Sunshine
It's been cold here. So cold I had to put my heater back on. So cold I'm constantly putting my sweaters back on. I'm starting to really wonder if I'm premenopausal because I get really warm, take my layers off, then get really cold and put them on again. All day long. I also seem to be on the rag every week. Philip tells me that my cycles are just as they've always been and that I have always been surprised by my periods and suspicious that they've come too early. So what do you think? Memory issues?
As if I haven't already made you uncomfortable enough, how about this? What do you imagine it was like for neanderthal women getting their periods? It must have been how it is with dogs...leaving a trail of blood everywhere they go. Everyone knowing that they are menstruating. But they wouldn't have cared because this was long before In Touch could have caught them on film. Most of them probably didn't live long enough to go through menopause either. I don't think I'd enjoy life back then with even the saber tooth tigers knowing you're on the rag.
Life sure was messy one hundred thousand years ago.
It's been cold here until yesterday. Yesterday was warm. Not hot, for which I'm very thankful, but warm. It was the last day of school. I was finally allowed to tell my son the truth about our feelings about his teacher. Which gave him the opportunity to admit that she hasn't been as bad in the last few days. The sun was shining and by some miracle (for which I still cannot account) my kid has been agreeing to get on his bicycle again. He's been on a bike strike for many months now. So we're pretending that we don't notice that he's been agreeing to cycle around with us for the last week. We're trying very hard not to draw attention to our pleasure.
Philip and Max rode downtown on their bicycles and Max played video games at Philip's work for a couple of hours while I made chevre cheese out of cow's milk, finished cutting the pasta I had made the night before, and filled the car with a load of Goodwill donations. Then I went downtown on my bicycle too. I went to the farmer's market and got strawberries, lettuce, swiss chard, and zucchini. I picked Max up and we visited our friends who live near the downtown. It was such pleasant afternoon. Like a perfect summer day. The kind I like- the kind that don't make roast pigs out of human beings.
After visiting our friends we went back down town to meet with Philip for dinner at Hotel Oregon. We couldn't find Philip but we did find some other friends of ours. Everyone in town was out for a stroll, for a beer, or for ice cream. We sat outside, drank way too much beer, laughed a ton, and then rode our bikes home in the warm evening air. Now that, was a good day!
I don't know what today will bring. I'm not looking for trouble. I'm not looking for bad news. I'm not looking to slide downhill again. I don't have to look, it will happen as if by magic. Perhaps I'll have another reprieve today. I'll make good food. I'll visit our 150 tadpoles!
Have I mentioned the tadpoles? In our little pond there are at least 150 of them and a couple of them are even sprouting legs. They are eating the mosquito larvae which is great. I keep thinking, though, that so many tadpoles in one small pond cannot be healthy. I'm thinking we're going to see some sort of tadpole reenactment of "Lord Of The Flies" soon. Then if even fifty of them make it, what then? Fifty frogs in one yard? No way. Uh uh. My dog would sprout horns in her excitement to catch and eat them.
Incidentally, making chevre is not difficult. So for those of you who would like to embark on a little cheese making but don't know how you can fit that into your full time schedule? In the evening you heat up a gallon of milk, add a culture to it, then you let it sit over night. (Wrap the pot in a towel to try to stabilize the temperature.) In the morning you put the curds in cheese cloth to drain. Go to work, come back, and eat it.
You can, of course, put it in molds to shape it and let it drain more, but it isn't necessary. That is a cheese for the working person to make. If you can't afford, or can't get your hands on goat milk, make it with cow's milk. The culture will give it the characteristic tangy chevre flavor. You just won't get that delightful dusty animal fur aftertaste that so many people love about goat cheese.
It has become plain that I need more roses in my garden. I've got five about to bloom. That's not enough!! Lisa B. brought me a little vase of roses from her garden to cheer me up (and it did!!) which I'm enjoying very much. I have rose greed. I had about thirty five roses in my garden in California and at least twenty five of them were chosen by me for their scent, their beauty, and their history. I don't plant roses with names like "Sexy Rexy" or "Paris Hilton" or "Bubblegum Parade".
