honeyflake

rehearsing

remember that time when we went to get our tree and it was 52 degrees? that was a good day.

yesterday chuck, margaret and i went on our traditional tree farm outing. embracing tradition, we brought along homemade ginger cake, a thermos of cocoa, lots of marshmallows and vintage holiday plaid. usually we find ourselves out there, bundled up in layers... but not this year. we'll remember 2011 as the year that we wandered around amongst the pines jacket-and-mitten-and-hat-free... the year we excitedly chose that big silly tree with the single quirky pinecone... the year we felt a bit of extra warmth of the season together on this sunny december day. oh so merry!

woodsy

christmas greetings in progress.

season's greetings of the card and envelope variety are one of the holiday's highlights for me. i love to make them (which i've mentioned before here), send them and receive them. i took the above photo late last night in the midst of some sewing/trimming/gluing...  this year our family's card evolved into something with a bit of a slight woodsy feeling — wool plaid, woodgrain paper, and a tiny buck in forest green...  and the seasonal evergreen stamps that are out this year made me so happy. little illustrations of conifers!! right on. 

with a finished handmade stack by my side, i spent a quiet day by our tree today, writing my way through this year's greetings, breathing in the cheerful simplicity of it all... thinking of friends and family near and far.   

picnicking with plaid and pine

december 2010's always anticipated family tree farm outing was this weekend. we wrapped ourselves up in wool layers and packed up our essentials, the things that shape this yearly tradition of ours, the things that add a little comfort and joy  — mini marshmallows, favorite old wool blankets, thermoses of soup, hot cocoa and homemade festive gingercake.

i think this may have been the warmest weather we have had, a crisp 41º. the sun filled the sky, the scent of pine filled the air and the happy together feeling of family filled our souls. 

vacationland

nestled in amongst the trees, you can see the top of our tent peeking through. this was home for the three of us last week. this site, on sommes sound, is at mount desert campground on mount desert island, maine. we first read about this campground, located very near acadia national park, in this book, about eight years ago and have had it filed away, in the back of our minds, in that ever-growing list of places we'd like to visit ever since... so  this summer, we chose it as our home-base for a true-tenty-family-fun-getaway! and i must say it was fun... and very hard to brush off the pine needles, pack up and drive home. 

 
as always it was great to camp out together. we cooked, played, explored, breathed fresh air, adventured and simply chilled out up on the foggy, sunny, rainy, sunny, beautiful rocky coast of maine. here are a few photos that we snapped along the way...
 
• loved spending time quietly checking out all the barnacles, seastars, periwinkles, mussles, etc... exposed at low tide @ 'pretty marsh' in acadia.  

 
• loved jumping off large sloped granite into the clear refreshing waters of echo lake.

 
• loved the hikes, falcon sightings, junior ranger programs, and being on the lookout for a rare first family sighting at acadia. :)

 
• loved watching margaret thrive in the most simple, natural outdoor moments.

• loved the pointed firs and rugged foggy coast.

• loved just hanging in the tent.

fun stuff, that vacationland! thanks for scrolling through these travel pics. do you find it strange that i haven't mentioned a single  morsel of food? yes, i think so too... well, on top of all the above goodness, there was plenty of campfire/coleman stove/dutch oven action going on and i've decided to save all that to share in another post. 

until then, thanks maine!

mothers

my mom and her mom.

lots of love and sweet mothers day wishes today. cheers to all the mamas!

from seeds to the table

over the winter, as we dreamt of our summer garden and perused the seed catalogs i became quite taken with the idea of growing some savoy cabbages... maybe not so much the idea of growing garden cabbages as with the idea of cooking with garden cabbages. and not regular green or red cabbages but the wonderful crinkly savoy cabbage. i knew they were great in soups and tortas yet we had never considered cultivating them. so for fun this year we added a pack to our order list... we planted the seeds... they grew — from this in april to this in june to the final green giant above in august. and actually, this enormous big-enough-to-feed-a-family veggie was picked over the weekend and did just that...

