20
Jan, 2008

back in the saddle again….

i am happy to say (with just a little bit of caution and wood-knocking) that the sporty me is back!  i was forced to take a hiatus last fall due to a running injury (likely due to too-old shoes–apparently 3 years is a shockingly long time to use a single pair of running shoes.  my runner friends were horrified.).  at first, i couldn’t hardly stand to not exercise, then, i sort of ran out of time to go swimming (the one thing i could do that didn’t hurt) and…i decided to just stop working out for awhile, to allow myself to heal (and to catch a good deep breath after 3 years of exercising pretty regularly).  i could tell a difference.  not just in my body (hello, weight gain!), but also in my moods.  just ask mr. h-s.  poor guy had to put up with me on some pretty cranky days where i just felt mopey and antsy and droopy and bleh.  i was really craving a run or at least something!  i bought new running shoes, but then it snowed.  and got really cold and icy.  but now, for the last two weeks, i’ve gotten up at least 5 days a week to ride my indoor bicycle in the morning and i am reminded of what a good idea that is.  i get my exercise in before the part of my brain that comes up with excuses is really awake and it’s more likely to get done.  then, i feel good about myself for the rest of the day.  i also distract that part of my brain with television.  this past week, i started watching dvd’s of “my name is earl.”  funny stuff.  keeps me on the bike.  hooray!

this morning, i skipped the biking in favor of pond hockey.  i can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get back out on my skates!  the photo above is actually from last year, but my outfit pretty much stays the same (note the stripey hat–the only thing i’ve ever successfully knitted).  granted, today is one of the coldest days we’ve had yet this year, so i only stayed out for about 45 minutes, but it felt great to be back out there again.  whew!

Posted in sporty stuff, winter | Comments Off on back in the saddle again….
07
Jan, 2008

one wintry sunday

fog

drip, drip, melty

crepes

ham, cheese and avocado

one with chocolate, banana and nutella, one with lemon and sugar

windowsill still life

beef and beer stew (adapted from rachel ray’s magazine) and a thick slice of homemade bread.

Posted in photography, winter | 1 Comment
04
Jan, 2008

lovely little bits

there are so many nice little happy things that have happened recently that have not yet made their way to my blog. partially because i wish that i had a photo to go with each one and sometimes i just don’t. so here’s one photo and lots of other little stories for you to enjoy.

{ the photo above is a small bit of my back door this morning. when i poured myself a bowl of cereal and headed over to the table, i gasped and grabbed the camera. it was the most artistic frost i’d seen in a long time and it covered the whole door in beautiful lines and squiggles.

{ on our recent driving trip out east, mr. happy stuff and i listened to the audiobook version of animal, vegetable, miracle by barbara kingsolver that tells about her family’s resolve to eat only local food for a year. it was a great read! full of humor, insight and inspiration, we finished the book not sure that we could give up bananas, lemons or black beans (among other things) but willing to reconsider some of our usual shopping habits. one thing we tried this week was dried black beans instead of canned. the book points out that buying dry beans means that you’re not paying someone to haul water (in canned beans) across the country, using more fuel in the process. i’m game to try almost anything once and this seemed pretty harmless, although i’d been disappointed with past attempts (always too crunchy). this time, i cooked them overnight in the crockpot on low. in the morning, i added salt, cumin, and chili powder and tested the beans. the ones on top were softish, but the bottom ones were still crunchy. i left it on low for the rest of the day and came home to a crock pot of perfectly cooked black beans. only problem is that i guess i didn’t realize how quickly we’d eat our way through a one-pound bag of beans. i thought we’d be eating on it for days! but… with one pot of our easy black bean soup (usually 2 cans of black beans plus one can of rotel–tomatoes with green chilies, mash it all up and eat with monterey jack cheese, sour cream and corn chips. super fast, surprisingly yummy and satisfying.) we polished off nearly half the pot and i realized that i probably could have added quite a few more beans. there’s usually leftovers. don’t get me wrong–there are leftover plain black beans, but the soup is gone. now…. if only i had the patience to can homemade rotel….

