Busy,Busy Weekend

Yesterday we went to DH's Aunt and Uncle's 50th anniversary celebration. It was in a town about a 100 miles away.

The event was a catered dinner held under a tent at their home set in a wooded 120 acres. It turned out to be a beautiful day for the party -- in the high 60's with sunshine.

We had a very nice time.
I even won the centerpiece on our table. That little tag was taped under my chair.

This morning I decided to enhance it a bit and use it for a fall counter decoration.

This morning I slept until 8:00 a.m., which is unheard of for me (I always get up at 5:00 a.m. or before). I don't know if it was all that fresh air yesterday or the new 1000 count sheets I slept on last night. I know I woke up a few times and it was pretty cold, so I snuggled in those sheets and my handmade quilt. It was pure bliss.

The only negative is that I lost three hours today. It's my only day to get things done outside, so I really don't like losing the time.

I had planned to spend a few hours in the rockwall garden digging out all of this grass from the creeping phlox in the front area that spans 100 feet.

I let it all go this year. I always do a good grass cleaning at least 3 times a year. This year I only did it once in the spring.

I spent two hours in the rockwall area and only did two sections. I ended up digging out all the phlox and throwing it on the compost pile in one area.

It was just too much work trying to get the grass out.

So I left the rest of the phlox and decided to dig up some of the colchium bulbs and move them to my new arbor area. Right now they are in the rock wall garden and I don't really go out there in the fall.

This is NOT the proper time to move them, so don't do it unless you are OK with losing a few bulbs.

I ended up splitting a bulb in half, so it will probably die, but that's OK with me. I have to move them when I have the time and this is the first weekend I have not had to go into work for 3 weeks.

Next weekend I will not be around to move plants, because I am going on a 150 mile journey to hear this man sing. He is a Canadian opera singer.

We went last year and really enjoyed it. I called my Mom & Dad and asked them if they would like to go. At first they did not really want to, but we told them how much we enjoyed it last year and they decided to go with us.

So we are looking forward to leaving at the end of the work week.

So next weekend I will not have any time to work out in the gardens.

When I planted these massive gardens, I had planned to be retired by now so I would have time to care for them.

It seems not much happens in life as we plan, so here I am still working and having very little time to tend to the flowers.

Either I have to quit working soon, or get rid of some of these gardens.

I can no longer do both.

We are having an English pot roast for dinner tonight. It looks pretty good. I hope it is!

I've Got a Bone to Pick with You

I recently made this centerpiece from foliage plants for my dining room table.

It's just canna leaves, ipomea, and coleus.

This morning it occurred to me that it might make a nice background arrangement for my Halloween table.

Remember this guy that I bought in May while browsing some tourist shops at the Soo Locks?

Mr. Bones.

He's been laid to rest in a box in my computer room just waiting for his big day -- when he gets to be the main attraction on my dining room table. Today's not the day, it's just a dress rehearsal.

He's a cutie, isn't he?
He's even a candle holder.

I think he's going to be just great.

A few weeks ago I bought him some friends.

I could not resist -- I tried to walk away, then DH kept saying, "If you want them, buy them."

So I did.

They are made to go on stakes outside. But I never had plans for them to be outside. My first thought was a table decoration. Not sure how they will work out, but it will be fun to work with them.

I just hope I still have some foliage plants for the background in mid October.

What would be a good meal to serve with these guys?

I am thinking hot wings and finger sandwiches. That would be sandwiches shaped like a human finger. Yum! Yum!

The Urge to Purge

This is the fourth box of magazines I have thrown away in the past two weeks. I did mention I was a mag addict, didn't I?

I used to get something like 15 subscriptions, but I have been letting them all expire and now I would guess I have about 6.

My urge to purge was enhanced because we got a new hot water heater installed today. That meant that someone had to go down to my basement. There is nothing like embarrassment to bring on my desire to tidy things up a bit!

Today was also garbage day. I have been adding at least one extra box of junk to the garbage each week for the past month.

One week I tossed a couple bags of clothes. That's another item I buy all the time. While I am pretty much over the excessive magazine subscriptions, I am still a compulsive clothes buyer.

Sometimes I take stuff to the Salvation Army. But I really prefer just to toss them. Thrift stores are way too particular these days. They want items in season, in near perfect condition, and they don't even pick up anymore. It's way too much work for me to box them up, make sure they are in season, find time to haul them over when we both work every day, etc. Forget it. I usually just toss them out now.It's much easier to haul to the roadside and let my garbage service pick them up.

Autumn Swirl Cookies

Or as the author named them, "Party Cookies".

I renamed mine since I did them in fall colors.

The recipe is from the book, Carrot Cake Murder, by Joanne Fluke.





I am a big fan of the culinary mystery genre.





