Friday, November 30, 2018

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The leak from the water/ice dispenser in the refrigerator door turned out to be an ice jam melting in the ice chute. Whew! I thought we were in for a repair.

2. HBO ran a free weekend special. We watched Wonder Woman and Justice League

3. Found some cute Christmas curtains on sale.

4. File this under fascinating and scary at the same time.  At 9:30 PM, the female cardinal was beating against the kitchen window. I didn't know birds were awake after dark. I haven't seen the female for some time. And I'm wondering what her message was?

5. Driving home on the washboard of Route 20 because of construction, WCRB, the classical radio station I listen to, played the William Tell Overture. Perfect music for dodging construction barrels.

How was your week?

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

Cut glass pitcher Ma bought at an
antique shop on her honeymoon 75 years ago
To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

The next day we left for our honeymoon in a nice family home that had a few guests in New Hampshire. I forgot the place but it was a nice place for us. A man and wife ran it and there were two other married couples. It was wonderful.

My wife left and when got to Boston she remembered that she left her watch there. I called and the people there got our address and sent it to us.

Years later, Mary, or I should say your mother, she lost a number of things and these days it's even worse. But I can't complain on this. I put things away for safe keeping and they are so safe that I can't find whatever I wished to save. Eventually I do find them after a good while.

I had two weeks [ed: furlough] it seemed so short.

One thing that came to mind, one night in New Hampshire your mother went up early and I stayed down talking with them. After a good while one of the women asked me how long we had been married. My answer was we are on our honeymoon. They looked at each other and I knew what they were thinking. He should be upstairs with his bride. What kind of man is this?

Our honeymoon was over and after returning to East Boston I said good-bye the next morning and returned to Florida. And when I arrived at my post I saw everything strewn all over the place. Boxes all around with shipping labels.

I looked at the labels and we were to go West. All along I wished that I could be sent to Europe where I might have a chance to see my grandparents, cousins, etc.

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

T Stands For Skypegiving

This was the first Thanksgiving where all my chickies weren't under the same roof. The Eldest in her new home, far, far away. She was scheduled to work at the lab on the holiday. While other industries are closed, as far as the hospital is concerned, it's just another day. 

Since the Eldest wouldn't be able to travel home for the holiday, we came up with a way we could spend the holiday together.  We called it Skypegiving.



The table is set. Linen napkins festively tied with a piece of twine. A la rustic Martha Stewart. The iPad in place and charging waiting for The Eldest to get home in the evening after her shift.


Not only were we new to celebrating the holiday through the magic of technology, but dinner had to follow the Keto diet guidelines. No carbs. No wheat or grain. Dinner consisted of spinach salad, turkey, dressing made from a loaf of "bread" made from Pamela's Gluten-Free Pancake and Baking Mix. Technically, not strictly Keto as the mix uses a combination of almond and rice flours, but what's Thanksgiving without dressing? Just boring turkey (I'm not a fan of turkey, but suffer with it once a year). Himself and I adapted the traditional eggplant Parmigiana (ubiquitous with my Italian family celebrations) to Keto by dredging the eggplant slices with almond flour instead of all-purpose flour. The result was surprisingly good. My beverage was water flavored with tea water enhancer. I'm not a fan of plain water.

I also had started a Keto gravy, but it wasn't ready in time for dinner. No matter, it would be ready for open-faced sandwiches the following day. There was also a Keto blueberry cobbler for dessert with Halo ice cream (another cheat). Himself was full after dinner so he had the cobbler for breakfast the next morning. I had a taste of the cobbler before I went to bed. Keto doesn't allow fruit as too many carbs, but fruits like blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries are allowed as the amount of fructose in those fruits is low compared to a fruit like a banana. The cobbler topping was made with almond flour and Stevia as the sweetener.


The hospital served a Thanksgiving dinner to all the staff who had to work. So when the Eldest got home, she popped in a Marie Caldendar's frozen turkey dinner in the toaster oven. She had turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans and carrots. It looked a little sad to me, but she said it wasn't bad. She also had a glass of wine left over from a party she had.

We had a nice time being able to "see" her and talk to her. Laughing at jokes, catching up on what's she's been doing, where she's been going. Her elderly neighbor sent over a couple of slices of cherry pie he had made. All in all a very, good holiday.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monday, November 26, 2018

(Relatively) Quick Christmas Cards


It's that time of year to send out Christmas cards. I always seem to wait until it's too late to start, or the design in my head is a little more labor intensive than I thought. Then the stress of making and getting the cards out in time can suck the joy out of the activity.

