Elsie and Alma

Ten Favorite Aromas

Every season has its odors, good or bad, but I think I smell more in the late spring/early summer. My sniffer is fully operational this time of year.

Here are ten things I never get tired of smelling. And these are not really seasonal, but this is my blog so I can be oddball and just throw things out there. Right?

OK, here we go:

Coffee: Beans and grounds, brewed and espresso'ed (is that a word? surely not), spent and ready for the garden. It's all the best.

Mint leaves: I am not particular on the kind. Chocolate Mint? Yes. Lemon Mint? Yup. Cat Mint? Meow.

Beach: I am distinguishing "beach" from "ocean spray/salt water" because I think most people love the light scent of ocean salt water. But do you love beach? Seaweed and the fart-y smell of lowtide? The occasional whiff of dead and decaying fish and crab? Yeah, that is what I am talking about. Sometimes in my far north neighborhood I will smell the Sound and it's an immediate and visceral return to my childhood home. I can feel the barnacle cuts on my feet and the mud of the tide flats through my toes. Delicious.

Outdoor woodfire: It's wrong to love a firepit. Polluting and kind of unnecessary. Probably not so healthy, either. It's wrong, but I don't want to be right.

Envelopes and paper: I don't think I can explain this.

Geraniums: And not the scented ones, although those are great. I mean just the regular old hardy geraniums, when they get a bit too vigorous and you have to rip some out. They smell a little bitter, a little citrus-y, but I still like it, in reasonable amounts.

Seafood of any kind: See "Beach" above.

Just snuffed match: Is that weird?

Green wood: Take a branch from a tree or a woody shrub that you've just pruned. Peel back the bark and smell the white-green underneath and tell me you aren't moved by that.

Strawberries: Especially when they are being cooked up for jam.

A big pile of compost: The dark pile of goodness dumped in the driveway. It's been awhile since I had that much delivered but it is heavenly.

Creme Fraiche

I made it.

It's actually spelled with a ^ in there somewhere but I am too lazy to figure out how to get special characters in here, so just imagine it in your mind.

Why make this stuff? Well, it is not the same as sour cream and if you come across a recipe that calls for creme fraiche, there is no substitute. The flavor is more subtle than sour cream and I am sure the foodies of world could expound on this fully. I have read it described as "nutty." Mm-kay. Sure. I will say, it is delicious.

Making it yourself is EASY, and cheap.

Ingredients:

Heavy whipping cream (a cup or so)

Buttermilk (two tablespoons or so)

Instructions:

Mix together in glass container. Cover. Leave out for 8-24 hours until thick.

Put in fridge.

That's it.

This is only the second time I've made it, and I swear it was not thickening up as fast as it had before, so I monkeyed with it a bit by adding more buttermilk. I would post some links to recipes but there are so many on the interwebs, you can Bing/Google it yourself, and then decide which one to do. But basically they are all the same: about a cup of heavy whipping cream, two-three tablespoons of buttermilk, mix them up well in a glass container, set it out covered for anywhere from 8-24 hours.

I did find one recipe that said to heat up the ingredients slightly. I can see that working, if only to get the stuff up to room temp faster, but it is not necessary if you are patient. Why dirty another pan?

I am going to eat mine with some homemade granola and save the rest for a recipe...

This kind of makes me want to try making cheese. But only kind of.

The quickest post ever to say......i am back. From a loooooooong break. Why? Who knows. I'll write something up for sharing soon.

Like it?

I added a Like button to the left side of the blog. My intention is to provide another avenue for anyone who might want to read new posts to access them. Some people have an aversion to feed readers.

The theory goes that if you "like" this, then the posts (or at least links to them) would show up in your News Feed on Facebook. (You can already get them from Twitter. Sometimes. I think.). However, I think there is one more step I need to take to share via Facebook and I am trying to avoid it...as it involves blasting it out to everyone I know on FB. I don't mine telling people I attended kindergarten with that "I need more coffee", but I am not completely certain I am ready to invite them all here. And I am more certain many would not be that interested anyway.

Anyway, give this a try and we can see if I can get this option working. Personally, I think the feed reader is the best, but what the heck.

The Typepad instructions are clear-ish, but not completely, and I don't want to test this out without knowing for sure what the outcome will be. It is one of those Reply All moments waiting to happen. You know what I am talking about. 

______________________________________

TO: JennyB, Entire Dept Alias I forgot to remove

Subject: RE: Some random office thing

Snarky comment about someone else's comment, only meant for JennyB, most likely boss or other entity higher up on the org chart than you. Using the RECALL function only makes it worse. Everyone would have ignored your semi-clever remark, but as soon as they see the RECALL, they will be all over that first message. They're vultures that way.

