Ever On My Mind

I saw these vividly colored 'tiles' at Goodwill, and simply could not pass them up. I thought they were reminiscent of Diago Rivera, but perhaps I have seen other works by Will Rafuse and been unaware of the artist. Rafuse is a Canadian born artist whose work is filled with food, kitchen, wine images so colorful, imaginative and striking they cause a kind of inner excitement in me, an almost trembling.

What with all the vegetables and fruits abounding, I can't seem to stop cooking or thinking about food and cooking. A trip to the Food Co-op the other day produced this magnificent Florida avocado. Years ago, my ex-father-in-law, who lived in Miami and had the greenest thumb I'd ever seen, would send me each summer/fall a huge box of these small football-sized avocados from his home orchard. Florida avocados are so much larger, more pale, and a bit milder then California or Mexican avocados, but they are just as delicious, if not more so.

Some say that avocados are a 'super food' as they are packed with many vitamins, minerals and nutrition.
(The word avocado comes from the Aztec word 'ahuacatl' which I was amused to find out, among other things means 'testicle'...mmm...maybe a Mexican or California avocado, but a Florida avocado?????)

I vividly recall the first time I had Florida avocado, it felt, in a way, kind of like eating butter. It was, however, such a delicious surprise to my palate that that night remains ever clear in my memory.
Whenever I have an avocado around, my very first thought is guacamole! We love guacamole, and this one avocado, with the addition of chopped onions, fresh chopped garlic, fresh chopped tomato, fresh cilantro, and just a bit of mayonnaise (Florida avocados are more moist then California or Mexican), became the stimulus for our Mexican meal last night.

What better to accompany the guacamole then chicken enchiladas.

And for good measure some chopped tomatoes with which to 'dress' the plated enchilada.

Having picked some cucumbers that morning, I decided a small cucumber, tomato, dill, garlic, mix with a dash of olive oil and wine vinegar, would make a fine accompaniment.
It did!

It was a simple, delicious meal!

This time spent in the kitchen today was not unlike my time in the workshop weaving. The same creative excitement fills me. Growing up, my mother was a great cook, but my father was an 'artist'. He worked magic in the kitchen, sometimes from almost nothing. I think my love for and excitement about food and cooking is my father lingering daily within.

IN THE END, IT'S ABOUT EATING

This morning's bounty.(This is one aspect of the 'grow' in kneadweavegrow, including the lone, tiny grape tomato, but boy was it sweet.) I am a list maker and harvesting these vegetables was on my list today. However, not one of the following things was! I was so taken by the beauty and abundance of this picking I was on automatic... cleaning vegetables, washing them, looking through cookbooks and finding recipes!

The yellow squash is destined for the oven this afternoon. It is cut up along with fresh sage leaves, fresh garlic (lots of it), a very good olive oil, and plenty of salt and fresh ground black pepper. One of our favorite ways to eat yellow summer squash...and so simple.

The cucumbers, along with fresh onion slices, lots of fresh dill, and a liberal amount of mayonnaise is an extremely simple way to prepare garden fresh cucumbers. Thanks go to the dear woman who owned our home before us, and has long since passed.

Raw broccoli, so good for you, shouldn't be this delicious, but it is difficult to stop at one serving. It is mixed with chopped up onions, dried cranberries, chopped up freshly cooked bacon, sunflower seeds, a bit of sugar, wine vinegar and a mixture of plain yogurt and mayonnaise.

One of my favorite cookbooks, especially in the summer. The yellow squash recipe is in here.

My second favorite summer cookbook. The basic recipe for the broccoli, with some variations of my own, came from this book.

I'm About Tied Out

Here are the silk ties again! Washed, dried, and then cut into strips, it took 36 ties (these plus a bunch from my dwindling collection) to make the bag below. I braided the strips, then wove them in the body of the bag. I wove the strap from strips of unbraided silk, laying in three strips at a time in order to match the density of the body of the bag.

This picture does not do justice to the hues of this bag, which are intense and deep. I'll have to up my collection.
Any old silk ties out there????

All In A Days Work

Zinnias. They just have to be my favorite summer flower. My garden is filled with them in several spots. It never ceases to amaze me how each flower is shaped, colored, sized so differently from the ones that surround it. I have been harvesting these seeds from the original ones I planted nearly 10 years ago. Not unlike Johnny Appleseed, they have spread far and wide. In the fall, it is hard for me to leave any dried seeds on the stalk, and I collect gallon bag after gallon bag of them. I scatter them about or give them away, or simply hoard them.

