The Sound of Silence
Princess Chatterina and her father have gone out for the day and I am sitting here on the back deck relishing the quiet. It has been a looong time since I had a day all to myself, the possibilities are endless. I should really hunker down and do some chores (boo), but since it has been a while since I posted I think I’ll do this instead, my poor blog has been pitifully neglected for too long.
We have been busy. I started doing some freelancing with my old company again and because Manhattan is a 2 hour commute for me now I have been staying with friends and/or relatives whenever I’m booked to work. A great way to catch up with everyone but rather tiring after awhile because I do miss my little family and my home. Going back to work has been good for me though, in recent times I have been feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of work it takes to care for and raise my daughter, her energy is incredible. How one little 30 lb child manages to fully exhaust two full grown adults is a mystery I can not solve.
I had a birthday last month. I turned 21+3+1+5+7+2+1. Whew! I can’t believe it, and while I’m totally cool with that because really, it IS the new 20, I do get a bit of a shock when I hear the number. Still not used to it. With the start of a new decade also comes all the good intentions of doing things differently, like getting more organized, reading more books, managing my time better, blah, blah blah, I have yet to get that started.
What I HAVE managed to do is start a little garden here. Nothing major this year, the girl and I are experimenting with just a few plants in containers. Some we started from seedlings, (English peas, Chinese lantern, string beans) and others we bought and are nurturing (Lavender, basil, a cherry tomato plant, a strawberry plant and a few hydrangea). I LOVE Hydrangeas, as well as being beautiful to look at they remind me of my grandfather and since I’m all about remembering loved ones and having daily reminders of them I hope that these survive. It has been fun and a little frustrating. The birds wont leave the strawberry plant alone even with netting on it. The funny thing is, way back on an unused portion of our property we have heaps of wild strawberries growing like crazy and yet there are never any birds hanging around there! The peas may not make it, there seems to be some little critter intent on making holes in the dirt and I suspect eating the roots, and the Chinese lantern doesn’t look like it’s going to come up at all. We’ll have to wait and see.
Right now though, chores are waiting so I better go and tend to them. sighÂ
Posted by: Deb | 06-17-2007 | 10:06 AM
Posted in: Blog Stuff
Some of us have been very faithful during your hiatus, Deb
I can imagine that going back to work, with a commute like that one, while maintaining your new home in the “country” and caring for a toddler, well, exhausting is hardly an adequate word for it all. I’m keeping you on my “check back occasionally” list in perpetuity. Consider yourself hugged!
Your daughter is adorable…and happy birthday!
Hi Carroll-
Thank you for being so patient and faithful. I really don’t have any intentions of stopping the blog anyime soon I just need to figure out how to make it a more regular part of my life. Time management seems to be my downfall these days. Anyway, I’m glad you will keep checking in, I’ll try, try, try to be more regular wih the posts. And right back at ya with a big hug!
Hi Aimee- Thanks so much for the compliment to my daughter and for the birthday wish!
Deb, good to see you again! I enjoyed your travels to Australia and it’s good to hear you are settling in and getting things back on track with family and friends. I too keep checking back on occasion in hopes of an update. Yay.
Hydrangeas are the best! I miss the hydrangea bush at my old house.
RE: past entry (2004)Freckled Mocha Cake with Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse and Vanilla Buttercream
Hi there,
Just wanted to let you know that I made this cake for my mother-in-law’s birthday (July 1) and we loved it.
I did make some minor changes: used the nutella mousse as the icing ( I can not tolerate buttercreams due to lactose issues with butter so I have to be creative) and used an italian pastry cream (chocolate) to spread in between layers. I also drizzled a combination of espresso, sugar and bailey’s on each cake layer. This recipe is a keeper.
In fact, the nutella mousse on it’s own is delicious. I am Italian and happy to have another nutella recipe on hand. By the way, the mousse turned out to be pretty resilient as a cake icing.
Thanks!
