Desert Quilter

Time for a recipe

2012-02-15T08:59:00.002-08:00

Apple Crisp Recipe.....

Butter a 9x13 inch pan.
Peel and cut up 5 to 8 apples, I like a variety and they must be crisp ones, place in the pan.
Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 to 2/3 cup regular sugar, depending on sweetness of apple or your tooth.
For the Crust: Mix and spread over apples, 3/4 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar...lightly packed, 1/2 cup butter, pecans, chopped (optional). Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until done.

30 years ago my youngest daughter was in 2nd grade and all the kids submitted apple recipes for a cookbook. This was back in the days of mimeographed papers. I may have even run the mimeographs as I did do volunteer work at the school back then, I remember I loved the smell of the ink!

This recipe is simple and is so good served with either whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or a drizzle of heavy cream while the crisp is still warm. I used to make up several and pass them out to the neighborhood...oh this was back when we lived on a farm.

I have more news, but will make a separate post. I haven't blogged in a while, been busy relocating. So today made a foray into the mess that was once our den here in the states and did an I Spy on this old children's cookbook, what a find! I'm now more encouraged to clean out the room and set it back to rights. I wonder what other treasures I will find. For now I must make a grocery run for apples...ummm....can't wait to make this again.

Life Lesson # 16

2012-01-27T07:36:00.001-08:00

Don't go so long without posting might be a good life lesson, but even better...find some joy in each day! Such a great life lesson, joy is so easy to find if you only let yourself stumble over it.
I've been emailing with an old high school friend who is troubled just now, I have been trying to help her find a new path so that she can enjoy her life again, as I've done that I think of my own life.
My own life is complicated right now due to my husbands job and our locations. He is in Abu Dhabi and I'm home in the mountains in the USA and it is so glorious. I do worry about my hubby as he is there alone and men don't do right alone do they. Mine doesn't eat right or exercise without my nudging. Thank goodness for Skype, we are on it twice a day and his weekends I'm sort of locked into it with him. I'm nudging him just now to get on the exercise bike while I do the same.
I'm not totally alone...we brought our dog home at Christmas time and all our kids and grands are here nearby. Our dog is a boxer as you know and our vet said since you're going home for the holidays you really should take her now so we did as my husband's contract ends in late July so we had thought we'd come home for good this year. Now we're undecided as the economy still struggles at least for our grown children and our grandchildren and my hubby has this wonderful job and we help as much as we can with the struggles at home. So what do to now? We have not decided, we'll stumble along and "see how it goes" as a Dr I worked with for years used to say.
Meanwhile I'm sitting here listening to my dog snore, my hubby occasionally talk, and the wind rustling the trees...do you ever turn off all sounds and just enjoy listening to the outdoors, so your own spirit can talk with you? Oh my...how wonderful it is! The wind just rushed by our house and made this amazing rustling sound...and I just stopped everything and watched and listened. Well...may the spirits move you all to enjoy this day and those simple wonderful things that happen in it! This picture I posted reflects the trees surrounding my home that I can hear and see from where I am sitting posting this note, I took it yesterday during our mountain walk.

Life Lesson #15

2011-09-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

Never leave anything that resembles food out where Daisy can spy it or possibly find it because she will find it. I had bought an interesting looking pasta and left it on the counter...not thinking there would be any smell to it or appeal to it at all in it's plastic wrapper. This little past resembled rice, or a small risoto but it was called Italian Macaroni. I was thinking of making a soup with it, but Daisy had other plans. It ended up trailed all through house like Hansel and Gretel had used it in the woods. Daisy snatched it off the counter and opened it in the family room, but then wandered the entire house (all 4400 sq ft of it) with bits dangling from her jowls I'm quite positive. Later all that dried pasta seemed to be a bit upsetting and there she was pacing the floor in the bedroom until I got up and came down stairs with her, after a few trips outside (thank goodness for that one) she was ready to settle in for the night, though I was wide awake by then. So the moral of the story is to always close the kitchen door when away from the house, also be sure to put non removable (by Daisy at least) objects in all the chairs and on all the couches. And don't believe that poor pitiful me look as you go out the front door, it's all an act.

Beyond Excited! Life Lesson #14

2011-09-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

After several weeks of nothing but bad or sad news I've had two terrific news days! On Friday we were told our first great grandbaby is a Boy and he will likely have my hubby's name in his, how terribly exciting. Not to rush our lives away but come on February!

My other news is kind of a longish story...Sunset Beach, NC, our favorite vacation spot and home to our wonderful little vacation home (actually it borders on Ocean Isle and Sunset), had a lovely old swing bridge. We always enjoyed it, enjoyed even the wait when it was open to allow for taller boats to pass along the intercoastal waterway. Sadly the bridge was removed for progress and safety reasons I suppose; and a new high tech and very high bridge installed.
A group of energetic old bridge lovers formed the Old Bridge Preservation Society and were able to purchase the bridge and have it moved to a site off water but near where it was originally and are proceeding to make it a park like setting and using it for educational purposes and museum type purposes.
A couple of years ago my second oldest grandson and I had our own special beach trip...one grey misty morning we were heading to the beach and were stopped by the opening of the bridge. We pulled over and I whipped out my ever ready camera and took a couple of pictures. I really loved one of the pictures I snapped that day, enlarged and printed it and framed it in my beach home.
When I bought tee shirts from the OBPS this summer they were delivered to me by a member of the board, as I had had to order them and I missed the time frame to go by the bridge to pick them up. Well this nice lady, brought them and I showed her a framed rendition of the picture I had taken that grey misty day with my grandson. She loved it and I sent it to the facebook page of the OBPS for her. After showing the picture to two professionals she wrote me that they had said it was wonderful and one of the best they had seen. So now they have asked my permission to turn it into notecards and things for the purposes of fundraising for the bridge. I am so honored to be able to contribute to the OBPS by allowing this. I suggested a journal and they will likely make framed pictures too. Hmm, just thought about tea towels, will have to write her that one...hot pads? placemats?
It's the little things in life that can just make your day. I have my fingers crossed that they can make a few dollars using my picture and perhaps be able to contribute to their work on restoration and setting up the park like setting for the bridge. I think maybe this could be Life Lesson # 14, always carry your camera because you just never know.

Another Soup Recipe

2011-09-07T01:15:00.000-07:00

I found this one in a Cookbook called Tidal Tastings, I bought it at a flea shop in Sunset Beach. They were selling them to raise money for schools in the area. This recipe is attributed to Jayne Mathews. I've made this one three times already, it's easy, it's comforting and it's really good, it passed the Tom test so you know it's a winner.....a great way to get spinach into your family.

Comfort Soup
I pound ground chuck
2/3 cup fresh grated Parmeggiano Reggiano
salt and pepper
mix those and form into small meatballs, small bite size, makes quite a few.
drop those into boiling chicken broth, at least 2 twelve ounce cans or use a large box of broth,
and let boil for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile cook a half a box of frozen spinach in a small amount of water, if you use a whole box
it just seems like too much spinach I think. I used a strainer to strain it, then squeezed out the
excess water and dropped the spinach in the broth with the meatballs.
Then drizzle in one beaten egg...let cook until egg is all cooked and dispersed, swirl as it cooks.
Serve with a nice crusty bread. So easy, so good. Quick ingredients, takes no time at all. I even
did a quick cook then put it in a small crock pot on warm until supper time so I could walk away
and leave it. These meatballs are surprisingly good and with only the few ingredients. I was amazed.

I forgot to add...I added the juice from half a lemon and half a jar of cannelini beans to this soup, then serve
it with a nice rustic bread, either fresh or lightly toasted in the toaster or oven (butter it and broil it).
My husband really enjoys this soup so it goes in the TOMFOOD category.

Recipe and Life Lesson #13

2011-09-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

I'll start with this recipe from this wonderful "old" cookbook. It can no longer be found except in flea markets, junk shops, antique shops etc. I love it, it's one of my very favorites. It has signature dishes from cities all over the US including my home town, Springfield, Illinois. The dish I made today is from St Paul, Minnesota. I'll list the recipe followed by my small changes. It's excellent and my husband will enjoy it for lunch today as the university does not yet have their food service in place so he's been coming home, a bonus for me...well mixed blessing, means I cook two meals a day instead of one. I sometimes enjoy that and sometimes don't, I'm sure all you ladies can relate to that one! This is so easy to prepare.

Minnesota Wild Rice Soup
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice (I used a mixture of different rices)
1 large onion diced
2 large fresh mushrooms, diced or 1 can (4 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained (I used a whole package of fresh mushrooms, sliced)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
8 cups hot chicken broth (I used 3 cans...Campbell soup size)
salt and pepper to taste...go easy...broth often is salty
1 cup half and half or light cream (I used about 3/4 cup low fat milk and about 1/4 cup evaporated milk)
2 tablespoons sherry or dry white wine

Add rice to 2 cups salted water, simmer until rice is cooked, about 30 to 45 minutes.
Saute onions in butter, add mushrooms, only takes about 3 to 5 minutes to cook them until soft. Stir in flour a little at a time, add chicken broth (I didn't heat it, just from the can, added slowly). Do not let any of this brown. Stir in cooked rice, season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat through, add half and half or milk etc. Add sherry and heat through but do not boil.
It can be prepared to the half and half point, then set aside as needed then reheat once half and half and sherry are added.

Now I've had a "revelation" about this soup. I am going to make chicken palliards...slice a boneless, skinless, chicken breast in half with a good sharp knife, layer between sheets of plastic wrap and pound it to 1/4 inch thick...dredge it through egg white..whip them until they just begin to froth, then dredge through Panko bread crumbs to which you've added salt and pepper to taste, and a bit of poultry seasoning, then fry them up in a very small amount of canola or other vegetable oil (only lightly cover the bottom of your skillet) until nicely browned. Okay...so I will do that, then I will warm up a good portion of this soup..it gets really thick...then I will drizzle that over my palliards, serve that up with a nice fresh veggie, steamed. smart eh?
The soup made so much that I can get probably 4 meals from it for two people. I had to keep adding milk as the entire cup of flour makes it really thick. We can add this soup to the TOMFOOD list...in fact everything I make is pretty much in that category...TOMFOOD means he'll eat it...it must be heavy and fill up those long legs.

Life Lesson #12
Stay in touch with old friends. My girls (now 37, 42 and 43) had a wonderful friend all through junior and senior high school. We moved away and though there were visits until about mid 20's the years and marriages, jobs, and family obligations slipped in the way of continuing that beautiful old friendship. This week their friend passed away, we don't know what happened to him. So young. We knew so many in his family and his wife's family. I cannot even imagine their grief. The memories of him are so vivid, he was so delightful, so full of life and from all reports turned into one fine adult with a nice family. It saddens me to think we know nothing of the last 20 years of his life and did not know his children. It's a life lesson to stay in better touch with those we really have cared about and shared so much with in our lives. I did stop by his work the last time I was in town but had just missed him, that was 2 years ago.....now I really wish I had seen him, seen pictures of his children, had a chance to catch up.
I've had so many memories of this kid and my girls hanging out together, laughing, getting in trouble, being kids, they have been swirling in my head. He was one of those kids you just enjoyed...he was so charming, so funny, so onery.
I know that I am guilty of losing touch with many of my friends too, this has served as a reminder to me to keep in better touch with all those I care about. I think really good good friends are so rare, we must cherish them better. I will really miss just knowing that this young man was a part of this world.

Mini Fried Peach Pies

2011-07-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

10 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced...I chopped them actually...and only used 8...put them in boiling water a few minutes like you
would tomatoes and the peels come off very easily also the pits are easier to get out of the opposing side.
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
mix all but the peaches until crumbly, add peaches and stir

Fried Pie Crust
This was in Better Homes and Gardens Sept 09
1 cup unsalted butter (that's two sticks, I cut them in slices)
1/4 cup lard (I also cut it in slices)
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
8 to 12 (or more) tablespoons ice water (I probably used more like 20 tablespoons)
Peanut oil for deep frying

Mix the salt and flour and sugar and add the butter and lard using a pastry blender.
Add the water a few tablespoons at a time until dough holds together.
At this point they recommend rolling it out and folding it then sticking in the fridge for a bit to
harden it up a bit and it does help with the cutting out bit.
I used a large plastic glass and cut my circles after rolling the dough about 1/8 inch thick, secret to
getting it up is keeping it cold so cut those circles fast.
Preheat your fryer for about 15 minutes using peanut oil.
Put a dollop...less than a tablespoon of filling on your dough...recipe says to seal the edge using a
bit of water...I didn't bother with that, I pinched them then just used fork tines to seal it...deep fry until
golden brown then drain on paper towel quickly then roll in sugar...eat while hot! Yummy!
I have a small fryer so only made 3 to 4 at a time...but it allowed time to work on the sugar rolling and
the filling for the others.

The peaches recipe makes quite a bit, I would suggest making another dough recipe. I think you could
use other fruits easily. I also think you could freeze these and reheat in a slow oven, like around 300 degrees
for about 15 minutes with good results. I also think you could make them to the ready to fry stage and freeze with
success.

One more thing...I thought that a bit of cinnamon would give some zing and I was right, I added about 1/2 teaspoon to
the peaches. These were so delicious. I think it made around 30 or so but I lost count. I shared them with my neighbors
at the beach.

