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Friday, May 31, 2019

Around the House

Here we are, the final day of May! So far a cool, wet spring. The peonies are beginning to open, the trees are fully in leaf, summer is almost here even though the temperatures don't feel like it.

This morning while out walking I turned a corner and was wowed by the sunrise, the sun was just a large orange-pink-red circle, it was truly beautiful, my picture does not do it justice.


This is not a good picture, because it was really beautiful and rather stunning in reality.

Also on my walk I came across a strange creature, something I have not seen before, and I do not know what it is, if you have any ideas let me know. It was about eight inches long, appeared to have many teeny-tiny legs, and moved rather like a worm. It was in the road heading into grass, not too far from a pond and a wetland, it looks as if it is more at home in a wet or damp environment.

What on earth is this creature?
This week I learned about sprouted grains, the health benefits of eating them and how to sprout them. Armed with my new information I went to my favorite health food shop and picked up three whole grains, rye, wheat, and spelt, and a fine mesh strainer lid for my mason jars. I started the sprouting process on Wednesday, and this morning the sprouts have started to emerge. I will store the fully sprouted grains in the refrigerator to retard further growth, and enjoy some with each of my meals. Sprouted grains are good to add to salads, cooked foods, and to my morning oats. The benefits of eating sprouted grain are many, there are numerous YouTube videos to watch if you wish to learn more.

I attempted to make Vegan Yogurt this week with unsweetened soy milk and probiotics, using a recipe I found online. The yogurt thickened up somewhat, more like a buttermilk consistency, but it was so tangy, and I mean tangy, that I ended up throwing it away. I am going to look for another recipe to try. As the saying goes, try, try, and try again :)

The other week my grandsons brought over a dragon fruit, a fruit I have no experience with. We googled to find out how to eat it. I must say it was rather odd, the pulp inside is an unappetizing gray color with little seeds, rather like a kiwi in texture and taste, but the color is so off putting. The outside of the fruit is beautiful, a ruby pink fading to a yellowish green, it is so shocking to cut it open and be faced with a very bland gray pulp. I think I can honestly say I have had dragon fruit and doubt I will ever choose to eat it again.

Last weekend Dave and I went shopping for glider for our front porch, we had a porch swing for many years, but it eventually fell victim to the weather and was no longer safe to use. I missed the porch swing, but decided a glider would work better on the porch as it would not need a frame to hang from, the frame takes up a lot of room.  We went to several stores and eventually picked out this glider, we really like it and it fits well on the porch.




We decided to really limit the amount of plastic we bring into our home, we now take our own bags to any store that we visit, and I choose glass containers over plastic when there is a choice. But to avoid bringing any plastic into our home seems to be an impossibility, so many items are in plastic and I can understand why, it is a versatile material, lightweight, not easily broken, but when we are done with it what do we do with it?  Due to years of not using our own bags we have tons of plastic grocery bags in our home and I was feeling frustrated about what to do with them and then I discovered PLARN, lol.
Plarn is yarn created out of strips of plastic bags, there are many tutorials online to see how to turn your bags into plarn. Once the balls of plarn are rolled you simply crochet with the stuff, I am going to make a tote bag. I think this is an excellent way to up-cycle our plastic bags. The tote will be useful, practical, and long lasting, and those plastic bags get to live a second life, a much, much longer life of usefulness. I will post an update on this new to me project, wish me luck with my plarn adventure.

I really like that I am fifty-five years old and every week learn or experience something new to me for the first time. What new things have you experienced or learned recently?

Peace be with you,

Bean


4 comments:

Lynda said...

Seems like we are on the same wave length :) I just put some photos on my blog from my walk early this morning too. It's the best time of day!! xx

Bean said...

Hi Lynda,

You are such a good photographer, your pictures are always beautiful and do seem to capture the moment well.

I love early morning too.

Bean

Sandra Ann said...

Plarn, love it! Will have to watch a video on how one can make it work. Thanks for sharing 🙂

Maureen said...

I think your creature might be a leech.