A Walk Along the Sammamish River Trail

A touch of clouds in the sky,
A flock of ducks sit nearby,
A pair of salmon, mouths open wide
Alex in a sculpture ride.

Ari with her arms stretched out,

David, being Atlas no doubt!

Alex in Portal, what a look!

Anni with a leaf she took!

A bridge across the span to measure,

A winding river trail to treasure.

Paper, paper everywhere

Today, I was up much earlier than usual, giving a friend a lift to the airport. Then I had some coffee, came home and fell back to sleep, zzzz! Who said farmer rise with the chickens? Not this farmer! We'd better get lazy, late rising chickens in the spring!

Later, we farmers attacked the office. It was time to clear the old files and set up for new farm files. As I was shredding and recycling, I was pondering how to pack a very breakable item. Then Eureka! the shredded paperwork makes awesome packing material, that can then be composted.

Anni and I made noodles this evening with the pasta machine. She loves to make macaroni noodles. She says they look like caterpillars. And speaking of food, we made a great chicken dish for dinner. It was chicken cutlets in a portabello mushroom cream sauce with marsala wine. (We substituted 2% milk for the cream.) The chicken was lovely and saucy, served up with parsleyed potatoes and fresh green beans.

The garden is beginning to call to us. We keep going out and looking at the plots, planning where the veggies will go. We are also considering putting in a couple of fruit trees, a mini orchard. As we know nothing of fruit trees in the Northwest, we are still in the research stage on this one.

Productive Words

CSA Box #2 for 2009

This one contained Lacinato kale, lettuce, grape tomatoes,

parsnips, mushrooms, avacados, red peppers, carrots, basil,

mango, tangerines, oranges, Kiwis, and Russian potatoes.

Today was our marathon Wednesay. Alex was off to theatre class. Anni had vision, OT, and speech, and Ari went to her college classes. David was working hard, and I was playing chaffeaur. Later, I had my writing class at the Hugo House with pal, Lisa.

Now, it's time for some serious sofa time, a cup of herbal tea, and a cozy, warm bed!

Photo Gallery

The carrots that survived the snow!

The enchiladas that did not survive the family!

Seriously though, these were some delicious enchiladas!

We finally got to try out the new oven!

The new colors for the family room;

Basil green, Yucatan, and Ranchito red (more terracotta),

slightly lighter due to the camera flash.

Now, it's time for the hard part...

putting that room back in together!

And a dash more color!

It was another painting weekend for the suburban farmers. We are still working on our basement family room, experimenting with cheery colors for our greyish climate. To the Tuscan Terracotta, we added Yucatan to the lower wall, and then painted a contrasting wall in Basil green. The combination looks terrific! Pictures will follow once I can locate my camera again. To get to all the walls, we had to move the entire contents of the room to the center, and anyone who's seen this room understands that moving many hundreds of books can be a real pain!

Many, many thanks to our pal, Lisa, for helping with the painting yesterday. She's a real trooper! Today, I took on the baseboards and trimming single-handedly. I'm currently trapped in the basement as I've painted all around the door frame. So, somebody come and rescue me soon. Please. Is anybody out there?

In other news, the farm kitchen finally got a new oven. This farmer can hardly wait to try it out. That is if I can ever leave the basement. Help.

And finally, the snow has returned! Just when we though it was safe to reemerge in our vehicles it came back and blanketed the trees and lawns. So far, it's leaving the roads clear. The snowflakes looked beautiful dancing from the sky as I drove yet again to the hardware store for painting essentials. The paint guys are on a first name basis with me now. And, I really should buy stock in this blue painting tape.

Photo gallery tomorrow!

Good Friends, Good Food, & Good Reads

Today on the farm, we built another bookcase and promptly filled it with some of the many books which have been lining the floor of our bedroom. Many thanks to suburb assistant, Alexander. (I'm still trying to figure out how to sleep on the opposite side of the bed.)

This evening, Ari and I had a wonderful Thai dinner with our friend, Lisa. We also went to a great used bookshop in Redmond, MacDonalds. It was having a sale on cookbooks. Lisa and I stocked up!(See below) I also found a copy of a back-to-farm memoir and of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.

