Because I am a sucker for a color themed day. And because I’m enjoying the extreme onset of fall here in the past two days. I’d like to play along with Autumn Color Week.
That said, there’s green inside and out. Inside was easy, green is the color of my newest obsession. I stayed up again working on this little mitten, now about 30% smaller. Definitely worth the reboot.
Outside is a bit rougher–I realize I’ve got two handicaps to my fall photography. The first is location. We’re in an urban neighborhood–not fancy trendy urban and not falling-apart urban, just middle-of-the-road urban. The trees are starting to change color a bit, but just shooting up, getting only leaves and sky, seemed to be cheating a bit. That’s not really what I see around here, y’know? So for these outdoor shots I’m trying to enjoy how autumn is present in a rather concrete atmosphere.
The second challenge is weather. The wet and fog and grey that are the trademarks of fall around here are not kind to the film. I could wait until the sun comes out–but that really wouldn’t capture the colors of autumn. And it could be a long wait.
But despite the grey, despite the concrete, I really enjoyed taking a walk outdoors today and playing at the park with the baby. Chilly fall winds, warm sweaters, and subtle images of changing seasons. And now that I’m indoors, I’ll take a look at the brilliant fall colors on the Autumn Color Week flickr group.
Lots of little bits keeping me entertained and away from the computer:
- Cool weather that is finally feeling like fall. Baby in a too-big sweater, me pulling out my favorite warm clothes. Turtle’s window was closed last night, but ours was still open.
- A fall festival with the Turtle. His first chance at petting farm animals where he actually seemed interested. He would touch the noses of the sheep, donkeys, and cows, and then collapse in giggles. And then gently reach for their noses again.
- Mama’s first homemade halloween costume is started. From a pattern, but significantly scaled down from the picture on the envelope. Pieces are cut, but the sewing is stalled. 1) because sewing can’t happen during naps (too noisy) and it sure can’t happen when he’s awake. 2) because I learned that my sewing machine can’t sew the bit of foam needed for stuffing. I kind of saw that one coming, but trusted the pattern and cut the stuffing into two pieces anyway. And now I’m wishing I hadn’t.
- Kind of obsessed with knitting a little Christmas mitten for the Turtle. I was working on it way too late last night. Which means that I looked at it this morning and realized that it’s way, way too big. But I am too excited to see how it’s coming along to rip it out. Sigh.
- Thanks to some coaching from a friend, Turtle has unlocked the secrets of the sippy cup. As the weather cools I’m kicking myself for not practicing this more when it was warmer. Because as cute as it is outside, it’s a bit of a mess indoors.
- Enjoying the quiet of Monday–but it’s probably time to do something more useful than blog. Laundry, grocery list, and dishes await. How do I get so little done over the weekend? Oh, yes, by staying up knitting mittens that don’t fit.
One Equinox, one party, one day out in the woods. A good way to switch seasons.
Maybe I’ve been reading too much Soule Mama. Or flipping through the flickr group for the Seasons Round Exchange a bit too long. But I’ve got it in my head that we need a nature table, nevermind that the wee one in this house can’t even say “autumn” yet. So yesterday I instituted a little equinox celebration. My goal? A little something for the grownups, and a nature table that was age appropriate for a 9 month old. So no wool gnomes this year (sigh).
I made rolled cookies in fall shapes (I went through the trouble of rolling in order to use the hedgehog & squirel out of this set) and pumpkin cream cheese to dip them in (one block of cream cheese + half a can of pumpkin pie filling). And then there were some nature table presents for the Turtle. A pumpkin, gourd, and ears of corn from the farmer’s market. Great for lifting, twisting, dropping and drooling on. He seems especially intrigued by the texture of the corn cobs in his mouth.
Rain and scheduling foiled our outside time on the Equinox itself, but we made up for it today by traveling a bit out of town to Christer’s school’s annual picnic. A few snacks, some faculty vs. student competition (on shore and in the water), a chance to show off (and pass off) the baby, and a few minutes alone to play with the macro setting on the camera until the battery wore out. If you sat very still you could almost feel a fall chill blowing through the humid, 80 degree day. Almost.
