Arrrrgh!

My pirate name is:

Captain Jenny Bonney

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

The fact of the day will come a bit later tonight...

Where the Wind Blows

Apparently this needs clarification...

Day 37: The only winds stronger than the winds of an F5 tornado is the shock wave from an atomic bomb.

Don't really feel like experiencing any of these...

I mailed off my Project Spectrum package this morning, and have Cristi's nearly finished - Cristi - I need to ask you a question first! And for my still-anonymous upstream SP, I am bringing your CD to work with me tomorrow to listen to it! Sorry I haven't done this sooner, but I've been neckdeep in projects.

Isn't She Beautiful?

Here is a picture of my sister, Jaime. Jaime and Chris are expecting their first child at the end of May and I think she looks absolutely beautiful in this picture. She has a cute belly - as cute as Willow came out to be on the outside, she never looked this cute on me when she was on the inside!



Some Project Spectrum pictures - I couldn't find anything orange, so these are all yellow things I found in my in-laws' yard. Here is the goldenrod that the bees love to buzz in:



I tried to take a picture of the bees, but the little buggers wouldn't stay still!

Here are some of the daffodils:



We are lucky these are still standing! The weirdest weather system came through this morning and we had raging blizzard-like snow and lightning then bright sun - and this went back and forth 4 or 5 times... and when I got off work you would never have guessed - it was 50'F and sunny!

Here is an early yellow azalea:



And now for some non-yellow/orange things...

More asparagus! Many people had emailed me when I posted the first picture of the aspargus bud about a week ago, saying they had no idea that was how asparagus grew. Well, more stalks have come up and here is a better picture of what aspargus looks like just before you snip it. And let me tell you, freshly steamed aspargus from the garden is *heavenly*!



And another treat - an early purple rhododendron:



Day 36: Today in 1614 - Native American Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe. (courtesy of Wikipedia)

It's all in the timing...

Day 35: At some point early tomorrow the time will be 01:02:03:04:05:06. Get it? 1:02:03am on April 5th, 2006.

No, I will not be staying up to watch this...

I've almost finished putting together my Orange and Yellow Colorswap package - I hope to get it in the mail tomorrow, and I have one or two small things to still get for Cristi's last So-Called Secret Pal package ;) Whew!

April is Panda Month!

Day 34: April is National Panda Month at the National Zoo. Check out some information at http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ActivitiesAndEvents/Celebrations/pandamonth/ .

Here are some Project Spectrum pictures for you - I had seen some people do this last month for red and pink. I have to say, though - it grates against everything inside me to group books together by colour. Not that my books are organized much right now other than Willow's books on the lowest shelf, and knitting books in the same bookcase as my erstwhile yarn...



And here is Willow's contribution to the yellow and orange theme:



And my addictive snack du jour:



And don't look, Jaime! This is my baby present for my little sister's Plus One. Jaime and Chris decided to not find out the baby's gender (how are we avid knitters supposed to make anything?!!?!), so the baby's first present from me will be a sunny orange colour.

Can You Imagine?

Sorry - a short and gruesome one - I'm tired from looking at houses today.

Day 33: From 1347 to 1348, three out of every four people in Sienna and Florence in Italy died of the Black Death.

Newly Shorn Willow

This picture is not the best technical photo, but I love it nonetheless. As usual, she didn't want to look at the camera, but it gives you a good view of her new hairstyle. She had about 3-4 inches cut off all the way around and it all ringleted up. While we were shopping today people kept on stopping us and telling me she looked like Shirley Temple.



She loved having her haircut - was so excited about being a big girl and getting a new hairdo. Esther, the lady who cut her hair at Supercuts, was wonderful. She had a special haircut cape with animals in strategic spots - so if she needed Willow to look down and to the right, she would say, "Look at the zebra."



In honour of it being the first day of the orange and yellow month for Project Spectrum:

Day 32: Orange trees bear fruit abundantly for 50–80 years. Oranges do not improve in quality off the tree, so they are picked when fully ripe. (from the online Encyclopedia Brittanica)

This surprised me a little - I assumed that oranges were like so many other fruits and vegetables that are picked completely unripe and let to ripen in trucks en route to stores.

Missing Letters

Day 31: The letters j, k, q, v, x, and z are not used in Welsh.

Well then, how is my name translated into Welsh?

Willow did get her haircut this afternoon. It was funny - I told the hairdresser it was Willow's first real haircut, and they have these 'Baby's First Haircut' postcards that they fill out and tape some curls in for posterity. She's nearly four years old! The new 'do is cute - bobbed about chin length - and of course, since it is shorter, it is curlier. Don't worry, Family - I will post a picture tomorrow.

