Day Seven Hundred and Eleven

This week marks the completion of a few items, but I'll write about them separately so you don't have to read a zillion-word essay on What I Did This Summer (So Far).

First:  Ta-daaa!  Item #2 is done!

I did indeed save up for a camera, and I researched them too.  The thing is, the more I researched the more I realized that I don't have a) the time or b) the sort of brain to actually USE all the features on one of those super-duper fancy-dancy cameras that look so neat in the customer reviews.  So I kind of gave up on the research, and put the money in my savings account.  And then I, uh, sort of lost my old camera.  (Insert very sad and embarrassed face here.)

And then my brother-in-law gave my sister one of those cameras (and she DOES have the kind of brain and photographer's eye that can really get some use out of a fancy camera), and she gave me her old one!  (Insert very surprised, grateful and happy face here!)  So now I have this lovely little Canon PowerShot A560 with a nice close-up feature, user-friendly zoom, user-friendly focus, video capability, easy-to-manage exposure tweaking (I'm sure there's a technical name for that), and - do you see a trend here?  "Easy" and "user-friendly" seem to be important features in any camera I use, and this one has those aplenty.

Also, it's just a little too big to fit into the back pocket of my jeans, which means it does not have the opportunity to fall OUT of (or possibly get stolen out of) the back pocket of my jeans.

So, thank you, best sister - I am grateful indeed for a camera that lets me take pictures like this ...

... and this ...

... and this.



Day Six Hundred and Ninety-Two

Item #24 is done!  I took the kids to the Space Needle over spring break, and since I didn't have a camera with me, I just have the one we got taken in the little photo booth at the Space Needle.  (Thanks, Mom!)

If this was a real picture, we would be levitating about 550 feet over Seattle's Queen Anne District, but hey - we were there!  For real!

Buddy was fascinated with the interactive feature that showed a 24-hour minute-by-minute panoramic view from the Space Needle.  You could turn the little dial and see what the view was like at any time of the day - I think he'd have stayed there and turned it through all 24 hours if I hadn't moved him along so other people could play with it!  :)

Boo had a great time taking her own pictures from the top of the Space Needle, and had a long-held wish fulfilled while we were there.  She has flown on planes and been to airports, including the little local airport a few miles from our home, but somehow has never managed to see a plane actually LAND.  Much to her delight, we all got to watch a little yellow pontoon plane land right on Lake Union!

For me, the most exciting thing was having my parents show me the hospital where I was born, in easy view of the Space Needle.  I knew I'd been born in Seattle, but it was fun to see that it was so close to a universally recognized landmark!

Day Six Hundred and Eighty-Six

Yes, I realize it has been more than one day since my last post on Day 685, and no, I have not spent the last 288 days in a stasis bubble outside of the space-time continuum.  (Although that would be a really awesome excuse for missing work.)  Instead, the blog has been on an accidental hiatus due to three things that were most decidedly NOT on my 101 Things list:

1.  Get divorced.  (November 2011)
2.  Lose camera.  (Sometime after Christmas 2011 and before spring break 2012)
3.  Get marvelous new temporary job as interim staff accompanist at local university, which devours all available time for most of the 2011/12 school year.

The divorce and the job have both upended many aspects of my life, my personal relationships, my expectations of myself, and (needless to say) my finances and schedule.  One thing I have learned over and over revolves around the concept of grace:  Grace towards others who don't behave in the way I would have hoped, grace from others toward me when I didn't behave as they hoped, and grace towards myself as a broken-but-healing human being.

And in that spirit of grace, I am giving myself an extension!  I decided to take those 288 skipped days and add them to the end of my project time frame.  The 1001 days originally ended on June 16, 2012.  With the extra 288 days added to the end, it is now scheduled to end on March 31, 2013.  (3/31/13 - that's kind of neat!)

I've done a few items on the list that I didn't have a camera to photograph, so I'll write about those in the next few days.  I also have a few items that I took pictures of and never posted, and I'll see about getting those up as well.  I have a possibility out there of a hand-me-down camera from someone who just got a new one, so hopefully I'll have this up and running soon.

You'd probably still better not hold your breath for me to learn French.

