Beautiful Monday

So today was a day of distraction. Distractions were catching. Laurie emailed to say she kept thinking about dyeing fiber. I was thinking about dyeing fibers as well as the coming of my spinning wheel. It was also beautiful outside. How beautiful? Well look what Younger Celting pointed out when we got home this evening. My magnolia (at least I think it's a magnolia) tree is starting to bloom. To give you an idea what this is like when it's in FULL bloom, I like to describe the tree at the Charlie Brown tree that plans on eating my house. It's big.


In response to Julia's comment from yesterday, I whole heartedly agree that we need to corrupt more peeps to spin. This was part of my distraction today. I figure if I could start a rowdy knitting group at B&N, I could probably get a group of spinners together somewhere. Besides, it will only encourage me to A) get out in public more and B) stay faithful to my spinning. So any spinners out there who are reading this and are in the Greater Pittsburgh area and are interested, give me a holler will ya?


















Now here's something that will really distract a girl at work. My exchange partner, Mary Pat, sent me this lovely box for our spring exchange. She nailed my spring outlook right on the head, folks. See that tea? It's APRICOT. What's the deal with apricot? Well my grandmother always made apricot pie and cookies for Easter. It always makes me think spring. She also made her potato salad with a mustard style dressing at Easter. It was so good, I waited an extra day to be induced with Elder Celting so as not to miss it. Now as for the rest of the package, those blue candies are dark chocolate. YUM!!! I'm a big fan of dark chocolate. And what to say about that yarn! I'm thinking purple pansies. The colorway is LimeNViolet in honor of the podcast. And it's so soft. I'm just trying to think of a project which will do it justice. So a big spring THANK YOU to Mary Pat for being so good to me just when I need it.

And since Heather asked and she's always so good to me, I'm sharing my grandmother's apricot pie recipe in honor of the season.

Grandma Bea's Apricot Pie
1lb dried apricots
double pie crust for a 9 or 10" pie
lemon juice
cornstarch
1/2 - 1 cup sugar (Splenda works too)
ginger (optional)

Put the apricots in a pot with enough water to cover them and let soak overnite. Recover apricots in morning with water and stir in 1/2 cup sugar. Place on medium to medium/low heat and cook until either the "juice" has thickened or the apricots have burst their jackets depending on your taste. Add 1 Tbsp lemon juice and ginger to taste. Use lemon juice and sugar to taste. I like mine tart, my mother likes her's sweet (that's another story). Mix a few tablespoons of the "juice" with 1 Tbsp of cornstarch and add to pot. Stir over heat to thicken. Place filling in the crust and put second crust on top. Seal crusts and pierce with fork. (I like to put an A into the crust because Grandma did.) Bake in 425 degree oven for 30 - 45 minutes or until golden brown.