2AM Miracle

So it's been another really long stretch between posts. A lot has happened, but I have a hard time lately finding the time to blog about it. So, some other time, but before I head off to bed I thought I'd share a little story.

On Sunday night, I had my first migraine. That's not the story, but it happened in the lead-up to the story I wanted to share and it seemed noteworthy. I've had bad headaches before, but this one came with a seriously heavy dose of nausea. So severe that I basically had to hold my breath when I took the quiche I was baking out of the oven and immediately afterward go to bed, because the smell of even really, really delicious food was going to make me hurl, which is something I almost never do. When you consider that the last time I had actually vomited was exactly 6½ years earlier (my birthday in 2005, when my friends took me to a martini bar 2 weeks after S had dumped me), to be that close to needing to make a mad dash to the Temple of the Porcelain God was more than a little significant.

Anyway, the actual story, as the title suggests, happened at 2AM. The pain and nausea had abated, littledog was getting a bit restless - which usually means he has to go pee - and I was realizing that I probably ought to, as well. So we both got up, and after I made my pit stop, we headed downstairs so Tuck could do the same.

It bears mentioning here, though I think I have also on prior occasions, that rather than a standard backyard, we have a sideyard off the kitchen ell, which was originally a cobbler's shop that was moved down the hillside and attached to the rest of the house - we think - sometime circa 1950. The yard access is through a kitchen mudroom, so the door is tucked in a corner of the building with the grass a few feet away.

So I opened the mudroom door and just as Tuck hopped down to go to the lawn and do his business, I realized there was a skunk - a small one, but a skunk, nonetheless - near the outside corner of the kitchen, not more than 8 feet from the door. Naturally, I immediately tried to reverse littledog's course, yelling, "Tuck! TUCK! TUCK!"

When it comes to his potty duties, though, littledog is very businesslike and singular of mind, particularly late at night, and he trotted right out into the grass to relieve himself, easily within 6 feet of le jeune M. LePew. I wouldn't be surprised if littledog never even noticed the creature, as it was dark and his vision isn't terribly good, but I'm equally fortunate that he is nearly completely incurious about other animals.

The other week there were two juvenile turkeys in the yard one evening when I let him out. He gave them a glance, but then turned around and headed right back to the house when he was done peeing. If they're not going to pick him up and give him lovin's, then they're not worth wasting time on, and that was pretty much how it went down with the skunk.

I think the poor little critter may have just been confused out of his mind. After all, here was this strange-looking, and maybe-or-maybe-not disinterested, dog off to one side, and a frantic, yelling human to the other side. With limited ammunition in his arsenal, the skunk made the wise decision and, thankfully, beat a hasty retreat without spraying anyone.

The even bigger miracle is how I ever managed to fall back asleep after that bit of excitement.

Look at the Pretty Pictures

I should write more to go with these pictures, but I'm tired and have had a headache for a few days that I can't seem to shake. I was hoping that neti pot and a hot bath before work would help, but it didn't. Anyway, I think I may have mentioned that Mendy, David's customer service rep down in Tennessee, came to visit last week. Since we had an appointment with the minister last week, as well, we took Mendy with us Downeast so she could get in a little sightseeing. I'm still trying to get all of them off my camera, but I did get a few uploaded to Flickr before I came in to work.

This one is of Mendy in the Schoodic Point section of Acadia National Park. We encountered some heavy flurries, so she had to get out of the car to catch a snowflake on her tongue.



And this one is of the snow clouds after they'd moved offshore. The photo can't quite do justice to the quality of the light, which was shimmering in blue, pink, and silver off the water.



This is the house where my grandmother grew up in Winter Harbor. I have always loved this house, not least because it has a name - Casa Marina. My grandmother's sister owns the house now, and I worry what will become of it when she's gone. I would live here in a heartbeat.



And this one is of the harbor in the little fishing village of Corea. I was reminded of this vista when James posted a harbor photo from his visit to Ireland in this post. The architecture may be different, but the boats are just the same.




Baking Porn



While I was here at work this evening saving puppies and kitties, David was holding a party to christen his new(ish) warehouse space. And even though I wasn't able to swap a shift around with anyone, I was recruited to contribute to the spread of food. So in the wee hours of last night I made some spinach dip, sliced up some veggies and hollowed out a sourdough boule for that. And then I baked the luscious beauty you see above.

