Building a Hot (Pepper) House

The south side of our house is the perfect spot to grow our tomatoes and hot peppers with sunshine from sun-up to sundown.  This year we decided to try enclosing our hot peppers to maximize the heat, and hopefully boost our yield.  I was able to utilize the small hothouse enclosures that formerly housed my seedlings, but unfortunately they were not designed to hold larger pots and so could only hold half of my plants!  I searched for larger enclosures but either the dimensions were wrong, or the price was more than I'd be willing to pay.  So I built my own!

Washington Coast Getaway: Exploring Iron Springs Resort

When I think of going to the coast for a few nights to stay in a cabin, I usually think of cheap, uncomfortable rooms with paper thin walls, a musty smell, and mysterious stains on the bed linen.  So, as my husband was telling me he wanted to go to the coast for his birthday, I knew I needed to do some research and find something that would take dogs, have a nice kitchen for me to cook in, and comfortable furnishings or I wasn't going.  Looking online, I was completely stumped.  The whole coast of Washington to chose from: where to go? 

Luckily, some friends were over for dinner when I was complaining about my inability to find a nice vacation rental and stepped in with some advice: Iron Springs Resort.  We looked it up.  Recent updates in a rustic mid century modern style with lots of amenities and they allowed, even encouraged, dogs.  We were sold.

 

Don't Quit

 Dragon Boating. It’s a thing. A thing I’ve been rather obsessed with for almost a year now. How did I get involved in this thing you ask? Well, it started with a monkey; a four foot paper mache monkey to be precise. 

Spring is Here! Time to Start Working on the Garden.

Spring has arrived, and with it visions of fresh vegetables are dancing in my head.  Here is a photo of our front yard from last year.  

I've been dabbling with vegetable gardens for about ten years.  First I tried growing some tomatoes and herbs in containers on the back deck, slowly expanding our garden by adding a new vegetable or two each year.  When I had more successes than failures I started planting in raised beds.

A Bird Visitor Keeps the Pets Entertained

 This morning I was drinking coffee, checking my email and suddenly there was such a ruckus from the cat and the dog over by the window.  I ignored it for a bit but then Vincent's yowling drew me to the window to take a look.  A Flicker!!  A Northern Flicker, to be more specific. 

Play Date with Metal

I had a zillion things I was supposed to do last weekend but I was reckless and blew them all off to go play with metal all day Saturday at the Tacoma Metal Arts Center.

It's my friend Kimberly's fault.  She had a gift certificate for a class and asked if I was interested. I studied making jewelry at North Seattle Community College way back in my early twenties and after getting my degree in sculpture, I haven't played around much with jewelry except tinkering around with reclaimed tin and wire work.

We've Been Flocked!

Yesterday a couple showed up at our house and "flocked" us.  It's a charity thing for my dad's Rotary group.  You donate money to charity and get a house of your choosing flocked.  He chose our house.  It's pretty neat and makes me want to have someone else's house flocked too!  You can see how eco-friendly (read: lazy) we are by letting the grass die instead of watering it.   

Vincent is confused about the flamingos, but loves the dead grass.  

He spends a lot of his time rolling around,

acting like a goof ball.  A hippo-sized goof ball. 

Moneypenny is not impressed. 

Finally, Vinnie ends the morning by photobombing Moneypenny.

  Moneypenny is still not impressed. 

Opera for All

I had the great pleasure of seeing the opera Turandot at the Seattle Opera two days ago.  Puccini's Turandot is about a princess that relishes her freedom being unmarried and kills her suitors if they can't answer her three riddles.   She meets her wit's match in the unknown Prince.  I've mentioned before how much I enjoy opera and so I might as well say it again.  It's part musical, costume drama, symphony, sculpture, performance art, humor, dancing, acting, singing, and poetry all rolled into one.  And Turandot is also pretty violent.  (OK, artistic violence, but in spirit it's as violent as any action picture.)  So you can't say opera is boring or all sappy love stories and such. 

I was struck that I needed to say more about opera after reading an article in the New York Times today about How Hollywood Films Are Killing Opera.  Basically, the article points out how a few movies like Moonstruck and Pretty Woman have made the American viewer think that real opera can only be serious and traditional and thus has stopped opera houses all over the country from trying anything new or innovative because the masses won't come to anything they don't think is real opera.    

