Bowls, Berries, & Bluebells

I think it’s safe to say, based on quantity, that bowls may just be my favorite kind of kitchenware. I have one entire cupboard dedicated to bowls (not including my assortment of mixing bowls). This became wholly apparent on Friday night. Mum & Dad were here visiting for the weekend and I made chicken tacos for dinner…a meal that highlights the utility of a variety of bowls. See what I mean?

Later that evening, what could be better than Strawberry Shortcake for dessert and a rousing game of Mexican Train Dominoes? (I used the recipe for my shortcake from this lovely blog. Although I think next time I would add more sugar. Another very similar recipe I have for shortcake calls for 5 Tbsp of sugar and this recipe calls for 2 Tbsp.)

Mum brought up some Bluebells from her garden for me and we (really she) planted them together. Then we sought out rocks from my woods to encircle my new patch of "garden." She also brought me a beautiful bouquet of a variety of flowers from her garden, plus another bouquet of just Peonies. We took lots of walks together, admiring all of the fabulous Lupines in bloom everywhere! Flowers seemed to be a theme of the weekend for us, something we both enjoy.
Hub and my Dad were off for the day on Saturday doing something they both enjoy...fishing. Dad caught one walleye and one small mouth bass. Hubby, zero. (Better luck next time, dear!)

Saturday night, we ventured out to our delicious, local Malt Shop.

It was a perfectly gorgeous evening, and as we walked along Lake Superior (feeling overly stuffed by the enormous malts), I came across a flower I’d never seen before. It so captivated me with its pretty pink wispy flower top and reminded me of something very Dr. Seuss-ish indeed. According to my Field Guide to Wildflowers book, it’s called "Prairie Smoke." It described its look as like a “feather duster” and also noted that Native Americans once made tea from its roots. Isn’t it so sweet?

According to the (very mistaken) weather people, the weekend was supposed to be a washout with lots of rain, yet we had the most beautiful sunny weather ALL day on Saturday and Sunday. I had a feeling they’d be wrong and for this I was so glad!

An Invitation (& My New Love)

No need to worry my sweet hub, I’m talking about blogging…And I’m sure you are (very lovingly) rolling your eyes right now, thinking “of course!”

I often journal & sketch to release my ideas & thoughts…to put them down in black and white…to remember...to figure things out. But my newfound love for blogging is a whole different ball of wax. To put just a slice of yourself, your life, your thoughts, your words out there for everyone to see, not tucked in the drawer of my nightstand as with my journal…well, I’m just coming to realize something (and I’m certain that I’m a very late-bloomer in just realizing this)…that you give yourself a clearer, more definite picture of who you are, of what you do, of the things that amuse you, and of what’s important to you...

In addition to all of that, now that I live many miles away from dear family & friends, it’s also a nice way to sort of lazily keep in touch, if they want to drop in and see what little random tidbits of life and living have been happening here.

I love to take photos and as the often-used phrase that “a picture tells a thousand words” goes, it truly is the best of both worlds to be able to combine pictures along with words…to tell your story, your thoughts, your goings-on.

So, my dear family, this is my invitation to you: I’d like to see your blog*…to read your words, to see your photos. It’s a bit daunting to put yourself out there…to possibly make grammatical errors, use words incorrectly, or even sound a little nutty and such (as I’m sure I often do)…but on the other hand, it just feels so good, like with a journal or sketchbook to release your thoughts and to see something concrete about your life and to look back on it. Oh, and it’s really quite a lot of fun too. As well as a tiny bit addicting.

So family, what say you? Are ya with me?

*Note to dearest sister-in-law: Your recipe blog you started but then promptly stopped and decided not to tell anyone about does not count! ;)

Scandinavian Skin

It officially felt like Summer today…the exact kind of day that you think of when you are stuck inside on a below zero day in the middle of January, yearning for the sun and warmth of Summer…the "blazingly hot, sun directly overhead in the sky, sunburn in 15 minutes, muggy" sort of day.

Sure we’ve had other nice & somewhat hot days already…but this was the first one in particular that truly screamed out “Hello, I’m here! My name is Summer!”

I decided to take advantage of this fact today for about an hour (as we up here in the North must relish these days, even if we very soon get sick & tired of “muggy” weather accompanied by ferocious mosquitos). This was my first time out this season...to intentionally try and put some color on my pale Scandinavian skin. (Or “Scandihoovian” as I vividly recall my 7th grade teacher jokingly referring to me by, as well as a few of my other classmates with last names ending in “-son”.)

The older I get, the more careful I am in protecting my skin. But as I pushed all warnings about wrinkles and skin cancer to the back of my mind, I savored the feeling of the sun on my skin and continued on reading the monumentally long “Hawaii”. I’m on page 515 now. Now I can finally say I’m over halfway finished with it. There are only 905 pages you know, each covered in the teensy-tiniest print you have ever, ever seen. Not to mention the 7 ½ pages containing genealogical charts for just the “Principal Characters”.

