Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

We took a little road trip down to the Bruder Bear Resort for a few days and had a most wonderful time relaxing and visiting with John and Karen.  We drove as far as McCall the first day and enjoyed a night at the Hunt Lodge and dinner at Lardo's.  Lardo's is such a funky place, but the food is always delicious.

We got up the next morning, enjoyed a yummy breakfast at the Lodge and hit the trail for Boise and parts east.  Have I ever mentioned how I hate driving on interstates?  I used to love them, but now they are so clogged with huge trucks that it's a nightmare.  It was my turn to drive, so I clenched the wheel and hit the gas pedal.  I was so thankful when we rolled into Bruder Bear's driveway!  And he was actually standing there waiting to greet us!

The views from their deck are incredible.  The water was like glass when I caught this photo.

Their house is right on the Snake River facing northeast and the weather was perfect the whole time we were there, so the deck was used every day, well into the evening. Amazing weather for the middle of October. We ate several meals out there and as usual, Karen spoiled us with her cooking.  

We loved our time with them and look forward to seeing them again soon.  Thanks, Bruder Bear!  ♥

This Is NOT a Mirage!

Yeah, yeah, I know I've been absent.  Sometimes the words are just not there, for whatever reason. Maybe just so I won't bore you!  :-)

And now, it's October and fall is here.  Love it!  The poplars are laying down a carpet of gold on the grass in the backyard, the box elders are turning their usual stunning red, and the days are blue and gold.  Here where I live, fall is our shining time.  Gorgeous!

I've decorated the house and added a few new pieces. I've need a centerpiece for the dining room table and back in August I took advantage of some coupons at JoAnn's and bought three large fall picks and one flower pick that had about five chrysanthemums on it in varying colors.  Two weeks ago I finally got brave (Who has to get brave to make a centerpiece??  Apparently I do.) and decided to see what I could do.  I had a lovely white casserole/soup tureen in the cupboard and I used it for the vase.  I simply bent the stems of the fall picks in a 45 degree angle and placed them in the dish.  Then I had Dan cut the flower pick apart (I tried, but my fingers didn't have enough umph...) and placed them among the leaves.  

I am inordinately pleased with the results!

I got a new catalog in the mail and found these cute little pilgrims who begged to be added to our home. They are a Williraye design.  Aren't they adorable?

A week or so ago Ann and I ran away from home to a neighboring town for a little fun.  In addition to Costco, we hit Pier One and I, sucker that I am for seasonal things, had to buy this mug to drink my fall morning coffee.  I love its pumpkin color, it's shape, and rustic glaze. It makes me smile each day.

Last week when I went to Ann's for my usual Thursday afternoon of watching the D-man, Ann had my birthday present waiting.  We both enjoy the Pioneer Woman's cooking show and her cookbooks, and were excited to learn she had a line of kitchen goods coming out.  Ann had been waiting for them to show up at our local Walmart and they finally did. 

This beautiful bowl was full of utensils including a wooden spoon, masher, and flat whisk.  What fun!!  I love kitchen things!

I've been machine embroidering again and did some lace this week including this bookmark:

Meanwhile, Dan has been working on our bathrooms as time allows.  Part of the plan is to redo the cabinet fronts and he's been experimenting with drawer fronts. I think we've got it figured out!

Normally I'd be watching Daniel this afternoon but he was up all night with the throw-ups so Ann is home with him.  She said he was finally starting to feel better about ten this morning.  So, here I am, doing a catch-up.  

Happy October!  ♥

End of August

Yes, friends, I'm still alive and kickin'.  I took the month off from the computer, with just occasional peeks at favorite blogs and FB.  Sometimes it's good to just disconnect and get on with other things.

We planted a small garden this year and I'm overjoyed to report that our summer squash and zucchini have produced!!  It's been years since I've been able to make such a report.  Piles of squash have appeared on my counter on almost a daily basis:

I've made numerous pans of my summer squash skillet and so far we still enjoy each mouthful.  I've made multiple bakings of zucchini bread and with each batch I can't resist breathing in the wonderful aroma of the cinnamon and nutmeg as I set them on the cooling racks.