Since my job revolves around catering and I like to cook, I can relate to all the food/catering references. Most culinary mysteries also print the recipes they write about and I often make a recipe or two from the novels I read. I think it adds to my overall enjoyment of the book.

The first cookie I decided to bake is a very rich butter cookie.

You make the buttery dough and then divide it into 4 blobs. (I think "blobs" is more descriptive than the term "sections", so I shall continue to use "blobs" throughout my descriptions of these dough bundles.)


You toss one blob at a time back into the mixer to add the food color.

As it turned out, I could have only made two blobs because I decided to only use two colors--orange and brown.
I used these Wilton colors, which I was very happy with. The colors held up well in the baking process and produced nice vividly-hued cookies.
Each blob is divided into 8 smaller blobs.
Then rolled into long ropes.

The ropes are then stacked in fours, alternating colors. The end will look like this: You then roll it up in waxed paper, patting it a bit to even it out, so it's almost the same size all the way down. Then it needs to chill. I stuck mine in the freezer for about 30 minutes because I wanted to get them done last night. The last batches had been in the freezer for about an hour and, I think, those were the best.
When removed from the freezer, the log was nice and firm and I cut it into sections.
Each cookie was dipped into sugar on both sides. I sprayed the cookie sheet for the first batch only. On my next four trays I only put 12 cookies to a sheet. They really spread out!

Here they are all packed in a tin. I think the recipe made a little over 4 dozen.
I thought these cookies were very good. On my first batch I cooked them 11 minutes. It was not enough. I added minutes on each batch. I ended up cooking them about 15 minutes and I liked those best. The cookie was nice and crisp on the outside with a softer buttery interior.

If you click the recipe, it will get larger.


The heroine of this book runs a bakery. The book has a number of recipes that sound good. On her website, the author publishes recipes from her books that you can print out. The one she has now is for Red Velvet Cookies, which were also in this novel. I plan to try them next.

This Magazine is a Bargain--so Why Did I Throw it in the Garbage?

Traditional Home. I used to get this magazine. Today I got an offer that I almost could not refuse.
Three years for the price of one! But how much is it? I grabbed three papers before I caught a glimpse of a price-- $14.97................but wait............look closely...........plus postage/handling.
So how much is the P/H? I had to spend more time rummaging through the pile until I finally found the paper with the real price - PLUS $5.00. Notice that no place does it actually say $19.97.

They like to play the little game of trying to make the consumer think it's less than it really is.

Why?

I think $19.97 is a great price. Had they stated that to begin with, I would have subscribed because I am a sucker for a good mag price.

But now I had to toss the whole thing in the garbage.

It's the principle. I simply refuse to buy a magazine that tries to hide its real price. If everyone would do that, they would stop that irritating practice.

I got the same offer from another magazine last week and I took that one. It was $19.99, but it stated the full price up front. No games.


I like that.

Jean,if you are out there, do these leaves look like your hollyhocks?

Update: Jean never sent me hollyhock seeds! She sent me foxglove seeds. That's why these leaves look different than the hollyhock leaves I googled!

I Had a Carrot Filled Weekend

No, I wasn't picking them from my garden and canning them.

I was shredding them the old fashioned way. Boy, that grater is brutal to fingers. I stopped way short of the end to protect myself.

Then I turned those shreds into these yummy muffins.
I also baked some for dinner on Sunday.

And all I weekend I was reading this:

Don't you just love the burnt orange cover on this book? It's so very fallish. I need to get back to it now to find out who the killer is.

Have a great Monday.

What a Picturesque Location for a Post Office & A Healthy Dessert

I just happened to have my camera in the car when I went to the post office--a plain Jane unadorned old building that I've been to hundreds of times. This time I took a few moments to appreciate the beauty of its location. In fact, I got right out of the car and walked up to and on that bridge to take pictures.
It seems like such a waste to use property with a view like this for a post office that has no windows facing this side. A much better use would be a big house with lots of windows that I could live in! :)

What made me turn into the post office in the first place was the view on the backside. Any idea what this is?
If you live in a cold-weather state, you probably recognize this huge pile of road salt. It reminded me to enjoy the beautiful weather today, because it won't be long before this salt is dumped by truckloads on to the cold, icy roads of my county.

I made the most delicious healthy dessert (now there's an oxymoron) and it was way too easy.

I put a good-sized spoonful of brown sugar and a splash of diet 7-up in a ramekin then added a red Anjous pear (artfully striped). Not only does the removal of a few strips of skin look pretty, but it gives a place for the spoon tip to cut easily through when you are enjoying this seasonal delicacy.
I baked them at 350 for about 1.5 hours.

The liquid caramelized and---oh, boy, it was good!

Now that I am remembering the experience, I want more. I will have to ask DH to buy some more on his grocery shopping trip later this morning.

Oh, Dear, The White Phlox is Blooming

That means this flowering season is almost at it's end!

