Installation

While visiting Vermont a few weeks ago, we stopped at this art installation on the front lawn of the Middlebury College Museum of Art.

So cool, it reminds me of something out of a fairy tale. Artist Patrick Dougherty created it (and others in other places) out of saplings, and it was all branches as far as we could see, with no other support system or frame.

Baking with Agave

At first I was slow to get on the agave bandwagon, but lately it's become my alternative sweetener of choice. Its strong sweetness and mild flavor make it a great sugar subsititute, as I've learned using it in ice cream recipes and, most recently, baked goods. Here we have apple upside-down cake (recipe modified from the one in the latest Cook's Illustrated):

And (recipe also modified) blackberry peach cobbler :

Now it's not a straight swap, less agave nectar is needed than the amount of sugar called for (for the cobbler I halved it) and sometimes more dry ingredients are needed. But I found it really easy to make these changes and get a good outcome. I was not super specific about what I did, just taste tested along the way, and everything came out just fine.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

Home again and spending time cleaning and organizing around the house and thrift store shopping (the rocking horse did indeed come home with us).

And hopefully garage sale-ing too, this weekend (heat be damned). I've been on the hunt for a few specific things--namely cool vintage-y trunks, hat boxes, suitcases, and the like for storage (as part of the home organization thing), a typewriter (for typing fun or possibly just for the keys), and whatever else strikes my fancy without breaking the bank. An old school push button phone is something I'm always on the lookout for, but I do wonder if I'd actually be able to tolerate being tethered to the wall after having become so accustomed to a cordless. Oh, and I need to get a new camera (not at a yard sale). The above photo was shot with my mom's camera, which she doesn't use much herself, but I'm pretty eager to replace mine and think I will probably upgrade a bit for one that allows for more manual control, which is kind of exciting. Light at the end of the lost-camera-debacle tunnel!

Salvaged Vacation Photos

Austin airport

Vermont

Maine

New York City

As you can see, a few photos did manage to make it home safely, but the majority are long gone. Never again will I put (almost) all my photo eggs in one basket like that, especially when I had the oppurtunity, more than once even, to transfer them off my camera! Oh, the mountain of regret. C'est la vie, right? I keep telling myself that but the truth is I'm still not feeling it.

R.I.P. February 10, 2008 - July 11, 2009

(not my photo)

Well, I am home once again, but my camera is not. And neither are the majority of the pictures I took on my trip, which feels like a much bigger loss than the camera itself. I'm a little heartbroken--I really loved some of those pictures-- but I'll get over it. Overall the trip was really good.

Au revoir!

Original image found here (www.lib.texas.edu)