Update
Last Friday's CSA: 1.3 lb. new white potatoes; savory; 1 small green cabbage; 1 medium kohlrabi; 15 oz. small turnips; 4 small onions with tops; 7 oz. broccoli.
I made wheat berry salad with chicken, cranberries, and rosemary and black bean salad (those two used up most of the onions); also chicken and cabbage stir-fry which used the cabbage and the kohlrabi tops. The kohlrabi itself, the turnips, and the broccoli I'm just going to cook as needed for side dishes (e.g. today when we have sausages). I'm planning to make potato salad on the weekend using savory in lieu of the marjoram I usually put in; we really didn't need another thing this week. Oh, and I made a low-sugar chocolate-pecan cookie recipe as well. Not bad for what it was, but not as good as a regular cookie, for sure. Made breakfast casserole as usual also.
The black bean salad I made a double recipe of to take to the community dinner. I was planning to take garlic scapes monkey bread (using up garlic scapes from last season that I had frozen and nearly forgotten) to the community dinner also, but Tain managed to steal and eat the entire loaf from the counter, despite it being pushed well back from the edge and wrapped in plastic. The fact that she did NOT pull the plate down and break it was impressive, I suppose. Definitely a food bandit. That was the last of the garlic scapes, and I really wanted to have some of that bread, so I ended up making a second loaf with regular garlic and gave half to our neighbors so we wouldn't eat too much; it's good with regular garlic as well, unsurprisingly.
We're still settling in with two dogs. Juno was such an easy dog, Tain is distinctly higher-maintenance. She needs to go out first thing every morning (like, maybe she can wait till I use the bathroom, but that's about it) and we've had some issues with dumps in the house. She does steal food from the kitchen counter if it's left unattended and can get it from much further back on the counter than I would have expected given her size. I have noticed that she has done some digging, one large deep hole in my oregano *annoyed* and a couple of other smaller ones elsewhere. All of these things we need to actually CATCH her at to indicate that they are not okay, and she's pretty sneaky about doing them when no one is around.
Tain also goes slightly nuts when the garage door is up, for an odd reason: she sees her reflection in the glass section of the door above her. (That's definitely what it is, as we have seen her looking at her reflection in the screen of SO's turned-off laptop also.) Then she runs around in circles looking up and with some whining and barking. This then sets Juno off to some extent, and Juno too starts trotting around and making some noise. We need to introduce Tain to Scruffy next door; they haven't met in person, just through the fence, and Scruffy has been barking at her a lot (interestingly Tain doesn't really bark back, but Juno does some). Between Juno and Tain at that fence, my poor day lilies are probably not going to make it. Sigh.
OTOH, she is a very loving little dog and very responsive to being petted, high-energy, and clearly happy to be in a home again. And protective of it! SO was gone for three days over the weekend (running a half-marathon in Colorado this time) and when he came back late Monday, I happened to be in the back yard making sure everyone had a chance to do her business before bedtime. So we came back inside and there he was. Tain barked at him for several minutes (Juno chimed in too, although clearly not barking at SO, just reacting to Tain's barks) and quite evidently was uncertain whether he was supposed to be there. He was not entirely happy about that, understandably, although I think she would have done the same to me in the reverse situation. She did get over it fairly quickly, given that I'm sure that to a dog the smell of both us humans permeates the house, so.
We have two more French classes to go; I think it will prove helpful to have done this although of course in a total of 9 hours' instruction over 6 weeks one isn't going to learn a whole lot. But I'll feel better having been reminded of how to pronounce things (although my accent honestly is not great) and some vocabulary, etc. Looks like my staff member is willing to house sit/dog sit for two weeks for $500, so that will be good; no kennel for the doggies. I need to cancel that kennel reservation as soon as L. has actually met the dogs, which will be this Friday afternoon.
