A true sign of spring: Chuck gets out the grill, starts up the charcoal, and cooks! On this night, he cooked supper and enough planned overs to take us through at least two more days. Gotta love planned-overs.
Grilling season!
Years ago, when I successfully canned my first batches of jams, I was warned. “Jam is the gateway drug for canning. You’ll never be able to stop.”
It’s true. My home-canned inventory grows every year. Part of the joy of canning is getting downstairs to bring up a jar of cherry-rhubarb jam or home-grown salsa instead of writing it on the list and shopping for it. Another pleasure in the canning world is walking down the grocery store aisle and thinking, “I don’t need to buy that. I make my own.”
Let’s see. I had that thought as I walked past…
Meanwhile, I kept distracting myself from the actual shopping trip by thinking about spring and summer. Organic more expensive? I’ll grow it in the backyard. No problem. Chuck getting picky about breads? I’ll make some in the bread machine. He’ll eat it. What kind of ice cream should I make? Well, I still have a few strawberries in the freezer and a small amount of cherry concentrate. This could be delicious.
On further review, the rhubarb is already coming up, and I have quite a bit in the freezer. I must find a way to barter this rhubarb for something I don’t have. Ideas, readers? What do you do with too much rhubarb? And furthermore, was jam the gateway drug for you?
Not everything is pretty in the springtime. A typical sign of spring in the O.K. Chorale is this: the mini mums I didn’t cut back last fall, and the tulips poking their little greens through the mess.
Every year. Every stinkin’ year.
If (when) I cut off the dead pieces, you’ll be able to see the new growth of the mini mums, too.
We were expecting 11 inches of snow. Or maybe it was nine. Or 10-12 inches. All depending on which forecast was on the TV or the radio or the computer screen – we just knew there was a storm coming.
So we prepped, as we privileged first world people do. At work, we ordered lunch from a local restaurant in case we didn’t get to do it at the end of the work week. We postponed our office Soup Day because the odds were against having to work the next day – and if we were in business, it would be tough to drag all the crock pots and supplies through the snow piles in the parking lot. As the long day (parent-teacher conference schedule) ended, we took the extra step of cleaning our cubicles and bringing home anything we’d left in the refrigerator.
When I got home, I still didn’t know if the blizzard that was moving in would convince our district superintendent to shut us down. So I prepped as I do, in this privileged first world home of mine. I charged all of the devices. The Kindle, my phone, my laptop – all got plugged in and charged in case of a power outage. I charged my FitBit because it is also my alarm in the morning. We keep a pretty well-stocked pantry, so feeding the troops (ahem, the family) won’t be difficult.
Petunia has been watching the storm from her hospital room on the 8th floor. This pneumonia that side tracked her at least put her in a room with a view.
I have the news, now. It’s official. No school tomorrow! Spring break starts early! You guessed it, people. This blizzard, with its white-out warnings and blowing snowdrifts has added one day onto our spring break. Mother Nature has a sense of humor – I’d better laugh a little, too.
Maybe I’ll start a few more seeds under my grow lights – as long as the power stays on!
Here’s an oldie but a goodie. The room looks totally different now, many years later. Amigo no longer plays host to a bunny. If he did, we’d have electrical cords galore to hide. This small bunny was very special; here’s one part of his story.
This little bunny moved into Amigo’s room from his outdoor hutch when winter hit. Chuck has been working in Amigo’s room, remodeling and repainting, and the small rabbit has found new places to hide and hang out and do rabbit things, like bathe and nap. Can you find him?
Cute, huh?
The story you are about to read is true. The names have been changed to protect – aw, heck, the names have been changed. That’s all.
Actual email from Chuck on the morning of a small election (primary for State Supreme Court Justice):
That was our college motto: Light! More light! These are lights we saw at a local vintage store. They’re made from canning jars, hanging on chains that are a nice shade of blue, much like my kitchen.
Jar lights
We looked at them closely and decided they would be better with a more original shaped bulb, but we could do that. Then we walked a little farther down the row and saw this one.
More light!
This one is more of a plain color scheme and has no chain. It would work in our dining room, though. Then Chuck had an idea.
“Let’s call the booth owner and see if we can contract him or her to make a set of hanging lights to replace the chandelier above the dining room table. Take a wagon wheel, for example, and hang four of these lights from it. That would look awesome.”