i had some surprise kitchen visitors during the process of turning this cabbage into a torta. and these brief visitors were all family. they helped with making the dough, stirring the the cheeses into the filling, entertaining margaret, adding salt and pepper... and most importantly sharing in conversation and keeping the process flowing...  believe it or not i think i counted about 10 spontaneous, brief guests breezing in the front door, the back door, about the yard... family everywhere... and eventually a family creation in the oven. with all the activity, the final torta amazingly seemed to be ready as quickly as it was started... then as it cooled and everyone trickled out we parted the torta and parted ways for the evening... 

i believe that i couldn't have planned a better destination for that big leafy garden globe if i had tried, than to be a part of a family recipe... created by family, for family... 

layers

foreground: summer phlox in nonnie's garden. it bountifully appears every summer in pink, white and soft purple... planted many years back in nonnie's yard by my great-grandmother apolonia. year after year, it grows, showing it's colors for all the family to see.

background: margaret (wiggling her first loose tooth) and snoopy. posing for some "before" photos. before her very first ever haircut. really. 6 years of hair. locks grown long without ever a slight trim, free-flowing-hippie-style. hair that when unbraided was past her waistline...  it was time for a trim of some sort. it was far from the scenes of "baby's first haircut" depicted in so many baby books that we put off. it turned out to be more like a little lady's first trip to the spa. all exhuberant and wide-eyed, taking it all in.. "look! that lady's getting her hair painted!" to which i needed to explain that it was a actually a common hair treatment not the craft-project dujour although a true art i'm sure.) she enjoyed every minute of the washing, the cape wearing, the complimentary-cookie-eating (i'm surprised she didn't opt for the cappacino), the blowdrying, the chatting, the styling and the layering. she ended up loosing 10 inches in length and now sports a new do with slight layers in the front. she loves that. the layers.

sigh. i see the layers. they are definitely there. the layers of growing up. shedding the hair she'd been growing year after year... shedding the baby teeth, getting ready for the adult teeth ... moving into a new layer with a new awareness. and as long as snoopy's still coming along, it's pretty good.

a bit of the tent life

sometimes in the summer

you find yourself and your family rising early and heading down to the beach to start the day with some fresh air, yoga/meditation, coffee/tea, bagels and sun...

and sometimes

you find yourself and your family with a few hours left of sun in the weekend, unanimously deciding to head down to the beach to end the day with some salmon wraps, roasted beets from the garden, berries, surf gazing and fresh air.

sometimes you find yourself simply treasuring all these special seasonal sometimes of the season.

yoga party

we planned this little party for margaret and a few of her friends — some bending and stretching yoga fun to celebrate her sixth birthday. we borrowed some space from my yoga ashram, brought along some hand-crafted decorations and snacks and simply set up for a mini kids yoga class/party...

well actually, first there were invites... the rolled purple paper invites were inspired by rolled up yoga mats - tied with embroidery floss to have carrying handles, like some real mats do...

after we set the date and time, and you can imagine it wasn't much long after, the yoga party ideas began to flow... here are a few of the details from the day...

we created a happy mandala design that we then silkscreened on some organic cotton t-shirts for the little yogis to wear at our gathering (and to take home too) to spread the happiness. we set these out on the mats before the guests arrived. then there were the prayer flags...

the birthday-wish-filled prayer flags were inspired by the traditional tibetan flags, slightly modified for our celebration, but overflowing with good intentions non-the-less... they were a mix of simple fabric rectangles, some were painted with fabric paints and others were embellished with fabric applique on the sewing machine. these were hung over the party tables where we set out the snacks and drinks and cupcakes. i tried to keep the food as simple as i could... organic red (or perhaps party matching purple?) grapes, cheese quesadillas, water and some homemade cupcakes (with cupcake toppers to match the shirts)... and what would a homegrown party be without a "get your picture taken as a ______ board"? (remember the pirate? well we still had some wood). this one actually starts out upside down, after they had their pictures taken, the photo can be flipped and it will appear as if they are posing in a hand-stand with lotus variation...

