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I feel like I spent most of January in doors. I did have some plant observations but this was a slow month for it.
What months are you less inclined to get out and observe?
Bathroom Pothos
First snow of the year.
A visitor and some indoor plants.
This local magnolia is always fuzzy.
Who knows what February will bring for plants?
What did January look like where you live?
Credit to Treehugger
One of my goals for the new year is to observe the celestial. I thought I would have a great opportunity to do so on Jan 21st when there was to me the first Super Moon of the year. A full moon in January is called a wolf moon and this particular one would have a lunar eclipse, and there fore also be called a Blood Moon. The shadow of the earth falls on the moon giving it a bright red apperience.
I was feeling pretty lucky to have such an amazing convergence of heavenly delights to observe so soon into my new goal! And then I got the timing wrong. So I missed it. It was a good learning experience! I now know that if I want to observe the skies in a mindful way I will have to be quite purposeful about it.
Here are a few articles I read recently about the moon:
Two really good articles with photos from this moon.
Apparently there was also a meteorite strike on the moon at the time of the eclipse.
And here’s some ideas for celebrations of future moons.
Did you get to see the Super Moon?
One of my favorite places in our city by the sea is the Asbury Park Post office. Built in 1912 and in continual use, it’s a very lovely old building tucked into a quickly modernizing city. Functional and beautiful, the PO sits close to the train station, police, and administrative building on Main Street, Route 71. It has a grand sweeping exterior but inside is full of beautiful small details.
Below is a pic from the early twenties when the post office was first built. in the thirties is was renovated and a back extension was put on.
I’m not sure when the above photos were taken but the modern PO looks just about exactly the same, now. That tree on the south east corner of the property is still standing and shading people waiting to cross Main Street instead of a hedge row, there are roses around the perimeter. I found these photos here.
Although not a luxurious stop in a fast growing beach town, this gorgeous link to the past is well worth a visit!!
Celebrating with family.
I love to look back and see what my Best Nine instagrams were according to likes. Lots of cats and other animals this year, no surprise there. And I’m glad our garden made it in!
I struggled to find this website this year, I guess a few similar ones have popped up. The original Best Nine is my favorite. Have you tried it, yet?
I also like to look back at my past years. I love to see how the color palate changes.
2017
2016
2015
Even though he hasn’t had had many pics, I also did one for @irving_barry.
And here is my husbands, @anlight. I really liked that his was very thematic.
The minute the weather changes to Winter cold, I worry that I’ll never go outside again. But we were able to get out and about a little in November. We went to one of our favorite beach-combing beaches, we went to one of our favorite breakfast spots and all their plants, we walked around our yard and neighborhood, and we watched our garden transition into Winter.
The walk up to the beach.
Look at all that goos stuff!!
Natural contrast.
Some happy plants (some not so happy).
I moved all the plants around this month. It makes some fun new corners around the house.
Record collection is guarded well.
Perfect rose.
Hanging in there.
Te garden is slowly being taken over by Winter.
Visiting plant friends.
Perfect Autumn views.
Is it Fall where you live? What are your plant observations for the month of November?
November went by so fast, and the year is nearly over.
The weather turned very cold, so bundling up was necessary. Despite that we were still able to see family and friends, enjoy the holidays, have some walks on the beach and get a lot of work done.
1) Flounder… 2) …flounder. 3) Porch #watchercat, 4) And another warm inside.
#watchercats were out, finding sunny spots this month. We tried to save a flounder on the beach, and hung out with Flounder at home.
1) Morning light. 2) Afternoon light with a friend. 3) Morning essentials. 4) Giants in the sky.
We traveled only a little this month, heading to Brooklyn a few times and visiting a few toy shows around NJ.
Our holidays were very relaxed and we were super happy to see family and friends.
1) Recipe coming soon. 2) A little bit of zen. 3) Holidays collide. 4) Instant collection.
Over all it was a really good month! We’ve started to reflect on the past year and look ahead to the new year. Here comes December!
Something we knew before we moved into our house in Asbury Park, NJ, was that we would need a water filter. We knew that the water here was terrible! It tastes undrinkable, especially coming from Brooklyn where the water is delicious! And goodness knows what's in there that you might be ingesting. So this was a priority for us right away.
