It's Raining...

...it's pouring...

the old man is snoring...

I love it! We've had nearly eight inches of rain the last few days. It's been coming down slow and gentle so most is absorbing into the ground and filling creeks, ponds, and lakes.

We had a wonderful May...hot as hell June...milder than normal July and August. We are entering into the fall season with green grass! That is almost unheard of here in my corner of the world.

I'm loving it!

I subbed a few days, worked the concession stand for Thursday night football and a few volleyball games. Yesterday Sam and I sat around the house. I finished a paperback I'd been reading on for a couple of days...just so-so. I also studied quilt patterns for some "homespun" plaids. Asked Sam's opinion a few minutes ago...hmmm. He picked French Braid. I momentarily considered it but had almost decided against it. I'll have to revisit that idea again.

Yesterday I asked him what I need to thaw for tomorrow (today now). He said, "Apricot fried pies." I know. I live with a comedian. We'll have pork steaks, sweet potatoes, and fried okra for supper.

In the meantime...this morning I cooked the two packages of dried apricots that I had stashed in the pantry. After lunch, I made the fried pies...

Hot Again...

Better enjoy the cool weather as long as it lasts...'cause sometimes here in northeast Texas it certainly doesn't last long! 90 degrees today. The nights are still cool and I would still be sleeping with the windows open...but "you know who" doesn't do that. ;o) The crisp of fall weather is in the air...just not as evident.

I so enjoy seeing a glimpse of color in the trees. Not much going on yet. This is across the road from our house. Leaves turning yellow.

This Tupelo (oak I think) is starting to turn red, but it barely shows in photos.

I did finish my quilt top. Got the last border on it a couple of days ago. I may machine quilt this one...haven't decided yet.

I only have a regular sewing machine...no mid- or long-arm...and no frame for it...which will make it quite bulky to deal with. But I've done a king-size on my machine before so this large queen-size shouldn't be too bad.

What I Did...

...while Sam was gone...

Once I got back from Mt. View with Mama...

The house was soooo quiet! But I got quite a bit of sewing done. I cleaned floors which consists mainly of tile - ran the dust mop, swept up the accumulated sand (about a cupful it seemed), mopped. Then I vacuumed the two bedrooms and my sewing room...and master bath closet...that's the only carpet in the house and IF I had my way it would be gone. Of course if I had my way, the tile would be hardwood. Tile is hard, cold, loud. I do not like it! But the house was only 1 1/2 years old when we bought it...and it's just 5 years later...so it'll be like this for a while longer.

I worked on a quilt top...that pinky/peach thing in previous posts. I need one more border...it'll be the dark blue that's in the quilt. I had to pick up more of that...

Girlfriends came over and we swam until after dark then came in and ate Artisan bread (see previous post) with butter, or watermelon, or Israel melon. We followed that with more visiting, gossiping, and looking at high school annuals. Earlene was sitting in the floor and I was sooo proud that my floor was clean. I even offered to let them eat off it. ;o)

Melanie and I went to Longview so that I could purchase that piece of fabric for the above mentioned quilt. We picked up Kathy and went shopping too. Well, Kathy purchased...Melanie and I looked.

I've worked at the high school two days this week and will also work tomorrow. I've worked volleyball and junior varsity football concessions two evenings this week with more on Saturday...volunteer with the Friends of the Library group - portion of the profits go to the Friends at the end of the season.

I mowed the yard with the New Holland tractor! First time for me. We have ten acres. Sam mows about seven or eight acres of it with a finish mower behind the tractor. I do the minor trimming with a little walk behind self-propelled Honda mower. We talked one night on the phone, and he told me where the grease fittings were located and about how many 'pumps' of grease each fitting needed...and I mowed the next day. Not everything that Sam mows, but a couple of passes down by the road and a couple of passes down the side of the driveway and the immediate yard around the house.

I lost about seven pounds! And intend to lose more which means when Sam wants to go eat out he'll be going by himself for a while...except he wants fried catfish and I'm definitely going for that!

When Sam drove up yesterday, I rushed out and hugged and kissed him and told him how much I missed him and said, "We don't have water." ;o) When I showered yesterday morning I noticed that the water pressure was low. I had just flushed the commode before climbing in the shower but normally that doesn't affect it. I did a little sleuthing (read a book last week that had that word in it...love it!) and decided I better turn the breaker off to the pump.

Sam fiddled with the pump a little bit before deciding the he'd tackle it this morning. We had water in the camper so he went out and turned the hot water heater on and showered there. ...brought in a bucket of water from the swimming pool to flush with and I set out some reserved jugs of water for drinking, brushing teeth, washing hands, etc. Being a country girl most of my life...I know what to do.

