Grandma's Quilts, and Stash report

Grandma brought over three more tops to be pinned yesterday.

Someone gave her the pieces from a Lone Star kit, and this is what she did with them instead.

This one is cheery and scrappy, all stripes and plaids.

And this one... well, it qualifies as "avant garde."  Very fun!

Nothing new on my own design wall, but Grandma has been busy enough for us both.

And here is exhibit A in why I am the worst mom ever, and why I cry through teacher inservices.  Tertia went out to wait for the bus, and I realized she still had blueberry-banana smoothie on her face, so I insisted on dragging her inside in a hurry to wash it.  Then she went out to the bus just in time... and I realized that she was wearing her Sunday shoes.  With hand-me-down cargo shorts from her big brothers, and yes, those are Little Mermaid socks.  It was too late to change into her sneakers with orthotically-correct inserts.  At least she got through the day better than I did.  Maybe I need Little Mermaid socks.
Stash Report:

Fabric:

Fabric used this week: 0 yards

Fabric used year to date: 40 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 18 yards
Net used for 2013: 22 yards

Knitting yarn:

Yarn used this week: 0 yards
Yarn used year to date: 6000 yards.
Yarn added this week: 500 yards (teacher gift to be photographed later!)
Yarn added year to date: 3800 yards
Net used for 2013: 2200 yards

Randomday

I was thinking of this song today and looked it up.  Steve dug up a few little potatoes while playing in the compost pile and brought them in, all smooth and small and dusted with dirt.  Apparently I never sung this as a lullaby to my own kids, because nobody but me remembered it.  Now my kids are all much too big to be confused with a spud.  It's odd, that.

Funny thing yesterday ... I suggested to Steve, since he had the day off, it would be a good opportunity to get his eyes examined.  He has been wearing his 8-year-old glasses instead of his 3-year-old glasses because it's impossible for him to read without taking the newer glasses off.  Time for those transitional lenses!  So he cleaned out his wallet, couldn't find the Blue Vision FEP supplemental insurance card, so he asked to borrow mine.  Then later, when he took me with him to pick out the frames, he handed the card back to me, saying it wasn't the right one after all.  He had had the staff pull up the plan from Daniel's records.  "Yes it is, it says FEP Blue Vision right here!"  And I pointed to the fine print.  And he took off his glasses to squint at it.  The staff at America's Best will all bear witness to how funny this was.  Maybe after his new lenses come in he can look through his wallet again and find his own supplemental vision insurance card.

I myself am looking forward to an entire summer without wearing my glasses.  I am fortunate enough not to need them, but I prefer to look a bit severe when I'm teaching.  Without them, the world takes on just a bit more impressionistic quality than normal.  Which is perfectly fine for summer.

The girls and I sorted through their clothes today.  I think there were about 10 pairs of pants that Tertia outgrew this year.  Most of them can't be re-used by Quarta because they are shaped totally differently and I had hemmed many of Tertia's jeans into capris.  I will have to do the same thing with another batch soon.  I'll have the girls do a test run of their swimsuits soon to see if they need replacing.  And Quarta has holes in just about every pair of shoes she owns.

Steve had his annual conference in Bozeman, Montana this past week, and Daniel went along to keep him company and hang out in the Wi-Fi to do his online class.  It was lonely with just Secundus and the girls here at home, but we managed.

Secundus is on a health kick and is trying to be a vegetarian this summer.  Bets are being placed concerning his willpower in the face of the barbecue season, but I've been humoring him by buying tofu and other veggie options.

Muffball badly needs to be groomed but she is such a skittish cat, she won't let us.  She heads for the basement whenever she sees me with the brush in hand.  It would be foolish to attempt to restrain her... she takes on the strength of ten cats when cornered, and her claws are sharp.

Tertia is getting her real braces on Tuesday.  We've had over a month of turning the key in the expander every night and it's time now.  I am mildly happy that the appointment will be getting me out of an afternoon of inservice.

Field Day

Graduation was last night.  It was nice, in contrast with last year, just to go and enjoy.  Steve and Daniel met us at the ceremony - they had gone to Montana (Bozeman) for Steve's work conference.  Daniel is taking an online class that will fulfill a core curriculum requirement.  Cedar Tree has four fine new graduates and many reasons to celebrate.

Secundus was at a sleepover with friends last night.  "Did you hear that, guys? Mrs. Brabec's house got t.p.'d last night! Who would do such a thing?!" ... was his reaction when I asked him if he knew anything about that.  He settled into the Field Day activities as captain of the Cuckoo Bird team.

First came the talent show with events from the sublimely graceful...

...to the musical (there were two versions of Star Wars)...

...and this act made Mrs. Chapman covetous of hammered dulcimer lessons...

...to the silly, "trained gorilla"...

...to the silly, "Arnold Schwarzenegger's nursery rhymes"...

...to the silly act by Quarta and Minuet...

