last stripe/last exam.

Posted on by
10

Yesterday was windy, rainy, and grey. When it became clear that the wind was blowing at speeds that could easily overturn trash cans, I dashed outside and cut a mason jar’s worth of the daffodils which have just begun to bloom. These flowers helped me to get through most of the pile of grading I’ve been hiding from all week.

Boh is struggling to keep his eyes open this morning, which is pretty much how I feel. It has been a long semester, and I am so close to the other side of these exams. One more.

My last exam begins tomorrow, so today I’ll be doing my best to feel ready, by reading more, reviewing my notes, and organizing my thoughts. I’m also going to knit a few more rows on my stripe study shawl. Another row and a half and it will be time to begin the border. I should be able to finish the shawl before the oral part of my exams in a few weeks, and I think I’ll bring this with me as a tangible representation of all of the energy I’ve put into this process.

Onward.

signs of spring?

Posted on by
3

The first Caesar salad of the season. (My dad’s recipe. Also, further evidence that Boh is my dog. He LOVES the smell of garlic. He kept licking his lips and leaning on me while I inhaled this enormous bowl of salad. So silly.)

First daffodils in the yard.

Shorts! (Only for a few hours, on an unseasonably warm Monday night.)

And then a few days of rain. And reading. Both of which create the ideal conditions for Boh to make this wrinkly face. (And, let’s face it, for me to want to knit instead of work. I’m on my final stripe of the shawl. Pictures soon!)

popcorn.

Posted on by
7

More deliciousness from Super Natural Every Day: popcorn! And not just any popcorn. This is popcorn made with butter, dijon mustard, and thyme, and it was the perfect incentive for diving into my grading. Grade a paper, eat a handful of popcorn, grade a paper, handful of popcorn, paper, popcorn…you get the idea.

I snapped this picture of Boh earlier– he decided to hang out in his box for much of the afternoon. I think he must have known (because of the barometric pressure, maybe?) that thunderstorms were in the forecast for today, so he was preparing to hide. The storm never came, though, and now soft and steady rainfall is predicted through the night and well into tomorrow. Poor Boh. I hope he didn’t worry too much.

In knitting news, I’m almost to the very last stripe of my shawl. Stay tuned!

cookbook annotations.

Posted on by
6

Have we talked about this? I write in my cookbooks: dates, love notes to myself, substitutions, impressions. This does not strike me as odd — I write in all of my books — but I will say this: my cookbook annotations might make me happier than all my other marginalia combined. I like to flip through them and think back to the meal, the evening, heck, even the kitchen in which I last prepared a particular recipe. You can see my notes on Heidi Swanson’s Sun Toast in the picture. Here’s the toast:

I made it again today, and snapped a cast iron pan picture:

So simple, and seriously delicious. I may rub garlic on all future toast.

Somebody is excited for spring. (And so am I!) It is getting harder and harder to stay inside and read, grade, and write. A few more weeks of this pace. Just a few.

mail day.

Posted on by
9

You know what else (besides turning in exam #2) made Thursday a great day? It was a great mail day. Which reminds me of the excitement surrounding the mail — sent ahead, general delivery, to post offices in small towns we’d be riding through every ten days or so — on a cross-country bike trip I participated in nine (whoa!) years ago. The joke was that “mail” day was actually “male” day, a celebration of all things male. There was a long (tongue-in-cheek) list of the kinds of things that were acceptable on male days (I’m pretty sure trampolines were on the list). I hadn’t thought about that in years, but typing out “mail day” brought it back and made me laugh, almost a decade later.

Anyway, I had ordered — and then forgotten about — Heidi Swanson’s latest cookbook, Super Natural Every Day. I intend to cook out of this ALL SUMMER, and I have big dreams of modeling my lake house kitchen on much of what Heidi describes about her pantry, kitchen tools, and emphasis on a range of grains and better-for-me flours. I know I’m only moving across town, but I am trying to use up extras hiding in my kitchen cabinets before the end of May. This book is beautiful and incredibly practical. I want to eat everything in it.

This guy got his own “male” day of sorts yesterday. Instead of working last night, I cleaned out a kitchen cupboard, and found a bone I’d been saving (and then totally forgot about) for Boh. He watched it intently (pictured here), tossed it around a bit, and then ran away from it/came back to it several times before settling down to eat it. Male day, indeed.

I really need to get back into reading (and grading) mode this week in order to feel ready for my third exam, which starts a week from Monday. Here’s hoping for a productive day!

umbrella, -ella, -ella.

Posted on by
4

I have no idea what Boh was thinking — except that it must have had something to do with that Rihanna song from a few years ago. To this day, when I hear it, I think of a friend of mine who made it his goal of the summer of 2007 to turn that into a campfire song. I love my silly dog.

The good news? Yesterday I needed the umbrella (-ella, -ella), but today I was in flip-flops! I knit these legwarmers back in 2007, and I wear them all the time — to yoga, when I get out of bed in the morning, when I just need a little extra warmth. They might get more use than all of my other knitwear combined, come to think of it.

Also, I turned in exam #2 this morning! One to go. I’m taking the night off.

another stripe.

Posted on by
7

Still here, still knitting! I didn’t mean to disappear this week. I was just waiting until my stripe study shawl “looked” bigger. As the shawl grows, each stripe takes longer. I’m not convinced that I’m doing the increases at the off-center center correctly, because the point of the dark stripes looks a little wonky. I wonder if a less open increase, like a kfb, might help with that. (Because I’m totally going to knit this again. And again.)

I’ll leave you with some visuals that demonstrate to me that spring is almost here:

Me, last week — wrapped in my terra shawl, a warm sweater, long underwear, and warm house boots.

Me, yesterday: in a lightweight shawl, a floral print, and pink! As I type this, the sky is clear and the birds are chirping. I’m headed back to the library as soon as it opens, but first, Boh and I are going to take a nice walk. Happy weekend!

(re)starter.

Posted on by
5

I have been meaning to post about my birthday present from Ethel Louise (welcome to blogland!) for about six weeks now. (You know, because my birthday was six weeks ago.) Ethel is a fantastic baker, and she gifted me my very own sourdough starter, complete with bread-baking instructions. I was going to wait until I actually baked bread to share this, but let’s face it — that might not happen until after the exams are over. I ignored all non-writing responsibilities last week, and then panicked about forgetting to feed my sourdough starter (it still needs a name) its weekly meal. Ethel says it is very, very hard to kill (unlike my motivation).

Last night I gave it white and whole wheat flour, and happily watched as new bubbles rose to the surface. I need my brain to start bubbling with thoughts again, too, as I am by no means done with this exam process! (Just past the most anxiety-inducing one of the three.)

More knitting soon, I promise.

grown-up floats.

Posted on by
8

I turned in my first exam yesterday morning: 44 pages in 7 days. I’ve never written so much, so quickly, in the whole of my academic life. (And honestly, I’m hoping I’ll never need to top that.) Thank you for all of your encouragement this week; it means so much. I’m not done, but I’m more than a third of the way there.

Brokeknits recommended The Improvised Life a few months back, which means she is to thank for last night’s celebration. A small group of my favorite grad school women came over last night for a laid-back evening of conversation and caramel porter and chocolate stout floats. Boh was loving it: a whole house full of women to pay attention to him! After they left, I made one more float with the leftovers from the bottle of chocolate stout and the bottom of the ice cream carton and put a dent in my grading. Time to pour the coffee and grade the rest before class!