Bathroom Humor

Sometimes I can't help but find amusement when people get creative in public bathrooms.  In May we went to the Harry Potter festival in Roanoke.  This was the first year.  I was amused when I went to the bathroom in Ravenclaw.

 

Of course, no Hogwarts bathroom would be complete without Moaning Myrtle...

 



Then in June, we went to hear the band of a friend play at Chaos Mountain Brewery.  They displayed some bathroom humor as well:

How about you readers?  Have you seen anything funny in the bathroom lately?  Is that a loaded question?

Hope everyone had a great July 4th! 

Butternut, Moths, and Peep S'mores

Gosh I love Spring.  Temps in the 70s, everything in bloom and green.  The promise of new life, new gardening.  Here's a picture of the twins on Easter, waiting to make s'mores out of Peeps.

After the suggestion of one of my blog readers (who are always teaching me wonderful things, and giving me new ideas), I canned the butternut squash I had left from last fall, before it could start to go bad.  When canning squash, you have to cube it, and you must use a pressure canner.  It was a lot of work to peel and cube so much butternut in one go, but now all I have to do is open a jar!  I plan to use it a lot in soups or rice bowls.  You can see my garden corral in the background of this picture.

Another sign of spring?  All the butterflies and bees.  On a recent run, I discovered this rather unusual moth.  I don't carry a camera or phone when I run on our trails, so I went back and found it later.  I loved it's creamy yellow coloring and brown stripe.  According to google, this seems to be a swallowtail moth.

Readers, what are the small things delighting you this spring?

Spring, Finally

I'm glad it's spring and I can move into warmer weather and gardening season.  I have a few random reflections on the winter.

We went through a lot of the home canned goods this winter.  By January we had run through all 12 pints of salsa I canned last summer.  This year I need to make more.  The boys loved the canned carrots and canned green beans.  Only Reid and Paul and I like the beets, but I'm working on the other two.  We used up most of the jams and jellies, and discovered that autumn olive is our new favorite jelly - next year I hope to make a lot more.  Some of the squash I stored never got used, and I had to throw it away in March when it started to rot.  This year I'm planting less squash.

Last month St. Patrick's Day resulted in little Leprechaun traps all over the house.  The twins were quite devoted in creating these, and they seemed to be around every corner.  Alas, they were still empty on March 18th.  Maybe next year.

I read the boys classics like Hatchet and Old Yeller this winter, when the days were short and the wood stove was going.  They loved both books.

I put down a layer of hay in the garden for weed control.  I look forward to warm hands in the dirt and putting in seeds this month.

Readers, do you have any winter reflections?

Pogo

When I was about 11 or so, I got a pogo ball.  It was purple and green, and I immediately invested massive amounts of time in becoming proficient.  We lived in a neighborhood at the time, and I practiced going up and down the sidewalk in front of my house.  I was relentless.  So perseverant that I pogo balled until I had massive blisters on the insides of both feet from gripping the ball (even though I'd been wearing tennis shoes).  But my persistence paid off.  Soon, I could pogo around the entire block.  I could pogo uphill and downhill and even up and down the curb. 

Not long ago, I was in a thrift store and came across a pogo ball for $1.25.  It was the same color as the pogo ball I had in the 80s.  I hopped on, not expecting much.  But my mind and body?  It remembered how to pogo ball, all these years later.  I was hopping all over the store.  A child in a forty year old body.

I brought the pogo ball home.  My boys were very impressed with my mad pogo skills.  And, as you might imagine, they're working on some mad pogo skills of their own.

Readers, do you have any skills from your youth you'd like to revisit?

Camo Bug

The other day when we were building a new fence I heard a buzzing in the bushes.  I went to investigate and found a fantastic bug.  Look at that coloring!  Isn't nature amazing?

I'm guessing this is some sort of locust or cicada, although I've never seen one so beautifully colored.  The original camouflage! 

Readers - anyone know specifics on this bug?

Shame at the Liquor Store

For my mother's birthday (which is today, happy birthday!) I had to go to the liquor store.  My mom doesn't actually drink liquor, but she wanted to start making some tinctures like the ones I've been making from native plants.  I got her the two Rosemary Gladstar guidebooks that I've been using for Mother's Day, and decided to get the items she'd need to make the products for her birthday.  Things like the little bottles and jars.  And, as you may remember, some of the recipes call for vodka. 