{ we spent new year’s eve at our house with a few of our friends and a bunch of bottles of wine (which all tasted pretty terrible to me) for a wine tasting, a bunch of bars of dark chocolate (which all tasted pretty great to me) for a chocolate tasting, and a variety of savory dips (which may be why my first step on the scale for the new year was so, um, elevated. oh well, hopefully that means there’s nowhere to go but down?). it was very low key. in fact, everyone was gone by 11:30. the house was cleaned up by midnight. are we fuddy-duddies or what?

{ on new year’s day, i made a delicious batch of whole wheat flaxseed bread that smelled up the house something lovely and made one of the softest loaves i’ve produced in awhile (maybe not overbaked?). that day, a friend called to ask if she and her son could come over to my house for a nap. they had been doing some projects at their house that produced stinky toxic-y fumes and needed to get out, but they were soooooo tired… so i provided them with a nice dark room (shutters that close) and cozy heavy blankets and an aroma of home-baked bread. when they woke up, they each ate some of the bread and we all agreed that it was delicious. what could be better?

{ this morning on my way to work i discovered that my husband had texted me a surprise love note on my phone!

{ i had time at work to finally get to those “i’ll get to those someday” piles and eradicate them (at least until they begin to pile up again). woo hoo!

{ i hosted a puppet-making workshop at work today. 15 participants (including a few adult helpers) made some really fantastically creative little puppets and everyone seemed to have fun. i love a room buzzing with artistic ideas.

{ i’m slowly trying to wind down from the frantic pace of last season. i can’t quite shake the feeling that there’s no time to do anything, but i’m working on it. everyone breathe with me–

in

out

in

out

in

ahhhhhhhhh……..

Posted in library stuff, winter, yum | Comments Off on lovely little bits
02
Jan, 2008

librarian’s log 1/07

the seems:  the glitch in sleep by john hulme and michael wexler

another bid to try to write a “hot series”… this one is about the secret world that controls everything in the world we know–weather patterns, sleeping, our five senses… everything.  they recruit “fixers” from the world to repair problems because they have a special 7th sense that helps them to locate the problem.  becker drane is a 12 year old third grader who likes to hang out at the local coffee shop to do his homework (isn’t that a little old for 3rd grade?  especially for the talented minds that you need to possess in order to be hired as a “fixer”?) who ends up being the hero of the book.  these two authors have a tendency towards very trendy slang that will feel dated in a few years and they’ve also left some pretty big plot pitfalls (see above).  the pacing was good and the general storyline was ok, but … i’m not planning to rush out to read any sequels they write.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on librarian’s log 1/07
31
Dec, 2007

home again

we just got home from a long trip out east. we spent a few days on my parent’s farmette, enjoying hiking in the woods, learning woodworking techniques with my dad (i made him teach me how to do things using only the tools i own at my house for the first project. for the second project, we used the tools he has that make life easier. now i know what to add to my wishlist for next year!), eating yummy things and just enjoying being all together, just our little family. here are a few of my favorite photos from that part of the trip:

my dad discovered these two trees in the woods shortly before our visit and took us out to see them. they have naturally grown together like that. what you can’t quite see in this picture is how loooooong that horizontal branch is!

i must be a city girl if i’m taking pictures of fungus, right?

one of mom’s chickens. love the black and white feathers.

hay for the sheep.

this little birdy was right outside mom’s window, on the birdfeeder. this photo might have been taken by mr. happy stuff. we were both shooting these pictures and i don’t want to take credit away from him, but i just can’t remember who got what.

tiny fingers and a row of yummy peas. fun practicing fine motor skills!

