Friendly Friday

It is time to make some new goals for my blog.  I have perused a lot of Blogging 101 websites and the two things that I fall down on are 1) setting aside a time each day to work on it and  2) creating an area of focus,  a brand, a voice and tying it all together for my readers.  Since I have no aspirations to make money, or become well known, I don't need a 'brand' necessarily, but my voice is all my own.  I love to write and my blog is my writing persona.  This is me with all my 'curves and edges', all my ups and downs and sideways.  I wish to focus on "life--the view from over here"--which is west of the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ohio, the Susquehanna, the Colorado and south of the Snake and the Columbia Rivers.  That just about covers my audience.  

I thought I would throw in a little chocolate to sweeten up my blog: The Hersey Chocolate Factory in Hershey, PA.  We visited here last week and got our chocolate fix for the week.   (I am supposed to add interest to my blog with pix and less writing.  I am not a photographer, so some may seem a little lame, but my husband used this excuse to buy a fancy camera to help me out.  Nice of him since I never use it and wouldn't know how.)

LIFE is a big subject and if I narrow it down I won't get to write about any old thing that crosses my mind.  I still have a few brain cells left after all these years and writing gives them exercise to stave off oldtimers disease.  I rest my case.  Following is optional.

I have noticed that blogging is a bit narcissistic.  I have never read one that is not in the first person voice, and about all kinds of personal stuff.  I can do that.  You can spot a novice writer by the first person tense in their writing.  I don't care for it most of the time in novels unless the writing is strong enough to carry it out, but it is a dead give away that the writer is newish.  It is easier to write in first person.

Novels are one thing; blogs are another.  This is like an essay--I say.  It is all personal.  Sometimes it is tedious or annoying when it sounds like a diary entry.  I don't alway need to know about running to the store unless it is pertinent to the post.  Sooo, I will try to keep my diary and my journal separate even though this is a journal of sorts.  My goal is to share the wisdom of age.  I have a lot of that (age that is), and try to entertain with my not always subtle humor.

That said,  I am dealing with some serious health issues and writing helps me think about you instead of me.  What would you like to hear?  What can I say to build friendship with you?  What can I share from my days on earth that might be interesting or informative?  This is my focus.

HAPPY BLOGGING

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Trends on Tuesday

Finally, I am back in style after all these years.  The midi is back as a style this year, not just  'that's what I wear because I don't do knees.'  I heard that it didn't matter (years ago, I suppose), and any length goes, but the mini, the shorter above the knee length took over.  Then it was the striped maxi--a summer, beachy look to  me; then other full-length skirts came back masquerading as maxis.  I didn't think maxi would last, silly me, but it is outliving my expectation and its usefulness. 

Check out KSL TV's Studio 5 -- How to Rock a Midi Skirt. 

 There are ideas for wearing this length of skirt, rules, accessories and suggestions to create the best look. Pictures are showing all lengths from just below the knee to the longer mid-calf length.  We claim to not follow trends, pooh-pooh styles, but they work their way into our wardrobe, nevertheless.  May as  well get on top of it before the item you love the most is gone.  

To honor the Halloween Holiday I am posting my own quirky style.  If you know me, you know that I love to dress up on holidays, and Halloween is the most obvious.  I wear Orange and Black all the month of Occtober in celebration.  It is just part of my 'type One' personality.  Here are two midi skirts that have been in my closet for years.  Last year I shortened one of them to be closer to stylish, but kept the one long.  

The long midi.  My old 80's big shoulder jacket and my longer midi.  Don't love this look too much.  That is why I cut off the other black skirt.  I can't believe I ever wore this.  (My beautiful brides in the background.)

I like this length for my age, my body type and feel it is much more stylish.  There may be a place for the longer length, but I am not sure which moon of Jupiter that is.  Wack it off.  I like the pumpkin sox but didn't wear them last Sunday.  We were at Jacob's ward for his mission farewell and I didn't think they were ready for me.  My own ward knows me by now and accept me the way I am.