I also stumbled on a wonderful recipe for a side dish featuring the yellow squash.  I got a catalog last week from a company called Through the Country Door.  I ordered a couple of things and got a welcoming email from them.  At the bottom was a picture of a casserole with a link.  I checked it out and decided to make it Saturday.  I can highly recommend Gunter Family Squash Casserole!  A little bit of work, but definitely worth it.  

I've been stitching in the sewing room making baby blankets for a local ministry.  I've stitched satin binding to fleece for cozy blankies and embroidered flannel to make receiving blankets for the tiny ones.  I love making baby things!  

August has been hot and our area has been thick with smoke from the many forest fires in the west. It rained a little yesterday and today is cool and the air is clear. Hopefully firefighters will be able to use this time to whip all the infernos blazing away.  A cousin lost her home and all her possessions in one fire several weeks ago.  I can't even imagine.  I come from a family of forest-fire fighters, with my dad, my brother and my husband all having spent many days on the fire lines. I am grateful that none of them do it any more.  

So, here we are at the end of August.  I turned another year older and fall is about to arrive.  ♥

Summertime, and the Livin' Is . . . Busy!

For a couple of hermits, the last few weeks have been busy and social for us.  We enjoyed the rehearsal dinner and wedding of our long-time friends' son on the 17th and 18th.  Both were in a nearby town, so some driving was involved and we even sneaked in a trip to Costco before the rehearsal dinner.  We had a great time at both events and the tablecloths were perfect on the tables Friday night.  

The following Monday was a big birthday for Dan, and Ann and Eric convinced me that we really must do a party.  I'm not good at parties, but they both helped and we did it.  Dan wasn't really looking forward to this birthday, but he really enjoyed his party and I'm glad we did it.  A good number of local friends came and we enjoyed a beautiful evening in a local park, eating and gabbing the evening away.

Today a friend from college days and her husband were in town and we thoroughly enjoyed a leisurely lunch with them a local restaurant.  Lois and I lived in the same dorm forty-five (!!!!) years ago and hadn't seen each other since just after Dan and I married, so that's over forty-three years.  I don't think the guys had ever met, or if they did, it was briefly, but they had a good time visiting, too.  

Meanwhile, things are stirring back to life here at the resort in the remodeling department,  Dan's busy season with his consulting work is winding down for a while, so we're working on bathrooms.  Several weeks ago Eric, Cam and Keat came over on a Saturday and along with Dan, they pulled out the old shower stall in the bath adjoining our bedroom. (Should I say, "our en suite?" a la HGTV?) We've debated possibilities for the new shower, and as much as I'd like to go all tile, I don't think it's worth the effort it would take to do it, so I think we'll just go with a new white (the old was harvest gold) stall and call it good.  Hey, it'll get me clean just fine.  :-)  Meanwhile, new light fixtures, shower rods, etc, have made their way into the main upstairs and downstairs baths.  Each new piece makes me smile!

Here's a picture of the gaping hole that's in our bath right now:

  

Having access to the plumbing for the tub in the main bathroom will enable Dan to do some upgrades there, too,  Our well water has worked a number on the pipes and fixtures.  

Meanwhile, the flower pots on our deck are in bloom and I just love the wonderfully bright flowers. We bought the plants at Costco last year and Dan was able to keep them alive over the winter in our sunroom.  (Truth:  if plants depended on me to live, they wouldn't.)

♥

Quilting Ponderings

My longtime readers know that I became a lover of quilts at an early age because I slept under wonderfully heavy quilts made by my paternal great-grandmothers. All hand-stitched, they tied me to a generation I never met, but often heard about.  My dad's father was killed in an automobile accident when my dad was just fifteen months old and these women had helped raise him while his mother worked as many as three jobs at a time to keep her family afloat.  