for the last few days, we drove a few more hours farther east to spend time with mr. h-s’s siblings.  here are a few photos of friends and family there:

okay, this may not be my most artsy photo ever, but my little nephew couldn’t help himself from crawling up on top of these fun big presents to unwrap them.  then, he realized that crawling on top was way more fun than unwrapping them anyway!  eventually, we convinced him to open them.

my sister got me an orchid for christmas (here’s hoping i can keep it alive for at least two weeks!), so i took advantage of the excellent lighting at my sister-in-law’s house to get some great shots.  you know, to preserve it at least in photographs….

my other little nephew came over for some pictures and a little more visiting.  this isn’t his most smiley picture, but look at those big blue eyes!  (he was also the one picking up peas in the photo above.)

this is the daughter of a dear friend who also came over to visit that same morning.  again, no smile here, but i love the lighting.

we had a great time with everyone and spent lots of time relaxing.  there was at least one full day of doing pretty much absolutely nothing.  after my crazy busy last semester, that was bliss.

Posted in photography, winter | 4 Comments
15
Dec, 2007

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. my paper is written, my chapter is written, my displays are done, my class is finished….. and it’s snowing outside and beautiful and peaceful. i went snowflake hunting this morning with my camera. here’s my favorite shot:

i plan to spend the rest of the day drinking something warm, listening to christmas music, wrapping presents and generally catching up on all the cozy comforts i haven’t had time for these past few weeks.

Posted in photography, winter | 2 Comments
14
Dec, 2007

little things that thrill librarians

the next five days of work are (with only one small exception) completely free of programs and/or meetings.  this is the one miraculous week of each year when this phenomenon occurs.  this year, i’m choosing to celebrate by weeding the juvenile fiction collection. today, i got from lloyd alexander to beverly cleary (must work a bit more quickly the next few days…).  i found books that hadn’t been checked out since 2003.  i found books that were falling apart.  i found that we had four copies of some rather odd things.  but my favorite find of the day was the mis-shelved adult novel (and no, not risque “adult” just not-juvenile “adult”) that had been marked “trace” in the computer (meaning no one knew where it was, but we hadn’t given up and marked it lost yet.  some books have that status for a looooooong time).  it was the only copy of that book in the whole library system.  there were five people on a waiting list to check it out.  and i found it.  wheee!

Posted in library stuff | 1 Comment
11
Dec, 2007

knuckling down (or is it buckling down?)

take your pick. i’m tired of editing my own words. actually, today was all about spilling the words onto the page. the next time i have a chance to dig into this big paper will be wednesday morning and i will likely still need to dump more words on the page (and possibly do a little more research) before i can really get to the editing part, where i comb through what i’ve written, reorganizing, trimming the fat and trying to decide if i’m going to go with the informal chatty style that comes more naturally to me, or try to squeeze my words and thoughts into the uncomfortable business attire of a more formal research paper. so…. where’s the happy stuff? i decided to stay home for most of the day today in order to get a jump on this paper. how lovely to sit on the couch underneath a very warm down comforter (and piles of books) and enjoy the feeling of finally getting words on the page! i’ve been digging up research information for so long (and trying to get a handle on what this paper is actually about! — that’s the tricky part of independent studies that they never tell you–you have to come up with the assignment as well as the report!) that it felt great to finally see what it looked like on the page.

and then the really happy stuff: lunch. i tried a new recipe from the everyday food cookbook—hot and sour soup!

it’s not quite like memories of china (my all-time favorite chinese restaurant) and i was short on the shiitake mushrooms, but it was warm and tasty nonetheless. my fingers still smell of toasted sesame oil.

