Yesterday was BUSY—and included whether or not to mow before the remnants of Elsa provide us (one hopes) with more rain today and tomorrow.
I made a fast run up to Belfast to get the raw butter to which I am addicted!
When I got back into Camden, I took AC for a quick run at the Snow Bowl field—trying to beat local thunder storms in our area.
The Pickerel Rush is blooming along the edges of the pond. Isn’t it pretty?
When I got home, I could see that the grass-overnight—clearly grew enough that it needed to be mowed before getting two days of rain. So I hauled on boots and went to work. It was cool, with a breeze, so this task turned out to be a really pleasant one.
Along the way I got hungry, so reheated leftovers and had a late, late lunch/early dinner and then got in a little sewing time.
Today I woke to rain, and the radar shows the big part of the storm is now just to our South.
More sewing today, as all of my household tasks are done for the week. That’s always a good feeling.
Interesting Information/Turkey Tracks: July 7, 2021
Maine “Coon” Cats
Here’s Rocky again!
He’s helping Marsha Smith get rid of “stuff” in her house.
Below is an interesting link to information about these amazing cats from Dr. Becker, a veterinarian. No one knows the origin of these cats, but perhaps the “Coon” name derives from a man who had these cats very early on in Maine seafaring history, British sea Captain Charles Coon. There are other origin possibilities though.
These cats are very different cats. For one thing, they like to swim and like water. Some call them the “dog of the cat world.” They are the biggest of the domesticated cats. They don’t really meow, but chirp and trill instead.
I took this photo Friday when I took AC doggie to chase his ball at the Snow Bowl athletic field.
I love what I think of as “soft days” here when rain or fog is around and the clouds sit lie down on the mountain tops.
I’ve been thinking off and on all day that John and I made our first trip to Camden in July 2003 and were here for the 4th and that it was this some sort of cool weekend that we have this year.
It has rained yesterday and today, and much to AC’s distress, we have not gone anywhere. And it has been “get a sweater” cool, which I so love about June in Maine. And it is a joy to see the garden and grass so happy.
I’ve sewn a lot these past two days, and the design wall is, once again, changing.
The small circle top is done, and I sewed it together and stay-stitched the edges this morning. I think I’ve found really good color placement and movement in this little top, which will be a wall hanging. I’ve organized a backing and the batting, so will put it on the longarm tomorrow to baste it. And it is now off the design wall. I’ll probably hand quilt it.
You may remember that it came from the “off-cuts” from the last project in this year’s The Color Collective—the “Tenderoni” block Latifah Saafir designed. My version is layered and basted, and I’ll start hand quilting it tonight with 12-weight cotton thread.
The triangle top I’m exploring has been inspired by Debbie Jeske of A Quilter’s Table blog—after she took a class with Maria Shell at this year’s Quilt Con—The Modern Quilt Guild’s annual show. I’ve had Maria Shell’s book IMPROV PATCHWORK for a few years now and have wanted to try my hand at one of her amazing projects. Debbie Jeske’s version pushed me further along that road, so here I am.
I’m using one of the monthly color palette’s designed for a project that didn’t draw me in enough to make it. Out of 20 projects over three years, that’s a great record for The Color Collective’s design work. There are 12 colors in one of the monthly fabric palettes, and I’ve added a pastel orange to go with the pale green and pale pink. Given what develop’s in the next rows, I may add other colors, but it is a creative challenge to stick mostly to the original palette.
And likely you know the “Funky Wedding Ring” block by now from this blog. It’s coming along as a leader/ender. This project is also inspired by Debbie Jeske’s “redo” of an older “funky” block designed by Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston.
I spent a fair amount of time ironing and cutting strips for all the dark grey fabrics I’ve collected for the new 12-inch log cabin I planned months ago. I had lots of light greys from the blue/grey log cabin made this winter—but I did augment and reorder some of the greys, so I ironed and cut those as well. I’ve begun making those blocks as leader/ender blocks too as I’m near the end of the Funky Wedding Ring project—which would make a really nice baby quilt I think—but I may make it a bit bigger. I never know how inspiration will strike.
The collected chicken bones in the freezer were taking up too much space. So in the middle of the WORST heat of this year, I made chicken broth. And the next day, I made a HUGE soup.
Am I crazy? Maybe. But the heat wave broke—and we got some much-needed rain. And I have some DELICIOUS and HEALTHY soup in my belly and some frozen soup now taking up space in the freezer.
