- The homemade sour cherry jam is tasty on ice cream.
- I made bread using a bottle of Southern Tier Imperial Compass ale (contains rose hips), white and wheat flour, yeast, urad dal flour, powdered coconut, and ground almonds. It is dense but flavorful.
- I've been mostly sticking to my resolution about buying at least as much produce from farmer's markets as I'd get from a CSA box. Which means I am constantly behind schedule on food-prep, but I am eating very, very well.
- The Thai basil and other herbs look good,as do the peppers. There are tons of potatoes out there that I should be digging up. Onions and shallots are okay. Carrots are hanging on. Harvested my first (yellow currant) tomatoes yesterday.
- Rattlesnake pole beans are in full swing; 5 bags of yellow wax beans are blanched and frozen.
- This weekend is the last leg of the conversion-journey. Repent, customers! So many things we begged to fix...I swear, we did what we could. We're still trying to fix things - those of us who haven't walked away in disgust or self-preservation.
- There are rumors of a re-org soon. For once, I think we're actually due. It seems unlikely that a re-org will fix our troubles, but I'm hoping it will at least drop me down to 4 bosses.
- I might get a kayak sometime soon. A sit-on-top, preferably the very cheapest of the good ones. Possibly a Pescador 12. I'll just troll the sale stuff at the local sports stores; I'm not in a hurry. There's always Rutabaga, but I'm not looking to go that high-end right now, or anywhere in the near future.
- Lake Mills art fest was this weekend; I got a small crystalline glaze bowl from Mary Merrill. Soft green and splotchy, like a beautiful algae bloom, with deep teal crystals bleeding into a black center. Sadly, the glazes are not food-safe; I prefer practical pottery.
- The aspects of life that I don't talk about here are a mixed bag: some good, some deeply frustrating. Writing is stalled out, for reasons that have nothing to do with writing. Mom is still doing well.