Smokey Beach Marmalade and Life Lessons #11 and #12

2011-07-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

Oh I so don't keep up well with blogging...I do believe though that I am at about Life Lesson #11....I know I'm awfully close to that. No pictures today...ha...no one wants to see the dark flecks of char in my marmalade....but the Life Lesson learned is rich, and that I will share with you all as well as this gorgeousmous recipe for Beryl's Marmalade. Beryl is the Mother of my friend and she currently is a retired gem living in New Zealand. Here's the recipe...oh the Life Lesson? well it's never quit stirring...my daughter and I and her hubby are enjoying a peaceful Fourth of July American Holiday at our little beach place...we've been most content and have had a grand time thus far in spite of ever so slightly scorching our first batch of Marmalade...this is how we did it....my daughter knows I have terrible troubles with my feet...well we cut up all our stuff, got our Marmalade cooking away and then she decides to rub my feet...oh ecstasy! Oh my it felt so good...we had asked her dear sweet hubby to stir every ten minutes and me forgetting that near the end you must stir more than that...well she's rubbing my feet, hubby is nose in the computer absorbed in a new furniture daydream and quite suddenly I smelled burn...well shoot if we didn't just sit there like fools and let it scorch on the bottom of the pan...life lesson...no foot rubbing whilst making Marmalade! Otherwise the batch was so perfect...so completely perfectly perfect. Okay so no ecstasy foot rubbing until the Marmalade is in the jars! So we're going back to get more of those perfect oranges, no seeds, the perfect grapefruit again no seeds and more sugar....so here's the recipe...

Beryl's Marmalade
2 pounds of orange, lemon, grapefruit or more if you wish.
We used an entire bag of wonderful Florida Naval Oranges, seedless and 1 grapefruit, again Florida and seedless, and 1 lemon....we cut the whole mess up into 1/4 inch dice. Then you put it in a very large, deep and heavy bottomed pan if you have it...and bring to a boil...you boil for 1 hour, (this was where we messed up with the foot rubbing....twas near the end) then add about 7 pounds of sugar and bring to the boil again and boil for 40 minutes. Is this simple or what? Yes if you're not getting a foot massage! Now once it's boiled for 40 minutes, it should be like thick syrup dripping off a wooden spoon, ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal with hot sterilized lids and rings....
Should make about 12 jars, those tiny jelly jars of Marmalade and it's really and truly delicious...so was the foot rub by the way.
Oh Jeepers Creepes...Life Lesson #12...pay attention to where you are posting...my first post was on my high school blog... that was one terrific foot rub!

We've Moved!

2011-06-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Gosh I don't even know what to write about that...we've moved to Abu Dhabi. I must say, first impressions I don't like it so well. We seem to be out in the middle of nowhere. We've found one gas station and one grocery store in this area, everything else is about 20 minutes away. Nothing is as convenient or handy as it was in Dubai. I love the villa, just don't care for the area. The villa is about 4000 sq ft with 5 ensuite bedrooms, a small maids room and bath, plus a nice laundry area, two half baths...now if you're counting, that's 8 toilets total, there are 3 showers and 2 tubs total. There are 2 family rooms, 1 formal living room, 1 formal dining room and a large kitchen with a huge center island. Why is it no matter how large a kitchen there are never enough cabinets? I don't get that. Quite honestly if there were more cabinets here I would likely never find anything. I might need a map now. We have a private garden and pool. This complex is on a golf course, it has a large community pool, sauna and steam rooms, gym with equipment, a small grocery store, a nice cafe that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner courses along with coffee and pastries. There are some meeting rooms in the clubhouse too and all of that is just 4 villas away from me. Very convenient just remember we're in the middle of nowhere! I've hired a maid service for 2 days a week and for the moment have a friends maid with me for a few days. So helpful....the floors and dust here are a constant problem and I'm too old for all of that...or at the very least my body is too old.
The move certainly pointed out a few things to me...one we're too old for this stuff! two it's a lot of work and three I really need to downsize. I've been doing my best to toss with wild abandon. As you all know I quilt, that seems to be the worst of the boxes and moving mess...sigh...I will definitely downsize all of that fabric and those books and supplies. I've begun the process. For now I need to concentrate on packing to come home for the summer...oh much to do.
This is the outside of the villa...a small garden is in front along with a garage, then two kind of narrow walkways to the back, one on either side, then a nice sized pool in the back...large enough to get some good exercise and thus far we've found early mornings and early evenings to be quite enjoyable...sort of like taking a warmish bath...the pool is about 5 strokes long...not bad.
So the maid service I have (never had that before) is a man and his wife...they are so sweet, Sri Lankans....he does gardening and odd jobs and will wash my car too. They have a 4 year old daughter who comes about 1 day a week. She loves to draw, she's at that age...so I've bought her an easel and thus far just the magic pens and a roll of paper...there is also a chalk board and one of those magic wipe boards on the easel...I can't wait til she comes again and plays there. She's the same age as my grand daughter and though it's not exactly the same, it's kind of nice just having a little giggler around now and then. Her parents are just marvelous, fast, efficient...lovely cheerful people. They will look after things while we're gone too...so nice. They were very highly recommended by a colleague of Tom's and they actually live with them, though they needed extra work...so they come here twice a week for about five hours...perfect for me! Also gives me company. Our other friend is in the states for a month so her maid agreed to come and help me for a few days...she's staying with us in the guest room though, those maids rooms are only about the size of a small walk in closet and would only hold a cot...I can't have anyone sleeping in my house like that! She's also lovely...very beautiful Ethiopian girl...she works at a nice steady pace. We have actually been working together to get us settled in here. I briefly showed her how to single crochet this am and told her once we quit for the day, after supper, I will help her begin a project...she's so excited, she's beside herself. How grand is that? Typically at the end of her day she just goes to her room...I don't know if she reads or writes or anything...some of these folks live such a sad sad life...this beautiful child is only 25 years old and has been here as a maid since she was 16, she sends all of her earnings home to support her mother, father and two sisters and a brother. We hear this story all the time...for us as middle class Americans it is just unimaginable how these folks live every single day! My heart cries for them. This weekend we packed her off to visit her cousin here and as we were preparing...I looked at her and just went and hugged her...then hurriedly walked away so she could not see the tears. Just giving her extra work makes a huge difference in her life, also the other maid/gardener/handyman couple...same thing. Most American's have no inkling how truly fortunate they are...these folks are a daily reminder for me and I treat them as I would want to be treated and i work right along with them...until I wear out then I quit and something in them just keeps them going...they are truly amazing.
A couple of books worth reading....The Help by Kathryn Stockett about maids in the deep South during the mid 60's...shame on those senseless folks who employed them, also The Island by Victoria Hislop about the Spinalonga leper colony off the coast of Crete the book goes from modern times back to WWII...amazing what those folks endured.
I have much to do....will post pictures as my progress increases...I'm done with three bedrooms, l/r d/r f/r 1 and all the bathrooms...am working on my sewing room. After the curtains are in I'll take some pictures and post them.

Oh let me see....memories of Gabatoni's pizza

2011-03-09T00:42:00.001-08:00

Thursday evenings begin our weekend here in Dubai and about 3 weeks ago I tried these two recipes from this book I had bought Tom for Christmas. I got him pans too and a pizza peel. We had been so frustrated trying to find a decent pizza here, it's not easy to be sure. There is one restaurant called Il Forno in Mirdiff Mall that is not bad but they do not use proper pepperoni. They do however have this wonderful very thin and crispy potato strings they add to certain pizzas we rather like that. But if you're from Springfield, Ilinois, USA and we are, you should know Gabatoni's Pizza. We never miss a trip to Gabbie's on our trips home. We've gone there since high school days over 45 years ago. Of course we always go to Joe Roger's too...oh Marianne if you stumble on this silly little blog, we do miss you! Now if I could even come close to her chili my work here would be done...
We did notice last night that Dubai Mall has a new pizzaria, we must try that place, we noticed it has a proper brick oven with a live fire...oh wish we had one of those to be sure!
If you want the best pizza on earth please visit Pompeii, Italy...there is a medium sized restaurant just to the right of the entrance to the ruins...sort of back a tiny bit on the right, totally family run place, sadly I do not know the name of it. But the brick oven was first and foremost in the restaurant....and the place was so simple and the pizza was simply magnificent! I took pictures of that pizza but they're not on my computer...those authentic brick ovens the pizza gets little tiny burnt crispy bits on top...oh it's just marvelous. Worth the trip. We ate pizza all along the Amalfi Coast...wow what a trip!

Start with this book and pans like these. The book can be purchased at all major bookstores and is online at Amazon. I use the Sciilian pizza dough recipe it has lemon juice in it. The recipe will easily make four 10 inch thin crusts.. I lightly grease the pan with olive oil and a paper towel before putting the crust on it. Another wonderful thing is you can so easily divide this dough into rounds, refrigerate them in zip loc bags, use within a few days. I bet you could freeze it even though I have not tried that. When I did refrigerate it, I let it come to room temp, then rolled it out. I roll it up onto my rolling pin to put it on the pizza pan. Once the pizza is thoroughly cooked it slides off onto a cutting surface very easily. I think it is the lemon juice that makes this dough so perfect...it truly is perfect. At this point this is the best pizza we've had in Dubai, they don't know pizza here.

Bake naked pizza 3 to 5 minutes.

I make my sauce exactly like the recipe in the book for pizzaiola sauce except that I am rather fond of shallots so I add two finely chopped shallots to my sauce and I just used Green Giant brand whole peeled roma tomatoes and squeezed them into the pan, I do not strain etc as the recipe suggests as I rather like a small chunk of tomato here and there.

This pizza is mushrooms, sliced shallots and wonderful tangy green olives, they have nothing inside them. I use fresh mozzarella that you can buy in a loaf here in Dubai, they will happily slice it for you, so I get about 1/3 of a loaf sliced.
I have also made a white pizza, I brush the crust with olive oil, add finely chopped garlic toes, my fresh garden basil and cover with mozzarella...ummmm good. I can't resist these wonderful olives so I add them too.

This is half of Tom's pizza or nothing but pepperoni...in the states it would also have sausage but he's not fond of any of the sausages here in Dubai. I also sprinkle the pizzas with parmegiano reggiano before adding my mozzarella, it's a bit cheaper here than at home in the states, but now I'm spoiled by it and will always use it. I didn't post the actual recipes due to copyright issues...wouldn't want anyone mad at me. A friend or relative can email me and I will send it though. The book is nice and you will enjoy all the recipes. I'm making focaccia next. This recipe is so near to Gabatoni's that we feel we have that wonderful "taste of home" that we miss so much.

Backtracking

2011-02-22T13:27:00.000-08:00

Well yes we did go home for Christmas...so lovely to be there with our family....the result is a picture with all our grandchildren, such a rare occasion that we're all together at once, for some reason we did not get in any pictures with our children...hmmm...
It was so grand to see them...and now we miss them and they're all busy doing stuff we're missing. I hate that part. I will be packed and ready to go home come summer!

Valentine's Day and Life Lesson #11

2011-02-14T07:32:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day friends, neighbors and family. I'm missing home and family today and my heart is full of memories. How sweet my daughter sent me this big heart a little while ago and I just wanted to share it.
So what is life lesson #11...well it's simple really...don't plan on a romantic Valentine's Day with a sweetie who has the flu! Actually I knew yesterday he had the flu...so my gift to him today was to get up bright and early and make homemade chicken soup. We'll celebrate the day on Thursday, hoping of course, that the flu is on the mend. We're going to go see True Grit, it opens in Dubai then. We'll go to Pottery Barn to pick some pillows for our new couch, our gift to each other. We've gotten all the romantic gifts over the years so we decided we'd get pillows this year.

I'm working on a scarf using Bamboo yarn, it's about 2 feet long now and still growing, but I have a picture here of when it began so you can see the colors. It's keeping me busy in the evenings while watching tv. I went back and got a few more skeins, in fact all they had, and got a plain creamy white to add to it. More to come on that and I'll eventually post another picture of my living room with pillows added. The pale turquoise color yarn is for my daughter, it's called Rosemary, love that name for it, the creamy white is not pictured here.

Probably time to make my sweetie a cup of hot tea.

I checked and it's Life Lesson #9 and I'll add #10 too

2011-01-31T12:18:00.001-08:00

I'm so sure there will be a great many more life lessons...well I could go right on into 10...and that would be find a better hairdo...oh my...I'm never in one place quite long enough to get into a good routine with my hair. My hair has grown so long it is reaching hag status...oh yes, HAG. It is accentuating the grey and the wrinkles! AAACCKKK! I must straight away make an appointment once I'm back in Dubai, for my hair! My hair has grown so fast that I look as if I'm wrapped in a grey blanket on my head! AAACCKKK! My husband says he likes it long...I honestly think he cannot see at this point. I think while I make a hair appointment I will have a massage for my weary traveling bones...bonus! Until then if you see a brown paper bag with eye holes cut out..that would be me under it!

Bible Study/Life Lesson #9 or is it 10?

2011-01-31T12:04:00.000-08:00

So here are the lovely ladies, my new friends. Left to right Carol, Jenny, Lorene, Linda, Ruth, Sarah, Barbara. Ruth is my dear neighbor, my pickle friend. I'll explain that another day.
If one waits long enough one can experience yet another Life Lesson #9...that is, if one desires to spend time with one certain neighbor, the pickle lady, then one opens oneself up to a plethora of new friends and in my case the Bible to boot. I had never done any sort of Bible Study before, though I do think of myself as a Christian and I can pretty much name the books of the Bible by memory and even quote a scripture or two fairly accurately. Actually for me studying the Bible amounted to reading passages and figuring out, with the other ladies, what it really meant. Sort of like a Book Club except this book is the Bible. So it was a double bonus, new friends and a new understanding of parts of the Bible I had not explored before. Even a triple bonus as the entire experience reminded me of my grandparents and that is always a good memory.
And speaking of memory I so want to remember this group of ladies, they are each and every one so special.

so where did I go to escape the snow?

