The Rules of Ping Pong

(Disclaimer: These rules do not apply if you play ping pong as a game-competitive event. We play the game most weekday mornings, competing point-for-point, with an objective of exercising our bodies and having a ton of fun.)

- General Rule: Most standard rules of ping-pong apply, including the rule that (most of the time) the person who reaches 21 points first is declared the winner.

- Double-Back Rule: If one player achieves 10 points above his or her opponent, then the player with the greater number of points forfeits those 10 points. This rule applies only if the opponent with the fewer points has less than 10 points. This rule prevents the game from ending prematurely and thereby circumventing the goal of exercising the body. There can be only one Double-Back per game.

- Backtrack Rule: When both players have in excess of 10 points and one player reaches 21 points, the player with the fewer points may call for a Backtrack. In that case the player with 21 points must subtract 5 points from his or her score, and then the game continues until one of the players then reaches 21 points from the new starting point. There can be multiple Backtracks per game. This increases the self-esteem of the player with the fewer points.

- Redo: When one player reaches 21 points and it appears the game is won, the player with the fewer points may call for as many Redos as desired, giving the player with the lower score more opportunities to increase his or her point count. In this case, the player who first reached 21 points still claims the game. This extends the game and increases the enjoyment for both players.

- Lousy Serves: No player will lose or gain a point when his or her opponent makes a lousy serve. A lousy serve scores zero points.

- I Meant To: Players may declare a missed point as an I Meant To event and receive sympathy and understanding (but no point) from his or her opponent.

(BTW: That player with the fewer points? Well, that would be me!)

Now, what's up with this ... and the day after Christmas

I got up about 5:30 this morning, after a really good night's sleep, and started the finishing touches on the bags I'm making for Steph & Scott, then about 7:00 I got dressed, made my nice coffee drink, had my breakfast. Lauren and I went out to play our 5 games of ping pong about 8:30, and after a few volleys, the ball landed on the floor on my side. As I bent down to pick it up, this is what I saw. This puts new meaning to "two right feet!" Hmmmm!

Needless to say, I changed my left shoe right away, hoping it would improve my chances of scoring some points. (Naw, it was business as usual. Always close, and a few deuce games, but Mr. Man almost always gets that winning point!)

Coffee
I think I have one recipe down the way I like it for the cappuccino. I'm using Don Francisco's espresso grind coffee. It's Arabica coffee, advertised as "bold." I bought a small quantity of fresh ground Von's brand, espresso grind, at first, but it's a little bitter. I like this Don Francisco's. I use just a little less than the recommended amount for two cups of espresso, along with water for four cups, and when it's brewed and I have the (fat-free) milk steamed, I pour the coffee and then the steamed milk over about a tablespoon vanilla flavoring, about 1/3 packet of instant (fat-free) hot chocolate, about a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a little packet of Splenda.

It seems to me that you should sit and relax and enjoy a good conversation with someone dear if you're drinking a nice hot cup of coffee or warm milk, so I pour this concoction over ice in the drinking cup I carry around all day. I poured it in this beautiful glass cup this morning just so I could take a picture of it. I should have sprinkled a little cinnamon on the top for effect, huh? It's a really satisfying brew! I will probably start experimenting with flavors, soon. There might be some possibilities with instant apple cider, cardamon, nutmeg, and other flavorings.

Stash Building
I had some extra 50% off coupons from Joann's for this sale cycle, and I had just ran out of this nice red fabric, with a small beige star, that I like so well for the military quilts I'm making. So I decided to take an extra trip (I usually go only once during a sale cycle) after Church on Sunday. I ended up with some great bargains. I used my two coupons for the red and blue fabrics at the lower left - they sew up nicely in these quilts; but I spied this sign on Joann's Red Tag fabrics (fabrics they've reduced) that said the price of any of those fabrics was now an additional 50% off.

I didn't think that was supposed to happen until the 26th, and I knew I didn't plan on going down there today (the 26th), so I browsed through the bolts on the shelves. They're really in no particular order - felts, wools, polys, brocades, quilting cotton, all mixed together - you have to look at every bolt if you really want to find anything you want.

