A New Aunt Julie

When I was a little girl, I had a favorite aunt. She was my mother's good friend, so we weren't really related but when I was born, she was selected to be my Godmother. I was given her name, Julia, for my middle name and I loved my Aunt Julie. I didn't see her a great deal but when we were together, I remember how much we laughed. It was always such fun to be with her.

Years later, I gave birth to a little girl and we named her Julia. Now, there's Lilly and we have an "Aunt Julie" in our family again. I hope that Lilly enjoys her Aunt Julie as much as I did mine.

Spring Spin-In

Here are some photos of the wonderful spin gathering that I attended on Saturday. As you can see, the weather was ideal. A spring breeze kept us from being too warm in the bright sunshine.

We took turns holding this little black lamb, who cuddled like a kitten and seemed to enjoy the attention. Mama, however, was beside herself, bleating pitifully and wandering around the field in search of her baby. When the lamb was released inside the fence, the mother tore across the field, making little joyous cries that were easily translated, "You're back, you're back! Thank goodness, you're back!"









Our hostess also brought out one of her alpaca's for us to see firsthand. He was not as happy as the lamb, but allowed us, begrudingly, to pet him. At the end of the day, we enjoyed a sheep herding demonstration, starring Tess, a beautiful Border Collie who, despite serious vision problems, did a remarkable job of moving the small herd across the field. Since the seven lambs in the group were less than a month old, their mothers were still acting very protective of their babies and this further complicated Tess' work. At one point, one of the moms stopped suddenly and kicked backwards at the dog. Fortunately, Tess was able to dodge the blows and she was not deterred. Charging forward, she moved to the ewe's flank and gave her a little nudge, as if to say, "I'm in charge of this operation, Lady. Get moving."

I'm a Fairy Spinmother!

Recently, I read a post on Ravelry, from someone who wanted to learn to spin and I just happened to know that a spinning meet-up was going to be in her area the following weekend. I was planning on attending and invited her to come. In the meantime, she called to RSVP and discovered that the hostess also gave lessons. By the time of the gathering, the young lady had already taken a lesson and secured a loaner wheel. When we all departed after the spin-in, she’d spun two bobbins of singles, plied them and had a full skein of her first yarn ready to wash, whack, and knit. I was so proud!!! This is the anniversary of my first year spinning and I couldn’t have gotten a nicer gift!

Snowmageddon 2010

Just a few weeks ago, this is how my town looked...

It Wasn't Me!

I can't believe that it's been so long since my last post. All I can say is that it's the computer's fault. My friendly old Mac finally started to show it's age. It gradually ran slower and slower and slower until I was threatened to fix it with my trusty hammer. Mr. Fixitall bought it some new memory--wish I could get some of that--and a new operating system. Things are still a little fishy, but I'm able to use the computer now.

My apologies to both of my readers.

New Baby

This week we celebrated a milestone--our first grandchild was born on Wednesday afternoon. Her name is Lillian and the new family seems to be doing well. I'm not sure I'm ready to think of myself as a grandmother, but I promise to work on it.

Here's a shot of Mom and Dad with their little girl.

A Cold, Blustery Start

The new year has gotten off to a cold, cold start here on the Shore. For others, like our SD friends, temperatures in the low twenties and teens are no big deal but we just aren't used to them. Worse still is the roaring wind. For two days our old house has been shaking, rattling, and not quite so cozy as it usually is. Thank goodness for our little woodstove. It's been running nonstop for days and making life much more bearable. Paul has even been getting up in the middle of the night to stir the coals and to feed the fire.

I'm also thankful for my dear MIL's holiday leftovers. (That's her in the photo, minus the leftovers.) She knows how much I love a good pot of soup and she makes sure I get either the turkey carcass or the hambone to take home with me after a nice family dinner at her house. This year, I got both. Yaaaay!! So, when I hear it's going to snow, rain, or get cold like it is now, I pull my treasure out of the freezer and set to work. I have a few secrets, that I'm happy to share. First, I always use the chicken or beef stock that comes in a box. It's lower in sodium than most of the canned broth and it's better seasoned. (If you make your own stock, disregard this advice--you've already got the best.) Then, I use a dutch oven--mine is an old Le Creuset--and I cook the soup in the oven, not on the stovetop. I saute the aromatics on the burner, adding a little flour at the end. After that, I throw in a container of stock and the meat. Into the oven it goes at about 325 degrees and I leave it for 90 minutes or so. After that, I add veggies, a little more water, and, at the very end, potatoes, rice or noodles and return it to the oven for 20-30 minutes more, just enough to cook the vegetables but not make them soggy.

Often when I make soup or stew, I make hot biscuits or a loaf of bread (from the breadmaker, of course) but last week I discovered a neat trick. We happened to go into a bakery one afternoon and I bought a loaf of day old bread. I usually freshen stale bread in the microwave but this time, I cut it into wide slices and put two in each soup bowl, pouring the hot liquid over top to serve. It was awesome! (So was the potato and leek soup, by the way.)

I'm sure my methods are far from revolutionary and probably common knowledge to better cooks than I, but I learned this all from reading Cook's Illustrated magazine and from watching their show, "America's Test Kitchens" and it's what works best for me.