the last thing i planned was the actual yoga and body balancing/stretching games. i prepped myself as the parties yoga teacher with a few kids yoga books, websites and library dvds (this, this, this and this) and merged all that with some things from my yoga teacher training... and with that we became a room full of roaring lions, trees in a forest, rising/setting suns, and butterflies with colorful wings, etc... the kids were fantastic. to change the pace we also planned a balancing game (sort of like musical chairs meets prehensile toes and the tree pose.) and the limbo. 

and of course there was a little happy birthday and a few candles, and lots of happy party fun.  namaste young yogis, namaste. :)

celebrating six

yes, our margaret is now six. six! so far, being six seems to be off to quite an exciting start!! the first day alone included a special crown and dress to wear, extra hugs and kisses, nonstop energy-filled cartwheels, twirls and tumbles, many rounds of rock-paper-scissors, cupcakes with purple icing, many rounds of happy birthday, many smiles and silly faces for the camera, gnocchi for dinner (her request) and chocolate fondue for dessert. good, good, good sixth birthday kind of stuff... shared and celebrated together. happy birthday!

me & my mom

coloring

together

a few pastel hued remnants from yesterday... some cupcakes piled high with icing and a new big pink dish. lots of sweet goodness — to top off the sweet memories taken home from a day spent with my parents, my grandmother, margaret and myself... four generations chasing cupcakes, playgrounds, and a good manhattan. together.

winter: sledding

at the top.

warmth. in a thermos brought from home.

...getting down to earth

a bit more of why we're not quite wishing away winter just yet... this time, its about just being out there, on top of the white hills — snowflakes by the million, transforming the usually grassy ground into something special and fleeting — hoping for that sweet ride down the slope in only a way that winter snow can provide. 

the three of us bundling up in all sorts of layers and getting ourselves to the nearest cluster of hills. making sure to fill a thermos with hot chocolate right before heading out. so simple really. and such pure joy. lots of laughter. lots of going up, down and back up again for more. out there as a family letting go of everything else and just letting it be winter. time spent sledding is very much time spent being in the season. getting down as close to the cold earth as can be... sensitive to the state of our natural surroundings right now. 

puppeteers and birthday cheers

better than broadway... better than off-broadway... better than the latest blockbuster... tonight we celebrated chuck's birthday with priceless tickets to a puppet performance at a very close to home, eco-savy recycled shoe-box theater. 

we've been planning this all for the past few days. we knew we'd be having some big festive cake (as always), planned on having fondue together (simple recipe from this book with lots of french bread, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, apples, etc... for dipping) and as a surprise margaret and i planned the entertainment. really, i had a big shoe box that i couldn't bare to see go to waste. then when i suggested we try and turn it into a little theater for puppet shows — there was no turning back... we cut the stage out. painted it up. i sewed up a curtain. printed out a couple of tickets... and then in honor of the birthday guy...

sewed up the star of the show. mini-chuck (as margaret calls him).  i'm pretty sure we surprised chuck with this one. and i think more fun than seeing the mini-rendition of chuck was seeing margaret be the puppeteer and animate this little dude. he met talking owls, princesses, danced with his wife kristin on their wedding day, ate cake, took naps, searched for a castle and found a dragon, and took more on stage naps... nice.

 

after the performance, we got our tickets punched by our puppeteer and adjourned to the table for this year's cake. this year, for chuck's 38th birthday, i went with smitten kitchen's chocolate peanut butter cake. such a good post-theater, birthday celebration cake. 

so yeah, if by chance you find yourself a bit inspired to break out a shoebox and make a wee theater for the little puppeteers at your own house, i've uploaded the pdf file i created to print out our tickets (modified slightly) so you can print them out at home. however, i'll leave the puppet-charicatures of your family members up to you. enjoy!

winter: owling

destination: empty, beach dunes.

researching the field guide.

snowy owl patrol in action.

focusing...

