Cicadas & Gluten Free Baking

  Happy Sunday, It's been a hot one here with high humidity-feels like a July day here instead of a May day.

  I finished up my shopping early this morning-left the house at 6 am and it was already very humid. Larry sleeps later these days so I set him up with his coffee in a thermos mug, and his greek yogurt-fruit-granola in a small wide mouth thermos so he would be all set up for the morning. I got back home around 8:30 and he had just started his breakfast so that worked out perfect.

  Here at the lake home we have been listening to the sounds of the cicadas. I think they hang out in the trees. Today they are very loud. When I went into  town I didn't hear them at all. I do see a few dead ones around our driveway. Back 15 years ago I think it was when we were living at the woods house-this cicada event was quite something. We could see the swarms of them and the noise was much louder than here at the lake.  

  Do you have the cicadas where you are living? I am thinking this event is mostly in rural areas, as they come out of the ground.

  I am changing my gluten free baking flour. 

     I had figured out on my own, probably back in the 80's that I had celiac disease. Back then the doctors had no clue what was wrong with me, one even insisted I had mono-ahh nope don't think so. When the test came back negative he didn't know how to help me.

    I figured it out  on my own with food elimination to see what was making me sick  If you don't know you have a gluten intolerance the gluten foods will destroy your digestive system and you continue to lose weight. When they hadn't figured out what this was in the past it was called wasting disease as you get thinner and thinner. That was happening to me until I figured.it out 

 So back in my younger days, there were no labels on store bought foods for gluten ingredients, so it was quite the process and research to figure out what to eat-and wheat is in soooo many store bought foods Don't remember what year the govt decided gluten in foods needed to be labeled. 

   I had started out mixing up my own flour blends for baking learning as I went a long back then. I did totally give up on trying to make yeast breads. I tried so many recipes and nothing gave me good results. Now I have found a really good  gluten free bread that most grocery stores carry now. 

    Over time Bob's red mill came out with their 1-1 gluten free flour blend and I have mostly been baking with that now, however doesn't work for yeasted breads. Most things like cookies, brownies, biscuits, quick breads and my pizza crust come out pretty good with that flour-and it is easy.

That flour blend has a lot of carbs in it though both white and brown rice plus other starches and xanth, gum.  I am not all the crazy about the xanth. gum but seems to be needed in gluten free baking--or not

Scrolling on Instagram last week,  I ran into a gluten free site and she has changed my mind to go back to mixing up my own gluten free flour blend again. She has figured out if you use a sweet brown or white rice or mochi we don't need xanth. gum . She says this will bake well for cakes, cookies etc but not breads. I haven't gotten into her site all the way to discover how she is baking breads.

  This site I found is From the Larder  she also has a Facebook group. She shares a lot of information and also recipes. If I had a chemistry type aptitude it would be easier to understand how she has combined flours to work for different things.  She shares  downloadable pages explaining all the different flours make from grains, nuts, etc.

  I don't know if I have any followers that need gluten free but I wanted to share her site as it is very informative. She is based in England and insists better accuracy to weigh by grams and not cups. I cans see why when I was mixing up the flour blend as some were more heavier than others.  

  I did set up my flour grinder on my kitchenaid mixer to grind the rice-I used to grind most of my flour and this set up does a good job and it's fun too  smiles

That's it for me, hope I didn't bore my readers too much.

  Happy new week ahead

Pretty Day Today

   Happy Friday and upcoming weekend,

      I got myself up and out of the house early this morning. Needed to do an amazon return at the ups drop off at our bank, and I went to the small local grocery store for fresh produce.  Since this store was bought by a company that picks up these smaller family stores-their produce has really improved. Most items are priced well so I would rather buy from them then everything at Wal Mart. I have not been happy with this small Wal Mart since our move to the lake house, and lately their produce goes bad really fast. and I have gotten bad meat-so I will be buying meat at this family store too.

   I was home by 9 am and we had the perfect day-partial sun, less humidity and in the high 70's F so perfect to work outdoors.

    When I got home and got everything put away I tackled the big task of collecting rocks around our property to fill up the big tubs 2/3 full. I had  my friend bring them  over from the woods house  These are perfect for growing plants in, and hard to come by. The ranchers get cattle feed in these and then they reuse them.  She brought  me 5 of them, but I am going to ask her to bring me the rest of them.

   We drilled lots of drainage holes in the bottoms, I added the rocks, and then I save bubble wrap and cut those up and add to the top of the rocks and then the soil. Once set up they are good for a long time, just need to add some fertilizer to them over the years.

  We have had soooo much rain here that I didn't realize it was drowning out my seeds in the bottles. Only seeds growing is my brown cotton-so I planted them in 3 of the tubs. The rest of the seeds were just too water logged and we have had cold nights as well. Also this side doesn't get full sun all day do to the trees. 

  My husband gave me his old camera that still takes good photos and much better than mine.. He was using it to sell on ebay but no longer is doing that. My newest camera is terrible, at my age I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a camera, and I don't have a cell phone.

 This one needs more rocks, but I had to stop working. I took a break for our 2 pm meal and then went back out to see if I could finish these two tubs.

This is the other one that needs more  rocks-I will work on that tomorrow

 I am going to plant indigo seeds in one of these and borage seeds in the other one. I read that I can dry the indigo leaves to dye with later-so I am going to try that.  I don't make an indigo vat but have dyed in the past with fresh leaves. Still a little tricky but I did get a few lovely colors on fabrics.

  The other side-the right side looking at the steps is a total mess, lots of weeds, and since Larry's fall prevented him from finishing the water project-that side is holding tons of water-a real mess. I need to tackle that next week for sure. I may dig up some of the perennials before I lose them and plant over on this side near the tubs til that water issue gets fixed.

