almost october

We have an apple tree in the backyard of our new house. It's not been taken care of very well so it's sort of wild and unmanageable, with lots and lots of apples. On Sunday I picked up all the windfall because it was starting to smell like hard cider in the yard – not an altogether bad smell, but still ... I picked this basket of apples to make applesauce, I think. I may can it, even, because I've gotten so enamored with the idea of canning ever since I made the plum jam. I was at the Farmers' Market last weekend and I asked one of the farmers to save me two flats of Italian prune plums for this coming Saturday – so there's more jam making ahead.


On the work front, I printed these ginkgo invitations for my brother who is getting married in November. I need to give my big, big business card project a short rest and some time to reconsider how to best approach it. It's been a really challenging job for me, technically, and I've been overwhelmed by it. It's been very hard, actually, trying to push the limits of what I can do – with the press I have, as a one-person studio, with the time I have free, trying to juggle family life and needs with work – and, really, trying to maintain a sense of calm throughout ... With the SP-20 damaged, my plans have had to change a bit as I need to get the calendars and holiday inventory printed.

And so yesterday I began printing the text for the 2009 calendars. I had debated between using Crane's Lettra, which I use for all my stationery, and Somerset Textured. In the end, though, to keep the prices affordable, I went with my standard Lettra – and I am pleased with it yet again. The business card job, mentioned above, is on Crane Cover 179 lb which is very thick and so I'm really enjoying printing with a more pliable paper. Lettra takes such a beautiful impression and I am used to working with it – so there are no surprises. Lettra is sort of like my favorite sheets, soft and comfortable.

I'll leave you with a photo of Liam in the studio with me.

beginning of fall

The other day Liam and I went with our neighbors to pick blueberries and Italian prune plums. It was a hot day, but it's been pretty chilly each day since then. We gathered these leaves that seem a sure sign of the start of fall. Also, just look at this gorgeous morning light on our dining room chairs.


With the enormous bowl of plums I picked, Ben and I made jam for the first time. I've never been into canning, but I might be now. This jam is so, so good. My cousin gave me her recipe: plums, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar. I put very little sugar in – just over a cup to a huge pot of halved plums. (Some recipes have an unbelievable amount of sugar, like 1:1 ratio, which seems awful to me and totally un-necessary.) There were a few rapid fire emails back and forth from me to my cousin ... How long should the plums cook? (It's a while, longer than some recipes say.) What if I don't have enough canning jars and need to run out to get more? (It's fine, just make sure to reheat the jam thoroughly before canning and processing.) The thing I learned is that this jam is very forgiving and very simple and I love it. It's a beautiful dark burgundy color, not too sweet at all, a bit tart even ... And perfect with a bowl of Greek yogurt or on toast or, um, by the spoonful. I want to go get even more plums this coming week, if I have time.


Only, I don't know that I will have much free time in the weeks to come. We leave for Utah next week, just for a few days, to have a check up with Liam's neurologist. Ben starts classes on the 29th; Liam starts pre-school on October 7th. I still have that big job to print and the 2009 calendars and new stationery – though the SP-15 is up and running again now. And the SP-20 that I bought was delivered today, but it got really banged up in transit and so we need to first deal with the shipping company and then with the repairs. I found out from the person I bought it from that it was the last SP-20 ever made! It's been a frustrating day today, so I'll just hope for better days to come as we try to settle into busy schedules. Today is just one of those days when I feel I may have taken on a little too much.

Another post on the new press soon, along with photos ...

an interview

Stephanie Levy was so kind to interview me for her blog series, artists who blog. You can read the interview here. I'm thrilled to be part of her series, with so many wonderful artists whose work I admire. (And, yes, that's me in the photo above. I never ever have photos of myself, preferring to be on the other side of the camera, but at Stephanie's suggestion ... here's the photo I took with the computer yesterday.)

Thank you, Stephanie, for inviting me to be part of this!

saturday

Ben and Liam and I went to Portland on Friday to get some new rollers made for the press. Terrible timing, but the press is down for count and has been this whole past week. I'm hoping to get the new rollers in about a week and a half ... but in the meantime, there has been no printing – and quite a few jobs piling up. It happens. (But, this is awfully exciting: I bought a new press – a Vandercook SP-20 – that will join my current SP-15. Just think: I'll never again be in the situation I'm in now with no working press. Just think: TWO people could print at the same time! I think those two people would be, at least for some time to come, just Ben and I – but it may really need to happen with so many projects needing to get finished ... scratch that, I mean started and finished. Anyway, the new-to-me press should be here in a week and a half or two ... I cannot wait!)


So about that photo above: while in Portland, I picked up those lovely napkins you see above at Anthropologie. And I got that silicone placemat at Whole Foods; it's by modern-twist ... The dahlias came from the fish market here in Corvallis, 3 for a dollar. Last night, Liam and I had clams with chorizo (left over from the ridiculously good chicken, chorizo and olive empanadas Ben and I spent all day making last weekend because I wasn't printing. See? Good things do come out of not being able to print.) I've been making cold-brewed coffee using half decaf and half regular and it is so good, especially with a spoonful of condensed milk. I'm reading, for the first time, East of Eden by Steinbeck and it's hard to put down. And I'm browsing – as I can do again and again – The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater.

A bonus photo of Liam helping his papa last week ... like father, like son.