at last (yes, really, that smaller than small white spec is the owl)

some wintertime fun. the three of us... amidst the brisk beach conditions... with binoculars in hand... moving at nature's pace... hoping for a rare snowy owl encounter. wandering the dunes, looking around, letting our eyes adjust. so exposed to the season's elements that we can't help but be aware of winter's presence... and we embrace it. feel the cold. breath it in. you know, when the snowy owls fly down from the arctic to our beach, we're so there (we heard there had been some sightings this year — they haven't made an appearance here in five winters). yes, excited at the news of their return we swung by our beach last weekend. surrounded by the chilly open environment, that is the winter home to this nomadic creature, we enjoyed the moments that only winter can offer. so sure that this is definitely not something we can do here in july/august/etc... when these guys are back up north. eventually, we spotted one, white as a clump of snow, close through the binocular lens (so much better than my camera lens could capture!)... turning it's head, quietly sitting on the cold ground. reminding us that yes, winter's here and even though it 's a bit cold it's still oh-so good out there. 

and once we were back inside our winter home? this experience was now inspiration for drawing pictures, owl facts, making a book (you can imagine), requests for reading this and this from our book shelf and now even seeing if i can track down this book at one of the local libraries.

so december

treefarm. locally grown evergreen. bringing the outside in. 

the ever-important picnic menu... sandwiches on cranberry semolina bread, hot cocoa, ginger cake (recipe from a greener christmas)... lots of wool. from hats to blankets to past-the-knee ski socks... margaret gathered nature's seasonal bits and pieces. berries. fallen needley branches... wandering through the trees. our cheeks were rosy from the crisp air and seemed to get rosier with laughter. we found our tree. such a good day. tis the season. 

the calling

it started out with a call from nonnie earlier this week. next thing i knew i found myself heading out in the car, driving her on a quick errand. this sort of thing is not unusual. but on this trip, sort of out of nowhere, i mentioned, as we drove down the street, that i had been thinking a lot lately of aunt mary's raviolis. aunt mary was nonnie's sister and well, she made really, really good spinach raviolis. from scratch! i think everyone in my family has incredible memories of these little, perfectly square, hand-cut, spinach filled raviolis, eating them together huddled around nonnie's breakfast nook table with either a bowl of chicken broth or with lots of melted butter and parmesean cheese... mmmm... so anyway, as i was saying, i mentioned to my grandmother that i had been thinking about them lately and was wondering if maybe we could plan a day to try to make a batch up ourselves? i suddenly had the desire to know how. and i was hoping that my grandmother could teach me. well without hesitation nonnie suggested that as soon as she was finished with her errand that we head back to her house and get started on the dough. and that is how it came to be that i had my first lesson in making raviolis... 

starting with the basics. 

nonnie chopping the spinach super fine.

our dough, ready to be rolled with my great-grandmother's rolling pin.

me, rolling out the dough

nonnie giving me the first how-to demo.

lining up the filling

cutting, and trying to keep them small.

finito!

passing it on: trying out my new skills at home later in the week while at the same time sharing what i had learned with margaret — who was off and running with her own batch in no time. (at home i experimented with the same dough and a pumpkin filling, mainly to use up a csa squash, but next time it will be back to the spinach).

ghosts of halloweens past

this week we brought our box of halloween goodness down from the attic. inside there are a few random pumpkin themed trinkets, minimal decorations, and a growing collection of margaret's past homemade costumes. magical wearables of all sorts from the past re-emerged in their own special halloween parade. there was...

2003's dragonfly
2004's mermaid
2005's fairy
2006's organic banana
2007's pirate

it is wild to look at the dragonfly from her first year, when she was so small i didn't even have a need to sew feet/legs into the suit, and realize how much she has grown... who knew that these costumes would be such a marker of time? of course seeing these creations had me returning to my scattered photo archives to dig up some pictures of margaret wearing these get-ups out and about. in the spirit of this spooky holiday season, i thought i'd share them here, sort-of virtual-halloween-parade style. each time i look at them i think i change my mind about which one is my favorite...  the shiny quilted mermaid? the silly crawling dragonfly with the really, really long tail? the walking, talking mid-peel organic banana?

in the meantime both chuck and i are once again working the needle, thread and preliminary sketches this week to put together 2008's disguise... whew! we're close. it pretty much just needs a little velcro and hemming and then she'll be ready for the tricks and the treats.   