  That's it for me,  I have the KC Royals baseball game on they are playing much better this year. The weather shows the next 3 days will be  near 90 F  typical Missouri weather haha

A Few Blooms To Share and T

    We are continuing to get rain and warmer temps, so all of my grass needs cut again-sigh. It is spring so I need to get back to it tomorrow.

   This morning I tackled de frosting the large chest freezer-as  I get older this is quite the chore now, and we need to buy a new one as this one is over 20 years old now and freezes up again on the sides as soon as I plug it back in.

   I grabbed my camera as the peonies are blooming now. I brought the pink ones with us from Illinois when we retired to Missouri in 2003. The white peonies were here already. The lovely water iris are now budding and starting to bloom-one of our favorites. As you can see the lake is still low with all the spring rains they keep the lake low, by Memorial day Ameren (electric co making electric on this lake) will raise the water level of the lake to just below the grass line.

Photos didn't come out in order as mentioned

Above blooms are located to the left of our property line looking out towards the lake.

   This peony is finally happy enough in it's new home to multiply it's size and to bloom-to the far left of our steps.

Still have iris's  blooming

  This is the peony bush from above that I brought over from the woods house-it is finally happy where it is now. These originally came from my farm girl Grandma's garden many many years ago.  This area is  little more shady than the the pink one I planted down by the lake-but it is has really spread out now and finally has a few blooms..

  Above a peak inside-- cotton- these need to get planted soon. This is the brown cotton, the white cottons seeds  never sprouted

and to close, I don't think I shared this here on my blog but I did on my Instagram page. I have been thinking of watercolor paints again. Taking Inspiration from Christine I bought the watercolor atc size papers-to play a little with paints. I always thought these were too small for me, but I think I will like them for quick little watercolor paintings. I bought these little stands for Christine's woodpecker painting and had to purchase a package of them-soooo will display the paintings that way.

  I am thinking now if I post a photo of my beverage I can link up to T this week.

   Have a good week everyone and here is a link to our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T

Iris's Blooming

 Just popping in to share my lovely iris's this morning.

A couple of years ago I dug this all up and split them into singles and re planted. This year the blooms are larger and so beautiful. Up on top of the rock wall to the right of the a/c-heating unit are mints.

Huge storms with lots of rain, wind and hail are forecast to arrive sometime today-so far nothing so it may just go around us.

   Oh I don't think I shared my spun skein of buffalo fibers blended with Shetland wool fibers. 

  I see dust is collecting on my loom-I need to get my mind clear so I can re do the threading mistake on this pattern-ugh.

  Happy Thursday

Dandelion Infused OIl & Rubber Stamps & Strawberries

   Hi everyone, it has been a month or so that my dried dandelion flowers were soaking in a light olive oil, so I strained it out this morning.

    The color is so lovely. I will use this for my dry skin, and I may also add some to a batch of my melt and pour soap. Haven't made soaps in awhile and I still have soap base left.

    I could also use some of this dandelion oil to make a soothing salve-I have ingredients for that too. (my craft room is full of all things creative-smiles)

   I had bought a case of these little jars and lids for my homemade inks-I need to check on those and see how they are doing-and these jars are the perfect size for my dandelion oil too.

  I did get out early this morning and cut grass with the weed eater for almost 3 hours. Still a lot of tall grass to get cut down but I got the worst of it. That job got to my back this time, so I won't go back out early evening like I thought I would. If we don't get the rain tonight, I will tackle some more early morning.

 I did get more ornamental grass seeds planted in the "greenhouse bottles" yesterday. Need to save up more of the bottles to finish planting. 

  I ordered some new rubber stamps from a seller I have bought from before on Etsy. I have a few of her Little Lady series and wanted a few more for my letters and the envelopes to the seniors for Letters Against Isolation. This month I chose a facility to write to in Hawaii.

  I always look up the facility before I choose to send letters there. This one was special. The history was that a lady purchased several acres on top of a mountain and built her home. Her immediate family could live there after her death but then it was donated to become a nursing and rehab. facility. They have added on over the years but the original home is still part of the facility.

 and another one-this series makes me smile here is the shop I buy from

  I did clean the strawberries and sliced them up with a little sugar so they could make some juice. In the freezer I found a dozen gluten free yellow cup cakes that I had made-so those are perfect with the strawberries and some vanilla ice cream for our treat tonight-yum

   I am off to watch the KC Royals baseball game tonight-they are playing much better than last year. Oh and I have a few hummingbirds at my feeder-finally.. Not too many here at the lake but we always enjoy seeing them. We also had a couple orchard orioles pass through as well.

  Wow May 1st is tomorrow-April went by too fast for me this year..  

   Happy May Day! 

      I remember as a child my sister and I with Mom made paper baskets to hold fresh flowers (from Mom's garden) that we hung on our neighbors front door. Does anyone do this anymore??

The Rains Have Returned

   April here in SW Missouri,  is usually filled with days of rain, but this year mostly dry and very windy with up and down temperatures. The weather forecasters did get the rain day correct this time-haha.  It started late in the day yesterday, we had rain most of the night as well. A much needed rain. I only got to cutting half the grass here which means the other half will be really tall-especially with a week of rain- every day forecasted with rain.

  Larry has always loved the different ornamental grasses so we bought a couple to start from seeds, and I ordered two plants-they came in yesterday and were packed very well. I didn't want to plant them outdoors yet with all this rain coming in though. I will get the rest of the seeds started this weekend..  Larry's vision is to lure the different ducks here on the lake to use the grasses for nesting. So these will get planted near the lake front. I love that he still thinks of tomorrow, with all his setbacks.

