A LITTLE TRIP

We went on a little trip up North to a Reservoir in Wyoming. Their was conversation with my sister, BIL, Caitlin and her family, food that was out of this world, sand, beach and lots of sun! Temps were warm but not crazy! Sunsets-beautiful and the moon rising----breath taking. Something that didn't happen....knitting, not one stitch! Never before have I gone out camping and not spent time knitting! 

September is here, one of my favorite months. The promise of cool weather, in fact we have snow in the forecast, here, at 5500ft! Not unusual, but getting more rare with Global Warming. Tuesday though, they are saying in the high 30's and snow, what a welcome sight that will be. Snow will be helpful for the fires burning North of us and will break the heat cycle,(the day before the snow, temps in high90's). Does this make one feel a little crazy,  no, if you live in Colorado by the mountains, the weather can and will change in extreme directions on a dime. I love it!

Yarn Along

Unraveled Wednesday

FILLING TIME

Time has become almost surreal 6 months into this pandemic, a National Disaster for sure, that just keeps cycling around with more bad news. In the West, the more bad news - the fires! We have two burning, one within 10 miles from us, the other 40 miles. Both are burning hot enough for the smoke to block out the sun, almost daily. It's nearly impossible to sit for 20 minutes on the porch, fresh air, not at this time! Daily temps. are hanging around 99-100 degrees, we need cold and snow! The RNC is not helping my mental health

 with all the HATE they are spewing on TV! Oh, 2020 you have been one hard year!

But, a little break yesterday....Caitlin and I canned Roma Tomatoes. Jason first roasted them,    (4 cases in less than 10 minutes), never again will I do the blanching method to remove skins.

I thought we were going to make tomato sauce, the kind that is ready to pour and use for pasta dishes. Caitlin wanted to can whole tomatoes, because they are so much more versatile, open a jar, make sauce (by adding garlic and spices), open a jar and use the whole tomatoes poured over a roast, or make soup, spicy V-8 juice.......

You get the idea! So whole tomatoes it was and it was fast. We started at 1pm and I pulled the last jars out at 6pm. Not bad for a winter supply of deliciousness! 

The Brown and Pink quilt is on the machine and it is going to be slowing going!  Though it will be beautiful when completed and I have the time! 

Reading: 

~Caste: This is a hard read for me, but a much needed read for me! Please, if you are interested in Race and Race relations, this is the book you are looking for, get it, read it slow and digest the information. 

~The Mountains Sing- Is about a family in Viet Nam that survives the years of wars from the French through the Americans and last-the Communist Party. WOW. 

Connecting with Kat and Unraveled Wednesday

KEEPING IT SIMPLE while THE WORLD IS ON FIRE

The kiddos were here on the weekend and I came up with an art project that, 1) they loved and 2) lasted most of the morning....BINGO that's a win! I had used up some fabric on a few bolts and hated to just toss the cardboard , so I decided to put them on the table with a bunch of art supplies and said 'go for it'. 'Go for it' they did, what started as making -'people board's' went to pure unrestricted artistic expression. I love that kind of kid art! Let them run with imagination.

We have a GIANT fire burning about 50 miles up the canyon from us and the smoke is awful! It has been blocking out the sun for days, some days worse than others. So besides for COVID reasons, we are locked inside our homes due to the thick smoke. Oy Vey, what else is 2020 going to throw at us?

A few projects that I have completed are:

--sweater for Gus

---rainbow socks that I am keeping for me

---the disaster quilt for Gus

I call it the disaster quilt because of all the mistakes in the quilt. One would think- this is the first quilt I have ever made and I have close to about 150 under my sewing belt. One thing that I finally cried "uncle" on -is my straight edge ruler. It must be 15-20 years old and has few markings  left on it that I can read and the edge is all gouged and nicked. I ordered a new one! If Disaster quilt was not going to little Gus I would of thrown it out. It almost landed in the trash several times but I thought, Gus is just going to drag it through the dirt, stomp on it and use in fort building....well now, it may just be perfect for him. Betty saw it and thought it was so "beautiful" and asked if it was for her?

Me: no Honey this is for Gus.

Betty: But Mimi, Gus does not SHARE! 

Betty:  I know, You can make me one too!

Me: Of course I will!

The quilt is made from scraps and I mean true scraps. I have buckets of small scrappy quilt fabrics. I can't bear to throw out fabric, it's expensive and I can always make something from the scraps. 