Elton came over this afternoon, and he and Sam pulled the pump out of the well and replaced a fitting. I had water when I got home after the football game.

We've had rain today and it is absolutely lovely outside. Temperature is 68 degrees. A nice wind is blowing from the north. I tried raising the windows...that lasted about 15 minutes. They are closed. A/C is on. ;o( I mentioned to Sam last spring that I wanted an old iron bed with a foam mattress covered in all-weather fabric in the screen room so that when I wanted to raise windows and enjoy the cool breezes and mild weather that I could sleep out there...I want to do it again. I'll be on the lookout for the bed. It could be a sofa during the day and a nice place to catch a breeze at night...

Oh, he didn't ask me about my hair cut until just before bed last night. I was beginning to wonder...

Artisan Bread

Isn't this pretty?

Martha over at Lines from Linderhof posted a delicious recipe of Artisan Bread. http://www.linesfromlinderhof.com/2009/08/homebaked-bread.html

I had to give it a try...

If you are expecting the taste of fresh made white yeast bread, this will be a bit of a disappointment. My BFF, Earlene, said that it tasted a bit like sourdough. I thought it tasted flat...so I worked a bit more salt in the second loaf and liked it better.

Okay. Just WHAT is artisan bread? HA! I've been making it all along! Artisan bread is bread that is not mass produced! So...okay...my single loaves of white bread (sometimes mixed with whole wheat flour) are actually artisan bread. I'm feeling oh so smug right now.

I've made mention a time or two about Sam being gone. He's home now! I don't generally advertise when we are (or he is) going to be gone. He and his youngest brother Terry rode their Harley's around the Grand Canyon. They trailered the bikes to near Flagstaff, rode around the Canyon, Terry loaded his bike up and headed back home 'cause he is still a poor working man. Sam continued the trip by going up into Colorado and visiting friends in Cedaredge and Delta. Sam was gone two full weeks!

He's HOME! I wasn't expecting him until mid-morning tomorrow but he got here about 4 or 4:30 p.m. It was so good to see him pull up in the driveway.

...We've had such mild weather that I've had the a/c turned off the last four or five days and have been sleeping with the windows open. I mean, when you get up in the morning at it's 63 degrees outside...why oh why is the a/c on?! I have soooo enjoyed it.

Sam's home! Did I mention that? And the windows are down and the a/c is on...and it'll be mid-60's again tonight. I do love him! But what oh what am I going to do with him?! ;o)

Early Fall

A couple of weeks ago I made the statement to Sam that we were in for an early fall. He asked me what criteria did I use to base my observation on. Well. Let us not forget that my grandmother told me on numerous occasions that her grandmother was full-blood Cherokee from Paul's Valley Oklahoma. But with Sam needing more 'scientific' reasoning behind my statement I merely replied...'Cause we had our August in June. June was the hottest I can ever remember. Combined with the lack of rain...well...I still ascertain that we will have an early fall.

Now. I modestly (ha!) present these three photos as proof.

Yellowing leaves from two different trees...

Look at the brown pine needles!

I rest my case! (Thank you great-great grandmother!)

Sam's going to be shocked when he sees me. I got my hair cut. Long overdue as far as he's concerned...he will be pleased.

I hate self-photos. If I'd wear more makeup it might help. Then...maybe not. ;o) Droopy eyelids...genetics!

My beautician (yet another Sherry) knows that I work my hair to death and initially prefer to have every hair in place. She told me that after I wash it to just comb it back and let it dry...scrunching it up a bit. So...I've been trying that. Takes me about that ***snap*** long to 'style' my hair now. I'm enjoying it!

Sam's Gone...

So I've been sewing...making scrubs for Jonathan. I found this cute, cute ghostie camo fabric in Mt. View.

I also found a piece of fabric with autumn colored leaves scattered around. Made a top out of that and evidently didn't get a photo before mailing...

Jonathan requested a camo set with hunter orange trim. Well....I shouldn't've made all those orange pockets. BUT...they are on there and I didn't take them off. No, siree. Don't undo unless there's a construction mistake. Those folks in the nursing home will be able to see him coming camo fabric or not!

Sometime during all this getting the pattern to fit and adding elements not on the pattern, he asked for a cell phone pocket. I made one with a velcro closure...Jonathan doesn't like velcro, so I dug around in my snaps. (I made his dad's western-style shirts.)

Now you see it...

Now you don't.