So I found myself at the liquor store, where I don't go very often.  Years could pass without me setting foot in a liquor store, which is probably good since the minute I enter through the doors I am consumed with guilt.  As though I've already done something wrong (I have no similar guilt over buying a bottle of wine at the grocery store - but something about the liquor store does this to me every time).  Like just in crossing the threshold I have done very bad things. 

I found the vodka and then something strange happened as I was meandering my way out of the store.  It started with the amaretto.  Instantly I felt the need to make amaretto cake.  Then there was the Malibu rum.  Didn't I see a recipe for Malibu rum cupcakes recently? 

As you might imagine, I had major impulse buy fails, and then I'm walking to the checkout with my arms loaded by two bottles of vodka, a bottle of amaretto, and a bottle of Malibu rum.  Party at my house!  I hung my head in shame as the cashier scanned my driver's license.  Is there a limit to how much you can buy?  Was he going to flag me for future stores?

Still...I must say.  That amaretto cake?  It made it all worth it!

Readers, do you like any drunken sweets?

I Bought a Falcon at the Grocery Store

A couple of weeks ago I was a victim to the impulse buy at the store.  I was at the grocery store.  Of all places!  And they had peregrine falcons.  Of course my garden needed a falcon.

My grocery list most certainly did not contain the phrase "peregrine falcon" in between the tortillas and the almond milk. 

As tempting as it was to buckle him into the passenger seat and call him Fred on the way home, I bagged him and stuck him in the trunk instead.  Just as well, because he might've tried to control the radio.  Now he has a prominent spot in the garden where his job is to scare away rabbits and groundhogs.

I'm not sure how good Fred is at his job.  I hope he's on his game.

Readers, have you had any impulse buys at the grocery store lately?

Relics

1.  Every once in a while, we find some relic of days gone by on our place.  Paul found this one hiking on a steep section of our land.  Feel free to toss out ideas about it's original use.  It is all metal, and about 7 inches long, maybe 3 inches wide at the largest part.

2.  I told the boys about a historical fiction book I was reading about yellow fever.  I forgot about it.  A few weeks later they were doing worksheets I'd left for them while my mom watched them so I could work (Spring Break).  One of the worksheets the twins did asked them to write about something that made them mad.  Reid wrote that yellow fever made him mad, which no doubt surprised my mom.

3.  I think I got our rabbits to breed.  Rabbit gestation is 31 days.  Rabbits don't waste any time.

4.  It's much more difficult for me to sleep in the spring and summer.  Does anyone else notice this?  Does more light = less sleep? 

5.  I recently had a negative experience with a company, when they shipped something that wasn't adequately described online and as a result I could not use it.  They wouldn't pay return shipping, even though the error was a result of their poor description.  I'd been buying from the company since 2007.  I am not the sort to rat out a company online, but I can say I will never make a purchase from them again.  And I'm now out $14 in shipping fees.

Readers, you had any irritating company experiences lately?

Linked today with Willy Nilly Friday.

The Abandoned Bus

I've posted about the abandoned bus on our road before, but it's been a while.  And when I was out running in the snow last month I snapped a fun picture of it.  You can see the old chimney.  No one has lived in it in the sixteen years we've been here.  It's fairly decrepit at this point.

Still, I enjoy seeing it when I pass by, and there is some part of me that hopes no one ever comes along and hauls off the bus.  Even ancient as it is, it does have some mysterious charm.

Why is Father Time So Creepy?

 I like sundials.  I would love to have one in my garden, if I had a proper garden.  You know, one that wasn't full of things like weeds and squash bugs and rocks.  But since I have a messy garden, I have to admire sundials in other places.

I took a picture of this sundial at the SciWorks museum in Winston Salem, and it wasn't until I got home and edited the picture that I noticed Father Time there with his saying.  And I was looking at Father Time and thinking he looks kind of creepy in a Grim Reaper sort of way. 

Of course it's the scythe that makes him creepy.  And then I started wondering, why does Father Time carry a scythe anyhow?  What does he need a scythe for?

If you were thinking the harvest, you'd be wrong.  Nope, it's nothing so quaint. In fact, if you do a search for why Father Time carries his scythe, you will get an answer that you probably weren't expecting.  Certainly I won't ever forget what I learned when I see the ominous Father in the future. 

Anyhow, all that eerie business aside, it does seem like just before New Year's Eve is the appropriate time to post a picture of Father Time.  Another year gone by.  I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, scythe-free New Years! 

