Post-Holiday Week

I hope everyone enjoyed their past week, whether you celebrated a holiday, or two, or none. My week started with a Passover dinner with Lover's extended family. I heart: potato kugel, that apple-walnut spread, and matzoh balls! My goal is to learn how to make all those things and make them well. There were irreverent readings from the Haggadah (I always think Haagen-Dazs - delicious!), and much mingling.

(Do you notice something similar between the two? I'll give you a hint: Look at the small print.)

On Friday night we visited friends who were busy decorating eggs for Easter. I love decorating eggs, but I don't personally celebrate Easter (or Passover, for that matter), and Lover doesn't like hard-boiled eggs. It was nice to get to my egg-decoration fix at the house of someone who will enjoy them!

(I know I look stoned, I was super tired, okay?!?!)

On Sunday we had dinner with Lover's family and our old roommate (who recently moved out of our house). Lover's mother gave each of us a bagful of candy, cookies, colored eggs, and socks. Not only do socks break up the lovely ending alliteration in that last sentence, but they seem like a strange gift for Easter, right? I'm down with it, though. Socks are useful, and these were athletic "no-show" types that are perfect for the gym and running. So, they're a win!

What do you think of changing Easter traditions of sugary gift-giving to healthier, more practical endowments? I mean, my taste buds are all for the chocolate, but my waistline isn't! For the essential candy part, I think of special chocolate candies with real dark chocolate (more antioxidants) that is fair trade (no Ivory Coast child labor), complemented by gourmet jelly beans. Depending on the person's preferences, you could add heirloom vegetable seeds, homemade sugar scrubs, a jar of local honey (I'm on a big beekeeping bend right now!), a lovingly crocheted spring scarf, or some other simple gift. Even more practical would be socks, or a toothbrush and dental floss. What do you think? Got any ideas?

April Aprons

The sparrows have finally discovered the bird feeder in the kitchen window. In these months our only visitor has been Charlie. He likes to shovel fistfuls of birdseed down his squirrel-y gullet.

The sparrows aren't the only competition in town. I noticed another squirrel, this one scrappy looking and skinny, has been making a mess at the feeder recently. I've named her Ratface.

In the rush of spring fever, I have been pulling out unfinished projects and deciding which to trash and which to complete. I have begun knitting a pair of purple, finger-less gloves that I had started years ago. I also found this fabulous fabric I had purchased for an apron I never made.

I got out a pattern and the scissors last night and cut the pattern pieces out. I ironed out the fabric, and now I am prepared for tonight's step: cutting the fabric according to the pattern and pinning pieces together.

Two months ago, I had sewn a garden apron. I promised pics, and now here they be!

Perfect for carrying tools when I am out planting, weeding, and harvesting all summer long!

Have you made anything? Got an old project that you're beginning anew? Don't mind squirrels at the bird feeder? Leave a comment!

Studio Clean Up and the Song Challenge

I got the spring cleaning bug now, and I attacked my half of the "office" with zeal yesterday. My half has two homemade drafting tables; a small chest of drawers; a slew of art supplies in bins and piles; stacks of books, magazines, and papers; and my computer.

I switched it up a little and cleared the table tops except for the essentials (and a project I'm currently working on). I put papers and art ideas into manila envelopes for filing, so now I need to go through my filing cabinet, clean out the unnecessary stuff, and fill it back up! I wish I had taken before pics so you could have seen the mess it had become.

Instead, I will leave you with my first song from the 30 Day Song Challenge happening on Facebook.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO YOUTUBE (I would have had the video here, but it hideously out stepped the boundaries of my blog!)

This song is hot! Yes, a lot of people who know me usually know me for the "underground" or marginalized music I listen to, but I do like a good dance beat! Rihanna is sexy and edgy, with a voice that powers the song like a freight train. You know this song is on my pole dance playlist!

Spring Cleaning and Dinner

Sunday, Lover and I spent an hour in the kitchen cleaning. We put tag sale items in a box, filled two garbage bags (there was a lot of random junk in drawers and in cabinets), and organized the rest. Now, our counters are clear, we have a lot of room in the cabinets, and cooking is all the more pleasant.

In celebration, we invited friends for dinner. We whipped up a meat-free meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and sesame green bean salad. The green bean salad was a hit, but the recipe we used for the mashed potatoes was lacking in flavor. The meat-free meat loaf wasn't Lover's cup of tea due to the crunchiness of the walnuts, but I and our guests enjoyed it.