I found out that Jonathan's been ironing the scrubs that need ironed with his girlfriend's hair straightener iron. Raise your eyebrows here? I mean an iron can be as cheap as $9.99 at the dollar stores. Roll eyes here. ;o) So, when I sent the scrubs, I sent my old Rowenta that started slobbering all over my clothes. Evidently the water reservoir is cracked. But it heats up and will make a good dry iron with a can of starch or a spritz bottle of water.

Now that those are completed and in the mail, I've been cleaning house. Arrgghhhh! Where's the maid? Maid? What maid. Oh! I'm the maid! Sigh. Took all day to do the tile floors. I put everything up and out of the way yesterday morning and 'ran' the dustmop. Whew! So much red sand from tracking in and out during the work done on Sam's building.

...then I stopped for a break. An all day break. ;o) I hit the roads...Melanie and I went out for pizza, then cruised around the area. She's kind of looking for a house out of town...or at least away from her current neighbors. Saw places I haven't seen in a long time...maybe never!

After I got back home, I mopped. Thought about going to bed early since I'd worked so hard...it was about 6:30 p.m. ;o) But then got a phone call...Earlene and Nancy inviting themselves over to swim. I called Melanie to join us. THEN got up and put all the stuff I had moved so that I could do the floors...put all that stuff back where it belonged.

I know. I've gotten plum lazy.

This morning, I've vacuumed the carpet in the bedrooms and dusted the furniture in there. Did some ironing. Cut out one of the borders for my quilt and sewed one on...and here I sit.

I'll try to get the living room dusted sometime today. And after I get the borders sewn on the quilt top, I'll vacuum this room. Think I'll go eat lunch then take a nap first though. ;o) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Mama and Me

Mama and I went to Mt. View Arkansas for a few days. In her mini-van not on the motorcycle. When she found out that Sam set out on his trip to and around the Grand Canyon...and that I was not going...she made reservations in Mt. View...and off we went. To...Mountains, Music, and Motorcycles! Mt. View's annual motorcycle event. Which we knew nothing about! We were surprised that she could get a room on such short notice during the event.

We saw motorcycles...

Motorcycles...

And more motorcycles!

We made it to several antique stores in the area. She directed me around behind 'town proper' in Calico Rock and found a 'ghost' town. I've forgotten the name...but the area was evidently once fairly prosperous if the amount of abandoned commerical buildings is any indicator.

While sitting in Jimmy Driftwoods', I tried the self-photo thing. I'm not very good at this.

I received a back-handed compliment from Pat Cash aka Aunt Minnie at Cash's White River Hoedown. Sam has a joke that he tells about grandpa and the outhouse. I told Pat. She told me that I looked like my mother but acted like my dad. ;o)

Pat is the main comedic act at the Hoedown. Daddy would tell her jokes that he had heard. Some she could clean up and use in her act. Some...not.

I told it like this:

We spent a lot of time at my grandparents. As we arrived one evening, my uncle grabbed my oldest brother and our older cousin for help in moving the outhouse. He'd dug a new hole.

That night Grandpa woke the entire household hollering, "Fire! Fire!" We all jumped up out of beds, Daddy found a flashlight and everyone ran outside to the sound of Grandpa hollering, "Fire! Fire!" Grandpa had fallen in the old outhouse hole. Every time he bobbed up, he hollered, "Fire! Fire!" About the third time he bobbed up, my uncle grabbed him. He and Daddy got Grandpa pulled out of the hole and cleaned off somewhat.

One of my brothers asked, "Grandpa, why were you hollering 'fire'?"

Grandpa said, "How much attention do you think I'd gotten if I'd hollered, 'Sh#t'!?"

My mother, who was listening, looked at Pat and said, "That did not happen with my family." She turned and walked off.

I'm sure she walked off because of her back. She's facing another back surgery. When she's walked or stood as long as she can stand it...she HAS to sit...then gets immediate relief...

Good Morning to You Too!

The librarian, Earlene, my BFF...see post below, had a meeting to attend this morning and a dentist appointment this afternoon, so I worked for her. On the way in this morning, I noticed our neighbor and friends' horse. I was watching her thinking what a gorgeous body she has when I realized that she was watching me. I KNOW that she was thinking the exact same thing! ;o) Nothing behind me so I stopped, reversed, and rolled down my window (well, I flipped the button and it rolled itself down). She nickered at me! What a glorious GOOD MORNING!!

I've been sewing away on my quilt top. I've got all the blocks sewn together but am still contemplating how I want to do the borders. Thought I had a photo of the sewn together top...but not yet.


Here they are all laid out on my bed. I had enough fabric for the side triangles, but not the corner triangles. Plan B.

