Unraveled Wednesday 11/1/23

 Good Chilly Morning!

It is bracing out there - just in the mid-30's or so.  Refreshing, but chilly.  Mabel is out doing her thing...fingers crossed she comes back by 7:30 or so as her vet appointment is at 8:00.  Speaking of Mabel, we had sent a gift (Edible Arrangement) to the family who rescued Mabel, fed and cared for her for 4 months.  Monday we had the sweetest note from them.  Thanking us for the gift, but also saying what a joy Mabel was to have with them for that short while.  So nice the way things worked out.

Did you get any trick-or-treaters last night?  We did not get a single one!  Thank goodness we had not bought candy (we had some to hand out if any kids showed up).

Oh!  We never got our RSV shots on Monday.  I received a text from CVS saying they were sorry but our appointments had been cancelled.  Turned out they had no one in the pharmacy that day to administer the shots.  We are re-scheduled for 11:00 today.

Moving along, it is Unraveled Wednesday and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers.  Usually I talk about knitting (usually socks), but with the flurry of work the past few weeks, I have not picked up my knitting needles in far too long.  However, I have had an itch to get back to making some granny squares.  I started making some at the beginning of the pandemic with leftover sock yarn and then I stopped.  Not sure why - most likely some bright shiny object caught my attention.  It had been so long that (again) I had to watch a video on how to make them!  LOL  Anyway, turns out that granny squares are so easy to pick up and put down when life is busy.  And the result turned out to be quite a few.

I have not counted how many I have in total now...I'm sure it's not enough even for a lap blanket, so I will continue to make these on a regular basis.  My basket full of leftovers from making socks had been over flowing and was really annoying me.  It is becoming much more manageable now.

Reading wasn't much better than knitting!  I did finish one book:  The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell.  Billed as a cross between Clue and the Great British Bake Off, I thought it would be fun.  Add to that the setting was in Grafton, Vermont - a village I know well.  I was put off early in the book when it talked about being in Northern Vermont...Grafton is definitely in Southern Vermont.  And then the book was just ok.  I finished it and enjoyed parts of it, but it just seemed a bit "over" - you know, over-done, over tedious, etc., etc.  And none of the characters were all that appealing.

I've picked up a new book at the library, so hopefully I'll have something different to talk about next week!

And, just so you know, I missed a TNT post simply because, like knitting, stitching has not happened  in a few weeks.  Hopefully that will all change now.

Happy November!  Be sure to head over to Kat's to see what everyone is making and reading.

Weekending 10/30/23

 Good Moroning All,

How are you this Monday morning?  So hard to believe that it is October 30th!  How did that happen.  Around these parts tonight used to be called Mischief Night.  Kids would go out and do not nice things to neighbors' properties - like cover bushes in toilet paper, soap windows, smash pumpkins.  Luckily I don't think that goes on these days.  I do remember one of my brothers hiding in the bushes with a hose and when some unsuspecting kid would come up to do something on our property, my brother turned on the hose and sprayed them!!

How was your weekend?  Mine was different.  I did not meet up with Dee as I usually do (she and Steve went away for a little vacation).  I decided to switch out my wool sweaters, warmer leggings, etc. and put away my summer tank tops and shorts, etc.  I don't nearly have the amount of clothes that I used to.  Thank goodness!  Part of that is no longer "dressing" for work (jeans and a nice top do just fine) and part of that is realizing I just don't need that much.  Still, there is a lot.  I managed to pull aside quite a lot to donate (and I drove it all over to a thrift shop that afternoon!!), including shoes, wool jackets that no longer fit, winter pants that are beyond tight, and a whole lot more.

Of course, moving winter clothes to the front meant that it needed to be warm outside.  And it was - nearly 80!  But Sunday saw us struggling to hit 55 and it rained all day.  By this Wednesday night (11/1) we are forecast to dip into the 20's, so just in time!

Our colors are finally coming on strong.  Our crepe myrtle is a brilliant bronze color and simply shines in the sun.  And look at this contrast:

That is our redbud whose leaves have turned golden and one of our burning bushes which still has a lot of green on it, but also a brilliant red streak down the middle.  So pretty.  Fletch was tidying up part of the vegetable garden and brought in some of the asparagus shoots that are all feathery gold with red berries.  So pretty.

