I love these Guys:

Morwenna Lasko, Jay Pun, and Ezra Hamilton. Everyone should check them out. They remind me of summertimes past, and all are on MySpace if you're interested.

Look HERE
or
HERE
This song is the live version of their album's title track "Etopia". Definitely worth a listen.

-Also, I forgot my own birthday on Tuesday. My husband had to remind me.

This is for you:

I just want to say in times of uncertainty what a comfort all of my fellow bloggers are. I have had the most wonderful support over the last few years through your comments, as well as off-the-blog communications. It really helps me to feel such a sense of extended community. I have awesome friends here in town as well as through cyberspace, and you all are just as real to me. I so enjoy having a peek into your daily lives and seeing that I am not alone in struggling over the decisions that affect my family. So thank you -you know who you are.

Some pretties:

These were taken on Father's Day:

By now most of these flowers have faded or been eaten up by bugs. As have all the vegetable plants I was trying to grow. Oh, well. The weather was not ideal, either. It was hot, it was cold, it rained torrentially. I can try again with all the greens, but I may have to do containers. We'll see. This actually bums me out a lot, because I braved blackflies like nobody's seen in 15 years, and put in a ton of labor, and got blisters over it. My potted tomatoes look good, though.

So, I'm kinda going through some things lately, and having to make some tough decisions. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but our lovely home has been on the market for quite some time. I hate it, but it's inevitable if I'm not going to continue drafting full time. Which I am not. I have a feeling that something may happen with it this summer, and that makes me really sad for obvious reasons.

Also, my business is busy, and getting busier, but I've had some health issues lately, and I'm beginning to feel a bit worn down. Plus, my business partner is pregnant, and having to slow down, and eventually stop cleaning. I'm bringing in another girl to help out, but I think I may have to wind it all down around it's one year anniversary. It was never meant to be a long term endeavor, and I knew that there'd be physical burnout sooner or later. I'm being given an opportunity to join a good friend of mine in her business, and it will provide Rayona and I with the ability to be in one place all day. We won't have to hustle all over, and carry all our gear everywhere -which particulaly sucks in the winter. So there are changes afoot, I believe. I think I ought to listen to my environment, and my body, and go with the opportunities when they present themselves. However, it's always scary to face these sorts of things.

It was actually quite romantic:

Yesterday we had a blackout...until just now (which is more than a day and a half later). Our neighbor's tree fell on a power line during a brief but violent storm -wiping out power for half the town it seemed.

So I prepared fiddleheads with garlic and white wine by candle light:

My flash makes the scene look deceptively bright -it was almost impossible to see what I was doing. Fortunately I have a gas stove, so I could still cook. Here is the tree:

IT looks deceptively small. It was actually an enormous tree.

THIS:

...is my constant companion most days as it is, but boy was I glad to have it during a blackout. It is my trusty hand-crank radio. We have been keeping the TV off during the day.

...so imagine the first photo, and the smell of garlic and wine sauteeing, and some Gillian Welch, and Drive By Truckers, and the like, which just happened to be playing on the North Country Public Radio station out our way...

...and you can see how it was actually quite romantic.

All I Wanted...

...was a decent photo of this blouse I made. However, I have a really hard time taking photos of myself, and as you can see if you look closely -it already has baby guck on it.

Anyway -BEFORE:

AFTER:

It has embroidery -at which I stink, but I was thinking of Hydrangeas as I did it. I'm not sure that's what these look like.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I've learned a few things about my new machine's stretch stitch functions, and also that I have a lot to learn about sewing knits. I got the idea from this blog. I did it a little differently than she did. I used the original neckband from my husband's shirt after cutting a new neckline and gathering it. That was no easy task for me as I am gathering-challenged. I can never keep things evenly spaced. I also gathered and re-set the sleeves, as well as taking-in and shortening the shirt. So although it's still only a tee shirt, and looks like something you'd just "whip-up", it was quite a challenge for me. I dunno if I'll do it again or not.

What you can't get from these photos...

...is the late evening breeze, and the Billie Holiday.

-Off to bed:

Goodnight.

(Please stop by Flickr for the rest of this set. She looked like an angel in her little nightie!).

Why did I not know about this?!

Has anyone ever eaten Nasturtiums? Well, I just found out that you can, and I did, and they're just all wonderfullness. They taste like radishes a little bit, but more peppery and sweet, and the flavor varies depending on which part you eat. I have decided that I like the stems best. I keep picking at my plants now, though. I want to eat them all day long, but there'd be none left.

Around Here:

My new best friend:


This just arrived at the Dorsey Street Exchange yesterday, and the owner was kind enough to offer to let me take it home to see if it was a good fit. It is. I love my Mini Ultra, but this has a few more functions, and operates more smoothly. It feels right, and has none of the plasticky (sp?) vibration of the other. I can control my speed more easily as well, because it has a nice metal pedal. So I'm sold -it's a little more than I should spend right now (which = nothing), but after working on my current blouse project for a few hours on this machine I can't go back. It tracks straighter, and the stitches are neater, too.

Around the yard - here is the garden bed that was supposed to have squashes, which now has only moles:

Here are the garden beds which have sunflowers, kale, collards, and lettuces -some of which are growing:

Here are Nasturtiums and Moonflower which I have just planted: (the Moonflower is planted below on the ground, and will hopefully climb up that tree-trellis I have attached to the corner of the deck).

Here is a pretty shot of the fence which hopefully will train my new wisteria that I planted today:

Here is why I like Nasturtiums:

Baby's up -gotta go!