As seen at local store:
Muk Luks, not.
The colors are all wrong, too. This store has a contract with the NFL to use the Green Bay “G”, but the logo on these purple/fuschia/pinkish slippers just looks like an afterthought.
I own a piece of team stock. I own real Mukluks. I don’t need to own these ridiculous slippers.
And I won’t even mention some of the garb available in other nearby departments.
Lunch.
Spinach, strawberries, pea pods: farmers market
Eggs: Also farmers market, organic brown eggs.
Bacon dressing: purchased at a nearby restaurant
Verdict: delicious.
Here’s hoping that all the fireworks around your home are the literal kind – the kind in the sky. Have a great holiday!
Top row: Chuck, Daisy
Front: Amigo, La Petite
Photo, of course, by the professional photographer in the family, La Petite.
Originally posted in July of 2009
Last week you saw this picture of Amigo enjoying a metal sculpture before we wandered into the restaurant for our Fun Day Friday experience.
Performance Art?
Last week we ended up in the Milwaukee suburbs to visit La Petite. She recommend a nearby Mexican restaurant, and look what we found at the entrance.
“Let’s go in, Mom, I’m hungry.”
Inside, we nibbled on the freshest guacamole I’ve ever tasted.
Crock of Guac – amole.
I sense a theme here. We didn’t set out to eat Mexican this summer, but June Fridays happened that way. Now what? I’ll let you know, readers.
I was watching rummage sales and thrift stores for wind chimes. We have a large wind chime hanging on the front porch. Beside the house, on the shepherd’s crook that’s a little too weak for a large and heavy set, I want to hang smaller wind chimes. I think the sounds would mesh well with the larger one around the corner.
I was on my way to check out at a local estate and vintage store when I picked this up – literally. I picked it up to look at something underneath it, and then heard the bells ring. You know me well, readers. You can guess that I picked it up, bought it, and then hung it from the crook beside the house. Good call, readers. That’s exactly what I did.
Ding, dong merrily!
Around the base you see peas and the ever-expanding mini mums. Oh, and the hose. I really need to do something about the un-aesthetic hose.
I’m not posting a Harvest Monday because, well, I haven’t harvested much of anything in the past week. I picked a bit of rhubarb to complete a batch of rhubarb-strawberry butter, but otherwise, it’s been a maintenance week for the gardens. In case you’re wondering, here’s the “harvest” from Saturday’s farm market.
This barely fit on the counter.
Some of the goodies are for eating now, and some are for putting up – storing for later. From left to right: blueberries, now; strawberries, now and later; grapeseed oil and smoky sea salt, now and later; carrots, now; tomatoes, now; mushrooms, now; lettuces, now; peas, later; more lettuces, now; asparagus, later. Oh, I forgot the cheeses. Block of cheddar, for eating now. Cheese curds, for sharing with La Petite. We sampled a few to make sure they were tasty.
The Facebook comments on this picture got interesting. I joked (sort of) that I was prepping for the Walker Apocalypse. Many teachers I know are in a Cautiously Paranoid condition; we know the future of public education in our state is shaky, at best. We’re looking to provide for our families one way or another. My method consists (in part) of filling the freezer and the pantry with decent food, mostly organic, much locally grown.
If you want to see harvests that will make you hungry, visit Daphne’s Dandelions. If you want to see more of what’s happening in Daisy’ pantry and freezer, stay tuned. I’m simmering a batch of strawberry-rhubarb butter right now, as I type. The house smells wonderful.
I found these at a rummage sale. Naturally, I bought them. Chuck enjoys model trains and finds railroads fascinating, so it was an easy decision.
Chug Chug Chug Chug Chug
Then I made cookie dough. I added a little cocoa so I wouldn’t have to frost them and decorate with all kinds of sprinkles and other delicious but messy garbage.
I baked the cookies.
Cookies! All Aboard for cookies!
And while you Ooh and Aah over the adorable little engine, coal car, and caboose, let me tell the the rest of the story. I usually bake this recipe in winter, most often at Christmas. The next picture will show you why I tend to avoid this recipe in the humid days of summertime.
Oh, dear. Project derailed.
They tasted okay with coffee, at least. Maybe I’ll attempt to make them again in December.
Amigo and I have a tradition that goes back several years. Whenever we’re able, we go out to lunch on Friday. We choose locally owned places whenever we can, and we try restaurants that are new to us as often as possible. Last week we went downtown in our fair city and sampled a Mexican restaurant. Before we went in, we explored a junk-metal sculpture outside on the sidewalk.
Performance Art?
The food and beverages were awesome, too. This one is a winner. I’m sure we’ll be back.
This year’s rain barrel set-up is complicated. First we didn’t have a garage. Then we had a garage with no gutter or downspout. After that, we had a gutter and downspout, but we didn’t have the right support to get the barrels up high enough to be convenient and easy to use.
We now have the cinder blocks and bricks (Thanks, Home Depot and Habitat ReStore). When we can summon the energy, we’ll pile up the cinder blocks and set the rain barrels on top of them. In the meantime, I give you an encore featuring Chuck’s model train layout. Enjoy.
Chuck, dear husband of mine, models trains in HO scale. For the uninitiated, HO translates as small. Tiny. Put-on-your-glasses and look very closely for details. Itty bitty.
The building below is part of a granary in his layout. The rain barrel is about the size of my pinkie fingernail, if not smaller. Yes, dear readers; he made a rain barrel in his train layout in tribute to his wife’s green philosophies.
Now if only I can stop him from buying the shopping bag that says, “I carry this bag because my wife cares about the environment”!
We were picking up blueberry and raspberry canes to supplement what we’ve already planted. In the process, we saw some – oh how shall I say it? – creative mark-ups on planters and containers.
The simple box
The simple box with decoration
Pretty, right? And rather simple. Someone took the time to paint the boxes a nice neutral gray, and then they added a few decorative details to one box. Are you ready for the reveal? The price tag? Are you sitting down?
You read that right, people. $50 for the painted box.
I found Chuck as he checked out and showed him the outrageous mark-up on the simple, no doubt inexpensive boxes. He was shocked, too. And on our way to the car…
The popular raised bed, unpainted
These were on sale.
Ouch.
$250? Sale price?!? Give me a break, folks. This must be the new and trendy Container Gardening for Rich People. No one in my social circles would spend $50 on a wood box, much less $250 on a small wooden raised bed. Maybe I’m in the wrong field; I should be painting and repurposing my garage sale finds instead of planting in them. The profit margin would be amazing.