Leaves

 The difference of a few days, the groundskeeper picked up leaves one day then the next the leaves fell in a puddle at the base of the tree and now the trees are bare.  --Ann--

I pretended I was a cat

 

Another gorgeous afternoon on the prairie yesterday. I dry mopped the hard floors after lunch and it was just too nice to go to the sewing room, I sat on the deck instead, I took some reading out but I didn’t open it, I didn’t even look at my phone.  I listened to some little birds and watched  a squirrel having a late lunch, I looked at the trees so many are a brilliant red or yellow a few have not turned color at all.  I pretended I was a cat and did nothing. —Ann—

A day to savor

The weather was predicted to change on Wednesday and it did, rain, wind and cold. But Tuesday was the day to savor. I helped pull weeds at McCrorey gardens for an hour in the morning, beautiful sunny morning, then I went to the local you pick raspberries and picked a few pints of delicious sweet berries. Freezer jam was next then after the kitchen was cleaned up I soaked up some vitamin D on the deck and read. It was a perfect day. I was reading Lassoing the Sun by Mark Woods for book club about our national parks. It’s about the history and future of our national parks and environmental changes. I was reading the chapter on Olympic National Park and the impact of sound. So I sat and listened for a while, a few birds, a few insects, the rustle of leaves, small airplanes overhead, but also the constant sound of traffic.  When daughter and I were in Glacier this past summer I made her stop to listen briefly we were far enough from the road that we couldn’t hear the cars. What a treat! But in everyday life if I am outside I can always hear traffic and inside I can always hear the hum of the fridge, the freezer and the dehumidifier. The only time I experience absolute quiet in the house is when the electricity goes out and it’s probably a howling storm outside so it isn’t quiet. Where do we find silence?  —Ann—

Coffee and Kahlua kind of day

It was a coffee and kahlua kind of day.  A cold, cold front moved in, not the kind that pushes the humidity out and brings a crystal blue sky.  This was the kind that dumps snow in the Black Hills and drops the temperature two seasons overnight.  The cicadas packed up their instruments to await another gig, kind of cold. Turn on the fireplace if I had, one kind of cold. Put on the wool socks and wool sweater kind of cold. That improved my attitude.  Homemade tomato soup kind of cold. Put on a stocking cap because I got a haircut and it is short, kind of cold. Curl up with a good book and a quilt, kind of cold. This is three days running now for the cold. Maybe today I will have a coffee and Bailey's.  --Ann--

Monkey brain Ginger candy

I've had a bad case of monkey brain the past week. All my great plans of getting all kinds of thing done while hubby was off fishing have washed away with the rain, 6 inches or so in as many days.  There was one gloriously sunny day in between and I sat on the deck and did nothing but soak up some vitamin D. Maybe its from too much sugar and junk food.  I made ginger candy one day you just slice the ginger root at thin as possible then cook it in a cup of sugar and a cup and a half of water then scoop out the ginger onto paper towels and let it dry then dip in more sugar so it doesn't stick together.  Its a fraction of the cost of ginger candy from a health food store.  Then I cooked the syrup and a couple jars of syrup from past candy making and boiled it down for chewy candy. A jigger of the syrup with club soda makes a marvelous ginger ale.  The recipe had been translated and the Celsius to Fahrenheit was wrong.  I used the candy thermometer and cooked it to 225 F like the recipe said but I still like to do the drop of syrup in cold water to see how it tastes.  Well 225 F was syrup so I cooked it to 260 F firm ball like caramels and poured it onto parchment paper.  Let it cool very tasty.  Ginger candy has a burn to it like cinnamon red hots,  I love that burn.  Cutting through it -- what a mess it just melted back together.  The thought of wrapping individually in wax paper........not going to happen.  Let it sit for a day nibble nibble too much sugar for someone who doesn't eat much sugar.  I dusted it with cornstarch then cut it with my heavy duty kitchen scissors and dipped it in more cornstarch.  What a mess, cornstarch on my hands, the counter top, my shirt, my pants, my shoes, the floor, into the container then into the freezer.  I should have put layers of parchment between.  Needless to say the candy is not very pretty or photo worthy.  It will be tasty to melt a couple pieces to put in gingerbread or gingersnaps in addition to the dried spices.  If I ever  make it again I'll cook it to the hard crack stage. Between all this I have flitted from project to project and not completed anything.  That's been my week.  starting my to do list for next week,  oh wait I can use the same list!  --Ann--

Thunder Snow

 Lightening in the early morning hours woke me last night followed by thunder and it is still thundering as it snows.  The lightening flashes are not so bright now but thunder and snow and ice pellets,  just another April snowstorm in South Dakota.  The snow is just falling at present but wait until later and the wind churns things around.  My pantry and fridge  were well stocked yesterday.
I have binding to sew and quilts to quilt and knitting to knit and books to read and coffee to drink and wine to sip.  Staying warm and safe travels to anyone on the road  --Ann--

Sunnier days

I get more done on gloomy days it must be because I never tire of the color blue and the sky is so big and so blue.  Our fall is not so pretty as other years, the trees are not as colorful, these pics are from 2 years ago when the colors were magnificent.  Why is that?  Is is because we had an early freeze? Two weeks of dreary skies and rain? Not enough sunlight to photosynthesize the leaves? Or whatever they taught us in middle school science.  Anyway I have been auditioning fabrics for the next round of triangles for the star quilt, again my choices are determined by how much I have of a particular fabric.  I'm sad that I have used up so many of the fabrics I let my daughter choose when I was fabric shopping 20 some years ago.  She always picked the brightest and boldest colors and prints.  I would choose some connector fabrics to tie them together because our eyes need a place to rest after seeing so much color and activity like the blue sky.  --Ann--