Happy Thanksgiving

I have been watching the weather from Wyoming and goodness people....I do not miss the snow, ice, cold and wind.  Today I went for a walk with only a vest on and the sun was shining and there was no WIND, although the temperature was only in the high 40's.  I do miss my friends, but I am trying to stay in touch. 

Today is my sister, Joan's birthday. I won't say how old she is but she is only a couple of years younger than I am.  I called her today as she is living in another state and sharing a residence with our other sister.  Because all 3 of my siblings are living and doing as well as most our age, I am lucky and blessed.  We are not without our aches and pains, but we are good.  Part of that I contribute to our parents. I worked with a gal who once told me that she and I were mutts...in other words, we have no fancy pedigree and it has made us strong and and able to overcome adversities. Our father's mother came from strong pioneer stock and and lost her mother as a small child  and although our mother's father was murdered when she was a child, she survived what must have been a difficult childhood.  We grew up without much money, but had two loving parents.  We raised our own beef, grew our own vegetables and were surrounded with family.  Thanksgiving at our house was bustling with people and always lots of food.  We never went hungry.  I am thankful for all of the wonderful memories of Thanksgiving as a child.  I am cooking the bird Thursday and our daughter and her husband will be sharing the meal with us.  It has been a long time since we had family for this holiday and I am so looking forward to it. 

If you are dining alone, or sharing this day with family or friends, be thankful and remember those less fortunate. 

'Shrooms anyone?

 When we looked for homes here, and read the information on this home, it noted that it was near a "soon to be removed mushroom farm".  The "soon to be removed" was a plus as apparently the odor was not very pleasant.  Since fall is officially here and the weather is cooler and more humid, our yard has become a forest of these toadstools.  That is what I remember calling them when I was a child.  My family did not have access to mushrooms I guess as I don't recall ever having a mushroom until I was in high school and the first Pizza Parlor opened in Greeley.  Anchovy and mushroom were the toppings I remember first and pepperoni came later.  I also remember the first McDonald's there and it was a walk-up only fast food place. Yep....I am ancient I suppose.

 I can't even begin to count the number of these and the middle one above is larger than my outstretched hand. Some are small and button-shaped and some are white and round, but these are abundant in my back yard. They are fascinating actually.  I wonder if some of the spores from the farm blew over and deposited themselves here?  Probably not. (I don't know if they are edible but am not going to test them.)

On Sunday afternoon, the doorbell rang and standing on the step was a young mother with a baby peacefully sleeping in a pack snuggled on her chest.  She carried a carton with a dozen eggs.  We invited her in and she is the gal who lives behind our next door neighbor.  Our street backs up to a greenway of trees and some of the houses are tucked back against each other while others have the green area behind them. From the day we moved in, we could hear chickens behind the fence next door.  It was funny to hear them clucking away on occasion and there were no roosters.  She offered the eggs to us and introduced us to her 2 month little girl, Charlotte, still sleeping.  We had a great visit and I have actually begun a quilt for Charlotte with sunflowers on it.  I offered to pay for the eggs, but she told me she just gives the extras away to neighbors.  We have the best neighbors and they have all been so welcoming.  There is a master gardener who has offered me plants, the neighbor next door loaned us chairs for weeks as we waited for the mover and he brought us a wonderful bottle of wine. The neighbor on the other side gave us a lot of wood and the grand daughter, Lisa has walked the dogs and she and her friend have made cookies and delivered them. 

"Life is too short to stuff a mushroom." ~ Shirley Conran

No rain

According to the experts, this has been the driest stretch here without rain since 1957.  I am still waiting for the moss to start growing on my back.  At least that is what my quilting buddy said would happen if I moved here.  Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain region has always been high and dry.  Perhaps we brought it with us.  At any rate I am not complaining about that!  What I have been complaining about and it may explain the lapse in my posts is my age and what comes with it.  Sure, you can get lots of discounts for being a senior citizen, but as your age increases so do the aches and pains.  I can remember my dad saying "just wait until YOU get old", when he would complain with joint issues.  Well, Dad, it is happenin!  I have one leg shorter than the other as a result of an old injury when I was a teenager and I am having sciatica issues.  This past weekend when we were shopping for groceries, I was ready to climb into the grocery cart and ride.  REALLY!  So ice, and meds were relied upon and with very little relief.  Yesterday was our first visit with our new Dr. at Kaiser and I was holding out so that I could visit with him.  We had started to look when we first arrived here, but after checking with 3 different clinics, we were told that either did not accept Medicare or else that weren't accepting new patients.  So we put that on hold until September.  So far our experience has been great with Kaiser and the Dr. we saw yesterday was terrific.  He spent a lot of time with us and scheduled some follow-up appointments that we needed.  There was NO wait time for our appt either.  And in addition to the check-up and prescribed treatment for my sciatica, I have already seen improvement. Enough about that.

