2017 is on its way out and 2018 is approaching with new adventures and challenges to face.
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Getting ready for New Year's Eve Back to our Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine at the gym working off the grasshopper cheesecake, Philly cheese steak sandwiches, Friendly's Jim Dandy and Swiss chocolate almond sundaes that we enjoyed while in Florida. Decadent eating! No guilt. Yesterday I tackled one of the three kabocha squash still sitting outside on the back porch. This one is not even the biggest one. Cliff quartered it for me. Quarters were brushed with melted coconut oil then sprinkled with cinnamon, baked at 400 for about an hour until soft. Seeds saved for next year's garden. Kept three cups for us and froze about seven cups for soups and other recipes this winter. The Christmas decorations are starting to come down. Cliff removed all porch lights, disassembled the trees, and gorilla taped some of the boxes. Tomorrow the boxes will take their place in the garage attic.
Christmas in Melbourne, Florida with Mark and Jen. Nice to sink my toes in the sand again. Ocean was cold but there were a few swimmers and surfers. Sunday the four of us spent the day in St. Augustine. View from the fort. This is what we really went to St. Augustine for.................lunch at the Columbia Restaurant. The 1905 salad prepared fresh at your table, Cuban bread, which I did consume some and was pleased that it didn't cause joint pain, black bean soup for Jen and me and Cuban sandwiches for the men. Cliff relaxing with Ember and Schroeder, the two rescue grey hounds. Actually, the dogs wanted their couch back. Panther is a very vocal feline. He spread his black body across our bedroom threshold at 5:30 a.m. so when I went to get my morning coffee, I had to feed him first. Jen and I got a pedicure on Saturday while Mark worked a couple of hours and on Christmas day we met her parents and family and had dinner in Titusville at their home
Friday evening we attended "A Rocky Mountain Christmas" at the Anderson Music Hall in Hiawassee, Georgia. The last time we went to a concert in the winter was when Willie Nelson visited the music hall about four years ago and it was windy and brutally cold. Friday evening was a repeat of that miserable weather. We had great seats because I went online as soon as tickets could be ordered. The opening songs were performed by The Return , an English group emulating the Beatles. They were very good but we never cared for their music in the 60's so we just put up with the loud music until "John Denver" appeared on stage. If you didn't know he had died in 1997, you would have sworn it was him on stage singing. Chris Collins and Boulder Canyon Band tour the country honoring John Denver's legacy with talent, warmth, and humor. Awesome evening! I planned on continuing the mouse saga with a photo of the little guy in our bathroom but, once again, I
8:30 a.m. trees heavy with moist snow. at least another 3" throughout the night. from the back porch I'm enjoying the snow before the sun breaks through and begins melting later today. It'll be around 38 degrees by mid-afternoon. Widespread power outages started yesterday around noon as far as Blairsville, Ga and power is still out. We weren't effected by that outage but our generator kicked on at 5 a.m. this morning. 11:00 a.m. The melting has begun. Huge clumps of heavy snow plummet to the slushy ground. Melting is so fast that taking pictures was like dodging a snowball fight. The driveway is clear and the subdivision has been plowed. The delicate lacy appearance will be gone by late afternoon. Power is back.
WELL, THIS SNEAKED UP ON US! Last evening I took a quick look at my iPhone weather app and the forecast update had changed from a possible snow shower to all day snow accumulation of 3-5 inches for Friday. As of 3 o'clock, we had at least 5 inches of sticky good-for-snowballs snow with more expected throughout the night. Some of the secondary roads were slippery but we figured we could make our hair appointment at noon when the temperature warmed up enough to begin the melting. We couldn't reschedule our appointments because our Russian hair dresser leaves Monday for Russia to spend a month with her family. The drive was very slow going. Roads mushy and wet, snow continuing to mount. Snow is peaceful, quiet but this one was unexpected.