I adapted the recipe for "apple cockaigne" from Joy of Cooking. I did a bit of reading, and apparently the Rombauers applied the term "cockaigne" to recipes they particularly liked, Cockaigne being the name of a fictional medieval utopia (and their family home, continuing the theme of named houses). David really likes the part about it raining cheese there (in the fictional version, not at the Rombauer place).

The name was supposedly originally derived from the name of a type of small sweet cake, so I suppose it's appropriate to apply it to this tartlike delicacy, which I adapted to a cranberry-orange filling. I'm told it was very tasty, and I shall post the recipe later, after I've had a chance to get a nap. Have to do something to keep y'all coming back, right?

Whoosh!

That's pretty much how the weekend went by, with David's Wednesday night ER visit only being one in a string of goings-on. Just as I was on my way out of the clinic Thursday morning, David called to tell me he'd gotten a call that Madelyn had gone into labor. It wasn't until I got home that we learned that she'd had a female cria who looked fairly normal but was being very slow to get up and nurse/walk/play - all the things a healthy baby should be doing within a couple of hours.

So that meant making a trip out to check on baby and pretty much dashed any plans I'd had for getting a nap while David picked up his cousin Greg and ran some errands. As we were getting ready to do that, I got another call about a bit of a family crisis which, while not involving me directly at all, is somewhat worrisome, which is about all I can say about it at this point.

Anyway, I got myself cleaned up and we headed off to the bus station to meet Greg, who had flown into Boston a few hours previously. As I mentioned on my last post, this visit was a very big deal - even more so because Greg is the first member of David's family I've met aside from his parents. So documenting his arrival was essential.



Then we quickly hopped in David's truck and made off for the new RedMaple warehouse, both to show the place off and to pick out some sweaters for later. And then we again hopped into the truck and sped off to Val's to see the new baby.



Another adorable baby, and with grey eyes like her sister Juliette. She was, however, not nearly as far along she should have been, acting at 5 hours like a 1-2 hours old cria. A bit of Karo syrup seemed to help, though, and she quickly got up to speed over the rest of the afternoon and so far doesn't seem to be looking back. No name yet, as I haven't had a real chance to think about it, but I'll be working on coming up with something fitting soon.

I had originally planned on making dinner that evening, but by the time we were getting back into town and given my lack of sleep, it was clear that I wasn't really going to be able to throw something together in a reasonable timeframe. Since we had discussed going Indian for dinner, we stopped by Divine Cuisines to see what they had available.

Since their business has been primarily catering and selling at the farmer's market, they don't do a lot of takeout business, but they're preparing to expand and do regular restaurant business, which I'm really looking forward to. The food is very good, and Raj is a nice guy (and very cute). Anyway, they did have enough for us to make a decent meal from, but they were out of naan (recipe below), so I made that when we got home and we had a nice dinner and visit before turning in to rest up for our weekend adventures.

Friday we got up and headed up to Fryeburg for the fair. We got a late start and ran into a horrendous traffic jam of leaf peepers going through Conway, New Hampshire, so we didn't get to Fryeburg until very late in the afternoon, but we still had a fun time eating fair food and looking at the livestock and exhibit halls. I took a few livestock photos, but I figure fiber folks always like the jacob sheep (who can resist all those horns?).



Afterwards, we headed even farther north to Bethel, where I had reserved us rooms for the night so that we could spend Saturday seeing the leaves and doing a bit of hiking. We all went to bed relatively early so that we could be nice and fresh for the day ahead, because in addition to the hiking, David had recruited Greg to be a RedMaple fashion model and we had a bit of a photo shoot planned.



He seems a natural, no? This particular shoot was done at Screw Auger Falls in Grafton Notch State Park. We stopped at most of the park sights along the road, doing photo shoots at some and just exploring at others. We eventually made our way up to where the Appalachian Trail intersects the park and hiked a short section of the trail up to Table Rock. And though the segment itself was short (1.4mi/2.1km), it entailed a vertical rise of about 900ft/270m. My quads are still a bit sore, but the view at the top was definitely worth it.



We decided to do our last photo shoot of the day there, but by then Greg was getting a little punchy (the altitude, perhaps? or maybe just the excitement of a well-crafted alpaca sweater) and the photos got, well, interesting. It's not entirely clear, but there's a little nipple play going on in this photo.