Posted in winter, yum | 1 Comment
06
Dec, 2007

hawaii? who knew?

so, not being a big fan of sunburns, itchy sand in my suit and salt-stiff hair, beach vacations have never been particularly high on my wishlist. but when your husband has an uncle who lives in maui, and all of the other members of the family have been out to visit him already and come back with rave reviews…. it’s worth re-considering my pre-conceptions.
we just spent a week in maui and may possibly have had our best vacation ever. the only other trip that really even rivals it was the paris/london trip three years ago and, well, that was a very different kind of vacation–apples and oranges. so, let’s stop trying to rank them and just say it was fantastic. despite rainy cloudy weather on many of the days (which i didn’t particularly mind when on the beach, actually), we just loved hawaii.

it would take too many pages to give you all of the details (i took quick notes each day and it’s still about 7 pages long), so i’ll list the highlights and show you my favorite pictures:

top 5 experiences in maui:

5. snorkeling off the beach and seeing red sea urchins and colorful fish–so close to shore!

4. seeing dolphins and sea turtles swimming in the ocean from our vantage point on the beach (we also swam with sea turtles on our snorkeling trip–see #1)
3. hiking though the rainforest (while it was raining). favorite bits? eating a fresh passion fruit that our guide found on the ground near a vine and swimming under waterfalls.

2. the food! (spago, ruth’s chris steakhouse, joe’s bar and grill, alexander’s fish & chips, kehei kaffe, hai’ilemaile general store, and more)

1. snorkeling the coral reefs at molokini island and seeing a shark, two kinds of eels, so many, many brightly colored fish–absolutely breathtaking. i hope that all of our future travel plans include snorkeling. and next time, maybe a waterproof case for our camera so that i could share pictures with you.
honorable mentions: spotting willie nelson in cafe mambo, eating fajitas with his table companions; the softest bed in the world (in our condo); renting a bio-beetle (a bright yellow vw that runs on bio-diesel); smelling the eucalyptus and lavender fields on the way up haleakala (the mountain); drinking and eating a fresh coconut from a roadside vendor on the way to hana; and the food, the food, the food (did i mention that i gained five pounds? uncle s. may have converted me into a certified travel foodie.)

okay, here are some lovely photos (want more? just ask and i’ll send you the picasa link to my top 100 maui pictures):

the cacophonous birds that woke us up at sunrise each morning (the first morning, we thought there were cats fighting outside our window!)

a flower that fell off of a tree that i picked up off the ground and carried around the first morning there. smelled amazing.

there was a field full of these rock stacks (called “ahu”) on the north side of the island.

hairy moss on the rainforest hike

fern frond in rainforest

silversword on haleakala

sign at a restaurant (if you can’t read the small print, it says “neighborhood kids are running amuck”)

leaving my mark on maui.

Posted in photography, stuff that sparks a glow in my soul | 5 Comments
23
Nov, 2007

mostly local

this year for thanksgiving, we decided not to travel.  we were able to spend time with mr. h-s’s parents last weekend, so we didn’t feel totally deprived of family connections.  instead, a large group of friends gathered to share a meal together.  in the tradition of this group of friends, of course, we couldn’t just have a simple potluck.  nope, we chose this year’s challenge to be:  local food only!  we defined this so that 90% of the weight of each dish had to come from within a 250 mile radius of where we live.  it was an interesting and eye-opening challenge.  i took the opportunity to visit the local food store for the first time.  i had been hoping to find local pecans to put on the top of my streuseled sweet potato casserole.  i found a bag of chopped nuts that looked like pecans to me, but when i went to buy them, i was told that they were hickory nuts.  i asked if they were similar to pecans and they gave me a taste of one.  wow!  they taste great!  (maybe even better than pecans?  or maybe they just taste so good because they’re so fresh…)  i also bought some heavy cream from a local dairy (in a glass bottle with a solid cream top.  mmmmm….).  the only non-local ingredients that i ended up having to use were salt, brown sugar, and vanilla.  i also whipped up some dinner rolls at the last minute.  i only had some locally-ground wheat flour and my recipe was for all-purpose, so they were a bit odd, but considering their handicaps, they weren’t half bad!  the entire meal was scrumptious and the only “cheating” happened in the pie crust where the coarsely ground whole wheat flour just didn’t quite cut it.  good food, good friends, good times.

Posted in autumn | 2 Comments