Homesteading

I haven't done a proper garden blog yet. I've taken pictures of it from a dirt plot to a thriving green bunch of things so that will find its way here at some point. But, this weekend, I seemed to have gone all Little House on the Praire - maybe because of my cold. So, now is a good time to do a bit of introducing to my heavenly 12 x 5 foot plot of dirt. Today, I "harvested" one beet, two radishes, 3 sunflowers, and herbs (you have to start somewhere). Then I cooked using tons of left over Thanksgiving veggies etc. I also fed my Amish Friendship Bread, but that's a whole blog in itself! Anyway, I guess I'll introduce you to my little organic garden plot a bit backwards by way of the final food dishes.


My first beet! I actually roasted it and ate it with salt, pepper and olive oil. And while red beets aren't my favorite, it tasted great because I grew it! Although I can't wait to use the beets (soon, they are getting big!), next year I will try to plant only golden beets because they are so sweet and tender. This was a varietal pack of seeds.


And my first two radishes. The smaller one came out by accident....


I still have about twice this much basil left in the garden. I'll probably cut it all down this weekend. It was a wonderfully bountiful plant, but it seems its time has come and the space can be used for something a bit more "winter cropish". Everyone at the garden mocks my sunflowers. They have full sized sunflower heads on freakishly short (maybe one foot) bodies! I planted them late but bless their little sunflower leaves they bloomed anyway. I cut three today to bring home.


When life gives you basil...make pesto. I froze most of it, but kept a bit out for some paninis tomorrow. The Squeeze has become quite the Panini Master with his toy from Williams - Sonoma!


I also decided to finally make soup from the leftover Turkey. I used fresh herbs from my garden: thyme, oregano, rosemary, parsley, and sage.


And it made a yummy soup.... Given my cold, I should have made this on Friday rather than Sunday. Live. Learn.

Steve Harris Jazz Collective

Thanksgiving was wonderful and my gratitude blog is in the works. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, plan to come to the aquarium and check out The Squeeze's very own Jazz Collective playing besides the GI-normous tree at The Pike on Sunday the 21st and 28th, 2-5pm. Take a ride on the Ferris Wheel or carousel, have a hot chocolate and listen to the jazzed up Christmas tunes.

The Holga

I only started shooting digitally about two years ago and I think my heart is still with film. There is definitely an advantage to digital: the immediate nature of it, the shooting info as a learning tool, the ease of processing (although not the post-production time which is grueling), and the ease of sharing the work. But, there is still something about shooting film and getting a proper traditional print that I am drawn to emotionally and creatively. Recently I pulled out my Holga and decided it should go with me where I go because it is so light and indestructible. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's considered a toy camera. It is made of plastic, it takes 120 film which makes it medium format, the negatives are square, the shots are vignetted in the corners, and it has the following options for controlling the shot: close, further, a bit further, pretty far and then a little symbol showing a mountain which I would then categorize as really far. Oh, and you can double expose by not advancing the film. But, because it is plastic there are light leaks. So, my holga, like most, is taped up within an inch of its life. I used to have a lot of problems with light leaks, but after I read Michelle Bates' book called PLASTIC CAMERAS: TOYING WITH CREATIVITY, I think I finally got it taped correctly! Of course, you can still get light leaks when you lift your tape flap to see the numbers of the film as you are advancing. I suspect that is what happened to the second shot below which is most obvious by the lower right and left hand corners:



There are some photographers out there who really create gorgeous art with them, so the idea of it being categorized as a toy camera is almost an insult. But, it IS a fun camera, so give it a try....

6:45am - FOG

There were lots of foghorns last night. Far enough away that they sounded sweet.

My morning walk yesterday...

Just a few blocks from The Loft.

Our clock

One view from the loft.