Musings

My favorite cheese-grating device…failed. [Flexes biceps]…I don’t know my own strength. 🤣

Posted at 9:06 PM | Comments Off on Oops

Yesterday, I did finish pressure-washing the front and back entry areas, and called that eeeee-nufff. [I ignored the sidewalk in front of the house; apologies, pedestrians.] I also summed the time spent pressure-washing over two days—6.5 hrs—whew! Today, I rested my back (which, truth be told, was basically okay, I think because of my irregular “Classical Stretch/Essentrics” workouts).

Posted at 9:23 PM | Comments Off on Three day saga

Tackled a major seasonal chore: pressure-washing. Finished the worst of it (driveway), but the remainder is more time-consuming (entry areas, front and back). Something to look forward to….

Posted at 8:52 PM | Comments Off on Spring(?) cleaning

I had a vision for this photograph, and this is almost there…the leaf and flower shapes make an interesting, varying landscape.

Posted at 9:41 PM | Comments Off on Texture forward

We got to chat long-distance with long-time friends who are on a round-the-world trip. They called from Old Corinth/Korinthos, in Greece. Wow! We’re so lucky! I think the last time we chatted they were in New Zealand.

Posted at 9:51 PM | Comments Off on Darned exciting

This row of aged maples look like sentinels, protecting the garden. I like the visual vertical repetition of their trunks with the fence posts. The fence is necessary to discourage raccoons and deer, plus rabbits and skunks.

In today’s news, we did an assortment of chores, including mowing (by the Mowing Man) and making more rhubarb sauce (moi).

Title is the genus of each plant species mentioned.

Posted at 9:39 PM | 1 Comment »

I got up before the sun (thank you, flicker, busy at 5:45am), and found the ground fog posing elegantly in the field, pierced by lupins.

Mid-morning, this phalanx of Canada geese flew over, right over, so I got to watch their shadows pass by on the grass around me.

Mid-afternoon, I picked rhubarb, then processed it to make what the old cookbooks call rhubarb sauce. Simmer ½ inch (or so) chunks of rhubarb in a bit of water until they break up (ten-ish minutes). Let the mixture cool some, then stir in enough sugar (or honey) to cut the tartness to the desired level. The heat will melt the sugar. Cool all the way and enjoy, plain or over ice cream (for example).

Lakeview dining, with the best company. Isn’t that the most colorful rhubarb sauce you’ve ever seen?

Posted at 7:58 PM | 1 Comment »

Studying the calendar, I realized we’re 42% of the way through 2024, yet I’m still trying to internalize that it is indeed 2024.

See that lupin to the right of center with the tipped over inflorescence? That’s rather like me, still trying to get with the program.

Posted at 9:32 PM | Comments Off on Taking direction

This is a late post because the server was down when I began to write. Happily, it’s up Saturday morning.

Yesterday we saw a doe with a wee spotted fawn, no more than a very few days old. We spotted them walking down the mowed lane between trees in the orchard. She stopped to browse and for Little One to nurse. Soon, she moved on, and stepped into the tall grass, far taller than LO. LO preferred to stay in the mowed lane. Drama ensued. Eventually, she enticed LO into the tall grass with another feeding opportunity. Then, the doe moved on, and…repeat.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Parental maneuvering

Today is day three of my lake baths. It is so pleasant to wash my hair in the soft water of the lake, although the water temps remain chilly*. The grass keeps growing and growing, so I mowed a “tunnel” to the steps down the bluff to the beach.

We have a mulching mower, so it doesn’t spit the cut grass out a side-flap. Instead it counts on gravity for the bits to fall beneath the machine; however, with grass above knee-high, like this, it creates what I call grass boluses that are very capable of jamming the blade and stopping the motor. Over and over. I persisted, and now there’s a two-mower-swath-wide path.

On my way to take the above photo, I realized the late-day light coming through this clump of lupin made it a-glow (if I bent down to get a low angle).

* Speaking of chilly, tonight’s low is supposed to be in the upper 30s. It’s already in the mid-50s, so I believe it!

Also, sing title to “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” the Chim-chimney phrase….

Posted at 7:57 PM | Comments Off on Green greenery