Tiny Needle Tuesday, 4/13/21

 Good Morning All!

Another damp, kind of chilly day here.  But, I think it is supposed to warm up some.  Fletch is planning to grill some lamb chops for us for dinner!!  Lamb is one of those meats that I don't want to have really often, but a nicely grilled loin chop is delicious (as is 7 hour leg of lamb - some day I'll share that recipe!).

This morning finds me still having connection issues to the VPN when I am remote.  I can put my password in, but when the screen comes up stating that a code has been texted to me, I don't receive the text.  I tried having a call to my cell instead, but that didn't work either.  Tom from IT (kind of like Jake from State Farm - LOL) believes it is something that can be fixed remotely...hopefully that is the case as I am unable to access any of my files on the network!  That, my friends, means I can't do much work.  Yesterday I did go into the office, but as soon as I turn my laptop on at the office I am connected to the VPN.  Tom was in the office yesterday and looked at some "back" things on my laptop, but everything is set up the way it should be.  I was going to have to change my password in a few days anyway, so I went ahead and did that, but the problem wasn't solved.  Tom is not the fastest to respond to me, but I'm hoping this can be taken care of this morning.

In the meantime, here we are at Tiny Needle Tuesday.  The finale is getting closer and closer!  This past week I stitched a couple of leaves, a couple of letters and a pretty toadstool.  Here's a close up of what was stitched.

All of the letters except my initials have now been stitched.  The red in the toadstool is the color I will use to stitch my initials and I will also put in 2021 in that color somewhere in the sampler.  There are still two border motifs to be stitched and a couple of creatures.  Here is an overall shot of where things are as of last night:

Because I belong to the Free Library of Philadelphia, I get emails from them all the time.  Yesterday the email contained a link to an article in the "Philadelphia Inquirer" for a plant swap that the library is doing.  What a fun idea!  Along the lines of a Little Free Library, but this is taking place at the library (initially at the Chestnut Hill branch).  Wouldn't it be cool if this took off and started happening all over?

That's it for me on this dreary Tuesday morning.  If things (weather) improves, I may try to get a walk in...or I may have to hang around to deal with computer issues...hopefully not.  Enjoy the day!!

Weekending

 Hello!

How was your weekend?  Mine was so nice.  Another weekend that was filled with things I love:  knitting, stitching, reading, napping, cooking, etc.  It never gets boring to me!

I finally got around to repairing/doing some visible mending on a pair of favorite jeans.  This is like a throwback to the 60's!  LOL  I love these jeans, but was starting to get a tiny hole and then the fabric on a seam was beginning to wear away.

I just did a random flower-like shape over the tiny hole - purposefully making it not symmetrical (which I know will drive some folks nuts, but not me).  The seam was really too hard to embroider over and I remembered I had some decorative tape and voila!  I love the way this turned out.

Saturday was a beautiful day to be out and about...and I was.  Later it was still very nice, so Fletch built a fire and we sat out at the fire pit for a few hours.  Very relaxing.  Sunday was not such a nice day.  But, that is the day we eat breakfast together, so I made an apple & blueberry Dutch pancake.  Yum!

I'm not a fan of meatloaf, but Fletch likes it, so I made a large one for dinner (plenty of leftovers for lunches for that boy).  We had that with baked potatoes and roasted Brussels Sprouts and Parsnips (I love parsnips...Fletch not so much).  I just tossesd the veggies with EVOO and sprinkled on an "Everything but the Bagel" seasoning - they roasted while the potatoes baked and the meatloaf cooked.

Later in ithe afternoon I opened up my sewing machine and tried to do a mending job on one of Fletcher's jackets, but my machine would not work!  I could turn the wheel by hand (but that is slow going)...the foot peddle is not working.  So, Fletch unbolted the machine from the cabinet and it is now on the floor in the office room.  There is a shop in King of Prussia where I have taken it in the past for cleaning and oiling (which it needs again...anyway...).  They open at 10 this morning, so I will call and see if I can drop the machine off to be fixed.  I may just put the machine in the car, drive to the office to do some work and then (hopefully) drop off the machine.