Mystery Mushrooms

1.  Anyone know what these mushrooms are?  They're pretty.  Mushrooms never fail to fascinate me.  I stumbled across them recently when trying to track down some poachers on our property.  Next time I need to take a machete along for the hike, as I got detoured by some razor briars and turned back to the house.

2.  I finally pulled all the plants from the garden and have been adding things like rabbit manure and compost.  Hoping Paul will till some additional garden areas for me to use this spring. 

3.  We're continuing our four gifts theme this year:  something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read.  This is our third or fourth year we've done this, and it works out very well. 

4.  Do you like eerie gothic mysteries?  Check out The Child Garden.  It's marvelous.

5.  Driving home the other day Paul mentioned that he wondered what kind of sports car we were passing.  It was dark, so I couldn't see.  Cort said, "Probably basketball".  So then I had to explain what a sports car was. 

What are you reading lately, readers?  Besides blogs, I mean!

Linked today with Willy Nilly Friday.

Great Expectations

In 9th grade English we read Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  While I've always been an avid reader, I have never cared much for reading plays.  Something about having the text broken by names for each person's speech is very distracting.  I just can't seem to become truly immersed in it.  So although I enjoy seeing the plays, I don't tend to read them. 

Studying plays in a class setting was not an improvement.  I don't know if my teacher Miss Magee just really loved Romeo and Juliet, or if my memory has become a bit faulty, but it feels like we spent at least half the year on the play.  Each day she'd assign students in the class different roles and we'd have to read through the play, line by line.  Somehow, the football players didn't pull off an engaging Romeo.  After we finally finished reading the play, we spent several classes watching the movie.

I found the entire thing very asinine.  So when I wasn't reading a role, I was secretly flipping through my English text for distraction.  And there, at the far back of the book, I found a gem.  I started reading this story called Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.  Right from the opening, when Pip is accosted by the escaped convict, I was hooked.  I adored the gorgeous and distant Estella as well, but my favorite character was Miss Havisham.  I've always had a thing for eccentric characters.  Some things never change. 

Black walnut maple cake I made (not to be confused with Miss Havisham's wedding cake).

 

I had read other classics prior to Great Expectations, and I would find others in high school that were magical too (like Lost Horizon and Of Human Bondage) but this one stands out in my mind as one of my absolute favorites.  I've never returned to it to read again, as there are so many books that I want to read that I don't feel I have time to reread anything.  Plus, I worry that it might not be as extraordinary as it was the first time around.  I don't want to ruin that initial wonder.

 

So I'm taking a vote.  Readers, if you say that I should take the risk and reread what I think of as my first truly beloved classic (26 years later!), I will do so.  It will be on my reading list for 2016.  But it seems risky.  What do you think? 

 

Anyone else love Great Expectations?





I Like Your Fungus

1.  I don't often think of fungus as being pretty, but sometimes you can find some really neat specimens out in the woods.  Like the fungus I found on one of our poplar trees when I was hiking around our land one day:

2.  I was driving the boys home from chess club one day, and they told me some wild story from the bus.  I said, "You're pulling my leg!"  There was silence from the back seat.  Just as I thought that maybe they didn't know what the saying meant, Reid piped up, "Mom, how can we pull your leg when we're in the backseat?"

3.  We don't have an Xbox or a Wii, much to the boys great eternal disappointment.  They do use one sometimes in gym.  They do a game called Just Dance, and there is a leader that the players have to try to follow step by step.  The boys like to play this at home.  It cracks me up.  They put on music and one will lead while the other two have to follow his dance steps.  See, I stand by my point - we don't actually need an Xbox! 

4.  Pierce came home from school and said that a book they were using in reading had a bad word in it, and all the kids were talking about it.  I asked which word it had.  Pierce said the "J" word.  I ran through all the bad words I knew and was stumped.  The "J" word?  Finally I gave in and asked Pierce to say it.  He spelled it for me.  Turns out the word is jackass.  Readers, were you stumped like I was?

5.  I can tell you one thing I won't be doing today!  Black Friday shopping.  Ick!  Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.

Linked today with Willy Nilly Friday. 

Peanut Butter Fudge and Other Things

1.  Every year in the fall I get a craving for peanut butter fudge.  It's pretty much one of my favorite things ever.  I can deny the craving only so long, and then I break down and make a batch.  It never lasts for long.

