Here are some of things I found while wandering around.
I don’t know what these are but there are a lot of them. Lots. Everywhere. I hope they don’t turn out to be something that can devastate the entire planet because they will win.
The Valerian is in bloom. At least I think it is Valerian:
This spreads like crazy, requires very little care and I love the way it smells and looks. It’s quite tall, about one and a half meters, and there are a lot of blooms on the tall stalks. The smell is very delicate and sweet and attracts butterflies of all sorts.
This, however, has the greatest scent:
I bought this at a garden center from a man who breeds roses that are hardy in this area. A bunch of the roses had lost their tags so he reduced the price considerably. Hardy, easy to take care of and inexpensive. That was enough for me. Although it doesn’t have the most dramatic flower, which I don’t think is a bad thing, it more than makes up for that with its extravagant scent.
This is also blooming:
I think this is a Mock Orange. I like the way it initially looks quite simple with its white colour and single row of petals but then things start getting complicated when you look at its center. Hmmm, sounds sort of like a life lesson doesn’t it?
In a town near my house there is an antique market. Every few months I go there to have a look around and gasp when I see something I remember from my childhood. What is something from my childhood doing in an antique market? What is someone trying to say exactly? Yesterday I was poking around and I found these:
The Needlecraft magazine is from June 1928. Eighty years old this month. From a time before the Depression, WWII, antibiotics, computers etc., etc. That fascinates me. Inside I found some very interesting articles. For instance:
It seems closet organization was a problem then as well. A whole article is devoted to getting closets in order. Also, the magic of green tea was being discovered:
Here is a flapper admiring her latest kitchen appliance:
It seems that not much has changed. Well, maybe porcelain enamel oil-burning ranges are not as common as they used to be but just substitute a stainless steel stove and replace the flapper with a happy looking woman who doesn’t look like she has enjoyed a square meal in some time let alone cooked one and I think you would be on to something.
The Five Roses cookbook was printed in 1915 and is full of recipes for breads, cakes, muffins, parkins(what is a parkin?), tarts, rolls and much, much more. I’ll have to give the Rock Cakes a try simply because that is the most unlikely name for anything that is supposed to be edible. What do you serve with it – dishwater tea? I didn’t realize what a great find the book was until I was back home and looking through it. I found in the back, in ink so faded as to be almost unreadable, recipes from a previous owner:
That’s a recipe for Rhubarb dumplings and there are also recipes for salad dressing, potato doughnuts, ripe corn relish, a small layer cake and a large layer cake. I don’t know who the person was who wrote out these recipes or if she ever read Needlecraft magazine, but since she went to so much trouble I’ll be happy to give her recipes a try.
I have just finished reading this book:
This was an enjoyable read with plenty of descriptions of scenery and weather which I think improves any book. Also lots of interesting dynamics between characters which is compelling. However, it made me want to go on a canoe trip which is probably not a good thing. Although I have canoed I am not very experienced. I confuse the bow and the stern and use the words ‘oar’ and ‘paddle’ interchangeably. I have very little upper body strength so paddling and portaging could only lead to whining and complaining. I have never held a paddle,or an oar for that matter, without hitting myself on the head with it. Oh, and I don’t have a canoe. Nevertheless, it could be fun.
Meanwhile, the pickles are coming along necely:
These cucumbers were planted about three weeks ago and, according to the package which I am sure is never wrong, will produce fruit in another thirty days. I am in the process of building some sort of trellis for them to climb. The dill is up and although it is still quite small, it has feathery, dill-like leaves. The garlic is still doing well. So far, so good.
On Friday we have dessert. Sometimes we have it on other nights of the week but not usually. This tradition started with certain children looking at their dinner, making less than flattering faces, and asking if their was dessert. The answer was no, what they had on their plate was as good as it was going to get. Eventually I started making dessert on Friday so at least they had that to look forward to. So today I took advantage of our rhubarb patch and made this Rustic Rhubarb Tart:
The pastry is an almond-buttermilk recipe which I have never tried before and, in fact, haven’t tried yet since I didn’t have buttermilk so I substituted soured milk. The filling is made using the ‘That Looks About Right’ method of cookery which has a success rate of about 50%. We will find out later when we eat it.
We had a few days of very welcome and very warm temperatures. Despite the temperatures going slightly above 30 celsius I did some knitting on a pair of socks that I started last month. They are now finished:
These are made using Jawoll Color and their Sockology pattern. This yarn comes with a coordinating reinforcing thread to use when knitting the heels and toes. Since I didn’t bother to line up the bold stripes of the sock it seemed silly to line up the reinforcing thread. The result is a tweedy look on the heels and toes that I don’t really mind at all. I don’t know what the protocol is when knitting with self-striping yarns. Do you try to line up the stripes so the socks are identical or do you let the stripes fall where they may? I generally follow the second method since half the fun is watching the stripes develop. Furthermore, having socks that match but don’t quite match is kind of fun and ever so slightly rebellious.
Meanwhile, in the woods, things are moving along at quite a pace. For instance, these delicate little flowers can be found in every open , sunny place.
They are called Bladder Campion (Silene vulgaris) which I think is a somewhat unfortunate name. I have a soft spot for them because I remember being fascinated by them when I was quite small. I thought the tiny, little pouch-like flowers looked like lady’s purses.
In wetter areas these flowers can be found:
These are Northern Blue Flag (Iris versicolor) and are obviously a close relative of the Iris found in my garden. I found these last year when we were having trees cleared from under our hydro lines. They were just coming to the end of their season then but I knew when and where to look for them this year. They are just starting now and I wonder how many there will be. They like to have their feet wet since they are thriving in a pretty boggy area. I hope the removal of the trees doesn’t have a negative effect on them, that is always the risk.
I recently began to knit this scarf:
This is the Trellis Scarf designed by Evelyn Clark and is in the spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. I am making it in Shi Bui sock. Lace knitting is not my favourite genre however I periodically knit a lace project. Usually something small like a scarf. But how small is a small scarf? I couldn’t help but do a bit of math. There are 59 stitches on the needle. The main pattern has 16 rows. This makes 944 stitches in each pattern repeat. There are twenty-three pattern repeats making 21,712 stitches. There is also a beginning border of 1,062 stitches and an ending border of 767 stitches. That makes a grand total of 23,541 stitches if the scarf is made exactly as written. I have completed the beginning border, three pattern repeats and seven rows of a fourth repeat so, according to my calculations, I have knit 4,307 stitches and have 19,234 stitches to go. For some reason this isn’t sounding so small anymore.
Exactly ten days ago I planted two rows of National Pickling cucumbers. They now look like this:
It just doesn’t seem likely that much can come from such vulnerable looking seedlings. The package says quite specifically that it will be 55 days until maturity. It hardly seems like that will be enough time. I’ve also planted dill since these are supposed to be dill pickles, but that has not come up yet. I think the tricky part will be having the dill and the cucumbers ready at the same time. I planted the garlic last fall and it is doing quite nicely. I also have the recipe. It is an old recipe that is a bit vague on directions so I’ll be doing a bit of research. I have made pickles from scratch before but never from seed. When I consider the number of steps involved it seems like a daunting project but those are the projects that are most rewarding as well.
