October 12, 2008 Autumn olives, and stained glass

We've had a string of absolutely perfect early fall days. The air is crisp, but the sun still close enough to warm the day up nicely.
Since the foraging field trip I've been in a frenzy trying to harvest as many autumn olive berries as I can before they pass for the season. So far I've boiled down 5 cups of berries and frozen them. Originally I was going to make fruit leather, but realized after making the mash that I didn't have any honey or stivia, so to keep them I decided that freezing was the way to go until I'm ready to dehydrate them. This morning on my way to taking Emily to work I saw this amazing sized Autumn olive bush loaded with berries, so after dropping Emily off I harvested what turned out to be 12 cups more. Dan and I really like eating the berries as they are and since I haven't tried the leather I didn't want to commit to any more of that, and unsure about the recipe for jam/jelly, I decided the best thing to do for now was to freeze the berries whole. After spending an hour de-berrying loads of branches I now have 2 quart sized bags, and 5 sandwich sized bags full of berries ready to go. Dan effectively managed to avoid berry stripping and decided he'd rather play with the dollhouse in the tent. We're getting very excited about our two week trip to Disney World in February and since we'll be camping in Fort Wilderness with Mom, Mo, Fran and Gary we thought we'd air out the tents and make sure they were in good shape.
Since our Autumn olive hunt took us to Hyannis yesterday we decided to stop in at AC Moore. A dangerous place for both Emmy and I. Emmy has taken up knitting, and really likes making scarves from the fringy yarn. She bought 10 skeins of varying colors while we were there. While scouting around I found this absolutely beautiful (well at least I thought so) Homespun yarn and after asking both kids if they wanted something made from it, and both saying no, I decided I'd make something for myself. I chose this poncho for my most of the time winter coat, since it usually never gets really really cold here. The color is lemonade. I can't wait till it's finished...I've never knitted for myself before! http://%20http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/khs-prettyPoncho.html While we were at AC Moore I made my way over to the faux stained glass window section. I've been looking at this one particular pattern for a long time and just was never sure if I really wanted to start what looked like a really big project. I astarted collecting all the stuff needed to complete it and before I knew it found my arms filled with everything necessary. I decided to bite the bullet, and proceeded to check out. As we headed home I was eager to get the kids fed so I could see what the project would entail. Turns out not nearly as much as I was expecting, and by last night had one of the kitchens storm windows complete. Our kitchen windows face our neighbors kitchen sliders and although we really like our neighbors I think we'd both feel a little better with more privacy. The stained glass was the perfect solution and we all agree it looks great! I had a chance to work on the second one this afternoon after breakfast at John's capeside dinner and a walk on the canal to the Jetty with Mike and Dan, but I ran out of materials! I think a trip to Hyannis might be in order on Tuesday, since tomorrow we're finally going to the King Richard's faire! Anybody want to meet us there???

October 9, 2008 Gowns, purple hair and Dennis the manatee

It's been quite a while since I've blogged. Things have just been really busy!

I woke up Saturday morning and thought, we should go to the King Richard's Faire http://www.kingrichardsfaire.net/ before it's gone for another year, we've said we wanted to go every year for the past 9 and haven't made it. Mike thought it was a good idea and with nothing planned for the weekend, we decided that's what we'd do....until Leone called. Janni needs a new roof put on her house and Mike was calling to ask Mikey if he'd lend a hand. We live in a very tight knit community and if one friend needs help everybody pulls together to get the job done. King Richards faire would just have to wait. The kids and I spent the weekend hanging around, Em worked Saturday. I worked Friday - Sunday. Em had her last driving instruction Sunday. The weekend passed and Janni's roof was left tarped and half done.

Monday was uneventful. We took Em to work, it was her first day cashiering at Mahoney's and she was a little nervous, but did great. Dan and I stopped at the grocery store on our way home to pick up food for the week and then went home to clean. Dan and I rearranged the living room to get the couch and loveseat off of the living room windows. With a strong north wind off the pond you can feel the cold air on your back. Dan took a nap, and I did school work.

