A week (or two) in pictures

 It feels to me as if I made my last post just a week or so ago, but looking at the timestamp I see that it's been two weeks already! My, oh my!

A lot of progress on current projects. I dipped another batch of chocolates and they came out even better than last month's batch. It's boosting my confidence and I'm starting to feel like I have a bit of control in the matter.

Next on the agenda are some jellied centers, oh I love those. And chocolate covered cherries. I made the cherries many years ago when I was still living in Brooklyn and they were very good.

Upon further reading I found out that dipped chocolates won't be shiny, and if shiny chocolates are the goal, one must use molds.

We had a power outage early last week. Three hours without electric. I had muffins in the oven and they'd been baking for 20 minutes; they need 25 to 30 minutes. I left them in the oven thinking I'd turn it on when the power came back, hoping that it would be a short lived outage. When the power was restored, three hours later, I opened the oven expecting to find half-baked muffins but wouldn't you know! The residual heat in the oven was enough to bake them. A happy surprise. They weren't browned much on top, but they were fully baked. Hurray!

Just this week I realized that my recipe for pancakes and the one for muffins have the same ingredient list except that the pancakes take melted butter and the muffins take vegetable oil! Who knew? Flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, egg, milk, and butter (pancakes) or oil (muffins). The proportions are different, of course.

There is nothing like taking the time to stop and do a bit of slow living. Fifteen minutes hanging laundry out to dry is a really nice way to pause the day, immerse oneself in the natural way of things and get pleasure from taking in the sight of grass waiting to sprout, trees lining the forest, water puddling in ground depressions while listening to the breeze and the birds. I used the downstairs dryer during the winter months but I'm glad to be hanging my laundry outside again. Feels wholesome to do so.

Our local supermarket often has a rack of fresh cut flowers reduced in price for quick sale. They are not top shape, having sat in the store for a little too long, but they are quite salvageable and can bring beautiful color into to the house for a few bucks. So I picked up a dozen multi-colored roses for $3 a week or so ago, intending to harvest the petals for decor. The blossoms lasted 4 or 5 days, not bad for such a low price.

I've stopped using the wood stove. Day temps in the 50s (almost 60 some days), night times in the 30s (tonight is supposed to dip to 26 or some such thing). So too warm for a wood fire during the day (simply won't draft when it's that warm) and I'm under the covers at night. I do use my little space heater at the desk at this time of year just to get the chill out. I was contemplating lighting the stove this evening seeing how the 20s isn't especially warm, but I think I'll let it go and see how things are in the morning. If it's too cold, next time I'll do something different.

Another block for the quilt is done. This one was complex and took almost 2 weeks, a challenge. I'm pretty happy with it though, considering I was really unsure about the colors I chose. Turned out nice.

The next block, however, has taken only 3 days so far and I'm almost done with it. Just a few more petals to sew on, and one leaf. I really like this one a lot.

In other news, daffodils and tulips are growing. Tete-a-tete daffodils are just blossoming. I sowed some spinach, arugula, and swiss chard over the weekend, hoping to take advantage of the cool temperatures ... as long as they sprout.

The bears have awakened from their slumber. I went out to the entry way one morning last week to find the back door open (it was ajar from the frost heaving) and the bag of birdseed gone, along with a couple bags of garbage which were strewn up the field. I also heard him/her the other night when I went out to get the bird feeders. Could hear and feel the ground rumble under the weight of it's running.

This picture is from a few years back...