sweet innocence

the tulips in my garden are in full bud, but it will take another week or so for blooms. i couldn't resist this bouquet at the supermarket the other day. actually i did resist it but went back the next day and bought it! i loved the sweet pale innocence of it. from this point on, my flowers will be coming from the garden and the meadows...

friends and family

this has been a difficult week. there has been a medical crisis in keith's family. alot of tears and worry and sleepless nights. alot of hovering by the phone and rushing to it when it rings. we're all still on hold.
last night was my turn to host our little book club. i thought of cancelling. but realized that these are the times when you want to be with close friends. friends i've shared every moment of my life with for over 30 years. our book was "3 cups of tea" and the meal i cooked was pakistani.so slowly, for 2 days i cooked. lots of chopping. creating exquisite aromas with cardamon and ginger and chilis. it was the right thing to do.

sunshine!

it's been cloudy and often rainy for weeks now. yesterday it warmed up and the sun came out. i moved the tomato plants into the greenhouse for the day (they've been in the house under lights). the flat of lettuce has sprouted. and in the late afternoon, i dug out my sunhat and took myself outside to read on the deck. our backyard is almost ringed with large trees. no leaves yet. the air was full of birdsong, but the birds are small (little yellow and brown warblers) and you can't see them in the trees unless you look really hard. it seemed to me that the sound was coming from the thin and delicate tree branches, the tiny budding leaves. the sunshine brought everything to life.

miso soup

i started on an almost entirely vegan diet in january. i surprisingly don't miss cheese at all, and when it can't be avoided (ie when i'm with a group sharing a pizza) i feel awful afterwards - bloated and lacking energy. so my body is happier now. i've had to come up with some new recipes to keep things interesting. lots more stir-frys. and miso soup. i picked up some miso in st. john's and use it for the base (just a big spoonful for a pot of soup) - combined with all the veggies in the fridge as well as seaweed and tofu and noodles. clean and satisfying.

gift giving

there are two people in my life who give gifts to me - alot. i can not leave my father-in-law's house without him giving me something. he loves yard sales and second-hand stores, so his gifts are items that other people (including himself) don't want. mostly ornaments. i walk away (after gracefully trying to refuse the item) thinking - now what will i do with this?
and barb is the other gift-giver in my life. barb knows me and knows what i need and what i want. she travels often and brings me back wonderful socks and tights. this past week i helped her move house, and on the last day she gave me this bowl. she saw it in the globe and mail and ordered it for me because it reminded her of my yarn. it is handpainted and laminated. from thailand. yesterday i made 2 skeins influenced by the stripes of colour in the bowl. one is self-striping (solid blocks of colour). and the other i mixed up more so that the colours fuse and blend. thank-you barb.

so delicate

sheltered

children in newfoundland and labrador grow up knowing how to build a bough wolfen or bough whiffen. it's a small lean-to made out of spruce boughs - a quick shelter for hunters and trappers, a perfect fort for children. here's a photo of the one my son-law built for the children when they first moved into their new downtown st. john's home a couple of years ago. it's changed location but is still standing..