Tuesday turned out to be a very busy day. I had a VNG http://www.stopdizziness.com/services_vng.asp test at Cape Cod ENT in Hyannis at 8:30am. Since I had to have a driver we decided I'd have the test then Em would drive us to the m all and we'd spend some time in Hyannis shopping. The test went well, comfortable except for the weight of the goggles I had to wear, and judging by the assistant running the test everything seemed normal right up until the Caloric test explained in #4 in the above link. She called in an audiologist to repeat the test and when it came back the same the audiologist said she'd seen that result once before. I don't know what any of it means, but it did sound like an abnormal finding. I see Dr. Mann next Wednesday.

The kids and I went to the mall afterwards. Our first stop was Macy's. They always have beautiful dresses this time of year, and I love trying them on. Em and I both tried a couple. I took pictures with my cell phone. I'm pleased with my progress. Size 10!

Em's been asking if she can color her hair for some time. After thinking about it for a while, I've decided that if that's the extent of her adolecent rebellion I'm a lucky mom. I gave my blessing. She chose purple hair dye from Hot Topic. We browsed the mall for a while, had lunch at the food court then made our way to Trader Joes and Christmas tree shop for a new carpet for the living room. We remove the old one every summer, it's easier to vacuum sand and dog hair without it, but always get a new one in the fall when the weather starts getting cool again. The kids and I headed home and since I was unhappy with the hair cut I got a couple of weeks ago asked Em if she wanted the hair cut she'd been nagging me about. We agreed and took our turns. The girl who cut my hair had blond under her dark hair and I started asking her about dying. 3 hours later we left. Em had some of her hair bleached then dyed purple, all three of us had our hair cut, Dan decided midway he wanted his hair spikey so into the chair he went. We got home at 6pm with just enough time to make dinner before Mikey got home. It was a hectic but good day!

Wednesday was Dan's first day back to Sandwich Library's preschool storytime. He did well, had a good time and made an Elmer the Elephant craft. Afterwards he and I had a picnic at the Marina playground then went over to Buzzards Bay to meet Dr. Lorraine Hurley and Blanche Derby http://www.tagyerit.com/freefood.htm for a foraging field trip on the canal. I had no idea how many weeds are edible. Our favorites are sheep sorrel which is everywhere and tastes like lemon, wood sorrel which looks like clover except it has heart shaped leaves and yellow flowers, it also tastes like lemon and the berries of the Autumn Olive which is an invasive bush with silvery leaves and bright red berries. The berries are incredible, we must have eaten a pint each! Here is a link to a blog with an Autumn Olive jam/jelly recipe. I've found a good source of them on a back road in Hyannis. I'm hoping to get a chance to forage closer to home sometime in the near future! Supposedly they're the sweetest right after the first frost.
http://wearemadeofdreamsandbones.blogspot.com/2006/09/autumn-olive-jam-saga.html

TodayMike was working in Newport and since Emmy wasn't working we considered going to RI with him, however Mom is camping and with a whole day to kill in Middletown and no car we decided we'd stay home and "enjoy" the wet day. Danny mentioned he'd seen the manatee on the news this morning with Daddy, and I had an idea. Nothing to do, and overcast...we could take a ride and see if we could see it. We arrived shortly after 9am, talked with the harbor master, and some of the natural resource guys for a while and although they were very nice they really told us very little. The kids and I poked around the docks for a while, and after seeing nothing started for the parking lot. There was a man parked up there and gave us the tip that yesterday the manatee had been feeding in the far corner. The kids and I decided we'd take a look and thanked our informant. Sure enough, we were not even down the ramp when someone said they'd just seen it. We walked down the dock and a worker invited Dan and I onto a boat. Within a minute this beautiful animal surfaced. It was probably 10 feet away but we were thrilled have seen it. Had we known just how close to it we would get this brief look would have seemed unremarkable. We watched Dennis or Denise surface and dive 4 or 5 times and got pretty used to the pattern. It would submerge for about 10 minutes. When it surfaced you'ld see it's nose, and sometimes it's back. It would come up and go down for 2 or 3 minutes before with a great sweep of it's tail it would dive for another 10 minutes.