While trying to think of an idea, I came across a bunch of YouTube videos with titles like 18 Cards in 18 minutes.

The idea was simple and brilliant. You started with blank, pre-folded card stock and envelopes. I had green cards with envelopes from last year. You cut pages to the size of your card stock from holiday paper pads.

Around Halloween, when the Christmas stuff was being put out and on sale at Michael's, I found a 6 inch x 6 inch pack of paper. The paper was double-sided and all the prints coordinated. Some of the papers had sentiments printed on them along with seasonal decorations. The sentiments were cut out and glued to a coordinated sheet cut to 4 inches x 5 1/4 inches. The assemblage was then glued to the card stock. Additional embellishments, beads, ribbons, buttons, were added for some bling.

Out of the one paper pack, I made 16 cards. Very economical since the pack was marked down and with the Micheal's coupon. I forgot how much the paper pack actually cost.

Now I just have to think what to write inside the card and to address the envelopes. I bought another paper pack or two so there's stock on hand if I need a last minute card.

Sunday, November 25, 2018

How Does Your Garden Grow?


The new garage door. So nice to be able to open and close at the push of a button.


The cardinal checking on Thanksgiving preparations. 


The mourning dove mourning the fact not much seed in the feeder.


Record setting temperature on Thanksgiving. Brrrr


Jack Frost stopped by to leave a painting on the slider door.


Cold lunch at the feeder. I like the bird hanging out on the sunflower stalk.


I was surprised with the cold temperatures how much snow melted.


Sasquatch stopped by


Another visitor


Almost all the snow is gone from the Southern solar array


All the snow is gone from the Western solar array

How does your garden grow?

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

This idea came from a Facebook meme:
Over 10 days, post your 10 all time favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:me favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:


Donovan's Reef (1963), John Wayne, Lee Marvin

If you haven't seen this adventurous romp, you can find a paid version on YouTube.

Friday, November 23, 2018

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The college delayed classes by 2 hrs. Himself only had one class so decided to cancel and not try to fight with traffic after the storm. I was happy we didn't have to clear the driveway of snow at the crack of stupid early and we could take our time. Which we needed. Heavy wet snow, we had a hard time. We're not spring chickens any more. With his back and balance issues, the snowblower was difficult for him to maneuver, and it's too big for me to use. Himself said to look for someone who could clear the driveway this Winter.

2. Driving to the grocery store, Himself was able to stop in time as a bunny dashed into the road.

3. Found someone to clear the driveway. They will even clean around the mailbox, front walk, and stairs. And sand/salt for $10 more. Contract for every storm or just call when needed.

4.  Himself and I cooked together and prepared the side dishes for Thanksgiving. Since Keto, we're trying an experiment using almond flour to dredge eggplant for eggplant Parmigiana. The fried test pieces tasted pretty good.

5. Skypegiving.

How was your week?

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Happy Thursday


Thank you for taking time to drop by and leaving comments. If you celebrate the holiday, have a Happy Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate, have a Happy Thursday.

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

T Stands for Catalog Day


I love catalogs. Especially at this time of year. Monday is catalog day; the day the mailman gets a hernia trying to lift the stack of catalogs from his truck to the mailbox. Catalogs can arrive any day of the week, but the bulk of them are in the mailbox on Monday.

I love to flip through the catalogs while sipping a cup of tea. Makes for a relaxing break, or an excuse to procrastinate. I sometimes get ideas for gifts, and sometimes I buy gifts for myself.

Sometimes the pictures are used in collages and sometimes the catalog pages make a great mat to keep the table clean when gluing. When I'm finished flipping, the catalogs go to the recycle bin.

Do you like browsing through catalogs? What's your favorite catalog to look through?

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monday, November 19, 2018

Cinderella Seating Tags

I had mentioned last month, I was working on seating tags for a Cinderella wedding. The bride had found a skeleton key that was actually a bottle opener. The opener would double as a decoration for the seating tag and as a favor.

Oval tags (2 .5 inches wide x 6 inches long) were cut from Diploma Parchment paper using the Scan n Cut 2 cutting machine. A 1/4 inch hole was also cut from one end of the tag to tie the key to the tag  with a ribbon. The ribbon was narrow, Cinderella blue (of course) and edge with silver because you can't have too much bling for a wedding.



