Food Friday: Fresh Fruit and Dry Oatmeal. Amazingly Good!

 One of my favorite breakfasts is a bowl of dry oatmeal with a few fresh blueberries and some sliced fresh grapes. It sounds nasty but is really good.  Refreshing, and good for the body.  It is said to assist in cleaning cholesterol from the body. Sadly, I have not eaten it enough times in a row to verify.  If I start again today, and eat it every day until my next blood work,  then I will be able to actually verify.  I think.

Here is a small bowl of oatmeals, green grapes, and blueberries.  Good stuff.  Even Dear One eats it but he prefers to add milk...

My Favorite Bird Feeder Which Does Not Invite Squirrels To Sup on the Bird Seed

We have often had bird feeders during our life together.  We love birds though we are not "birders".  Often in Vermont the squirrels got more bird seed than that birds, which always distressed me.  The reason is that squirrels are able to store up food for winter but birds only store what they can eat day by day.

Now we have ( and have had for a couple of years) a bird feeder that is strictly for the birds.  Don't get me wrong, squirrels enjoy the seed, but only the seed that falls to the ground.

Here is the feeder, and then pictures of it taken of it while it is apart so you can see how it assembles and why the squirrels cannot get into the feeder.  It cost $50 and has been well worth the cost.  

Bad picture.  I don't have life enough to get up and take another picture at the moment...

This is the feeder disassembled into three parts--the inner reservoir for seeds, the outer casing which keeps the squirrels away, and the little green handle with a triangular top to hang on the cast iron hanger.

Here you can clearly see the outer casing has been replaced over the bird seed reservoir and the rod sticking up with a hole in it for the covered rod to be inserted then hung on the "tree hanger".

This shows the covered rod being inserted into the hole and when flipped up will attach to the tree hanger and keep the hole from rusting out in the rain,

We are so happy with this feeder because both the birds and the squirrels benefit in their own separate ways.  You will notice the white plastic bucket  which is where we store the bird seed.  It is a two-gallon bucket with a Gamma Seal cover.  If you don't know Gamma Seals, and if you store things in two-gallon or five-gallon buckets, you need to research those Gamma Seals.  We have used them for many many years and love them.  They give your buckets screw-off covers. I used to destroy my fingernails and fingers trying to get the miserable covers off buckets.  Now I don't!

OH! IMPORTANT NOTE:  The reason the squirrels cannot get into this feeder is that when they climb onto the little footholds, the weight of the squirrel makes the outer casing slide down over the food tray at the bottom of the inner seed reservoir!  So smart.  There are other feeders, I think by the same company who, when a squirrels weight shows up on the feeder  the weight causes the feeder to twirl around really fast flinging the squirrel away. I could not bear to do that.  I might be mean, but I am not THAT mean!

Wednesday Wonders: A Recipe That Passed The Test!!

 Recently I saw a few episodes of Brand New Vegan on YouTube.  Also I saw someone reviewing recipes from Chuck Underwood's book about vegan comfort foods.  Since Dear One is leaning more towards plants again, I decided to give another look at Brand New Vegan.  This the recipe I tried:

My Grandson's Favorite Air Fried Tofu (I will let you go to the link to get the actual recipe...)

Extra firm tofu (I used Super Firm tofu in case I did not have time to press it, which time I did have so it was a moot issue...)

For the marinade:

Soy sauce
Vegetable broth (I used water and some  teriyaki sauce to give it a little flavor)
Minced garlic
Rice vinegar
Maple syrup
Cornstarch

For the "breading":

Granulated garlic

Granulated onion

Smoked paprika

Cornstarch

These are the ingredients from Chuck's recipe.  The process is to slice the block of tofu in half horizontally and set it to draining on paper towels on top of a cutting board with another cutting board and more paper towels on top then a heavy item. I used the cute little 6" Lodge cast iron skillet and the even cuter heart-shaped  Lodge cast iron skillet as the pressing agents.

Chuck puts the marinade ingredients in a quart jar with a cover then adds the pressed  and diced tofu and shakes and lets rest, shakes and lets rest, for a quite a while so the tofu can soak up the flavor.

