Well, really I only used a few violets form the yard, mostly I used the ones from the flowerbed border around the pool yard. And the answer is that I had to pick the violets for the jelly before the husband was allowed to mow the yard, and the grass was getting mighty high. 

SO, violet jelly. I had seen a recipe in passing on the internet and I just jump at the chance to make edible things out of flowers-it's too whimsical and fun to pass up. Out I went to collect the flowers, steep them in boiling water and then in the fridge overnight and then watch as the magical blue "tea" turns bright purple/fuschia when you add lemon juice to it in order to make the jelly. The recipe is simple and it turns out that it's delicious! The flavor is something between sweet like grape and something almost fermented like dessert wine-and of course, flowery. I've never had anything like it and now I'm on the hunt to find a good thing to put it on, maybe something simple like plain buttered biscuits, or even a flaky croissant...

Recipe: 

I found a bunch on the internet and most of them are pretty similar.

2 C violet flowers , rinsed (I added violas because I had a ton coming up, and pansies are a good addition too if you have them!) 

2 C boiling water

1 package fruit pectin

1/4 C lemon juice

4 C sugar

I cleaned my flowers with a salad spinner to get any dirt off, first. Then pour the 2 C of boiling water over the flowers in a glass or non-reactive bowl, let it cool. I let mine steep, covered, in the fridge overnight, but some recipes say you can start here. Filter the violet juice through a cofee filter to remove any extra grit-I filtered mine twice until it was a clear deep blue liquid. Add the violet juice, lemon and pectin in a large pot over high heat and stir until combined, then slowly add the sugar, stirring continuously. Stir over high heat until boiling, boil for one minute and then ladle into hot, sterilized jars. Once you've sealed the jars with their lids you can put them into a hot water canning bath and boil them for 10 minutes.

Spring is beginning. Crocuses are up, daffodils are cautiously considering opening their pods, and the violets have begun to unravel their spiraling leaves. My mother had her last radiation treatment today. 

After biopsy & diagnosis, surgery & recovery, twelve weeks of chemo and 7 weeks of radiation, she is done. In truth it was a rather anticlimactic end. The expectations of how cancer is lived is widely over-sensationalized. Which is not to say it is not a horrible, awful thing, just that it is not outwardly so. Cancer is quiet. The battle is a silent thing. And so is the healing and the enduring. It is slow and unexpected. 

There is a fierce protectiveness in watching doctors and surgeons look at someone you love as a sick person. Would they just see her at her as one of the millions? A number? A set of DNA and cells to be studied and treated? There is a need to make them understand that she is "mom", the one who teaches you that you bat better left-handed, the one who knows the mayo always goes on the baloney side of the sandwich, the one who convinces you that the green beans came from Grandma's garden so that you will eat them instead of just push them around the plate with your fork.

Her caretakers were kind, sincere, understanding. The path was long and had it's moments. She was brave and strong. Humor was an enduring armor, and stubborness when all else fails  is a mighty thing. As the spring unfolds and the sun grows stronger, things will get brighter. 

lay·er

one thickness, course, or fold laid or lying over or under another

I had so many ideas about layers and how I'd like to use this idea to make a painting, and I have a sketch of it, but I think I'd rather wait and take a bit more time for that one. So, instead I made a simple sketch of our friend Susan who was just visiting and has these amazing vibrant red dreads that are thick and layered, and she herself is a mutli-layered being.

(what the heck is "IF"? check it out at illustrationfriday!)

(images clickable to see more at the flickr page!)

 *images are links to my flicker page-all photos taken on my shiny fabulous iPhone.

finish

 I began this painting a little over a month ago, and it took me a while longer than usual to finish.

I have been noticing a barrage of illness, and unwellness in people—particularly women—close to me lately. Over the past few months there have been life-altering health diagnosese, divorces, a new baby, upheaval...It has been a parade of unravelling and redefining. While the painting began in response to the illness closest to me, as I painted it, it took on the lives and breaking down of women around me. As I painted it I began to see that it might not be a person breaking down into pieces, but rather coming together. The things in life that turn our world upside down bring us to our true selves by shaking out all the other stuff that doesn't matter and leaving us with the rest.

At the awesome company I work for, we participate in something called CreateAthon. The jist is that we stay up all night designing for charity-there is a lot (months) of prep work leading up to it, and then a mad dash to fabulous logos, brochures, websites and all sorts of other stuff by 9am the next morning. It took place on September 23 this year, it was crazy and tiring and wonderful and rewarding. Here is a look at this past year's work. And you can check out the blog posts we were making throughout the night. We never seem to get a lot of responses to the blog posts, but that's ok, we think it's because the rest of the world was sleeping!

The weekend comprised of a quick (and much too short) jaunt to Vermont to visit our favorite peeps and get the awesome honor of being the first houseguests at their brand new house.

Due to aweful weather we ended up leaving Saturday morning instead of Friday night after work-but they got snow up in the mountains and it would have been a harried trip up through the dark mountains in the late late night.

Our trips to Vermont always seem to involve lots of amazing food (this place use to be an old McDonald's), walking the dogs and just hanging out. It really is the best kind of vacation.

The rest of the weekend pics can be found here. There are not too many, I was enjoying relaxing too much to take pictures!

It was a full summer and the autumn is dawning with the visual presence of my breath in the morning and the feeling that a sweater would be a great idea.

I have been busy in my garden. I have learned much about canning and exhausted every squash recipe under the sun. The husband might divorce me if he sees another zucchini on his plate before February...

There have been a few trips and outtings that I haven't stopped to babble about here on the blog-I should-but I see my schedule continuing at it's crazy pace for a while.

There has been some demolition and documentation of the house my best friend inherited in our home town too, and it involved a lot of ripping up carpet.

There was also a vacation, but I have not yet put up those photos...soon though. 

And also there has been much sketching, but very little scanning. I'll try to get on that ball this week too.

The lyrics can be found on her site here. I am loving her stuff at the moment, great voice and great lyrics. I'm in a very New England folk way in my musical tastes lately. I found her suggested to me on last.fm