Surprise Package

I received a small package in the mail yesterday. From Daniel! He is currently on a ship, and emailed me to say they were planning to let the sailors swim off the side of the ship for a while. Sounds like fun! Except I was wondering how they get off the boat...after all, most decks are quite high above the waterline.


Isn't it pretty? It's a simple piece of woven cotton cloth, with a fun print on it. The print reminds me of peonies or chrysanthemums, with the occasional bee flitting around. The funniest part is the slip of paper that came with it, showing how one could use the fabric. My favorite picture is the final one, "Bath".



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I also wanted to show off a wool shawl I purchased on my trip to Madison. I got it at one of those ubiquitous "hippie" stores that smell like patchouli or Nag Champa, and sell goods that are ostensibly fair-traded. Anyway, this shawl is wonderfully light, yet warm and snuggly. I have used it at the office a few times, and find it easier to don and doff than a cardigan. Although a friend of mine did call it "a bit mature for you". :)



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My friend Melinda and I went strawberry picking on Saturday, up north of Seattle in a town called Arlington. Here is the result:





Beautiful. luscious red berries. Sweet as sugar, and fragrant. The farm wasn't organic, so we had to wait and wash everything when we got home. $1.50 / lb. I picked 13 lb ($20 worth) and helped Melinda get 20 lb all within about half an hour, which attests to the farm's dense berry plantings.


Below is part of my haul, drying on blue towels on my stovetop. In all, I made a large strawberry milkshake (using whole milk, strawberries, vanilla extract, and stevia liquid), froze 4 quart size bags of berries, had 2 x 32 oz containers in the fridge plus another couple of bowls full of strawberries to deal with yesterday. Yum!! My entire place was strawberry scented!