Eventually it made it's way between two rows of dock and seemed to be coming directly towards us which is exactly what it did. In about 4 feet of water it surfaced along side the dock and proceeded to feast on the algae growing on the ropes. If Dan had reached out his hand he would have touched it, however the harbor master was looking on, trying to control the growing crowd. We decided we'd leave to let somebody else have a chance to see it. I have a feeling eventually they were going to block the docks entirely so the animal could do what it wished. Quite a liability having all those people and kids on the rickety old docks. There is a short video of the manatee in the upper left hand corner of this blog, if you'ld like to see more!

On the way home we stopped at Sally's to pick up some more dye. Emily loved the purple so much she wanted more, and was willing to entrust me to do it. We came home, Dan went down for a nap and I took to bleaching. 2 hours later, one very sad girl sits on the couch. Apparently when I bleached then dyed blue one particular section of hair I'd forgetten to take into account her part, and she now has a bluish/greenish stripe running right down the side of her head. Whoops.....

Here is the latest cape cod times article on Dennis: We would be the three people walking up and down the docks in the rain.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081010/NEWS/810100308

October 2, 2008 Presents from VA & snake

We also were delighted to find in our mailbox on Monday afternoon a package from VA. The kids love getting their own envelopes and even though Dan can't read very well yet, he doesn't let Em read his either. Dan got a great T-shirt in the perfect size with the names of all the Azore Islands printed on it along with cows making funny faces. He wanted to put on Monday night but since we were having American Chop Suey for dinner I managed to convince him to wait until Tuesday. Em got a small plate with cows on it. When Dad and Kathy took Em to France, Emmy was their cow-pilot, so a cow plate was fitting. The kids love that they're thought of on a regular basis, and Emily usually attempts to write back, although I'm not sure she always makes it to the stamps.
Today was the first day the sun's come out in over a week and we were thrilled to see it. We usually meet Jen and the girls on Thursday at Oakridge

Danny found this beautiful mayfly.

playground. Today we arrived, and Dan immediately got out of the van and ran off to play. Jen, Buzz and I caught up for a bit. Then all of a sudden I heard Danny screaming "snake". We've tried to catch one all summer long, so I ran over and gently put my foot on top of it to keep it still, reached down and picked it up. We were immediately surrounded by children who wanted to touch it. Jen went to my van and found the specimen jar I always keep there, while I held it for the kids to touch. We gently lowered him into his temporary home and the kids resumed their games. Dan played until nearly 1pm, then we went home to have lunch, and make a home for our our new friend. We dug some dirt from the garden, planted some grass, found some rocks to make a hiding place, and added a pool of water. Then we went down to the logs and started lifting them to find some earth worms for Mack. We found several, put them in the box and he immediately started eating. Then he moved over to the water and took a drink. Really very comfortable behavior for an animal who has just been put into captivity.

It's been 3 months without alcohol, or meat and I've officially lost 50lbs so far. My goal is 136, I'm just 26lbs away! Em and I went shopping at Old Navy on Sunday and I happily found 5 pairs of size 8 shorts for $4.99 each. I was worried I wouldn't have anything to wear when we went down to Florida in February, but I think I'm all set now!

Mack the snake.