Next he puts the breading into a gallon ziplock bag along with the drained-from-the-marinade-tofu and shakes gently until all the tofu is covered in the breading.  Bake 400 degrees F in an air fryer for 15-20 minutes, shaking the basket every five minutes to keep from sticking.

At that point I varied from his plan.  We had some leftover matchstick carrots, half a sliced sweet onion, and half a chopped red pepper.  I poured a tiny bit of olive oil in the frying pan, added the vegetables and started cooking them while the tofu was in the air fryer.  By the time the tofu was about done, so were the vegetables cooked enough to be pleasant to eat. I added the tofu and the leftover marinade to the pan and cooked until all the vegetables and tofu were nicely covered with sauce.

Finally I poured this over some Ramen noodles I had cooked in plain water without the seasoning packet and mixed them all together.

I put it on the table and let Dear One serve himself.  He took a serving.  Then he took ANOTHER serving.  And if that was not enough, he said, "This is pretty good."  That is not something we hear in this house very often!  Made me happy.

This is not a good picture but you get the idea.  Go for it. It really is pretty good.

Updated Wreath Again...

 Here is the newest iteration of the St. Patrick's wreath hanging on the front door.

It still looks kind of icky but that is all I had time for over the weekend.  Two puff flowers in green from Hooked By Robin on Youtube,   Two periwinkles from  the Knitted Flowers book...the green one was knit in worsted weight acrylic on US 5 needles and the purple one was knit with two strands of two different purples held together and using US 9 needles.  I did not put a different colored center in the purple flower.

Things are beginning to close in on me busyness-wise but I hope to post again soon, even if it is just a photo.  Best to all.

PS. If someone has ideas on how to make the wreath attractive, just make the suggestions and I will try to do it.  I really am not at all clever but I can make stuff that is suggested to me....

Knitting Set Up, Upstairs and Down

As I have aged I have found that there are some things that make my hobbies more enjoyable and productive.  One thing that has really helped is a metal music stand with magnetic strips. I can put pattern pages on the music stand and place the magnetic strips strategically to keep track of my place in the pattern or on the chart.  Works like a charm...unless I have several pages then the magnetic connection is tenuous and can fall off.  This always aggravates me and reminds me to "just do it right"!  Which means have only the one sheet of the pattern on the music stand and everything else organized elsewhere.

This is the set up!  The music stand is to my right with my headset waiting for me to use listening to an audio book if Dear One is watching something on the television.  I have my pattern for the mug rugs there with the line magnet at the top. (Hopefully I was successful in blanking out that pattern since it was a paid for pattern. I do not ever want to violate copyright.  People work very hard to create and if they want to be paid, far be it from me to take away their remuneration.)  There are stitch markers on the little wire arms that help hold the pattern pages to the stand.  The aqua lanyard has a small pair of very sharp scissors  attached and a little bottle which has a set of large tapestry needles for weaving in ends. (I feel very smart about that bottle--it is an empty pill bottle.  I got out the Dremel tool and drilled two tiny holes in the top of the cover then inserted some yarn in and made a loop to hang up the bottle.  Works great.).   There is also a pencil which I use for making a little chit sheet when I am making things like the purple periwinkle flower that is going on the front door wreath soon. You can see the chit marks for two different periwinkles. You can also see the television in the upper left.  When Dear One is not watching something, I use my phone to "cast" YouTube videos up there to keep me company and teach me stuff.  I love to learn new useful things.  

Speaking of learning useful stuff--I think I heard through the grapevine that a dear old lady friend in town is getting one or more sheep!  Yay!  I am looking forward to finding someone local who will give or sell me a fleece from time to time after they shear.  I am hoping she wants sheep to graze her lawn, and not necessarily for their fleeces....Does that sound bad?  I want to become a good enough spinner that I can  consistently spin yarn worthy of  knitting into useful garments.