2011-01-29T05:48:00.000-08:00

The beach of course! It was a tad chillyish there too however there was no snow. I did fall on the boardwalk to the beach as it was covered in frost, who knew? The sun had not yet hit the boardwalk and just where I fell there was a dip downwards and kersplunk I went! I survived but my arthritis is telling me daily for a couple of days now how much it did not like that jolt!
We're now back home in the mountains, enjoying it here while missing it there at the beach. I've been blog reading whilst drinking my coffee. I love OPB'S...or Other People's Blogs. I made several comments this morning and now wonder if I will ever hear from that lady, I bookmarked her, maybe I'll visit her again...her blog made my mind go spinning with even more ideas than it had before. Maybe that's why I love OPB'S. I shared a couple of ideas and quickie recipes. I'll do the quickie recipes here later, I want to add pictures when I do that so I'll wait on that.
This is what I witnessed after I finally made it down to the beach....one of God's greatest gifts, a gorgeous sunrise.
So what were my ideas? Hmmm...well last year I purchased a box full of hand drawn caricatures in frames at a "flea" shop at the beach, or maybe it was two summers ago...well anyway...I had planned to hang them all in my redecorated bathroom or have them transferred to tiles, making a border around the middle of the wall...well I didn't do that, but I also had thought of copying them on the copier, then applying them to muslin, embroider them, then add some patchwork around the edges and make pillows. Now those two were my original ideas, this morning I thought...oh wow...I could make piles of pillows for the bed I want my husband to build...I've seen two styles of single size beds that hang from chains on a porch, we could do our own version of that, pile it up with my caricature pillows and a cozy afghan...I'm always making one of those and how cute would that be?!!! A perfect quiet reading spot on the porch. It would also be a nice airplane project...stitching all those pieces by hand. We travel a lot. I could prepare several pieces to keep me busy and very soon I would have a bed full of fun pillows. I have over 30, maybe closer to 50 caricatures to choose from. Now to convince my hubby to build that enclosed porch on the back of our beach joint. I have the entire thing pictured in my minds eye.
It's good to daydream because sometimes they really do come true. Many many years ago I started collecting yellow casseroles and other kitchen items, all yellow from junk shops, TJ Maxx, garage sales, whatever I could find...for my beach house. My oldest daughter thought I was nuts, I carefully wrapped them all up and kept them in an old antique cupboard, once in a while day dreaming about my someday house...well someday came in 2006 when we bought our place...it was years coming but so worth the wait and there were all my little sunny yellow bits and pieces to go in my house. They were all $1 to $5 items and what fun! I had even bought a set of white with yellow trim melmac dishes I brought home from Dubai...again, they thought I was nuts. I brought yellow plastic glasses and serving dishes. All cheap things, and all look terrific in our beach joint. I love it!
So in conclusion, it pays to daydream...now I'll begin to make those pillows...and nurture that porch daydream.

Where have I been? Escaping this beautiful snow!

2011-01-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

You know the song, I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere man, cross the deserts bare man, I've breathed the mountain air man, of travel I've had my share man, I've been everywhere..oh thank you Johnny Cash for those memories.
Tom had meetings here in the states just prior to Christmas so we got to spend our first Christmas (together) at home in the past eight years. That was wonderful! I didn't have time really to decorate so just hauled out a little metal tree I have, looked high and low for a few sparkly lights to add to it, only needed a dozen or two, all the lights I saw were hundreds...didn't need all that...but it was still festive enough for me. I had every intention of doing a Christmas post and using some of my most favorite photos to do it, but those ideas got thrown by the wayside as our lives went busily along.
We returned to our daughters just outside Atlanta on Christmas Day, narrowly escaping 9 to 12 inches of snow at home. Tom did delay his Dec 26th flight a day due to snow in Atlanta as he did not want me to drive with the risk of black ice. Then my daughter called and told me about the 9 to 12 inches and said not to come home, so I came to the beach instead...my youngest daughter and her family came along for a few days, then about two weeks later my two older daughters did a Thelma and Louise trip down for a long weekend with me. Now Tom returns in a couple of days. I've had a few interesting weeks here, time I cherish.

Home For Christmas

2010-12-22T04:15:00.000-08:00

I'll be home for Christmas, that song just rings through my head since last Monday it's nearly all I've thought about. Tom was called to the US for a weeks worth of meetings which brought us home for Christmas for the first time in 8 years. The morning of the call he woke me with a start, he thought I was awake and he was talking to me. I knew I had to get moving earlier as I had my stitch group and our Christmas lunch and then remembered I also had to take Tom to a meeting on beach rd, so I hurriedly began getting ready, then I heard Tom on the phone about this meeting in the US and my mind just totally left me. I was completely out of it at stitch group and lunch, nearly don't remember a thing about that day...I seemed to be walking around in a big thick fog. I had packing to do, last minute shopping to do as we were leaving in two days! Wow...
Now I can slow down and reflect just a second....here's a picture of my friends as we had our lunch at PF Chang's in Mall of the Emirates, I do remember the food was great and we talked about one of our members engagement and wedding plans. I think I waved Merry Christmas to them as I left in my inner fog....
Today I have a few presents to wrap, some finishing touches to do on my guest rooms and I want to try making yeast rolls, I haven't done anything like that in years, sounds so fun to me. I so love this time of year, snow is expected too, though hopefully it's going to not stick. Tom has to return to Dubai the day after Christmas and I will stay until he returns for our planned vacation at home in late January. Hopefully the few weeks apart will allow me some cleaning time at home, as well as some sewing time. I did pack two quilts to work on and a crochet project.
Merry Christmas to all.

Behind, far far behind

2010-12-09T05:02:00.001-08:00

So you want to know how I feel about being behind? This pictures says it for me.....I've been here there and yon and experienced so many different things since I last wrote a note here and in everything I do I seem to be mostly behind. So slurp a noodle!

It's a Dog's Life

2010-10-30T04:11:00.001-07:00

Oh I just wanted to post this picture of my Daisy that I found the other day. She's such a great companion, an all around "good dog". I must confess though, I did complain to Tom today as I ironed black pants and shirts that I am a bit tired of white dog hair on everything and slobbers, on a white shirt I had to get a wet cloth and rub the dried Daisy slobber off it....she likes to walk under the clothes as they hang on my indoor dryer thingamabob. Here in Dubai we do not have clothes dryers, or at least not here in this Villa.
Reminds me we got the new magazine today called Inside Out and it shows pictures of homes on the Palm Jumeriah...oh my goodness, talk about fancy schmancy. I'm not sure I could live that fancy...then again...I could think about it.
We saw the movie this weekend about Mark Zuckerman who founded Facebook, it was called Social Network. It was an interesting movie and how weird to be worth 25 billion dollars and be only 24 years old. We can't even conceive of that kind of money. As it is we feel rich and we're no where near that kind of money. I'd like to think if I had it, that I could do some good in the world, I don't know what exactly but something good. I know a really nicely done homeless shelter in my home town would be nice, also a nice women's shelter, though I think both places need to require that recipients of their services pay back with their own services to the shelter, either by cooking, cleaning or gardening to help keep the place up. Wouldn't it be nice, even in one town in America to see NO homeless folks on the streets and to have a really nice women's/children's shelter for those abused in their own homes and wouldn't it be really nice to see abuse disappear? I wonder if some sort of rehabilitation services for both shelters would work.
I know my Dad was raised from age 13 to 18 in the Odd Fellow's and Rebecca's Orphanage in Oklahoma, and he had to work on their farm, I don't think that hurt him any...but what did hurt him was the loss of his father to a ruptured appendix and then the poverty of his mother which forced her to place her six children in the orphanage. He had very mixed feelings about that part of it and thus mixed feelings about her. This was back in the 30's and I can't conceive even what that must've been like then for her or for him or his siblings. Only one of the six children is alive today, my Uncle Davey, I think he's 86 now and what a treasure. I should ask him a few questions.

Plum Cake

2010-10-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

This recipe is from Martha Stewart Living and is delightful for a quickie dessert or to take to my stitch group.
Plum Cake

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for skillet
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for skillet
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Coarse salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 ripe medium plums, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch ovenproof skillet (preferably cast-iron); dust with flour, tapping out excess or a square baking pan or a large pie pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Beat butter and 3/4 cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg. Add flour mixture alternating with buttermilk.
Pour batter into prepared skillet, and smooth top. Fan plums on top, and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool slightly.

I like to use demerara sugar for the top and I just butter a large glass pie plate for the cake. It's nice served warm with vanilla ice cream or just with tea at stitch group.
I hope everyone visits Martha's website for all the wonderful ideas she so generously shares there.

Chicken Noodle Soup and Life Lessons #6 & 7 & 8

2010-10-10T02:51:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been invited to go somewhere and think "oh I'm not sure I want to do that" but then you go anyway as you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings because you're an old stick in the mud? Well next time I have that I'm not sure feeling, I'm staying in. My stitch group, eight of us I think, decided we'd go as a group to Dragon Mart way out in the middle of the desert and we'd shop then have lunch. So my expectation was we'd be back by 1 or 1:30...well at 3 we were finally underway and they wanted to stop at yet another place, the Outlet Mall and I felt like an idiot begging them to do it another day or drop me at a taxi ...and I was the one who sat on a bench and did a lot of waiting, still with my old arthritis rearing it's ugly little head all the time I got really worn out between 9:30 and 3. Life Lesson # 6 Never go shopping with 7 other women! Thus by that night I started getting a sore throat and next day even worse and next day the full blown cold! I know I just wore myself out. You see Dragon Mart is gigantic, like maybe a mile long? not sure...but I know we covered a lot of area. As soon as we got back I went to bed, straight down for a nap, crashed, boom, out like a light! Then woke up sick. So now I have that nastiest of nasties a cold. So what do I do for a cold, well when I can gather my wits about me which I think I just did, I make a pot of Chicken Noodle Soup. Homemade of course.

Todays Version of Chicken Noodle Soup
I had leftover already boned chicken pieces in the freezer. I began by cutting up one sweet onion and two big pieces of celery and three garlic toes, those I sauteed until clear in lemon olive oil (find that at Carlucci's either in person or on line at http://www.carluccios.com/shop) oh it made the veggies smell delicious as they simmered. Then I cut up a big fat carrot, diced it well and put it in a small saucepan with more lemon olive oil and just covered with water to cook through, you see I forgot to add it to the other veggies. I added in six spinach balls, here in Dubai our frozen spinach is formed in the size of tater tots...then I added in Poultry Seasoning, salt and pepper, and garlic powder. You see you need all that garlic to get better...haha....then I decided I would add the juice of half a lemon and six cans of chicken broth and then four little round bunches of tagliatelle, and I crunched those up as I added them. Well then I decided I might like to add some cannellini beans, well the ones you get here in the can still seem to be a bit crunchy so I've got them boiling away while my soup is cooking, I'll add them in a little bit. I think that's all....I did a simple taste test...wow, pretty good with that lemon, now I can't wait until everything is all cooked together. I think I've decided to serve that for dinner. I'll also make an egg salad, bacon and basil sandwich, on toasted seeded bread. Yum, sounds good to me. Now, let's see, what did I do with that extra half a lemon, oh yes....I made myself a lemon tea....bring your water kettle to the boil, squeeze the lemon into a cup, add a spoon of honey then the hot water, stir and drink...soothing drink and supposedly Lemon cleans out your system, well let's hope so. Ahhhhh......maybe this will make me feel better fast.

Now if I can get myself really moving I want to try my hand at Malva Pudding. You can easily find it on the internet, my recipe came from Food.com. My stitch group went out for lunch last week too, but it was just lunch, no shopping but we went to Festival City Mall which is also huge and it was quite a trek to get to the restaurant, oh what was the name of it? oh yes Spurs, it's South African I believe......it was someone's birthday so we celebrated with Malva Pudding. It must be the best thing I've ever eaten in the desert category.
Oh I am not such a genius, while I sat right here by the stove and typed, my beans ran out of water before I noticed, well that takes me to Life Lesson #7. Buy really good pans. Mine are Jamie Oliver and I adore them, unfortunately they are quite difficult to find in the states, but never mind that I have purchased them here. Well here's what I did, I salvaged the top layer of beans, well yes, they do taste just a tiny bit smokey but they're fine, I did a taste test, then I put my little Jamie Oliver sauce pan to soak in hot water, I will give it twenty minutes to do that then all I have to do is scrape those beans out that got stuck in the brown/black goo and use my trusty little stainless steel scrubber and that wonderful pan will be good as new in less than five minutes, no kidding, I've burnt stuff before on these wonderful pans and they have always come clean as a whistle. I can remember way back when...I've been known to toss a heavily scorched pan.

......if you're out there Jamie, I do love your pans! Now my soup has that sort of smokey what on earth did you burn smell, but the taste is still good...now to cover it all up and get out my Lysol Linen scented spray and hopefully Tom will be none the wiser to my spoilt beans! I wonder sometimes if Martha Stewart or Julia Child ever burnt something onto their pans?

You see after about 10 minutes soaking in the hot water, I scrape this to one side so you can see how easily Jamie's pans come clean...and now I've had my bowl of soup, I'm still sneezing and sniffling of course but have had good nourishing stuff and I've made a pot full so that will be dinner as well my lunch tomorrow and after that whatever is leftover I think I will freeze for another lunch.

Now Life Lesson # 8 is extremely important, taught to me by my dear most of the time sweet husband...he says "Expect nothing, then you're not disappointed". I did make a huge booboo today by burning my beans and as I dumped the "good" ones into my soup pot I did wonder if I was ruining the whole pot, though I couldn't stop myself from dumping them in, I didn't expect anything and thus my soup is delicious!

