bee creative

in a way these are all field notes

Yesterday's lunch break...cloud watching.

It feels like fall. 

It feels good, cooler. Just a little rain this morning.

The yellow shirt went into the walnut vat.  Yellow from the home garden, walnuts from the work garden.

A more wearable color. 

I am stitching up the sides now and considering a touch of the yellow somewhere.

Two new books:  Lab Girl by Hope Jahren and Wild Textiles by Alice Fox.

(How many books can I read at one time?)

Feedback Friday's presentation today was by Alice Fox.  For the first time I decided to watch it in "real time."  It was a great presentation and I have plans!  Tomorrow I am going to gather bindweed to save for a basket.  For today, I twined a flyer that was in the mail into paper yarn. Twined paper makes a great cat toy.

And then there was this, late afternoon...

There isn't supposed to be rain for the next 10 days.  The crocus will be beautiful as long as there isn't a downpour. I need to water.

Sunrise: 6:49 AM  Sunset: 7:20  

 

for the end of a hot day...

Step one: gather a couple handfuls of lemon balm from the garden.

Step two: Pull the leaves off and place in something that you can pour boiling water into.

Step three: Boil water and pour over the lemon balm leaves.

Step four: Steep for at least a couple hours.

Step five: Strain off the water and reserve. Compost the leaves.

Step six: Add a bit of honey (I added about a tablespoon to 2 cups of lemon balm flavored water) and stir well.

Step seven: Place liquid in fridge until ready for the next step.

Step eight: Find your popsicle molds.

Step nine: Cut up strawberries into small enough pieces they will fit in the mold and fill molds to almost the top.  It's nice if the strawberries come from a garden or a farmer's market but it's okay if they don't...

Step ten: Pour the reserved lemon balm water into the molds, over the strawberries.  It may be important to remember that fluids expand when frozen.  For my molds I have to leave a little space at the top so I don't fill completely.

Leftover lemon balm water can be made into ice cubes.

Step eleven: Freeze for about 10 hours.  It works out well if you make popsicles early in the morning to enjoy at the end of the day.

Step twelve: Remove from mold and savor!

(Although I haven't tried it, if you don't have lemon balm I suspect any tea would be tasty.)

 

yesterday's journal entry

I left for the farmer’s market over an hour before I needed to be there.
Couldn’t figure out why it was so quiet downtown…
So I got a coffee at Adagio and went for a walk down at B’vard.
And then the bookstore.
And then back to the farmer’s market;
where I missed getting gooseberries because the person in front of me bought the last basket.
The vendor promised to set aside a basket for me next week.
Next home, thinking to garden.
I took a nap instead.
And then sewed.
And read.
And wondered
Will tonight be the night I stay up long enough to see the stars come out?

trust

I trust…

That the weather will change.
That the moon and stars are there even when not visible.
That there will always be something to wonder about.

(Stellar Jay feather)

what if...life

This morning, thinking, list making, wondering.

Yesterday's walk.

The tide was really low. I didn't stay long as the beach and boardwalk were busy and noisy. Now that school is out I need to remember afternoons will be noisier. I am usually looking for quiet.

There is a ring of veggies in the garden. 

Dry pole beans, a couple tomatoes and a tomatillo. 

Playing with seed pods at work.

Considering potential.

10 things about this weekend.

Deep breath. 

 

A picnic on the back porch.

Strawberry Jam.

I read on the porch for 2 hours.

There was sunshine and rain.

 

The fig is bigger.

Roses were picked to make rose water.

I watched the hummingbird stretch its body out, its tail feathers were illuminated by the light.

The indigo vat is still working.

I copied Wendell Berry’s poem “How to be a Poet” into a journal.

three words

Indigo

Play

Sweet

15 + 60

An hours worth of stitching this morning on the Peace and Plenty blanket:

As I stitched I listened to a new podcast I've discovered:  Seamside.  I've listened to four of the five conversations so far and have found them all interesting. 

Fifteen minutes of collecting yesterday added to my collection of plant materials for projects:

Dandelion stems for cord making, daffodils and Camellia sinensis (the Camellia used for making tea) for dye.

Dandelions will continue the process of developing seeds even if picked.  Something to consider.

That's for tomorrow.

choosing

I've been spending a lot of time sorting and reorganizing.

Use it up, give it away, and decide what I really want.

How I want to spend my time.

What do I enjoy the most?

One thing I know I love...color.

This is the dresser I have by my bed.

The drawers were a bit of a mish-mash of things. 

Now one drawer is full of journal materials.

Another full of thread, needles, a few scraps of fabric.

The rest projects that I can pull out and work on for a little bit and then put away easily...insomnia projects.

Similar decisions are being made in the garden.

What can I care for, what will thrive on it's own?

Very excited to find the fig is alive.

 

other things

From last weekend's walk.

I love this one just as much as the loon floating on the water.

Going under...what will be found?

Leftover soup found it's way into quiche as the liquid component.

(Avocado is one of the few non-local foods I eat, from California so not too far.)

My hummingbird feeders: fuchsias and petunias.  As well as lobelia and creeping charlie.

And "mending to wear."

That's when you mend something and then put it on so you can wear it that day...