We hadn't intended it to be that kind of photo shoot, but I suppose if it sells sweaters....

And on that note, we made our way back down the mountain and back down the road to Bethel, where we had an excellent meal and some equally excellent beer at Sunday River Brewing Company (thanks to Kit for the suggestion), then made the nearly 3 hour trip back home.

Yesterday was much more relaxed and close to home, with an outing to take a few more pics and let Greg get the obligatory lobster dinner, followed by blueberry-apple pie and silly movies. After a little more driving around the area today, we put him on the bus back to the airport, and he is hopefully having a very uneventful trip home.

Yummy, Yummy Naan

I love, love, love naan, which is really the quintessential Indian flatbread. Of course, there are others - chapatis, pappadam, etc. - but when most people (here in the US, anyway) think of Indian breads, naan is the one that comes to mind most often. I mostly follow the recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian cookbook, with very slight variation, and have been very pleased with the results.

• 4-5 cups unbleached all-purpose white flour, plus some for dusting
  
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• ½ teaspoon salt
  
• 1½ teaspoons sugar
  
• 1¼ cup plain yogurt (note: If you are cooking for vegetarians, please check the label. Some yogurts use gelatin and so are not vegetarian. Even kosher gelatin is usually non-veg, despite misconceptions to the contrary.)
  
• 1 egg
  
• butter ghee, and plenty of it
  

First sift together 4 or so cups of flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then mix the sugar and yogurt in a large bowl. This can be done with a mixer, but I prefer to use a wooden mixing spoon. Slowly begin beating in about two cups of the flour mix a little bit at a time. It is essential for proper texture to beat this very well, as it encourages the gluten molecules to crosslink. I generally add in roughly ½ cup at a time, stir until mixed, and then beat the batter 100 strokes with the spoon for each addition.

By the time you have beaten in 2 cups of the flour mix, the resulting batter should be smooth but have some obvious resiliency from the activation of the gluten. At this point, mix in the egg and 1 tablespoon of melted ghee, then continue adding in the flour mix in increments until the dough is sticky and getting too thick to stir readily. Then you should turn it out onto a board or countertop with the remainder of the flour mix plus any additional flour needed to keep the dough from sticking. Grease up your hands well with the ghee and knead it briefly until the dough can be shaped into a ball readily. It should at this point still be a bit sticky.

Making sure your hands are still well-greased, divide the dough ball into 8 or 9 smaller balls and place them on a well-floured tray. Flatten them slightly with your hand and cover with plastic wrap or parchment paper. Allow the dough to rest for at least 30 minutes - or refrigerate for up to 48 hours - as this will give the gluten molecules more time to crosslink.

Turn on or light your broiler. If this is in the main oven compartment, then the rack should be set all the way at the top. The original recipe calls for the initial cooking to be done on stovetop with a large cast-iron skillet, but I do it all under the broiler on a cookie sheet.

Take each of the dough balls and dip into flour. Then grease your hands well with ghee and begin to pat out and flatten the dough ball into an oblong shape. You want the dough to be quite flattened. If the gluten has been activated well, it shouldn't tear too readily. Daub both sides with a bit more ghee and slap the nan down onto the heated pan. Cook under the broiler for a minute or so, making sure after about 30 seconds that it is not sticking. Once it has started developing a few reddish-brown spots, flip it over and cook on the other side for another minute or so. Remove the finished naan from the broiler and daub on some more ghee and enjoy.

Fall Is Coming

The last few days the air has had the unmistakable crispness that the end of summer brings to Maine. It's even gotten downright chilly at night, which is why I'm wearing sweatpants, a long sleeve T-shirt, a sweatshirt, and my felted slippers. And I'm still even a bit on the chilly side when the breeze blows through the windows.

We headed Downeast for a couple days to visit and to do a bit more on the wedding planning front. The most important thing was our meeting with the new Unitarian minister in Ellsworth, Rev. Leela Sinha. We now have an officiant, and she's also got a Minnesota connection. Leela was doing her undergraduate studies at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, while David and I were both living in the Twin Cities, and she herself later ended up living in the Twin Cities for a few years. Also, her wife, Janine, is a native of Duluth. I'm happy about this because it means that she'll have a particularly good understanding of the places that have helped to shape our lives, and I'm looking forward to working with her.

