Weekending 9/16/24

 

Good Morning!

How are you this fine mid-September (gasp!!  already?) morning?  The days are flying by!  You can see from the picture above that I have planted a pinecone!  I'm hoping to get at least a few of the seeds it contains to sprout.  There are various on-line videos about this and I thought it would be fun.  The tree by our mailbox was our Christmas tree the first year we moved into the house and this year has turned out to be a banner year for pinecones.  There are tons of them!  Fingers crossed my little experiment works.

Thanks for your notes about Mabel.  She did (of course) show up after I posted looking for a bit of breakfast.  All weekend she pretty much stayed around the house, disappearing for short periods of time, but always coming back and meowing at the door.  This morning she wanted to go out at 5 a.m.  When I came downstairs at 7 she was ready to come in and since then she has been in and out several times.

Our weekend was nice, though filled with chores.  I did make it to Ikea on Friday morning.  I had not been there in maybe a year or longer.  Traffic was horrible and there was lots of road work, but I made it.  It is easy to get carried away in that store.  I found the wine glasses I wanted and a few other things including a couple of girlfriend gifts.  Then I almost got lost trying to find my way out of the store - LOL.  I'm sure they arrange the store the way they do on purpose.  Once I found all the plants (and successfully was NOT distracted), I knew I was on my way to the checkout point.  I made it home in time for lunch with Fletch.  Fun times and I will go back sooner than a year from now!

Friday night I made Carne en su Jugo for dinner.  Looking on line, I can't find the recipe I used, but it was delicious!!

Other than keeping thistle seed out for all the finches, we typically do not feed the birds during the summer.  But last week I noticed a chickadee kept coming to the window feeder (office room front window).  When it discovered the feeder was empty, that chickadee started pecking at the window!!  We bought some sunflower seeds and Fletch filled that feeder for me (well, for the birds).  Since then the chickadees, finches, cardinals and wrens have all been enjoying it.  I'm pretty sure the hummingbirds are gone now.  The hummingbird feeder that was hanging from the clothesline came down and there is another feeder hanging from a branch of the apple tree to come down.  It's time to put out the regular sunflower seed feeder as well as the peanut feeder.

Mundane chores seemed to fill Saturday and Sunday.  The kitchen floor was scrubbed (definitely needed), curtains in the bedroom, living room and office were taken down, washed and hung on the lines to dry.  Then put back up.  Definitely need new curtain rods!  A little cleaning in the living room was completed - that will be finished today.  Fletch washed a bunch of windows.  Whew!

Yesterday Colin was over and helped Fletch get 24 bags (40 lbs each!) of top soil into the garden area.  A few went into the raised bed with the rhubarb and the balance will be spread in the large raised bed at the back of the garden where Garlic will be planted in October.  Naturally, Mabel had to come into the garden to investigate what was going on.

As far as the garden goes:  we now have 2 sunflowers in bloom and the hibiscus continues to bloom.  We are picking cherry tomatoes and peppers and there are still some figs to ripen.  Last night we had a delicious salad with greens (red and green lettuce, chard and spinach) from the garden.  Fletch put the sets in a week or two ago and they have taken off!

Thankfully there was time for reading, stitching and knitting.  Planning more of those things today.  Hopefully your weekend was nice and cheers to the week ahead!!

TGIF 9/13/24

 Good Morning All,

Hope you are doing well this (finally) Friday morning.  And hey!  It's Friday the 13th!!  I'm waiting for the coffee to be ready.  I was up and out early to have bloodwork done and now am eagerly awaiting that first sip of java.

Yesterday afternoon I was worried about Mabel.  We had not seen her since the morning and usually she comes around several times during the day.  I had seen a fox sauntering by back around our garden, so of course I called and called for Mabel.  No response.  She finally showed up a late afternoon.  We both wondered if she had climbed a tree somewhere and was waiting for it to be safe to come down.  I'm just happy she was not on another "great adventure!"  LOL

And now I'm wondering where she is since she went out at 5:30 and I have not seen her yet since then.  Hopefully she will show up soon for breakfast.

Yesterday was fairly productive.  I got some cleaning done - wiping all the kitchen cabinets with orange oil - which was like giving a mouse a cookie.  I ended up taking stuff off the top of the frig and scrubbing that surface.  Then changed out things on the buffet, etc., etc.  The afternoon was mostly spent prepping and cooking.  