The recipe for the loaf is in this book:

It's one of my favorite vegetarian books to cook from!

Aside from that, I've picked out a new pattern for a kitchen apron, and feel almost ready to hit the studio with a spring cleaning. I want to set it up so it's easier for me to get to work on new creations, take photos, and share them here with you. 

Mural Painting at St Francis Lead Safe Home

Public Allies (an AmeriCorps program) has given me amazing opportunities in service. Last fall, I got to participate in the making of a new community garden. On Martin Luther King Day, we showed a film on the Children's Marches and then played scrabble in an elderly home (I love Scrabble, and I love listening to the stories of old folks).

For our spring "Global Youth Service Day," I was asked to lead a team to provide a mural for a lead-safe home in Hartford. Honored, I accepted and planned for the day": a simple, but colorful mural for the children who live in this home to enjoy while they spend time in the small, fenced in yard.

With paints and brushes at the ready, the team arrived as I was drawing the design onto the six 4' x 8' sheets of plywood. 

We blocked in a lot of the colors pretty quickly. Then the wind started, and the temperature began to drop quickly. With the gusts of wind came spilled paint.

The first 4' x 8' panel:

The third (apparently I am missing a photo of the second!):

The fourth:

The fifth:

The sixth:

None of them are finished! The cold and wind soon drove everyone inside, and the coordinators and I decided to call it a day. I've decided to return in a couple weeks to add the finishing touches - more trees and animals, and people enjoying their day along the rainbow hills.

 
Poor grass...

With hope the murals will brighten up the days of children who will come to live here. Go Mural Team!

TED Talks...Apathy!

I believe his points on the barriers to our engagement in local politics ring true.

The long and short:
1. City Hall and intentional exclusion via language and advertisement of local issues.
2. Public space being utilized by those with the most money - they get the loudest voice.
3. Media focus on celebrity and scandals, and when political news is addressed there is little follow-up provided for media consumers. Reinforces the idea that politics is a "spectator sport."
4. Hero worship. Movies often depict "chosen ones" who "have to" save the world. Real leadership is collective, imperfect, ongoing, voluntary, and is about following your own dreams...uninvited.
5. Political parties. Should be a great starting point...yet they tend to feed cynicism instead of providing bold and creative ideas.
6. Charitable status. Groups with charitable status are not allowed to do advocacy (in Canada). And that's where you'll find very involved, passionate people.
7. Elections. Canadians (according to Dave Meslin) are apathetic with elections believing their vote doesn't count.

Any of this sound familiar? Watch the video if you haven't already. It's only 7 minutes and delves further.

April Foolishness

I love a good weekend with great friends, don't you?

There's a crew I hang with known as the Forest Folk. They're an extremely passionate-about-life group that hang out nearly once per month for a weekend sleepover or camping trip. They are creative, outdoorsy, and imaginative types that do potlucks with gusto and accept pets and rubber skeletons as esteemed guests.

This past weekend we had our usual craft table where I painted journal pages. Others repurposed altoid tins into mini-shrines and painted journals to commemorate good times. My friend Nici (who took these pictures) collaged pages to showcase the poetry of a relative who had passed on. Another friend, Sarah, knitted the cutest bunny as her friend's baby shower gift.

There was ham, potato au gratin, purple potato salad, and steamed broccoli for Saturday's dinner. Homemade cupcakes with homemade strawberry frosting was one of the many desserts. Everyone brings a
little something to share with the group.

There was poker, movies, and Just Dance for added entertainment.

Our next big shindig is a camping weekend in May where there will be drumming and dancing. I love our little community!

Seed-to-Seed Lending at Fairfield Library

Yo, check this out:

Fairfield Library is doing a seed-lending program. The idea is that you "borrow" heirloom seeds from the library, sow and grow them, benefit from the veggies and green, then preserve seeds from the plants. In the fall, you bring the preserved seeds back and return them to the library. How cool is that?!?!

(toilet paper roll seeds)

There are two related events happening at the Library on the 13th and 16th. Check out their website for more details. The program is sponsored by the Fairfield Woods Branch Library and the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm. Funding for program is provided by Fairfield Earth Day Committee. Seeds were donated by Bakers Creek and Comstock Seeds.

Hopefully this is a trend that will catch on and spread to libraries everywhere!