This week's book choices are 5 in a series of vintage cooking books, thin little volumes, by Barbara Swell. The books are published by Native Ground, which also has books and recordings of ol' time music and lore. The cookbooks have a cornucopia of interesting recipes such as Thomas Jefferson's Spoonbread, Fairy Cookies, Fried Green Tomatoes, Sweet Potato Dumplings, Cranberry Pot Roast, Ethels' Nice Tomato Cookies, Volcano Potatoes, and Foods That Wiggle. In addition, these little gems have many historical tidbits, food poems, farm humor, vintage photos, household hints, food proverbs & superstitions, weather lore, folk remedies, good luck rhymes, and pioneer etiquette. The titles I picked up are: 1) Log Cabin Cooking, 2) Secrets of the Great Old-Timey Cooks, 3) Take Two & Butter 'Em While They're Hot!, 4) Old-Time Farmhouse Cooking, and 5) Mama's in the Kitchen: Weird & Wonderful Home Cooking 1900-1950.

Whosh!

The funny farm continues to work on the interior of the farm house. Yesterday, we finished rearranging our bedroom. Now, I just have to get used to sleeping on the opposite side of the bed. (No luck yet!)

We finally had to give up on our 25 year old oven and order a newer model. Visions of lasagnas, pizzas, and pie are dancing through the future farmer's brains.

Today was a very busy one. Anni had vision, OT, and speech. Alex had theatre. Ari had college. David was working. I ran the kids everywhere and then had a writing class and dinner with the Vegetarians of Washington. (Nope, not a vegetarian, but a very veggie-leaning flexitarian.)

Phew!!!

It's been a busy couple of days! On Saturday, I helped by friend, Lisa, with some interior painting, furniture moving, and lamp construction. She helped me get to IKEA to pick up a couple of much needed bookcases.

On Sunday, I headed to the gym for cardio with Ari and yoga with Lisa. Then, we had a urban adventure to the International District for Dim Sum. It was a beautiful sunny, winter day, so we went for a walk along the waterfront. Then it was time for coffee and chocolate.

Today, it was our turn for interior painting and furniture construction and rearranging. I painted a wall in the family room, a lovely color called Yucatan, and touched up the wall we painted last week. Sadly, I think it's going to need another coat! Next, Ari and I built a bookcase for her room. She and her many books are now very happy. Finally, I rearranged furniture in my bedroom so my bookcase will have a spot on the floor.

I thought we might be bored over the winter, but the suburban farmers are keeping busy with all of our nesting projects. We are looking forward to all the Inauguration festivities tomorrow.

Back to business

Our January decorating scheme for the learning center is winter weather.

Along the mantle, we have snowpeople, candles, snowflakes, icicles, and cardinals.
Here's a slightly too light (flash) version of our downstairs wall, freshly painted.
Here's CSA box #1 of 2009.
This one contained an eggplant, mushrooms, avocado, red onion,
red chard, lettuce, garnet yams, a cucumber, roma tomatoes,
oranges, tangerines, pears, and apples.

After all the holiday snow, outings, and dining, we are finally back into our usual routine. Our family local exceptions for this month are olive oil, oranges, and arborio rice. For dinner tonight, we made a delicious chicken, wild mushroom, and nut risotto with garlic frizzled spinach, orange segments, and sparkling wine/juice.

Anni had her cooking group today, complete with a fire drill. She was not amused! Alex joined an online classroom to learn all about the finer points of compound and complex sentences. Ari got a perfect score on a quiz in her college math class. And I worked on getting my misbehaving computer back up and running (success at last!).

January is shaping up to be another busy month. We're starting our planning process for this year's garden and painting the inside of our home. David is busy as ever with his job. Ari is back to college. Alex has rejoined his ed program, and Anni is everywhere as usual. I've rejoined the Earth Institute discussion group and signed up to take a writing class in Seattle. Our writing group is continuing and has added a new member.