Just a bit of celebrating to mark a change–a bit of planning to be able to call it an event, and a few minutes together as a family to roll baby pumpkins around on the ground. Yes, I overthought it all–but it is exciting to be able to share these little festivals, little passages of time, with a little baby. And to hope that some of the excitement will stick, and that we’re starting our own little traditions to grow as he does.
This has been a summer of baseball, as we’ve happily learned that our newest addition likes a summer evening at the ballpark as much as we do. The local Single A team just moved downtown near us, encouraging us to attend more and (horray!) encouraging a lot more visitors to our neighborhood. I’ve attended at least a dozen games this summer, and the boys have gone to even more. There were lots of games with friends, and games with just the three of us on a picnic blanket. There were rain-outs spent in the gift shop, and baby-melt-downs that had us leaving in the 4th inning, and late nights watching fireworks after extra innings (the Turtle loves the fireworks–if he can make it that long).
Pre-season open house. Baby at 4 months.
There was a lot of opposition to the new ballpark. See, Fort Wayne, and really all of Indiana, has a problem with low self-esteem. It’s not just that they don’t want to spend the money on a nice new ballpark, it seems that the collective voice often states that we just don’t deserve to have something shiny and up-to-date. The old stadium works, darn it, and we ought to be grateful that we’ve got anywhere at all to watch a game. And the downtown isn’t pretty, but we don’t need pretty, and we don’t need the economic boost that comes with pretty. We’re making due, and we have no right to ask for more.
Showing team spirit. For papa's team. (He's wearing a jersey, too.)
And so I’ve really been enjoying just how good baseball has been this season. The new park is fabulous–it captures the feeling of a calm oasis downtown while also containing all the excitement of a close game. The stadium’s crew puts on a good show–dancing grounds crews, between-inning games, nightly promotions (Thirsty Thursdays with dollar beer, a favorite). Many games have sold out, and that’s all the seats from the fancy boxes to the lawn spots (also a favorite). And to top it all off, a championship team, that won their final game last night.
On the lawn in June.
Change is good. Just ask Turtle–you can see how much he’s changed between the pre-season open house and a stop by the ballpark last night to listen to the radio broadcast as the team won the championship game on the road.
Last night.
So thanks, TinCaps, for reminding the Fort that it’s okay to win sometimes, and it’s okay to want it.
Has there been a buzz about canning around the internets, or am I just searching it out? Early in June I took on my first ever canning project–strawberry jam. And y’know, it wasn’t too tough. Easier than most recipes–although a bit messier and a bit more time involved. But not as crazy hard as I thought it was going to be.
Spaghetti Sauce
The jam was well received (I’m eating it for breakfast almost every day now, and Christer’s known to eat half a jar and half a loaf of bread as a “snack”), and I was hooked. Our basement now holds:
Berries in Brandy. So good on ice-cream.
Strawberry Jam, Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, Sweet & Sour Sauce, Garlic Mustard, Spaghetti Sauce (lots of that!), Raspberry Jam, Chocolate-Raspberry Jam, Dilly Beans, Mint Jelly, Blueberry Pie Filling, Canned Peaches, and Blackberries in Brandy.
Mint Jelly. Can't imagine what I'm going to do with it all.
It’s been fun following the seasons as local harvests have come and gone. Although I’ll admit that the Sweet & Sour and Mustard have absolutely nothing local in them–they were just experiments to keep me busy early in the summer before there was much in our CSA basket. And I’m doubtful of the nutritional value of canning (Raspberry Jam contains 5 cups berries and 7 cups sugar–which begs the question of whether we’re preserving berries in sugar or sugar in berries). The mint jelly pictured above was made from CSA mint–but the color is quite unatural (but pretty!). I could probably make a case for the money savings–except that I’m not sure we’ve eatten 3 jars of jam in the last year, let alone the 3 dozen we’ve now got in storate. So I’m not going to argue that putting local produce to work this way is healthy, economical, or otherwise a good use of my time.
Peaches in Syrup
Ah, but I’m loving the craft of it. It’s like knitting that you can eat, right? Following patterns, making a few changes as you go along (always being careful to keep things that effect the acidity the same, but you knew that, right?), watching the colored jars pile up, enjoying the cleverness of the tricks of the trade. And feeling a connectedness to the product that only comes from knowing all the steps–and having mistepped a few times as well.