 We did decide to go with Directv streaming service for our tv programming . The price is locked in for 2 years and is the same price we were paying with our electric co-op with more channels and no dish-I like that part. It is definitely a learning curve though as the system works a lot different than what we are used to. Just need to take the time to figure it all out.

   The Roku streaming had no phone number to contact their customer service to ask questions. I did figure out that Roku is the tool for the streaming service and then you buy all the packages separate of what you want to watch. In the end Directv was just easier for us and Larry got his movies and I got the sports. We bought quality tv's about 10 years ago and with this streaming service the colors are even more vibrant-like a newer tv. That was a bonus.  In this new age of tv so many choices, and with streaming you can add you tube and lots of other channels to it-nice for a larger screen.

  Last night with the storms coming through I couldn't sleep-I don't sleep through storms very well-so I finished writing the 10 letters to send out to seniors through the Letters Against Isolation project. I am enjoying the process. Having fun dressing up the letters and envelopes with stamps and stickers.. Here is a photo of the backs of the letters. These get mailed to the same facility so I make each letter different. A nice way to "play" with my stamps and also with the wax and seals.

   Yesterday morning I did some errands and the food store had lovely strawberries-yum I also buy blackberries and blueberries which are my favorites in fruits. Thinking of baking up angel food cakes for us-wheat and also a gluten free version. I also bought ingredients for cheesecake in case I decide to bake that for the weekend.

  Happy Friday and weekend. thanks for visiting.

 

Un Paper Towels

   Good morning, I have another post for Earth Day-see also my previous post on re using coffee grounds.

I have been seeing more of the un paper towels around the web. Free the Ocean sells them too but for me rather expensive. Lots of choices on Etsy-some of those listings even have snaps to make the roll easier. There are tutorials on how to roll your cloth towels onto the roll too which I think I would prefer..

Also different choices-ideas on what fabrics to use. Flannel cotton, feed sack cottons. These would be an easy first sewing project too. Those with young children I think these would be fun to make and use with colorful prints.

  I like the feed sack cotton option but some of those are really stiff.  I read about repurposing old flannel sheets. We mostly only use flannel sheets so when they are worn out-which takes years-I cut them up into rags. I wish I would have thought about making them into paper towels as well.

  My craft/art room does still have a stash of fabrics-so I am going to check that out soon. I do use a lot of paper towels, in the kitchen for sure.

  Have you made these un paper towels or bought them? Do you like them?

Here are some DIY links I found. 

This one is from Paper & Stitch and I found it to be very informative She also has an unsewn version

I think the fabric choice is up to what you have on hand in your stash (or want to buy)  as long as it is absorbent like cottons

From HGTV  I found this post about 8 best alternatives to paper towels   Bamboo, Microfiber cloths, and others-these are all for purchase-alternatives to paper towels that are re useable.

There are many tutorials and you tube videos on making these un paper towels. Different sizes as well.

 Here is one that is the size when you tear off a small sheet . Here is one using terry cloth

I even found a pdf pattern on etsy  but there are many free ones online too.

Here is one more tutorial that is Very good. I like her idea of sewing a big X through the towels to keep things in place after washing drying.  I have also seen on other tutorials to top stitch around the edges which I like as well , She also shows about sewing on the snaps. Below is a photo from her site.

I am hoping you enjoyed this post. Please share if you have made un paper towels. I plan on sewing up some soon

Earth Day-Recycle Coffee Grounds

   For my Earth Day post this year where I like to search out different ways to repurpose or recycle things-I chose coffee grounds. (Earth Day is this coming Monday)

  Many of us brew coffee at home, so I wanted to research ways to repurpose the coffee grounds.

   When I lived on land for gardening, I would add the grounds to my compost pile or work into the soil. 

  If you are able to compost and garden then coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen and the worms love them too in your compost or garden soil..

   I found all sorts of ideas to repurpose here  for inside your home and outside your home and family fun ideas  A few more ideas here  I think this article was the best-all sorts of ideas for using coffee grounds

  I even found a post about making candles with coffee grounds and old candles here

photo from above link

and to close I found a recipe for brownies using coffee grounds here

Happy Earth Day and also Happy Birthday to Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover here

The Young Woodpecker Flew in From Canada

    Some of you may remember this sweet painting by Christine.  I fell in love with it and asked if she sells her works? She does.

   I couldn't find just a couple of the little stands or protective sleeves locally so bought what I needed from Amazon. I set it up on our mantel amongst some of my gnomes He looks like one of our pileated woodpeckers here in Missouri

   This woodpecker has me smiling

Good Morning Monday-Ramblings

 Happy Monday and New Week!

   Missouri gets crazy weather this time of year, over the weekend high 80's F full sun, but no wind. Today is to be another high 80 F degree day but storms are coming n, so it is very overcast and eerie out there and very calm at the moment. Lots of fisherman on the lake since dawn this morning. Overcast is good fishing weather.

  I did need to turn the air conditioner on last night. We had gotten up to 87 degrees f  on Sunday and the house was quite warm. Needed to cool it down for Larry's heart health. Hopefully we will not need it again for awhile.

  I didn't get out to do what I wanted to over the weekend in the flower garden area. Hot sun is not a good time to transplant. This morning would be good though-no sun. We'll see. 

    We find out this morning when the supervisor stops by if Larry is approved for more physical therapy-hoping so since he is coming out.

  Not to complain, but I am hoping my eyes get better. Sometimes I think the drops are making them worse, and still getting used to the new stronger prescription for my glasses.

