Tag Archives: dock

saying goodbye.

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july19 - 5

A lovely lake sunset, from sometime last week. (After a good swim with a friend.)

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Lounging on the Arts Quad, maybe for the last time.

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A happy dog, on the couch we’re giving away.

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A downy woodpecker — the one I like to think keeps coming back to the black walnut tree in my front yard, and sometimes taps on my porch windows. I stood under this tree and watched her for a solid 20 minutes yesterday morning. This sweet bird (and so many others) have kept me company here. (The yard was filled with birds yesterday–it’s like they knew that I’d packed my binoculars and bird books the night before.)

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And this morning I took my mug of coffee down to the end of the dock.

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I watched sailboats and swallows, and appreciated the morning calm.

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This is the week that I say goodbye. And I’m excited about the next thing–a new home, new town, new job. But this place has been kind to me these last seven years, and I think it will be hard to leave. (Finishing up my summer grading this week, packing up the house, and driving south to my new home next weekend. Stay tuned!)

 

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still no knitting…

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But I’ve got lots of food, Boh, and the porch. Here’s what’s been happening ’round here this week.

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It was cold enough that I needed my puffy coat to be on the porch. In June.

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No idea what this guy is up to here.

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Chocolate dipped frozen bananas, some with almonds, for an Arrested Development viewing party.

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I just liked this combination of many of my favorite things. That blue pullover vest is maybe the first piece of gear I bought in college when I started leading backpacking trips. It has traveled the world with me, and it is still one of my favorite things to grab when I’m just a little bit chilled.

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A dear friend came to town last weekend, and we made a breakfast feast: toast, fresh tomatoes, a wonderful carrot and radish slaw, and eggs with spinach and fresh basil.

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Bedroom eyes?

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Working while Boh keeps watch.

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More working. Boh not exactly watching.

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Tree along the path behind my house. Hard to see in this picture, but there’s evidence of pileated woodpecker work on this trunk.

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More porch reading — prepping for the course I’m TAing this summer.

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Last night. This dog wanted to snuggle, and I was happy to read a graphic novel while he lounged, napped, and snored.

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This morning: coffee and breakfast (biscuits, yogurt, blueberries, and last year’s canned peaches) on the porch.

We’re easing into summer over here, and trying to balance different kinds of work with at least some summer fun. How is your summer going? Also, what are you guys knitting? I need some inspiration.

hello, june.

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It seems I managed not to post while in Chicago. I also managed to not knit a stitch in Chicago. Those two statements might be related. Anyway, I did think about casting something on today, so I imagine I’ll have knitting content to share soon.

In the meantime, I am NOT going to show you pictures of how I managed to skin my knee and the top of my foot pretty badly on Saturday walking down to the dock. There is road work resulting in very finely powdered blacktop and gravel that I am now (ahem) aware of. Loose road dust plus a steep descent in flip flops do not make for a pretty result.

But this makes up for it:

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Right?

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So does this.

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And this.

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Tango hung out with us this weekend while his person was busy working long shifts at our town’s annual summer festival.

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And then today, after running a bunch of errands — bank, groceries, library — Boh and I went for a really good walk.

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And then we did some work down on the dock.

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I really did have a great time in Chicago, but it is good to be home.

all the bones.

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This is my neighbor’s dog, Tango. Tango loves Boh’s bones. He hung out with us yesterday because his person had an all day event. When his person came over to pick him up, Tango began to gather and chew on all the bones.

See? So very sweet. Boh didn’t seem to mind at all.

We’re working backward today, folks. This also happened yesterday. (My pinwheel is growing.)

Also, this. Boh is asleep on my leg. So much playtime!

And here’s a sunset from earlier in the week — maybe Wednesday?

Boh and his bone. (And nails in need of a trim.)

And just because, here’s a photo of my living room looking extra neat and clean. I snapped this picture before I headed to the wedding in Ohio last week. I rented the house to friends for graduation weekend, so I did some serious cleaning to get ready.

Time for dinner and some knitting while the dogs play. (Tango is here today, too!)

bibimbap on the dock.

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This post starts and ends at M.’s house — which is a good thing, because lately her cooking has been way more inspired than mine. (I’m pretty thankful that she invites me over to enjoy it with her.)

Bibimbap on M.’s dock.

Bibimbap at sunset.

Sunset.

Supermoon.

Recap. No, really. I read about this somewhere in the blogosphere and bought three (two for me, one as a gift) immediately. I’ve got one on a mason jar I’ve been using as a water bottle, and the other one has been capping everything from salad dressing to deliciously portable green drink. I can’t wait until they are available for wide mouth mason jars.

Savory popcorn to accompany last week’s grading. (I haven’t made anything to go with this weekend’s final round.)

And these: smoked salmon blinis with dill and creme fraiche. At M.’s house, clearly. I did help, by bringing the yeast and by manning the griddle. These were a wonderful way to start Monday.

(For those of you playing along, you’re right: I’m a week behind. My grades are due tomorrow morning, and then I’ll be working to get my blog closer to real time.)