HAPPY FASHION

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The End of the Harvest

Last week I picked the Asian Pear tree ( with help).  It was waiting and ripe, but not crying about it so it was put off as long as possible.  There was a ton of fruit and each one was huge with very few worms.  Then I picked the garden, too.  I was amazed at the amount of food still growing out there.  This is a picture of my one day harvest:

I filled up all my large bowls.  There are five bowls of pear apples, two bowls of tomatoes (finally--ripening very late), one bowl of beans one bowl of winter squash (didn't do so well this year) with a few cucumbers, jalapeno and sweet peppers, and a small bowl of grape tomatoes with a few orange small peppers and yellow pear tomatoes from my hanging pot.  

This is great, but meant a lot of work waited for me the rest of the week.  Therefore, no posts.  Most of the pix for posts just had to wait for this week. 

There is one lone bowl of apples from my five strain of apple tree that only has one type of apple left--johnagold (sp?)  Something was wrong with these apples this year.  They are pitted.  I thought it was hit with hail, but why this tree and not the pear apple right next to it?  Why is it all over the apple and not just on the top side?  Something is wrong with the tree and I will have to call my brother to see if ye knows.  (He is an agricultural graduate and works at the Utah State University.  He knows about these things.)  This problem makes the apples inedible; the pock marks are each bruised slightly so most of the apples just fell on the ground as chicken food.  They don't care about worms or bruises.  I hope to get some apple butter from the ones I picked.

This was the start of a busy week.  More later, I hope.

HAPPY GARDENING


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It's Always on a Windsday.

It is WINDSDAY PINSDAY, the day I feature my favorite pins for the week.  

Number One is Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Jalepenos.  I found this on Pinterest and it originates at  http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/09/25/bacon-wrapped-cheesy-stuffed-jalapenos/

Thank you,  Sally for such a great appetizer.  I took it to my church's fun Chef-a-la-Palooza food sharing contest and won 1st prize for the best appetizer.  

They were not too hot as most people expected.  Perhaps the jalepenos that I grow in my garden are a milder variety or they got plenty of water or the other ingredients soften the heat.  Whatever the reason they are so very good.  (And I have so many peppers from just two bushes I planted this spring, and I am going to make them again and again.  Yum.)

Here is my version with a few tips: 

Bacon Jalepeno Peppers

12 jalepeno peppers halved and seeded
1 - 8 oz. package cream cheese softened
1 C grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon smoked paparika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
(opt.  1 clove of garlic minced or mashed)
12 slices of bacon cut in half

Seed peppers using a strawberry huller.  It is just the right size for the pepper and can be used to scape out both seeds and membrane.





I bought mine from Pampered Chef, but I cannot find them listed.  I did find it on Amazon by the name of Tomato corer.

Mix together cheeses, paprika and garlic powder or clove.  My husband doesn't like anything that he can taste or smell garlic.  (migraine inducer)

Place cheese into peppers with a rubber scraper or spreader.  The cheese mixture will just barely fill 24 pepper halves if it is scraped flat across the top.

Wrap in a half slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.  End the bacon on top for easier insertion of the toothpick.  Wrapping crosswise from top to bottom covering the cheese will help the bacon cook crisper.  Bake on a rack placed over a cookie sheet.  For easy cleanup use parchment paper or foil under the rack. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until bacon is crisp.  Broil if needed to crisp up the bacon, but watch closely.

 This was all that was left of a half-sheet of stuffed peppers that I left home.  Part of these were dusted with bread crumbs when I ran out of bacon.  

PS: Tillamook Cheese is the best.  My dad used to sell milk from his dairy farm to the Tillamook Creamery that was made into Tillamook Cheese. 

PPS:  Part two is a delicious kale salad.  Will have to wait.  This blog is long enough.

HAPPY POPPING


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Home Again

The long summer of travel across the nation back and forth pretty much wore me out.  I was gone most of August and September with harvest time in between trips.  All the visits with family were great beginning with a 25 hour each way road trip to Illinois to attend a baptism of my grandson.  The time we spent there was priceless, but the time on the road was too much.  I thought it would be fun for a change, but it is not so fun.  After continuous mountains of Utah and Western Wyoming came the near desolation of Eastern Wyoming.  Then the road went nearly straight across Nebraska and Iowa.  It was one continuous road as far as you could see.  At least it got greener the further the drive eastward.  Although the end is not entirely flat, it goes slightly up and down, but on and on in a straight line.  It was totally dark when we hit Illinois so I had no idea where we were or what it looked like outside, but there were continuous toll roads.  We ran out of change fast.