I really lucked out. I got about 2 yards of each of 8 pieces (two suitable for my military quilts) for either $1 or $1.50 a yard. Whoopee!!! But I was the last one that got that deal on Sunday. The fabric was scanning at its regular marked-down price when the gal cut it for me, so she went to check the sale sign and realized that the signs shouldn't have been put up until Dec 26. She called to have someone pull the signs, but gave me the extra 50% off price. Double Whoopee!!! I don't know how long it's been since I got such a great bargain!!!

(In the back of my mind, there's this little whisper: "But you're supposed to be reducing your stash this year!!!")

Oh well!!! I guess I just have to live long enough to use it all up. How fun that sounds!!!

The Bags
I finished Satos' bags Monday so I was able to take them with us for Christmas dinner at their house on Christmas day. We had a really good time there. Mutsy is such a good good. She had a warm rice casserole (I think she purchased it already made) that had grated squash in it - oh, was that good. And then there were the roasted carrots. She buys the baby carrots, par-boils them, and then seasons them with butter and a few things like garlic and pepper, and then roasts them. Lauren brought us home a bag of small carrots from Henry's today, and we're going to try it!

Satos' bags are made of corduroy - the first I made from this fabric. I cut out a couple floral motifs from some home decor fabric and raw-edge appliqued them on the pockets. I hadn't done this before, either. So that makes these bags unique. It's nice when I can try something different when I do something I've done before. These bags, though, are so handy that I will probably do many of them before I get tired of making them!

On my Friday trip to Joann's, I found some new heavy fabric (twills and denims) to make more bags, and so I made Scott and Steph's bags from this new fabric. This twill has some Lycra in it, so it's stretchy. I worried a bit about that, so I lined them with some unbleached muslin. It made the bags feel really sturdy, so it wasn't a bad thing.

Look at the back of the bag on the right in the left picture - you can see the main fabric. Now, this fabric is designed to be "bottom weight" - fabric you can make slacks and jeans from. Think about that. And then think about the Lycra (or spandex) in it. And imagine wearing a pair of tight jeans made of this colorful stuff.

I think Flo (from Flo's Diner) would look great in these. They would be her style. (And don't tell, but I think I might have found a pair or two in my closet back in the 60s and 70s. I can only be glad this style has gone OUT of style, at least for me.)

My Sewing Room
With the bags done, I can clean up my sewing room and start back on the quilts.

The room gets quite messy very quickly when I sew. Sometimes I think I'm running a dust mill. There's nothing that will create dust so quickly as running fabric and thread through a machine.

When I'm heavy at it, I bring the vacuum into my sewing space, and I use the nozzle to pick up fabric lint, snippets of threads, and clippings from the fabric every couple hours. If I didn't, the house would be strewn with all those bits and pieces all the time.

I also set up the ironing board and a few odds and ends of portable tables (like the one holding the serger) to hold this or that. It gets crowded out here, but it's really nice having a spot that's dedicated to my work. Periodically, I have reclaim and clean my space - my next project before I get back to the quilts.

You can tell from the picture that we're having a really sunny day. This room is a sun room, and it faces south like any good sun room; but with too much sun, it gets really, really hot in here, especially during the summer. During this time of year, the sun is lower in the horizon and it shines directly in my face as I work; so I let down the sun shades we patched together when we realized our drapes weren't going to be sufficient. Had I known this, I might have just lined the drapes (Roman shades) with the sun-block fabric instead of the fabric I used. Oh well. I figured it wasn't worth fixing. There are too many better things ahead to get into.

One Last Thing - A Nice Walk

My walking is pretty stable these days after our trip to Israel, so Lauren and I took advantage of it this morning, hoping to extend my better balance and strength, by going up the hill to where Poway and Espola Roads meet.

I had asked yesterday if we could go up to Iron Mountain - I figured I could handle at least the flat areas. We passed there on the way to Satos, and there were cars (with walkers on the path already) parked on both sides of the road. I really yearn to hike again! We thought we might like to go today, but we're going to a movie this afternoon and I thought maybe we were biting off more than we (I) could chew for one day.

The walk up our "own" hill was exhilarating and beautiful. The picture on the left is as we were going up, and the picture on the right shows our end of Poway Valley as we were coming back. Wonderful!!!

