Undiscovered Talents

So I found out tonight that I can not only drive stick shift through the city, but I can do so with a kitten climbing on my lap and over the steering wheel. Who knew?

I would explain, but I think it's more fun for you to wonder.

You know you're tired when...

You try to use your subway card to pay for your groceries.

Baby Steps

I don't know why I didn't think of this before. I've been "working" on my new photo website for over a year now. Maybe even two years.

I think that the main thing that's been holding me up is my perfectionism--I want to do a thorough job, go through all my files and find the best photos. Decide what the best number for each category is. I've probably sorted through the same wedding photos 5 or 6 times now, making sure that I have a good sample from each wedding, well balanced and as even as possible. I finally weeded it down to 75 photos--25 each from 3 of my favorite weddings.

I also am busy with so many other things that I haven't been devoting much time to the website project. Recently, though, I've started working on it again.

Tonight I was talking to the friend who's doing the website design, and she suggested that I start by picking 5 photos for each category. I quickly went through the photos I've been collecting, and although it was tough to only pick 5, having that limit was helpful. I picked 5 from each category & formatted them in about 40 minutes.

I can't wait to get them up and have a functioning site!

Unexpected Reunion

Some photos of a family get-together recently.... randomly in April.
I guess not so random since it fit with the end of terms for several
of us.



a rainbow! There was a double one, but I couldn't get it all in the frame...



Hanging out.



Dental hygiene is very important. He's taking parenting tips from the monkeys in Thailand, who teach their children to floss by example.



trying to smile...

The conservatory:





Eyes like a butterfly's



the main attraction.



Is that a glass butterfly? (Look closely for the real butterfly)





fish pond. I did not fall in.



who can resist heart-shaped leaves?





Sketching & texting. Or maybe photoing.





Jade plant



At a favorite indoor market, where we got lunch and yummy ice cream:







I wanted to be the goat!

Happy Curtains

Since I first moved into my apartment in August, I wanted to make some curtains for the big beautiful window in my room. It seemed like a pretty simple idea--get some fabric, sew some straight seams, put them on a curtain rod, and volia!, right? It ended up taking a little more work than that. The first, and hardest step, was clearing off my desk to make room to set up my sewing machine:



The fabric I choose came from a wonderful little shop only a block away, that I happened across. They were even on sale for $2-3/yard! I like colorful things, and am not so concerned about things matching, so here are the three fabrics I picked:





Once I had the sewing machine set up, I was able to make the curtains over one weekend. (Although I did decide to stay home and work on them instead of going out on Sat. I wasn't sure if they'd ever get finished if I didn't finish them that weekend!)

Here's the final product:





It looks much better than the bed sheet & shower curtain that I was using!

Here's a photo my brother took with his webcam of my old arrangement.

Rosemary & Thyme

Today's post is about baking, which I've been doing a lot of lately. You're probably wondering what the title and this photo of my Rosemary plant have to do with baking.

Well, recently I've enjoyed gourmet food from two wonderful places, Lil Treats, and Sacred Sweets, and both had herbs added to their desserts, which gave an extra dimension to the flavor. I really loved the vanilla thyme loaf. I've been baking recently, and experimenting with cookie recipes, so I decided to try adding rosemary to cookies, since I have a rosemary plant. (Thanks to a lovely friend!) I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and added some fresh rosemary as a garnish (before baking). I used a cookie recipe from the 1964 edition of Joy of Cooking that my brother found for me one Christmas. (Which is a literary delight in and of itself, in the section on canning it says, "the pleasure of serving the fruits of your labor comparable only to a clear conscience or a very becoming hat.")

I thought the rosemary-chocolate-chip-oatmeal cookies turned out very well, and really liked the flavor combination.



I also made some bread the other day, which I haven't done in a long time. It didn't take too long, and is the hearty, dense kind of whole wheat bread that I prefer. Here's the recipe, one that my great-great-grandmother reportedly used. Here's the recipe.

Stella's favorite bread:

Into 3 C warm milk (can use 1/2 water) put
2 T honey, brown sugar or molasses
Add 1 T butter
1 package yeast
1 T salt

Add 6 or 7 C fine ground whole wheat flour.
Just enough so that dough does not stick to the
sides of the bowl. Do not make too stiff.

Knead 10 min. or more

Shape into loaves, put in greased pans, half full.
Cover and let rise in a warm place (80*F) until almost
doubled in size.

Bake at 375*F for 40min-1hr (depending on size of loaf)

A cup of wheat germ can be substituted for flour.

Makes 2 loaves.

Lost and Found

I finally gathered up the rolls of 120 film I had laying around and took them to be processed. It's always fun to see what turns up when you've forgotten what was on the film. One of the rolls turned out to be holga photos from the family reunion trip to the beach. Here are some hidden gems:



The last pickle in the jar. (And my toes!) It was a full jar when we got to the beach.



Sisters and cousins



Squinting

It was a lovely, although cold, day at the beach. Glad that it turned up again on this cold rainy January night.