The Garden

We planted a garden this year, our first in a while. We did a 4 x 8 raised bed, added some nutrient rich soil to some plain vanilla soil and planted mostly seeds along with a few plants. We purchased bean, carrot, zinnia and sunflower seeds. We bought basil, cilantro, green pepper, and tomato plants. We planted the cherry tomato seeds given to Buttons by her teachers. We added sugar snap pea plants given to us by friends. Buttons was ecstatic and we were out planting, watering, waiting and singing.

Well, we took a 10 day trip and came home to find that our garden had become a jungle. It was out of control. One tomato plant yielded dozens of tomatoes, the beans were happy, the cherry tomatoes were popping and the zinnias were giving the bees plenty of pollen. Then there were the sunflowers. They grew over our daughter, and then over our fence, then us and we were pretty certain we could write a story called "Buttons and the Sunflower Stalk". They were huge. Were they 12 feet? 14 feet? They were huge. The bees flocked to their sweet nectar, the birds found refuge in their stalks and the neighbors wondered what crazy stuff we added to our soil. We delighted in watching them grow and grow and grow.

We ate our beans with lemon and butter. We gobbled tomato sandwiches, tomato pie, sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper. We gave people our tomatoes. We made veggie sausage with onions and green peppers from our garden. We had fresh zinnias for our house and to share with others. We had a few snap peas and carrots to enjoy and we peppered our dishes with basil and cilantro.

We loved our garden.

Then it turned cooler and the sunflowers drooped and it was time to take them down. Summer had ended, school had started and Buttons received some difficult news. Her teacher from last year and one she would have had this year died along with her husband in a bad car accident while attending a funeral. We told Buttons on a sunny Saturday morning, took down the sunflowers and while harvesting the seeds we discussed her teacher, death, the color of the seeds and stink bugs. This garden was bountiful and gave us the chance to get into a deep and difficult discussion while keeping our hands busy. We will plant some of the seeds next year and we will give some of the seeds away. For her teacher, Ms. M, we will plant some purple hyacinth bulbs to remember her in the spring, a time for rebirth.

Garden, you gave us another reason to love the summer and a chance to get ready for the fall by tilling the garden and reminiscing about watching you grow. In the deep frosty winter we will make our plans for the first signs of spring by ordering some seeds. Thank you, garden.

The Play's the Thing

Well, if any of you are still out there, I thought I'd share what's been keeping me busy lately. I was cast in Neil Simon's Rumors in June. I have the role of Chris Gorman and it's my first "leading" role. It's very much an ensemble piece, but I have the most lines and stage time I've ever had.

Buttons is doing well and is excited/nervous as the new school year approaches. She's in her last year of pre-school and I just can't believe how time is flying.

Ok, we're off to the library, but I had to touch base since it had been so long.

Reused and recycled, but is it worth it?

Every year I get a new page-a-day knitting calender. I have enjoyed them, although I'm not sure I have actually knit any of the patterns. About 1/3 of them I imagine knitting just like I dream about making many of the recipes in my cookbooks, but who knows when that will happen. The rest of the patterns fall into 3 categories: ugly, too complicated/not worth the effort and why would anyone knit that. I peeked at tomorrow's pattern (since today was a continuation from the last 2 days and fit into the ugly category) and decided that a knitted plastic bag holder seemed to fit into the "why would anyone knit that" category. So, I went on line to look for a picture of it to share on the blog. In my search, I found this, and I'm a little intrigued. I'm not sure if I want to knit plastic, but I might try it someday kind of like I might make that recipe I have for garlic ice cream. It sounds interesting, but I don't know if I want to go to the effort just to hate it. Next I found this, which is so much prettier than the one in my calender and looks like a quick knit. And you know what? Etsy even sells crocheted holders. So, perhaps I've misjudged the plastic bag holders. It seems to be something that at least a few people are knitting. However, some of them could still go into the ugly category, such as this one.

Missing Person Update

Although I don't know all of the details, the missing person post I did the other day had a happy ending. I don't know the details, but Teresa is home safely.

Missing...Please Take a Look

A friend of a friend has been missing for almost 24 hours. If you're reading this, would you please click here and see if you've seen her? Her name is Teresa Maxson and she was last seen in Lansing, Michigan.

Thanks.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Sock it to me!

I have finished a sock!!! Did it make it on the 6 o'clock news in your area? Yeah, not here either, but it feels like it should have. Although I started knitting a pair of toe-up socks a while ago, this is my first finished sock. What's different? Well, I concentrated on one sock at a time, I did cuff-down and my friend Marsha made some really easy kick-ass note-cards to follow. I must say if you're trying to figure out the Kitchener Stitch, this is the place to go. Thank you, Knit Witch.

Now, I'm itching to get my toe-up socks done, too. I'm stuck and need some help from my knitting buds, who can get me through any knitting emergency. One of my pals gave our group a class in toe-up socks and put together the pattern and suggested we do two socks at a time so we wouldn't just make one. They were very good ideas, but I think perhaps I just needed to see one through and figure out the guts and anatomy of the sock.

Pattern: Socks from Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: Regia #5342
Needles: Addi Turbo 12"circular size 2
Clover size 2 dpn's (short)

Ok, it's now either time for bed or time to cast on sock #2!

Hi, my name is Katie and I'm a slacker.

Ok, it's been over a month since I last blogged. However, writing (and especially reading) about that is pretty boring, so let's just get on with at least slightly more interesting stuff.

Home: We started a raised bed garden...late. Partly my fault, partly the fault of the company where I ordered the brackets for the garden. It's not clear whether we'll be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor to the full extent, but we're having fun looking every day to see the progress of our tomatoes, carrots, snap peas, beans, sunflowers, zinnias, cilantro, sage, basil and our pepper plant.

We're also in the process of moving Buttons from her small room and her toddler bed (yes, the bed was way too small) into a larger room and a double bed. She's very excited and luckily likes the color of her new room. The"new" bed belonged to her great-grandma and namesake, so that's very sweet as well. Of course, this move has set off the "we have too much crap cleaning extravaganza".

Social: The parties are in full summer swing! We seem to have at least one every weekend and it's fun. We're planning a trip back to Michigan to visit family and perhaps some mini-trips over the summer, but mostly we're hanging out together around home with friends.

Theater: Woot! I auditioned for the show Rumors and I'm going to play Chris. I'm really excited about it, but it's also the biggest part I've had so far. That will definitely keep me busy this summer as well.

Photos: I've been having fun with shutterbuggin' and I promise to post some next time.

Knitting: I'm trying to finish the toe-up socks I started 2 years ago and I'm at a point where I don't know what to do next. So, I started cuff-down socks and, well, I'm at a point where I think I have more salvage stitches than I should have, but....grrrr.....I'm a bit annoyed with socks right now. Perhaps I'll finish the beautiful Malabrigo scarf I was knitting and then start on a Wallaby for Hubby.

So, pictures to come soon, but right now I need to go play with Buttons.
Happy Monday everyone!