To further incorporate the Cinderella theme, a copyright-free castle design was scanned into the Scan n Cut so 1 inch castles could be cut out of Canson Mixed Media Paper. The castles would have blue glitter applied to them and would be glued to the left side of tag.



I lettered the tags in an Italic hand as chosen by the bride and groom. The Mother of the Bride with a team of minions took care of assembling all the pieces parts.

The Bride and The Young One went to elementary school together. The Mother of the Bride had told me when she came to pick up the tags that when she found out I was a calligrapher, she knew she would have me do her daughter's wedding. Too funny.

I had asked the Mother of the Bride to send a picture of the tags from the wedding. She also texted me a nice note. "BTW, they were so beautiful, I only picked up one left on the table. I think everyone loved them so much, they brought them home. Thank you so much for helping to make The Bride's wedding extra special!!!"

Once my work is out the door, I usually don't hear back. So this was extra special for me, too.

Sunday, November 18, 2018

How Does Your Garden Grow?


The garden grows cold. A leaden sky and the pale eye of the sun indicate snow on the way


Early estimates were for 1 to 3 inches of snow. Then 2 to 4 inches of snow. Then 4 to 7 inches of snow. We ended up with 8 inches of snow followed by rain which turned the fluffy snow into heavy, wet concrete.


Happily, the mailbox survived the first storm of the season


View of the back tundra


Two inches of ice.


Someone should have taken all the yard gewgaws in. Wonder if Himself has a spare tube at the lab.


An avalanche waiting to happen. The system that monitors the solar array output sent a message stating there was a problem with the solar panels. Really? That wouldn't be due to 8 inches of snow on them, would it? No electricity being made today. or tomorrow.


Snow piled on top of the old turtle sandbox that now marks the septic cover. Looks like a little igloo.

How does your garden grow?

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies


This idea came from a Facebook meme:
Over 10 days, post your 10 all time favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:me favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:

Today a Double Feature:


The Robe (1953) Richard Burton, Jean Simmons, Victor Mature

and the sequel


Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) Victor Mature, Susan Hayward, Michael Rennie

If you haven't seen either of these films, you can rent them at Amazon Prime

If these movies aren't your cup of tea, hop on over to Kathy in the Ozarks to see what she recommends.

Friday, November 16, 2018

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Since we moved the television from the sunroom into the bedroom, and no sports team was playing a night game on Sunday, Himself joined me to watch Doctor Who while Skyping with The Eldest

2. The new garage door was installed. No more broken backs trying to lift the door. And it has an automatic opener.

3. My cousin called. We missed our annual lunch as she's been having some health issues. Was nice to catch up.

4. Saw a flock of geese cutting a V through the sky.

5. The new socks I ordered don't bind and are so warm. They will come in handy while shoveling snow. Himself asked me to order some for him, too. 30 below socks from Vermont Country Store

How was your week?

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Throwback Thursday - The Notebook

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

February 15, 1943, at the Boston Common
Caption on back of photo of Dad: My First Furlough
Keeping the Bench Warm
Taken in the Boston Common. Tremont St. behind him
In Feb. 1943 I was given a furlough home and I went home for two weeks.

I saw a lot of Mary, we went to the movies, dinners, visiting. It was one heck of a cold Winter in the North that year. It was the worst we had. And I would pick her up at work most nights. We spent every moment we could together.

We also or I had plans and told her that on the next time I was furloughed, we would get married. And when I returned to camp I asked when I would be eligible. The answer was July.

I made sure my next trip home would be on schedule. I told the front office I intended to be married. I also made arrangements with our religious member who happened to be a Catholic priest and did what ever needed to be done on my end. And one thing was that my father was not very religious and would not let us go to First Communion. So I studied with my priest at the camp. And when I completed my study, he sent the papers that were necessary to the Mt. Carmel Church in East Boston and Mary followed it up. [Ed: in order to be married in the Catholic church and to receive the sacrament of Matrimony, a Catholic has to complete 4 other sacraments: Baptism, Communion, Penance (now called Reconciliation), and Confirmation. Dad was baptized in the Church as I have a copy of hi baptismal certificate. Besides preparing for the sacrament of Communion, he would also have to have completed the steps to be confirmed.]

The only thing that I was needed was for me to show up. I did but even in wartime travel is a big thing. And although I left early the time began to speed up. While I was expected early I did not show up as expected. I got home about 10 o'clock at night. And everyone gave a sigh of relief. It was Saturday late at night.