Well, the booth owner didn’t have anymore mason jar lights, and she wasn’t interested in doing custom work (party pooper). I do know someone who might, though. She makes and refinishes custom furniture. If she’s not interested in the electrical part of it, Chuck can do that.
Think. Think. Think. This has possibilities.
Subtitle: The Tunes and the Stories – The Christmas music CDs and the stories they bring to mind.
I did some sorting today. Here’s the result – or most of the result. I think a few are missing. I have La Petite’s She and HIm. Maybe she has my Michael Buble. And where’s the Josh Groban?
It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas!
I sorted through our Christmas music collection and organized it – as best I could. This brought conversations like the following.
John Denver goes after the Ray Charles, or maybe I should file this under M for Muppets. Does Charlie Brown Christmas belong under C for Charlie, B for Brown, or G – for Vince Guaraldi? Mannheim Steamroller almost needs its own section.
Pentatonix, the Blenders, Rockapella – and then a random compilation of a capella performers. Sting, Taylor Swift, the Swingle Singers, Take 6. Oh, and after Mannheim Steamroller come the Nylons and Olivia Newton-John. Wait a minute. Newton-John comes before Nylons.
Amigo enjoyed reminiscing, too. I ran into a Malt Shop Memories CD – lots of oldies, lots of fun. He remembered that Jan and Dean had a great Frosty the Snowman on that collection.
Chanticleer, Charlie Brown (for now), Burl Ives, Al Jarreau, Spike Jones. That one must be Amigo’s. It goes well with his Dr. Demento collection, which includes the adorable ear worm “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” You’re welcome.
Chuck sorted through the collection many years ago looking for background music for something he was doing at work. In the process of sorting, he realized we had 10 covers of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Just for fun, we decided to burn a CD of all Rudolph. Before we could do that, we needed Burl Ives. We found him (he’s filed next to Al Jarreau, see above) and then found out we really needed Gene Autry. We found Gene Autry in an odd place for music – an office supply store. Years after creating the CD I call the Rudolph Compendium, we’ve found a few more. The Temptations? Really? Cool.
Ella Fitzgerald and Michael Franks fit in after Gloria Estefan – one of my favorites. Just think – Gloria came to the United States as a young refugee from Cuba.. She and her family were safe from persecution here, and she found her way into a career that brings joy to many. In fact, I think I’ll bring her “Christmas through your eyes” CD to school with me tomorrow.
It’s time to fill the cubicles with music.
Readers, do you have favorite songs around this time of year? Is there a story behind the song, or a story behind one special cover by one special performer? Please share.
The rain barrels are emptied and turned upside down.
The cushions are inside.
Onion and garlic are planted; we’ll see if they come up in the spring or if the winter critters dig them up. I saved a few bulbs and cloves, just in case.
The lawn and the leaves got mowed into mulch one last time and dumped on the garden plots.
Lawnmower is in the shed, and snowblowers are in the garage.
Winter jackets are in the mudroom, and the windbreakers have been through the wash and put away.
Gloves and mittens sit in the back hallway where the baseball caps used to be.
I have pumpkin spice coffee in the coffeemaker.
I’m ready, Winter. Bring it on.
First the disclosure: My home isn’t tiny. I’m not a pack rat, either – well, maybe I have some hoarder traits. All teachers do, it seems.
I should take before and after pics, but I never seem to remember the “before”. I just reach a point where the closet is too full to be manageable and I know, I just know there is a lot of junk taking up space.
Right now, it’s Amigo’s closet that’s pushing on my consciousness. His closet was the storage place for a while – the winter coats went there in the summer, the light jackets in the winter. But…of the coats in his closet right now, only one will come downstairs to the mudroom when snow flies. The others? It’s time to send them off to Goodwill.
Amigo didn’t need space for hanging clothes for the longest time. But now, with his involvement in the local barbershop choir, he has a tux, a shiny gold sequined vest, dressy black pants, and two polo shirts with the barbershop logo on them. He needs space in his closet, and we do not need those old coats.
Now that I’ve put that in writing, I can hold myself accountable for following through on this goal. If I’m honest with myself (which isn’t as easy as it sounds), I’ll admit that at least a few of those coats no longer fit anyone in the house.
Maybe watching Tiny House Nation has done me some good.