Day Six Hundred and Eighty-Five

And that's Item #8 in the bag!  Well, in the tummies, if I'm going to be entirely accurate.

Last Christmas my mom gave my sister and me the two-volume hardcover anniversary edition of Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking", which was responsible for this bit of deliciousness.  The Christmas before that, though, she gave us both another lovely cookbook called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day."  She was making her own bread out of dough stored in a plastic crock in her refrigerator, and it looked easy and tasted delicious.

So, naturally, I forgot about it for an entire year.

Then last year at New Year's, my sister made focaccia bread from the same recipe book, and it turned out she'd been making fabulous bread of all sorts ever since she got the book.  I got inspired - I can do this!  I did a little research on wheat flour and bought a big plastic container and earmarked a few interesting recipes.  I was ready to go!

And forgot about it for another four months.

Finally, though, I got myself pulled together and made this focaccia bread, topped with olive oil, rosemary, and coarse kosher salt.  It was beyond delicious, and I have no idea why I promptly put the recipe book back in the cupboard and forgot to ever make it again.  Hmmm ... come to think of it, I've got a little time this afternoon ...

Day Six Hundred and Eighty-Four

Dude, seriously?  684 days?  That's a long time!

Cool.

I wasn't sure how many of these I'd already posted, so I just grabbed everything that was in my "finished to give away" basket and took a picture.  Looking back through the blog, it looks like you've seen the green scarf, the brown scarf, and the stripy hat, but the blue hat and the baby booties are new.  Since taking this picture, I've also made two slightly goofy-looking hats with floppy brims which you will probably NOT see modeled, unless I end up in an appropriately goofy mood some time between now and when I mail them off to the "chemo caps" organization I found online.

This brings the total up to 12/20 - I should be able to make 8 more things in a little less than a year, I think!

Day Six Hundred and Seventy-Eight

See, I told you I was going to get caught up!

Here are a few more for the Windows & Doors (and occasionally Stairs) project.

Stairs leading from High Street down to Pringle Park - from a trip with the kids to downtown Salem.

 

Stairs near City Hall, Salem, OR.

Stairs leading from the Frank Manor House (now part of the Lewis & Clark College campus) down to the reflecting pool.

Gated doorway to a second-floor apartment in downtown Salem, OR.

Looking through facing windows in the dovecote at Lewis & Clark College.

Side view of the Frank Manor House at Lewis & Clark.

Day Six Hundred and Seventy-Seven

Whoops ... looks like I missed Day 600 too.

But I'm still here! I haven't forgotten about it! And if you're reading this (all three of you), then you haven't forgotten about it either.

I've done a few more things on the list since I last posted, and I'll catch up on those in the next few weeks. Here's one from back in March - not for St. Patrick's Day or anything, but because I had a lovely conversation with my grandparents and came home with a new recipe. The actual intent had been to fill in a few gaps on my grandmother's family tree, but Grandpa sat down and told me a few stories as well. He learned this recipe from his mother, whose parents had immigrated to Canada from Ireland before she was born.

Grandpa's Irish Stew

about 1 lb. stew beef (cubed lean steak or roast)
"a little bit of grease"
1 medium onion
1 lb. of carrots
salt, pepper, and powdered garlic
2 potatoes
1/4 to 1/3 c. flour, depending on how thick you like your stew

Braise beef in grease of your choice on low heat for at least one hour.  Don't overcook, but braise until tender, which might take up to half a day.  If you start the meat in a large pot, this is a one-dish recipe.

Chop carrots into 1" pieces, and dice onion finely.

Add carrots and onions to cooked meat, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.

1 hour before soup is to be served, cube potatoes and add to pot.  Add some water so that the potatoes can cook - Grandpa didn't say how much, just "add water as you go."  Bring to a boil, and let it simmer for about an hour.  Mix 1/4 to 1/3 c. flour with enough water to make a thin paste.  Stir it into the stew.  When it boils and thickens, it is ready to serve.

I served it with my favorite homemade buttered biscuits (which of course have no calories at all) and a glass of cold milk.  I think the only way it could have felt more like childhood is if my sister was kicking me under the table!