2015 wrap-up

Mozzie really didn't need his coat. The pots are soda-fired
made by John Thies and myself. 

It's December 13 and they are predicting temps in the high-60s, unreal. Heading to Rhode Island this week for a quick visit to my 93-yr.-old aunt and with this El Niño weather, there is no fear of getting snowed in there. With this mild weather I could have still been harvesting kale, carrots and leeks had I not cleared out and Tim leaf-mulched all the garden beds.

Before the year's end I thought I'd mention some of this past year's highlights in and around the home. It was a good garden year for some vegetables, the containers and perennial beds. As for the tomatoes, onions and garlic, I have had bigger yields in the past. I battled with the squirrels who ate my tomatoes, who dug out onions and garlic just because they could, and the new raised bed lacked the sunlight for some of these as well. However, the peppers, kale, leeks, carrots, pickles, beans and herbs were mass-producers. Made lots of pickles, garlic dill and sweet refrigerator kinds, several times this summer and many jars were handed out. The garden season ended with freezing herbs and beans, making a couple of batches of potato leek soup (not my potatoes, I don't have the space) and enjoying my sweet carrots, glazed and also in stew.

Living room ceiling, before

Living room, after

This year Christopher completed a lot of projects both inside and outside the home. My favorite one has to be the modified coffered ceiling in the living room. It had been on my wish list for some time. The ceiling had a sprayed texture (not quite popcorn) and it bugged me. I also scraped this texture off the dining room ceiling so Christopher also ended up working in that room as well. Other projects he completed were a new Pella sliding door for the family room, backyard privacy fencing, roof gutter guards, a hood vent over the stove, and ceramic tile flooring in the enclosed breezeway area. There were some little projects he did as well, too numerous to mention. The one project we had done that Christopher did not do was to replace rolled roofing that didn't last eight years with a rubber roof on our large, flat dormer. It was an expensive but necessary expense that pained me. The roofers had to take a photo so I could see it.

We sure won't be moving anytime soon.

Here's wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a wonderful 2016 full of great yields of anything you desire.

The backyard and pottery studio, early summer 2015

Whose blog is this anyways?

AFTER

BEFORE 

At times this blog sounds like an advertorial for Christopher's business but it's not. He just has this way of making my ideas come to fruition. He sees my little sketches and clippings, then executes my ideas really well. This summer's project was the cedar deck and trellis. He was able to build over the existing concrete patio that I never liked. Not having to remove the patio meant we didn't need to disturb the adjoining foundation of the house, a huge plus. You can now walk out from the screened porch on to the deck without a big step down.

I am also fortunate that Jason has been also available to provide some landscaping assistance with the garden beds. He was also able to add the brick landing which now transitions right into the existing walkway. I am so grateful to be able to turn to these brothers for helping make this home a place I don't want to leave.

Garden update

New raised bed by the studio

By my own choosing, this may be my last summer gardening at the 577 Foundation. If it is, I will certainly miss seeing many of other gardeners and staff. However, with the addition of a raised bed that Christopher just built and Jason filled, I should be able to do all my gardening right here at home. I am more attentive to the garden that is in my backyard. The new raised bed currently looks like a grave but I am hoping the soil will settle by the time I need to plant my garlic in the fall.

The kitchen garden and the tomatoes are also doing well but still am waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. I do love container gardening with more new pots this year from John Thies (the big ones) and myself. The studio (built by Christopher) always looks snappy this time of year.

My gardening pal

One can never have too many pots.

My private haven

The tomatoes are as tall as ever.
They love the warmth of the brick walk.

The following photos show some garlic that I harvested yesterday from my 577 garden plot as well as the onions growing there.

 

The return to blogging

Today the peonies really blossomed.

After our dismal winter here in northwest Ohio and other life events, I was not up to posting. Feeling better and happy that spring finally did arrive, I feel I am not ready to abandon this blog just yet.

A willow cloche hides the
dying leaves of  the hyacinths.

