ahoy, discoveries! vol. 3

1. Mumford & Sons. Yes, I know, all you cool people are already well acquainted with this band. So you can ignore this part of the post. But have patience with those of us less musically chic . . . I just discovered Mumford & Sons, and I love them. (Folk rock and a British accent, what's not to love?)

2. Spider plants. Here's the mama plant.

And here's what I did with a cutting I snipped a week ago. (The bottle has water in it, which I change every 10 days or so.)

And this is what it looks like after about a week of water and sunlight.
Well, a little bit of sunlight. Mostly just water. See those baby roots? Soon it will be ready for its own pot! If you want a cutting from my mama plant, let me know . . . I would be happy to start you one.

3. Nutmeg, oatmeal, and yogurt. I don't mean eating them, either. I get crunchier with every breath . . .

4. Here's a picture of the amaryllis that I mentioned a while ago. It's not this pretty anymore; only two flowers left and they're withering. But it was one of the coolest things I've ever grown.


5. The Full House blog. I'm always stumbling across neato blogs, food and decor generally, and trying to determine if they're worthy of joining the feed list. This one was.

6. Putting walnuts (three-quarter cup), cinnamon (one teaspoon), and vanilla (one teaspoon) in your baked oatmeal.

7. Listening to the live opera broadcast from the Met on Saturday afternoons. (One o' clock on WITF, if you live around here.) I know next to nothing about opera, but have come to enjoy it in recent years. Watching the opera workshop performances at Hillsdale changed my mind about this particular form of music; I realized that, much like Shakespeare, it's intended to be performed in front of your very eyes. Thus, simply listening to it like a classical symphony didn't do it justice. It had a story and required imagination. So that's what I like about the Met broadcast: the commentators tell the story before each scene. They also analyze the music, particularly its thematic elements, which this English major loves. :)