As most of you know, my mom is doing much much better. She’s home now, she’s eating really well, she’s on home oxygen, and she’s working really hard to try and do well. A physical therapist and a home nurse come by a couple times a week, and she’s very clear headed, which is fantastic. Without a heart-lung transplant, which isn’t going to happen, she probably only has a few years, but I think they’re going to be fantastic years.

While I was home last weekend, I suggested my parents get a cat, and they loved the idea. So today a tiny little black and white kitten came home with my Dad – they found her on Craigslist. Pictures coming shortly.

So all is well! Thanks for your kind thoughts.

I interrupt the “Returning” series with sad news. My mother was taken to the hospital on Sunday with congestive heart failure. At first we thought that her heart failure could be treated with drugs, if she was willing to make some serious lifestyle choices.

However, yesterday we learned that the damage to her heart and lungs is too severe to be managed by drugs. I don’t know a lot at this point, but we do know she’s not a candidate for a heart-lung transplant, which would be the next logical step.

It’s hard, and it keeps getting harder. But my family is managing, and trying to take care of ourselves while letting our mom know how much we love her. And as always, Greg is taking amazing care of me, I don’t know what I’d do without him. I don’t really know what the next few weeks will bring, but will try and keep you all posted.

Animal harmony continued to increase at home:

Greg and I attended a rainbarrel workshop, and came home with our very own rainbarrel; this lets us capture runoff rainwater from the roof and store it for watering the garden and flower beds. It removes some rainwater from the storm system, which is already overloaded, and it means that we don’t have to pay for water from the hose to keep the plants alive.

We also attended another Nats game on the same day, an evening game, which meant that we didn’t get home until 2am. I’m far too old for that, and we were exhausted for several days afterwards (but the game was great – it was the first time I’d ever seen the Nats win).

I bought a new, much more powerful camera, and spent a lot of time playing with it:

We joined a CSA this year – Community Supported Agriculture. We are members of Radical Roots Farm, in Keezletown, Virginia, and we paid them a chunk of money upfront throughout the winter, and then get big bushel baskets full of vegetables each Monday from June through October. In each basket is a huge pile of whatever is in season and ready to pick that week, and it’s been such an incredible challenge to find ways to use everything (such as the four foot long Chinese cabbage that would not die). It’s completely changed the way I cook, and is an absolutely fantastic way to explore new foods and new ideas. I don’t think either of us has ever eaten this healthily before. I meant to take pictures of the basket each week, and post something about what was in it and how we used it, but that didn’t happen. (See previous post about how nuts my summer was at work.) But here’s one example:

Some silly things: Greg was entranced by a water bottle with a personality.

During construction on the Pear Street – Erickson Avenue corridor, we found this exciting notion:

Yes, the Port-o-Potty is open for business. Thank goodness.

I spent a long weekend in San Diego with Nicole – we worked on her dissertation, we sat by her mom’s beautiful pool, we ate fabulous food.

My flight schedule on the way back was absolutely insane, but the tickets were cheap. I flew from San Diego to Denver, Denver to Kansas City, Kansas City to DC, DC to the Shenandoah Valley. It was a nutty 12 hours of traveling, but the pictures were worth it:

And that was June 2009.

What can I say, it’s been an intense summer.

I’m going to add a post for each month since May, and try and hit the highlights.

We planted the garden:

Added some more flowers:

Baked some pirate cupcakes:

Greg, Dan and I took a lesiurely Sunday drive through Shenandoah National Park:

I even hiked the Appalachian Trail (about four feet of it – and yes, this was WAY before Gov. Sanford “hiked” the “Appalachian Trail”):

Greg spent Memorial Day weekend in Illinois, visiting friends and family. Naturally, I have no photos of that weekend, since I wasn’t there.

The week of May 11-15 was one of the busiest I’ve ever experienced at work – I was coordinating three different events at the same time, at three different locations on campus (things like this are one of the reasons this blog disappeared for a while…). I had the first of two weeks for our military officers, a week of police officers studying internal affairs investigations, and a business growth seminar for 200 people.

May 2009, ladies and gentlemen. June 2009 coming soon.

