Neglected blog ...

My poor little neglected blog.

I'll try to catch-up with all that's gone on since mid-summer, having arrived at the end of summer--for real; we are officially in autumn now. Some leaves--the early birds--are showing color. It gets dark between six and half-six. Our temperatures dipped into the 30s last night. And it seems like just a few weeks ago I was waiting for daffodils to sprout. It has moved quickly, this summer. Faster than many I can remember. I attribute it in part to the large, time-consuming projects I tackled.

No matter. I love autumn probably a smidge more than the other seasons so I'm happy. There are more than a handful of months ahead in which to plan big projects for next year.

Where to begin? There's the wind mills to show, some fiber work in progress, the deck is in the midst of being stained and sealed, a few garden pics, my new phonograph, and my Phragmipedium come back to say hello once again ...

The wind mills. For the past year I have been on our town's citizen's planning committee, charged with the task of fielding our fellow townspeople and gathering what we learn into recommendations for the planning board so that we may implement an official town zoning ordinance. It's been wildly educational, if difficult at times. We are nearing the end of our task, the ordinance will be voted on next spring at town meeting. Last month, while we were discussing how to zone the ridges where the wind farm is situated, we were taken on a tour of the area so that we could have a better idea of the possibilities it might be suitable for. It's very beautiful up there, overlooking Rumney and Plymouth to the North and East, and Groton to the South and West. I snapped a bunch of pictures...



From the west ridge I could see the location of my house. Although it's not visible, it is where I have circled. I live in the country!



The garden was a mixed bag this year; when it comes to gardening we are at the mercy of the weather aren't we. It was dry early on and I was doing quite a bit of watering to keep things growing. But it all normalized and I then let mother nature take over. As we know, my chard was hit by leaf miners and I lost most of it, and the green peppers were a complete failure (but that's nothing new--I have yet to be successful growing green peppers!). I ended being unhappy with the seed I purchased from an online site. It all germinated quite well but failed to produce any fruit. I harvested 4 zucchini and just a few cucumbers. But my tomatoes have done well, and the spring crops were plentiful. The flowers have been ablaze as well.



Huge disappointment a few weeks ago. I have a sunflower that sprouted itself--must have been from last year's flowers, and it was growing really really tall. The flower bud developed and was making great progress and then one day I went out and found this:



Something (I suspect a red squirrel) had climbed up the stalk and chewed away the developing bud! Oh!! I have other sunflowers and they have blossomed, but that plant was the tallest and grandest. Alas.

Last week was Plymouth's town-wide yard sale. I found up a cuckoo clock for $1. The woman who sold it said it didn't work, hence the price. It was missing a weight and the deer and antlers were missing as well. But I bought it anyway figuring there was little to lose. I put some fishing weights (which I use to weigh down freshly washed hand spun yarn--I don't fish) on the chain missing it's weight. It works! It works perfectly!! $1. My neighbor had a spare weight and he gave it to me. I'm ordering a deer and antlers online. The same neighbor knew I was looking for an old phonograph. They also went to the town-wide sale and phoned me a few days after. He said they found a phonograph there and wanted to know if I was interested in it. So I drove down to their place--just at the bottom of the hill--and was presented with a very nice Victrola for the grand sum of $50. I have seen several in worse shape going for two to three hundred dollars, and I consider $50 something of a steal! I made a little video after I got it in my living room.



My new phonograph. Warning: There is quite a bit of bird chatter because I forgot to close the bird room door and Ciello was on my shoulder!



My sweet Phragmipedium Manzur la Aldea, which I rescued last year from arid conditions at the nursery (These orchids need to be wet all the time, they grow by streams and need their feet in the water; the nursery where I bought it had not taken the tape off the top of the pot--which was put on for shipping--resulting in it's inability to get any water at all.) is blossoming once again. It's a pretty little flower...



Off the wheel, on the needles, through the heddles. I have 4 projects in the works: some knitted mittens, a vest I'm knitting with my own hand spun yarn, some kitchen towels on the loom, and more spinning for the vest. The mittens and vest are stranded. I'm making my own pattern for the vest, using a book "Traditional Fair Isle Knitting by Sheila McGregor for individual patterns. The mitten pattern is from a book "Mostly Mittens (Ethnic Knitting Designs from Russia)" by Charlene Schurch. Both projects are progressing nicely. I am teaching my neighbor more about weaving by working on some kitchen towels on the 8-shaft loom. We wound a 10-yard warp which should be enough to make 6 towels for each of us, 12 in all. The draft is a pinwheel. She chose the colors and I like them.



Last but not least by any means: I'm sealing and staining the deck at last! It is two years old this year and I really didn't want to wait any longer. It's a painstaking, lengthy process of washing every inch with a mildrew remover, sometimes using a bit of bleach, sometimes a bit of Dawn dish detergent (great at cutting grease) and then rinsing it off with the jet stream of my hose. After it dries for at least 4 hours I apply the stain to each and every baluster and all the nooks and crannies above, below, and to the side of every square inch of every board. I've been at it at least two weeks already and have almost finished the first coat on the railing. I'm using a water-based stain so two coats are required! When that's all done, I will do the floor of the deck. It's worth it--looks so much better with this redwood stain.

