Sunday Happy

How has your week been? Besides being sad and stressed about all the crazy shit that it going on in the world, (what the fuck world, what the fuck?) my week has been pretty good. Got the snow tires on the car, picked up the first winter farm share which was all sorts of fantastic, and broke my favorite ceramic knife cutting into a frozen hunk of spinach.(it wasn't all great)  Miley and Judah reminded us that all you need is a hill and the know how on how to roll down it to have fun and we bought a washer and dryer!!! I almost forgot about that because  they haven't been deceived yet. I can't freaking wait because the laundry situation is getting pretty freaking ridiculous. Just a few more days (Thursday will be a magical laundry day).And best of all, the downstairs bathroom is finally done! (besides a little touch up paint and a light fixture and mirror, but that is all easy peasy) Now there really isn't any big house projects left which is kind of unbelievable and fantastic and I am just so glad that we don't have to live with the air compressor in the middle of the dinning room anymore. And now that there is not any more big projects, maybe I can actually start to arrange rooms and furniture and hang more art and do all the things people do when they first move into a house.

 We were lucky to get out for a hike earlier this week before the deep freeze set in. But really, I am kind of loving the cold weather, maybe not the inch of frost that took 15 minutes to scrap from my car, but just the way the world is feeling. Most people hate November, but me, I really like it. I don't even mind it getting dark earlier. Honestly, I like being outside in the cold, its  refreshing. Plus with it being so cold, I can catch up a little on the TV. I finally watched Stranger Things and whoa. I  know I am late to the game, but forgive me, I haven't been watching much tv lately. Anyway, So GOOD! So good in fact that I watched the entire series last week. And now I have all of season 2 to watch, but I think I might take my time with it, savor the goodness. OR watch it all today, we will see what happens. 

I made the cinnamon star bread that was on my list of things that I wanted to do, and it came out oh so lovely. I am really appreciating the kitchen right now since this time last year we still didn't have a kitchen here. All I want to do now is bake, I just need people to come over to eat the stuff. (I had Megan and So come over to help eat at  the bread this time). While they were here So found my hoard of butternut squash in the pantry and spent the afternoon playing house with all her squash babies. She did the same thing that next day while I was babysitting. That little, she has the best imagination. She was telling me all about how she is going to have babies when she grows up and how babies are made. I guess all I have to do is let my stomach get really really big and then one day a baby will POP right out of my stomach. Good to know right. 

That was the week and for todayI think that this afternoon I am going to try to clean the back porch, hang some pine cones and the new fern prints the mr and I found at the thrift store, and maybe brush my hair. I am also starting to think about Thanksgiving and birthdays and all the holiday stuff.I got to get on it before it all gets on me. 

The internet that I looked at this week

-We all know we feel like crap when we don't sleep. This just proves it further. All the more reason to get your shuteye. Sleepless Night Leaves Some Brain Cells As Sluggish As You Feel

- Polar Winter Winter Flavors!! The tart cherry lime and cranberry cider are the best. 

-Sometime that plans you make seem better when made then when it's come time to actually pursue those plans. Why Canceling Plans Is So Satisfying

-Take A Look at the World's Coolest Library So many books!

-What Would It Look Like If Vermont Seceded?

 -THE 2018 FARM BILL COULD ELIMINATE FUNDING FOR FARMER'S MARKETS. This would be really bad, really really bad. 

-Scientists Start To Tease Out The Subtler Ways Racism Hurts Health Yeah, no shit.

-The house might be done, but I need to start thinking about building a green house out back. 6 Proven Strategies for Year-Round Harvests

-Do Prepackaged Salad Greens Lose Their Nutrients?. As long as you are eating them and not letting them go to waste, it's better then nothing.

Pictures from the week.

Have a great week.

-C

Sunday Happy

This week has been pretty fantastic. The weather here could stay like this forever and I would be happy. Warm days, cold night, sunshine. We have fully embraced it all. The mr finally fixed his brakes on his bike so we have been riding our bikes everywhere, for work and play. I don't mind doing chores when you get to bike around to do them. We have gone to a few rivers for fishing/ reading time. We even took a long ass drive out to the Kingdom to see our friend Jess's new farm (we got to see it but not her. It's ok thought because we plan on going up again really soon with our overalls and shovels and upper arm strength) Spending time outside really makes this lady here feel all sorts of good.

