Spring Into April With A Healthy Diet

Tomorrow is the first day of our Spring Open House at work.  Classes, refreshments and special sales.
So many things going on and so much work to do.......and I have today off.  I don't know why.  And I have to just let it go.  I am becoming "redundant" one time by one item.

I purchased a "ham end" at the little grocery where my daughter works.  I am planning a nice pot of lentil soup. Usually, it's just vegetarian but this time it will have the ham bits in it.

I received a comment on the way I eat.  Thank you.  When I was on the 1200 calorie diet in 2007 (for the entire miserable year), I learned that I could eat more for less calories if I ate things with 5 or less ingredients.   I also learned to shop the "perimeter" of the grocery rather than the midsection where all the prepared foods are.  Read the labels of regular and low calorie times--side by side.

I made homemade soups and totaled all the ingredients (down to the tablespoon) and then divided it into servings of two cups. I didn't follow the rules of tiny portions, but usually those soups in 2 cup portions came in at around 200 calories.  Even at 300 it was a bargain.  In this way, I could eat almost anything I wanted. I weighed dry pasta on my scale and then cooked the 2 ounce portion which is a serving.  I weighed it every time--never guessed.  I weigh everything then and now to "know"  and "learn" what a serving actually is.  I even counted out a serving of potato chips and then decided a whole steamed potato was a better choice (smile).

Five ingredient yogurt is hard to find in the low calorie section.  So I purchased plain, usually full fat, and make my own fruit and yogurt with whatever is on sale.  Pineapple chunks with yogurt is great but segments of red grapefruit is out of this world good.  Raspberries are great but I like to combine them with peach slices (canned in juice or frozen).  I "sweeten" the yogurt with a Tablespoon of sugar free, calorie free liquid Splenda flavored with vanilla.

Salads are 4 to 8 cups of carrot, romaine, red cabbage shreds, arugula or wild greens.  When I was eating high protein/fat I added a cup of chicken with mayo or tuna with mayo.  The dressing is always EVOO with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  I like a super big salad.   Last night G had steak and I had baked potato plus sour cream and chives, big green salad and steamed green beans.  My total for the day with Bran flakes for breakfast, yogurt and grapefruit for lunch was under 1400.  This time around (I am smarter) I allow myself to fluctuate between 1200 and 1600.  Sometimes I eat less than 1200.

It's been 30 days and I have lost 9 pounds.  I have a long way to go, but I have been down this road before and I know that no "mistake" is bad enough to make me quit.  I do kick myself for having gotten to this place (again) but--well, I am only human and humans make mistakes.

Blooming Spring

Thank you to all who wrote a comment on the last post.  Sigh.   I needed them.

G and I ventured out to Freeport yesterday in the rain.  I cleaned out a closet and had a few "never worn" Bean items to return and G had a very nice sweater that he loved wearing--unsew itself in the wash.  Bean takes it all back.  Unworn, unwanted and/or disappointing.  I think the return policy co-opts having controls on quality.  The quality has been diminished in recent years. As the prices have gone up.

A report on the milk jug germination project.  I have 70% of the jugs with tiny little baby seedlings growing.  I call that a success, as I didn't have to have pots on shelving, under lights etc all over the house.  The broccoli and Brussels sprouts are doing the best.  Onions and shallots look good as well.
things got a bit too wet in the recent daily rain, so I have been covering all the crates full of jugs with plastic and burlap on wet days and most nights.   Now I have to start my tomatoes and peppers.  In the house.  I'm going to try to get my Romanian and Sicilian seeds to germinate and the red pepper seeds I saved last summer from a very wonderful, thick walled pepper.  I have to dig around and find my pelleted carrot and beet seeds.  Time to think about planting seeds.

I walked (successfully) with my friend J yesterday.  No asthma effects and I didn't have to use the rescue inhaler.  I had my phone with me in case G needed to come get me in the car.  I walked for about 80 or 90 minutes and felt wonderful the entire time.  No heaviness in my chest and no struggling to take a breath.  My new treatment seems to be working.  I always had the strength to walk but not the oxygen.

The citrus plants on top of the cabinets are setting flowers so pretty soon the kitchen area will be perfumed with citrus blossoms.  My Amaryllis are in blossom.  Very tall and four flowers per stem.  Each has (or has had) two stems.  The Easter cactus isn't faring as well.  Only one bud is visible on the hot pink one.  None on the orange (my favorite).  And the white isn't doing much of anything.

I do have cut branches of forsythias blooming on the table and near the sink.  If I had children around I would have brought out my large collection of easter egg ornaments and decorated the branches as I did when living in Germany.  Holidays were much more festive there.  Simpler but more heartfelt. It seems like "too much trouble" to pull them out just for myself.  But perhaps I should make the effort as I do at Christmas, with the tree.

Time to shove off to work.

Dreaming Or Wondering Why

Most of what is going on in my mind--happens at night.  While I am asleep.  The past two nights I have dreamed of "packing things up and moving".  My dear but estranged friend K was in one of the dreams.  Not speaking to me.  But being packed up and moved out.  I felt sad the rest of the day.

