Doctor Who Scarf

A fun project to work on is a Doctor Who scarf, my Mom gave me the pattern, she found it over at Doctor Who scarf . I used Bernat yarn, the colors and price were just right. I enjoyed the Doctor Who TV show growing up, my sister and I watched it every Saturday afternoon. I really liked episodes with the Daleks, Doctor Who's arch enemies. I watched Doctor Who in the seventies, John Pertwee played the doctor and after him Tom Baker. I met Tom Baker once on a school field trip to the Corn Exchange in Bury St. Edmunds and have his autograph. Many of the Doctor Who episodes are now on Netflix.

One fond memory I have of Doctor Who is from January 29th, 1972, the day my youngest sister was born. My mom was in heavy labor and the midwife arrived at our house. My dad, sister and I, we were eight and six, hung out in the living room. I think my dad was getting pretty stressed out so the midwife called her son to tell him she was sending us his way. My dad drove us to the midwife's house, he sat in the kitchen drinking cup after cup of tea with the midwife's son, and my sister and I sat in the living room and watched Doctor Who. Finally the phone rang, it was the midwife calling to say my sister was born so we hurriedly headed home on a chilly January evening. We arrived at the house and my dad took us into the bedroom where my mom was sitting up in bed with our brand new baby sister!

Pictures of the scarf in the making:

A good start.

About a third of the way done.

Finished scarf, about twelve feet long.

Who is hiding behind that enormous scarf??

A Brief Vacation

Last month my daughter Amber, the grandsons, and myself headed south to visit my parents at their new home in Tavares, FL. We left on a Tuesday around four in the afternoon, figuring it would be best to get most of the driving out of the way through the night as the little boys slept. Eighteen hours later we arrived at my parents house and we were all very glad to get out of the van! A hot cup of tea was waiting for me and it was very refreshing and perked me up quite nicely.  Amber and the boys immediately wanted to swim, so into the pool they went, Henry became quite the swimmer during our few days visiting.
My parents bought their new home in March of this year with the plan to make it open for all of us to use as a wonderful place to vacation.
Tavares is located about thiry miles north west of Orlando, and is about an hours drive to either coast, being so centrally located makes it ideal for planning day trips.  The house sits on Lake Harris, a massive lake, just shy of 14, 000 acres, it connects to several other lakes, and if you desire you can cross lake after lake and go through various channels and rivers and ultimately end up in the Atlantic ocean.
My parents took us all out on their pontoon, it was a beautiful sunny day simply perfect for a boat ride. We headed across Lake Harris, through the dead river, into Lake Eustis, down the Dora Canal into the Mt. Dora Lake, we then docked and took a stroll around Tavares.  A little later we headed back to the pontoon, chased off all of the birds who decided it was a wonderful place to perch, and retraced our journey home.
Another day we took a drive to Homosassa Springs located on the western side of Florida.  There is a lovely state park, Homosassas Springs State Park, a winter home to many manatees, and a permanent home to several captive manatees. The park is a delight, well worth a visit. As well as manatees there are many birds to see, owls, eagles, flamingos, to name a few, a lovely old fellow Lou the Hippopotamus who is fifty years old, aligators, black bear, foxes, and a reptile house with lots of little creatures who thankfully are safely kept behind glass. Other than Lou, all the birds and animals are native to Florida. While walking around the park we discovered a very small creature lying in a crack in the sidewalk, it was obviously injured, my mom and Amber, Patrick and Charlie stood guard while Henry and I went to find help. In the nature building we found three retirees, all volunteers at the park, who were quite excited with the thought of an adventure. Henry, the three park volunteers and myself all headed back to the injured creature. It turned out to be a baby flying squirrel, one of the volunteers called for emergency back up and we continued our tour of the park. A little later we checked back with the volunteers and found out that the little squirrel was in a warming bed and would be transferred to a rehabilitation center for flying squirrels run by a lady called Mary. We were glad that we had had some part in rescuing the poor little squirrel.
We visited a beach on the Gulf of Mexico and dipped our toes into the surf and another day we headed over to the east coast to New Smyrna Beach to see the Atlantic ocean. New Smyrna is a good place to visit, we walked around a farmers market, it was strange to me that it was essentially the same as the farmers market we have in Fort Wayne, selling identical things packaged almost identically, very strange! A man was playing calypso music at the market, it was perfect, the sun was shining and it was very hot, we purchased a bag of kettle corn and headed to the beach.
It was a perfect day for the beach, a light breeze, ample sunshine, warm water, seventy-seven degrees warm, and lots and lots of sand. I built a sandcastle, we all played in the surf, ate popcorn, played ball, sat in the sun, and did all the usual going to the beach activities, it was wonderful.
It was a great, albeit brief, vacation, and I hope to run down to Florida again with Dave sometime in January for a few days of fun in the sun.