(Messy Table = Reality)

If you click to enlarge, you can see the asparagus shoots much better.  Our snapdragons are still blooming like crazy!  So I cut a few of them, and that is a branch from a burning bush in the other vase.  I finally put a fall tablecloth on the table!

Sunday, as I mentioned, was not a pretty day.  After breakfast I pulled together a pot of baked beans using one of the packages of yellow eyed beans I had ordered.  I forgot to take a picture, but wow were they delicious!  I used This Recipe omitting the bacon and adding a little bit of liquid smoke.  I also realized that we had garden tomatoes with every meal yesterday!  I made eggs and sh*t for breakfast (scrambled eggs with left over ham, peppers, mushrooms, onions and a few tomatoes); lunch was grilled cheese (with bacon, onion and sliced tomatoes) and dinner included a salad made from garden lettuce with some shrooms, sugar snaps, radishes and a chopped up tomato from the garden.  Yum!

I need to get out and pick some green tomatoes (for fried green tomatoes) and also pluck all the green figs before Wednesday night.  

We decided to head over to Colin & Mailing's Sunday afternoon.  I wanted to water the house plants and Fletch wanted to rake up a lot of leaves to bring back to cover our garlic bed.  We had a nice surprise to find Mailing at home!!  She had flown to California last week for a conference and then flew here Saturday morning - she has to be at her local office this week. She decided to stop at the house for a night or two so that she could get laundry done and just relax there rather than in a hotel room.  It was so good to see her!

Another surprise was this:

The only "souvenir" I brought home from our trip to Erie this past Fall was some acorns I gathered in Cook Forest State Park - they were some of the most beautiful acorns I had ever seen.  A striking gold color with beautiful green caps.  I put 8 or so into a little zip lock bag and threw them in my purse.  When we got home I rediscovered them.  One had a nice root already growing so I decided to plant a bunch of them.  The one with the sprouted root hasn't shot up out of the dirt yet, but another one did and there are tiny leaves growing!

The last two weeks were so freakin' busy at work that it is like a blur in my memory.  But, I think that wicked busy-ness is finished now (fingers crossed) and this week should be much better.  Fletch and I are getting our RSV vaccines later this morning and Wednesday I am taking Mabel to the vet - she is due for her shots and I just want to have her checked over anyway.  She is back to her normal self - in and out a hundred times a day.  We are keeping her inside at night and, so far, that is going ok (until 4 or so in the morning when she starts whining to go out!).

I hope you all had lovely weekends and are now prepping for a fabulous week!  Enjoy.

Mabel is Back Home!!!!! 10/25/23

 Oh Friends,

Our hearts are full this morning.  Our sweet, sweet Mabel is home again.

It is so hard to believe and I'm here to tell you that miracles do happen and that there are kind people in this world.

Here's the story - or as much of it as we know - so far Mabel is not speaking in English so we don't know her sisde of the story.

The last time we had seen Mabel was the morning of July 3rd!  She had been in that morning, ate and then went out.  She did not show up at any time during the day and didn't come around at 4:00 when Fletch and I were sitting on the patio (she would join us each day at 4 on the patio, so that was weird).  We called and looked for her for days.  I kept having dreams that she showed up (the last one was only a few days ago) and Fletch kept swearing he was hearing her meowing.  Weird.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I ran my errands.  When I got home a little before 3:00 the phone rang.  I did not recognize the number, so didn't answer.  The guy - Mike - on the other end started to leave a message about having our cat Mabel!  Immediately I picked up the phone and started talking.  He had taken Mabel to a vet that day and a scan showed her chip.  Turns out I received an email from PetLink after Mike called telling me that Mabel had been found.  A miracle!

Fletch and I immediately drove over to Mike's to get our sweetheart.  She was roughly 10 miles away!  On the other side of the King of Prussia Mall, across the Schuylkill River and Schuylkill Expressway.  I think Fletch's idea is correct - she may have climbed into a UPS truck or an Amazon van (both are on our street daily) and then ended up somewhere over in that area.

Mike and his family first started seeing Mabel around July 11th.  They have been feeding her, caring for her, bought her a lovely scratch pad, toys, etc., etc.  They fell in love with her and actually offered to buy her yesterday.  They hated to give her up.  Mike said she was finally comfortable enough with them that they could take her to the vet and the rest is history!