I'm sitting on a dissertation defense committee next week, the last time I will do that in consequence of my former life as a historian (by uni rules I was eligible to sit on committees for three years after leaving, so this is just under the wire). A U.S. history dissertation, naturally, and it's a tight schedule; I only got the thing yesterday. So I have that to read, plus also several chapters of a book that I agreed to read and just give a general reaction to for a former colleage from that department (who is also on the committee, so I want to have that finished by next Friday also).
Work is generally all right. Our student workers this summer are so efficient at moving books and building shelves that we keep running out of things for them to do; our director is "weeding" part of the collection being moved (not for discard, just for temporary storage, as there is less room on the floor where the books are going than on the one where they've been) and since she was on vacation for a couple of weeks, we're currently at a point where the students have caught up to her and can't do any more. I'm starting to do stuff for the state-level librarians' group that I am currently the chair of (well, technically not till July, but we need to meet in July so I'm trying to get that organized). I am VERY happy that over the summer we're working only 36 hours/week, so I get Friday afternoons off, usually anyhow.
Am continuing to get some sewing done - another pair of trousers this past week. I can't decide whether to make a sundress or a vest next. I'd like to have both of those plus yet another pair of trousers made before vacation, if I can manage. In an ideal world I'd also get a vest for SO sewn - his vests take a lot longer than mine, however, being more complex of construction.
Still no sign of the muse. I am hoping somewhat forlornly that when I gear down a little on one of my meds (which I will do as soon as my current prescription runs out, another several weeks IIRC) that might help, as that is the one that has always made my brain feel a little fuzzy and forgetful. Guess we'll see.
Also on the health lines, I still have 1-2 pounds to lose - having had to eat out six times in the past two weeks didn't help me any - which is frustrating, to be so close and yet not quite there, week after week. I am wondering if I am in menopause, too. I had the hot flashes thing (or rather, mostly night sweats) last summer, and haven't really had a period since maybe November or December, just some spotting now and again, and that not at the time in the cycle when it should be (so I suspect it's fibroid-related). But I am on the pill, so it's hard to tell. I guess it's not that important really so I will probably just wait and see and ask my ob-gyn next January when I see her again.
And that's all for now. I wish I were doing better at posting regularly, but... this seems to be all I can manage lately.
I made wheat berry salad with chicken, cranberries, and rosemary and black bean salad (those two used up most of the onions); also chicken and cabbage stir-fry which used the cabbage and the kohlrabi tops. The kohlrabi itself, the turnips, and the broccoli I'm just going to cook as needed for side dishes (e.g. today when we have sausages). I'm planning to make potato salad on the weekend using savory in lieu of the marjoram I usually put in; we really didn't need another thing this week. Oh, and I made a low-sugar chocolate-pecan cookie recipe as well. Not bad for what it was, but not as good as a regular cookie, for sure. Made breakfast casserole as usual also.
The black bean salad I made a double recipe of to take to the community dinner. I was planning to take garlic scapes monkey bread (using up garlic scapes from last season that I had frozen and nearly forgotten) to the community dinner also, but Tain managed to steal and eat the entire loaf from the counter, despite it being pushed well back from the edge and wrapped in plastic. The fact that she did NOT pull the plate down and break it was impressive, I suppose. Definitely a food bandit. That was the last of the garlic scapes, and I really wanted to have some of that bread, so I ended up making a second loaf with regular garlic and gave half to our neighbors so we wouldn't eat too much; it's good with regular garlic as well, unsurprisingly.
We're still settling in with two dogs. Juno was such an easy dog, Tain is distinctly higher-maintenance. She needs to go out first thing every morning (like, maybe she can wait till I use the bathroom, but that's about it) and we've had some issues with dumps in the house. She does steal food from the kitchen counter if it's left unattended and can get it from much further back on the counter than I would have expected given her size. I have noticed that she has done some digging, one large deep hole in my oregano *annoyed* and a couple of other smaller ones elsewhere. All of these things we need to actually CATCH her at to indicate that they are not okay, and she's pretty sneaky about doing them when no one is around.
