The Potato Plants Have Flowers

gardening

A quick update on our potato plants. Today, as I was trimming away some of the tomato vines in the garden (that were overtaking things), I discovered flowers on the potato plants. A very good sign I should think.

The flowers were a pale shade of purple with yellow centers. Who knew potato plants could be so lovely? I am getting more excited every day as I tend to the plants. They are growing quite tall now and I am crossing my fingers that the potatoes underground are maturing as well.

Who knows, maybe if this potatoe thing works out, I’ll start a potato farm in Idaho.

As always, Happy Gardening!

Peanuts and Potatoes

gardening

This year we are trying to grow peanuts and potatoes in the garden, both of which are new to our garden. Having never grown these before, we can only hope for the best. Both seem to be thriving as of present.

I have posted about our peanut plants before. Compared to my earlier posts, the difference is amazing. The plants are growing and look very healthy and happy. I am just crossing my fingers that the peanuts are doing their thing under the soil as that is where they grow and I can not see what they are up to.

Peanut Plants

Potatoes are something I love to eat. I am hoping to be able to get a home grown baked potatoe out of this crop. Initially, I left some store bought potatoes on the counter to sprout. These were then planted in the garden. One important thing I forgot to do was tell the other gardener in the family, my husband, that the potatoes had been planted. I should have put up a marker, but alas that would have been too simple. So, thinking weeds were growing in the garden, my husband tried to pull a couple and then realized what I had done and put them back. They must be hardy little guys because this uprooting did not seem to faze them at all. The plants look wonderful and are green with life. As with the peanut plants, the potatoes grow under ground so I am again crossing my fingers that all is well.

Potatoe Plants

I will be sure to post what happens with the crops when they are time to harvest. Stayed tuned.

As always, Happy Gardening!

Maigret vs. Maigret

movie review

George Simeon’s murder/mystery novels were turned into movies. They are set in 1950’s Paris. Period pieces, of course I would be interested.

I checked-out the complete Maigret dvd series starring Rowan Atkinson from the library. I was hooked. My husband and I watched the videos and I wanted more Maigret, however, that was all. Then, I found Maigret movies starring another actor, Michael Gambon. We were back in business. But how did they compare?

I recall Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean. His goofiness and his funny little car But there is more to Rowan Atkinson, the actor, than meets the eye. He shows another dimension to his acting skills in his portraial as chief inspector Maigret. This very serious, likable, detective and his charming wife, Madame Maigret, played by Lucy Cohu had me glued to the screen. By the time the serious was over, Rowan Atkinson was Maigret to me.

I was not familiar with Michael Gambon until we watched him star in Maigret, although he is a famous actor in his own right. I must say, to be honest, I was not as captured by Gambon’s rendition of Maigret. His detectives were also not as appealing to me, except for Lucas, played by Geoffrey Hutchings. I thought that his wife, Madame Maigret, played by Ciaran Madden, came across too harsh. Having said that, I still enjoyed the movies.

Would I have felt differently had I seen Gambon’s version of Maigret first? Maybe, but I really do not think so. There were a couple of movies with the same titles played on both versions and I preferred the ones on Atkinson’s dvd. Why? Not only because I liked the characters, but I also felt the story was easier to follow. I felt lost in a couple of movies featuring Gambon. The story was not explained as well. My husband agreed with me on this point. This was a script problem not an acting problem. I felt the cast from the series starring Rowan Atkinson was more likable all around. The costumes were also more interesting to me as well.

So, if choosing a Maigret series to watch, I would recommend the one starring Rowin Atkinson. However, everyone has there own taste. Do like I did and watch them all. It’s always fun to compare and there are more titles and different titles on the Gambon set.

As always, Happy Viewing!

Using a Darning Loom

Projects

I came across this cute little darning loom to mend holes in socks. It can also be used to make patches in jeans or sweaters. The below picture shows my progress darning a sock.

