sideburns, bangs).
28. Speak a second language.
29. Make a good pot of coffee.
30. Clean the trap of a sink.
Now I'm not purporting to be able to do all of these things myself; in fact, that's the next part of my post - I scored pretty well on this list but I live in the country, where skills like building fires and removing porcupine quills come in handy. I only scored 25 out of 30 (for all of those interested in my deficiencies, I cannot do 5, 13, 14, 16 or 25 with any confidence) so even I am not perfect.
How do you score? Do you have any more skills to add to the list? If we get up to 100 I'll send them to Martha, I swear.
1/30/06
The Big O
I have a question: Why does Oprah Winfrey insist on putting herself on the cover of every one of her magazines?
1/9/06
Diary of a Never-ending Cold
I have had a cold since December 22. That's 18 days. In fact, I think I'm on my second cold, having caught an intensified version from dear hubby. My oh my. This morning I tried to feed the cats salsa for breakfast. Why did I ever come to work? Hopefully I won't have to back-pedal and apologize for things I did today unbeknownst to me.
Nothing much is new. I feel like I write this blog for one person (hi Amy!) and have lost steam (no offense Amy!). I'm going to have to do something, like work my way through a cookbook or something. Maybe start writing about American politics. Or keep a diary of my fertility exploits. What's the purpose in me having a blog? Hmmm.
Question of the day: What's the average blog FOR anyway?
Nothing much is new. I feel like I write this blog for one person (hi Amy!) and have lost steam (no offense Amy!). I'm going to have to do something, like work my way through a cookbook or something. Maybe start writing about American politics. Or keep a diary of my fertility exploits. What's the purpose in me having a blog? Hmmm.
Question of the day: What's the average blog FOR anyway?
1/3/06
Spreading Love to All
Happy New Year everyone.
Happy New Year to all the blogspammers. May 2006 bring you the best of luck selling your penis enlargements and no-fail stock tips. I wish you much success!! And for all of those lonely people surfing Blogger and leaving comments everywhere, happy new year to you too. May 2006 bring you a whole new social circle on which you may drop random comments and 'check-me-outs'. I wish you all the best. To ALL of my new friends from Blogger, those who know my name and those who don't really care, have a great 2006.
So my three-week vacation has left me a little more relaxed but no less black in the soul. Maybe it's coming on with old age. Someone told me that when you turn 30 you become less afraid of what people will think, less likely to worry when you barge in line or interrupt someone, more ballsy and a bit more rude. I think it's true. I think turning 30 has given me free license to be a nasty cynic and speak my mind. Perhaps it's the three weeks of isolation in the bush that I just endured (my car is un-driveable at the moment so I was housebound) but the holiday didn't make me any more charitable towards my coworkers or cheerful about getting up at 6:30 every morning. Ah here it is 3 p.m. According to my holiday schedule, it's about time to get up off the couch and make myself a drinky-poo.
I'm kidding of course. A bit. OK not kidding at all. Everyone at the office is all 'Happy new Year!'every time I turn around. It's enough to make a girl want to turn tail, go back to the bushes and stir herself a little Manhattan to make the cheerful chattering stop. sheesh.
Happy New Year to all the blogspammers. May 2006 bring you the best of luck selling your penis enlargements and no-fail stock tips. I wish you much success!! And for all of those lonely people surfing Blogger and leaving comments everywhere, happy new year to you too. May 2006 bring you a whole new social circle on which you may drop random comments and 'check-me-outs'. I wish you all the best. To ALL of my new friends from Blogger, those who know my name and those who don't really care, have a great 2006.
So my three-week vacation has left me a little more relaxed but no less black in the soul. Maybe it's coming on with old age. Someone told me that when you turn 30 you become less afraid of what people will think, less likely to worry when you barge in line or interrupt someone, more ballsy and a bit more rude. I think it's true. I think turning 30 has given me free license to be a nasty cynic and speak my mind. Perhaps it's the three weeks of isolation in the bush that I just endured (my car is un-driveable at the moment so I was housebound) but the holiday didn't make me any more charitable towards my coworkers or cheerful about getting up at 6:30 every morning. Ah here it is 3 p.m. According to my holiday schedule, it's about time to get up off the couch and make myself a drinky-poo.
