Curious Bird

our week

It seems as though the croup has passed. The barking like a sealing ended a day or two ago, or was it three? I can't remember even the smallest detail right now. Either way, no more croup,  just a nasty cold remains. This too shall pass.

We've taken some great walks this week. Fresh air is key.
I've become a disciple of Eliot Coleman. Yay for cold-weather gardening.
We've watched this beautiful lullaby video countless times. Love.
The snuggling was pretty endless too. That is one great thing about babies who don't feel so good- they move a little slower and are willing to snuggle a lot more.

Hope you've had a great week.

Be well,

Leya

the otter utters by the lake, it's getting hard to stay awake.

There was no cabin fever to be found over the weekend. We did manage to find some delicious eggplant and okra, promptly roasted and eaten directly off the baking sheet. It was actually a lot more sunny and lovely than rainy and dreary. We were able to spend time in the garden -- everything out there seems to be coming along nicely, which is quite exciting. Although, ahem, there is a neighborhood cat that keeps stopping by and leaving a nasty little present next to my swiss chard! What the hell? I guess I'm not surprised, but I'm most certainly not pleased. Move along, little tuxedo cat. MOVE. ALONG.

Our little guy was doing his thing this weekend (mostly saying hi and bye to everyone at the farmer's market) before coming down with the croup. Yep, the barking like a seal croup. Poor little babe. We've had a couple of rough nights around here since. As a coping mechanism I have been eating ice cream straight out of the carton. We all cope with stress and sleep deprivation in different ways, right? Oy, I can hear him coughing in his sleep from the monitor right now. Off to bed I go. Every little bit of sleep counts.

Nighty night,

L.

hello weekend. hello autumn. hello food.

It's pouring outside as I type this. Pouring. And according to the big red alert on weather.com, there is much more rain to come over the next few days. I guess that means the Pride parade we were looking forward to attending is going to be rained out? Boo. Not sure what this means for our weekly trip to the farmer's market either. Part of the market is covered, so perhaps the rain won't get in the way of fresh flowers and veggies being brought home.

I do know that those beans up there have been soaked and are quickly becoming a pot of 17 bean and barley soup. That acorn squash will be roasted with butter and sugar and those sweet potatoes will likely be roasted as well. Maybe mashed. The clementines have a variety of options; some will be carried around the house in the palm of the little one's hand, and others will be eaten by me as I try to persuade him, the little one, to put the segments in his mouth and not drop them on the floor beneath his high chair. Turns out, Mort isn't as interested in eating dropped clementines as he is dropped bits of cheese or egg.

I can already tell this weekend is going to be all about food and tea and trying to ward off cabin fever. There will also be a fair amount of jumping on the bed. Lately, I've discovered that I'm the kind of mother who allows that. :)





Be well out there,

Leya

what can I say, today was one of those days that required gummi bears. could be worse, right?

also, happy 1st day of Autumn. didn't get around to saying that yesterday.

be well,

leya

okay, so the first day of Autumn is the 23rd this year, not the 21st. I stand corrected. more gummi bears, please.

roll it and pat it and mark it with a B.

Felix is 15 months old (as of last week) and it has become apparent to me that he is at an age where we can do small projects together. I'm really loving this age for many reasons, and being able to play together in this way is definitely one of them. By now you probably realize how much I like to do "projects". ;)

Yesterday we gave homemade play-dough a whirl and it was a big hit. We smooshed, rolled, cut and poked our ball of green dough for about a half hour until he lost interest and moved along to the his next activity -- wandering around the house is quite popular currently -- I never knew opening and closing doors could be such a hoot!

There are endless recipes online, but the one I used is from Instructables.
It should be noted that I cut the recipe in half (1 cup of flour, etc.) and didn't use the cream of tartar (do you have cream of tartar in your pantry? not me).

The dough came out great. I will definitely make more soon.
If you know me well then you have likely heard about my adventures hoarding playdough as a child. I loved the stuff so much and would always select a six pack of it when given the chance. Seriously,  it came in six packs! I would never mix the colors and I kept it under my bed. Well, until my mom discovered my cache and said, "no more playdough!" I had something like 50 cans under there.
Man, I was a kooky kid.

More soon,

Leya

the best-o

Pesto,

I heart you
on toast
on potatoes
on pasta
on eggs
on and on and on...

let the sun shine in

this project has been in my head for months. I ordered the sunprint paper and purchased the frames before leaving Philly, but had to wait until we landed in our new home and got somewhat settled before I could move it to the top of my to-do list.

the best part for me was gathering all the leaves and vines from my yard and sitting down to decide what I wanted to use in each of the prints. it was also pretty nice to be able to do this project from start to finish during one of felix's naps (he typically takes two one-hour naps every day). of course, I almost broke a piece of glass and the paper nearly ripped as I washed it and hung it to dry (clumsy!), but in the end everything came together just fine.

I've done smaller sunprints before (these are 24x36) and have always had so much fun with the whole process. this time was no different, and now I get to see the vines and leaves I gathered out back "growing" in our living room.

have a sunny tuesday,

leya

snaps from the weekend

our weekend was sometimes quiet and other times raucous.
we said goodbye to Gigi.
there was a lot of time spent outdoors, mostly in our backyard.
we bundled up and enjoyed the chilly weather.
felix stumbled around in his hand-me-down snow boots that are about two sizes too big.
we met up with friends and took turns chasing toddlers and a soon-to-be five year old.
I completed a sewing project that had been in my head for a while.
black bean soup and cornbread was made and devoured.
I had some time to myself and chose to spend it drinking tea and reading an entire magazine. ahhhh...
it was a nice weekend.

hope you had a nice one too.

we did some more painting in the tub today! felix could spend hours in there.
such a fun activity for his current age.

in the nick of time

although we cut it fairly close, we managed to get our fall garden planted (once again, thanks to Gigi for being on toddler patrol). there is lots more to do, but if everything goes as planned we'll have kale, chard, a variety of lettuces, beets, radishes and broccoli in the coming months. when I get a few minutes to daydream I can't quit thinking about roasted root veggies with a little cinnamon or all the great soups I want to make. all in due time. now we wait.

I will definitely post about how things progress garden-wise. meanwhile, I'm off to do more research and more thinking about protection, both from frost and the critters looking to eat all my lettuce! writing that makes me think of this song (a Felix favorite).

kinda forgot how much fun it can be to have a backyard.

more soon, friends
leya