Olympic College Vocal Jazz Concert

Justin had a concert last night and it was a delight. College is so much more adult than high school! I love live music and enjoyed my time there very much. And, of course, it was free, so that made it even that much better. Thanks, Justin, for sharing your performance with me. I will be looking forward to many more in the future!

Bread Baking Books

 After the bread class I took in October with Gayle I came home and started baking. I have had a really good time providing my family (and myself) with some whole wheat and white hand crafted breads. They eat them up. And when I follow the directions completely, they work great!

Here are the books I have been looking at. I am best at the white Italian loaves, called Pane Pugliese (PON-ay poo-lee-AY-zay), but would like to do better with the whole grain bread. It's better for you. But until I conquer it, I will have white every other time I bake, because I don't want to burn out my faithful tasters with an inferior product.

I read and bought the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book in the '80s and have found that the tutorial called "A loaf for learning" has been the best teacher of how to make a delicious loaf of whole wheat bread. Not only does it teach technique, but it teaches WHY you need to do the things to bake a light and edible and not brick-like product.

This was one of the books our teacher had at the class we took, and it was a super-pretty book. I bought it used online for a song, and am glad I did. I think I will try some olive bread for the holidays.

Our teacher recommended watching Peter Reinhart on Youtube for some techniques, so I did. He is a really great instructor and baking professional, and fun to listen to. I am reading through this whole grain bread book, which is pretty technical and overly scientific in some places, but informative and interesting. I am hoping to hone my skills at creating a great artisan loaf of whole wheat bread.

What are you doing now that the weather has changed and you've had to come in out of the cold?

October Goal: 100 Things a Success!



My dream garage.... Thanks, Google Images.



I more than accomplished my goal of getting rid of so many things, and I'm actually going strong on sending more things to the landfill, or the thrift store, or someone else's house. I'm not keeping track anymore, though, since October is over and I made the grade.

 It's a telling thing that I can get rid of hundreds of things year after year. I should keep track of how many things I bring in here--that would be an eye-opener, I'm sure. How do you manage your things? What do you collect? What do you no longer collect? How do you keep your possessions under control?

Amaryllis Belladonna

I don't recall if I posted on this topic earlier, but I don't think I did. While I was down at my parents' house this past August, I noticed some lone flowers around the edges of their property. I asked my brother, Daryl, who does most of the yard keeping, what they were, and he replied that they were naked ladies, and he would share some bulbs with me before I left. These were curious flowers and I wanted to find out more about them, but I was hesitant to enter "naked ladies" on the computer, for fear I would be inundated by another kind of naked lady.

The mystery was solved when we went to the bookstore, and I looked up Naked Ladies in the Sunset Western Gardening book--and the flower is called amaryllis belladonna. The bulbs shoot up long skinny leaves, which die away, and then later the solitary, leafless, stunning flower emerges.

The reason I bring all this up now is that my bulbs are sending up skinny leaves (which Daryl said it would), and I believe they were tickled by some abundant rain we had weeks ago. Is this timing good for them? Is this really a place where they will survive?? If you know, let me know, please. And if not, stay tuned.

Fall All Around

Lots has been going on around here this fall. Tim just arrived from Alaska and is staying for a week or two before heading to Cambodia, via the west coast of the U.S. He is enjoy nephew Kyson very much! He asked, "Mom, was I like that? So ACTIVE?" "No. Nobody was like that!"

I took a rustic breads class with my friend, Gayle, and have made a few loaves of my own at home. Allan said, "These are just like the rosetti I had in Italy!" I can't imagine a higher compliment. Plus that it gets eaten. With Silas and Justin, and now Tim, it really does get eaten, even the experiments. The other day Justin asked if a recent batch was good, and I said, "It was an experiment. It didn't turn out like I had hoped. It's edible, but not great." From the other room Tim said, "Welcome to my childhood!" It's true--but not everything I did was sub-par. Just some things. Or just some things the first time. And that batch of bread is gone, all eaten up--so, for an experiment, it was good enough to eat!

Our neighbor's maple tree, just 2 doors down, does this (I will add the photo later), and then our tree goes crazy. Ours has more yellow. They're so pretty!

