Wordless Wednesday- Potawatomi Zoo
Category: Life Posts
Wordless Wednesday- Personal Space, Piggy!
Words Have Power
It’s interesting to write this post about powerful words for a couple different reasons. I’m fascinated by the messages in the pictures for one, but also by how much words can affect our daily life. As an LPC, my entire job is word based, even if the client in question doesn’t know what words to use, or a child who maybe speaks through play instead of vocally. And it’s kind of meta to be writing a blog post about words, even if I know only a few people will read it.
I follow a lot of librarians and indie bookstore owners too on different social media sites (shout out to Bettie’s Pages and Blackstone Books and Cultural Center) and it’s been very interesting to see what has come up during Banned Books Week. Words are important. We should be choosing our words and our time to speak more carefully. Whether you are speaking about something you’re passionate about, something you’re concerned about, or with joy, our words have impacted others more than we know. They also impact our own sense of self and worth.
With that in mind, I’d like to share some more pictures from Meadowbrook Art in the Elements. One of the artists created floral sculptures based on the work of Masaru Emoto who proposes that molecules of water can be affected by our words, thoughts, and feelings. He froze the water and photographed the crystalline formations that he claimed represented each type of thought or sound. While his theory has come under criticism and is reportedly flawed, it still can make us think about the ways we talk to ourselves and others. Whether or not you believe it, the floral sculptures were beautiful and I hope inspire you.
At the end of the exhibit there were two bouquets that you were invited to either write positive or negative messages or words on their vases. I didn’t see the end result of this, as we came on the last day. But here are the bouquets for your viewing.
I hope this has inspired you, even though it may be a silly thing. We are 60% water after all. Speak kindly to yourselves, friends!
Almost Wordless Wednesday- Wine Hike at Mt. Tabor Trails
I went on a fantastic Girls’ Night with some friends to Mt. Tabor Trails in Buchanan, Michigan. It is a trail between two wineries where you can take your drink with you. Each winery has different specials and such. The two wineries are called Round Barn Winery and Mt. Tabor Winery. Here’s the website if you want to check it out. https://moerschhg.com/trails
We hung out for dinner with live music on Friday after hiking and it was lovely! I had a honey hard cider and a frose- Frozen rose wine. Both were delicious! Anyway, on to the pictures!
Gardening Setup
Hello and welcome to the blog post where I have garden fever and muse about how best to run off the squirrels! if you have any tips, please let me know!
We had a really nice weekend last weekend and ended up getting my third garden bed started! We need about 10 more bricks to make it two layers and are going to be getting garden dirt in two weeks. A friend who gardens as well has a truck and we’re going to be splitting a yard of garden dirt with her. I think the beds will like a nice soil refresh. I also put as many worms as I could find into them while we moved things around. We also got fancy and added pea gravel around the beds to keep the weeds down hopefully. We’re going to get another batch of it and make it a thicker layer around the front and on the sides of the garden.
Here’s the third bed. It’s positioned under the apple tree somewhat, so will be my shade loving plant bed. I’m planning on moving the rhubarb there too.
Sorry for the weird angle. I was attempting not to get the neighbor in the picture. He’s a little grumpy, so we try not to irritate him. This bed is one brick smaller than the other beds for ease of reaching across. I think it will work out really well. I think the middle bed will be tomatoes, as they seemed to do the best there. The last bed will be berries.
So far, I think my blueberry bush is coming back. I’ll have to get some more and am going to try to look for the bush varieties that might do better in the raised bed. My strawberries have come back as well, but I will be moving them into the planters, I think. My raspberries are growing new canes. I need to trim them down before planting them in the bed. I’m planning on trying to stay on top of them so I don’t end up with all raspberries. We may also get some black berries. The rhubarb came back on it’s own, even after I left the pot out all winter and it got snowed on. It seems to be very enthusiastic this year. As I have lots of rhubarb recipes, I’m very excited to see that.
We’re going to try making a pallet into a vertical herb garden this year. A certain Piggy likes to graze on my herbs as well as my tomatoes, so this might help with that. Basically, you take landscape fabric and staple it around the pallet, fill the cracks with dirt, and then go planting happy! It will hopefully work really well, but we’ll see. We got the pallet for free as it had the cinderblocks on it, so even if it doesn’t work out, it won’t have cost much.
I’ve started seeds for the garden and they seem to be working out. I used a bigger seed starting box this year and went all out with my seeds. I found a purple tomatillo variety, which will be fun! Also, several kinds of tomatoes, of course. I believe I have beefsteak, a bunch of container cherry tomatoes, pineapple tomatoes, and some other kinds I cannot remember. Also peppers, both hot and bell. We’re planning on planting the sprouting garlic cloves, but I will probably put them in pots. The onion we planted last year after it sprouted inside survived, but I have no idea how to tell when we should pick it. We have several other onions currently sprouting and my seeds are finally working.
