Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

June 28, 2010 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I sure miss Greg, but it's nice to seize the free time for preserving summer. The rhubarb is from a dear friend's organic farm in Dover.

Ingredients: 4 c. crushed strawberries, 4 c. de-stringed cooked rhubarb, 4 c. sugar, 1 box of pectin

Take a large heavy pot and pour in the strawberries, rhubarb, and pectin. Stirring constantly bring the above to a rolling boil, then add sugar. Return to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Turn off heat and skim off excess foam. Pour the jam into clean jars, wipe off jar, seal lids, and boil jars for ten minutes. With patience, the jars will seal themselves in the coming hours with a satisfying *pop* sound.

Project Two: Check

June 27, 2010 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Dressmaking is not as meditative as I anticipated, but it is an exercise in self-reflection. I know now that I am not a naturally procedural thinker. Technical, non-intuitive directions are challenging for me to understand. This, combined with my bullheadedness and aversion to slip-stitching made this project more difficult than sanding and varnishing outside for three days. On the upside, I have a new dress with a real zipper and pockets. Thanks to my new dress form, it also fits like a glove.

Now for strawberry rhubarb jam!

Project Two: Dress

June 26, 2010 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I'm not actually finished with the dress, but let me say that making things out of fabric is really, really hard. It takes a ton of spatial intelligence that I don't have. But I have finally cut all the fabric, snipped all the linings, and ironed everything into flat geometric pieces.

Greg also has a new project going, his Baltimore blog: http://geepcee.blogspot.com. Yesterday, one of my local farmers called blogging self-indulgent. This from a guy with his own blogspot for kale recipes! Sheesh.

Project One: check

June 25, 2010 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I completed my first project, designed to keep me busy while Greg is in Baltimore. It took three days and I got an offer from neighbors to start my own lucrative refinishing business, but they are now done and back in the living room.

Here is the before and after:

Last day

June 22, 2010 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Today is Greg's last day in town before orientation at UMass and the summer math/robotics academy in Baltimore. I have a series of projects to distract myself from his absence, including refinishing two chairs, learning proper dressmaking, and making the table placecards for my friend's wedding. I've re-ordered the Netflix cue so all the Richard Prior movies are at the bottom and the John Adams mini-series is at the top. I have a series of coffee dates, the strawberry festival is penciled into my calendar, and there is always the library.

But it goes without saying that Mr. Caswell is irreplaceable.

Grafton Life

June 18, 2010 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Greg and I moved all of his boxes into storage today in preparation for his summer in Baltimore. We're leaving Grafton after a year here, a place where I sat on the planning board, editorialized for the local rag, and on which I wrote my final policy capstone. Despite this, I have two conflicting reflections: first, that I never felt totally at home, and second, that I didn't do enough to give back- I paid my excise tax, but I didn't pay the community tax.

I wanted my rabble rousing to make the town a little more critical, engaged, and interested in its own preservation. I don't think that happened- the cranky haters still voted three to one for Scott Brown.

So what did I really do? My editorial column ended and I resigned from the planning board. My recommendations for citizen engagement in public planning are in the hands of a town committee. All of the policy and community planning work I was a part of is ongoing (and unfinished).

Of anything that I can look back on and say, that was when I paid my community tax, was the night before my final policy capstone presentation, when our neighbor's apartment flooded into the apartment below. Instead of memorizing index cards, I spent the night filling garbage bags with fallen, bloated ceiling tiles. And because of that night - and many other nights with board games and cookouts and impromptu walks on the track, I think our neighbors will be with us for a long time.

And whoever said paying taxes didn't get you anything, well, they never met Blaise and Lydia.

Amanda and Charles

June 14, 2010 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Greg and I returned early this morning from my dear friend Amanda's wedding in Princeton, New Jersey. This was my first prolonged stay in New Jersey, and by all accounts, it is exactly as one pictures it. Princeton itself is beautiful and so steeped in money that investment firms and Ralph Lauren have elbowed out anything locally owned on Main Street. Past the mansions are mega malls and furiously swerving drivers. The miracle is, despite the inequality and superficiality, New Jersey also made two of my favorite people: Carly Bruder and Amanda Milstein. So what is a New Jersey wedding like when the two people getting married are vegetarian egalitarian Marxist Jews?

It's both a little weird and tons of fun. The things that Amanda and Charles obviously controlled- their outfits, the ceremony, and their friends- were awesome. Amanda was beautiful and unadorned, without makeup to veil a huge grin. Their ceremony reflected a deep respect for each other's beliefs and their joy in togetherness. And like Charles and Amanda, their friends are happy, silly, and committed to a joyous practice of Jewish faith and traditions. There was dancing. There were skits. There was a puppet making table. Everything with Amanda's fingerprints on it was thoughtful, bright and funny. 

Amanda and Charles' loud and loving dancing almost overshadowed the un-Amanda parts- the extravagant country club reception and multi-course meal. The older guests were cut from a different cloth, occasionally rude to us ushers and less interested in the incredible klezmer band. But the older generation will not last, and the new generation, stomping and laughing and singing praises, will eventually take over. And hopefully, they will take New Jersey with them!

So, here's to Amanda and Charles, whose sustainable and local three-course meal was its own step toward the world they want to live in.

The Job Search

June 08, 2010 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I just want to acknowledge how supportive all of you have been in the last three weeks of post-graduation, full-time job hunting. Thanks for the kind words during what continues to be a stressful time, even with the illustrious degree. 

Our bookshelves are bare and packed boxes line the spare bedroom. Greg is moving to Baltimore at the end of the month, so we'll move his things to Amherst next week. I stay in Grafton until the end of July. That gives me two months to find the perfect job- one that combines service-learning, community partnership development, education, and perhaps a little public policy. And with the help of public speaking podcasts and lots of practice, my high level skills and experience summary was never more concise. 

Here is another beautiful picture of Seraph from her trip east.