This year we are really trying to pull it together and finish up some work on our house that needs to get done. I've managed quite a bit of it myself, but some things you (I) just can't do. One of them was to attend to our trees out back - when we first moved in there were six trees behind our house. And that was in a terraced garden (no yard, no lawn, a 3-level brick and concrete space with some planting beds left) that is maybe 17 feet by 30.
Two went the first year, another went about 5 years ago, but the 3 that were left were way overgrown and tangling into each other. One seemed to have some dead limbs hanging right over where Emily hangs out, another was scraping the roof. Both things I wanted fixed. I also thought both trees could probably stand to be thinned a bit where they were running into each other. So, I called a tree service (I picked one that had a certified arborist, in case you are wondering) and had someone come out and take a look.
He noted that one tree was very off-balance and leaned over the house (a storm had taken part of it down years ago) and suggested "balancing it out" by cutting it back and taking out 2 branches. Another had some dead limbs and needed an old collar removed. And the third was so sickly he suggested removing it entirely. This all made sense to me, so I said yes, and they came back two days later. After about 45 minutes of activity and a crew of 10 men swarming behind my house, I was called to sign and pay....and to my shock, I suddenly had NO TREES. The "balancing" worked out to the tree being cut back to nothing (I found out later this is called "hat-racking" and is actually illegal in some places), and the few dead limbs ended up being 90% of the 2nd tree. (At least that tree has a small section that was left). We went from a woodland-like shaded garden to nearly full sun in less than an hour. And it is still freaking me out. And it's killed most of the (deep shade) plants that we had started. Certified arborists indeed.
On the upside, honeysuckle I planted when we first moved in bloomed for the first time in years, and the sun is helping a lot of the plants. A year for the bricks and stones to dry out probably can't hurt either. Plus, Emily can grow veggies this year (although the weather is making that weird....). We're thinking of starting some fast pumpkins soon, and I'm told that our trees will probably be back by the end of the year, albeit a bit smaller than when they were last seen!
But still....when I look out our kitchen windows I just think "whose yard is that?!" I don't know if I'll ever be able to have my trees "pruned" again!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
recent round-up
With so little time to blog, twitter's become my main brain dump these days -- for anyone's who's not over there, here are some of the tidbits I twittered about this week:
At ikea, a new baking line includes dala horse cake pans! Also, they've got a lamp coming out that looks like a dandelion puff. Emily is obsessed with dandelions...if she spots it we'll be getting one I think!
We got a butterfly kit; the caterpillars arrived within days of ordering and they are growing like crazy! Also, I helped Emily make a pill bug terrarium. As it turns out, there were a few eggs of some sort in there, we've got two inch-long caterpillars in there too!!
Watched Court Jester, which none of us had seen. We all liked it, and it's Emily's 2nd favorite movie night feature, after Singin' in the Rain. Neither Evan nor I are Danny Kaye fans, so we were surprised how much we enjoyed it. (The marvelous Glynis Johns certainly didn't hurt.)
We sorted our huge stash of archived t-shirts and pared it down to just 1 of each (these are our designs on shirts we'd put away when we got them). I did not want to take the giant stack to Mocca to sell, so I got the idea to put them up online. And a few days later they're mostly gone! So that was pretty cool.
I also have been following astronaut Mike Massimo's tweets from SPACE. Really from space. So amazing. They'll be landing tomorrow and I'll miss the reports from orbit!
Finally, after a few weeks of test and dr. visits, the mystery of my shoulder is not solved. It looks like I suffered a serious dislocation at some point, but we don't remember anything happening!! I've got at least one more test and then physical therapy to regain full movement...we'll probably never be sure what really happened there. As long as it works again I won't care though!
At ikea, a new baking line includes dala horse cake pans! Also, they've got a lamp coming out that looks like a dandelion puff. Emily is obsessed with dandelions...if she spots it we'll be getting one I think!
