2024-Amsterdam (& Taylor Swift) · Travel

Random & Amsterdam!

We’ve been hanging out in the back yard in the evening.

There are quite a few of those butterflies & when they’re not flitting around, they’re soaking up the sun… one even landed on my big toe for a minute last night.

We’ve had a couple of cats hanging around — one’s gray & the other is orange, but they both have very strong stripe patterns & look like they could be related. They look healthy & cared for. This one jumped up & lazed on the pergola bench for a little while the other day.

I was reminded this week that it was 10 years ago that we visited Kate in Scotland and drove up to the Highlands, hiking up to the Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye in the cold & brutal wind. (We did other things, too.)

I’ve recently been reminded, too, of getaways at this time of year to Las Vegas, North Carolina & Denver. So many fun trips!

And, sure, I’m going to a Taylor Swift concert in a few weeks, but mostly, I’m going to Amsterdam… with my sister!! It’s been ages since we’ve had a 1:1 vacation together, and I’ve never been to the Netherlands before.

We’ll be there for five full days! Even if you X out concert day, there are still four other days to explore. We already have tickets to the Van Gogh Museum, and there’s a long list of other possibilities, including a canal cruise, riding bicycles, visiting the Heineken brewery, a bunch of other museums, the botanical garden, some shopping… including yarn stores! Amsterdam is home to Stephen & Penelope’s! I haven’t lately been as enamored with Stephen West’s designs as I once was, but it would be a fun stop, and there are at least four other shops on my list of possibilities (I will not be going to all of them!).

I know for sure that Annie wants to visit Winkel 43 again for apple pie, and I want to find & enjoy a fresh stroopwafel somewhere!

I’m open to suggestions if anyone has any to share.

And have a great weekend!! It’s JUNE tomorrow!

2024-Amsterdam (& Taylor Swift)

Going off the deep end

So, chatting with my sister Ann one day a few months ago, she mentioned that she’d like to go to a Taylor Swift concert in Miami… to which I replied, NO WAY (in case she was asking me if I’d want to go) (and she was).

Taylor Swift is a phenom, she said, a worldwide superstar, she said, and she’d like to be part of it all. I get it… I regret never going to a Michael Jackson or Prince concert back in the day (or any number of others… I really didn’t go to concerts much at all) (location, location, location) (and also $$).

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I read an article about a group of women who couldn’t afford tickets for a Taylor Swift concert in the US, so they went abroad. I chuckled & told Annie that I MIGHT consider THAT scenario, depending on the city.

What’s that they say? Give a mouse a cookie…???

Next thing you know, she’s checking her calendar, looking at concert tickets, and we’re booking airfare & lodging…

Ann on FB: Tickets to see Taylor Swift in Amsterdam ✅♥️🎉
What’s most amazing is my sister (who doesn’t even really know or particularly like Taylor Swift *YET*) is coming!! What are you supposed to do when the baby sister just has to go?!?! 😂 Looking forward to it, Vicki!!!!

Now she’s sending me texts to share her favorite songs, asking what are mine (???), sending Spotify playlists, and she just suggested that we try to memorize one song from each era!

It’s rubbing off… I don’t have a favorite song yet, but I am gathering supplies to make Swiftie bracelets!

I’m also playing around with my Provisional Press. There’s some tweaking to do to get some of that type to print properly, but that about sums up the current mood around here!

Family Temperature Blanket · Unraveled Wednesday / Knit & Read

Unraveled Wednesday: Two-thirds

I’m joining Kat & the Unravelers for Unraveled Wednesday! I can’t believe it’s been 6 weeks since my last Unraveled post!

KNITTING

I’m plugging away on Maddy’s panel for the Family Temperature Blanket and it’s about 2/3 done. And it’s finally not raining so I could get some photos!

This is the layout that I originally had in mind: Rusty, Kate, Ali, Maddy, Vicki — and is even reflected in my IG hashtag for the project #rkamvtemperatureblanket — we’ll see. I think I might like kravm, too.

It’s motivating to see it all laid out like that!

My gnome is still waiting to be finished… one of these days.

READING

I’m slower than molasses, but finally closing in on The Princess Bride! Audible sent me a reminder the other day that they’re still a thing…

SOMETHING ELSE

I cleaned all the type that I’m going to use & bought some appropriately sized cardstock…

…and will be locking up & pulling a couple of proof prints today!