I did manage to wind some yarn this weekend:

Pretty, huh?  The cake on the left is one I showed in skein form a few weeks back.  It is from KnitPicks and is in the "Muse" line - hand painted, 75% superwash and 25% nylon.  The colorway is "Enthusiasm Speckle" and it reminds me of bubblegum or confetti.  This will become socks for a friend.  The other yarn is new and is 100% wool from Juniper Moon Farm.  Patagonia Organic Merino and the colorway is "Thistle."  Any guesses as to what this will become?

Well, time to grab another cup of coffee and try to wake up.  I'm having issues connecting to my work stuff, so I guess I'd really better go into the office.  Tom from IT is always in on Mondays, so I can have him look at my laptop.  Wishing you all a great week!

What's for Dinner?

 Hey There and Good Morning!

I should be doing my Thursday financial reports that I run EVERY Thursday, but I don't feel like it - later I guess.  Never got around to walking or doing archery yesterday.  I ran out before lunch to get carrots and pick up a library book.  It was cold and raw.  So after lunch I napped.  When I got up it was GORGEOUS outside.  Too late to run to a park to walk and Tyg was outside, so I couldn't do archery.  Oh well.  Maybe today.  I needed the carrots because I was making the chicken pot pie recipe that Bonny posted the other week - it is delicious by the way.

For now I seem to be turning Thursdays into cooking or food days on my blog.  Tonight's dinner is hot & sweet Italian sausage that Fletch will grill.  He will grill plenty extra so there will be some for left overs and also some to freeze for another day when I feel like making spaghetti sauce.  Yum.  I will saute some peppers, onions and mushrooms to go with the sausages and will most likely pick up some crusty bread or rolls to go with it all.  None of this encompasses recipes I will share.  

But, we had two new salads this week that turned out pretty good.  With the warmer weather, I've been in the mood for cool sides or summer food as it were.  A few nights ago Fletch grilled some steaks for us.  The salad I made was this:

Tomato-Avocado-Cucumber-Onion Salad

 

1 Cuke – peeled, seeded and cut into chunks

~ 6 Compari tomatoes chopped

1 avocado chopped

Some onion sliced very, very thin

1 jalapeno minced

Chopped cilantro

Dressing:

1 TBS Canola oil

1 lime juiced

¼ tsp chili powder

Generous pinch of sugar

Salt & Pepper

Pour the dressing over the chopped veggies, toss to mix.  Serve cold or at room temp

It was pretty tasty.  There was some left over, but when I looked at it for lunch the other day it looked pretty runny and I'm guessing the avocado did not do well.  I'll look today and see if any can be salvaged or if it should all be tossed.  We had some home made corn muffins to round out the meal.

Another night I cooked fish (fried blue fish for Fletch - I can't stand blue fish...for myself I baked a piece of cod that I had covered in salsa verde and lemon slices - very good!!).  We had some steamed new potatoes and this salad:

Carrot Salad

1 lb carrots shredded or julienned (I shredded in my mini processor)

3-4 dates chopped

¼ Cup pistachios

Chopped cilantro & mint

Dressing:

2 TBS EVOO

2 TBS Fresh lemon juice

1 TBS Tahini

1 TBS Honey

1 Clove garlic minced

¼ tsp cumin

¼ tsp salt

This was so good!  Very tasty - loved the pistachios and dates in it and some great flavors in the dressing.

For some time now (a few years anyway) I've tried to make a new recipe at least once a week.  Between the pie for Easter and these two salads, this has been a good experiment week!

Not sure what today will be like.  I would love to take a walk, but I need to run the financial reports first.  Also, I did not sleep well - Tyg was on the roof (again) meowing around 1:45 a.m.  I let him in (the back door, downstairs), and did not get back to sleep until after 4 (what's new?).  Then Tyg was meowing in the bedroom at 5 a.m. to go back out.  I let him out and then slept till 6.  I'm guessing I may nap again today, but we shall see.  Sometimes I get a second wind!

