the remaking of a kitchen

siena and her mom held an impromptu dance party after siena's afternoon feeding. they were both showing their stuff, sarah strutting and siena bobbing and hanging on securely. sarah held a vintage rattle/teething ring in her hand that worked superbly as a maracas. siena looked pretty pleased at this opportunity to dance with her mommy!

Labels: bobbing, dancing, holding on to mommy, strutting

siena and i had some grandma time today while her mom and dad got some sushi for lunch. she is really at her smiling cooing best on the changing table. she just kicks and smiles and has a grand old time.
she had just been fed before her parents left so we cooed at each other for a bit and then she got in her swing and watched the mobile for a while before taking a little nap. when she awakened we went outside and talked about her daddy's garden and her helping with that some day when she is a little bigger. she was pretty cheery until the sun got in her eyes. if we stayed in the shade all was well, so some adjustment in the carrying took care of that.
then we came inside and played on the window seat until sarah and david returned. then it was bath time and then at last! time to eat again! yay! said siena. :)

Labels: 7 weeks, mom and dad, siena, sushi lunch

i'm still in california and having a lovely time with david, sarah and siena. sarah is getting out more and meeting some other moms which is great for her. d and s moved to this community a couple of months before siena arrived, so those new friendships are key. siena is really changing each day.....she likes to smile and coo and that certainly thrills the adults in the family.
sarah and i took siena on a walk earlier this week, and siena and i continued walking while sarah bought things at the pharmacy, trader joes, a pillow shop and the corner fresh fruit stand. we all felt pretty good about that.
last sunday, sandy and nancy came and brought lunch for us and they stayed through the afternoon. sarah and david went to a movie and enjoyed the outing! nancy came again yesterday so she and sarah took siena to the toddler park and i joined them there later. it's a sweet place and will be a place sarah and siena will return many times as siena grows. there are small child slides and climbing gear with plenty of spots for moms to sit and watch and visit with each other.

Labels: sarah and david, siena, smiling and cooing

i am in california getting in some grandmother and mother time. well and mother-in-law time too. at this writing, david is at usf, sarah is napping in her bedroom and siena is asleep in her vibrating chair. the load of wash is done, and quiet reigns. do i sound like mary poppins? well, i'm not! siena just woke up and is starving, so we will wake up her mom to feed her.
now i am back and we just had company - willow and sebai came to visit from the city. siena feel asleep in my lap while sarah and i visited and didn't wake up as we transferred her to the stroller where she continued to sleep. she slept until willow left to got home about 2 hours.

the garden is growing nicely. my first red pepper is ripe and is so pretty. i also picked a cucumber and some tomatoes. actually the haul from the tomato plants is much smaller today than the usual quart i have been picking. we had a nice rain last night.......more than a half inch and that certainly pleases all the plants, vegetables, ornamentals and flowers alike.
the little baggies hold the juliette tomatoes i dried in the oven yesterday....i had two cake racks full of half tomatoes and ended up with about one and a half cup of dried. the dried ones have such a wonderfully pungent taste. i could eat them easily as is. i will freeze them and use them in soups and pasta sauces during the winter.

Labels: dried tomatoes, juliettes, rain, red peppers, tomatoes and cukes

i have had some problems with getting clematis vines started and continuing to grow. last year i ordered one, planted it according to directions and it failed to thrive. i wrote to the company and they replaced and i did the same routine according to directions and the day after i planted it some little critter scooped it right up out of the ground and it was GONE.
i ordered another one, planted it and i really thought it had disappeared and pretty much decided clematis and i were never going to be best friends. i left a little protective fence around the site, mainly out of laziness and this spring i noticed a little strange something poking out of the ground. i have watered it and babied it along and helped it attach to a trellis and just this last week it finally has 5 blossoms. it's quite unique as far as clematis that i have seen previously. little purple bell like flowers. i like it. :) hopefully it will continue to flourish in that spot....still protected in its little fence.

Labels: blooms, clematis, problems

these are photos of the wonderful pot tom gave us when he stayed at our house. it is just wonderfully textural....the top has extruded pieces and rolled textured pieces and it is all shaped into a curve bowl on top of a thrown base. the glaze is lovely, it just works with the whole piece to perfection.
we have a terrific collection of tom's work starting in the late 70's....pretty amazing. he just keeps growing and improving, and not only that but he makes me laugh. probably one of the funniest people i know! what a treat for him to visit.

Labels: extruded pieces, texture, tom the potter, wonderful pot

this was art fair weekend in minneapolis and the weather was really attrocious. on friday it rained cats, dogs and various other animals. everyone at uptown was totally soaked. our friend tom was in town for powderhorn and that show and loring park were just saturday and sunday so they at least missed the rain. it was horribly hot on saturday and sunday wasn't a lot better. most everyone reported a ghastly show....freezing and wet on friday and way too hot the rest of the time. at least they were able to set up and display their art which is more than happened at a show in milwaukee that had storms with wind and rain all weekend.
i had an art opening on saturday night at the grand hand gallery in st paul. the theme was botanical so my beaded flowers fit right in, and there was another beader and several artists who did outstanding renditions of both flora and fauna. it was a delight to meet everyone and get a chance to visit about the work.

Labels: art fairs, botanical show, freezing rain, storms, wind

more siena photos....the ones with grandparents were taken during her first week at home, before we left. one each with her baba and her grandma (me) and one with grandpa don. the others are some i took with the snapshot function on skype and the latest and greatest is in a t-shirt sarah designed for her. just what the parents who love libraries want to impress on this baby girl!

Labels: baba, banned books, grandparents, snapshots

i decided to do an update on the garden and the photos reflect how well things are doing. i planted the hydrangea last year and not much happened, but this year even though it's been so dry, there is a lovely pink bloom that is lasting quite satisfactorily. the veggies are doing well too. there are two kinds of cherry tomatoes, sweet 100's and juliettes and the two bushes are loaded. i have 3 peppers set on and you can see that FINALLY one is turning red. yay! i want to use it in a special chicken salad recipe i found this spring.

Labels: cherry tomatoes, hydrangea, red peppers

i'm not sure i was able to take pictures that show what was happening outside the garden gate today. it's amazing to me and so gratifying too. this spring i called jeff who worked with us last summer when the path was installed. the drainage seemed to have changed and we had water coming into the backyard and forming a huge lake around our shed. we always have a small lake in front of the shed doors when the ground thaws, but this was huge. he said they would try to fix it when they completed the path along the rest of the frontage road and exit ramp. i was thinking i would call and remind him as they did that work, but today i heard a noise outside the fence and there was a bobcat and they were moving dirt around. when we looked out the asked us to show them where we thought the water came from and then other guys appeared and they made a mini-berm on the outside of the fence to try to re-direct the drainage from the snow melt in the spring!! now that is excellent service....we are so pleased!

Labels: asphalt path, jeff, lake w, snow melt

i went to the co-op this week and found the polenta i had been unable to discover in the neighborhood store. today i made some for the first time using a recipe i found in the local paper. it had spinach and basil as well as parmesan cheese and butter. i found it delicious. we had stir-fried sno-peas with little slices of garden tomatoes and fresh corn to go with, and for dessert, fresh blueberry pie and homemade strawberry ice cream. oh my goodness yumminess! i need to start walking longer distances to counteract this burst of kitchen creativity!

Labels: blueberry pie, fresh vegies, polenta, strawberry ice cream