once upon a time when ladies were helped with their chairs:)...chairs were made with tiny wheels at the front legs to make helping with chairs easier, both in and out.  i couldn't resist bringing the energy of this duo home to my house with their well mannered lifestyle.  something designed with chivalry in mind...that's so good!  

they joined my chairy family this week and i appreciate and wonder of them so much with their very architectural detail and mystery of exact age.  they are getting lots of sunshine and fresh airing this week in preparation for their upcoming participation in an alice themed dinner party and rousing game of musical chairs:)

today a haircut by moi for my son:) the piano recital that my children have been dreading for weeks:) and the beginnings of my costume for the alice themed family celebration for my daughter's 18th b-day:)

my clay pot adventure of the previous day was successful and delicious as planned:)  tonight a recipe from this(my favorite cookbook, visual content included), stir fried beef, a family favorite.  we use grass fed ground beef instead though as it stretches a bit better around a family of 4 eaters and is served with lots of brocolette.

my neighbor pointed me in the direction of the clay pot a few years ago and it has been my favorite cooking adventure by far.  when i found this large clay pot at a church sale it was pristine and barely used and only $2:)  now it is well loved and cooked in once a week.  it does chicken like nothing else. we call it "the magic pot".

this cookbook, more of a 1970's cooking pamphlet really, is my cookbook of choice for clay, another directional pointer from my neighbor.  it is as out of print as it looks so i found my copy at abebooks, the used bookseller online. i love it's simplicity, successful recipes and brown and orange motif:)

i am cooking my way through it.  we tried the recipe on the left for  memorial day, yum!  and tonight we will have the recipe on the right...although it calls for kidney beans which are my least favorite bean of all...and so i will use baby lima instead and anxiously await the results:)

yesterday kitty of wildlife rescue called to say that the tiny newborn animal we found on our hiking trail on monday was doing well. she sounded surprised and happy. they put it with a mouse mother who was already nursing a few of her own. kitty said that once the little newborn latched on it didn't ever seem let go of the mouse foster mother. 

we went for a visit:)  the newborn has some shiny dark blackish fur now and super long pink legs. and as the foster mouse mom ran around her enclosure, it is true the newborn would not unlatch. kitty thought this was strange. i think this little tiny animal is determined not to lose mom again.

yesterday we took a trip to the presidio in san francisco. i love the landscape and air there.  my favorite museum resides in that magical landscape of historic architecture and cypress. it is there where we watched alice in wonderland on a big screen and viewed a new exhibit on the art of maurice sendak.  i felt so differently of his art when i was small. it felt prickly and scary. i love the organized window that a museum exhibit provides of a view into opportunities to look deeper and more sensitively into what is really there and why.

now the view of the wild monsterous things in his books make me smile knowing more the origins of their visual character:)

it measures 11.5 feet now. 3 skeins down, 2 to go. a long knitted strip we are knitting to artfully weave into our front gate. a sort of bunny proofing to replace the weathered plywood piece that is there now.  my daughter has crafting plans for that piece of weathered plywood and so we must hurry to complete this long scarf-like piece:)  

i bought some more knitting sound track selections yesterday at the goodwill. my record player is such a wonderful companion to ground my thoughts in today.

yesterday got away from me some how...and today i had many plans all of which were delayed by the finding of a tiny newborn creature on our monday hike.  a mouse or something very new and fur-less was struggling across the dirt path at our usual turn around point.  it was hot out and this tiny thing was gasping and i just couldn't leave it.  we put it into my sun hat and carried it to the van, took it home, called wildlife rescue, awaited their return call, and eventually, as per their request dropped it off at a pet store in a nearby city, full of hope that it would be for the best.  what does one do when they see suffering of a fellow animal?  i can't know any other way but to try and help.  i know nature is nature and she has a plan but am i in that plan in some way in these circumstances?  these are the things i am pondering today.