Visiting Visitor

A couple weeks ago my sister-in-law Kathleen called and needed a caregiver for her 8-year-old son Evan for the work week she would be in Olympia. Evan is having Fall Break from school and is staying here until Friday. How great is that? He is just the age of the girls I interact with in my calling at church now, and he's totally fun. In fact, Allan and I have always hoped to have more time with him and create a better relationship with him. Well, guess what? This is our chance.

I have been taking him on my usual outings, and he's helpful and fitting right in. Tuesday he helped me with my volunteer food-delivery gig, and today he came to the community garden and helped me trim back some plants and bring some hopeful herbs back to my house for planting. He was cold today, though, and looked about ready for a blizzard by the time we left the car for good. Tomorrow we are planning a trip on the ferry and to the Science Center, the touristy stuff. Hopefully it will be a bit nicer out for our trip. But if not, it will be a Northwest Experience.

Evan asked if we could get Papa John's breadsticks, so of course we had to make some of Lorraine's breadsticks instead. Everyone in the house was grateful Evan wanted breadsticks. After dinner I had to make a second batch (recipe here), because the absentee family members (Justin and Cecilie) didn't get any. It's a good thing Evan was a sport about rolling out those little things. 

What would you do with an 8-year-old on hand?

One Hundred Things Revisited

While in Russia I was impressed with how simply Zach and Julie were living. It may be that they made a conscious choice, or it could be because they're young and don't have much junk. Either way, when I came home I saw that we, again, or as always, simply have too much stuff.

"One Hundred Things" is a challenge to, in the next couple weeks, get rid of --you guessed it-- 100 things. My challenge along with that is to not buy anything, either.

There's a list of my things on the right of this post, and I am up to 26 things already. [It's neither to brag nor disgust you, it's simply to account for the 100 things.] Let's see how fast this 100 Things thing can be done!

Do you find your life cluttered with stuff? If so, how do you manage it? If not, what makes or helps you not accumulate? 

Books I've Read Lately

I saw this book in the bookstore on Bainbridge Island and thought the cover was so funny! A donut with a fuse.... I requested it from the library and it came pretty quick. Does that mean others aren't that interested in a book about self-control? I'm not sure.

One thing that was intriguing to me was that it said that children don't learn self-control in our modern American lifestyle, with electronics as babysitters and every hour scheduled with lessons, sports, and clubs. The author stated that back in the olden days, like when I was a child, kids learned self-control through free play.

 This was a quick little fictional account of two women, mother and daughter. The mom was from Japan, and married an American serviceman and moved to the US. The daughter, after the mother begged practically from her deathbed, went with her own young daughter to Japan to reconcile with the family the mother left behind.

I found the book charming and difficult to put down. It took just a day and a half to read!

This was about how much food is wasted in our country. Do you have a kid who has worked in fast food? Or any part of the food industry? They will know what the author is talking about. In a way it's disturbing to think about people being hungry in our communities, country, and world, when so much perfectly edible food becomes garbage. Restaurants, school lunch programs, harvesting practices, marketing and other food arenas are all addressed in this interesting work.

This made me more aware of what I can do to not waste so much in my own home, and which food-waste issues may be most important to me.

What have you been reading lately?

Monday at the Outdoor Market

Part of an outdoor market in Moscow. They sold all sorts of things. Notice the plumbing and hardware booth at the end of this row.

 I wanted the experience of an outdoor market, so Monday Allan and I headed out on the Metro to this one. There were lots of booths, not just food ones (these were just the most interesting). Clothing, luggage, hats and umbrellas, cheap plastic toys, used books, bras, you name it, it could pretty much be found here. The merchants, especially in the produce booths, were vocal as we walked by, asking us to buy stuff. Many knew some English, and one woman charmed us into buying fruit from her by trying out her German on us.

Rainy day at the market. The word on the blue building is TOILET. I wouldn't use that one....

Inside a little shop at this same market.Lots of cheese!

Allan purchased a hat. The saleswoman knew some English, and the more we tried on hats, the more comfortable she became using her English. We went away and came back, and she pointed at Allan and said, "Ah, 58!!" This was his size, which she had remembered. She was studying English, and knew her numbers for sure.

Toilets

It's somewhat annoying to have to pay to use these kinds....

We are home from Moscow now, but there are some aspects of our trip that will always be unforgettable. One of these is TOILETS. As unappealing as this may be in a blog posting, I can't have reported completely on our trip without reporting on them.

