Knitting & Risk

This fall I obtained the measurements of my daughter's Miniature Schnauzer, with the intention of making a sweater for him.  Thinking it should be done prior to Thanksgiving, I got it started in late October. 

As I progressed, however, doubts continually surfaced.  Will the neckline fit over his head?  Is this *really* where his forelegs go?  Will it be long enough?  Gosh, this looks strange!!

I did not have the luxury of holding it up to the dog to check.

The Halloween snowstorm gave me some unexpected time to knit.  I had it finished by the time my son-in-law stopped by to help us with some storm clean-up.

"Do you think it will fit him?" I asked.  Hard to tell.  A dog sweater looks nothing like a people sweater!

A few days later, they were visiting for some birthday celebrations.  It wasn't the dog's birthday, but he got the sweater as a gift, anyway.

Lo and behold, it FIT!  Not only that, he didn't mind wearing it!

From this story, I have been thinking about the need to take a risk once in a while.  It doesn't have to be a risk to the degree of jumping out of an airplane, but it's good to try something new... 

because feeling proud of a new accomplishment is a good thing.

Thanksgiving 2011

Ten offbeat things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving, in no particular order:


-Getting the daily paper and listening to hubby gripe about the articles.

-Hearing a loved one giggle at the daily comic strips.

-Wood chippers....

-Listening to "Guy Noir - Private Eye" on A Prairie Home Companion.

-Sons who play guitar.

-Daughters who like cowls knitted by their mum.

-A cup of green tea, along with peanut butter on toast, for a quiet lunch.

-Having paper and pens always on hand to jot down ideas.

-Having a job that I enjoy 98% of the time.  (approximately)

-My blog!

Four Trailer-Loads

Saturday mornings are delightful.  It's the only day of the week that I can actually get up when I please, which is never very late by any standard (but for a person that gets up at 4:30 4x/week to exercise, even 6 am feels luxurious). 

Yesterday's plan was to work with hubby carting four trailer-loads of branches and cut-up trees to a temporary bulky waste site that the town set up for storm cleanup.  I lay in bed wondering what flavorful nugget I would find in the day.  Yard work is not my "thing." 

The weather was crisp, with a slight breeze.  At first, the tips of my fingers became numb (in spite of the work gloves).  Okay, pay attention to good things instead, I reminded myself.

Under the pine trees, as we piled branches and cut up wood with a sometimes-functioning chain saw, the aroma was lovely. 

It is kind of nice to work together with hubby.  He is really pretty easy to get along with.  I just did what I could, and felt good about being there to help.

By our late lunchtime, I was starving.  Food tastes better when you are starving.

I spent the afternoon doing some cooking and housework.  By 8:30 pm we were both in bed, exhausted from the day's work.  However, physical exhaustion is a lot more pleasant than emotional exhaustion. 

Aromas.  Teamwork.  Food on an empty stomach.  Sleep for a tired body.

Not a bad day!

A Challenging Week

On Saturday evening, we came home just as the uncharacteristically early Fall snowstorm was rolling into our town.  We heard the cracking and crashing of tree limbs all night.  12 to 24 inches of wet, sticky snow fell on our trees still loaded with leaves.  The next morning we woke to this:

Trees were down everywhere, making travel impossible.  Power was out in at least 99% of the town.  Gas stations could not pump.  Thankfully, the sun came out and the days were good for fixing things.  The nights, however, were chilly.

It took an more than an entire week to get power back to most of the town.

People were very frustrated.

Eventually, power was restored.  People were able to go back to their homes if they had abandoned them in frustration (as many did). 

The cleanup will continue for many months to come.  In the process, however, we will realize that however challenging the times may be, they will pass. 

And that's a good thing.

A surprise can make a day brighter.

Yesterday I had a usual workday, but at the high school where I was heading, there was to be an assembly.  The new commissioner of education was supposedly bestowing some kind of award on the school for "excellence."  Well, I know we are excellent, but darn, why did this have to occur on the one day of the week that I head there?  This will certainly effect the entire day's schedule....

I left the house early, assuming that parking would be a problem.  It was!  No itinerant spaces were available.  I had to go around the back of the school, then drag my rolling bag, a lunch bag, two canvas bags holding language tests that I might need, and my purse to the front door.   In the misting rain. 

