An Everything Day

Yesterday, I tried to fit two days worth of work into one day. Today will be much the same, but let's not talk about that yet, okay? As for yesterday...

I'd missed a couple of days of stitching, and so I gave myself a little extra time with this. There's no way to adequately communicate how stitching can slow my busy mind to a more leisurely pace. Somehow it focuses my attention and relaxes me, and the day always gets off to a better start.

Having an excellent stitching cat doesn't hurt either.

But relaxation aside, it was time to get busy. My absolute top priority was to get the tomatoes transplanted into their largest pots of the season. Now they're all lined up like little Soldiers of Salsa.

Mike will need to get the drip irrigation up and running within the next couple of days. Now, it's just a waiting game for the first tomatoes. I only plant Romas because they're only used for sauce, salsa, and salads...the Three S's, if you will. Oh yes, and jam...don't forget the tomato jam, because it is, quite simply, tomato crack. Fortunately, there are still a few jars left from last year. When those run out, I'll be looking for a dealer. Hopefully, it will be from my own plants. In case you're wondering, it's legal in Oregon.

Also, these plants seem so much more robust than the ones I've done in years gone by. This year, I purchased starts from a nursery since we weren't home to start them from seeds. I doubt I'll ever do seeds again. Also, I learned about "grafted" tomatoes this year from Erik and Mae. Maybe next year I'll give them a try.

So Mike and I were both outside, and we checked in with one another about the serious earth-moving equipment we could hear up on the main road. Mike rode his ATV out to investigate. It seems the county boys were making the roadway wider in preparation for paving it.

I feel like the woman in that old Mervyn's commercial where she's standing at the door chanting, "Open, open, open!" Only we're standing by the road chanting, "Asphalt, asphalt, asphalt." I don't think I've ever been so excited about the acrid smell of asphalt.

Meanwhile, back at the Three Cats Ranch, the first of the variegated iris has opened. There are more coming. When we dig them up, we might save a couple of these.

Also...there really are plums on the plum tree. I wasn't sure when I posted an image the other day, but yes...there they are in all their little olive-shaped goodness to come.

Also...green strawberries. The squirrels will be excited to see this. Will we get any? Not on your life.

In fact, this image appeared in my Facebook memories for "On this Day" in 2016. There's one of those little freeloaders now...eating a strawberry...still green! And what's up with his tail? He sort of looks as if he has a new perm.

Also, the Golden Chain tree is looking marvelous right now. I'm so happy to have one growing in the yard again.

More of the deep purple rhododendron blossoms have opened. This is my absolute favorite of the rhodies. (I know I say that about every one.)

Here's a very self-satisfied cat. He just finished taking an excellent dust bath.

But okay...the tour's over. It's time to get back to work. Take a look at these chive blossoms. Recall that two days ago, I harvested a bunch of them for chive blossom vinegar. Now, these have opened up.

I'm using them to make chive blossom jelly...new to my kitchen. It started yesterday. I made an infusion of chive blossom tea on the stove top. This was accomplished by first boiling and then letting cool equal parts of blossoms and water.

Unlike the chive blossom vinegar, I didn't get a strong hit of the chives when this was finished. It simply turned the water a pretty shade of purple. Today I'll get to work adding sugar, vinegar, pectin, and some other stuff to make the jelly. I have no idea how this will taste, and so I'll have to let you know in tomorrow's post.

While that was cooling, I started some laundry and then headed down to the sewing room. I needed to do some housework, but I had to first clean up the sewing room. About half my stash was still piled around in totes, and it all needed to be put away. First, though, I traded out the beak piece on the orange flamingo to see how it would look. I'm still trying to decide whether it should be orange or black.

Here's how it looked with the orange piece.

Which one do you like better?

After that, I hurried through my housekeeping chores because I really wanted to do some sewing. Now here's something that occurred to me about housekeeping. Housekeeping is the best friend you'll ever have. It's always there for you. It'll never leave you. Through thick and thin, housework is there. Happy or sad, you'll always have housework. When you've been away on a vacation, housework will always be there to welcome you home. Kind of makes you want to cherish it more, doesn't it?

But then there's sewing...and sewing is also a good friend. I managed to get the purple and pink blocks sewn together yesterday.

If you have sharp eyes, you'll notice that the pink one in the upper left is cut wrong. Yes, it was the first one cut, and I wasn't thinking right. I can only guess it was all that nostalgia about housework that blinded me to my error. Anyway...I think I can fix it without having to remake the whole thing. If I take it apart in the middle and sew in two more long strips, then remove the short ones on each side, I should be able to cut it to the right size. And, if not, well...there are always more pink scraps to work with.

So today, my good friend housework will be by my side. We have a short journey planned for today. Also, I'm going to make the jelly and see how that goes. And yay! It's a CSA pick-up day. The CSA started last week, but we're splitting our share with Erik and Mae this year, and so I only pick up every other week. I think that will work better for both our small families.

Lots to do. Time to get going.