Weekend Yardwork

After a weekend spent cleaning gutters, raking, trimming hedges, cutting back heaping mounds of dead landscaping and storing away all of the patio gear (not that we have much of it)...I see why people always smile and say slyly, "so, how do you like home ownership?" Well, my answer to that question is even with the mucky, dirty and hard work, I still love it. It's nice to be tasked with taking care of something that's yours and working hard to that end.

I felt happy for the sunny and mild weekend, which made the outdoor work more enjoyable. We tied the beast up in the yard where he rolled around in lots of dirt and each of us set out to our own individual tasks. As we completed this work I couldn't help feeling satisfied that we have a modest home and small yard. I can't imagine what it would be like to complete these cleaning and maintenance tasks for something even twice the size of our small lot. Modesty is a virtue - it's gratifying to know that not only do we not need more, but that it would probably be really annoying to keep up with maintenance for something larger.

I was also thankful for the opportunity to try my hand at home maintenance tasks that have always interested me, but I wouldn't have been allowed to do in my family home because I was known (and still am sometimes) by the nick name "Brutus". Clearly my parents don't think I have a delicate touch. Point in case, I was not allowed to use the lawn mower or the exercise bike for the last several years I lived at home.

So, why would anyone be excited to clean gutters you might ask? For the sheer novelty of it, I suppose. But I also liked the additional perspective being up on a ladder, seeing our neighborhood and St. Luke's hospital for a different angle. I was closer to the birds and I could peer down on things. It was also interesting to see the top of our house. No big explanation there, I just liked being up high. It's also clear to me that our previous homeowner may never have attempted to clean the cutters during her tenure. They were filled inches of black muck that I had scrape out with a putty knife and lots of leaves on top of that.

Not a flattering pic in the least, but you get the general idea.

Gutter muck. It got inches thicker than what is picture here.

Bucket of gutter muck.

Additional tasks accomplished this weekend:

Ry - Put on storm windows, cut down several years worth of unattended undergrowth from our landscaped yard and bagged up lots of yard waste.

Brutus - Cleaned cutters, trimmed out-of-control boxwood bushes into sweet little topiary-like globes with a hand trimmer, raked the yard and stowed away fire pit and chairs.

Beautiful hawthorne tree berries.

I love this man. My little elf, messing around during a break from hard labor.

On a totally separate note, what's a Knudson weekend without cooking?

Ry made his typical weekend loaf of bread, a whole grain sourdough miche. We improvised a dish with Israeli couscous, a grain we've never cooked with before. And I made my weekly pot of Sunday soup. I realized that this weekend makes something like four or more weekends I've cooked a big pot of soup for the week. It's nice to see little traditions emerging that define what our family life will be like. We'll be out of town this coming weekend, but I like my Sunday soup tradition, so I'll try to stick with it.

Here are the vegan, gluten-free soups I've made over the past month, three of which were totally improvised and turned out deliciously:

Weekend #1 - Pureed Lentil

Weekend #2 - Tomato, Potato & Kale

Weekend #3 - Black Bean & Kasha

Weekend #4 - Butternut Squash & Potato Curry Mash

Yay for hard labor in the yard and new family traditions!

Sunday loaf.

Israeli couscous with steamed brussel sprouts and pine toasted pine nuts.

Squash innards.

Butternut Squash & Potato Curry Mash

Beast in the sun. I'm a little embarrassed how quickly I'm becoming a unabashed cat lover.

A New Knudson Family Member

And not the baby kind, for those of you that may have just gotten ahead of yourselves. Today we welcomed Ry's old cat Silvio back into the family. Silvio lived with Ry for five years until we had to give him because no cats were allowed in our residence hall apartment. Apparently he was in need of a new home again and we got the call asking whether or not we'd be in a position to take him.

Since giving up Silvio Ry had been very vocally basking in cat-free life, saying that he was so glad that he didn't have to clean up any cat hair and that it was gross how they climbed all over everything. He said he never, ever wanted a cat again. I still held out hope that someday maybe we could get one, or at least some kind of pet but had mostly come to the conclusion that our house is too small for a dog. The night before we got the call I was looking at little grey cats on the Humane Society website, hoping to very passively entice Ry into a new one.

