FROM PESKY BURR TO SOMETHING WONDERFUL

Cabin update.
Construction keeps moving along, despite the rains over the weekend. Monday the cement blocks were delivered, and yesterday Rudy began laying them on the front frost wall.

Sand delivered and water transported back to the cabin via barrels.

The first corner has been laid.


On another note. Spring has been so early that I only yesterday afternoon gathered my first Garduni (as the Sicilians I grew up with called it) and Cardoon as I've seen in Italian cookbooks. Gathering Garduni was always a rite of spring at our house when I was growing up, and my city siblings so envy the ease with which I can get it. Still, people around here think perhaps I might not be all there.

The pesky BURR that sticks to everyone relentlessly. (I have used these burrs to make animal sculptures which are truly wonderful.)

The burdock plant, and actually isn't it lovely?? The Sicilians eat the leaf stalk, where I know other ethnic groups eat the root.

Washed, rinsed and cut into a manageable size for cooking.

'Clump' several pieces together and roll in beaten egg.

Quickly roll that clump in Italian Seasoned bread crumbs.

Several clumps sitting waiting to be fried.

Several fried clumps waiting to be eaten. A sprinkle of lemon juice and this is close to the finest taste of spring. (Well, the first asparagus might rival it.)

Disorientation

Work has continued on my workshop, and thankfully work was completed yesterday that can withstand this impending thunderstorm. It is truly dreary right now.

Rudy, the fellow doing the basement construction, replaced the deck steps temporarily for now, in the place that they will permanently be, so that I can more easily enter the workshop. Here the digging work beneath the cabin is complete, and he started trenching for the cement footer. He got the forms laid just beneath the cabin, and had a trencher come in to do the front portion. Unfortunately, the trencher trenched the left portion, facing the cabin, with no problem, but when trying to trench the right portion, it kept collapsing in upon itself. The conclusion, they had run into a spring. (This property abounds with springs, one even runs directly through our basement.)

So the next day he had a backhoe come in to do the job.

The rains held off all day yesterday for the cement to be poured and for it to set up.
I don't just understand the two levels of footer, but I will ask when Rudy returns.

A view from the front as the work progresses.

Something strange is happening however. The first day I entered the cabin, I felt as though I were walking uphill. Barely and slightly, but it was a definite feeling I had. I also felt a bit disoriented. So the next time I came in, I brought a level with me. The cabin floor is level side to side, but definitely not front to back, with the bubble drifting to the uphill significantly.

As I was working in here my head continued to feel like it does on an airplane. I realize the cabin is higher then usual, but sitting here at the computer, it just does not look or seem higher to me. So I don't think that is the cause. To me it feels like I have an internal 'level bubble' in my head and when I am in here working it is canted to the uphill, significantly, disorienting me and causing what could be described as a 'lightheaded' feeling, though that is not exactly accurate.
So, I am not working out here as much as I'd like, and bring into the house whatever is portable.

It is exciting to see this ongoing work. Today or Monday I'm off to find the windows, the biggest I can find for the front, along with a glass door.

IT FINALLY BEGINS.....

This a photo of my cabin just before construction of the basement began. The contractor thinks, given weather considerations, we should be done in a month. Of course, that means works for me on the interior just begins.


Delivery of the iron support beams and the wood cross beams.

The steps have been removed from the front of the deck. The basement will not just go underneath the workshop portion of the building, but will also go underneath the deck, adding a good five feet width to the room. All this dirt is so BEAUTIFUL and looks to be almost entirely topsoil! A new herb garden is in the making.

Day one. Before the building can be raised, dirt must be dug out in order to make room for the supports.

And here it is, high up in the air. Electricity is reconnected (obviously I am here using the computer) and I will be able to use the cabin as work goes on beneath me. Getting in is a bit tricky, (note the cement-block 'steps' I fashioned to the left) but thankfully I'm agile.

Meanwhile, I picked the first few asparagus spears and made a rice dish with vegetables, and simply steamed the meager asparagus on top. Each bite was heavenly...though brief.

Accompanied by fresh naan, a apple, walnut, raisin salad and wine, we had a great meal that night.

NOT QUITE A SUNDAY AFTERNOON HIKE

Another Sunday afternoon hike, this time a rather short one just behind the house and into the nearby woods. Iris stayed with us and wanted to go for a hike on the 'trail'. We had gotten across a couple of fields when I realized I'd forgotten my camera. I decided it wasn't that far to go back and get it, while Iris and Grandpa and the dog waited for me.

Just standing in the sun waiting for nonna to return with the camera.

Grandpa took a picture of us on this glorious day.


It's a big field, but this little girl loved standing, running and picking dried flowers in it.

Iris did hike some of the way, but she also hitched a ride. Grandpa had told her about carrying Kari (his daughter) on his shoulders when she was a little girl, and Iris, pretending to be Morgan (Kari's eldest daughter) all of this trip, decided she wanted to ride, too.

She asked to get off in order to pick the little 'umbrellas', otherwise known as May Apples.

Then it was back up for a ride.

Here she stands just before we reached home at the end of our 'hike'.

