happy birthday, matilda.

Saturday, we headed over to the Haynes' house to christen their new back deck and pay homage to Matilda, their trusty Airstream. S & E's house was badly damaged by the hurricane last year, and E ended up working and running his business out of Matilda as they negotiated with roofers and insurance and great inconvenience. I love going over to their place... it's quite magical, and we admire the cozy retreat they've created. Snapshots taken with the iPhone of their wonderful house and some of my extended family (the kind you choose for yourself):

cold enough

oh yes, a market day chilly enough for me to wear both my boots and my hat!! which is a good thing, because going to bed with my hair wet last night made for a messy nest this morning.




the weather has been predictably nutty for our part of the world. it's as though this region goes, 'fall shmall, we like our people perennially dewy and in shorts, yo'. all week it was pretty warm, rainy, and extremely muggy, which resulted in an explosion of mosquitoes and other bugs, as well as all sorts of vegetation. on one of my walks in the park I noticed 'shrooms dotting the lawn:



our little rose bush out back was even tricked into sprouting a couple of buds:



I don't know how farmers manage to read the weather well enough to know when to plant/harvest. seriously. this morning at t'afia, I heard a couple of them talking about getting things picked before the rain this week, and how if it's too muddy you can't do it. I like that we're getting a little more familiar with the local farmers and vendors. we picked up more of the amazing andouille from Al, the Grateful Bread guy, along with some chicken-apple-cinnamon sausage that totally tickled our tastebuds, hit the Indian and cheese booths again, and got a smattering of veggies out front. I picked up a bunch of collard greens because they looked so fresh and green, and a little lady told me how to make them flavorful... I don't know that I've actually ever tried them before and M is dubious, so I'm hoping to sell us both on them this week. I'm also looking forward to making a sauteed squash pizza with buttercup and sweet dumpling squash and fresh mozarella... and maybe another rat-tat-too-ee...

**********

our good friends the Sargents are currently exploring the New England area, and their travels reminded me of our trip to Boston a couple of years ago. we had such a good time... I really loved the wealth of things to do there, and particularly enjoyed The Freedom Trail and the opportunity to learn so much American History while getting a ton of exercise. :) here are a few pics of our time there: (I had to do a bit of internet searching to refresh myself of some names/events... I wish I'd paid more attention in History class back in the day!)

Boston Common:

the beginning of the red line that leads you on the Freedom Trail:

the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was read aloud from the balcony to the people down below. the circle of cobblestones commemorates the Boston Massacre:

the Paul Revere statue and the Old North Church (the oldest standing church in Boston with the highest steeple), where lanterns would be lit in the tower to signal how the British were arriving... one if by land, two if by sea...

the USS Constitution... Old Ironsides herself.

I chose to look up the Charleston Navy yard, and on the bottom of the National Park Service webpage for the yard was this funny tidbit:

Did You Know?
The Internal Revenue Service used to conduct ceremonies rewarding its best collectors and other employees at Faneuil Hall? Considering that Faneuil Hall was the site of some notable tax resistance meetings before The Revolution, we must conclude that the IRS does have a sense of humor after all.

that's the Bunker Hill monument back there on top of Breed's Hill, where the Trail ends. when you're standing up there, the words 'don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes' take on a whole different meaning. (their ammunition was limited, so the Colonial militia had to wait for the British to get close enough so their defensive attacks were the most effective. the British eventually captured the Hill, but on the third try and not without suffering a lot of casualties.)

romantic street lamps.

we ended our day of historic sight-seeing at this wonderful, small, family-owned Italian restaurant. we were walking around looking for a place to eat and noticed a line out the front door of this place. a woman waiting for her table told us that we wouldn't regret the wait, and she was absolutely right.

can't wait to see your pictures, Chels! hope you guys are having a lovely time.

-m.y.

sharing

we bought these samosas at the t'afia market last Saturday, and I must report that they are the freaking bomb. absolutely delicious, no joke. Nisha's Indian Food is produced locally and is sold at certified farmer's markets around town. at $8 per bag (5 samosas to a bag) they weren't cheap, but were a wonderful, spicy treat and I love that you simply pop them in the oven for a few minutes. we ate our chicken samosas with cashew carrot ginger soup and a cucumber-garlic-red pepper awesome sauce that M concocted. I think it would be fun to learn to make chutney to go with them, too.




and speaking of treats, here's a fun image to usher in the cooler weekend:




-m.y.

linda b.'s birthday feast

what did this lady want for her birthday? dinner, cooked by her three boys. they're total pros... observe:




the menu was a salad of cucumber, red onion, olives, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, capers, and feta with a tangy vinagrette. then Tuscan roast (delectable), an assortment of sausages and roasted mushrooms and carrots, tarragon butter baby new potatoes, citrus green beans, and a fruit tart for dessert with pumpkin spice decaf.