 I did sign up for the free trial with Amazon Prime over the weekend-but scheduled to cancel last night. These streaming services have such old material-old movies, old tv shows that are the free services. I get free shipping at Amazon when I buy $35.00 minimum so I just save items in my wish list til I have that amount. Their shipping is always fast too even without Prime.  We live rural so their free grocery delivery service can't be used here. If we want to listen to music we turn on the radio so their music is not worth it to us. It just doesn't fit us for the money.  I cancelled but they kept the free trial open for the 30 days before they cancel. Also could not get their service to load on the app on Larry's tv so I just checked it out on my computer  We each have a tv-Larry's in the bedroom and the one I use in the living room area. We watch completely different programs and we don't turn the tv's on til evenings. I felt guilty about this for a long time, but I had a friend at work that told me that's what her and her husband do  since their interests for tv shows were totally opposite-that's us..

  Before we moved to the lake we had used Directv since they first came on the market-thinking over 25 years. I called them about their streaming service and would get their Premier package do to all the sports and movies. The sale price would be locked in for two years. They would send that plug in like roku has for the back of the tv through the mail-so no techs which is nice.  .The first device is free but the second device would be 7.00 a month (usa dollars) so that is that wasted money for rental.  I am actually ready to just go with this service but Larry still wants to talk with roku to understand the pricing.  What a "pain" to even have to deal with this haha  We have a year but I would rather just do this and be set up going forward. This Directv package is loaded with movie channels and sports channels and my Hallmark channels and DIY shows so I am ready to go back to them..

  The hot weekend finished off the early lilac blooms, and the later flowering lilacs are in full bloom now.  I was so happy when I found these lilac bushes blooming that first spring we had moved here

This is the ground cover-this one really grew  had bought this a few years ago from the Amish greenhouse. I think it is phlox

However the second one is the one I need to move-the creeping thyme is choking it out-I should have moved this last fall after I had gotten the left side of this rock wall area prepared to plant I may just take some of the above one to transplant as well

I took a photo of the bison fiber blended with shetland wool. the bison fiber was sold as a soil amendment so I went through it and ended up with one pillowcase "bag" for the soil and two bags I thought I could spin,  Blended with my hand carders with the shetland wool it came out pretty decent. Once this niddy noddy is full of the spin yarn-I am going to really soak it in warm soapy water and see how it holds up.  It is bulky but that's ok for weaving something with it.

     I still had a couple packages of baby back ribs in the freezer since last early summer. Yesterday was the perfect day to make one of these.  I did them in the oven and they turned out soooo delicious. I need to write down how I cooked them.

Happy new week every one

Update: whoo hooo Larry got approved for twice a week physical therapy for the next three weeks. They found out that if they ask for once a week physical therapy,  insurance turns them down because they think it is not really needed just maintenance..  I was surprised when a month ago they dropped Larry to once a week.  So this is good news, especially since Larry's latest setback.

 I so much appreciate your continued healing thoughts thank you

Good Morning & Catch Up

   Good morning dear friends,

Waking up this morning-Wow no strong winds-finally. We had most of April with storms and winds so far. There was so much tree limb debris and leaves in the lake that for several days the lake was brown. Today we have a mostly blue lake again. Woke up this morning to lots of boaters very early just before dawn. One of the big bass tournaments started today.

We are headed into a warm stretch of weather today too. In the 70's F and the weekend will be in the 80's F I am planning on getting some plants dug up and moved this morning.

  A couple years ago I bought and planted two forsythia bushes that have hardly grown-so I am moving those up near the house near our property line to the left looking out the front door. I will enjoy them more there too.  I also have a patch of ground cover with lovely pink flowers that  needs to be moved. It is getting crowded out from the creeping thyme,  I also have lots of creeping thyme to move over to the left side of the steps and along the rock wall near the house-like the right side is set up, and extra plants will get moved down to the lake front. This thyme spreads by roots underground so it needs to be controlled.

Larry has always loved ornamental grasses so we set up a spot near the lake front to plant some, and also near the rocks at the lake's edge. We have numerous ducks here, that Larry is hoping will nest amongst these grasses.  bought seeds of two different grasses and also ordered three small plants-all three are different species. Hoping these will not grow too slow.

 Larry is doing better this week. He is eating better but still less than usual. The leg that was crushed is back to causing a lot of pain so difficult to continue exercises and extra walking. The supervisor was out this week from home care. Larry has had 6 months which is a long time for this type of care. He will be pleading the case to Medicare insurance that Larry needs another month of sessions with the therapist. The trip up and down the steps, in and out of a car was too much at the time, even though it was important to do. We will know next week if approved or not..

  Thank you all for your continued support and prayers-means a lot to us.

On another totally different topic. I got an email this week that our electric co op where we get our fiber connections for the tv, phone, and internet will be dropping the tv service end of June 2025. Was quite the surprise. Their prices have gone up the last few years but for their everything package-movies and sports-they are still less expensive than Directv service. I really do Not want to go back to Directv-we had them for around 25 years or more-they have soooo many added expenses to the cost of the package.  So we are looking into streaming services with no contracts-I think this is the future of tv right now too.  Looking into Roku and perhaps adding amazon prime streaming. At least we have a year to figure this out. I have two friends that use and like Roku.

I don't have any photos to share-but the lilacs are blooming now, lots more dandelion flowers blooming too. I was able to get the area of our property here cut down with the weed eater-twice now just before lots of rain. a good thing as that area grows fast and tall.

  I am gradually getting to the point I can do some things I enjoy-like spinning and writing letters. I have a niddy noddy full of the spun buffalo and shetand fibers blended with carders. Turned out pretty well considering the buffalo fibers were sold for soil improvement.  I will soak it well and see how it looks soon.

