My trip last week was a great success — my mother and I had a very fun time together, and we found two apartment buildings that look interesting and cool and that she can afford — but it was a busy week. I put just over 1000 miles on the rental car, but the trip did have some very restorative aspects, one of which was the amount of time I got to spend in my friend Posy’s garden. Because there was no wi-fi connection in the guest house, I had to take refuge under this beautiful pergola, which looked out…
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LivingSmall will be travelling all week. I need to go back to where I grew up and give my mom a hand. Looking forward to seeing some old high school friends and my 97 year old granny. Back next weekend.
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All summer I was getting up about 5:30 because that’s when the sun came up and I was really enjoying it. I had time to get a lot done before having to sign on at work — write a blog post, walk the dog, water the garden. It was lovely. And then the earth tilted back the other way and I found it harder and harder to get up in the morning. I thought about buying one of those fancy light alarm clocks that are supposed to simulate the sun rising — you set the timer and they gradually light…
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Just as I was reading this article in the SF Chronicle about people buying meat shares (which mentions my friend Bonnie over at Ethicurean and her meat CSA she’s starting), Matt, my butcher called to say that my pig was ready. Well, half a pig, actually. I bought it from my Milk Lady, and while it was stupendously expensive, what can I say? I grew up with the heirs to the Armour and Swift fortunes and well, I’d rather buy Isabelle’s kids new school clothes. Plus, if her pork is anything like the delicious Jersey milk or those eggs I…
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It’s been a weird week — starting with the outpouring of false sentiment over the 9/11 anniversary. I’ve come to dread it, that upwelling of sentiment, the appropriation of tragedy by those only tangenitally affected, the politicians and blowhards pontificating about how we are all changed forever. I’m not talking about the real grief of those who lost loved ones, I’m talking about the obscene way that the day has been spun and abused and turned into a sentimental touchstone. I hate it. Luckily I don’t watch much television, so I missed most of the worst of it. September 13…
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I don’t have a photo of last night’s yummy dinner because well, I ate it instead of photographing it, but it was one of those delicious surprises that happen sometimes when you’re just making something out of what you have. I had a bunch of tomatoes that were about to go bad on me — not enough for a real pot of sauce, three or four big-ish red ones, a few Jaunne Flammes and a handful of cherries. I dithered for a while because I didn’t really feel like cooking, I felt more like heating something up but I didn’t…
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It happens every year at Labor Day — the weather gets threatening and we all swathe our tomatoes in some sort of jerry-rigged cold frame/greenhouse kind of thing. One reason I’ve always sort of liked the trellis-and-string method is because it also provides a handy structure to hold the plastic up. With the new beds up against the fence like that, I just stapled the plastic to the fence, then draped it over the top of the bamboo and it’s held down with rocks. Lots of rocks. Big rocks because Livingston is windy. I also filled a bunch of wall-o-waters…
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Now the Farmer’s Almanac is saying it’s going to be a very cold winter, and I have to say, if my mania for getting organized and stocking up is any indication, they’re right. It wasn’t a great year for jams and preserves — I didn’t get any cucumbers so I’ll have to make do with what’s left of last year’s pickles, but I did put up some gingered plum jam, some apricots in vanilla-cardamom syrup, peach chutney and tomato salsa. I’m hoping for another batch of tomatoes because I like that salsa — it’s clean and bright and it canned…
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The weather turned on us last weekend when I still had a load of clothes in the washer and I’ve become so accustomed to using my clothesline that I was kind of upset by the thought of running the dryer. When I ordered the Clothesline of My Dreams last summer I also ordered this little retractable one, but it had languished in the tool/junk cabinet all summer. It was a cinch to put up — and it seems reasonably sturdy. The clothes take a lot longer to dry in the basement, and since out of sight is out of mind…
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If you look closely you’ll see a bad bad stinky dog’s nose poking out from inside the bathtub. For the second time this week, Raymond found a dead thing in the dog park and rolled in it. Tuesday I took him to the new groomer who is two blocks away, but as great a job as she did, I didn’t feel like paying for grooming twice in one week. One of the older guys who hang out at the dog park in the mornings suggested this miracle dog de-stinking mix: baking soda, shampoo and hydrogen peroxide in a bucket (actually,…