She looks good.  No sign of fleas or ticks.  They said she was skin and bones when they first saw her, but she looks great now.  Her coat is healthy.  She barely stopped purring yesterday.  She was in all night (on the bed, curled up at my feet) and periodically purring rather loudly.  She has gone down to the basement several times - hopefully to use the litter box so I think she remembers her home.  So far she has not been crying to go out, so we will try to keep her in for a little longer - I don't think she will put up with that forever.  Mike and his family would let her out...just keeping her in at night.

Mike's son (teenager) was sad to see her go too.  He had used an app and thinks she is an Egyptian Mau cat and I think he is right!  Some of the pictures look exactly like Mabel!

I will be calling our vet and taking her in as she is due for her shots.  In fact I had just finally called the vet a week ago to let them know that she had disappeared in July.

Such a happy ending to have our girl back - I still can't believe it!

No TNT Today

 Hello Everyone,

How are you?  My computer says it is 35 degrees outside, my phone say 34, and the thermometer on the patio is reading just about 40.  Not sure what the exact temperature is, but it is chilly!  It is also still dark out.  I looked to see when we turn the clocks back and it is not till that first weekend in November.  Didn't it used to be earlier - maybe the weekend before Halloween?

Yesterday turned out to be a longer time in the office than I had expected or wanted.  But it was ok.  Much was accomplished.  I managed to do some (not all) of my errands...so more errand running today

My apologies, but I have no TNT updates for you (or for me).  Last week afforded me no time to stitch and the hope/plan is to remedy that today.

We did get something exciting in the mail though!  Or, exciting for us that is:

We LOVE beans and with the cooler weather moving in, it is time to think about making soups, stews, red beans & rice, chili, etc., etc.  I'm particularly excited because Rancho Gordo carries yellow eye beans.  We bought two bags (upper left) and then as I was reading descriptions of other beans and looking at recipes, my cart kept filling with more and more!  Anyway, I grew up eating home-made baked beans.  My Grandmother always maade them when we were in Vermont, my aunt made them a lot and my Mom would make them.  Yellow Eye Beans were always the beans used.  I've never seen them down here in PA.  I used to buy several bags whenever we went to Vermont, but in recent years I did not see them.  Now I'm looking forward to making baked beans (with maple syrup thank you).

Another item we used to buy in Vermont because it was never here was Buttercup Squash.  It is now found around here in some stores.  As you know, I roasted some on Sunday and it was not that great.  I'll have to try a different recipe.

Last week I did make a new dish with Delicata Squash which I had never had or cooked before.  I roasted it and made This Recipe and it was delicious.  Definitely one I will be making again.  The squash, apples and kale just went together so nicely (and there were leftovers!!).

My hope is that today I can find some pockets of time where I can pick up a needle (stitching and/or knitting) and have some quiet meditative time.  I wish the same for you my friends.  Take care.

Weekending 10/23/23

 Well Hello Out There in Blogland!

How are you?  Last week was a week for sure!  Many PITA moments and very long days (working most nights till 10 or 11).  I tried to keep in the front of my mind that a year from now I would not be dealing with all this work crap...it worked sometimes, but often I felt like I was tearing my hair out.

But the weekend came and that week was behind me!  Whew!  And, the weekend was very nice.  Naturally I met up with Dee for some quality time.  We do laugh an awful lot which was exactly what I needed.  I even managed to get some knitting done inbetween laughing and sipping my coffee.

That was the only knitting I did all week and no stitching was done.  At all.  Which is pretty much unacceptable in my book.  Oh well, c'est la vie.

Sunday Zhongren came over for dinner.  Bonnie, Mailing's Mom, is in Europe on a Viking River Cruise with some girlfriends.  Fletch grilled some wings (both hot and BBQ) and I roasted some buttercup squash (with EVOO and maple syrup) and Brussels Sprouts (with onion, garlic and a sweet chili sauce).

Everything was delicious (except the squash was really, really dry...Zhongren loved it, so he took all of the leftover squash home!)  He had brought a beautiful bottle of Sake (that was also quite tasty) to go with dinner and I had also made a pan of brownies for dessert.  Yum!