Turtles at Homosassas

My mummy with two of her great-grandsons

Lou the Hippo

The baby flying squirrel. He was much photographed by us and the park volunteers!

A manatee

I wouldn't trust that smile if I was you.

A splendid eagle

Amber and two of the boys standing in the Gulf of Mexico

My mom enjoying the shade

A view of Lake Harris at sunset

The boathouse at sunset

The pontoon First Mate

The pontoon Captain

The Dora Canal

Trees in the Dora Canal

Amber and her boys enjoying the pontoon

Pontoon rides are very relaxing

My splendid sand castle, it took the boys no time at all to demolish it!

You can't go to the beach without someone getting buried in the sand :)

A view of New Smyrna Beach looking south

Amber and Charlie paddling in the Atlantic

On This Day

The Grandchildren were this size October 4, 2013!!!

Henry Height 45", Weight 48 lbs, Chest 24"

Patrick  Height 41", Weight 44 lbs, Chest 24"

Charlie Height 32", Weight 30 lbs, Chest 21"

Alivia Height 29", Weight 22 lbs, Chest 19"

A Day in My Life

A peaceful fall day, a high of eighty expected with rain moving in this evening. The leaves are changing, last week it was barely noticeable, this week the colors are really coming out, lots of yellows and golds and so lovely to look at.  The summer insects are having their last hurrah, doubtless we will have a hard frost in the next few weeks and gone will be the chirp of crickets and the summer chorus.

Later today the grandsons will be over, the house will then be full of life and energy, and funny conversation. The other evening they were here late so we watched Old Yeller, what a wonderful movie, I enjoy it each time I watch it and the boys enjoyed it too.

This evening Ben will be home, he is driving up from Muncie and will stay for dinner, I haven't seen him since he went back to university in August, so am looking forward to a big hug and some catching up. Ben has requested that we have pancakes for dinner for some reason, so I ran out this morning to get some good bacon to go along with them.  We like to do breakfast for dinner once a week, usually we do breakfast casserole made with sausage.

Today is my daughter-in-law Traci's birthday, she is now a quarter of a century old :)

Another bread baking day, I am making oatmeal bread today, I made some on Saturday but it is all gone now, when the little boys are over we go through a lot of bread as they love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. As the boys ate lunch the other day I was amused that they were eating peanut butter and jelly  sandwiches made with homemade bread and homemade grape jelly, followed by homemade apple sauce made with apples from our trees.

My sister stopped by last Saturday, she came to get more kale and apples for juicing, we had a good visit and my niece Caitie came along too which was nice. When Marika and Caitie left they had a large bag of kale, a bag of apples, a jar of homemade apple butter, a dozen brown eggs from our chickens, and a homemade crochet topped kitchen towel to hang in the kitchen, we laughed at all of the homemade goodies they were taking with them, and it was very satisfying to be able to share our bounty.

I purchased some material the other day to make a new blouse, I hope to cut it out a little later today, it will not take too long to make as I will be using a pattern I have used many times over. As far as knitting I am making my self a raglan cardigan in a nice brown with flecks of rust and gold, I have the back finished and am now working on the left front, so far so good. I am also crocheting the hanging kitchen towels and magic hot pads, they are quick projects and nice to turn to when I get tired of knitting.

Well that is all for now.