Twenty Five Years

2010-10-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

For twenty five years I have shared my life and love with this man. What an incredible experience and how blessed I am to have had these years. I can still feel the coolness of that fall day and the warmth of this man as we stood on our front porch amongst our immediate family and a small handful of friends and exchanged our vows. Our wedding was made even more special as Tom took my daughters to love and cherish as his own and he meant it and has stood by his vows.
I wish our wedding pictures were with us today to reflect on, but they're home in the states and we will see them soon. For now some really special memories are with me, at the end of the short ceremony Tom's father turned to my mother and said "it's about time". I always did think that simple loving man was full of wisdom and on this note he was so wise.
My wish to all who read the few words I write is that you too have a love this strong, this secure, this wonderful a marriage, to call your own.

Limes, Limes and More Limes

2010-09-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

My little Lime Tree sure needed a hair cut, it had grown out at least 40 feet around and perhaps 20 to 25 feet tall....it was sagging with the weight of itself so I did ask the Gardener to go ahead and cut it back some...herewith the result and all the limes that were on the cut off branches and the thing is still FULL!
I've learned several other preservatives...one is to dry the entire lime, there are recipes from the Middle East and Asia that require whole dried limes, I believe you crush them in a mortar and pestle. Also I learned that you can slice them and freeze them...thus I sliced a bunch, laid them out on a cookie sheet to freeze then I will collect them into a zip loc bag...my friends tell me that you then just take one out as needed to add to a drink such as limeade or lemonade or even hot tea or some club soda.

Life Lesson #5/a bit graphic if you're "delicate", but it's funny

2010-09-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well...I certainly won't do any photos for this one but must share this Life Lesson #5...if you did not go see "The Bucket List" either go see it or rent the movie or better yet, buy the DVD or video. Jack Nicholson gives us a few Life Lessons in that movie and they are these three, never pass up a bathroom, never trust a fart and never waste a hard on...I know they're all a bit graphic but bear with me as I share the Life Lesson from them...Tom wasn't listening apparently when the LIfe Lessons were given. The other day he called me frantically from work telling me he had had a horrible accident...he had let what he thought was a small fart slip out in his office at work...fortunately for him he was paying attention and made it to the bathroom just in time so to speak, though not totally...I had to pack up clean clothes including shirt, underwear, pants, and shoes along with a wash cloth, towel and plenty of soap too. Well...as he called me of course, I laughed so hard I nearly died, but began gathering up things to rush to help him...fortunately he had no meetings scheduled and everyone in his area seemed to be gone for the day already....so as we talked my stomach began to chortle terribly...I thought it was simply from laughing, perhaps sympathy pains...so I dashed out for the 30 minute drive to help him get cleaned up....I had remembered my cell phone for a change so was able to call to let him know how close I was and what floor is your office on anyway? and he said oh I'm waiting outside...hope you brought a towel...yes I had...well my stomach kept cramping, hurting something awful. However, I did pay attention to Jack Nicholson's Life Lessons so I didn't even entertain the idea of a fart. Well I got to the University, indeed he was waiting outside, just too anxious to get on home and get this mess fixed up....when he got in the car he told me that in his haste he forgot to lock the bathroom door....of course in walks one of the "Tea Boys" they call them, these are young men who actually serve tea in the executive offices, they do not speak any English at all...understand very little etc...well one of them walked in as Tom stood in front of the stink, drawers on the floor trying his best to clean with paper towels etc....we nearly died laughing as I drove away..again the cramping in my stomach...I told him this is not going to be a fun ride home...another at least 1/2 hour depending on traffic...well the traffic Gods were with us and we dashed home in record time...and of course I had a rather rough time in the bathroom too...we must've both eaten something the night before that urgently wanted out....but we sure did laugh....we really haven't a clue what the culprit was but we did both learn that we must pay attention when someone gives us a LIfe Lesson.

Limecello

2010-09-07T00:08:00.001-07:00

grated zest of about 50 limes, dries well overnight, store in a glass jar.

Limecello in the making, at this point it is simply vodka and the lime zest.

My set up, limes, vodka, zester, juicer. I freeze lime juice in 1/2 cup amounts in zip loc bags, lay them flat, works out very well, then you can easily stack them up in the freezer. You do not use the juice in the limecello, just the zest which is later filtered out. After a few weeks I will need to make a simple syrup to add to the vodka/zest mixture. Then it will set again for several weeks.
This is the recipe I am following from my friend John....I'm hoping to get a good result and also hoping if it is good that I can make it again next year. I would've made more this year but only had the one bottle of vodka.

Limecello recipe from John:
take some of your limes ( depending on the size, 45-50 if they are small ones and peel the zest off, taking care not to get any of the white pulp.. Then in a glass or metal bowl, soak the zest's in 1 liter of Everclear (grain alcohol) if you can't get that, use a plain, unflavored vodka.
Let them marinate for 3-5 weeks, until the zests are the consistency of a chip. In a separate pan, make a simple syrup. 1 ltr of water mixed with the equivielent amount in white sugar. Bring to almost a boil and then simmer and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Set the syrup aside to cool. Take the zest's and drain the vodka off using cheese cloth. Mix the vodka with the syrup an ...Voila! you have a nice batch of lime-a -cello. Sip, savor, repeat.

So my limecello has been quietly brewing in the fridge now for 3 weeks. I will let it sit another two weeks before making the syrup. I notice though that my zest has turned a bit dark as has the vodka. hmmmm....we'll see.

Life lesson # 3 and # 4

2010-09-06T02:45:00.000-07:00

Life Lesson # 3, don't always follow the recipe...I did an oops and it turned out better than the original recipe. I forgot to put the sugar in the topping, so scraped the topping off, and put the sugar in the peaches, returned topping for baking, sprinkled well with about 2 -3 tablespoons of demerara sugar, oh it was so good...also forgot the cinnamon was to go in the peaches, so put it in the topping...worked out fine! So the life lesson is perhaps the original recipe wasn't the greatest after all.

uhoh...poor little chicken in oven, put the tray back in under the grill and did not notice the plastic chicken cutting board was hanging onto the back side....oh dear...always check...Life Lesson # 4, just in case the chicken is still damp and holding on for dear life! Oh the tray got dirty when I baked the cobbler and like an idiot I did not cover it with foil before baking the cobbler which boiled over. So I had removed the tray and scrubbed it, put it behind the faucet for drying apparently right next to the chicken cutting mat and they got stuck together!

I had been preheating the oven for jacket potatoes I intended to stuff with cheese, bacon, butter and sour cream...I scoop out the potato and mash all of that together, then put it all back together...it's yummy! I turned and noted smoke pouring out of my oven and a horrible horrible stench! Aaaaccckkk!

Fortunately I kept my few wits about me and shut off the oven, a first attempt to scoop fried plastic chicken off the bottom of the non removable part of my oven showed me that it needed to cool because it had the consistency of wet chewing gum stuck on your shoe!

I got so lucky, the little chicken did a regroup of its molecules in the cooling process and came out mostly whole...the rest I was able to clean up with a razor blade scraper...oh so fortunate that the oven base is ceramic too. It only took about five minutes with the blade and hot soapy dishwater to clean it up...oh I was lucky this time as I could've turned the thing on and left the house for an hour. So the lesson is always check the bottom of whatever you've stuck in the oven, just in case a plastic chicken goes along for a ride!
Ha and when you check your post you find out that your pictures are in reverse order....the clean oven should've been last and the poor little chicken should've been first...ahhh well...like Scarlett said..."tomorrow is another day".

A pot that age has made beautiful

2010-08-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

I often wonder where this pot came from. It magically appeared one day, that happens sometimes when you have a gardener. When it first appeared it was a normal pot with normal colors. I think the gardener was trying to replace a pot that I had loved and he tossed out, it was broken and I had put it in a tree branch for decoration. Well...over time this pot has beautifully aged. I notice it daily when I go outside. I rather love it now. I think it's a happy pot. I love the age spots on it and just like my own, Mother Nature provided them.

Life Lessons 1 & 2

2010-08-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

First life lesson...remember to prebake crust for key lime pie at least 20 minutes before adding filling and baking the 12 minutes which is perfect by the way for filling, cuts perfectly and eggs are bacteria free after 12 minutes...just be sure the pie crust is properly prebaked. It may take longer than 20 minutes, will test that again.
Egg yolks here are very dark orange, hence nearly melon or pumpkin colored key lime pie!

And to Life Lesson number 2. Keep rubber gloves in the bathroom for when your bracelet falls in the toilet! I had to fish out the chain then find the little ball too...ugh..thank you to whoever invented rubber gloves! I soaked them in bleach/dish wash soap and hottest water possible. And always remember to look BEFORE you flush..as I once flushed the last $20.00 we had and payday was a few days away.

Pie anyone?

2010-08-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

This is my key lime tree in my garden in Dubai, two years in a row now it has produced somewhere in the area of 100 lbs of key limes and thus many pies. I decided I must find more recipes using key limes as I have so many and still have frozen juice and zest from last summer! I found this http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blfruit27.htm there are several recipes there that sound just terrific.
Several years ago I was interviewed for an article for Friday magazine, a local magazine here in Dubai that comes with your newspaper on Friday. I was required to make six pies and submit the pies for photographing along with the recipes. The lady that interviewed me was from India and she had brought her little ten year old girl along, neither of them nor the Phillipine photographer had ever had pie so we sat and sampled them all after the photo shoot. I use an old recipe for piecrust I found years ago in the Southern Living 1979 recipe book. I learned to make some new pies for the article, one was a coconut cream totally from scratch, it was delicious and fun. I also made pecan, apple, key lime and a cherry and a blueberry though they did not photograph those two. I have so many pie dishes because of that photo shoot! I have given several away full of pie. I also found a site online that shows you how to make individual pies in little canning jars, I made them while at our beach house and shared them with all my little neighbors, so nice as you can put the lid on and freeze them until you want a pie then thaw, heat and eat!
So this is my key lime pie recipe:

Pie Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons Crisco
1 teaspoon salt
4 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water or more depending on your altitude

Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add crisco and blend with a pastry blender until soft crumbles the size of small peas. Slowly stir in the ice water until able to make a ball of dough. Chill, then roll into a circle, roll it up on your rolling pin and drape over your pie dish, trim the edges and decorate as you please. As you'll see in the picture of the front of the magazine, they picked my American Apple Pie as the small featurette and there it is with the apple falling into the pie...silly me cut the shape all the way around instead of just making slits, then it fell in! Didn't alter the taste at least.

Key Lime Pie
4 large egg yolks
one 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup of fresh key lime juice
2 teaspoons of key lime zest

Whip the eggs together until thick and creamy, but do not over-whip. Add the sweetened condensed milk. Add the juice a little at a time mixing until well blended. Add the lime zest. Pour into prepared shell (I prebake my pie crust for about 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven). Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes to kill any bacteria in the eggs and to set the yolk. Remove, cool and keep refrigerated until serving time. Serve with a dollop of home made whipped cream

Home Made Whipped Cream
Pour contents of one small container of whipping cream into a bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and a few drops of vanilla. Whip until it just barely holds a stiff peak, again do not over-whip. Serve on top of your pie, easy and delicious.

My Parents

2010-07-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

My parents, Tipp and Gloria McClure, September 18, 1993, posted on facebook by my niece. It's a great picture of them. My niece thinks the occasion was my Aunt Rosie's 50th anniversary dinner.

hmmm...this brings back such a flood of memories..

2010-07-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

Peach Cobbler

1 stick (4 ounces) butter
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 peaches peeled, and thinly sliced (I used about 6...I like alot)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Melt butter and pour into a 2 quart baking dish. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt; stir to blend. Stir in the milk and vanilla until blended. Pour the batter over the melted butter. Toss the peaches with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon and pour on top of the batter and butter. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 375 degrees until batter begins to pull away from the sides or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. The top will be browned. Serve warm with heavy cream or whipping cream or a scoop of ice cream. Serves 6

Three Graces

2010-07-20T05:13:00.000-07:00

My sweet husband took on me and my three young girls many years ago. We began in a big ole barn of a house in the Historical District of Asheville. The grand stairwell was covered in pictures, one of them being The Three Graces. Soon we began to call the girls, who have now become "our" girls, The Three Graces. So the photo is a current one of our Graces and the statue pictures are the real deal from the Vatican Museum, a trip we took about six years ago.

In Greek Mythology they were thought to be goddesses of gracefulness, the charms of beauty and cheerful amusements. I found their names in Wikipedia...from youngest to oldest: Aglaea ("Beauty"), Euphrosyne ("Mirth"), and Thalia ("Good Cheer"). In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces". Sounds like a bit to live up to....I just settled the names on my own and nope....no where near the truth of them. Mine are real flesh and blood and they fight tooth and toenail both for and against each other, they also laugh and cry together; I think that's likely normal for a trio of sisters. One thing amongst them seems to really stand out...they are all three devoted to the other's children, and that I think is marvelous.

Strangely enough, most generally in a picture of the three of them, they do have their arms draped across each other, many pictures come to my minds eye, they just are not on this computer. Here they are standing on the deck of the last place they all three knew as home, we all built it together and family life as we know it continues here in the long awaited home to our Three Graces.

