Happy Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving to all of my USA friends



(I found this vintage card online)

T Stands for Tuesday & This and That

This month of November is flying right by us.  It's Thanksgiving week already here in the States
   Tuesdays you are most welcome to join us with a drink related post, link up with our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

    We are enjoying gorgeous weather today-65 degrees f with no wind and full sunshine-same tomorrow-but by Thursday Wow highs in the low 30 degrees f with snow flurries and rain-ugh.
   I took advantage of the nice weather and went grocery shopping early this morning. We have been invited over to our friends with the big log home for Thanksgiving, but I still bought us a small turkey. Will be nice to cook it up with simple sides for us for the long weekend.  If I knew the weather was going to turn this bad I would have thought about declining the invite. It is good for us to get out of the house though-especially with Larry still recuperating.

   I did get the two long side panels finished with the embroidered fish. I decided not to do the sides facing into the table as they won't be seen and I think jeans will just rub on the embroidery when people are sitting at the table.
   I had a difficult time with this for some reason. Took the small fish out several times til I was half way pleased. and this is the first time I had difficulty sewing with embroidery threads that were not DNC threads. I have a big bag of colors that I have collected from resale shops and garage sales and put the unknown brand threads together in a different bag. This was Sullivan from China and it just sewed up with difficulty-tangling and knotting, the thread seemed to fluff up while stitching to the end of the thread-so stitches not consistent.
 
  Note my cup of decaf coffee in another one of my favorite hand thrown pottery cups

  As much as I wanted to be finished-I decided to sew one large fish to the 4 end panels This first one ready to embroider

and those of you that are on Facebook and love teabag art; This past year I have been enjoying seeing the art that is posted to this group. Some of the work is just amazing. 
     Some artists keep the tag attached and many also do not. Here is one of the entries from today and  here is a link to the group and this piece.



This artist also makes art painting inside egg shells-amazing

Here is one with the tag left on



I get inspired viewing this group's pages of tea bag art.

      I also wanted to share a quote I found in a magazine over the weekend. No author was given but I really love it and it struck a note for me--"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone"   That sounds like a theme for art to me as well.

     After reading this quote I felt better about branching Wayyyy out of my comfort zone to try calligraphy.   I am still waiting for two more books on the subject, extra black ink, and the graph paper notepad.  I had purchased this to practice with but when it arrived Saturday it was damaged-so just sent that back and waiting for replacement.
    In searching for a protractor or t square, or small ruler I ran into this rolling ruler that says it has everything. The reviews were all really good. I know nothing about any of these tools-so something new for me to figure.
   I also decided to get the next size down in pen size so I now I have two.  There was a really nice set of these of either 4 or 5 sizes but decided for now to just get two.

   This past year with the move, and Larry's medical I feel I am so out of snyc. Still so much to do for both properties, that I am at the point some days I just don't want to do anything but read books. 
   I am slowly getting refocused. Setting time slots for working on a house project,  and then another time slot for my art and crafts, sewing projects etc. It will get there.

We have now seen a pattern with some of the geese now. That area at the corner of the house to the left of our dock-where I shared photos last week and posted below-we have discovered there is a pair of mallard ducks and the group of 7 Canada geese that seem to bed down for the night in that spot. Pretty cool I love watching the geese and the other birds as well. They begin to move around just after daylight.
   On the left corner is the edge of the water-then up a bit is the grass lawn-they are spending the nights in this area(but not on the grass). You can also see some of the large slate rocks being more exposed now-they like to sit on that too-and facing the bank there are little holes in the slate where they find food.

    I couldn't get a good close up-but we are also seeing allot of pelicans flying by-these were swimming in the middle of the lake (click to enlarge photo to view them better)

I am leaving you with another cast iron crisp. Last week I made a crisp with fresh pears and one can of cherry pie filling made with no sugar.
Turned out really delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you that will be celebrating

and Happy T Everyone.

I Know It's Not Saturday Yet But This Movie Has Not Yet Been Released

  Hi Everyone,
    I really wanted to share this movie release with you. One of my friends on facebook posted the movie trailer. I don't get excited much about most movies but I am about this one.

   I have heard of this author, but I have yet to read any of his books-the new movie with Harrison Ford is based on this book. Originally written for school children: Call of the Wild by Jack London which is about a St Bernard dog named Buck that ends up in the Yukon
                         

    So Of course I checked on amazon for my kindle reader and found a copy for 60 cents, and one for 99 cents that has some extras.

and here is the trailer:

     This movie is to be released February 2020.
This is the first I have learned about this movie, perhaps you all have heard about it already but wanted to share. They have been filming since this September

  Here is another link about the movie.  and here as well

When I was looking around about this movie I discovered this has been a movie before with Rutger Hauer  here  Did not know that I always liked him too in the movies more information here

                             

Update: per Susie in comments here is 1935 version

T Stands For Tuesday Friends and Good Eats

Happy Tuesday everyone,
   T is where we share a drink related post and link up with our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth. You are most welcome to join us.