I just snapped this pic half hour ago and as you can see, I have reached the far stairs. I hope to get the rest of the rail finished this week--coat 1.



HAPPY AUTUMN!

The kitchen counter update ...

When I moved here I decided remodelling the kitchen would be a project for some other day, a day 10 years down the line probably. The countertops were vintage formica: White with specs of gold. It looked old, there were stains and I thought a little paint could go a ways in improving it's appearance. So last year (or was it the year before last? Oh dear, I can't remember!) I painted over it with special formica paint with the intention of doing some stenciling. The paint worked well and it's sat for the duration while I did nothing on the stencil front. Just a few weeks ago it occurred to me that I had completely forgotten my idea of stenciling. So I got online and browsed: Stencil after stencil after stencil on site after site after site. Nothing grabbed my fancy. A week later I tried again, and lo! I found one. Ordered it and it arrived pronto--the wonders of modern life!

So the main work arm of the counter tops has had a re-do. I sprayed a couple coats of clear acrylic finish over the stencil (actually, half of it hasn't been sealed yet, but I will do that next week--will be off the NYC in a few days) and covered them with clear plexiglass sheets that I found for cheap at the Habitat for Humanity store in Plymouth. I have a feeling the plexiglass will end up scratched in no time so it may well be replaced with glass in the not-too-distant future.

A nice result, a cheerful countertop upon which to mix my batters, potions, and stews, etc.

The driveway update ...

Last month I had the driveway shortened and re-built. The heavy equipment and operator I hired did a nice job of putting in a culvert, digging drainage trenches, and building up the drive. He also scraped out the old, hard-packed soil up near the house and brought in some new loam. After he had finished, the loam sat for a couple weeks because I was too busy to do anything about it. When I finally got around to seeding it with new lawn, it had packed down a bit, so I took a shovel, and hoe, and rake and made several passes with these tools to fuff up the soil in preparation for seed. This is what it looked like after a pass with the shovel:



That picture was taken on May 30 and I'm noticing how the garden was still in the early stages of sprouting. Amazing how lush it has all become. I've been harvesting lettuce for a good while already, and have had several repasts of peas in the pod. We are high summer now and the earth is host to rampant growth, lush greenery and all the creatures that call it their home. Including those that chewed the tops off half my romaine lettuces!

It's lily season now, several of my wild and hybrid lilies are blossoming.



The first and fourth picture are my own crosses, back for their 2nd year of blossoming. I moved them last fall and it worried me, afraid as I was that they would be set back. They were, a little, but they're blossoming anyway. I expect more robust plants next year.

So anyway, I seeded the lawn and watered it twice a day for a few weeks--we were in a dry spell and I was worried nothing would sprout. But it did, albeit a little thin in some places; I need to re-scatter seed here and there to fill it in. Should be a good lawn next year. I have spent a week and half planting rocks (stones from Vermont) individually to build a path from the end of the drive up to the deck stairs. It's been quite a toil, especially in the hot, humid weather but I'm nearing the end. The addition of a few planters has transformed the newly loamed area. I'm pleased with the way it's turning out. (I have finished more of the stone path since the picture was taken, in fact it's near completion now.) I continue to get ideas, and may implement some of them down the line. For instance, I was thinking a nice grape arbor would be nice off to the right, in front of the garden. I could use it as an outdoor 'room'. A rose pillar might look nice at the corner where the end of the drive meets the lawn. All in time. Click picture to enlarge:



Getting these stones in the ground is hard work. I outline each stone with a trowel, dig a hole conforming to the outline, check that the stone fits OK, put an inch of sand in the hole, plop the rock in, and fill in around the edges. In an hour I can get from 6 to 10 stones in place. When it's all done, I'll plant creeping thyme and other tough creepies in between the rocks.

Advent scarf ... a completed object ...

Well, it was meant to have 24 sections, one for each day of advent but after day 20 it was so long I decided to cut it short. So I end with a 20-day scarf! It came out ok though, I'm quite pleased with it. Each section is a different lace pattern and the sections are separated by an 8-row connection that includes beads. I used clear beads; they are a little hard to see in the second picture.



It was an enjoyable knit. I like doing these sectional type projects for the many milestones help move it along. I brought it out to knit in public several times. Now for my next knitting project: What will it be? I'm going through patterns I've saved to see if anything speaks to me at this time. I have it in mind to knit a fair isle vest (or sweater) with handspun yarn. We're now in the 2nd day of Tour de Fleece 2018 and I've joined the Warped Weavers group. I'm spinning more yarn for the vest.

Very busy with yard and garden work still. I'm laying in the walkway to the house but I will make that a separate post. Stay tuned!

A bit of a problem ...

