Crocheting a rainbow...

I am crocheting this rainbow as a gift for someone...

(inspired by this one)

 Velvet is a happy cat...one of her favorites places in our home, laying atop the warm heater.

The chickens don't seem to mind the snow.  Nutmeg here...Cinnamon and Pepper near the tire swing.  They are steadily laying eggs for us.  I have to dump out a chunk of ice in their water each morning, we've had quite a cold winter so far, compared to the warm of last year. ♥

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  We are preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ this weekend, as Russian Orthodox Christians!!! 

Yarn along: little Christmas gifts

I've made some big shawls...but now I'm crocheting little matching shawls for their dolls, for Christmas gifts.  Join in the "Yarn along" here!

I picked up "Wheat Belly" at the library and "The World We Found," at the library today.

I just finished reading "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry.  What an interesting book!  Many horrible things that happened in India in the 1970s make me appreciate our life.  There were parts that were wonderful...the main characters, Dina, Ishvar, Narayan, and Maneck cooking together, laughing, like a family.  ♥

It made me want to try Indian recipes.  Yesterday I made parippu (a lentil curry with coconut milk), and ate it with homemade pita (I will try making chapati soon, basically the same, one is baked in the oven, the other cooked on the stove top)...and today I made chana masala (chickpeas, ginger, garlic, onions, etc.) and we ate it with rice and potatoes & carrots.  My girls would like me to serve food on banana leaves, as they do in India.  So many wonderful vegan Indian recipes!

Last year, I read "Life of Pi."  Now, it's been made into a movie.  Another story of people from India, who are out at sea, on their way to Canada, when their ship sinks...what happens as Pi struggles out at sea?

Yarn along...

Today is the first day of the Nativity fast for us, as Orthodox Christians, who follow the old calendar.  Last year, we started a countdown and opened up a package with a (used) book each day, so my girls really looked forward to the fasting period.  We try to live simpler, eating no meat, or dairy and less television (not that we watch it much anyhow) so that we can pray more and think about the time before Christ's birth!

I'm crocheting another shawl right now for my niece, well actually just adding fringe right now.  I am reading "Everyday Saints" by Archimandrite Tikhon.  ♥
I have mushrooms and onions that I'll chop up and cook with olive oil and then serve with angel hair pasta.  We have a good supply of organic gala apples, for snack.

And I plan to bake this later today, as I have a bag of fresh cranberries in the refrigerator.

Yarn along & seeing the Nina and Pinta

I finished the wool peach shawl (Olivia is wearing it, but it is for my niece, who is younger)...next up more little lanterns made by crocheting the outside of glass jars!  Tomorrow is a friend's birthday and I'm looking for just the right recipe...needs to be something gluten-free! 

Over the weekend, we went to see the replicas of the Nina and Pinta that sailed up the Ohio River, from Louisville, KY.  Next stop is Pittsburgh, PA...
They were looking for more volunteers to travel with them, I would do it if it weren't for my family.  What an adventure!

We played "Go Fish" in the backyard yesterday, nice cooler weather...the chickens were very interested in what we were doing!

a "yarn along" and a "stitch along"

3 years ago I made crocheted this simple shawl for Hannah (she was just 8 then)....now Olivia wears it ♥  I got some old peach wool from my husband's grandmother and am using it to make another shawl...I'm reading A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson, not a book that I recommend, but I just picked it up off the shelf at the library because I liked the picture of the dress and apple!  Never judge a book by its cover.  I plan to read Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon  & then, The Happiness of Pursuit by Davis Phinney next.

A friend when to Russia this summer and brought back that beautiful dress that was hers, about 20 years ago!  And Olivia is giving our chickens, Nutmeg, Cinnamon and Pepper, little bits of cheese for a treat.  ♥  You can see our Jerusalem artichoke is abloom with yellow flowers.  I plan to dig up some of their tubers to eat after the first frost.

Hannah (who is now 11 years old) and I are going to join in with the stitch along here, which officially starts September 22nd, the first day of fall!  ♥  Will you join in?

Rhubarb season

 

 I have been working on this hat...a light summery hat with lots of holes.   I picked a bit of our purple flowering sage out of our backyard and sprigs of mint.

Yes, our rhubarb seems to be ready, I chopped it up and cooked it in a shallow pan with a little water and sugar.  I got this Crabtree & Evelyn cookbook from the library and am looking forward to making "Raspberry Zabaglione" and maybe making it into a Rhubarb Zabaglione, and trying other recipes...

To be perfectly honest, I was so excited when my husband got this book The Heirloom Life Gardener by Jere and Emilee Gettle as a birthday gift from his mom, but upon further examination I wish they'd omitted the politics.  In the tomato section they comment "Even Michelle Obama grows them."  And ridicule Ronald Reagan.  I do like the useful gardening information, as does my husband, but wish they'd just left that other stuff out....

P.S. We have lettuce coming up!  Our backyard looks like rows of dirt, but pretty soon I'm sure it will be all green!!!