a pleasant elevation

mountains in summertime... we just got back from several days and nights of tenting in the green mountains of vermont. surrounded by fresh, fresh air and greenery we spent the week enjoying all that goes with the life of a forest dweller. pretty nice. walks amongst the trees, hopping over brooks, raindrops falling on the leaves at night, looking out to see mile after mile, looking down to see mushroom after mushroom...

because getting there is half the fun... (part two): the activities

 

once the music is cued up, the gear is all packed, the waterbottles/travel mugs are in the cupholders, i find it is good to have a few extra elements of fun for the road packed up as well... for me it is usually my camera for photos, travel journal and bag of colored pencils, watercolors and gluestick — for writing, drawing, collaging and collecting bits of ephemera along the way (on this past trip i found this aged, vintage winding road postcard at one mountain roadside store which went right onto a journal page.) and then maybe some reading or crafting like knitting (on this past trip it was the knitting i've had going on since the winter).

and then there's the little passenger excitedly riding along in the back seat...

for her i began with alicia's tutorial for a backseat organizer.  a great idea to keep everything together, hanging over the back of my seat where margaret could easily reach everything in its pockets. i loved when i saw alicia's last year and was happy to find the time to give it a try myself. to fill it i looked at martha's travel kit segment online. i loved her idea to include a map!!! so chuck sketched out a simplified rendering of our route for margaret, with certain landmarks drawn in for reference. this was a big hit and i believed it cut down on the "are we almost theres?" the other pockets held martha's bingo cards, some lyra colored pencils,  blank paper, a sing-a-long book, margaret's travel sketchbook, simple craft/embroidery floss, mazes and coloring pages, and our walkie talkies.

i think these little extras played a big role in the trip. getting there (and getting back home again) was a breeze. if you're heading out on a summer trip, i hope you'll be able to enjoy some of these ideas and links too. happy trails.

because getting there is half the fun... (part one): the music

every good roadtrip requires a good soundtrack, i say. i put together this two cd mix before we left — and called it "to the woods and back" (because also every good mix needs a good name, i say) — some old, some new... a little collection of songs for singing along. thought i'd share the setlist: 

lily pond 

elizabeth mitchell you are my little bird 

in the sun 

joseph arthur come to where i'm from

golden 

my morning jacket it still moves

heaven right here (come over to my yard) 

jeb loy nichols just what time it is

soulshine

government mule the beacon 12-31-02

rambler, gambler

bob dylan no direction home: the soundtrack

white winter hymnal

fleet foxes fleet foxes (download free here)

sally gal [outtake]

bob dylan no direction home: the soundtrack 

see these bones

nada surf lucky

mr. bojangles

nitty gritty dirt band certified hits: nitty gritty dirt band

i'm my own grandpa 

willie nelson gather round: songs for kids and other folks

all my friends live in the woods 

dan zanes & friends rocket ship beach

ashes and glass 

ratdog weir here (the best of bob weir)

tiger mountain peasant song 

fleet foxes fleet foxes

slow show 

the national boxer

song to woody 

bob dylan no direction home: the soundtrack

little maggie 

ralph stanley & the clinch mountain boys

appalachian stomp: more bluegrass classics

bushel and a peck 

dan zanes & friends rocket ship beach

nellie kane 

phish hampton comes alive (another version available free here)

ragged wood 

fleet foxes fleet foxes

lord god bird 

sufjan stevens npr (download free here)

let me lie

trey anastasio bar 17

whatcha gonna do 

peter tosh legalize it

this land is your land 

pete seeger american favorite ballads, vol. 1

old dan tucker

bruce springsteen we shall overcome - the seeger sessions

there is a mountain 

donovan the essential donovan

goodbye old paint 

dan zanes & friends rocket ship beach

sugaree 

jerry garcia band don't let go [live] 

don't think twice, it's all right [demo-version] 

bob dylan no direction home: the soundtrack

while the music is playing 

dan zane catch that train

dark hollow 

grateful dead history of the grateful dead, vol. 1

woodland retreat

putting my old swiss army knife to good use...

 
collecting kindling...

collected kindling turned fairy homes...

the papa gets the fire going while...

 
the mama whittles a few marshmallow sticks...

woodsy...

 
at home in the woods...

