Happy Pumpkin Day!

The last day of October is here, Pumpkin Day!  When I was teaching school, we always called it that, and our party a Pumpkin Party, to alleviate any problems with people who didn't celebrate Halloween.  I still like to call it that.  I love pumpkins!!

So what's new here at the resort?  Well, Dan's downstairs doing some plumbing in preparation for a new water softener system.  He hates plumbing; it's always fraught with peril--so many places for leaks.  And how long can we go with the water turned off?  I'm praying it goes well.  We really need a new system, so it has to be done.  He's also going to put a reverse osmosis faucet in the kitchen which will give us good drinking water.  I'm so blessed to have such a handy hubby!

We made a trip to Costco Friday and a new little toy for me came home with us.  I've had a TV in the kitchen for years, and even though it was a small one, it took up loads of space on the counter, space I could have used in other ways.  I spotted a small flat screen for a very reasonable price and Dan tossed one in our cart.  I can't believe how it opened up the kitchen!!

 
Now there's space beside the sink, which is oh so fabulous!    It's taken me a couple of days to get used the blackness of it (the other TV was white and kind of disappeared) and seeing the cords (who says I don't have OCD??), but I'm thinking it's okay.

Meanwhile, the sun is shining and it's a gorgeous day. There's a carpet of gold leaves covering the backyard, Buddy is laying in the sunshine on the living room floor, and I'm heading down to do some stitching.  Happy Pumpkin Day!

A Project for Embroidery Club

First, let me say I'm feeling much better.  I seem to have kept the germs at bay and I'm very happy about that. I've learned to spend lots of time sleeping whenever I feel like I'm getting a cold, and it seems to work.  That and drinking tea by the cupsful gallon.  I even took Daniel for a nice long walk in his stroller this afternoon and we had a delightful time.

But on to the title of this post.  As most of my readers know, I teach an embroidery club at our little quilt shop every month.  There are two sessions on the appointed day, and we have a great group of ladies at each one. Some months I have a project all planned out, and other months I have absolutely no idea what we will do. Thankfully, something will usually come to me albeit at the eleventh hour!  We met last week for October, and miraculously by Saturday night, I had a plan for next month!!  I got to work on it and I'm pleased with my project.  There are a couple things I will change when I write the directions, but the bones are all there.

What, you ask, did I come up with?  A cute little Christmas card holder!

I'm kinda in love with it.  :-)

A Little Bit of the Sniffles

A little germ seems to be trying to invade my body but I'm valiantly fighting it off.  It sneaked in yesterday morning and I was hopeful it would be gone after a good night's rest, but it wasn't.  So, I've spent today drinking Gypsy Cold Care Tea and snoozing.  As of now, I'm feeling almost normal, so I'm thinking I have won!

When I was teaching, there was never a convenient time to be sick, and we were encouraged to call in the night before when it was much easier to locate a sub.  But what if I was feeling better in the morning?  And there was so much to do to get ready for a sub...  Often I decided I could be my own sub; even if I wasn't feeling great, I could probably do as well or better than someone who didn't know my class.  Which is why I had so many sick days left over to convert into my health coverage in retirement.

I'm going to brew myself another cup of tea and put our sheets in the dryer.  I thought perhaps clean sheets tonight would also help.  Be gone, germs!!

My Favorite Tree

Just ouside our bedroom window, at the front corner of the house, is a box elder tree, a cousin of the maples.  It has an interesting shape and tends to sprawl around that corner.  It's pretty in the summer, but in the fall . . . oh, my!!  So gorgeous.  Every time I walk into our bedroom this time of year, it stuns me as I see it in all its glory through the window.  It's like a fire.  This picture doesn't do it justice:

Here it a better shot of its actual color taken from the front porch:

Usually the leaves fall quickly after they turn, but his year we've been very fortunate; they've stayed on for weeks now and I'm loving it.

We have another box elder on the other side of the house in the back corner, but it's never been the stunner this one is although I love how it shelters our deck in the summer and makes me feel as if I'm in a tree house.

May all your trees be clothed in fall splendor as we work our way toward winter. Grab a cup of something and enjoy the view!

Life

The fall days are really settling in.  Cold, misty mornings followed by sunny, cool afternoons filled with falling leaves and shadows.  Though this season is one of endings, it is so beautiful, it seems more alive than spring or even summer.

It's also a season for coziness:  warm coffee or tea in the morning, big pots of soup or stew in the evenings.  All those foods that seem too heavy or too much work in the summer.  No surprise that fall is my favorite time to cook.  And bake.

Fall is also the time when I really want to get back into my sewing room and create.  This part of fall hasn't gone so well this year.  Poor Moby came home again last week, but apparently he was released from the hospital too soon and seems to be having adjustment issues. Tension problems.  Yes, those words were used as puns, but also as truth.  I cannot get the tension adjusted!!  Dr. Sam will make another house call tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I've broken out my trusty ten-year-old Brother ULT and done some stitching.  It worked like a champ, for which I was thankful.  (I was starting to have tension issues!!)

I was again reminded of how insignificant an ailing sewing machine is when a lovely lady, a real sweetie who comes to the embroidery classes I teach, emailed me today to say she couldn't come this Thursday night.  She broke her ankle and fractured her knee last week, might be facing surgery, and can't drive.  Her only real word of complaint was "dang!"  Reality check. And here's praying Carolyn heals swiftly.

