Pies Pies Pies!

I dragged Marc and Olive apple picking in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Seemed like something fun to do. We were listening to This American Life on NPR on the way up and they had a show about people who got screwed by the mortgage crisis. I was so mad that I wasn't paying attention, missed the exit, and drove us 20 miles out of our way. Nevertheless, we did make it to this orchard in the middle of nowhere. However, once you get there, it only takes 15 minutes to pick a huge basket, so I was trying to make the most of it, walking around to the different kinds of apples and getting some of each. I hate red delicious apples. I call bullshit on them; they are mealy, pithy and flavorless. Why do people like them? Anyway, Sunday I made three pies, and gave two away, but I haven't out much of a dent in the giant bag of apples. I made applesauce too, but Olive wouldn't touch it. I just started sneaking it into her oatmeal in the mornings, which she doesn't seem to be aware of.

We went to the National Aquarium on Sunday with my Mom. I haven't been there in years, and it was really amazing. I really liked the Australia exhibit; I had heard people grumbling that it was disappointing, but I thought it was great. We also saw the jellyfish exhibit, which was amazing. Olive said, "They're exquisite!" Yeah, that's my girl. :)

And we saw the tarpon, my favorite fish in the whole world!

Native plants, work woes

I did make it to the Herring Run Watershed Association's native plant sale on saturday and got all the stuff I wanted. It was a bitch to dig in that part of the yard though; it's all maple roots. But I planted one bottlebrush buckeye (shrub) and two Oakleaf pee wee hydrangeas, and I got my dwarf red buckeye, although it's only about 12" high at this point. I hope it can compete with the maple roots. I also planted the royal catchfly plants, and I added some sand to the soil to help with drainage there. I have a lot of maintenance stuff to do, cutting down the tomatoes, composting, packing up for the winter. I did plant some lettuce, but the damned squirrels keep digging it up, (little shits) so I have to get a cover for it. In a few more weeks I'll plant some garlic to overwinter.

Work is freaking me out a bit. Maybe more than a bit. We are really slow and don't really have anything looming on the horizon. We've been slow before, but it's usually because we're waiting for some project to start. Now, who knows. My boss doesn't seem concerned, so I guess I won't be either. That might not be the best plan, if you can even call it that, but it's all I can really do for right now. I realized that I really shouldn't talk about my work worries at home because it totally freaks Marc out, and I don't want to stress him out. It helps me to talk about it, but to him, it's just added anxiety. I understand that. I'm trying to just deal with my worries on my own and just try and stay positive; He's looking into going back to school for his teaching certification starting in January, so that's good.

And, speaking of positive, I am very excited about my ceramics class starting tomorrow night. Already cooking up some ideas.

My rant for the day

So, I go to the Grocery store at lunch and see a plastic package ($4.00)containing six individually wrapped bags containing 8 individual grapes. They also had packages which contained three orange slices each. They were gross, they looked like they were cut weeks ago. But really, the condition of the fruit is not the point. Is this what we've come to? Can you possibly create more useless plastic packaging to unleash on the world? Can you possibly be so careless with money that it doesn't bother you that this is astronomically expensive on a per pound level? Can you possibly be this lazy? Is it really so hard to make a kid's lunch?! Argh, stuff like that just makes my head spin. This makes individually wrapped cheese seem sensible. Who is buying this stuff?

Ahh, deep breath. Enough. So, I have registered for my next Clayworks class. Handbuilt Tableware; I am very excited. I have some ideas already for some bowls. It's expensive, but for me, having a class to go to once a week is a huge help. It gives me something to look forward to, it's a night just for me to get out, and we usually go get beer afterwards, which is fun too. There's something inherently soothing about clay, it's a wonderful stress reliever, which, if you haven't deduced from my previous paragraph, I could really use.

