Spring Gardening

Our Corner of Rose Hill:

I had a couple of medical procedures 2 weeks ago that kept me lying a bit low, and then last week I had an Addison’s Event.  So I slept for a couple more days and lay around more after that.   That is how I managed to finish three movies and three books.  Bill and I both did some gardening. 

Bill on his new ladder 

He broke in his new orchard ladder and I am trying to outsmart the moles in my herb bed, for me it was mostly pulling weeds.  The moles have been eating the roots of my herbs from underneath so I had this idea,  

               

$1.49 colanders   

I went to the 99 cent Plus store and bought a pile of these plastic colanders.    I hope this will at least slow the moles down.  If it works I will be very excited. I have also decided to do more container gardening to defeat the moles and also because Bill digs everywhere with his projects and if I have my stuff in containers we can just move it to a new spot.   Containers can get very heavy so I filled the bottom of the ones I have done with empty plastic water bottles to take up space and keep it a bit lighter.  I did a little research on Pinterest then went through the recycling bin to find as many plastic bottles as I could.  I have two containers planted, but I need a lot more bottles…….

After Planting
Much Lighter

Before Planting 

Events and Happenings:

Last Saturday we went to McCaw Hall at Seattle Center to see Shen Yun 2016.  I have wanted to go for years.  I love ethnic dance and music and this did not disappoint.  The music was wonderful; we were on the third row in the balcony so we could see everything in the orchestra pit.  There were all the usual instruments and percussion but they also had an Erhu, a two string instrument said to resemble the human voice, the Pipa another stringed instrument that looks like a cross between a banjo and a ukulele and the Suona is a double reed woodwind instrument that looks like it is in the clarinet family.   What I did not know going in was this production is very anti the current Chinese regime and also speaks strongly to the Spiritual.  The performing company is based in New York where it trains the singers and dancers that are then it sent out around the world to tell their story.   They speak strongly of deity and a very vocal about the immorality of atheism and the hope that comes from following ‘Falun Dafa’ the Great Way.

My new health insurance this year is an HMO called Group Health.  It has just united with Kaiser out of California but the names haven’t changed yet.  The reason I changed to Group Health is that both Bill and I were feeling a stronger need for my doctors and medical records to be available to the whole team.  Since the first of the year I have met my internist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, ophthalmologist, and multiple advisors.  It was recommended that I take a class called “Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions” and I started it this past Friday morning. Everyone in this class is diabetic but many, like me have more than one chronic condition.  I thought it would be silly and that I knew all that stuff already but I am glad I am going.  The class is designed to equip you with a full tool box of skills that you can use as needed in your life.  I have 5 more weeks of Friday morning classes.

Movies this week:  

Philomena is a 2013 drama film directed by Stephen Frears, based on the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by journalist Martin Sixsmith.   It is a sad and moving story about a young woman who gets pregnant and then the child is forcibly taken and given up for adoption and the shame and denial that go with her all of her life.  The story covers her search for the lost child, the adventure and all she learns about the child and the people who touched each of their lives along the way.  

Jersey Boys is a 2014 American biographical musical drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood based on the Tony Award winning jukebox musical of the same name. The film tells the story of the musical group The Four Seasons. The film was released in the United States on June 20, 2014.  The film was created to feel like you were in the theater watching a live musical even to the finale where all the characters make an appearance again in the final song and dance. The story was okay but the music was lots of fun; Sherry, Walk Like a Man and Big Girls Don’t Cry.

Planes is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated sports comedy film produced by DisneyToon Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures.  I have wanted to see this one for some time,  I enjoy animation and I love airplanes.  This is about a crop-duster that wants to win the big race and all his adventures along the way.   I thought it was cute.

Books this week: 

The Paris Wife is a 2011 novel by Paula McLain.  It is the story of Ernest Hemingway's marriage to Hadley Richardson, the first of his four wives, how they met and fell in love, lived and travelled during the early 1920’s and then his affairs and the demise of the marriage.  I am glad I read it.

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant   Eighty five year old Addie is telling the story of her younger self; a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century.  She tells of family ties and values, friendship and feminism heartaches, love affairs and adventures all in her voice as if she is speaking to her granddaughter.   I loved it.

 

Ugliesprettiesspecialsextras by  Scott Westerfeld  This is book one of what I think is a four part series.  In Tally Youngblood’s world, looks matter. She lives in a society created to function with perfect-looking people who never have a chance to think for themselves. And she’s tired of it.  I started this because I have enjoyed some of the other ‘dystopia’ type series that have been written for younger people recently.   I listen while I am knitting and I continue listening things I might not have continued reading.   I don’t think I will read any more but I did like reading about hover board adventures,  I want to do that.

 

How Many weeks until football season.  (hint - 24)

Beginnings and Endings Which Comes First

All boarded up 

      Our Corner of Rose Hill:

No more tent campers
or people living in their cars.   

         

Check out the crop of maple
trees on the roof.