Okay, I was there early, and feeling a sense of responsibility to know what the heck we are actually getting "recognized" for, I went up to the class where my first student would be.  My plan was to sit with the students, watching the assembly on closed-circuit TV.  (Primarily Juniors and Seniors would be attending due to space issues.) 

Lucky for me, I started taking notes so that I could tell hubby a few things about the assembly.

We met the new commissioner, were introduced to board of education members, town council members, and of course heard from the school principal and superintendent.

The concert choir sang a beautiful piece.

Then we heard from a woman.  She had come all the way from California. 

Something was a little weird about this assembly.  It started to have a game-show quality as she informed us that the Milken Family Foundation wanted to give one of our teachers an award.  A monetary award.  A pretty good one, too!

The teacher was called down.  A science teacher.  I'm not familiar with him, and I'm sure he's well deserving of the award.  BUT....

Even he didn't know about it!!!

I sure was glad I took notes.  After everything was over, I discussed with my student the main idea and details of what happened.  In the short amount of time that we had, we created a word document of information that she could bring home to show her mom. 

I wound up giving these sheets to all my students.  Nothing better than a speech-language pathologist fostering family communication!

A day with an anticipated pain in the neck assembly turned into a sparkle in my heart.

Best wishes to all of the Milken Family Foundation winners!

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Last night we had a bunch of fresh tomatoes which were given to us.  I was out having coffee with a friend, went home and decided that I needed to use all of them.  How should I do that with the limited time I had?

Well, first off I let hubby know dinner might not be quite ready when he got home!

Somehow I got a pasta dinner together in about 1 1/2 hours.  It's a fair amount of work, but the result was great!

Fresh Tomato Sauce with Basil

1.  Fill a 2-qt saucepan about 2/3 full with water and heat it to boil. 

2.  Put a 4-qt saucepan on the stove with 2 Tbs of olive oil.  Add one onion, chopped.  Let it cook a few minutes while you proceed to the next step.

3.  Wash ~4 lbs of tomatoes.  Drop them into the boiling water 2 at a time.  When the skins have blistered, pull them out with a slotted spoon.  Put them into cold water until cool enough to handle, then remove the skins.  Cut tomatoes in half and remove green/hard parts.  Poke your fingers through them and let all the seeds slide out into a trash receptacle.  Hold what is left over the 4-qt saucepan, and squish them into the pan to join their onion and oil counterparts.  Keep doing this until your tomatoes are all in the pan.  Yes, this is messy but if you do it with a CD of Andrea Bocelli singing in the background you will feel creative and romantic.

4.  Add 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, and black pepper to taste.

5.  Get yourself some fresh basil, a nice bunch of it.  Rinse it off and shake it dry.  Grab some clean kitchen shears and trim off irregular pieces of basil leaves.  Drop these into the 4-qt pan as you cut. 

6.  Let the whole thing simmer on medium-low for about an hour, uncovered.

7.  Meanwhile, heat up some water in yet another pan to cook up some gluten free pasta.

8.  As your pasta is cooking, decide it you want to eat your sauce chunky, as we did, or if you want it thicker.  I figured if I wanted it thicker I could have put in some tomato paste, but we decided to leave it alone.  Also, if we didn't want the watery broth, I could have pureed the whole thing in the pan by using my hand blender.  We didn't do this, either.

9.  Toss pasta with some of the sauce.  Serve with extra sauce and parmesan.  Consume with pride. 

10.  Smile!

Off the Handle: A few more desserts and photos

Katie and Andy celebrated their first anniversary last weekend.  We had them and other family members over for dinner and a delicious gluten free cake, using a recipe from the book, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free by Anne Byrn.  The cake was an orange cake, filled with lemon curd, and frosted with a cream cheese frosting.  It was fabulous.

Their new miniature schnauzer, Dogmatix, joined the celebration.  He is adorable!

I had also made some cookies for John from yet another cake mix.  This one used a chocolate cake mix that also has cayenne in it, for a spicy touch.  John loves it.  This time I used the cake mix, 1 egg, 1/4 cup of melted butter, 2 Tbs of oil, and 1 tsp of vanilla.   I then added about 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips.  I rolled them in sugar, as with the cookies of 7/22/2011, and baked them (using parchment paper to line the cookie sheet) for 12 minutes at 350, as before.  I like the way these came out better.  They had more of a cookie-like texture (as opposed to a cake-like texture). 

A day after that, we went to a car show in Granby, CT.  The sunset was beautiful.  Here it is: