the plum tree is blooming.

though the cold wind blows ,fragile pink petals blossom , in the house, i knit.

nuclear weapon testing. asteroids exploding. cruise ships burning.

and yet.

the plum tree blooms.

near the front door.

and in the spring when the warm wind blows, i will pick the plums… which will be hard and sour…. and give them to my old neighbor so that she can make “ume shu” a very sweet kind of wine that she keeps in a big jar under her sink.

 

bloggus inturruptus

my oh my how time does fly

i have completed a quilt top

and

i have assembled a quilt back from pieces that arrived from all over the world.

and

it is so doggone big that i am having  a bit of a delay in motivation to get it sandwiched together for quilting.

so

I am procrastinating

and knitting

hats

lots and lots of hats.

anyhoo.

Kai is 12 now!!!

my youngest is 12 .

i hope he grows up soon so he will be ready for jr. high in april.

out for a hike

somehow i thought the hat made me look cooler…

Kayla is so close to being as tall as i am….

but she is a whole lot skinnier…

need to get something like this in the yard…

happy lunar new year to everyone…

I hope that the year of the snake is healthy and prosperous

filled with blessings and good cheer.

fall in the garden, 2012

well, this year too, the garden is just beautiful..

i take tons and tons of photos, but they just don’t do justice to the true colors…

fall 2012

i never get tired of it…..

happy december everyone!!!

view from the street

latest BBQ photos.

if it’s saturday, it must be family night around the “irori” table!!!!

BBQ!

no funny faces, no smiles either………..

just serious eating.

keep the home fires burning.

first they grilled some pork. big big piles of pork. then, they removed the grill and set up the little 3 legged thingy.

soup pot on the fire.

they loaded up the big clay soup pot with cabbage, chicken and “nira” (a garlic like green) and finally some noodles.

I had some jasmine rice heated up in the microwave and some grilled cheese toast.

everyone had a fabulous time. look at those faces….

“fletch” face…

well. it’s november

it’s cold. leaves are falling and it’s time to take down the halloween decorations and hang up the turkey banner.

we have BBQ’d 3 times on the new table and each time i have forgotten to take photos!!

irori table with ash and 3 legged pot stand

we lay a grill over the top (after filling up with hot coals) and just cook on that…. we sit around cooking and eating as we go… after we are all done, we take off the grill, put in the pot stand and heat up a kettle of water…or a pot of soup….

dinner rolls with mashed sweet potato.

i am trying to get into the habit of making fresh bread every week. this batch is made with mashed sweet potatos.  Then recently i made rolls with mashed potatoes.  Making fresh bread just takes a little extra time but the results are so fantastically delicious.  The whole mixing and kneading process is so relaxing!! I don’t use a bread machine or a mixer… just my hands and a large cutting board for kneading.

CNN offered plenty of news and updates on hurricane Sandy

…to all my East Coast friends and family… I hope you are safe and sound and that you recover soon from the damage. My thoughts are with you….

 

found what we were looking for!!!!

and this is the table with the hole in the center!!

it’s called an “irori”

in the old days, houses were built with a fire pit in the main room

for cooking and heat…

now we have one in our garage!!!

Irori table

closed up, it can be used like a regular table…

the wood is really pretty and it’s nice and sturdy.

then, if we want to cook, we can open it up, and get a charcoal fire going..

ready for action!!

I have filled up the metal box with a very fine ash

then we place the charcoal on that and light it up!!

we haven’t used it yet, maybe this weekend.