So with all that to blog about today, maybe I'll slip back into "Sometimes Daily...." very soon. Christmas is a sweet memory and tomorrow is a new day. My head will be stuck in fabric and yarn and cleaning and organizing as we get ready for the New Year, new projects, new travels.(I'm so excited. Such wonderful trips planed in the next six months! I going to get to see everyone I dearly love!)

Christmas Day... and more photos

Christmas services were beautiful last night. The music at Mt Olive was the best I've ever experienced, with a string and piano quartet from one family's children, the bell choir and Jessica, on her amazing trumpet, accompanying the organ and piano for carols, and a most gracious rendition of O Holy Night by Melinda H, now Melinda K for these many past years, with two sons of her own.

I have always loved to hear Melinda sing. She is among my top five favorite church soloists. Marion did a wonderful job supporting Melinda on the piano. Melinda has a high and very clear voice, and motherhood has only enhanced the warmth of her melodies.

Lauren took some pictures for us, and he got a great one of the quartet, but they are other people's children and I am reluctant to paste their faces on the Internet without their parents' approval ... so I won't.

Our young acolyte in the picture above is the oldest of the children, and he's dressed in the Norwegian attire of his father's heritage. He played the piano, and he was extremely competent - never missed a beat or a note ... nor did his siblings on their stringed instruments. Such a special gift to our Christmas eve services.

We left just after communion, when the service was nearly over, and headed to Hope United Methodist in RB, and enjoyed being there, as well. It's interesting that after the wonderful music program at Mt. Olive, Hope's music seemed almost ordinary, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. Hope had a wonderful young tenor, though, and he has a lot of promise. His voice was strong and pure. He sang Ave Maria, and his melody seemed to be somewhat flawed. I hope this young man, perhaps in his early to mid 20s, continues to train. Tenors usually mature in their late 20s or early 30s, and this fellow could give Josh Grobin or any of the current popular classical singers a real run for their money.

Musicians are a wonderful gift to the church! I am always blessed by experiences of good church music, such as we experienced at both churches last night. The musicians and their music made it a real Christmas for me.

I'll post the final batch of Christmas pasts photos today, because tomorrow will be the start of a new year for me, even though New Year's is a week away. I'll start cleaning up pieces of projects I've left laying around, books I've half read, to do lists scattered here and there, and get organized to begin again next year. My Christmas starts at Advent and ends the night of the 25th. The journey of the Wise Men, for me, is the beginning of something new and wonderful, and I want to take that journey in my life as soon as Christmas day is done. It's time to move forward.

So, here they are:

1971

Scampi's in this one, so I have to assume we bought her in 1971. She was such a bundle of sweetness, and so protective. She didn't like anyone getting close to her family, and she'd nip at them.

And she would rough house with you, Donna. Do you remember when you and she were rolling around on the floor and you called her "Chump," and she bit you on the arm? (You were older, then - in fact, it might have been after we moved to California, and you would have been an older teenager) That was so funny!

You and Den, in your picture above, look like you're about ready to burst into orneriness! This might have been the year that Den tossed Scamp in the bathtub with you, put a paper cup down the toilet so that Dad had to totally remove the commode to clear it, and whatever orneriness he could think of. Ah, I loved it that we were a real, normal family. Too much perfection, and I would have known you two weren't my kids! I have such memories!

1972


Both sets of grandparents, along with Uncle Steve, visited us that Christmas. I remember my Mom's big bee hive hair dos. She loved dressing up and fancy. She always had marvelous taste. She could never figure out how she birthed a plain Jane like me, but she took it in good stride. I saw another older woman with her mother at Hope last night, and for a few moments, I thought about Mom and wished I had her with me this Christmas. She and Pop went to Hope for a while before they settled into their long and warm relationship with the Baptist church here in Poway.


I'll finish up with pictures of our extended family for Christmas that year, including Scampi, and of the four of us.

Those days were rich, golden days.

Merry Christmas. May there be many, may they all be merry, and may they provide wonderfully warm memories for many, many years!

On Christmas Eve: T'was the third day of Christmas

1970


Every family has its holiday traditions. We pick and choose from our parents' traditions and create some new ones of our own. One of our traditions was to open presents at night after we came home from church. When you two got bigger, we'd have Christmas as a family, and then we'd often tuck you both into bed and we'd slip over to the 11:00 candlelight service.

