Friday, April 23, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Middle of April
Out and About
Knitting group was this past Thursday and Ferol was kind enough to get me started on my very first pair of "toe up" socks. Hooray. I'm only about 4 inches into the first one but already I feel so accomplished.
It's been a real hoot getting together with other knitters chatting, feasting and getting inspired by one another's projects. Thanks so much to Ferol for being the "hostess" with the "mostess"
Cottage Life
We are moving more stuff in each week. It is at the point where it makes it a little tough at the apartment because so many things that I "need" are at the cottage. We are still working out the bugs as far as where things will go. There is limited space so it really needs to be organized.
The Inn Keeper has installed a magnetic knife rack and a great broom holder. Both of which are greatly appreciated.
Another neat thing is the larger board we picked up at Lowes to go on top of our existing little side table of sorts. The original top is 16"x 36". We have barstools that fit with it but the overhang was only a couple of inches so we couldn't really get close enough to our plates. The new top is 20" x 48" which not only gives us more leg room but also extra width without interfering with the drawers. Right now it's just sitting on top of the original but it will be easy to clamp it or attach.
The Happy Housewife
The kitchen aide has come home at last. Luckily it fits under the butcher block cart. (just barely)
The hanging baskets are doing well as are the herbs although they seem a little slow in coming on. I plan on adding a few more along with some trailing plants. Oops, the Bearded One has just arrived with some more stuff to put away...
Reflections
When a dog runs at you, whistle for him.
US Transcendentalist author (1817 - 1862)
Be well and take care of each other
Rhondi
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Back out at the Cottage
A purple Trillium on the hillside at the Cottage
Looks like Spring
It is looking a little like spring out here at the cottage. I can see blue sky amidst the clouds and it is almost 60 degrees out. I was sitting down taking a break after sweeping the patio, when a little brown squirrel scampered between my feet. He didn't seem much bothered by me. A cute little thing. It's normally quite out here on the Bay but today across the water I hear a live band. Someone is having a big “to do” of some sort. Either that or they are just having band practice.
The “Bearded One” is busy hauling shelves and boxes to a storage unit we found just a few minutes up the road from here. We definitely needed someplace to store the motorcycle and the other things that we have no room for here at the Cottage. Stuff like totes full of Christmas decorations, lawnmower, power tools, and assorted whatnot.
It's feeling more and more like home here at the Cottage. Things are beginning to find their place. The “Bearded One” and I have each claimed our own closets, drawers and places to sit. We try to stay out of one another's ways. It's probably good that we're both not retired. It's a little quiet because we have no TV and our radios aren't really made for picking up stations. When we actually move in I will have internet radio and of course i-tunes.
The Inn Keepers fresh baked bread cooling on the deck
The Happy Homemaker
The Inn Keepers been baking again. I spied this loaf cooling on the deck on my way down to the beach this morning. It's been baked in a covered stoneware baker. The crust always turns out amazing.
We have a new fan installed in the kitchen. It's amazing. Very small, very quiet, and very effective. I was able to cook bacon, pancakes, and eggs and not fill the cottage up with the smells. Of course when you walked outside it smelled like breakfast being cooked in a campground... Still enjoy using the “earwig” vacuum cleaner and I found that my favorite brush attatchment fits really well on the end. Well the “Bearded One” is on his way back so I need to get some lunch going...
My Reading List
These High Green Hills,
Jan Karon
The third in the Mitford Series. A fun, feel good read recommended by knitter extrodinaire Ferol.
Us,
Lisa OZ
Wife of Mehmet Oz...I'm enjoying it. Really down to earth, funny, and inspiring.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Happy Easter...Happy Spring
Happy Easter
This greeting comes a little late... Not the thought but the posting. We are out at the cottage as I write this and I will post it as soon as I get back to civilization. We are having dinner with the “Inn Keeper”. It looks like we will be eating rabbit. How fitting. I don't think it's really “The Bunny” but a stand in. I love eating dinner at the Inn Keeper's. She always provides fresh bread, which she bakes Mediterranean style in a covered clay baking dish. At this moment she is traipsing through the forest collecting some wild greens to go into “the side dish”.