Things at work have been very quiet; which is hard for me. I'm just not that good at sitting around looking at stuff online (but I do anyway) because I just sit there cooking up new projects for myself. I did order some New York Ironweed plants that I found online, which should ship next week. (See above) I am thinking about getting a truckload of dirt to topdress all the beds before winter. I'll also need some when I plant the dwarf red buckeye I'm planning on buying this weekend at the Herring Run Watershed Association Plant Sale. It's great, they have online coupons for $10 off each tree, and most of the trees are $15-$25 to begin with. I think I'm going to get some more bottlebrush buckeye as well, and possibly some oakleaf hydrangea. I was looking in the yard last night, and it's not too bad over there along the fence... I definitely have some stuff to clear out, but it shouldn't be too awful. The dirt over there is just crap though. Hopefully it won't be too rainy this weekend and I can tackle some of it.

I'm such a chicken shit though... I think on some level I have been avoiding working on that part of the yard because I saw a snake over there once. Stupid, I know.

I think I have come up with a brilliant plan to kill off the flies in my worm bin. I'm going to set up my seedling heat mat underneath it, and set it out one night when it's going to frost. The worms will stay warm down at the bottom, and all the flies and eggs will be killed off on the surface. Hopefully that will work, and then I can bring them back in the house.

Ok, now I'm just rambling because I'm bored.

Silene Regia, Royal Catchfly

Silene Regia, Royal Catchfly

I just ordered three of these from e-bay for the void in the front yard. Native, (to the Mid West) and it's a hummingbird magnet. What appeals to me about these is that they bloom later in the summer, like Mid July into August, which is when a lot of other things are dying back, so it's nice to have a little punch of color later on.

I LOVE Ebay!

Garden Renovations

We saw "It Might Get Loud" Saturday night and it was really good; I knew it would be right up Marc's alley, being the consummate guitar geek and all. Even for non-guitar geeks like me, it was very interesting. There's a great scene where Jimmy Page is playing a record of "Rumble" by Link Wray. The look on his face is just like a little kid; you know he's heard it a million times, but it still resonates in him. Marc loves that song too, and it was cool to see this connection, the way art can inspire and influence other people. Very cool.

While Olive napped yesterday I did some major perennial garden renovations. I ripped out almost all of the irises, (I kept a few, and gave the rest to my friend down the street) and I dug up the yellow loosetrife before it gained any more ground. There was this other stuff which I don't remember the name of that I got rid of too... it's got greenish-red leaves that turn dark red in full sun and has small yellow flowers along the stem. It was kind of a bully, and I don't have full sun, so it was just dull green and pretty boring to look at. I just decided that I only have so much space, so I should fill it with the things I really love and get rid of the other stuff.

So now, I am thinking of what I can put there now... I want to go with more natives, like Joe Pye weed, asclepias (butterfly weeds) and New York Ironweed. I am also looking at some more Western natives like Salvias and Agastaches. Does anyone know anything about Lupines? They are supposed to be a hardy native (of somewhere) but I never see them around here, which makes me wonder why.

This fall I want to go to the Herring Run Watershed Association plant sale and get a dwarf red buckeye tree for the front yard. They stay relatively small, they are an understory tree, and they have beautiful red flowers that the hummingbirds like. I am also thinking of adding some oakleaf hydrangeas perhaps. I want my garden to be a little bit better designed and less haphazard looking; and I want to create a good area for my fountain next spring. Hmmm.

I am trying to see if I can get the money together to take another clayworks class. I really want to, and it starts next week. I'll see how things look once I get paid this week.

Now what?

So, my two State Fair ribbons are being proudly displayed in the kitchen. I still haven't deposited my $9 check yet, probably because I haven't decided what to splurge on with my prize winnings. So, I was agonizing over what to do withall the State Fair entries... I mean, they were basically opened and then stored at room temperature for 13+ days. I'm sure the judges used new spoons with every jar, right? I was looking online to try to find answers and of course they were all over the map. Some people said they never stored jam in the refrigerator, even after opening it, (eew) and someone else said they threw away anything that had been unrefrigerated for a half hour or more. (A little extreme, I think) Someone was saying that their grandparents kept mayo in the cabinet. Yikes. Anyway, I couldn't bring myself to throw it all out, so I made Marc do it. I hate wasting food, especially food I made. Better safe than sorry I guess.