Soon after coming in from my sunning, I quickly slathered on some of my favorite anti-aging moisturizer, to start immediately reversing the effects of my little sun indulgence. That should help, right? By the looks of it though, I’m thinking my Scandinavian skin got a little more than it bargained for. Hopefully I won’t be too lobster-like come morning.

I had to refresh my insides too with a delicious smoothie…I use 1 banana, a handful of frozen strawberries (& some fresh too because I had them), a dab of honey (or lately I’ve been using a dab of my homemade strawberry jam instead), a splash of juice (OJ typically), and a cup of vanilla yogurt (this is my personal favorite kind). I add any other berries too when I have them on hand...blueberries are especially yum. Then blend together & hope for many "smoothie smooth" summer days ahead!
P.S. I was out “deadheading” my flowers…a basic gardening tip Mum taught me early on. And for some reason I love to deadhead…sort of like getting rid of the old and making room for the new, to allow the energy to be diverted to the new growth. Somewhat a metaphor for life at times, no? But anywho, my pansies are growing like crazy and so I picked some to put in this old little squirrel planter (that belonged to my Grandma). I’ve had it for quite awhile now and haven’t figured out what to put in it yet, but for today I thought it would make a nice little flower holder of sorts.

Cross-stitching Cuteness

A few days before our cabin vacation, I was at Michael’s in search of some supplies for a very ambitious (ambitious for me) new project.
I couldn’t find what I needed and as I was wandering around the store, getting distracted by other things, I came across an aisle endcap with an assortment of little counted cross-stitch kits on clearance.

The last time I attempted any sort of cross-stitching I was likely 9 or 10, and I’ve really not had any cross-stitching desires since…but I was intrigued by one of the kits with an image of a little fawn turning its head to look at a butterfly sitting on its tail. It seemed like a fun little endeavor to bring along to the cabin and was only $1.50…so why not?
And okay, so really the fawn is Bambi and all of the kits were Disney-themed…but Bambi is a fawn and I’m so sort of in a “fawn-period” right now with all the real life little fawns roaming about our woods at this time of the year.

So here’s my one craft project accomplished while at the cabin. I’m really quite amazed with myself that I finished it. And even more amazed at how much I was enjoying making it, watching the image take shape with each little cross I stitched.

The kit came with a round, plastic white frame, but I turned it into a small hanging pillow/ornament décor kind of thing instead. I sewed some fabric to the back (I just loved this piece which I found in my pile of really old fabric scraps & how the colors complemented each other so well ~ I wish I had more of it!). I also used some pretty blue vintage seam binding as the ribbon loop for hanging. I really like how it turned out! But it’s oh so tiny! Why am I so drawn to creating such tiny things???

Craft magazine had an article in their most recent volume (07) about designing your own cross-stitch pattern using Photoshop to pixelate your own image. I’m very inspired to try that out…now that I’ve rediscovered the fun of an occasional cross-stitch project.

So I have this idea...

This is a phrase hubby often hears me say…as I have so many ideas…most of them not all that great. But he always appeases* me and listens so attentively (at least I think he’s listening) but perhaps he’s more likely thinking, “oh no…here we go again…”

My latest little idea popping up is to take my whimsical, paper cut-out creations and turn them into mini, three-dimensional sculptures. I recently tested my idea with these tiny bird sculptures (see pics above & below) featuring my signature little cut-out birdy with the 2-pronged tail.

I made the framework for my bird sculpture (or the “armature” as it is technically called) using wire and a super high-tech secret ingredient: packing peanuts. Yes, packing peanuts…strange, I know. But I found that they gave me just the right stability yet flexibility within the wire framework so that my delicate wire frame would not collapse during the paper mache-ing phase.

Then I made very small nests for my little birdies using wire, spanish moss, and jute twine. I added some of my favorite flowers to embellish things with, some flocked faux greenery, and made tiny removable pick signs that said "Hello Spring!"

To test out the reaction to my bird sculpture creations, I gave a blue bird to Mum and a pink bird to a dear friend over a lunch that the 3 of us gals had together on March 20th…which just so happened to be the first day of Spring…so I wrapped them up in tiny little boxes with tags tied on that I made which said “Happy Vernal Equinox”. They both are a very kind "audience", so encouraging, and they accepted my "gift" ever so sweetly!

Later on, I decided to make another bird sculpture and place him (or "her" I guess...it is a pink bird after all) in a very rugged, little wire birdcage I constructed.

Then, the other night (on one of my many sleepless Tuesday nights…explanation to come in a later post perhaps about my recent “sleepless Tuesday night phenomenon”) I thought, “why stop there with the little birds?” So my next little mini sculpture forthcoming will be a set of mushrooms…to bring my paper cut-out mushrooms to life, so to speak.

Below is a pic from my sketchbook, dated 3-10-08, for my original bird sculpture idea and the construction plans…a very simplified sort of blueprint perhaps. I’ll post pics of my finished mushroom sculptures very soon…that is if this doesn’t turn out to be another one of my not-so-great ideas.

*After reading my post, hubby would like it noted that he does not appease me, that he actually enjoys listening to my ideas. Consider it noted, hub. Thanks! :)

My Very Own...

