Every week I think I did nothing, then surprise myself with how much I did once I finish this post.
Spent lots of time outside this week. It seems like we had about a week of Spring, then jumped directly to Summer. It was in the mid 90s (Fahrenheit) all weekend, which is just too dang hot for May. I didn’t put any air conditioners in the windows because it will be back in the 70s next week and we prefer the fresh air whenever we can get it. Getting a baby to sleep when it is 80+ degrees in the house is tough.
Charlie and I went out searching for morels three days, but I think they are finished for the season. Too warm now. We did see a garter and a black rat snake, a pileated woodpecker, two kinds of millipedes, toads, frogs, wildflowers, and an owl pellet.
I also met up with guide Lex TaylorArchived Link to search one of his favorite spots with lots of dead elms, but we came back empty-handed. He taught me how to identify dead elms, which I’m grateful for.
I covered up the potato plants with dirt twice this week and they need covered up again! They are growing like crazy in this heat.
I mowed in spurts during Charlie’s nap times this week. It was too hot and I was too tired to have him in the carrier while I mowed. Charlie is teething again and getting up very early (5-6am most days), so we are all pretty tired.
We’ve instituted Tiki Fridays for the summer. Tiki is notorious for having tedious prep, so I’m treating it like a long-term project and making a new syrup/mix or two each week. Soon we’ll have a wide variety of ingredients on-hand. I was surprised at how easy most tiki ingredients are to make at home once I started looking into it. Separate blog post coming soon.
I helped my friend Jon do some timber framing this week. He is building a pergola over one of his patios. We help each other with projects.
We road tripped up to Williamstown, MA, on Sunday to see the Strict Beauty Sol LeWitt prints exhibition at Williams College. It was worth the drive. I hadn’t seen many LeWitt prints, mostly just wall drawings. It was cool to learn that many of the prints with lots of editions were made from a small number of plates that were rotated and prepared with different colors.
On the way back we stopped at the West Taghkanic Diner, which lives up to the hype. The food was excellent. Amanda had the veggie burger (created to be a good veggie patty, not to mimic meat), I had the smoked chicken, and we both had a vanilla cardamom milkshake. We’ll definitely go back.
Currently reading:
- The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard – Hardcover
- Parable of the SowerÃÂ by Octavia Butler – Audio
- American BuffaloÃÂ by Steven Rinella – Audio
- A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage – Audio
- Lots of fun anecdotes, but the narrative is a bit of a stretch.
- Neuromancer by William GibsonArchived Link – Hardcover
âÂÂCoffee, the sober drink, the mighty nourishment of the brain, which unlike other spirits, heightens purity and lucidity; coffee, which clears the clouds of the imagination and their gloomy weight; which illumines the reality of things suddenly with the flash of truth.âÂÂ
Jules Michelet
This is my last full week on paternity leave. I’m snuggling Charlie extra.
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