September 30, 2008 Bloodwork & Emily's Dad

So as I may or may not have posted last week I had my yearly physical with my primary. It was the usual, blood pressure 122/70, pulse 74, weight 166lbs. Asked me how everything is, and except for a small unhealed mark on my back everything is great. (he's going to remove it the end of October) and 5 minutes later I was out the door with my bloodwork order. I know the routine so I fasted that morning and went directly over to C-lab. I was called up the counter, ushered into the vampire chair, poked and sent home. My appointment with Doc B was at 9am, we left C-lab at 9:02.
So this morning I called for my bloodwork results. My diet has been so restricted I was concerned that I might have deficiencies. Turns out everything came back better then good.
My blood sugar was 87
My cholesterol is 129
Triglicerides 43
HDL 41
LDL 79
Pap- normal
I was pleased with the results especially since we spent an hour of our day yesterday at RI Hospital visiting Emily's dad who had a heart attack last Tuesday. He spent 3 days in ICU before he was sent down stairs. He's expecting to go home tomorrow. He had a blood clot that went to his lungs and made it nearly impossible to breath. He had some pain in his left hip a few days before so the doctors surmise that's where it started. He also found out he has diabetes. When he arrived at the hospital his blood sugar was over 600. He's only 10 years older then me and it really hit home that nows the time to get healthy, because it's only going to get harder as the years go by.
This afternoon I had an appointment with Cape Cod ENT. In some strange turn of events instead of being scheduled for the vestibular test, I was sent to see another ENT. He was very nice, and wrote up the paperwork for the VNG, ran a couple of tests and asked if I'd ever been tested for lyme disease. When I said no, he said he thought it was a good idea. He also asked if there was anything that I do that can bring an episode on, and I explained that sometime rubbing or pressing the back of my neck could trigger an attack. He contemplated that for a moment and suggested that this whole thing might be caused by a pinched nerve. I don't like the idea of chronic lyme disease at all, but a pinched nerve? What's the treatment for that, daily massages??? I'm voting for pinched nerve hands down! I went over to C-lab to be poked once more, then to the grocery store to pick up some bananas for dessert. Emily's itching to make something sweet so I challenged her to find something somewhat healthy involving fruit. She chose banana's foster sans the rum. It'll balance out the fried chicken and french fries!

September 29, 2008 Hurricane Kyle

Em's Our cottage guests were great to have around. Wendy was very nice. On Saturday morning she came by just as I was making Dan pancakes and joined us for breakfast. Danny really enjoyed the maple syrup she brought. I worked Saturday night but Mike hosted them for a t-bone and lamb chop supper, and they helped Mike and Emily unload a ton of pellets into the basement in the pouring rain.
Sunday morning was quiet. Wendy called and we planned to take a ride into Sandwich, have some lunch and Seafood Sam's then take a walk on the canal if Hurricane Kyle cooperated. We walked to the Sagamore bridge and half way back before the rain really began to fall. Another family walked with us as well, and their son and Danny kept swapping Dan's bike for Nicholas' ride in the wagon. It worked out great, and was enough variation to keep Dan interested. We got home in time to dry off, say goodbye to the stirts, then to work I went.
Monday morning was quiet as well. We deemed it Emily day since everything seemed to revolve around her. We made a trip to RI to visit her dad in the hospital, went shopping at the outlet mall where she bought 2 shirts, then to the orthodontist for her check up, to the grocery store to get the fixings for her favorite American chop suey, and finally I ended my night sitting in a two hour parents drivers ed class.

September 27, 2008 The Stirts and Facebook

Mikey is the President of Cape Cod Woodturners. Every year the club hires a professional turner to come to the Cape and do a demonstration for a weekend. This year they hired Al Stirt. http://www.alstirt.com/ He's a little bit of a man, quiet and reserved but with a quick smile. He's tremendously talented and Mike can't wait to see him in action again. They met in Virginia this past June when Mike went to the woodturners symposium in Richmond, VA. Anyway, with the cottage on the hill, and nobody in it this weekend Mike offered it to him and his wife. They accepted and after a few minutes of trying to break into it in the pouring rain I managed to open it back up. Suzanne, Mike's cousin, had all but closed it down for the winter, so I spent a half hour or so turning the gas back on to the stove, lighting pilots, turning the water back on, plugging everything back in, making sure the electric fireplace worked. etc. We had a no name tropical storm blow through yesterday which made the opening that much more eventful. Since they were in town just a few hours before dinner time we invited them to join us. They live in upstate Vermont and don't get to enjoy seafood fresh from the sea very often so we treated them, and us, to a seafood feast. Mike took Dan to Wayne's house to set up for the demo, while I went shopping for everything we would need. We finished our chores right around lunch time and decided we'd meet at Marshland too again. Last time I was there I enjoyed some swordfish tips, rice and butternut squash, and asked Mike to order that for me again since they got there before I did. However they didn't have any so I was forced to pick something else. They had a fried oyster and fish platter which I chose with rice and squash again. It tasted great, the fish was perfect, the oysters succulent. The plate was huge but I couldn't help but eat it all. I left feeling too full.
We went back to the house and started getting ready for the night. I'd picked up 2 lobsters , one for Emmy and the other for Wendy, Al's wife, at the Mashpee Lobster mart, since I was on that side of town, but they wanted $5.99 lbs for steamers and I was sure we could do better at Joes. Mike picked up 4lbs of steamers ($2.99lb) and 3lbs of mussels from Joe's Lobster mart. http://www.joeslobstermart.com/index.htm Joe's is right on the canal, has the best prices around and everything is as fresh as it can be. We also planned Shrimp fettuccine Alfredo, cesear salad, warmed Parisian bread and for dessert baked apples with walnuts, raisins and french vanilla ice cream.
The Stirts arrived right on time, brought with them a quart of fresh Vermont maple syrup and we enjoyed a great dinner. They are a very nice couple and conversation was fun and easy. After dinner Mike took them on a quick tour of the shop before coffee and dessert. We finished the night with a Wii demonstration. Em showed Wendy how guitar hero worked, and although she got booted off stage twice was a good sport. Lots of people are too intimidated to even try it. Next we built Al and Wendy Mii's which was pretty amusing, Wendy and I had a couple of good games of tennis and we finished the evening with a wii fit demonstration. It was 8:30 pm. Mike agreed to pick Al up at 7:30am and we retired for the night.

