First parsnip harvest!

I'm so excited I can grow them! Did you know? All you have to do is sprinkle some seeds, be patient, and kabam! Parsnips!

Today's harvest

From the backyard...

Greens harvest: mustard Greens, blue scotch kale, chard, and a few peas

Herb harvest: black stemmed mint, greek oregano, sage, and lemon thyme

Victory!

Before:And after:
One pair of wool longies, and one wool soaker, from a sweater that fit me weird. I mostly went by the instructions here. It cost me nothing, excepting the cost of the sweater which I bought a few years ago for a few pounds at a thrift store/charity shop in Scotland. It's real Shetland wool; however, I don't feel guilty cutting it up because directly under the "Real Shetland Wool" boast on the tag, it says "Made in Hong Kong".

Hopefully this will be a good solution to night time cloth diapering!

Why we moved back to America: Parades

Since it has been 4 months since our last post, I have concluded that you must be sufficiently questioning what we have been doing. Last time we posted (excepting the Salmiak Shampoo 'experience'), we were shivering in a very cold Glasgow. Now, we are quite warm here in suburbia. Since we drive everywhere, we never have to wear coats. I forget that quite often, and end up bringing a coat with me, where it stays lonely on the back seat until I carry it back into the house.

Joel and I are both working for the U.S. Census now! Woo hoo, temporary employment! It's going to be fun. (really!)

Anyway, enough about us. What I really want to tell you about is America. It is a funny culture they have here. They do love a parade. And how can one help but join the spectacle? Come and see:

All the awards go to this woman and her doggie for Most Excited Spectator! (Not even in the parade!)This adorable green horse actually moved up and down! Wonders never cease.

A free-flowing wine float is always the thing for family parades...

The Seattle Seafair Pirates - always a joy

This shot exemplifies the nature of the American parade - a constant barrage of BRIGHT colors and tacky decor!

Stayin' true to the cowboy heritage.. gotta love the jacket.

Farm animals on parade. Wonderful.

The daffodil princesses!

My little brother leading his high school band!

Grandma and Grandpa, Joel, Dad and Mom. (Note the free Census tote bag - classy!)

Well, if that wasn't sufficient to fill your need for a proper parade, please come visit. Maybe we can find another one.

Sewing!

I made this! This afternoon! I used this pattern. The fabric is heavy duty cotton, really thick, I think some sort of upholstery fabric or something. It made it a nice, thick bag that has some substance.

The inside fabric is the same weight. The lighting is fairly atrocious, but I don't think the pink stripes are quite so garrish in real life. I dunno, I'm not into pink anyway.

As you see below, it's reversible! So if one liked garrish pink stripes, they could turn it inside out. I don't think I would.

The bag has a flat bottom - which is pretty cool, considering I'm not a master seamstress.

Our sewing machine was given to us by Christine, our Glasgow friend who moved to Boston last year. She's German. She gave us odds and ends of extra fabric too, which is what I used for the bag! So, this was free to make! Amazing. I love free. We pulled out the sewing machine last week finally, and repaired some clothing. This bag will be filled with some basic essential oils, some natural cleaning recipes, etc and given to our friend for a bridal shower I'm going to next week. She's been wanting to learn some more natural cleaning from me, so I thought I'd put this 'starter kit' together for her.

Now all I need is some more fabric, and I could make more! It'd be a great bag for keeping knitting odds and ends in, or even a beach bag, if it were bigger.. (and if there was a beach).