Sunday, July 31, 2011

Devious Domesticity

I was down at the farm yesterday, where the first sunflower has popped:
I was able to make dinner with home grown tomatoes, green pepper and cilantro. The zucchini was purchased at a stand outside of Needlework after Urban Knitters*. Throw in a leftover brat and you have a quick Teutonic ratatouille:

This is the hat for Boy-child's girlfriend. It has been delivered and modeled on Facebook:
Next up is a pair of orange mittens for one of the teachers at Avalon. There sure are a lot of people who like orange. I am not one of them.
This is a modified Fetching also for someone at Avalon. The true color is kind of a slate blue.

Did I mention that I will be forever indebted to the folks at Avalon?

The cat has been enjoying summer. Don't you wish you could relax like that?

In the meantime I've gone to see the Underwear Exhibit at the Minnesota History Center. It's only one room of stuff but well worth the trip.

*Where I found out about another blog lurker.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Out. Of. Con. trol.

I would say that, in spite of the fact that I was surrounded by gardeners my whole life which lead me to believe that I was not a gardener, I can grow things.
The "farm" is flourishing. Or maybe it's a little out of control, because it's kind of hard to tell what's what. I'm sure things would be better if I pulled out a couple of plants to allow others to breathe, but I'm going to just leave it. What the hell. We've gotten some tomatoes, cilantro, asparagus, and sugar snap peas. The bell peppers are looking good, although they might be squeezed out by the peas. I think the cucumbers were smothered. The sunflowers are going to be lovely.

I think next year I'll get two plots
I've also finished a hat for Boy-child's girlfriend, but now that I know she's a lurker I will not post a photo here. You can check on Ravelry. I'm currently making things for the folks at his high school. I am feeling extremely gratitudinous toward them all since he was accepted into a college a week after he started putting in applications. He'll be spending some time in Chile, so he won't start before January or September of 2012, and he's filling out more applications, so he may end up with a choice. Life is good.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Books

Books - That is exactly how they work

check here for html and link info

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Happy Birthday Maddie

This message is for you, from Boy-child, on your birthday.

We hope you're having a fun day.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Antiques Road Show

It turns out that there were about 35000 requests for tickets to the Antiques Road Show. They award 3000 sets of two tickets. That means there are 6000 people at the show; each can bring two things for appraisal.
Honestly, I find it hard to believe that people have a place for these things in their homes.

Really? These two guys were being filmed, so you might see them on the show.
Folk Art was one of the longest lines.
I wonder if that's the case in other parts of the country, or if the Midwest leans toward Folk Art more than other places.
'Cause where else would you find a bear bench but here or Alaska?
We took three small family treasures.

The first...a gold locket given to my Irish grandmother when she was a girl by a Swedish neighbor. Forever treasured, my grandmother forever regretful that she had damaged the soft gold by nibbling on it.
Not gold. Very common turn of the century. Value? $15-20.

The second item, a gold watch purchased by my great-grandmother before the turn of the century with her earnings from being a school teacher.



Dated 1895, gold-fill, in working order. What would be a $20 watch was valued at $150 because of the pretty color work.

I guess the main lesson here is that all that glitters is not gold.

The third item, a Belleek pitcher, hand painted by my great-grandmother around the turn of the century. This is the one thing my mother had in the house that I always coveted. She gave it to me about four years ago.

I love it because it is beautiful but not flowery. I love the handle.
And I have the perfect spot for it in my dining room.
Valued at $300-500. The pottery and porcelain guy was quite snobbish really, so the best part about the appraisal was that he said my great-grandmother was a talented artist.

It was a fun, long day. The Minneapolis part will show some time in the beginning of 2012.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

July 4th

So I'm a week behind. It happens.

For the long weekend, I tried to discipline myself in order to get things done. My method was to alternate between things I wanted to do:
And things I had to do:

Things I wanted to do:

And things I had to do:

And things I wanted to do:

Much got done. I'll have to remember that in the future ... "two more rows and then I'll mow the lawn..."

For the 4th we went to see fireworks and have a beer.

After the fireworks the Soap Factory put on the 7th annual Ten Second Film Festival. Girl-child and friends had a number of entries. It was lots of fun.

Also in the arts, the After Sunset Shadow Puppet Shows, after a rocky start due to weather, and a tumultuous middle due to a puppeteer bowing out of his commitment, ended on a successful note.

Next stop, The Antiques Road Show.