sightseeing

While I was on the trip that I recently returned home from, I took some photos.  I went through them this week and realized that quite a lot of them, taken at area historic sites, are non-descript as far as the location goes.  I could have gone anywhere!  How mysterious! 

Or, you know, not.  These were all taken here and here.



Sedum



Windmill!



"... leave a message and I'll call you back." (Anyone?  Bueller?)

 

Kale!

From what I've heard, kale is a cool-weather vegetable.  I was thinking I'd be able to grow some in the spring and a second batch in the fall.  I planted it from seed at the end of March, but nothing happened. No kale. I tried again a few weeks later: still nothing.

At the beginning of August, I'd given up on some other things I'd allocated space to that weren't succeeding either (thanks a lot, cucumbers), so I used that section of the garden to give the kale one last shot. Finally, they've germinated.

To celebrate, here's a salad I made a few weeks ago, using grocery store kale (BOR-ing, but what can you do?).  Hopefully it'll be in the rotation again before the end of the summer, if the stuff in the garden can keep from being eaten by bugs and woodland creatures.

Sweet Potato Kale Salad

Big bowl full of kale, washed and torn into pieces
Sweet potato, peeled and chopped
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Lemon juice
Garlic, 2-4 cloves, minced
Chives, to taste, minced
Feta

Roast the sweet potatoes, tossed with olive oil and kosher salt, in a baking pan at 400F until they're soft in the middle and browned on the edges.  I think I stirred them around at about 15 minutes, and they may have needed another 10, but it depends on how small the pieces are chopped. 

Add the chives, garlic, feta, a splash of lemon juice, and a splash of olive oil to the big bowl full of kale. Plop the sweet potatoes, piping hot and right out of the oven, on top of everything else and toss.

That's it!  Enjoy!

a homebody at heart

Right now I'm on the way home from a tremendously fun weekend with a group of awesome people.  There was laughter and dancing and a ton of amazing hugs.  Full-of-joy bear hugs. 

There was a definite sleep deficiency, though, and more time away from The Awesome Husband than I would have preferred.  For all the joy and rejuvenating energy, of which there was lots, a part of me almost missed getting up at 6:00 in the morning to take Cecil for a walk.  Apparently I do like my routines.

I find it so interesting how the travelling part of a trip and the subsequent return to normalcy can be equally wonderful in entirely different ways.

handmade

This post isn't about something I made.  I can only hope to have this level of talent some day in anything I do.

The Awesome Husband's grandfather passed away earlier this year.  I met him only briefly and never visited his home, but I'm told it was chock full of things he'd made out of wood.  We have a clock made by him, for example, and I think it's pretty cool that my husband's grandfather made it.

The clock doesn't quite do justice to the level of detail and artistry he was apparently capable of, though.  The Awesome Husband's uncle has been packing up the family home, and he sent us a remarkable handmade jewelry box last week.  It's truly amazing.

 

in bloom: front yard daylilies

When we were given several types of daylily plants last summer, I wasn't entirely sure which varieties would bloom with which color flowers, and which should go where.  As they sat, waiting to be planted, for probably more days than was advisable, I realized it was better to just get them in the ground and hope for the best.  So, at the end of the day, we ended up with the funky, exotic maroon daylilies in the backyard, and these salmony-peach ones in the garden along the front of the house.

They're ok.  I mean, they're flowers, so they're pretty.  They're very close to the traditional orange color of daylilies all over the place, but not quite, and I'm not sure if I think that's good in a we-know-they're-different sort of way, or annoying in a they-just-look-boring sort of way.

Either way, they help the front of the house look more interesting, and they're relatively maintenance free, so they get to stay!

We should make some popsicles for him!

I think it's been long enough since I shared a Cecil picture that I can get away with posting another one.
It's hot here today.  Well, hotter than I'd like and we live in the land of limited air conditioning.  It doesn't help, I suppose, that I'm also a stoic (and stubborn) New Englander who takes the approach that it's better to simply tough it out for the handful of days each year that it's uncomfortably warm.
Anyway, point being, we've all been pretty lethargic.  Cecil is setting a great example for us.  Smart puppy.

replenishing day

Life has been harried lately. 

It's raining today, and there will be much television viewing.  Knitting.  Napping.  If it was January, there would be hot chocolate.  It's July, though, so instead there are mojitos.

Our list of things to accomplish will wait until tomorrow.  We'll be more equipped to tackle it then anyway.

Happy weekend, all.  May it be as replenishing for you as needed.