A huge step this week. We finally replaced the glass in the front door!!!! It's been about a year since I smashed it out with a 2x4. We went a long time without fixing because I would have probably just smashed it again anyway. But we are finally done with the outside of the house and hopefully with any more 2x4's and the door was the last step. And holy moly all the light. It's like the door is wide open. The mr made the comment that the new glass makes him feel like an adult now. I totally agree. No more plywood front door. Glass is class!

More little things are happening around the house and we are starting to get things ready for fall/winter here and at he other houses. It's the in between time where we could not do anything for a little while and then in two months get slammed with snow or something and all those little things that we should have done now are now big things that are going to suck ass doing then. You get what I mean?  So we are thinking about all those things and probably going to start doing them.

The week was also the start of school for all the littles so we tried to see everyone one last time before school starts and it's all homework and sports and friends. We had dinners, played in the sand, and worked on our pasta sauce faces.. All the good stuff for the last days of summer. We also moved the bees from the house to the loft for the winter (see, winter stuff has begun). The mr has plans of indoor hives and I am just going to let him do his thing just as long as the bees are not flying around inside the house. And on that note, Jeff (my dad) is coming to town this week and I gots to clean the shit out of the loft and weed wack and bring over some toilet paper and towels and make it habitable for people again. I have been slacking over there lately. My pottery wheel is in the middle if the room and there is a nice layer of dust on on the clean dishes. Dust, clay, and bees. He is going to have a blast.

I am really embracing the cold wet day we are suppose to have. I am going to do a few chores that I have been avoiding like cleaning out the spare closet (it's full of sewing stuff, glitter, and who knows what else) maybe finally unpack my clothes and hang those up, maybe start knitting a hat? Whatever I do, I am looking forward to just kind of having a home day with my socks, cozy sweater, and never ending supply of coffee.

What I saw on the internet this week.

-After Harvey, Are Epic Rains the New Normal? There are more and more large scale natural disasters happening every year and we need to figure out how to deal with it now.

-The Rise Of Mock Meat: How Its Story Reflects America's Ever-Changing Values.   I am not a fan of store bought mock meat, it ishighly processed. Beans for me please.

-The Color Factory is on my list of places to go the next time I am in CA. BALLOON BATH BY GERONIMO BALLOONS AT COLOR FACTORY

-I think most of us can relate. Stress = zit. The Science of How Your Feelings Affect Your Face

-Drink Seltzer, Live Forever. Social media is not your soul, don't forget that.

-THIS MAP REVEALS THE BEST PLACES TO WATCH THE LEAVES CHANGE THIS FALL. Lucky me I just have to wait a few more weeks.

-I love bird photography.  Winners and Honorable Mentions of the 2017 Bird Photographer of the Year

-What happens when you play with your food. Tiny Toast Art.

-Amazon Prime Will Now Deliver Wine to Your Door in One Hour. Amazon is taking over the world. But an hour for wine is not bad.

A few pictures from the week

Have a great long weekend!

Plum Cake

This summer I have gotten like 5 lbs of blackberries, a humongo bowl of raspberries, so so so many pears, and lots of random veggies, all from my neighbors and their gardens We live in a very giving and generous neighborhood. And it helps that they can't possible eat all that they grow and that I am always willing to take it off their hands (and put it into my mouth) In return we have given out rhubarb and jars of honey and overall charm and smiles. (the charm and smiles are on the mr to give out)

The other day on a walk, the mr and I saw this sign outside of a neighbors house. Plums, please take some! Well pull my arm, I guess I will have too, because the sign said please right? Anyway, these little plums, not sure what kind they are, but they are so good. Sweet and bite sized and pretty. I ate a few then decided that I needed to share my shared plums and went about making a cake to stick those said share plums into.

