on the 80 bus at sundown

on the 80
Originally uploaded by gabriellefine

Yarn, yarn, yarn

So I had a feeling I would love Lakeside Fibers, and guess what, I did. I especially love the coffee room, a gentle, airy space overlooking the lake, perfect for relaxing and knitting.





I also had the most amazing chai there I've had since leaving Seattle. This chai was iced, as today was in the 60's, a bizarre weather twist that inspired me to go out and take care of some things in the garden. As it turns out, our A row is not being plowed over after all, so I could have planted perennials and winter greens. Annoying as this is, I suppose it is less annoying than having to start over again digging beds next spring. At any rate, I had a lot of work to do today-I'd kind of let it go under the assumption that it would all be tilled anyway. And someone had put away the hand tillers, so I had to hack up weeds with a rake. After about 4 barrowfulls of leaf mulch I decided to finish the rest some morning this week (it's dark soon after I get home from work these days.) I also intend to plant some garlic.
Fall garden pictures coming soon.

I'll leave you with this picture taken right outside the fiber store. I love the neighborhood it's in, even though I don't know what it's called. But if you look up these train tracks (looking east, I think?) you can see the Capitol.



Click on any of these pictures to be taken to a whole lot more pictures.

Knitting+local foods+coffee=love

Just dropping quick note to say that I have plans to meet a friend this Saturday at Lakeside Fibers, which also houses the Washington Hotel Coffee Room, and I am not sure which I am more excited about, the knitting or the eating.

Very behind on posting pictures; I apologize. There are some goodies from Halloween coming up as well as just general pictures of Fall. Also, I posted the pictures from our Lake Wissota trip a little while back; they are here, as well as pictures from a Saturday jaunt to Eplegaarden apple orchard and pumpkin patch here.

Halloween costume this year

Good Omens. (the book by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)

Get it? It's conceptual.

2 incomplete lists

Things in Madison I like:
Farmer's markets
Willy St. Co-op
Community Pharmacy
Himal Chuli
Glass Nickel Pizza
Honeybee Bakery
Dotty Dumpling's Dowry
Bike paths
Lakeshore Nature Preserve
Villari's Martial Arts
the Goodwill "boutique"
$2 smoothie stands
Apples
Lakeside Fibers

Things in Seattle I miss:

St. Mark's Cathedral
Hothouse Spa
Great Harvest bread
Archie McPhee
PCC
Zanadu Comics
Gargoyles
Chaco Canyon Cafe
Araya's
Chiso
La Isla
People's Pub
Mountains
UW Arboretum
Cappy's Boxing Gym
my massage therapist
the Crossroads on Broadway
Morning Glory Chai
Apples

Last of the harvest

A few days ago we consumed what was essentially the last of our garden harvest (first frost having come early this year); four Delicata squash, roasted with this incredibly easy and tasty recipe I got from vegan yum yum and modified slightly (having no fresh thyme I substituted dried, and I made 1/2 of the slices savory and 1/2 sweet with sugar and cinnamon.) I chose to grow Delicata squash because last Thanksgiving I was lucky enough to sample some perfectly roasted Delicata and I thought it was one of the most delicious things I had ever eaten. The flesh is creamy rather than stringy; on the whole they resemble sweet potatoes more than your more conventional squash (like Butternut.) I am pleased with this decision and only wish I had grown more. (I think there are two more still out there; however last night's temps were in the 20s and right now I am too lazy to research whether or not winter squash will withstand frost. If any gardeners are reading this, feel free to educate me.)

My gardening experiment this year was started a bit late, which may have altered things a bit so that my results are not comparable to having the full season's worth of garden. That worked out ok, though, since once I got a job I found myself with barely enough time to maintain the small amount that I had planted. The tomatoes succumbed to blight before they could even blush; the zucchini took over everything (as zucchini does: that was one reason I grew it; I knew that if everything else failed I could still feel I was a success at gardening); strawberry plants surprised me by growing a few tiny but sweet late-season berries; bell peppers surprised me even more by taking off late in the season (had they been planted earlier, I suspect I would have enjoyed an even more bountiful and mature harvest-as it was, I picked them all in a frenzy last week when we had our first frost warning); and carrots labeled as "baby" grew much bigger than baby size but remained sweet.

Carrots!

Lessons learned: Plant things farther apart (don't think in container space.) Look for where the shade is before planting sun-loving plants. Don't try to plant anything in the same bed with zucchini. Questions unanswered: why did (most of) the carrots get rubbery after only a few days? What magical trick to farmers use to keep carrots firm for untold lengths of time? (I still have some ok carrots in the fridge left over from the summer. They may not taste great at this point but they are still firm.) I am not going to bother with tomatoes next year.

The saga of the garden in pictures can be found here.

This weekend was spent at Kamp Kenwood on the shore of Lake Wissota, about 3 hours drive from here. (This was a group retreat for Jason's Scandinavian Studies department.) We left late Friday afternoon and got back this afternoon. I will post pictures soon, but for now I will just say: cold and bright weather, gorgeous fall foliage, a snug cabin, roaring fires, games, stories, songs, jokes, delicious homemade food, and I even got some knitting done.

FOREVERTRON!

Last weekend I got to visit FOREVERTRON! (Forgive my yelling; I just feel like every time it is mentioned, it should be in all caps with an exclamation.) Thanks to a new friend and tour guide who grew up in the nearby town of Sauk City, I was able to visit FOREVERTRON! on a gorgeous fall day. All I can say is-FOREVERTRON! Wow. I don't think I was able to fully grasp the scope of it. I could have spent twice as much time there just taking pictures. Call this an intro.




To see the full set from that day, go here.

And that's not all the pictures I took: with recent motivation from my Plastic Camera group here in Madison, I brought the Holga and the Diana and shot nearly 4 rolls. When I can afford/have time to get them developed, I will put them in the same set.

Here is an interesting article about FOREVERTRON! and Dr. Evermor.

See, Wisconsin is supercool.

Additionally, rain pants really work. As discovered today. While biking through another torrential downpour complete with thunder and lightning.

I guess that wraps up September. Hurrah for fall!