My row of swiss chard is being decimated by spinach (or beet) leaf miners. Bummer. I don't know if I'll be able to save it.



In the second picture, if you look closely (click picture to enlarge it) you can see little white eggs on the left in the space between my fingers.

I went out with the scissors this evening and cut off every--I hope--infected leaf. I'll double check in the morning. I'll leave it in for a week and observe what it does. I may end up pulling it out and putting in something else. Won't put chard back in that same spot as new leafminers can surface from the ground. Leafminers are small flies which lay their eggs on the leaves. The newly hatched larvae burrow into the leaf and start eating away. After a week or so they pupate and fall into the soil from whence new flies will emerge.

-- Just a little pause... I'm hearing the barred owl out back as I type this. Lovely. --

I was just reading that NH has seen significant leafminer infestations the past few years. Sigh.

We humans are not alone here on earth and all the other critters are hungry as well! It's all part of the picture. Now it wouldn't be so bad if the critters could learn the difference between garden plants and weeds! As far as I'm concerned they can eat all the weeds they want. Who knew a little fly could be such a gourmand?

The rose is close by the row of chard and it is in it's full glory at the moment. The fragrance is divine.



I am picking my lunch these days.



As well, the row of radishes is now completely harvested. I will think about what to replace it with. They did well this year.

More productivity ...

I don't want to gloat, but the past few weeks have seen a spurt of activity around here. The rhubarb crop motivated me to do some preserving, as you saw in my last post. I have since been enjoying the rhubarg/orange jam on english muffins and it is very good indeed. I dare say it's my favorite jam at the moment.

The patch of mint out back has been bursting upwards bigly and it further fostered this preserving groove I'm on, so I took advantage of it. I made some apple/mint jelly and because the recipe sounded so very delicious--and I had some maple syrup on hand--I made some maple/walnut sauce. There was a little of the sauce left over and I placed it in a jar and tucked it in the fridge. A day later I sampled it and it almost made me faint, it's that good. I can imagine it on crepes or pancakes or ice cream, oh yes!



This past week saw my first radish harvest and I'm now also enjoying lettuce and mesclun out of the garden. Almost everything is now planted and as soon as the radishes are done, I'll replace the space with carrots.



This is a glorious time of year for flowers. The siberian irises are exploding in all their royal beauty, the new peony I purchased is opening some blossoms, the large rose bush I inherited is gracing the yard with it's heady perfume, and jack is snug in his pulpit.



Quite a few of the big yard tasks have been completed. Today I started a new compost heap, and worked on digging out the last bed overgrown with bishop's weed. The grass I seeded in my new lawn in the space given up by my way-too-long driveway is growing, albeit not thick enough in some places. I spread more seed yesterday and I was given advice this afternoon to purchase some perennial rye seed and put some of that in as well. It had been getting too dry here so I was watering every morning and evening. Less so now that we have had some rain. More rain forecast for Monday.

Knitting continues at a good pace on the advent scarf I'm making. Now on day 19 (of 24). It should be done soon. I've started to itch for quilting again, so when the scarf is done I may get back to the sewing machine.

A big change on the cello front: I am changing teachers to find someone more local. It had become difficult to get in-person time with my teacher, and after being held up in traffic for an hour and a half on my way to my lesson the last time I was in NY a few weeks ago (it should have taken 20 minutes!), I managed to arrive a half hour late. So I've seen him in person a total of 30 minutes in the past 5-6 months. Not enough. It's no one's fault, but circumstances. I'm not travelling to NY quite as often as I was, so if I miss him while there, it takes it's toll. So I'm going to be switching to the cello teacher at the Upper Valley Music Center where I participate in the orchestra and various classes. I know him already having taken cello choir classes with him, and a few private lessons as well. A new chapter opens. There is sadness and excitement all at the same time.

Last night was the opening of this year's Hanover Street Chamber Music Festival and I've been assigned to Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet No. 1. Very beautiful.

Progress is being made on both cello and piano and I'm hoping to play in the next UVMC salon. Not sure when that is, but I suspect sometime this fall. I have it in mind to play Chopin's Db Major Nocturne. It is divine:



On cello I've been working on Bach's 3rd Suite. Challenging. But good.

A productive week ....

Not so much in the garden as the weather turned rainy and cool early on in the week--not boding well for my newly seeded lawn. Temps reached into the 70s today and I hope the seed will recognize that warmer temps will be the norm going forward! However, the lettuces are almost ready to pick, and the radishes are plumping up nicely. Everything benefitted greatly from the rains and I don't mind too much that the temps have been a little cool as these crops have a tendency to bolt if the weather warms up too quickly.

While the ground soaked up a good dose of water this week I was busy in the kitchen making soap and getting my rhubarb put up. 5 half pints of hot rhubarb grilling sauce and 7 half pints of rhubarb-orange jam. Yum, yum! The left-over orange rind became candy.



I've been in a mood to knit lately and have made considerable progress on my "advent scarf". It should be done soon; pics will follow.