A Productive Quiet Day

 I spoke a bit about this 365 Project I am involved in.  In an effort to really get to know my camera better, I did go online and started printing out pages of the manual for my camera.  Turns out it is over 250 pages long!!!  After looking through a lot of it, I ended up printing about half of it out.  I know, I know I could just download it and read it as needed on my computer, but I learn better with words on paper and a pencil or highlighter in my hand.  Now I have it all punched and will find a 3 ring binder to keep it all.  

My plan is to learn a different setting each day, as thoroughly as I can.  After going to you-tube I also found a couple of great videos talking about this camera and it is really amazing.  The video capabilities are exceptional, and I never even looked at that stuff on this camera when I bought it a year ago.  The retail value of the camera is also twice what I paid, having gotten it as a Deal of the Day from Amazon.  Looks like I did indeed get a good deal.  

My other task today was to bake some cookies.  I have been looking at this lemon cookie recipe for days, wanting to make them, and today was the day.  A treat, I remembered these silicon baking sheets that I had bought years ago, they were still in the box up in my cabinet when I moved, and thankfully they made the move.  Got out of the box today and onto the pan.  

The little ice cream scooper is my favorite tool for making cookies, ever!!  I have it in three sizes, and this is perfect for those recipes when it calls for 1 tablespoon balls to be made.  Besides being lemon cookies, they call for a lemon cream cheese frosting.  In the photo it looks like they have a sprinkle of coarse sugar that has been tinted yellow.  I have seen those sugars at Dean and DeLuca but have not (until now) been tempted to buy them.  These cookies will just have to survive with a shake of regular sugar if any!

Yeah, the Seahawks won their playoff game today.  BOO, now I have to put up with all that annoying stuff all over my Facebook page.  As I said there, I'll be as happy when the season is over, as my FB friends were when the election ended.  

A New Adventure

 Yesterday Jay and I traveled over to Santa Rosa to have dinner with a man from his office and his family.  It was our first invite since we arrived.  4 1/2 months, is there something wrong with us???  Anyway, I put their address into Maps! and printed out the directions they gave.  We live on one side of what these California people call "mountains" and had to travel to the other.  We have done this a few times actually, as Santa Rosa is the airport we use.  Normally we travel up HWY 29, which takes us through the center of Saint Helena and then Calistoga.  Take a left and go up over the mountain.

 I really have a hard time not snickering when I say that.
According to Maps!  it was 32 miles to their house and was going to take 46 minutes.  But we were making the turn and going over way sooner.
It did warn us along the way that it was a windy road and to be careful.
OMG!  Hairpin turns with recommended speeds of 10 and 15 MPH.  But gosh it was a beautiful ride.
I had my camera in hand as I have jumped with both feet into this 365 Project.  A website that you sign up with and then post a photo that you have taken

 everyday.
My camera is one I bought about a year ago.  A Lumix, if that means anything to anyone.  Pretty much a point and shoot, though it does have a lot of settings.  And now that I want to really learn about it, I guess I better go and download the instruction manual.
There were many spots along the road that I wanted to have Jay stop so I could get a shot, but he was just too stressed.  Finally we came around a turn and
Voila....the images I have posted to the right were upon us.

 So he stopped and I took this sequence of photos, using the different settings on the camera, so that I could see how it changed the photo.
I was amazed.

Kind of like doing a sample stitch of all the different stitches my sewing machine will do and having it in front of me so I know what I want to choose.  Which is really kinda funny because I do basically a straight stitch and a zig zag.  And with my camera, I have always just used an auto everything setting.

 I will definitely go back up this road on my own over the next several weeks and get some shots.  It was truly beautiful.

Dinner was so nice.  Two of the five of us were vegan, and I am enjoying learning more about what they eat, and why.
Actually one is vegan 6 days a week and eats fish one day.  I find myself actually desiring more fresh fruits and veggies and less meat products since moving.

 And I haven't bought a canned veggie or even frozen since being here.  I'll give credit to Whole Foods and the local Farmer's Market's.  In fact I haven't even bought a canned soup.  Having more time to plan and cook, makes for better choices, I'm finding.
Late evenings are my craving time, and last night what I wanted and what I ate about 10:30 was some fresh tomato wedges and sliced cucumbers with some seasoning and a bit of vinegar.  Kinda scary.