The following photo is one I borrowed from Ann.  Daniel is growing!  He's crawling, pulling himself up, and forcing his brothers to put their things out of reach!  He's become the little marauder, although one with a huge grin.

With complete impartiality, I can tell you he was absolutely adorable (I saw him in person that day) in that tiny Seahawk's jersey and blue jeans.  The white t-shirt under the jersey was just the right touch. 

Viva la fall! And football!  And cozy days!  

The Weekend

Happy Monday! We had a busy and wonderful weekend with Bruder Bear and family. It was Homecoming at our local institution of higher learning, and John and Karen drove up on Friday to spend some time with son JR, a junior, and daughter Kirsten, who drove in for a visit. Reservations had been made at the Resort, which meant we got to enjoy everyone!

Saturday morning found us downtown with Ann, Eric and the boys watching the Homecoming parade. Cameron and Keaton had brought along gallon zippy bags which were soon bulging with candy. Every float, campaigning politician, and group tossed candy as they passed by and our boys were quick to gather it in. I even scooped up a caramel. Yum! The grownups clapped to the fight song, swayed to the bands (or maybe that was just me), and took turns holding a sleeping Daniel. It was a fun time.

From there, Ann and family headed off to an out-of-town soccer game and the rest of us wandered down to the Farmer's Market. Karen scored boxes of apples and peaches and a loaf of artisan bread. We were offered samples of both fruits and they were delicious. I think I'll see if they have more next weekend as I've been longing for some peach pie. And apple crisp.

BB and family went off to the football game in the afternoon, but Dan and I declined the invitation to go along. I thought some rolls sounded good and mixed up a batch to go along with our dinner of ham and au gratin potatoes. The gang rolled back in about six-thirty, accompanied by JR's friend, Jill, and Kirsten's friend, Tim. We enjoyed an evening of visiting and a raucous game of spoons.

Following Sunday morning breakfast, a trip to a local sporting goods/hardware/kitchen store, and lunch, everyone piled into their respective vehicles and headed off for a day of driving, or in JR's case, a day of studying at the library. We pointed out to him that all of us had lived through our days of drudgery and were still alive, but that's small comfort to him right now, I'm sure.  And thus ended another wonderful family weekend.  Thanks, guys!

For Sunday breakfast, I mixed up a batch of blueberry muffins and scrambled some eggs with ham. I hadn't made the muffins in a while and I had forgotten how yummy they are. Here's the recipe:

Sweet Blueberry Muffins

Batter:

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

3 cups flour

1 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Crumbs:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

6 Tbs butter
Dash of cinnamon

To prepare batter, combine eggs, milk and oil in measuring cup.  In separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Stir wet ingredients into dry until just moistened.  Fold in blueberries.  Spoon batter into 24 greased muffin cups (I used my jumbo muffin pans and made twelve).

To prepare crumbs, crumble all ingredients together (I end up using my fingers) and sprinkle over each cup of batter.  I pressed the crumbs down lightly before baking.

Bake at 400 (jumbo 425) for 20-30 minutes.  (The time difference depends on muffin size and whether or not your blue berries are frozen.)

This recipe could easily be halved for a smaller batch. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Ann!

On a beautiful fall day "somewhere in the '70's", we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter Ann. What a joy she has been! She's a wonderful daughter, a much-loved wife, and a fabulous mom.

Happy birthday, Ann!

Sewing Machine Woes

Today has been a rainy, dark, and cozy day. Fall. I love it. And it's a good thing, because the rest of this day has been crazy!

I took my beloved Bernina 830, Moby Stitch, in for its yearly checkup, or as my friend CJ calls it, its spa treatment. I dropped it off before we went to Bruder Bear's, and yes, that was the middle of August. Poor Sam, the tech, encountered difficulties installing new updates Bernina recommended. Long story short, I finally got it back yesterday. Last night, I set it up and started to stitch. Uh oh. The touch keys wouldn't work. Finally, I discovered that if I touched them way up on the top, they would. Strange. And disconcerting. I left several messages on Sam's cell and continued to tinker with Moby with varying success.

This afternoon I decided to give it another try. More problems, bobbin thread showing, which I remedied by filling bobbins with the same thread as the top. It stitched beautifully that way, but then more problems! It has an automatic threader but the button for it ceased to work. Arrgghh!!

Sam called to say he'd talked to Bernina today and they'd told him how to reset the screen. He came for a house call tonight. Alas, poor Moby seems to have had a nervous breakdown and wouldn't even let Sam into the machine setup. He thinks one of those big ribbon-like sets of wires that plug in must have come loose, so he'll come back tomorrow with all his anti-static mats and equipment and break into Moby and hopefully be able to fix it all. I'm hoping Moby doesn't need a complete brain transplant (motherboard). Oh the joys of computerized machinery. So wonderful when it works, so frustrating when it doesn't.

I keep telling myself it's just a machine that's sick, not someone I love. And it's true. In the scheme of things, this is just a little annoyance and will eventually be resolved.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of a little wall quilt I made last fall and forgot about until I found it last week.