Post Op Boredom

2010-07-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

well this is me not even 24 hours post op, more like about 18, I was rarin and tearin to go home but my Dr was stuck in a C section and couldn't release me...finally they talked to her via a nurse assistant and she said let'er go already! So I'm now three days post op at home, enjoying it so much, just came in from the porch as now at nearly high noon the mountains have decided to let the heat seep on down from the sun....so I'm in my comfy indoor rocker as opposed to my not so comfy but oh so cute outdoor rocker pictured below. So what one does post op, putter just a teeny tiny bit...like dust two tables then sit and blog, then put the dishes in the dishwasher, sit and blog, then shower, then sit and rub lotion all over, then maybe take a short nap with a good book...eat small amounts of good fresh foods, drink lots of water...repeat all of the above...until bedtime then drink about 1/4 to 1/2 glass of prune juice and go to bed....repeat the next day, apparently for a couple of boring weeks...though today I think after I finally shower....I will work a bit on a quilt...that is easy enough...just sit and let the machine do the work.
I found this lovely little tray at a junque shop for $3.00...my kind of buy..usually today they are so collectable that they are much more...but this was buried in a junque box...love that!
The little fabric bowl my daughter made me to go with all my bits of red things...like the cute salt and pepper shakers...from a neat shop kinda like UK's Green Gate or Kate whatsherface?, and I found those sugar and creamers in Dubai too...always the watchful eye for polka dots...in a cupboard behind where I took this is a set of little mixing bowls...all reds...from AC Moore or Michael's or Joann's or one of those kind of stores on their half off sale rack...oh they're cute as bugs ears too.
ha..my beach find, the junque store rocker, one time had a price tag of $100, reduced to $55 as it didn't sell for that pricey tag as it's not all that comfy, thus I sit on that face pillow my daughter made me years ago...I went to the shop three times to look at it, sat in it about like Goldilocks and kept thinking but it's not comfy so would leave it, but I loved it, the look of it and it's red! and couldn't erase it from my mind until one day, my dear sweetie went to fetch it for me and alas it was gone! Much much much to my surprise he asked after it, I mean he never does things like that, normally he would just come back and apologize and explain that it was gone...but he didn't do that and there it was out in their shed, with a missing arm, since he builds furniture as a hobby he looked all the bits over...then ...he dickered on the price tag and bagged it for $25.00 though apparently he tried really hard for $20...I had told him to settle on $40..so bargain!!!!!!, her reglued the arm for me and wallah...an old oak rocker with great bones...love the shapes of it for a bargain...my grandson had gone with him to pick it up and told me the whole story...cute eh? Now to figure out some padding for the seat and my weary old bones....

okay so have blogged around and surfed around enough for today...will go upstairs and stay put a bit, they did tell me easy on the stair climbing bit...will sew...I hope Tom remembered to set up the ironing board...now to collect my disappearing nine patch pieces...oh can't wait to finish up the shower bit to cut and sew!

The Surprise Doll

2010-07-16T07:52:00.001-07:00

When I was a little girl, maybe just old enough to read, I got this book, at the time it was a mere pittance like perhaps 29 cents, this one came from ebay for my birthday a few years back for $100! It's an original, in good condition with the "extras" of the storey that are not in every single issue. I adore this book, always have and always will. One day I plan to make a quilt about this book, not sure yet how I will do that but it works itself around in my mind a lot.

So it's a storey about Mary and her father who is a sea captain and how he has brought her six dolls from around the world, you'll see bits of them in a few more pictures. Well, Mary, being a female after all was not happy with just six dolls. She wanted one for each day of the week, but her Daddy being a man after all, did not understand this and refused.

This part tells all about what Mary looks like and quite honestly, I've always felt that's me in that picture...it's about how I feel deep down in the dark recesses of my soul........only my flowers are always daisies. So you can just barely see there, Mary waves goodbye to her sea faring Daddy...then begins her plan........

She loads all her dollies into her little red wagon, yes I do have one, belonged to my grandson and now lives down at my beach house in the bathroom full of magazines...otherwise it would likely be full of dolls or stuffed animals. Okay so she loads up her dollies and heads down the hill into town to the dollmakers and he says yes he can make her a Sunday doll, but it will take a week and she must come back....are you now wondering who takes care of Mary while her Daddy is away? yep me too....the book never tells you anything about a Mother or a Grandmother or a babysitter....just Mary, her dolls, her sea captain Daddy and the dollmaker...

So here are Mary's dolls and here is what the dollmaker took from each of them, can you imagine how hard it was for a little girl to give up all her dolls for a whole week....well see below...I do believe it was worth it....

Oh I really should've photographed the page with the kindly old dollmaker...kind of amazing that it was a man and he had such a vision eh? I continue to love this storey and any grandchild who will listen gets to hear it from me. I have since purchased copies for my great nieces who came before my darling grand daughter of my very own...the one who much prefers puppies to dolls and now thinks horses are quite neat too.....

Where have the days of innocence and sweet stories like this disappeared to? This was publised by Wonder Books in 1949, so I imagine, since I was born in 1946, that the very second I could sit still long enough to have a story read to me that it was my book....I so wish I had my original copy. There is another book from that era about a Boston Terrier...next time I share a book it will be about Archie and the Biggers and why they had to move and what happened to Archie....at least I think it was Archie...not positive as my own Boston was Pixie...though this storey was about a boy dog. Until next storey time!

Beach Sewing Spot

2010-07-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

What is it about the beach's lazy days that one becomes so busy that you cannot possibly finish a small baby quilt in three weeks at your little sewing station....love my new chair....it's an Ethan Allen, cabbaged at a junk shop for $22.00, it swivels..no scratches, all maple, just lovely and I love love my chambray blue colored table...another thrift shop buy, carried that one around in the car for a bit, can't remember where I got it but it was no where near the beach house, I do remember that...but that chambray blue color grabs my heart strings every time....this whole room is shades of blue, with some dashes of gold/yellow and red...I love it so much. Wonder what it is about me that I love simple things like these so much...note all the little tins collected at different TJ Maxx's along the way...all in the 2-3 dollar category, my price range for "junque" stuff, oh I just looked at the picture again and you can't really see them...I think there are maybe 4 or 5 different coffee tins back there behind the machine. I keep all kinds of haberdashery in them. The little book shelf was a junque shop find for $2.00, the drawer handles are long gone, handles are now long screws. Ha...nearly everything you see is junque shop finds except for the red camel, my Sri Lankan friend brought me that from Colombo...from a shop called Barefoot, the owner is, I believe, American and she employs the locals to make all these lovely things from their own line of woven colorful fabrics. Their website is barefootceylon.com. It's certainly worth a visit. The little red camel was all of maybe $2.50 American money. Simply amazing...I have quite a collection of their things and my friend had brought all our Piecemakers Stitch Group in Dubai a little animal for our pins and needles one year for Christmas. Since then I have been to the shop myself and have asked my friend to bring back more things for me when she goes to visit her mother and family in Colombo. Oh I have such wonderful friends from all over the world.
And I sew on my little Winnie the Pooh Brother machine, it's small and perfect to tuck into the beach digs...doesn't take up much space and has a handy dandy dust cover.
I'm just idling away my time recovering from a hysterectomy and bored to tears as I feel so well but am following orders, behaving and not doing anything much at all which is why I have been blogging so much...gives the bored something to do and maybe gives some stranger somewhere some new idea, gosh how neat would that be?
Next I think I will write about my most favorite book of all time......

Daisy's spot in the sun

2010-07-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

This is our precious Daisy in her chair by the window in Dubai...I miss her so. She has a great kennel in Abu Dhabi where her Bombi looks lovingly after her when we're away. Once we're back I will have been away from her for five months...I won't be leaving her much at all, the weather will be more temperate and she will make the short jogs to the grocery with me...sitting in the shade for 10 minutes, there are huge umbrellas over the car parks and some lower level parking that is cool too, but I don't leave her in those.....you know the milk and bread run...in the winter months she will happily sit in the car people watching while I shop. I open the sun roof for her...weather is much cooler and in the shade she is safe in the car then. Summer she only goes when one of us sits in the car with her with the a/c running. Tom was with her earlier this summer but I was here...I only want to return to be with her.

Little antique handquilted treasure

2010-07-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

I've had this at least 15 to 20 years perhaps. When I worked I would treat myself to an antique quilt now and then, sometimes I laid them away, sometimes I could just buy one...this one was fairly reasonable, like maybe $50.00, it's in great shape, it's hand quilted. I have no idea where I bought it as it was just too long ago to even try to remember. I guess I am trying to do a bit of cataloging here of my quilt stash. I think this one is still at the beach house...I tend to bring them back and forth as desired. I guess you could say I relocate them occasionally as my heart desires. I so love doing that with my things. Actually I call it puttering.

Traveling Hearts for Krista

2010-07-15T07:46:00.001-07:00

Time goes by so quickly it's difficult to remember dates...I think it was September 2006 when the Dubai Quilters Guild each did a block for our Quilt Pink charity quilt designed by one of our members, Cynthia Tomaszewski. find her at her Simple Pleasures website http://www.simpleas.com/designs.html. My daughter loved the design so I made this quilt for her using just the hearts from the design...my daughter wanted pastels and especially wanted me to add in lavendars/purples to remember her great grandmothers favorite colors...so from my Dubai stash I was able to make this quilt. The Teddy Bear Label I found somewhere on the internet only it was not a label it was something else I do not even remember what. I sewed all these hearts by hand on plane and auto trips over about a six month period...hence....Traveling Hearts. Somewhere I have a picture of the original quilt that our guild made...it was just absolutely gorgeous and was raffled off for Breast Cancer Research that year. The original had appliqued flowers and vines all around the border and was all pink.

2010-07-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

This is an antique quilt I bought years ago...I call it Don't Fence Me In, does anyone know the real name? I just love it. I don't leave it hanging when we're away as it is handstitched, so it is waiting on our return before I redo my hanging sleeve and rehang it in my dining room. I have already removed those old things on the shelf and redone that area in there.

I made this little quilt for a friend of my daughters, for her little girl Hannah. The friends Aunt had given my daughter a bag full of scraps from a local shop that sells handmade childrens clothing...so I took yellow homespun backgrounds and then used those fabrics to build rag flowers and leaves, added the raspberry sashing and cornerstones from my stash...then had my friend in Dubai, a professional machine quilter quilt it for me. From what I hear little Hannah loves this quilt so much she sleeps with it every night. I named it Just Ducky Flowers.

Greek Orthodox Church at Myrtle Beach, NC

2010-07-14T14:28:00.001-07:00

I know nothing about Greek Orthodox, I only know I think this is so beautiful...looking at it brings me a sense of peace. I'd love to photograph it more, this was from a stoplight!

Heidi's afghan

2010-07-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

I cast on 258 stitches, then single crocheted, chain one turn going in the back stitch for each one. I worked in rows of 14 except for that center purple stripe which is just two rows. Both sides from the stripe are the same. I then ran around the edge of the afghan picking up a loop in each space, then went around round 2 and picked up both loops, and again for round three and tied off...wallah one sore finger and three months later done.

Our Porch

2010-07-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

It keeps changing, evolving...I've already taken away a green chair and added a red rocker....a junque shop find at the beach...cheap too. Tom had to reglue an arm and wallah...perfect porch chair. Mornings and evenings out here are devine!

Morgan's Birthday Afghan

2010-07-11T12:01:00.001-07:00

He was eight, loves red, so red back ground with eight black stripes, four at each end. I think he was delighted with it.
I've just finished Heidi's...it's for Christmas but I gave it to her today, took pictures but need to download them. She loved it too. Now I'm eager to start another one.

The Steam Pot and a Corn Crab Bisque made with leftovers

2010-07-08T10:20:00.001-07:00

Okay, in our haste to dive in, I did not get complete or "good" pictures. July 2010 Martha Stewart Living has a recipe for a steam pot, slightly different from what we normally make so we decided we'd try it best we could as not all the ingredients were available.
In these photos we had already dished up and dived into the lobster and many shrimp...the peel and eat kind when I thought oh take pictures! So it's not truly what it looked like...that pot was so full the lid barely fit on top of it and I nearly could not carry it to the table.
So here's how it goes, it is simple to make and a bit cheaper to make at home than to go out, though this cost close to $200, seafood is not cheap, but it was better than restaurant food, and basically cheaper too. There were six stuffed Cochran clan at our table when we finished and four neighbors too.
Chop up 2 vidalia or other sweet onions along with three garlic toes chopped finely, toss into a large pot, add a bottle of pale ale, cook about five minutes, add bite size pieces of andouille sausage...Martha said Chorizo but the andouille was great, add one cup of water and bring to a boil! The andouille was so great we froze the remainder of it. Now with each add, cook about five minutes then toss in the next stuff...add about 2 lbs or around 6 red potatoes quartered or you could use new potatoes and about 2 teaspoons of salt, or maybe a tablespoon, just don't overdo it with salt, cook about five minutes more, I'm not going to keep saying that just do it, add five or six ears of corn broken in half, then add cherry clams enough for your gang...I bought one bag, mussels, same thing...we didn't have any, none available, now add crab legs, I used two packages, then the lobster tails, we had six of those; or whole lobsters but who wants to fiddle with all of that part...tails are fine here, and last I used 2 pounds of shrimp. Now cover the pot again and let simmer until the lobster, crabs, and shrimps are cooked, you'll know as they turn pink or red. Meanwhile make up bowls of melted real butter...slice up big slices of lemons, give everyone their own little bowls of butter...line your table with newspapers and put a bit hot pad in the middle...get your ice tea made or get your glasses filled with ice for your cokes or whatever...sometimes we'll make a pan of cornbread or have a nice crusty bread but who wants that when you got all that good stuff? We did make deviled eggs though...nearly always do that when the family eats together.
Now make up some seafood sauce....all of this is to taste...bottle of Heinz Chili sauce, add worchestershire sauce, lemon juice and horseradish and mix...serve in a couple of small bowls at least one for every two folks.
Put that steam pot in the middle of the table, use big ole tongs to haul stuff out. Pig out and enjoy! Didn't hurt to have a huge watermelon all cut up and read to eat either!