2.  I had to take some time off running.  I had a hamstring issue that wouldn't go away.  I hadn't thought about it, but it turns out the last time I took a week or more off running was three years ago.  I guess I was overdue.  It still wasn't easy for me.

3.  The batch of chickens we ordered last summer are maturing, and we had a couple of roosters.  They crack us up in the mornings while we wait for the bus.  They are trying to crow, but it kind of sounds like a dying sqwaaaaaauuuuuukkkkk instead.

4.  Because we had too many roosters, we ate one last weekend.  Always a nice thing to know where your food comes from.  I don't do any butchering, but once it's all done, I am happy to do the cooking.

5.  After we ate the rooster, I returned the bones to the crockpot with some celery, garlic, water, and seasonings.  I cooked it overnight on low to make some bone broth.  It was a little oilier than I expected, but Paul fixed it with a huge batch of rice and some veggies the next day, and it was delicious.  I also had a couple of jars for the freezer.

Linked today with Willy Nilly Friday.

Teeny Snapper

1.  I found this little snapper when I was running one day.  Partially buried in the dirt, I thought he was a walnut until I noticed the spine ridges.

2.  My friend Lisa came to visit for a few days, and I didn't realize until she arrived that she was on a paleo diet.  We don't eat a ton of meat so I was kind of at a loss about what to feed her.  But then I chopped up one of my huge blue hubbard squashes, and it saved the day (along with a cabbage and kielbasa stir fry).  She liked it so much she even took some home (and since it was so big, there was plenty left over).

3.  I spent some time getting recertified for CPR recently.  It's a requirement for one of my jobs, and I think it's an important skill to have.  I'm good for the next two years now.

4.  This weekend is GoFest in Roanoke.  I have blogged about it a few times.  Always a really fun festival - if you are local check it out.

5.  Our two guineas are 15 weeks old today, so maybe with a little luck we will see an egg soon.  Assuming, that there is a female in the mix.

Linked with Willy Nilly Friday.

Why You Should Have an Emergency Car Kit

One of the things I worked on this summer was putting together an emergency car kit.  You may remember that time we got stranded on a mountain with no cell phone reception this past spring.  There have been other incidents too.  Like the time I had to drive home from Northern Virginia in a snowstorm (a drive that would normally take 4 hours and ended up taking 8) only to have to have a neighbor come pick me up by four wheeler to get me over the mountain.  And of course there have been times where the kids have needed spare clothes (from getting carsick or from jumping in a creek somewhere).  To be honest, I should've put together an emergency kit ages ago.

My car has a handy dandy secret compartment that can store all sorts of things.  I've filled it up with supplies. 

I have changes of clothes, rain ponchos, emergency blankets, flashlights with extra batteries, basic tools, paper towels and towels, water purifiers, snacks (look for shelf stable snacks like meal replacement survival bars and Vienna sausages that are well packaged - you don't want mice getting into your car - I have been there and done that, too).  I have firestarter and contact lenses and a spare pair of glasses.  I also keep a collapsible backpack in case we have to hike somewhere and carry supplies.  And then I have a lot of medical supplies.  Last summer Paul had a huge wipeout on his mountain bike.  He was bleeding all over the place and didn't have a single bandaid or bandage in his car.  So guess what he got for our wedding anniversary?  His own emergency car kit - next time he'll be able to bandage himself up (although I hope there isn't a next time, for his sake!).

When you put this together, consider the needs of your family.  If you're active, like us, you'll want things like sunscreen and bug spray and moleskin for blisters.  These are practical items you may use regularly (just remember to replace them for next time).  I also keep a six pack of bottled water.  I know that you aren't supposed to keep bottled water in a car because of BPA concerns, but in a situation where your car broke down and it was 90 degrees and you had to hike down a mountain, that bottled water will be very useful. 

Readers, do you keep some emergency supplies in your car? 

40 on Friday

1. When I went to the conference in Philadelphia with Paul, he had a very nice reception at The Franklin Institute.  I had a blast in the brain section.  On the upper level, there is a skybike that looks really fun.  Sadly, the line was too long.  But we enjoyed watching.

2.  Today is my fortieth birthday.  Forty is certainly less exciting than say thirty.  Or twenty. 

3.  I have been enjoying the garden this year.  I have spent a lot of time picking off squash bug eggs.  For some reason the companion planting of radishes and marigolds was not effective this year.  I don't like to use any chemicals, so I just inspect every single leaf by hand, day by day. 