   Enjoy the rest of your week

It's been Rough

   It has been a rough several days.  

   A long time friend passed a couple weeks ago-one that Larry visited with a lot online. We knew him and his late wife from when we lived in Illinois.   Another friend that was our neighbor in Illinois before retirement suddenly had a heart attack with no warning and passed. His family is just devastated  The blessing in this is that he had called Larry on the phone and talked for over an hour a little over a week ago.

  On  April 1st late afternoon Larry couldn't breath, he felt like he was drowning. He had such a bad experience at the Lake Hosp that he would not let me call 911. I gave it an hour and talked him into letting the paramedics check him out, and I promised again he would Not go to that hospital.  All his stats were good but they suggested the hospital for a checkup.  There are two hospitals in Jefferson City that are just a little over an hour's drive. So he chose St Mary's Hosp.  That ended up being an excellent choice. They had doctors on staff in the emergency area, a cardiac doctor on call, they ran lots of  tests and  x rays. Soooo much security too-never seen this before-a metal detector we had to walk through and police everywhere. We learned this is a new hospital just 10 years old and is a catholic hospital. We have always found most of these to have excellent care and food. The food was "real" food here not frozen and reheated bad quality foods. The rooms were large and spacious like a hotel. Modern design within the hospital.

  Larry had fluid around his heart and in his lungs. Larry has had congestive heart disease since 1999,  so this has gone to the next stage and is much worse now. Recovering from the fall and being stuck in bed for so many months has not helped his condition. I think also the trip to the drivers license place was a bit too much along with our steep steps up and down. That has been a bit of a setback afterwards. He has lost a lot of weight, no apatite now, and is freezing cold at night.  I need to figure out how to keep him warmer and make foods he really likes.

 Our friends here at the lake that live 5 minutes away drove me there and then the next day to pick him up. We are so grateful for them.  Larry doesn't like hospitals and wanted to go home. They wanted him to stay another day or two. So when we brought him home the next day, he was very very weak from no sleep and everything else. Today we had a telephone visit with his cardiac doctor we have had here in Missouri-he is a 3 hour drive away in Springfield Missouri now since the move to the lake house.  He agreed with us about one of the dosages of medicines was too much that the hospital prescribed. So I feel better about that. They wanted him to take Lasix everyday and that will damage kidneys-we were told that years ago when he first started taking it-only as needed.

  I just needed to write this down and "talk to someone" so that's why I am posting this.  This is life, and will always have it's challenges and heart breaks.

  The good news where we live we missed the golf ball size hail and tornadoes, but not the 2 1/2 inches of rain and strong winds. On the way home from the hospital that night we drove through a wicked storm getting home-made it home just in time before I got full blown car sick.  We have been cold and windy all month so far.  Today the sun is shining with no wind so far. a good thing.

Happy Easter To All That Celebrate & This and That

    Today we got up into the mid 70's early afternoon Morning was pretty nice too so I got back to the bringing down that pile of soil and getting it spread out.

   I got allot done today, hopefully I can finish that tomorrow, so I can get to weed eating the grass before it turns cold and rainy Monday.  It is really tall already which I suspected. I did a bit yesterday.

  The pretty dandelions are up so I collected a bunch. I will dry them and then steep in olive oil for a few weeks and strain-a good healing oil  If you are on Pinterest they have many recipes for making oils, salves and such with dandelion flowers. Just save some for the bees-as they usually are the first of the blooms.

  They start to dry pretty fast-this photo was taken a couple hours after I laid them out here.

      Larry had our friend bring down his suburban to the top of the steps so he could get back in easier as it is flatter right there. However, he had him drive over my pile of soil-not happy about that at all oh well. 

  Larry is in extreme pain today which I figured could happen as it is two days after his trip to get his driver's license. He takes no pain killers at all any more so he has to struggle through it.

  I wanted to share a lovely gift I received from one of my slow mail friends Debra last year. I don't remember if I had shared this piece already. I really love it and so thoughtful for our lake home.  I had it sitting on the mantel, but this week I found a spot to hang it. Thanks again Debra  This is on a wall in our dining area and the walls have wallpaper. The colors of the painting blend in nicely. especially the greens

  My new blog friend and slow mail friend mentioned she had made a pot of split pea soup. I am thinking I need to make some as I haven't in several years now. I always keep dried beans and lentils in storage so I grabbed a pound bag, and a bag of frozen diced ham. Soooo good. Larry can handle one meal and then no more for awhile-so I froze the rest of the soup

     I have not thought of what to prepare for our Easter dinner. Nothing too fancy as it is just the two of us and Larry is Jewish. Ham is so salty that I don't cook with that too often and we just had it in the soup a few days ago.

    I did bake the keto cheesecake that turned out delicious, and I had sliced up fresh strawberries but they were not very ripe and juicy. I miss not having farmer's strawberries.

  I am off to watch the first KC Royals baseball game that I recorded and also the KC Blues hockey game which I recorded as well.

  Happy weekend, Hoping you have nice weather too.

Books?

   Those of you that make your own journals-do you have this book or have you seen it?

      I don't have a library nearby-never have lived close to one since we always have lived rural so if I have an interest in a book I buy it.

    I am more careful now and really think about it before I buy a physical book now-then I search the net for the best price.

  

  

Thoughts on this book if you are familiar with it.

  Also I am intrigued with this book too.

  I could not find much information about this one, it's a new release.

   Thank You

Positive Thoughts and Energy Needed

 Good morning, I am requesting positive thoughts and energy for Larry this morning.