Hope you all are doing well!

Unraveled Wednesday 4/7/21

 Good Morning!

How are you doing mid-week?  Yesterday was such a great day for me.  Another day with a little bit of everything.  A little (very little) work, a little stitching, a little knitting, a walk, some archery, cooking.  All good!

On the archery side of things I managed two sessions yesterday - one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  I will admit to not always hitting the target (more often than not I over shoot or go off to one side...and when I'm tired my shots are short.  However, occasionally when I do hit the target I get a really good shot:

Bullseye!!

My walk was nice, but abbreviated.  The wind was pretty brisk and was bothering my ears.  I walked alongside the canal and again, no blue heron sightings.  I did, however, see plenty of sunbathing going on.

Not too many people on the trail either which was nice...a couple of folks walking and a few on bikes.  That was it.

The Beekeeper sock is progressing nicely.  Last night while Fletch read after dinner, I started the heel flap.

I'm not sure why this colorway is called Beekeeper, but I am liking the patterning in the yarn and it's a pleasure to knit with it.

We watched the 2nd episode of Ken Burns' "Hemingway" and enjoyed that.  I only caught the first hour.

No book finishes this week.  I'm back to reading one of the mysteries in a series I'm enjoying.  Certainly not great literature, but entertaining and I'm liking it.  A few more books came in at the library which I have picked up, so perhaps I'll have more to report next week.

I told Fletch I would try to walk this morning before lunch for a change, but the sky is looking rather gray and I think there might be a chance of rain.  I'll check weather.  If not, there is always stitching, knitting and reading to keep me busy.  Hopefully work will remain quiet!

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 Good Morning!

The sun is out and the sky is blue.  I slept a bit later than usual...Tyg was out all night and therefore wasn't meowing to go out at 4 or 5 a.m.  And I slept well!  Halleluiah!!  Did anyone else watch the Ken Burns special on Hemingway that started on PBS last night (on for 3 consecutive nights...2 hours each night)?  We watched and thought it was well done (as all of Ken Burns' productions seem to be).

Before we get into TNT (Tiny Needle Tuesday), what with April being Poetry Month, I wanted to mention that my friend Leslie just had another poem published!  It is here: ohenry magazine and if you scroll down to Poet's Corner, her poem is "Industrial Fabric."  So happy for her and proud of her!

Now on to our standing Tuesday date with my stitching.  It is moving ever closer to the finish!  There is still much to stitch...some more creatures and more letters, a leaf and a mushroom!! (or maybe it is a toadstool).  Here is an overview:

This past week I stitched a moose, a second rabbit, a second fox and a couple of letters (R & W).  Here are close ups of the new critters:

I know I say this every week, but I do love the way this is coming together.  Also, I was so curious about whether or not the motifs at the bottom would match up that one day I basted from the bottom of the motif on the left over to the one at the right corner and YAY - they meet up perfectly!  No need for me to fudge anything.

Still to be determined is the color I will use for my own 3 initials and I will also add 2021 somewhere.  Any suggestions?  I want the letters to not be the same green as the other letters...I could use another color from the sampler or use a completely new color that is not currently in the sampler.  I'm mulling over ideas, but if you have thoughts please let me know.

Such a beautiful looking day - I'm hoping to get out for a walk and maybe do some archery.  I did go to the office yesterday so that is not on today's docket.

Here's hoping your Tuesday is sunny and pleasant - enjoy!!

Weekending

 Good Morning!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and, for those who celebrate, a Happy Easter.  My weekend was what I could call perfect.  A little bit of everything!  Knitting, Stitching, Reading, Archery, Napping, Cooking.  It was all wonderful and the weather was pretty nice too.

As noted, I was able to do a bit of Archery.  I think this was Saturday afternoon if I remember correctly.

