Finis!!!

I finished the stripey blanket for Philip and Kara! Yay! It was a fun project again this year. I hope they like it.

Honestly, it might be a bit colorful for Philip's tastes. Hmm.
And now, for giggles, here is LAST YEAR'S blanket:

I planned on a beige border, but in the end, I had just enough of the light blue, which I definitely prefer. Just enough, as in ... I had about a foot of yarn left when I finished the border. Yikes! I live dangerously - haha :)

The border on this blanket pattern is my favorite part. It's three rows of single crochet, so it takes some time, but it's good and stiff and stabilizes the blanket. And the picot trim pattern is so nice.

Truly, the blanket is probably for Kara, since men don't usually like such things. But really it just is a labor of love, telling them how pleased I am at their upcoming wedding.

So after its photo shoot, I folded it carefully and placed it in a clean plastic bag. I'll need to take it to my friend Linda at the post office and decide the best way to ship it.

After the blanket was finished yesterday, I quickly crocheted a pair of smittens for a lady at the farmers' market who wanted a pair, but whose hands would not fit in the selection I had already.

And then my weary thumbs had a rest as I returned to what feels good to my hands: knitting. Crochet is hard on my thumbs. They ache and sometimes have sharp twinges, after lots of crocheting. Knitting is easier on them, somehow.
I'm making a quick little dish cloth in cotton yarn.

This pattern is so easy and can be adjusted larger to make a baby blanket. It has a little yarn-over pattern around the edge. I'm using size 7 needles. The yarn is Lily's "Sugar and Cream," the color is Barnboard Twists.

Who doesn't need a few clean dish cloths?

Eggs a la Dasha!

On Monday morning I posted this photo on Facebook.

Among other friends who noted the egg cup was Dasha, a nice blogging friend who lives in Australia. She was surprised to discover that whole swathes of the human population (in this case, Americans) knew nothing of the joys of the soft boiled egg in an egg cup. To quote her, "Don't they realize what a treat they are missing out on! A googie egg and soldiers for breakfast -- bliss!"

Googie egg and soldiers? What??!! (I just googled that. Looks like lots of people enjoy this dish.)

But she convinced me that I was missing out on a cultural  pleasure, and that always gets my attention. So for lunch today? Googie eggs and soldiers! It helps that we're keeping a pot of softly boiling water on the stove these days to keep the air moist in the house. Dasha said (contrary to what I'd always done for hard-boiled eggs) to boil the water first, and place the eggs into it. So I did.

 Dasha recommended boiling them for 5.5 - 6 minutes. I dislike overcooked eggs, so I erred on the short side and set the timer for 5 minutes. Should've listened to her though :)
Meanwhile I prepared my toast, homemade bread, with light butter. (Using salted butter will keep you from needing to sprinkle salt onto your egg, which is problematic in an egg cup.)

 I also prepared some cold water to immerse the eggs in immediately after the timer dinged. Note the spoon, perfect for putting eggs into and out of water.

 Egg goes into egg cup. First piece of toast cut in strips, i.e. "soldiers."

 These are grocery store eggs, not farm-fresh eggs, so they are old. That means they peel easily. I noticed that this egg already had a cracked section on the small end, indicating that the little air bubble inside the egg was on this end. Some people are big-enders, and some are little-enders. All Swift fans will giggle now. I go for whichever end might have the air bubble.

 The egg was a mess, but remember -- I'm a newbie. My goal here is to have a cooked white, but a fully runny yellow for dipping my soldiers in.

 The white was a bit runny and  messy, and it dribbled down the side. Dribbling bothers me not; I'm only concerned with not losing any of that delicious yellow yolk!

 You need a place to gather your itty-bitty shell pieces.

 I polished off the first egg, mess and all, mostly scooping it out with my spoon and eating it on the uncut piece of toast.

 But I still wanted the googie-egg-and-soldiers experience! So I commenced upon Egg #2. This time, the top of the egg came off nicely without breaking the yolk. Yes!

 With nervous fingers I gently inserted one soldier into the golden circle.

 And I'll tell you right now, this is some yumminess.

 A couple of soldiers are enough to finish the yolk.
I did wonder though -- what do you do with the white in this situation? We all know that cooked egg white is BLEH, and it needs the yolk to give it flavor. I discovered that there's just enough yolk left in there to enhance the white.

 See?

As with the first egg, I scraped out the bowl of the egg cleanly with the spoon and ate it with toast. This is one benefit of an egg cup:  the cup itself provides a hard surface against which you can scrape, through the shell, with your spoon, wasting absolutely nothing.
Thank you, Dasha! This was delicious, and it's true that the combination of the toast, dipped into the yolk, is truly delectable. It may be a bit messy in an egg cup, but it's a lot less messy than trying to do the same thing all over your plate.
So here's a question for you Americans. Have you ever seen an egg cup for sale in a store? Which store? Do you own one? Use one? What do you think of it?

