Stacyverb

Sunday scorcher

It had been a while since Anthony and I had visited the Atlanta Botanical Garden, so we decided to spend some time there today.  Our membership is about to expire, so we just had to take advantage of it one more time. 

So much for that bit of a "cold" spell we had last week--temps reached the 90s today.  I took lots of pictures, but am spotlighting the pretty things I saw that thrive on a hot hot hot day like today.

 

These orchids might be my favorite thing I saw today.  The color combination is exactly what my eye craves in the haze of humid Atlanta summers--hot, bright, unmissable.

 

The steam of the conservatory makes it easy to pretend you're on a tropical adventure in a lush jungle somewhere.

 

Post-Garden treat, speaking of tropical: Italian ice in Island Fusion flavor.  Mango, coconut, and I don't know what else.  Soooo good.  Several years ago, they were handing out piles of coupons for FREE Rita's ice at Anthony's job.  We're still working off of that stack!  (It was a lot of coupons.)  This really hit the spot after tackling all those hills in the blazing sun.

Back home, showered and rehydrated, I made a spicy veggie stir fry for dinner, and might paint my toenails purple tonight.  Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Sweating and swearing

Like many people, I prefer to exercise at home instead of in public.  It’s not because I’m sweaty and ugly while exercising—who isn't?  Gym memberships are expensive, but nope, that’s not it either.

The real reason I work out at home is this: I’m very vocal when I exercise.  I cheer myself on.  Sometimes there’s profanity.  Occasionally I insert a Bob Costas-like commentary marveling that this athlete (me) has overcome great obstacles just to compete in the day’s events (meaning, I’m tired and cranky and don’t feel like exercising, but I’m doing it anyway).

How does anyone exercise without saying anything?  When I see people jogging down the street, they might be huffing and puffing, but I never hear them singing along (loudly, and way off-key) to their iPods.  Or making “neeer, neeer neeer, neeerrrrr!!!” noises during guitar solos.  Come on--how do you get a good workout without all that?  Nor do I hear any of these runners saying the things I mutter while riding my recumbent bike:  “Keep going...you can do it....” or “Twelve more minutes?  Are you #*@% kidding me??”  I guess with a gym membership, you might have a personal trainer to keep up this dialogue with you.  But hello--what a waste of money, when I can just stay home and yell at myself for free!

Let’s imagine me in a yoga/aerobics/whatever class.  If my behavior toward my Wii trainer is any indication, I’d probably get thrown out for mouthing off at the instructor.  My Wii trainer takes a lot of verbal abuse.  When she tries to encourage me by calling out things like, “Don’t give up!” I tend to snap defensively, “Who said anything about giving up, beeyatch?!?”  Plus, sometimes I accuse her of lagging behind because she’s hungover.  (Seriously—I think she has a problem.  She frequently rubs her head and reminds me how important it is to get enough sleep.  Uh-huh.)  I’m guessing that would be frowned upon in a real class, right?

I’m no expert on gym etiquette, so maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about.  But when I pass by health clubs with large windows and see the people inside, I’ve never noticed anyone completing their workout, climbing off a piece of equipment, and marching around the club with their arms upraised, hollering “WOO-HOO!” and waving to an invisible crowd.  Does that ever go on?  Also, as far as I know, gyms generally don’t allow cats on the premises, so to whom do their members direct their post-workout imaginary press conferences?   (“Well, thanks, I appreciate that.  It wasn’t my best, but I feel pretty good.”)  Again, I’m ignorant here.  That’s not my world.  You tell me.

Anyway.   I’m pretty happy with my current workout regimen of pedaling a rickety old recumbent bike and beating the crap out of computerized boozehounds, so you won’t see me testing these theories in an actual gym anytime soon.  I’m sure you’re all relieved about that.

The wine fairy

Our next-door neighbors have a wine business, and they often have partial bottles of wine leftover from their tastings.  They're very generous about sharing these bottles, many of which have had only one or two glasses poured from them.  Almost-full bottles of wine often just magically appear on our porch, causing us to exclaim, "The wine fairy was here!"

 

How's this for a problem?  We have too much wine.  I know, many some of you are thinking, "Is that even possible??"  Well, if the bottles were unopened, it would be no problem whatsoever.  But with open bottles, time is not on our side.  Wine keeps showing up, faster than we can dispatch it (we came home to five bottles one recent evening).  We drink some, we give some to friends, but still--it's accumulating.

So this week I'm making it an ongoing project to find uses for our surplus vino.  Today's undertaking: red wine marinara sauce.

 

It's been simmering on the stove for an hour or so, and WOW does the house smell fantastic right now.  I'm using this recipe, but substituting red for white wine because that's what we have (and what we prefer for marinara).  I doubled the recipe and plan on freezing it.  We should get many yummy meals out of this pot.

