Saturday, June 1
A beautiful Saturday.
Hard to believe it is JUNE 1 !!!
Herbs and Bob…on the front porch.
Mr. Bob.
Mid-afternoon on Saturday…nap time for Mr. Bear.
The road home, the big sky, the green, the blue: Saturday, June 1
Posts from the ‘Front Porch Musings’ category
Rhubarb Chutney
I’ve lived in the north Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana for 19 1/2 years. This past Memorial Day weekend was only the third that had sunshine and OMG! – there was sun ALL THREE DAYS!!
And the temperature was in my personal range of perfection: mid-60’s.
Bear, Bob and I enjoyed being outside a good part of all three days. I puttered about doing some yard chores, potting my herbs, cleaning the Jeep, cleaning Wild Thing (motorhome), some minor maintenance chores on both vehicles – all alternating with sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, tea or glass of wine.
It was mah-ve-lous!!
It was SO marvelous that I’m thinking of taking the entire 4th of July week – or at least the 4th and 5th – off to do a similar amount of nearly nothing.
But, I digress.
Monday morning, I picked rhubarb. I ended up with slightly less than a cup after cleaning and chopping.
I searched recipes with rhubarb and settled on a chutney which I adapted to the following:
1 cup rhubarb
3/4 cup chopped sweet onion
1/4 cup currants
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves
Combine all, boil and then simmer until thickened – stirring frequently. SO easy and my house smelled wonderful.
A side note about some chalkboard labels and stakes. I first found the garden stakes: ceramic with a chalkboard glaze – so much fun for the herb pots! Those have been working so when I noticed the labels and wine charms, I bought a quantity of those also. The labels are particularly useful in that I can date items and have my own private “use by” date system. Much better than the sniff and guess method. Both items were found on Etsy.
Onward.
I intended to make a stir fry to test the chutney but ended making a pizza topped with thin sliced mozzerella, carmelized sweet onion and some grilled chicken. I added some goat cheese and the chutney after the pizza was ready.
Oh boy – that worked.
A perfect blend of savory-sweet-tangy-hot-cool goodness.
I should get another similar harvest from my little rhubarb patch and another batch of this chutney.
Monday’s drama, Tuesday’s sang-froid
Mondays have had a bit of drama lately.
Bear in mind that life here at the family Summers tends towards the quiet and VERY non-eventful, so a “bit of drama”…well, all is relative, Yes?
Still.
This week’s Monday drama started between 3 and 4:00 a.m. with a bit of throw up from Mr. Bob.
That is not usually a drama kind of thing except that we are dealing with the ear infection and medications… BUT, it was a one time thing and did not seem like the last week’s throw up thing related to the drug.
As I was cleaning up and watching…Bob was walking kind of funny. He was walking and then kind of stumbling…like he’d had one too many. I put 2 and 2 together: ear infection and stumbling??? – balance issue with inner ear.
This conclusion made me concerned about the steps he negotiates to get to his food.
At 3:30ish a.m. on Monday morning, I dismantled the door/sawhorse arrangement that held Bob’s food, water and “house”/photo light box.
Everything important to Bob on one low level.
We start Monday with a lack of sleep (me!), a wonky sense of balance (Bob!) and a “so what’s up with you guys?” (Bear) – frame of mind.
Emails and phone calls with the vet.
Ultimately all progressing well…ears are draining – GOOD! Short term ramification of the draining is the balance issue and little or no hearing.
Monday evening.
The forecast thunderstorms missed us.
The forecast wind did not!
The rearranging of Bob’s table, lack of sleep = aggravation of my rib stuff.
I hired help for cleanup and various grounds keeping stuff. Not my favorite chore(s) anyway, so oh, Yes!!!
Tuesday.
I kept Bob in on Monday. The wobblies, lack of hearing – they seemed like a risk for wandering about outside. But, after the wind, etc., the air was clear, the sun was warm and he wanted out.
I thought some sun would be a good thing but I didn’t want him wandering in the woods when he wasn’t hearing and not 100% footing-wise.
He mostly likes the front porch so we reached a compromise.
Baby monitor that I used with Bear post-op.
Mr. Bob…enjoying the sunshine under the watchful eye of the baby monitor.
From Monday drama to Tuesday sang-froid: Perfect.
New days
It has been 5 months since Bear’s first TPLO surgery.
Three months before that things changed as we tried to resolve his lameness with rest.
And now, in what feels like a sudden change, we are resuming ‘normal’ activity.
I had been keeping the blinds drawn in all but the kitchen and the sliding door in the office so as to keep Bear from being tempted to jump up and see out windows.
This morning I opened everything.
The bedroom had been closed to Bear during the day. Now, it is open.
It feels like we have a new house. And it is larger and brighter!
The day cooperated by being beautiful, sunny and warm. The light, the vivid colors – everything seemed fresh and new.
We spent hours outside today. Bear had his first off leash time in 5 months. He followed me around as I did some yard work and then dug a cool spot in the dirt under a tree when I took a break and sat on the front porch.
All of that fresh air, a little more activity, a long nap and then the light of the late afternoon.
All day, it was different.
The 5 months were good months of healing and working together. It is an incredible bonding experience. I am happy we are at this point. If is surprising how it feels, though. I have been so focused on doing what we needed to do every day to progress that I never thought about what it would be like when we got here.
It is good.
New Days.
May Day Evening: Spring returns
I must confess that I did not put on shorts nor did I go barefoot yesterday but the day was sunny and warm and the evening was beautiful.
Blue sky, gold from the setting sun and a productive work day had us all out in the yard in the early evening.
Bob has mostly forgiven me for moving his outside bed away from the dryer vent and looks marginally less crabby.
And the first glacier lily…smack dab in the yard near the front porch.
May Day Evening: Spring returns!
Simple Delight
Sunday was gray with a few sun breaks here and there.
Bear and I walked, took a Jeep ride and another walk, and we all enjoyed some time outside.
I was warming up the grill to cook burgers, sitting on the front porch with a cup of tea, enjoying the sounds of the woods and the company of Bear and Bob.
The gentle happiness of this simple, quiet time with Bear and Bob bubbled up inside me and especially as I thought about the early days with Bear when all was so new that he was not comfortable relaxing in the yard. And much less comfortable, relaxing with Bob!
The word that came to my mind as I sat was delight. I love things that delight. It is more than “happy”. It is joy from the heart that brings a smile and an inside laugh at the wonderful-ness.
Simple Delight.