Bowling With the Grandkids.

Coming home was the reversal.  We opted out of the toll roads in Illinois.  Iowa and Nebraska ran straight across the country in descending greenness and Wyoming and Utah were depressingly smoggy due to the number of forest fires in the west--especially in the state of Washington.  Yes, the smoke does travel that far.

Three days home and I get an emergency call from my youngest in tears because she needed helped after surgery so it was off to Maryland for two weeks.  Guess the garden will have to wait.

Grandkids and neighbor kids at the Great Falls, Virginia

I came home the second time in the middle of a bountiful harvest: tons of beans to freeze, tomatoes and peppers to make into salsa, dead ripe green grapes, cucumbers by the bushel and a waning zucchini crop, pears and apples falling on the ground and a tree full of large Asian pears. It was continuous preservation for a week and then off to Pocatello for my granddaughter's birthday.  Whew.  

Home again to more harvest which continues each day because of the warm/hot weather.  Busy busy, busy.

Now my attention is turned to cleaning and organizing my home after my mission and summer extension of that mission.  More on this later.

End of a great mission--Salt Lake City South Mission Office.

Altogether it has been a busy summer.  The blog went into arrest and I now plan to get it up and running once again.  Hold on.  I can get this all together once again.

By the way, I spent many captive hours making jewelry while on the road--one benefit of a long, long drive.  Lots to show.

Teaser

Back to basics once again.

HAPPY DAY!


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Top Chef-a-la-Palooza

What a night!  The second annual Top Chef-a-la-Palooza event was tonight at the church.  Everyone was invited to enter the Cook-Off contest in the categories: Bread, Appetizer, Salad, Main Dish or Dessert.  There was also a best Costume or Witch Hat contest.  

I WON!  with the best appetizer:  Bacon Wrapped Jalepeno Poppers. (thanks to  Pinterest's Sally/Sally's Baking Addiction at http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/09/25/bacon-wrapped-cheesy-stuffed-jalapenos/.  They are a proven winner!  Dan said it was because the judges were all men.  Hey, women liked them, too, at least they were all gone.  And guess what?  I didn't get a picture of the finished product because I was running out the door as they were coming out of the oven to get to the church on time.  

I made two pans full and this was what was left of the second pan when I got home (minus a couple that I ate because I wanted another one--they are soooo good.)

This was a full half-sheet pan of poppers. You may notice that some are not bacon wrapped.  When I ran out of bacon I dusted them with bread crumbs to complete the pan full.  The little bacon wraps are sort of slipping off the popper, too. It happens when they are moved around while hot.  They should be like the center one.

I was not going to go.  There are always too many tempting carb filled dishes and I am not strong into my carb restrictions yet.
By late morning I changed my  mind because I wanted to share this delicious dish.  It was a big hit.

I needed more cream cheese and while at Wallmarts I bought a witch's hat so I could dress up.  I do love to dress up in costume.  I didn't expect to win anything in this area (and I didn't), but it was too fun to pass up.  These pix were taken the next morning.  I forgot.

Walmart--$4.98

Selfie in the mirror.

Selfie up close.

You cannot really see my jewelry in these pix, but, of course, I made them myself.  I will need to feature these separately.
It was a fun night.  I will talk more about the poppers tomorrow on Windsday Pinsday.  They are a favorite Pinterest post.






HAPPY A-LA-PALOOZA



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Monday in the Garden

A lot of summer time is devoted to gardening and general yard upkeep.  The Concord Grapes have been waiting to harvest.  The grapes this year have not excelled, but there were plenty to pick and preserve.  I do not make juice as a rule, or jelly (diabetes is a bummer), but Concords are too seedy to make raisins.  (There must have been a time in the past when raisins were made with seeded grapes because the package says "Seedless Raisins" [or used to say--I don't buy raisins anymore].  Raisins with seeds would have been before my time.)  BTW I did set side any grapes that had dried on the vine--raisin--to see what they would be like dried.  Way too hard to crunch the seeds by tooth.  Grape seeds are great antioxidants, but I doubt that chewing them would make them digestible.   