We had very wet and then very cold weather last night.  The sidewalks, grass etc are all frozen and slippery.  I walked out to get the morning paper on the grass.  Didn't want to fall and freeze to death before G wakes up at 10 am.   I was up at 7.  I think I would be pretty cold if left on the driveway for 3 hours.  And I wasn't wearing a coat.

I purchased two items at TJ Maxx yesterday after getting my hair cut.  One item is poorly constructed and is going back.  The tucks in either side of the front portion are different lengths.  I didn't notice it but did when I tried it on last night.  Too bad.  It was made of "gauze" fabric and I had a gauze blouse years ago and it was always my favorite item to wear on very hot, humid days.  The other item is a black and gray printed knit.  Has those angled sides which cover the hips.  Has a button up top so you get two "looks" for one item.  Closed it looks dressy enough for a dinner date.  I NEVER wear printed clothing.  Only solid colors.  I am 60% sure I will return it today before work. It's probably too large for me.  I am trying not to stock my closet with "big" clothing.  Hoping I am not big for much longer.  Why am I never comfortable in my own body?  But it would be nice to be able to tie my shoes without difficulty.

I wonder why I prefer solid to print.

I wonder why there never seems to be enough time in a day when I am back at work and why there is way too much time in a day when I am not working.

I wonder if there is a way to repair Birkenstock clogs.  One of mine fell apart at work on Thursday. ( I waited on customers with one shoe on and one shoe off)  The shoe just broke apart into the different sections.  Shoe top, insert and bottom.  We tried the hot glue gun. No luck.  The boys at work suggested duct tape.  But we couldn't find it.  I went on line and found the same shoe (they never change) but the $140 price tag put me off.  I got the pair that broke in a resale shop for $8.  Never worn.  I have had them for a very long time.  G is going to try Gorilla Glue but they may just be too worn out to be saved.

I am also wondering who the 20 to 100 people are who read this blog each day.  They are all over the world map.  And all but 10 are unknown to me.  They never comment.  But then, on the blogs where people do comment--they say things like "that's so nice" and not much more.

I wonder what it would be like to send out 20 to 100 letters by mail and receive zero replies.  Would you continue to send the letters?  Would you continue to write just because hope springs eternal?  Or is the writing more for the writer than the reader?  I try to encourage myself and the reader.

I wonder what I should pack for lunch today.  Salad or yogurt and fruit.  A bowl of soup would be nice but I don't happen to have any ready made.

Spring Snow Brings Flowers?

We got around 4 to 5 inches of wet sloppy snow yesterday.  The kind one has to shovel as the snow blower just isn't made for throwing wet heavy snow.  The streets and walks are dry and clear---the lawn and garden still white and COLD.

At work we are getting ready for next week's Open House.  The truck brings plants everyday. Pretty little pansies and violas.  Daffodils and tulips.  Crocuses.  Florist hydrangeas.  Mini rose bushes. And of course lots and lots of Easter Lilies. It's my job to see that it all gets watered.

I am cooking.  Made a huge panful of meatballs and baked them rather than frying.  Then they took a bath in marinara sauce for about an hour and then we ate about 25% of them.  The fridge containers of sauce and meatballs is like having "money in the bank". I have some very thin pork chops to cook tomorrow.  I usually like them breaded and fried with German potato salad.  We'll see.

I am reading.  Book number two in that mystery series finally arrived and the plot was not ruined by the details in book three.  So, now I am halfway into book three. Alls well.  Well, with the reading--not with the murder mysteries in the books.

I am dreaming.  The Dream Jobs keep right on occurring.  One night it was this job managing a huge abandoned Mall that served as housing for 20 somethings.  Most of these "jobs" I spend the night working, tend to seem to occur in the past.  Lately, they seem to be more futuristic.  The kids had no homes or families and were hard pressed to put a roof over their heads.  I might be listening to too much Bernie talk.  Anyway, they rented space in the Mall and were creating art etc.  It was very interesting.  The next night I was in the country, moving furniture out of a house.  I really wish I knew what my subconscious was trying to tell me.

I am shopping at Goodwill.  Today I purchased a very cool pair of summer garden pants.  Linen.  Hot pink. Baggy.  A used white bowl that is just like my favorite white bowls.  I now take my yogurt lunch to work in a white bowl instead of a plastic container.  I also eat my morning bran flakes out of the same white bowls.  Now I have four.  Which somehow makes me feel very good.  I also purchased a golden yellow linen shirt from Bean's.  I very carefully removed the stitched "darts" they insist in sewing into the back panel of the shirts.  I just wish I could make the sleeves longer.  Everything about the "new" linen blouses is cheap.  But for $2.50, I will cut and patch until the shirt is the way I want it.  Even adding more fabric to the sleeves.

I am also eating Dairy Queen ice cream.  Once a week.  The plain vanilla cone.  I wish they made a strawberry cone.  Sometimes, I have the swirled vanilla and chocolate cone.  Never just chocolate.
They opened on the exact day-365 days after I drove G home from the hospital last year and I stopped and bought him a butterfinger blizzard--small. He said nothing had ever tasted so good.  Being alive is pretty wonderful.