I have also kept several houseplants alive both at home and in my office! I know that seems like a weird thing to brag about, but our house is really dark and seems to have a bad effect on houseplants. The one side of the hallway where we all have offices is slowly infecting everyone else with plant fever. It’s nice to have a window and to be able to keep the not pet friendly plants there. Three plants are currently calling my office home. The original aloe plant is thriving. It’s growing slowly, but it has developed two new shoots since I moved it there.
I also have a huge spider plant named Marvin, with a baby that has been christened Darvin. I’m going to pot Darvin soon, I just keep forgetting the soil. He lives on my bookshelf because he was too big to keep on that little shelf. I’ve hidden some of my lego creations in the leaves.
I have a Croton plant as well. I’m keeping that with no name as Croton sounds like an awesome super hero name. That one is being tricky. I think it needs to be misted regularly. I have repotted it into a pretty white pot, since the picture was taken.
My plants at home are a Christmas Cactus cutting, which seems to be having issues, a nerve plant which is super dramatic, and another peperomia- I killed the first one by overwatering. I also have a ZZ plant which apparently thrives on neglect. It needs watering once every three to four weeks. It also really likes low light, which is perfect for the house.
The coolest plant I have is probably the prayer plant. The Husband christened it Planty the Potted Plant after a character in Phineas and Ferb, a cartoon about these two kids and their secret spy platypus. It’s actually a wholesome and hilarious tv show and we all adore it. It’s put out another leaf since I brought it home and has two more starting. The neat thing about it though is that it closes at night time (Hence the name.) It’s super fun!
Here it is during the day.
The Husband has been notified that he should expect to see more plants when he gets back from his business trips now that he can travel again. I mean, I might be lonely and plants don’t judge (or beg for) the Nutella snack at midnight. 😉
Hope these inspire you for growing new things!
Wordless Wednesday- Christmas Decor
Family Kitchen Stories
If you know me or my family at all, you knkw we feed pretty much anyone at the drop of a hat (although I will say, I’ve discovered this doesn’t happen with people I don’t like.) Not just feed either, we adopt people and give them more food than they know what to do with. It’s our way of showing love along with bad puns and teasing, of course.
Time spent cooking and baking comes with all sorts of memories ranging from silly, to lovely, to just plain ridiculous. For example, Dad sneakily tying my apron string to a chair, singing loudly into a spatula, fights over who gets the first prune tart from the oven, sneaking behind doors to lick the dessert plate (that one was all Grandma Shirley,) making family recipes, pickle trays, and the infamous Christmas butter count.
I remember making lovely tea parties with Grandma Shirley and getting big chocolate chip cookies in oatmeal cartons from Grandma Florence. And, of course, telling my younger brother for years that I made him a “special-no sauce” chicken potpie (that absolutely had sauce!) until he learned that he actually did like the sauce. Oh, he was so mad!
Not surprisingly, family kitchen lore is really weaved into my family history. After sharing the picture of my Mom’s hanging rolling pins in her birthday baking post, we had a lovely chat about the origins of those particular pins. That led to thoughts about all the kitchen heirlooms I’ve inherited over the years. I thought it might be fun to share them with you too!
I’ll start with the rolling pins, as I was charmed to know their stories, although they aren’t mine.
I made the ornament on top for my Mom out of a canning jar ring that was starting to look a little wonky to can with, but works great covered in thread! The top pin was made for my Mom by my Grandpa Ed. The middle pin was gifted to my Mom by my “winter grandma,” a dear family friend, Nancy. The bottom pin belonged to my Grandma Florence.
Continuing the rolling pin theme, I have the Husband’s paternal Grandma Ruby’s pin. I knew my MIL liked me when she started giving me family kitchen things. 😁
I was also given a cookie press and a sifter belonging to my Grandma in Laws- Ruby and Mary.
The same year I was given that cookie press, I was also given my Grandma Shirley’s cookie press, so now I could keep one as a gluten free press if needed. I have used them for at least a couple of Christmases to make delicious spritz cookies.
This year I also received a cake plate that belonged to Grandma Mary as well. Look how pretty the underside is!
One of our family traditions is sand tarts, a Norwegian almond cookie. They are made in little shaped tins. My Grandma Shirley had quite a collection of them and I have some of them. Some of them probably came from out family’s bakery that was started by my Great Great Grandpa Sivert.
A few are probably getting too rusty to use and I’m thinking of making keepsake ornaments with them. Those are most likely the older ones, so it makes them more special!
I have a pie plate and a bread pan from my Grandma Florence that my Mom gave me when I moved out on my own.
My Dad makes really lovely wooden spoons and he gave this one to us! He also carved a wee doll spoon for my Kirsten American Girl Doll.
Since it’s Christmas, my favorite family kitchen heirloom is a relatively new one, but no less special. It’s our very own Christmas tablecloth made by my Mom in 2011. It made me cry, of course! Now it’s a huge part of our Epiphany party. This year we delivered cookies and took the tablecloth with us!
There’s a post online that been going around for a while that’s about a family who has a signed table cloth going back 16 years. It cracks me up every time, since the original family one for us was started in the 60’s!