Church was a big deal for us as a family. More often than not, I was involved as the organist or choir director, and sometimes the children's programs, and you two always had something to do in the children's program. Those were fun (and sometimes hectic years), but they are among the best memories I have of our young family.


Christmas morning meant getting up to chop and dice onions, celery, and other vegetables, mix the stuffing, and get our turkey in the oven. All the while, you and Den - and often your other playmate, Dad - were in the living room testing out all the new toys. Dad was the biggest kid of all and he loved those toys.


I remember the year we got an Atari pong game. He played late nights, after you two went to bed, for weeks before Christmas. He did the same thing with our first Nintendo. It's a wonder most of the toys weren't worn out before you two got to open them at Christmas. I think we have a Fisher-Price garage in the picture here.

Remember when we used to go to the mall on Friday nights? We'd go to the pet store and the toy store there. I think we all always enjoyed toys. I still find myself migrating to a toy store if I see one. We used to have one here in Poway, up until it closed a couple years ago, I visited there every few months.

We certainly enjoyed the pet store. We got our precious little Scampi at the pet store over at the mall during one of our Friday night excursions. (You'll see her when I post 1971 pictures.) Did Dad bowl on Friday nights and that's why he didn't go with us? Or was he traveling? In any case, he never wanted pets in the house, but after Scampi, we always had at least one - and guess who they liked best! Dad!!


Even though the new toys didn't get worn out before Christmas, sometimes kids did. It seemed that Den could drop to sleep wherever he was. We always got a kick out of the places we found him napping. Neither of these pictures was taken at Christmas, but as I was browsing through our albums, I spied them and couldn't resist including them. The one on the left was in 1970, and the one on the right was in 1971.

And then this one is my all-time favorite! Usually it was Den climbing in bed with you at night, but this time, i think there was a storm going on, and I came in to check you two before I went to bed. It was all I could do to suppress my laughter. It still brings a chuckle to me.

It's Christmas eve for us now. I've been sewing all day, making some shopping bags for Satos and for Steph & Scott. I finished Satos, and I made huge progress on Steph & Scott's. I'll be able to finish them tomorrow so I can give it to them if they can get down this week or stick them in the mail if they don't.

Dad and I will be having supper shortly and then getting ready for church. We're going to go to Mt. Olive's 7:00 and then to Hope Methodist for 9:00. Church is still meaningful to us on Christmas. Children grow, parents and grandparents age and pass into history, but church is our constant now. It's a good thing!

It's Christmas day for you and your family. I hope it's a blessed time as you're together. I know you miss Stephie and Scott, just as I miss you all; and I know Erica brings you a new kind of joy!

Love,

Mom and Dad!

T'was the second day of Christmas (photos for Donna)

Part two of Donna's Christmas present from Mom and Dad!

1966

In 1966, there we were, the three of us in our new apartment in Cape Canaveral. We were all so pleased to be together, weren't we?

I have pictures of you in your very own room, with all your toys and things. And we have videos of you outside the apartment, jumping up and down while you pushed your dolls in a baby buggy. And there are pictures, too, I'm sure, of swimming in the pool.

We were all living our dreams!



We always had lots of toys and things under the tree at my house when I grew up. Grandpa and Mammy lived close by, and they contributed to the piles of things that waited for us Christmas eve.

I don't think Dad had ever had a Christmas like this one, and I think it shows that he really liked our kind of Christmas.

1967

I know there are albums (or pictures in boxes) that I don't have at my fingertips, because we never missed taking tons of pictures at Christmas - and at birthdays, too - I came across pictures of every birthday you had back in those days, but not all the Christmases. 1967 seems to be missing, but I'm pretty sure there are pictures of us somewhere, with me wearing a pink crepe long-sleeve dress that I'd made, loose around the waist to hide the little baby bump that was growing there.

1968

Here are a couple pictures of our 1968 Christmas. We were in our new house on Anchor Lane - the house we lived in the rest of the time we lived in Florida.

Although the picture I pulled of me for 1966 doesn't bear any resemblance to Stephanie that I can detect, I sure see flickers of Steph in this picture of me with you and Den. Isn't it funny how shades of family resemblances show up at different times in our lives?