Making Terrariums

We will be making terrariums at work on Saturday.  It's a class customers can sign up for and pay $40 for the terrarium they make.  I'm not teaching.  I'll be doing repots and answering questions and running around all day.  Today, I think I actually never stopped walking for a 3 hour period of time.

In fact, it was after 2 pm before I wondered if it was time for lunch.  Since I go home at 3--well, I had lunch out on the back stoop with Riley (at home).  Yogurt with bran buds and red grapefruit segments.  G was out pruning.  Tomorrow he has a plumbing job at our daughter's house.

I like the terrarium up top--I like the air plant on the left and the lovely shell on the right.  In the back, the dark object looks like lava rock and then we have the artistic stick and moss ball.  Easy to care for--just take the air plant out for a quick dunk in the sink and then put it back.  I would imagine the finished terrarium up top at about $100.  Those glass balls are very expensive.  Empty. And an air plant that size is around $18 or more.

So, back at work.  Tired.  Very tired.  But happy to be back in the greenhouse with all that warmth and light.  Easy enough to fall asleep at night.  Breathing seems much better-- might not even need the inhaler.

I'm still wearing my big baggy corduroy pants to work--but with a belt to hold them up.  I just like wearing big baggy pants.  I will be sad when I have to stop wearing corduroy.

Tomorrow we will be having rain.  Like every other day.  But it's not cold.  And the broccoli seeds have started germinating.  About 6.  Which is 6 more than I have even gotten to germinate before. Nothing else is doing anything but I still check on all the jugs--just in case.  Ever the optimist? I think all gardeners are optimistic.  Have to be.

Opening The Windows Day (Springing Forward)

Here in Maine we (me) look forward to the first really nice day when we can turn off the furnace and open the windows.  Letting out all the stinky winter air.  I will have to re-start the furnace (sadly) because tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and cold.

I also used the time to wash and dry the garbage can in the kitchen, the compost bucket and the onion and potato bins.  Things happen in all those places that are smelly.

I also changed the dog bed covers and sprayed the beds with Febreze.   I usually do this while the dog is outside watching G work.

My daffodils are growing by the day--the crocuses are blooming.  The earth, here in Maine is still quite solid--a bit of thawing in the area of the leach field, but that's about all.  Still, we are about a month early and this has really been a VERY WARM winter.

I feel much better knowing we changed all the air inside the house:  from Winter air to Spring air.

Winter Jug Update:  A few tiny signs of germination in two of the 14 jugs.

Looking At The Stars With Riley

Is my favorite part of the day.  It happens when we decide to stop watching television.  I ask Riley if he wants to go see some stars and he jumps up and runs to the front door.  Any other time, he runs to the back door.  I have seen dippers and Orion.  I have seen Venus.  But I have never seen Vincent's Starry Sky.  But, I can hope that one night I will see something like it.

My Winter Furlough is coming to an end.  I go back to work on March 15th.

Yesterday and today, G and I have been mucking about in the muddy yard pruning shrubs.  I trimmed up two (seriously) overgrown weigelia, some roses and two spirea.  I removed the tags from the two new Beach Plums and the two Serviceberries.  They made it thru our "warm" winter.  Daffodils and hyacinth bulbs are poking their heads out.  One of the Lenten Rose plants is blooming.  Two of the three Witch Hazels have yellow flowers.  It must be Spring.

I have "re-found" an author.  I read the first book a while ago--well, it must be quite awhile since she has written three books now and that was the first.  Kristina Ohlsson.  I guess I am always looking in the "O" section???   Unwanted was first, then Silenced and now Disappeared.  Silenced is waiting at the library--where I was this morning--but the notification just came in at 4pm.  Too many things have already been told in book three (I have read 104 pages) that I don't think book two will hold many mysteries.  It is incredibly odd for an author to retell plot points from a previous book, but this author does.  Anyone reading this one first--would not be tempted to read the others.  Perhaps it should come with a warning on the cover?

We had lunch at Ruby Tuesday and I had the "Salad Bar" last week.  Today I purchase a small red cabbage and sliced it into slivers along with my carrot curls.  So very pretty.  I had a bottle of Ken's honey mustard salad dressing in the fridge which the Ruby Tuesday staff had told me was what they used.  I didn't believe them--but it is the very same.  Now I just have to figure out the croutons-- and never need to go to RT again! I had my VERY favorite salad at Applebee's this week--Oriental Chicken Salad.  It comes in at 1400 calories but I just can't figure out how.  But it was worth it.

I have been so very lucky at Goodwill.  Both times I have gone to the new, larger one in Town, they have been having a 50% off sale on Women's clothing.  I have gotten some lovely things--linen.  For just $2.50 each.  And I got a gallon sized Target storage jar for $3.  But today-- with the weather between Winter and Spring--I re-discovered that I do not have a suitable outdoor jacket or coat to wear---to say, the dentist appointment.  I have to start a list of things I REALLY need.

We'll be have a real New England Boiled dinner in the next few days.  Corned beef, red potatoes, carrots and cabbage.  I may even dig out my favorite recipe for Soda Bread.  I am always reminded of eating Irish Brown Bread and really wonderful Irish cheese when I visited our friends in Ireland. The closest I can come to that is the soda bread recipe and Kerrygold Cheddar.

