more leaping

organic u-pick raspberries: $2.50/pint=a steal

You know how when you are about to give birth to your first child, you know your life is going to change pretty radically, and you've read all you can, and you've folded all those baby clothes, and you can demonstrate all those nursing positions you read about, and you're as ready as you can be...BUT.

You have absolutely no idea what it will really be like. Leaping blindly into the unknown.

I'm having all that all over again and this time, it's not a baby, but a new chapter in my librarian life that I am preparing for. I've been hired to be a district elementary librarian, starting this fall. This is just what I have been working for in my master's program, it's exactly the field I want to be in, and the benefits are many.

I have also left behind a fabulous part-time job at my beloved Rockport Public Library: the people, my colleagues, my mentor and leader (boss is the wrong word), have all helped me become this professional person who I am. It's kind of weird to leave a job I love so much.

But now, this summer, I am folding all those baby clothes, excited and a little scared and having no idea the directions my life will have to change and re-form. I am reading a lot of kid lit and school library materials, preparing benchmarks and lessons, creating systems, and doing what I can to make this transition smooth. I'm sure I've overlooked some really big deal thing that will blindside me in the fall, but oh well. I am doing what I can.

After that first child is born, you can't remember not having him in your life. What did we DO before parenthood, we ask each other, what did we TALK about, and think of the TIME we wasted! I'm thinking of my family, my boys who are grown up enough to do a little bit more for themselves, but I know they'll still need me as much, in different ways. I'm thinking of Mr. Crafty, who is ready to step up his already-significant involvement here at home and bolster me up and give me ideas, the way I have done for him these past 12 years. For my part, I am planning our fall menus at least through October. Because that is a complete creativity-suck for me.

And as for the creative endeavors part, that's part of the mystery. I know a lot of creativity will be in my work life: creative organizing, teaching, and managing. I'm stepping out of my home life and into the workforce, full-time, for the first time. I will always be a Maker of Things, it will just be different now than it has been.

I'm waiting to see how it unfolds.

Speaking of unfolding, this quilt will be a gift for my eldest who will turn 13 this December. Check out the Yellow Submarine-inspired fabric in that lower left corner. Love. It. And I love the boy who it will snuggle. SHHH! It's a secret!

Blog Readers: I'm asking for any advice you might have about making this transition. Thanks.

Quinoa Power!

My New Roots - How to Cook Quinoa from My New Roots on Vimeo.

I like to cook and eat quinoa (KEENwah) way more than my family would like me to cook it. Let us say that they are not fans. So when my friend Kate shared this video from My New Roots, I got pretty excited. THIS, finally, was the marketing campaign quinoa needed in my household! Quinoa is cute! Quinoa is groovy! Quinoa is beautiful! I love every part of this video. It's so cute that my teeth hurt in a totally organic, wholesome way.

"Guys, guess what, I have this fantastic video to show you! It's gonna knock you right out of your socks!" That's how excited I was when I called the boys to the computer.

OK, fine, the truth is that they were underwhelmed and not converted to quinoa through cuteness.

But on Mother's Day, the mother in this house wanted two things for dinner: beets and quinoa salad. (If I had included mushrooms and anchovies we would have hit all the most hated food items in this house.)

So we made a little quinoa movie of our own, with original music used with permission by our very own, talented, 13 year-old friend, Jamie. As always, Jonas was my gracious and patient iMovie tutor and filming assistant.

Ladies and Gents, (do we have gents reading this? come on gents, make a comment if you're really out there)... I give you Quinoa Power!

Swaps are Swell

I like swaps. Blog swaps are great, but sometimes swaps with people I actually know are also great. So lately I have had the opportunity to knit two pairs of Fetching Mitts for two women who inspire me weekly. (My mods are here.)

Kimberly, my exercise teacher, (but really that's too tame for the work we do in Sacred Sweat), got the first pair in exchange for some classes. Community, a strong and healthy body, and spiritual awareness is an amazing thing to trade for some little cabled mitts! I found it was hard to put a price on what I had created, but she's used to pushing me (with love!) into new territory.

Carrie the Quilt Artist/Iron Woman/Mom of 5, who also makes these great hand-dyed tank tops and work-out bras, got pair number two in exchange for some of those amazing tanks/bras. It was pretty amazing to find this perfect-for-her yarn in my stash. And they really looked amazing on her!

But then there are gifts. And gift-knitting is also wonderful. Knitting for anyone with intention is a powerful act of transformation. It brings that person closer to your heart with each stitch. And if they're far away, physically, too far away to hug, it's about the only thing that can be done.

I saw this pattern (entitled The Age of Brass and Steam) here first and fell in love with the delicacy and batwing edging. The batwing edging was the inspired twist provided by Moonstitches, in how she blocked it. I used a linen/baby mohair lace weight yarn, and the way that the linen took the dye is slightly lighter than the mohair, so it has this wonderful sheen to it. Who wouldn't love a little red cape, anyway?

Finally, we had some delicious sweet and sour chicken stir fry here (thanks to Tracy who turned me on to the recipe). And although the photo is not so great, the recipe was. I added way more veggies (broccoli, garlic, onion), and had more chicken and pineapple, and doubled the sauce. Everyone ate it and lots of leftovers!