And, just over 3 years later, we got a water filter.
We waited so long bc we were waiting for that perfect moment to get the exact filter we wanted. I didn’t want to get the exact under sink triple filtration water filter until we get the new sink and totally renovate our kitchen. 3 years later and of course that hasn’t happened yet.
When we got this sink tap water filter it was after days and days of feeling like I was intensely dehydrated. I was feeling so parched all the time, tired, and like toxins were building up in my body. In the winter it was always easy for me to drink wanter bc I would boil it and drink hot water, but in the summer I was not drinking enough.
It might seem totally ridiculous to wait until you feel ill to buy something as simple as a filter that can be installed in a few minutes. But since trying to live a more mindful and sustainable lifestyle, every decision is a weighty one. In the end, health won out and we got the filter. We are looking up ways to make our own filters more sustainably, so that they aren’t going to landfill. When we do get a more sustainable option, we will donate this water filter.
Since getting this simple devise, I have felt so much better!! A small change can have a great impact, and although it wasn’t perfect, it’s good enough. One day, I hope to have a really awesome and sustainable kitchen with clean drinking water but this small step helped my kitchen become a little healthier.
How do you filter your water? And what is a positive change you made for your health in your house?
My mom was a vegetarian while I was growing up. I was used to having tofu, tempeh, fresh veg, lots of legumes, fruits and homemade foods. Bc I grew up with it, it never occurred to me that other kids didn’t live that way. My father was always a healthy eater and great cook, but he ate meat. As I see it, I had the best of both worlds.
When I met my husband, he was vegetarian and had been on and off for most of his life. I ate meat then, but I never had any issues eating less or no meat during our meals together. Eating less meat made me realize that when I did eat meat, I didn’t feel as good as when I ate more fruits and veggies.
By the time we moved to New Jersey, we were eating fish, but little to no land meat. We wavered back and forth some (my husband even ate chicken for a while) but it was mostly ovo lacto vegetarian for us. Some events in the Summer of 2018 lead us both to come to the conclusion that we would give up all meat, from land and sea, in a serious manner.
Personally, I think humans are supposed to eat animals. We, ourselves, are animals and omnivores as far as I can tell from the evidence I know. But I think the way most people currently eat animals is unsustainable and inhumane, wasteful and unnecessary. In an attempt to lead a more sustainable and less wasteful life, eating plant based is an easy and obvious choice.
I’ve been trying to eat more rice, as it is a great staple. This is a good example of a fresh whole foods meal. Rice, carrots, onions, celery, sweet potato, squash, apple cider vin, soy sauce, pepper.
Now we eat what I like to call a vegetarian, plant based, whole food diet. That’s a mouth full and what does it even mean? We stopped eating any fish and sea creatures. We do eat dairy like cheese and butter and sour cream. We try to eat mostly fruits and veggies and eat whole foods that have not been overly processed. We eat fermented foods like miso, pickles and vinegar.
We try to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Some with every meal! The term Plant Based really refers to a diet that is only plants but I use it to mean a diet that is based on plants, which we definitely do.
We also try to keep local stores, growers, producers in mind when we eat. This year was the first one where we grew our some of our own food and it was a game changer. It’s important to us to eat this way so that we are conscious of the environment, animals, our home and our health.
There are, of course, some ways we could improve our current diet. An example would be to make our own cheeses, sour cream, and yogurt, or only buy local cheese and dairy. But right now this diet works for us.
Some of our typical and most eaten meals are:
Quesadillas with black beans, corn, olives, fresh veggies, sour cream and hot sauce.
Cheese, crackers, veggies, mustard, pickles, olives, and mustard.
Miso soup with veggies and noodles.
Pasta with red sauce or pesto or cheese or garlic oil.
Sides meal with potatoes, veggies, grains, and various other “sides”.
Salads with home made croutons, veggies, sometimes we add fake chicken patties, and dressings.
Tofu, rice and broccoli with soy sauce, peanuts and chili garlic sauce.
Peanut butter and jelly (and sometimes hot sauce) sandwiches.