Well, that's about all that is going on here.

The Winter Jug Project-2016

This is what the jugs look like right now.  This is not my photo.  My jugs are in a packing crate from work and are out on the back stoop.  We (here in Maine) still have freezing nights with still cold but sunny days.  The bottles heat up during the day and freeze at night.  It's called "stratification" on seed packages.  Perennial seeds need a cold stratification to germinate.  I am trying to germinate a number of self seeding "tender" perennials in the jugs.  Lupine seeds would have been a good choice but I didn't have any.  Swamp milkweed is another good choice for the jugs. I also am trying to start onion and shallot seeds.  I may need to try those again later in the month of March.  It may have been too cold.  I have Blue Fescue ornamental grass in one jug.  We could have also germinated more of G's chestnut seeds this way.

This is what the jugs looked like whenever we have had snow.  It's okay if some of the snow or rain that falls goes into the open top of the jugs.  The jugs have drainage holes drilled into the bottoms.

The directions call for drilling the holes in the bottom of the jugs or two liter bottles (clear or translucent--not the ones you can't see through) and then cutting the jugs open from the side leaving the handle section attached to the bottoms.  I insert the point of the scissors--strong utility scissors-- just about where the handle exists and then straight around the equator of the jug to the opposite side of the handle.  So I have 4 to 5 inch of depth in the bottom section for the soil and seeds.

The fill with a seed starter mix of soil (moistened enough to resemble moist chocolate cake-usually best with lukewarm to hot water), plant your seeds, follow package directions for coverage of seeds (some like to stay on surface, some like a light dusting and others like a quarter inch or more over the top.   The add a label stick inside, close the top of the jug over the bottom section and tape shut with some duct tape.   I also followed directions and wrote the seed names on the front side top of the jugs with Sharpie and covered the writing with clear packing tape--so it won't fade.

The jug acts as a small scale greenhouse for the seedlings.  Providing protection, conservation of moisture and on sunny days in winter (it is still winter) considerable warmth. Also the light available outside is 10,000 times stronger than any light you could manufacture with grow lights going for 14 hours a day.

Set the jugs outside (no caps).  Check on them every so often to see if they need moisture--I use a spray bottle to add water inside the top opening.  I also spy into the opening to see if anything is happening.  Riley finds this mystifying.

The next round of jug planting will take place near the end of March.  For more tender seedlings and perhaps a second try at the onion seeds if the first has failed.  I will attempt to grow marigolds, zinnias and bachelor buttons in the jugs.  I have tons of flower seed packets from the end of season grab bag at work.  And I think annual flowers make a garden very jolly.

Once the seeds germinate and little green leaves appear (when one peeks into the spout) it's time to peel off the duct tape and open up the little greenhouses.  Just for the daytime.  Close them up again as the sun goes down.  One little piece of tape should hold the top half of the jug in place.

Later pictures from this website show all the jugs with their top half flipped open and the little seedlings flourishing.  By this time--the little plants can be transplanted to larger pots of go into the garden if the soil has thawed.   It certainly saves on cluttering up the house with grow lights etc.

I hope to have photos of my own robust production of seedlings by April.  We'll see.

In a note on the bottles.  G drinks quite a bit of orange juice and we already use the empty 89 ounce bottles to hold water to water plants on the front porch and in Winter in the upstairs winter plant storage area. So we have quite a few bottles on hand. I was going to try making the juice bottles into "greenhouses" but punching a starter hole for the scissors was too difficult (and a bit dangerous) and I wondered if the plastic of the bottles might be too brittle to cut successfully.  Some of you might have better luck.  Let me know if you find a way.

Possibilities

Whenever a plant of mine presents me with the "possibility" of a flower (bloom) I am instantly positive about the future.  New growth.  New opportunities.  Freshness.

After an abbreviated Winter (here in Maine), Spring seems to be pushing forward.   My amaryllis are also flowering (well, one of them is) and budded.  Time to sweep the floor, pound the winter dust out of the pillows, wash the slipcovers and move ahead. Could I possibly move from No.17 on my To Do List?  Started on January 1.  I anticipated reaching 50 before returning to work.  Oops.

I read a very good mystery--Helen Olson--"Hidden".  A woman who has "disappeared" for 15 years is suddenly found.  I think it may have ruined me for other books for awhile.  We watched "Becoming Jane" about the (supposed) life of Jane Austen before she wrote any books.  We also watched American Hustle (2013).  Next up is Silver Something Playbook.  More Bradley Cooper but I can't see why women think he's good looking?  More ferret or weasel. IMHO.

Today is the one year anniversary of G's heart attack--so we are going out for a late lunch.

In March, almost.

This floral fabric piece (this is just the top section) will be on display at the Curtis Library for the month of March along with pots and pots full of flowering bulbs that the library staff has planted and cared for all winter.

I don't know why I didn't photograph the entire piece (years ago).  Below the flowers is a lovely bowl made out of a piece of fabric I painted.  The center flower has some of the painted fabric in it's center.  At the time I made this piece, I was really into (LOL) those triangular flower shapes.  Like little cat heads.  Or beasts in Jude's Spirit world.  And I was regularly making a terrible mess on my kitchen island.  Acrylic paint spattering everywhere.  Everything in this quilt is lighter and brighter than the picture.  It must have been a very cloudy day.