Chicken drumsticks are not my favorite, but Fletch had seen a recipe for coconut ginger drumsticks that he thought sounded good.  Basically you marinate drumsticks in coconut milk with minced ginger and garlic, some lemon juice and a minced chili pepper.  After several hours of marinating, you put it all in a Dutch oven and let it cook for several hours.  Adding some soy sauce and tomato paste.  It all cooks down and the meat begins to fall off the bones.  It was pretty good!

I also made a new-to-us salad of Brussels Sprouts sliced very thin and cooked in EVOO till brown and crispy.  Then tossed with some apple (I used one from our tree!), some bacon, a shallot and pecans.  The dressing was maple syrup, cider vinegar. lemon juice, some balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard.  It was great!

Finally, I made a peach galette for dessert!

The peaches I used came from the Farmer's Market last weekend.  I would definitely make this again.

Later this morning I plan to make a run to Ikea (I dropped and broke yet another wine glass the other day).  It's always fun to wander around that store.  After that I'm hoping for time to knit and/or stitch.

We have no plans for the weekend which is kind of the way I like it.  Hoping for a slow and easy one.  Hope your weekend is a good one too!

Unraveled Wednesday 9-11-24

 Good Morning Everyone!

First of all, thank you for the sweet birthday wishes.  I had a lovely day.  Mailing is still traveling (coming home today), but Colin, Fletch and I went out to dinner at Parc Bistro in Skippack.  It was a beautiful evening and we were able to sit outside for dinner.  The food was SO good...and so was my grapefruit martini!!  Fletch and I got home in time to tune into the debate which was just about exactly as I expected it to be.  Kamala Harris remained calm and well spoken and the opposing side just ranted on and on and didn't even answer the questions posed to him.  Ridiculous!  But we all know that.

Anyway, here we are back at mid-week and it is time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk all about making and reading.  I am happy to report that my color block socks are finished!!

As I knew would happen, there was not enough yarn left in the mini skein for make the second toe identical to the first...but who cares?  Not me.  Anyway, the toes will be inside shoes.  The yarn was the May selection from the Farmer's Daughter for her Sock Squad.  I will say that all of the yarn I have received has been a delight to play with and knit.

Instead of casting on a new pair of Sock Squad socks, I looked through my stash and pulled out a skein of souvenir yarn to start the next socks.  The yarn is some I picked up on one of Fletcher's and my camping trips when we were in Maine.  It is Pemaquid (80/20) from Maine Yarn & Fiber Supply.  The color way is "Tapped Maple" and I love the way is it knitting up.  Granted, I've only knit the cuff so far, but it is lovely.

It is also very Fall-like.  I'm pretty sure these socks will be plain vanilla and will go to Fletch.

My shawl (Semplice) looks just as it did last week, so I will spare you looking at the same picture.  Hopefully the shawl will get some love in this coming week.

Reading has been good.  I have under a hundred pages left in The Trackers by Charles Frazier.  I'm enjoying it, but it's not the "I can't put this book down" variety.  Still, entertaining.  I also started reading Poor Man's Feast by Elissa Altman and am really enjoying it.  I love books that are memoirs and the bonus with this one is there are recipes!

Fletch and I are continuing to listen to In True Face and after a slow start, it is getting increasingly interesting.  We should be able to get back to listening tonight.

That's a wrap for me.  I need to gulp down more coffee and wake up a bit.  Happy Hump Day!!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 9/10/24

 Hello and Good Morning!

Happy Birthday to me!  LOL. I'm finding it difficult to believe that I am now 71 years old.  There are days when I still feel and act like a 12 year old.  But, then my knees begin to bother me or my back will ache and I'll say "yup - you ARE that age!"

Meanwhile, back to today.  It is Tuesday and time for a Tiny Needle update.  I've started a new piece.  Here is the design - "The Blessing" by Vilma Becklin of Examplars From the Heart.  I'm sad to say Vilma is no longer designing.  Her pieces are always interesting and fun.  This one looks a bit like Fall, so I thought it would be a good piece to stitch now.

And here is what I have done so far.  I'm using 36 count linen in the color way "Winter Moon" and stitching with hand dyed silk threads from Vikki Clayton.

Both the linen and the threads are so lovely to work with, but my hands are so rough and chapped (despite lots and lots of hand cream), that the threads often catch on my skin and snag.  Still, I'm having a good time with this one.