I made the cake, invited my mom and a couple of sibs over. Mom didn't come but Barb and Paul did so they got the cake, Well they got half the cake, the mr ate the rest. I was told that this cake is one of the best. I bet it is when you used share plums because sharing is caring and sharing cake is all that good stuff.

The stuff. A bowl with flour, baking soda baking powder, and slat. Then you have brown sugar, coconut oil. vanilla extract, soy milk, and a little apple cider vinegar. And plums of course.

Once you have started preheating the oven, cut your plums in half and remove the pit.The best way to do this is to run the knife along the pit all the way around the plum and then twist to break in half. Pop the pit out with you finger.

Set plums aside while mixing cake

Warmed coconut oil, brown sugar, and vanilla all get mixed together into a smooth consistency then dumped into the bowl of dry stuff.

Soy milk and vinegar get added and mixed in.

Cake batter ready to go.

Batter gets poured into a very well greased cake pan and the plums get placed, cut side down,right on top. A sprinkle of sugar to top it off is not a bad idea.

Into the oven it goes to turn to cake!

Pulled from the oven looking so nice. Let the cake cool completely in the pan before taking it out. Hot cake is hard to handle!

And as soon as you get it out of the pan you can start eating.

Enjoy the last bits of summer. Share if you can!

-C

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Plum Cake

Makes a 12 inch cake

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking sods
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup coconut oil (warmed so it's liquid)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 12-14 small plums (the plums I used where golf ball sized so you might need less for larger plums)
• 1 tablespoon white sugar

Preheat oven to 350

Start by slicing the plums in half and removing the pits. Set them aside. Hint. for slicing, the best way to do this is to run the knife along the pit all the way around the plum and then twist the plum in half. Pop the pit out with you finger or spoon.

In a large bowl, whisk together the salt baking soda and powder, and salt . In a smaller bowl mix together the coconut oil, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Pour the wet into the dry and add in half the milk, mix together, then the rest of the milk and apple cider vinegar. Mix until all incorporated and smooth.

Pour batter into a well greased 12 inch round cake pan.  (If you don't have that a 9x9 square pan will work) Smooth out the top then grab your sliced plums and stick them, cut side down, on top. Give each plum a little push into the batter so it half submerged. Sprinkle the top with white sugar and pop into the oven

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a fork or toothpick stuck int he middle comes out clean.

Remove and let cool completely in cake pan, it's easier to remove the cake when it is not hot.
And once it's cool, remove cake gently and ta-da. Cake time

Sunday Happy

The other day I went into my closet and spent a few minutes refreshing my mind on all of my sweaters and socks, just so I know what I still have going on for warmth. I have even been wearing a few of those sweaters and socks in the mornings. I grab a sweater, a throw blanket, a book, and go sit on the front porch, with coffee of course, and watch the sun come up. I know it's still summer and all and we always get a hot week or two come September but this cool weather has been just the shit and I am loving every minute of it.

This week has been pretty mellow. My gym closed for the week so my daily routines have been all kinds of fucked up. If you know me well enough you know that if I don't go to the gym or get a really good bought of exercise in my day, I am kind of a crazy ball of crazy. So that has thrown me off a bit but bike rides, kayaking, internet yoga, and just running around has kept me from going completely nuts. Then there was eclipses day. The mr and I spent the afternoon playing by the river, him fishing, me picking up rocks and just soaking up all the crazy vibes coming down on us and casting weird shadows. Very cool and now I am very excited for 2024 (total eclipses right here in VT) We had the little's for a day and we (more me) decided we needed to have a fire in the yard so we could roast marshmallows. I didn't have graham crackers for s'mores but give a kid a bowl of chocolate chips and sprinkles for dipping gooey marshmallows and they are all good. The garden and farm, if you didn't read my previous post, are giving out whatever they got, which is a hole heck of a lot. The goldenrod is in it's prime, and the mosquitoes are only really out at night. Ah, all the good and it's really really good.

And bees. We got a new hive this week from one of the mr's friends. Not a large colony but looking healthy and happy here with us so now we have to get the new ladies ready for winter. 