  

 I both agree and disagree with this premise.  Moonstruck went a long way to making me interested in opera to begin with, only it took a couple of decades and more money in my pocket to finally get to go see any opera.  The price is one of the main reasons in keeping people away from it.  But really, when you see the sets and the costumes and all the actors and musicians that take part, you realize how cheap the tickets really are.  Stop and think, how much do people pay for Madonna and Paul McCartney tickets?  At some point in my early thirties, I lost interest in going to concerts and staying up all night in clubs but I still longed for rich cultural experiences and opera has helped to fill that need easily. And maybe in New York opera is all fancy pantsy and intimidating but at the Seattle opera I have seen Crocs and polo shirts and dog collar necklaces and Birkenstocks as well as full on suits and fancy strapless gowns.  You can take it to whatever level you want.

As a newbie to opera (I have only seen four.), I find myself wanting to see a lot of the traditional "classics" just as the article states.  And I don't think this is wrong.  But the more opera I see, the more interpretations I want to see and the more variety I want to see.  And as I looked over the Seattle Operas current season, I caught myself thinking I wasn't interested in the unknown operas and that we really needed to see Cinderella and La Boheme.  But I am still a beginner and need to pick and chose carefully where I spend my opera dollars.  Hopefully next season I will be able to get season tickets and then I will get to experience a larger range.   I also have a fantasy of traveling the world to see different versions of the Barber of Seville, my first and favorite opera so far. 

If you have a chance to see opera, don't turn it down.  You may be surprised how much you like it.  And do research.  Read up on the opera or listen to it beforehand if possible.  The more you know, the more you can appreciate and enjoy. 

Oskar's New Favorite Thing

 Oskar says, "I'm from Wales! I am supposed to be where it is cool and overcast, not 91 in the shade!"

I must be getting used to the heat that has been slowly creeping upwards the last 2 weeks.  I feel warm in my office, but not that uncomfortable.  (My office is in the northeast corner of the house, which doesn't hurt one bit.)  Our downstairs is definitely more comfortable.  I foresee some movie watching down there tonight!

If I wasn't going to a wine tasting shortly, I might just change into my bathing suit and jump into the pool with him.  There's always tomorrow which is supposed to get up in the mid 90's and I am volunteering tomorrow at the Grand Theater and there is no A/C in the lobby.  Ouch.  Time to whip out the paper fan to take with me.  Stay cool, people!

Wine from Tacoma

 While Washington State is prime wine country, little wine is made on the western side of the state.  I am assuming this is mostly because the nice hot weather the east side of the mountains gets is much better suited for wine but there could be multiple other reasons as well.  Any wineries that are over here are usually sourcing their wine from vineyards in the east and then fermenting and aging them over here.  Such is the case of 21 Cellars here in Tacoma.

A friend of mine had purchased a wine tasting for two from the cellars and invited me along for the fun.  Now this winery styles itself as a boutique winery (I always thought that was code for expensive and I think I was right) and uses only wild yeasts for fermentation and ages all the wine in French oak.  Sounds fancy, huh? 

The wines were okay, but a little bit too much of the fruit bomb and oak was happening for my taste.  My friend, however, really liked the Tempranillo and the Malbec.  So, it's all a matter of personal preference really.  The prices were so high as to really turn me off.  I guess if you are really into shopping local, then this really is the wine for you.  But you can easily, easily buy wines far less than half the price of these that are just as tasty or even superior. 

Again, what is it that makes people buy this?  It's nice that someone local is trying to do this but I feel like it's his hobby and we're all paying for it.  They are small batches so maybe that is what this is all about: the exclusivity of it all.

The fun part about the tasting was that while on Thursday and Saturdays they are at the North End winery, on Fridays they do tastings in downtown Tacoma inside Anthem Coffee and Tea which is right next to the History Museum and also pretty busy so it feels festive to be in this big, bustling space, sampling wine. 

But don't listen to me, your tastes could be totally different, so get a tasting at 21 Cellars for yourself!

Farmers' Market and Camera Troubles

 Went extra early to the farmers' market today to take Oskar so that he could meet other people and dogs without being overwhelmed by the masses that show up later on in the morning.  I am having a little dinner party tonight and decided I needed flowers.  I bought one giant bunch and split it up and added in that gigantic rose from our garden.  Can you believe how big that thing is?  I also bought a flat of strawberries and some ground coffee from our favorite local roaster, Valhalla. 