 If you click on the top photo, it should blow it up, and let you click along and see them all in better detail.  It really is amazing the difference of what you see.  Enjoy!



And as a treat, below is what we found at the other side of the "mountain".

My Smoothie Adventure

 This may become a sub-blog if it works out!!  I bought this Magic Bullet about 2 months before I moved.  So I took it out of the box and made one smoothie, with the help of DDIL Krista.  She and Jeff had been doing protein smoothies for a while and they liked this breakfast and snack option.  I saw it for what I thought was a pretty good price at Costco and brought it home with such good intentions.  It ended up in the closet, all intact back in the box so it would move more easily.

 So now, today, I took all these pieces out of the box and OMG!  Certainly enough equipment here to make smoothies for days and never have to even wash a cup.  I did go through the instruction book (another New Year's resolution) and found some great ideas of ways to use it other than just a morning smoothie.  

I posted on Facebook (my alternative to a neighbor since my neighbor seems to avoid us like the plague, though that is a topic for a different post) and asked what my friends like in their smoothies and got some pretty good ideas.  Although I'm still not so sure about Chia seeds....

I have an odd relationship with bananas, I should state that here.  Jay goes through "phases" where he can't get enough of them, and then he turns off just as abruptly.  He also seems to think that if a banana skin has so much as a dark blemish on it, anywhere, it must be past his prime.  Almost 40 years of marriage....PLEASE DON'T THROW AWAY BANANAS!!  Maybe it will work this time.  Anyway, I like those nice over ripe bananas for banana bread of course.  And JUST when I think they are ready to make the bread the next day, I get up and the bananas are gone.....

Well, I have learned!!  Took awhile and I guess I will be the one to change.  I unpeeled the last batch of bananas, that were PERFECT and broke them in half and threw them in a baggie and into the freezer.  

So into this beauty in the final photo, there is a frozen banana, about half a cup of frozen marionberries, a scoop of whey protein powder, a scoop of greek yogurt and about half a cup of coconut milk.  Choosing the cup was the hardest part!!  Blended it up and I am really enjoying it, with a spoon!  Does that still qualify it as a smoothie?  

Ask anyone I have woken up with, wait, that didn't sound quite right!!  Ask anyone whose HOME I have woken up in and you will know that I just don't care for breakfast.  At breakfast time, that is.  I have some meds I take in the morning, one of which says I am supposed to take it an hour before I eat anything.  So I pretty much while away an hour (or more.....) at the computer with my cuppa coffee, and nope.  Still no appetite.  Hours can go by and then I'll think I really need to eat something.  But once I do, it seems I am hungry all day.  After reading and hearing for years that you need to have breakfast to get your metabolism turned on (mine has been off since the birth of my first child in 1976) I thought, maybe this morning smoothie could be the answer.  

I have a few bags of assorted frozen fruits in the freezer, as well as those beloved bananas.  It will be fun to see what turns into my smoothie tomorrow!!  

From the Old Photo File

I have always loved this photo.  Besides the fact that I am just about the cutest little thing in the polka dot dress sitting on what might be a potty seat!!  Mom wanted me trained early!!!  Just over the right shoulder is my older brother, Steven and to my left is my oldest cousin Annette and over her shoulder is her sister, another cousin Karen.  Karen and Steven were born the same year so they basically grew up together.  I have no idea who the woman holding the beer is.  Anyone recognize the brand???

Look how battered those shoes I am wearing are.  Remember when those were the kinds of shoes we put on our kids?  And we had those barrel things with bells on them to keep the laces intact!  See, the three youngest of us are wearing them.

