Even though I found them on the deep discount rack at REI, my Prana cargo pants were quite a splurge. But in the spring of 2008 I was on my way to East Africa for two months, and the pants were so light weight, had a touch of spandex that made them perfect for everything [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Uncategorized'
Indian Plum: First Forest Flowers
February 20th, 2010 · No Comments
Amdist the brown branches of February woodlands and urban forests in the Pacific Northwest, one native shrub always turns out the first flowers and bright new leaves– the Indian Plum. The pendants of tiny greenish-white flower clusters fall beneath glowing green leaves that stick straight up, like the ears of a rabbit.
The flowers will mature [...]
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Valentine Sanity (and a little break)
February 11th, 2010 · 1 Comment
Dear friends, I’ll be taking a short break from all things technological for the next ten days or so. See you here when I get back. Meanwhile…
I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in the last couple of years. Friends call a day or two before Valentine’s Day, stressed out. “I have to make 30 Valentines by [...]
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The One Pot: Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven
January 24th, 2010 · 11 Comments
Every morning it’s the same. I wake up in the darkness while my loved ones still sleep. I tiptoe into the kitchen to make coffee. The Pot sits there on the stove, in the shadows. And out of the silence, it speaks: “Well, Haupt, what’s for dinner?” What a rude question before I am even [...]
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Stand With Haiti
January 16th, 2010 · 3 Comments
Dear friends, I hope you won’t mind an off-topic post this week. Many of you know that Tom, my husband, works for a global health program at the University of Washington, and that his group has an office in Haiti with more than thirty local staff. Because of this, we’ve been receiving queries from friends [...]
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Cardboard Box Gingerbread House Gift Box: A Super-fun Upcycle
December 21st, 2009 · 4 Comments
Last night I was wrapping a present for Claire, and I don’t know what came over me. The ugly old box ended up as a cardboard gingerbread house. When Claire woke up this morning, she thought the box itself was her present. Now we are plotting a whole upcycled cardboard box village, but I thought [...]
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Homemade Knitting Needles, Knitting Evangelism, and a Pretty Scarf Pattern
December 20th, 2009 · 5 Comments
For my seventh birthday, my mom gave me a pair of light blue knitting needles and a ball of white yarn. She didn’t know how to knit, but sent me across the backyard to our neighbor’s house, where the retired librarian Marion Milligan took me under her wing. Marion taught me to knit and purl. [...]
Tags: Uncategorized, craft, knitting, simple gifts
Homemade Ornaments
December 13th, 2009 · 7 Comments
One day this week we unanimously decided that Claire was looking much too pale to go to school. Clearly, she had to stay home, sip hot chocolate, listen to Vince Guaraldi, and decorate the Christmas tree with me (I don’t homeschool, but I do try to keep my priorities straight–if something like, say, a very [...]
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Slow Time (a book) / Chicken Time (a thought)
October 31st, 2009 · 7 Comments
As we move deeper into this season of darkness, I have observed that my own impulse to cozy down into an early bedtime is mirrored by the mood of the chickens. Starting in late summer, the girls put themselves to bed earlier and earlier every night, following the earlier sunsets, and these dark autumn mornings [...]
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Halloween Zombie Cats – Creepy Cookies
October 30th, 2009 · 4 Comments
Lyanda is out of town, so Claire is stepping in with a guest post:
This week my mom was away and I had to make cookies with my dad, to get ready for a Halloween party. Scary! We decided to make cat and pumpkin cookies. We used a recipe from my “Look And Cook” cookbook, and [...]
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