The coffee's gone. It's almost lunch time. And I'm not showered. Nice.
As if I haven't already made you uncomfortable enough, how about this? What do you imagine it was like for neanderthal women getting their periods? It must have been how it is with dogs...leaving a trail of blood everywhere they go. Everyone knowing that they are menstruating. But they wouldn't have cared because this was long before In Touch could have caught them on film. Most of them probably didn't live long enough to go through menopause either. I don't think I'd enjoy life back then with even the saber tooth tigers knowing you're on the rag.
Life sure was messy one hundred thousand years ago.
It's been cold here until yesterday. Yesterday was warm. Not hot, for which I'm very thankful, but warm. It was the last day of school. I was finally allowed to tell my son the truth about our feelings about his teacher. Which gave him the opportunity to admit that she hasn't been as bad in the last few days. The sun was shining and by some miracle (for which I still cannot account) my kid has been agreeing to get on his bicycle again. He's been on a bike strike for many months now. So we're pretending that we don't notice that he's been agreeing to cycle around with us for the last week. We're trying very hard not to draw attention to our pleasure.
Philip and Max rode downtown on their bicycles and Max played video games at Philip's work for a couple of hours while I made chevre cheese out of cow's milk, finished cutting the pasta I had made the night before, and filled the car with a load of Goodwill donations. Then I went downtown on my bicycle too. I went to the farmer's market and got strawberries, lettuce, swiss chard, and zucchini. I picked Max up and we visited our friends who live near the downtown. It was such pleasant afternoon. Like a perfect summer day. The kind I like- the kind that don't make roast pigs out of human beings.
After visiting our friends we went back down town to meet with Philip for dinner at Hotel Oregon. We couldn't find Philip but we did find some other friends of ours. Everyone in town was out for a stroll, for a beer, or for ice cream. We sat outside, drank way too much beer, laughed a ton, and then rode our bikes home in the warm evening air. Now that, was a good day!
I don't know what today will bring. I'm not looking for trouble. I'm not looking for bad news. I'm not looking to slide downhill again. I don't have to look, it will happen as if by magic. Perhaps I'll have another reprieve today. I'll make good food. I'll visit our 150 tadpoles!
Have I mentioned the tadpoles? In our little pond there are at least 150 of them and a couple of them are even sprouting legs. They are eating the mosquito larvae which is great. I keep thinking, though, that so many tadpoles in one small pond cannot be healthy. I'm thinking we're going to see some sort of tadpole reenactment of "Lord Of The Flies" soon. Then if even fifty of them make it, what then? Fifty frogs in one yard? No way. Uh uh. My dog would sprout horns in her excitement to catch and eat them.
Incidentally, making chevre is not difficult. So for those of you who would like to embark on a little cheese making but don't know how you can fit that into your full time schedule? In the evening you heat up a gallon of milk, add a culture to it, then you let it sit over night. (Wrap the pot in a towel to try to stabilize the temperature.) In the morning you put the curds in cheese cloth to drain. Go to work, come back, and eat it.
You can, of course, put it in molds to shape it and let it drain more, but it isn't necessary. That is a cheese for the working person to make. If you can't afford, or can't get your hands on goat milk, make it with cow's milk. The culture will give it the characteristic tangy chevre flavor. You just won't get that delightful dusty animal fur aftertaste that so many people love about goat cheese.
It has become plain that I need more roses in my garden. I've got five about to bloom. That's not enough!! Lisa B. brought me a little vase of roses from her garden to cheer me up (and it did!!) which I'm enjoying very much. I have rose greed. I had about thirty five roses in my garden in California and at least twenty five of them were chosen by me for their scent, their beauty, and their history. I don't plant roses with names like "Sexy Rexy" or "Paris Hilton" or "Bubblegum Parade".
The coffee's gone. It's almost lunch time. And I'm not showered. Nice.
Labels: chaotic life, cheese making, garden