September

This has been a busy month for me. Along with all the usual stuff, I have also been busy putting away the garden bounty that we have been blessed with. Our concord grapes did well this year and I was able to put up 26 jars of grape jelly.  Our apple trees did very well this year, the first time since we planted them ten or so years ago, and they are keeping me busy. The grandchildren love applesauce so I am making plenty of it. I have put up 6 quarts of applesauce so far and will easily have enough apples  to do another 8 quarts of sauce, and I have made 9 pints of apple butter.  My sauerkraut is fermenting away in a bucket in the kitchen, I will can it some time next month, it smells very good right now.  Our pear trees are loaded down and early next month I plan to start harvesting them and will begin to can some of the fruit.
I think this year I have canned more than I ever have; the inventory so far:

Tomatoes 65 quarts

Peaches 27 quarts

Green Beans 50 pints

Corn 35 pints

Grape Jelly 14 pints

Apple Sauce 14 quarts

Apple Butter 8 pints

Strawberry Jam 24 pints

Pickled Beets 12 pints

Pickles 22 quarts

Peppers 7 quarts, chopped up and frozen

Sauerkraut 25 lbs still fermenting, yet to be canned

Everything was from our garden except the peaches which I purchased at a very good price.  We are very pleased with our little harvest. And, we thank the Lord for the abundance. I think back to early spring when we planted the garden, I stood with the grandsons in one of the gardens, we held hands in a circle and we prayed for the Lord's blessing upon our little gardens, and we have truly been blessed.

Family Update

Grandson Henry who just turned 5, started preschool earlier this month and really likes it. His favorite part each morning at school is recess and playing with his new friend Eli. 

Grandson Patrick who is three and a half, has started to draw "proper" pictures, he suddenly has a great interest in coloring and drawing, I enjoy his art work.

Grandson Charlie who is 16 months old is into absolutely everything and I feel that all I say to him is no, no, no, all day long when I watch him! Henry says, "Bad Baby", and I say no, "Learning Baby", and hopefully he will learn soon that he cannot climb up onto everything and bang on everything in sight :) 

Granddaughter Alivia is just about 11 months old now, she is starting to take a tentative step with a lot of encouragement, but her preferred method off locomotion is speed crawling everywhere. You can hear Alivia coming from a mile away, as there is a frantic slapping of hands and chubby knees on the floor, as she races from one thing to other. Alivia now has four teeth.

The other day Henry told me about a dream he had, I want to remember it for him for when he gets older, so here it is:

In the dream Henry and Patrick are taking a bath, when they get out of the water they are different colors, Henry is blue, Patrick is green and their ears are feathers! They are able to remove the feathers and then find that they have brown ears and they cannot be taken off.

Well, what that is all about I don't know, but I thought it was quite an original dream to have! We spent a while talking about dreams and Henry wanted to know what kind of dreams I had when I was a little girl. I remember a few dreams, most likely because they disturbed me and I thought about them and they became part of my memory. One I remembered  from when I was around four years old, my family had come home from a weekend of camping and there was evidence that mice had enjoyed our home while we gone. I heard my parents talking about the mice and they put out some poison. I dreamt that a family of mice, people sized and sort of Mickey Mouse looking lived in my wardrobe, I don't recall what happened in the rest of the dream, but still can see visions from the dream. Henry told me that my dream was "very freaky"!

Everyone else is simply busy. Amber has stepped down as manager at the salon she works for and is transferring to a location closer to home, she got tired of managing people! Son-in-law Brad is away on an 8 week training course for work, he is able to come home on the weekends, and has just completed the third week. Amber and the boys will be glad when Daddy is home for good.

Ben and Emily are working hard on their college courses.

Dave returned to work last week and has fully recuperated from his surgery and the complications that followed.  Thank you for all of the prayers.

My fun Friday night was spent in the large recliner in the TV room watching Mary Poppins for the umpteenth time with, at one point three grandchildren snuggled up with me, I thought to myself that it really doesn't get any better than this, and I felt truly blessed.

So all in all although we are busy, life is back to normal again and that is good thing, and we thank the Lord for the many blessings he pours upon our family.

