7 Quick Takes (Vol 230)

Well Fall has arrived, and I don’t have to blow a single leaf anywhere. My heart goes pitter patter at the thought. You know the never changing routine. When you are done blowing the blather into little piles you need to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of the Cleveland Indians fast approaching post season play, over to Conversion Diary.

Oh your mark….Get set…..BLATHER!

1.
I have had pretty poor blog content the past few weeks. I wonder if I should apologize. But, you see, right now I lead a fairly boring life. And I am just fine with that. This summer, and the winter and spring that preceded it, were so very hectic that at times I just didn’t have the time to sit down and read a book, or clean my house, or weed the landscape beds.

Normally I read around 100 books a year. This year………I am currently sitting at around 50 books completed. Not good. But that has just been what life was like.

So this week was pretty boring for the most part, other than I just picked up a job for November that doesn’t pay all that much monetarily but may bring great referrals. I can live with that. But the job will also require incredible organizational skills and the ability to boss people around in order to get all the photos taken.

No problem. I have the bossing people around just fine.

Other than that I have actually been enjoying life quietly. There is a blog post brewing on this, the quietness of life filled with books and knitting and creativity juxtaposed with what the world would tell me that I should be doing.

But it isn’t done yet. I chose to read a book instead.

2.
I have managed to make stupendous progress on my Lady Marple sweater (of which there are no photos yet). I am thinking of calling her Nemesis, after my favorite Agatha Christie novel starring Miss Marple.

I have this strange compulsion to give a name to all my knitting projects. Of course I also name all my cars and my cameras so I guess it goes with my trend to anthropomorphize inanimate objects in my life.

Of course, with regard to sweaters, I am trying to get over my fear of knitting them. I know, I know, it stupid to fear the sweater. Sweaters are warm and comfy and loveable and shouldn’t be feared.

And yet I do. But I also yearn for hand knit sweaters. And since I taught myself how to knit socks (which are actually more difficult) then BY GOLLY I will conquer the sweater.

This one has just FLOWN along the needles. But then that might be because it is being made with worsted weight yarn rather than fingering weight. And it may also be because it is red and I want to wear it. Can I get it done before Monday’s Tri County Knitaholics meeting?? That might be a stretch but you know how I love a challenge.

3.
One of the “perks” of living in the new Chez Knit is that the association hires someone to wash the outside of the windows twice a year. We are responsible for taking out the screens so that the windows can be washed but that is no problem.

The window washing was supposed to take place this week. I took out my screens and waited. I saw him working at the neighbors house and expected to see him at mine…..

But here it is Friday and it doesn’t look like my windows have been washed.

Do I call Marie and ask?

Do I wait patiently?

I guess I will just dither for a while and not complain because, they do wash my windows after all.

4.
I have come to the point in unpacking the house where I look at what still might need to be unpacked and I go…

Meh!

The stuff is there. It isn’t a part of our daily lives. But every time I go into the unfinished part of the basement the clutter just screams at me. In fact, even as I type this I can hear it muttering in the background.

Part of the issue is that we have some work out equipment that HHBL and I need to find the time to put back together, namely the weight machine. And OH I am hoping that I can get that thing back together. I took it apart by just going backwards in the manual. De-constructing as it were. There are A LOT of cables and weights and nuts and bolts. I have a terrible feeling that it is going to take MUCH longer to put it together than it did to disassemble it and that when we are done we will be standing there with one extra screw and nut that we shouldn’t have.

I really need to take the time to rearrange boxes so that they are grouped together by function. Yes, I am an organization freak. So sue me. But I will feel much better about that part of the basement when it is all done.

5.
One of the high excitements of my life this week (other than landing another photo job) was…..

Going to the pierogi shop that is a 15 minute drive from Chez Knit. It doesn’t take much these days to make me happy!

I first saw the Pierogis of Cleveland shop when I was driving down the road going from one place to another while shooting this lovely bride’s wedding.

(gratuitous insertion of picture that has nothing to do with pierogis just to show that sometimes being a photographer is a whole boatload of fun).

As Erica and I whizzed down the road trying to get to the next location ahead of the bridal party I noticed a sign that said Pierogi’s and filed it away, never thinking that in three short months I would be only 15 minutes away.

If you don’t know what a pierogi is then you should find out. They are little dough pies filled with different combinations of things. The classic is mashed potatoes. Or mashed potatoes with something else added….like cheese and bacon (there are some of those in the freezer).

I made pierogis once. And I had been thinking about doing it again. But I think I will just leave it to the experts. So much easier that way.

And SOOOOOOOOOO good. I had Roasted Garlic and Mashed Potato pierogis last night for dinner. With a side of warm, homemade apples sauce and some sour cream for topping the pierogis, plus a Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA.

Deeeeeeeeelicious

6.
Last Saturday we celebrated Hope’s 40th birthday. The girl does NOT look 40 years old, which is just not fair.

But she was REALLY surprised.

And her sister, Heather, had us all crying with the beautiful letter that she wrote to her “little” sister.

Dang I love my friends.

7.
In my continuing experimentation with food that I can make myself, I got out the dehydrator this week and made raisins.

Interesting.

It isn’t difficult. You just take grapes, dip them in boiling water for 30 seconds or so, dry them off and lay them on the dehydrator trays. Then plug the dehydrator in, dial the right temp and let them dry for at least 24 hours or more like 48. You blanch them in boiling water so that their skins split. If you don’t do this then they will not dry properly (which may be why my dried cranberries failed last year). As it is it took mine 48 hours to dry. They are much bigger than the raisins that you buy in the store and their taste is VERY raisiny. They also have a chewier consistency than store bought. I don’t think it would be economical to make my own unless I came into possession of a BOAT LOAD of grapes for a fantastically low price. But it was fun to make. I may enquire at the grocery store if they will sell me the “loose” grapes at a greatly reduced price.

These things really are delicious and I might have to make more. As it is, just knowing that I did it brings a glow to my heart.

It’s the little things.