it was all veryvery good, and hanging out with everyone was such a fun time. happy birthday, lindabell!

love,

-m.y.

market day

it's a new month... which means it's time for a new grocery envelope.



original artwork credited to MGB. one of the comments we've gotten repeatedly about this part of our financial plan is people's uncertainty about carrying envelopes with cold hard cash in them. it's not horribly structured or anything... we have a grocery envelope, an entertainment envelope, a restaurant envelope, and an envelope for presents for people with birthdays, weddings, and baby showers in October. oh, and a Christmas envelope we add to every month. most other things we handle via debit card, online payment, etc. I've never been scared about carrying cash vs. debit card, even before we met Mr. Ramsey... I actually prefer cash, as it tends to save time. one of the things I hope to teach any future children I may have is to always carry some cash... you never know when you'll need it, but if you need to pay to park/take the toll road/pay back a friend/pitch in for the check/give it away/etc. you'll be glad you have it. the nice thing about the envelope system is that you know exactly what you're budgeting/spending - once the envelope is empty, you're done. or you play the 'raid other envelopes' game. :)

LB met up with us this morning to head out to grocery shop... we hadn't seen her in awhile, and in addition to enjoying her company we needed to do a bit of shopping for her upcoming birthday dinner (Mom, yours is almost here, too!). we started the day at t'afia:




sampling local cheeses:

the guy over there on the other side of this curtain is local and makes THE BEST andouille sausage! holy smokes, it's very very special. and currently in our freezer.

next door to him was the local Indian food booth. part of us going back to t'afia this week with our brand new grocery envelope was to nab the andouille and the refrigerated chicken samosas. so flipping good.

up next was Canino's, where M's brother M joined us (there he is, in the blue shirt):

everything was so pretty, I just wanted to take pictures of it.

spices, spices galore:

tamale fixin's, spicy cinnamon sticks, and peppers everywhere:

this guy said he'd picked his oranges a couple of days ago... they didn't look so hot, frankly, but who are we to not buy local oranges offered in October?!

as is evidenced in above photos, so many of the vendors sell the same produce that they all seem to be vying for the title of 'prettiest display'. who wouldn't want these gorgeous, artistically positioned carrots?! except you can't split them up... and that's a lot of carrot for two people.

since we've been baking our own bread the last few weeks, I was happy to find this local wheat flour, for a very reasonable price. you should've seen the selection of dried beans.

we left Canino's and went to Central Market to do a bit more shopping... as posted on CS's comments, I can't wait to break out the Pumpkin Spice decaf. upon arriving home, we talked about how we still sometimes experience a bit of sticker shock at CM... we know why we're buying certain things there and we're choosing to do it on principle (organic/fair trade/free-range/local/etc), but it's still an adjustment and balancing act. for example, my organic maple syrup... made of 100% pure maple syrup... is SO much more expensive that the old Aunt Jemima Lite with it's crazy list of fructosed cellulose sodium hexametaphosphate.

what I'm mostly thinking about at the moment, though, is the truly astounding amount of food I've seen (and tasted) today, and about how there are places where so many are struggling to find enough food to eat. not that there aren't people in the U.S. who struggle with feeding themselves, but this girl is in a place most of us can only imagine. her blog has a link for donations but if you'd like to do something extra to help that ministry check out this blog (see her latest post, plus her initial post about katie on 9/15). thanks, Jenn @ buildingmommymuscles, for making me aware of both of those blogs.

I've got to go work on scarves.

-m.y.

wild things

I hadn't seen this version of the trailer for Where The Wild Things Are... for some reason, it makes me a bit teary:




this book made me a bit apprehensive when I was little... I think it was the drawings of the monsters. or maybe it was Max being so naughty. at any rate, I don't think you can help feeling something when you read or look at it. wikepedia says that it's only ten sentences long, so I'll be interested to see how Spike Jonze filled in the story. it LOOKS so wonderful! somehow nostalgic and magical. there were apparently issues with the monsters and the story that had to be seriously reworked... read more trivia about the film here.

for my yarn-loving friends, I was reading about this darling-sounding store this morning... maybe we could give it a go sometime. they sound like nice ladies, and it might be fun to go sit and knit on a Thursday evening and make friends. today I should be getting October's blow money, and have high hopes of purchasing lovely yarn with some of it.

I'm also thinking about how grateful I am for our latest FPU class. in addition to those we knew were coming, four people showed up for the first class that we'd never seen before, having found our listing online. I hope they all decide to come back. I was in the other room tending to little L, but could still hear a lot of what was going on and the vibe sounded so good and positive. it's so much nicer to walk through personal examination, change, and challenges with others who can offer you support. after doing our budget last night, we estimated that we're a couple of months away from our next goal of 'baby step three'. it's taken longer to accomplish this one than we'd have liked... lovely summer vacations and things might have slowed down our savings plan a little... but really I'm just so thankful.