 All three of these shots were taken with my camera phone because, alas, my nice SLR camera seems to be dying.  Something has been wrong with the shutter button for a while and I have been in avoidance of fixing it.  I know it will be expensive.  That's why, sadly, I have been missing out on posting so many wonderful things in the last month: no working camera. 

But it's all about to be all good because I just ordered a new Panasonic Lumix and it is supposed to arrive Monday and I will be a snap happy blogger once again!  Bonus: it is also about 1/3rd the size of my bulky Nikon and will fit nicely in my purse for taking more shots at restaurants and other outings.  (I hate being one of those obvious people dragging around a giant camera.  For some reason that really bugs me, especially in restaurants.)  And some day I might get around to taking the old Nikon to a repair shop to try and fix it as well to keep using it in studio shots.   Huzzah!

Spring has Sprung

The one decision about our new yard was that I wasn't going to do anything to it this first year.  It has lots of mature plantings and I don't know what a lot of them will look like in bloom nor where any bulbs are planted.  I was sad about leaving my big herb garden at the old house so as a teeny tiny concession, I decided I needed to buy some herbs and start a little herb garden on the upper deck right outside the kitchen.

So far I just planted oregano, rosemary, and mint.  I still need chives, lavender, and thyme.   Grow, grow, grow.

It's fun watching bulbs come up and trees bloom.  These colors are just out of this world.  

We had a twig of a Magnolia at the old house that was only a few year old and would get about 10 blossoms a year if we are lucky.  This Magnolia in the front yard is deliciously full of pink buds.

And is this a Star Magnolia?  Not sure, but it sure looks awesome!  Unfortunately it is being horribly stunted by a pruned to death Douglas Fir that will have to come down.  Maybe I will be able to coax it into something resembling a real tree.  

We finally broke down and bought a lawn mower yesterday.  The weather is so lovely now, it makes all the rain worth it to get all these blooms and color!

38 Things: Pay toll for vehicle behind me next time I drive on the Narrows Bridge

What exactly is this post about, you ask?  The Hunger Games or my 38 Things I Want to do Before I Turn 39?  Both, I say.  Both.

To get to the Galaxy VIP, we have to cross the Narrows bridge to get to Gig Harbor.  We ate dinner first at Fondi's Wood Fire Pizza and then we saw Hunger Games in Galaxy's VIP theater (which means 21 and over only and they bring popcorn and wine to your seat which means awesome) and then we drove back over the bridge and we paid the toll for the car behind us. 

I have read the Hunger Games (by Suzanne Collins) trilogy more times than I would like to admit.  My husband had not read the series so I thought it would be a good perspective for us both to go and see whether the movie touched on the correct angles of the story.  Would I be satisfied? Would he even get it? The resounding answer is yes.

I loved these books because Suzanne Collins writes about children in the middle of war and she doesn't dumb it down.  She doesn't make it glamorous.  She doesn't make it easy to swallow.  I don't want to write a long winded review here.  All I want to say is that as a fan that loved the stories I felt that the movie worked hard to get in all the exposition along with the emotional points.  And if it leaves a little out, maybe it will make viewers want to read the books to get more background.  My husband is now eyeballing my Kindle and wondering if it is worth it to wait until I am not reading something (not likely) or whether he should just buy his own copies.

Seeing a good movie made it even more satisfying to pay the toll for the car behind us.  After all, they might have been at the Hunger Games as well!  

Exploring Miami

After our cruise in the Caribbean, we had one full day to explore Miami.  After hours of pouring over hotel choices and neighborhoods, I had decided that South Beach would be the best place to see Miami in less than 24 hours.  Little did we know when we planned this adventure that the same day we were there was not only Spring Break happening but also a giant DJ conference.  Trying to catch a taxi at 6 am the next morning was an adventure I would soon like to forget.

While perhaps my timing was not so great, the neighborhood was a good choice because of all the cool architecture and fabulous eats.  For lunch we stumbled into a little pedestrian street called Espanola Way that I read about online.  It was touristy but nothing like Ocean Drive just a few blocks away.  It actually felt very European.

After walking down the street, stopping to check every menu, we settled upon Tapas & Tintos.  Wow.  Wow.  Wow.  Just check out those mojitos with at least 1/4 cup of mint in each one!  It was slightly warm but very, very humid, so these were refreshing.

Next, gazpacho.  I love gazpacho.  I make it quite frequently in the summer but this gazpacho tasted nothing like mine.  Orange in color, with a little more oil in it plus chunks of red peppers.  Flavor explosion in the mouth.

