not a failure but....

I tried making pretzel balls.  Karen over at Oxheart makes lovely ones but we do not go out to eat very often.  i thought I would give it a go.  I used the Zingerman's recipe except I used sourdough instead of yeast, brown sugar instead of barley malt.  

I did let them over rise in the refrigerator.  Life got away from me.  But basically, they were not to my taste.  Much to salty!  They are not bad in soup that needs salt or when Small Mister needs to gnaw on something with his seven teeth.  

Back to the drawing board.

where I have been spending a bit of time

My expermintation in permaculture has worked really well.  If not so well it is overwhelming!  I have told the neighbors to pick what they wish because every tomato is a volunteer plant and they ALL have fruit!  There are 15 different winter squash fruit in the yard too.  This is the biggest one so far.  It is ripe.  In June!  This is unheard of where I grew up.  The heat has not really started here yet so it will be interesting to see how all this continues.  I really need to get in and pull up some grasses but there is no space to move.  Maybe when some of the tomatoes die back with the heat.

I have also been enjoying my time on my skateboard after work.  I was riding to the library here with my Beloved and the Small Mister walking.  I had a gentleman stop his BMW, roll down the window, and yell "so cool!"  It feels so cool.

And when I think I will be going a bit faster, I put more pads on.  Still need the elbow pads.  My family tease me that I am a hill junky.  I think they are right.  It does make me smile and relaxes like surfing when I cannot get there or there is no surf.

Permaculture and skateboarding.  I think it says it all.

a wedding to go to

My Beloved and I went to a wedding out of town this last weekend.  The wedding was lovely and it got us out of town.  We did something different, kind of.

We found a state park in New Jersey that ran along the Delaware river.  I say kind of different because we like to walk and hike outside.  This one was recommended to us by a local.  Part of what we liked was how long it was.  We were able to stop in more then one town and walk a bit.  We saw more river and more towns.

This is one of the ways we like to spend together.  

Though we did go into New York City.  I bribed my Beloved with going to skateboard shops.  He was surprised how much he enjoyed it.  We did not really do any of the touristy stuff and we did not get to go everywhere we liked, but we walked a lot.  I am sure I do not wish to know how many miles.  We found good food and helpful people.  

It was a lovely weekend.  And the celebration that caused us to go out of town was a blast!  Many years and much happiness is wished for our friends!

sadness and handstitching

I am turning these Liberty of London prints into handkerchiefs.  I am doing all the stitching by hand.  It is a nice place to be with my needle and thread.  Meditative.  I have had a friend in hospice.  She died on Saturday and I am sad.  I miss her in my life even though it has been mostly by email in the last years.  

The stitching is quiet and helps.

sitting this weekend

I spent a lot of time sitting in this rocking chair this weekend.  It is my rocking chair.  If I do not say it is mine, it has a tendency to get snitched by the other family member.  I needed to finish this quilt, which I did, but I also really needed to be off my feet.  

I cracked my right ankle a year and half ago.  Do not ask me how, because I do not know.  I do know there was much pain.  Either at the time or during the healing process, I screwed up tendons and ligaments in the foot and ankle too.  I have found skateboarding (or landsurfing as my Beloved calls it) stretches out and strengthens all those tendons and ligaments.  And I over do SO well!  The only way I got that foot into my figure skate on Sunday was that it had been in my hockey skate doing laps first!

I always find the most interesting ways to rehab.  And tonight I am a bit bruised.  I did a very good technical fall.  The three year old wandering all around blowing bubbles is fine.  It was me or him.  I chose me.  It did kill the downhill though.... sigh... Really good bruises.  Something to smile at tomorrow and try to ice skate through.

This is a bit of a babble today.