katiemae_days

green is the color...

Green, Green my favorite color. green in almost every shade is a color that for me resonates down deep. Sitting in my yard, taking in the variation in shade and tint of luscious green grounds me down. I dreamed as a kid of living in a cottage  surrounded by plants and trees, flowers and shrubs wild yet not un-kept.  There, in the cottage I imagined lots of windows and doors with views and openings to the outdoors free and easy, that would make the the line between outside and in murky. Flowers growing tall and wild, paths within. I painted a scene from this dream when I was in college and have the picture still in my to frame pile.

We live now in a sort-of cottage more like a super old sort of craftsman with a garden growing a little bigger each year. The lines between outside and in are not so murky..call it the architecture of the early 1900s. Still, we do have lots of windows from where we can enjoy our garden when inside. With flowers growing particularly tall this year and more plants added to my wild beds, I'm feeling a little bit of my childhood dream come to life. My architectural tastes have changed a little since then but my love for lushness outside has not. Oh green, how you make me feel so good.

So, in honor of my favorite color and the practicality of eating more of our summer's garden harvest, my girl and I cooked up a tribute to green in the name of fried green tomatoes and zucchini and fresh braised kale. We had a dear friend for dinner to celebrate green. Well I didn't actually say I that when I invited her but now looking back clearly that's what this evening was about.

I know making excuses for lame photos is unnecessary but I am making excuses . I miss having a more stealth camera where I can play with aperture and speed and move beyond auto. I'm shooting with a tiny point and shoot that I'm having fun with while saving still for my DSLR with an additional lens. I still experiment as I can but I dream of the camera to be in my hands soon. Come on ebay!

So what's on the green plate which by the way is my favorite piece of pottery we own?  Fried green tomatoes made with one brandywine heirloom tomato  and zucchini both picked by my girl right before our cooking session. Green tomatoes I don't particularly enjoy raw and well zucchini either so I went ahead and dipped the green delectables in egg and cornmeal until I ran out of the latter and switched to polenta. I fried them very lightly in grapeseed oil and served them up hot. We ate french green olives and us big girls drank a glass of Malbec to round out the suite of the pre=pork roast and kale main course.

 

 

Honestly, I cringe a little to look at these photos because they don't do the taste justice and I don't have a lot of time right now to dress them up in Photoshop. I have a slice of time to myself this hour and the photos are as is because of that. Suffice it to say the greens were finger-licken good. The pork roast rocked too dressed  with rosemary from our garden and garlic. 

So there, our anthem to green and our garden and sharing the bounty with dear friends.

about a friday....

Well...bless her 40MB soul, seems my old computer has reached her breaking point. I'm up at the university tech center borrowing a computer and testing my external hard drive while the Papa is prepping for a camp he's running and my girl is being a trooper hanging out until we head to the library and to buy some knitting needles just her size. I'd post a brief note while I have access to the technological ether.

I've photos to post, notes to write, a banner to update, and a website or two to build. I've been excited to write a bit on our wonderful travels and days in the garden since being home but alas without a computer I'm holding off a few more days.

And on the subject of old and tired, our camera bit it too. Fortunately, I've been saving for a DSLR and am researching my choices and interviewing peeps who love their Nikon and/or Canon before I buy that fine piece of equipment. This will just be an expensive month but that's life. But the computer, the camera are both integral to my personal toolkit. So I guess I'll do my part to stimulate the economy.

So for now...stay tuned. More to come on a new computer..a mac or pc, my inner jury is still deliberating. Price, durability matter and aesthetics play a part in my decision. I love a Mac. Always have. I've had my PC for 7 years not bad in the life of a PC. I ran her hard with Photoshop, Illustrator and she kept on going..even coming back from a hard drive failure a few months ago...Time to say goodnight Irene to this sweet machine. And yes I realize I may sound a little nutty talking about my computer as though she is a peep...I'll chalk it up to a late night of backing up to my server and talking my inner self into calm-dom.

And while I have a moment to write....

Though I can't post a photo just yet, I do have to say I'm entirely grateful to come home to my garden. Huge thanks to our dear friends who watered and watched over everything so beautifully while we were away. The new beds I created are coming together..with all sorts of plants loving the earth below them growing and spreading their roots, blooming.I love that I let myself be guided by intuition and experimentation in redesigning my garden beds without worry for what would be. As much fun as I had reshaping these beds and getting rid of a little bit more grass, I'm excited for the next stages of yard redesign over the next year. I'd like to get rid of more lawn though I'll leave a patch for the kids to play and hula hoop, cartwheel and dance. I'm envisioning a parking strip rid of lawn and full of succulents, ornamental grasses and ground covers. All in good time.

Our veggie beds are going bonkers. Purple potatoes, Edamame, cauliflower, kale all on the rise. Lettuce ready everyday. I love summer and all the shades of green and variations of other color in our yard. I love the sunshine streaming full in the yard and in dappled light through our living room windows.

So since I'd saved the draft of this post, I've learned my external hard-drive is hosed though hopefully recoverable. I've learned about another great back-up tool called "dropbox"which I'm definitely getting once I have a new computer.  I'm 99.9% sure I'm going Mac and am getting excited for Mac versions of Dreamweaver/Photoshop/Illustrator and well I'm feeling ok.

I'm feeling darn grateful for all that is bloomin despite a couple of pieces of hardware that may have seen better days.

Definitely writing from my consciousness streaming live. Random thoughts put out there while I had a moment to write.  Stay tuned for more soon....

what I'm loving....

With the end of the school year comes a wave of super busy days. School auctions, school tours,  kindergarten graduation and end-of-year party, me deciding to re-build and landscape a couple of garden beds in my yard, some very part-time work, playdates and fun in the sun. All good though I've not made much time for writing these days.
Still I know its important to stop and notice what I love.

pure free-flying imagination of two sweet girls at play in the garden

walking by our roses in bloom. the color and scent send me...

poppies..the texture, color, depth ...

and a two truck loads of 5-way planting mix for my garden project and our second raised vegetable bed. Lots of shoveling for this Mama this past weekend and it all felt so good. Once I've planted and designed my reconfigured beds I'll share the photos.

And finally for today, I'm loving...
More hot beautiful days here and we are fortunate to be able to go take a swim with some friends. Time to get off the computer.