We also ordered a Manchego plate and this was like no Manchego I've ever had in Washington state.  So much earthier and creamier and melted in your mouth.  It must be nice to be on the east coast and have access to much more goodies from Europe.

Next we ate sauteed chickpeas with Chorizo.  Need I say more except that I wish this restaurant was in Tacoma?

Finished with espresso.

After lunch we walked down to a busy outdoor shopping mall and since it was a Sunday it was the farmer's market as well.  An antique sale was also going on at the market and we were sad about how expensive it would be to ship any of the cool furniture we saw for sale.  Lots of mid-century modern pieces that would have looked fantastic in our house.  We did find a cool Bakelite cork screw that I bought for our house sitter.  We don't see pineapples at our farmer's markets at home.

We found an Argentinian steak house at the outdoor mall and drank bubbly Rose with steak salads and people watched for a few hours and finished it off with more espresso.  Sigh.  I love food.  

While I adored the food and art deco architecture of Miami, I realized once again that I am definitely a west coast person.  All the super tan bodies with done up hair and big heels and gaudy clothing would be a little much for me on a daily basis.  When we left the hotel at 5:45 AM to find a taxi, there were literally hundreds and hundreds of people out on the street that had not gone to bed yet.  Trevor and I looked at each other and said, boy, are we getting old!

Surface Matters!

Last weekend I went to an awesome conference in Seattle: Surface Matters.  It was the first (of hopefully many, many) conference put together by the Washington chapter of the Surface Design Association. 

I was a little slow to jump on the surface design wagon because for a long time I assumed by much content I had seen that it was all quilters and weavers.  And then I realized that I should just join in all the fun because a) I will add more diversity by bringing in my own work and b) it's not all just quilters and weavers any more. Now I am fully immersed and am even starting my own SDA chapter for the south sound!

Back to the conference.  It was amazing.  The first day was panel discussions and inspiring lectures.  My favorites were the felting panel (of course), surface designer/creator extraordinaire Jane Dunnewald, and Bellevue Arts Museum director Stefano Catalani.

I recently purchased Jane's book Art Cloth and am really excited about all the techniques she shares.  She discussed using a flour paste as a resist at the conference and I went home and looked it up in her book and there it was.  I am in the middle of testing it out right now and will have finished photos in a day or two.  It is simple, but step heavy with everything having to dry 24 hours between steps.

Stefano Catalani is a charming and enthusiastic (and Italian!) man that loves fiber and craft and now I want to become a member of BAM purely based on his energy and vision for the museum.

The second day of the conference was an art opening for an exhibition of fiber works by SDA members and an open studio tour.  One of the stops was at Earthues, a natural dye company in the Seattle neighborhood of Ballard.  I thought we were just going to be seeing a demo but she actually gave all of us that showed up a silk scarf and let us dye it with natural Indigo!  I don't know much about dyeing and natural dyes even less and this was fascinating.  She has to get the PH balance just right in the bath and the dye looks green.   Your fabric only turns blue once it is exposed to oxidization.  So you pull it out of the vat and start unfolding it and playing with it and it turns blue right before your eyes!  I took it home and then laid it out for another 24 hours before rinsing it.  I don't think I am going to felt on it or do anything else to it, I just want to wear it!

38 Things: Donate Blood

I realized the other day that since we moved I completely lost track of my 38 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 39 and it was time to jump on board the to-do list wagon.  When I glanced over the list again I noticed that I actually have been doing quite a few things to move my list along.

Like donating blood.  I donated blood yesterday for the second time since I turned 38.  I love donating blood.  The staff at the blood center make you feel like you a celebrity for doing it and they give you chocolate milk and cookies afterwards.  I am also B- which is only about 2% of the population so they have shortages and they call me and remind me when my time is due.   Something pathetic like only 5% of the population that is eligible to donate actually does.  Do you know if you are eligible?  Call your local blood bank and make an appointment.  It only take about 45 minutes and most of that is paperwork or drinking chocolate milk: the taking blood part is about 10 minutes. One donation of blood can save 3 lives, no joke.

I Can Hardly Believe it Myself

 Well, the snow made it after all.  And the weather forecast last night had changed from snow to frozen rain.  Yeah, they got that wrong.  The snow is so thick you couldn't even see the bridge when I took this photo.