Which brings us to now.....it's 4:24am. I've updated my new facebook account with some recent pictures of the kids and puppies. I was introduced to facebook in a discussion box in my sociology book when studying at the playground on Thursday, and checked it while Danny napped. It's amazing how many people I know there. I quickly contacted 8 or 9 old high school classmates. When you enter data about where you've gone to school, worked, etc it automatically finds other people with the same information. That's how I found Andruis Dilba. Andy (he's Lithuanian) and I went to college together. He was roommates with Chuck and very good friends with an old fiance Craig who I dated during and after college. We spent lots of time together those couple of years and I learned to ski at two Smugglers Notch trips with them. I know that shortly after Craig and I broke up he started dating another girl from the ski trip and eventually they got married and had a son. I think I was in touch with Craig's brother Chris some years ago and he gave me the information. Still I was curious what became of these three guys I knew so well. So I was thrilled when Andy sent me back a message that he was doing great, teaching in Boston and that he was still in touch with both Chuck and Craig who are also doing well. It was nice to catch up a little bit.
Janet who I used to work with at Pickles is also a regular on facebook and I was happy to see pictures of her girls. Janets daughter Paige is the same age as Emily and for quite a while when Em was younger Janet took care of her for me, so she and Paige were pretty close. I think I still have pictures of the two of them in a bubble bath somewhere! I'm also attempting to contact an old friend from High school, named Fiona Bancroft. I think I found her and did send her a message but haven't heard back. If I wasn't already internet obsessed, I am now!

So the reason I was awake at 2:45am is because of a gallbladder attack. I had them on occasion going through high school. Looking back, it's no wonder considering my french fry and suzie Q lunch everyday. I think my mother chalked it up to growing pains and it would eventually subside. I was never taken to the doctor for it as a teenager. It happened again in my 20's, mostly I found, after I'd eaten Burger King and eventually one time it was so bad an lasted so long I finally went to the ER to see what was going on. They called it a gallbladder attack, gave me some meds and sent me home. I was offered the option of surgery to remove it, but at that stage of my life, and still for that matter pride myself on having never had surgery and did what I could to avoid it. I did some research and learned if I avoided fat (apparently Burger King's in particular) I could avoid further problems....and for the most part I have.

I think one of the significant side effects, other then the weight loss, to avoiding so many foods is that now my body is getting used to not having them. I had buttered popcorn while watching Another Cinderella story with Em, TJ and Sarah last Saturday and spent the next couple of hours in the bathroom. There wasn't really that much butter in there, but I guess it was enough because the results were dramatic. Yesterday I had the fried seafood and although it took a while to come on, but by 9:45pm I was in enough pain that I took 4 Advil, which I rarely, if ever do. 3 months ago fried seafood wouldn't have bothered me. I was planning for the most part that this diet change to be temporary, but I'm not sure my body is going to allow it....good thing I like vegetables...alot!