Bread Baking

For many, many years Dave and I have made our own bread and I couldn't tell you when we last purchased a loaf of bread.  The basic white bread recipe that we use was given to me by my dad. My dad baked bread most Saturday's of my childhood, making a weeks worth of loaves for the family. I started to make bread in my early twenties, but not very often, and at first it did not turn out so well. Over time I started to have more consistent results with my bread making, but still it was something that I did once in a while, we still purchased a lot of bread as we had four growing children at home, believe me we went through a lot of bread each week. My husband started to get interested in the process and decided to try the recipe, his first batch turned out very well  and he has baked bread ever since. Dave is home more in the winter and tends to take care of the bread making during the winter months, and I tend to take care of it in the warmer months. Usually when we bake bread we make two batches for ten loaves this keeps us going for a couple of weeks.We have pretty consistently made our own bread for about fifteen years. I sometimes make oatmeal bread for a change, I will post the recipe another day.

Basic White Bread

2 T dry yeast
2T salt
4T shortening
6T sugar
4 1/2 cups warm water - 110 -115 degrees F
10 - 12 cups of water

Yield 5 loaves, or 4 LARGE loaves
Place, yeast, salt, shortening, and sugar into a large mixing bowl, add the warm water, stir, let stand for five minutes or so, yeast will be nice and foamy.

Add 8 cups of flour, stir in, it will be a big goopy, sticky mess.
Add 2 cups of flour, and dump the entire mixture onto the counter.

Have another cup of flour handy, start kneading the bread, by pulling up the side and pushing it into the middle, turn pull up the side and push into the middle, turn and repeat for about ten minutes. Withing a minute or two you will have a much more manageable dough, keep sprinkling the counter with the extra flour so that the dough doesn't stick, keep kneading. After about ten minutes the dough will feel different, kind of clammy, elastic, and smooth. Use a little shortening to grease the mixing bowl, take the dough and rub it in the bowl to grease the bottom, then invert the dough (greased side is now up), cover the bowl with a dish towel and let sit for 40 - 50 minutes to rise.

Once the dough has risen, dump it out onto the counter, let it rest a minute, then divide into four or five parts, depending upon how many loaves you desire. Roll each portion out into a rectangle, then fold the ends in so that the rectangle is now 1/3 of the original size, then roll up and pinch ends and place in the bread pan. Cover the bread pans with a dish towel and leave the loaves to rise for an hour to an hour and a half.

Heat the oven to 420, bake the loaves, up to three at a time, for 22 minutes.  Remove each loaf from its pan immediately, sit the loaf sideways across the top of the pan and allow to cool.

Bread Makers Treat!

Glorious Sunrise

I was up early this morning getting the bread going, and was privileged to view a stunning sunrise, I grabbed my camera and took a couple of pictures. I am glad I took the pictures immediately, because within five minutes the glorious golden light was gone and it was just an ordinary early morning again, but for just a few minutes it was truly enchanting.

View to the west, the camera really captured the strange light.

View to the east - spectacular!

Few to the west a minute or two after the first picture already the light had changed .

Sauerkraut

 Well when you have a lot of cabbage what else can you do but make sauerkraut. I now have twenty-five pounds of shredded cabbage fermenting in a bucket in the kitchen. It will start to smell a little rank around here in a few days, but we will have to put up with it for 4 - 6 weeks, then I will can the sauerkraut and the house will smell a whole lot better :)

Shredding the cabbage, thank heavens for my trusty old food processor, it made quick work of shredding all that cabbage.

The cabbage breaks down very quickly, I have twenty-five pounds of shredded cabbage in the bucket.

All you need to make sauerkraut is a food grade bucket, cabbage and salt. Shred five pounds of cabbage, mix it with 3 T of salt, let sit for five or so minutes, then put in the bucket and press until water begins to pull out of the cabbage. Continue on, five pounds at a time. When the final batch of cabbage is packed into the bucket the water should be over the cabbage. Place a layer of cheesecloth over the cabbage, then add a plate for a weight, this makes sure that the cabbage remains submerged, you can add a weight if necessary. Put the lid on the bucket, not tightly, just sit it on top. Leave for 4 - 6 weeks, daily skim the scum from the top. This is the only recipe I have ever read that tells me to skim the scum daily!!  Once the sauerkraut is ready, pack into quart jars and process in a hot water canner.  Yummy, so good with pork roast and mashed potato, or bratwurst. I did not have sauerkraut until I met my husband, he loves the stuff, I learned to like it, at first I just like the taste of pork cooked in sauerkraut, but now I love the stuff too.