Ah good to hear you are not going to give up the blog, maybe now autumn is fast approaching you’ll have a little less in the garden to do that might go towards a blogging time:0) Gaps and then gaps have been the rhythm over on my ‘new’ blog too, the old address still gets you there, but maybe my wish for you is hope for me so autumn might mean a more irregular regular postiung schedule.
Did a small package reach your door back many months now. It never bounced back here so I hope the postal service didn’t lose it in some can’t be bopthered sack. Talking of bouncing I’ve tried to email a few times over the months and keep getting polite messages to say eiether post box is full or doesn’t exist, am I doing something wrong?
I’m just clipping a couple of my Hydrangers and about to put in two new ones as I love them too, their double gift of vibramnt colour when growing and fabulous dried concoctions when dieing off for the winter makes them a definite Yes in my garden.
Hope to pop by again and find more happenings:0)
Hi Daisy-Winifred-
My apologies for not writing sooner in response to your comment, I have been away from the blog in all manner for a bit. I do hope you are well. I didn’t receive a package months back but I’ll inquire at the PO today. So lovely to hear from you, words from an old friend such as yourself warm my heart and bring a smile to my face. I’m not sure why the email has been bouncing back to you-I do know that I have been having a tremendous problem with spam and the program is marking things spam that aren’t and vice-versa. I’ll have to make a trip over to your blog and see all the new things-I have also been remiss in with keeping up with my favorite bloggers. Amazing how one little one can take all of your time and energy, I can’t fathom how parents with several children handle it all so well, lol.
My old ‘t direct blog address may not get you anywhere active, just realised that Duh! Computer literate as always:0)So just in case the link thing doesn’t lead you there here it is - http://animatedstardust.typepad.com/asynchronous_process/
As I said before it has been a very quiet place and the pace slow but there are some pictures to break the monotony, ha-ha. I have the goal of beginning to blog in a more regular fashion - well regular in my fashion:0) with the coming of the New Year, mine, in November. Just the small matter of getting some clear space in my daily rather stretched days of the past months. So goodness knows how you manage even switching your machine on with job, garden and the small matter of tending to the needs and almost certainly whims of a rather powerful princess:0)
Sad to hear the package never made it, lets hope the contents made another little girl smile but she will have the same name as each item in the box had someones name embroidered or burnt on it. Another special day fast approaching so time to try again I think:0) Will need some measurements from you at some point I suspect as someone will certainly be making a new pencil mark on the wall in January! Will try to email again, I may have been using my private mail address rather than the blog one so will try again at the weekend when I’m not supposed to be on my way to an appointment as now.
I found your blog today while in search of a recipe for pasta. Wow, I have been entertained!! I love your sense of humor. I will have to share how the pasta goes >ekk
Happy New Year to you and your family, Deb. I hope you manage to find a few moments to pop back and let us all know how you’re doing!
found you when peeking at the medicine soup recipe… sounds great to me, (sans the extra “chuck” of sodium)BUT my tweaky husband doesn’t like the taste of cilantro… SO I guess I’ll have to wait until he gets sick (…the no taste buds kind…)until I try it. (…hmmmm…maybe I could attempt to contaminate him somehow so as to get to try it sooner….KIDDING…)
ANYWAY… a word of warning about the japanese lantern… it is VERY invasive… be forwarned… keep it potted and DON’T throw plant debri around carelessly…
:-)
If you love hydrangeas you should be living in Brittany
I believe there may be a law here that states that all residents must surround their homes with hydrangeas
Hi there,
I just made the Chocolate Gingerbread Cake, from 2005! Did it a bit differently. A bundt pan, spray with PAM lightly, in the wobbly bit on the bottom of the pan, grated nutmeg, sprinkled lightly with cardamon, some of the chocolate chips, grated some pepper, so didn’t add those to the recipe. Regular coffee powder instead of expresso coffee powder went in the recipe. Cultured European butter, unsalted… so added a bit o’salt. All the rest the same… no icing though. just a sprinking of icing sugar after it cools. We may whip some cream, most likely not. May have some homemade applesauce on it, maybe not. It is really moist, and wonderful on it’s own. I notice the pepper on the top every so often, and I like it.
Thanks for putting it on the web.