December views, day 17

Remember who you are.

December views, day 16

I was making good time on my morning commute, so I stopped at Malibu to enjoy ten minutes' beach peace. Thank you, seagulls, for your perfect birdiness.

December views, day 15

This has been a favourite potluck dish of mine for nearly ten years. I annotated the cookbook in Feb 1999 with the note "Wonderful mix of flavours." It's my contribution to tomorrow's departmental holiday luncheon.

Lentil, Olive and Mandarin Salad
Adapted from Weight Watchers' In A Flash cookbook

1 cup dried lentils
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
One 11-ounce can mandarin orange sections, drained*
1 small red onion, diced
1/4 cup sliced pimiento-stuffed green olives
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Put lentils in a saucepan covered by 2 inches of water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes or until tender but not falling apart. Drain and run under cold water to cool.

In a medium bowl, mix the lemon juice, oil, garlic, cumin and salt. Gently stir in the lentils, mandarin sections, onion, olives and parsley.

*You can use fresh mandarins or small oranges instead. Cut off the membranes from each section.

December views, day 14

I'm on the home stretch with Christmas gifts. Not having a baby handy, I used a very endearing monkey to test out my SIL's baby wrap. Seems to work just fine. In fact, I experienced a flashback to my babywearing days (could it really be 20-odd years ago?) Some days I think I'd have another if I could. I love babies. But I also love a good night's sleep.

December views, day 13

Took a misty, drizzly hike in Franklin Canyon with my friend Gina this morning. Spot the bunny.

December views, day 12

December views, day 11

So SoCal. Love the seagull.

December views, day 10

Next in line.

December views, day 9

Chipotle meatballs, ready to take to work tomorrow for the holiday potluck.

December views, day 8

December views, day 7

December views, day 6

After the HSL (housework/shopping/laundry) was done today, I offered Lauren some suggestions of places we could go this afternoon. A Kwanzaa festival. A Festival of Lights celebration. The Local World's Fair. She looked at them all and said, "How about a hike?"

Absolutely, my dear. I gave her the book to pick one, and off we went.

It was just lovely, strenuous and beautiful. And on the way home ...

...serenaded by love songs from the back seat...a wonderful sunset.

December views, day 5

Reflections, shadows, grids.

December views, day 4

My guys' hands.

December views, day 3

Workplace shapes.

December views, day 2

At the top of Topanga this morning, I emerged from the cloud and stopped to look back over the San Fernando Valley. Hard to imagine that there's millions of people down there in the fog, taking showers, eating breakfast, driving to work, arriving at school, walking the dog. It could be wilderness. I wish it was.

December views, day 1

Sometimes the blurry shots are the best.
The Malibu tunnel on the way to work all aglow.

My friend Shawna visited me at my desk to sip tea and update me on her Thanksgiving.

The planetary alignment on the way home got me excited. I took this on the evening commute with the camera resting on the roof of the car, but decided I really needed a tripod. So as soon as I got home I gathered up the family and tripod and we went looking for high ground. By then too much time had elapsed; Venus and Jupiter had slipped too low in the sky to be seen from our vantage point.

So I took more blurry shots of the fairy lights.

A good day. Happy December!

November 27

Josh and the kids left town for Thanksgiving, and I got a LOT of sewing etc done, most of which I can't display here. Once Christmas is out of the way I will return to more frequent blogging, I hope. I might even start drawing again. That would be good.

About four weeks ago I gave my family the url for the Christmas Boutique (a fickr site where I posted photos of all the gifts I had made throughout the year), and asked them to select what they wanted. Some folks asked for variations on the color schemes shown, and a few asked for things I hadn't thought to make. This has kept me busy for the past month, but at last I have all the overseas gifts ready to wrap and mail tomorrow (the deadline for arrival in Australia before Christmas, I'm told).

One brother and his kids requested hacky sacks in specific colors, which entailed dying yarn. Always fun!

The O.S. cards have already been mailed; the US ones are going out on Monday.

So now I just have the US family's gifts to complete. I plan to make some baby shoes, a baby wrap, a nursing cover-up, a knitted beret, a quilt, and some fingerless gloves. Better get to it!!!

November 16

Christmas present-ing is proceeding apace. One of our traditions is that I give everyone in the immediate family (including myself) new pyjamas, which we open, and wear, on Christmas Eve. This year I'm making them all. Lauren picked the fabric for hers some time ago on a trip to the downtown fabric district. I was trying to keep her occupied while I browsed at my own pace. I was a little surprized by her selection -- these are not colours or icons (anchors? for a tween girl?) she normally wears. But apparently "Juicy" is a brand she thinks important, and so she gravitated to the wording on this fabric. It's too tiny for you to see, but it's there.

I also completed, filled out, addressed, and stamped fifty handmade Christmas cards this weekend. I have to confess to feeling pretty pleased with myself.

November 9

I'm still alive. A combination of a fit of the blahs, and time spent making gifts that I don't want certain blog readers to see, has kept me from posting. Then we got new carpet last week, which involved removing everything from my studio and putting it all back again. It's MUCH nicer now! I purged fairly deeply, and rearranged, and it's all now clean and airy and spacious-feeling. I took down the ugly vertical blinds over the side window and this morning whipped up a stash-busting set of curtains.Ah yes. Much better.

In other news, the Teen Boy now has a real job.
Yep, he's a Chuck-E-Cheese crew member. Hey, we all have to start somewhere!

October 26

Itty bitty baby shoes.

October 20

A new and improved charging station. Same concept as the other one, but improved execution.

October 19

Mmmmm. Yummy. Chickpea and Apple Curry, Red Lentil Dal and Roasted Curried Cauliflower. You can forget every other way you've ever tried to cook cauliflower. This is AWESOME. So good, that I could have eaten the whole cauli myself. Oh wait, I did. Seriously, it's that good. Try it.

Otober 18

And a teal blue one.

October 14

Green version.

October 13

Inspired by the ever-inspirational Anna Maria Horner, I whipped up a tote-able towel. I'll be making more in different colours for the Christmas Boutique, which will be opening its doors on November 1.

October 12

Success! This is No-Knead Bread, a perfect weekend project. I started the dough yesterday afternoon and finished it off this morning. Couldn't be easier.

October 11

Another attempt at a manly toiletries bag. I made the bag longer, and the handle shorter. Is it better?

October 5

Christmas gift for a wee one.

October 4

Lots of baking today. I made challah ...
and muffins ...
and fudgy brownies.
And I'm not going to eat any of them.