Thank You, SP6!

Look what my Secret Pal sent me!



I had to wait until I could get my camera back before I could post any pictures - sorry for the delay! From leftish to right there is an adorable sheep card, fizzy bath stuff in a multitude of colours, gourmet chocolates (with flavours like Earl Grey, Ginger, and Licorice), Cadbury Flake chocolate bars, orange and lime lip gloss, _Sheep for Beginners_ (a book telling how wool is made), some lovely, delicate sock yarn made up of 4 different shades of blue, some gel eye cool packs (gee, have I mentioned how stressed I have been lately?!!?), and underneath it all, a 'best of' recipe magazine - so many yummy things to try! SP6, thank you for spoiling me!

Day 30: The moose is the largest member of the deer family.

Obviously I know a moose is a large animal, but I hadn't realized it was a part of the deer family!

And here is a picture of the three year old... I tried to get a picture of her co-hort, the dog - but Caddie's picture wouldn't post for some reason.



This kid needs a haircut in the worst way! She has only ever had one haircut her entire life - at the hands of her paternal grandmother - and that was over a year ago. There's a salon in town that caters to little kids - maybe I will see if I can get an appointment.

Wonderful News...

Day 29: Fabric softener makes clothes more flammable.

Oh yay. Just want I wanted to read on the fabric softener bottle as I was waiting for the load of laundry to finish...

I received my second Knitty SP6 package in the mail yesterday - I'll post pictures of it as soon as I can - there was some delicate sock yarn in there in shades of blue, lots of chocolate (yum!), lip gloss and smelly bath stuff, a cooking magazine, and a start-to-finish book on how wool is made - all cool stuff :)

I need to get started on two SP packages - one for Turtlegirl, my Knitty SP6 not-so-secret downstream pal and the other for my Project Spectrum pal... I got some neat ideas when I was at a gourmet food store the other day...

Who didn't have some of these as a kid?

Day 28: Guppies are originally from Trinidad and Venezuela and were discovered by R. J. Lechmere Guppy, president of the Scientific Association of Trinidad in 1866.

***************

People, today was truly a 'Calgon take me away!' day. Who knew that a three year old girl and 12 year old dog could be like bickering teenagers?

Inauspicious Beginnings?

Day 27: The Office of Internal Revenue (later to be known as the IRS) came into existence in 1862 to help pay the costs of the Civil War.

Andrew was surprised by this - he wanted to know how the government paid for itself before that.

This is the first year we have to pay federal taxes - despite the fact that we both work full-time and have all the relevant taxes taken from our paychecks. Oh well - we all grow up sometime, I suppose...

Red and Delicious (and we aren't talking apples!)

Don't these look yummy? I love cherries! My absolute favourites are the Bing cherries - the ones that are so dark red they look blackish-purple? The kind that will stain everything if you give them half a chance? Unfortunately, I no longer live in an area that produces cherries, so I have to pay exhorbitant prices even when they are in season.

Day 26: Michigan considers itself to be the cherry capital of the world and has a cherry festival every year.

I think I will have to go to Michigan some day - a whole island full of lilacs (Macinac Island) and a cherry festival? I'm there! Add in a fiber festival and I'll just pack up the U-Haul and move.

I've been working diligently on Jaime's baby present - but I hate knitting under pressure - and as much as I loved the ideals of the Knitting Olympics, my home was not a terribly happy place while it was going on.

Polar Bears Before and After

Day 25: Polar bears only weigh about one pound when born, and grow to be between 1000 - 1600 pounds at adulthood.

I'm really liking the Reynolds oven bags and foil bags - two weekends in a row now I have attempted roasts (pork last week and beef tonight) and they both turned out wonderfully. I had tried cooking them the more conventional ways before to little success. And tomorrow - roast beef sandwiches! I'll have to go buy dill pickles... I am very particular about my roast beef sandwiches.

Chris - I hope things are okay for you out in Hawaii - I heard you guys were in for a huge rainstorm... don't float away!

Good for your eyes and not much else, apparently

Day 24: Ancient Greeks and Romans used carrots for medicine, but not for food.

I don't know about the rest of you Project Spectrum-ers, but I am so itching to get into the orange and yellow stuff! I am going out this weekend to get stuff for my Colorwap package and am really excited about it.