On the Job Scene

Some of you may know about the program I am in, but for those of you that don't, here's the general rundown: I was accepted into an AmeriCorps program (in partnership with RYASAP) known as Public Allies. As a Public Ally, I work Monday through Thursday at a Bridgeport area non-profit. This is called my placement. Every Ally has a placement mostly suited to their preferences and skills. At my particular placement, I am implementing their new marketing strategy and teaching reproductive health in Bridgeport high schools (sex ed). In addition, I am spearheading the organization of their annual teen talent show and art exhibit. On Fridays, Allies meet in New Haven for professional development workshops. On top of this, we are committed to a Team Service Project (TSP) to implement in our city. For Bridgeport, we have developed the project "Bridgeport Beautifies," an initiative in urban beautification. We've partnered with other organizations and individuals to bring about gardens, murals, and city clean up. It's awesome.

The thing is, this program is a ten month program. Come the end of June we are all jobless. Stellar people, but jobless stellar people. Unless we've worked it out ahead of time...

I still work at my old part-time job, ESCAPE to the Arts, in Danbury. I will be enjoying yet another SPARKS trip this year, this time to San Francisco and Los Angeles! (More about this later.) But it certainly won't pay the bills for the summer.

The other issue? My beloved placement wants me to come back for a second year. (WIN!) Again, this means another ten months, starting in September, in Public Allies (though the year works differently when you have the privilege of being a Second Year Ally). Which leaves this eight week gap of little-to-no income in the summer.

I saw another AmeriCorps opportunity with a program called MYO. Conveniently, an eight week summer program to produce the play Othello with a targeted audience of teenagers. Conveniently running through July and August.

You know I had to try.

Well, the work and effort paid off, because I was offered the Team Leader position for the production crew! I accepted, and now this is one more thing to celebrate!

Feel free to tell me something that's going on good for you. I love celebrating other people's successes as much as my own!

Spare Time for Seeds

It's rainy today. The snow has ceased, much to the relief of many New Englanders.

Yesterday's spare time was all about the seedlings. Most of the tomatoes have outgrown the seed cells (it hasn't even been a full four weeks since they were planted!). I transplanted them, a jalapeno pepper plant, and two romanesco broccoli plants into bigger pots and put them on the kitchen counter by the window. The houseplants don't necessarily like to share their sun, but that doesn't matter today. It's the seedlings' first day in big-kid pots, and it's a dreary one!

 In the empty seed cells left behind, I ladled in more Pro-Mix (a sterile, organic dirt), and started new seeds. I put in basil of three kinds: Thai, Genovese, and Cinnamon; two kinds of onion: Golden Princess and Sweet Spanish Yellow; a spearmint; Triple Curled parsley and Giant from Italy parsley; marigolds; stevia; swiss chard of the Five Color Silverbeet variety; borage; and Mustard habanero.

AND, I planted one other thing: green bell pepper sprouts from Trader Joe's. A week ago, I had half a green pepper that had started to mold in the fridge, so I chopped it up and tossed it into the worm bin. This week while turning over the compost to help keep it oxygenated, I discovered a clump of sprouts. I am eager to see if they will take to the soil and continue growing.

They've been placed back under the grow light on top of the heating mat. I think this heat mat is key to the whole process. I've never had seedlings germinate so quickly and grow so well that I had to transplant them into larger pots before I could put them outside.

Planting anything? Even if it's not plants, how about the seeds (or steps) for a good summer, or a new exercise routine or connecting with an old friend? Tell me what you're "planting" in your life.

April Goals

April is here!

Goals for this month:

1. Have a superbly wonderful Team Service Project. We at Bridgeport
Beautifies are running workshops for murals, stone sculptures, seed
starting, seed bombing, and city clean up!

2. Map out the garden! I'm having a party in the beginning of May to
transplant the seedlings and start new ones out in the containers and
raised bed in the yard.

3. Lose five pounds. Time to take off the winter weight!

4. Two sewing projects! An awesome kitchen apron, and I haven't
decided what the second project will be yet... I'm thinking either
curtains for the kitchen or a laptop sleeve.

5. Finish up all the legal paperwork for my new business. Yep! You heard that right. 

I am starting my own online shop. Can't wait to show you all!

Bridgeport Beautifies in the News

Wouldn't you know, we're in the news again. Bridgeport Beautifies is the name of our AmeriCorps Public Allies team service project. We're awesome!

Garden gets growing...

For a sampling of past articles:

Bridgeport Beautifies to plant gardens.
Clarifying a mistake.
The Best of the Week