Garage/Car Wars

This weekend started with some errands Friday night (that's called "Date Night" around here), including getting my car washed.  The weekend continued on Saturday, when I went to teach a very rowdy bunch of knitters how to knit the Trousseau at The Spinning Room (what a fun class!) --- but not before Paul said I should take his car since it had snowed one half inch and we had just washed my car and it shouldn't get dirty.  So, instead of taking my nice, clean car out of the nice, dry garage, I had to walk through the snow in the driveway (the whole half inch of it), clean off his car and drive that.  Ok, I certainly could have just taken my car anyway, but I know how much pride and care Paul takes with the cars so.... 

But I just have to say, there are always so many reasons I don't get to enjoy my garage spot.  Most of them involve Paul working on his other cars, or painting his friends' cars, and needing the space, so mine sits outside.  Note to self:  Thank Paul's friend Rob for letting me have my car sit outside for a good portion of this winter.  Whining over. For now.

In Knitting News:
I am almost done with my Meadowlark ! (I had to look up the name of this AGAIN.  For the life of me, I can't remember the name of it and keep wanting to call it Watershed.)

Unblocked - back view.



Blocking - front view. See how much
bigger/stretched it got?

I've finished the main knitting and blocked it and it is drying as we speak.  Now, I have to put on applied i-cord around the arm holes and along the front edges.  You can just go ahead and stick a knitting needle in my eye right now.  Applied i-cord is the most tedious thing in the world.  Cast on 3 little stitches, then knit 2 stitches and then the third stitch together with an edge stitch, slide stitches to the other end of needle and repeat ad nauseaum for 8 billion stitches (in this case).  I am determined not to put this off, though, so once it is dry, I am going to do it.  Then reward myself with knitting my Bloody Mary cardigan. And maybe a Peep.

In Cooking News:
We are on a health kick here at chez Cassidy.  So, I made this really yummy Lentil Salad:

Looks not terribly pretty, especially in a plastic container, but it was great.  Then last night I made a farro salad (farro is a grain with lots of protein and fiber and is kind of like chewy barley) which was also great.  In between there I made a beef stew in the crock pot, so we aren't going terribly nutso with the healthy stuff.  That would drive us both crazy.

And ALSO, I decided to try to make some Easter bread. I did a test-loaf yesterday to see if it would work, so I can make more at the end of this week. 

Easter bread minus the colored eggs.

It has yeast in it.  AND IT ACTUALLY CAME OUT GREAT!  I surprised myself and was skeptical all along the way, since I wasn't sure if it looked right.  Too soft?  Too sticky? Not risen enough?  Risen too much?  Too brown?  NOPE to all of that.  Just yummy.  And then I blinged it up:

Icing and sprinkles!

 A Book Review!
Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick:  This was a recommended book on the Books on the Nightstand podcast and I really liked it.  I've read several of their recommendations recently and I haven't been disappointed.  I did have a little trouble getting used to the author's writing style which included some run-on sentences/paragraphs and some parts that I wasn't sure where it fit into the story, but eventually stopped trying to re-read things and just went with it.  Here is the Amazon ditty: 
"It is the summer of 1948 when a handsome, charismatic stranger, Charlie Beale, recently back from the war in Europe, shows up in the town of Brownsburg, a sleepy village nestled in the Valley of Virginia. All he has with him are two suitcases: one contains his few possessions, including a fine set of butcher knives; the other is full of money. A lot of money. Heading Out to Wonderful is a haunting, heart-stopping novel of love gone terribly wrong in a place where once upon a time such things could happen."
Charlie is a mysterious man.  The story runs along with all kinds of suggestions as to what type of man he might be or might have been before we meet him and constantly makes you wonder where the story is going to end up, hoping for the best, but not really sure it will work out.  Very engaging.

In Other News That May Or May Not Interest You:
Crooked icicle out the back door:


Turn your head sideways....

Eerie day last week:

 Pretty view of Bar Harbor from Paul's trip to Maine for work last week:

Can't wait to go back there for vacation this summer!