We took a few days to deliberate and to weigh the pros and cons. Silvio was always extremely active, sometimes very aggressive (I have a big bite scar on my leg to prove it) and very vocal. We thought about the house and how we'd keep it in order, whether he'd break our things, whether he'd eventually be compatible with a baby. In spite of all of the questions, I still wanted him and Ry essentially left the choice up to me.

Last night we went out for dinner at a restaurant with a patio called Senor Luna that we saw along a bike path in New Berlin. On the drive there we got a big chuckle thanks to a middle aged man driving a bright yellow Miata with a license plate that read "MENTOR". He was jamming out thoughtfully to Steve Nicks singing "Landslide" and then pulled out a rag to buff finger prints off the door while he was waiting at the stop light. This scene was just too much for each of us. Senor Luna was nothing spectacular, but we enjoyed sitting outside and drinking margaritas. We kept laughing because I was wearing my sunglasses with mirrored fronts and Ry could not stop looking at himself and making goofy faces into them. Afterwards we stopped at the pet store to by supplies like food, litter box, toys, etc.

We spent this morning cleaning up the house and put away a few valuables that we were worried Silvio might break, such as the clay candeleria from Mexico that sits on our mantel. He was dropped off at around 1:30 and we've been watching him check things out. He was very timid and quiet at first roaming from room to room. Overall he seems a little mellower, a few more years might have just done him some good. He's still vocal, meowing every time he enters a room to announce his presence. He loves our big windows and has found a few perches that will probably be permanent.

In other news, Ry has been experimenting with a new whole wheat sour dough starter he created from the original starter my friend Kathleen gave him in Durango, CO on our summer road trip. We've been rich with bread and it's starting to taste more sour with the new recipes Ry is trying. Not sure whether I mentioned the starter before, but it was a pretty spectacular gift. It's been alive and well in Kathleen's family since 1963 when a customer who needed dental work couldn't pay for it and traded Kathleen's father the starter in exchange for the work.

I've been mostly going to bed early without doing much else after getting home from work this past week. This afternoon I tried out a new recipe from Vegetarian Times that I had been excitedly waiting to make. It was a kasha black bean soup. When I initially identified the recipe as something I want to try, I had bought all of the ingredients. However, by the time I got ready to make it I had already used them. So, I subbed out red bell pepper for hot fresh banana peppers and black-eyed peas for black beans. It only took about a half hour to make and was a spectacular lunch for a cool afternoon. We paired it with Ry's crusty homemade bread creation from this morning and voila!

Since I've been getting questions about the vegan pledge, here's where we're at...we've still been eating mostly vegan, but have integrated dairy items (mostly cheese) just a few times a week. It's simply too hard when you're not always in control of where you are and what they will have available. Sometimes it's just a nice treat. I'm trying to look at it in a less rigid when than when we initially committed. We are totally meat free, we feel much better, have lost weight and are still mostly vegan, most days. We've made good progress and that good progress is not negated by dairy every now and then (mostly weekends).

The other thing I started working on is a new hand sewn baby quilt for my old boss Michael. He and his wife are set to have a baby this fall and I haven't been able to work on one since little Chloe Hetzel was born in February. It will take me some time to complete, but I've posted pictures of the preparation and pinning process.

Finally, my drive to and from Whitewater has been just lovely over the past week. It's starting to look a little bit like fall with a red or yellow tree popping up every now and then. Also, I've been some great wildlife including sand hills cranes in flight, hawks, a woodchuck and a lovely cream colored horse mottled with red spots. I can't wait for fall colors to hit in earnest. This is by far my favorite season of the year.


Ironing the fabric after I washed it and pre-shrunk the organic cotton/bamboo batting. All supplies from Drawstring Studio, which has an Etsy shop and a local brick and mortar store in Bayview. A friend Danielle owns this, so...go buy local and support her great fabric store!