    Today is the day he decided to tackle our steep steps, and have our friend drive him to get his drivers license renewed. First day out of the house since his bad fall early October.

   His license needed renewed back in October and he had 6 months to renew before it would become a big hassle to do. That is around the second week in April but didn't want any chances of missing that date.

  He did well with the steps but was really pale as he got in the car. Larry is someone that never gives up no matter the struggle

 Thank you

                   (image found online)

Update: 12:30 pm  

    It all went well thank you all. 

Larry was really really nervous about this. He made it up the steps and back home again with no major issues. He will be in allot of pain though later today.

    Thankfully the drivers license place was not real busy, so that went well-I put everything he needed in a envelope-insurance, paid taxes, a check that they filled out for him.

    Next door is an old fashioned barber shop but after getting his new license it was full of customers. Hoping next week his friend will take him back to the barber shop and get gas in his car. He said he had a quarter tank left-thinking why didn't you let our friend pump gas for you/? Next time he can do that too

   Larry has always been a fighter but this was scary for him-but he accomplished it-so happy for him

Update from Post Office Visit

    I was really upset and not happy with my letters for seniors in nursing homes being sent back to me last Saturday.

I get stressed out fast and then worry about everything-so I was anxious early this morning. Thankfully the postal lady I like to talk to was there.

 The note on my returned letters made no sense at all, and also I came prepared to defend my wax seals.  The sealing waxes I use are made by nostalgic expressions and if you purchase their mailable flexible wax there is no problem with the postal machines. My letters with seals have traveled well to Germany, Spain, Greece Canada and the States.

   So she is looking at my returned cards and says Oh I see what is happening--it is not your seals at all but rather the envelopes are too small and may get caught in the postal machines. What??? I bought these cards and envelopes from Current. She shows me on their envelope chart that they are 1/4" too small.  She says I am going to send these out again as I really think they will make it through the machines.

  I am thinking what happened is that someone in this post office did not send them out to get cancelled but pulled them and returned them to me. I am hoping there is no more issues.

 I had stopped purchasing cards and address labels from Current a few years ago because their shipping is very expensive and they also add on another carrier fee which is ridiculous. I would stock up on their pretty usa made cards and envelopes when they had a sale on them or buy one get another free. It is not acceptable that they are using envelopes that don't meet the postal service standards. For sure now won't be buying from them again. I love their offerings and most everything on their site is USA made which I loved but no more.

 I looked around on Etsy and found some gorgeous address labels. Her turn around is a bit slow but I found her when she was having a big sale. I think they are prettier than Current's labels, so can't wait to see them in person.

  So I am hoping no more drama, especially about using the wax seals-I love adding those to my envelopes-and so fun too. Smiles  I had read online when I was researching this wax more-that some post offices will not accept the seals or they charge 44 cents more to hand cancel.  Quite a few years ago I bought allot of handmade sealing wax and she was using vintage molds-I loved them but they would break right off the envelopes and even if I used them on the letter inside they would break. So lesson learned must use a machinable flexible modern sealing wax.

  I am reading that my east coast friends are getting hammered with snow-we are still dealing with very very strong winds and now it's raining all day too. I got back home just in time before the winds were their strongest and the rain came steady

.

Good Morning Sunday

 Good morning Friends, and I can't believe how fast March has gone by and next Sunday Easter already.

   I found the right eye drops so my eyes are doing much better but they still do not feel back to normal. My new glasses should be ready in another week or so. All takes time I know

  Over the weekend since it was so cold and very very strong winds I made us a pot of chili-will freeze most of it for later-I  always end up with a huge pot. This one turned out really delicious.

  I found nice fresh strawberries last week when I went food shopping, so decided to bake up gluten free cupcakes to put the strawberries over. The rest I will make up a keto frosting for the rest of the cupcakes (to cut down the amount of sugars)  This photo turned out a little dark. I made up a gluten free yellow cake and added strawberry extract to it.

  I hadn't been happy with my homemade ice  cream the last few times I made it, so I went back to purchasing ice cream. Just have to be careful with the sugar in it and serve smaller portions. I have not found a really good store bought no sugar ice cream as of yet.  

  I have also been finding these yummy large blackberries in the stores too.  At the woods house I would pick the wild ones-so good

     I started writing to seniors in rehabs and nursing homes and of course I am using my sealing wax. I use a special modern sealing wax that can handle the machines in the postal systems. I have also sent many international cards this way as well-with no issues at all. Last month I sent 10 of these to the seniors.

   I spent many hours putting 12 cards and letters together and yesterday this is what was in my mailbox. What this mail person means by my letters being a box I have no idea. Sooo upsetting and they also want another 44 cents on each card-I will be at the post office Monday morning right when they open. This has really upset me-and I have been mailing cards this way for over 4 years now.

  and the postal person put two of these rubber bands on my stack of cards which has squished them all together-Not happy at all. 

  and also-interesting-yesterday I mailed off a letter to my new slow mail friend with a wax seal which they took and then found this as a replacement-strange mail day

   I won't complain about our very cold and windy days since I am reading that many of you on the east coast are getting lots of snow. We had a call from a friend that lived next to us in northern Illinois before retirement. He and his wife moved to Arizona but were back to that area since his wife needed to do in person additional training for her job in home in Arizona. He called to chat with Larry and said he had to get used to snow again as that area was getting hammered with lots of snow and wind.  That must have been a surprise for them for sure as they have been living in Arizona for many years now. It was a nice check up with an old friend for Larry 

  Each day this week I have been carrying down half bucks of soil from that pile up on top of the steps. Since I have not done much in physical activities like this since last fall-I am taking it slow and only doing 4 or 5 half buckets. I am using a tall 5 gallon bucket. Yesterday I could see I am now half way through the pile-progress haha.

