Big Leaf

Tonight when returning home from my bro-in-law Jon's birthday celebration I found the biggest maple leaf I've ever seen. Where in the heck did this thing come from?

For My Life and Simplicity's Sake

Today was my last day at work. I will be starting a new job on Monday. I've stepped off my intended career trajectory without understanding what it will mean for my future, which is a very challenging thing for me. Knowing I'm on a path forward, moving toward something definite and being dutiful to what I think I "should" be, have always been great comforts to me. Comfort in the sense that you believe you can see what's ahead clearly, which is of course, the illusion of control.

At the same time these "comforts" have also been so restrictive that I couldn't step off the path without severe anxiety. The irony is that I've put myself through hell trying not to stray from what I was "supposed" to do, which in turn caused the most extreme internal discord I have ever experienced. So much so, that it took a severe toll on my mental and physical health.

I've spent the last year feeling like a square peg in a round hole. No matter how much I wanted to do good or help people or persevere, I knew in my heart I could not continue. This was sad and a struggle to me, because under other circumstances, it might have been the right job for me. What I can say calmly now and with certainty is that it wasn't the right place and time for me. That's not something I can control or decide. That just is.

So, I found a new job and made the choice to take it for my life and for simplicity's sake. I need to be well. I need to find balance. I am looking forward to building my sense of self and living richly outside work.

That being said, it was hard for me to leave today. I cried when I had to move my boxes out of my office. I didn't expect that. I guess it shows my dedication and sense of duty, even when continuing to do something meant hurt.

I've learned a lot in a short time and for that I am appreciative. Right now I'm giving myself the freedom to not know what's next, down the road, or forever. I'm going to focus on being rather than doing.

Garden Fresh Tomatoes

We haven't done so well at nurturing our garden veggies this summer. I think we have learned things in the process that will assist us in making better choices next year all the way from seed to table. Tonight we enjoyed California BLTs made with a big, bright-red heirloom tomato. It was juicy, tangy, spicy, earthy all at once.

I Can't Believe I Live Here!

So, wow! Over the past year we have been living in a house with an essentially uninhabitable living room. It was the only room in the house we didn't paint justifying it by saying, "oh, we don't want to paint until we know what our furniture will be so it can all work together."

Then we started slowing amassing some vintage furniture pieces, but nothing you could sit on. After nearly a year we took a leap and bought an awesome mid-century couch. When we got it home it turns out it was less than awesome because it smelled and Silvio thought it was the biggest scratching post ever. While he slowly destroyed it, we took our time deciding whether we'd put it on the curb or reupholster it. Turns out upholstery fabric is super expensive and by the time we decided we'd be willing to sell it, it was not salable due to damage.

Then for a while, it was "well, we don't want to spend money on new furniture because it's soooo expensive and we are still afraid it will get damaged by the feline." Funny how we arrange our whole lives around this little being and he doesn't even speak back to us. One weekend, without much fan fare, we just drove down to Macy's in Schaumburg, IL and bought a new leather couch and two arm chairs. I will never look back!

Two lessons learned.

Lesson #1: Furniture that you can sit on is important! It doesn't matter if you have a huge beautiful living room if you never use it because you have nothing to sit on. Also, if you have nothing to sit on it's hard to invite friends and family over because sitting at the kitchen table will only do for so long.

Lesson #2: Even if furniture seems relatively expensive, and I'm at peace with what we paid, it is worth it! You can't live your whole life sitting on the floor, unless you're camping (smile)!

Before the furniture arrived we painted a color I've had on a swatch in the cabinet for five months. Purple, baby!

We still have to finish trim on the baseboards and windows and rehang most of our art, but we're almost there. Without further ado, our new and improved living room. I can't believe I live here! I just love it.

Fireplace Facelift

One afternoon back in April I started peeling paint off of our mantel without really giving thought to how much work it would be to refinish the thing. At that time the only thing on my mind what that it was a travesty for someone to paint over lovely woodwork.

Ry didn't really want to tackle this job, full-well knowing the work involved, but I didn't give him a choice. Thankfully, he is sweet of heart and possesses home improvement skills. I am a lucky woman who is overjoyed for this change that improves the quality of our living space. We are finally on our way to a cozy living room after a year of sitting in the kitchen!


Peeling process. I helped with this stage, though I'll admit I helped with nothing afterward.


Sanding the oak after scraping and stripping original varnish.


Resting with mask on forehead, admiring hard work.


Applying new stain.


After the last coat of varnish.


Next step, purple living room! Hence the furniture pushed to the middle of the room. I dislike these colors that belong to the former owner with my whole soul. Glad we will have something new in the near future.

Farmer's Market to Table

Ry has been tethered to the task of refinishing our fireplace mantel, which left me lots of time to kill this weekend. I filled it by riding a good fourteen miles on my bikecycle and gathering the fixin's for a home-cooked Sunday meal.

One of the places I rode was the West Allis Farmer's Market, which I believe is the best market in the metro area. My purchases were limited to the capacity of my bike basket, so I kept it simple. I purchased a whole organic chicken to roast with a tried and true Cook's Illustrated recipe, some taters, tomatoes and lovely flowers.