   After the wintry cold where the lake of the ozarks was the coldest ever recorded, we came back to more seasonal temperatures. This past weekend was also opening deer hunting weekend when we have hosted allot of friends for hunting in the past, but mostly friendships and lots of really good foods  The guys were going to have one more gathering but the week before most could not come. Our close friends from Wisconsin wanted to get away, wanted to see us-it's been over a year now, and see the lake house.
   So, it was really great catching up with them again. Marie makes those delicious cheesecakes every year for Larry's birthday (October birthday) and we cook and grill well together in the kitchen.
    Marie has been into visiting wineries all over the country so she usually has a list for us to check out. One was closed although their site online said they were open, so we drove to another one. We also went to our favorite grocery store again to pick up awesome filet mignons, shrimp, and other good stuff. So it turned out to be an extremely long day for Larry.
    Sunday we all just slept in, ate, drank wine, watched games, visited and drank more wine, and then grilled up fajitas.
   Of course I totally forgot about taking photos til the fajitas

There is a skillet full of refried black beans with tomatoes and chilis on the back burner.

She grilled up two of these flank steaks

I have a few drink references this week-this is the wine we drank over the weekend.
    The one on the far left is a bottle that Larry picked up several years ago for the 150th anniversary of the civil war when he visited a friend that lives close to Gettysburg-that was an exceptional bottle of (expensive) wine, so was nice to share with good friends.
    The middle bottle Marie brought down with her-one of the wines she picked up when she did her girls weekend out exploring wineries in Indiana. I was brought up in Indiana so she thought of me. and the other bottle I have shared before-from Aldi another really good red wine
   I was also drinking my decaf coffee through out the weekend too

When we picked up the food for the weekend, Marie's husband grabbed a 6 pack of this locally brewed beer-out of Springfield, Mo they said it was really delicious. (I took this photo looking into the frig.)

 
 We used the whipped cream on top of warmed up apple-pear crisp that I had made.

This was my wine glass from the civil war red wine, and Larry's ice tea

All weekend we were enjoying the views on the lake-canada geese, pelicans, numerous different ducks which we were trying to identify and a few boats too.

I guess now that the boaters are gone the water fowl have returned. We see them every day now.  We also saw an eagle fly down close to the window-that was very cool.

This seems to be the spot the canada geese really like-they sit up on the slate rocks or the grass for awhile and then swim around and return

While doing the laundry today, I worked a bit on my embroidery for the seat covers  I didn't like the way the small fish turned out so took all that out. will re do

and for some reason last week one day out of the blue I decided I wanted to see if I could learn how to do calligraphy. Have often thought of it for my handmade cards, so with the help of our CJ, I picked up just one pen instead of the whole set of sizes to see if I could do this first, a book, and paper. In the mail I got two of the items today, the book and pen. I think I will try the Italic first. Oh and still need a couple things to figure out my angles for holding the pen correctly-I need to look into that more before I start practicing

I showed our friends where the eagles sit up in the trees when they visit-so we kept a look out for them-of course this one showed up around our dinner time-2 pm. today after our friends had left to drive back home to Wisconsin in the early morning.

Happy T everyone!

So Enjoying the Full Moon This Week-

  We have been "spoiled" a gorgeous moon sitting right there outside the wall of windows this week.
  We had nice windows at the woods home but the house did not sit so one could see the sunset, sunrise, or moon from any windows. So I have been really enjoying these views.

   Last night-Not a bad photo considering the camera It was so awe inspiring in "real life"

Cast Iron Cornbread & Beans and Ham Anyone?? & Update Full Moon Photo

  Everything turned out so delicious-especially the cornbread-just perfect

the cornbread recipe is at the end of this post

Update after 6 pm  The moon is gorgeous tonight casting it's light over the lake-and right in front of the door leading to the deck. Wow so cool.
  If it wasn't so cold outdoors and me fighting a sore throat I would bundle up and take a photo outdoors--but this one turned out pretty good considering my camera and that it was taken through those glass windows

T Stands for Tuesday & Winter Weather

  Another Tuesday is upon us.
      You are most welcome to join us at T with our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth with a drink related post.