Today the mr and I are looking to get a few more things done around the house. The mr is making furniture out back, I am attempting to fold an origami type lamp shade situation for the dinning room light fixture (it's the last light fixture we need in the house!) and probably going to spend a good chunk of time with garden and yard work. There are two very lovely little pine trees planted right in the middle of the yard and I have been doing some research and think I might be able to move them more to the back of the yard. So I might start that process today, we shall see

What I spent time looking at on the internet.

-Didn't get to see the eclipse or excited for more? Here is a list of eclipses and all the info you need to see them for the next twelve years.

-Harvesting Salt By Hand Is Making A Comeback In France. Pretty cool.

-A lot can be said in (or on) a cake. This Buttercream Kills Fascists

-To Get Calcium, Navajos Burn Juniper Branches To Eat The Ash. I take calcium supplements, maybe I should try this.

-There is still plenty of summer left. How to Make Ice Cream Without Dairy

-The mr wants a house boat. I could live in this house boat.    

-It's all about balance and enjoying life. How to Have Your Health Food and Love It, Too.

-See the Most Colorful Places on Earth. It's amazing to see so much color in nature.

-“Crown Shyness” Where Trees Avoid Touching

-This could be really good for a lot of people. A New Clinical Trial Shows Potential Long-Term Relief From Peanut Allergies

And pictures from the week.

Bye

-C

Sunday Happy

It's been a pretty ruff week. It started off great with four little kitties that I spent all off my time with. I had fallen in love with them all. But then Tofu, the little runt, got really sick and she ended up passing away. I did not handle that well. Plus some crazy apartment shit that needed to be dealt with asap (things are ok now) and just an overall feeling of being an emotional basket case. And then the world. I think we are all feeling a little like, What the fuck world...What the fuck?. I just don't understand why there are people with so much hatred. It boggles my mind.

We were still taking care of the three kitties and I pretty much spent all of my time with them.  I didn't want to give them up but I knew that I couldn't responsibly take 3 more cats into the house, it wouldn't have been fair to them.(I was so close to keeping them). A lot of people wanted to adopt them, but I talked to the Humane Society and it was best for them to go through them so that they could stay together for a while and get the medical and social attention that they needed before being adopted out to new homes. So the day came when we had to say goodbye and that was pretty heart wrenching.

So yeah, not the happiest week of my life, but it's life.

 I am still feeling kinda blue, missing the kitties, feeling more then a little overwhelmed and confused about the world and the humans in it. Blah, but things will get better because good happens. Good over bad.

Today the mr and I are probably just going to do some house work and what not. Those gutters wont hang themselves.. We are taking the afternoon off tomorrow for a little eclipse viewing and nature therapy because we both need it.

Internet from the week.

-I picked up a book, The Age of Miracles, at one of the many tiny libraries in town without knowing really what it is about. Got home, started reading and whoa. t. It's about a young girl living through the slowing of the earth rotation and what the effects are.  It has kinda of fucked with my head and has made me think about the up coming eclipse in a different way. Will The Eclipse Make Crops And Animals Flip Out? Scientists Ask (Really)

- Speaking of the eclipse. Why Future Earthlings Won't See Total Solar Eclipses

-Pretty safe to say the I am very diverse in my day to day emotions.  Emotional Diversity’ Is More Important Than Happiness

-New Yorkers, Here's How You Can Camp For Free in City Parks. How cool. This is now on my life bucket list.

-Concrete Volvo 240 (I owned six different 240 wagons. Still my favorite car and I have hopes of someday restoring one to drive again)

-Maybe a Sunday project? DIY Macramé Rope Bag. Would make a great apple carrying bag.

-I have totally woken up and been made or upset with someone because of something that happened in a dream. When Betrayal in a Dream Leads to Real-Life Conflict

- Have Tools, Will Serve: Cabot Hardware Store Adds Bar. The mr wants to move to Cabot now.

So freaking awesome. Now I just want to make piñatas for a living. Figures From Hieronymus Bosch’s Paintings Recreated as Sculptural Piñatas.

-How to Build Resilience in Midlife. Life happens and we need to be able to live with that.

And I really didn't take any pictures of anything besides that kitties so here a few. THe first one is Tofu.

Bye.

-C