I'm kidding of course. A bit. OK not kidding at all. Everyone at the office is all 'Happy new Year!'every time I turn around. It's enough to make a girl want to turn tail, go back to the bushes and stir herself a little Manhattan to make the cheerful chattering stop. sheesh.
11/22/05
Oh my Blog.
I am the most boring person on earth.
I am knitting my husband a sweater, therefore there's nothing else going on in my life. Oh, besides work. But who wants to hear about that?
I am excited about Christmas, upcoming vacation, the wind-up of all the current reality shows, going to vancouver next week, Stacy London's hair, my Arcade Fire CD, this sweater that I'm knitting, my inexplicably cheap hydro bill, my best friend's pregnancy, and the Adam Carolla Project on TLC(though I don't know why).
I am pissed off about the cancellation of Martha Stewart's Apprentice, my constantly chapped lips, the hairdo that I'll have to fudge for an event tomorrow, my Arcade Fire CD skipping even though it's a scant month old, winter, my sore old knees, static electricity and a whack of other things. I generally have a pretty sour disposition and these days I'm like an old prune (coincidentally, I am loving prunes lately. hmm)
I need a vacation (December 11 baby!). My darkness is starting to show through at work. But all in all, if I look at the above lists, life is pretty good.
I am knitting my husband a sweater, therefore there's nothing else going on in my life. Oh, besides work. But who wants to hear about that?
I am excited about Christmas, upcoming vacation, the wind-up of all the current reality shows, going to vancouver next week, Stacy London's hair, my Arcade Fire CD, this sweater that I'm knitting, my inexplicably cheap hydro bill, my best friend's pregnancy, and the Adam Carolla Project on TLC(though I don't know why).
I am pissed off about the cancellation of Martha Stewart's Apprentice, my constantly chapped lips, the hairdo that I'll have to fudge for an event tomorrow, my Arcade Fire CD skipping even though it's a scant month old, winter, my sore old knees, static electricity and a whack of other things. I generally have a pretty sour disposition and these days I'm like an old prune (coincidentally, I am loving prunes lately. hmm)
I need a vacation (December 11 baby!). My darkness is starting to show through at work. But all in all, if I look at the above lists, life is pretty good.
10/31/05
Favourite New Thing
I can't get enough of the North American Halloween Prevention Initiative's Do They Know it's Halloween. It's been stuck in my head for three days.
10/27/05
Carbing up
OK so since there's no more gardening or weddings or anything, I've decided I'm going to write about food and knitting. Gennyland loves food, and gennyland's really into knitting.
Right now I am loving the following foods:
dried prunes (or fruits of any kind, really)
baklava
Mediterranée yoghurt (it's like pudding) - peach flavour
chewy chocolate brownies
Montreal-style bagels
...and I'm putting sundried tomatoes in everything.
What are your favourite foods right now? (I know there are maybe one or two of you out there who might answer this...)
Right now I am loving the following foods:
dried prunes (or fruits of any kind, really)
baklava
Mediterranée yoghurt (it's like pudding) - peach flavour
chewy chocolate brownies
Montreal-style bagels
...and I'm putting sundried tomatoes in everything.
What are your favourite foods right now? (I know there are maybe one or two of you out there who might answer this...)
10/26/05
Drizzle in my bones
I think there has been one sunny day in the last 3 weeks.
Being that it's the latter half of October, and being that we live in Canada, a nation not known for it's moderate climate, it should not surprise me that the weather lately has just sucked eggs. But man, it's hard to handle.
When I get up in the morning (at 6:30 or, ahem, um 6:50) it's dark. So dark that I have to feel my way down the stairs in a room full of windows. By the time I get out of the shower, feed the cats, fiddle with the woodstove and shuffle upstairs to get dressed, the sky is indigo. Or more of a dark cornflower. Whatever, it's dark and it's cold.
Then we leave the house at about 7:50 and it's just gray. And it stays that way for the rest of the day: gray and drizzley and chilly. The leaves long ago turned brown and yellow and fell off, and now it's plain ugly outside.
Oh and did I mention that it's dark when we get home too? Oh we can usually make out the path, unless we stop somewhere to buy something and are a bit late, in which case we have to feel our way into the house.
Did I also mention that we live in the woods? There aren't any streetlights, and we have been remiss in putting in adequate lighting on our property. Trick-or-treaters must take their life in their hands walking the 100 feet into our yard. I know I know, it's irresponsible, but we're working on it.
