Author Archives: WoolyMama

Unknown's avatar

The Kindness of Strangers

by

I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile now.  Something happened this summer that deserved a post all its own and at the right time.  I think this is it.

Many of you know that my husband Paul works away from home a lot.  As in, you never know if he’ll be in the same state from day to day.  For a good portion of this summer he’s been working in Mesa, Arizona.  What he does for work is not important to this story.  What is important is that Paul suffers from chronic back pain that’s bad enough for him to seek out treatment even while on the road.  So, while he was in Mesa, he found a chiropractor to treat his back pain and teach him some yoga moves to improve his mobility.

While he was checking out after a Saturday morning appointment, a distraught woman came in to the office asking to use the phone.  She was missing a shoe and crying, but otherwise looked average.  She tried to explain that her cell phone had died and she needed to call someone to come and get her, but astonishingly, she was refused.  Worse, she was asked to leave.

Paul followed her out the door.  He realized that there he was, several hours away from needing to report in to work, with a paid – for rental car and no reason in the world to not help this woman.

Thankfully she saw something in Paul that allowed her to trust him and she told him her story.

She was a divorced mother of young children who had been persuaded the previous evening by friends to leave her kids with her ex and go out on the town.  Despite her misgivings she went.  She ended up having too much to drink and a man she rebuffed outside a bar called the police and reported her for public drunkenness.

She was arrested and taken to jail to sober up.  Which she did, quickly.  By morning she was released, but had lost a shoe somewhere and her phone calls to friends went mostly unanswered.  Those who did answer were not willing or able to pick her up and bring her the 20 or 30 miles back home.  Having no option, she began walking, but her cell phone soon died and it was quickly becoming too hot to walk with just one shoe (remember this was in the middle of the summer in Mesa, which reached 120 many times this year).

All of the various stores and businesses she approached to ask for a phone call refused and asked her to leave.  By the time she met Paul she was crying and at her wit’s end.

Paul let her use his cell phone and then drove her halfway home; her ex – husband met her and brought her the rest of the way.

What astonished Paul, and later me as well, is how many people turned down this mother who desperately needed help when it would have cost them nothing. That could have been me.  That could have been any of my friends or family, and it’s mighty disheartening.

There’s only one explanation I can come up with for this uncharitable behavior on the part of so many. This woman was Hispanic.  Though well – dressed and articulate she was clearly not white in a town perilously close to the Mexican border, where immigration tensions run high.  Never mind that she’s not necessarily Mexican.  Or illegal.  She looked the part.

Now, I am not here to debate the immigration or border situation in the country right now.  I am not even going to offer you my opinion on the whole mess.  Because really, this is not about immigration or politics.  This is simple humanity.

Refusing to help one woman in need because she *might* be illegal will not encourage more illegals.  It will not send a message to anyone, except that you are unkind to your fellow man.  Or at least a certain “kind” of fellow man.  I understand the frustration and the very difficult situation at the border, I really do.  That is no excuse for bad behavior.  I am going to repeat this: politics are not an excuse for maltreatment, neglect or abuse, no matter your leanings.

My husband saw a woman, a mother, a fellow human in need. Period.

At one point or another in life, we are all human beings in need.  Let us hope that there is a kind stranger for US to turn to.

Unknown's avatar

Hurricane Prep

by

So we on the east coast are having a small “thing” this weekend.  Just a little stormy thing you may have heard of called “Irene”.

As if the earthquake (and subsequent continuing aftershocks) we had earlier this week weren’t excitement enough! (Yes, we’re only about 10 miles or so  from the epicenter of that little shaker).

But onto Irene.  We’re in central Virginia, safely inland.  We’ll see plenty of rain and wind and I am sure the river nearby will be flooding (it does whenever we get significant rain, and I am glad we don’t live very close to it).  Our creek out back will overflow and our yard will be a nasty, muddy swamp.  Also, since our power tends to go out at the drop of a hat I am fairly certain we’ll be without power at some point over the weekend.  Hooray for generators! (Though they do take some of the excitement out of a good ol’ power outage, don’t they?)

For all of these reasons we’ve gotten our hatches battened – down and our tanks full of gas and our larders full of provisions.

Except rum.  It seems I have somehow managed to overlook rum.  How on earth will I make my Hurricane Cocktails without rum? Ah well, first world problems.

What we DO have is a freezer full of prep work.  Slow – roasted tomatoes, bean & cheese burritos, marinated chicken, sandwich rolls, and fresh pasta.

I made pasta, y’all.  Thin spaghetti and pesto ravioli.  I now owe a whole new debt of gratitude to the folks at Kitchenaid, who make a kick-ass pasta roller set for the stand mixer.  Susan gave me the recipe and a run down of how it’s done and I was off!  The spaghetti and ravioli are in the freezer awaiting a plunge in hot salty water when we’re ready to eat them.