so many vintage colors and textiles await my attention.  acetates and rayons with delicious swing and drape i can hardly wait to see under lace dress up skirts.  but they are all so precious to me, i don't know where to start or cut into their perfection. there is no more of them once i use them up. i am in a savoring and hoarding place at the moment with only mental places for them all for the summer collection of dress up i am planning to bloom:)

p.s. i survived my salty beet juice (ie beet kvass) trial and doubled my intake today with not one negative effect except for a tiny purple beet stain on one of my favorite shirts:)

today looks like this.  my succulent cutting i found at the beach is now rooting and it is time to transfer it to outside where it my get more sun for all it's leafy parts.

scarlet pimpernel, the doll i am making to be a new visitor to my doll's house this summer is underway.

and i poured myself a tiny portion of salty beet water (ie. beet kvass).  it is meant to be a tonic and not so much for enjoyment so i am still wondering of it for my daily schedule.  and...if i miss a few days of blogging you can assume that the salty beet water did not agree well with me in my world:)

plans to yarn bomb my front gate took me to a craft thrift store i covet in sebastopol california.  5 skeins of circa 1970 acrylic yarn look like this after winding them all together (how i love brown and orange:).  i am setting this project to music via a quick stop at the goodwill on my way home. all of 99 cents...i do love this record inside and out:)

beets

i am well on my way to beet kvass.  it has been 24 hours since i cut up the beets and covered them with water and the required salt and some whey.  there is a bit of frothy film on the top of the liquid so i know that chemistry that is supposed to be taking place is actually taking place.  in a couple more days i will put this into the fridge and when it is chilled i will reluctantly sample of the result.  it is always a question of that first sampling...is it safe to drink?  will i suffer ill effects? will i like salty beet water?  until then i feel safe as an observer in this experiment:)

hmmmm...? kvass is that you?

so today my kvass looks like this.  i removed the apples because they began to show signs of mold where they were not submerged in liquid.  all the raisins are now floating unless i move the jar and then they sink again.  it has not been quite a month yet so it may not be quite done but my curiosity lacks patience.  i have tasted it and it is not something i will enjoy really or give to my dad for his birthday for him to enjoy as i had planned.  i think it would frighten him actually.

it has a little of the off raisin flavors of wine gone bad with salt added.  i want to love it but i don't.  i keep tasting it though, reluctantly and a little at a time, expecting it to turn into something better and all the time pondering if this is how it is supposed to be.  

next up beet kvass.  i feel much more supported internet-wise with that kvass direction.  and i love beets so it could be a heavenly match:)

fortune

such a delight was the food indulgences of yesterday.  how can one go wrong with framani uncured smoked ham, swiss cheese and coleslaw all wedged into a folded raised waffle?  yum!  i was anticipating and expecting this for weeks so i was ready.

what i didn't expect was this adorable crocheted fortune cookie with a wonderous idea inside. a message to write one kind word on the fortune paper and then pass it on.  my daughter gifted it to me for mother's day and she wrote "happiness". not sure of the kind word i will use yet...there are so many to choose from in the  dialect of my world:)

to witness the uplifted creative flowering of the mastermind behind this project is perhaps even more of a gift.  inspiring and affirming in every way:) 

please go here for more about this beautiful project.

mother's day

i spent the morning with a strong cup of coffee, visiting a waffle window the kids and husband set up for me through the playhouse dutch door, eating raised waffles with savory toppings via my mother's day gift of a 1930's waffle maker, listening to hoagy carmichael on the record player and my son's accordion playing, visiting nicole curtis' facebook page (gosh i love her),harvesting my new kombucha batch, putting a pot of beans on for tostada night with my mom and step dad tonight,  being delighted of the sunshine and the open day ahead of me....