Cutting off a little excess batting after I sandwiched it smoothly between the two layers of fabric.


Pinned with the edges folded over.


Silvio, our new/old addition.


We are so crazy for fresh food it's a little ridiculous. Fresh goodies from last week's West Allis Farmer's Market.


The Kasha Black Bean Soup turned Kasha Black Eyed-Pea Soup.


A slice of Ry's homemade bread with natural peanut butter and Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry, my favorite delicious brand of French jams. The variety I love most is Four Fruits, if you are going to give it a shot.

Freedom

What a loaded word. Means so many things to different people. And I guess considering the day and the associations attached to the word, it may not be appropriate that my title has nothing to do with the concept itself and more to do with a novel that explores the concept in a way, at least as it's relevant to our post-post-industrial-techno-global-consumerist-scared as hell-the-world is going to end-amped up culture at the moment. So, later in the post I'll be getting to Jonathan Franzen and his new novel nine years in the making, Freedom. But what would a Megan post be without an existentially tinged life update.

Obviously, I've been preoccupied, as evidenced by the lack of writing here. But there hasn't been much occurring in our home life because I've been just too busy with work. For those of you that know me, what else is new, right? I'm learning that you can take the girl out of a stressful work environment and put her in a new, moderately stressful one, but you can't make her stop stressing. And as it turns out, she can't quite make herself stop stressing.

So, as my hubby would say, I'm dutiful, thoughtful, care about quality and am maybe more than a little bit perfectionist. But my fixation on all of that is not helping me feel sane or helping the work float thoughts away at night. I'm working on developing a new way of being related to work, but it's going to take some time. Adjustment to new situations is especially difficult for me. I always feel that I should be able to do everything right, the first time, right away, but of course that's not reasonable. I need to give myself the freedom to make a mistake and evolve without torturing myself. It's going to take some time and I hope that I can learn to exist with work in a way that also lets me achieve a modicum of calm in my life. I'm asking you to please help remind me.

Onto the book, Ry ran to the bookstore for me and got it on the second day after its release. I'd read the story about Franzen and his new "Great American Novel" in Time magazine. And my connection to The Corrections was so strong, that I wanted Freedom now. I devoured all 562 pages of it in a gluttonous Labor Day reading extravaganza ignoring all sense of normalcy such as showering, getting dressed, cooking, doing housework or talking with people. It was an escape but also an intense fixation. Ryan respected this little obsession and left me alone with it, knowing full well that it would probably make my mood dip once I was done. This is what usually happens when I read novels with ferocity, I'm let down and missing the characters and wanting it not to be over when I finish. The more intense the reading process, the more intense the let down, really.

When I finished I thought about picking it up and starting all over again. But alas, Ryan had started reading it while I wasn't looking, so that wasn't an option. I've spent a good amount of post-Freedom time thinking about its contents. I also listened to half an interview segment with Franzen on NPR's Fresh Air only to determine I'd rather read Franzen's beautiful novels than listen to what he has to say. So, what is the book about? And is it worth reading?

Yes, yes. Read it. It's a spot on description of our modern society, yet it's still personal, funny, cynical, full of humanity and hopeful at the same time. It's about what freedom means to us personally and what we "give up" when we commit to certain choices that guide us down life's path. It's about the yearning for those other paths and people, but the let-down that inevitably comes from trying to re-capture what we cannot have anymore and come to find out we may not have ever really wanted in the first place. It's about how we see ourselves, our contemporaries, our heritage and how we are connected to those that raised us and made us who we are. It's about America and how we cannot sacrifice what is right for part of what is right attached to a war or disgusting corporate interests because we think that's our only option at doing good. It's about marriage, commitment, love, families, sex. It's about the environment and lovely little birds. It's about everything modern. It's about characters and a story that suck you in without being pretentious. It's about a lovely vocabulary and a little bit of black humor that exposes a big heart for troubled-everyday people.

