Rugby and other things
Oh Marion, NZ is in a real uproar about the Rugby Cup. A lot of the cars are showing their country's flags, they look quite good and colourful. I have finished my shopping until after the Cup is over. The cars are driving so fast just as bad as at Christmas. I stopped my Sky sports when Harry died so at least I can watch other programmes. Rugby is the wrong ball game for me. I also had a surprise yesterday , I had to go to my GP for a renewal of my pills, while I was there I was talked into going on a new health scheme. Wow I thought I was pretty healthy, knew I needed to lose weight but .........I am now on a strict diet and exercise regime and my heart was in the 30% area for a heart attack. Oops. I have dusted the exercycle and will have to wake my ideas up and change that. At least I can do something about it. I am quite lazy so had better go now and check out the bike. Hugs Bee in NZ soon to be slim?????
Amazing!
I can't believe that it worked -- after all this time!
We are expecting company and I have a few things to do before that happens, but I will be back later with a 'catch up' post. How nice to be allowed back in!
Jean
One more time...
Every time some one says they can get in here I try it again...
Peppers, etc.
We, too, have a bumper crop of peppers. DH fires up the barbeque and chars them. After that they can be vacuum packed and frozen. I don't even take the skins off or seed them until after they are thawed and ready for use. We make a lot of Mexican food throughout the year, and these peppers are wonderful for that. I didn't even plant any bell peppers this year...just the hotter ones.
The tomatoes will probably go into sauce tomorrow. I've already made one batch of roasted tomatoes with garlic, fresh basil and fresh rosemary. Makes the best marinara sauce.
Joleen, I don't believe you've ever made an ugly quilt...and I've seen quite a few lovely ones that you've made.
I'm bundling up four of mine to take to the quilt show in the tiny town (pop 100) where we have our cabin. The leaves are already starting to turn up there, and the temps have dropped below freezing several nights. Not looking forward to winter quite yet.
Kathi
MN checking in
I woke up to the wonderful aroma of garlic, onions and tomatoes still lingering from the sauce I made last night. After I mowed I picked tomatoes and cooked them down into a sauce that I freeze. So much better than the store bought stuff. We have had wonderful fall weather the last few weeks with gorgeous sunny days and cool evenings. After the hot, humid, buggy summer we had, these cooler days are welcomed! Anybody have some ideas of what to do with grapes. Lots and lots of grapes? I don't want to make juice. The hot, humid, buggy summer must have been just what they like. I found a recipe last night for a spiced grape butter so will try that today. Grapes, cinnamon, cloves, orange rind, sugar (of course)... . I also have a pretty good crop of peppers so might make some pepper jelly. We usually pour/dump the pepper jelly over cream cheese and eat it on crackers as an appetizer - but that will have to wait until next week.
Is anyone planning to attend the Wisc. Quilt Expo in Madison this week? Nancy Zieman and Wis. Public TV are the sponsors. Three if us are leaving early tomorrow morning and hope to get there by about Noon. Friday evening we are going to the Ami Simms program - I think it is entitled "How to Make an Ugly Quilt" or something like that. (I could give her some tips...) We are SO looking forward to the mini-vaca. Better go pick some grapes.... Joleen in MN
Nice to be back...
I haven't been able to get onto the BB page for about a week. Very frustrating . So nice to read the new postings . Jane, in answer to your question, I have been busy spinning. I have been having difficulty, holding a needle and stitching for any length of time, so decided to spin some wool instead.. DGD expressed an interest in home spun jerseys, so I said I would make one for her. Managed to get a very nice brown/grey fleece and it is spinning up well. We've had some lovely weather recently and I have been doing it outside in the afternoon sun. The fleece wool loosens up in the sunshine and makes the whole process easier.