Blueberry Pie Filling, of course
All of this to say that yesterday I opened my first can of pickles–dilly beans actually, the one jar that didn’t seal and has been waiting and pickling in the fridge. And now it is nearly gone, and I am eagerly anticipating its 6 cousins in the basement. And although I had promised myself no more pickles, because only one of three in our house eats them, I think I am going to need to make some more.
Dilly Beans
I feel the beginnings of a stash…
I think that I am finally on the way to getting the living room set up the way I want it. We’ve lived here, um, over 2 years–and it just hasn’t come together right. But this weekend there was a trip to Ikea:
Great trip, by the way. Fun time with friends. Knitting and chatting on the road. Entertainment (and muscle power) provided by one 7 year old. About 6 hours spent in Ikea (Christer has indulged my Ikea obsession, but would never stay that long). 7 carts and flats full o’ stuff between the 3 1/2 of us. Noodles & Co for dinner when it was all done. (Noodles is inching into Indiana… when will it get here?)
Now there is a rug on the floor, one bookshelf built and another waiting for after-bedtime tonight. There are paint chips on the table. I’m really trying to keep the momentum going to get this all together this month. Photos? Nope, not yet. But soon.
Nine months! Yes, it’s getting a bit old that every time I write one of these I make some comment about time flying, etc. But really, 9 months already? How did that happen?
Turtle’s crawling around at full speed, and pulling up on anything and everything. This new freedom means lots more time for him to play independently–but it also means that he needs more supervision, so we’re both still learning how we can both get done what we want to get done during the day. I’m still a big fan of just going outside. Whether at the park or in our backyard, there’s so much to explore, so little to be dangerous, and usually a bit of time for me to knit. Also, it is nearly impossible to wash a dish or fold laundry while outside.
The Turtle’s getting more opinionated–he likes peaches & graham crackers but not peas or baby rice teething biscuts. He likes crawling after cats and dogs, and petting them if they let him. He still likes ceiling fans, but would now rather play with a swinging door (watch those fingers!) or wheels on a stroller. He has favorite pages in a few books, usually those with pictures of smiling babies. His whole body tenses with excitement when he spies papa, and he bops his head around to dance when mama sings. He still loves getting that calming pat on the diaper when he’s tired and having trouble falling asleep.
Turtle met almost all of Christer’s side of the family this month–his brother and two sisters, and various aunts, uncles and cousins at the reunion. After hearing about some Italian tourists who didn’t need English to comment that Turtle is “grande” (he’s still above the 90th percentile on those growth charts), Christer’s cousins took to nicknaming him El Grande. The nickname has sort of stuck, but I think I’ll keep calling him Turtle around here. Turtle was featured in the Oldest And Youngest photo at the reunion with the eldest of Christer’s mom’s siblings, and he got to meet Christer’s favorite aunts–three nuns who have shown up on this blog in the past. We also fit in a quick trip to visit my aunt and uncle, and some college friends, in Chicago. Let’s see–Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Utah and Idaho–that’s 20% of the states!
I’ve mentioned that Christer was home a lot this month, and Turtle was loving it. It was especially useful having him around at the beginning of the month when Turtle had learned how to sit up, but not how to lie back down. Every naptime and bedtime (and a couple times a night as well) was a struggle. We’d put him down, and he’d immediately pop up, like a little punching bag. Even if he’d been cuddled and rocked to sleep, he still would sit up as soon as we put him down, sometimes with his eyes still closed. And then there would be tears, because he was tired, and he wanted to sleep, but he was sitting. Luckily it only took a week or so for him to learn to lie back down. Also luckily it was pretty darn amusing to watch, otherwise it would have been just frustraiting.
And with that, he’s letting me know that he’s done napping and ready to explore some more. We’re off and running!
Our usual library routine includes a stop by the reserve section to see what’s waiting for us, a quick roll of the stroller past the cooking or knitting or fiction section to see what catches my eye, a whole lot of time playing in the preschool area, the realization that we are inches from meltdown and it’s time to go, and finally piling baby back into the stroller with as many books as he’s managed to knock off the shelves and checking them out before falling asleep on the walk home. We don’t actually read at the library–there’s too much else to do–and so I was very pleasantly surprised when we sat down with some books this morning to see this in the mix:
I vaguely remember putting some sort of “daddy” book in the stroller, but, turns out, the daddy and the papa in the title are the kid’s two fathers. Now there’s a lot right about this book. Cute book for the board-book-age — bright pictures, cute text about daddy and papa playing with the kid with paper airplains and tea parties and whatnot. And it’s hardly the only kids’ book, even baby book, that shows a family with gay parents. What really hit me, and has had me grinning all morning, is how we accidentally ended up with this book. Didn’t have to go to the indie bookstore to find it, didn’t have to read some review on a lefty blog. It just made it’s way home in a big pile of books, just the way it should.