I also went out and filled the chicken coops with lots of dry bedding since it promises to be a wet and muddy and miserable few days for them outside.  All the towels and napkins have been laundered as well as fresh under garments for everyone.  The dishes are all clean.  The house has been (mostly) picked up and vacuumed.

I have plenty of knitting projects to work on and a Kindle full of books to read. The kids have plenty of books, paper and crayons and puzzles.

I wish we went into every weekend this prepared.

 

 

 

Unknown's avatar

Beach Weekend

by

This past weekend was Beach Weekend for my book club.  Every summer we caravan out to Virginia Beach, go in together for a couple of hotel rooms, and spend a relaxing weekend on the beach.


We were lucky weather – wise once again: no rain, and it wasn’t brutally hot.

Since we are a book club, we actually do read at the beach.  We didn’t pick a book for August since we didn’t have a formal discussion planned, so everyone read books of their own choosing (though at least half of us had just read The Hunger Games trilogy).

I also made time to try and take pictures using the tips I learned from the photography workshop I took last weekend at the farm (more on that later).

Not bad, right?  The seagulls were right at head level from our room’s balcony.

As if all of this doesn’t sound relaxing enough, one of our fellow beach-goers is an Acupuncturist.

I am very fortunate to be part of such a close – knit wonderful group of women; beach weekend is just the icing on the cake.

What about you? Any fun trips planned with your book/knitting/quilting/etc groups?

 

Unknown's avatar

Boston Weekend

by

This is an incredibly overdue post.  BUT I think I have finally figured out this whole Mac thing and how to use my photo program effectively enough to post again.

A few weekends ago I took the train up to Boston to stay with my dear friend Jenny and her lovely husband Ken. (Note: 12 hours on the train equals mad knitting time.  Knit a complete pair of baby socks on the way up).  She’s been to Virginia numerous times but I had never been to stay with her.  I was very excited, and the trip did not disappoint.

For the first time ever, I finally made it to Salem, Mass.  I studied quite a bit about it in college and in my spare time since, but I was beyond happy to finally get there in person.

Unfortunately, we lamed out on the whole museum experience.  When you get old friends together (our friend Amanda met us there) who haven’t seen each other in awhile, time seems to get away from you.  Even still, I wouldn’t trade the time we had there for anything.  It was just wonderful.

I spent a lot of time looking at all the old houses.  Salem, like the rest of New England, is full of great architecture.

We did take in the tour at the Salem Witch Museum, which though it ended up being not the one we had intended to do, was still fun.

We had lunch at a pub called “The Old Spot”, full of photographs of Old Spotted Pigs, the breed for whom the pub was named.  Our bellies full of Cheese Fries with Gravy (drool) we headed back out to take in the town and get some gelato.

See?  Great architecture!

Did you know that Salem is also on the water?  Gorgeous!

Salem was perfect and next time we know just where to go.  We’ll also make a beeline for the ancient cemeteries for some photos of the elaborate gravestones.

After our day at Salem Jenny took me to one of her favorite places, Portsmouth, NH.  If you’re ever there, please be sure to stop by The Friendly Toast restaurant ( Guinness – battered onion rings anyone? ).

Noticing a trend?  Yeah.  Jenny and I know how to do food.

Another sure – fire sign you’re in New England?  Lobster rolls being advertised everywhere.  If you’ve never had one, you need to make it a goal.

More excellent New England architecture.  Clearly you can see where my heart lives.

There’s a great little park full of flowers in Portsmouth where Jenny and I stopped to rest.

It’s right on the water.  And do you know what’s on the opposite side of that water?  (This blew my un-geographically smart brain) MAINE.  I immediately made Jenny get back in the car and drive across the bridge so I could say I went to Maine.

I am a nerd.

I very much did not want to leave and return to the south.  Although I have come to love my home in Virginia, there’s nothing like the restorative power of your homeland.  The upside is that the 12 hour train ride back got me pretty far along on a shawl I started while at Jenny’s house (and I brought Polar Birch Beer & Drake’s Cakes home with me – we can’t get those down here).

The train may have been an all – day affair but now that I know how easy it is to hop on and go I am certain I will be making more trips north to see my friends.

And the architecture.  You can’t forget that.

Unknown's avatar

Chicken World

by

This post is WAY overdue.  My only excuse is that I was in Boston visiting my wonderful friend Jenny and when I got back I had a new computer waiting for me to learn.  It’s a Macbook and I am used to using a PC.  And I am a techno-dummy so the adjustment period will be longer for me than most!

We really are feeling an awful lot like chicken world these days.  As of this morning we’ve had 12 hatchlings.