I still have bolts of the white cotton I used to paint on and a full box of paint.  Why did I stop?
Those are the questions I ask myself when I am not working at my paid job.  Perhaps it was the job. Taking up 40 hours of my weeks and the regular "care and feeding" of the house and family the rest. But to set blame like that seems too easy and sort of lame.  I may have just gotten bored?

I have to admit that when I opened a container and sorted thru the contents (looking for something I never did find) I found the piece above and my heart sort of skipped a beat.  And I did spend a great deal of time running my hand over the handprinted fabric.  I never backed or finished the edges. I just seemed to have stopped and walked away.  Now, it's finished, out in the world.

Riley (the dog) is spending the day with the Vet.  Riley broke a nail on his right foot  (quite deep) and he'll need to be sedated for the Vet to remove the nail.  He spent most of yesterday licking the foot, trying to make it feel better.  I know when we finally bring him home later today, he'll still be under the "influence" and his foot will still hurt.  I am reminded of last February and the fear we all had about the growth on Riley's leg which turned out to be nothing to worry about.

March 4th will be the one year anniversary of G's heart attack.  And the kindness of my friends who took such good care of me. And Riley who pressed his head to G's chest and wouldn't move until I said "Let's get to the ER".

Darkness Giving Way To Lightness

We have had some strange weather but the days march (ha) toward more light.  More warmth.

I finished the last of the placemats, rearranged the drawer (Konda style) with the placemats folded in half then in thirds then like books, spine side up.  The napkins folded into fat squares, then lined up.  Easy to choose a new placemat and a matching or contrasting napkin.  Lots of orange fabric energy in the drawer.  Next sewing project will be more napkins made of commercial quilting fabric.

The paper notes and messages in the photo--well, there are so many pieces of things, projects, thoughts running around just now.  Yesterday I checked on my milk jug seed starting project.  A few containers needed to be watered--I scraped snow into them.  Had to watch where I set my feet as there was slippery ice in unexpected places.

That's how life seems right now--unexpected slippery spots.

Kitchen plans include Onion Soup and another soup using up the head of Escarole in the fridge (with white beans and tomato).  My plan is to try and empty the fridge and give the shelves a good wash. Fresh start and all that.  I do enjoy a sparkling clean fridge interior.

Nearly time to start my tomato and pepper seeds.  And my Amaryllis bulbs have started to flower.  Right now it's the white with a thin red edge. The proper word begins with pi but I have lost my book on proper spelling and haven't managed to get my spell check to do anything other than replace the words I type with words that are total nonsense.

I'm going to stop now--later this afternoon I have a coffee date with my fair weather walking buddy.  I can't walk/talk with this new asthma condition so we have to make do with indoor coffee and conversation.  Don't fret--I have a consultation with a Pulmonary specialist in April and my oxygen levels are 100% when tested.  The Adair put a stop to the constant coughing--which is delightful.

Patchwork--Making Something From Nothing

I have been foraging in the attic fabric boxes and closet for interesting (to me) little bits and scraps to use in making placemats.  By hand.  Not on the machine, unless absolutely necessary.

My ideas were sparked by the "free access" to Spirit Cloth's classes.  I picked up a few amazingly wonderful stitches.  The invisible tack stitch.   The Wizard Stitch.  The Split Stem Stitch.  I tried making a feather but---well, I will blame a lack of the proper threads for my absolute failure. (I got derailed for the better part of a day searching for my bags of threads-- and in the end, it took two full days to find them)

My "method" for the placemats is to cut a piece of flannel-like batting to the placemat size I have in mind.  At other times, I lay the piece I have been working on, on top of the batting and then cut. I happen to be "charmed" by irregular shapes.  Sue me.  (laughing)  I NEVER follow rules.

I don't have the thin, ancient scraps that Jude uses.  I use regular printed commercial prints.  Face up or face down.  They "needle" just fine.

I have been cutting the backing fabric large enough around the edges so I can fold it in half, once, and then pull it up over the edge of the top piece for a finished, sewn edge.  If I had to cut, fold and sew binding on--the placemats would never get made.

I have four finished and the fifth is waiting to have the "binding" slip stitched in place.  For two of them, I have used class projects that were never finished for the tops. I did have to do the invisible tack stitch all over the surface (but not through the backing) to hold down pieces that were loose. I like the "feel" of all the tiny tack stitches as I run my hands over the surface.  One of the placemats has a fabric Valentine tacked to it's center.  Made those years ago and this one got "left behind".

I am wondering if I have to add the placemats to my list of "50 things to get done" as one or as 5?
Truth be told, I am only on number 11.

In other important news, I have FINALLY made and consumed my very first smoothie.

The impetus for this "first smoothie" was a little see thru box in the produce section of my grocery. They had four varieties on display.  I chose the "body builder" kit with apple slices, carrot sticks, a lemon wedge, a chunk of ginger and a few pieces of raw beet.  I added a handful of kale leaves. I really like all the ingredients and perhaps would have been better off just eating them out of the box?