The drizzle seems to have set into my bones and is making me sick. I can't shake this cold that I've had for upwards of 2 weeks. I am cold. I am grumpy. The drizzle is bad for my marriage.
I think it's going to be sunny tomorrow. I am sure that I'll enjoy it from my office window.
(sigh)
Being that it's the latter half of October, and being that we live in Canada, a nation not known for it's moderate climate, it should not surprise me that the weather lately has just sucked eggs. But man, it's hard to handle.
When I get up in the morning (at 6:30 or, ahem, um 6:50) it's dark. So dark that I have to feel my way down the stairs in a room full of windows. By the time I get out of the shower, feed the cats, fiddle with the woodstove and shuffle upstairs to get dressed, the sky is indigo. Or more of a dark cornflower. Whatever, it's dark and it's cold.
Then we leave the house at about 7:50 and it's just gray. And it stays that way for the rest of the day: gray and drizzley and chilly. The leaves long ago turned brown and yellow and fell off, and now it's plain ugly outside.
Oh and did I mention that it's dark when we get home too? Oh we can usually make out the path, unless we stop somewhere to buy something and are a bit late, in which case we have to feel our way into the house.
Did I also mention that we live in the woods? There aren't any streetlights, and we have been remiss in putting in adequate lighting on our property. Trick-or-treaters must take their life in their hands walking the 100 feet into our yard. I know I know, it's irresponsible, but we're working on it.
The drizzle seems to have set into my bones and is making me sick. I can't shake this cold that I've had for upwards of 2 weeks. I am cold. I am grumpy. The drizzle is bad for my marriage.
I think it's going to be sunny tomorrow. I am sure that I'll enjoy it from my office window.
(sigh)
10/20/05
Cozy Feet
I am knitting socks.
I am the kind of person who would learn stonework and then immediately set out to build the great pyramids.
I learned how to knit last January after convincing myself for about 15 years that I was somehow unable to knit, or that I hated it too much or found it too boring to want to try it again. I made my grandfather a red knit tie (on his request - don't ask) back in the day, and I cursed every stitch. The pattern and the groove of the knitting never stuck in my brain, I have virtually no memory of making the thing, just that I hated it.
So when everyone in the world took up knitting last year, and because my mother had been harrassing me for ages to pick it up again, I decided to ask my mom for a tutorial over coffee one Saturday.
She quickly taught me the basic garter stitch. Bo-ring. I asked to learn the knit-purl stitch, so that was a bit of excitement. Within 20 minutes I asked her how increase and decrease, so that was a quick lesson. Then I was onto patterns in contrasting colours, which took another 20 minutes. My mom is a fabulous teacher, we know each other so well and speak the same language.
I went home and started messing around. I made experimental cat toys filled with catnip and stuffing, including one vaguely mouse-shaped thing. I started to knit something that had no form yet but which I was convinced would become a baby sweater with striped sleeves and a black cat head on the front. Ha.
I bought a bit of soft green acrylic at the local Giant Tiger and started on a sampler using a book of stitches mom lent me. I did cables. I did a basket weave stitch (my favourite). I learned all of those little tricky devils at once, and how to read patterns. Please note that I am not still talking about the same day, but rather a span of about 3 weeks. My mom gave me my paternal grandmother's collection of 1950's plastic psychedelic-coloured knitting needles so then I was really off to the races.
Then I bought the Stitch and Bitch book. I am a bit disappointed in it because most of the patterns are nothing that I'd ever wear or use, and I find many of them to be sloppily done (that bunny hat for babies sticks in my mind. The ear flaps are nowhere near the kid's ears). But the instructions are very helpful for beginners.
Next I made a baby sweater using an old pattern of my mom's, and it turned out fabulously. I made a variety of booties out of scraps of yarn. Then I used the S n'B book to make a little red baby beret featuring a black skull and crossbones on the front. I have discovered that the best routine is to use old patterns with new wools in new colours and switch it up a bit.
The next thing to tackle: Socks. My Waterloo.