Also in this photo you can see a new book that arrived this weekend:  Teach Yourself Visually -Sock Knitting.  I just saw yesterday that the deadline for Sock Madness was two weeks ago.  Probably just as well I missed it. I used to participate every March or at least for a couple or three years. I did a lot of sock knitting and learned a lot.  Eventually I gave those socks away.  Now I have sock yarn again and have socks on the needles all the time, ready to put in a few rounds at the drop of a hat.  I would REALLY be happy if I could spin reliable sock yarn!  But I don't expect that will happen.

Also in the photo you see a nice orange sunflower-y project bag. I "designed" my own zippered project bag.  I made about a dozen of them in different colors.  I do love them.  They are all filled with projects. This is in an effort to organize myself and prepare every needful thing.  Does it count if the bags are all full?!

So that is it for today.  One day I will put up the pattern instructions for the project bags.  You need one yard of cotton fabric and one 22' plastic teeth zipper.

Out With The Old, In With The Updated!

 So Valentine's Day has come and gone so it was time to take down the heart-shaped wreath on the front door.  

Last year I had made a sort-of St. Patrick's Day wreath.  It was not so hot, but it was a decoration.  I put it up earlier this week but felt it was lacking in....character?  Or something else....so today I picked up a couple of balls of cotton yarn that needed to find a new home and tuned in to Hooked By Robin on YouTube. I really like that girl.  She is a wonderful crochet teacher.  Even the beginning-est beginner can create lovely crochet items by following her instructions.

Here is the wreath from last year hanging on the door.  Not so hot, but still, a decoration instead of a plain black door.

This is the rather pitiful flower I made following Hooked By Robin this afternoon in a short time.  (Sometimes a quick project is what you have time for but if you want a truly lovely result, more time is needed.  Like today. Oh, well.  Soon.) You will note that it is nowhere near as vibrant as the flower I made last year to go along with the "silk flowers" from Hobby Lobby.

Here is the updated wreath.  Still it is not so hot but I am happy enough with it for this afternoon.  I will look for some more patterns to use and some more vibrant yarns...which I am pretty sure I have!  After all, I am in process of organizing the yarn collection and should be able to find just what I am looking for, right...?!

NOTE:  The Hooked By Robin video I linked to above is not the flower I used but I did not quickly find that video so I shared this one.  I do like that puff flower and think I might give it a go and see what happens.  Stay tuned!

Wednesday Wonders: One Dish Chicken and Rice: EASY!

 Lately I was texting with one of our sons who wanted to make a chicken and rice dish we used to have decades ago.  I found the recipe I had put into The Country Wife Cookbook that I compiled when our children were in their teens. I wanted them to be able to 1. help with cooking at that time, and 2. have a resource to take with them when they left home to have foods that reminded them of home.  (And on the subject of The Country Wife Cookbook:  for some years now I have been writing The Country Wife Cookbook: A Culinary Memoir which was originally meant for our children to know a little family history as well as family recipes but now I am willing to share with anyone who wants it.  I have recently spoken with a woman in the publishing world who would like me to pay her $2500 to look at my "work" and see if I need to spend more money to get it published.  When I finish the re-write I am working on (thanks to Sasha for editing the book for me), I may just figure out how to format the book and then hand bind copies for the few people who might find it interesting.  We shall see. Please do not hold your breath...but if you are interested, let me know and I will start a list of possible recipients.

Anyway, back to to the chicken and rice:  as Son 4 and I were talking, he pointed out that the dish he made was too salty.  He said he used a boxed rice mix instead.  I thought that was a great idea.  Almost immediately after our conversation I saw an easy chicken and rice dish online somewhere...maybe a Facebook reel.  I took their idea and made it our dinner with variations!

This is what we did for our Sunday dinner :

In an 8 by 8 glass dish I placed one box of Zataran's Rice Pilaf and spread it around.  I opened a can of Cream of Chicken Soup With Herbs and spread it over the top of the rice then added 2 cups of chicken broth left over from pressure-cooking the heck out of a few pieces of chicken that had been in the refrigerator a week or so.  Almost a week or so...