I canned the grapes this year just like you would put up other fruits. This means pulling every grape off the stem which takes several hours.  I took pictures of the three large bowls of grapes that I stemmed for two and a half hours, but they are not in my camera??? Take my word for it; it was an impressive site.  Then I loaded them into sterile quarts, added boiling water, sealed them and water bath canned them for 15 minutes.  No sugar needed because grapes are so sweet.  
I got 12 quarts and three pints (ran out of clean quart bottles) plus another quart (peanut butter jar that was not sealable) for immediate consumption.  To use them later I just drain off the juice which is quite concentrated and rinse off the grapes with half a bottle of water for great grape juice.  If you like it stronger don't add the water.  Then put the fruit through  a food mill and use the pulp to make some Chia Seed Jam.  It works.

Not too bad for a day's work.  2 hours picking grapes, 2-1/2 hours stemming them and another 1-1/2 hours canning them.  (And that is why I don't can too much any more.  It is a time consuming process.) [and tiring]

HAPPY CANNING


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Meet Together Often

Petunias in October

How glorious to watch the General Conference and to hear the word of  the Lord's prophet and his apostles. My heart goes out to President Monson as his vibrant strength is beginning to fail him somewhat.  May the Lord strengthen him to the end of his mission on this earth.

For this Sabbath Day I would like to quote King Benjamin from my daily scripture reading.  Mosiah 5: 1-9.
When the king finished his talk to the people of Nephi, he was desirous to know if they believed the words spoken.
"And they all cried with one voice, saying:  Yea, we believe all the words which thou has spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, . . . we do rejoice with such exceedingly great joy."

We have also been lifted up this day by the word of a Prophet of God and his Apostles.  As we were told by President Eyring:  [The Spirit] is what we have felt this day.

To continue the words of King Benjamin,  ". . . for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name;. . . ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons and his daughters; 

"I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, ...there is no other name given whereby salvation cometh;

". . . ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives."

". . . whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called, for he shall be call by the name of Christ."

HAPPY SABBATH DAY,


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A BURST OF ENERGY

Got a slight burst of energy.  I finished the last two beds of garden hoses so I don't have to water anything by hand.  I still have major weeding to do, but that will have to be another day.  

While retrieving the hose from the fence where Dan hung them last spring while tilling the beds, I had to cut back a lot of grape vines that had overgrown along the garden fence and up into the pear tree.  I stripped them down and made a wreath base.

fresh grape vine wreath

I have devised a way to make the wreath, allow it to dry and make it perfectly round.  I bought this large green pot  (plus a lot of other pots) last year when JoAnn's had pots on sale for 90% off. This one was not used so I saved it for this year. 

 In the Spring I have to clean the dreaded corner of Creepy Virginia (Virginia Creeper to most folks.)  They are a weed and grow miles and miles in one summer.  They cover my little tree in that corner, the Mulberry Tree I planted and the fences.  I must get a head start each Spring by cutting off all that I can see.  Since my grapevines were not long yet, I decided to make wreaths of the CV/VC.  I certainly had plenty to work with.  I discovered my green pot and Voila, a base to make wreaths on!  

Two different sizes at once.  I also made a spray by bending over several vines, wiring them together and putting something heavy on top to keep them flat.  
I used it to make my patriotic spray for Memorial Day.  It is still on the door for Independence Day and beyond. 

Two sizes on one pot.

Now it's time to make up a wreath for August--with sunflowers.  Yellow--My new love this year.  I have pinned a lot of ideas, but I probably won't copy them. Just ideas. I will keep you posted. 

HAPPY WEEDING

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Sunday at Home

I didn't go to church today.  The pain in my ribs got a little intense and nauseated me.  I fell asleep and didn't wake up in time to get ready for church.