Spring did come although it arrived a few weeks later than usual. This year we sought the help of a garden guy, Jason (Christopher's brother), to help clean up the backyard, remove unwanted shrubs and damaged boxwoods and replant some new ones. I was then able to focus on the planning and planting kitchen garden, flower beds and containers as well as the garden plot at the 577. I know it is a combination of a lot of work, aching muscles and age that I welcome Jason's help. He's a brute!

More sharing later this summer.

This 3-yr.old white clematis survived the
bunnies and a brutal winter.

A summer re-cap

Late August:8-ft. tall tomato plants in the foreground
and pole beans on the trellis.

Despite a cold start to the gardening season, then a rainy July, then a cool August start, it is finally the kind of weather in which the tomatoes and other vegetables thrive. Unlike the tomato and the jalapeño pepper, I personally like the cool.

We now have bounty of good-looking tomatoes although they have been sweeter tasting in past years. My current stock will go into making oven-roasted tomato pasta sauce. I just purchased a food mill and am anxious to try it. It is supposed to separate the seeds and skins from the rest of the tomato, I hope it works. My garlic harvest was bountiful so that will definitely been in the sauce as well as my herbs. I'll try to remember to comment on how it all worked.

Oven-roasted Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce
http://areluctantfoodie.blogspot.com/2012/07/oven-roasting-fresh-tomatoes-for-pasta.html

Despite the ups and downs of the weather, my container flowers and perennial beds are having a good year. Keeping a journal helped me with this year's selections and garden plans. I have also been recording for next year. I have noted what plants need moving and dividing as well as what additions I want to get and where to buy my favorites. I had a slow start on planting my seeds indoors, however the zinnias, the small teddy bear sunflowers, kale seedlings were worth the effort. Next year, less procrastinating, more planning and more seeds. Currently working on another round of bush beans and have been harvesting the pole beans on my garden gate trellis.

Back inside the house, I am contemplating a few updates to the kitchen, bath and fireplace. Tim and I recently painted the downstairs bedroom a pleasant shade called Manchester Tan from Benjamin Moore. I have always liked their color palette so I am starting to peruse many paint swatches as well as wall and floor tile samples which of course make Tim very nervous. I want to lighten up the inside of this house.

The view from the street from a recent shopping visit to Wickford, RI,
while I was in RI visiting my aunt, brother and sister-in-law..

My favorite time of year

Early view of the kitchen garden and pottery studio.

Before it suddenly feels like summer, I just wanted to post some early images of the garden. Our spring weather has been so erratic, I think the plants are confused. I know I am. In the meantime, have been busy pinning garden ideas on Pinterest, shopping, planting and transplanting. And Tim has been lugging bags of potting soil, mulching and digging holes.

As in the past, I go on a shopping frenzy at the greenhouses, farmers' markets and the TBG plant sale. I review my plant journal for last year's successes, failures and favorite places to shop. The only seeds I purchased this year were from The Cook's Garden. Bush beans (Filet Triomphe de Farcy), cutting zinnias and short teddy bear sunflowers. The bean seeds have just been planted in my kitchen garden and the flowers are still growing slowly in flats.

A container filled with succulents.

I enjoy container gardening because it provides that pop of color all summer long. My favorite annuals that go in pots are Persian Shields, Pentas and blue Salvias. Despite the powdery mildew scare, I still bought a flat of white impatiens for the barrels that flanked my studio door. Since I had no problems last year, I am hoping to be free of the nasty mildew spores.

Patio pots and clematis on the trellis.

In my next post, I will provide an update to my community garden plot at the 577 Foundation.

Mozzie loves spring too.

In the foreground, leeks from last year.

Another before & after: My kitchen pantry

AFTER

Christopher Jones did it again! I had a vision and he made it happen. He took an ugly, poorly utilized closet and made it a pantry I always wanted. I do like my shelves in every room! The pantry has allowed me to move things that were stored in the basement up into the kitchen.

Mass reorganization is taking place in the kitchen and basement. Between that and trips to Goodwill, I am now fixing up my pottery studio annex that's in the basement. The annex houses the slab roller, sink and glazing area that doesn't fit in the pottery studio.