But we were on time for the wedding on Sunday. [ed 4. July 1943 at 4:15 PM. Ma said 14 brides got married that day. Every 15 min. like and assembly line] Our parents had reserved a hall. Invitations wre sent and they wait for the day. And as noted it went on time. My cousin Manuel [ed Uncle Manny, the stone cutter's son] stood up for me. He was also in the service, he got good duty he was close to home on The Cape [ed: Cape Cod]. The government had also to make sure that our shorelines and harbors were secure.

Maid of Honor and Best Man, Ma's sister, Josie (Doti) and Dad's cousin, Manny
Ma's parents, Her mother is wearing a light, colored hat
Dad's parents, His mother is wearing a dark colored hat
We also had WACs, etc. They were women volunteers who did a lot of secretarial work and other duties that released a man. All told we had 22,000,000 citizens in the services men and women scattered all over the world.

Anyway we got ready to leave [ed: the wedding] and asked my cousin if they would like to come with us to the hotel for a drink. He and his wife declined. So we went off. It was late when we got there and we were tired so we got ready for bed.

It must have been 2 o'clock in the morning when the phone rang and who was it that was calling? Charlie Arnold. Mary had told them where we would be staying. And leave it to Charlie to pull pranks. He wanted to know how things were going. I said very well, the army is on maneuvers. What did you think?! He laughed and said he wanted to make sure that everything was okay. My wife then talked with Doris. She kept in touch with them especially Doris. She spent weekends with her. They went shopping, etc.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

T Stands for Pizzelles

Since Himself and I are following a Keto Diet, it means no carbs. No goodies. I'm a carbivore so I've found this hard to give up. Since Keto also means no grains, I've had to give up baking with wheat flours and have found some recipes that use either almond flour or coconut flour. I was thrilled when I found a recipe for Grain-Free Pizzelle (pih-zay-lah) an Italian waffle cookie.

Baking with almond flour is different from baking with wheat flours. Since there is no gluten in almond flour, baked goods don't have the same rise or texture. This recipe also called for Arrowroot Powder or Flour which I couldn't find at my local grocery store. A Google search claimed Tapioca Starch or Flour was a good substitute, and I did find that in the gluten free area of the market.

Reading through the recipe, there was no sweetener. Stevia is okay to use on a Keto diet. I was pretty sure Ma's recipe for pizzelle called for sugar. Without a sweetener, I was sure the almond flour pizzelles would taste like cardboard.

Ma made pizzelles to feed an average size Italian family or a small nation. Her recipe used 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar. Stevia is supposed to be way sweeter than granulated sugar so I opted to use 1/4 cup of Stevia.


The dough was similar in texture though a bit grainy.


I used the large disher, but that didn't quite fill the space on the pizzelle maker. The dough may have been a little thicker than Ma's recipe.


Pizzelles cooling on the rack.


Since I was planning on bringing some pizzelles to Red while we watched Outlander, I flavored the cookie with vanilla extract. Traditionally, the cookie is flavored with anise, but so many people don't like the licorice flavoring. 

The pizzelles turned out ok. They were thin and crisp as the traditional cookie even if the waffles were a tad small. They needed more Stevia and even though I used 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, they needed more flavoring, too.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monday, November 12, 2018

Look At What My Baby Did!


The Young One made some Halloween cards for friends that go on a weekly Dungeons and Dragons quest.She hand-lettered the envelopes with bone shaped letters and used the Dragon stamps coordinating colors with the color of each players dice.

 Even though she mailed the letters a couple of days before Halloween, recipients received their cards on 10. November. Two envelopes were being delivered to Massachusetts and the remainder were going to Ohio. The motto of the USPS is "we deliver for you" just not always on your schedule.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

How Does Your Garden Grow?


The lawn guy came and cleared away all the leaves. 


The oak trees are still hanging on to their leaves. Typically, the oaks don't drop until the last week of November. The lawn guy won't be back as he's finished for the season.


It's been a couple of weeks since I've seen the cardinal. Perched on the trellis master of all her surveys.


As he takes over the feeder.


We've had a very wet Fall. Another bout of rain left the trees sparkling with jewels.


It's been so wet the lawn guy's tractor kept getting stuck.


After the last rain, high winds were expected. To be on the safe side, I brought the garden flag inside the porch.

And as today marks the 100th anniversary of the end of The Great War, a piece with poppies for the end of this post. The poem, In Flanders Fields by John McCrae done in 2012 as part of NaNoJouMo



How does your garden grow?