I slept the three hours of church time, too.  

For dinner I tried a new pin:  (In my boards: Crock it, and I Love Food--Chicken.) It is called "Chicken with Lime and Cilantro".  It cooked on high in the crock pot in 2 1/2 hours.  It is good.  Often I cook my chicken pieces  on high for about 3 hours and they are tender, juicy and not burned.  You have to know your crock pot.

I also made a Risotto with the leftover rice I cooked up earlier for the sick dog.  I had plenty left over for dinner.  Uncontaminated, of course.  I added crimini mushrooms and grated Romano Cheese.  I also made a Waldorf Salad because I had a huge package of celery that was getting older.

Boo threw up all over the place on Saturday.  He couldn't just stand still and do it, but he had to spread it all across the carpet.   Then he later barfed all over my lap.  Then only I could be sure which dog was sick.  I was blaming it on Abby because she barfs all the time. It was too late to go to the vet for Compazine, so I boiled up some rice, stirring it and adding water like a Risotto.  I tried to give him some rice water, but he just threw up on the couch.  I left him alone the rest of the evening.  On Sunday I started  him out with rice water, then later more rice water with a little rice crushed up in it, then later still more rice and water with one little chunk of canned food a  couple of times. This was spread out over the whole day.  He had to prove that he could keep it down. Abby was jealous so she got rice and dog food, too.

He was feeling great all day and a little ticked off that I wouldn't feed him more.

That was my inspirational Sunday.

HAPPY SABBATH

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PS:  Friday night and Saturday Morning I groomed the dogs.  I accidentally nicked Abby's ear and had to stop early. It bled all over my shirt before I noticed and she was not too cooperative after that.  That was another task I accomplished on Saturday.

Boo looks a little sick here.

Abby

They were both denuded.  Now they look like black dashiuauadoodles.  I can't deal with  pompoms in the summer.  Too many weed seeds.  Notice the tiny puff of hair on the end of the tail--the only poodle remnant.

   

A Special Day

This and That on Saturday

I worked around a little bit, took some pix and never got a post done.  Let's see what I planned to do.  

First, we had some waffles for breakfast.Just ordinary waffles made with soft white wheat, honey, coconut oil, kefir and a touch of nutmeg. That is ordinary in this house. I actually got out the wheat grinder and ground the wheat instead of using all purpose flour. it went straight through me, but darn, I am sick of this wimpy gut.  

Enough flowery speech, or is it floury speech. 

My tip of the day is to make a larger batch of waffles than  you can eat and cook them all up and put them on a cake rack to cool. Freeze them for another day.  I do the same with pancakes, but waffles are much better to freeze.  Warm them in a toaster oven to crisp them back up and enjoy another day without the mess.

Lighter ones will toast better.

After drying out they don't stick together.

Next, in spite of how my ribs felt, I had to pick all of the lettuce because it bolted. It went into a sink filled with cold water, and soaked for a while--about a half hour to crisp it back up after picking it in the heat.  It gets a little wilted fast.

Soak off dirt and earwigs.

Drain in spinner.

Spin off excess water and pour out.

Cover and keep in refrigerator for several days.

There was way too much for my spinner so I dug out my Tupperware Crisper.  Old, yes.  I lost the little drain rack for the bottom. (Dogs chewed up one and the other is just gone.)

Place a lid in bottom to keep lettuce out of the water.

Lid is larger than the bottom of crisper.

Spin out the water then fill.

Tupperware to the rescue.

Any left go to the chickens.

Then I filled up my watering can with the water in the sink and watered my flower pots on the front porch.  (Just doing my part to conserve.)

My favorite birthday present.

Vines and Geraniums and RW&B Petunias.

Bougainvillea and Herb garden.

Avocado (from seed) and Yucca

Sad neglected tipped over Jade Plant.  Needs TLC.

Two cat planters with Spider Plants.

The herb garden is in disrepair, too.  The parsley that lived through the winter went to seed (collecting that).  The mint took over the planter and the basil is dying.  The best part is the kale plant I stuck in the pot.

That was about the extent of my work today.

HAPPY HEALING

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