I did manage to get the box of books out of my closet yesterday.  Geeze...I am no longer able to lift that box.  So I ended up emptying it and putting the books into some (six!!) of our reusable grocery bags.  It was fun to go through the books and see what was there:  Jamberry, Frog & Toad books, Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, Winnie the Pooh.  There were some books I expected to find (Sheep in a Jeep) that were not there.  I wonder what happened to all of them?  We are taking these to Colin tonight.  And, yes, there will still be books here that we can read to our granddaughter.

Also discovered in the closet was a BIG bag of some of Colin's baby clothes.  Two sweaters I knit him, some clothes I made for him, lots of blankets including a hand loomed gorgeous one.  I have not gone through those things yet, so they will stay here for now (but out of the closet!!).

OK, time to pour another cup of coffee and Mabel is meowing that she wants to go back outside.  Have a great Tuesday!

Weekending 9/9/24

 Good Morning!

My goodness - it is just 45 degrees here and it feels so good.  My back was a little touchy all weekend, but maybe I can get a short walk in at some point.  How was your weekend?  Mine was very nice.

Saturday morning I went to the farm (Kimberton CSA) and collected Colin & Mailing's share.  Eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, etc.  A bounty!  By the time I got home Fletch was awake and ready to roll, so we took the produce over to Colin (Mailing is still out of town).  Then the three of us headed to the Lansdale Farmer's Market.  Such a busy place!  We saw Frank (a high school friend of Colin's) who runs the Kimberton CSA.  I managed to get some great looking peaches, a couple of Asian pears and some Fall squash.  Also a delicious loaf of bread.

We hung out at Colin's for a bit and then went out to lunch.  The sky was getting darker and by the time we dropped Colin off at his house and made it home the rain had started.  A nice lazy afternoon with time for a nap!

There was plenty of time for knitting, stitching and reading over the weekend.  And last night we had our first fire of the season in our fire pit.  It felt so nice to sit out and enjoy the fire.  It was extremely quiet in the neighborhood and not even much sound of traffic.  Mabel refused to come near the fire and at one point just wanted to go inside!  We both heard her a little later talking to us - she was sprawled on the windowsill in the bedroom window watching us.

Colin asked us to come over for dinner tomorrow (I think we will just order out Thai food) for my birthday!  Today I will dig out a box of books from my closet - all books that I saved from when Colin was a little guy.  He asked us to bring them over - they are accumulating things for their little girl!

Now it's time to pour a second cup of coffee and check out some blogs.  Hope your week is off to a great start!

All Creatures 9/6/24

 Hello and Good Morning Friends,

It's Friday!!  Even though I'm now retired, I get excited over a weekend.  LOL. Old habits die hard.  

I've been walking quite a bit - this morning the first thing I saw was a bluebird!  What a gorgeous bird.  Today I walked in Oaks along the Perkiomen Trail down to the Schuylkill River.  Lots of folks out early biking, running, walking dogs.  Yesterday I walked along the canal and again there were a lot off folks out and about.  No sightings of blue or green herons...not even a turtle!  Wednesday I walked the River Trail in Valley Forge Park that goes along the Schuylkill River.  Not as many folks around, but lots and lots of birds in the woods.  I'm thankful to have so many beautiful places to walk.

But now to share some things with you.  I would not have believed this if I had not seen it with my own eyes, but Steve the Beav climbs...as in climbs trees!

Do you see him perched in the apple tree?  He, along with the squirrels and deer, has been foraging for fallen apples.  I guess yesterday he could not find any on the ground.  So up he went.  He sat up there munching on apples for a good half hour!

This morning when I came downstairs at 6:30, this is what I saw looking out our back door:

Three deer resting in the back yard!  When I stepped onto the patio to take the picture they didn't budge.  Then Mabel came walking across the yard and again, they did not move.  They are so used to her and do not see her as a threat.

Happy Weekend Everyone!  Make it a good one.

Unraveled Wednesday 9/4/24

 Hello Everyone!

My phone tells me it is 45 degrees out!  That is chilly.  I may need a sweatshirt for my walk in a little bit!

Here we are at Wednesday already, and it's time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk making and reading.  One of my favorite days to blog!  There has been progress on both of my knitting projects.  First up, the Semplice Shawl:

A bunch more rows were added (I've still got a boatload to knit).  The first reverse stockinette section is now complete and I will start (hopefully today) the next section.

