I’m making ratatouille in the slow cooker to freeze. I went out to the garden to pick the last of the basil, some parsley and oregano but got distracted by the beautiful morning light.
Fall is here. I love the disheveled look of the garden – everything grown too big and falling over, the scattered leaves, the wind blown foliage. I did eventually get my herbs, but not before I tramped about with the camera.
Filed under food, Uncategorized
On Sunday the Triptych , finally finished and assembled, was dedicated to St. John’s United Church during the morning service. It was exciting to see it all put together for the first time, and to see people’s reactions.
Members of the congregation getting a closer look.
I spoke during the service but felt less than eloquent. This is when, I guess, you hope the work speaks for itself! As always though, I found that while putting together some words, I formulated ideas and ways of looking that I hadn’t quite synthesized before. I kept returning to the idea of “the journey”. First, there is the literal journey the congregation made from the old church building to the conservatory. Then the metaphorical “big journey” we are all on, the changes that are happening, the transitions we are going through. The feelings of uncertainties that we handle by looking behind us to see where we’ve come from, and forging ahead. And of course the journey of the triptych itself; starting from a vague idea, going through the process of building and creating, the group coming to know each other as we went, each person discovering a bit about themselves along the way. Well, maybe I shouldn’t speak for others, but I definitely learned some things!
In the very early stages of the triptych when we were beginning to work on the layout, we stretched a pieces of string diagonally across all three panels to act as a guide in creating a sense of flow. How we fussed about with that string and placement of figures! It was hard to believe it would ever amount to much. But the end result when you look at it now, if I may say so, is a beautiful sense of direction and movement. A sense of the journey.
Recent days have been distinctly lacking in blog worthy material, so I bring you something from last month. Behold the Chocolate Socks.
The yarn is chocolate brown and very yummy. (Can’t seem to photograph the brown in a way that brings that across, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. ) I made these following the Thuja pattern and was pleased by how quickly they knit up. I’m also pretty chuffed with myself for getting going on the Christmas knitting so early! These are a present for my father. When it comes time to wrap them I think I’ll make up a little package to continue the chocolate theme.
I always thought of these as “chocolate socks” and was reminded of them last night while we were eating Mayan Gold Green and Blacks chocolate. (Observe our will power – there is still some left!) This inspired my little photo arrangement of the socks, the chocolate and a background of a woven and embroidered cloth from my trip to Guatemala.
Beautiful broccoli. I accidentally let one of my broccoli plants go to flower but I’m rather glad I did. Who knew it would be so beautiful? And the bees seem to be enjoying it. I sampled some and it’s quite tasty. Not surprisingly it taste of…..wait for it….broccoli! I think it might even make a nice dish. But I’ve also got my hands full of zucchini so I may not get to it. I might just let it go on being pretty and let the bees have their fill.
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Rose Hips! These lovely little beauties were historically used as a boost of much needed vitamin C in the winter months. I have been intending for a while to pick rose hips a but whenever I tried to picture where I had seen wild rose bushes I drew a blank. Last week I suddenly remembered that there are some at a nearby playground so off I went with a little bag. I felt a little conspicuous as I tried to pull rose hips from the bushes in a discrete manner, but I don’t suppose anybody minded. There were plenty there and I only took enough for a small bag, making sure there would still be lots for the birds.
I made some rose hip tea but though I tried very hard to like it, I didn’t. Afterwards I read that you are supposed to wait till the first frost before picking them, so I may have been a bit early. And it may be an aquired taste. They are now in the freezer waiting for me to find another way to use them.
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I just returned from the Partners for Care Farmers’ Market. (They don’t state the hours but I read somewhere it is from 10-2.) I have been hearing about this all summer and I’m glad I finally got a chance to go. It’s mostly made up of folks who are down at the Halifax Farmers Market on Saturday so I saw quite a few familiar faces. It’s popular and busy but being outside stops it from feeling crowded.
I was thinking only the other day that sometimes it seems like we need to go to the market for NOW, and then go again to get food to freeze. So I took this opportunity to buy food for the freezer; tomatoes, raspberries, blue berries, broccoli and swiss chard. But though I focused on freezer produce I also picked up my favourite yogurt from Fox Hill (seriously, if you haven’t tried this you haven’t tried yogurt), a lovely loaf of sour dough bread and apple juice that was apples at 7:30 this morning! Lovely little outing on a beautiful fall morning.