I started with the smaller Creuset pot and the veggies I had on hand: sweet onions, carrots, red pepper, zucchini, garlic, and loads of fresh herbs from the garden (tarragon, thyme, oregano, basil, sage, chives):
I soon had to switch to the larger Creuset pot though—as I added all the chicken meat from a whole deboned chicken (which went into the bone broth to cook) and veggies from the freezer (corn, beans, peas) and some “Forbidden” red rice.
I could feel the soup’s goodness all the way to my toes:
I topped it with more fresh chives from the garden:
I need to cut back the chive plants now as their blooms are all dry. Cut back, the plants will grow more green shoots for me to use in the kitchen.
I can vary the soup when I get tired of it by adding some fresh cream. And warming a tortilla on a gas stove tap is always nice—especially if one puts some local raw butter on the warm tortilla!
I like to cook this way—using what I have on hand to make such delicious meals. You can’t go wrong with good basics (bone broth), healthy meat, organic veggies, a little of some organic grain as a treat, and lots of fresh herbs.
Turkey Tracks/Interesting Information: July 2, 2021
Walter Presents
I’m watching the “Walter Presents” drama shows on the PBS channel—which I have through Amazon Prime. They are AWESOME! Every single one I’ve watched. “Walter,” who is a real person, rounds up the best drama from across the world, puts in subtitles as needed, and PBS is one of the platforms where you can see some of them.
So far I’ve seen INSIDE (French), THE BERLIN DANCE SCHOOL (German), THE DEVIL’S THROAT (Bulgarian), and THE NORDIC MURDERS (German). “Nordic Murders” is apparently a genre of murder mysteries, and this series is not set in Norway, but on an island in the Baltic that holds a border with Poland. Right now I’m watching “Bright-Eyed Revenge (Italian and set in Nice), two seasons followed by “Olivia,” which takes up where the “revenge” ends.
Anyway, all of these first four listed series have just been excellent—for many reasons. But there is a lot of depth and complexity to each—which, I think, highlights how simple and derivative much American tv has become. The stories, the acting, and the geography as a character are really good. And the good news: there are LOTS of these programs from across the world. I’m sure not all are as good as these first four I have listed have been, but…what a pleasure.
The fifth (Bright-Eyed) is more conventially entertaining, but I’m still watching. I mean, how is Olivia going to get out of the traps in which she gets caught? This one is a bit like the series “Revenge” from years ago—beautiful woman, gorgeous clothes and settings, terrible and wealthy and powerful villain, yadda, yadda. It’s a story we like to tell ourselves over and over, isn’t it?
It would be hard to rank the first four I listed. They each have strong reasons to recommend them. INSIDE has 5 stars, for good reasons. THE BERLIN DANCE SCHOOL takes place post-WWII Germany before the wall comes down and in that moment when rock and roll comes on the heels of the breakdown of the old social order—which also happens in America and was very much a part of my own childhood. THE NORDIC MURDERS episodes each deal with a murder, but the meta-story of a mother and her daughter, of old family history that corrupts the present, of how decisions one makes builds and builds into consequences. Ironies abound in this series. And THE DEVIL’S THROAT in Bulgaria deals in part with the Muslim/Christian factions in that geographical area—but also with a history that comes back to haunt—as histories can.
I’ll keep going with these exciting series for some time to come I suspect. A bonanza!
Lordy! What happened to this plant is going on all over my gardens: Steve Solomon’s organic fertilizer as sold by KIS Organics. I found it was just easier to order some rather than trying to mix and store a batch myself. This plant is taller than me by quite a bit.
It is asparagus. And I got quite a few meals from this plant this year. The history of asparagus in the garden is that I planted a trench/row years and years ago—and the plants were not happy and did not thrive. Then a few plants appeared on their own—this is the story of my gardens—and began to thrive. So I let Mother Nature do the gardening.
Quilty/gardening friend Roxanne Wells sent some pics of her garden the other day. I thought you’d enjoy seeing them.
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You may remember seeing pics of Roxanne’s gardens last year on the blog. Her gardens are beautifully conceived and executed—and so very different from mine—as are our quilts. She has been a real inspiration to me in both the endeavors we share. For sure! For one thing, as she writes to me about what she is doing outside in the early spring, it seems to be getting me outside earlier and earlier too.
The mulch crew came this week—and I finished the first pass of all the weeding. Now I’ll start back at the beginning in the endless fight with the Bishop’s Weed.
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