Coloring on the walls

Well, actually we're painting on the walls. We've decided to paint the interior of our home, small sections at a time. The first walls to fall victim to our painting efforts were down in the family room. We found a lovely dark spicy terracotta color that should really warm up that space. My pal Lisa came over on Sunday afternoon and we donned the painter's caps and grubby clothes and away we rolled and brushed. So far, we've done one whole wall and one upper wall (the lower part of which is going to be a different color). On Saturday, I was over at her place helping to paint two walls of her room a lovely teally blue color. As soon, as I move two bookcases and a gazillion books, I'm going to attempt the opposite upper wall. (Pictures to be coming soon)

I think we're doing a winter hibernation due to both the weather and the economy. We've been doing quite a bit of sorting, organizing, donating, recycling, and finally tossing. With 5 people, a dog, 2 cats, and a tank of fish in a small house, this needs to be a regular occurrence! We're also looking with wonderlust at the garden and heirloom seed catalogs in anticipation of the coming spring's planting season.

A New Year's New Do

We retrieved the computer from the Geek Squad. They wiped it clean. It's hard to tell why it cost $200 to do that. I think a phone call is in order. Now we have to find all that software to reload.

The future farmers have just completed their first week of back to school. Alex and Ari are both taking history (at different levels of course) and having discussions about the relative merits of ancient Sumarian culture. Meanwhile, Anni is discussing the finer points of Arthur and DW. She claims Buster is her favorite character. I like Binky myself.

The flood waters are beginning to recede in Washington. We are no longer cut off from the rest of civilization. Our rains have made the national new for the past few evenings. I-5 was closed to the south preventing Washingtonians from reaching Portland, Oregon. All 3 mountain passes were closed segregating Western and Eastern Washington, and their was flooding to the north preventing escape to Vancouver, Canada. I-5 reopened tonight to the relieve of the truckers with perishable good who had been waiting for 48 hours. I'm sure the guy with the lorry load of frozen seafood was especially relieved.

Well, I finally decided on a new haircut, short, banged, and layery. After adding a dash of color yesterday (red of course), I dashed into the beauty shop today for a do. Anni is wondering who I am now, and the dog keeps growling at me. I didn't think I looked that different! (No, I will not voluntarily be posting a picture, so don't ask.)

Back to school in the rain.

The weather is wild and woolly around here again. This time it's wind and rain, lots of rain! We've been pulling out the rubber boots and waterproof coats. After all our crazy snow, I thought the garden would be toast until replanting in the spring, but it looks like the carrots not only survived but thrived under their snowy blanket!

All the future farmers are back to school after the holiday break. Alex is enjoying his history. Anni had a blast working on her magnet game, and Ari was busy working online for her math class this evening.

The book choice for this month is The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. The future prez is a good writer as well as speaker. The book is the discussion book for the Tuesday Group. This evening the group helped out with dinner for Tent City IV which being hosted at a church in our neighborhood.

Opps, the power is flickering (probably the high winds) so more tomorrow.

We're Back!

My computer is in with the Geek Squad. Many thanks to Lisa for the loan so we can continue to work and blog!

Ari starts her next quarter at college tomorrow, and right on que it started snowing tonight. We have 3 inches on the deck so far! We keeping an eye on the road conditions, bus lines, and school cancellations.

Alex and Anni are back to school tomorrow as well. Being home schooled, they don't get snow days. They find this highly unfair!

We deholidayed the house today as we're going to begin painting a wall here and there next week. Our first project is the family room wall opposite the fireplace. I'm declaring color on those white walls! I went on a paint color expedition with Lisa and Ari yesterday. We all ended up with a nice palette of colors.

100 Resolution Meme challenge

Lisa sent this to me and I'm answering the challenge. The bolded items are things we've done.

