Really - Alright

Phew! We're back online!
I have all sorts of blogs in my head and photos taken, but then I couldn't open Blogger. I think it started a month ago with a fix for one problem, that caused another issue, and next thing you know, I'm getting messages from my computer that I have to go online to decipher. Well, I'm back - at least for now.

I always like to start January with some seed starting, and so I had to go and hunt for my supplies in the yet to be organized basement. I started a few seeds with dreams of the coming spring and my newest garden.

This is a memento of  my herd. Weird maybe, but so be it. 

I thought it a neat image in the snow.

When the polar vortex come through, even the dog wanted to stay in and quilt. We have a few projects underway and I'll have to download those photos from another camera to show you.

So lets hope I can get on a roll and catch up with you.

Happy New Year - a bit late!

THANKGIVUKAH

Well! Its a rare time when Thanksgiving and Hanukkah converge, and here we are on the eve, having a late dinner of lox, bagels and nachos! The last time these holidays converged was 1888, and I read that it will only happen three more times in the next 77,000 years. Crazy!

Tomorrow will be the traditional dinner with four generations of my family together for the first time that I can think of.  About as rare as THANKGIVUKAH!

My husband and I will celebrate with my mother, my daughter, her husband, and my grandson. It will be the first time for Oma to meet her almost one year old grandson Jacob, and for that I give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Hanukkah!

New England Fall

One thing about this area.

  Fall is spectacular.

I forgot how long it can last here.

I have a month of photos and its still not done.

It may be getting cold, but the colors are hot.

Click on the photo below for the full effect of the view from my balcony.

 

Quick and Dirty

After leaving the farm, one of the earlier messages I received on Face Book was, “What are you doing with all your spare time?”  That question should have been answered by regular postings, just to get some of the story out there. Here I’ll give you the quick and dirty.



We left the farm, and the last few miles to our new home stuck following a loaded hay wagon. How funny is that? Not much at the time!

The move in May was generally smooth. Sure a few things got dinged, but it was the insane amount of boxes that was the challenge. Now that I am in physical therapy for my back, I realize it may have started with the unpacking. Pushing all the packing paper back INTO the boxes may have been the culprit, but it’s one of those things that creep up on you and by the time you really hurt, so much time has passed, it’s hard to put a finger on it. And yes – we still have more boxes to go.

Mom at our favorite German restaurant in Glendale, AZ

While I was house hunting, my mother had a couple of falls. While she was being evaluated in the hospital she actually coded(AKA her heart stopped) as she was sitting in a chair. Her medications were adjusted and she went home, only to have more falls, and one that fractured her femur August 10th.  That left her wheelchair and walker bound at a skilled nursing facility. I helped her move to assisted living in September and while there took her to her follow up for her injury. There they determined that her hip replacement needs revision. Basically, her left hip replacement needs replacement if she is ever to be without pain and walk on her own again. That surgery should have happened October 30, but due to an "imperfect storm" of events, a test was not properly completed, and hopefully after today that has been done. That puts the surgery on November 11. What I'm leaving out is that this all takes place in Arizona and I get to rack up frequent flier miles going back and forth for a week or ten days at a time every month or two. This is SO the short and nice version of this story!

Our location puts us within two hours of my 11 month old grandson Jake and so with some warning (or not so much!) I have driven over for four different "Nanny Service" days. That usually calls for an overnight the day before or after. That's been fun. Being with Jake and helping out Kristin and Andrew has been a big bonus of this move.

I finally got back to Germany with Dave on a business trip of his and worked a visit to my cousin Nina's new place in the Alps. Timing couldn't have been more perfect as her town was having its annual "Fest" with the local beer, food and lederhosen clad band that one only sees here for October Fest. After business was taken care of in Mannheim, we took the train to Paris and manage to be there for the Final Stage of the Tour De France.  I also visited the Louvre while business was being taken care of and also went back to the Muse de Orsay. A great day was spent in Giverny seeing the estate of Claude Monet and taking umpteen photographs.

