Tomato Time

We're enjoying these last few weeks of summer, especially because our tomatoes are ripening rapidly.  We are eating them every day and every way imaginable -- stuffed with pesto as hors d'oeuvres, in pasta (you have to try The Silver Palate's Linguine with Tomatoes, Basil and Brie), Insalata Caprese, and, of course, the ever popular BLT.  My favorite tomato is the Brandywine (the largest one in the picture above).  It is an heirloom tomato, a rosy pink-y red, rather than orange-y, like a Big Boy.  They grow large -- I had one that measured 4 x 6 inches -- and are as sweet as can be. 

We've been visiting with lots of friends.  Our former across-the-street neighbors rented a house on the water in Orient for the month.  We dined on tomato tart and salade nicoise, then sat on the bluff and watched the sun set over the Sound as a seal dove for it's dinner. 

Next, our old friend David arrived from Atlanta to spend some time with us before heading off to Rome.  He inspired us to visit some of the local wineries.  Our favorite was Croteaux, both for the wine as well as the ambiance.  It is a beautiful place to spend an afternoon and the wine -- all roses -- are delightful.  We bought their sparkling wine to have with our appetizers that night.

We had another marvelous dinner with our friends at Widows Hole Oysters looking over Greenport Harbor.  Mike made roasted black sea bass which we followed with Isabel's peach and raspberry pie.  Then our neighbor Kai celebrated his seventh birthday in style: pizza and chocolate cake.  Yum.  It's been one celebration after the other --  a fun way to head into fall.

This will be the first fall in 20 years that I have not had to help Clara get ready for school.  It's slightly bewildering . . .   I always loved the choosing of new school supplies and clothes, and the structure the routine gave to our lives.   I find myself having to look at the calender a lot, because I don't know what day it is.  That will all change soon, since my first show of the year is on September 18 and 19: the Hallockville Fall Festival.  Although I've been working steadily over the scalding hot summer, thanks to central air conditioning, I will be revving up my work schedule as our five big shows of the year approach.  I'll be posting the show locations and dates as they approach so you can visit Barb and me in our booth.  In the meantime, it is back to work for me!

Into the Woods

We traveled to Wisconsin two weeks ago to celebrate my mother-in-law's 90 birthday.  All of her nine children along with their spouses and children and their spouses gathered at the family cabin on the shores of Lake Superior.  Their were 29 of us -- a small army.  The long weekend included lots of cooking, berry picking, walks on the beach, trips to Bayfield for salt water taffy, evenings of Smear and Banagrams, more cooking, dish washing, swimming, tennis, kayaking, more cooking, more dishes . . . You get the idea.  We had lots of fun, though we missed the spectacular show the northen lights put on the day we left . . .  Oh, well.  You can't have everything.

Here are some pictures Clara took  -- since I forgot my camera.

Another Happy (Though Hot) Hallockville Hook In

The Peconic Ruggers met for a hook in at Hallockville on July 24.  It was a hot day (what day this summer hasn't been hot?), but a breeze blew across the farm fields, enabling us to hook under the apple trees behind the Hudson House until about 1 o'clock.  When the breeze stopped we moved inside to the air conditioning.  We had a delicious pot luck lunch and lots of cold drinks.

Here's one of Barbara's works in progress:

Here's a pile ofJudy's goodies for sale:

Here's one of the gardens:

I took a walk to the barn to visit the sheep, who were tucked way back in the shade to keep cool:

Don't you love their names?

We'll be hooking under the apple trees again on August 21.  Come and join us!

Ketchup

I have been a seriously bad blogger of late.  I need to "ketchup" pretty quick here. . . .    I've been to a hook in,  spent some family time in Wisconsin, and have been making pesto and putting up veggies from the garden like crazy.  Stay tuned . . .  I'll be writing about all that soon.  Hope you are all staying cool.

Peconic Ruggers Summer Hook In

Peconic Ruggers at Hallockville

July 24, 2010

10 AM to 4 PM

The Peconic Ruggers will demonstrate at Hallockville Museum Farm on July 24 from 10 AM to 4 PM.  Rug Hooking is a primitive folk craft with roots in North America going back to the early 19th century. Women collected scraps and remnants from old household fabrics, cut them into thin strips and weaved them through empty burlap feed sacks to create beautiful floor coverings for their homes.  The Peconic Ruggers is a craft guild dedicated to the preservation and celebration of this traditional American pastime. The Ruggers Hook-In brings together artisans from all over Long Island who share a passion for hand hooked rugs.  Visitors will learn about this fascinating art form and have an opportunity to purchase finished products, ready-made kits, patterns, and other supplies.

Call Hallockville at 631-298-5292 for additional information and directions.

The event is free and open to the general public. 

The weatherman is calling for high temperatures, but we will be out under the apple trees with the lovely breeze that always blows across the farm fields.  The Ruggers will supply lots of cool beverages and lunch is pot luck.  Hope to see you there!

We're Having a Heat Wave, a Tropical Heat Wave

The weather is positively wicked this summer.  It's costing us a fortune to keep the new sod in the front yard alive.  The grass in the back yard is crispy.  The Brandywine tomatoes I planted are exploding with fruit -- last year I harvested only a handful of tomatoes.  The corn and peach crops hit the farm stands a week early.  Fred at Sang Lee, where we have a CSA share, is battling beetles in the bok choy.  The beetles are attacking my new coral bells along the front walk as well.  Some things thrive in the heat, others just disappear -- like me!

I have been holed up in the house with the A/C on.  I swear, installing central air was the wisest decision we made when we renovated the house.  I don't keep it low -- it is usually set around 75 degrees -- I just keep it cool enough to hook and cook.  Pete asked me to turn it off one day, so I did.  He came back from sailing with a neighbor and told me to put it back on!  I have been so productive, it isn't funny.  I've been finishing projects that have sat around for years and designing new rugs and kits for the upcoming fall season of shows.  I've got needle punch ideas by the dozens . . .   If we didn't have the A/C, I'd be sitting around complaining and ordering take out and going to the movies in the afternoon just to get cool . . .  

Free at Last!

Lucille's rug has haunted me for 2 years.  It's a simple rug -- simple design, simple colors, simple outline and fill technique -- it should have taken me a couple of weeks of part time work.  But no.  I am the world's best procrastinator.  And I hate hooking other people's designs.  The first class I took back in 1991 was at a McGown school and we were forced to buy a pattern and have a teacher dye the wool and show us where to put it.  (I'm happy to report McGown schools are much more open nowadays.) Nineteen years later and that rug is still not finished.  It may never be finished.

Anyway -- Lucille has been a little anxious about her rug.  Who wouldn't be -- especially if you are in your 80s and plan on gifting the finished rug to one of your kids?  So I got on the stick last week and finished hooking and binding and then made a nice label on the computer (which I forgot to take a picture of).  Then I surprised Lucille by knocking on her door with the completed rug.  She loved it. Thank God.

In my defense I have to say that there wasn't near enough wool to finish the rug.  And because a lot of it was as is, it was impossible to find an exact match.  I had to do quite a bit of unhooking and re-hooking to get an even placement of new wool into the pattern.  I had to devise a color plan for the border as well, and match that wool to the leaves and flowers.  Every time I put my hook down to ponder a problem, I put off solving the problem for weeks -- sometimes months.  So here I am, two years later, a little embarrassed and a lot smarter about agreeing to finish other people's works.  (Read that as "Never again!")