Now I can see a faint outline of it.  But what amazes me is how many cars are coming across the bridge!

The cats are none too happy.  They have been going outside a lot lately and blame me, I think, for the reason why they now cannot and do not want to go outside.  I love how the birdbath is draped in the snow. 

On a more serious matter, please consider joining the online protest against censorship. We do not need internet censorship bills passing in congress.  These bills are misguided and just plain wrong.

A Woman That Knows Who She Is

Last night was opening night at the Seattle Opera for the 2011 production of Carmen and it was fantastic. I consider myself a fan of opera even though I have only been to three: Barber of Seville, Magic Flute, and now Carmen. Barber is a comedy, Magic Flute a romance, and Carmen is a tragedy.  I liked that most of the characters in Carmen were flawed; my sympathies to different characters switched continually through the performance.  I also appreciate voluptuous women. Carmen could not be played convincingly by a stick insect. 

Carmen has everything one could want in opera: a strong female role, a love triangle, rousing music, dancing, costumes, grand set decoration, drama galore, and violence.  My favorite part is that she knows her own self and above all desires freedom and admits who she is and doesn't try to run away from her problems.  While I enjoy listening to opera by myself, going to the opera and dressing up and eating out and people watching and coffee afterwards always makes for a memorable occasion.  We had a bonus last night too.  While we were sipping coffee and discussing the opera at a little restaurant in lower Queen Anne around midnight, who should we see come in but the diva herself, Anita Rachverlishvili, who we just saw perform Carmen had came into the restaurant to eat.  She was a lot smaller looking in person, which I found funny.  We speculated that maybe she layers a lot of costumes on top of one another. 

The above poster is from a 1982 Seattle Opera production of Carmen by David Lund.  I am trying to find a print of it, I think it is gorgeous.

37 Things: Blog 175 Times

Hard to believe I have hit 175 blog postings in 10 months.  It seemed like a daunting amount of posts at the time.  Next year I will need to set my goal a little higher! 

My backyard is looking luscious right now.  The mint shrub is in full bloom and the bees are as excited as my neighbors at an all you can eat buffet.  My veggie garden is on full throttle mode as well.  The zucchini and leeks are pretty boisterous.  And my tomato plants are spilling out of their little cages all over the place.  They never make it into the kitchen.  I stand in the shade and pop the sweet cherry tomatoes right into my mouth. 

I moved my Adirondack chairs out of the way for our big dinner party and I am liking them in this spot in the shade.  Perfect reading spot.

I still have many items to complete on my list of 37 Things To Do Before I Turn 38 but I am in progress on a few of them and I am satisfied that the most important ones have been completed.  (Get off the continent, run/walk a half marathon, donate blood, throw a fundraiser.)  Two months to go before I start my next list! 

Yard Beautification

This post could have been titled:  How to Make an Ugly Yard Look OK.  I don't think this is ideally how I want my yard to look, but when a free source of wood chips came into my life, I jumped on it!

It all started with some friends of ours moving.  They have a lot of boxes right now.  And then another friend is a source of all these wood chips.  So. I put 2 and 2 together and came up with finishing the back yard.  Here it is all covered with plastic.  We suffered from truly horrible, invasive weeds and covered the whole spot with tarps and plastic for the past 2 years to kill everything.

It was truly awful and shabby looking.  I really hated it and spent most of my time ignoring it.

  

The side yard was looking slightly better, but barely/

So I spent 2 days working and now have a very sore back. I started by weeding everything.  Then I carefully overlapped the cut apart cardboard boxes that we had diligently removed all the tape from.  Then, I wheel-barrowed in much of the 6 yards of wood chips we shoveled into my dad's trailer and had dumped in the alley.  (Two trips in the trailer, mind you.)

This whole side is naught but shade and dandelions, so the wood chips will work well. 

 

I am really liking how the back looks.  Okay, after blue tarps, anything will look good, but I love the path I put in and the focus of the Ginko tree.  I love my Ginko tree.   Also, in the background are 2 small blueberry bushes.  They may be small this year, but they both are getting fruit.  Hopefully they will grow more next year. 

 

 This bit is right by the deck.  Now I have to finish the veggie garden and start on the front. 

As we were telling our friends that just bought their first house, it really is a never ending process and maybe too expensive or too much work for some.  But I would never give up my own yard or space for anything.  Ask me again this weekend after I have spent another 15 hours or so and I may be singing a different tune.  For now, I am content.