So domestic...

Last week, Keith was in class, and I was not. I spent a lot of time at home doing domestic things, such as cooking, organizing, and working on some art projects. As a result, I finished the top of Keith's graduation quilt (made partially from his old jeans, and was supposed to be done in December but wasn't), made about 6 liters of spaghetti sauce with Julie's wonderful recipe, knit several inches on a baby sweater for Janelle's baby, practiced my cello, and decorated a bunch of picture frames with the help of the children upstairs. Oh, I also found some people to play viola da gamba consort music with! Very fun.

Mmmm... a pot of beautiful spaghetti sauce...


Dayna, one of my family's neighbors, gave me some advice on choosing dishes when we were doing our bridal registry last spring. She suggested that I visualize our dishes with spaghetti on them. I think our dishes pass the spaghetti test...


Now that Keith is done with his class (all the classes during the summer are 1 or 2 weeks), he is enjoying the lovely weather (ha ha) and digging the hole which will contain our patio/seasonal dining room. He's looking forward to removing the retaining wall with a sledge hammer. We are very excited!

Soup and BBQ

Now that our apartment is a hospitable place, we can have people over! There are still things to be done (papers to sort, family pictures to hang, and the never ending cleaning chores), but since hanging the pictures, we've had people over for dinner twice!

The first was a pea soup party at the end of April. (Thanks to Jeff and Tara for the inspiration!) The weather cooperated: it poured all day, so people were in the mood to eat nice, hearty soup. We had leftover (frozen) ham from Easter, so that provided for about 15 quarts of soup!! We had 6 quarts leftover to freeze and eat later... we'll be eating pea soup all summer!




On Sunday we had a spur of the moment shish-kebab barbeque. This time it was sunny, so we got to enjoy the use of our seasonal dining room (the yard). Keith and I were meant to be together: I make a killer marinade, and he does a killer job with the grilling!

Finally it looks like home...

Yes, that's right! We now have pictures on the walls! There's a real bed in the bedroom! Our apartment actually looks pretty nice! So, here is a virtual tour...

The living room, which contains the piano and little else. We managed to fit the couch. The door leads to the office, and when Keith plays the piano, he sort of sits halfway in the kitchen!

The office, where Keith's computer, my instruments, and the harpsichord live

The kitchen. I was mopping at the time. Keith said "duck." I didn't duck far enough. Oops.

Hallway and storage area

Bedroom, with a real bed, and a nice rockery with native plants out the window (so pretty!)

A sample of my poetry/photography project

Here's one of my poems from my project and the photograph that went with it. None of the black and white pictures have been scanned yet, so perhaps a few more poems and photographs will show up later. The title art is by my friend, Jane. Just so you know, yes, we did have 27 consecutive days of rain right after we moved here...

Wet shoes, wet socks, wet hair, wet raincoat,
wet pants, wet books, wet bag, wet laptop…
(You’d think I didn’t grow up in Seattle.)
It’s raining again.

For some reason,
the people here
(and I am no different)
have been taught
that umbrellas are for wimps.

I’ve decided,
after weeks of incessant nagging drizzle,
with soggy garments and accessories,
not to mention cold drips down my back,
that I am a wimp.

Therefore I will do
what I have been taught was wrong…
I will carry an umbrella and laugh
from my (relatively) dry comfort
at all those poor, wet machos.

Wet umbrella, dry Celia.