Friday, July 8, 2011

7 Quick Takes (Vol 123)

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Well here we are again. Another week gone by. Another 7 Quick Takes come upon me when I least expected it. Ah well, life is like that. Remember to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of the my fast expanding waistline after eating all those blueberry muffins, over to Conversion Diary to see what everyone else is doing.

Now on to the silliness.

1.
It is time again to pick blueberries. And there is a blueberry farm right close by. And if you have been keeping up with my bike rides you would know that. It is The Blueberry Hill of Exquisite Pain.

I picked blueberries yesterday with some of my KnitSibs and children. It was hot. It was muggy. The blueberries were fabulous.

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This is Miss Miriam and The Great Blue Crush (aka Matthew) deciding on which blueberries are the best ones to pick.

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Miss Miriam was my blueberry helper. She picked perfectly lovely berries.

Thanks Bonnie for letting me borrow her.

2.
The Watermelon Pickles came out beautifully.

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I am going to do one more batch next week just to “tweek” some things and then I will post the recipe. You need to make these.

They just scream summer.

3.
There has been a bit of biking this week but it has been in short supply, only two rides. So that means my biking total for the week is only about 25 miles. Yesterday’s ride had more hills than I am used to hence the name: The Frost Rd. Hills of White Hot Agony. HHBL doesn’t like that name and I say PFFFFFFT! to him. It was all I could muster.

The Road Kill Report for the rides is as follows: two birds one of which was a Cardinal lying feet up by the road, several rather flat frogs, something that might have been a raccoon at one point, an exploded chipmunk and a lone orange ear plug. I work through the agony by looking for road kill.

Well someone has to do it!

4.
The anticipation builds for the second installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.

I will be attending the midnight showing with Shoe Queen and friends as well as LookLeap. And I am hoping that this is the last midnight show that I will be attending, ever, although I have made that statement before and then been proven wrong and wrong again.

I am currently listening through the last book as I work around the house and knit. And darn it I am missing the “Harry Potter movie-a-thon” that some friends are having this weekend. Other commitments intrude. How rude!

But I will be all pumped by Thursday evening. And since this is the first, the very first, midnight show that LookLeap has ever been to I am sure that I will have to spend time just telling her to sit down.

And there will be coffee. Coffee drunk late at night for the express purpose of keeping these old eyes open past 10p.

And there will be popcorn. Popcorn that I might have made at home and then conveniently brought in with me. Don’t tell them.

And I am sure that there will be pictures taken.

I will tell you ALL about it next week.

5.
I have been struggling with my journaling this year. It is a frustration to me. And I think that it is something that I am just going to have to start all over again as far as building up the habit. I know that I will be kicking myself later for all those blank days.

Just one of those things that I am struggling with at the moment.

And for me journaling is something that is really important. I work out issues “on paper” so that I don’t take them out on people later on. I have found that it is really important to my overall mental health.

So it is back to the journaling grind for me.

I hate hard work.

6.
I just have to show you my newest completed knitting project…..

My Dreamy Wrap
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She is the companion to the wrap that I did for Mimi for her birthday. Oh I love love love this thing. It is “Gale” by Ann Hansen who is a genius as far as lace patterns go, or any patterns for that matter.

Whenever I finish a lace project I just want to immediately start another one. Lace is totally addictive to knit.

HHBL and I are attending a wedding on Saturday (The Future Doctor, brother of TSiL) and I am wearing this.

Now if I just knew what I am wearing it with……..

7.
The garden is doing well although I have no pictures to prove that as I haven’t taken any this week. You will just have to take my word for it.

We will be having salad this evening made with lettuce from the garden. The second salad this week and it is fabulous. I cut the lettuce, race home (10 minutes by which time it is a bit wilted), throw it in the sink with cold water and ice cubes for 15 minutes then in the frig in a covered container with wet paper towels and it is crisp and yummy.

The tomatoes are growing, the beans are coming up, the cukes are a bit slow, the zucchini look happy as do the bush acorn squash and the Brussels sprouts, the basil is fabulous and the beets are coming right along. We added some dill to one of the beds and the sunflowers are peeking their heads up as are the peas.

One of the best things about the garden though is getting to know the other people who are working plots. That is the beauty of the Community Garden. I really haven’t met anyone who isn’t nice. And the couple who last year seemed to think it was OK to “graze” in other people’s gardens don’t seem to be there this year. And it is also fun to see what others are growing. The variety of things in people’s plots is just amazing.

Now if the tomatoes would just ripen. I am dying for my first BLT of the season.

6 comments:

  1. Your shawl looks amazing. When do you have time to do it all? I thought of you a lot yesterday when I biked for a measly 6 miles after work. It's all uphill one way which made me breath in and out VERY hard. I almost passed out. Your 13 mile treks make you pretty bad a*s in my book.

    Toodles,
    Fourth Daughter

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  2. That wrap is breathtaking. Also, the extreme close up of the blueberry made me crave blueberries.

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  3. Ooh, what a pretty wrap! I haven't tried any lace yet, although I have some pretty laceweight sitting at home waiting for me to work up the courage. Just have to finish half a dozen other projects first...

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  4. That wrap is absolutely gorgeous!

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  5. I can't WAIT for Harry Potter!! Though I'm not sure what you mean by being told to sit down.

    (This technically isn't my first midnight movie. In my previous life, I hit plenty of Rocky Horror Picture Shows.)

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  6. Gorgeous gorgeous shawl!! Reminds of blueberries, thanks to your equally gorgeous c/u of blueberries! I think your mom will luv it!

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