On the more domestic side, I've established a few gardens and beds to spruce up the yard, and I have lots of friends to thank for the donations of perennials to get me started. We've been removing rose brambles and a few decaying trees, while establishing a view in the back yard. We also had six trees taken down in preparation of building a two car garage and also to protect the house from future storms. Some of that wood will be burned next season in our newly purchased wood stove which we just lit up two days ago.

Only a week ago we hung up some paintings and photographs. Around the same time we brought in the plants before the freeze. We are shifting to winter and I just started cutting some squares for a quilt.

Of course Jock keeps us busy with his two or three walks a day. He is our physical trainer and without him, I wonder how much exercise we would get. We have three parks within minutes of us to choose from depending on our mood and time, and Jock has been a great source of compliments for his good behavior. We work on obedience as often as we can, but mostly we just let him have fun.

Well, that's a bit of it, and I'm going to try and get my photos in order and show you some of the pleasurable moments that I think you'll enjoy.

I have to say that one of my dilemmas is trying to find a new name for a new blog, but it hasn't come to me yet. So since the farm has a new name, and I still dream of my life at On the Pond Farm, I'll keep going here for now.

Twelve Years And Still Tears

For those that were lost, and the memories that will change us forever, keep us strong in our hearts and souls.

Let there always be a few tears in our eyes when we remember.

Amen.

Real Fruit. Real Food. Real Fresh.

In the States, we look in the grocery store bins and rarely see a blemish on our produce. Its big and shiny and perfect. If I had to eat out of my garden that way, quite a few of my veggies and fruits would end up in a stew or the compost.

We just came back from two weeks in Germany and France (business and pleasure), and spent a lot of our travels using public transportation. Something I really noticed in our travels were the fresh fruit stands. Not just in the villages or outside, but inside the subway tunnels.

Paris subway fruit stand

And even more, we didn't notice them visually, but by aroma. The wonderful, ripe fruit smell just woke you right up. And it happened again and again.  The fruit was colorful, all sizes and so aromatic, it just made you remember what fruit was supposed to taste like. Wonderful and flavorful.

People walked away with a bag of cherries or a single peach in a napkin, and later you would see people wiping their chins of the juice as they rode on the trains.

I now have a little eight foot square raised bed that we put together in June, and I have a few herbs and veggies coming along, but I need to seek out the good farm stands, and even a favorite grocery store for my shopping. I see that some of the stores are associated with local farms for certain produce, so I will give them a look. Coming from just a few miles away, the food should come in riper and fresher, so we can hope for flavor.

One of the stores wraps up what they consider overripe produce, and sells it at a huge discount. I think its just right and I often see no damage. They are soft and ready to cook.

Actually, one of my favorite pasta "sauces" is more of a veggie stew. I take the blemished odds and ends out of the garden(or now from the discount cart) that won't slice or keep very well because of a crack or stink bug blemish and chop or slice it up into a meaty size.  For me, and my daughter, the texture makes it more of a meal, so while the water comes to a boil and then cooks the pasta, I quickly sauté the onions, garlic and peppers, and then just drop the chunks of ripe tomato on top to simmer and break down till the pasta is ready. There is still a lot of chew and texture to the stew/sauce, and is very satisfying. Of course, we add our favorite herbs and spices, and sometimes we take a small pan to toast a few pine nuts for more "meat". Grate a little cheese. Done.

The fun is in the challenge of the time you have while the pasta cooks and what's available in your garden and pantry. Its summer. Give it a shot. In a half hour you'll be sitting at the table and thinking of the next variation on this theme. Different pasta. Something out of the freezer? I've never made it the same way twice and its always great and satisfying.  And real and fresh!

Bon Appetit!

PS: Send me some new combinations/additions you've tried.

Happy Fourth of July

Today is Jake's seven month birthday and his great grand father's birthday too.

Hope your day was filled with wonder and pride for the country we live in.