The second color block sock is now past the heel turn and gusset stitches have been picked up.

A few more rows were knit after I took that picture last night.  I already know that there is not enough of the brown-ish color to make the toe decreases to mimic the first sock.  That color will need to be a little shorter in the toe.  Luckily I'm ok with that...matchy-matchy doesn't really matter to me.

On the reading front, books have been finished and new ones started.  I did finish Agony Hill and enjoyed it - especially the location (Vermont) and the quirkiness of some of the characters.  It was an easy, good read.  Not great literature and I would not necessarily rush to read more by the author, but I did enjoy this one.

Over the weekend I read Sipsworth and what a charming book it is!  It's one of those books that just make you feel good.  I loved it and now might want a pet mouse!!  Except Mabel....

Fletch and I wrapped up reading A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut.  Typical Vonnegut stuff.  This book is a collections of essays - really Vonnegut's rant about what was going on at the time (2005).  We were glad it was a short book!

Fletch and I are back to listening to an audio book now.  This time it is In True Face by Jonna Mendez.  This is a book one of my brothers recommended to me.  It is an interesting story about a woman (the author) who started out as a "contract wife" in the CIA and rose to become Chief of Disguise.

And last night I started my next read:  The Trackers by Charles Frazier (of Cold Mountain fame).  I managed to read roughly 35 pages last night before I got so sleepy I had to go to bed.  So far, so good.  There is at least one book that is ready for me to pick up at the library and possibly 2, so I'd best get reading!

The large "Bullnose Peppers" that Fletch planted are finally turning color!  These are about the size of bell peppers.  We have not tried one yet, but here is the first one Fletch picked yesterday:

Pretty, huh?  And, yes, that's my hand showing the size (also note that a flannel shirt is worn!!).

Finally, I made a new (to us) salad to go with our dinner last night:  cut up cucumber, sliced peaches, thinly sliced shallot, a drizzle of EVOO and a drizzle of honey, the juice and zest of a lime and some mint leaves.  It was so good and so refreshing!

Well, that's it from me.  Be sure to head over to Kat's for inspiration and enjoy your Wednesday!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 9/3/24

 Good Morning!

How are you this fine September morning?  There is a little nip in the air here in Eastern PA and I am loving it.  I put the heat on in the bathroom while I had a shower and it felt delightful!  Now I'm cozy in PJ pants, a sweatshirt and slippers!

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend.  Ours was quiet, a bit on the damp side (until Monday) and just very nice.  We had a lovely dinner at Bonnie & Zhongren's Friday night.  The cake I made was a hit and we took some figs to share (they all loved them!) as well as cherry tomatoes and beans for Bonnie & Zhongren to have a little later.  Zhongren usually has a nice garden, but he was traveling and out of the country for most of the summer.  Then we were pretty lazy on Saturday and Sunday.  Yesterday was beautiful - and a great day for hanging things on the line to dry, so I took down the kitchen curtains, washed them, washed the inside of the windows...I guess I'm in Fall cleaning mode.

On Sunday our neighbor Rob brought over home-made sourdough cinnamon buns!  Oh my!!  I have never been a huge fan of sourdough, but he is making me a convert (actually I like Mailing's sourdough bread as well).  There will most likely be more because he is "perfecting" his recipe for the cinnamon buns.  We do enjoy being guinea pigs for his creations!

There was plenty of time over the weekend for stitching, knitting and reading.  A perfect combination.  And, in fact, I have a finish to share on this, the first Tiny Needle Tuesday of September!

The design is "Ann's Sewing Tray" by Blackbird Designs from the book "A Schoolgirl's Work."  So named, because the finish shown in the book is the piece put in a frame and then handles added to the frame.  Cute idea (which I have done in the past), but I won't be doing that to this piece.  Not sure what I will do.  Anyway, I stitched this on 40 count linen using DMC floss (1 thread of floss over two threads of linen).  The finished size is roughly 5.5" wide by 4.25" tall.

I've already picked out my next piece to stitch, but I'll wait to share that next week since I haven't even started it yet.

After many weeks of waiting and watching, we finally have a sunflower!

It's not very big and only 2 feet tall, but it's blooming!  There is another plant as well.  And the hibiscus continues to put on a lovely show:

For those of you still working...I'm hoping your work week is easy (I always found shortened work weeks to be way too busy).  And for everyone - have a marvelous week!