Above is a Wedding Ring quilt that was started last year using the "Go" machine and I actually began to quilt it this spring, but of course, it got packed so finally I have finished the quilting and am stitching on the binding.  I also only have 4 more 17" blocks of the blue and white squares to complete.  So, I am sticking to my goals to finish some of the UFO's before beginning another project although I see new projects that are tugging at me. 

We removed our dishwasher as it is an old one, maybe original to the house and are expecting a new one to be delivered in a couple of days.  We couldn't figure out how to make it work anyway, and in addition, our master bathroom floor is in a state of demolition.  The Mr. is actually starting to replace the backer board with new and then we will replace the ceramic with vinyl.  The floor is a wooden floor and was not constructed for ceramic so it had a new floor, but the tiles were not sticking and the floor allowed a little enough movement for them to loosen.  Removing them was a mess, and the toilet is sitting in the garage.  That's right, we were NOT going to get a fixer-upper, but I have eaten my hat before.......

Scary or what?

 Halloween is coming so what is scary is not the first two snaps here, but the bottom one.  Above is some of my fabric folded around the magazine boards, the ones that my daughter ordered for us from Amazon.  I had gotten cubes for storage and have seen the comic boards used to organize fabric, but most of those were too small for my project.  These are 8 1/2 by 11 and are perfect for the 12 inch storage units.  When the fabric pieces are folded salvage to salvage they are approx 22". So folded again once and the stiff paper boards inserted inside the fold, the fabric can be folded more until all is on the board.  Then they can be stacked upright and I will post another picture soon. These come 100 for about $15.00.  Now below is another attempt at cookie baking and success!  This time the peanut butter recipe I had always used was just right.  I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" again this weekend and love the fact that Julie persevered in trying every recipe in Julia Child's French cookbook and if you have seen the movie, or read the book, you know that there are some very questionable recipes in the book.  I would never even attempt most of them, let alone try to pronounce them.  Tomorrow I am again trying to make cinnamon scones.  I have more than one recipe, one my neighbor in Cheyenne left with me to try so.....we will see.

The picture below, is the scary part.  The Mr. bought a new pool table and it was delivered Saturday.  He also ordered a new light for the table and in order to install it, the light fixtures had to be installed

in the ceiling, which is vaulted.  The vault is not centered in the room and because the room is just large enough for the table with access to play properly with cue space, there is not room for much else.  It is a regulation 7ft bar table and he has installed the light, but he had to put the ladder on the table and the kitchen stepstool against the table.  Remember, this man is almost 75 years old, so for me-- YES! this was very scary.

On a sad note...in a few previous posts, I have a picture of my two little dogs, Spencer and Roger, both older rescue dogs.  They have lived with us for 10 years, but Roger, the white dog, went to
Doggy Heaven on Friday after having to deal with more bladder stone issues.  We all miss him and the difficult part was going next door to tell my 12 year old neighbor, Lisa.  She has been coming on Tuesday afternoons to walk Roger.  I told her she could walk Spencer, but he has limited use of one hind leg now and I know she will be careful with him.  She so loves the dogs.

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself." ~ Josh Billings

Figgy pudding?

 When checking clips today, I ran across the above picture of Erica's fig tree in her back yard.  I took this snap when we were still staying with them and she actually had half dozen or so figs on it which she plucked and I ate for some of my lunches.  There were probably not enough to make a figgy pudding and I am not sure what a figgy pudding is, but I used to make those old fashioned fruit cakes each Christmas season and always used dried figs.  Now I know most people don't like fruit cakes and in fact make fun of them, but they are extremely expensive because they take a pound of everything and a dozen eggs and a bowl of huge proportions. (I happen to like them but don't send me any.) . I don't think I had ever seen a fig tree, but this one needs to be moved according to Erica and probably pruned.  It is extremely leggy and most of the leaves are at the end of these weighted branches.

 My sewing room is finished and I will probably continue to tweak it until everything is in the right place.  Being smaller than my previous room, it is a bit crowded and I have had to downsize to some degree, but so far it works and today the Mr. got my television hooked up.  We now have xfinity and got a ROKU box so I stream everything from the internet and our box in the living room.  Really I don't understand it all, but it works and that's all I need to know, right? 