Brrrr we woke up this morning to high winds and sleet. No one fishing on the lake today that we have seen, only saw a few birds as well.
   The wind has not let up all day, and we are in for some very frigid cold air tonight and will last for several days. so winter has arrived early here. Knowing Missouri hopefully it will warm back up in a few days.

  I took two videos-early this morning

and a few hours later you can see the air is now colder than the lake, and a little snow-ice underneath

    I wasn't feeling really good today, I have ended up with a sore throat since the weekend, and a tight chest-so feels like the allergies have hit---soooo a perfect day to write out Christmas cards. With so much going on I am not making them this year. I found the company I used to buy all my cards and stickers from Current Inc-online so I was pleased to see they are still in business and their cards are still printed in the USA.
    I love mail, so if any of you would like to swap Christmas cards send me an email if you don't already have my address, I would love to swap with you.

My oatmeal cookies turned out so well, that I searched online for a flourless chocolate chip cookie-there were several different ones-I chose one that used the almond butter or could use peanut butter-and almond flour. I made them half the size to get more cookies was pleased with the results.

We had a squatter on the dock

I have been drinking lots of teas and coffee again this past week, I didn't take a new photo-but I have made several more pots of coffee these past few days, using this same cup-I love drinking out of this cup again

Happy T Stands for Tuesday everyone

Update: another gorgeous full moon tonight-I opened the door just enough to try and grab a photo or two.

There was also a gorgeous reflection on the lake from the moon that I couldn't  capture with my old digital camera.

Veterans Day

We honor our Veterans today.

   and No it's not taking advantage of those sale ads on the tv-I really get so tired of all those ads now for the different holidays-instead of celebrating what the day is for.

   Although there are many business's now celebrating our Veterans with free breakfast, coffee and more. Thank you to all of them for honoring and thanking our veterans.

  There is a difference which many confuse-our Veterans are living amongst us, Memorial Day is for the Lost- giving their ultimate price for our Country.

  more information about Veterans Day and lots of links here and here

I give my special Viet Nam Veteran an extra hug today and thank him for his service-he served 3 tours

Thank yous to all of our Veterans

Saturday and a Movie

   Some of us share movies for Saturday, sometimes I join in and so does our Elizabeth, and CJ always has a movie for us.

   The other day Larry recorded a movie and said he thought I would like it. Our movie tastes are very very different.  This one was an excellent movie, a very awesome cast of actors-I loved all of them, and a message.

An Unfinished Life



Yes the cast was outstanding. From rotten tomatoes more information and photos the film is from 2005-first I heard of it.

Trailer:

This description from Rotten Tomatoes  above link

Two generations of a damaged family are brought together in this emotional drama. Einar Gilkyson (Robert Redford) was a once successful rancher whose spread went to seed after he developed a serious drinking problem. Now on the wagon, Einar looks after what's left of his spread with his friend Mitch (Morgan Freeman), a one-time cowhand who never fully recovered after being mauled by a bear. Einar once had a son named Griffin, but he died in a car wreck while Griffin's wife, Jean (Jennifer Lopez), was driving; Einar never forgave her for the death, and he had never met the granddaughter she was carrying until she arrived at his doorstep 11 years later. Jean has become involved with a violent man named Gary (Damian Lewis), and seeks refuge on Einar's ranch for the safety of her daughter, Griff (Becca Gardner). Einar reluctantly takes in Jean and Griff, giving them a place to stay as Jean looks for work and tries to put her life back together. But old trouble makes its way back to town in two ways -- Gary tracks down Jean and wants to make her pay for leaving him, while the bear who attacked Mitch comes down from the mountains looking for new prey. An Unfinished Life was adapted from the novel of the same name by Mark Spragg. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi



  Happy Weekend everyone!

Sharing a No Flour Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

  I just finished baking up this big batch of cookies. I froze two tins and saved one out to eat.
  These turned out so delicious I wanted to share. Sometimes when you are trying to make something a bit more healthy it doesn't turn out-but these were a success and Larry even loves them

   I had been searching online for a flourless oatmeal cookie. I found one that didn't sound too bad but for the ingredients listed very little cookies. Then I remembered I thought my Mom used to bake up flourless cookies once in awhile. So I went looking in those recipes-and there it was.
    She used peanut butter and I changed that to almond butter (nothing added just almonds) and of course I changed the sugars to keto sugars, the butter to coconut oil, I used old fashioned gluten free oats, and I used dark choc. chips and dark choc. chips with no sugar added.