Look at your eyes and Den's. I think both of you were looking at the same thing, and it wasn't the camera. Hahaha!

Over the years, we blended traditions from both Dad's and my growing-up years and incorporated a few new ones just for the four of us. I'm sure you and Todd carried over traditions from your own growing up years and made some new ones for yourselves, too. How fun that is!

Next time I'll post pictures from 1970 and 1971. It might be a day or two, but keep checking back. I have some pictures from 1972, too, but I'm going to have to dig (and remember) for years after that. I've found several different pages of photos, but I'll have to do the math to see if I can match them up to years.

What fun this is. I guess this is proof people do go back and look at old photo albums. I know we do from time to time; and this time, I've found a really good use for them. I'm so glad we still have so many where I can find them!

Still even more love....

Mom (and Dad)

Merry Christmas, Donna ...

Listening to carols this morning while I was sewing, my mind began to wander to Christmases past, and I found myself reaching for old photo albums to see what I would find. This is for you, Donna, the first of several as I post some old pictures. May these pictures warm you heart, and may that warmth spread to your whole family as you remember these wonderful moments - so that each of you is blessed!

1964

This first part is Christmas 1964 and 1965. I found only one picture to post from 1964 (there are probably more somewhere else), but I thought this one says it all. Once you were born, you were the apple of Pop's eye the rest of his life. When you were small, he would take you shopping and buy you everything you even thought you wanted! He doted on you, for sure! You gave him so much happiness.

Of course, there was another woman in his life, and I'll have a picture of her in the 1965 group of pictures!

1965

You and I had Christmas at Gammer and Pop's in 1965. We were still "single" that year.

It was the year Judy and Jerry became engaged. I think her ring was in that candy box. I'm pretty sure I have a picture, somewhere, of her holding it so we could see it, but it's not in the album I'm working from.

And here's a picture of that other woman in Pop's life - Gammer! Pop didn't need an excuse to kiss Gammer, ever, but this time I was able to get a photo of it. I think this picture sums up their entire nearly 60-years together. During the last year of Pop's life, Gammer slept in the room next to his, and she said she would wake up during the night and there was Pop, just standing there gazing at her. Such love!

And in the meantime, your soon-to-be new Daddy was having Christmas at his parents' home in Minnesota. He and I were playing a cat and mouse game over the phone, seeing who would hold out the longest in popping the question. I think I won and he popped the question, but maybe it's because I goaded him into it. :-) But it wasn't too long before we made some definite plans to stop the courting game and get onto the marriage and family game.

It wasn't at Christmas, but it was a few months after that, in April 1966, that your new grandparents traveled from Minnesota and then made a special trip through West Virginia, on their way back, so meet and hug their new granddaughter.

I think you can see in this picture of 1965 that your Dad was straining at the bit to be a father. It's obvious that he loved kids, and I think he figured if he married me, he could become a daddy right now!

Such a romantic, your dad! He had no idea, did he, how much work being a daddy could be! But such fun. I wondered some times if he didn't marry us just so he could have more kids to play with. I'll show you a picture of what I came to think of as our three kids when I post the 1970 pictures.

April came, along with your new grandparents. You can tell it's an instant match - they were just waiting for you, I think! They loved you even before they knew you.

Next will be pictures from 1966. I hope these little memories make your Christmas bright and merry!

Love,

Mom (and Dad)

Martha Circle Quilts - December progress

Well, as usual, I distract myself too much to get much done some days; but if I redefine what I mean by "get done," then I guess I get done everything that I want to get done.




I finished two quilt tops for my goal of four for December - actually 2-1/2 because I have the strips pieced for a third one. Because I know I'm going to divert my attention yet again tomorrow, I figured I'd make a note in my blog about where I left off - just to keep me honest.

The theme of these tops is "What can I do with strips?" My initial sketch was to use 7 strips of varying widths, but the object of this game is to keep things as simple as possible yet still create some interesting design, so I reduced the number to 5. That means four seams for each block; but because I cut my strips in widths and then sewed them together, it meant far fewer than that.