Tain also goes slightly nuts when the garage door is up, for an odd reason: she sees her reflection in the glass section of the door above her. (That's definitely what it is, as we have seen her looking at her reflection in the screen of SO's turned-off laptop also.) Then she runs around in circles looking up and with some whining and barking. This then sets Juno off to some extent, and Juno too starts trotting around and making some noise. We need to introduce Tain to Scruffy next door; they haven't met in person, just through the fence, and Scruffy has been barking at her a lot (interestingly Tain doesn't really bark back, but Juno does some). Between Juno and Tain at that fence, my poor day lilies are probably not going to make it. Sigh.
OTOH, she is a very loving little dog and very responsive to being petted, high-energy, and clearly happy to be in a home again. And protective of it! SO was gone for three days over the weekend (running a half-marathon in Colorado this time) and when he came back late Monday, I happened to be in the back yard making sure everyone had a chance to do her business before bedtime. So we came back inside and there he was. Tain barked at him for several minutes (Juno chimed in too, although clearly not barking at SO, just reacting to Tain's barks) and quite evidently was uncertain whether he was supposed to be there. He was not entirely happy about that, understandably, although I think she would have done the same to me in the reverse situation. She did get over it fairly quickly, given that I'm sure that to a dog the smell of both us humans permeates the house, so.
We have two more French classes to go; I think it will prove helpful to have done this although of course in a total of 9 hours' instruction over 6 weeks one isn't going to learn a whole lot. But I'll feel better having been reminded of how to pronounce things (although my accent honestly is not great) and some vocabulary, etc. Looks like my staff member is willing to house sit/dog sit for two weeks for $500, so that will be good; no kennel for the doggies. I need to cancel that kennel reservation as soon as L. has actually met the dogs, which will be this Friday afternoon.
I'm sitting on a dissertation defense committee next week, the last time I will do that in consequence of my former life as a historian (by uni rules I was eligible to sit on committees for three years after leaving, so this is just under the wire). A U.S. history dissertation, naturally, and it's a tight schedule; I only got the thing yesterday. So I have that to read, plus also several chapters of a book that I agreed to read and just give a general reaction to for a former colleage from that department (who is also on the committee, so I want to have that finished by next Friday also).
Work is generally all right. Our student workers this summer are so efficient at moving books and building shelves that we keep running out of things for them to do; our director is "weeding" part of the collection being moved (not for discard, just for temporary storage, as there is less room on the floor where the books are going than on the one where they've been) and since she was on vacation for a couple of weeks, we're currently at a point where the students have caught up to her and can't do any more. I'm starting to do stuff for the state-level librarians' group that I am currently the chair of (well, technically not till July, but we need to meet in July so I'm trying to get that organized). I am VERY happy that over the summer we're working only 36 hours/week, so I get Friday afternoons off, usually anyhow.
Am continuing to get some sewing done - another pair of trousers this past week. I can't decide whether to make a sundress or a vest next. I'd like to have both of those plus yet another pair of trousers made before vacation, if I can manage. In an ideal world I'd also get a vest for SO sewn - his vests take a lot longer than mine, however, being more complex of construction.
Still no sign of the muse. I am hoping somewhat forlornly that when I gear down a little on one of my meds (which I will do as soon as my current prescription runs out, another several weeks IIRC) that might help, as that is the one that has always made my brain feel a little fuzzy and forgetful. Guess we'll see.
Also on the health lines, I still have 1-2 pounds to lose - having had to eat out six times in the past two weeks didn't help me any - which is frustrating, to be so close and yet not quite there, week after week. I am wondering if I am in menopause, too. I had the hot flashes thing (or rather, mostly night sweats) last summer, and haven't really had a period since maybe November or December, just some spotting now and again, and that not at the time in the cycle when it should be (so I suspect it's fibroid-related). But I am on the pill, so it's hard to tell. I guess it's not that important really so I will probably just wait and see and ask my ob-gyn next January when I see her again.
And that's all for now. I wish I were doing better at posting regularly, but... this seems to be all I can manage lately.