In The Backyard · Weekending · What's For Dinner?

Weekending: Local Goodies & Family Time

Friday was pretty busy what with getting Ann’s Airbnb ready and then taking a nap.

Per the official Memorial Day Weekend forecast, Saturday was predicted to be the only nice weather day, so I took the long way to the grocery store… I didn’t need to drive down to the CSA farm again but I did! Sunscreen on, top down!! It was wonderful. They’ve been increasing the number of other local/Wisconsin/small biz products they carry, so besides some produce (asparagus) & more basil plants, I bought some Red Sauce from Bushel & Peck (simple, pure Italian red gravy), some tortilla chips from Tortilleria Zepeda, and some shrubs from Siren Shrub (my favorite flavors are tart cherry & basil) (they have lots of good recipes on their site).

I used some of the blue corn tortillas from Tortilleria Zepeda that I’d picked up earlier to make some pretty amazing crispy fish tacos on Saturday night. We’d forgotten how good that recipe was! I’m usually not a fan of corn tortillas — at least the ones you buy at the store — because they’re so soft & fall apart the second you look at them, but the TZ tortillas held up beautifully, even with a juicy fruit salsa & sauce. So good. There were two tortillas left, along with a little bit of everything else, so we each had another fish taco as part of our grazing/leftover clean-up supper last night.

I had the kids most of the day on Sunday and then Ali stayed for dinner after she was finished at work. I have to tell you, sometimes, even when I know that I’m going to have the kids for a while, I find myself unprepared. I forget that I have to feed them! I usually have a couple of boxes of mac & cheese in the pantry, but even kids don’t live by mac & cheese alone. I upped the game and bought cheese tortellini for lunch to go with that Italian gravy — which two out of four kids LOVED! (Some of them take after their mother. haha)

We’d originally planned a cookout for dinner, but it was raining pretty hard. I’d come across a recipe on IG for Quick Potato Pie the other day and had everything needed to make that! It’s basically a quiche but with a mashed potato “crust.” (The kids still opted for the planned-for hot dogs!) Malina & Davy helped me make Rhubarb Bars With Shortbread Crust, and that was dessert. (The littles opted for ice cream sandwiches.) I’m having a reprise of that meal for lunch today!

I even got Ginny & Malina to try some raw rhubarb dipped in sugar — and they liked it! Next time I make the rhubarb shortbread recipe, I’ll use a slightly larger pan with more crust on the bottom & just a bit less on top, and twice the amount of rhubarb! I have a lot of rhubarb to use.

What’s your favorite rhubarb recipe, or method for keeping/freezing for later use?

We have flowers indoors & out. There are LOTS of amaryllis leaves on quite a few plants, but only one flower stalk — our timing was off this year. The irises are gorgeous — those are some tiny wild blueflag irises. We’ve had so much rain (more this afternoon) but a few days of sunshine ahead and I predict a major growth spurt in the garden!

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

In The Backyard

Random Wednesday

Words are not very forthcoming at the moment, but maybe some pictures will help get things moving.

A team from the National Weather Service came to my little city this morning to survey damage from a storm that whipped through last night, trying to determine whether it was straight-line winds or a tornado. I can tell you from personal observation that there was rotation! These photos are taken from the alley behind Annie’s house — that’s her garage, driveway & tumbled bins. The tree was from an across-the-alley neighbor, which means that it fell from east to west (and a little north) — not the usual direction!

I’ve read posts on social media about people missing refuse bins, and another where someone found a trampoline in their yard — not theirs! Many, many trees came down, many cars got squished, an apartment complex was evacuated because part of the roof came off, a few thousand people were without power. It’s a mess. Luckily, I’ve heard of ZERO injuries/fatalities.

I did a quick survey of our back yard & ravine this morning and noticed one tree leaning against another… I don’t think it was doing that yesterday.

In other news…

I took the Eclipse (top down) to pick up plants at my CSA farm on Saturday — it’s about a 2-hour RT and down almost the entire length of Lake Winnebago — it was absolutely gorgeous!

The garden is shaping up and there’s something new happening every day! Veggie, flowers & herbs are all in — I have a couple of things to re-pot and bean seeds to sow, and that will happen this weekend.

I also plan to continue cleaning type and, hopefully, making a few proofs for a printing project that I have in mind. One color/pass? Two? That seems like a good project for a long weekend… I have Friday off, so will have a little head start…