My maternal grandmother is dutch (her name is Oma). She is a human knitting machine who can practically do one perfect sock in a night. She has been making socks since she was 7 years old, and she's now 80, so that's 73 years' worth of socks. I am terrified of the day that the flow of socks stops coming. But I wanted to surprise Oma with my new sock fixation, so I stubbornly bought a book. Well. None of the book patterns can match up to hers, and so I ended up having to call her to talk me through the turning of the heel. She did it without batting an eye, without even picking up her own knitting at the other end of the phone line. She's amazing and the heel turned out perfectly. The socks ended up coming out two different sizes, but at least the stitches are all perfect.
I've now decided that I'm going to knit Oma a pair of socks for Christmas. She gives them to us grandkids every year, but I've never seen her wearing them herself. I think it'll be hilarious to present her with her own lovingly-knitted pair. I am a stubborn little curr so plowed ahead on my own. I got pretty far - I only needed a talk-through on the second part of the heel-turning (I lied and told her this is a practice sock) - and I think I'm finally getting it. Although hubby did affectionately ask me what sizeS these are going to be.
Next year, everyone knows what they're getting for Christmas.
I am the kind of person who would learn stonework and then immediately set out to build the great pyramids.
I learned how to knit last January after convincing myself for about 15 years that I was somehow unable to knit, or that I hated it too much or found it too boring to want to try it again. I made my grandfather a red knit tie (on his request - don't ask) back in the day, and I cursed every stitch. The pattern and the groove of the knitting never stuck in my brain, I have virtually no memory of making the thing, just that I hated it.
So when everyone in the world took up knitting last year, and because my mother had been harrassing me for ages to pick it up again, I decided to ask my mom for a tutorial over coffee one Saturday.
She quickly taught me the basic garter stitch. Bo-ring. I asked to learn the knit-purl stitch, so that was a bit of excitement. Within 20 minutes I asked her how increase and decrease, so that was a quick lesson. Then I was onto patterns in contrasting colours, which took another 20 minutes. My mom is a fabulous teacher, we know each other so well and speak the same language.
I went home and started messing around. I made experimental cat toys filled with catnip and stuffing, including one vaguely mouse-shaped thing. I started to knit something that had no form yet but which I was convinced would become a baby sweater with striped sleeves and a black cat head on the front. Ha.
I bought a bit of soft green acrylic at the local Giant Tiger and started on a sampler using a book of stitches mom lent me. I did cables. I did a basket weave stitch (my favourite). I learned all of those little tricky devils at once, and how to read patterns. Please note that I am not still talking about the same day, but rather a span of about 3 weeks. My mom gave me my paternal grandmother's collection of 1950's plastic psychedelic-coloured knitting needles so then I was really off to the races.
Then I bought the Stitch and Bitch book. I am a bit disappointed in it because most of the patterns are nothing that I'd ever wear or use, and I find many of them to be sloppily done (that bunny hat for babies sticks in my mind. The ear flaps are nowhere near the kid's ears). But the instructions are very helpful for beginners.
Next I made a baby sweater using an old pattern of my mom's, and it turned out fabulously. I made a variety of booties out of scraps of yarn. Then I used the S n'B book to make a little red baby beret featuring a black skull and crossbones on the front. I have discovered that the best routine is to use old patterns with new wools in new colours and switch it up a bit.
The next thing to tackle: Socks. My Waterloo.
My maternal grandmother is dutch (her name is Oma). She is a human knitting machine who can practically do one perfect sock in a night. She has been making socks since she was 7 years old, and she's now 80, so that's 73 years' worth of socks. I am terrified of the day that the flow of socks stops coming. But I wanted to surprise Oma with my new sock fixation, so I stubbornly bought a book. Well. None of the book patterns can match up to hers, and so I ended up having to call her to talk me through the turning of the heel. She did it without batting an eye, without even picking up her own knitting at the other end of the phone line. She's amazing and the heel turned out perfectly. The socks ended up coming out two different sizes, but at least the stitches are all perfect.
I've now decided that I'm going to knit Oma a pair of socks for Christmas. She gives them to us grandkids every year, but I've never seen her wearing them herself. I think it'll be hilarious to present her with her own lovingly-knitted pair. I am a stubborn little curr so plowed ahead on my own. I got pretty far - I only needed a talk-through on the second part of the heel-turning (I lied and told her this is a practice sock) - and I think I'm finally getting it. Although hubby did affectionately ask me what sizeS these are going to be.
Next year, everyone knows what they're getting for Christmas.
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