 Well this post is my ramblings for today smiles-Happy new week.

Sunshine and Warmer Days Ahead & This and That

 Good morning friends,

   We have full sunshine today so far, still a bit windy and gradually warming back up. Am hoping to work outdoors this afternoon for a bit.

  My eyes are still bothering me allot, but the eye doctor visit yesterday went well. My eyes are less dry after the two weeks of drops and he says I must continue with at least  3 times a day. The brand he suggested hurt my eyes so my eyes did not like something that was in those. I asked about the brand Refresh instead and he said yes just no generic brands as those have preservatives and other things in them. I also ordered a much needed new pair of prescription glasses. Quite expensive as they usually are-but my insurance will refund me back a little bit of it, and the new insurance should pay most of the eye visit. The glasses I have now I have never liked as they were not right and I gave up on them replacing the lens-so I am so looking forward to my new ones. I have put up with the ones I have now since 2019 too expensive to just go to another eye doctor back then. 

  I was quite surprised with all the different choices from Refresh eye drops-even one for computer and e reader usage. I will buy that one for sure as I spend allot of hours reading on my kindle. I never liked putting drops in my eyes but I guess I will be getting used to it-smiles.

  I ordered a bunch of stickers from Amazon last week to add to my letters that I am mailing out to seniors or those in rehab through Letters Against Isolation.  I never really used stickers before, but I think they will be fun to use in my cards and  letters. I found some beautiful botanical stickers from a couple different sellers. Hoping they arrive this week. Only part about mailing these is you don't know if the receiver enjoyed your letter or not but I think they may look forward to the letters after awhile. This is worldwide so if interested they may have it set up where you live.

  I do really enjoy mailing out and receiving slow mail letters. I want to get back to that too this  month. Getting back to more normal too after Larry's accident. He is walking better with his walker but still tires very fast. I am concerned about our steep steps out of the house-but positive thoughts on that .

  I made a deep cast iron skillet of an apple-pear-raisin crisp early this morning. It just came out of the oven and smells so good. We will finish up the corn beef slices in reuben sandwiches, for  today's meal. We love home cooked corn beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes so I made that for us over the weekend and sliced up the meat for sandwiches-yum Larry's favorite. Sorry no photos this time.

  Larry spotted 4 loons in front of his dock a bit ago-they are so fun to watch as they are diving ducks and I love their song too. That was such a surprise for me to see loons here-I think they migrate from colder areas.

    Enjoy your day my friends

  

  

 

Spring is Early Here in Missouri & Spring Card

   Good morning Thursday,

      March here in SW Missouri is feeling more and more like April every day now.

Rains every other day-so things are getting ahead of me already. I checked yesterday and for sure I need to cut grass as soon as things dry out again. sigh not ready for that yet.

I wanted to share a beautiful spring card I received in the mail from Viola in Germany. This was her first handmade card and it is really lovely. Fabrics and stitches Thank you so much Viola-I love it!

  Below is a close up

Happy (early) Spring

Been Working Outdoors

   Another beautiful day with no wind. We did get storms last night so the dirt pile I am moving with a bucket and a shovel was too wet today. Instead I grabbed some large bags and filled up 4 huge ones with leaves. The leaves were tucked in around the garage, vehicles and more. Lots more to do-I will burn these once they get dried.

  I don't have a good way too compost these leaves living on small area of land with neighbors on both sides. I could keep them in their bags and let them decompose that way. I may do that and see what happens.

   I did get a dozen of my bottle "greenhouses" planted yesterday, I posted photos on my Instagram page. I planted the two cottons, indigo, and two other dye plants for yellows and they are good for tea as well.

  Any of you that have dyed with indigo fresh leaves? I did that at the woods house and got lovely results. Do any of you know if the fresh leaves can be dried for later use as a dye? I need to research that I am thinking. The other two plants for dye I just planted as seeds,  I can dry for later dyeing.

  I think my eyes are a bit better although still too blurry. I cut down on the number of drops the doctor said to do-as it was just too much for my eyes. With me and any medicines less is better.

 Lovely sunrises this week.

Below is a bit before dark-grabbed the camera while I was moving soil down the steps.

Happy Mid-week

Pretty Blooms from Amaryllis

  This morning all 4 blooms have opened up on the amaryllis-soooo pretty

    Adding photos to my blog is still "messed up" sadly  I brought this one over by copy and paste.

  We have bright sunshine today, strong winds so lots of waves on the lake.  I was looking out towards the lake this morning and there was a flock of seagulls fishing. Usually they are on the far side away from me, but this time just past our dock-so very fun to watch them flying and diving for fish.

  I got most of the wood wiped down yesterday in the main part of our living area. Just have the couch and dining table and benches to do yet, and a vintage trunk.  Next up will be my computer room-ranch oak desk and several vintage cabinets and my weaving loom and bench.  I think I will do the floors after that, and then tackle my kitchen-that's a big job but needs doing too.

  I saved out 9  water gallon bottles to make into growing seeds. Will plant the cotton seeds first and then see what is in my seed stash. Not doing lots like I did last year.  Next week the grass will need to be cut before it gets too tall.

  Larry did allot of walking with his walker yesterday, today he feels ill- will probably sleep most of the day today. Adding it up the home health team was out to our home for 5 months, so thinking Medicare cut them off even though he really needs another month to tackle the steps and hill. We are thankful for their care during that time.

  Happy weekend!

