The most beautiful thing I've ever eaten

So, I just wanted to share with y'all the most beautiful thing I have ever eaten. I purchased it from a local farmer, and friend, Doug Jones. He runs a small organic farm on the outskirts of town and sells his produce to our local co-op and the farmers market. It's called a "fractal" cauliflower. It has such a vibrant taste too (for a cauliflower). I have never seen anything like it in my life. I guess it's a speciality of his and they are very finicky to grow.

If you look closely you can see that each peak is a spiral. What's harder to see in the photo is that each bump that forms the spiral also has spirals on it, and those have spirals. In fact, Farmer Doug (as we like to call him) has taken a magnifying glass and seen that there are actually even smaller spirals than what we can see with the naked eye. It's an amazing thing.

Save the Date!

Snow? What?

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Originally uploaded by aegdorf83.

So, last thursday we got snow. I woke up in the middle of the night at about 3am (as I always do) and I saw the cute little flakes gently floating down to the ground. It looked almost like God had dandruff. School was cancelled for the day to the delightment of all young children. Many businesses were also closed. All this scrolled across the bottom of the TV screen as we sipped our morning tea. There was less than an inch of slushy stuff on the ground, and people were slip sliding everywhere in their cars. There were over 150 reported accidents, people in the ditch, hitting street lights and power lines....I had visions of what it would be like for me to go out and drive in this and everybody else in the world was stuffed up in their home because they didn't own a shovel to scoop their driveways. I had visions of the apocolypse and Joseph and I were the only ones left. The roads were ours, no traffic ever. A beautiful dusting of white covered rooftops and lawns. It's all a dream.....The gardens here are quite confused. We have flowering plants. Our lettuce continued to grow until we a few nights of frost in a row. The grass is green and growing. People have been mowing their lawns in January. It was upper 60's and low 70's all the week before. It's such a rollercoaster here. I'm glad I brought back my sweaters.

The first post, of many

Amanda (from now on referred to as "A") writes:
I will keep this nice and short for our first one. It is late indeed, almost 9:45 pm. Past our bedtime. Joseph and I have to be awake at 6 am tomorrow for the kiln opening/pottery sale. Only three times a year this happens, but each time it is a ball of stress. I had a wild hair to start writing blogs so everyone can keep up with us. Life is different out here, and we're hoping that these writings will help all the people back home to stay up to date on our crazy, and beautiful, life together in North Carolina. It has been a beautiful past couple of days, hitting 70 degrees all this week. Tomorrow, should be only (and I say only with a little bit of sarcasm) 55 degrees. Any thick-blooded Minnesotan would spit their pickled herring at that statement. I sometimes have to catch myself complaining about the chilly days here. I stop myself when I do realize what I'm saying, especially when 5 or 6 days of the week we do get mostly sun. I just remarked to Joseph tonight, though, that we will never see northern lights down here, except on a very rare heavenly occasion. There are many things that I will miss (and do already miss) about home. It is taking a long time to sink in that we are here for a while.

We will always be Minne-soh-tans. I know we will freeze our buns off at christmas time. Glad I left all my cold-weather clothing at home. Can't wait to see my family and Bailey. Maybe some friends too. But, who knows, might be too busy with crazy wedding planning stuff. I could keep writing for a few hours, at least. So much has happened and so little time now. My one eye is droopy tired. We must rest up for the big day tomorrow.

Signing out....our first post as a soon-to-be-married couple