Here is the dough

Just taken out of the oven   Amazed me how nice they baked up

and the final cool down on a rack

These taste as yummy as they look

Mom's Peanut Butter No Flour Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie

1/2 cup butter---I changed to 1/2 cup coconut oil
18 ounces all natural peanut butter (nothing else added) I changed to Almond                                      butter-also nothing else added
1 1/2 cups sugar--I changed to white keto alcohol sugars
1 1/2 cups brown sugar--I changed to 1 cup coconut sugar and 1/2 cup Lakanto                                            golden (monk fruit and erythritol) my new favorite
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups quick oatmeal--I used 4 cups gluten free old fashioned oats
2 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces chocolate chips--I used 60% cacoa choc. chips and keto dark choc.                                         chips with no sugars
I also decided to add 1/4 cup golden raisins-I think dried blueberries or cranberries would be good too, or even a few cracked nuts

Beat butter (or oil), peanut butter (or almond butter) til fluffy (mine did not get fluffy perhaps the butter would, so I mixed well for about 5 minutes).
Add the sugars in slowly beat well after each addition
Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract-I added one egg in at a time and beat
In a seperate bowl add the oats and baking soda-stir together-than hand stir into the batter. at this point if you think your dough can handle more oats go ahead more as the recipe calls for 6 cups. my oats were very large
Stir in the chocolate chips and the other add ins

I lined my pans with parchment paper first
Drop by tablespoons onto the sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees f  9-10 minutes In my oven 11 minutes was perfect.

Take out and let rest on pan for 5 minutes-this is important-or you will not get them off the pan
Then transfer to wire rack and finish cooling.
Makes 7 dozen cookies.

Enjoy

T Stands for Tuesday & This and That

   It's T time again where we share a drink photo (anything you are drinking) and join in with a link up over at our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

  We have had up and down weather here, and Sunday it was a sunny and warmish fall day; perfect day for the grave site burial of our dear friend Lilburn and a potluck afterwards.
   I am reminded of how rural this area in Missouri is when we have gone to several funerals including this one. The family digs the grave before hand, the people attending fill it in after the preacher's words.
    The preacher wears blue jeans, and at one funeral we attended everyone was to bring their gun to shoot a send off after the burial. I feel like I am re living history down here sometimes. My husband and I always look at each other -"this would not be happening in northern Illinois where we were from" There are also still many family burial sites on personal farms-like in the past.
   The potluck was really nice and there was food I could eat (gluten free). There is a native american family that is related to Lilburn by marriage (and Lilburn's mother was full Osage) that brought two large venison roasts-soooo delicious, tasted like a beef roast. Allot of other meats, allot of sides, fresh fruit salad which was nice and of course allot of desserts, and choices of water, soda, and kool aid type drinks.
    I decided to bring pecan pie bars. as Lilburn's favorite pies were lemon meringue pie and pecan pie. I never made these bars before but Hub's tested one and said they tasted just like a pecan pie. I found a recipe at land of lakes.

This is a photo after I cut in one direction, and then I went back and cut small bars

    I haven't gotten back to the cushions-instead I discovered a quilt I had made three years ago that we use allot was coming apart at the seams-on the back. I had used precut 4 inch squares that I was gifted to make the backing. When I was finished I even told myself I didn't realize these were probably going to ravel even though the seams were inside the quilt.
     So I have been hand stitching them down to repair
    This is turning into quite the project as I hadn't noticed it was happening-and one section I think may have gotten caught in my washing machine. This was an every day quilt that we have used allot so hoping it will go through more washings after repaired.

We had a gorgeous sunrise this morning I even have Larry looking for them now, and he spotted it first. There were also allot of low to the lake flying geese, sea gulls and ducks.

This is looking to the right on the deck towards the neighbors dock

There were so many oranges and purples that it reflected on to the lake This pair of ducks were swimming very fast across the lake

For my drink share, this week I have been enjoying coffee and teas in the morning and during the cooler days

  I really love the pour over coffee-easy clean up with filter too, and remember when this was the size of our coffee cups? I actually enjoy this size cup better than a big mug.

I brought out one my favorite tea pots and a cup-this tea was gifted to me a few years ago from our friends in Pennsylvania (state in usa) and I just uncovered it in the move-lol  This was a really nice flavor combination

and I just picked this one up. I really like this tea, doesn't remind me of pumpkins really, but has those fall baking spices.
  Those of you that save tea bags for art-Stash is really nice-the bags are folded and sealed hard with a machine, and the tag is sewn on-so easy to clip the string, and the whole tea bag opens up flat to one piece

   I will be gone in the morning on Tuesday as I have errands to run at the woods home area, so if don't stop my tonight I will visit later on Tuesday

Happy November and T everyone.