NZ is preparing itself for a big sporting event. The Rugby World Cup kicks off here on Friday. The Cup is played for every 4yrs. The first time was 24yrs ago and we won it. No surprises there, as we are generally considered to be up there with the best in the world. The big surprise (at least to all NZers) is that we haven't won it since ! Ask a local and they will say that's because of blind referees, bad calls, non- accidental food poisoning , cheating by the other team etc etc etc ! Fact is, we have often fallen at the last hurdle. It's very important that we win this time because it is being played here on NZ soil.... The pressure is enormous . Wish us luck ! The teams from competing countries have been arriving this week. The country is drowning in testosterone....
Rosey, that sure is a huge pile of wood for himself to deal with. I hope the chain saw is fixed. Nothing worse for a man who wants to get on with a job like that, than to have the machinery fail on him. The drama in our house this week is that the newly purchased wall oven doesn't fit the hole left by the previous oven. Personally, I would have thought that was the first requirement of a replacement, but the DH thought otherwise. He is no handy man......Need I say more ? I have been out all day. When I returned the house smelt of paint, the garage floor was covered with sawdust and the man himself was looking pleased with himself... The (qualified) men will be here tomorrow to install and connect it. I shall be out for most of the day so I hope that when I return it will be in working order and in the alloted space ! Fingers crossed. By the way, the old oven has been failing for quite a few years now but, because I am a post-war child , I have "made do" rather than replace. This has irritated the DH. Last week he had a rush of blood to the head, went to town and bought this new one ! To say that I was surprised is putting it mildly..?!?
Time for bed. Hope I'll be able to get back on again tomorrow.
Marion.
Growing older means
that you often have the same energy to do things that you used to do when you were ten years younger, even five years younger but when there is a spanner in the works such as a chain saw that keeps breaking down after you've had it into the chain saw shop just days before, you find that a pile of wood needed for heating the house this winter is twice the size it is. And why is it that if something goes wrong, women tend to deal with it and men come into the house and share it with you with such a pained look on their face? Himself has trotted off into town again with the recalcitrant chain saw, once again.
Grace, have you had word on your DH and his medical issue?
Doris, if I ate sausage soup I'd be permanently posted on the porcelain pony for days. In my next life I'm putting in for an effective digestive system.
Nice to hear from you Jane; I don't work well under pressure of time commitment either.
Sara, you will do just fine at the Canadian border and if you don't get back into the US, just think of all the fun you'll have living with a Winnipeg winter.
Rosey
Need to add that my morning's entertainment is now complete. One retired airline pilot, one retired truck driver neighbour, several lengths of rotten rope attached to the bumper of himself's van and about three logs came tumbling down. Took a lot of engineering though. Glad my neighbour was there, no 'blue air' from himself's frustration.
P.S.
Ooops ..... I forgot to say
why DH got the best part of the meal. (senior moment???) He got their Italian Wedding Soup made with sausage insted of meatballs. It was wonderful!!!
Labor Day
Jane in NC - I'm glad you're getting some of this rain, too. Since yesterday, we've gotten 2 1/2 inches of rain and it is very much appreciated. We haven't had rain in four weeks and it showed. The trees & shrubs have wilted, grasses have turned brown, etc. We hope it keeps raining all week.
It is also 59°F right now - outside(!) - and it's freezing cold out there. On Friday and Saturday the highs were 99°F.
Sara in FL - I cannot imagine having any problems with immigration at the Canadian border. Neighbors just returned from an Alaska cruise that started in Vancouver and they had no problems at all. Have a good trip!
DH and I - just returned from lunch at a new-to-town restaurant, First Watch. Because of the rain, I think everyone else had hte same idea. DH got best part of the meal. My tomato basil soup was good, too.
Hugs to everyone...
Labor Day
DH decided he wanted to go furniture shopping for the condo that we don't own yet. (?) Just looking he says. I think we have our extrogen/testerone mixed up. He loves to shop. Other than fabric I don't. So, here in no. Fla. there are sales at the furniture stores. We found a leather sofa and love seat he likes. The "recliner" mode is to his liking, but as I said, we don't even own the place yet, let's wait. We need to sign paperwork, maybe next Friday, and then gut the floors, bathrooms, re-paint everything. Put down tile throughout. Figure out bathroom fixtures, shower, tub or no? Kitchen, stainless appliances? Quartz, recycled glass, etc. counter tops. After all that we can think of furniture.