Buying shoes was a big event when I was a kid.  Being one of 5, you hoped you were the LAST one needing a bigger size so you weren't waiting for everyone else's feet to grow, to justify a trip to SEARS in Seattle.  I never have been a big "shoe" person.  Though my husband may beg to differ.  I like practical shoes.  But I had a shoe travesty as a child.  Junior high.  Saddle shoes were all the rage.  And I was thrilled to have convinced my parents that I was due and deserving of some of those new Brown and Tan saddle shoes!!  Off to SEARS we went.  All piled into the station wagon, some in the back seat, some in the way back.  Not a seat belt in site.  We would park in the back of the store, and troop in.  Past the popcorn machine and candy bar.  Sometimes we would get a treat of some "chicken bones" if we were good.

Off to the shoe department.  There they were.  Oops.....Dad spotted some Black and White saddle shoes next to the desired Brown and Tan and those were cheaper.  Guess which shoes I came home with that day?  I was not Cool enough in school to make wearing B&W saddle shoes desirable.  So I suffered mightily!  Good thing for me, that I was in a rapid growth spurt and grew out of them pretty quickly!!!

Every so often I search online, or my sister Carol will look.  Haven't come up with any in a size I can wear, but if I do I'M BUYING THEM!!

Happy Birthday Gramma T

I'm hoping to find some photos to scan and add to this post before it goes live.

Today Gramma T would have been 94.  Mary Templeton, my dear, darling Mother in Law.  She was an amazing woman, who at times made me crazy!!  Just as a MIL should, right?

She was born and raised in a large strict Roman Catholic family near Boston.  A child of some wealth for the time.  She married and moved to the Pacific Northwest where she lived the rest of her days.  She birthed her two boys there, divorced her husband of decades and went to work at Boeing.  I think she worked everyday, every single day for almost 3 years, during the strike back in the 60's.  She had two children to raise and could not be off work.

When she retired, she took about two days off and then took herself down to the local senior center to volunteer and "take care of the old people".  She ended up being a paid employee and worked there right up until her cancer diagnosis in January of 2003.  She passed away peacefully in her own bed, refusing to go to a hospital, on October 31, 2003.  Her own mother had died on October 31st as well.

She weighed about 95 pounds, dripping wet. at her healthiest!  Her cupboard contained just enough dishes to feed herself and Brian, and the 5 of us when we would visit.  But that was it.  She cooked with salt, pepper and italian seasoning.  Oh, and I think she had some cinnamon.  She lived her life very simply.  And didn't regret it.

The clothes she had in her possession when she died were the same as when I had met her in 1972.  And they were immaculate.  She took great pride in her work, her world, her children, her grandchildren.

I miss her almost everyday.

Surprise Find on my Camera!

 While uploading photos today for my new 365 photo project, I came across some photos that I had indeed taken on Thanksgiving with all the kids and grands were together for dinner at Jeff and Krista's.

Will feature Carter today!!!   This drum set was gifted to Jillian from her uncle Tito (Todd).  She has done a great job teaching herself to play.
From U-Tube!!!  So she puts on her headset now, and plays along with her favorite music.

And Carter showed he has the same chops!!!  Sat right down and started working those skins!

Then Uncle Tito got in and gave him an actual lesson.  And taught Jillian a few new things too.

Their lessons will continue.  I wonder when she starts middle school next year, if they have a band and she can be part of that!

And just to make Geema happy, Carter agreed to model my latest hat!!

Oh and by the way, his adorable glasses are not 'real' but he loves wearing them, and if his Mommy is wearing her's then Carter is wearing his.  Talk about devotion....

Bliss

Out and About

This was a photo I took at Tomales Bay on the coast.  Jay and I took a short road trip over to check out Walker Creek Ranch west of Petaluma.  It is the Outdoor Education site for the schools down here, similar to what many of my friends know as Camp Waskowitz in North Bend, Washington, where many of us and our children had our outdoor education.  Remember Mr. Lemon?
We had a late lunch at a restaurant on this beach, and we walked out onto the pier.  I only had my cell phone with me, so I thought I'd get a couple of shots.  While playing with the phone, my new iPhone5, I found a button that say "panorama" and I clicked it and this was the photo I got.  I love it. I am going to try sending it to the Costco photo online site and get it printed.
An online friend Tina, posted a link on FaceBook for a website which I signed up for.  I think it is called the 365 Project.  You take a photo and upload it to the site every day next year.  They have weekly themes too, which I plan to participate in.
Back to the day trip......I am going to attend my first quilting retreat with these California quilters and Walker Creek Ranch is the spot.  Brings back memories of my very first quilting retreat at Warm Beach in Stanwood so many years ago.  It really was the beginning of some very precious friendships.  I hope this retreat will do the same.
Happy New Year's Eve to any followers out there!  Be safe.