There’s a lot of messages marketed to kids that make me cringe. And while I won’t be trying to censor all of it away from Turtle, I know that sooner or later, and probably often, some book or something from school, or even a stray comment by Christer or I will lead to a talk on We-Don’t-Do-Things-That-Way-In-Our-House. So it’s nice to know that the right messages can slip in, too.
Now if only a pint of Hubby Hubby would also accidentally make its way home with us…
I’m getting payback for my night of productivity in the form of a nagging cold. But I still think it was worth it–14 pints of sauce are happily waiting for a trip down to the basement, and what wouldn’t fit in the jars is waiting for dinner tonight. I hope it tastes as good today as it did in the wee hours of the morning–we’ve got a lot of it.
So, the cold has finally gotten me thinking that fall is coming. Turtle’s got it, too, so he’s been kinda fussy today. Why do these things hit both of us at once, making us both grumpy? The weather is mild, and we’re sneezing and sniffling, and I’m blaming fall. The plan for the day is to finish cleaning up the kitchen from last night’s project, to drink lots of liquids, and to do as little else as possible. Which is why I am posting in the middle of the day.
But, fall also means that knitting looks more appealing. (Both for me, and for my classes, which filling up with students, yay!) So the pictures are of another knitted gift from the weekend’s shower–this one made by all the knitters in our little group. It’s basicly the same idea as a blanket they made Turtle, and he loves his, so we did it again. The yarn is Crayon, from Knitpicks, held double. Each stripe is 20sts across on size 11 needles. Differences in gauge make for the curvy shape, but the blanket is so loose and stretchy that it doesn’t really hold any shape, so it might as well be a bit wonky. The colors were fun to work with, and perfect for our bright-color-loving fellow knitter. Here’s the mom & dad, with the baby bump trying out the blankie:
Also, I got to put it together in rainbow order, which always makes me kind of happy. And maybe enough crazy, bright, rainbow, happy, baby, fuzzy, warm pictures in a row will make the snuffles a little less annoying.
Can I just start by saying that roasting tomatoes and canning sauce is much more comfortable on a 45 degree night at 1am than during the traditional summer afternoon?
That’s my attempt at seeing the jar half-full as I try to stay awake as the last batch processes. We picked up half a bushel of tomatoes from the CSA farm today (they tried to sell me a whole bushel, which, I now know, would be 50 pounds of tomatoes!) I waited until the Turtle went down for the night before starting this project–and sometime around bedtime I got an assurance from Christer that he can watch a baby in the morning while I sleep in, horray!
So August is over, my computer tells me, and it has been September for nearly an hour. August was a good month. Christer was home lots, we traveled a bit, we’ve spent lots of time with friends, I got some breaks from baby-duty and Christer got some breaks from the office. There was a decent amount of sitting around, a lot of running around to get to this event or that, and even a bit of sleeping in. I sort of kept up with my photo log–almost half as many pictures as days. Not great, but more than I usually post. I was struck by how often I would think that I had the perfect shot, but I didn’t want to bother to ruin the moment by getting out the camera. So I wouldn’t, and then I wouldn’t have anything to post.
September is going to be a different beast, I think. Christer’s got a very full teaching load and several other projects at work. Turtle and I are getting back into our routine–but with changes. I’ve gotten myself a bit over-committed at church this fall, and I’m excited to see how some challenges play out. The Turtle is getting social enough that we’re going to try to attend more playgroups and such–it’s worth the hassel to get to watch him play with other kids.
The sweater above (fitting for cooling days) is for an October baby whose shower we attended over the weekend. Necco Wafer from Twist Collective–love the pattern so much that I already have yarn to make one for Turtle in a larger size.
And with that, I think it’s time to pull some pasta sauce out of the water. Keep your fingers crossed that I hear 8 little jars pop sealed.