Today it is back to reality.  I'm heading to the office in a little bit.  Two of my bosses will be in, so I will catch up with them and do a little work.  I don't plan to (or want to) stay all that long.  I need to stop at Trader Joe's and a few other places on my way home.  This week is most likely going to be another PITA week, but after this it should (fingers crossed) calm down a bit.  I want to get back to my making and work is interfering!

Our low tonight is supposed to be near freezing...I need to remember to harvest the green figs.  I don't think any of them will ripen at this point, but I've read of some things I can do (make) with the green figs.

Here's hoping the week ahead is a good one for everyone - get out and enjoy it if you can!

Weekending 10/16/23

 Hello Everyone!

There is a bit of a nip in the air this morning (currently 42 degrees at 7 a.m.).  Looking at the weather forecast ahead, it appears that we have fallen into a pattern of rainy Saturdays.  I hope this does not go on and on and on.

Despite being in busy-busy-busy work mode, I managed to find pockets of good times.  Saturday Dee and I met up at Broad Street Grind in Souderton.  We used to go there regularly and then fell into other places, but Saturday found us back there mostly because across the street and down a little is Northbound where we wanted to have lunch (to celebrate someone's birthday...).  Lunch was delicious.  It was raining pretty hard by the time we left.

Before the rain, or in between rain showers, a few last miinute harvests took place.

Those little eggplants are so cute!  Fletch also picked a good serving of green beans (which we will have tonight) and about a dozen more cherry tomatoes.

Saturday night I decided not to work and instead spent time knitting.  I hadn't really felt like it much recently (getting bored with those socks I'm working on...but determined to finish them up and move on to something else!).

That meant Sunday was going to be busy work-wise.  However, again I found pockets of time to do other things.  I made banana bread in the morning (it was out of the oven before Fletch even came downstairs for breakfast!).  I added some walnuts and chocolate chips to the batter.  YUM!!!

After lunch Fletch and I drove over to Colin & Mailing's.  I wanted to water house plants and Fletch repaired (again) their mailbox.  And, he planted garlic for them!

Colin's garden is way overgrown with weeds, but luckily he had some big pots in his shed and a large bag of soil in the garage.  Hopefully the cloves will do well in the pots and come next year they should have a nice helping of scapes and then a lot of garlic heads.  Fletch will be planting our garlic this week.

It wasn't all that nice yesterday afternoon (sunny while we were at Colin's and then clouds and a bit of rain moved in), but Fletch and I sat out on the patio for about 15 minutes.  In the department of weird, I spotted this:

(Sorry it is so blurry - I could not get a really good picture.)  Yes, that is our apple tree (with a few shriveled apples left) and a pink apple blossom!  I remember once before we came home from a Fall camping trip to find apple blossoms on our tree.  It sure is strange....

I hope you all had nice weekends and I hope your week is off to a good start.  I will be busy-busy again, but hopefully Fletch and I can escape at some point - we both need to order new glasses.

Have a great week!

Busy, Busy

 Hello My Friends,

I would say TGIF, but really...this is my crazy week and I will be working through the weekend.  Yuck.   It is that end of the fiscal year time and the folks I support are supposed to get their bonus calculations/roll-ups to me by today.  It's a lot.  And, I can't trust those people.  I received a few roll-ups yesterday where (for example, not actual figures) there was available funding of $10,000 and submitted bonus requests totaled $12,500.  Do people not look at what they submit?  Apparently not...it's the same every year.

Then I have to look at calculations for higher ups and see that some (many) of them will receive bonus payments well in excess of my annual salary.  I really can't or shouldn't spend much time on that.  Out of my control, same old, same old, etc., etc.  It's frustrating though as you can well imagine.

I did manage to cook dinner yesterday and it was somewhat of a failure - LOL

Crispy tofu with shallots, bell pepper, garlic and brocolli with an Asian-inspired sauce.  I thought it was ok - could have used a bit more flavor.  Fletcher left all of the tofu on his plate!   Not a recipe I will be keeping.  Oh well, I give Fletch bonus points for at least being willing to try it.

Time for me to get back to work - emails are flying in one after another.  I will take a break from work tomorrow to meet up with Dee for some sipping, chatting and knitting.  Also a lunch celebration (someone is having a birthday...).

Have a great weekend!