I've been playing with Quilter Assitant, a free program. This photo was taken last November after Thanksgiving.

This is what it would look like rendered in fabric.

It needs some tweeking. If I can come up with that many shades of the different colors...

Happy Birthday to ME! What a Day!

...And what a night! Can't believe I got up this morning before 8 a.m. Especially since it was after 1 before I crawled in bed.


I thought Sam was going to be out of town so planned to go bar hopping...LOL! Those of you who really KNOW me are going riiiiight. Neither of us are smokers so don't tolerate smoky places very well, and he generally prefers not to go. We are big drinkers...I've got a one drink limit when we are out. And before any of you say riiiight...sometimes when Sam is there, I'll have a second drink. I just don't. Drink much that is. Sam has one or two beers. Maybe a gin and tonic. That's it.


Anyway...he changed plans so that he could be here for my birthday. So, I cancelled the bar hopping...;o)...with Earlene. Yesterday Sam asked for THE plans. He knew that I wanted to eat Chinese - which we did at noon...but what about after he asked. I didn't have any further plans. He asked about going to 'the bar.' Told me to call Earlene and go. So I did! I also notified my high school classmates via our Yahoo group. Got a call from another friend...so it was three of us.


We have yet another classmate, Richard...who has a band. Lady Chazzz and the Tramps. (I think I've mentioned them before.) http://www.myspace.com/ladychazzandthetramps Richard did a career in the US Navy...THANK YOU RICHARD! After retiring, he and his wife moved to northeast Texas and started a band. (That's Richard doing his Ray Charles imitation last night.) I like to go hear them as often as possible, but the smoky atmosphere in most of the bars really gets to me. They were playing at a restaurant in a nearby town last night. I was pleasantly surprised that the smoking was at a minimum! I didn't have to shower before crawling in bed. (Usually...you're going to get a big kick out of THIS!...I strip down to the nothings in the garage and leave my clothes out there...then tra-la-la through the house and step into the shower, washing my hair before throwing a towel over my pillow and crawling in bed. Visual image you can forget...or if you do think about it...think about Sophia Loren please.)


We had a great time! Chazz WORKS the crowd. She is the ultimate entertainer. While she is harassing...I mean entertaining the crowd, she sometimes gets so tickled she has to stop. Last night was one of those times. The poor guy she was picking on, patted her back. She said he had the most expressionless face...

Richard sings a lot of oldies...

On occasion, someone in the audience has performed with them. I didn't get a photo of Chazz's daughter...but that young woman is GOOD on vocals. While Chazz was out doing her thing...that woman can dance! The daughter would break out in a smile from ear to ear.


Last night, a young man (teenager) in the audience requested a Gun n Roses song...Knocking on Heaven's Door. Richard said he didn't know GnR rendition...he knew Bob Dylan's and Bob Marley's...but Richard sang it his way...and would only do it if this young man would sing along. He did his part GnR's style...knock, knock, knocking on heaven's doe-ah. The boy had a blast! Can't you just hear him at school?! What did you do this summer? "I sang with a band!"

Here we are...Richard and Earlene standing. Me and Melanie seated.

I moved here and started the 3rd grade. Melanie was my first best friend. The school district did some shuffling and sent me to a different elementary school, and I started 5th grade at the other elementary school in town...where I met Earlene. Richard I met in 1967/68 in high school. Thanks to my BFF for helping me celebrate my birthday!


Note: Going into Junior High, 6th and 7th grades, we had kids come in from three elementary schoolsGoing into High School kids came in from three junior highs.

Julia, BIRTHDAY!, and Napkins

Like many of you, I am so looking forward to the new movie Julie & Julia. The resurgence of interest in Julia Child is evident on television programming. Our local PBS station, LPB out of Louisiana, has been running reruns of some of Julia's shows. I grabbed pen and paper when this one came on. I didn't catch the name of the lady with Julia in her kitchen...

Scandanavian Pastries

To start:

¼ cup warm water
1 package yeast

Dissolve yeast in water.
********
½ cup milk
1 egg
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Whisk together. Set aside.
*********
2 ½ cups flour
2 sticks butter, chilled and cubed

Cut butter into flour until large pea size. Stir yeast mixture into milk mixture. Stir flour into liquid just until mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Next morning...
Dust surface with flour and dust pastry with flour. Roll into a rectangle. Fold over in thirds. Pat. Dust top and bottom with flour. Roll into a rectangle. Fold over in thirds . Pat. Dust top and bottom with flour.

See those chunks of butter? That's the way it is supposed to look.