Now when we had eaten all we could...my daughter and I sat and picked at least a pound of crab off all the remaining crab legs and let our men folk take the boys to the pool while we worked and chatted, just put the crab in a covered dish and refrigerate, same with the shrimps...right into a baggy. We froze the remaining andouille for something good later. We shelled the corn, chopped the potatoes into bite size pieces...

ahh then the Crab Corn Bisque the next night...all you need from the store is a medium size container of whipping cream and a large box, you know, the Progresso or Swan's type box of chicken broth. Now put the potatoes, corn, crab into a pot, cover with the whipping cream and the chicken broth, taste for salt...adjust...we did not need to add salt if you have too much add a raw potato to pull some of that salt out...add some fresh cracked pepper...just warm that up an serve with oyster crackers or saltines...it was so good we couldn't see straight! I shared it with four of my little old folks neighbors that I adore....took each of them a quart of it, that was just to two houses...but it made a lot, we all ate all we wanted. We ate the leftover shrimps and seafood dip and corn crab chowder for dinner the next night...what we forgot was we strained all the juices off the steam pot, we were going to use it in the soup, but forgot but I'm betting it would've been as good as the chicken broth, perhaps better...so next time we'll try that.
Normally when we make a steam pot we use just two cups of water and a package of Crab Boil, but this time we tried Martha's Pale Ale routine and man was it good...didn't even miss the crab boil stuff. This is just so simple and honestly our men folk thought my daughter and I were beyond brilliant..so did our neighbors...hardest part of the entire thing...cracking those crab legs...even though we had all the necessary crab crackers, hammers, and picks, still that was work but so worth it!

This we did on the Fourth of July....then after our swim the neighborhood treated us to fireworks watched right from our own screened in porch....perfect! just perfect!

What to do on a beach trip

2010-07-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

Learn to ride without training wheels...yay!

ride to the pool with all your "stuff" and folks

Make big waves in the pool

Make a steam pot (recipe to follow)

Toss your favorite flip flops by the boardwalk and go for a long beach walk

take another picture of your favorite old boat

and be sure to zoom in on the gorgeous flowers by the fence

read at the beach, by the pool, on the screened in porch, play games, use solarcaine and sunscreen, eat lots of watermelon, go shopping at all the flea and junque shops, take naps, oh so much more we didn't bother to take the pictures of it all...oh and best of all if you're 11 or below...take naked showers outside with the garden hose...now that is fun! Okay so Mom stood by with a towel so nobody could see...but still...now scoot inside and eat some cookies and milk!

Solitude

2010-06-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

There's something to be said about the peacefulness, the solitude of watching wildlife, calm waters, beautiful flowers, vistas...to me pictures like this express it far better than I am able to do. Ahhh....the peaceful life.

Leaving Camel Lot

2010-06-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

Well...drat...today the kids have to return home. We've so enjoyed them being here with us. Last night we went in to Broadway at the Beach and ate at Liberty, sort of another traditional thing we do, there or Twin Lakes, but this time of year both are so crowded, one reason we ate at home most of our meals. We still have so many things we'd like to "do" with the kids, and they have so many things they'd like to "do"...they spent a lot of time enjoying the beach, last night they lamented as we always do about going home, back to work, back to routines...our routines here are just so simple, everyone clean up after yourself, don't forget to lock the door, hang up your wet stuff...guess that's about it. We all notice that food tastes better here...why is that? We've swam, taken bike rides, played Scrabble, read...napped...well about everything anyone does whilst at the beach. This picture was from yesterday mornings swim....we had played a rounding game of Marco Polo in the pool....I was lucky...I was never caught, it's such stupid fun, lots of laughter, lots of memories made on these beach trips.

Camel Lot

2010-06-24T06:38:00.001-07:00

This bike makes my heart go pitter pat, I love it so...it's the lovely streamers and the fat butt seat and I had Tom switch the wire basket on to his bike and replace it here with my wicker one, now my bike is simply perfect, and I bought it in a junk shop for $50.00!

This is our peaceful little double wide near the beach, the place we call Camel Lot. Tom has long been fascinated with King Arthur and all the Arthurian tales, plus living and working in the Middle East amongst the camels has allowed us to purchase this land, then the double wide, then the porch screening, cement drive, car port, shed and landscaping so that we can continue our family tradition of fun by the sea. We've been coming down here for 25 years now, and four years ago bought this place so that our tradition might go forward into the future. It is truly our "happy place".

We had this sign made at Madinat Jumeriah four years ago and finally just had it framed. We stood and watched as the man painted it, took him all of five minutes, such a fascinating process he uses. Up close you can barely read it, you just see the camels and the Burj Al Arab, but stand back a bit and you can read it just fine. It's fun, it's a combination of beach and camel. The Burj Al Arab does sit out in the Persian Gulf.

My grandson's first beach trip

2010-06-22T05:14:00.001-07:00

Our grandson graduated high school last week, this is his first trip down to the beach without his parents...he did all the driving and brought along his girlfriend. Every year we "pose" for lovely pictures, here's theirs. I think the youngins are having a good time with us, we do a bit together then they take off on their own and are back in time for dinner. Last night we had wonderful steaks and fresh veggies on the grill, took a long bike ride, then we played Scrabble...what else do you do at the beach? I was busy winning when Tom came up with quagmire...he earned a fast 60 points for that one.

Lucious Hydrangeas

2010-06-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

These hydrangeas are now two years old and have tripled in size from last year, the blooms are so large, some nearly as big as basketballs. They are supposed to be blue but as you can see they're multicolored and so beautiful. I have found a spot on the internet that tells you how to preserve them saving their color and hope to try that during my stay at our beach digs. Meanwhile I'm pickle making with my neighbor and her sister. Yesterday was wash, cut and soak them in lye, today we pickle them. We also made peach freezer jam yesterday. I'm dragging my camera over there today for pictures of progress!

2010-06-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

My first hydrangea of the year, it's not yet reached it's full growth. I'm sitting on my screened in porch looking out towards the fountain and the bird feeder, my my but it is busy today. I put a bowl for the squirrels at the base of the feeder to sort of head them off so I could still watch the birds and my goodness, everybody and their brother and uncle are coming today. I've had Carolina oh phooey, forget their name, will have to look them up again, and cardinals...two males, one female, and a wren! I thought mama wren had moved out after she taught those babies to fly, oh just now there are two cardinals and a squirrel...Mrs Cardinal won out the best spot...ahh yes, it's a Carolina Chickadee....that silly squirrel is just sitting by the feeder stuffing his little self...normally there are three or four of them, today just one. He eats so fast and he's so oblivious to the birds, quite thoughty of me to put the food down below to stop him disturbing the birds. It's like an airport here with birds zooming in and out and I have to keep going to wikapedia for Western North Carolina birds when I see somebody I do not recognize...got some studying to do too!

Rick Rack out of Whack quilt blocks and my kabobs

2010-06-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

I made these kabobs for dinner the other night, bought a really nice grass fed piece of beef steak, cut it in chunks and made two meals out of it, this shows only half of it. I bought one skinny zucchini and the mushrooms, the pearl onions and the red pepper, only used a quarter or less of that, used the rest the next day. I just threaded all the stuff on my skewers as you see here then brushed them with Dale's Seasoning, look for it in the grocery store where you find any seasoning stuff, the bottle looks like a vinegar bottle and the contents are very dark nearly black. This was a delicious dinner and I didn't have to add one thing to it, I was full! So easy, only took about 20 minutes total...between washing, slicing, threading and cooking...wallah...ready to eat! All fresh and yummy!

This is what I have accomplished thus far on my Rick Rack out of Whack quilt project...now that I'm into it this far I kinda wish I had rearranged my colors differently...but oh well...this is how you learn how to put them together after all. And it will be pretty anyway, but I do think I could've made it a bit prettier. It's been a fun project thus far and I'm getting kind of anxious to get the rest of those pinwheels made so I can start sewing rows together, the dark ones are made separately and I only have a few sewn together....my project for today.

After the tree trimming

2010-06-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

This is the back side of our house, the side that looks towards the mountains, after the trees were trimmed out. It looks so much better, but we still have lots of work to do. One day I want lots more flowers, so that I have flowers always blooming. These bushes are rhododendrons and there is a camelia and a lilac bush in there too, but they've done their thing for this year. They were all gorgeous.

Do you ever do a Gratitude Journal?

2010-05-30T08:21:00.001-07:00

Seriously, I saw Sarah Ban Breathnoch on Oprah, years ago, was struck by her, bought her book "Simple Abundance" and have in the past done my own Gratitude Journal which she discusses in her book. The book reads like a devotional in a way in that you just read the entries for the date, it's kind of amazing really. My advice has always been take what you need or can use from it and the rest let it go. For a Gratitude Journal, buy or make a journal, buy a nice pen...make them special little treats for yourself. Now each and every night just before you tuck your toes into bed, sit on the side of your bed and in your journal write down the date and five things....only five...that you witnessed or experienced during your day that you are grateful for...somedays you will experience so many you will not want to stop at five, some days you feel there are none...you breathed, you woke up, you went to sleep at last...write it down....after months look back through your little journal and you will begin to see that you are noticing all the little things in your life or what we would normally consider the little things...and you're appreciating them and you're living your life so that you will notice them. It's a very healing exercise in truth...here's my extra special notice from two nights ago...what a privilege to see this!

Nephew

2010-05-30T08:14:00.001-07:00

My sister's youngest came for the weekend, found himself free as a bird for a change so rode his motorcycle over so he could come up old 74, very scenic beautiful windy, twisty, mountainous road to my house from his house...he wants to ride the Tail of the Dragon just West of Asheville before leaving, think he'll spend yet another night so he can get some good riding in and rest of course plus he gets to see some of his first and second cousins...the other picture has one of my daughters and her two boys, hopefully this evening I can get my older grandson to hold still long enough to get his picture with my nephew..handsome dude isn't he!

Volunteerism

2010-05-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

Have you ever known a peony to just volunteer to join your garden and bring forth the most beautiful bloom? Well I have never heard of it honestly, but I think my Grandmother must be sending me a message or something...she rather loved them along with irises...here is my volunteer peony and she's absolutely beautiful, just like my Grandmother.

More quilts

2010-05-22T05:24:00.001-07:00

These are the other three favorites I had from that quilt display/show. I was starting with my bad neck pain that day so my pictures are not good and I was there so briefly but what a treat to see these gorgeous quilts and to think that these quilts were what I call "made up" by the makers. The one with the snowballs was made from clothing scraps the maker had made for her daughter over the years, it was just gorgeous. The one with the center square was made to go with that center square, a piece she had bought in Alaska and the log cabin one was just so gorgeous with beautiful quilting motifs on the squares...if I remember right they were lovely leaves.
I so love to look at/admire other women's work and to ponder over their imaginations. Unfortunately the show is now over, how I wish it were still going on for another few weeks so that I might get well enough to go back and oogle over them again.

Customer Quilt Show Pictures

2010-05-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

Asheville Cotton Company, our local quilt shop here in Western North Carolina had this lovely show of customer quilts, this one was my favorite as I so love Daisies, note the bottom ones have green back grounds and the upper ones have blue indicating sky. I just adored this quilt, gave it four votes and hope the lady won, though there were other really lovely quilts too. But this is one I'd love to make or to buy or to whatever...otherwise own it! Know what I mean? I'd like it bed size so I could oogle over it everyday.
I've been "poorly" so haven't been able to start on my new quilt. I was supposed to have a hysterectomy but two days before that developed Torticollis or wry neck...could not move anything on my body without extreme pain! First I went to the ER where I spent 10 1/2 hours on drugs too strong for me and and could not breathe. Next day I went for my hysterectomy, they sent me home as I could not open my mouth or bring my neck backwards....went to a chiropractor, just down the road from my house and I am thanking God for him every single day since. I am 50% better and can now see hope shining on the horizon though I have not reached a completely pain free and movement free goal yet, though I am doing everything he says. I have been seeing him twice a day and doing all the hot/cold/exercise/massage etc treatments he prescribed. He listened to my tale of events, xrayed my neck and made the assessment of severe arthritis in my neck, then he laid out a stringent treatment plan and I can move again but I'm not all the way there yet, he thinks by this coming Friday that last weekends events will be a bad memory. I'm putting all my faith and trust in him as thus far he's kept to his promises. The first two trips to his office I was in tears and pajamas. The third day I was able to dress myself and only cried when he hugged me and I could whisper thank you in his shoulder. You know when someone helps you to that degree you want so desperately to somehow let them know how grateful you feel.

First iris of Spring

2010-05-13T08:31:00.001-07:00

This is my first iris of spring, it could be one that was passed on from my grandmother though I can't be positive since all the landscaping happened. I've rather forgotten where it was planted and this one came up as a volunteer...how I love that.
My grandmother had tons of irises, both purples and yellows and she loved them all...when she died my grandfather planted a lot of yellow ones around her head stone, now if you show up at the right time you will see literally hundreds of yellow irises blooming there....a tiny little graveyard just near Hidalgo, Illinois called Aten Cemetery...I love it as it is so full of good memories as well as good people....so many relatives are there. It's by a cornfield, hidden from public view...I now love it there, though when younger I hated going there as it meant saying goodbye to somebody I loved......I grow the irises to remember my grandmother. My cousin just sent me a photo of the long line of peonies my grandmother had growing out along her semi circle driveway, all pinks, all so pretty. My grandmother did love her flowers and she seemed to have a very green thumb. She quilted, so do I, she crocheted, so do I, she played the piano...I've always wanted to learn, she gardened, so do I....she was really a fascinating lady, so many layers to her...she baked the best bread and pies...I used to love to go stand in her pantry and just look at all the things she had canned. I miss her and miss her home too...it had it's own special smell...my children have told me our home smells like us...kind of strange isn't it? I once went in an old quilt shop in Lebanon, Illinois and took a step down into the next room...what I remember is...I smelled my grandparents home! I stood there for a very long time just taking it all in.