I so very rarely do these meme things, but:

(stolen from E, previously from The Boastful Baker)

metal or non-stick?
Varies widely – I’d like to get rid of my non-stick pans, except for the really nice cake pans I have. The ones I use most often are a stainless pot with a drainer insert, a cast iron dutch oven, two cast iron skillets, a stainless steel skillet, and the larger non-stick skillet for things like fried eggs.

 

cast iron or stainless?
Equal amounts, I think.

 

cutting board: silicone or wood?
I have two wooden cutting boards, a bamboo one and a stunning exotic hardwood one that my dad got me for Christmas – it’s made by hand by someone who also makes guitars for a living. I use plastic (but not silicone) for meat, chicken, fish, etc.

 

knife: carbon steel or stainless?
Both. Henckel (really good Henckel, not the ordinary ones) is my new addiction, I have a really nice, beautifully heavy chef’s knife that is just brilliant.

 

KitchenAid or hand mixer?
Hand mixer – I still insist that I don’t need a KitchenAid, even given how much baking I do.

cooktop: gas, electric, induction?
Gas, fortunately. Although we had a glass top electric at the last house, and I liked it more than I thought it would.

side-by-side, freezer on top, fridge on top?
Freezer on top. We bought a new fridge last fall, and were so limited by the narrow space that is the only place to put a fridge in our kitchen. We can’t have a side by side in this house (or my ultimate dream, a side by side with the freezer on the bottom, which just makes so much sense to me).

apron or whoops?
Apron, dishtowel, and whoops, depending on what I’m doing and what I’m wearing.

mashed potatoes: by hand, ricer, or mixer?
Always by hand. I have a hand masher that works almost like a ricer – it took me years to find it, and I nearly screamed out loud in the store I was so excited.

sandwich or wrap?
Wraps, mostly.

pb & _________ ?
Curry. (Thai curry, not curry powder.)

pancakes: syrup or applesauce?
Syrup. Real maple syrup, I can’t stand pancake syrup. Canadian snob and all.

cake: scratch or mix?
Scratch. Made a chocolate apricot cake for Dan and Sarah over the weekend. Very tasty.

chili: beans or no?
Both are good, depending on the other ingredients.

napkin: cloth or paper?
Cloth.

BBQ: takes the whole weekend to make or take out?
Only at a good restaurant (good in this case meaning greasy spoon, not cloth tablecloths). This part of Virginia has some outstanding BBQ, including the Barbecue Ranch north of town that has so many pig statues, decorations, and other flimflam I can’t believe it hasn’t collapsed.

chicken: white or dark?
Definitely dark. Boneless skinless chicken thighs from the local butcher are my best friend.

ice cream: cone or dish?
Definitely dish – I’ve never liked ice cream cones, they always taste stale.

Dan, Sarah and I ventured to the Farmer’s Market Saturday morning – Greg elected to stay home and mow the lawn before it got too hot. We got downtown, and kept finding every street to the heart of downtown blocked off. We tried like eighteen different routes, and couldn’t get there, and were getting more and more confused. So we finally parked and walked into downtown, and discovered that the streets were blocked because of the Sherry Anderson Memorial 5K Walk/Run. Sherry Anderson was killed by a drunk driver while jogging in the early morning in January – so sad and unbelievably horrifying, especially in a small town like this.

After we visited the Farmer’s Market, we went to the Artful Dodger for drinks, and had italian sodas out on the patio.

(Those are my farmer’s market eggs in the corner – I got the last carton of large eggs, and they were so big the carton can’t close around them. I love non-standardized food.)

The bell tower of the Presbyterian church downtown with the pink puffball tree in the foreground – I wish I knew what these trees were, I want one badly.

Anyway, we went to the spring football game, where I got to meet this gorgeous guy:

This is Duke, the University Bulldog. We have a regular human mascot in a fuzzy suit, but there’s also always a real dog, and yes, he’s wearing a JMU football jersey.

The day finished with dinner on the porch and Trivial Pursuit, and it was fantastic.

We’ve had a lovely few weekends, visiting with friends and family and traveling and other good stuff.