With a wooden spoon I stirred the rice and liquids until they were pretty much combined then took some chopped chicken pieces from the top of a Chik-Fil-A Cobb salad that Dear One had not eaten as well as some tempura chicken that Dear One had not eaten, (do you see a pattern here?  I think I will refrain from getting him meat things in the future...I think he has gone back to mostly plant-based eating...) and sprinkled them on top of the rice mix.  At this point I put on aluminum foil and cooked in the oven at 350 degrees F for one hour.  It was very popular.  He ate much of the rice, and a little of the chicken.

This morning I made a double batch as we were having company over to share lunch with us.  (Just after I had mixed up the wet ingredients with the rice I received a text saying they had a last minute meeting and could not join us after all.  Oh well.  Plenty of food for us). 

This time I used Cilantro and Lime Rice mix and raw chicken breast pieces.  Not as popular.  The flavor was not one Dear One had ever had and did not enjoy.  The chicken breast was dry.  I remembered after putting it in the oven that someone had mentioned that dark meat should be used rather than white meat as it takes longer for the dark meat to cook which makes it come out the same time as the rice is done.  

So--the take away for me is...I will not use raw chicken breast in this meal and I won't use Cilantro and Lime Rice mix...aside from those problems...it is pretty good!

This is the easy chicken and rice bake I made today...the less-than-enjoyable-one per Dear One.  He did eat a good serving though!

Valentine Giant Skeleton Now St Patrick's Skeleton!

 Our neighbors have changed their skeleton!  Valentine's Day is past so now we have a greenly clothed skeleton on the street.  It gives me a real charge every time I drive by.  These neighbors are so creative.  And so nice to spend the time and money to entertain the neighborhood.  Don't you agree?!

Cute, cute, cute!

Monday Morning Mug Rugs!

Over the weekend I put aside my Atta Girl Sweater knitting and picked up smaller needles to knit a few mug rugs.  I had (on Friday-Valentine's Day) seen a pattern called Pair of Hearts for mug rugs.  Hearts, flowers, and butterflies always suck me in!  We have a ton of heart shaped cooking pans.  Love them.  Including a heart-shaped cast iron Lodge skillet.  I love that pan even though it did not work the way I thought it would.  I will have to make several more things in the pan to see if I can make them work.  Actually, I have only tried making pancakes in that heart cast iron pan.  How did I imagine I was going to flip that pancake? It did not work...

Anyway, in the spirit of using up all yarn in the house this year, I made a dozen heart-y mug rugs!  I love how they look.  Here is the big picture:

The first one, in the upper left corner, was made using US 8 needles.  It was too floppy for me so I dropped down to US 5 needles. I like them a lot better. I would have used the US 6 needles but they are all in other projects (another plan for this year is to finish ALL projects that are on the needles!) so they were not available for this project.

These mug rugs are knitted using the mosaic technique.  This is a very easy way to do color work.  For garter stitch mosaic knitting you will need to knit over and back in one color only.  For this pattern you knit the background color then slip the contrast color stitches as you get to them WYIB (With Yarn In Back).  On the way back across you slip the contrast color stitches WYIF (With Yarn In Front).  On the second color row you will be knitting the contrast color stitches and slipping the background color WYIB, then on the way back slip the background color WYIF, and on and on until bind off.  The designer of this pattern uses the Chinese Waitress Cast On which I did not notice until I had actually finished the last of these dozen mug rugs. Oh well.  Maybe I will try it next time.

Here is an up-close (more or less)  mug rug:

As you can see-I did not actually lay the mug rug flat to photograph...I just laid it over the arm of the chair which is why is looks somewhat wonky. It really is rather nice.  At least I like it.  I will be giving these away today.  This makes me happy.  I love to share pretty stuff.

This one I chose to add to the post because it clearly shows that I am using up yarn!  I finished the white yarn then started in with yellow.  Yay!  One ball down, many to go!  

Mosaic knitting is:  So easy. So fun.  So colorful.  It just takes time

While knitting these mug rugs I was watching YouTube, as usual. There were some great spinning videos plus I watched a few Knicoleknits Knows Knitting videos.  One was on marling.  You will see that here in the future, at least you will see my efforts at marling!  When we were on our mission lots of yarn was given to me.  Eventually there was too much so I started a marled blanket project.  It was very fun to do.  