~fusion~

Herod couldn't get near the place

The fusion of families, of people we love, of all my folks (4 in total) and his folks (they're still married to each other!), of friends who come and go unexpectedly as well as those who last, the fusion of a staunch traditionalist and his tradition-less wife, the fusion of food and many hands, and finally of plastic and Waldorf and technology and wood.

The fusion of cowboys, knights, Indians, the Queen's guard, and WWII soldiers.

The fusion of the Force (old and new movies) with the lovely Star Money candle tableau.

Does our philosophy about technology for children change now that it is infiltrating our lives a bit more, with certain 12 year-olds who now have certain devices, gifted by certain relatives? Nope.

How about plastic toys? Yes, we have them alongside our wooden ones, and they are frequently integrated by our children in their play. How else could you build a ramp for the 20+ year old matchbox cars that have survived the years of Demolition Derby, enacted in this very hallway? (Well, OK they're not plastic, are they, if they lasted this long; they are the good, old school metal variety.)

Many hands made light work of the Lego White House model.

So. Fusion. And compromise and integration and limits and boundaries. And flannel pajamas warmed up by the woodstove.

Stuffed Grape Leaves: My Nemesis

For some reason, I'm not sure why, it seems that the market is saturated with Thai food (which I already hated, before I lived here) in our area of Maine, with not many other interesting ethnic options. Why not Indian? Or Ethiopian? How about Greek?

Well, I was absolutely hankering for something vaguely mediterranean or possibly middle eastern, with maybe a side order of Indian naan bread. Last week I made falafel with a yummy cucumber-tahini-scallion sauce, served in a sort of Indian naan bread (fried in my skillet). Oh and stuffed grape leaves sounded great. (It was all because of a really pretty colorful spread in the Moosewood Cookbook.)

Let me tell you about grape leaves. They come in a jar, all rolled up in a sort of cigar-like bundle, in a little briny water. The thing that seemed impossible is that the jar offered absolutely no guidance in the form of directions on how to unroll the bundle with grace. Because the bundle was sort of tucked under on one end, and the leaves were very thin, I found it nearly impossible to unroll the individuals without shredding them.

shreddy grape leaves

I'm a patient person. I can unravel a knotty skein of wool. I can do tedious, repetitive tasks with good cheer. But this was a new and altogether maddening form of tedium. So in the end, I had a few unmolested and unshreddy leaves of grape, ready for stuffing, and a really delicious lemony-minty pot of brown rice. So I stuffed the few leaves that I had and then served the rice as a side dish, with shreddy grape leaves to be mixed in as the eater desired. Despite the ugly appearance of the shredders, the meal was embraced as a success by all eaters. My boys like falafel, a lot!!!! (In my day, when my mom made it, we called it "Feel Awful.")

Sylvan was bored one day, so I suggested he go outside and build a bike jump. First he had to bring his CD player outside, find an extension cord, and get his music cued up (Bruce Springsteen). Then he built the bike jump and used it while rocking out to classic rock.

Transformation:: 2

Transformation from green to orange to exploding sweetness in my mouth and finally into my belly! This was from a few weeks ago when they were really peaking. It's really like eating sunshine, these Sungold variety.
More transformation.... We added this shelving in our bedroom to be a yarn storage solution as well as to be sort of a colorful, ever-changing installation of color. The shelves were upcycled cubbies from school!
Below is my other wall of inspiration that I get to look at as I fall asleep and wake up each day. Art by the family, at left, and my brother's painting from when he was in Tuscany. Surrounded by talent at each turn.

And now some pictures from our new office space, formerly our boys' bedroom. This color on the walls is just incredible. It's such a wonderful green, changeable in different lights (Ben Moore "sesame").

We now get to have ALL of our books in one place in the house (well, except cookbooks, which live in the kitchen, and the boys' separate collections, and the pile on my bedside table). And the librarian's heart went pitter pat to place them in a logical semblance of order. We think a lot about "findability" in library world, because if you can't find it you may as well not have it.
We have a lot of nonfiction, which somehow surprised me. Perhaps because there are few novels which I deem appropriate to actually own my own copy of. And of course, quite a large children's collection (classics and not), crafting books (sewing, knitting, Martha Stewart Baby magazines, knitting magazines too!), teacher books, library theory books, parenting, and gardening---are our major subject areas.

Enjoy this day! I am going outside to check on my laundry.

table for two, s'il vous plait

~the light was golden~

Unexpectedly... We had a night to ourselves recently!

Both boys were accounted for and happy and not in our care, and although it's the crunch time of school looming upon us (me already in classes and the Mister about to start teaching 6th grade on Tuesday), we decided to go for it: drive down to Portland for the evening like two carefree, kid-less people! (Part of the date was the car ride together.)

Evangeline was adorable. I started with a lovely pear and endive salad with some bleu cheese---a total yummy delight of flavors. I had the steak frites (bien sur) that came with this delicious hen-of-the-woods mushroom on top and actually could have been the main dish of my meal. Our waitress/bartender was recently featured in this hipster publication. So we really felt extra hip on top of doing a really pretty hip thing like going out.