Cottage News
“Tulip in the bathroom window”
This trip we brought over several totes full of books, baskets, and odds and ends. We have less and less stuff at the apartment and more of ourselves here. Cooking in the little kitchen is becoming easier now that things have an assigned place to be. Friday night we had baked salmon with rosemary potatoes. Last night we dined on fresh clam chowder. Fresh meaning that “The Bearded One” gathered the little steamer clams that very morning as soon as the tide would let him. Yummmm. You can't go wrong with fresh clams, cream, butter, bacon, celery, garlic, and potatoes. I would of taken a picture but I was concentrating on scarfing it up...
The “Bearded One” put up a shelf in his closet and was quite pleased with the outcome. I say put up, but really he just went to Lowes and got a shelf board and then laid it on top of the clothes pole brackets. He gets the upstairs closet and I get the one downstairs. This place is very tiny but there is an amazing amount of storage. The living area has a small chest of drawers, an old drop front desk with drawers, and a side table that has two small drawers as well as a file drawer. Oh, and there is the coffee table which is an old wooden trunk of sorts. We will have all sorts of space for clothes and odd bits.
The Happy Homemaker
I have several projects that I'd like to tackle. I'd like to finish planting the herb boxes out front. We have some tarragon, thyme, sage, and oregano already from the old boxes and would like to add a couple of basil and then a few annuals like Baccopa and Calabrochia (pardon the spelling) to hang over the sides and add some color. We have some boxes downstairs that have bay laurel trees and rosemary. I think they are shaded enough to plant impatiens. They are on automatic drip irrigation so that will be nice.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Almost April
Out and About
My entry for the phototips.biz challenge "inside-outside"
The Bearded One once again helped me out of a jam. I had to come up with something that was inside-outside. The interpretation was up to each one. This is what I came up with… A little creepy, but a lot of fun.
Cottage Life
We are counting down till we move in full time. Each weekend it gets a little harder to go back to the apartment. Thanks to "Little Tattoo mama" and "Ms Corporate" we have a lot less stuff to move. Way to go girls!!!
This weekend The Bearded one fixed up the herb boxes on the porch and hung up the hanging baskets for me. It looks a little more like home each weekend.
The Happy Homemaker
The Inn keeper got us a new vacuum for the cottage. It's made esp. for bare floors and low nap carpets. It seems to work really well although it kind of resembles an earwig. It has a v-shape nozzle on the front that looks just like an earwigs pincers. A little creepy but it works…
Reflections
I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.
Lily Tomlin
Pasted from <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_funny3.html>
Till next post...Be well and take care of each other
Rhondi
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Another Weekend at the Cottage
Out and about
We were a little more organized this time going out to the Cottage. I had gone grocery shopping the night before so there wasn't this big after work rush that happened last time.
The Bearded One had taken our Bistro set and ornamental grass pot out earlier in the afternoon so we were able to take lil' green, and have plenty of room for everything we needed.
We headed over to Shelton Sat. morning to pick up a few plants for the porch containers and also stopped by the local pet store to see a bout a home for our finches. We love them but there just isn't room at the cottage for two extra large cages and their inhabitants. We will be able to take them to Paws and Claws anytime so The Bearded One will probably do that this week. So sad. The babies have been a hoot to watch. Each one has their own little personality.
Cottage Life
We went to the Innkeepers last night for a glass of wine and ended up partaking in dinner. We had a wonderful combination of fresh steamer clams, kale, dandelion greens, and garlic chili sauce over bulgur. It was amazing. Then followed a course of baked squash and a mixed greens and avocado salad. The Coup de gras, was the caramelized apple cake. Yumm. Wine and stories flowed and a good time was had by all.
Happy Homemaker
Tonight for dinner we are going to have fresh steamers. By the time this is published it should be a done deal with pictures to document the event.
It began yesterday when we dug (actually sort of raked) our clams during the afternoon low tide. We did this using a small hand held garden fork. It's a very muddy job because you are on the edge of the rocky beach which quickly becomes mudflats. The abundance of clams is amazing. Of course I was a little distracted by all of the oysters lying around waiting for me to pluck them up. But that's another meal.
You only keep those clams that are and inch and a half or larger. These we put in a small plastic laundry basket which has about a fifty foot rope which is tied to a tree on shore. We put a couple of heavy rocks on the bottom to keep it from flipping over. The tide then comes in and out and washes most of the bay mud off the "captured" clams making them much easier to clean for cooking. I am at this moment waiting for the tide to go out so that I can retrieve my dinner. I plan to steam them with butter and garlic. And serve them with a nice salad. What a way to live.
A happy ending to a great weekend.
Be Safe and watch out for each other...
Rhondi
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