What's on the table...

Here is what Avinash and I worked on this afternoon in the kitchen.

Pictured:

No-knead whole wheat bread with sesame crust, paneer jalfrezi, rotis, mixed dal, and frosted sugar cookies.

Not pictured: I had some Italian breadcrumb-encrusted baked tilapia with lemon (very bland; I need to get some better recipes for this fish) and steamed pork and vegetable potstickers (better, but needed more pepper).

The cookies turned out very well. These have a spring theme, with a ground of grass-green frosting and pastel colored sprinkles. The bread was not too bad, but it had a rather leathery crust and not quite enough salt. Perhaps the texture problem is just because I ate the heel. I'll use the rest of the bread for sandwiches and toast. Next time, I think I will decrease the amount of water to about 80% and increase the salt to 2 & 1/4 tsp.

Brighty of the Grand Canyon - signed by author Marguerite Henry

Here is a posting for my ebay listing of Marguerite Henry's classic, "Brighty of the Grand Canyon". Click on the photos to enlarge.

Dumpster Diving and garden projects

Our neighbors are converting their business into a residence. They are wasteful Republican types, like most people locally. They are throwing away a lot of perfectly good things, such as metal shelving, brand new treated 2 x 4s, boards, pillows, flowerpots, and wooden cabinets. I liberated a bunch of the bedding trays for starting seedlings. They are expensive in shops this time of year. I also filched about 10 2 x 4s to build a raised garden bed with, since Dad doesn't show any sign of being interested in bringing over his unused landscape timbers for that purpose. (It's either too hot, too cold, too snowy, too early, too late, too muddy, or some other excuse why it cannot be done). Some of the boards are short, but I will make them work somehow. Maybe I need some of those spiky metal sheets used to nail planks together.

Mr. Dumpster came out and told me that I could have anything I wanted out of the dumpster, but to not disturb his precise organization of the dumpster. He said some other people had been rooting through his trash and they dis-organized the way he had it filled (naturally). He obviously would rather have the landfills fill up with perfectly usable stuff, than have someone get some use out of it and disarrange his dumpster. As far as I could tell, it wasn't loaded particularly efficiently, so he can't complain too much about that. In any case, if people take stuff out, he can fit more in. Besides, an open dumpster on a residential street, filled with usable construction materials, is bound to attract many dumpster divers. As far as I'm concerned, you relinquish any ownership of the items inside the dumpster once they are discarded.

Here are the raised beds - obviously, they need more soil. I ran out of steam after about 20 bucket-loads shoveled out from the compost heap behind the garage.

Here is the pond project I worked on this week. I unearthed the pond form from the back yard and filled in the hole with dirt from the new location I had dug in the middle yard. I put sandstone flags around the pond rim, to help it blend in its new location. Next up, is filling the pond and putting a few goldfish in it to eat the mosquito larvae. I will probably wait until we are out of the freezing temps to do that, although goldfish would probably be ok.

New Look

Today I took advantage of Zhanna's offer to give free haircuts to all of the members of the family. I asked her for "something different", having tired of pony-tailing my hair every day or putting it in a bun or hairclip. Once it gets a certain length, there's just nothing which can be done with it.

Here is the end result. Today, I look like a suburban soccer-mom. Tomorrow, when the essential Chickering-ness of my hair takes over, who knows! This is the straightest my hair has been in a long time, due to the blow-dry.

The Culprit

Now we know (is we ever had any doubt) who the responsible party is for the rumpled area rug. Here is Ned caught red-pawed at the scene of the crime.

Signs of Spring

This is the first flower of the year. The snow in the front yard has melted, due to the Southern exposure and slope, and has revealed three little crocuses underneath. Unfortunately, half an hour after this photo was taken, we got another inch or two of wet, sticky snow.

Also, our daffodils are starting to emerge in the sheltered area under the bay window.

Pam's tree picture

PUDDLE REFLECTION - A stately tree is reflected in a large puddle on the
edge of a farm field off Highway N north of Jefferson Monday evening, as
the snow gives way to meltwater sitting on top of frozen earth. - Daily
Union photo by Pam Chickering Wilson.

Gillet exercises

Click on photo for enlargement

Personality Plus

Here are a few shots of Ned from the weekend. In the first shot, he is shown being up to no good (helping impede the insulation project). The second photo shows a position he seems to find very comfortable.

Virtuoso Studies for Ebay

Click to enlarge photo

Grandma's Yellow cup and saucer set

Here's another posting for ebay. Click on the photo for enlargement.

Attic Project, and More Snow

Yesterday Dad came over and we tackled the next insulation project, the little inaccessible attic above the bedroom closets. We had discovered that this attic was not properly insulated, which probably is partly the reason why it's always 50 degrees in there (the other reason being that there are no heating ducts). Above the closet is a little 8 foot by 6 foot attic, so Dad cut an access door into the attic and I insulated it with 6" batts of plastic-covered insulation. There was about 2 inches of sawdust insulation there, not even enough to cover the joists, plus three old paper wasp houses. I will have to seal up the attic vent with a screen or something in the spring. I discovered that the west side of the house had formerly had vines growing up to the roofline, because there were pieces of vine still stuck to the now-interior brick wall, probably 50 years after construction.

The job was a little difficult because of the headroom, or lack thereof (2 & 1/2 feet at the most), and the protruding nails from the roofing above. The insulation part was actually the easiest thing, though - cutting the door through the 1/2" wallboard on the ceiling was a messy and overly complicated job. Now all that remains is the new door and trim (made from scrap wood) needs to be insulated and painted.

Today it is snowing again. The forecast is for 1" accumulation, but it is coming down pretty fast and furious, and I think we will get 3-4 inches at least.

Here is a self-portrait of Ned and me (not the most flattering angle, but it gets Ned's true expression of love and happiness). Ned was hungry and was in his obnoxiously, unaccountably, and unavoidably snuggly phase.

Hindemith Sonata for Oboe and Piano

I've never been much of a Hindemith fan, so I thought I would give someone else a shot at this sheet music rather than let it sit on my bookshelf. It's up for bids on ebay, posted here for the convenience of buyers to look at a bigger picture and for the convenience of my pocketbook so I don't have to pay for multiple photos.