December 12, 1994 27 degrees cloudy Dear Betsy, Put whole yellow peas to soak for an hour. We'll have pea soup & kielbasa for supper and garlic bread. Also fed the birds. Lots of adorable titmice with beady black eyes, perky peaks on head. Got all the rest of the presents ready for mailing and sent UPS. What a relief! Retta stopped by to see if we needed anything. I have all the Christmas lights on and playing Christmas carols! Too bad you aren't here. I'm heading off to Piece Goods shortly. There's a sale on fabric. I still want to make penuche for Chip and chocolate fudge for kids. Haven't started cookies yet either. So much to do and I love the cooking and sewing. Well, I'm off to P.G.. Sorry you have to work. Love and hugs to all. Wish we could spend a couple of weeks together. love, Mom & Dad Our tree is decorated. White lights outline the porch and window candles are gorilla taped to the sills. I've
Murphy's Christmas parade was Saturday. Weather was sunny and 65 degrees which brought a large spectator turnout. The first couple of years that Cliff was on the Belview Station 17 volunteer fire department, he anxiously drove the large engine in the parade. His hand imprints still remain on the steering wheel. Sitting that high and seeing little children dart out for the candy being thrown from the hose bed, was a nightmare for him. He announced to his chief that he'd never drive in the Christmas parade again. It was too much responsibility for him. The following years, we enjoyed the parade as spectators, waving to the fire trucks and listening to the Christmas music. Last Monday at his volunteer meeting, Cliff made the mistake of going into the bathroom while the parade was being discussed. When he returned, he had been nominated to drive the big engine in this year's parade! I didn't go to the parade this year because I was home baking brownies and makin
A few days passed without any mouse sightings so we assumed it had returned to one of the Christmas boxes and was back out in the weather on the porch, until Monday evening when suddenly a grey streak darted from behind the bookcase disappearing under the TV cabinet...........again. The new catch-and-release trap came out of its box. Easy directions in three simple pictures, allowed me to handle the set up. No technology involved. A very small piece of cheese with peanut butter on it was nudged toward the back with a pencil. Since the TV cabinet seemed to be the mouse's favorite hiding spot, I set the trap behind the cabinet when we went to bed. At 3:15 a.m. I was awakened to the sound of "yikes! i'm trapped!" ....scratch.......scratch...........scratch. The cute little fella frantically tried to dig its way out of the slippery plastic container. I flipped the back porch light on, set the trap next to the wood pile so he could make a quick get-away between
Let the Christmas decorating begin! 'Twas a month before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring........ except a grey mouse that kept running back and forth peeking out from behind the TV cabinet. Boxes of decorations from the garage attic storage were placed on the back porch where we could begin some of the outside decorating. Wreaths with red bows were hung on the front windows. The front porch pre-lit tree was fastened securely to the rails in case a Siberian front comes roaring through in late December. Cliff set three boxes in the living room, assembled our inside tree, and began decorating. After the supper dishes were stacked in the dishwasher and the kitchen cleaned, we sat back in our recliners, Christmas tree softly lighting the room, ready to watch The Christmas Train on the Hallmark channel when a tiny grey creature appeared, stopped in its tracks and darted back behind the TV cabinet. Because my bare feet were up on the foot rest an
Days leading up to a holiday bring me both anxiety and excitement. The planning and all the food preparations before hand so everything comes together at the same time on Thanksgiving Day makes me crazy. I'm my own worst enemy. I become excited and energetic which leads to overkill in menu items. So this time I decided to just stick to what we could eat and not overdo. Barb was making dressing, two pies, and a cranberry recipe (mmmmm). The frozen turkey had been purchased a month ago and placed in the garage chest freezer. This time of year, long stringy webs and filaments form everywhere glistening in the sunlight. The sun's rays revealed these webs and strings on the windows along with a dusty film deposited by vehicles from our dry gravel road. Earlier this week the days were sunny with high-sixty temperatures, perfect for window washing. Being cautious about overusing my left wrist, I wrapped a four-inch ace bandage around it and alternated hands when wiping down
Traditionally on our birthdays, Cliff and I enjoy Flo's Filet at the Longhorn Steakhouse in Ellijay, GA. This time I needed to branch out, be daring, and try somewhere new. In my online search, I knew immediately I'd discovered my new favorite restaurant. The menu reflects a southern twang, supports local farmers and suppliers. Harvest on the Main's menu features farm-to-table cuisine. Right up my alley. The restaurant is only a few miles up the road from the Tin Loong Buffet, where we eat many Sunday dinners. Blue Ridge, GA is a quaint mountain town with specialty shops and a variety of amazing restaurants. I ordered Bramlett Farms trout with Jasmine rice, black bean hummus, green beans, pickled tomatoes, and a large side salad. Cliff ordered an 8-pound all beef hot dog. Not really 8 pounds. Eight-ounce hot dog, home made sauerkraut, house baked beans, with Chef Danny's apple mustard relish. Our server, Alexandra, was delightful and cheer
The mountains show signs of fall but leaf colors aren't as bold and brilliant as previous years. Last Sunday we drove the winding road through the Ocoee Gorge heading for Chattanooga and so, it seems, did everyone else. Leaf peepers shouldn't have been disappointed as the leaf color along the Gorge outdid our local display. Once we got out of our long stretch of a rainy pattern, we had a few early morning freeze warnings with days reaching high 50's and sunny skies. I don't mind the time change bringing dusk around 5:30 because it lasts only about four month which brings me into spring. The garden is quiet. Cliff and I brought the kubocha squash to the back porch this afternoon. The largest squash weighs over 28 pounds. Italian parsley continues to grow, not effected by the freezes, kind of like cockroaches. Italian parsley and a small squash Mustard greens, collards, and kale still thriving. Pro
"Everything you need is already within you." It's rainy, dark, dank, and raw with a freeze warning of 26 tonight. This dreary high hit 50 degrees today which called me to the kitchen to brew up a wonderfully warm Butternut Squash Soup (easy and comforting) which we're having this evening with chicken and an Irish potato recipe, Kale Colcannon Potatoes. Squash Soup I'm still collecting recipes. What started with one 3-ring binder of new recipes four years ago, has expanded to 4 binders. This winter when I'm stuck in the house, I'll weed out the recipes that don't thrill our taste buds anymore and replace them with improved recipes. I felt like chocolate cake today but got too busy to bake one. And I've discovered that I can make creamy soups using lite coconut milk instead of unhealthy heavy cream. Because of the rheumatoid arthritis, I've eliminated wheat and gluten from my di