The yarn organization project is in full steam ahead condition currently.  I bought some hair clippy things to attach yarn ends to balls so there will be no more tangled messes.  To give you an idea of the magnitude of the "problem"--I have purchased four cards with 14 hair clips on each card.  Today I need to purchase more hair clip cards...!  Not quite finished with the ones I have but don't want to run out.  When I am on a roll, stopping is not a happy option...

Friday Fun: Trying Out An Internet Pan Cleaning Recipe

 Last week I saw a recipe on the internet...maybe Facebook.  It was a way to turn sheet pans that had seen better days back to pristine shininess.

This is the pan I chose with the first little bit of baking soda on it.  Pretty grim looking.  The pan, not the baking soda...

Here is the pan filled with the first layer of the recipe:  baking soda.

This is a photo after adding hydrogen peroxide and turned into a sort of paste.

This photo (above) is after adding the Comet and the Johnson's Baby Shampoo and mushed around a lot.

The internet person said to let it sit at least six hours.  I left it for about 8 hours,

Here is the result after some serious scrubbing, but having said that, after several hours of knitting, the scrubbing hands were rather wimpy.  After the fact I wished that I have left the pan overnight.

You can see that there really is quite a difference between the top photo and this photo.  I am thinking that if I had been able to apply my hands a lot more to the scrubbing, the pan would be much shinier.  As it was, I did use a stainless steel scratcher after having started out scrubbing with a sponge with the green scrubby part on the back.  Did not really do much.

It is not really possible to see, but the surface is really smooth and more shiny than when I started.

This is about the first time that something I saw on the internet came out closer to what I had been led to expect. Usually I am just too gullible and the internet sucks me in to failures.  

 Maybe I will try again with another pan another day.

Sample Shawl Finished and On The Body

 Here is the finished shawl!  I love it.  Well, I love that it is an actual shawl the way this old lady likes to wear a shawl.  The bibs that all the designers make and call shawls these days rather turn my stomach.  Even if they are knitted in beautiful and expensive yarns.  I ALSO don't like wonky shapes.  A nice rectangle or triangle is what I like.  This is a triangle which I widened with short rows to make the point of the triangle more rounded.

This shawl started off with five cast on stitches.  This is the pattern I wrote up:

You will notice some Yarn Over increases that look rather wonky.  I did not know what I was doing really, but wanted to add a few more stitches to increase the width.  It seemed to work but in retrospect, I am sorry I put them in.  The band at the bottom with the more red and orange and other multicolors was to make the shawl as long as I wanted it...ie to come down almost to my wrists.  It worked.  It was Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn.  I don't but I did not want to drive two hours to Joann to see if I could match the Amethyst and Wildflower Big Twist Carousel yarn....so, I took what I could find.

Today I wore the shawl in 45 degree F weather and was very comfortable.  Makes me happy.  Now on to the next started project. I really want to finish everything by the end of this year.  I won't tell you how many items are on the needles.  Too embarrassing.

A Quick Post: Hope-to-Make Edition

Today while going through Ravelry I found something I hope to make.  So cute.

This is it!  Cute heart coasters.  Some day I will knit them.  They are mosaic knitting which is very fun to do and so easy.  Once you wrap your head around it a little bit.  Watch for it here...but not any time soon!  Too much going right now.

A Marvelous Monday!

 Today I crawled out of bed hours before the sun showed up and hit the road to help a friend by taking her for an early morning surgical appointment.  Eleven hours later she and I were both safely home. I expect as I write this she is in bed recovering. I will soon be in bed myself.

During the day I spent in the hospital waiting room my fingers and knitting needles were flying.  I have been working on a sample shawl, having now used three balls of Big Twist Carousel yarn in colors  Amethyst and Wildflower.  Since more was needed to make the shawl as long on my arms as I desired, I purchased two balls of local yarn from Hobby Lobby in Orange Rust or some such thing.  The name is probably on my Ravelry page....