Last Sunday, we drove to DC for Shane’s birthday, and saw a Nationals game (playing the Florida Marlins). The Nationals lost badly, but it was a lovely day. Andy & Claire were there, and Sarah happened to be in town for a conference, so Dan and Sarah joined us as well. I think E & Shane had two of their worlds meet last weekend, which is always an interesting moment.

You remember when I taught Claire to knit at Thanksgiving? Well, she’s going like gangbusters, and this is her first hat. We will make no comments about the fact that she intended that hat to fit her head when she started, none at all. Suffice it to say that it’s an adorable hat, and a very neat first attempt, and an excellent lesson in the value of gauge.

Sarah and Dan, looking adorable as usual. The new Nationals stadium is gorgeous – we hadn’t been to a game since the summer of 2007, and the new stadium is clean and beautiful.

There’s Greg (or, rather, Greg’s chin), Andy & Claire, and the birthday boy perched on the edge of his chair in the Nats jersey and hat.

During the 7th inning stretch, the gentleman who played the national anthem on saxophone came out again and played God Bless America (or America the Beautiful, I can’t remember). His name was Jeremiah – Justin – something like that.

Our tulips are all blooming now – mostly red and orange, with a few other colors, and the last of the daffodils. The lilacs are about to start, too, which makes me happy. (We planted a Beauty of Moscow lilac last weekend – pale pink and white blooms with intense fragrance, but it won’t  bloom for several years.) I’ve never liked this color orange, but that photo above might change my mind. The cherry trees are blooming too – last year, they bloomed and then didn’t fruit at all. I don’t know if it was too dry, or if they’re too young (I’ve no idea how old these trees are).

Bailey with a particularly daft, sappy, goofy look on his face. (I was holding a stick in my left hand as I took this picture, that’s what he’s staring at. One track mind, that dog.)

So we’ve had a lovely productive Sunday, and it’s stunningly gorgeous outside. We went to church this morning, met Sarah and Dan for brunch (more on the rest of our weekend adventures later), cleaned the house, washed the cars, went shopping, watered the flower beds (soaking myself completely in the process, naturally), and were just generally productive and awesome.

So now it’s 5:30, the air is starting to cool, and I decided to sit outside with a glass of white wine for a few minutes before starting on dinner.  I strolled through the garden, imagining a thousand things we could do (arbor, anyone?), and discovered a raspberry bush I didn’t know we had, and then walked on past the daylilies. I was stunned to find this:

We think it’s a luna moth, the giant green gentle moths that are such a rare delight in the summer. I’ve never seen one with purple edging before, but everything else looks right. Greg’s theory is that it’s an immature luna moth, just emerged, and that the purple will disappear as it dries and settles into life.

Look at those gorgeous feathery antennae, and the beautiful purple spots (eyes, of course).

Want another angle? Happy to oblige. (Just so you know, taking this next shot involved standing on my head and hooking my left elbow around my neck and under my right knee.)

Beautiful. If anyone wants to correct me and tell me it’s a Lithuanian death moth or something similar, feel free. Til then, that’s my story. (Sticking to it, yada yada.)

So after having this nifty phone for almost seven months, we finally figured out how to get photos off my camera phone and onto the computer. We’ve all tried this several times, with Bluetooth and cables and SD cards, and nothing worked. Dan tried, I tried, Greg tried, my dad tried — nothing.

And now suddenly, it works (thanks to Greg – still not sure what we did differently this time). So here’s a huge blog dump of completely unconnected photos from my phone over the last seven months.

At about 6am on election morning, the line for our polling place was already incredibly long. Definitely felt like a historic moment - voter turnout in Harrisonburg was extremely high last year. And I'm sappy enough that voting in my second federal election was a big big deal.

On election night, Greg, Dan and I watched the returns at home. This was the first moment things started to shift, when CNN called Virginia for Obama.

And then the final crucial moment. I cried, Dan and Greg both said "Cool."

This was my phone's wallpaper for a long time - silly puppy.

This is Jack, Greg's parents' dog. It's an appropriately blurry photo, since Jack is rarely still (but very sweet).

This is the portrait of Gideon Blackburn, hanging in Blackburn College's Lumpkin Library. Gideon was the founder of Blackburn College, and our cat Gideon is named after him. (They look nothing alike.)