In order to get a sufficient number of blocks to make 20 blocks for a single quilt, I cut 5 widths of each fabric, sewed them together as you see on the left (above), and then cut them into 9-1/2-inch blocks as you see on the right (above).

Then, of course, it's a matter of deciding how the blocks should lay together, sewing the blocks into rows, and then sewing the rows together to make the quilt top.


The first one (on the left) didn't turn out as I intended - I meant to alternate the blocks the way I did the ones in the quilt top on the right, but, oh well. One goal was met, anyway - the strips in the blocks were not to line up. The overall end-goal was that everything should be staggered. That part worked.

I really like the one on the right - it's like a basket-weave. I'm going to make the remaining two with that scheme, although I am going to vary the order in which I sew the widths together - and the fabrics, too, of course - so that the center strip isn't necessarily the wider strip.

I have a project I want to get done before Christmas, so these will have to wait a bit.


Although I'm doing most of my piecing on my inexpensive little Sears machine - it has such a nice stitch - I'm doing the top-stitching (to prevent raveling) on my Bernina. There are some things I really like about the Bernina - the machine of many feet. One of the big things is this wonderful #10 presser foot! That little metal piece in the middle of the foot follows my seam line perfectly, and I get straight seams without blinking an eye.

Bernina gives you a #5 presser foot, just like the #10, when you buy the machine, but you can't sew center position with the #5 - the metal bar goes all the way back to the throat of the presser foot. Just another way Bernina increases its profits on an already-too-expensive product! (You can tell, there's a lot I don't like about that company, but I do like the features on the machine!)


Of course, the #10 foot is only part of the secret to these wonderfully straight seams. Look at the buttons in this image as I describe what this beauty does.

First, I line up my target seam (the one I want to echo) with the metal piece in the middle of the #10 foot.
- If I want the seam to the right of the seam allowance I'm following, I press the right arrow (shown at button 3) 3 times.
-When I finish that bit of seaming, if I want to make a new seam to echo an existing seam, and I want the new seam to be to the left of the existing seam, I press "clr" at button 1, restoring the needle to the center position, and then I press the left arrow shown at button 3.

If you go back and look at the pictures of my #10 foot, above, you can see the needle is either to the right or to the left of center. Really, really neat.

Look at the button at circle 2, above. That makes my needle either stay up (the default) when I release the foot pedal, or it makes the needle stay down. I like down the best - it gives me a little anchor for my fabric while I lightly adjust it. If I want to raise the needle at any time when I've stopped sewing, I tap the back of the foot pedal and up goes the needle.

I'll never be convinced that these nifty features are worth the money I paid, but since I've got this machine, I am really using it for all it's worth! I love the feature set!!!

Food and other delightful stuff

I need a new label (category) for my blog - things that taste good. What shall I call it: Food stuffs? Well, that would be ok, but ... Delicious? That seems to have more appeal. Yummm! That's it! Yummm! describes delicious to a T! (Except that blogger won't allow me to use the "!" in my label. Drat it!

I need this new label because from time to time I find things that are just wonderfully tasty.

Take, for example, this wonderful bag of the most delicious nuts Mavash and Glynn sent us for Christmas!

And those wonderful tangerines sitting beside the nuts! The tangerines come from a grove very near our house. The grove was planted as some sort of a compromise between the builder of homes in that neighborhood and the City of Poway; and as far as we (and a lot of our neighbors) know, the grove is public. Most of the trees there are lemon trees, but if you know where to go, you can find these delicious tangerines. The tangerines are sooooo! juicy and sweet this year. They've always been good, but a little on the dry side. Whatever makes tangerines juicy must have happened this year. This is absolutely the best crop ever!

Sometime soon, I'll go back to some previous posts and put the Yummm label on them. The first one I'm going to find is that wonderful breakfast I had every day at the Grand Court in Jerusalem, but there are others, too. Like when I brew a really good cup of espresso, or the rice with carrots recipe (I need to find that).

Yummm!

Lauren's present to me, quilts, and cappuccino (latte?)

I was just sitting at the sewing machine, sewing together the strips I cut out this morning and minding my own business, and in walks Lauren with his little thumbnail drive telling me he has some pictures for me. Well, we've had so many pictures over the last couple weeks that I can't imagine what he has, but curiosity gets the better of me and I find myself plugging the thumbnail in an open USB slot.