The Katrinkles darning loom is very simple to use. As with everything these days, there are youtube videos to help guide the beginner. Basically, a disk is slipped inside the sock/garment to be darned. On the outside, the loom part is added and secured with a hair tie. Next the warp threads are put in by wrapping the threads around the teeth and taking a small stitch at the bottom of each row, past the hole that is being mending. Weaving is down under/over as always but at the end of each row the needle grabs a bit of the sock/garmet to secure.

I found the Kartinkles darning loom easy to use and the finish product turneded out nice and neat. Since I like weaving, it was a nice little something to do. The socks turned out much nicer than with needle and thread. I am planning on using it to repair some hand knitted socks that I made. Since I went to the effort of making them, I hate to have to toss them.

Since I bought my loom, (which was very recently), the company now carries them in different sizes. It also looks as though one can buy an extension piece if they already own a loom.

As always, Happy Mending!

My Take on… Gosford Park

movie review

I do love a good period piece with a bit of drama thrown in. Gosford Park does not disappoint. Gosford Park is a drama/mystery/suspense film set in early 30’s England. Think Downton Abbey with a little murder thrown in the picture.

The story takes place at the huge English estate of Sir William McCordle and his wife Lady Sylvia. It is there that they host a weekend of hunting and socializing for their guests. The story takes us into the runnings downstairs with the house staff and guest staff being thrown together, as well as the affairs upstairs.

An American film director is among the guests and his Charlie Chan movie, set at an English manor, is being researched on this weekend retreat. As he shares the plot of his movie with the other guests, one begins to see similarites with that of the house, and one can only wonder if the movie’s plot of murder will come true here as well.

A scream changes the course of the evening. Someone is found dead. Now it is up to us to put the pieces of gossip together to find out who done it.

Gosford Park has a lot of well known actors in it’s credits. Here are a few cast members that I was excited to see: Stephen John Fry, Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, and Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey). Of course, these are just a few of the talents on board.

I highly recommend Gosford Park for a good period mystery. The wardrobes are magnificent, the cast superb, and the story is interesting. So pop some corn and enjoy the show.

As always, Happy Viewing!

2021 Baby Bluebirds Have Arrived

gardening

As I have posted previously, we have a bluebird house in the yard that my husband made for me. It is to encourage bluebirds to nest. The bluebirds love the house and we have had the pleasure of enjoying baby bluebirds each spring. This year is no exception.

On the first of June, a beak was spotted by my husband. I, however, did not see anything until the next day. Upon opening the curtains, I saw the head of a baby bluebird peaking out of the birdhouse hole. Luckily, I left my camera near the window for just this purpose. I started snapping the 2021 baby photos.

This is perhaps my favorite thing about the garden. Seeing nature at its best. I plan on enjoying these cuties until they are old enough to leave the nest.

As always, Enjoy Nature!

Peanut Plants Update

gardening

Back in early April, my husband and I planted peanut plants in our garden. ( See post: https://wordpress.com/post/anotherdaywithjulie.home.blog/4783 ) It is now late May and I am happy to say that the plants are growing and have yellow buds.

The buds are an exciting thing to see as flowers are needed in order for the plants to make the peanuts. I am going to keep a close eye on the plants, hoping to see the flowers poke into the ground where they will, hopefully, produce peanuts.

Stay tuned for further updates from me on the progress of our peanut plants. For now, them seem to be healthy and heading in the right direction. As always, Happy Gardening!

Fair Isle Knitting – Not as Intimidating as it Looks

Projects

I have avoided Fair Isle Knitting all these years because it looked difficult. Multiple colors of yarns are used and charts need to be read, all making it seem very complicated. But as they say, looks can be deceiving.

If I could learn to skateboard, I figured I could learn to Fair Isle Knit. Turns out it only took me one sitting to learn Fair Isle Knitting. Much easier than skateboarding. I already had the basic skills I needed to do this type of knitting, the only thing stopping me was fear of the unknown.