We got a butterfly kit; the caterpillars arrived within days of ordering and they are growing like crazy! Also, I helped Emily make a pill bug terrarium. As it turns out, there were a few eggs of some sort in there, we've got two inch-long caterpillars in there too!!
Watched Court Jester, which none of us had seen. We all liked it, and it's Emily's 2nd favorite movie night feature, after Singin' in the Rain. Neither Evan nor I are Danny Kaye fans, so we were surprised how much we enjoyed it. (The marvelous Glynis Johns certainly didn't hurt.)
We sorted our huge stash of archived t-shirts and pared it down to just 1 of each (these are our designs on shirts we'd put away when we got them). I did not want to take the giant stack to Mocca to sell, so I got the idea to put them up online. And a few days later they're mostly gone! So that was pretty cool.
I also have been following astronaut Mike Massimo's tweets from SPACE. Really from space. So amazing. They'll be landing tomorrow and I'll miss the reports from orbit!
Finally, after a few weeks of test and dr. visits, the mystery of my shoulder is not solved. It looks like I suffered a serious dislocation at some point, but we don't remember anything happening!! I've got at least one more test and then physical therapy to regain full movement...we'll probably never be sure what really happened there. As long as it works again I won't care though!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
brownies!
We have been in search of the perfect brownie recipe for our hosuehold (that would make everyone happy) and nothing has ever really worked out. Until now:
Want a closer look? Zoom into the chocolateyness here! This is a recipe I found on the King Arthur blog, it's actually a recipe they've published for years, apparently, but this blog post gives you a step-by-step along with some tweaks. I followed the blog post (although I erred and followed the amounts in the original recipe) and the results were amazing. Most importantly, they are still great a day later -- I find that practically any brownie is awesome still warm, but a day later, meh. Not these, they are still going strong. (The next test will be to see how they handle freezing -- since it makes 24 brownies! I froze half and we'll see how that goes.)
Next time, I'll probably use plain dutch cocoa, the addition of the black cocoa wasn't necessary I think. And I added the chips immediately instead of waiting -- and there are still visible chunks of chocolate in the brownies, not quite as much as on their blog but plenty for me. Of course, I will have to actually get more dutch cocoa as I forgot I was almost out when I placed my recent order! And can't afford shipping for one item so.....it may be a while before we have these again. Sigh.
Oh, and Evan says they are better this way:
Now go fix yourself some brownies!
Want a closer look? Zoom into the chocolateyness here! This is a recipe I found on the King Arthur blog, it's actually a recipe they've published for years, apparently, but this blog post gives you a step-by-step along with some tweaks. I followed the blog post (although I erred and followed the amounts in the original recipe) and the results were amazing. Most importantly, they are still great a day later -- I find that practically any brownie is awesome still warm, but a day later, meh. Not these, they are still going strong. (The next test will be to see how they handle freezing -- since it makes 24 brownies! I froze half and we'll see how that goes.)
Next time, I'll probably use plain dutch cocoa, the addition of the black cocoa wasn't necessary I think. And I added the chips immediately instead of waiting -- and there are still visible chunks of chocolate in the brownies, not quite as much as on their blog but plenty for me. Of course, I will have to actually get more dutch cocoa as I forgot I was almost out when I placed my recent order! And can't afford shipping for one item so.....it may be a while before we have these again. Sigh.
Oh, and Evan says they are better this way:
Now go fix yourself some brownies!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
what we've been eating...
in all this gloom (a week of rain we're having. and I mean raiiiiin).
Soup and sandwiches!
some bright and happy orange muffins made with this pulped navel orange:
(I did not make the topping, just made them plain. I was leery of pulping the whole orange, but it really is good.)
and for fun, fiddleheads!! They showed up in our Stop & Shop and I grabbed a bunch. They were as good as everyone says they are (sort of asparagusy). I'll definitely grab them again when I have the chance.
And of course, cupcakes! But more about those later.
What have you been eating?