This photo doesn't quite capture the whole picture, but it is enough, I think. At the zoo, the train station, and other locations, mainly the pay units on the street (which, blessedly, I didn't have to use) they have these types of toilets. They are simply a paved hole in the ground, and involve some gymnastics for us women to use effectively. They wouldn't be so bad, except that it seems as if 1,000 years of urine remain in the paving around the actual hole, and even with windows wide open it's horrible-smelling . There is a flush, so in theory it shouldn't be awful, but it pretty much is.

There were wonderful ones in the expensive train, complete with seat covers (yes, it had a SEAT), and pretty good ones in the cheaper train. And, of course, Zach and Julie's home had 3 bathrooms with standard Western toilets. It was a bit of a chore planning our sight-seeing around how bad the bathrooms might be.

Here is what I learned. The older the place, the more primitive the toilets. Newer museums and churches had modern and clean and FREE bathrooms, and were a pleasure to use (after paying the entry fee). The street toilets are worse than our porta-potties here in the States, and I avoided them at all costs.

Just one reason it's so good to be home.

Sabbath

Our church buildings are in industrial/business areas and are somewhat well-disguised.

Sacrament Meeting started at 9:30 AM, and Bro Hopkinson, Zach and Julie's neighbor picked us up at 8:30. It was quite a long way to the building, a different one from where the baptism had been the day before. They attend the Moscow Ward, which is considered an international ward. Anyone who is not Russian attends this ward. Even people who are married to Russians end up coming to this ward, for the Americans are not to attend the Russian wards, according to church rules. Julie and Zach have been disappointed by this policy, but can see the good reasons for it.

The meetings went well. We could see that there are all ages here, maybe except the elderly. There are many church workers and a number of mature missionaries, along with quite a few young families and couples. Primary has about 30 children, and the youth program has only half a dozen. There is a group of about 20 student teachers from the US (Utah?) who teach English to non-English speakers in Russian schools, as well, here until later in December. And all non-Russians who join the church here are incorporated into this international ward, so there are quite a few Africans, Filipinos and others who are young in the gospel as well. It is a wonderful mix of people who help each other manage. 

Gospel Doctrine is taught by an older man who happens to be the Temporal Affairs person from the church over this area. It was a good lesson, with SO MUCH participation. (That is very different from my own ward!) Relief Society was a special meeting where all the sisters from the other auxiliaries joined for a lesson/experience on sisterhood. There were many visitors, and we all had a good time comparing notes on our experiences in the city and with not being able to sleep when everyone else is.

A dreary day outside, but great inside

After church Julie and Zach had their neighbor's children over to play for a couple of hours to give their mother, whose husband is working out of the area for three weeks, a break. The kids are 10, 4 1/2, and 1. It was cute to watch Zach and Julie have such a good time and do so well with children. We can see that they will someday make wonderful parents! Later we went to the children's house, where their mom had made pizza for our dinner, with pan cookies and Russian ice cream (which most of us had) for dessert. It was a wonderful, dreary day.

Baptism and Honey Festival

Zach and Julie were committed to going to a convert baptism yesterday, and a neighbor brought us there in the car his employer provides him--his employer being our church! Driving through the city is a completely different experience than going underground (mostly) on the Metro. Three African young adults, all from different areas, were baptized. They, like Zach and Julie, are now members of the Moscow International Ward. Zach has mentioned a few times that black people have a difficult time here because of prejudice. Except for the church event, I don't believe I have seen a black person my entire time in Moscow!

 After the church activity we changed into street clothes and walked to the Metro and zoomed to Ismailonov, a prime tourist shopping area, sort of like an outdoor bazaar. It poured on us off and on while we shopped. It was fun to hear the foreign languages, mostly Spanish and a little French, that I actually understood.

In Bremerton we had the Blackberry Festival last weekend, where all things Blackberry were set up on the waterfront and sold. This weekend we witnessed the Honey Festival on the way into Ismailonov. Booth after booth of honey peddlers/producers had their honey out for taste and for sale. I have never seen anything like it! I tasted some pretty interesting stuff, but even Zach couldn't identify the names of the types of honey. I suppose school and missionary work and just plain conversing don't include herb, flower, and tree names!

