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March 30, 2009
Victory!
Isn't it cool how you can stick things into the dirt and then they grow and turn out to be really awesome and edible?
So we bought this house without realizing that there was a window box under the front window. Stupid Xylosma.
And then we sanded and painted and got rid of the Xylosma. It was the middle of January, and all they had at the nursery were the typical colorful annuals, some mint and a small lemon thyme plant.
And then, even before I could blink, it stopped freezing outside and the nurseries started carrying more stuff and, holy moly, I had a container garden.
There's the old primrose, some Fino Verde basil, some of the sweet peas I stuck in randomly, the lemon thyme and some English thyme, mint, French tarragon, a random garlic clove that I stuck in, which is sprouting madly, catnip, more mint and some Greek oregano. On the other side of the primrose (not shown) is a nice patch of cilantro and crazy-ass salad greens, all from seed.
Out on the side of the house where the junipers were are some lavender and rosemary plants, some poppies and hollyhocks, a pomegranate tree, some beans (the slugs like to nom them, so I'm dubious), a couple of tomatoes and a zucchini, and a patch of arugula. There's also some bergamot mint and epazote in the concrete pipe fittings we found in the back yard.
AND there are two half wine barrels in the back yard with tomatoes, basil, a jalapeno pepper and a tomatillo plant. We'll see.
Posted by Kate at 4:11 PM | Comments (4)March 17, 2009
Miracle on Monterey Street
You'd better sit down. Maybe get yourself a cocktail and some smelling salts. I have momentous news.
Yes, faithful reader(s), it's true, just as I memorized the pattern and taught myself to cable without a needle, I finished that blasted Forbes Forest. It's bound off, the ends are woven in, and should the weather take a turn for the worse, Nathan will be able to wear it.
I know, I know, that' an old detail picture of it, but honestly, it still looks exactly like that. It's a very handsome scarf, and once I memorized the pattern, it was super easy. The RYC Silk Wool DK yarn was lovely to knit with and made a beautiful fabric. It's pilly as all get-out, though. I am going to go have a beer to celebrate.
And now, a gratuitous photo of a kitty with yarn.
Posted by Kate at 3:26 PM
| Comments (1)
March 16, 2009
Domestic Goddesshood
With these crusty, sweet loaves filled with cinnamony raisiny nutty goodness, I can cross "Bake bread five times" off the list. I think I might be getting the hand of this baking bread business.
Now what to make this week? I think maybe brioche, and also banana bread. I was going to make banana bread on Thursday, but Nathan talked me into making apple cake instead.
Also this week, I finally taught myself to cable without a needle. What a fucking revelation. I made this awesome hat for Nathan in two days, and the Forbes Forest scarf is flying along.
There was also beef stock, meatloaf, a fully utilized CSA box, and Chile Colorado this week. And I gardened. Just watch, I'm going to start sewing, churning butter and spinning yarn if I'm not careful. (Just kidding about the spinning yarn. We all know I'm incapable.)
Posted by Kate at 11:19 AM | Comments (4)March 10, 2009
Oscar Challenge: All the King's Men
Meh. Not great, not awful, all politicians are corrupt, dictators suck, yadda yadda yadda. I wanted to like it, but I wound up looking at the clock a lot. It just never managed to capture my full attention.
I'm glad we got it out of the way, though, because there's some awesome stuff coming up next.
March 9, 2009
No, BEHIND the rabbit.
Yes, Boris is super cute, but this is not just a random picture of my adorable kitty cat. If you look beyond his whiskered adorableness, you will see that he is sitting on the finished Ombre Alpaca Blanket. Yes, faithful readers, this sucker is done. DONE. Finished. Stick a fork in it. It's gorgeous and warm and wonderful, but I still can't believe how freaking long it took me to knit it. I put away the gigantic Lantern Moon ebony needles with gusto, and I hope I never have to use them again.
>And here, if you look closely, you may notice that my sweet fluffy white kitty is sitting on the completed Kitty Pi. Neither of my fuzzballs will sit IN it, but they both love sitting on it. Boris especially likes it, and moments after I took this picture, Boris politely asked his sister if she would kindly vacate it so he could have a turn. Actually, he bit her head, but who's counting?
Posted by Kate at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)March 1, 2009
Nathan's Oscar Challenge Recap
Hey, look! It's my very first guest blogger! I asked Nathan to recap our Oscar Challenge project, and here he is:
In the week since the 81st Academy Awards ceremony last Sunday evening, I’ve been reflecting on the first year of Kate and my project to watch all of the Best Motion Picture winners, and Kate has invited me to write a guest blog about it. In the twelve months after last year’s Academy Awards, Kate and I watched the first 21 “Best Motion Pictures,” and a number of also rans. In some cases, Gaslight, for example, we felt that pictures that didn’t win were significantly better films than those that won the award. The rather obvious lessons that I take from this observation are two fold: first, tastes have changed as the movie industry matured and filmmaking styles became more sophisticated; and second, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has always had an agenda.
With the first 21 films down, there are 60 more to go. At last year’s rate, we should be caught up about the time of the 2011 Academy Awards in early 2012. Having seen a larger percentage of the next 60 films than I had seen of the first 21, of which I had only seen five previously, I am confident that several of my top 10 from last year’s films will still be in my top 10 in 2012. Casablanca, for example, remains as great a film, in my opinion, as most films that have been made in the ensuing 66 years.
The highlight of the past year, has been the overview that these films provide of the evolution of filmmaking from Wings, at the end of the silent movie era, to an almost completely modern film like The Best Years of Our Lives. Along the way, we saw the archetype of the romantic comedy, It Happened One Night, which contains all of the key plot elements that still define that genre of films. Grand Hotel, likewise, has spawned an entire genre of films and television series, like The Love Boat and Fantasy Island, composed of multiple unrelated sub-plots linked by a common location.
Some of the films seem dated to the modern viewer, yet remain enjoyable to watch, while others are best left in their current obscurity. A prime example of the latter category is Broadway Melody, one of the worst films that I’ve ever seen. Some of the films addressing societal issues, such as The Lost Weekend and Gentleman’s Agreement, are plagued by the heavy handedness that can still afflict modern films with a social message. Contrast those films, however, with The Best Years of Our Lives, which deals with the issues facing veterans returning from World War II with remarkable subtlety and ended up being my favorite among the films that I saw for the first time this year.
While the number of movies left to go can make the project feel daunting, our next movie, All The King’s Men, takes us to the end of the 1940s. Soon, we’ll be moving into the 1950s and 1960s. While the “Best Motion Picture” chosen by the Academy in a given year may not ultimately be what I consider to be the “best” movie made that year, watching the first 21 has been a challenging and enjoyable experience. I’m looking forward to the next 60.