Soon to be former employee,

You R. SoScrewed

_______________________________

Anyway, that is all for tonight. Over and out.

Life and how to live it

One way would be to NOT work all weekend, unless the work involves dirt, fabric, yarn, or screaming outside.

There is something about the expression on Soren's face and the way his foot is outstretched that sums up a lot of how I am operating these days. He looks like he is sliding into home plate, maybe, or holding on for dear life while careening around a corner in a sports car just in time to avoid....an explosion? A cliff? A very big rock? And he's there with his sister sitting serenely at his side in a hand-me-down dance recital dress and purple rain boots saying, "Everything will be fine, just hang in there, it's almost over, and then it is all good." They look like characters in a dream you might have after eating too much junk food.

These two. My better angels. Or something. I am hanging in there and coming up for air soon, I think.

Drumroll, please...

Yes, my sentiments exactly. I could not get a pic with both kids, so here it is, posing with each child.

And again:

I will post some final pics after I quilt it. Strictly close up stuff.

Enjoy your weekend!

DONE! Kind of...

First of all, I do not get the whole game of writing titles that might pique someone's interest out there on the interwebs. If I were that interested in attracting traffic, I'd just use naughty* titles, and watch my stats go up. So, yeah, lame title, and no pictures, either. This post is a loser from all angles.

BUT. I just had to share that I got the quilt top done. Now, in the next 3 weeks I just have to sandwich, baste, quilt, and bind it. Then complete about 40 tasks related to a documentation release. And keep another volunteer project afloat. And oh, there is some child care in there as well and maybe some cleaning, and laundering, and possible hygiene, altho that is low on the list, and did I mention that two of my closest friends are moving away and I just turned 40?

It has been a crazy month, people. I am making progress and hanging in there. I will have some pictures soon.

Until then, hang in there yourself, you readers, whoever you are. And a shout out to my dictionary reading friend Katrina. While I don't sit down and read a dictionary, I have found myself researching far beyond the word I was looking up. I think I might make it goal to get through at least one letter and build a word list to share. Or not share. My words!

Enjoy the spring, and let all your beloved people not move too far away from you too quickly. Because that sucks.

*I was going to use another four letter word that starts with "p" and rhymes with "corn", but I am worried that will pique the wrong interest as well...Pique is the word I am looking for, right? I know it is not "peek" or "peak". Or "peep", altho that would funny, to peep someone's interest. OK, I am done now.

I love this

Juliet Lapidos on Slate posted an entry with a link to a list of words circled in David Foster Wallace's dictionary.

I have to admit, there was some fun in analyzing the choices. Some of the words he seemed to choose for their brazen obscurity, but a lot of them are not all that obscure, such as "Aquavit" or "apathetic". And I remember Michael Chabon (I think it was him) talking about how sometimes when you are writing you are looking for word with a certain rhythm, and I think we all do that, whether we know it or not. Maybe these choices have more to do with accent and sound than meaning.

You could puzzle on it for a long time, looking for a pattern. That kind of puzzle doesn't interest me as much as just poring over the words and reading the definitions. It makes me want to pick up my own dictionary and do the same. You never know where you might find some inspiration.

You hear people joke about reading the dictionary likes it's a bad thing.

Only DFW knows for sure what he meant. RIP, Mr. Wallace.

What? We're halfway through April?

The consistency, both in quality and regularity, of my posts has diminished. (Boy, that sounds like I am talking about something else altogether.) I believe I've already blamed my time commitments and so forth.

I am not immune to the wonders of spring, however, and am happy to report that my sinuses are much happier, which freed me to bring a bit of the good stuff indoors.

I promise to share fun things soon (and not pictures taken with my camera phone, like the one above). I am up against multiple deadlines, but May is looking good.

Time, time, time

See what's become of me.

My sister asked me over the weekend if my readers (as in, her), would ever find out what happened to the quilt.

This is just a quick note to say, one, yes, you will. Two, it's been a perfect storm of busy-ness for me the last few weeks plus sinus infection. I have missed coming here and sharing MORE on a regular basis, and I actually have a few thoughts ready to go, just no pictures and well, they need editing.

But. I have three different parts of my life converging in a way that keeps me from doing what I really want to do. I just keep thinking, it will all be over soon, and then I can breathe.

Let's just say I'm looking forward to May 1.  I think that is when things will wrap up to my satisfaction.

I'll get a few blurbs in between now and then, but they will be sparse.

Ciao for now.