But...that whole pot of sauce only used one cup of wine.  I have plans for frozen sangria later in the week.  I also might freeze some wine by itself in ice cube trays, to be thawed for cooking use at some future time when (if!) we don't have any wine in the house.  Other projects under consideration: granita, beef bourignon, homemade vinegar.

Any other suggestions?

Update: A few hours after I posted this, there was a knock on the door.  Yup, you guessed it--three more bottles of wine.

"Bye Bye Brooke" shawl

For the past 6+ years, I've had the pleasure of working with, and being friends with, a great woman named Brooke.  My workplace is like a second home to me, and my co-workers are like a family, so we're all very sad right now because Brooke is leaving us to live near her actual family on the west coast.  (Pout.)

Last week we had a going-away party for Brooke, and knowing that her departure is a big deal for all of us, I decided I needed to make her a gift and give it to her at the party.  This is the "special project" I mentioned in yesterday's post.

 

The pattern is called Omelet, and this shawl is by far the most complicated lace knitting project I've ever undertaken.  There were definitely some moments when I thought I might be in over my head with this.

 

I pressed onward, though, and really, it was a pleasure to knit.  The yarn is a hand-dyed silk--luscious, slinky, gorgeous. 

This took me eleven days to knit, which is insanely fast for me to make anything this...involved.  At times I wondered aloud, hands frantically knitting away, why I hadn't started Brooke's gift sooner, since we'd all known for a long time that her departure was approaching.  Our mutual friend Carrie answered that question without pause: "Because we've all been in denial about Brooke leaving."  Too true, too true.

 

Well, we can't deny it any longer (but we don't have to like it, either!).  And so I gave my dear friend Brooke this parting gift, and I hope that whenever she looks at it, she'll remember all the great times we had working together at the yarn shop.  Things just won't be the same without her.  (Pout.)

Family time

Hey there, readers!  I took a little break from blogging while I had company and worked on a special project.  (More on that project in a future post.)

My mom and dad were in town for four days and we had a nice visit.  One of the highlights was having dinner at BestGalPal Christy's house, along with her mom and, of course, Max!  It was such a beautiful night, Anthony built a fire out on the deck after dinner.  What a treat it was for me to be able to spend the evening with so many of my favorite people in one place.

 

So what if your head explodes?

In the past couple of weeks, Atlanta has been setting new records for crazy high pollen counts.  It's normal for yellow-green dust to coat everything here at this time of year, but this spring has been INSANE because of the mild winter and early warm temps.

Even people who've never had allergies are suffering this time around.  Me, I'm more of an autumn allergy girl, so all I've had in the past few weeks has been some sinus pressure and sometimes a sore throat.  No biggie compared to the snotty misery many are experiencing, that is if they're not just knocked incoherent on allergy meds.

 

But there is an upside.  This azalea was thisclose to blooming for quite a while, and then one morning and I went out and BOOM, there it was.  Despite the fact that I'm the one who planted this bush, it continues to stay alive.  That must be because I've never done anything to it except dig a hole and stick it in the ground.  My brown thumb hasn't touched it enough to curse it.

 

Ditto this lovely Japanese maple tree.  I wish you all could know what a tiny twig it was when I planted it a few years ago, and now it's about five feet tall and thriving.  Again, that's because I haven't done anything to it.  No "gardening"--no, that's the kiss of death for any plant I get involved with.  Better to just plant it, walk away, and let the pollen work its magic.

Closing the Gaps: Black cardigan

This won't be the most exciting of outfit shots, but that's okay.  Sometimes even I, devotee of colorful prints and rich colors, need something basic.

 

So here she is, a basic black cardigan.  How did I not already own a black cardigan?  I don't know.  But now I've closed that gap in my wardrobe and can move on with my life.

This is my second version of the Featherweight Cardigan (I debuted the first one here), and probably not the last.  It's just such a perfect wardrobe staple for the Atlanta climate--takes the chill off on cool spring and autumn mornings; provides just enough of an extra layer during our mild winters; and wards off the deep-freeze of overly air-conditioned public spaces in summer.

 

See, nice and sheer and light?  (Also, a subtle reminder not to speed on my street, haha!).

On my first Featherweight, I did a ribbed border around the collar.  On this one, I did as the original pattern called for and made a rolled stockinette border.

PROJECT DETAILS

Started - Finished: February 21, 2012 - March 31, 2012

Pattern: Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig

Yarn: Heritage Silk by Cascade Yarns (color #5672 Real Black)

Needle: US 4 (3.5mm) & US 5 (3.75mm)

Size/Yardage: 35.25", about 800 yards  (Slightly less than two skeins.  On the first Featherweight I made, I had to use a small amount of a third skein of the same yarn.  I guess the difference was that I did the collar of the first one in k1p1 ribbing, a stitch pattern that eats up more yarn than the stockinette of this one.)