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars - all those college and post-college camping trips. (I prefer a cabin though.)
3. Played in a band - I played in the first years recorder band and Ari has played with several string orchestras
4. Visited Hawaii - not yet.
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity - fatal financial flaw.
7. Been to Disneyland/world - my high school had grad night there! David and Ari have been, but not yet for Alex or Anni.
8. Climbed a mountain - David and I have done several. Alex has done Mt. Index. Ari says she's staying grounded. Anni concurs.
9. Held a praying mantis - and several other way cool insects at the Victoria Bug Zoo.
10. Sung a solo - a memories of our neighborhood talent shows on Lakeside Drive, Ipswich.
11. Bungee jumped - not sure about this one.
12. Visited Paris - several times.
13. Watched lightning at sea - David has this one covered via the coast guard.
14. Taught myself an art from scratch - I paint. Anni sings up a storm. Alex can build anything with blocks.
15. Adopted a child - no more room at the ranch.
16. Had food poisoning - many thank to Taco del Mar.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty -David tried, but it was closed due to 9/11.
18. Grown my own vegetables - oh yeah baby, see the blog for the 2007 list!
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France - It's small and dark.
20. Slept on an overnight train - the cabins feel like the Mona Lisa.
21. Had a pillow fight - one word: sisters!
22. Hitchhiked - nada on this onw.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - do mental health holidays count?
24. Built a snow fort - we lived in Alaska. We built a snow everything!
25. Held a lamb - We did this in Wales, lots of sheep and lambs.
26. Gone skinny dipping - does a 3 second dip into Loch Ness count?
27. Run a Marathon - I've done nine, including Boston. I think my knees are done now.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice - nope, but we'd love to.
29. Seen a total eclipse - yep!
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset - the mountain top ones are our favorites.
31. Hit a home run - David has this one down. He was a slugger on the CG softball team.
32. Been on a cruise - David went on many for the CG and one fun one to the Bahamas.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors - we've done the British side of the family.
35. Seen an Amish community - my junior year of high school in Penn.
36. Taught myself a new language - I speak very rudimentary Tglingit.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - money's not our folly.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person - not yet
39. Gone rock climbing - yep, Alaska has great rocks.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David - at a special exhibit at the Louvre.
41. Sung karaoke - Ari did this one!
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight - the Oregon coast.
46. Been transported in an ambulance - All the girls yes, boys no.
47. Had my portrait painted - perish the thought!
48. Gone deep sea fishing - David with his Grandpa when he was a kid. We also dove for fish and shellfish.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - during the 100th anniversary, it was very lit up.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling - yep and yep, in Washington & Alaska.
52. Kissed in the rain - we lived in Washington and Alaska, enough said.
53. Played in the mud - see above.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater - our favorite date night destination while in high school.
55. Been in a movie - Alex and Ari have both been in video productions of their plays.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business - my little gift basket business in Eureka.
58. Taken a martial arts class - Ari and I took Tae Kwan Do.
59. Visited Russia -
60. Served at a soup kitchen - we helped out with Tent City 4.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - myself, with sisters, and with Anni.
62. Gone whale watching - orcas, greys, and narwhales.
63. Got flowers for no reason - does a bouquet of dandelions count?
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - regular donars for a long time.
65. Gone sky diving - intentionally? are you serious?
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check -just one?
68. Flown in a helicopter - David has several times.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - Anni still has my Maryanne doll.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial - several times.
71. Eaten caviar - too salty for me.
72. Pieced a quilt - does one quilt square count? I did a very simple patchwork one while a gir scout.
73. Stood in Times Square - crowds, lights, noise, and taxi cabs!
74. Toured the Everglades -
75. Been fired from a job -
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London - many times while wondering around London.
77. Broken a bone - David and I have both broken our left wrists. Anni has had a broken jaw.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - is 35 mph speeding?
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book - some day, soon I hope.
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car -Ford, Honda, Honda, Honda, Toyota.
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper - David and I got presidential physical fitness awards while in Alaska.
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House - not cozy at all.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - lots of fish, crab, and a few deer. (Alaska, remember?)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life - David and I were first responders on a traffic accident in 1997.
90. Sat on a jury - several times.
91. Met someone famous - we've met several actors, authors, and politicians.
92. Joined a book club - several over the years, none at the moment.
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby - 3 in fact.
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake - no, but David has swum in the Great Sultan Sea, the Atlantic and the Pacific. I've dipped in Loch Ness and the North sea too.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit - yep, on behalf of Anni.
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee - great to find out that I'm allergic!
100. Ridden an elephant - with Ari when she was 3 at Marineworld, USA.