It all started last week with Puffy Fluffy:

I wasn’t too sure we’d get more than 2 or 3 hatches out of the 15 or so that our broody hen, Amelie, was sitting on.  In our experience, the hen would get sick of sitting on those eggs after the second or third and then abandon the half – baked eggs still in the nest.

Amelie, though, has proved herself to be made for broodiness and motherhood.  She’s stuck it out almost to the bitter end.

Emily has named them all (with the exception of Puffy Fluffy) after characters in the Hunger Games trilogy and the Harry Potter series.  So please welcome Prim, Clove, Fleur, Twill, Madge, Wiress, Tonks, Bonnie, Effie,  Ginny and Minerva.

There are at least 2 chicks that are a cross of Sicilian Buttercup and Buff Brahma. (Funky weird comb plus fluffy feet equals awesome).

I am only sad that we didn’t have any blue eggs to hatch this time or eggs from our funny “hatted” chicken, Delia:

Next spring?

Unknown's avatar

Sewing Frenzy

by

I’ve been spending most of the hot days lately inside the craft room, air conditioning on full blast, sewing.  I just can’t get myself to knit when it’s this brutal out.  I still have piles of unfinished sewing to get to, but this is what I’ve finished up this week.

First, an Oliver & S dress for Oona.

Next up I have been working on some new pj pants for everyone.  The pattern is from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.  So far Oona and Neve’s are finished, using fabric sent to us by the always delightful Jellenp.

They’ve been wearing them non – stop and I can’t wait to finish mine so I can be all comfortable, too!

Lastly for now I am pleased to have finished my Traveler Dress from Sew Lisette.  I had to make some adjustments to the pattern for it to fit properly (the waist was far too low and I had a bit of trouble with the collar) but I am really happy with how it looks on me.  The fabric is from Anna Maria Horner and I just adore it.

I may have to make one in the orange version of this fabric, too.

Unknown's avatar

Making My Peace With Summer

by

It’s probably abundantly clear to most people who know me well that summer is not my favorite season.  I have very little tolerance for the heat, and as for the bugs, well.

But it wasn’t always this way.  My dislike for summer is fairly recent – it started about 15 years ago when we moved to central Virginia from upstate New York.  Most of my summers as a kid were spent on lakes or rivers in a place where most people still don’t have central air.  If they do, they don’t need to run it more than a week or two a year.  We run ours nearly non – stop from May through October.

Of course we save on the heating bills come winter.

My point is summer used to be fun, full of swimming and fresh garden vegetables, drive 0 in movies and soft – serve ice cream.

My kids rarely get to see the outside world until late afternoon, once the sun is not so intense and it’s not too hot to swim.

This makes me sad, and I am trying to make sure we have a better summer experience than years past.  We’re still enforcing the “no being out in the sun if it’s over 100” rule, but having the pool makes it easier to have some summer fun.

The garden is also helping me out with my summer malaise.  Good fresh tomatoes and basil and cucumbers go a long way to cure the “I miss winter” blues.

I’ve been conquering some of the heat by reminding myself that without me being out there to manage it, the garden wouldn’t thrive.  Every day I am out there to water it, pull weeds and take care of the squash bugs that have yet again invaded.  The best way to control them without chemicals is to crush the eggs whenever you find them – and find them I do.  It’s pretty gross, and I usually find a few mature bugs to deal with as well.  All in all, however, this daily attention has saved me the infestation levels I have suffered in other years.  Plus – the rewards are many.

Like this beauty, not too far from harvest-ability:

It’s a Dixie Queen Watermelon, and I hadn’t even realized it was there until today.  There’s several little ones around it.

I am so excited for them to mature fully so we can enjoy them!

There’s some pie pumpkins beginning to orange (not enough, but hopefully we’ll get a few more before the vine stops producing), about 6 or so acorn squash getting darker by the day, and about a bajillion butternut squash – several of which look close to done.

This fall we’ll have plenty of my butternut squash and apple soup.

With cucumbers I picked from the front garden today I made 4 jars of refrigerator pickles and then picked fresh basil to make pesto for dinner.

This is what saves summer for me.  I’ll try not to whine so much about the way the humidity deflates my will and the heat saps my motivation and instead I’ll savor some freshness from my garden.

But I’ll still quietly look forward to fall.  Just sayin’.

Unknown's avatar

Summer Baking

by

I know, I know.  Considering it’s been dangerously hot out for the last week baking doesn’t seem quite like the thing to do.

Thankfully Paul doesn’t mind that I keep the AC set to 70.

There’s been so many zucchini from the garden and there’s local peaches for sale at our Whole Foods Market, so I was itching to do something.  Plus my computer got virused and I couldn’t get online for a few days.

Not that I honestly have wanted to do anything while it’s been this hot other than lay around and nap (the pool water’s been into the 95 range, so we can’t even swim) , but I couldn’t let all this goodness go bad.