Pretty buildings always seem to be in the skyline

Closer and closer to the actual market area independent booths were spaced closer and closer together. It cost 10 rubles each to get into the official, gated selling area, the equivalent of $.40 or so. On the street level were booths with vendors selling mostly new things, from hats to nesting dolls of all types and sizes, knitted cashmere scarves, memorabilia from communist times, wood and glass work, etc. Upstairs, in a permanent covered area was kind of a jumble, where it looked like people emptied out attics and garages and put stuff out for sale. We didn't buy much, but I enjoyed seeing what people had out--it was the closest thing to a thrift store I have seen here. (There is no market for thrift stores.) 

Mastrushka for a special person. The littlest doll is smaller than a pea!

A calendar to remember all the places we've seen.

Nativity set requested by a friend.

Red Square and The Kremlin

Today we took the Metro (subway) to the Kremlin and Red Square, historic and political centers of Moscow for centuries. The cathedrals are amazing, and surprisingly close together. The grounds were lovely and well-maintained. The oddest thing was that one building, that is used for some current political business, and another building in Red Square were surrounded with special canvas facades painted to look exactly like the building. This is because of a rule that when buildings are having work done they need to cover them, so as not to be unsightly. [We checked our cameras in with our bags so didn't get photos here.]

Lenin Library

A citizen at the eternal flame honoring heroes fallen. Notice the guard on the right.

 St Basil's Cathedral

Moscow Zoo

"Moscow's Zoopark" 

We headed off on our own to the zoo yesterday, right near the US Embassy where Zach had taken us the day before. Thanks to Allan's navigation, we got there just fine.

The zoo was interesting. There were some animals we all have seen at zoos before, and there were unusual animals from Russia and Asia that I had never seen. I had also never been so close to some of the critters as I was in this place.

I have noticed that Russians in general (in public, at least) keep to themselves, do not make eye contact, nor smile. But at the zoo it was a bit of a different story. A class of school children was there with teacher and helpers, and the children were typical and
 cute and fun to watch. Adults and children were all over, and the interactions were, I suppose, universal and very sweet.

The workers across the way at a not-busy concession stand were 

laughing at us sounding out all the words of the felines' names.

 

 Very tall (5 ft?) cranes--the photo doesn't do them justice

Allan couldn't help taking a photo of this one.There are children's rides all over the grounds.

Visiting Moscow, Russia

 Pronounced "Vendy's," because there is no "w" sound in Russia. Zach
 thinks it's funny that they put in the apostrophe.

They're everywhere!!

It is amazing the franchises of American businesses that have made their ways to this place. If you are afraid of eating unfamiliar food, these places have what you're used to.

Sacramento Farmer's Market Aug 6

 This was the market we went to our second day of vacation. We bought an interesting melon, some other fruit, and a bottle of local extra virgin olive oil.

There were countless tents and all manner of local food to purchase. Eggs were $6.00 a dozen at one booth, and Allan suggested we go into the mass egg-producing business. (No way!)

I loved the flowers--there were so many!

There were tons of foods and other delights. Even a clown (not pictured).

Live music

Best Lunch Ever!

Okay, I'll admit it, it's a pretty awful photo (thanks to my phone), but it was a really good lunch.

One of the things I wanted to do while Allan and I were on vacation is visit farmer's markets. We were in Sacramento, and I was prepared to go see this market at St Rose of Lima Park, downtown. We got there and were disappointed at the size of the market--there were a total of 4 vendors!

But the offerings were excellent.

At the first booth, there were whole grain homemade breads and baked goods. We ended up getting a loaf of "birdseed" bread and 5 whole grain cookies (for Allan, one of which he left on the snack table at my parents' house). The second double-tent space had veggies galore, and we got a bag of sweet bite-sized tear-shaped yellow tomatoes. The following double-wide booth sold fruit, including peaches, white peaches, nectarines and white nectarines, 2 kinds of plums, and some other stuff--all for $1.50 a pound, or 5 pounds for $5. Wow! The white nectarines were the absolute best fruit I have ever had. And finally, under the last small tent space were locally grown nuts. We purchased mixed raw (shelled!) walnuts, almonds, and pistachios.

The food offered was all grown in the county or neighboring counties and was fresh, fresh, fresh. It made me want to relocate to that wonderful area where it's sunny and warm and all types of beautiful food can be grown and harvested!

As we were leaving we picked up a flyer with all the farmer's markets in the area. As it turned out, before we left the area the next morning we were able to visit a very large and varied market right across the street from our hotel. It was quite a different event. Stay tuned.

