Jung At Heart

The sun came out around noon today for a while so we went out for a drive. The wonderful thing about where we live is that there is just not an ugly view to be had anywhere. So we meandered about for a while. Here are some shots of what we saw.

We stopped for some annual seedlings here and across the road is a typical style Maine farmhouse --

Then we would around to Liberty --

Then we went around the corner --

The road wound around Lake St. George --

and then home again, just in time for a thunder shower.

I have started the main edge chart on Aeolian so the end really does seem in sight. I motivate myself by telling myself I can start Sharon Winsauer's Dargon of Happiness when I finish this.

I keep working on Aeolian. The rows are long now -- it takes about an hour to do 2 of them. But I am soldiering on -- 20 rows left now. I couldn't really spread it out but here you have an idea of how it looks, including a couple of the hated nupps --

Of course my helper slows things down just a little --

Well, the hated nupps are behind me now as I have begun the last 40 odd rows of Aeolian. No point in pictures because it is past the point where I can easily show you how the patten is unfolding.

We have had several warm days this week which has meant having the windows open. And Roscoe has been beside himself with delight. So today you get photos of him in his new element.

I hope your weekend is full of kitten-wonder and delight.

Long ago, my friend Susie taught me how to make cioppino. At least I think it was Susie I learned it from. I have this very clear memory of making it one summer when we rented a cottage on Isle au Haut. My daughter was 2 and we spent a lovely 2 weeks there in late summer. So it is a recipe I associate with summer. And though it is not summer here yet, when my husband brought home some wonderful locally harvested wild mussels, I immediately thought of cioppino. I can't say that my kids ever ate this when I prepared it, because both of them, even though they were born and raised in Maine, were adamant about not liking fish!

Cioppino

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small yellow onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 2 oz tin of anchovy fillets

2 cups fish stock

1 can (14 ounces) fire-roasted crushed tomatoes

1 t. oregano

1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced

1 cup dry red wine 

1 T. balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound monk fish, cut in chunks

1 pound mussels, cleaned and de-bearded 

    Mussels soaking in clean water to clean themselves

1.  Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot, then saute onions, garlic and anchovies

2.  Add remaining ingredients excepting the fish and mussels.  Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes .

3.  Add the fish to the pot and simmer another 5  minutes until the fish is cooked through.  

4. Add mussels, cover and let cook for around 5 minutes.

5. Adjust seasonings and discard any mussels that did not open.

6.  Ladle into bowls and serve with good bread.

A week can fly by so fast! This week I have been wrestling with getting the slideshow of my year-long From My Window photo project put together and matched with Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It wasn't so hard making the slideshow or even getting the music set right. It was getting a DVD that would play, with the music, on a DVD player. But I finally solved that yesterday. So, this week it goes off to the Senior College Art Show. It is the first project of any kind that I have entered in an art show and great art it is not. But I feel good about it just the same.

This week Roscoe has decided that Spike is the cat he wants to be wen he grows up. So he follows him everywhere and imitates what he does. Like this --

Meanwhile, Moe gets his lap time while I read --

The leaves are starting to come out -- always by Mother's Day. This is the view from my window. Note that the smudge is the result of kitty noses all morning.

I have continued to work on my Aeolian shawl. Because I am knitting it with very fine yarn on small needles, I am having to do more repeats of each motif in order to get the width I want. Here it is with the second repeat of the Agave motif about half done. I think I will probably do at least 4 repeats of this pattern, maybe more.

The photo does not do justice to the beautiful pale olive color of this silk yarn.

Happy Mother's Day to the mothers reading here. I have never been big on Mother's Day. I'd rather have the fuss on my birthday. And I promised long ago I would never attend another Mother's Day brunch.