Wendy came down the hill and joined Dan for pancakes, then retreated to finish up some school work. She's a reading teacher and had lesson plans to do. The kids and I took a trip to Hyannis. Em was interested in getting a snake but abruptly changed her mind when she saw a pinkie mouse in one of the snake cages. Next we went to Old Navy. The kids and I are going down to Disney world for two weeks starting the end of February. It occured to me a few days ago that with my weight loss and the time of year I might run into problems finding clothes to wear while I'm there. So I made it my mission to scour the clearance rack for summer clothes. I quickly found several pairs of shorts ranging in size from 2 to 10 and settled on 8's. It's good to have a goal. Once I fit into those shorts I'll know I've met it. Even better was that since they were on clearance I got them for $4.99 each. In the end I bought 3 pairs of shorts, 2 skirts, 4 shirts, and a cardigan...with the sale they were running this weekend I got all of it for $50. Emily also made out well, she spent over $200 but with the sale she saved over $94. She got 4 pairs of pants, a dress and several shirts. We came home to relax, Mike arrived home just as I was walking out the door for work and announced he was on his way to pick up our second ton of pellets. With hurricane Kyle coming up the coast, pouring rain and after a full day of playing videographer for Al Stirt he still had the energy to not only get them but unload them with only Emily's help. As I type he's snoring on the couch next to me.

September 25, 2008 A new days dawns....

I awoke this morning to the faint smell of wood smoke and immediately knew the stove was lit. Lately the house has been about 68 degrees when we wake up and I inwardly moan a few times before throwing off my 4 layers of blankets to brave the cold. This morning I climbed out barely awake and curled up next to my wonderful husband on the couch. He can't wait for a frost, but knows how much I detest the cold. Since Emily has to be to work early everyday this week for inventory, he knew I'd be up and since the house was down to 67 he was kind enough to warm it up for me before my alarm went off.
We contemplated our respective days, pretty light for both of us, showered, dressed and wished each other a good day. Dan and I took Em to work then made a quick stop at the grocery store for....you guessed it....more apples. Our area isn't a big farming community. Although we do have a few farm stands and a weekly farmer's markets, most of our produce is still bought at the local stop and shop. I do, however, look for foods that are grown at least close by. Yesterday we bought concord grapes from Concord, MA, and today a sugar pumpkin from Hanson, MA. I bought Gala's yesterday that were grown in NH, but wasn't as happy with the flavor as I might have been with the Macintosh's so I sucked up the distance (and the price) and bought Macintosh's from NY. 12 big ones. Since Danny's reaction last night was very similar to his cousin Jonathan's I thought I might try another late evening canning extravaganza, then remembered....tonight is the season premiere of Survivor. I've requested both Wednesday and Thursday nights off until further notice to cover school and our survivor obsession. It's the one hour all week that we all sit in front of the TV with the lights turned off, and bowls of popcorn in our laps. Survivor is one of the few things I like about the start of fall.
Dan and I brought our apples home, I grabbed my school bag and back out the door we went so Dan could "socialize" at the playground. As I alternated between watching him play with a large group of boys, and studied, I pondered the idea of socialization some more. I understand the purpose, and I can appreciate the sheer chaos that would ensue if we didn't have it. Even as much as I hate to be stereotyped I understand how nearly completely socialized I am. And in the grand scheme of things I'm OK with it. I just like to retain a sense of uniqueness that seems to be lacking in my lessons thus far. Maybe chapter 6 will be enlightening.
As the playground cleared out, Dan and I agreed it was time for lunch, he'd played hard for nearly 2 hours and I'd read most of chapter 5...two birds, one stone. We came home to make lunch. Dan chose a bologna and cheese sandwich with a bowl of soup. Remembering the left over applesauce in the fridge, I asked him if he'd like some, and he said "please!" Since I didn't taste it the night before I decided to try a small spoonful, and that's when it hit me. I'm not generally a fan of anything apple but this small mouthful was wonderful. Not since making baby food have I gotten so much satisfaction out of providing nutrition for my family. And I have 2 more jars just like it in the pantry. It's official, I'm addicted...I'll be doing alot more canning!