My Vitamix made all these chunks into a smooth "juice" that tasted like beet DIRT.  I added a peeled tangerine and a peeled baby cucumber to try to "sweeten" things up.  Nope.  I could only force myself to drink half---shuttering after each gulp.  Yesterday I added some Splenda to the second half and forced myself to drink it. Waste Not. Maybe I need pineapple and grapes to sweeten it all out????

I do like the "water" I make in the summer with cucumbers, mint and lemon.  I just blend until it's all "water" and then add more water and drink it.  Sometimes I add ginger root.  But that's not a smoothie.

Feeding The Birds

I sent G out yesterday afternoon to fill the bird feeders.  They were edging toward empty and, as I told G, if you have bird feeders out--you have to keep them filled.  It's a contractual thing with the birds.  Especially when it's so very cold. The birds have made a choice to hang around our yard--eating-- and if we stop--well, finding new food could possibly be impossible.

We had the usual chickadees and a new bird (for us) the Titmouse.  A very cute bird with a big brown polka dot eye.  I love anything with polka dots.  Both types were in the Weigelia right by the side of the sunporch.  All puffed up.  Trying to use the branches to cut the effects of the wind according to G.

Riley didn't get a walk.  G is very cold sensitive post bypass and it was just too cold for him.  I am having trouble breathing in cold air so I couldn't pinch hit.  Poor dog.

I spent a lovely morning reading "free" class information on Jude's blog-- Spirit Cloth.  I am now going up to the attic (unheated) to look for suitably aged fabrics to make something unique.  I don't have much.  Mostly commercially printed stuff which Jude doesn't care for.  I think she mentioned cutting up Thrift store clothing that is thin and faded.  At my Thrift store, that all goes into the rag dumpster and is sold as bulk to "someone" but not me.  I remember in the "old days" a regular table filled with a heap of faded and worn items.  But no more.  And I have never tried my hand at dye even though I collected quite a few old damask napkins.  

Instead I will go up and find some very pretty commercial stuff and make a few placemats.  Hand stitched.  Using all those lovely stitches Jude has now taught me.  Wizard Stitching.  That little tack stitch.  Split Stitch Filler.  And most of all, the feather.  I think each placemat will have at least one feather....... floating.

Orchids and the Constant Cough

These Cymbidium Orchids bloom right about now in Maine.  In the winter.  I have a few plants that were given to me by an orchid enthusiast who occasionally looks to "downsize" his collection.  This summer he mentioned that if the plants he still has "don't produce flowers" he is just getting rid of all of them.  On my last visit to the library in Town, I noticed a large, multi flowering pot of these.  So, I guess he will be keeping the orchids.

My Cymbidiums are up in the upstairs bathtub---doing nothing.  They set no flowering shoots this year.  In fact, it's been a few years since mine did much of anything.  I have one white one and the rest are pink.  Well, they would be if they bloomed.  They are making nice green leaves.

I had a follow up visit to my regular doctor this week.  Still coughing.  Did any of you know that a unproductive cough is a sign of asthma?  I didn't.  And for the months and months I have suffered with this cough-- and my doctor failed to add up 2 plus 2.  Now I have an asthma inhaler to go with my rescue inhaler.  One is for regular asthma and the rescue for reactive asthma brought on by cold air, shoveling snow, breathing woodsmoke. The cough has lessened and the wheezing is gone.  But now I am dizzy and feel like I have the "flu".  You know--that slightly odd drifty feeling the flu brings with it.  If I move my head too quickly--well, I shouldn't do that. I don't do well with new medicines.

I went onto a Lyme disease website last night and found a list of "managing the disease" issues.  Included was breathlessness "air hunger", unexplained chronic cough, unexplained sudden weight gain, off balance "tippy" feeling (this is exactly how I described it in my journal), word search, name block (I think I mentioned this in a post, not being able to remember names of people or things?), constant ringing in ears.  All of this began a few weeks after my three weeks of Lyme treatment pills ended.

I mentioned all of this to my doctor but she just isn't interested and she feels the 3 weeks of pills took care of it.  Period.  Yes, I know--get a new doctor.  But Lyme's isn't something doctors feel comfortable treating.  And, if it's gone on for a long time, it isn't even treatable anymore, people are just damaged.  My carpenter has a brother with Lyme's disease. And he can't work anymore because a carpenter has to be able to remember the measurement as he goes from the window (as an example) to the saw to cut the trim or sash.  He gets to the saw and has no idea why he's there.

I made overnight raised yeast waffles for yesterday's breakfast.  I would give them a B.  I would add more flour to the mix and use the preferred evaporated milk instead of the combination of heavy cream (what I had in the fridge) and milk.  We loved Waffle House Waffles when we lived in Georgia. These are like them. When I work them up to a solid A, I will share the recipe.

I am reading the second of the books written by Jorgen Brekke, Breathless.  I had to order the first Where Monsters Dwell so I could read them in order.   The setting is Norwegian. Dark, cold, brooding and quite bloody.  On Netflix I am three episodes into Hinterlands.  Wales.  Dark, wet brooding.  On regular television we are 4 episodes into The Bastard Executioner.  Medieval, dark, brooding and very very bloody.  It's a theme.   In-between, while waiting for the first of the Brekke books--I re-read a lovely little love story--Becoming Finola.  Connie you would like it.  Ireland.