4.  Speaking of gardening, I had not planted turnips in 3 years because I was the only one who liked them.  But this year I decided I could just eat them all myself.  So I planted a few.  And guess what?  Cort and Reid LOVE roasted turnips.  We're talking three helpings at dinner love!  So next year I'll be planting more.

5.  After listening to a podcast on Appalachian gardening, I special ordered some heirloom seeds for the cushaw squash.  I had never heard of it.  Supposedly it makes a lovely pumpkin pie.  But even more important?  It is squash bug resistant.  Hoping I will have some luck with these.

What have you got growing, readers?  And if you don't have anything growing, do you have any advice for the 40th decade? 

Linked today with Willy Nilly Friday.

Little Happies

What's making you happy this week?  I have a few things.

1.  Apricots are in season.  They are one of my favorite fruits.  Their season doesn't seem to last long, and they taste awful out of season, so I try to maximize the month or so that they are in their prime.

2.  Finishing the Superstition Mountain trilogy with the boys.  It was fantastic.  If you have elementary school aged kids, I highly recommend it.  Mystery, adventure, treasure hunting, suspense, peril.  It has a little bit of everything!

3.  Chocolate herbal coffee.  It doesn't have the bitterness of coffee.  It's more like a tea.  But it kind of tastes like chocolate coffee.  I sampled it at the Earth Day festival in April, and promptly ordered myself a case.

 

 

4.  Watching Cort practice his breakdance moves.  I ordered him a used copy of How to Breakdance 1 and he watches it over and over and practices the moves.  It's pretty cute.

 

5.   Getting a grant to cover occupational therapy for one of my boys.  The school was providing it to work on fine motor skills for a while, but then decided there had been enough improvement that it was no longer needed.  I felt like he could use a bit more, but our insurance doesn't cover it, and at up to $200 a session it wasn't in our budget.  I applied for a medical grant through UnitedHealth for kids under 16 with private insurance that doesn't cover certain therapies.  When I got the email that we had received the grant, it brought tears of gratitude and relief to my eyes.  If you have a child that could benefit from a medical grant, you can go read about the process and qualifications HERE.  And feel free to email me directly if you have questions.

 

 

Readers, what are your little happies this week?

 

Linked with Willy Nilly Friday.

Fish in the Closet and Favorite Places

1.  A friend of mine was giving away tickets to see the ballet of Cinderella, so I took my little dancer, Cort.  We had a splendid time (and he picked out his outfit himself - doesn't he look handsome?).

2.  Pierce recently had to take some sort of end of the year reading test.  He made a big deal out of going to bed early and having a healthy breakfast.  That morning, while eating breakfast, Paul said, "The big reading test.  Well that's exciting!"  Pierce said, in his deadpan voice, "It's not exciting.  It's serious."

3.  Paul was brewing up some wine and had it in a big contraption in his closet.  It made burbling sounds as it fermented.  Cort came down and asked if he could see the fish in our closet.

4.  The boys recently had a big debate over how big God is.  The twins thought God is small because he "lives in your heart".  Pierce thought God is big because if you add up all the hearts in the world, that makes for a really big God.  I think I need a philosopher on retainer for some of these questions the boys come up with.

5.  Recently I was trying to get Cort to calm down when he was particularly upset.  I was doing a little meditation with him and was telling him to imagine his favorite place.  You know - most people picture the beach or whatever.  I was like, "Can you see it in your mind".  He nodded, eyes squeezed tight.  "Where is your place?" I asked, curiously.  He responded, "Chick Fil A.  It is my favorite place.  I like their chicken nuggets.  And I like their French fries.  And I like their drinks". 

Readers, what is your favorite place these days?

Linked today with Willy Nilly Friday. 

When Birds Make Poor Decisions

A few weeks ago we went to a bike rodeo and family picnic at the boys' school.  Upon arrival, we saw a small tree with caution tape around the borders.

This little bird laid eggs in the mulch.  Pierce said that on the morning announcements they reported it was a killdeer.  She was pretty agitated during the bike rodeo - hundreds of people walking by and bikes zooming everywhere.  She made quite a racket in her disapproval.

She laid her eggs right by a major walkway, so she must not have checked out the area beforehand.  I felt bad for her with all the activity going on.  I think it's nice the school is trying to watch out for her well being.

Hopefully she won't get so upset she abandons her eggs.  It does seem a strange place to lay them.  Maybe killdeer aren't the smartest birds on the block?