Month: April 2019
Garden Notes
I finally got over to the community garden plot on Thursday – it’s been pretty rainy this April, so it took way to long to get some time that corresponded to not being way too damp. It doesn’t look like much right now, but I at least got the winter detritus cleared away. The leaves I put on last fall were all gone, so if I do that for mulch again, I’ll need to figure out a way to get them to stay down.
At this point, I need to spread out some of the bagged compost I’ve been saving, and see what I might want to plant directly in the ground before I can put in the more tender seedlings.
I am happy to report that the garlic I planted last fall is up, and looking really good. So there is at least a little green over there for the moment.
The Immortals – Jordanna Max Brodsky
Selene di Silva was once Artemis – like many members of her family, when belief waned, she found a new home far from Greece, and she now lives in New York City. The family is barely immortal now, though some gain smaller amounts of power from the pieces of themselves that mortals still worship.
Selene once heard the calls of mortal women in danger, and she feels the faintest stirring of one of those calls the night that a young women is murdered in what appears to be a revival of an old Greek rite. At the same time, Theo, a classics professor at Columbia, is drawn into the murder by his connection to this young woman. He and Selene quickly realize there are more murders to come, and that they must stop them.
I really like the premise of this book – what does happen to gods when their worshippers no longer believe in them? I like how the author has sketched out the various ways that the gods have dealt with that. I also really like how Selene and Theo interact – Selene is a chaste goddess, and the story does explore exactly what that means to her. It’s a really interesting tale – I’m very interested to see how the next two books play out.
Knitting Notes
Pattern: Monteagle Bag by Ann Hahn Buechner
Yarn: Quince and Co Willet in the Regatta Colorway (and just a touch of Cascade Ultra Pima in Juniper)
Needles: Size 11 Circ and one DPN
So I’ve been trying to cut down on my plastic use where I can nip it in the bud from the get go. One thing I was doing when I went over to the community garden was to bring over plastic bags to haul back my harvest. I was at least reusing them until they pretty much died, but I’ve seen all the cool patterns for market bags, and figured making a couple would be a no brainer way to cut a little more plastic out of my life.
This pattern had some really interesting stitches – I’m not usually into drop stitch patterns, so it was very different than what I normally knit. It actually took me three tries on the first bag before I finally grokked things enough to keep going. I was also much tighter on the first bag. I managed to do it all with one skein, though the handle is a little shorter than it should technically be. On the second bag, it was very obvious I was not going to get a long enough handle to be usable. Fortunately, I had some leftover yarn from my last foray into cotton knitting, which was just enough to make a decent size handle. And since these are for me, I don’t mind the color contrast.
I am not the world’s biggest fan of knitting with cotton yarn – I find it hurts my hands after a while. That said, this Quince and Co Willet is some really nice cotton yarn. I can’t say I’m in a huge hurry to knit with it again, but it’s nice to know there’s a slightly less painful option out there.
Garden Notes
I finally got the rest of the seedlings potted up this weekend. I had to bring in the spare light, so I may end up investing in good light number three next year. I also need to look into getting some sort of better tray set up – I’m almost out of room.
I think I’ll also start things about a month later next year. With the heat mat, things so sprouted so well that a month less will still be plenty.
Garden Notes
I skipped the gym on Wednesday so I could clean up the side garden – it got away from me in the fall, due to the early snow in November. And it had continued so cool so far this spring that I hadn’t wanted to disturb anything that might be overwintering. But we seem to have taken a bit of a turn temperature-wise as of this week, and the iris started sending up shoots, so I knew I needed to get that cleared.
Black Beach – Falmouth, MA
The other way to get a beach to yourself on Cape Cod is to go with a local to the beach that only they all know the back way into. (We didn’t get it completely to ourselves, but that was just because the sun came out, and everyone wanted to get out of the house.)
Herring Cove Beach – Provincetown, MA
Here’s how you get a Cape Cod beach to yourself – go on a rainy day in April (pictures are from last weekend).
The Confession of Brother Haluin – Ellis Peters
It’s winter in Shrewsbury, and a particularly bad storm puts a hole in the roof of the Abbey. While the brothers are up fixing it, Brother Haluin falls from the roof. His injuries are grave, and they do not expect him to live. Because of this, he makes a confession that Brother Cadfael is there to hear. And then, he lives.
Though his legs were shattered, and he can only walk on crutches, Haluin pledges to make a pilgrimage to the grave of a girl that he wronged before he took his vows, and Cadfael goes with him, to help him along the way. You really need to read the book to get the full sense of the transgression that Haluin is trying to atone for, and exactly how many things on his pilgrimage go so incredibly right to help him do it. It’s a different book than many of the others in this series. There is a murder, but it’s almost a side action. It’s really a story of following your heart when it tells you must do something.
The North Wind and the Sea 