Bean and rice bowls.
Grilled cheese sandwiches with red onions and hot sauce.
Pierogies with onions, sour cream and veggies.
Smoothie bowls with various toppings.
Oatmeal with fruits, nuts and nut milks.
Beans on toast.
Chickpea salad sandwiches with carrots, onions, celery, and mayo.
This is an example of a more processed meal I might eat. The cheese bread is made fresh daily at our local grocery store and the beans are vegetarian. Beans on toast is a favorite breakfast of mine but I only eat it once in a while.
Let me know in the comments if you also eat meals like this! Or if you would like recipes or more info on any of the meals listed above. What kind of diet do you eat? What role does your diet play in your lifestyle?
I’m still working on my habit goals for October. I’ve been better about taking a minute to stretch in the mornings, but it hasn’t been every day. I’ve been trying to incorporate doing the dishes into my mornings and keep the sink dish free.
Since I don’t do the same things at the same time everyday for the most part, habit forming has to fit in where it can. Not the ideal way to form habits! It might take me a little longer than I would like, but having my habit blog post has helped me to stick with my goals. I like to refer back to it for motivation. How do you keep yourself motivated to change your habits?
For November there are some new habits I want to start working on. In order to get myself ready, I like to look at some habits I already have and remember why they help me and why I like them.
Watering the plants once a week
We have a lot of plants. Plants are, to me, an essential for every home. At last count we had 50 indoor plants and it takes about half an hour to forty five minutes to water them all. I like to water them once a week. I find when I do it less often, they are not as happy and they tend to leak more, or I will feel rushed watering them. I don’t water every plant every week, but making sure I check every plant each week is best.
Move the plants every two to three months
This goes along with watering on a regular basis, I love to take the time every two to three months to move all the plants around. Some plants just get a small move or turn but some go to different rooms, or areas of the house. Since the weather has turn I got to do this ritual recently and it was lovely.
For November here are the habits I want to make:
Read everyday
I love to read but sometimes it’s hard for me to choose reading over other activities. There are times when I get in a groove and read a lot. That time is not now. But I want to read SO MANY things! This month I want to get into the habit of reading everyday, even if it’s just a few pages.
Morning Pages
Lots of people sing the praises of morning pages. Over the last few months, I have tried to start this habit a few times. But this month I’m going to get serious about it. People say there are a ton of benefits for morning pages, and I’m excited to see what it does for me.
What are some habits your trying to adopt this month?
Here are some of the past habits I have tried to learn:
Stretch everyday
Dish free sink
Starting in October, I planned on picking a theme for the each month to focus on in this blog for the rest of the year. My theme for October was all about me. I found that topic pretty hard to stick with! Talking about oneself can be hard! For November, I’ve picked a topic that should be overly easy for me to go on and on about: my house and home!
Another reason to talk about our house in November is bc November 12th is the 3 year anniversary of living here! We bought our house in July 2015, but were still transitioning to living in a different state so didn’t fully move in until a few months later.
For the most part, moving into and living in our own house is as fantastic as I imagined it would be. After 15 years of apartment living, being able to fix anything, or do anything we want to our own house is wonderful.
One thing I wasn’t expecting was that the contents of our apartment, which was about 1/2 the size of our new home, completely filled the house, including the basement. When we moved we bought very little new items, but somehow we had furniture, clothes, books, and stuff to fill every nook and cranny.
Slowly and surely we have been making our house our own, some of that involves learning what we want our house and lifestyle to be. Cleaning, decluttering, curating, and “upgrading” our house has been a wonderful and sometimes difficult experience but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
This month, I plan to share more about our house, how we have and are making it our home; more about where we live and why we love it.
Plant observations were many this month. We had a lot of opportunity to walk around town, be in our yard, and visit new places. We saw bees buzzing, squirrels scavenging, flowers blooming and dying off, creatures and plants working together and everything getting ready for Winter.
On days that were clear the sky and trees were amazing.
Hardest working bee in Asbury park.
The basil bolted a long time ago, but we just let it go for the other plants and animals.
Some of the flowers we planted are still blooming.
The dunes looked majestic in October.