First up was a twist on plain ol’ Zucchini Bread that I found while wandering around Pinterest.

Zucchini Blueberry Bread. (Click the link to go straight to the recipe)

Fortunately I am also swimming in an abundance of eggs so I got to use of some of those as well.

Grated zucchini plus plump fresh blueberries in a sweet and cinnamon-y batter.  Yum!

I can tell it’s awesomely good, but I can’t tell you much more because Neve’s  barely let me have any.

Clearly it’s excellent summer snacking for the 8 year old crowd.

Next up is Peach Cobbler from a Country Living article a summer or two ago.  It’s made in a cast iron skillet, which I find incredibly charming and rustic in a fruit dessert.

You can go right to the recipe by clicking on it above, but basically you get a bunch of fresh peaches, scald them in boiling water to soften them up a bit and make the skin slide off nice and easily.

You make a luscious topping with your dry ingredients (plus a hint of dried ginger) and toss your sliced peaches in a bowl with sugar and vanilla.  I added a bunch of cinnamon as well.

Throw it in your cast iron skillet, top it with your chilled topping like so:

Throw it in the oven and bake it and enjoy the magnificent aromas that will fill your kitchen.

Then it will disappear with alarming speed, I guarantee.

Just like peach and zucchini season will disappear before we know it as well. So go forth and enjoy the fruits of summer while they last!

Unknown's avatar

Butternuts & Baby Chicks

by

We have been thoroughly enjoying the last two days here.  A cold front has apparently pushed through because it’s been in the lower 80’s with low humidity.  Just gorgeous!  If this was what summer was like here I’d have no cause for complaint.  It does make me wish we lived back up in New England but then we’d be complaining about the bitter cold all winter, so yeah.

We have had some sad moments – two of our new chickens, Squeak and Arwen (both gotten this past spring as babies) were taken by a fox two days ago.  I saw the fox from inside the house and ran outside screaming and clapping my hands and managed to scare it off, but it (or an accomplice) had already gotten two of our girls.  There was a trail of Arwen’s feathers off into the woods and no sign of Squeak.  It’s very sad and frustrating, but we are determined to build them a Fort Knox style enclosure soon – one that they can’t fly (or climb, as those dummies have been doing) out of, because there will be a roof.  If we had 4 or 5 dozen chickens then missing a few here and there wouldn’t be so bad.  But we have just about 2 dozen.  Enough that it’s noticeable.

However, at least one industrious hen is looking to help out in that regard.

Our Blue Copper Marans Hen, Amelie, has gone broody.

She’s sitting on a small cache of 7 eggs, hopefully all of which are fertilized.  I’m still counting down the weeks (maybe months) until our 3 remaining Ameraucanas (Arwen was the 4th)  start laying their blue eggs.  It will be nice to have those again.

I am also counting down until I can harvest the butternut squash, which is going gangbusters right now.  I spied a few squash beetles that I am going to have to deal with and I hope all the squash can mature before the bugs get the better of them.

The Jack Be Little pumpkins are starting to deepen in hue and I am seeing the beginnings of my Acorn squash, yellow crookneck and sugar pie pumpkins.  There’s also the start of some Blue of Hungaria pumpkins.

My Sugar Baby watermelon vines are looking fantastic but so far there’s been no flowering.  Hopefully it will happen soon!

All of the seeds I planted this year came from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

I’m excited to be growing these rare-ish old – fashioned, non GMO seeds.  The selections were beautiful and interesting to look at.  I’m looking forward to when I can have a much larger garden and grow more than enough for us.  My summers will undoubtedly be slammed with canning at that point, but come January, it will be worth it.  Hopefully this winter we’ll still be enjoying the slow roasted tomatoes from this summer.  If they ever ripen.

No, I’m not impatient.  Not one bit.

Nope, not at all.

Unknown's avatar

Beating the Heat

by

We’ve been dealing with some nasty heat here in central Va.  It’s been so hot that even the pool is not a good idea during the day.  The water in it is up to almost 100 degrees.  That’s the one downside to a smaller pool – the water heats up fairly quickly in this brutal weather.

It’s been real work making sure the chickens have plenty of water and keeping the garden from frying up to nothing.

As for us, the lighter the food, the better.

I brought home some local peaches last weekend with the intent to make a cobbler but never got around to it.  Then the kids snacked on a few, and before I knew it I had too few overripe peaches to do much of anything with.

But what I DID have was a new popsicle mold sent to us by our lovely friend Jen.  I also had a big tub of Greek yogurt that was nearing its expiration date.

Et voila!  Just like that an idea was born.  I threw the peeled and chopped peaches into the blender along with the yogurt and a splash of vanilla extract and whipped them up.  Then we poured it into the popsicle mold and stuck it in the freezer.

No recipe required, and Oona approves!