....and further being celebrated with handmade cards and book and things i heart.  i can't take any credit though...all i do comes through me from a much higher place. my heart swells with the thought of all that is possible:)

companionship

 the dolls in my doll's house.  scale, shape and materials matter not:)

 my daughter's doll's house dolls. a multi-generational mix.  she made penelope (the center-most doll). and i layered in with all the other generations.

once upon a time my son had interest in miniature make believe and this family was for his house.

i loved creating the hair the most for these dolls.  wool and all it's felted up-do, big hair possibilities.  another doll is being imagined at the moment.  she will be a visitor to my doll's house this summer.  more on her later.:)

some views from my dollhouse today.  first of all meet whimsey mildew (dolly in the chair with big woolen hair) the mommy of the house.  she welcomes all with open arms.  i love how she is non discriminatory no matter the species:)  her forms are based on sally mavor dolls which i have an inspiring "how to" book for.  whimsey is made of wrapped pipe cleaner body and painted wooden head and embroidered woolen felt clothing.  i have made quite an extended family of them as residents of our collection of doll houses.  i promise to picture them soon:)    

quotes about small things on the walls of my interiors.

view into the entryway where letters and guests arrive.

 another tiny creature made it into the doll's house company today:)

this is my dollhouse.  i have loved miniature things as long as i have been playing.  this house is the place that provides space for my tiny collections and my love of tiny creative imaginings.  lots of my disheveled dolly and creature rescues live here as well as a few handmade ones and lots of ceramic animals. they always seem to be gathering, celebrating, sitting or sleeping.  i admire their lifestyle:)  

kvass update

day 15 of my kvass fermentation in the fridge.  following a recipe from "nourishing traditions" and the recipe says "ferment until the fruit floats". the apples only ever floated.  some of the raisins are floating. a few are at the bottom still and a few are traveling around somewhere in the middle like little aquarium fish.  it don't know what current they are following so it is weird for me to see them swimming around like that. 

i will give it another 10 days in the fridge before i try what is in there.  this is probably the most interesting concoction i have ever made:)

beach rescue

the latest addition to my disheveled dolly sanctuary. a foundling from the "second chance thrift" shop in laguna beach california.  i thought i would rescue him from his formality that he has been dressed in since 1990.  i think i have some sunshine family doll play clothes from the 1970's that would fit him remarkably well and let him relax a bit:)

concoctions

my mother in law is running low on my handmade soap, which i freely give to her when she asks, and i am running low on my handmade lotion so i made a day of it today and accomplished both.  well actually 2 days since the first day is dedicated to gathering ingredients and infusing oils.  pictured is (a lotion ingredient) of manuka beeswax ready for melting with the lavender infused oil(you can see in a jar lurking behind it).

my kitchen smelled deliciously of beeswax, herbs and oils(most notably coconut oil). 

yum! blended up in the blender the finished product looks and smells good enough to eat, my skin sure loves it, but it wouldn't taste well i am afraid:)  

still finding my way back after my holiday away.  i have yet to go to the grocery store so the cupboards are super bare around here.  i love the powerful "can do" feelings resourcefulness brings out in me though.  we managed a lunch today of an assortment of what is left.  it is pictured below.  raw milk, spotty banana, ice and vanilla extract with the help of my lovely vitamix we had a delicious thing we like to call the "icy".  a summer staple.  we are satiated for a few hours anyway and then i can avoid my duties as resident shopper and chef no more:)
  

nature has such a beautiful way of organizing herself into celebration.  a lovely limpet (doll sized:) fascinator with bouquet of purple kelp.  i wanted so badly to bring it home to my world of inspirations but these living celebrations need to stay in their natural habitat:)

i was away for 9 days at the southern california coast with an amazing view of a vast array of succulents.  they love the coastal views and air as much as i do i think.  they thrive so exquisitely in all the gardens near the sea.  such wonderous colors and large forms and blooms.  

i carried a little foundling home with me that i discovered washed up on the rocky beach.  it was sandy and squishy wilty in all it's fleshy leaves except the very topmost ones.  it is in water and i am patiently waiting for roots to show.  keeping my fingers crossed that it may love the foggy mornings here just as much.  perhaps it will miss the beach as i do:)