Once again, roll into rectangle. Fold by thirds into a square. Cut in half. Wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Or At this point you can freeze the dough. My question is WHY?!

Take half the dough…
Dust with flour. Roll out in a 10 x 20" rectangle. Roll slowly. Cut into 5" squares.

Put 1 heaping teaspoon (or more! I used a good tablespoonful) of filling in center.
Brush edges with beaten egg white. Pull up corners, pinch and twist together.
Or
Cut through corners toward filling. Pull every other tip to the center. Looks like a pinwheel.

Or
Pull two opposite corners to center.
Or
Fold over in a triangle like a fried pie.

Brush all edges that meet with the egg white.

Place on parchment. Set 30 minutes to rise a bit. Brush with egg white. Sprinkle with pearl sugar. (Okay. They don't sell pearl sugar in Daingerfield. I found it online for nearly $5 a pound. So...I went to Brookshires looking for coarse sugar crystals. I found organic coarse sugar. That's what I bought. Never thought to go to the cake decorating section for those white sprinkles until after I had these in the oven.)

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Aren't they soooo gorgeous?! These are prune...

These are apricot...

These have been drizzled with glaze...

Glaze:
2-3 teaspoons water (recipe called for milk, but I had some glaze to sour one time ruining the bread pudding it covered)
½ cup powdered sugar
Whisk. Drizzle on pastries


These are plated and one is half eaten. OH MY GOODNESS! SOOOOO good.

My birthday is tomorrow! In 2000, Daddy and Mama gave me this set for my birthday. Daddy himself handed me the cup and saucer stating that they were from him. I placed them in my China cabinet (in previous house) to admire. He died the end of October. One day I was sitting in the living room watching some inane something on television, I'm sure. I looked up and spotted the cup and saucer. Couldn't take my eyes off them. Then thought, WHY NOT? I finally had a cup o' tea in the cup Daddy gave me. I had been so afraid that if I used the set, it would eventually be broken. What's the use of having something and not using it? Save it for the son or grandkids to sell in an estate sale? Not me. I'm using my pretty stuff!

Including these gorgeous napkins.
Martha over at http://linesfromlinderhof.blogspot.com/ has some beautiful vintage napkins. Mine aren't vintage and the napkin on the far left...the Battenburg lace doesn't show up. The other three are hand embroidered and hand finished. Mama was in the antique business for several years. Knowing that I use napkins on a daily basis, whenever she found some pretties, she purchased them then gave them to me.

As I mentioned, we use cloth napkins daily. They are about the only thing that I don't mind ironing. I have everyday napkins and special napkins. I have a set bandanas in assorted colors...they are great for barbeques! Except for the bbq napkins for obvious reasons, I do not gather up the napkins at the end of the meal to launder. Like Martha mentioned on her blog, we reuse them...not necessarily for a week, but for several meals. I try to be observant in case someone wipes their...so sorry...nose on their napkin...then that one is removed and replaced before the next meal. After a meal, the napkins are folded and left on the placemat. (I want to make certain I use MY napkin not one I overlooked handling the nose-wipe...)

Since my table seats 8 easily, most of my napkins are in sets of 8 or more. Two of the sets that Mama gave me have a dozen napkins. REALLY, nice!

OH! Almost forgot the filling recipes!

Apricot Filling
1 cup sugar
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup water
Stir. Microwave 10 minutes. Stir 2 or 3 times.
Cool a bit. Puree in food processor.
Add
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon almond extract
Stir. Refrigerate.
　
Prune Filling
1 cup sugar
1 cup dried prunes
1 cup water.
Stir. Microwave 10 minutes. Stir 2 or 3 times. Cool a bit. Puree in food processor.
Add
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Stir. Refrigerate.
　
Pastry Cream
1 cup cream
1 ½ tablespoon cornstarch
2-3 tablespoons sugar
Whisk. Microwave 1 minute at a time. Stir each minute until thick. About 2 – 3 minutes.

1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix together.

Temper egg yolk with hot cream mixture. Stir egg yolk into cream. Microwave 30 seconds.
Refrigerate.

I did not make the cream filling. Sam just wanted fruit. The cream is used to top the fruit...not for a stand alone filling.

The other half of the dough? She made this:

Berry Braid
2 cups crushed berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
1 cup sugar
Microwave 18 minutes. Cool and add
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Take remaining pasty half. Dust with flour and roll out to 10 x 16" rectangle. Cut strip 1/3 into dough ¾" apart. Spread Berry jam down the middle. Top with cream filling. Brush fringe with beaten egg white. Cross fringe over middle like a braid. Brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle with pearl sugar. Let rise for 30 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.