A Year in the Making, day 304

Remember I talked about having cantaloupe with the lavender custard last night?



Yeah, it was tasty.

Hubby grilled steaks for us, along with corn on the cob. Nothing in the world like roasted corn on the cob. I have very fond memories of growing up, going to the Wisconsin state fair. They'd have these huge ovens, like pizza ovens, in which they'd roast the corn, and then they'd pull them out, shuck 'em and wrap the husks in paper towels, then dip the ears in melted butter and hand it to you. The home grill isn't quite as good as memory says, but it still rocks. I also had a filet mignon, perfectly rare. Life is good.

Spent today playing in monochrome - I found these frosted matte glass beads in grey and black awhile back, and then a few days ago found the perfect pendant to accent them:

Matte Black and Silver Multi-strand Necklace with Glass Leaf Pendant



I also started a project that I've been mulling for years this evening, and hopefully will get a chance to finish it this weekend. A few years ago I came across a piece of antique green cinnabar, carved in the shape of a butterfly.



I'd found some beads to go with it, faceted discs of green and black. At least I thought they were black. I wanted to mix it with straight black beads, and I'd finally picked up some black onyx last month, so I pulled them all out today to start work. I put the beads next to each other on the dining room table, in afternoon light with the french doors open, and I realized these beads weren't green and black. They shaded from green to puce to purple! So I made an emergency run to the bead store and found some deep purple fluorite rounds. I did a little bit with it today, and it seems to be coming together. I don't know that I'll get a chance to work on it until Monday, though, with the upcoming festivities for the holiday weekend. So stay tuned, green and purple Victorian goodness is in the works!

A Year in the Making, day 303

Wait a minute! Didn't you just post "day 299" yesterday? Yes I did. And then, with today being July 1st, and the end only two months away, I did the math. There are 31 days in July & August, and with 365 days in the year, that means that somewhere in the last 10 months I messed up my count. Oops! So I jumped four days to put me back on the correct schedule.

I tried an experiment, a lavender custard. I heard them talk about it on The Splendid Table sometime last year, and thought it sounded absolutely lovely, and have been meaning to try it for months. But when I got the serious urge it was the middle of winter, and no lavender to be had. Ours finally bloomed, and I decided to give it a go.




According to the program, you should simmer the lavender in the milk first, then strain it and go on to cook it according to whatever recipe you're using. I gave it a go, but it didn't set, so it's more like lavender cream soup. It's still delicious, though. No pictures, you'll just have to use your imagination.

The lavender is currently the only thing left in our front yard - we are finally getting some landscaping done, 8 years after buying this house. They came in today and stripped the lawn down to the dirt:



They'll be bringing in some dirt tomorrow to level things off, and then putting in new sod and trimming the hedge. (Again! You'd never know I almost killed myself trying to tame that damn thing earlier this year!) We'll have a real lawn! One that I won't break an ankle walking across that isn't a mixture of clover, dandelions, and pricklers!

Look! More exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished another piece for the gents today, using that pinstripe trim, with another vintage black silk umbrella:

The Steampunk Gents Brolly



Very tempted to go get another helping of custard soup. Wonder how it'd go over fresh canteloupe? I think I'm going to have to find out. Excuse me!