A small thing, but a rather big deal to me…my favorite flower, the Lily-of-the-Valley, is finally blooming in my own yard. It is such a great feeling, so satisfying. I’ve always been captivated by this delicate little flower with its bright green stem filled with tiny white, bell-shaped flowers. In addition to its sweetly enchanting looks, it also has the most beautiful scent.
Before my wedding, I always dreamed of a bouquet filled with a BIG handful of just these sweet woodland flowers…yet I was married in August, which is so not this flower’s season to shine.
Mum has oodles of these flowers in her garden (since they can spread quite rapidly). Last fall she dug up a few of her plants with their roots intact for me to propagate some in my yard…I finally have my own yard to plant in and I was so excited to be able to grow my very own Lilies-of-the-Valley.
There was a bit of a problem, though, as some critter kept unplanting them for me last fall. I would poke them back down into the ground only to notice that a couple days later, they were dug up again. This creature was not eating the plants, but just digging them up…testing my patience perhaps? This went on a few times and I finally lost hope that they would turn into anything. Until very early this spring, hope was renewed when I saw them poking their little green heads up through the ground. Nature is so resilient, especially this hardy perennial. And alas, due to an unusually cold spring, I have one - just one - little Lily-of-the-Valley in bloom! P.S. I'm loving my "Lily of the Valley" lotion bar (from this beautiful Etsy shop) which I received as a gift. Smells just like the flower! :)

Away at the Lake

I just returned from a week long vacation at the cabin. This was the first time hubby and I have taken a whole entire week to spend at the cabin…and for me, this time at the CABIN can be wrapped up in 5 simple words...

Catch…and release too…many many many hours spent fishing. (Hubby’s favorite cabin activity.)

Atmosphere…it is only proper and fitting to create the right evening atmosphere to enjoy delicious cabin-y food amongst…I never forget to pack a single fragrant candle and alongside a handful of wildflowers (picked on a walk and dropped into a juice cup which improvises for a little vase), this simple combination goes a long way to create a cozy, relaxing atmosphere. Good mellow music further enhances this ambiance. A good cabin mix includes lots of Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver.

Beauty…a study of sunsets…I’m amazed how each and every night, a different scene is painted across the sky. The sun sets just on the other side of the lake, making for great entertainment each evening.

~1st evening:

~2nd evening:

~3rd evening:


~6th evening (my favorite):

~7th evening:

Idleness…true, just going on vacation requires much preparation and work to unplug from ordinary life, but after a day or two…the stresses, worries, and daily tasks always nagging at you back home slowly seep out of mind. Laying on the dock at 3 in the afternoon and watching the puffy, white clouds drift slowly by, I felt not an ounce of guilt at this complete act of “idleness.”
I have no photos to illustrate “idleness” and truthfully we weren’t completely idle…with lots of reading (I'm still reading the enormously long, Hawaii), some antiquing on a rainy day, a walk or bike ride each day, and much fishing (did I mention all the hours of fishing?), heaps of grilling, a bit of crafting, and hubby also did a little mowing too…


Nature…among many different wildflowers (trillium, columbines, sweet violets) and birds (yellow warblers, cedar waxwings), another of nature's highlights for me was watching very protective mother ducks (2 different kinds) with baby ducklings bobbing on by near the dock.

Our last day at the cabin marked the 1-year anniversary of our move into our new home, to our new town. And as we left the cabin to head home, I still had the slightest feeling like the car should be heading the other direction, the way that would take us back to our previous home in the Cities, where our old life was, where all our friends and family still are. But we are on this new road, this new journey. And even after one year in our home, as we walked in the door we were overwhelmed by the “new-home” scent that still pervades. We don’t notice it when we leave for a day or two, but after a whole week away, walking in to that scent brought back all the memories and the excitement and craziness of our move-in day exactly one year ago. It’s odd how scents can so strongly remind us of things in the past, and in one moment bring it all rushing back. Quite appropriate then to come home on this day to our still “new” home. It really does feel good to be home!

Just 3 Things...

Well, maybe more like 4 or 5 snapshots of a very random today:
1) Printed some new tags for my shop, featuring my latest design…can't wait to list these!

2) Cleaned out my sock bins…these are what I’m getting rid of…I guess its been awhile, this is sort of embarrassing, no?

3) Bath time for the Orchids…they love this…they told me so. ;)

4) Am really excited to wear these new flats…do you like?

5) Baked seriously good "Banana Walnut Bread"…1 loaf for us, 1 loaf for hubby to bring to work tomorrow & share with his office mates. I hope they like! (recipe to follow…)

Recipe (given to me by Mum) originally from a very old article (I'm assuming based on the name) called the "Housewives' Exchange":

• 1/2 cup butter (melted)
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup mashed bananas (very ripe ones work the best)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (or 1/3 cup milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat thoroughly. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt; and stir into main mixing bowl alternately with buttermilk. (Note: Once all ingredients are combined, I add in about 1/4 cup chopped walnuts.) Pour into 9x5x3 inch greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Or bake in 2 smaller (approx. 7x3x2 inch) greased loaf pans and bake for approximately 40-45 minutes.