One of my mosaic bowls...

Sculpture

Well, here it is. It's a little bit hard to describe and even harder to get a good photo of. This is my sculpture from my Botanical Sculpture class I took last semester. It is based on the seed cases of Hellebore plants. Instead of glazing it, I finished it with copper leaf and then glazed it and waxed the surface. The bottom photo is pretty washed out color wise, but it shows the shape pretty well. I'm very happy with how it came out in the end.

Another winner?

Ha! So Marc's Dad sent me a picture that was forwarded from Marc's Aunt & Uncle... Apparently the reason I couldn't find the peach jam at the State Fair was because it was in the First Place cabinet! No way! I just assumed it had been disqualified because it had pieces of cardamom and clove floating around in it. Who knew the judges would like cardamom?? Wow. That's pretty cool. The peach jam was the last minute entry, the one I just totally winged it on, didn't even have a recipe. I had signed up to enter back in July (you have to mail the entry form by July 31st, about a month before) and it was two days before the Fair and I decided I had to make it at the last minute. Yay!

Bored

Still bored at work.

I hope I can work on the fish tonight after Olive goes to bed. Marc's got band paractice. I've got some gardening to do... things are past their prime and ready for the compost pile. The back yard is totally overgrown. I also have to figure out what to do with the damn guppies in all my planters. I put them in there this spring to help control the mosquito larvae, and they have thrived in the dark muck of the planter reservoir. I cleaned one out last week, and where there once were 6, there were probably 20 now. Yikes. I told myself when I put them in there that I'd just let them freeze when winter came, but I think we all know that's a big joke. I can put some in the little kitchen fishtank... as pets. And some may make it to Jim's cichlid tank... as food. C'est la vie.

Pickle Winners!

Yay! The Bread and Butter pickles won Second Place at the MD State Fair! I'm shocked. I didn't win anything for the jams, which is fine; but the Bread and Butter Pickle category is usually pretty stiff competition. I didn't expect to place in that category, let alone second place. Pretty cool. I have to write to my grandmother and tell her that. It's basically her recipe, with some added spice modifications. I have to admit, I was feeling pretty smug.

I love the State Fair. I love to see all the hard work that goes into stuff... the people who sit there all summer trying to grow the perfect eggplant or gourd. They just take such pride in it, and it's nice to see. I didn't see any micro tomatoes there this year, which made me wonder if I should enter them next year. Hmmm.

I have more sculpture and mosaic pictures to put up, I just haven't gotten to it yet. I did some more work on the fish last night; I am finding this one to be really challenging. Going along, you establish a pattern and a direction for the rows of tile. But especially with a cut out form like the fish, you start to run into problems with how those rows come together while still working with the overall form. Do the rows run straight across, or follow the outside edge? It gets harder as you get to the end because it all has to come together and you have less and less space. All of a sudden, the way you have been working on it for weeks doesn't make sense. I think this wouldn't happen if I was using a rectangular board; then it's just a grid in rows across. Anyway, I will sort it out, I'm sure.

I am thinking about taking Hand Built Tableware this fall at Clayworks. My teacher from Botanical Sculpture is teaching it, and it looks like fun. I just have to see if I can afford it. I'd like to take the open studio option, but I'm afraid I don't have the discipline to get myself there to work on anything if I don't have a specific class to show up for. I had a hard enough time getting there any time outside of class this summer. I'd like to make some big forms to build mosaics on; just hand build them and bisque fire them. I have been contemplating the idea of a 4' yellow mosaic cat for the front yard.

I guess I'm just rambling now. Probably because I'm bored at work.