Outside Work and Kitchen Work

56°f/13 3°C, mostly clear, light clouds

Yesterday's apple pie

It has been a weekend of outside work here, for the most part. Spring brings a load of things that need tending to, doesn't it? We dodged the threatened freeze, thank goodness, and everything is growing very quickly.

We put down 8 bags of mulch and now have just the herb garden to do, which will wait until I get it dug up and replanted. I am hoping a few more perennials surface before I do that.

I finally feel like it's time to get seeds in the ground! We planted lettuce, radishes, carrots, kate, chard, spinach, leeks, peas, onions and potatoes this week.

I tilled up a good bit of the garden for later planting, and set out some gladioli bulbs. 

These last I planted in my vegetable garden because I will have extra space since Larry decided to add another garden space this year. I think he missed having "his" garden last year. I usually tend the regular garden, because he does not like the way I do it, with mulch and close planting.  He prefers the tradional tilled garden, although he will probably mulch the tomatoes.

Then there was the mower with its pesky problem that made it keep quitting. Larry finally figured it out and now everything is mowed. It was getting a little dire around here! I did my usual stringtrimming and he did his so at least those parts looked neat. Now, thankfully, all is mowed!

Inside, I worked on getting some small pieces ready for our booths. We have a formica table with two chairs ready to go today, along with a small folding table and 4 or 5 totes. So today will be restocking day. I did some ebay too, listing and packing up sales, and tidying up up room a bit more. It is nice to see more spacevm opening up in there. My goal is to be able to put a bed and dresser in that room, but I still have a ways to go to accomplish that. Meanwhile I continue to downsize my stock, which feels very good!

Yesterday I spent some time in the kitchen.  I had cut some sage while cleaning up the herb garden, so that is now drying. 

Then I made an apple pie, and prepared 4 avocados for the freezer. I package each mashed avocado in individual bags, then put those into a larger bag to freeze. It keeps very well, no discoloration,  and it's ready to use as I need it.

Dinners have been simple this week, sandwiches or spaghetti,  and of course asparagus, as it is coming in regularly now.

And that's about it. My granddaughter Sarah is on her month-long Colorado River rafting trip, my two oldest sons are on their way home from 3 days watching the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia, and son Aaron is in Mexico again, I think, for his work. I enjoy seeing my busy family out doing the things they love. 

No poem yet for today. Maybe one will occur to me later. 

Garden: planted potatoes, onions 3 k I nods, peas, carrots,lale,chatf,spinach leeks,lettuce. Tilled, 8 bags mulch 

Dried sage  pie, avocado 

Painted mirror,  waxed table

Listed on ebay

Auction

Writing

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Road Trip: Folklore Pizza

47°f/8.3°C, clear.

Where State Route 16 meets US Route 33, the intersection is called the Y. There is a building there that has been a restaurant off and on, but now it is a combination grill and Amish food store. I took no photos there, but came out with a 5 pound bag of brown rice, 5 pounds of cornmeal, shelf milk and honey. They had such a variety for a location that is really out of the way. We will be stopping there again qhenever we pass that way.

Last stop was Spencer, WV, which is just 24 miles from home. There was a place I have been wanting to see since I first heard about it 6 months ago: Folklore Pizza.

We weren't hungry,  but Larry had a beer and I had a glass of wine while we talked with the owner, Chad. I was surprised to learn that they have been open for 3 years. How did I miss that? I mean, Spencer is a small town, and not that far away. But this place is tucked up in a holler on the outskirts of town, not visible from the main road; in fact I had to use the GPS to find it. 

My wine was this Chardonnay from Vampire Vineyards in California. It was good, and the last in the bottle, so I asked if I could have the bottle. Just because, you know.

The building used to be a roller skating rink. After that it was a t-shirt printing shop, and a couple other businesses located there before the current owner bought it (for the third time, he said! He had the t-shirt shop and something else there, I forget what). 

Chad's goal is for this to be a famiky-oriented place. It's huge! There are several pool tables, the beginnings of a future games arcade, and plans for an outside patio and a couple air bnb's.

They also host trivia night, bingo and singo, a game based on clips from songs. There's live music on the weekends, and an occasional open mic night.

The lights! I loved the variety of lighting. Chad admitted that he was the instigator, because he thinks lights really make a place.

Skates hanging room the ceiling give a nod to the building's past 

This light flashes different colors. I think i need one...somewhere.

Bigfoot got his pizza!

It was pretty quiet while we were there, but Chad said people really start coming in a little later. Still there were a few families dining, and half a dozen people playing pool.

We checked out the menu before we left, and we will definitely be going back to this fun place. It's a great addition to the town. 

Today's poem:

Tobacco

Freshly cut, stalks hang in rows

on poles, breezes stir the yellowing leaves,

the barn filled to the rafters .

It was money, then, enough

to pay the annual payment

on land, equipment, cattle, 

but it was work.

Early Spring it started:

burn off the bed,

all night out there, minding

the fire, stars

wheel overhead, quiet except

for the occasional owl, a mouse

stirring in dry leaves.

Tiny seeds planted, covered,

pinpricks of green that soon pushed

against white netting.

By May the plants were ready to pull,

plant, water, worry over

all summer, watching 

for enemies—blight, bugs, drought.

 In August, glorious spikes of pink

blossom against a blue sky,

bees heavy with pollen, the scent,

oh the scent! No manmade fragrance, this.

With September came yellowing bottom leaves,

“the trash” below the lugs and tips,

And time to cut, stack, hang,

And wait

until November’s cool, misty weather,

conditions just right for stripping, sorting

into grades, packing into bales,

hands cold and sticky, laughing,

coffee and stew on the brew

on the campstove, no time 

Tto go inside to cook and warm.

And that was it. Done, the barn empty

of its golden hoard, the bales

loaded on the truck,

sold at auction. 

Bills paid, a tiny bit

left for Christmas,

and next year’s seed.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Randoms

32F/0C, but I think we dodged the freeze predicted last night, because it had warmed to 36 before the sun came up. Mostly clear, with light cloud this morning.

A few recent photos haven't posted:

Seen in town yesterday:

Larry with a new friend. More about this place tomorrow.

At the junction of US Route 60 and state route 39:

Long-spurred violet

Sweet white violet

Spooky doorway in town, changed to black and white to make it creepier.

Goodwill find, not old but quirky!

The first official wedding photo my granddaughter sent. Not everyone took the "semi-formal or cocktail dress" request seriously! I am not as thin as this makes me look 😉

And last, a silverplate item I found during my cleanout. This is apparently known as a biscuit barrel, for holding cookies. I assume a small pair of tongs would have been in the little tray in front. This was taken before I cleaned it up 

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Today's poem:

Grandpa, William I. Connelly, Sr, and Grandma, Bertha Becker Connelly, around 1955-57.

Magic Man

He was a little man,

even I knew that when I was a child,

and thought he was so old, with his bald head

and wrinkles. So many wrinkles, and yet

he wasn’t 60 then, the day he showed us

how to set a tissue on fire

with a magnifying glass.

I remember my grandmother 

shouting from the porch,

“Bill! What are you thinking?

They’ll burn the house down!”

Well, she believed that, since she considered

The 13 of us demons from hell

(I know, because I read her letters,

years after she died).

We thought our Grandpa was a mystery,

this quiet man who fried eggs on our sidewalk,

made fire with a magnifying glass,

and taught us how to make the church,

the steeple, and the people with our hands.

You could not have convinced me

that my little Irish grandfather

with the sweet tenor voice and big nose,

didn’t know a thing or two about magic.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.