In March, the Americans are back as is Orphan Black.

I made myself a wonderful salad for a late lunch yesterday (to even out a day which began with waffles).  I used my after-Christmas purchased Spiralizer to cut curly strings of carrot.  Do you have any idea how amazingly more delicious a carrot can be when it is presented in a tangle of curls? I didn't and now I will never eat them cut any other way.

Happy Chinese New Year

The Year of the Monkey.  Lively, playful.  We could use a year like that, since it's an election year and all (smile).

Snowing again today.  And it's very cold, no sun and the wind is pretty sharp.  Actually winter.
The Super Bowl was a Super Dud and we left the game (on tv) before the half and watched Downton Abbey instead.  Followed by Worst Cooks in America.  Much more entertaining.  My personal opinion on the Super bowl is that the two teams that make it were A) just lucky  B) too exhausted to play  C) or like to crash and burn in a very public display of....... incompetence.

Watching them roll around on the ground repeatedly fumbling the ball------ I would have blown the whistle and cleared the field.  Refunded the money.  Done.

I had a lovely job interview this morning.  With another employer.  Now I am trying to wrap my head around starting over someplace else.  Do I want to?  Should I?  Wasn't I just talking about limiting the number of months I wanted to work this year?  The Year of the Monkey.  Wow!

I found some pelletized seed packages.  Carrots, Beets, Scallions.  Easy to see and plant evenly. All the seeds are coated with this red clay substance--makes the tiny seeds bigger and brighter.  What fun. I don't have to do (Monkey around with) the flour paste and toilet paper thing this month.  Pasting the tiny seeds out in a grid on the toilet paper--ready to lay down on the soil surface (in the garden) and cover lightly with soil or compost. 150 of each.  Gosh.  150 carrots rather than the 20 I got this year.

My milk jug project (7 gallon jugs) is outside in the garden.  G placed all the jugs in little depressions he made in the snow.  They got rained on and now are covered in snow.  The caps are off--so a bit of rain and snow has probably gotten inside to moisten the soil.  G wondered what the odds were for any snowflakes or raindrops actually making a direct hit.  Now I don't think that matters as the top of each jug has a little white snow cap.  That will melt eventually.  And the seeds haven't actually germinated yet--they are still "sleeping".  I have two more gallon jugs and one half gallon to plant with seeds.  I asked G to look into the recycle bins along the street for more jugs ---- you should have seen me eyeing carts at the grocery--for ones with three or four gallons of milk.  A milk-jug stalker!!!

I haven't gotten the onion seeds started yet--that's my next project.  I'll be using the nice 6 by 10 inch salad boxes (with lids) I get Spring Greens and Baby Kale in.  Have to ask G to drill holes in the bottoms for drainage.  I am checking to see just how much seed starting soil mix I have on hand.

Happy New Year!!!

Hello, Again

Well, even though it was 50 something degrees yesterday and most of the landscape shrubs had fat buds and very green leaves ---- we now have snow.  Lots of it.  Started snowing very early, before I was awake, and continues into the late afternoon.   Snow globe snow.  Swirling around outside.

The dog is happy.  He loves snow.

G isn't happy.  He has to go out and snow-blow it all off the driveway.

I think it's pretty and wintery but I have no where to go--so it's okay with me.

Our daughter had to drive home in it but she's safely home and getting her own driveway shoveled.
No school here in Maine.  So, it's pretty quiet outside.

G and I just finished our usual late lunch while watching House Hunters (Naples, Florida) and one of the houses looked like something I would actually love.  Big open plan and everything white.  On a golf course.  Not that I would use the golf course.  The golf cart?  Yes.

I took my last capsule of the Z-Pak and I still have a cough--but the chest congestion has lessened. I am going to return to "Deep Couch City" and read more of this Norwegian murder mystery which keeps going back and forth from 1538 to 2010.  I ate the last few pieces of my TJ's dark chocolate covered caramels last week (or the week before) so I won't be tempted to get up off the couch to get candy.

I did some laundry and we have lots of leftovers to eat.  Not much work for me to do this afternoon.  So, I will just sit and read.  Until it gets dark outside.  I am reminded of last February--when I was cooking beans every week--trying out new dry chilies for the flavoring.  And this February we are trying to eat as many potato chips as possible with our lunches.

Well, I Certainly Didn't See This Happening

I had a tremendously hard time breathing last night.  The inhaler didn't help much and when I woke up this morning I still had what I would call congestion (no cough) and a feeling of heaviness in my lungs.  And to tell the complete honest truth--I was beginning to wonder about lung cancer.

Called my doctor.  Had an appointment but the office nurse decided, after talking to me, to send me to the ER for a chest Xray and a breathing treatment.

So there I was --wearing a hospital ID band.  I spent 2.5 hours in ER.  And the ER doctor said my oxygen levels were 100%, my chest Xray was perfect, my color was good and for my age I was extremely healthy.  And they sent me home with a prescription for a Z-Pak as the doctor thought a 2 month "cough/cold" was too long.