On a weird and completely different note, does anyone know how to speed up healing on a burned mouth? I ate an eggroll this afternoon that was much steamier than I was expecting and now the top of my mouth feels raw :(

Times They are A-Changing

Day 23: In 1900, the average household had paid 10 times its family income for a house, and by the 1930s (during the Depression) it was up to over 18 times the family income. And despite the fact that most of us feel housing prices are skyrocketing, the average household only pays about 4 times the family income for a house now. **

Well, I think there are other things not taken into consideration with this statistic - most families in those days only had one income, not two - so I think you could feasibly say we are paying about 7 times a family income.

** from _The New Complete Book of Homebuying_ by Michael Sumichrast, Ronald Shafer, and Martin A. Sumichrast

10th Anniversary

Here is the finished Dulaan sweater on Willow - I had to roll up the sleeves to fit her, but other than that it fits. The neckline was a little tight on her - it wasn't as stretchy as I hoped, despite the fact that I bound off in rib. I also think my baby has a big head, so that may have something to do with it as well!

See that drawing in the background? The one with the big head? That's Andrew - so I guess she comes by it naturally :)



Uh, Mom...? Remember how you told me to use dishwasher detergent to get the Sesame Chicken stains out of Willow's dancing outfit? This is what happened:



I don't know about all dishwasher detergents, but mine has bleach in it. Willow was quite distraught at first - okay, it was kind of funny - but I told her she was going to get a new outfit soon because this one was a bit tight on her.

And I wanted to show what I did to Willow's hair tonight:



It's finally long enough to french braid! Hair is very fine so I think I would need some sticky gel or hairspray to have it stay in place if I were so inclined... but I love playing with her hair. Really - when I was a little girl my barbies were always sans clothing because all I ever cared about was doing their hair.

Day 22: All baking powder is baking soda and cornstarch (and some preservatives) mixed together.

I'm still not entirely clear on why we have baking soda and baking powder and why recipes call specifically one or the other and they are not interchangeable, though.

And the anniversary I mentioned in the title? Today is the 10th anniversary of the day Andrew and I met in Katsutadai, Japan - at MIL The Language Center, where we both taught English.

Finished Dulaan Sweater

It's 10:53pm and I have finished the Dulaan sweater. If I can get Willow to sit still for a few moments tomorrow, I may even have a live model to show it off in. Now that this is finished, I can dedicate myself to finishing Jaime's baby present, seeing as she was so kind to remind me she only has 10 weeks left in her pregnancy!!!!



The yarn is a Red Heart one pound ball in a magenta/orange/yellow/red colourway - sure to please any 6 year old girl. The pattern comes from Ann Budd's handy sweater pattern book (you know - the one with the multiple sizes and gauges - I'm too tired to get it and write the proper name). It's raglan, knit in one piece to the armpits, sleeves knit separately, then joined again to complete the raglan. I just did the same rib as the cuffs and waist for the neck so it would stand up a bit - I hate too-tight necks. I read in the latest Vogue Knitting that the Dulaan project is ending this summer so they can concentrate on other needs in Mongolia - so I need to make sure I get this package off in time.

Day 21: (Another fact courtesy of Alton Brown) British sailors ate pickles to combat scurvy.

He had a great recipe for curried pickled cauliflower that I want to try...

Baby, It's Warm Outside

Okay, not really.

Day 20: But I did hear today that 2005 was Canada's warmest year on record, and January 2006 was the warmest January on record.

I don't think this bodes well...

I had grand plans of knitting while watching my coveted documentaries tonight (yes, I know I'm a geek) - and got sucked in by this Discovery Channel program on 'Darwin IV' - a hypothetical survey of an Earth-like planet. Forty minutes into it I had to put down the knitting because I was so engrossed in the program. That sure hasn't happened in a long time!

Incipiently Spring

Look what I found today!



I was driving around looking at houses and neighbourhoods this afternoon and I found a cherry tree in blossom! This completely made my day - now if the temps could bust their way out of the 40's, I would be drunk on my own bliss.

At my in-laws garden I found purple crocuses and some impatiens impatiently coming up behind them...



Some miniature daffodils...



The first aspargus bud of the season! I had to enlarge the pic and toss in the blue arrow to pinpoint the bud - it is the little purple thing poking up:



And one of my favourite foods to bake with... rhubarb!



I haven't taken any pics of the vegetable garden proper yet, but my mother-in-law planted her broccoli and cauliflower in the garden this week.

Day 19: Streusel translates as 'sprinkles' from German.

When I used to live on Vancouver Island, there was a muffin shop called something like MMMMMmmuffins, and they had these amazing cake-y streusel muffins. I can't believe it - my mouth is watering just at the memory. I am so deprived.