Yes, I re-formattted this blog again. It was "yackety-yack" but now I'm calling it "my other blog" to differentiate it from "Bits of Clay," my ceramics blog. I hope you find it cleaner in appearance and easier to read. You would not believe the time I spend fiddling with the Blogger Template Designer that Google provides and it is still not quite the way I want it. I know, never content.

BEFORE

Beadboard & shelves

Mozzie is tired of wearing clothes and
ready for spring. He's modeling his
custom-made Polarfleece,
made in Canada, purchased on Etsy.

Room for more!

Playing catch-up

I have recently spent (wasted?) entirely too much time trying to improve my scores playing iPad games—Scramble with Friends, Words with Friends and other Zynga games. My competitive side has now returned with these games since the card-playing couple, Tim and I used to play with, split up and we stopped playing cards. These games have become my new outlet.

Best Buddies: The Story of Ben & Jerry

I wanted to share a few projects I made for Tim this last Christmas. One was a small, hardcover book that is a collection of photos of our late dogs, Ben and Jerry. It was a way I could consolidate some of their best photos and our memories of them in a concise piece. I had purchased a Groupon for an online photo company called Picaboo (which is similar to Shutterfly) with the intention to make this book.

The other online project I made was a 2013 calendar featuring Mozzie. The Walgreen's Photo Lab did a fabulous job with the printing, premium paper stock and spiral binding. This was done in their main lab and not in a store. Some were Tim's photos and some were mine taken with my iPhone. They reproduced surprisingly well.

I'm glad that February is more than half over. I hope the worst of winter is behind us. We will be attending our first garden meeting for the upcoming season at the 577 Foundation this Sunday. It's time to think spring, gardening and seeds!

A cold Mozzie who can't wait for spring

Tribulations of a small reno project

The center of our home happens to be the hallway. As our remodeler Christopher said, "your hall has nine freakin' doorways." This includes three closets but more importantly, access to the bathroom, living room, dining room, master bedroom and family room and the upstairs. It is not even that big a hallway but when it is under a reno, it created a chain reaction of chaos for weeks.

Before: Old door, striped
walls,tile floor, bench

It all started with the front door. The drafty wood door we had was original to the house and it also had two sidelights with single pane glass. Every winter the cold hallway and frosty sidelights reminded us that it had to be changed, weatherstripping could not correct all its issues. It had to go and that meant the built-in hall seat that adjoined the one sidelight would have to be torn out as well. Of course this would now leave a portion of the hall with no flooring. The rest of the hallway had big white ceramic tile that I never cared for, so all the flooring had to come out.

The day the door was installed I hadn't been feeling well but I thought I was fine in helping carry the door frame and sidelights from the garage to the door opening. Christopher said to tilt back so we could clear the garage door. Wham, that is when vertigo hit, spinning my world around so that I momentarily blacked out, dropping and falling on a sidelight, bruising my chin. I panicked, I thought I had broken the new door we had waited on for eight weeks. Turned out, door was undamaged, got installed, however I did give Christopher a scare.

Next was the two weeks of waiting in disarray until Christopher could come back and install the wood flooring in the hallway. The day the baseboards, chair rails, tile flooring and the linoleum that was underneath came out, I asked if we shouldn't try to confine the dust, no, it wouldn't be that messy. Wrong, there was a layer of gray grout dust throughout the house. Then there was all the spackle, mudding and sanding where the chair rail had been. Now, white dust over the gray. I'm still cleaning.

After: New door, wood floor and walls

As soon as the wood floors were installed, Tim and I started painting baseboards before Christopher installed them. We also had to sand and prime over the striped walls I had painted when we first moved in. Now I know not to paint stripes unless one plans to keep them a long time. Finally the walls got painted and the baseboard went in. There are still areas of existing trim that need repainting and a new ceiling light fixture to be installed but for now, the job is complete. We (or should I say Christopher) decided to table the crown molding until next year.