Spring Has Arrived & Catch Up

 Good Morning Friday,

  I believe Spring has arrived here in the Ozarks. In previous years we have gotten late cold even a light frost end of April or early May-but for now we have Spring.

  Almost 24 hours of rain yesterday-more to come- which has lots of greens popping all over the place-bushes, grass, perennials. 

  I did see Missouri is predicted to have a drought this summer, but that is ok with me-less grass cutting-smiles.

  I am sticking with my decision not to buy any plants this year. I love certain petunias to fill up large containers, but those never make it after July here. I have lots of annual flower seeds, so will plant them instead. After this rain stops and things start to dry out, I will be out there working on things-soooo much to do too. 

 Taking care of Larry since late October, I have not been up to cleaning house-like a really good dusting etc, or even my crafts-but This week I have dug out the wood preserver, cleaning rags and started with our main living area for a deep clean. Had allot of dust everywhere which has probably added to my allergies. Once one gets started-Wow looks so good now-smiles.  

  We have mostly vintage wood pieces-never was into modern furniture. I inherited my Mom's ranch oak couch we had when I was a child. It desperately needs new custom cushions made.  I had looked into that before we moved to the lake, and it was over $1000.00 back then.  I really don't like making cushion covers-was never that good at it and the good foam is quite expensive, so that is main cost. So still just making do with that for now

 Monday, I went to the new eye doctor, who is much closer than the one we were seeing since 2019- a surgeon for yearly checkups after our cataract surgeries. However, last year he informs me he no longer writes scripts for new glasses. -I really needed them last year too. When I found out my AT&T supplement insurance to Medicare was changing and would include dental and vision coverage, I decided to wait til this year.

  Good news after meeting with the new doctor is that I am still on a watch for glaucoma-nothing has changed, however my eyes are not focusing properly. After all the different tests, doctor says my eyes are very very dry so I am using drops several times a day for two weeks and then another checkup.  I started those on Monday but now my eyes feel a bit swollen and still not focusing on words etc very well. So will see what happens at my next visit.

  Larry had his last in-home therapy yesterday. I am surprised by this, as Larry is now walking better with the walker, but still tires very fast. He also has not had any help on tackling the steep steps and hill to get out of our home and into a car. I guess we will need to figure that out ourselves.  Our therapist did say if we wait a month, we can ask our primary doctor to contact them for more therapy. We have several must visits this month so will just take one day at a time. 

   Still having fun playing with buffalo fibers blended with Shetland wool and spinning. Can not seem to get into tying my large Yellowstone inspired quilt, so I am close to rolling that back up and putting away again til more inspired.

  This week I did make a big pot of chili made with ground bison along with cast iron pan of cornbread-yum perfect for a rainy day.

  This past week I also learned about an organization called Letters Against Isolation for those in nursing homes. Here is a link to their Instagram page    and to their home page here    I mailed out 7 letters to a nursing home in Montana this week-I think this will be rewarding for me and to the receivers. 

Happy weekend

    

   Bummer so difficult to add photos now sigh  

Buffalo Fiber Progress

   Good morning Sunday (or Monday for my European friends)  Today it's full sunshine and headed to the 80's F for a couple of days-then it will drop a bit for awhile but still spring temperatures.  Of course this up and down is wrecking havoc with my sinus's.

   Since Friday I have been playing with fibers. I started off with my blending board but did not like the results. This is a fun tool to layer fibers and them make into a long roving for spinning, but I forgot it doesn't really blend the fibers together. So I took apart what I had spun and redid it using my carders.

  The buffalo fibers being extremely short made a mess of my board too. This is what was left behind-so I cleaned this up with a flicker tool and put this away. 

This is a flicker and looks just like the one I have. 

So getting out my carders-first I put too much fiber on, so since I am not a super good spinner,couldn't get the fibers drawn out enough to make a yarn that was not super bulky. So took that apart and put much less fiber on.-the shetland wool fiber first and then the bufflalo fibers. You can see that the buffalo fiber is just a "mat" of very very short fibers. I can see why it will be good in the soil. 

  It took a few trys but by late yestereday this was going fairly well. Spun up, this is a coarser fiber which I am thinking I could use my mini loom to weave table mats or perhaps coasters.

 I am not happy that blogger has changed how to add photos to my blog. Instead of going to my photos like always-I now have to drag them to my blog-I am not good at doing that so what a process ugh The photos above went in but now they won't ugh. Will have to figure out how this works easier

  Ok I am back haha  Still not liking that google changed how to add photos. wonder why they did this? perhaps catering to cell phones? dont know as I don't have one of those.

Below fibers taken off the carders and then it is carefully rolled up,  and then carefully I pull the fibers out to spin which gives me a long piece to spin

My camera I am realizing takes blurry photos when I zoom in a bit. There is still bulky yarn on here, but the last of what I did is getting better.

  I am going to spin to fill this drop spindle up and then put it on my niddy noddy, get wet and then when dry see how the yarn is

 

  I made two loaves of gluten free pumpkin bread, for the sweetener the recipe uses maple syrup but the bread when baked has just a hint of sweetness.Of course I spread on some cream cheese to our slices-smiles.

    I am using the last quart jar of maple syrup that was gifted to us when we were still having deer camp at our woods home Our friend lives near Green Bay Wisconsin on his farm and he harvests his own maple syrup He had brought a large box of his maple syrup-such a generous gift-I gifted over half of it to friends at the time.

  Tomorrow I finally have my appointment to the eye doctor.My eyes have gotten so bad over the last year. Next week is dentist check up and then after that family doctor and blood draw that we do every 6 months-not sure if Larry will be able to manage the steps for that-we are just taking one day at a time.

  Have a good new week ahead everyone