I can upload photos again! Yay! So now you get the rest of the random stuff – this time with pictures.

~ I bought a very cool tea thing the other day at L.L. Bean. You put the loose tea in top and then add the hot water and it brews it right in the cup for you. Remove the tea and you can drink. This will make brewing tea at work so much easier. I wonder if Terry has one of these.

~ Speaking of Terry, I decided to try her breakfast of choice. She’s right – Fiber One is delicious and satisfying. It’s especially good with fresh blueberries on top. Just saying.

~And speaking of Terry again, Tuesday night Dale and I joined her and some other blog friends — Claudia, Sandy, Kate and Carol – to meet up with the visiting Norma. We had dinner at Durgin Park and went to watch Shakespeare on the Common for a bit. I feel so Bostonian.

~ My good friend JessaLu sent me the prettiest box bag. She made it herself and I just love it. I’m a spoiled blogger, that’s fer sure.

That’s all the random I’ve got. How about you?

Things are a little hectic right now – mostly on a social level but also at work since I go on vacation for two weeks in just one day – so today you get random stuff. Because it’s quick and it’s what I’ve got.

~ There are no pictures with this post because my blog host upgraded my version of Movable Type the other day and now I can’t upload photos. Grrrr. I had pictures to go with some of these random things but I’ll save those for later. In the meantime, well, things will be pictureless. Sorry about that.

~ I have no idea what it was about the haikai post but I haven’t received that few comments since this blog was new. Norma might think it’s talking about charity knitting that shuts everyone up but now I know that it’s actually poetry that makes me hear nothing but crickets chirping.

~ Dale and I have adjusted our schedules this summer so that we commute together 4 days per week. I go in around 7 and leave around 2, which I love. And I get to knit on the ride to and from work, which I love even more. You know what I don’t love? Having to make conversation at 7 am. I’m a morning person but I like my mornings to be quiet.

~ We’ve had some pretty crazy weather here lately. In fact, we even had a tornado warning last week. I kept thinking that a tornado in Massachusetts would give me something really cool to blog about but I sure was relieved when they called off that warning and nothing had happened.

~ We are really enjoying our CSA this year. The vegetables are more “mainstream” and we’ve been getting corn every week so Dale is a happy guy. I have truly fallen in love with my CSA, though, after going with Kathy last week to pick up her farm share and finding out that she has to pick most of her vegetables herself. It was hot out there, I tell you! And it was a lot of work. I’m glad we have the Lazy CSA. Sounds like the name of a cattle ranch, doesn’t it?

~ I tried plurking for a while but I stopped. I couldn’t take the pressure of keeping up with those dancing bananas.

~ I have not been able to stop playing PackRat, however. If you have a facebook account I highly recommend that you avoid this application. Really, it’s the most fun biggest time suck ever.

~ The other day I brought a plum to work and then at lunch time I couldn’t find it. I found it when I went to leave at the end of the day, though, because I squashed it into the bottom of my bag when I put my laptop inside. Luckily the plum guts didn’t damage the laptop but things were a bit sticky in there.

I guess I had more time and more to say than I thought I would. Enjoy some randomness today!

Hannah and I went blueberry picking last Friday. The day was warm and sunny and only slightly humid. It was so great to finally see the sun after a week of thunderstorms that I really wanted to be outside. I also wanted to bake a blueberry pie to bring to a friend’s house that evening.

The bushes were loaded with berries and the fields were crowded with families. Hannah and I found an area where no one else was picking and we set to work. I noticed pretty quickly that Hannah picks blueberries like my mother did. I can clearly remember picking berries with my mother. I’d be flitting all over the place, going from bush to bush, and my mom would just stay in one spot and pick until every ripe blueberry on that bush was in her pail. That’s just what Hannah did and that made me so happy – it was almost like having my mom with us.

While we picked I eavesdropped listened in on all sorts of conversations. Some were interesting but most were boring and unnecessary. Honestly, I would have preferred if these people had just shut up and picked. I definitely prefer peace and quiet in the outdoors and I don’t understand why so many people feel the need to fill the world around them with sound.

All in all it was a pleasant time and in an hour we picked over 7.5 pounds of blueberry. I went home and made the best blueberry pie of my pie baking career. I’m not kidding – this pie was stupendous. And the great thing is that now I’ve got enough blueberries in the freezer for another pie or two.

You know, in case I try to outdo myself.

Last week Terry wrote about Haikai. It’s a collaborative poem that gets passed from person to person. Each verse alternates between 3 lines and 2 and when you write a new version you are supposed to link back to the previous verse and shift away from the verse before that. This Haikai started with Terry, then it went to Sandy, followed by Margene and now it’s my turn.