...who have also been ringing a lot of bells together lately...

Team Ostrich reciting its chant.

I spent most of the morning finishing up my grading in my deserted classroom.  Two little boys came in repeatedly to borrow the classroom monsters, Gaius and Brutus, and the snakes, to reenact little-boy style battles and silliness with them.  I followed them to Mrs. Brabec's classroom to take this picture.

Always in motion are little boys.

Gaius and Brutus are safely back on the classroom shelf, along with the snakes.  I asked the little boys if they wanted the girl monsters (Rubella and Prunella) and they looked at me as if I were crazy. 

I pushed through the grading and for perhaps the first time in 13 years, I emailed my grades in on field day. 

Emperor's Day Treats

Every year, Cedar Tree has a Latin Emperor's contest for grades 3-6.  It's elimination, in the style of a spelling bee.  We toga 4 emperors, one for each grade, and all elementary grade students watch with great interest and partake in the Roman Feast at lunchtime.  I forgot to take my camera this morning so I have no shots of my 6th graders competing (it was a good contest, I had to come up with extra words and sentences than I had planned).  But I did document the preparation of what I believe are relatively authentic treats yesterday, treats which were consumed by students while reclining on the quad on a glorious early June day.

I have made Roman Honey Cakes before, and I decided to try for a little more authenticity this year.  There were 15 eggs, whipped in my stand mixer until they were thickened.  Then I drizzled in about 1 1/2 cups honey and was about to add 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour when I stopped, and realized that I should probably use spelt instead, since it's more typical of the grain the ancients would have used.

I do not have an authentic quern, so I used the completely modern K-tec kitchen mill.  I don't have a staff of kitchen slaves, so this is the next best thing:

It makes a lot of noise, but it does make a nicely ground flour.  I added it to the eggy batter and then I selected some spices:

I do have a relatively authentic mortar and pestle.  Doesn't everybody?  Seriously, I use mine a fair amount even when I'm not trying to be authentically Roman.  Although I did try to get the coriander down to a finer grind with the blender, but that didn't work all that well for such a small amount.  Coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, and a fairly large knob of fresh ginger.

I baked them at 350 for about 20 minutes, using muffin tins and nonstick mini-donut pans.  It's best to grease the tins well, and don't expect a light, airy cupcake texture.  These are like a cross between a sponge cake and a muffin.  They are nice to munch on.  I don't know how terribly realistic it would be for the ancient Romans to be able to beat eggs to the degree that a modern stand mixer can do though.

If you're going for authentic Roman food, you really need to check out the Pass the Garum blog, where I got the following recipe for Dulciaria (pepper and pine-nut stuffed honeyed dates).  It's quite delish.

Yes, I used my mortar and pestle twice in one day!  This time, it was to grind pepper the old fashioned way.  I mixed that with pine nuts (which are $26 a pound, so I only bought a small amount).  Then I stuffed the peppery pine nuts into the pitted dates.

Add a dusting of salt to the sticky dates, then make them even stickier by coating them with hot honey (about 1/4 cup simmered in a small saucepan; use a skewer to dip and a small fork to push the date off the skewer after dipping).  They were extremely sticky after sitting in the fridge all night.  The pine nuts have a slight vanilla flavor - I had never noticed that before, probably because they cost $26 a pound and I don't buy them.  The salt and pepper give a nice, grown-up flavor to this authentic Roman treat.

Yum! I'll definitely make these again.

Design Wall Auditions; Stash Report

My design wall hasn't changed for a few weeks... still have the string blocks up with no definite idea of what to do with them.  I have been auditioning possible patterns for my next quilt:



A scrappy plaid quilt variation from the most recent issue of American Patchwork and Quilting; my own version of Santa Fe String Star from String Fling; or my own variation of a Civil War style quilt I saw at The Pine Needle in Lake Oswego several years ago.  So far I'm most excited about the Pine Needle quilt.  I really need to do something that isn't too demanding. 

Actually, I really need to do something that doesn't relate to school.  At all.  Seriously, I get the worst end-of-school-year mom ever completely.  Plus I'm supposed to find ways of grading about 400 pages and getting it turned in while still amusing my students for the last 3 days before field day.  And the Emperor's contest is tomorrow and I have to make honey cakes.  Okay, end of pity party.

Two different batches of gray tweed yarn reclaimed from two different sweaters entered my stash last week.  Here's the worsted weight: I counted it last Monday but it's only now dried and wound into balls.

And here's the Aran/Bulky weight.