Our poor target withstood the winter, but the colors are done and it is in a bit of a bad shape.  But...it works!  The above represents the best of the lot that I shot.

We were going to Colin & Mailing's for dinner on Sunday and I was making desserts.  I did finally find the unsweetened coconut at Kimberton Whole Foods, so I made the Lemon Macaroon Pie to take.

It turned out well and is one I will definitely make again - it was like a cross between lemon meringue and coconut custard pie.  So good!  I also made a batch of brownies to take.

Mailing's sister, Anna, was there with the dog she just adopted 3 weeks ago.  Marcel and Talbot were NOT happy!!  But Otto is so well behaved.  He is 2 years old.

He is some kind of a mix (with a tongue that is always hanging out - lol).  Anna just taught him to "sit" in the last week.

Dinner was delicious.  It was nice enough that we decided to eat outside.

There was a lot of food:  Falafel, Tabouli, Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, Muhammara (a red pepper dip with pomegranate seeds that I had never had - DELICIOUS!!) and pita bread.

After dinner but before dessert we decided to take Otto for a walk and move a bit ourselves.  We walked in Whites Road Park which is just down the street from where Colin & Mailing live.  There were a few others in the park, but it definitely was not crowded.  There is a bit of work being done in the park - lots of trees have been planted and they are building a new playground.  We noticed a number of "shelters" that someone had constructed.

So fun!  When we got back to the house it was beginning to cool down, so we had dessert inside.  All in all, a wonderful, relaxing day with family.

Today I'm debating whether to go to the office or not.  I have a bunch of printing to do and a conference call at 10, so I thought I would go...but...I did not sleep well last night and I'm thinking I may stay home.  Still to be fully decided!  Nice to have the option either way.

Hope your Monday is the start of a great week - enjoy!

What's For Dinner

 Hello to you all on this rainy Thursday!  Kind of gloomy out there but not too chilly which is nice.  I think tomorrow will be cooler though.  Happy that this Thursday is my Friday.  Tomorrow, Good Friday, is a holiday for me.  Though, my company calls it "Spring Observance" so that they are politically correct (which I find so tiresome I will admit...).

Anyway, on to a blog post.  The other day Bonny posted some recipes that are standards in her house and it was fun to get some new ideas (Goop!!) and several of us thought it would be fun to share recipes on our blogs.  So...that's what I'm going to do periodically.  

I do love to cook - especially when I have the time which has been afforded to me this year working from home.  I'm able to often make dishes during the week that in pre-pandemic times were limited to weekends due to cooking time, prep time, etc.  Almost always I cook more than enough for one meal.  I tend to freeze stuff to make some nights easy and also Fletch loves leftovers for lunches.

Tonight's dinner is one that I used to make on weekends.  My Dad loved this dish.  It comes from a Virginia cookbook and is simply called "Chicken Casserole Supreme."  Here's what you do:

Grease a casserole dish

Break up dried beef and place in bottom of casserole

Put chicken on top (I use boneless/skinless chicken breasts, but thighs would work well too)

Cut up a bunch of mushrooms and add them to the casserole.

Sprinkle with pepper (no salt needed due to the dried beef)

Mix a can of cream of mushroom soup with 1 Cup of sour cream and pour over the chicken.

Cover and bake at 275 for about 3 hours.

The original recipe calls for canned button mushrooms, but we prefer to use fresh.  The original recipe also calls for wrapping a slice of bacon around each chicken piece.  Now...I LOVE bacon and use it ALL the time, but we found that it just did not get cooked to our liking in this dish, so we don't use it.

I usually make rice to go with this, but we have some left over couscous from the other night, so I'll just warm that up.  Some steamed veggies (probably broccoli and cauliflower) will round out the meal.  It doesn't take long to put this dish together and you don't need to do anything to it while it's cooking - I like that it cooks for so long at a low temperature - a perfect opportunity for some reading or knitting!

If you make this dish, I hope you enjoy!!