Four Grands

It was my first Christmas without anyone else in my family other than Jay.  Thankfully Krista took some photos of the kiddos together so I could continue to keep track of them.  I love in this photo how Ethan and Carter have their arms around each other.  Jillian is happy to lay back and let them shine, and Henry seems like he wanted them to use a different pose!!
Everyone survived, though some of us have a bit of bruising around the heart.

A Few Days Ahead of Schedule

That time of year again, New Year's is approaching.  I'm going to go back to my past years posts and see what I might have posted regarding resolutions, that ultimately were not kept.
One for this year, is I plan to post something here everyday.  Sister Carol will be so surprised!
Today, I was so happy to hear my pathetic little ding of my doorbell, because I knew it was the Fed EX guy!  I have been waiting for some things that I had ordered on Groupon....still waiting.  It WAS however my package from Amazon with my two new cookbooks that I ordered, thanks to my gift card from Jeff and Krista!!!  I ordered two cookbooks that I have been drooling over for quite a while.  One is the Anne Burrell book "Cook Like a Rock Star".  Jeff actually tried to buy this for me when it first came out, and it was not available.  So I'm glad to now get it.  But my gift to myself today is

This is a cookbook written by Deb Perelman, who started out as a food blogger, kind of like Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman.  I do have a couple of her books, on my kindle, a format I am really not happy with as far as cookbooks go.  More on that in a later post.  

Anyway, this book is so AWESOME!!  I love the way she writes, like she was just sitting and having coffee with you.  I had never heard of her blog, but I will be checking it out now for sure on a regular basis.  So far I have gotten through the intro and breakfast section and I feel so motivated.  

Where in lies the problem.  When you want and NEED to lose weight, how do you incorporate that with loving to read cookbooks and love to cook?  That will be my challenge in the New Year.  All things in moderation, right?  I will be increasing my physical exercise for sure and cutting down/out my evening beverages.....Those things alone should help me be more healthy.  

It's getting later here today, I need to finish my shopping list and head out!!  Luckily Jay asked for grilled brats and salad for dinner, so no big prep time will be needed.  Then I am going to make some apple enchiladas for dessert.  It is still 2012 after all.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

 It's the second weekend of  December.  A weekend that is probably the most selected on calendars for Holiday, or Christmas parties.
Today was the Christmas lunch at the quilting guild that I joined when I moved to Napa Valley.  I attended my first meeting with them in September.  Missed November since I was "home" visiting family and friends.  It was an extended visit, 3 weeks, because we had decided that we would not be back up for Christmas.  Too much uncertainty about the driving conditions and the airfare is pretty outrageous.  It was good that Lynn was with me to drive back because it allowed me the time to weep off and on for the drive back.  I didn't have such emotions when I drove down in August, maybe because it was all new and exciting, I had a cat traveling with me, or it could have been because I knew I was coming back in late September for a quilting retreat, and then again in November.  But this time I don't know when I'll be back.  Anyway, back to the party today.
This is a large group, over 100 women in attendance.  There are a small handful that I recall their names, and have spent some time with them in two other small groups they were kind enough to invite me to.  But I still go in, and feel completely, totally alone.  After about 10 minutes I catch the eye of one of the few I recognize and I pull a spare chair up next to share the end of the table she is using.
I look around this room of women, and try to remind myself that I was "new" before.  Twelve years ago when we moved to Lynden and I went to a guild meeting.  It took about 6 months before I really felt like there would be someone maybe saving me a seat nearby.
This group is having a retreat in mid January and I am signed up to attend.  Three days and nights together should enable me to get to know some people.  Worst case scenario is that I'll get more things finished up, quilting wise.  Best case would let me find a new June, Pat, Shirlene......
Or will I become content and happy to be alone?