The Candle Within

Everyone anticipated a big winter storm. As often happens in the Real (Deep) South, we got ice, but no snow.

Encapsulating ice. Ice on every twig, but the roads are merely wet, not frozen.

Still, ice is ice, and it's cold out there.

Nobody is prevented from driving, and schools and businesses can continue as usual. No breaks. No vacations. No days off. Just bone-chilling cold and wind. All the discomfort of a winter storm without any of the fun.
Every branch sheathed in ice.

Inside, I light candles to remind me that there is warmth in winter too -- warmth inside.

In February, one must remember the candle within.

Wonderful Wilbur

(I'm swiping this poem, written by Richard Wilbur, from GretchenJoanna's blog. Thank you, GJ, for sharing it! Wilbur, born in 1921, is perhaps my favorite American poet, and still writing poems of depth and excellence, late in life.)

Anterooms

Out of the snowdrift
Which covered it, this pillared
Sundial starts to lift,

Able now at last
To let its frozen hours
Melt into the past

In bright, ticking drops.
Time so often hastens by,
Time so often stops–

Still, it strains belief
How an instant can dilate,
Or long years be brief.

Dreams, which interweave
All our times and tenses, are
What we can believe:

Dark they are, yet plain,
Coming to us now as if
Through a cobwebbed pane

Where, before our eyes,
All the living and the dead
Meet without surprise.

–Richard Wilbur, in The New Yorker January 5, 2009

Deodorant Inequality

On Friday, I went to WalMart and had a serious pow-wow with the deodorant aisle. The time had come to determine what to do with my underarms. (I do wish there were a more elegant word for them.) Let me begin at the beginning ....
A few years ago, I read that aluminum was not a good thing to spread on your skin once or twice each day. There've been no definitive studies linking aluminum with cancer or Alzheimer's, but many people are worried that we just haven't found those links yet. For me, that wasn't the point. I began to realize that I really didn't need antiperspirant anymore. I don't sweat. A little deodorant in the morning is adequate now that I'm older. So I don't need aluminum -- the ingredient that makes it an "antiperspirant." If I don't need the aluminum, why slather it on for the rest of my life?
So I looked for alternatives.
Which brings me to these:

Starting on the left: I'd used Suave or Secret antiperspirant/deodorant for years. An aluminum compound is the active ingredient. I went looking for a simple deodorant. They don't make many, but I did find the Arm & Hammer. They make a nice version, not the one in the photo above, which is blue and powerfully scented for men.
That's when I first discovered that my armpits are a bit sensitive. The UltraMax Arm&Hammer seemed to irritate the skin. So I jumped over to Tom's deodorant. See the pleasant one I picked? It was pricey, over $4.00, but scented with lavender.
And within days, my armpits were itchy, red, and unsightly. I showed them to Adam. One of the perks of a good marriage is that you have someone to show your itchy armpits to! He said, "Oh, I've had that before, remember? When you bought me the green deodorant? You're allergic. You'd better stop using that stuff." So I discontinued the Tom's.
And I returned to Suave, which didn't make me happy. But my underarms were content.
Then last year I found a recipe for homemade deodorant, and I joyfully made a batch and began to sell it, receiving good reviews from my customers. And I used it myself.
And my armpits became itchy and irritated ... again! Argh!
I read online and found that a small percentage of people have a skin reaction to the baking soda found in homemade deodorant. Baking soda is highly alkaline, and it can unbalance the pH in the skin. One online writer recommended compensating with an acid like apple cider vinegar. So for about a week I dutifully applied a sponge dampened with water/apple cider vinegar to my armpits 1/2 hour before applying the deodorant. But it didn't seem to work well.
Sigh. Can you believe I'm making a product that I can't use myself? Thankfully I haven't yet had a customer come to me with the same complaint.
This predicament led me to the deodorant aisle at WalMart last Friday. And I discovered an odd fact: there are many more simple deodorants made for men, than for women. Yes, you heard that right. Women (apparently) are more concerned about not sweating than men are. Old Spice alone makes about half its underarm products as simple deodorants, leaving out the aluminum. The Speed Stick product you see above is also aluminum-free deodorant. But women's brands have no such allowances. I was really surprised! Why? Don't we think of men as sweating more? Don't you think men would want all their products to be antiperspirant? I'm bemused.
In the end, I was left with only these options: 1) buy a men's product, 2) buy a product I'm allergic to, or 3) use aluminum. So I bought myself the least-stinky Old Spice deodorant I could find. I apologized to Adam for smelling like a man. It's hard. Why doesn't Old Spice make a ladies deodorant? I wish I knew. It seems a bit discriminatory to me, but I'm sure they've done their studies and worked their demographics, and they know that women want antiperspirant.
Do you, ladies? What say you?