Have you had experience with farmer's markets, or eating locally?

Getting Older

This week I had the pleasure of seeing 17 Miracles, a movie about LDS migration from the Midwest to Utah with handcarts. I was a little apprehensive about it, because, essentially, it looked depressing to me. But I enjoyed it very much.

I hadn't looked at my ticket stub until I got home. It only cost $7 to get into the matinee. "Wow," I thought, "what a great price."

Then I noticed they had given me the Senior rate.

Has anything like that ever happened to you?

Gardening and Other Favorite Things

All of the 100+ flower bulbs were put in the ground last fall have come up, bloomed, and most are fading away now. What a joy all those colorful crocusses, daffodils, narcissi, and tulips have been. In addition to those, I have planted over 113 plants in the back bed this spring, including mostly perrenials that will be with us (hopefully) for a long time. Where did all these plants come from? There have been community plant sales, the local hardware and variety stores, cullings from my work in a community garden, seeds I started indoors, and foraging in nearby ditches. I am learning to keep a little shovel and plastic and paper bags in the car! There is a bit of color left back there, but I am looking forward to much more flowering as the sun smiles on us more. I have learned so much in studying and working outside.

Do you know the difference between a botanical garden and a pleasure garden? A botanical garden has all the plants identified with their scientific (Latin) names. In a pleasure garden there need be no such thing. Mine is a little of both.

The veggie garden is coming right along, too. Radishes, radishes, radishes. Which I don't like much, but are so darn rewarding to grow. This year I tried French Breakfast. Do you know that the French have sliced radishes on lightly buttered french bread? For breakfast? I tried it with my whole wheat toast, and, I must admit it was the most enjoyable radish I have ever eaten. I plan on repeating that pleasure often in my life.

Broken Foot

When I got myself to the doctor and he saw the x-ray, he said, "Yeah, it's busted." I am off the foot for 2 weeks and get to take advantage of the walking boot for about 4 weeks after that. No driving for the duration. I have had to cancel so many plans! A whole new opportunity to sit around, ponder life, and do some different things.

With spring coming it's an interesting time to be watching instead of doing. The weather is warmer and the birds are fully voicing their presense. I even had the window open the other day!

Do any of you have unexpected surprises lately?

BookNote: Rant

Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture by Shannon Hayes

Have you ever read a book and been so disgusted by it that you threw it across the room when you were finished with it? That is exactly what I did with Hayes’s Radical Homemakers. This well-researched and highly praised “new” idea of family members eschewing the 2-income households that are so prevalent in our American society and adopting a wholesome and home-centered life so outraged me I returned it to the library the minute I could. I just had to get the sickening and contemptible piece of literary rubbish out of my sight and home.

But a few weeks later I was thinking about some of the material in the book and requested it from the library again. It has taken 6 months or so for me to get it back. My fascination was with the (what I thought were 6 but were actually) 7 qualities of a Radical Homemaker.

Before I get to those qualities, though, I must explain about my indignation around the book. Ms. Hayes’s notion of “radical” homemaking is nothing new! Our foremothers and –fathers have done it for generations. And many of us have been “radical” for decades.

You see, technically, according to Hayes, I and many of my favorite people on the planet qualify as Radical Homemakers. Most of us have been Radical Homemakers since entering adulthood. In fact, horrifyingly for me and my later childhood, my own mother became a Radical Homemaker when I was about 11 years old! In 1972!

The reason that I am enraged and affronted by the message of the book isn’t that I don’t believe in the Radical Homemaker movement, because it’s a way of life I have chosen and would never change. It is because WE RADICAL HOMEMAKERS HAVE BEEN HERE FOR A LONG TIME. WHEN IT WAS NOT POPULAR OR COOL OR SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE OR ADMIRABLE OR “BRILLIANT” OR “VISIONARY” OR “PRACTICAL” as one review of the book stated.

It seems to me that when you choose a lifestyle that goes against the grain of society, when you are publicly mocked, ignored, discriminated against, made fun of, looked down on and rejected by the general population, that is actually RADICAL. And, interestingly enough, we True Radicals are many of the people that Hayes’s newfangled, cool, and popular Radical Homemakers seek out as mentors and teachers.

Well, that’s my rant. I will review the book in more detail in the future.