To Fair Isle Knit, one needs to know how to knit, how to pearl, and how to read a chart. The rest is so simple that I feel silly for avoiding this technique for so long. Also, there are two types of knitting styles, English and Continental. While this technique can be used with just one of these styles of knitting, it is more efficient to use both styles at the same time. Doing so takes less time as the yarns do not cross and tangle.

I found easy directions for learning to Fair Isle Knit at: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/fair-isle-stranded-knitting-2116385

Basically, a color is added to the knitting and then after using it, it is dropped and the other color is picked up and used. When picking up a different color the yarn goes under the last strand that has been dropped and knitted as normal. All this is done without cutting the yarn, the yarn is picked up when needed. Longer strands will form on the backs of the knitted piece (the pearl side) but the front of the piece (the knit side) will show the pattern.

To read a chart: The charts are made of squares. Each square represents a stitch. The charts are read from right to left on the knitted side and from left to right on the pearl side. The squares will be in different colors depending on the color of yarn to be used. So if there are two dark squares (let’s say dark=blue), one light square (let’s say light=pink), and three dark squares, one would knit two stitches in blue, then switch to pink and knit one pink, and then switch back to blue and knit three blue. All this is done without cutting the yarn, the yarn is picked up when needed.

Do not be afraid to try Fair Isle Knitting. It looks beautiful and is much easier than it looks.

As always, Happy Knitting!

Oreo Cheesecake Review

Cooking

I love cheesecake, and this Oreo Cheesecake recipe from https://www.browneyedbaker.com/oreo-cheesecake/ did not disappoint. It was simple to put together and tasted great. One of the things that drew me to this recipe, besides the Oreos, was that it did not call for a water bath.

Water baths are used in making some recipes of cheesecake by wrapping the cheesecake pan in foil and then emerging it into another pan filled with water. Common sense tells me this might be a disaster waiting to happen. If the pan is not wrapped well, and somehow the slightest bit of water gets in, the cheesecake is ruined. I was not willing to take the chance, so I found a recipe that would be a bit more forgiving.

This recipe calls for the cheesecake to be baked for 40-55 minutes until the outer two inches are puffed and browned and the center is still jiggly. The oven is then turned off and the oven door is slightly left ajar for another hour while the cheesecake continues to slowly finish baking and the center is done.

The only changes I made to the recipe were….I substituted lactose-free cream cheese for regular cream cheese, I also substituted coconut milk for the heavy cream, and I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup instead of the 1 cup that it called for. Basically dairy-free, except for the crust. The silliest change I made was to the amount of slices. Although I KNOW that cheesecake is filling, I had the cheesecake cut into 9 slices instead of the recommended 12 servings. The boys and I agreed that maybe that was going a bit overboard. Silly me! So, keep the slices at 12 so as not to get overstuffed.

The recipe worked well and I will use it again. I think I will try it with a graham cracker crust and a plain cheesecake version as well. The possibilites are endless.

As always, Happy Baking!

Bodkins

Projects

What is a bodkin? A bodkin is something every seamstress should have in their sewing box. It’s a clever tool (that looks like a large needle without the point) used to pull elastic or drawstring through casings.

I had been attaching a safety pin to elastic and drawstring cording for years to help pull them through casings. While it worked, it was not the best way to go about it. The safety pin is short and hard to grap and pull through and can come undone (which has happened to me more than once) in the middle of the job.

I then came across bodkins and decided to order a set and see how they worked. The pair are different shapes. Pick the bodkin depending on the needs of the project. My set has a very flat, thin bodkin with two holes in different shapes and a thicker, rounded bodkin with one oblong hole.

For me, the magic lies in the amount of metal material there is to hold onto to be able to pull the elastic/drawstring through the casing. It is a much faster and smoother process than my safety pin technique and probably much safer as well. I suggest that the elastic/drawstring be knotted after threading through the bodkin, safety pinned, or stitched with a couple of hand stitches to secure it in place so that it does not come undone in the middle of the casing.

I am glad I came across the bodkin. It has sped-up my time threading materials through casings and made things a bit simplier for me.

As always, Happy Sewing!