May Day is Just Around the Corner

When I was a kid, we used to make May Day baskets filled with flowers. Really they were just paper cones that we filled with flowers from our yard and hung a little paper handle on them. We usually used Elmer's Glue but in a pinch we'd use a staple to hold them together. Then we'd stealthily sneak around the neighborhood and hang the baskets on doorknobs and wait...

We'd watch to see what would happen when people opened their doors and found a basket of flowers hanging on their door.

It was fun and no one ever seemed to mind finding flowers on their doorstep...but I wondered where that tradition came from.

So, I looked on Wikipedia:

"The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian times, with the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, and the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic countries."

It's a shame that we are losing this tradition today.

Eggs Goldenrod

In my house this is a tradition...especially at Easter.

Mom used to call daffodils "Goldenrods" and every Easter we had lots of left over hard boiled eggs. So Mom would chop up the whites and mash the yellows and make a white sauce. Then she'd pour the white sauce over toast and crumble some of the whites on top. She'd sprinkle the yellow yolks on top and put just a dash of paprika on top to finish the feast.

I still love to make this on Easter morning.

Making Your Own Easter Basket

It's easy to make a basket - even out of paper. Here's how you do it.

You take a piece of paper and you fold it. Then you cut the edges.

Then you staple or glue the folds in place.

Then you make a handle.

And you fill it with goodies.

Bake and Make

I wanted to make a dessert for Easter dinner but my family is pretty picky. I had to use whipped cream for the frosting and fruit for the filling. I wanted to liven it up with some white chocolate Easter Eggs and flowers and a few fondant blooms too. So I did.

I started off with four layer cakes that I tried to cut to make fairly even. Then I frosting the layers with whipped cream and used bananas and strawberries to liven up the filling.

In the end it turned out okay. Not as pretty as total fondant but it tasted better than a fondant cake.

Steampunk Jewelry

.

I wanted to use some more of the gears I got at the flea market. Here's how I did it.

I took a strip of sheet metal and laid out the gears the way I liked them.

Then I hot glued them in place. After that I bent the metal to fit my arm. And decided to add a few more gears.

And then WAH-LAH some steampunk jewelry.

Clockwork Bracelet

I went to a flea market and bought a bag full of bits and pieces of clockworks.

I laid them out and started piecing them together.

And I have plenty left over to make some necklaces too. It's so fun to make stuff from old broken junk.

Pacific University - Earth Week Events

Here's a list of upcoming Earth Week Events at Pacific University in Forest Grove, (thanks to an email I received at work):

There are several interesting speakers coming to the Forest Grove campus of Pacific University next week as part of the Earth Week festivities.  All events are free and open to the public.

MONDAY APRIL 21: Dr. PHIL MOTE on CLIMATE CHANGE
Prof. Mote is the head of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State.  He will be giving a talk called “Five Things I Wish Were True About Climate Change” on Monday the 21st at 6:30 in Taylor Auditorium.

TUESDAY APRIL 22: DR. TRYGVE STEEN on OREGON’S OLD GROWTH FORESTS
Prof. Trygve Steen from Portland State will give a presentation on Oregon’s awesome old growth forests.  He’s a lively speaker with awesome photos, so this will be fun.  Tuesday the 22nd at 3PM in the Milky Way.

THURSDAY APRIL 24: MACARTHUR AWARD WINNER DAVID MONTGOMERY on DIRT & CIVILIZATION
Renowned author and scientist David Montgomery from the University of Washington will give a lecture called “The Need for Global Soil Restoration” on Thursday, April 24 at 6:30 in Taylor Auditorium.

More information on Earth Week as well as directions to campus can be found on the Pacific University website.