We saw many mushrooms this moth but some of the best ones were shelf mushrooms.
Another active plant observer.
We visited Allentown NJ and saw these fellows enjoying the river and surrounding plants.
Allentown also had a civil war reenactment. It was neat to see a world as it may have been.
Another late bloomer.
Another busy bee.
The rainy days made everything green and vibrant.
The weather was mild and it was a lovely month. For November, we are planning on ways to keep our plants happy over the Winter.
What were your plant observations in October?
We continued our tradition of bringing out our vintage ghost this year!
Since first moving to New Jersey and into our own house, we have wanted to start gardening. It took about 3 years, but this Summer was the first year we seriously started growing vegetables.
We started small, but this was a great introduction to gardening at home! We started basically everything from plants, except our radishes which we started from seeds. For us, starting from plants was less intimidating and we thought we would have more success. We had lot of success with just about everything we planted.
Our main bed, and the biggest producer, is in our front yard. My dream is to have more and more beds in our front yard since we don’t really utilize that space. We planted four or five different tomatoes, basil, orange thyme, and shishito peppers. We also planted items in pots that were scattered between front and back.
In the back we already had blueberry bushes and we also put a raised bed with kale, hot peppers and radishes from seed. We plan to devote one whole side of the yard to our garden next year, have some space in the middle and eventually plant fruit trees on the opposite side.
This summer was mild but we had lots of sun and lots of rain and the garden loved it! Our tomatoes exploded. We ate one of our favorite meals, tomatoes and mozz, all year and never bought any tomatoes from the store!!
Mostly for my own records here is a list of what we grew in 2018 and how it did:
4 small tomato varieties - these were bananas! Next year I hope we label/mark/ remember what we plant. That would have been nice this year.
1 large tomato variety - these got completely over shadowed, literally, by the small ones so they didn’t produce much. What we did have was delicious! We like the smalls better, but it seems worth it to have one large each year.
Shishitos - this was my favorite thing we grew this year. I want to have like a million of these next year!
Hot peppers - I’m not sure if we even ate any of these.
Kale - Next year we have to get better about harvesting and eating our own kale!
Radishes - Why did we even grow these? We tried pickling them but they turned out pretty bad. Next year, if we plant them, we will only do a few at a time.
Basil and purple basil - what we planted in beds did really well, the ones in pots not so much. I hope to plant again next year but be better about picking and using what we grow.
Orange thyme - probably my husbands favorite thing we grew, we will def be planting this again.
Assorted herbs - some of these I’ve had for ears and they just keep coming back, some are new this year. I want to get better and maintaining and using herbs next year.
Blueberries - our bluebs did really well this year. Over the winter we hope to protect them better bc they took quite a beating in heavy snows last year.
Raspberries - we only got a few but they were good! We have them in pots, but perhaps we will transfer them to beds or the yard next year.
Strawberries - we had more strabs than ever before but never got to eat them. We could never get to them before the critters.
Looking at the list, it’s a lot longer than I thought it would be! I can’t wait to grow more next year and rely on store bought foods less!
What did you grow this year and what are your plans for 2019?
We recently headed to one of our favorite small towns, Allentown NJ, and finally got to stop in at a Moth Coffeehouse. I’ve been wanting to try it for a long time but somehow always visit the town when the cafe is closed. I was not disappointed. I love that this coffee shop is in a hundreds year old building and that it offers a lot of healthy and vegan options.
The whole cafe and aesthetic is lovely. They have plenty of low waste options, to stay cups and plates. It’s cozy and if I lived closer, I could easily see myself becoming a regular.
What’s your favorite coffee shop?
My second tattoo might seem a little out there, or childish, but to me it fit perfectly with what I want my tattoos to be and how I want my body to be decorated.
I got my second tattoo only a few months after my first. I knew that I wanted more and more right away. It was an easy choice to get another from the same artist as my anchor.
My coffee cup clearly depicts my love of coffee, but it’s also a replica of the cups I served coffee out of for 8 years at one of my favorite jobs. It’s very whimsical but it’s remembrance is very special to me.
Do any readers have tattoos of food or drink?