I have a lot of white phlox--just like I have a lot of everything that likes to bloom in my harsh conditions. After years of gardening, only the tough survive. When you have as much space to fill with flowers as I do, you go with those that flourish in the conditions you provide. Phlox seems to like it here, so I grow a lot of it. I like that my purple phlox just finishes as my white begins to flower. I would have shown more pics of the white phlox, but I walked outside to get some and as I brushed against the big Sedum Autumn Joy
a hornet flew up my Green Acres gown and stung me right in the knee! OUCH!! It hurt! It's been years since I have had a bee sting. That is the one downfall to Sedum Autumn Joy--the bees love it when it's in it's light pink stage. There are at least a dozen bees on each plant.


Other than a stroll or two through the gardens, I have not been outside much for the past week. Instead I have had the urge to change a few things in my living room. I've been wanting to do a flowers/plaids/stripes mix for some time now (like 18 years! It's about time I finally got it done).

Last spring I made a striped valance and last week I finally found fabric and made the lined plaid panels.

Did you notice that rooster that I bought at the Farmer's Market in early August?

I really find something pleasing about that candle-holder guy. He was sitting in the dining room and I grabbed him for a centerpiece. Over the weekend, I brought this table back up from the basement. It used to be a brass & glass table. I decided I no longer liked it and it's been in the basement for about a year. Saturday I took it outside and painted the brass black. Now I like it again.

Anyway, back to the curtains...........
After I had them all made, I did not think the valance and the panels worked together quite as nicely as I would have liked. I decided to use the same fabric from the panels to make Sparkle Jars-inspired rosettes to go around all of the buttons on the valance.

I had a couple of pieces left over and used them as sofa/loveseat backs. I think that worked to force a connection between everything. I now have these rosettes on five windows in my home. I just love them. Thanks again, Sparkle Jars!

It's Labor Day -- What better way to Celebrate than to Work?

O.K. I hear all of you saying that you can think of many more enjoyable ways to spend your Labor Day.

For me, it's just part of working in the hospitality industry. I work every Labor Day. I only had to work 5 hours anyway. Of course I also worked 4.5 hours Sunday.........such is life...the Big Kahuna has no sympathy for people who whine about working.

I did get to enjoy Labor Day. We had our annual party at DH's brother's home yesterday afternoon. It's a tame party...lots of good food, good company and conversation, and a few alcoholic drinks...I did not have any, but they always have beer, wine coolers, etc. Nobody over indulges....maybe that's because our local priest always comes to the party! LOL. I did notice that he had a few beers.

I took a coconut cake which actually turned out pretty good and everyone seemed to like it. I was happy about that since everything I bake lately seems to flop.

Heitagehunter left me this comment:
I just had a oriental poppy bloom, it has just open today. About a month ago I had one bloom but it was not formed correctly this one is small but very pretty.
I have had been growing oriental poppies for 15 years and have never had this before.
First of all, I would like to welcome you, Heritagehunter. Thanks so much for taking a moment to comment. It is interesting to know that I am not alone in my first time Oriental poppy rebloom. It must be some weird weather phenomena. Mine bloomed a couple of days ago and the bloom was smaller than normal. I noticed today that one of the other 3 buds is drying up.

I finally got to use some of that curly grass in a flower bouquet(s) on the table I did yesterday.

I think it makes a great accent.

On my way home from work today, I noticed that pretty blue weed flower was blooming along the roads. As soon as I got home, I changed clothes and headed out to get some.
I added them to my centerpiece. Last year someone told me the name of this wildflower, but I can't remember it at the moment.

I am planning to relax the rest of the day.

We will have a nice dinner of grilled chicken breasts, fresh corn, summer squash and tomatoes from the Farmer's market, and fingerling potatoes.

I hope you are all having a nice Labor Day.

I had a Tulip for Dinner

I was alone for dinner tonight, so I decided to fuss a little and came up with a new twist on a simple ham/cheese sandwich.


This fussy sandwich is not really something that my dear husband would appreciate, so tonight was the perfect time to make it.



Some people can't imagine doing something like this just for themselves. I think I deserve a little something special -- and if nobody else is going to pamper me, then I have to do it myself!

Doesn't this look much nicer than two pieces of bread cut in half?

It was very quick to do.



I used a tulip cookie cutter to cut the bread, ham and cheese. then I stepped out on the deck and cut some chive stems.

I washed and dried them, then searched the refrigerator for something to accent the sandwich with. I was looking for olives, but didn't have any. I decided sweet pickles would work. I just cut them into leaf shapes.

The orange plate was a nice background. I had to have a medium dark plate--white would not show off the flower and a dark plate would not show the dark green leaves.

I put a few potato chips around the plate....gotta have that chip crunch with a sandwich.

I ate my light dinner while reading a book on Halloween decorating.


It was a most enjoyable meal.