A few weeks before Christmas, I got a text advertising a mushroom growing kit from Territorial Seeds. That is something that I have wanted to try so I forwarded the text to my husband as a hint for what I might like for Christmas. He's good at catching my hints so I got a big block of some soil mixture infused with Shiitake mushroom spores for Christmas. I didn't have time to start it before a short trip we took after Christmas so I put it in the fridge as per the instructions. About a week later, I got it out and set it up. I had to get it really wet first and then spray it with distilled water a couple of times a day to keep it at high humidity. This is what it looked like on January 5th with the mushrooms just starting to sprout: Most of the time, I kept it under a plastic lid so it would stay really humid in there. The other day my mushrooms were ready so I harvested them! This is what the underside of a ripe mushroom looks like. Notice the "gills." I sauteed a c...
Happy birthday to our cute son, Jan! Here are some pictures from his 6th-8th grade years: Gingerbread house, 2003 Turning 11! On a ferry to Orcas Island, June 2004 Visiting baby sister Mindy in the hospital Holding baby sister Mindy, Sept. 2004 Halloween, 2004, Jan was "static cling". It was a minimalist Halloween that year. Sitting with Everett's friend Gabriel Webb in a go-cart In 7th grade, Jan started playing the trumpet in the band Jan was born with a somewhat subtle birthmark on his forehead but the doctor said we should remove it because they sometimes become cancerous. So a plastic surgeon took it out shortly before we left for Germany. We went to the Black Forest in Germany and did a bobsled-type ride. At the "Eagle's Nest" in Germany In the Vienna Cemetery, Johannes Brahms' grave Paris Turning 13! Near the top of the Eiffel Tower shortly after Christmas. In Rothenburg, a medieval city in Germany Jan with Grandpa (and Grandma) Broadbent after h...