While we were there, we took some time to drive over to Schoodic Point, which is a smaller and less-traveled section of Acadia National Park. This in itself isn't particularly remarkable, since my grandmother lives on Schoodic Peninsula and since it's one of my favorite places in the world, but I got some nice photos.



We also decided that the Frazer Point picnic area in the park would be a perfect venue to have a cookout for all our friends the evening before the wedding. And while we were there, I managed to snap a couple photos of this camera-shy little guy.



We also visited Daphne for a bit the day before her surgery. We've since found out that the cancer has invaded around her inferior vena cava, which means that they weren't able to remove all of it. The implications, of course, are not good, and I'm very worried for her. Still, her brother-in-law is an internist, so she has good advice near at hand, and there are a large number of people who are keeping her in their thoughts, so I'm sure that whatever decision she makes going forward will be the best one for her. And I have been making good progress with shedir, so I hope to be able to get it to her quickly.

A Weekend in the Woods

We had a really nice couple of days camping with my folks up on Moosehead Lake. I hadn't been up there in years and David had never been there. My parents usually drive up a few times a year to take pictures of moose, but none of us had ever camped at Lily Bay State Park, where we had reserved a campsite. No knitting occurred while we were there, but shortly after we set out I finished up my first Dulaan item for 2008.



The park is just about as lovely as you could imagine and, with the exception of one heavy thundershower that swept a good bit of mud under our tent, the weather was wonderful. An added bonus for David was the chance to indulge his pyromania and sit by a campfire both nights. He also got in a kayak for the first time ever and did a bit of paddling around, but I don't have any photos of the event. I do have this one, though.



The moose were fairly elusive this trip. We saw one just before we got to Greenville Thursday evening, when it was too dark to get a decent photo, and then I managed to get this one of a smallish (as in, around 600-700 pounds small) cow moose.



She looked relatively young, so I'm guessing she was one of last year's babies.

Coming home, we swung out to Jackman, which is near the Quebec border, in hopes of seeing more moose. The moose hunt proved fruitless, but there were still some wonderful sights to be seen, like this overlook view of Attean Lake as the storm clouds rolled over the mountains.



As fun as it is to go camping, I definitely need to figure out something better for my back to sleep on. We tried an air mattress this time, but I'm not sure that it's any better than the camping pads we already have (aside from keeping us drier after the deluge). I may just need to get thick foam pads and sew covers for them. At least I was able to come home and get a reasonably good night's sleep before returning to work.

Knee Update

The doctor felt that the problem is one of patellofemoral syndrome, which is supported by the fact that x-ray films of the joint were quite clean. So I started seeing a physical therapist to see what we can do about it, and he feels that strengthening the vastus medialis muscle should do the trick.

I actually got a call from the physical therapy office Thursday as I was trying to pull things together for the camping trip that they'd had a last minute cancellation and had an opening in half an hour. Since my only other option was to wait until late August, I jumped on it and got a series of exercises to work on. I was admittedly not as diligent with them as I should have been over the weekend, but there wasn't always a good place and time in the woods. My next visit is this afternoon, so we'll see how it goes.

Simpsonized Me

This particular bit of silliness comes courtesy of Jean. She had the link, and so naturally I followed. I'm not sure if we'll see The Simpsons movie before it hits Netflix, but we both really like the show. Anyway, I think it's a rather good resemblance, for a cartoon character.

A Lovely Weekend

We just got back from my grandmother's tonight after a fairly productive trip. We're getting some big things settled for the wedding next year. This is the Arts & Crafts era summer chapel where we'll be having the ceremony (That's David discussing details with Daphne, a friend who's on the board for the chapel):



And this is the view from the B & B where the wedding party will be staying:


Click to biggify. You'll be glad you did.

It was also productive on the knitting front. They're finished!



I'm still wearing them.

Beach Boy

When I got off work this morning and headed home, the weather was about as perfect as could be - sunny, breezy, warm but not hot. And as it was the first day of summer, it seemed right to go to the beach. Seapoint Beach, our little local beach, is only about 2 miles from our house. The photo above is a blurry Photomerge that I'll have to replace someday with something nicer, but you can see how uncrowded it is. There are no concessions, no touristy shops; the beach is a municipal park and only locals are allowed to park in the small gravel lot right at the beach.

The natural breakwater right in the center has a lot of tidal pools just like this.