One more Boarded up House 

I was anxious about coming home from my recent travels because I thought there would be big machines in the driveway posed to start the big destruction but much to my surprise we have a temporary reprieve.   All the neighbors are gone now, Rich and Chris were the last to leave and this week they came by to pull the garbage cans out for final pickup and cancel service.   They told us that they had not received their 30 day notice yet and had heard that there might be a delay.  No matter they are all moved to their new home in the San Juan’s overlooking the water.  All the houses are boarded up, all but one of the old cars are gone, and you can see that all the houses are in disrepair.   So the end of the forest is near but the beginning of a whole new neighborhood is near also. 

The New 520 Floating Bridge 

Events and Happenings:

On Saturday April 2, Bill and I meet our friend Bill in the middle of the brand new 520 bridge, it was the opening day grand celebration for the new floating bridge and according to the Guinness experts this is the longest floating bridge in the entire world.  There were booths to visit that explained; Bridge Operations, Ecology and Environment, Construction and Materials and STEM and Careers and Engineering and Design.  There were several stations for children to see what was going on also including a Lego model of the bridge, bird ramps, fish highways, and how science, engineering and math all played an important part in the construction of the new bridge.  We were there early and heard the Governor give his opening speech and then the leader of the Muckelshoot tribe made a speech also.      

         

Bird ramp
Added after construction to help birds
get out of holes. 

Our Governor, Jay Inslee

Wine and food-lovers enjoyed Taste Washington, the nation’s largest single-region wine and food event. Taste Washington brings together over 225 wineries, 70 restaurants and 60 culinary exhibitors (Food Trucks) from across the region for the ultimate four-day experience. So many thousands of people turned out — that WSDOT declared the event "at capacity" and halted buses that had been expected to shuttle additional people to the structure and the food trucks ran out of food. We heard about that when we got home and were really glad we had gone early. Bill and I walked all the way across the bridge, meeting up with our friend Bill M about midway. We walked with him across to the Light Rail Station at Husky Stadium that just opened recently and took the light rail to the International District where we got off and then got on a bus to Mercer Island where Bill M had left his car. We meet up with his wife, Colleen and all had lunch then Bill M took us back to our car at the original bus stop.

Husky Light Rail Station

The old SR 520 floating bridge is expected to be taken apart and removed from the lake by the end of this year. Its pontoons will be towed away and reused for other marine purposes, another ending and a new beginning.

When I got home from Texas on Tuesday, Bill had purchased tickets to see A Night with Janis Joplin at the 5^th Ave Theater in Seattle.  It is a live stage production chronicling the life of the iconic and psychedelic rock musician and social activist Janis Joplin who grew up listening to gospel and folk music in Port Arthur Texas.   Janis Joplin fronted Big Brother and the Holding Company, and she was well known for putting on fantastic live performances. A Night with Janis Joplin is a real look into the life of one of the most influential figures in music in the 1960’s.  The evening included so many great songs that I have loved;  Me and Bobby McGee, Cry Baby, Piece of My Heart, Try (Just a Little Bit Harder), Summertime and the last song Mercedes Benz was said to be the last song Janis ever sung before she died of an overdose n 1970.  What a perfect date nite for my first night home from travelling.

at A Night with Janis Joplin 

In The Kitchen:

Cloud Bread & Paleo Biscuits 

Very Delicious BLT
on Cloud Bread 

This week I tried a recipe for Cloud Bread.  This is the ‘cream puff’ alternative to bread if you are trying to cut simple carbs.  I am diabetic and trying to manage with diet exercise and drugs but not insulin, so far I am pleased with how I am doing.   You can find recipes for Cloud Bread on the internet; it is seasoned whipped eggs spread on a jelly roll sheet.    I used a ‘half-sheet’ and after it is cooked I sliced the sheet into half and then in thirds, essentially this made the equivalent of 6 slices of bread and I made a BLT to celebrate.  The ‘bread’ held together well and the sandwich was delicious.  The next sandwich I made was a cream cheese and wild salmon spread that I love and it was delicious.   I have missed a good sandwich……   Thank you Donna for the great suggestion.   If anyone wants the recipe I used just let me know.

For Knitters, Mostly

I have had the pleasure of doing a test knit for a new-to-me designer, Andree Beddoe, she is KnitAndLive on Ravelry.   I met her at my LYS (local yarn shop) recently during a trunk show for Black Trillium Fibers. http://blacktrilliumfibres.com/    She was showing several of her designs that day but I totally fell for her ‘Sunrise’ shawl.  It is striking and so beautiful.  I finished the knit in under a week and I was visiting in Texas at the time.   I met with her this week and she gave me something new to use in the blocking process.   This shawl would be the perfect mystery knit along; knit in 7 very fun sections.  I knit each section in about 1 day except the last lace section that took a couple of days.  I want to do it again and again; there are so many colors of sunrises…….     This pattern should be on Ravelry soon, look for it there if you are a Ravelry member.      http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KnitAndLive

Sunrise in the Forest

Back to the blocking:   I used blocking wires, T-pins, my new blocking pins by Knitter’s Pride and Andree even gave me some nylon cord for the scalloped edges.  The nylon cord came from a weed eater refill; it is the perfect weight, strong but flexible and very handy for this project.  My blocking squares came from Harbor Freight and the surface I turned up has a texture to it that air gets under to help whatever is drying.  There is a smooth surface on the other side but I didn’t think that would be as good a choice.

CeLinda & Bill on new bridge

How many weeks until football season:  25

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