 

oops.

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I didn’t mean to just not blog these last few weeks, but it seems that is exactly what I did. Want to see some pictures?

Sweet, silly dog.

Mick told me about green shakes, and I’ve been making them pretty regularly for the last few weeks: some combination of banana, almond milk, green stuff (spinach, kale, etc), something sweet (local honey, a medjool date), and some kind of frozen fruit (mango, berries). They are magical. And delicious.

Lots of walking = happy dog.

Boh and I at a local waterfall, which was roaring the morning after a lot of rain.

Awesome.

A spectacular sunset on the dock.

Boh and a beer: excellent company down at the lake.

Storm coming in at sunset.

My grades are due a week from Monday — so close to summer! Happy weekend!

word count rewards.

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I managed to transcribe a bunch of research photos and write 500 words, so when I got home from the coffee shop, I gathered up my sweet dog and a tasty beverage and headed to the dock. (Oh, and the latte and the brownie I enjoyed at the coffee shop? Those weren’t rewards. I call those “motivation.”)

It was a beautiful afternoon, and it felt like summer: at least 75 and sunny, with just the faintest hint of a breeze off the lake.

Sorry, Boh. You have to actually do the writing to enjoy the reward. I’m realizing this week that it feels good to just focus on one big thing, rather than the pile of tasks on my to-do list. I will need to start easing myself back into grading and prepping for Monday’s class soon, but for now, this glorious weather and the chance to get some of my own work done is really nice.

I was slow to leave the house yesterday, in part because I wanted to make something tasty in my new pot. After flipping through several cookbooks on my shelf, I settled on a recipe for a curry root vegetable stew with dumplings from Amanda Hesser’s huge New York Times cookbook. This is actually the first thing from this cookbook I’ve made — and I can’t wait to go back.

This came together really quickly, and the dumplings were hearty without being heavy. Plus, I got to use up some of my root veggie stockpile. And all I needed to do was heat it up again for dinner after hanging out by the lake with Boh. Win/win.

I’ll definitely make this again. Oh! And I even did some knitting yesterday. Check out my sleeve progress on Kerrera:

I added more decreases, working my way down to the smallest sleeve circumference for a slightly narrower fit, and shortened the sleeves by about 15 rows, as I want to make sure they aren’t super long after blocking. This morning I began the fancy double garter st cuff. More of that if I get a good chunk of work done today…

fall.

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I meant to post these earlier in the week, when they were still an accurate representation of fall here at the lake house. It is colder now — we’ve had a first dusting of snow, all the plants are now on the porch to avoid frost, and I’m back to wearing my uggs as my around-the-house shoes. There’s a sweater on the chair next to my bed, so I can slip on a cozy, warm layer as soon as I’m out from under the covers. I even trapped a mouse (using a jar and my bench scraper) and let him go at the edge of the yard.

Oh, and I made this amazing cauliflower earlier in the week, maybe the same day I snapped all these pictures of the dock and the yard. I think you should drop everything and make some at your house. Seriously — a friend on Facebook said this recipe changed her decades-long dislike of cauliflower. If that isn’t a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is. (And I didn’t even add the yogurt sauce or the pomegranate seeds.)

And then there’s this guy. Silly, silly dog. I think he’s pretty happy that I’ve declared November a research-trip-free month. I’m hoping to get into a rhythm, finally, of everything: writing, knitting, cooking, walking with Boh. I think we’re both creatures of habit, and I’m ready to settle into a balanced routine.

Happy weekend!

FO: rhinebeck cauldron part 2.

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This is the second half of my Rhinebeck/Cauldron experiment, 188 yards of squishy 2-ply (in 150 and 38 yard skeins). My initial plan was to make this into another eternity scarf, and while I’m not sure if I’m going to to follow that pattern exactly, I think this yarn still wants to become a big squishy ’round the neck sort of thing. I’ve got 400 or so yards total to work with, which gives me lots of options. What would you make with this? (Boh clearly has no opinion, as evidenced by these photos.)

Did you see the curry recipe Andrea posted last week? I made it on Sunday night, using tofu that I browned in butter instead of the seitan meatballs. Mine is a very different color (due, I think, to my use of a can of coconut milk instead of coconut flakes rehydrated in water), but I’m guessing it was the same level of deliciousness. Oh my. So good, so easy, so going into my kitchen recipe binder.

They are hard to see, but I’m pretty sure that this is a mother Merganser and a whole slew of ducklings. A few are riding on her back, and the commotion you see here is all the rest hurrying to keep up!

And here is Boh, happily lounging on the dock next to the picnic table. It is supposed to be HOT today, so I’m guessing we’ll find ourselves out by the lake this afternoon, though not until after we do a lot of work around the house. My parents brought a truck full of furniture yesterday — things from their basement and from my grandmother’s house (she just moved into a smaller apartment in an assisted living facility), and they’ll be here for a few days to work and play. We have plans to plant some containers full of herbs, replace the shower head, decide about a dehumidifier for the basement…things like that. I’ll have lots more lake house pictures soon!