First Flight

2010-05-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature has such miracles and she shares them with us each day if we only watch for them....here's a baby wren on it's first flight, no tail feathers yet, siblings still had little tufts of feathers on their heads. I was only lucky to get this close as the mother was having a fit about it. I stood very still and watched them, still she scolded. Now they've moved their activities to the side yard and I can watch them out the screened in porch where I am now sitting enjoying all the birds, a red headed woodpecker, the wren family, Mr and Mrs Cardinal and a titmouse have all made an appearance...oh the cardinals are now singing for me, so pretty.

Stripey made up aghan

2010-04-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

And this is the crochet afghan I've been working on, I had added a picture earlier that I used for inspiration. It is half done, I will repeat these rows on the other side then it's finished and I can move on to a yellow and white one or a pink and cream one or shades of brown and cream...oh so many colors! I've also begun daydreaming about a yellow and white quilt and have been looking at my books, magazines and on the internet for inspiration. I know I want all yellow and white....years ago I saw a magazine layout that had a yellow quilt as the feature of an entire bedroom and it was so gorgeous and crisp and clean looking....I've always wanted to do the same. I need to keep weeding down my "stuff" or put half of it away and change it out with the seasons. I'm afraid I like way too many things.
For the life of me I cannot figure out how to correctly separate my posts and pictures so for now I guess I will just have to add things one at a time until I learn more.
Now I have to decide if I want to snuggle up in my nest with a book or get back to work...hmmmm...on such a fine day...wonder which I will decide to do. I'm reading The Last Song but I tend to tall asleep when I read...oh ho hummy hummy as my grandfather would say.
I just had this thought...I wish I were 10 and skinny as a rail like I was then...I could sure eat a fudgecicle about now! How do you spell that? Well today I haven't a clue, I just want to eat one! I think it's a creamy cold chocolate daydream I'm having.

Lilac Time

2010-04-23T13:40:00.001-07:00

Oh be still my heart....I could not resist plucking the first promise of a full lilac bush to bring that delightful smell into the house. I think I've been in love with lilacs all my life or at least since I was a little girl and both my grandmother and my mother had bushes and I buried my nose in those blooms! Lilacs have the ability to literally fragrance an entire room as well as give it a ray of sunshine. I worked in a nursery once and I remember that there was a huge old fashioned white tin pitcher and one spring it was just so full of gorgeous lilacs, they smelled so wonderful. I can't hardly wait to see my bush in it's full blooming glory. I just hope it's not next week when I'm down in Georgia visiting my daughter. I hope I can pluck some blooms to take to her so I can smell them in her house and still come home to many more blooms on my bush.

Every day something new in the garden and Lilacs too!

2010-04-19T17:50:00.001-07:00

Well....look what a day or two of spring and warm weather and lots of watering brings....lots of azaleas and phlox and camelias. I so love them all. I even have blooms on my tomato plants. Spring is so exciting!

Odyssey of the Mind

2010-04-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

This year my eleven year old grandson, Mathew, and six of his best buddies tied for Third Place at the State level of competition for their Odyssey of the Mind presentation about Nature Trails. These seven youngsters and two dedicated coaches (one is my daughter, Krista....Mathew's mother) tirelessly worked all year perfecting their seven minute performance. The kids made their own vehicle from scraps, wrote their own script and performed to perfection! This vehicle was ingenious....they operated it by turning the top wheel, there were certain points had to be made in the performance and I'm so proud of them all.
Mathew made his own costume from newspaper and duct tape. His "goatee" was duct tape and his own hair saved from his last hair cut. Brilliant ideas...loved the owl costume, though in these pictures the kids may not be in their entire outfits...they were very cute...did such a great job. They have performed in Odyssey of the Mind together since Kindergarden and my daughter has steadfastly been one of their coaches. Krista did all this work and travel just 10 days post op from major surgery...she's a heroine for sure!

Happy Birthday Afghan for Mathew

2010-04-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

Mathew is now eleven years old, how the time has flown. He's a huge Duke fan and loves the Duke colors so his afghan has eleven white stripes on a Duke Blue background...he loved it and apparently is sleeping with it along with his baby quilt and twin size quilt I made him...I'd be hot! Big secret is I also made Morgan one for his birthday and it has eight black stripes on red...his favorite color is red....but that's all a secret still.

Ode to my Gardens and Homes

2010-04-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

After nearly 21 years of living in our wonderful mountain home, finally we have had our hillside landscaped. This dogwood now lives by the front door where an unruly mountain laurel once lived. Underneath the dogwood will be hydrangeas and ferns. We've had a stone wall added by our driveway and on our unruly hillside. The landscapers added quite a few plants and of course I had to add my own. I've planted some Japanese irises by the water feature and some herbs and tomatoes. I'll be anxious for Mother's Day as I can add more perennials and more tomatoes. I was taking a huge risk with the first ones, but thus far, the weather has been good.

I've slipped down to our beach place while my son in law paints my living room/dining room/kitchen and main floor bathroom; and am enjoying the garden here too, the roses are blooming, the hydrangeas are full of promise and all my herbs are happy and spreading especially the mint, good thing I like it a lot. I have one raspberry bush and three blueberry bushes. I'm hoping we can be here when they fruit. I'm hoping to add the same to my mountain home too. I've been in the mood to cook so have made dinner for several nights for my widower neighbor. Each time I take him a plate of hot food he has forgotten who I am, but his Bulldog Bitsy remembers me quite well and is ever so glad to see me. She's so short and fat and so full of bubbling energy. I continue to patiently explain who I am...Becky from next door. Tonight I am making us a bacon and potato frittata. I look forward to tasting that.

I love both our homes so much I'm not quite sure where I'd rather be. Just now my hubby is back in Dubai and we talk via Skype, nothing is quite the same without him with me. He too has a problem about where to be...at the beach or in the mountains. Thankfully we'll soon be retired and we can do both at random.

For now I'm washing all my tea towels and dish cloths as I've had a little "visitor" in my absence. I don't mind the company, it's that they're not potty trained and they tend to be a bit destructive. So I must set out my farewell meal for them and hope they leave for good. So for today it's cleaning out all the kitchen while I talk with my sweetie via Skype. I guess I could just call this spring cleaning and learn to love the process of it. Actually I do as I love our little beach place so much. It's a bit chilly today, had to put on a sweatshirt for my porch sitting earlier.

I have a few errands to run, minor things...mouse bait, I need envelopes and stamps and then I plan to spend my afternoon with my crochet and perhaps a good movie. For the morning I'll get my work done, that's the way my Mother used to do it. I should follow her footsteps a bit more.

Speaking of gardens...I am wondering how my lime tree in Dubai is doing.

New Landscaping

2010-03-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Oh I've been trying to hold back and wait until it's finished to post a picture of our new landscaping.
But it seems I can't wait, so typical of me. There's still a few days work left to do, plants to be set in, sod to be laid and all the clean up from the "construction". Here is a taste of what is to come in my garden.

Crochet calms my soul

2010-03-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I found this picture in a yarn shop catalog advertised as a pattern and have made up my own version using Vanna White's yarn. I cast on 223 chains, then did a single crochet in the second chain from hook and repeated all the way across, chain one and turn and I go in the back of the loop, though I first started alternating front/back with the rows, then decided it would be prettier to go in the back of the loop so I would get the ridges, but I kept those first few rows and will try to duplicate them when I get to the end. I'm using slightly different color combos than this picture. I crochet everywhere I go and so many women stop me and admire the colors in this piece. As soon as I get a few more rows on I'll include a picture of my piece..
I'm eager to get to the end of this one as I want to do one in creams and lavendar, purple and white I think to go with a quilt I am making for my guest room.

Button Dyeing for Chernobyl

2010-03-01T23:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday a friend from our quilt guild taught our stitch group how to dye buttons. Who knew? There was a small charge for the class and supplies. All profits went to benefit the victims of the Chernobyl disaster. To volunteer or donate go to their website chernobyl2000ltd.co.uk

You start out with white plastic buttons, all shapes and sizes and designs. Also buy beads.

you add water, buttons and the tiniest amount of disperse dye to a pan that you will never use for anything else. Bring all to a boil until the color is as you choose. Then rinse and drain and wash rinse with your dish soap and hot water. Rinse until your water runs clear, then lay out to dry on old towels pressing the moisture out.

Separate by colors/size or however you like, then make the jewelry. We worked in alternate groups of four to make these bracelets. We all had a great time together, learned something new and contributed to the efforts for the folks of Chernobyl. Our friend and her friends have made thousands of dollars for them making and selling dyed button bracelets. It's a small way to show you care about others misfortune.

Weddings and such

2010-02-26T23:42:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a wedding house....we see these pop up around our neighborhood from time to time. We never see the bride or groom, just know there is a wedding taking place from the beautiful lights. From what we understand there are papers signed, the men celebrate in one place the women in another and the groom comes to fetch the bride at midnight. Different from what we're all used to but a marriage none the less and in the night sky these brightly lit homes are so beautiful. We've seen the men with their sticks and drums, singing and dancing in the night air, but we have never seen the women, they are so carefully hidden from view.
I'm working on many projects at the moment. Two quilts, and one afghan with more in my minds eye so I am trying to get my work done and move forward with the things I want to do next.
I spied a gorgeous well organized sewing room on an OPB earlier...oh OPB? Other People's Blogs! It was just so neat, tidy, organized. It looked like maybe a garage that had been redone. This lady was so organized, she labeled every thing so everything was quite literally at her fingertips. Oh how many times have I searched for an hour for some little thing I think I really need and of course have never found it in that hour but found about ten other things I want to fool with? That's me, a professional at puttering and pondering!

Olive Shells...who knew?

2010-02-17T02:48:00.001-08:00

These are the olive shells and the fossil I have picked up on the beach in Fujairah, UAE on the Gulf of Oman off the Indian Ocean.
I did a tiny bit of research about the olive shells and discovered they are carnivorous, feeding on bivalves and carrion...carrion being other dead animals...they take their food and burrow into the sand to feed. Apparently all the shells I found were already dead themselves as there is nothing inside them. They secrete a mucous that can produce a purple dye. I am intrigued by them as they are each one vastly different, much like so many other things in nature. It does make one wonder how on earth nothing is completely identical, now that fascinates me! I have a rather pretty glass jar with a lid at home and I think I will put this collection of olive shells in that. I so enjoyed my quiet moments this morning gathering them on the beach and daydreaming about how to best display them.
And the fossil...wow...I haven't been able to discover much about that....it's just beautiful, a bit heavy for it's small size. I have researched some star fish and discovered they too are vastly different and there are many in the species though I did not find anything even close really to this fossil. I wonder about some sort of lily or other plant life. I just found one called Bryophyta that looks to me a bit like ferns of some sort just found that too called a crinoid. You can find just about anything on the internet.
My memory these days is not such that I would remember all this data but it is fun to search it out and write a dibble dab about it. Meanwhile I will continue my collecting of shells tomorrow and for now will dive back into my book...The Mermaid's Chair by Sue Monk Kidd. I find it rather intriguing.

My Valentine

2010-02-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

My husband I had a rather quiet, though sort of unusual Valentine's Day...It was one of those jet lag nights that I could not get to sleep, laid there thinking what can I do to make that little silver box of candy more special for him? The man who has everything, wants nothing is difficult to plan or buy for as he literally wants nothing. Well I got up and went downstairs and cleaned up the kitchen, having been too tired to clean it up earlier...so I cleaned it, prepared all the coffee fixings for the next morning, laid out a plate, the box of pastries we had purchased, a banana and his cup and spoon and set out the precious little silver box of delightful Bateel chocolates, the very best in Dubai we think. So I finally fell asleep about 6am and my husband was up at 6:30, I heard nothing of course. He kissed me goodbye, told me Happy Valentines Day and I groggily came to and went downstairs to at least feed the dog...and there waiting for me on the breakfast bar was my identical little Bateel box and a large card and an even larger Big Brown Bag...inside was a lovely fun bathrobe we had spied the week before at the new Bloomingdale's in Dubai Mall. I laughed out loud at the silver box of candy....we were both stunned that we had picked the same box of chocolates...two minds, one heart. I hope all of you had a lovely Valentine's Day too.

Cousins and Aunts

2010-01-23T04:03:00.000-08:00

We're in Washington, DC with our daughter and her family and had a lovely visit with my Aunt and my cousin. My daughter is named after my Aunt. We've been blessed with good weather and we head back to the mountains today. The only bump we had here was a rather large protest march which put a bit of a damper on our holiday. I can't imagine living here and trying to work and live around all those kinds of things.

The sun appeared for a beach walk

2010-01-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

Morning at the beach

2010-01-17T04:25:00.000-08:00

Oh sigh....I'm so delighted. We're at our own little corner of heaven down at Sunset Beach. Just sitting on the porch watching the slow arrival of the morning, while listening to the rain, the wind whistling through the trees and the occasional juggling of the bamboo wind chimes, drip drip drip as the rain settles on down the drain pipe. We're snuggled up in jammies, robes and a nice big afghan each draped over our shoulders, snug as bugs. I've been reading OPB'S as you all know I delight in those. (Other Peoples Blog's). I've found several recipes I want to try and a new quilt idea and a couple of decorating ideas and I've had some revelations out here on my own. I believe I will take my little red glider and rocker back to the mountains and put them on that porch, then I can move a table out here and a pair of chairs so we can eat breakfast out here or the boys can color or whatever. My herbs are mostly still growing away...only the basil finally gave up, must've been colder down here during Christmas time and it finally quit, but it had a long growing season. All the perennial herbs though are flourishing nicely and I may have to make some ice tea today so I can use some mint, or a cup of hot tea would do. I have found the neatest way to make pies in individual portions and have long planned on making them...ordered the jars from Amazon, brought them along and today is the day! I am going to make them for us and for our two little old neighbors I adore here. Here's the link to find the recipe, you will all love the entire blog I'm sure. http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/09/single-serving-pie-in-jar.html Meanwhile I will be happily cooking during the rain.
I've added this picture of one of my favorite beach places here, though this one is not mine, I just love the colors and the landscaping, it all looks so cheery to me. I knew if I sat here just long enough Tom would decide to make breakfast..he did..lol..how lucky can a girl get?

do you ever? just fill yourself up?