Steam heated
Lightning splits dark skies
Dramatic summer storms.

Winds howl through the leaves
Bird clutching branches tight.

Clouds dance in circles
Clean laundry snaps on the line
Warm rain falls in sheets

Blue skies brighten the day
Time to head to the beach

I’m passing this to Lucia for the next verse.

The other day when Mary brought me that herb bouquet she also brought me some fresh basil from her garden. I took some fresh mozzarella and an heirloom tomato and made a delicious caprese salad. Yummy and beautiful, too!

Eat something delicious this weekend!

I think there’s something really special about using cloth napkins. And these days it’s not only special but it’s smart. Less paper napkins in the landfill is a good thing, right? So last week I set out to make some cloth napkins for my family.

I gathered my supplies: fabric, iron, rotary cutter, cutting mat.

I pressed the fabric.

I cut the fabric into 15″ squares.

Finally, I was ready to sew!

I set up my serger to execute a rolled hem. This was easier said than done because my serger, like so many sergers, can be cranky. The thread kept breaking until I got the tension right. And then the thread kept breaking until I changed the needle.

Before long, though, all was well and I chugged right through all those napkins. I “chained” them much like I do when piecing a quilt. Basically you just keep feeding them in until you don’t have any left. Cut them apart and then feed them into the serger so that the opposite edge gets hemmed. Then do the final 2 sides, first one side and then the other. By doing it this way I got nice square corners.

In about 2 hours time (one hour for pressing and cutting and one hour for serging) I had 24 fabric napkins. And even though these will be washed in the washing machine, and that uses energy, I can just throw them in with any load we’re doing. It’s got to be more green than buying and throwing away paper napkins.

I do have one problem, though. They are too pretty to use!

I finished my second pair of Summer of Socks socks on Monday. They are my 12th pair of socks this year – woot! Here’s a big surprise: they are stockinette with a picot edge. A shocker, I know.

I can’t help myself, though, I just never get tired of knitting (and wearing) plain socks.

The yarn is Sophie’s Toes and it’s fabulous. Sproingy and squooshy and a real pleasure to handle. And the color is wonderful. It’s called Farmer’s Market and it makes me think of zinnias and eggplant and beets and strawberries and radishes and all the other red/orange/pink things you find at the Farmer’s Market.

When the weather cools down enough you can bet that I’ll wear these babies to the Farmer’s Market. I’ll be stylin’.

Thank you all so much for the good vibes for my dentist visit yesterday. It really helped and I’m pretty sure that’s the reason everything went so well. He was kind and compassionate and caring. He fixed the chip so well that I can’t even see where it was. I do have to go back for a deep cleaning and then for another visit to have a few cavities taken care of but he gave me a teeny prescription for some Valium to take before those visits. I’m back on track and feeling fine!

See this little herb bouquet? My sister-in-law Mary brought that to me just before my visit. The herbs were meant to bring me good luck – and they did. Just like all your thoughts and wishes!

Hmm. Let’s see. What else? Oh, I know what I meant to tell you. I started physical therapy for my back last week. I’ve been having back pain off and on for about a year or so but lately it’s been more on than off so I decided it was time to actually do something about it. I went for my first session last Friday and I had a practically pain free weekend! Hooray! Then I went again yesterday morning and while the session was a bit more grueling, my back is feeling so much better it’s worth the hard work and pain. I have to go 3 times/week for 4 weeks and then I should be all set. I hope.

Other than the teeth and the back it’s been knitting and spinning as usual. Life is good.

I have a confession to make. I haven’t been to the dentist in about 7 years. It’s terrible, I know. I have dental anxiety, though, and I just hate to go. I get sweaty palms and heart palpitations and nausea just thinking about going.

Guess what, though? I’m going to the dentist today. At 1:30. You see, I chipped a tooth a few weeks back and now it’s time to pay the piper. I’m quite sure it will be awful and I’m quite sure I will be chastised for neglecting my oral health and I’m quite sure I’ll throw up on the dentist. Okay, I probably won’t throw up on the dentist but I’ll have to fight the urge.

I’m committed to doing whatever it takes to get my teeth and gums back on good terms with the dentist even though I fear this could be a long and awful road.

Could you all think really positive and calming thoughts for me today? I just know it’ll help. Thanks, friends.

A coworker of mine suggested that I try a scaevola plant this year since I have full sun on my deck. She said it would be more tolerant than anything I have tried before and she was right. It’s really thriving!

I hope everything is thriving where you are, too!