of cabbage, pens, and antenna receivers

 I decided to draw a picture of Esme's school cabbage.  It is growing so pretty, as Mark gave it some fertilizer.  I went through all my pens the other night and kept only the ones that worked in my drawing case.. which was about a quarter of them!  I have a new set coming from our work bonus - Microns from Sakura.. I love those, they can get all the fine details.  This was drawn with an InkJoy gel pen.. not fine detail, but it is very smooth.  Mark said the other day that I should go through my pens like water - because I don't, they dry up.. and he's right.  I need to draw more but instead I just keep myself from doing it.  It's like that thing I do with the last smidgen of milk... let it sit in the container saying 'I have milk.' and not drinking it.  My mom taught me to do things like this.  Inadvertently, I have taught Esme to do it, too.  *sigh*

 

This is the pattern for my lunchbag, in case I forget again.  It is another thing I should do more often.  I had forgotten what I did the first time to make it, and waited until it was in sorry shape to make another one.  It is a fat quarter laid out like an 'H', with two small squares cut out.  Then, the two top lines on each side are sewn tog3ether.  Then, the remaining parts get sewn together in a gusset like shown below.  Then, a drawstring seam is made all around the entire bag and it is finished.

Mark is working on his antenna for his radio receiver.  I need to work more in the garden  if it is truly as warm as they say it will be... I did go out and clear the garden almost entirely.  Mark also got up on the roof and put his antenna up.  I got some pictures of him on the roof I'll post tomorrow.

We went to the store tonight intending to spend some of the bonus on a bicycle for Esme.  She had outgrown her old one last summer.  We got a remarkably good deal on it because it had been put in the wrong place.  We didn't expect that - we actually thought we were going for a cheaper bike than the one we originally looked at.  That seemed to be the best one for the money.  When it turned out to be actually more expensive at the register we did get to buy it for the price tag that had been on it (but wasn't correct).  We felt really lucky and also glad we didn't have to go back and have Esme choose again after going through everything the first time.  This bike will give her some room to grow - although she almost has to learn to ride again it has been so long.  Mostly, just get over the fear of falling off of it and the fact that the brakes are only on the handles and not also on the pedals.

cabbage (and the rest of the garden, too)

Those two foot across cabbages are beginning to have edible size heads on them. The outer leaves are full of 'wildlife' but after taking off five or six leaves (twice as big as this) we are left with what looks a lot like the size of cabbages seen at the local supermarket!

a head of cabbage fresh from the garden

cabbage and apple recipe
I think I will make this out of half of my produce - and give the other half of the head to Grandma to do what she wants! There will be more coming, so we will have to look up how to make sauerkraut.

The green cabbage by itself is a substitution.. .but that is what we have this week. The red will be a bit later. I substituted white wine vinegar for the white vinegar, and added a little apple juice to the mixture as well. We will see how my subs turned out in about an hour.

There are small summer squash, zucchini and pattypan squashes coming on nearly all of the plants. I have a hubbard fruit started of the Blue Hubbard variety. The corn has not yet tasselled out. The tomatoes are huge but none of them are red or yellow yet. We have mint, basil, oregano and lemon basil. The dill is half-size and fragrant. The carrots are doing well. Blue sweet corn is about six inches tall. Zinnias and cosmos are beginning to flower!

The green beans (Mayflower and King of the Early) are producing lots of green beans for the size plants they are. Many of the other beans are starting to flower but they are to be dry beans, so I will not be picking them. For a future note - the King of the Early bean flowers yellow and white mixtures of flowers. The Bosnian bean has whitish flowers very similar to Mayflower. Lina Sisco and pinto are dry bean plants that have whitish flowers. The dragon's lingerie and shackamaxon beans have purple flowers although the shackamaxon are not blooming yet. There are Jeminez and Maria Amazalitei beans left to record. The Kenearly beans, Pawnee shell and Tennessee Greasy are yet to flower.

I cut my hand at work today and there was a lot of blood. I did well in not passing out! I sought out the person I know is on the 'rescue squad' for the county and he helped me get it under control without stitches, as it was just slightly too deep for 'no worries' and just slightly too shallow for 'ER'... we will see how that turns out, as well. I did not let it stop me from knitting on the tank top I'm working on, although it makes everything slower when I cannot bend that thumb... it is bandaged in such a way as to prevent bending it and keeping the wound shut.