Saturday, April 25, 2015

days go by



























April has been full of life, New life outside and creative life inside. We are delighting in the new season of spring although winter seems to want us to remember it by sending some brief snowflakes this week.
It is so enjoyable to run through the grass and carpets of moss knowing that we have many wonderful days ahead of us to watch everything break into bloom, despite some truly chilly days which drove us back inside. The mosquitoes appear to still be drugged with winter hibernation, but we certainly don't regret their tardiness.
The male cardinal likes to sit in the very highest of high branches of the locust tree in our front yard and sing his heart out. The female noiselessly alighted on our back fence for seconds before taking flight again. I don't know the status of their relationship, perhaps it's complicated.

I appear to have unjinxed myself from the curse of messing up hard-boiled eggs. I have been using, as one friend jokingly called it after she heard the process, the hard-steaming method which I first heard about from Heather Bruggmann of Beauty Moves.
Instead of bringing the water to a boil and then adding the eggs, I have been adding the eggs to cold water, bringing it all to a boil and the reducing the heat to a bare simmer and setting the timer for about 13 minutes. After cooking time is complete, I dump out the hot water and pour cold running water over the eggs for about 30 seconds that put them right into the fridge to chill as usual. When it comes time to peel, I run cool water over the egg as I peel the shell into a small bowl and compost. I've followed this process twice in the last week and had identical success so I consider it a victory and am contemplating a summer of deviled eggs for every potluck.

After saving toilet paper rolls for weeks, I finally gathered them up and got out the paints and had a paint party with the kids. They were done after about one or two rolls so I happily took over the paints and mixed and slopped to my heart's content. I was setting about to make houses for Laura's peg people, new and old ones, wandering animals and others in need of shelter. The idea came from a image seen on Pinterest, which when I finally tracked down the source came from a cute blog in Hungarian.
A few minutes with Google translate and after a few rough starts, mass production began and we now have a small village of homes which are awaiting some newly refurbished peg people. One resident down, 41 to go.
I was inspired by Margaret Bloom's book Making Peg Dolls which I saw on Remedial Eating, (another wonderful blog)and Margaret Bloom's own blog We Bloom Here.

7 comments:

  1. Very pretty pictures. :) I'd love to see more of YOU, too! ;o) I know how that is, though. It's easier to stay behind the camera!

    I love your peg dolls. Going to have to check that book out for sure! I love those little owl houses, too. Adorable!

    That game your kids are playing--is it a newer version of Mouse Trap? Looks fun!

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    1. Thanks, Catie. I'm not a big fan of pictures of me which is silly and shows how conceited I am.
      The peg books and her blog give lots of ideas and inspiration.
      I think it's like Mouse Trap junior and the plastic parts appear to be much sturdier than the regular one which went in the trash soon after we got it. Plus my kids like to just play with it which makes it a toy as well as a game. We found it at Toysrus here in Ontario.
      Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  2. Where is the watermelon weather.... bring it back!!

    I am excited already for devilled eggs.

    love - k

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    1. it is really dumb name for a egg dish, I would like to propose a new name, something like Creamy Eggs on the Half Shell. LOL

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  3. I posted a toad picture this week too! :) We don't have cardinals here, so whenever friends post photos of them, I show them to the kids--they are on the kids' bucket list for bird sightings. LOL

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    1. Celeste, we have a small trickle of a river behind our house so the frogs and toads are frequently in the grass as we walk along the river. Sometimes there are so many jumping away from you as you step, it gets unnerving. LOL
      I didn't realize that the cardinal was more of an eastern bird, the male's call is very distinct and interesting.
      Thanks for stopping by.

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  4. Anonymous7:52 PM

    I love so so many of these photos .. the birds mid flight and the beautiful red bird perched in the brown branches .. and eggs, yes almost exactly the method I use isn't it great! hoping some of your deviled eggs will make it to Church potlucks ;)) .. also *hoping* someday to get my little boy into peg doll painting thank you for the links!
    love lia

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