Besides for the notice required of 24 hours if you're going to order the Canard Presse, the bottom of the menu says "Unfortunately the use of cell phones causes our stove to malfunction."

::Thank you, Rickie, for the treat!::

Some sewing, some cooking

Finally, some sewing! Inspired by A Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule, I made Mama's Bag for myself. The size is perfect, just right for a little knitting project, wallet, phone, small notebook or book. Amanda has a great "use what you have" philosophy, and I happened to have this adorable, softest, fine-wale corduroy in my stash for the exterior. The lining material was pretty sweet---new, I admit, from Alewives.

Here's the thing though. I realized that the photo pictured in the book was not going to match the dimensions of fabric that SouleMama had listed (what's the deal with that?!). This is a big sewing milestone for me! And I wanted the bag in the picture. So I had to figure out how to get it. I adjusted the pleat size and the bag's height and came out with something pretty close. Yay, me!

And while at Alewives, I got some new fabric for some little pajama pants that didn't end up working out. I had the little dimensions for a round-tummied 3 year-old girl, but without the girl at hand to really visualize, it just seemed so crazy to be looking at a 14" inseam and a 20" waist. So I will make them again, in this fabric, for the tiny girl who ran into my arms the other day upon seeing me. This time I will consult a pattern (not of my own making, thank you very much) and they will be perfect.

bobbin case and thread stand, at last!

Dinner was delicious in the making and the eating:

That is a pan full of sunshine sweetness dressed in oil, balsamic, salt/pepper, and garlic, shortly to be roasted and tossed with pasta and basil and parmesan. An easy dinner that tastes delicious that everyone eats!

In other news: the new rhythm is emerging, now that the boys are in school again. My school work can be relegated to daytimes, when I am not at work, so I don't have to grouch and grump at nights and snarl at my husband. Fall is in the air today, still warm but with a nice swishy-in-the-trees wind. I have a new work schedule that includes not working every Saturday, just one Saturday per month! Hooray! We are going to The Fair this weekend, the older boys will be there on Friday, but we will go as a family on Sunday. Because I want to see this band live (turn on your computer's speakers before clicking)!

recipe for a fine summer day

me and my pink grapefruit sorbetto

Start the Sunday morning with sourdough pancakes.

Totally fudged the recipe, added a little yeast, milk and butter, along with a couple of cups of flour the night before, some eggs, salt, and more flour and milk the next morning. They are divine, so light, so delicious...

While cleaning up the breakfast dishes, begin preparing dinner (love that). What's on the menu? Quinoa salad with peas and radishes, mint and cilantro, based on Heather's great recipe. Quinoa takes a lot of coddling (rinsing it beforehand, dry roasting it, rinsing it in cold after cooking to minimize the mush factor), but I think it's worth it. And so good for us.

And also, Baked Sweet Potato Falafel from 101 Cookbooks. My new favorite vegetarian food porn site. Here's what it looked like on the plate tonight, served with a side of cucumber-dill-mint yogurt salad, and fresh greens from our garden:

Sylvan had three helpings of quinoa salad, no Sweet Potato Croquettes (as we called them to avoid the gag reflex on the word "falafel" for the boys, you know "feel awful"). Jonas avoided the quinoa but ate the croquettes. Hey, both are delicious and good for you, so who cares.

Between breakfast and dinner we went to Damariscotta to the bead store for Jonas (who makes great earrings and he's taking orders to finance a portion of his ski pass), for a swim (my first of the season), and the fabric store for me to remedy one of those awful mistakes that we sometimes make. That would have made me swear a BIG BAD swear, had Jonas not still been awake.

Is the addage "Measure twice, cut once" one that crosses cultural borders? Probably, since idiocy knows no bounds. So I KNEW that I needed to cut the fabric for E's PJ pants a certain way. I thought it through twice. I laid it out. And cut it completely the wrong way. Argh. *&(*@!!!! See how I had the iPod all set to go for the pinning and cutting last night? (And that adorable little bag, a gift from E. and her mom, just because. Just because they thought of me when they saw it. I love that sentiment, the bag, and them!)

Also while in Damariscotta, we stopped by North Cottage Coffee for some outrageously lovely handmade gelato. This place is worth a stop, for coffee, gelato, sweet and savory treats, and a great cafe atmosphere. Above is pictured the blood orange sorbetto. I chose the pink grapefruit, which might possibly be up there as my new all-time favorite, up there with Jake's homemade strawberry sorbet. Great color, texture, and flavor to die for. And please notice these cute cups they serve the gelato in, and those plastic spoons? Totally great design, although made of plastic, they fit in your hand and have a nice small spoon-head, perfect for shaving off tiny nibbles of these delectable frozen treats.

Finally, our new peeps went outside their enclosure for the first time this evening. Just a little bit of fresh grass and flying bugs. They were a little unsure, a little nervous about the idea. Kept going in and out.

Notice that buff cochin at right, above photo? I love her fluffy little botto and feathered slippers! There was some aggressive behavior we observed, and we are hoping that we are not seeing the beginnings of roosters. We still have them separated from the "big" girls for now.