Look at this! This is from our front yard! Every day when I go out there, I say either to myself (when I'm alone) or to Lauren (when he's with me), I need to get a picture of that. I love the leaves! They remind me so much of my childhood.

I grew up in an apartment building on Indiana Avenue, in Charleston, but not far away was Elkview where my grandparents lived. I spent a lot of time with them; and in the fall, we would always gather up the leaves in their apple orchard and they allowed me to jump in them and make a big mess. Sometimes, Grandpa would load a bunch in the wheel barrow and then put me in on top of them, and he'd push me around the yard. I'm sure leaves and these warm memories go hand in hand in my thoughts.



Interestingly enough, our leaves are from an apple tree, too. Our apple tree isn't nearly as big as the one at Grandpa and Mammy's house, but it is a real apple tree and it produces fruit. Lauren gathers the fruit during its harvest season, and he makes apple crisp for us - and it's even better than his mother's! Like all recipes Lauren adopts from others, he works on them, making improvements until the recipe is his and his only! Yummm! When he has extra, he gives them away. Sometimes he leaves a bag on the front wall near the mail box for whoever wants to take them.

Needless to say, I love Lauren's present to me this morning. He did some weeding, at my request, in the back yard today and then snuck around front to capture these images for me.

We have flowers along our little front wall, too, which Lauren planted. It's amazing to me that we have daffodils right now, but here they are!


I planted some paper-white bulbs in a pot a month or so ago, just for fun, and they're producing the most delightful flowers now.

When a flower blooms, it's like a gift! I am always delighted! Our pinks along the west fence in our back yard are blooming, too. Living in more southern climates has its bonuses, for sure!

I remember (again) when I was young and we lived in a house on the hill in the Montrose section of South Charleston, I used to take walks in the evening, and when it was snowing, I loved the feel of the snow on my face and the way it sparkled in the street lights. And then in the spring, the first buds always made me laugh. For a long time, I missed those changing of the seasons; but in my older years, I have really come to enjoy the benefits of having a garden year around!


After yesterday's fiasco of wasting time trying to create an album of our Israel photos on my computer so I could burn a slide show to disc, I decided I would get up this morning and do something constructive. I'm starting the first of four military quilts whose theme will be strips, just to see how many different ways I can use a limited number of fabrics stripped together. I'm going to sew the strips and then top-stitch them because I worry that these quilts will be tied instead of quilted (lots of sewing on them to hold them together). I think it will go fast. I'm glad to be doing something constructive today! I'll take a little break (as though blogging weren't a break) in a little while and go to the grocery store for some pantry items and then the library and get bag full of needlework books of whatever kind they have on their shelves today.

About the cappuccino, I think I had a success this morning because Lauren liked it. Here's my recipe so I don't forget it and I can make it more than once. (You gotta hate it when you create something someone likes and you can't do it twice because you didn't write it down!)

For two cups:
- About 1 heaping teaspoon of espresso in the espresso maker (this is about half what the espresso book calls for)
- Enough water to make three cups of espresso (one cup is expended for the steam for the milk)
-About 1/3 cup of milk in the metal steamer pitcher
In each of two cups, put:
- About a tablespoon of no fat, no sugar hot chocolate mix (I use Swiss Miss, I think)
- A sprinkle of cinnamon (probably about 1/8 teaspoon)
- About a tablespoon (plus or minus) of honey
Start the espresso (I turn it off and turn the espresso maker to steam when the carafe is about 1/3 full), steam the milk, finish the espresso, pour half the espresso in each cup, and then finish by pouring and dolloping the steamed milk on top. Lightly stir.

I love that European white coffee, and this isn't quite it. I need to play around with some different coffees to figure out how to get that flavor I love. AND, I think I can make Mavash's steamed milk with my espresso machine by not using any coffee when I create the steam. Now talk about Yummm!!!! YUMMM!

I'll post some pictures of my success when I make it next time. This is the first time, ever, that I've figured out how to froth that milk so it looks really nice. I'm hoping I can do it again! I think it was because I put the steaming spout in really close to the top when I started the steaming process.

Back to sewing!!!