I'm anxiously awaiting a Di Ford -BOM quilt and book to arrive, it will be the first Di Ford quilt for me. Lots of piecing, (so glad I ordered that new ruler), and some appliquéing, best of both worlds. 

Also on the agenda is a Hexie Quilt that will be done by hand! Hope I live long enough to complete this beautiful quilt, another quilt inspired by Di Ford.

Presently, I am machine quilting the Brown and Pink Reproduction Quilt. 

Reading:

The Good Lord Bird by James Mc Bride

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton

Joining Kat - Unraveled Wednesday

PEACHES

Last Wednesday was spent canning 2 cases of peaches with Caitlin. We ended up with 29 quarts and about 7 whole HUGE peaches (left over)! Not bad for about 3 hours of work. 

The kitchen 'flow' was hard, I had the canning flow down in my old house to a smooth sailing ship. This new kitchen is much bigger and lots of room to move, but have to figure out the 'flow'! Also, without stone counters we had to bring in ply wood so the jars wouldn't burn the counters and table. Yup, Caitlin and I have both done that at one time or another. 

What is on the agenda this week coming up, I am not sure but I bet their will be something and it will be fun!

ONCE A WEEK

SOAP

Smoked Ribs, Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob, Salad

Getting to 'trace' with soap

Fried Chicken, Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob

This new blogger, I am not having fun with! I can't move my pictures around and blogger won't load them in the order I try to put them, sooo, I get this mish mash sequence of pictures! Ugh....

A couple of weeks ago, Caitlin and I decided to 'make' one day a week. Our first week was...

Canning Pickles. We put together Refrigerated Pickles and Dill Pickles. We forgot to put horseradish in the Dills, ( just something to rachet up the flavor, oh well next time.)

The pickles came out amazingly! It's hard  to let the jars sit and the spices to do their magic, but patience is a virtue, so I am told.

The second week, we made SOAP. I love homemade soap, I love making it and the only thing I love more, is to make SOAP with Caitlin. Of course, while making two basic batches of soap, we are planning our next batch....Goat Milk, and what essential oils to use. It is endless our plans and Caitlin has already found a local source for that goat milk!

Two year olds can be sooo funny! Gus walked into the kitchen and told his Mom, "I going to the library to pick up books and I have my mask on!" Cuz, you know all the germs out there. 

Kids, they will never know how much sunshine they spread in this crazy world.

After replacing all our appliances , I have been cooking and Eric has been smoking. 

I will say this stay at home thing, it has allowed us to cook some yummy, comfort food. And right now, I need comfort food a couple times a week!  The other thing in the kitchen happening is making dishes from scratch that before would of  been bought ready made at the store, like potato salad and all salad dressings. The hits have been, potato salad, cole slaw, and several salad dressings. The one pictured about, not so much, its Creamy Cucumber, needs some work. 

Are you cooking? I would love to hear all about your kitchen experience. 

99 days to November 3.

Last week was a tough week here at Little House. We had to say good bye to our 'fat boy Sam! He blew his back out, not the first time, but this time the drugs were of no help. He became paralyzed and in so much pain we had him put down. I am grateful for having the decision to calmly  put a dog down, but what a decision to make, gut wrenching! Sadie, Sam's sister is here and she is lost without her mate. Just one more thing to get 'use to' in this age of weird 'get use to' COVID time. 

Friday, my daughter and I canned! I love canning and taking pics of all those jars filled with color and food. We did Refrigerated Pickles and Dill Pickles. We each had 10+ pints to put away at our home.  WE are planning one day a week 'making/doing' something in the kitchen. This week will be Lye Soap. 

Other things on our list:

Pasta noodles

peaches

raviollie with peas, or cheese or meat, etc.

dumplings, (Caitlin is a great at Chinese cooking)

Tamales?

Salsa [canned] 

etc, etc,etc.

99 days to VOTE- TRUMP -OUT -OF -OFFICE!!!!!!

TWIRLING

We spent last week in the mountains and as my 2 yr. old grandson says,'in grandpa's camping house'. It was hot here down under the Rockies so we went up into the Rockies, where it was 10-20 degrees cooler, cloudy most of the week with just the right amount of sunshine.

I spent the first 3 days sitting by the river knitting, reading and just plain listening...heaven!

Eric spent his time fishing and was honored to bring in several fish a day, all released back to the wild river of course. The last 2 days the littles came up and Betty declared at dinner, "I love camping, it is just so much fun." 

This little girl is at that wonderful stage where 'twirly' dresses are the end all. And I have material and time ! 

The magic of twirling!