Busse Woods Skiing

Snowman Builds Himself

Our New Place

After looking into buying we decided it was smarter to rent and save money. We found a place that is amazing and are really excited to move in June 20th - anyone want to help us??- It is so nice to know our next place will be as great as out current home.

New Haircut

BEFORE
AFTER

Ganesha

I found this on my way home from a visit for work in Oakland and thought it was great. Karen & I went back on the weekend and found a ton of great graffiti.
Ganesha is the hindu god known as the remover of obstacles.

Spring Chicken

This candy dish was a wedding gift - Thanks Anj. it is super cute with jelly beans inside.

Poncho is done

This is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts too ( although It too me about 6 months to knit). The pattern uses the herringbone stitch and you connect a rectangle into the final shape. My first attempt was too narrow, so I added the strip of green. In the end I think it added to the look. I'm amazed how much I like it considering I have not worn a poncho since the 70's.

Sping has sprung around here

Karen's Grapefruit Margarita

Combine in a shaker with ice,

• 2 parts fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
• 2 parts tequila ( Patron silver)
  
• 1/2 part fresh squeezed lime
• 1/2 part Patron Citronage
  

shake and enjoy

a finished knitting project

Since so many of my knitting projects are in progress, I wanted to post something that finished. I made this for myself and love it. The pattern is from last minute knitted gifts ( a joke unless you think a couple of months ahead is last minute). the book has good stuff - but not exactly " oh shit I need a gift for jenny's birthday tomorrow I better whip up a chevron scarf". The stitch is basically alternating increasing and decreasing to make curves. I made this last year in India.

What's a girl have to do to get an iPhone?

The truth is my phone stopped working because I spilled bubbles on it and i tried to rinse it out and it didn't work. I ordered my iPhone today.

This is Sexy!

Beautiful Beets

I heard Obama does not want any beets to be served in the White House, he's missing out. These were from Terra Firma Farms and were delicious roasted with salt, pepper, olive oil and juice of half of a lemon.

gingerbread houses

This year I made my first gingerbread house. I followed the recipe on you tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0BrIBKrvS0) and created plans for construction based on the images on howcast. Howcast is a fun website with how- to- videos on anything. Anyway, after adding a bit more liquid to the dough and rolling it out with all my strength- It was fairly easy to construct. I made two and invited my buddies, Edee & Posey, to decorate one of their own. We never quite finished the roof I see - ( homeowners seem to always have unfinished projects even when they are gingerbread)

Oh Tannenbaum

We got our tree! This year I'm a bit obsessed with holiday nesting since I was out of the country last year. Here is the super longs tree all gussied- up.

Legally Married

Karen & I got married on October 10th, 2008 at San Francisco City Hall.

Apple Pie

My little friends Edee (ID) & Posey came over and helped harvest apples and make a pie yesterday. We used a basic pie crust recipe, but added 2 table spoons of ground almonds and a bit of honey. This is the first time I made a woven top. here is a video on how to do it.
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Making-a-Lattice-Top-Pie-Video/Detail.aspx.
The girls enjoyed eating the dough more than any other part and I even caught them eating flour.

bulletin board

This Bulletin board came with the house and had hippie fabric covering it. We had to remove it, but never got around to re-covering it. I got some fabric from Stone Mountain & Daughter and stapled it on. Easy and looks much better.

Balance

This summer while in downstate Illinois, we stayed with Karen's good friend Lorelei. She is an amazing blacksmith ( www.blacksmithchic.com) and a cool gal. She made this piece especially for me & I knew I had to put it above my desk. There is some debate ( karen vs. me) about whether or not to center on the wall or to center above the desk, and whether or not to hang it so the word or the leaves are balanced. There's a lot of pressure with the word balance to have it well -balanced. Since it is mine I have it as I think it looks & feels best. Here are the before & after photos, I painted a rectangle to frame the art.

Applesauce

We harvested apples from our back yard and I made applesauce. I have fond memories of my dad doing this in the fall with apples from our orchard. Never the less - I needed a website to help ( www.pickyourown.org/applesaucewomill.htm). The process was basically lots of apple peeling and coring followed by simmering the apples in water ( or in one batch pineapple juice -yum) and then making a puree in the cuisinart and then canning. I made three batches - one with nothing added, one with cinnamon, and the last with the pineapple juice. In general It was successful, I think it ended up a bit thick and may need to be watered down . Adding a bit of apple juice would be good before serving. Elynn plans to try it with pork chops made with Haeley's home raised pig this weekend. I hope they enjoy it !