Bloom Where You’re Planted
Remember those tiny citrus trees I got when I went to Monticello way back in 2010? Last fall the little lime tree bloomed like crazy, but none of the blooms set fruit. That’s not really uncommon for the first bloom of a fruit tree. Now it’s blooming again.
There are only a handful of blooms and it’s inside in our office. I also noticed the other day that the variegated lemon is blooming as well. It resides in our bedroom window.
The smell of these blooms is way too much for me, so I’ll be moving the tree out into the landing for a while. It probably won’t set fruit, but I’m excited because these beautiful trees are finally reaching maturity. I’m fairly certain that next fall/winter I will have finally see fruit!
Do you have any houseplants that produce fruit/food?
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Always a Hoot
Mr Chiots and I laugh, A LOT! We’re both by nature kind of silly people, put us together and it’s pretty much a constant joke around here. Nothing is done with seriousness, everything is done in fun. The best part of that is, it makes chores fun instead of drudgery.
Take for example Mr Chiots heading out to knock the icicles off the back of the house, he can’t just knock them off, it has to be done with flair and fun. Naturally, I had to take photos to document the fun.
How would I caption this photo? “Now that I have the shard, what am I going to do with it?” Some of you will know exactly what that’s from!
How would you caption this photo of Mr Chiots?
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Bacon in the New Year
Happy New Year! Last night we celebrated as usual with a themed party with friends. Everyone came over to our place for a night of good food, fun games and ringing in the new year. Our theme was BACON, you can really go wrong with that. All the food contained bacon in some form. I was in charge of the main dish, so I made homemade pizza topped with horseradish cream cheese (instead of the tomato sauce), roast beef, bacon, caramelized onions, and cheese. There was also a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette, bacon, walnuts and dried cranberries. For dessert there was maple ice cream with candied bacon pieces on top.
I wrote this post before everyone arrived so I don’t have any photos of what everyone else brought. But I know bacon wrapped shrimp, bacon wrapped steak, bacon wrapped dates, bacon ranch dip with veggies and a few other bacon items were on the list. It’s always fun to have a theme for a party (at least I think so). Of course we also had champagne and sparkling pomegranate juice to toast at midnight (no bacon champagne could be found).
How did you celebrate the New Year arriving?
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Cultivate Simple 12: Buy Better
Our topic this week is about buying better. We discuss the processes we use when determining if and what we want to spend our hard earned money on.
Donald Thomas Carter
Christmas Eve presents opened, Christmas morning presents opened, Just a few hours in and 50% of them are already broken. Darn Chinese and the crappy toys they make! Sun Zsu would be proud of you… you are winning the war and we don´t even know we are losing it, let alone in one.
Filson – Might as well have the best!
The goods we quote must not be confounded with the cheap and vastly inferior grade with which the market is over-run. Such goods are not only useless for the purpose for which they are intended, but the person wearing them would be better off without them.”
— Clinton C. Filson 1914 catalog
America is a nation obsessed with finding personal happiness. But the person who sets out to find happiness rarely succeeds. He or she may achieve occasional and temporary satisfaction through financial success or a busy social life, but rarely true happiness. Happiness comes to those people who concentrate on the opposite – who do things for others, who set out to produce beautiful paintings or delicious meals, or who engage in projects that bring beneficial change to the world. Such people not only contribute to a better world as a result but also achieve unexpected happiness. These are the people who move through life with ease, in spite of obstacles and misfortune.
Thomas S Cowan, MD (The Fourfold Path to Healing)
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for” -Epicurus Greek Philosopher (341 BC – 270 BC)
Insomnia and HSP & introvertedness – This melatonin from Radiant Life I have found to be most helpful.
If This Then That – Brian’s geeky website that saves him tons of time
So tell us, what would you like to hear in future podcasts and how are you going to be cultivating simple in 2013?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:48:04 — 74.9MB)
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Quote of the Day: Alice Waters
“The things most worth wanting are not available everywhere all the time.”
We’ve just passed the solstice and the days are getting longer. The solstice also officially kicks off winter, the lean months. When you try to eat locally and seasonally, this time of year can get to be a little long; especially when you’re used to eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Lately, I’ve been craving something green. For now, that spot in my diet is filled with sauerkraut, cabbage, rutabagas, turnips, carrots and potatoes.
Of course I could go to the local supermarket and get lettuce and any other green thing I wanted, but that kind of defeats the purpose. If I did, I probably wouldn’t enjoy them as much when I was harvesting them fresh from my garden.
What fruit or vegetable are you missing that’s out of season?
