From Saturday (cooking, games, cats, garden, depression, household)
I'm doing better. (But forgot to cross post, so....)
On Wednesday i could see two fawns eating the base of the bearsfoot with a cloud of tiger swallowtails around them. The bearsfoot (Smallanthus uvedalia)is an amazingly good wildlife plant. It grows from small sprouts in mid April to a towering colony of big green leaves on thick stems crowned with yellow daisy like flowers. The flowers aren't as pretty as other summer yellow daisy-like flowers, but the pollinators adore them especially the tiger swallowtails. I've seen humming birds at them as well as all sorts of bees and a variety of butterflies, but the swallowtails are so large that seeing a dozen or more working their way around is remarkable. The seeds will start forming soon, and then songbirds will start dining as well. The stems are home to overwintering bees.
Marlowe's predation this week: last Sunday, a young bunny. Friday, a cotton rat.
Figs ripening. I missed the first ones - ants and wasps found them. They're all high in the top of the tree. Maybe this will motivate me to prune it back more significantly this fall.
There are two chestnut clusters ripening in the west-most chestnut tree: squeee!!
Of the early summer processing of green walnuts and peaches, the green peaches in sugar has been the best. It's a syrup of divine aroma. The other green peach efforts suffered by the fruit being too green. The green walnuts never worked for me, really. The ground green walnuts up with figs turned out ok, although i do thing that had more to do with the figs and good cinnamon. Some green walnuts simmered in syrup had operator error in the cooking as the syrup is very stiff and caramelized. I've saved it as i can imagine using the syrup in some figgy concoction, not unlike the fig marmalade.
I've not used the dehydrator except to dry some lemon peel. I'm imagining making a furikakae inspired mix of lemon peel, mint, and poppy seeds to sprinkle on things. The furikakae i made with (very old) nori and freshly bought sesame seed (and some other things i'd have to look up) has been lovely with tomatoes and cottage cheese and tomato sandwiches. There was a New York Times recipe for tomato sandwiches that i gave a side eye, but since i had the old nori i decided to give it a try and i am so glad i did.
Work is OK. I did spend some time this week trying to catch up with stacks of flagged emails and to-dos, and feel a little less flailing. I'm letting myself take the time to go through notes at ends of meetings. I am using a tool that is essentially an audible check-list, allowing time to do each thing on the list. So i have a 30 minutes of "time boxes" to do things like look at email, the chat, my notes, the ticketing system, etc. I'm finding these audio check lists great help in all sorts of daily things -- i assume people who develop habits can lean on them the way i am the list.
Christine went and bought a PlayStation gaming console in ... June. I think i've mentioned. I didn't think i would be interested. But i started playing with the game that came with the console (Astro's playroom) and ... it essentially teaches how to play video games. It was cute, and i could find things just at my ability level. Meanwhile, i was watching Christine play Jedi Survivor, learning the visual vocabulary of the game and enjoying the storyline. Eventually, i decided i would play and ... wow, it's engaging. I am surprised how engaged i am.
I will admit it is a distraction, along with all the other distractions.
Still coping without a dishwasher.
We need to repair the damage carpenter bees and woodpeckers have done to the house. I am not having luck getting recommendations on NextDoor, so now chasing various handyman posts.
On Wednesday i could see two fawns eating the base of the bearsfoot with a cloud of tiger swallowtails around them. The bearsfoot (Smallanthus uvedalia)is an amazingly good wildlife plant. It grows from small sprouts in mid April to a towering colony of big green leaves on thick stems crowned with yellow daisy like flowers. The flowers aren't as pretty as other summer yellow daisy-like flowers, but the pollinators adore them especially the tiger swallowtails. I've seen humming birds at them as well as all sorts of bees and a variety of butterflies, but the swallowtails are so large that seeing a dozen or more working their way around is remarkable. The seeds will start forming soon, and then songbirds will start dining as well. The stems are home to overwintering bees.
Marlowe's predation this week: last Sunday, a young bunny. Friday, a cotton rat.
Figs ripening. I missed the first ones - ants and wasps found them. They're all high in the top of the tree. Maybe this will motivate me to prune it back more significantly this fall.
There are two chestnut clusters ripening in the west-most chestnut tree: squeee!!
Of the early summer processing of green walnuts and peaches, the green peaches in sugar has been the best. It's a syrup of divine aroma. The other green peach efforts suffered by the fruit being too green. The green walnuts never worked for me, really. The ground green walnuts up with figs turned out ok, although i do thing that had more to do with the figs and good cinnamon. Some green walnuts simmered in syrup had operator error in the cooking as the syrup is very stiff and caramelized. I've saved it as i can imagine using the syrup in some figgy concoction, not unlike the fig marmalade.
I've not used the dehydrator except to dry some lemon peel. I'm imagining making a furikakae inspired mix of lemon peel, mint, and poppy seeds to sprinkle on things. The furikakae i made with (very old) nori and freshly bought sesame seed (and some other things i'd have to look up) has been lovely with tomatoes and cottage cheese and tomato sandwiches. There was a New York Times recipe for tomato sandwiches that i gave a side eye, but since i had the old nori i decided to give it a try and i am so glad i did.
Work is OK. I did spend some time this week trying to catch up with stacks of flagged emails and to-dos, and feel a little less flailing. I'm letting myself take the time to go through notes at ends of meetings. I am using a tool that is essentially an audible check-list, allowing time to do each thing on the list. So i have a 30 minutes of "time boxes" to do things like look at email, the chat, my notes, the ticketing system, etc. I'm finding these audio check lists great help in all sorts of daily things -- i assume people who develop habits can lean on them the way i am the list.
Christine went and bought a PlayStation gaming console in ... June. I think i've mentioned. I didn't think i would be interested. But i started playing with the game that came with the console (Astro's playroom) and ... it essentially teaches how to play video games. It was cute, and i could find things just at my ability level. Meanwhile, i was watching Christine play Jedi Survivor, learning the visual vocabulary of the game and enjoying the storyline. Eventually, i decided i would play and ... wow, it's engaging. I am surprised how engaged i am.
I will admit it is a distraction, along with all the other distractions.
Still coping without a dishwasher.
We need to repair the damage carpenter bees and woodpeckers have done to the house. I am not having luck getting recommendations on NextDoor, so now chasing various handyman posts.