one evening some early storms had us huddled up in the tent. thanks to the lanterns and headlamps we had games, coloring, journalling and shadow puppets...

chuck mastered the espressos/cappuccinos on the coleman each morning...

in the a.m., scrambled eggs with garden sun gold tomatoes and black olives along with some blueberries from our blueberry bush... went perfectly with the cappuccinos.

packing up the gear. getting ready to hike it all down the trail and back to our car... we miss you already site 75.

gearing up

so now that the tent pole is all fixed and taken care of, we are gearing up for a few more camping outings this summer... today, in preparation of these adventures, i created a little piece of important sleeping gear for margaret. her own patchy pillow. just like the ones i made for chuck and i for a summer road trip to maine six years ago. same size, same style, just a few years later...

these are the original two camping pillows, which have worked out really well — they are small enough to pack in the car without taking up too much room, they are big enough to be comfortable, we don't have to bring our bed pillows out into the woods, and they're patchy. having only two pillows for a family of three was ok for the first few years, but now a third one is needed for sure...

this morning i selected a bunch of fabrics and let margaret go through them. she sorted them and arranged them and chose ones for her pillow and ones for her doll's mini-pillow. this was a very exciting part of the process. 

lots of mixing of patterns and colors. fabric everywhere. when the piles were sorted, i did a wee bit of editing and began to cut the squares... and then sewed and sewed until our pillowless camper had her very own creation to rest her head. zzzzzzzzz......

edited to add: the final pillow *stuffed* pillow size is about 25" x 12". these patches started out 5" square and i used about a 1/4" seam.

seaweed

a summer evening picnic... tonight we picked up some sushi and headed down to the beach for dinner. i'm not sure how this all came to be actually... one minute i'm flipping through cookbooks trying to come up with a good zucchini recipe for dinner (wondering if i there was enough time to put together a soup), then chuck calls to say he's coming home early (cutting short the usual dinner prep time) and next thing you know we're packing up the car with sand toys and the yellow tapestry heading down to the beach... counting each little evening bunny coming out of the roadside shrubs along the way. embracing the spontaneity and going with the flow. and it happily this last minute plan worked out quite nicely. we picnicked, hung out by the water, photographed some jellyfish and seaweed, dug in the sand, shared stories about our day, until the sun started to set, giving us the cue to gather up our sandy selves and head on home. 

solstice gathering

after warmly shining down on all the many dancing and singing folks all day, the sun lingered in the sky for just a bit longer on saturday... it was the opening day of the clearwater festival and opening day of summer 2008. all the open outdoor space and the music-filled stages everywhere had us singing, hooping and happily welcoming in the new season grassroots-style...

the summer solstice is a time for letting go, letting go of the sun as the earth begins to rock and roll itself back in the other direction, letting go of the long days as they slowly will begin to get shorter... rocking and rolling, letting go... and how perfectly fitting, there was plenty of that going on at this celebration (originally put together by pete seeger more than 35 years ago, to help bring awareness to the huson river and the earth)

some of the performers we were able to catch this year were the silver swimmers, entrain, david amram, dog on fleas, the felice brothers, and a few others here and there...

it's an event that we always find to be a good time. it keeps us coming back year after year filling our souls with song. eventually, the sun did set, and we were on our way home, keeping the music going, singing our own songs (many from this songbook.) together. very glad that summer is now officially here. happy summer to all!

just passing through

the past few weeks have been a bit busy around here. so sunday, when there seemed to be a bit of calmness and settling down of things, we seized the opportunity to head out for a spontaneous family camping adventure. we chose a location that we've always wanted to try, a location right alongside the atlantic that is very condusive to living the life of a beach bum — no winding hiking trails, no mountain peaks to conquer, no canoeing or kayaking, just a nice sandy, flower lined trail, a few yards long that leads from your tent to the beach and back. seemed like a good plan...

we arrived. there were lots of open sites to choose from, being that it was a sunday and most schools around here are still in session. no sooner than our tent was set up and the sleeping bags were unpacked, a giant mass of dark clouds quickly came rolling in across the sky...