In short, it's wonderful. And you should read it, now. And afterwords you should read The Corrections too. And then we should talk about it, because I desperately want to talk about it with someone. As for the claim of next Great American Novel, I'm not so sure. I'd love to hear what others think in that regard.

And one last exciting thing on the home front: we got a rockin' vintage mint condition '50's table ($150) that fits perfectly in our kitchen and a brand new fire pit ($35) from Craigslist. Boo-ya consumer economy. Reusable goods for sale out of a fellow Milwaukeean's home are where it's at! You'll all have to come over and enjoy then with us soon.


Ry working some bread dough.


The new table.


Freedom, with a bunch of other junk on the table.


Funky detail.

An Excuse To Light Fireworks In The City

We hosted a small celebration on the 5th of July for family and friends, the first official gathering at our new home! The City of Milwaukee held each of the local parks fireworks shows on that Monday and we hoped folks might stick around with us to see the Jackson Park show from our patio. It served as a reason to get some of those last boxes unpacked and last little things in order. We didn't have much going on in the days prior to the soiree, so we slowly accomplished some of those tasks and of course went overboard with the meat-free cooking. For those of you that are wondering, we are still mostly dairy and animal product free, though we've loosened a little. Sometimes, it's just not practical.

It wasn't a huge gathering, but I was surprised by how many folks came. When we had everyone out on our patio, the space seemed relatively small. I was happy to see some much-loved faces I haven't been able to connect with in a while though the way of hosting a party dictates that it's tough to actually sit down and have a meaningful conversation with everything else going on. Nonetheless, it was wonderful to see friends with whom I haven't had the opportunity to connect in a long time. All in all the following folks were there: my Mom, Dad, sister Greta, bro-in law Jon, friend and close-enough-to-sister-in-law Megan, friend Andy, friend Cindy, friend Ryan, friend Elise, baby Chloe, friend Colin, friend Courtney, and friend Janice.

It was also nice to invite people into our home, even in its semi-finished state. I can be a perfectionist and sometimes I won't invite people over or share what I'm doing with others until it's just right. Of course, nothing's ever perfect and this is a habit that keeps me from living life to its full potential. So, it was a good test for me to invite people in despite the unfinished nature of things in our house. It's going to take a while to get settled and what a sad state it would be if we didn't invite anyone over until it was "done". Loved ones help make your house a home!

We chilled out on the patio until it was mostly dark sampling mostly vegan delicacies. Ry and I combined our efforts to make vegan italian sausages (Ry), homemade hotdog rolls (Ry), gazpacho (Ry), hummus (Ry), guacamole (Megan), chilled pea and garlic scape soup (Megan), grilled broccoli and green beans (Ry), homemade coconut ice cream sandwiches (Ry, but Megan helped assemble) and potent sangria (Megan).

People came and went throughout the afternoon and just a few stayed for the fireworks: my Dad, Jon and Megan. We could only see the high ones from our patio, but that was fine. Eventually the horrible mosquitos chased us off anyway and we didn't watch the end of the show. I was surprised by how many people were lighting fireworks in the neighborhood. I wondered how our neighbor the policeman would have reacted, but he was out of town. All in all, I found the sound of explosions did not make me comfortable, it made me worry about guns. Ry assured me the sound of fireworks is supposed to harken back to guns and cannons and all that. Pretty to watch, but makes me feel less than patriotic.

It was a nice night, the rain stayed away and I was glad to see friends and fam.

A few pics. isn't it just like me to only take pictures of the food projects? I guess I was too engrossed when our guests were actually over to even think about pics.


Part of the big pile of fruits and veggies on our counter prior to the event.


Mint, pea and garlic scape soup cooking. Before it was pureed.


Homemade hotdog buns.


Gazpacho in process. Ry just added chopped parsley from the West Allis Farmer's Market.


Beautiful sangria in my punch bowl. First time I've been able to use it, score!



Sangria up close and personal.


Assembling the ice cream sandwiches. This was a fun little task. It reminded me of making these with Babcock ice cream and cookies at my college cafe job with the UW Food Service!


Cookies sandwiches all wrapped up and ready for the freezer.

