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.

End of September

How amazing that September ends today. I remember hearing that the older you get, the faster time goes, and it certainly seems to be true.

Fall is here. I was doing some reading this morning and in my peripheral vision I could see dappled shadows around the room as sunlight filtered through the aspen trees just outside the window. I loved it! This afternoon there is much smoke all around; farmers must be burning their fields. The smoke, combined with the shadows and the slowly turning leaves brings a feeling of comfort and security. Time to finish up chores and start planning for the coming winter.

Dan has been busy getting wood, splitting, and stacking it. Some of it has been rather damp, so he's spread it out over the lower yard where the sun can dry it. So much work for something that will be gone--in a puff of smoke! This wood will certainly have warmed him several times over before it vanishes in our stove.

Meanwhile, Buddy the cat has spent the day curled up in the recliner. This time of year the nights are perfect for prowling and then he spends the day recovering from his hunting expeditions. The mice are few in our neighborhood any more.

Buddy came to us one weekend more than eight years ago. We have no idea where he came from, but for days when I came home from school, there he would be in the corner of the porch. Finally, knowing full well what we were doing, we fed him. He's been a part of the family ever since. Living as we do just out of town, we occasionally had mice, but no more! Even the neighbors have remarked on it. He's done his job well, so I guess he deserves his days in the chair.

Take a cue from Buddy and spend an hour now and then this fall in a lovely little nap. You'll feel better for it!

My Honey

I often mention that Dan is out of town working. For a "retired" person, he's on the move quite often. So here's the deal. Following his official retirement, he started receiving calls asking for his expertise and it was just what he needed. After a few months, he decided to create his own consulting business and he was off and running. (I got to contribute by designing his letterhead and business cards. Things of beauty, I must say!)

So what does he do? Well, he's the contract Forest Pathologist for the Idaho Department of Lands, which means he presents workshops on tree diseases in different locations throughout the year, conducts field days where participants see said diseases in their actual environs, and is available for consultation when IDL foresters have questions about specific problems. He is also occasionally called upon by private companies for similar work. It's been fun for him; he says they're asking him to do the things he enjoyed the most when he worked full time.

Another aspect of his sharing has been a tie-in with the Idaho Forest Products Commission. This began when he was working full time, and has continued. They conduct two big tours a year: one for teachers in June, and one they call Miracle at Work Forest Tour for business and political leaders in September.

This year, pictures and comments by Dan have made it into print; a forestry extension field day was featured in the Coeur d'Alene paper, and the Miracle tour in The Capital Press, a west coast agricultural publication.

We were able to capture this picture from the Capital Press's website:

He says he's now waiting for a call from Letterman.

UPDATE: For those interested, click here for a link to the article in the Coeur d'Alene paper: Cd'A article

Happy Fall, Y'all

I'm a sucker for seasonal treats. And I justify them by calling it "decorating."

Cookbooks...

... are one of my favorite reading pleasures. Over the years, I've added quite a few to the several I had when we got married. There are some I've made many meals from, and others I've only read but never "used" in the sense of actually cooking a recipe from them. They're inspirations, I guess you could say. I often take a cookbook to bed to read before falling asleep. Anyone else do that?

Suffice it to say, over the years my collection has grown. When we were first married, I used part of a shelf over the daybed that was our sofa in our 8x35' trailer. In our next homes, they sat in a corner on the counter. Fast forward a few years and I had them on a small bookcase Dan made, which worked perfectly for a short time. All of a sudden, I had too many to fit, and I was forced to decide which stayed in the kitchen and which were shuffled to bookcases in the basement. Not a really good solution.

Last year, in the fall, I told Dan that the only thing I wanted for Christmas was a new bookcase for my cookbooks. He agreed to make one and we measured and plotted. I had very specific instructions. He got a small start before Christmas, but then other things intervened. He was able to get back to it this summer, and today was its grand entrance!!

Note the red bow on the top!!

Here's how it looks inside:

Room to spare!! The little drawer at the top left? It's for bills! Now when they come in, we can just pop them in there, and find them. All in one place, mixed in with nothing else! Yay!

This blurry picture is what I used to have (I didn't realize it was blurry and of course it's empty now, and gone, so...):

I keep going in the kitchen and looking at my wonderful new bookcase. I love it so much! The door inserts are beadboard, the knobs and hinges are pewter, and the whole thing is painted the same color as the beadboard in the breakfast nook. The shelf heights are made to fit my books.

Here's the final look:

I'm pretty certain there are more cookbooks lurking in the basement and when I find them, they'll get to come up to join the others in their new home!