with the clouds, came a fast rain, thunder, wicked lightening bolts and winds that have been reported at the area's local coastguard of 55 knots (63.4 miles per hour)!! all we could do is take cover in our car and watch and hope that we wouldn't loose our gear to the crashing waves on the other side of the dunes and i suppose hope that we too wouldn't be blown away out to sea. oh, nature.

it all happened so fast. we're pretty sure we spent over two hours waiting it out in the car. luckily we had access to the cooler (which was fortunately packed with margaret's leftover birthday cake). and luckily margaret was happily entertained with a few rounds of word rhyming games. fat > cat. car > far. tent > bent.

the damage? a broken tent pole (boo!), no rips in the nylon (yay!) and a huge collection of puddles inside the flattened dome (big time boo!) the sleeping gear was just soaked. we took a walk on the beach, weighed our options, watched the storm moving off shore as quickly as it came, and then decided to pack it all up and head back home passing one uprooted tree after another — the whole way recounting our adventure as if we'd been gone for days and planning our next big outdoor outing of the season (with a fixed up tent pole of course) where we can once again truly submerge ourselves in nature, no matter what the conditions.

36 in the (718)

sunday. me and my peeps (chuck and margaret) piled into the hybrid, popped in a cd and headed into brooklyn — area code (718) — for a little sunny day 36th birthday celebrating... here are just a few captured moments.

first stop was an outdoor lunch together — including smoothies blended up in an eco bike powered blender (that's me above whirlling up a blueberry banana concoction), a kid's craft area, funky dj and new friends from the hood (really, everyone was so incredibly happy and friendly there. one big party.) we could have lounged around there all day but there were a few other destinations in mind...

 

so, next was a walk up a few blocks for a flea market fix. where we were tempted by a few brown retro mugs, some vintage outdoor iron chairs, a single gear bike, many candy-colored swizzle sticks and some fabric scraps, but resisted all in the end)

and finally there was a little frozen sugary goodness found at the local organic ice cream shop (this we could not resist) to finish up the outing. we then headed home, with dreamy plans of our own bike powered blender... thanks brooklyn! and thanks family! i enjoyed my day.

two by two

magnolia and apricot
tucked in for a ride in margaret's bicycle basket.

potato bread and potato bread
cooling on the table.

anchors away

a few months back, i signed margaret and i up for a craft swap. the blue box went out to our swap partners months ago and here's a glimpse of all the sea worthy loot that we sent...

margaret's underwater mermaid/sea creature scene that we cut up into a puzzle and tucked into a paper envelope. a cd of whale sounds in some custom cd packaging...

a glove bunny - adorned with his own anchor scarf. sewn by me, stuffed with wool by margaret. i wanted to give him an eye patch however margaret didn't want him to scare the other animals at his new home - so a scarf it was.

a close up detail of the fabric pirate mask and whale tee. i loved making this mask with mainly just some linen and a bandana — i hope to make a few more of these in the future...

it was fun to work together on this project. the whale/pirate theme had us pretty inspired (margaret loved listening to the whale chatter cd while we worked and learning the differences between an orca and a humbback whale). thanks again molly for organizing miniswap 3!

mixed greens

from a tree, in a fresh bouquet...

from her garden, in a fresh little salad.

farming

seedlings to the left. sprouts to the right. sheep, picnic blankets and happy faces in between. yesterday our csa farm kicked the season off with its annual spring farm gathering. we woke up early (for us), packed the car (the picnic blanket, waterbottles, some knitting, sketchbooks, etc...) and were on our way faster than you can say organic heirloom tomato.

like last year, we explored the awakening grounds, fed the sheep, took lots of photos, asked our farmers minute detail after minute detail about this years crops, toured the polytunnel with the wee little tomato seedlings, not to mention their gang of fresh new friends (such as the greener than green basil that looked quite ready for a nice pesto already!)... lots of edible goodness beginning everywhere. but the harvesting and weekly produce don't actually start for a few more weeks. fortunatley for us though, there were the leeks...

way out, in the back acres of the farm, there were a few rows of leeks. we were welcomed, if we felt up for it, to have a go at it, to dig around in the fields and pull up a leek or two. well, absolutley yes!