This is what is left of an old fir tree stump in the back yard.  There are two stumps in the back yard which were left when large trees were cut down.  They are mostly rotten and we spent a little while today after the rain quit, trying to chop away some more of this stump.  These trees here in these yards are so large and when the homes are built in a wooded area, some of the trees are left to continue to grow for years.  They smell wonderful and provide so much shade and we feel as if we are living in a forest, and I guess we are.  However, rather than shovel snow, we find that we are cleaning up needles and pine cones.

On another note, I have completed a few more of the blue and white squares and have my wedding ring quilt on another machine and am slowly quilting it.  I hope to get some of these UFO's finished by the first of the year and can start some new projects then when I plan to check with a few of the quilting contacts I have made.  We are still sorting things and trying to dispose of those things for which we have no room.  We have made several trips to Goodwill and to Habitat for Humanity's Restore and have more to take.  Hopefully by the first of the year, we will be finished except for a few projects that we need to do in the house. 

Puppy Love

 Our Dogs are reaching the ripe ol' age of at least 12 years? and with a new sofa, they have not been allowed on the furniture.  Don't feel sorry for them, they have nice plush beds.  We also pitched the small stools they used to jump up on the bed.  Yes they are spoiled.  I have a Lane Cedar chest that the Mr. bought for me on our 1st anniversary nearly 57 years ago and in this home, it is at the end of our bed.  3 days ago after carefully making the bed and putting all of the pillows in their place, the little guy with only 3 good legs jumped up on the chest and limped to the pillows where he immediately made himself a comfy spot under the pillows.  The Mr. and I just looked at him and did not have the heart to make him move.  Then yesterday, Roger decided that if it was good enough for Spencer, it would certainly be fine for him.  This shot was taken this morning just as we finished making the bed and my camera was close by so ..........

 I forgot to flip this picture of these quilt strips but they are the pieces for the remaining 12 squares for the quilt block I put on the last post which I am determined to finish so yesterday afternoon I set about to cut them all.  Now how long will it take me to stitch them?

Before I did that, the Mr. had a couple of small projects that needed to be done.  First, we had four bar stools in the last home and decided to bring only two.  These two were at a taller bar in the basement and we should have brought the shorter ones.  In the past this has happened so he simply cut 4 inches off each of the 8 legs and now they work here quite well.  In addition, the room where I sew is a small bedroom and the lighting is horrible.  I have 3 lamps, one at each station but it was still not good lighting for sewing at all, so as in the previous sewing room, I had a stained glass fixture which I made eons ago which worked well and he installed it yesterday also.  Now I have lots of light.

Also yesterday, since we have nearly cleared the garage for the car (the rain has begun), he ordered his new pool table and light.  It will be delivered in a couple of weeks and that will be the last room to be furnished.  Most of what is left to do are some larger projects in the house, but nothing pressing and as with any older home, upkeep is always ongoing.  More about that later.

"Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail." - unknown

As promised

 As I promised, I am blogging a bit more often.  As each day passes, I see a great deal of progress in getting our belongings placed and in becoming residents of Washington.  In my wildest dreams I would never have imagined living here.  Most of my 74 years has been spent in the Rocky Mountain regions of Colorado and Wyoming. With the exception of the 3 months I spent in California after my birth there and the better part of the time the Mr. was in the service, it was in Pierce Colorado where I was reared and in the southern part of Wyoming where our children grew up and where we worked and retired. (that's a long sentence) Anyway, I am finding it an easy transition so far and it is beginning to feel like home.  Just getting our "stuff" here is a big part of that.  I have gone through all of my sewing "stuff" and have made a vow to myself to either finish my UFO's or ditch them.  With that in mind I have carefully sorted and actually found all of the patterns (thank you Becky) to my myriad of quilt blocks for quilts started and never completed.  I had neglected to keep them with the blocks when I packed.  This is a large block so perhaps it won't take too long to get them done.  There will be 20 so I only need 12 more. hmmmmm....

Now something else I have to adjust to is the altitude or lack of.  Again, as I have nearly always baked at altitudes higher than a mile high..I made or attempted to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Yuk! Although they don't taste too bad, they looked and baked unsatisfactory to what I think a chocolate chip cookie should be. Gotta get onto that as my cookie baking season is nearly upon me and I have discovered great neighbors here where I can distribute my wares.  I can cook some, but I really love to bake (and eat my goodies of course), so it is imperative that I solve this culinary dilemma. I will pick another quilt pattern next time to decide if it will be scrapped or finished and I have a black and white project with which I am several months behind.

"Today I will live in the moment unless it's unpleasant in which case I will eat a cookie."