Being outdoors is wonderful, being outdoors and hiking with good friends as we did last Sunday is almost at the top of the chart, and 'hiking' with Iris today, was truly a blessing.

A MIGHTY FINE FOUR HOURS

A glorious spring Sunday afternoon spent with good friends hiking for four hours (well, three hours with one hour basking in the sun atop a knoll picnicking) on the Kickapoo Reserve. The forest floor was awash in Spring Beauties, and so many other flowers. We came upon a patch of skunk cabbage on the start of our hike, that was astounding. We were astounded to find when we passed this same patch on the return to the car, that they had literally grown what seemed inches.

A skunk cabbage.



We were unable to determine what this flower was, though we had some ideas. There were many of these spotted leafed flowers along our hike.

The blue of this flower was electric!

The picnic...very good friends, good food, great wine, and wonderful conversation!!

We hiked in what seemed a primordial forest and came to a confluence of 'streams' and were at a loss for words to describe the beauty.

Another unidentified 'flower'.

I am standing there amidst the trees and actually it was easy to get lost in the beauty of the woods and the day.

An unusual burled tree....burled and burled and burled.

Much time was spent in identifying trees and bushes.

AND on this day, April 11th, I found two morels.

(I have never found morels this early before, so I am thinking that I can't wait until the end of the month, I bet they'll be around in the next week or so!!)


One could simply not ask for a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

A LESSON LEARNED

After warping my Herald loom with the Rosepath pattern, I wove several rugs, and was really happy with them. They await a spring housecleaning and then will be placed on my own floors. After completing those rugs, I thought I'd experiment with weaving a 'table cover' with wool yarns that I have collected over the years. Believe me, I have tons. I wasn't sure about using the yarn instead of strips of wool blankets, but I wanted to try.

This is the finished product on the table. And it actually looks nicer in this picture then it ever did on my table. I actually HATED it, and it was difficult for me to look at. It seemed 'jagged' color-wise, and quite disparate. I wondered what to do, after all the work, could I simply discard it?? Was I brave enough to dye over it? This I was unsure of, and it was quite a dilemma as to what color I should use were I to dye over it. I had used yarns of several colors, but it was the lime green and the white I believe that made this piece so 'ugly' to me. After much deliberation, and with not a little uncertainty, I bought some black acid dye and mixed it 'lightly' hoping to get a gray tone.

And I really do like the finished product, perhaps not as much as I might have if I had successfully chosen more pleasing colors to begin with, but I sure like it better then before I overdyed it. The gray toned down the lime green, and made the white a slate color, which seemed to gather the piece together in a way it hadn't been before.

I don't think I had ever woven a piece I disliked as much, and am glad that I had the courage, and it took courage, to try this. It was a humbling experience, and exhilarating as well. Next time I'll be unafraid....I think.

They Are Back....

Don't we all just love warm sunny days?? Today it was in the upper 60's and about as beautiful a day as one could ask for. I spent much of my time pruning grapes in the vineyard, four rows down and eighteen to go. This early spring has us concerned that bud-break will come much sooner then ever. I love being outdoors, and to be truthful, it was better then the indoor alternative that presented itself to me today. With the sun and the heat out come the Asian Beetles. For those of you who do not live in this area, and for my family out East, I took the following pictures so you could see for yourself what it is like. I know for certain that this is going to gross out my siblings...but for those of us who live here, it is now simply a part of our lives. I recall when the first of these arrived maybe 6-8 years ago, I thought them Lady Bugs, and the first several I found in my house, I gently picked up and placed in my potted plants. Well, now I'm not so gentle, and it's the vacuum that picks them up.

Looking south out the front enclosed porch window. The porch is entirely windowed on the upper half, and each window, I think twelve not counting the windowed door, looks like this. And, this happens to be a mild day.

A little closer look, and you can see how bunched up they are. We believe that they live in the walls through the winter. And what seems unbelievable to me, but is entirely true, is that each of these little Asian Beetles lives for THREE years!!

This is perhaps two square feet of our lovely red oak floor. There are four Asian beetles visible, and pretty much you can find these little ladies by the twos, the fours, and the sixes anywhere on any floor, dead or alive.


And on another note..I am having a basement put in underneath my workshop (cabin) and the work will begin as soon as the road bans are lifted for heavy trucks. When I had the cabin moved in and 'redone' I bought about $300 worth of landscaping plants to put in front of it. Well, now I am spending my day when not in the vineyard, digging up the 30-40 plants/bushes and moving them temporarily to a plot nearby while the work is being done. (This is no easy feat, but I'd rather be doing that then vacuuming up Asian beetles.)

Anyway, I have flower containers that hang over the railing of my cabin deck which I generally fill with pansies. I spend a little time during the flowering season deadheading them daily. I throw the dead flower heads over into the plants below. Every year, new ones come up from them. As I was digging up an iris clump, I spied a pansy tucked in the leaves. I saved it.

I always wondered why 'pansy' is a derogatory term for a wimpy man, when these are about the hardiest of the flowers I plant. If I plant them directly in the ground, I often have them blooming still in November, and even into December. It makes no sense to me to call a wimp a 'pansy'.