I'm happy it's done. As always, Christopher did a great job. I had pondered over choices for the door and sidelights, flooring, paint colors and trim. We have remodeled everywhere in this home and property but this was a project that was in your face all the time—the center of this home. In the end, it was definitely worth it. During this period of reno, Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast. I can't even imagine the angst of recovering from a natural disaster like that. From that perspective, it makes this little project seem really petty. Back to cleaning.

The last of the autumn garden

By the back porch

Mozzie enjoys the last warm days of autumn

I love Mozzie!

Tim's Warhol-esque portrait of Mozzie

Originally and officially named Batman, our dog is now called Mozzie. The name is not only only easier to say, it also seems to suit his cute personality, and I think he likes it. I first heard this name on the TV show "White Collar," where Mozzie (derived from Mozart) is a funny little character. Batman or Batty always sounded like we were saying "Bad." So, Mozzie it is, although he may revert to Batman for Halloween.

Since I have not posted anything for a while, I wanted to share a few of Mozzie's snapshots and his first video, "Roll Over Beethoven or Itchy Back."

My, how it has grown!

The kitchen garden in front of my pottery studio

Finally… some cooler days and nights. Then it's hot again. That's August. After a horribly hot, dry season and watering the garden more often than any summer I can remember, it was certainly nice to have a break in the weather. There were days in July that I did little more than water the garden. Other than the cilantro which bolted during the first hot spell, everything else fared well especially the tomatoes which seemed to thrive in the heat. We've had tomato sandwiches, Caprese salads and been giving and tossing away a lot. Was it the organic Tiger Bloom plant food? Next year, fewer plants but who knew?

Just a few of the Super Marzanos

For someone who hates to cook, I had to make use of my bounty of vegetables. First, there were the fabulous French string beans which I used in several chicken meals and a green bean casserole. Thank you Pinterest for the recipes. Then there was the pickling cukes which made up the best refrigerator pickles with another Pinterest find. There was also the freezer pasta sauce that I made twice with nearly 18 lbs. of San Marzano tomatoes. More recently, I used the same tomatoes to make up the best batch of fresh tomato salsa. All seasoned with garlic, onions and herbs from the kitchen garden.

Monster tomato plants!

The 577 garden has also produced my share of food bank contributions of eggplants and kale. The yellow squash plant there has also provided the perfect amount for our meals. I was able to control them better than the baseball bat-sized zucchini of past seasons. Recently I also brought home a sunflower head that had gone to seed for our backyard squirrel. Mozzie (a.k.a. Batman) and I observed yesterday as the squirrel stuffed his cheeks much to his delight. I'll bring home some more and maybe the birds can manage to get a few.

I'm looking forward to harvesting the cool weather crops this fall especially the Brussels sprouts. There will also be more beans, leeks and kale. However, I am continuing to maintain my status as a small-time gardener who doesn't want to go into the canning business. :)

Thyme to garden

The kitchen garden this June. That's oregano
in the center pot, need any?

Since I have been staying home with Batman, I have been able to putter around the garden a little more than past summers. This month I have also taken the first real break from my usual
pottery fanaticism. The hot weather we've had lately has made me extra lazy. I hope to be able to leave the house for longer lengths of time soon since Batman is feeling more secure in his new home. It is my plan to work again at the Potters Guild a few times a week.

After a very slow start at my 577 Foundation garden, things are finally coming around. I had planted 2 types of dwarf sunflower seeds plus zinnia seeds, in anticipation that I'd have lots of cut flowers this summer. Much to my dismay, the seeds were either bad or the birds ate nearly all the seeds or both. I believe I will be fortunate to end up with only four sunflower plants. I have now filled in with zinnia plants, yellow squash and other late season sale plants. My food bank eggplants are still rather sad however I have been experimenting with some new organic fertilizers, Happy Frog and Tiger Bloom. I have high hopes that they will soon be respectable. Tim, Batman and I have been regularly visiting 577 after dinner. "Batty" loves going there.

Batman's favorite spot is the shady steps
of the pottery studio.

The tomato plants have seemed to really respond to the Tiger Bloom because the tomato plants both at home and 577 are now loaded with blooms and green tomatoes. I planted three San Marzano tomato plants at 577 and hope to stock up on tomato sauce this summer.