Stash Report:

Fabric:

Fabric used this week: About 1 yard used

Fabric used year to date: 40 yards
Added this week: 1 yard (an old shirt of Steve's added to the stash)
Added year to date: 18 yards
Net used for 2013: 22 yards

Knitting yarn:

Yarn used this week: 0 yards
Yarn used year to date: 6000 yards.
Yarn added this week: 0 yards
Yarn added year to date: 3300 yards
Net used for 2013: 2700 yards

Chapman's Homer: The Blooper Reel

Okay, I finished grading 3 classes worth of Latin final exams, and today's post is brought to you courtesy of the 8th grade class.  I love them, but I'm ready for them to move on, and hopefully learn to take better notes.  Only a few of them listened carefully enough to my passionate and, I may say, highly humorous reading of H.A Guerber's Myths of Greece and Rome.  (Wow, look at that, available as a free e-book.  I have the old-fashioned kind).  Seriously, I ham it up with tie-ins to popular movies, and you would be amazed at how many Disney princess fairy tales have their literary roots in mythology.  I see it as a chance to practice note-taking skills and gain familiarity with the plots of the literature they will be encountering in its original source form at High School level.  They are supposed to turn in a creatively-presented page for each of the 16 units we cover in the year, and I'm very generous with my grading rubric.

My final exams are tough.  The 8th grade one had 275 points on it, although well-prepared students tested out of the concrete vocabulary and grammar sections.  It just about killed me grading the sentence translation section.  I seem to internalize every grammatical error, as if it's my fault that the students didn't get something.  As I grade, I can feel the tightness creeping up my spine and into my neck and shoulders.  After all the hard work of grammar and translation, I look at the mythology matching section, with its 25 letters spelling out a super-secret message, as kind of a fun reward for the students for making it through the hard stuff.  We had to rush a bit through the story of Aeneas, so I even gave them the last 3 of the problems as freebies.  But no... only 3 students nailed that section perfectly, and the rest missed at least 6, with 3 students missing 15 or more.  How is that even possible?  My headache just keeps getting worse.  What can you do, except laugh?

• The Trojan horse was his idea... Hector?
• Rightful husband of Helen... Hector? Agamemnon?
• Commander of the Greek forces... Hector?
• Ulysses' faithful wife... Circe?
• The enchantress who turned men into pigs... Penelope?
• Ran fast, distracted by golden apples... Polyphemus? Telemachus? Oedipus?  At least the one who guessed Iphigenia got the gender right.
• Son of Venus and Anchises... Telemachus? Meleager? Patroclus? (psst... we're in the section about the Aeneid!)
• Devoted Gemini... Menelaus?
• Evil Cyclops... Castor and Pollux?

The next ones are a bit shocking, brace yourselves...

• Stole Helen from her rightful husband... Penelope?!
• Hero of the Trojans, killed #12 (best friend of #11- the almost invincible hero of the Greeks)... good gracious, Penelope again?
• Ulysses' son... Dido?

Maybe in 9th grade they'll develop some note-taking skills.

Randomday, With Other Peoples' Athleticism and Improbable Goals for June

Secundus took part in Mrs. Brabec's 5K "Fun Run" today at Frenchman's Bar.  Here he is, setting the pace with some veteran marathoners.

Quarta walked with the walkers; Tertia and I started out with the walkers and got about 1K in before turning around when the runners passed us.  We almost made it back to the start when Secundus came in, second.

He had set a goal of making a time better than 19:30.  And he did - 19:21.  Pretty impressive, say I.

As for me, I have never associated "fun" and "run" with each other, and don't plan to start now.  But I am impressed by the spirit of athleticism that prevails among the youth at Cedar Tree.

Even if they're lying down on the finish line and having water squirted on them, they actually ran it.  Bravo!
Speaking of setting goals for oneself, it is time to report on my May goals and set some new ones for June.  Um... these were my goals for May. 

1. Make another felted wool blanket (my random # choice) Not done.
2. Holdover knitting bag. Not done.
3. Quilt and bind the Orca Bay quilt.  Half done quilting.
4. Finish the current socks for Steve. Almost half done.
5. Finish cleaning the sewing area AT LEAST ENOUGH to be able to cut out a new project. Done!

And I did cut for the new project: making composition book covers as graduation gifts:

My one finish, and it wasn't on the list.  Oh well, May is always that kind of month for teachers.  Even now I am procrastinating some very necessary grading and fighting the kind of headache and neck tension that goes along with final exam grading.

So how about some new goals for June?  School will be out soon - huzzah!

1. Random number project: #17 from my yearlong list, flannel baby quilts.  Hmm.
2. Finish Orca Bay quilting and binding.
3. Finish Steve's socks, for reals this time, and make a good start on another pair.
4. I also want to knit Carnaby for myself, out of some reclaimed yarn.  At least start it.
5. The knitting bag project, oh my, it's been on there 6 straight months I think.
6. Begin the quilting of the Farmer's Wife quilt.
7. I want to start a quilt.  I don't know which quilt yet, I just want to have the fun of picking a pattern and starting a quilt.

So in summary, I want to finish some of the lagging projects and have a healthy round of startitis.  But right now, I need to go correct 8th grade Latin exams.