Hello, Again, Hello

Well, nothing like taking a 6 month vacation! But I'm back and can't wait to get caught up on all your blogs out there! Here is the number 1 reason I've been away.


This, of course, is Henry (at 16 months) enjoying some watermelon. I have been busy enjoying life with this little guy (he only lives 1/2 block away from grandma!). I have done some wool crafting (more on that in another post), but I have mainly been "green" crafting.  I've done a lot of container plants (both pots and barrels). Here are a few pictures to enjoy!
 Starting a strawberry patch.  Next year, though, I have to put a cover over the fence because the birds find these very yummy!
 Last year I planted a black raspberry bush and this year - my first crop!
 Some of my garden herbs: I've planted dill, parsley, cilantro, sage, basil, and rosemary.
 The grape tomatoes are coming along nicely. I can't wait for the first ripe ones!
A barrel full of cucs and yellow beans and grown-from-seed marigolds.
And a barrel full of carrots and a few indian corn stalks.

My daughter and I have also bought a CSA (community supported agriculture) share this year and here is our first box of veggies! We've got brocolli, radishes, lettuce, kholrabi, and kale.  The kale will be used this weekend to make kholrabi and cabbage coleslaw (recipe follows) and tonight we will try our hand at making kale chips!
This share also included some green onions (a bit bigger than the store bought kind!). That's Henry playing with some wooden refrigerator magnets that I made him the other day.

The kitties are doing fine.  Here is Oscar lounging around!

Well, I have much more to say but it can wait for another day.  Enjoy your morning and weekend and Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there (the world needs more of them).  Here are the recipes I mentioned before:

Kohlrabi Slaw
2 cups chopped cabbage
4 kohlrabi bulbs, peeled and grated
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
2 carrots, sliced thin
2 tablespoons minced fresh onion
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Toss the cabbage, kohlrabi, celery, carrot, and onion together in a large bowl. Whisk the sugar, salt, pepper, celery seed, mayonnaise, and vinegar together in a separate bowl until smooth; pour over the cabbage mixture and stir to coat evenly. Chill in refrigerator 1 hour before serving. Recipe courtesy of Bass Farms (http://bassfarms.blogspot.com/).

Kale Chips
1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 pinch sea salt, to taste
Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Cut away inner ribs from each kale leaf and discard; tear the leaves into pieces of uniform size. (I made my pieces about the size of a small potato chip.) Wash torn kale pieces and spin dry in a salad spinner or dry with paper towels until they're very dry. Put the kale pieces into a large resealable bag (or use a bowl if you don't mind getting your hands oily). Add about half the olive oil; seal and squeeze the bag so the oil gets distributed evenly on the kale pieces. Add the remaining oil and squeeze the bag more, until all kale pieces are evenly coated with oil and slightly 'massaged.' Sprinkle the vinegar over the kale leaves, reseal the bag, and shake to spread the vinegar evenly over the leaves. Spread the leaves evenly onto a baking sheet. Roast in the preheated oven until mostly crisp, about 35 minutes. Season with salt and serve immediately. Recipe courtesy of Bass Farms (http://bassfarms.blogspot.com/).

Have a great day and don't forget to hug your kitties and your grandkids today!
Just stopping by briefly today to post about a sweet cross-stitch freebie I came across. It was stitched on linen using DMC threads - 304, 349,415, 433, 435, 699, 702, 838, 977, 3799, 3865 - and finished as an ornament. I think its just gorgeous!  Here is the chart too! This little pattern is from Gazette94.  She has over 120 free patterns, so get a cup of hot apple cider, sit down, relax, and have fun browsing through her
patterns.  There is an adorable cross-stitch of a sweet kiss under the mistletoe!  I hope you are all having a great time getting ready for Christmas!

AND WE HAVE A WINNER!

Using a random number generator, Gina of Cat Nap Inn has won the little ornie!  Please send me your address and I'll get the little stitchery out in the mail to you. 

Also, because of all your great interest in this little item I will be making another this week (maybe not exactly the same) and offering it as another giveaway!  Will post it soon.

 Also, I will be making some to offer for purchase once my blog shop is opened.

Thank you to all who entered, I had a hoot reading about all your kitty names.  They will be source of inspiration for my next rescue!
Hi All,
My apologies for not posting the winner of my giveaway yet.  I am just getting back on my feet after a really nasty cold and sinus infection.  I will try to get the winner's name out later today or tomorrow.  I am so sorry for the delay!

We are having our first (unexpected) snow today! Maybe an inch or two.  The roads were really slick this morning on my way into work.  It took almost 45 minutes for me to go 3 miles!

Will post more later! Have a wonderful, wintery day.
May you all have a wonderful day filled with much to be thankful for! Safe travels too!

Thanksgiving Free Graphic

Good Fall Morning every
one! I wanted to share a sweet vintage image coming by way of Amy's Pick of the Day
which is a bit of verse to celebrate the season of plenty. When you go to her page, be sure to click on the image first to see the full size image. Then right click (Mac: control+click) and “save to” your computer desktop or a folder of your choice. This process will ensure you get the best quality of the image. You can use this image to make place holders for your Thanksgiving table or perhaps an applique on a tea towel. If you send Amy an image of what you made, she will post them on The Vintage Workshops' Facebook page.

This also reminds me of something I would love Santa to bring me this year .... a color printer/scanner/fax machine! I would love to be able to do some crafts with images printed to fabric.  Please tell Santa for me!

Here's wishing you a lovely fall weekend. I'm looking forward to some R&R with a good book, a kitty on my lap and some mulled cider.

Grandma was Plump!


glitter-graphics.com

Today while looking for a cute Thanksgiving blinky for by blog, I came across this one.  It caught my eye because having your loved ones homes is such a blessing but the other reason was because it reminded me of my dear Grandma Mary.  She was a jolly (plump) woman who loved her sons and grandkids.  She loved to cook for us and she did enjoy her cooking! If you asked for ham for a Sunday dinner, you got ham and roast beef! Same with pies and cookies.  She lead a wonderful and simple life with very little but lived with love and thankfulness.  This got me to thinking ... when did "grandmas" have to stop looking like the one shown here and had to start looking like Joan Collins? 

She looked so huggable and I loved hugging her! Her plumpness was so comforting and reassuring.  That's what I remember most about her and how she loved us and her wonderful smile.  I certainly thought she was beautiful because of this.  Maybe this is how our grandchildren should remember us and not our waist size? It's something to think about.