Repose

Dinner in the Bistro with Sister

Every night, while it's nice, we have dinner outside in the bistro. Sister always suns herself just out of reach, while we eat and, and secretly long to have her in our laps.

Then, after we've finished, Daisy makes the catch. She gets her fill of love and then passes Sister around the table and we each get our turn.

Also, although there's no photo for this, if we have an extra chair Fitzwilliam frequently takes a seat with us and looks around.

Painting Peonies

I took this bouquet of peonies with me to the art studio and set it up on black cloth,

then painted this.

Simple Yogurt

I've been making all of our yogurt for the last several months, with great success. I calculate that I'm saving at least  $700 a year, which is a little alarming. We were eating three single-serving cups of Fage yogurt a day. Lots of money, and lots of plastic trash (my grocery store only offers non-fat Fage in the bigger container. If I want fat, I have to buy the small).

So here's my super-simple method. I use an enameled cast-iron pot (it's an off-brand Le Creuset) and pour an entire gallon of organic whole milk in it. I put it over a medium heat and set the timer for 25 minutes. Meanwhile I get out my previous batch of yogurt and remove a heaping spoonful of it, and place it in a glass measuring cup with a spout, and leave it out on the counter.

When the milk has started to steam (be sure and jiggle the pot and get down at eye level to see if it makes a little steam), I turn off the flame and set the timer for another 25 minutes.  When the timer buzzes, I stick my clean finger in the milk. If it's too hot for comfort, I give it another ten minutes of cooling time. If, however, I can leave my finger in for three seconds, I move to the next step.

Which is to ladle out a cup of hot milk and put it in the glass measuring cup with my spoonful of yogurt. I stir this gently with a spoon, just breaking the yogurt up into small pieces, then pour all that back into the big pot and swirl it around a little.

Then the lid goes on the pot, the pot gets set in my Crock-Pot over an inch of water set to the "Keep Warm" setting, and an old bath towel goes over the whole thing. I leave it all day (or all night). Ten to twelve hours.

At the end of that time, I put my big colander in my stockpot, and line the colander with a large thin dishtowel. I dump all the yogurt in, and refrigerate it. In another ten to twelve hours, I have a large quantity of unbelievably delicious Greek yogurt. Very firm, tart, and thrifty. 

Cheery New Napkins

I made new napkins. I had to. Bella's been giving our old ones the scornful eye for quite a while, and dropping hints about the exciting new birthday present I could expect.

One yard of 45-inch wide fabric cut into just-about-squares made nine napkins, hemmed with a narrow hem. These are all cotton, which is the only way to go, and very hard to find in out in a store.

The New Buff Orpingtons

 Daisy picked up her day-old chicks today--twenty soft and fluffy Buff Orpingtons. We have learned from last year's Chick Disaster and hope to bring all of these to maturity. For now, they're in the mud room.

Our Days in Boston

We stayed with the Composer's first cousin once-removed (fancy for his dad's cousin) in a little township west of Boston. I'd never been to New England before and was unprepared for the late-winter beauty of the still-bare hardwood forests, the pristine white buildings, and the stonework.

Cousin Robert is a historic preservationist so we kind of landed on our feet there in terms of old buildings! They put us up in the Shaker house they hauled over the highway and attached to their home. Beautiful.

 Tuesday we stopped by the *really* old house Robert has been restoring for seven years (that's his job). These are the set kettles in the basement--so handy for your cheese-making.

We were nearby, so we stopped at Fruitlands, the failed Transcendental utopia perched on a barren hillside, where Bronson Alcott dragged his long-suffering family. I've never been a fan of his.

Then we went into Concord and saw every inch of Orchard House, Louisa May Alcott's family home. 80% of the furnishings were used by the Alcott family. There were Flying Geese quilts on the beds that apparently Marmee had stitched.

No pictures were allowed in the house, but this is the charming exterior (I dressed to match the front door).

That evening we came back to our hosts' home and the Composer walked over to the common. The church was open and he was invited in to play the organ! Sadly I missed it as I was cooking dinner for us all.

I couldn't get over how much history is still standing around there. Here's the stone pen for any stray animals that wandered around--they were impounded and their owners had to spring them with a fee.

We completed our Boston adventures by shopping at two choice fabric stores--Mercer Fabrics in Beacon Hill (multiple stars for its friendly proprietor and fine selection--stop in if you're around and pick up one of their totally charming calling cards with a hedgehog on it). The other was Gather Here, in Cambridge--bigger, with a few more basics, but not half the cozy charm of Mercer!

The Composer's Big Run

Whew! We all survived the Boston Marathon! It's such a large event that we actually got to see very little of it. We dropped the Composer off in Hopkinton near the start line, then drove to a village train station to ditch the car and take the train into the city's North Station. With the wonderful marathon app, we we got a notification every time the Composer passed a 5k mark. So fun!

Also, Giles had us tracking our fantasy family team--he found runners named Anna, Giles, Felix, Clara, Bella, Tia, etc. and we kept an eye on them also. Clara made very good time. 

We had time for a relaxed lunch and a walk all the way across town to the finish line. We had to go through Boston Commons, home of the ducks from Make Way for Ducklings, of course. I thought of Daisy.

By the time the Composer had sweated it out through 40k we had found our way to the finish line to watch. The crowd was five people deep, but folks were agreeable and allowed us right up to the rope to watch him come in.

Which he did with a smile on his face!! That's him below, waving in the white tee. He said he was *very* glad to stop running. It was a hot, sunny, windy day--beautiful for the spectators but hard on the racers. 

Some of us got worn out. In fact, we all fell asleep on the train home.

That Boston is hard work!!

I'm with Him

I'm up for the weekend to see this guy, ride up to Boston with him and Tia to watch the Composer run the Boston Marathon, then come back down to meet Tia's parents.

Also to eat Korean barbecue and Earl Grey fudge ice cream.

Clara Quilting Ravens

We've been making this quilt up as we go along. The black triangles are in the middle, and we just draw whatever lines we feel like to quilt around them. Air currents, weather maps--these are our inspirations.

Frederick Greets the Dawn

Frederick greeted the sun this morning

as I drank my tea.

Now They're Licensed

It's just a few weeks away! 

A Hundred Thousand Flowers

Lady Banks is blooming!

A Mess of Scraps

I got in the scrap bin like a raccoon in a trash can--digging around and throwing out everything in a mess behind me.

Egg Cups for Tea

Daisy wanted a little tea party this afternoon. It was close to dinner, so food was kept on the small side. Clara filled egg cups with alternating layers of lemon curd and whipped cream, and Daisy decorated each top with a yellow jelly bean. Like a soft-boiled egg, but not.

Ashes and Roses Log Cabin Quilt

Not to be confused with this quilt, which is different. Here I grouped the pinks and grays separately.

My  mother quilted and bound this, taking it to the next level (actually she went two levels up) by inserting welting between the quilt and binding--on both sides! On the back (above) you see the gold and red silk plaid.

On the front, she added a strip of turquoise. The woman knows her way around the scrap bin.

I'll be posting this for sale later.

Morning Comes to the Blue Room