Call me Princess Fiona

Yes, thirty two, and no more hockey hotties.  What is a girl living in a crappy suburb of a suburb of a suburb supposed to blog about now?  The weather has been really good.  If it's sunny after work, I'm heading out to get some exercise in.  Some running, some walking it all depends on how good I'm feeling.  But lately, I've had a bit of a problem that's stopping me from a lot of running.  My workout pants keep falling down and it's a total pain in the butt.  So I'm moving on down to a smaller size.   Thank you online shopping sales!  Sadly, I am still having fat days, so it's not that big of a celebration.

The fields of skunk cabbages I've been smelling lately.  The blooms are almost all gone now, but the smell is not.  Today, I decided that if it's edible next time I'm going to stop and pick some.  Maybe I'm losing my mind, but it looks delishous to me. Those leaves would be perfect for wraps.  turns out:

FOOD USES: Marginally edible at best, skunk cabbage contains calcium oxalate crystals, which cause the must unpleasant burning sensation of the mouth and tongue. Boiling doesnít dispel this quality. I once dried young skunk cabbage leaves in a food dehydrator for a week, following instructions from Lee Petersonís Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Then I simmered them with lots of other vegetables, tomatoes, spices, and beans, making chili. I finally dispelled the calcium oxalate crystals from the skunk cabbage unfortunately, they went into my mouth! After cursing out Peterson for an hour before the burning and stinging of my tongue and mouth, caused by one bite (which I quickly spat out), subsided, I flushed the entire recipe down the toilet, and the plumbing has never been the same since!
I include skunk cabbage in this book only to head off foragers who've been misinformed about its edibility and insist on trying it. If you must use this plant, air-dry it for 6 months, after which it tastes like paper, a vast improvement!
Conclusion: The day you bring home skunk cabbage is the night to go out for dinner and if you do find skunk cabbage, leave it for the skunks!  Source: click here

Damn.  no skunk cabbage for me. 

  Last weekend was the Bradner Daffodil festival (just down the road from me).  The best thing about it is the cheap flowers.  I bought about 25 or 30 cut daffodils for $3.25.  What a deal.

Judy checking out the flower show... is that what they call it?  There were hundreds of different types of daffs. 

In a school gym they also had a art show/ misc displays.  I spied a heavy-set woman in a long gingham dress, sitting at a loom, spinning wool.  She looked like she just stepped out of the 1930's dustbowl, curly hair pulled back in a braid, big glasses, no makeup, ugly shoes.  Actually there was a whole circle of women just like her, spinning away.  She stopped and rooted around in her bag, and pulled out an ipad, and started showing the woman beside her a pattern on her ipad.  It was the most bizarre thing, this woman did not look the ipad type.  I tried to take a sneeky picture, but it didn't work out.