When we lived in South Dakota, our in-town house was situated just above a 3/4 acre ravine. It was a beautiful section of wild life hidden from the street, but so right-there for us. Among other things, it was loaded with wild gooseberry bushes. I used to pick those tiny berries each summer, pluck the stem and blossom end off of each and every one, and make jam. Believe me, it was a lot of work, but it was delicious. So I decided a couple of years ago to plant two domestic gooseberry bushes. The berries on these bushes are easily four times as large as the ones on the wild bushes, but plucking the stem and blossom end on each one remains as tedious. I harvested the berries above the other day, and wanted very much to use them in something that would please my palate in new ways. I have been reading a book, A Homemade Life, by Molly Wizenberg, which is a memoir filled with recipes. There were several recipes for cakes, and though normally I'm not a cake person, I developed a cake-craving! So, I wondered about using these berries in a cake????? I scoured my cook books, and believe me that's a lot of scouring, and was unable to find uses in cake...though I found one for a 'Gooseberry Frump'...which is a poor choice of words if you ask me, as there's nothing frumpy about these berries. Anyway, I decided to make the French Lemon Yogurt cake from the above book, which I had never made before, and add the gooseberries to it. I told myself this was pretty audacious, to experiment with a recipe I'd never tried before, but I proceeded anyway. The cake used only 1/2 of the berries, and not wanting to waste any, I decided to use my trusty, favorite muffin recipe...Date/Nut... but substitute gooseberries. First of all I was out of whole wheat pastry flour (darn) so I used unbleached and made the muffins below. Much to my surprise, the gooseberries, which impart a subtle, sweet, wild flavor when consumed off the bush, turned tart and very red when cooked. Delicious and beautiful as they came from the oven about 10 minutes before the cake.

These freeze well, and I can 'pick' one from the freezer whenever I get the urge.

The cake was lovely to look at, a wonder to smell, and I must say the combination was delicate, moist, and truly delicious.

Then I moved on to canning the abundance of beans I had picked the night before. (There is no shortage of garden work in the summer!) I don't particularly like canned green beans, but I love Dilly Beans, with the addition of a cayenne pepper and garlic clove in each jar. These are always a hit at group functions, and I could give away every jar I can.

If the bean crop is prolific, I will slip a ribbon on these and give them away...perhaps along with some zinnia seeds!

A LONG JOURNEY AHEAD

This lovely Iris appeared as the June sheet in a Twelve Moons calendar. I fell in love with all of the images, but this especially struck me. It just so happened that I had all of the colors on hand in wool yarn! Now that seemed auspicious. And, after all, I now have and Iris in my heart and life. I decided that it would make a great tapestry...and I think it will, but I sure embarked upon a long and intricate journey. I started this once, a couple of years ago, drawing the 'cartoon' to place behind the tapestry loom. However, after putting in several hours, I realized it would work better if I wove it in the horizontal direction. This meant I needed a loom that was 30" by 20" instead of 20" by 30". I now have that loom, made by an Amish friend. So I turned the cartoon around, and have embarked upon the journey anew.

Here the cartoon is behind the warp, with the picture, to provide color guide, lying atop. I have a long, long way to go, having just begun the very bottom. The yarn hanks at the bottom are called 'butterflies' and unravel as you use them.

This is the loom with the cartoon pinned behind it. The warp is heavy linen and the yarn is wool.

A close-up of the work, which is entirely done by finger-pick. I also use a common kitchen fork as a beater. One has to take care in picking the fork, it needs to be 'well-weighted' and lay easy in the hand. I use the fork, but often simply use my fingers to beat the yarn down.

THRIFT SHOP FINDS

A trip to 'town' is never complete without a stop at Goodwill, Salvation Army and any thrift stores that may be around. These beautiful silk ties were finds at Goodwill. Taken apart and laundered, they hang on the line to dry...lovely colors on a summer day.

As I walked into the Good Shepherd Thrift Store this beautiful child's hand-crocheted deep pink 'dress' hung by itself for everyone to see. I could hardly believe that no one had snatched it up. It is heartbreaking to me to find something handmade (and as lovely as this) gathered together with the 'we-don't-need-this-stuff-anymore' from overfilled closets, put into bags and disposed of. To me, this is a treasure, an heirloom, something to be saved and loved. So, thank you to whatever 'grandmother' made this with love for her granddaughter. It is Iris' and Elsa's treasure now.

A Day In An Old Log House

A sunny window sill in an old log house, a wonderful setting for this vase of flowers.

The entrance to the old two story log house that was the setting for my fiber show. This house had two rooms downstairs and two upstairs, probably a luxury home for its day. It felt fitting for me to be there as this structure housed a large old, non-working barn loom and an old treadle sewing machine.

As you enter you are greeted with the stairs that go to the upper floor. Here is where I set up my rug rack, and displayed some of my tapestries. The stairs offered more rug room.

No electricity...but thankfully the windows opened, and there was a nice breeze most of the day. The house never seemed to get hot.

My series of 5 Grandmother braided woven rag rugs felt right at home on this old barn loom.

Looking into the main room at the barn loom.

Looking out of the main room, into the smaller entry room.

An old treadle sewing machine graced my caps and was a great background for my bags.

The weather was glorious last Sunday, the day of the Art Show. There were 32 artists set up, some in the main building, many of us in individual old log buildings, and many outside. The show was from 10-5:00, and during that time 196 adults came through my building and spent much time not only looking at and feeling my items, but reading the various history posted about, and looking at the old pictures that surrounded us.

I was touched that many of my friends and past acquaintances came to the show because they saw my name on the artist list. I can't say that I made a lot of $ that day, but I feel truly blessed by all the people who came through who seemed to love my work.

The venue for this show simply couldn't have been more perfect.