A Strange Thing Happened On The Way To The Internet

We've been in the house over a week now and we are barely settled. Boxes are sitting in random rooms still packed, black garbage bags are still hanging up with our clothes in them in various closets and we are missing a bunch of stuff. I only hope that as we unpack, box by box, we will recover our treasures (e.g. my work calendar and pictures from my European travels). I took the first two days after we moved off of work and was able to get the kitchen situated. This may sound like an easy task but I discovered we own a gagillion-million kitchen items - I think more than your average family. The upside of this is that I was able to wash them all in our dishwasher! You can't hear it but I'm exclaiming with glee :) And put them all away with cabinets and drawers to spare. We've been able to cook and sleep in our own bed, even if everything else is a mess. I already made a bean & barley vegetable soup, Ry's baked his first loaf of bread today and we've been feasting on fresh cut found wild asparagus. The chaos makes me anxious but so does the thought of unpacking it. So, I'm trying to tell myself we've got lots more time. Way more than the two days we had to pack up our apartment.

We went a total of about five days without Internet access and we're still without a TV. It was the most amazing thing, I felt pretty quiet in my head and enjoyed the lack of ever present contact. Ry and I sat out on our porch talking for hours, went to bed early and didn't worry about the fact that we weren't hyper-connected. So as you can see, we are back to the Internet. But I think we're soon making the move to a Mac desktop, which means we won't be able to take our computers to bed with us or have to compete for each other's attention because we're looking at some stupid thing or another.

There's a lot I could say about the baby bunny that lives in our yard, the wisteria and honeysuckle blooming, our mini drain backup after the big rainstorm Sunday, all of the wonderful visitors we've had (who remind me every day that living in a residence hall is a huge social barrier, even if I wanted to believe it wasn't), drinking "augmaritas" (thanks Jon) on our back patio, the man who sits under a bush on his lawn with his Shelty dog across the street, our other police officer neighbor who comes home for lunch in the paddy wagon, trying to buy our washer and dryer but forgetting our wallets at home, or the old dog across the street who sounds like a horse when he barks, but that's about all I'm going to say. It's been nice so far.

The other thing I want to say is a big thank you to everyone that helped us move. I was humbled that nine people came to help us and worked so hard. I owe you one - to everyone! Thank you Dad, Mom & Greta (awesome food!), Jon, Angel, Chris, Kelley, Greg, Renee, Colin, and Nate. I was especially humbled that so many of my co-workers came to help. It reminds me that we have a bond greater than your average work relationships create (a.k.a. smarter than the average bear! Ry doesn't get the reference). We are like a little res life family :) So again, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone that contributed something. We would not have been able to finish packing or move without your help.

Photos to come. My laptop is on the fritz and I can't find our card reader. But don't worry, I'm still taking them.

Ryan Bakes Bread

It was an adjustment to come back to work after two weeks of vacation during the holiday season. It was even more of a killer adjustment when staff came back, but now the residents are here and it's way too loud and boisterous. I've been sifting through piles of paperwork on my desk trying in vain to get things sorted out. I should know after three years that when you work with people things are never really sorted out. Doesn't matter what time of the year it is.

Additionally, I'm spending time thinking about writing cover letters for my impending job search. The key word is thinking. Somehow it plunges me into a sea of thoughts about where I'm at...where I've been... where I want to be...what I'm supposed to be doing... all things I really can't control. Also things that take away from the actual task I'm supposed to be accomplishing. But after college and graduate school I give myself the freedom to "think" for a good long while about whatever it is I have to write and give into the idea that ultimately all the cyclical thinking eventually gives way to something.

Meanwhile, Ryan has been productively baking bread. He's on a bread kick that is off and running. I dare not stand in the way! In the cupboard now we've got all purpose white flour, whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, King Arthur bread flour, corn meal, corn masa, wheat bran, tapioca flour, and sesame seeds.

Exhibit A: Pain ordinaire


Exhibit B: Pain ordinaire with sesame seeds


Exhibit C: Dutch Oven Boule (No-Knead)