The Winter Hum-Drums

I have little excuse for myself regarding my blogging absence. The winter days seem to slip by ... plop ... plop .. plop. There's little to write about. I'm crocheting. I'm on row 119 of 131 on the Stripey Blanket. Adam and I went on our Valentine's date two days early because we had a lovely church supper on Saturday evening. Quite a nice turn-out, considering the frigid temperatures and gusty winds.
Most of those seed packets said I would wait for a week or two before germination, but look what showed up yesterday:

Baby zinnias, coming up in the warmth of my kitchen! That didn't take long.
Adam and I discovered a new, extremely good Mexican place on Valentine's -- Cilantro's Mexican Grill. He had three tacos with "pastor" meat -- seasoned pork cooked on an open spit.

 I had a chimichanga plate. Both were very, very good, prepared by hand right there. Best Mexican in New Bern, hands down.

 Adam has been perfecting his whole wheat blueberry scones. Very healthy, low-sugar, low-cal.

 Another dish he prepared twice recently is a simple roasted vegetable supper. Apparently, boiling or steaming some veggies is exactly the worst way to cook them. It robs them of flavor and ensures the eater will loathe them. He seasoned potato wedges, broccoli, and cauliflower in olive oil, Mrs. Dash, and salt. He cooks them at 450º on a cookie sheet -- potatoes first for 10 minutes, then add the broccoli and cauliflower for 5 minutes, and pop the tomatoes in last as you crank the oven up to hi broil. The blast of heat is what ensures great flavor. Don't burn them. Serve with a ranch dip if you like. This meal is quick, easy, and high in protein.

 Beau says this winter weather is so snoozy.

 He curls into his daddy's lap.

We had such gorgeous, balmy weather last weekend, remember? I even found some daffodils blooming.

 And a brave crocus.

 We have ice and snow on the way, so they may get zapped.
My dear one brought me flowers for Valentine's. We had a lovely, love-filed Day-of-Love this year.

 He's a sweetie. We both agree we've changed in startling ways over 25 years, but we're thankful for all the changes, for all the love and patience with each other. I wouldn't trade him :)

While rummaging in the garage looking for an egg cup (long story ...), I found a few pictures of Philip and Anna when they were little, probably the Easter when Peter was born. Philip was 3 and Anna was 2.

Adam and I visited an elderly couple in our church, married in 1955, the same year my parents were married. We sat around their table and looked at their wedding photos, but these were not just any photos. They were taken with a 3-D camera and the Kodachrome film was put onto slides. Each slide has two images, and when viewed in the special viewer, the effect is astounding -- pristine, brightly-colored, fine-grained 3-D images. Each one looks like a perfect diorama. We were mesmerized with viewing them. Our wedding photos look rather tame and lifeless by comparison. Still, I dug around and pulled out my favorite one, Adam and I in the car as we're about to drive off after the reception. We were so young, so fresh in marriage.

So there's a catch-up for you. It may be another five days before I post again! We're hunkering down and hibernating in this cold weather. Stay warm out there, folks!

Wishful Thinking with Dirt

We enjoyed two lovely warm days. (((sigh))) Sunday and Monday afternoons were shirt sleeve weather -- balmy air, nourishing sunshine. Sunday was windy, but Monday was calm.
I could wait no longer. I had to begin my attack on the backyard moonscape.
First, I had a handful of flower seed packets I bought for almost-free last fall at Dollar General. I put fresh potting soil into three long planters and put in nasturtiums, salvias, and zinnias.

This unslightly back stoop gets full, bright morning sun, with the brick helping the warmth.

The three new planters are on the top ledge. The pots below have herbs: thyme, mint, chives, oregano. I want them (well, not the mint!) in the ground. They've been in pots long enough.
Bermuda grass is a bear to dig through. First I wanted an L-shaped bed for herbs and some tomatoes. I had an old stinky tub of kitchen compost sitting outside. As Adam and I dug deep into the dark soil, I poured in some compost, held my nose, and thought of how rich the soil might be later for all my little plants I'm planning.

It's not much of a bed, but it's a start. Something is better than nothing! Digging in dirt feels so good after a long winter inside.

We had a bit of rain last night, with temps in the low-mid 40s. This morning dawned overcast and windy, and cold.

Tonight will freeze. So I brought the flower seeds indoors by my kitchen window.

They'll keep company with my other plants that have over-wintered beneath this window and done rather well.

I'd been putting off those flower seeds, thinking I was premature in planting, but then I saw hundreds of tomato plants (well, the pots with their seeds in dirt) at my farmer-friend's home. She's keeping her babies upstairs in her house, spread out on the bedroom floors. It gave me courage. So February cold -- I spurn your advances, and look to spring! The next warm day (next week, we hope?) I'll put those pots and planters back outside for another dose of sunlight.