yes, we got to know our farm just a little more intimately than we anticipated yesterday. and we loved every root tugging, bug finding, dirt-covered hands minute of it. really. margaret had a blast, and was quite proud of the little leeks that she managed to harvest like a farmer all by herself. chuck mastered his technique and was able to collect a few of the larger ones. and me... i gave up on the larger ones, passed up the smaller ones and went for the ones that were just right for me. (truthfully, thinking each one was just right for a torte, omlette, tart, etc...)

then finally, after our "work in the fields" we got to hang out, watch the strawberries grow and do a bit if picnicking. feeling a little more connected to our earth (possibly because it was now covering us from head to toe).

and as always after the farm's opening day, we are more excited, if that could be possible, and anticiating all that the season will bring.

sunny

drawing and painting it

spring. real spring. warm sun, birds, blooms, buds and bugs. today was the real deal. we headed out to the backyard with a blanket and supplies, to see it. feel it. draw it. paint it. and enjoy it...

artist: margaret. medium: watercolor

artist: margaret. medium: ink and crayon

artist: mama. medium: watercolor

and on sunday there were...

eggs. margaret, chuck and i dyed some eggs together on saturday, using the same natural method as we've done in the past, but this year trying out a few new colors like cranberry juice and red onion skins. this is always a good time. margaret excitedly woke up to find these earthy-hued creations magically hidden about (yes, including her shoe) easter morning.

a bunny. perhaps there was more than one - some out of chocolate, some out of wood, some embroidered on a dress - but this one, i made out of a pair of gloves for margaret. the pattern is straight out of the sock and glove book which i got from my martha trip back in february. just something simple and homemade - who brought a few happy smiles and easter dances on sunday. i think if i had had more sets of gloves and wool stuffing on hand there would have been as many soft bunnies made here as eggs.

a breakfast. a little something to go with our morning coffee, milk and chocolate. a special day deserves an egg-stra special beginning. so i whipped-up the easy-like-sunday-morning casserole. and hello to you little chick, glad you could join us.

a recycled dress. when i wrote about easter traditions last year, the old and new, i had no idea that the exact dress i made would make its appearance again this year for traditions sake. my plan was to work on creating another one for margaret, something fresh and new... until she started talking about how on easter she would be wearing her bunny dress. just like how she did last year. of course. and so it was... luckily the recycled green outfit still fit (along with the exact same tights, same shirt and same shoes)...

good times. hope you had a great weekend too. now on with spring!

travel log: boston

thursday 3.6.08
5:00am: on the road. before the sun. knit.
9:00am: stumble across new (to us) folk radio show.
9:30am: enter beantown.
11:30am: cupcakes at lulu's.
1:30pm: wander through boston public garden.
5:00pm: use up all hotel room stationery.

friday3.7.08
10:30 am: hotel breakfast. fuel up on coffee, free-range eggs and mini-syrup bottles.
12:00pm: fuel up on more caffeine in the form of lattes somewhere near harvard.
3:00pm: peruse some outdoor gear, pick up new yoga pants, test drive a few shiny little 16" bikes around the store.
5:00pm: radio gives way to backseat passenger's cd request. several times.
7:00pm: very rainy conditions.
9:00pm: {safely} home again.

bon voyage...

our miniswap three box filled with crafty surprises finally set sail, on its way to our partners! safe travels little blue box.

birthday cake(s)

chuck's birthday was sunday and in celebration we baked a big cake. (which was accompanied by one of margaret's mini-side-kick cakes. i gave her some extra batter for her little springform pan). while it sort of resembles last year's marshmallow creation in looks, this year's cake actually took us down a different path...

a carrot cake! the cookbook says to make this for a big occasion, for many people, for a happy party. so we did. the recipe had us steamming raisins, shredding 4 cups of carrots, chopping walnuts, mixing cream cheese, etc... until the cakes were complete. it turned out pretty good - which i'm thankful for, because as the recipe mentions, it was a big cake, and that means there are still quite a lot of slices to be eaten! and it is almost as if for each slice of cake, there is another celebratory portrait of papa that appears — coffee cup, birthday crown, goatee and all...

happy birthday chuck.