It makes me wonder about other family traditions and kitchen stories, so if you have any to share, please feel free! I hope you’ve enjoyed these small memories and stories. I will be posting some year end and feview posts shortly!
Wordless Wednesday- Cozy At Home
There was no Quilt Expo this year, so I thought I would share some from last year. These are all home themed quilts, which seemed appropriate.
Game Night! Sort of..
While chatting with a friend the other night about what to write about as a blog post, she suggested the Train Game, which we had just played online. Full disclosure, she kicks my butt at it all the time! But it’s still fun to play. I know I’ve talked about having game nights with friends pre- pandemic, but not about the actual games we play. Fair warning, our game nights are normally with a bunch of social workers or counselors, their partners, and whoever else is brave enough to join us, so it can be a bit dark, humor wise. Here are some of my favorite games
Ticket to Ride, or the Train Game will go first as it’s a favorite among a bunch of us. The main point of the game is to make a train go from one place to another. There are a bunch of different boards, including a Nordic route, India, Pennsylvania, Europe, and a couple different US route boards. Each board has different bonus cards. We have just the original, US board. It’s set in 1913 or thereabouts, I think, so it’s got a cool vintage feel.
You can play this online too, which is how I’ve been playing it recently. The Husband is very competitive and will block people if he figures out where they are going, which has taught me to do some circular route taking to prevent it. Darn logical minded man. My friends who play online are generally nicer. Game play is typically around 45 minutes.
Carcassonne is one of my favorite games and I really should look it up online, as the Husband claims it is too complicated and refuses to play often. Mainly because I win, I think. 🙂 My friend who taught me this game in college played absolutely cutthroat and I got tired of losing, so learned all the weird little tricks to win. To win, you build the biggest castles, get the most land, and acquire the most resources. I think it isn’t as complicated as Caatan, but it does have a learning curve.
Game play can range from anywhere from 45- 90 minutes, depending on how many people you’re playing with. I have three of the expansion packs and they add some different rules and pieces. I taught it to my younger brother and he really enjoyed playing it as well.
My Mom gave my MIL and I the game Quilt Show for Christmas one year and we played it while we were at the cabin with my sewing friend K2.
In this game, you have to “make” quilts with different blocks. You can make smaller or bigger projects and then show them in a Quilt Show to get points. The person with the most points at the end wins. There are different configurations of how to set up the quilts, by pattern, color, etc.
It took a minute to see how it worked, but it was pretty fun! I would like to play it again some time. I would say plan probably an hour to play.
We have three Firefly games, but not enough of our game night friends like Firefly, so we haven’t played them often. (This would be Joss Whedon’s TV show Firefly and movie Serenity, if you didn’t know.)
The game, Firefly, is super complicated it seems, so I think we’re still a little intimidated by it. Tall Card is kind of based on poker and is a quicker game. And of course, Monopoly, can be a hit. That is if someone doesn’t flip the board out of frustration like my younger brother did one summer. I believe Monopoly was banned for a week after that.
The other games we play most frequently are card based and have essentially the same game play, just different themes and cards. I’ll start with the newest one we bought- New Phone, Who Dis?
Regular game nighters brought it with them one time and we loved it! Basically, you have a main card that you all get to see and pair it with one from your hand that you think is the funniest, most ridiculous, or in some cases hilariously offensive. Then you put them face down and the person who’s judging reads them all and picks their favorite. For example:
The first one to a certain number of agreed upon points wins. The next games follow the same format.
Cards Against Humanity probably ties with Joking Hazard as the most likely to offend people. When you’re playing against mental health workers, the gallows humor abounds. Not all the cards are terrible though. There are some innocuous ones like “Lunchables” and “Bees?”
Joking Hazard is by the author of the comic Cyanide and Happiness, which as you can probably tell by the name, is generally pretty dark. In this game, you make your own comic strip to go with the main card and the judge picks their favorite. This one is especially cool because the whole strip could be wordless. It’s fun, although sometimes cringe worthy, to see what people come up with!
Jobstacles is a pretty tame game, comparatively speaking, so I thought I should end with it. Perhaps then you won’t think we’re too terrible. 😉 In this game the judge puts down a card of a person they need to hire and you add a candidate card and a card that can either hurt or help the candidate card. This game is fun because you get to see what other people think. None of the people normally fit the job, so you’re really having to pick from the best of the worst of the combinations. It’s a very quick playing game and is best with a smaller crowd as you can run through cards pretty quickly.
So those are some of the games we like to play and hopefully will be able to play again at some point. Speaking of game playing, Piggy is currently sitting like this on the couch because I started typing and not petting her, like she thinks I should. I’d better go try and cheer her up. Can’t have the world’s most pathetic dog around the house. It’s killing the game night spirit!
Wordless Wednesday- Nature Self-Care
We went to a new park. Piggy had a blast! The last picture is her expression when we put her back in the car to leave. The leaf in the featured picture was huge, probably at least 7 inches across!