The quilts were worn when I was little, and by the time I was grown they were worn out and gone. But that's why they had been made--to be used.  I was somewhat of a romantic growing up and I viewed things from the past through rose-colored glasses, not realizing at the time that the making of the quilts came from thrift and many evening hours of plying the needle.  These ladies did not own even a treadle sewing machine although both were accomplished sewers.  At any rate, I wanted to make quilts.  It was a way of tying myself to these women who were a part of me.  

And so, about thirty years ago I finally began to really quilt. I'd made a pillow or two, tried a cushion for a rocking chair, but they were mostly sad affairs, done without proper fabric or batting.  Now I lived in a town with a quilt shop and I made a friend of a real live quilter.  I subscribed to quilting magazines and slowly became more adept.  Even though I taught school most of the intervening years, quilting was a refuge from the stress and work that teaching is.  

And now, here I am.  Retired. With time and a roomful of sewing machines including a quilting machine.  How blessed I am!  Whatever would those great-grandmothers have thought of such a room as mine?  I think they would have marveled and wanted to try everything!  I think they would have sparkled and laughed as they tried rotary cutting, cheered over the many rulers available, and thrilled over the sewing machines that had self threaders! And the quilting machine?  Unimaginable.

And so, as I finished my little table runner, I communed with Sarah Jane and Carrie as I turned the binding to the back and hand stitched it down.  That process they would have known well.  

Here's to you, Little Mama (short and stout) and Big Mama (tall and spare)!  ♥

Potatoes

Huh?  Potatoes?  

Well, anyone in my family can tell you that I love potatoes.  In fact, one of my mottos is that I never met a potato I didn't like.  I'm even briefly mentioned in an old video of a dinner my brother's family was having when he speared a baby red one from the serving bowl, said, "This one's for you, sister," and popped it into his mouth.  Yeah, I'm famous like that.  :-)

Recently I was cruising the produce department at one of our local supermarkets and spied a small bag of potatoes.  Intrigued, I looked more closely and discovered this:

The potatoes are grown and packaged by The Little Potato Company.  They have several bags to choose from and I chose the Terrific Trio which has tiny red, yellow and blue potatoes.  Yup, blue ones.  I've always loved the tiny reds, so I just had to buy the bag and see what was up.  Well, I'll tell you:  much yummy-ness! Boiled, with just butter and a sprinkling of dried basil, and I was in heaven.  And Dan loves them, too!

Here's a peek inside the bag which holds three pounds:

The family that started this company is Dutch and in Europe they're called creamer potatoes.  You can buy bags of just the red or yellow, but those blue ones make me smile.  And yes, they taste just like the other ones.  

Potatoes get a bad rap nutritionally, but really, they are quite good for us.  It's all the stuff we do to them that add the fat and calories.  Here's the nutritional stats from the bag:

See, look at all the potassium and fiber. And carbs are just eight percent. My poor potatoes get a bad rap!  ♥

There Is Life in the Sewing Room!

Yes, dear readers, there has been activity of late in my sewing room.  I am working on the last of the Laundry Basket Quilts (Edyta Sitar's designs) Trio tablerunners. (Click here to see the pattern and here to see pictures of the first two.)

This one has the same one hundred fifty-six pieces in the border, but thankfully the center is just a cut of a border fabric.  

All the sections are ready now to be joined to the center piece.  I just have to cut it and then stitch the sections on.  If I get myself jolted into action today I could have it done in an hour or so.  

There was also much action last Thursday when long-time friend and former neighbor, Cyndie, joined me and we spent the afternoon making ten big round tablecloths for her son's wedding rehearsal dinner this week.  Cyndie used my serger to stitch fabric sections together; I pressed, folded, and using a newspaper template we made, cut the rounded edge which Cyndie then hemmed, again using the serger.  We had quite the assembly line going, along with much fun jabbering.  We finished in under four hours and were quite pleased with ourselves.  :-)

Cyndie insisted on a picture of me stitching, so I did do one hem.  Some of the completed tableclothes are seen heaped on my not yet quilted Through the Winter Woods quilt.  

Well, that runner isn't going to finish itself, so I think I'll take myself downstairs and see if I can get some work done on it.  ♥