dawn

the sky is the color of deep indigo ink.

the chilly is air heavy with the scent of vegetation,

wet with the dew of the night.

the earth is reverently hushed.

and then the sky is paler blue,

the mountains show in dark silhouette.

the green of the valley becomes more intense.

a glow of pink blooms in the east.

the dark water ripples,

ethereal mist rises and blows in my face.

the silence is shattered: ho-onk? asks a goose.

his fellows answer, rising on powerful wings.

the birdsong crescendos, the breeze lifts my hair.

colors become more distinct.

i can almost pinpoint the moment

the sky changes to blue from its pearly pre-dawn hue.

suddenly the sun leaps above the mountains,

pulsing in the glory of fiery coral sunrise.

it continues to climb, reaching down to the earth,

offering warmth and pure gold light.

and so, another day begins.

monday (lack of) menu

[uncooked pink rice]

I've been having something of a menu crisis lately

because I pretty much hate cooking
during these hot summer months.

What are your favorite hot-weather meal solutions?

guitar string bangles

My sweetie has been away for work this week,

so I've been wiling away the long and lonely evening hours

by listening to an audio book

and indulging my latest crafty crush:

making bangles made from upcycled guitar strings.

I have been saving Benjamin's old guitar strings for years

because I just knew that someday

I would be able make good use of them!

I have been having so much fun

combining them with pretty beads and wire wrapping

and learning to use Benjamin's soldering iron.

and in the summer we are fruitivores

I think I've mentioned before

how much I love being able to get Bountiful Baskets!

I appreciate how it pushes me to try new vegetables

(grilled eggplant, or sauteed kale anyone?),

but my favorite is the variety of fruit we receive.

Here are a couple o fun fruity things I have made recently.

Taste the rainbow--nutritiously.

Top to bottom:

Strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple,

honeydew, blueberries, and plums.

(Yes, I know that there is an indigo stripe in there too.

But tell me what kind of fruit is indigo.)

It really was a big hit

even though they look less than enthusiastic. :)

And of course there have been more popsicles.

left to right:

tropical smoothie

(banana, mango, pineapple, coconut milk)

red, white, and blueberry

(strawberry puree, vanilla yogurt, whole blueberries)

melon-berry

(honeydew and cantaloupe with whole blueberries)

left to right:

mango peach

kiwi slice and whole blueberries in apple juice

apple plum

This week we also enjoyed

 skewers of deliciously sweet frozen grapes,

but those disappeared too quickly for photos.

camping

Earlier this month we went camping

at a gorgeous, pristine location

that is only about an hour away from our home!

It was amazing.

Here are a few of my favorite photos.

Big Sky Country

Our brand new tent fits the six of us

much more comfortably than the old one did.

little explorers

wildflowers

There was a tiny stream a short walk from our campsite.

It was a magical place for the boys to play:

shallow enough to be quite safe,

yet extraordinarily exciting.

I love the quiet woods.

I am quite good at building fires.

Well, good morning, handsome!

In addition to many butterflies,

we also saw deer, frogs, fish, and lots of mosquitos,

but I didn't get any photos of them.

gift from Little Man

gift from Sweet Pea

busy girl

Can it get much better than this?

field of wildflowers

hiking to Coolidge, a ghost town

ruins

So glad we met these rain clouds were on the drive home!

mocha floats

that's

1/2 cup of espresso

(orI'll bet strong, cold brewed coffee would work too)

1 cup of milk

2 scoops of chocolate ice cream

caramel syrup to taste

all combined in a tall glass

try it.

it's good.

knitting works in progress

I seem to go through stages in my artsy endeavors. Right now I am not in a knitting stage. However, I have a couple of works in progress that I thought I'd share. If nothing else, this will bring them to my mind one of these days when I'm just sitting around wondering what to do. Ha.

Okay, so this scarf is actually done, but I'm working on a grey and black one just like it. (I also have made a green one for myself.) I couldn't help jumping on the absurdly ruffly scarf bandwagon

even though they're so popular as to be cliche. It's just so fun to see the specialty yarn turn into extravagant ruffles! Plus they knit up so quickly and easily, making for great gifts. This one went to one of my pink-loving girlfriends.

These fingerless gloves were supposed to be my Mum's Mother's Day gift. I became daunted when Sweet Pea pulled one of the needles out, and I had to pick up the stitches and try to figure how how to fix the pattern, so they're still not done. This is the first time I've used such small needles and sock-weight yarn. I'm loving it, but it's slower going than I'm used to. Maybe I'll finish in time for her birthday. Or maybe Christmas...

Now I feel like knitting. This is good. :)

recipe reviews

Oh, boy. This post has been photos-only in draft form for a long time. Let's see if I remember these recipe experiments well enough to talk about them.

The recipe: Easy Flan Recipe. When I lived in Brazil as a child, flan (called pudim in Brazil) was my very favorite dessert. I decided to try to recreate this childhood memory in celebration of my half birthday (I was so busy on my actual birthday that I didn't get a cake) last April.
The mods: Instead of baking several small flans in remekins, I cooked one big flan in my bundt pan. I increased the cooking time, and it was just fine.
My impression: This recipe was just as easy as its name promised, and it had all of the delicious rich, creamy, caramelly glory that I remembered so fondly. If you need an easy, make-ahead recipe that will wow anyone who eats it, this is your recipe.

The recipe: Ratatouille's Ratatouille over pink rice
The mods: As I recall, I followed this recipe fairly closely except that I didn't serve it with goat cheese, and I think the fresh herb I had was marjoram and not thyme.
My impression: Eggplant makes my mouth and throat tingle painfully. I don't know why I keep trying to eat it. Still, I truly enjoyed this recipe and may even make it again. Next time I think I'll use a small pasta instead of rice.

The recipe: Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes
The mods: I used three five-ounce cans of the salmon that is more like tuna instead of the single 14 ounce can that has skin and bones in it as well. I'm also not a mayo fan, so I skipped making the mayo.
My impression: I really wanted to like this recipe, but I was disappointed. My kids did not like these at all, and I ate them because I was hungry but didn't love them. They were a little dry (which was probably my fault for not making the mayo), and I didn't find the sweet fish taste amazing. Next time I'll probably stick to my normal salmon patty recipe and serve sweet potatoes on the side.

six months

My Baby Boy is six months old!

(And has been for a while.)

This month he...

eats

mama milk

sweet potato and squash puree

all sorts of interesting stuff he gleans off of the floor

cheerios and tiny pieces of blueberry

(I figure if he can pick up and eat tiny things off the floor,

it's a good idea to channel his interest in a healthier way.)

any cord he can get his hands on

(keeps me on my toes)

sleeps

in a pack-n-play now

(his crib was not sturdy enough for how busy he's becoming)

inconsistently at night

usually three naps every day

says

"mama"

(It's very distinct, and he's definitely referring to me!)

babbles long strings of syllables

has the jolliest laugh

still likes to sing himself to sleep

does

lights up the room with his smile

scoots all over on his belly

crawls on his hands and knees a little

gets up on his hands and feet and "jumps" with his feet

gets all excited when he sees me

scoots as fast as possible to get to me

tries to grab my leg when I walk past him

can already get himself out of the Bumbo chair

sits up by himself

bounces for long stretches of time in his johnny-jump-up

takes tiny steps while holding onto an adult's fingers

loves scratching on all the different surfaces he finds

clings to whoever is carrying him around

tries to get in the middle of what his siblings are doing

likes

being able to move around on his own

exploring new rooms

being the center of attention

making eye contact and "talking"

dislikes

pretty much the same as before