A circle blanket...

It is early morning...our new kitten (today it has been 2 weeks since we brought her home) slept at my feet atop our comforter last night. It's raining outside. I just took these photos:
I'm crocheting a circle blanket...and reading Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads book...I'm learning so much about "proofing" (that you can let your bread rise for 1 to 12 hours) and that your dough should be tacky or sticky. I confess when I make a yeast bread, I want to knead it and keep adding flour until it doesn't stick to my hands. Uh oh.
And I've been making lots of cards. Visit my etsy shop to see more of them!

online Scrabble

I played a game of online Scrabble for the first time ever this past week...with my mom and sister in Canada. AND I won. Beginner's luck? I got the Z and J. They're worth a lot of points. I love playing Scrabble (well, any word game...have any of you played Jotto?) in real life, too. This past Friday night, I went to one of the art studios and set up a table with other artists...I sold my papier mache birds and cards. The one with glasses had to have a book. My mom ended up buying this one from me.

Please keep my dad (Paul) in your prayers, he has had a difficult week, voice therapy 3x a week and medication issues...no pattern evident, so no one knows how to find the perfect balance.
* I love that he always smiles, even though he doesn't feel good.

Yesterday

I want to live a simple life:

• The 2 chickens are doing well...they love foraging around our compost and what's left in the garden (not much). Not laying eggs, yet, we're thinking they probably won't lay until spring.

• At 8 o'clock yesterday morning I walked down the street with Olivia to vote. I tried to explain the issues that I was voting for and why they are important. My sister, Susanna, wrote on her blog about politics, too. We're both health-conscious, true conservatives who want freedom!
• Our girls can take their homeschooling lesson outside...yesterday was a sunny and warm day...we were barefoot almost all day.
• I worked outside on my papier mache birds, a warm breeze blowing my bits of newspaper all over the deck...

• Lusy (our dog) and Velvet (our kitten...we got from an Amish family) are making friends. No fights, but Velvet hissed at Lusy quite a bit at first...they seem to keep out of each others way...yesterday they sniffed each other nose to nose a few times!
• I watched a squirrel perched atop our fence, debating whether or not he wanted to come in our yard...lots of sparrows.
• The leaves on our red oak seedlings that we got at the library a few years ago have turned a beautiful deep red.
• I thought of my friend Charlotte and baked a loaf of bread with rosemary that I picked from our backyard.
• I hung out clothes out on the line to dry...and I took some black and white pictures. Nostalgia.
• Hannah had piano lessons and I helped Olivia do flips off the swing. Then both the girls had Irish dance class in the evening...

Little trumpet player?

3 years ago both Hannah and Olivia started piano lessons...after a month, we decided together that just Hannah would continue. Since then, I've wished that Olivia would want to resume, but she doesn't want to...I'm not going to push her. BUT she's expressed interest in playing the ukulele...and the trumpet. Rob's dad gave her one of his trumpets and she's getting better at it...
Yesterday, we spent a few hours with my parents, raking leaves, jumping in them, hiding in them...and ended up staying for dinner. I wish I'd brought my camera. For those of you who have been following the story of my dad and his battle living with Parkinson's disease, he's been doing better lately. He went for a bike ride alone on Saturday, 2 miles...and was fine, until he came home, fell in the driveway, my mom said that the two next door neighbors rushed over to help him out...he gashed his forehead right by his eyebrow and really should probably get 5 stitches, but I'm sure he will heal, if there's a scar, it's one to be proud of... I admire him for riding his bicycle so much! I love to ride my bike, too.

We've got lots of green tomatoes...

Since we had a frost last week, we thought we'd better pick all the tomatoes, red as well as green ones, so we can eat them before a really hard frost ruins them. They are ripening up on our kitchen counter and windowsills. I think this recipe will be good:

(image and recipe from here)
Doesn't this Roasted Tomato Soup sound good?

Ingredients:

• 6 cups (3 pints) cherry tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1 cup whipping cream

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 400°. On a baking sheet, combine the cherry tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and the salt and pepper. Toss the ingredients to coat evenly and spread them in a single layer. Roast the tomatoes until they are shriveled with brown spots, about 35 to 45 minutes.

2. In a large pot, heat the butter and the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes with their juice, the broth, the thyme, and the roasted tomatoes, including any liquid on the baking sheet. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 40 minutes.

3. Using a food processor or blender, puree the soup until it's smooth. Return it to the pot and stir in the cream. Without letting the soup boil, warm it over medium heat, stirring often, until steaming. Add salt and pepper, if necessary.

4. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with Grilled-Cheese Croutons . Makes about 10 cups.
   

And on Wednesday, Rob bought me this used bamboo bird cage for $10...it's a great house for all the papier mache birds I've been making! I've got 2 upcoming local events where I'll be selling them. I would like to try to make some smaller bird houses... On the sign I made I wrote "always open." I love the door open, it's a beautiful symbol of freedom.

A great time with family and friends...

I thank God for the beautiful weather. Yesterday, we went to Potato Hill Farm in Augusta, KY where we had lunch, featuring breads and sweets baked by my dear friend, Charlotte. Charlotte has become quite the baker and started up Pony Express Bread...read a bit more about it here. Friends, music, singing, sitting by an outdoor fireplace, sunshine, a river, green grass, 15 chickens and 2 donkeys. Olivia woke up and asked me this morning, "Are they going to do it again today?" She said she can't wait to go back again. We drove down the "double A highway" there and then, rode on a $5 ferry across the Ohio River on the way back home, taking Route 52 the rest of the way to Cincinnati.

Almond Windmill cookies and Nutella....yum!!!

Earlier this week, my sister brought over some of these scrumptious Almond Windmill Cookies from Trader Joe's...and suggested topping them with Nutella...so, when we had some friends over yesterday for dinner, guess what we ate for dessert?
What a great combination!I sewed a pennant banner...
But I sewed them inside out, then turned them out, so they won't fray at the edges...and I used a thick ribbon instead of bias tape, just folded it over and sewed it atop of each pennant. A little more durable this way, so I can wash it and reuse it over and over...A friend gave us this sweet gift as a thank you, for letting them have our National Park Pass, (which we bought in June for $80 and is good for 2 families for a year). We used it to get into Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and Arches National Park. Our friends went to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado last month.

These are seeds they saved from their garden, dried and will use again next year...that's something that's very special, since nowadays, there are so many hybrid vegetables out there. So, next year, we'll have these heirloom Calypso Shell beans (right), Buran peppers (middle), and Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans growing in our backyard!