Soup and sandwiches!
some bright and happy orange muffins made with this pulped navel orange:
(I did not make the topping, just made them plain. I was leery of pulping the whole orange, but it really is good.)
and for fun, fiddleheads!! They showed up in our Stop & Shop and I grabbed a bunch. They were as good as everyone says they are (sort of asparagusy). I'll definitely grab them again when I have the chance.
And of course, cupcakes! But more about those later.
What have you been eating?
Sunday, May 3, 2009
tying one on again!
I haven't made an apron for Tie One On in ages (we didn't need any more!) but it's time to make some more -- for the growing creature that is my child, and also eventually for myself as I wear them out. So, I decided to take on the No$$ challenge and make something for Emily that would actually be big enough! And here's the result:
The front fabric is some Japanese craft canvas I bought maybe a year ago from a seller who neglected to tell me it was canvas....so it sat and sat. The lining is some leftover white cotton or poly/cotton that I think originally lined a dress. And all the notions came out of my leftover notions bag -- when you make tiny dresses, you never use up the whole pack of rick-rack or ribbon! The colors are so cheery:
And I love the little squirrels who look like they're running down the paths!!
When it was done, it was heavier than I expected, but she's worn it a few times with no complaints! Now I just wish I had enough to make one for me!
The front fabric is some Japanese craft canvas I bought maybe a year ago from a seller who neglected to tell me it was canvas....so it sat and sat. The lining is some leftover white cotton or poly/cotton that I think originally lined a dress. And all the notions came out of my leftover notions bag -- when you make tiny dresses, you never use up the whole pack of rick-rack or ribbon! The colors are so cheery:
And I love the little squirrels who look like they're running down the paths!!
When it was done, it was heavier than I expected, but she's worn it a few times with no complaints! Now I just wish I had enough to make one for me!
eye spy...a new favorite blog
A tough one, really! I have many favorites, but none really new. Plus, I always put new blogs in a sort of mental quarantine, to be honest, because more than once a nice little craft or parenting blog has burst into craziness before my eyes, and freaked me out. But one recent addition to my google reader has passed the quarantine and earned a permanent spot, and that is Sharilyn's lovelydesign blog.
Loads of beautiful and inspiring things to look at. And I find it somehow very soothing and relaxing to read! And truly, it is lovely. Look at these address files she sells! This stamp box. This poster -- which is a flyer she made for their playgroup! She also has an adorable little girl, Adelaide. She does have a design shop as well, but I admit I have never looked at it. I just go on enjoying her blog.
In other news, I never have mentioned that I unlocked (and remembered) my twitter account a little while back! If you are a-twitter as well, you can find me here. It works well for me as I often find cool things online or IRL but just don't have time to write a blog post. Recent tweet subjects included:
This amazing photo essay, (via Nancy).
The Urban Garden Project, which I have joined.
Truly cool tiny homes at Tumbleweed Tiny House Co. (via MizK!)
This super-cool life-size dollhouse!
And lots about cupcakes....see you there!
This week's eye spy theme brought to you by Jhoanna of one red robin!
Loads of beautiful and inspiring things to look at. And I find it somehow very soothing and relaxing to read! And truly, it is lovely. Look at these address files she sells! This stamp box. This poster -- which is a flyer she made for their playgroup! She also has an adorable little girl, Adelaide. She does have a design shop as well, but I admit I have never looked at it. I just go on enjoying her blog.
In other news, I never have mentioned that I unlocked (and remembered) my twitter account a little while back! If you are a-twitter as well, you can find me here. It works well for me as I often find cool things online or IRL but just don't have time to write a blog post. Recent tweet subjects included:
This amazing photo essay, (via Nancy).
The Urban Garden Project, which I have joined.
Truly cool tiny homes at Tumbleweed Tiny House Co. (via MizK!)
This super-cool life-size dollhouse!
And lots about cupcakes....see you there!
This week's eye spy theme brought to you by Jhoanna of one red robin!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
