Pickles
The smallest smallish bear and I had a quick kitchen adventure yesterday. A gift of many cucumbers inspired us to try refrigerator pickles.
Lady Bug wondered if these would be as salty as The Saltiest Pickles in the World, which were the ones we’d ended up with the last time we tried this experiment. I told her I hoped these would be different. If not delicious, then at least edible!
We used this recipe from Once Upon a Chef. The steps were quick and easy. In less than half an hour we had two jars of pickles in the making. The hardest part was waiting a whole day to try them.
They smelled briny and amazing. Bright and fresh.
Lady Bug was delighted that their saltiness was of an acceptable degree. She thought they were a touch spicy, but I think they are just right.
A perfect summer endeavor and a much appreciated success at the end of a difficult day.
Parking Lot Diaries
Sunday Morning – An elderly woman struggles to move groceries from her cart to the trunk of her car. A pair of younger people stop and offer help. As they load the groceries, the woman keeps repeating, “Thank you. Oh, thank you so much.” They put her cart away when they are finished. I note that they helped without even being asked, without knowing this woman. I note that the youngsters and the woman appear to come from different ethnic backgrounds – their skin is not the same color. And today, with all of the tension reported all around me, it seemed important to pay attention to this quiet, perhaps unremarkable, beautiful moment.
Monday Evening – I wait in the car while The Kettle Slayer puts our cart away. A man inches his cart through the lot just ahead of me. He stops and peers up the aisle, then over to the left and the right. Panic crosses his face and then resolution. He looks again. Panic again. My hand is on the door handle. I hesitate. Does he need help? Would he welcome help? He creeps forward another foot or two and pure relief floods his whole being. From behind a full-sized SUV, the corner of a boat-like Cadillac is now visible. He straightens, strides toward the car, and loads groceries with ease.
The world is a lonely place sometimes. Full of brokenness, full of fear. I am on the lookout for the antidote, the balancing moments. Watching for the perseverance and relief. And, as always, collecting joy.
Second-guessing
The pattern has to be wrong. I’ve looked at it several times and there’s just no way it will be long enough. No errata to be found. I even remembered to check if the measurements were inches or centimeters. It must be wrong.
Stockinette for 22 inches. This is a baby sleeping bag for a baby due in about three weeks. A late summer baby. The yarn is heavy and the sleeping bag will be warm. He won’t fit into it for even two weeks! What is wrong with this designer?
Lima Bean was 19 inches long. This is never going to work.
The past two or three knitting days were like that. Me worrying over this pattern and desperately trying to knit more and faster.
And then this afternoon –
News Flash: Babies have heads. Heads stick out of sleeping bags. 22 inches is plenty long. We now return to our regularly scheduled knitting.
What He Said: Sir Clive Sinclair
It is intrinsic to the invention process that you don’t always get where you think you’re going. That is part of being inventive. – Sir Clive Sinclair
Bee Funerals and Other Happenings
Lady Bug was showing off some of her Thumbs Up prizes tonight. Two bottles of bubbles! But these, she told me, were nothing compared to the coveted purple prize: fifteen extra minutes of recess.
She told me about these things in one or two sentence bursts, interrupted by trips in and out of her room. She was in the room and almost out of sight when I asked, “What do you guys do at recess?”
Peeking out of the doorway she looks at me as though I must have hit my head. “Mom! We play.”
Of course they play. I am glad to hear that recess is not a series of marching exercises around the school yard.
I try to remember what I played at recess in third grade. Hopeless at any team sport, organized or otherwise, I was still happily in the land of make believe and jumping ropes. It was one of the years that jelly bracelets were popular and it was both funny and frustrating when someone’s entire collection slipped off their wrist and down the rope, stopping the game while the treasures were gathered back onto the proper arms.
One dear friend Alicia and I made a world out of a patch of dirt with broken glass all over it. It couldn’t have been more than eighteen inches long and maybe six inches across. It was magical. Crystal Lake. She would bring action figures to school and we would have such adventures. I remember being especially envious of her Princess Leia toy.
“Yes,” I continue to Lady Bug, “but what do you play? Baseball?”
She scrunches her nose at me. Team sports are not terrifying to her, but they are not her first choice either. “No. We play on the structure.”
It sounds like a post-apocalyptic ruin of long forgotten significance.
She suprises me with the next part. Popping her head out of the room again she announces, “Today we had a funeral for a bee.”
Now this does sound interesting. “For a bee?! What happened?”
“Well,” she begins, my storyteller in her true element, “Dante stepped on a bee and so we buried it, but then Neil didn’t get to see it so we dug it back up and it was ALIVE! It was moving and everything and I touched it. It was kind of gross.”
“What kind of bee was it?” Always mama, always the scientist.
“One of the big fat ones, but not a bumblebee. They do have stingers, but Neil says they rarely use them so I touched it. And then Andre stepped on it again and we buried it again.”
“Did you sing any bee funeral songs?”
“No. We all held hands in a circle and then fell backwards and then we talked about how we felt.”
I think recess is in good hands with these kids.
Three Things
1. Picked up Lima Bean from her field trip. It was very late. Or, at least, late for me.
2. I finished a hat.
3. I added a little eyelet lace to this shirt and now it is a perfect dress for Lady Bug. Who knew I could do fashionista stuffs?!
Small Projects Go Quickly
This baby hat must be done by Friday morning. Only two petals to go!
When this is done, I go back to the Princess & the Pea doll set. Plenty of little knitting about.
Garden Starts
The garden is just getting started. The bears and I put in some good weeding time tonight and removed a good chunk of the grassy bits. I think we’ve planted everything for this season.
The tomato jungle from last year continues to amaze us with its bounty and determination. There are twenty or so volunteer tomato plants out there. I’ve been giving them time to grow and then moving them to provide more space. We are going to have hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes. The food pantry and the food dehydrator are both going to see many tomatoes this summer.
In the Little Minutes
The goal this year is to finish two large quilts. One is done already and now it’s June so I need to get moving!
I still haven’t decided if I’m going to use the blocks as-is or if I’ll cut them, mix them up, and put them back together in a new way. Maybe some of both.
Tonight’s project was to sort all the strips into groups for each block. It took longer than I thought it would (just over an hour), but I am so glad that part is done. Now there is just quick sewing and pressing to get through the next fifteen blocks.
The yellow light in my sewing room makes these look so warm and buttery. In the sunshine they are springy and bright. I am going to love this quilt!
In Progress
I’ve been looking for a reason to knit up Susan B. Anderson’s Princess and the Pea doll set.
A fourth birthday is too good an excuse to pass up.
The hair is still on hold. Color? Style? Lots of ideas floating around at the moment.
Now she just needs mattresses and a fuzzy fuschia blanket.
Naming Mountains 