Flowers at the market are such a steal! It was quite a task making it home with them safely in tact given the cool and strong breeze flowing through the city this weekend.


Farmer's Market finds in tow.


Cook's French Chicken in a Pot recipe.


Naked, patted-dry, salted and peppered bird.

This was my first experience with preparing an entire animal for supper. I freaked out when I had to stick my hand in the cavity and pull out the gizzards. I only managed to get the heart out and had to have Ry come in and get the liver.

I think it was a good experience for me. I believe Ry's direct quote was "woman, if you can't do this you have no business being a carnivore", which is completely true. Since we've morphed back from vegan to veggie to meat eaters again, it's important for me to have this experience. It reminded me that what I intended to eat was at one time a living, sentient being. Holding the whole animal in my hands and preparing it, instead of some freakishly large frozen chicken breast out of a bag, was quite the reality check.


I seared each of the sides with just a bit of celery, onion and garlic in the dutch oven.


Lined top with foil before setting it to roast for two hours at a low temperature.


Internal temp of at least 175 degrees with the instant-read thermometer after two hours in the oven.


Our lovely table.


Chicken, peas and homemade pesto pasta for sup.


And I can't resist a pick of my mow-mow to finish out the day. He must miss his Uncle Steven 'cause he kept sleeping on the guest bed until we took the linens off.

Summer Feet

I swear my hubby is a walking ad for Chaco!

Hello Kitty

Sometimes you've just got to lighten things up a little. Last weekend I bought some new coloring books and have been indulging in easy-cheesy art. My conclusion is that coloring = zen.



In other kitty related news, ours is sick. Silvio has some kind of cat upper respiratory infection or the like. He got expensive little kitty tests at the vet and a shot. Now we are feeding him antibiotics which is a two man operation. For this week I've changed his pet name to "wheezy-sneezy".

Repotting Orchids

In the fall of 2008 we went to an orchid show at the Milwaukee Domes. At that time I purchased a set of two different phalenopsis varieties planted together in one pot. One had dark speckled blooms and the other a lighter and more familiar purple color. I never put them in a real pot and never really did anything to help them prosper like feeding or even really enough misting.

I did put them in the windows in cool weather to try and spur blooming and I'd cut off the blooms with a razor blade as is recommended. So, given my minimal effort it was no surprise to me really that they never bloomed again. In fact, I saw it as a blessing that I hadn't killed them because these plants are supposed to be notoriously finicky. I never found them to be that way.

Early this spring one of them shot up a stalk of blooms that lasted for a couple of months and finally just wilted. After the blooms kicked it the plants started to look really sad with some leaves turning yellow and just looking kind of deathly in general. Over the last year huge sections of roots had also started to spring out of the pot on all sides.

This weekend I finally got up the gumption to buy two separate pots and split them up into their own new homes. At the store I had picked up two pretty large pots when the plant lady told me that they'd never work because orchids like to be root-bound in tight, tall pots. I picked out two smaller ones instead. I also bought the special aerated orchid mix which you need to soak overnight for best results. Last night I did that and today I was ready to go.

Everything I read called for removing the current potting mix, trimming long roots down to six inches with a shear that you've cleaned with isoprophyl alcohol, placing them in the middle of a new pot and then filling in with pre-soaked orchid mix.


Pulling the plants out of the old mix and separating them. You can see from this picture just how root-bound those suckers had become.


I had a sense that one of the plants was choking out the other from how they'd been growing. I see after pulling them apart that I was wrong about which plant didn't have enough spaces. I was a-MAZED at how long the root structure had become. Probably over a foot of root complex for the larger plant. I snipped them down to six inches and was ready to put them in their new pots.


I picked out two pots that don't have drainage holes, which means that I am going to have to be extra careful with watering. Once you pour water through orchid mix it instantly drains out, leaving behind wet bark. They hate to sit in water, which means that every time I water I will have to tip them over and drain everything out completely. This choice was directly related to vanity, as all of the pots with drainage are super ugly. We'll see how it goes. You can see all of the other little supplies in the background.


New orchid home #1. This is the little guy that was suffering in the previous space sharing agreement. This pot looks like a knobby stump. Ry thinks it's ugly. I do too, but I also like it. Kind of kitschy cool, but also maybe just ugly. I'm alright with it.


New orchid home #2. This is the one that was large and in charge. I'm hoping this pot is big enough. The roots took up most of the space and I'm hoping that the woman was right about how they like a tight fit.

Huckleberry Pie

Ry and his bro Jon collected a Nalgene full of huckleberries on their recent back country hiking trip to Montana. They lugged the berries all the way home with the agreement that Ry would make a huckleberry pie for us to share.

We just spent the evening with Jon and his lovely lady Megan having dinner, drinks and of course, the pie. Ry made Cook's Illustrated Stuffed Manicotti. I made my famous homemade salad dressing and also some Texas Toast, which was about as far from homemade as it gets.

Family, good food and quality beer always make for an excellent night!