2010-01-13T02:18:00.000-08:00

Oh we're home in the mountains at last...just not for long. Just a couple of days, so many errands to run, some fun some just tedious but must be done. But all that aside...oh how lovely to be here, snuggling down in our very own bed! It's glorious! I've been getting all excited reading OPB'S...translation Other People's Blogs... I've found adorable decorating ideas, my head is swimming and crochet and quilting things that I must do...simply must and I got my book order from BAMM and oh oh oh...so many new ideas and things to do. I love Jan Eaton crochet books, I'm now the delighted owner of three very special ones, granny squares, ripples and a crochet encyclopedia and I just cannot keep my hands off them. I have been busy experimenting with different things and having so much fun. No wonder Granny's are known to sit and stitch...so many things to make and I'm blessed that my children and grandchildren adore homemade things! How cool is that?!!!
This is just a simple picture on our new enclosed porch, but it shows the name of our home Elmer's Tune, a sign my husband made for me, we named our home Elmer's Tune from a song his Mother used to sing for us and oh how we love both, the song and our home!

and the Big event of the year in Dubai

2010-01-11T01:34:00.000-08:00

The opening of the Burj Dubai whose name was immediately changed to the Burj Khalifa. We watched the fireworks from the Eid Prayer Park across the street from our villa. It didn't last long but it was really beautiful. This was on the eve of Sheikh Mohammed's ascension day as well as the day of his son's wedding, Sheikh Hamdan.

New Years Eve

2010-01-11T01:24:00.000-08:00

We watched the fireworks from the Burj Al Arab from our bedroom window, with Daisy stretching to see too...it was lovely. We had bought a bottle of Asti Spumante at Duty Free our previous flight in and we celebrated with that. We watched the ball drop in Times Square the next morning at 9am on television. So we celebrate New Years twice. I think we went to see the new Meryl Streep movie that day, It's Complicated. Such fun, she is just tremendous as always. We had a nice late lunch out then back home to Daisy who stayed busy chewing chewies from her Santa stocking. Boy was she upset when I put the Christmas decorations away...she followed me to the closet as I put her stocking on the shelf, then gave me that look that said but Mom, if you put it away, then Santa won't come. I just told her that's right, not until next Christmas. She has been to the closet door twice for a sniff.

Christmas Eve

2010-01-11T01:16:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve dinner in the garden, note the begging snooper under my elbow. Such a lovely evening...we had a very simple dinner of turkey breast and homemade noodles and then two pies! It was yummy and all that we wanted. Daisy got a special treat, a bite or two of turkey breast. I have left overs in the freezer for a nice turkey stew or pie when we return. I even boiled the bones for broth, I'm so proud of me. We had candlelight, and Christmas music from the computer. A rather different Christmas than we're used to, but lovely none the less.

Christmas Day

2010-01-11T01:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning and Daisy has figured out that Santa left her a present, it was like watching a three year old child, just absolute wonder on her face.

Dollhouse

2009-12-17T22:21:00.000-08:00

Oh I found a cute dollhouse, just across the street in the children's department of Macy's. I think my grand daughter will love it, it's rather simple, yet sturdy, perfect for three year old fingers. I went on line, ordered it and the horse barn for my grandson and had them shipped.

I remember getting a dollhouse for Christmas one year, my sister got the farm set. Before Christmas we went on a hunt for gifts and found them tucked away in our Mother's closet. My sister and I quietly played with them while our Mother was busy elsewhere, then we put everything back as we had found them and anticipated Christmas morning where we so enjoyed them all over again. I wonder how old we were and I wonder if our parents ever knew what we did. I wish I still had that doll house, it was one of those metal ones with the plastic furniture. I would keep it at my house for my grand daughter to play with when she visits.

I just love all the secrecy and excitement of Christmas don't you?

addicted

2009-12-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

I'm so addicted to OPB'S, translated Other Peoples Blogs, perhaps I should say OWB'S translated Other Women's Blogs. I just love them. Some are so bright and cheery and they just make my day sometimes. I get tons of ideas and add to my already very long wish list of "stuff to make" or

"stuff to search for". I have so many ideas, some are actually my own, floating about in my head that I am on OPB overload!

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Philadelphia, USA waiting on my DH to return from a meeting. Oh I could go shop, I could go wander, I could go to the spa for any treatment I would like, I could do all kinds of things, but you know what? I am quite content here in the silence and privacy of this room reading OPB'S and looking at all the pretty pictures.

I'm also searching for a doll house for my sweet little grand daughter, thus far nothing totally appealing has jumped out at me. Years ago when my own girls were her size I found a darling little doll house for some little critters like hedge hogs or something, it was so cute, and that is what is in my head and I'm searching for one like that. Wonder what ever happened to the one we had? I'm going to post a picture of my sweet little grand daughter, all dressed up in her favorite outfit, she actually went to church like this, another day she wore her robe...she's quite independent. I love that about her. I so miss seeing her when I'm away.

Sunrise over the Blue Ridge Mountains

2009-11-22T07:37:00.000-08:00

Oh it's just lovely to watch a sunrise over the Blue Ridge Mountains. I've watched so many, watched the rain, and seen rainbows encompassing me, watched the snow cover the mountains and valleys, watched fireflies at night along with the milky way and shooting stars, watched the trees turn color in the fall and leaves blow across the valley, watched the starkness of winter and the delight of spring and the warmth of summer and all the while watching the sun move from one side of my view to the other. I can also watch the moon rise over the mountains and see the reflection of the setting sun. Oh I'm quite lucky indeed to have my wonderful view of the mountains.

And now we've added an all weather porch that allows me to sit outside and watch the wonders unfold before me....today it's raining and I can hear the splish splash of drops as I sit and watch the grey fluffy clouds settle in amongst the mountain ridges.

I'm talking with my hubby via ichat and crocheting and writing all at the same time. I'm planning on making my home made noodles this afternoon for our Thanksgiving dinner, my daughters will help me but first they had chores to do and I had to sit and watch and listen to the mountain rain.

Piecemakers

2009-10-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

This is my Monday morning stitch group, The Piecemakers, women from all over the world. We were having a Sri Lankan lunch prepared by the lady in Pink. It was delicious but oh so hot!

Lunch with the Piecemakers

2009-10-07T02:21:00.000-07:00

left to right, Becky (me), USA Judy visiting from Saudi, Julie Ellen, New Zealand, Geetha, Sri Lanka, Margaret, Fiji and Carmel, South Africa.

October 4, 2009 After a trip to Karama "pursing", our version of shopping the knock off souks for purses we ate lunch at this Sri Lankan restaurant where the food is spicey and wonderful. Our Sri Lankan member does the ordering and explaining at the restaurant; and we have a grand time bargaining with the souk boys. I'm looking forward already to the next time. Often, Geetha will stop in and pick up something to bring to our stitch group for our morning tea. It's fun to sample other cultures. Hers happens to be quite hot! But you must soothe it with yogurt only, there are two dishes of different yogurts on our trays, there is one wonderful dessert and the rest are basically spicey veggies.

Happy 24th Anniversary

2009-10-05T02:35:00.000-07:00

I think God probably gave me the best husband on earth. As a young man I used to call him "every Mother's dream" as he was a gentleman in all ways and a straight A student, he was kind, courteous, thoughtful and a friend to all plus he had a delicious sense of humor, a combination of both his parents. Well we grew up eventually and I married that "every mother's dream". He bought me this lovely little rose and white gold with a circlet of diamonds necklace for our 24th anniversary which we celebrated at a restaurant called More which just happens to be in the Gold and Diamond Park in Dubai. We have such a lovely love story though he does not like me telling it, he says it is ours and should remain ours, isn't that sweet?

Seven Days Baskets Quilt

2009-09-23T23:17:00.001-07:00

I finished this quilt actually after I got home to the states, had to cut and sew the binding, my favorite machine quilter, Suzet, had just finished it for me. It was featured in Seven Days Magazine in Dubai, hence the name. One of the reporters visited my stitch group, the Piecemakers, and I happened to be the only one stitching that day so my picture was taken working on this quilt. I gave it to my Mother and this is her bedroom.

Class Reunion

2009-09-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

About 3 summers ago I got reconnected with some of my old high school friends basically through reading our home town obituaries, since you leave your email address we were able to reconnect with our old friends and began meeting for lunch or dinner whenever we were in town, which led to a lot of email correspondence and a monster renewal of some precious old friendships. We've just had our 45th class reunion and all but one of our emailing buddies were able to attend, we had the best time and are busy planning our next adventure.

Chirping firealarm

2009-07-31T23:58:00.000-07:00

I'm at the beach in our little house we call Camel Lot. The fire alarm is busy chirping at regular intervals like a hungry baby bird. I woke to potty and then that chirp kept me up so went to the porch where I've enjoyed an hour of night sounds, a rare gentle breeze and lastly noticed the humidity so came inside to steady air conditioning. I am missing my crochet, I left it at home but do have some applique with me to stitch on but find myself on the computer in those idle moments instead of being creative. I'm itching to crochet, have some new ideas and patterns to explore and I so love working on a piece and letting it grow in my lap especially when it's cold as it warms you as you work. I am eager to try a simple large granny square to cover an old stool I found, it's out in the shed here.....need to paint it first perhaps and redo the top so that a crochet cover will fit nicely over fresh padding. I have so many things I want to do and so little time it seems.

Today we planted two raspberry bushes, three blueberry bushes and spearmint, chocolate mint, rosemary and a gorgeous red Mandivilla vine. My hands were so black from all the soil amendments so I washed the car to get them clean then we went for a swim to cool off. It was so humid you could spray yourself with the garden hose and it felt like bath water!

I brought my new bike down, a red and silver beauty with streamers on the handlebars and a "fat butt" seat, it was a find at the Screen Door for $50.00! I love it, it needs a basket and it will be perfect!

2009-05-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

I meant to add the recipe for that tea in the picture. That picture was taken at Alila Manggis in Bali on a recent trip. Here's how you make it.

Lemon Grass Ginger Tea

Trim two stalks of lemon grass or use dried lemon grass, chop the fresh into small pieces

one short stick of cinnamon

one small bunch of mint.....like a sprig

one thumb size or a bit bigger piece of ginger, peeled and mashed a bit

Add boiling water and let steep together about five minutes, strain into a cup

I used a coffee press but now have lovely tea pots with built in strainers.

Add the juice of a small piece of lime and about one teaspoon of your favorite honey to the strained liquid........sip and enjoy!

2009-04-19T01:57:00.000-07:00

Blogging? What's this, who has time what with msn, yahoo, ichat, other chats I can't even remember, yahoo groups, facebook, email, gmail, incredimail not to mention dirty dishes, laundry, dust bunnies, dirty bathrooms, these horrid floors to clean and my sewing. Whew! I don't have time for a mani/pedi or a massage, and forget about a haircut! Plus I have discovered too many ebloggers that are just pure fun to read, much more so than me so stop now!

And I'm trying to be a better daughter, mother, grandmother, friend and keep in contact with all that apply to those titles from me......I'm overwhelmed with it all. I think I'll just take off and read my book for a bit. I'm so into the James Patterson series, the Women's Murder Club, they keep me flipping the pages and I just won't let myself read ahead......I've got a cup of tea so off I go. You people out there, "talk amongst yourselves, I'm busy!"

2009-02-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

Let's start with Gratitude, I'm grateful for my husband, flowers in bloom, the birds singing, my jeans fit, a full tummy. Well not so sure about that full tummy bit.

I spent yesterday working with my fellow Dubai Quilters on our Charity Quilts for the show this spring. We had a potluck lunch and worked in two teams constructing two quilts identical except for fabric. It' was a great way to spend an otherwise lonely day in Dubai.

Today I scooted out to one of the fabric souks and purchased a whole new array of pastel fabrics. Tomorrow I sew.

September 2, 2008

2008-09-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Not much of a blogger am I? This little quilt was a collaboration between my daughter and me.....she stitched the turtles and I combined them, we both machine quilted it and then I bound it. We made it for my niece's new baby boy, the back side is a turtle print. We're not satisfied with our machine quilting, otherwise it turned out really cute, this picture was before the binding was hand stitched down.

Desert Quilter begins blogging

2007-09-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

Gratitude
1. modern technology and the ability it gives you to make new friends
2. having a hobby
3. a bright sunny day
4. flowers in bloom
5. birds singing

I stumbled on another quilters blog and enjoyed it so much, noted the sign up section and just signed up. The other quilter also included entries to a Gratitude Journal. I still tell people about that. I read Sarah Ban Breathnoch's Simple Abundance frequently. I even have her audio tapes. Ahh....idea.....listen to them again while quilting. In the book Sarah suggests keeping a Gratitude Journal. I have done that and it is life changing. It really does open your mind and your eyes and your heart to the daily simple things that you are truly grateful for but often do not notice........sort of like stopping to smell the flowers along your way.

I am expat quilter living in Dubai, UAE with my college administrator husband and one delightful white boxer who truly believes she is human. I am therefore exposed to International quilters. We come together in quilting and celebrate our differences. The women here are literally from all over the world. We have discovered that though we are vastly different as far as culture, religion, past history, and literally everything in our lives we come together in quilting and discover that underneath the layers of our histories we are all basically quite alike........we all want the same things in our lives, home, love of family and friends, good education opportunities, and peace in the world. It's been a fascinating experience to get to know these women. We've all learned so much from each other. Now if politicians quilted...maybe..........maybe we could achieve world peace.