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It sometimes seems funny to me that I went to “Art School” and never learned how to paint. The fault is mine, of course, as I didn’t take any painting classes. In retrospect, I think this because I had never really painted, and just assumed it wasn’t my thing. Recently I’ve been thinking maybe I should work on that a bit.
I somehow ended up with a tiny canvass (4 X 4 “) and that seemed safe for a start. I know working from a photo isn’t ideal, but I painted from a picture taken on our apple picking outing. I painted with acrylics.
So, not a masterpiece, but to show for the record that I gave it a go, here it is:
I enjoyed it. It is unfamiliar and I definitely feel somewhat “out on a limb” but there is also a bit of it that feels a tiny bit natural. So I resolve to try and build some skills and see if I can become more comfortable with this painting business!
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(I realize this could be anywhere, and we always take the same picture but what can you do??)
I have just returned from a visit to see my sister in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Here are a few high points!
We went for walks. I love that Signal Hill and a trail along the headland are just a few minutes walk from down town. Looks especially well on a sunny fall day!
On Sunday we ended one of our walks at a lovely little book store called The Bookery. Clare immediately drew my attention to a book that she thought was “me”, and it may as well have had my name written all over it! It’s called Lost Crafts: Rediscovering Traditional Skills . I bought it – what else could I do? I have a feeling I will be banging on about it in future posts!
Clare is newly passionate about pottery and made me a little mug! She was not happy with the glaze job (I feel she would want me to say that) but I am charmed by the little squirrel and couldn’t care less about the glaze! I think it will be perfect for a little cup of camomile at bedtime. Hooray for handmade things!
During all our walking and talking Clare and I began to formulate a plan for a possible collaborative work project when she returns to Halifax in the winter. We had been wanting to work together but hadn’t really developed a vision until this trip. At the moment we are thinking about combining art and creative writing in some workshops/programs. I really think there is some potential here as both would compliment each other so well. Also, though we’ve had different experiences, Clare and I are of like minds and would work together well. The whole thing is quite exciting!
Thanks, Clare and Jon, for a lovely few days!
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Peeling apples in my hand-made, wedding shower gift apron. (I think I’m a better cook when I wear this apron.)
I have never made apple pie until this weekend. Strictly speaking it was Apple Galette, a sort of rustic apple pie. The idea was to use up some of the apples we picked on Saturday. I started off with a good deal of confidence but had a few nervous moments when I realized my departure from the recipe (decision to meld a few recipes together) may not have been the best plan. The filling was two juicy and kept leaking out onto the pan, causing the whole pie to sit in a puddle of sticky goo. But in the end, I don’t think it mattered much. Anyway, I eventually got one large and two medium Apple Galettes baked and after sacrificing the smallest to our immediate pie cravings, got the other two in the freezer. I must do this again. We have enough apples for it, and I somehow feel that pie making is an important skill! (though I reserve the right to recant if I don’t master it!)
(Sorry it’s not a better photo. Forgot to take more and now it’s too late!)
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I didn’t expect the smell. It’s the thing that first hit us as we stepped into the sunny orchard; the sweet scent of apples. It was a perfect day for our little apple picking outing at Gates U-pick. This is just the beginning of the season so you should go here too. We had a lovely time.
We wandered through the rows of trees, leisurely picking two big bags of Gravenstein apples. And because that was so much fun, we also picked a bag of Clapp pears.
Can’t beat the price – these were supposedly 10 lb bags (and the owner gave us a deal – just $10 for all three bags!) but when we got home we discovered we’d picked 30 lb of apples and 18 of pears! I’m determined not to waste any so we’ll have to get eating. I also plan to make lots of apple and pear sauce and pie filling for the freezer.
After picking we had a pleasant lunch of olive bread and brie in the peaceful u-pick picnic area and a walk on the dike to complete the day. On our way home we stopped off at Hennigar’s to load up on local produce for the freezer.
A splendid day!
Nettle's Notes 