A few months ago I shared some habits I want to build in the rest of 2018. This week I want to start documenting the habits I'm working on for October.
Working on building new habits isn't the funnest activity. It can be frustrating and I sometimes forget why I'm even bothering. So before getting into the habit I hope to make, I want to share some of my favorites habits I already have.
Making The Bed
I don’t make hospital corners, I don’t change the sheets every day, I don’t buy expensive sets, pillows, or have a fancy mattress. But I love to make the bed! making the bed every day makes me feel like I have done something that day (even if I haven’t).
Cat Naps
While we are talking about beds, let’s talk about naps. I try to take a nap several times a week, if not once a day. I like a nap of course more importantly, I need the bonding time with my babies. I used to think that this wasn’t so important, but it has become a vital part of my self care.
Walking to Work
Walking in general is an activity that I have come to realize is very important to my mental health and over all well being. I wish that I took many long walks, and I used to. But lately, I have settled for just walking to work. Not only do I get a walk in, it takes about 20-25 minutes to get to work, but I get a few moments to prepare from my day ahead.
I plan to continue these habits, hopefully for a long time. But this month, and especially before the cold weather sets in, I want to make some new habits, too. Here’s what I want to work on:
Stretching
This is one habit I have wanted to incorporate for long time. I’m hoping this month I can cement doing daily stretches every day. I plan to start small but I’d like to eventually try a yoga class or something like that.
Dish Free Sink
I actually really like to do dishes. But I am guilty of often not doing them right away. It doesn’t help that we have a small space to dry them. But ever since we got a on tap filter, I have been wanting and trying to keep the sink dish free most of the time.
What are some habits you’ve recently adopted or wish to?
Last month we took an impromptu trip to one of our favorite places, Cape May NJ. We left pretty late as it was a last minute decision to go, but it was a ridiculously gorgeous day and once there, we went right to the beach! It’s about an hour and a half drive so it was really relaxing to swim and lay out.
Congress Hall is a favorite of ours when we stay in the area, but it’s also great to pop in and see how it’s decorated or for a bathroom break.
We walked around town and popped into a few shops, but then made our way down to Sunset Beach. We love the weird gem shop there and that there is a sunken ship still visible. We even got to see a flag ceremony with muscat salute! It’s also known for it’s sunsets, of course.
On our way back into town we stopped at the Animal Outreach Of Cape May. It was too late for it to be open, but we got to see a few kitties.
On the way back north, we stopped at Big Wave Burritos. It was pretty tasty! I was happy to try a few local spots this trip that we hadn’t before. Earlier in the day we also got a nice coffee at Out There Coffee.
I’m so glad that we live so close to Cape May now and it makes for easy day trips to one of our favorite places! One day in this town is plenty to see and do a lot and I highly suggest a visit if you are close by.
Do you have a near by getaway that you love to revisit again and again.
For the next few months, I want to pick a theme for each months worth of content of this blog. I’m hoping that this will give some insight into who I am and why I share my life and thoughts here at Mad Cat Quilts.
Since October is the five year anniversary of this blog, I thought a good theme for this month was about me! Me is a subject I always talk about here and also never talk about here. I thought the five year mark might be a good time to actually introduce myself.
People always ask about my name and yes, it’s Mo. Real name and what I preferred to be called!
I love cats and have three at the moment. I plan on a more in depth introduction of them soon.
I make quilts and hand sew every detail of the quilts I make.
Or I should say that I did. I’m on hiatus from quilting at the moment, but I still consider quilting to be part of my identity.
My work is also very important to me. I’m a manager at a farm to table restaurant and the service industry is my career.
I lived in Brooklyn, NY, for 15 years and in some ways I consider my self more a New Yorker than I New Jerseyan.
I’m attempting to live a slower and more midnful lifes. I’m on a zero waste, plastic free journey. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it drives my family and friends crazy, but it makes me feel happy more than not.
Our 6 year wedding anniversary is coming up and I’m excited for it! It comes in the same month as my 40th birthday.
I love living by the beach.
So that’s a little bit about me. Let me know if you have any other questions for me!
For the rest of October I plan to post more of my ideas and opinions on things, as well as more about me.