I didn't tell him I already have a phone call in to an interior designer. She is very down to earth, and I trust her. After our week away we will see what happens next.
Just found out that my GF in Miss. is moving back to her home town of Va. Beach, VA. Her mom died about 1 month ago, and her dad is not doing well. Her husband is a pastor, and is going to resign from his position to go back "home". Maybe we can meet in Williamsburg, VA. when the big spring quilt expo is. Feb. or March I think.
There is a big quilt expo in West Palm Beach, Fla. Nov. 11 12, and 13th. Hope to be down there anyway for DH's 45 H.S. reunion. Maybe can stay an extra day to see this.
I have our passports out ready for our big trip on Wed. Hopefully we will have no trouble entering and leaving, re-entering Canada. I've check all the web sites of the gov. and Canada govt. I think we have our ducks in a row. Looking forward to cooler temps.
Sara in Fla.
LABOR DAY
I hope that the absence of almost everyone except
Rosey and a small number of others is because everyone is sew busy. I'm under the gun on a round robin. In the current round I had a wonderful idea which is not working out. In an effort to unsew a heavily stitched special stitch I managed to poke a hole in the fabric of the border itself. Fortunately I had just enough of the fabric to replace it but practice with the fancy stitch on applique the stabilizer is slipping and sliding and the stitch gets distorted. Late in the day I checked the directions on a different stabilizer that said that I could dissolve some in water and paint it on. It took hours to dry but the fabric is nicely
stiffened. Along with a much simpler stitch with pretty thread ought to able to make things work out. The round robin group, 6 of us, will meet at 2 pm tomorrow. I'm not cut out for round robins. The obligation to others and deadlines tend to
paralyze me.
After no rain for well over a month with the brown lawns and poor hay harvest etc. they are now predicting up to 10 inches of the wet stuff in the next 48 hours along with flash flood warnings. The soil on my lot has so much clay on it a lot of that water will just slide off down hill but wells and crops will no doubt be in better shape.
Well, that's my exciting life. What's going on in yours.
Jane in soon to be soggy southern
Appalachians.
Thursday early
Waking up early with a reminder of last night's supper out with friend Virginia to celebrate birthdays we thought we'd never reach but others would as being young forever and aging would be something that happens to other people, not ourselves.....morning came early with the pool gurgling for lack of water being below the skimmer (water is now going in via the garden hose); the sky is lightening up so that the trees are darkly etched against the background of a gunmetal grey sky. Last night when I came home from the restaurant in the valley, I walked Hope off-leash ( as she is the best dog for obedience and totally reliable not to chase after anything) and Miss Annie who is totally unreliable at 7 mos. Annie was on a soft choke collar leash as she bolts after anything that moves. Walking beyond the house through the trees to this place on the back lawn, I heard the whoosh that deer make when startled. Three yearlings standing by the forest at the back, foraging. Annie stood up on her hind legs and held the stance at the end of the leash (thankfully she was leashed) as all three deer tails flipped up to expose the whites on their under parts as they scooted off into the forest. Annie dropped her alert stance (I was impressed at her balance on two back legs) as I repeated "no Annie, no Annie". Will this training make any difference when she sees the horses going into the next door's field as the property has been sold for a horse operation? No. And this is causing great concern on my part as our eldest Aussie, Geordie, chased and was kicked by horses in the fields next to us years ago. He was lucky to survive. Australian Shepherds do what comes naturally...they are herding dogs. Horses are dangerous and not to be herded.
Sara, I really posted to say that I hope you enjoy your trip north and hope you'll post about your adventures of flying into Canada and Winnipeg and then on down to North Dakota. Heather would relate to this having lived north of Winnepeg for several years in Thompson, Manitoba.
And so the day begins. A hair cut is on the agenda. About time, too. I look like a fuzzy white haired lady at the moment.
Rosey