Everyone at ER thought I looked familiar.  From working down the street from the hospital.  So, while I rested in my ER bed I gave out helpful gardening tips and advice.

G found that fascinating.

Searching For Color

In an otherwise white, grey and black landscape.  The Sun is shining.  The Sky is blue.  The temperatures are between 35 and 45 degrees and it is not "normal".

I got out my seed box and sorted thru the packages.  I am going to start my onions and shallots. Inside.  But I read about a method for starting perennial and tender perennial seeds--outdoors in empty, recycled semi transparent milk jugs.   You cut them open halfway up the jug, leaving a hinge so the top and bottom halves are still connected.  Then you drill or punch holes in the bottom of the jug.  Fill with a  moistened seed starting potting mix (2 to 4  inches) and plant your seeds (read the packages as some seeds like to be covered and others do not), flip the hinged top over the seed bed, tape with duct tape, leave the bottle cap off  (so air and water can go in and out) and then take the jugs outside and set them on a table or just in the snow.  Somewhere sunny is nice.

Being outside in the "elements" will cold stratify the seeds and when warmer (??) temps arrive the seeds will sprout.  Ready to be planted out in the garden.  I am going to try Lambada Bee Balm, Bread Seed Poppies, Blue Fescue Grass,  Sage, Cottage Pinks. If I had some Lupine seeds I would give them a shot as well. Seed packages should read "sow 4-6 weeks before last frost".  If they say that then it is okay to try this method.  My zinnias will go out in late February/early March along with Calendula.

What is a gardener without a gardening challenge?

I will also set myself up a work station and make toilet paper seed tapes for my carrots and beets. The beets did very well last year but the carrots were a great disappointment.  I also want to put in some parsnips.  Which reminds me that we need to start buying and hauling composted manure from the nearest dairy operation.

Otherwise?  We are still trying to get out of the house once each day to "do something".  G is more successful than I am.  My cold seems to be finished--but wood smoke outdoors is causing my asthma to "react".  It's been a real struggle this winter to breathe without coughing.  Or more likely---wheezing.  I am usually dizzy and awfully tired.  But I try to go out each evening with Riley to look at the stars if the sky is clear.

My Calendula salve project made 10 containers (4 ounces each) and look quite lovely but more of a yellow green than the sunny golden yellow I expected.  It was kind of messy but every project is messy the first time one tries it.

Almost February

February is the high point in the "give someone flowers" monthly calendar.  I think it's because life is pretty dull in February and a bright, alive, bunch of tulips cheers people up--considerably. And a big floral holiday in the midst of Winter is good for the floral industry.

Once we get to February, my cheerfulness meter starts moving into the "positive" range as well. February is a short month and moves quickly and then it's March and I am back to work.  Back to seeing PEOPLE.

This January hasn't been as awful as most.  G and I went to see a Woody Native Plants lecture yesterday, I had that wonderful retirement party at the beginning of the month, good books to read, the Collaboratory project to work on recently and today I am melting beeswax into my olive oil and calendula petal mixture and decanting salve into small jars.

Every summer I collect the bright orange calendula flowers and dry them to make healing salve.  This is the first time I have ever actually followed thru with the concoction and a quick trip to the Goodwill for a used saucepan and this show will be on the road as they say.  It looks like I am making quite a bit--enough to give my co-workers for their own sunburned faces and chapped hands.

Saturday I watered my orchids and repotted a few terrestrial ones.  I had them in the wrong soil mix and after watching a few YouTube videos I have now corrected the medium.  I also realize that the cymbidium orchids up in the guest room bathtub need this new soil mix as well.  But they are large and the repotting would be tremendously messy so I think I will wait until I go back to work to repot them.  Easier to clean up the mess at work.  The geraniums in the upstairs bedroom are blooming.

A few of the amaryllis I "over summered" in the vegetable garden are starting to perk up.  Two are showing a nice flower bud so far, one has twins.  It will be weeks before they flower but that's okay with me.  I should have pulled them out of the veg garden in late August and let them dry until their leaves died off.  Then repotted them for Christmas bloom.  But I waited until late October so I am a month or two behind.  I am always learning from my mistakes.  That's what gardening is all about.

Time to start my onion seeds.  And perhaps the peppers as they are very slow to germinate.  I am going to get things going earlier this year and hopefully have earlier crops.  Now that we have "global warming" here in Maine--who knows?

A Saturday Spent Reading And Watching The Snow Fall Someplace Else

For a change, Maine wasn't the target of an enormous amount of snow.

We had some wind, blue skies and not one flake.  It's nice to be the one without snow.

I dropped off the Interactive fabric pieces for the Collaboratory.  Is that a word? I have homework--to come up with three or four quilting "quotes" from me using the words---- Pieces, Patterns, Parts. I don't think I have ever said anything that was quotable.  My greenhouse customers always repeat pithy things they say I have said to them--and none of them sound familiar.

I read a time traveling love story.  I just LOVE those things.  Medieval.  Castles, men with swords,
very rich people in 1254 and in 2015.  Imogen and Phillip.  And best of all, so many other characters who don't have a story (book) yet.  Author is Kurland.

Next up is a Nordic murder mystery by Adler-Olsen.

Dinner was a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese.  Life is Good.