So after I set up my little beach chair, I headed over with camera to see what I could find in them. Unfortunately, I don't have a polarizing filter for this lens yet, so my apologies for the glare.

A fairly large green crab trying to hide

The blurry peach-colored blob is an anemone.

And here's a brown anemone.

This urchin had used some of its hundreds of sucker "feet" to camouflage itself with snails, some of which didn't seem to thrilled to be there.

This little guy was about the size of a penny, for you folks who need a reference.

When I arrived, I set my little chair up at a respectful distance from any of the other 4 or 5 groups who were already there, as beach etiquette dictates. When I came back from taking photos, the beach was barely any more crowded, but two women with small children had set up their blankets and collection of beach toys only about 8ft. away from my chair. With about a football field's worth of open space available to them.

Not particularly caring to listen in on their conversation about which disposable diapers are best to prevent chafing when taking the children to the beach (yes, this was the actual conversation-in-progress), I put away my camera in the car, then came back and picked up my things and moved them about 200ft. further down the beach, to an area that was not only very open but also closer to the water, so that the incoming tide would wake me up if I happened to fall asleep in the sun too long.

Guess where they decided to bring the kids to play in the surf? Some people are just oblivious. A minor annoyance, fortunately, and not enough to ruin a very pleasant afternoon. My knees got a bit sunburned, but it should fade to brown in a few days.

Knitting?

Despite all the nature photography lately, I have been doing some knitting. Got a bit more done on the sock last night work, and tonight I started doing a swatch of the latest iteration of the wedding vest motif. I'm doing a circular swatch with steek so I can a) get an accurate representation of my gauge, and b) play around a bit with steeking, since I've not done it before. Photos of those when I've got something worth showing.

For H.P. Fans

In case you haven't already seen this:

The sorting hat says that I belong in Ravenclaw!

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Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose intelligence is surest."

Ravenclaw students tend to be clever, witty, intelligent, and knowledgeable.
Notable residents include Cho Chang and Padma Patil (objects of Harry and Ron's affections), and Luna Lovegood (daughter of The Quibbler magazine's editor).

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

Guess I'm gonna have to make myself a scarf. Should I do it in book colors or movie colors, do you think?

Foxy

Our upstairs bathroom window looks out over the boys' pasture, which is just behind the house. Yesterday at around 5AM, I was flossing and brushing before bed when I noticed the boys suddenly coming out of their shed and staring intently towards the back of the pasture. So I looked over into the pasture and saw a fairly large grey fox trotting across it towards the girls' pasture. When it encountered the fence, though, it turned and ran down towards the house and slipped through the small gap at the bottom of the gate, then across our small strip of back yard and over the stone wall into the neighbors' yard.

When I called David from work tonight for our usual bedtime (for him) call, he said that he had also caught a glimpse of it when he was out in the yard during the day. We've seen red foxes in the neighborhood fairly frequently (which is one good reason the kitties don't go outside and the landladies keep their ducks penned), but grey foxes usually tend to be a bit more elusive. This one seemed rather round in the belly, though, so I think it had either fed recently or may be a female about to give birth. In any event, the fact that it was spotted twice in such a short time period makes me think the den is probably nearby. We heard a fox yipping a few weeks ago, but I wouldn't know if it might have been this one or a red fox. I'm kind of excited to see if this one sticks around and if we start seeing any kits.

Saturday Sky Plus

I don't belong to the Saturday Sky ring because a) I'm not that much of a joiner, and b) it would require far to much intention on my part to consistently get a Saturday sky photo to share. Today, though, I thought I would share this bit of Saturday sky, which was taken on an overnight visit to my grandmother's - partly for the visit itself and partly to look at possible wedding venues and possible accommodations for guests. Just before the trip, I got a new 28mm/f1.4 lens (38mm equivalent on the digital camera), so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play with it.

This promontory is Ob's point and used to be in the family (It was owned by Oliver Bunker, whom everyone called Ob on account of his initials). The nearest bit of land visible across the water is the northern tip of Stave Island. When I spent summers with my grandparents as a kid, I would come down here and stay for hours. Someday my ashes will be scattered here, because I can't imagine a Heaven that could top this place.

David & I also took a nice long hike back along the logging road into the woods behind my grandmother's. I took a number of photos of the mosses, lichens and other flora to help with ideas for wedding decorations, so I thought I'd share some of those, as well. Mostly because it's late and I'm too tired to write anything else.