Anyway, today I spent nearly seven hours knitting and finished the first half, spliced in the second ball of Hobby Lobby yarn and managed another couple rows on the second half of the shawl.  Earlier I think I showed a picture here of my thought on how to make the shawl more rounded at the bottom by using short rows.  Today I put that into practice.  I did short rows in both directions.  This is what it looks like currently:

You can see the spine of the shawl here with the first half rounded by the short row shaping on the right.  Well, the photo is not really very good but I think you can see it.  The part that is more towards the top is actually the bottom of the shawl. I did not want to continue knitting the shawl with a sharp point at the bottom and I think it worked.  Eventually I will be showing the full shawl, including the nice "tree" shawl pins that arrived today, 

So, it was a great day helping a friend.  This time I received my own help by being able to knit for hours with no interruptions or self-guilt-tripping.  So great.  Having gotten so far today, I am inclined to really go to town on finishing the shawl. I now have the goal of completing the shawl by the end of the week so I can wear it to Church on Sunday.  I love the cool temperatures in our church building but sitting for a few hours makes me cold...so the shawl will be a blessing.

To top off a nice day I had just arrived home when one of our grandsons FaceTimed me to say he received the socks I made for him and that he wore them to school today.  He had them on under his braces as we spoke!  So nice of him to call.  How I love all our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It makes me so happy that they like the things I make for them.  That is the whole reason I make those items.

AND ON TOP OF THAT CALL!!!  I saw a note that our missionary elder grandson had sent a video!!!  Is that not the coolest...!. Truly it is.  He sent a sweet two minute video which was the absolute coolest thing.  He actually did receive the washcloth I had woven on our 16" Ashford rigid heddle loom and sent as a Christmas gift.  Earlier this very week our oldest son sent a picture where he used his cloth as a placemat under his healthy-filled dinner plate.  So happy.  So very happy.  I miss our family and friends so much.  These notes and calls and videos take the sting away and make me smile from ear to ear.  If you are fortunate enough to have family and friends nearby, give them hugs as often as you can.  Don't let them wonder if you love them.

The nice thing about moving to South Carolina, besides the no snow and ice on a regular basis, is that the people here are so nice and have taken us in.  The pain of leaving lifelong friends is covered up in the loving kindness of our new friends.  What is that adage: Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is silver and the other is gold.  So very true. I love love love the silver and gold in our lives.  May you all be safe and happy.

Friday Fun!

 The sample shawl I am knitting is not pleasing me. Well, it is so nice except that first: I did not think it was going to "go around" me the way I wanted it to so I added some extra stitches, and second: it seemed like if I kept knitting as I was going (to get the shawl to go to where I wanted it  to stop on my arms) the point of the triangle was going to be way too long...maybe even hitting the floor. SO that was not working for me. 

Last night it crossed my mind that if I did short rows I could stop increasing the length and just add to the width. I do not know if this will work but I am going to give it a try,.

This morning I made a little sample shawl to try it out.

This is the tiny shawl.  The top (the part that is down in the picture) goes across my neck and shoulders.

Here you can see that I made short rows  on the left (at the end of every row) and came out with a square.  So far so good.

Here is the shawl with the second side with short rows knitted.  I now have a little rectangle--more a wrap than a shawl, I suppose.

Here is the little guy after knitting around the outside with Yarn Over, Knit 2, then just repeated YO, K2  all around.  Finally I knitted one  time around the new ending part and bound off.  I did not, as you can see, weave in the ends...

So this seems to work.  I may inquire of the Columbia Spinners/Knitters tomorrow when I see them tomorrow.

As I am writing this I think maybe I should only do the short rows on the end by the spine of the shawl to stop the length increasing but continue the width as is.  I just don't know.  We shall see.

Blueberry Plants Today

 Today was a glorious day, weatherwise.  Well, and most other ways as well! For ages I have intended to get in a walk every day.  Most days real walks have not happened...though I have put in quite a bit of journeying in various stores that I frequent too often.  I don't call them real walks but in the back of my mind I really feel like they are better than nothing...

So today two things were part of the actual walk I started. Well, more than two.  The first thing I did was get out my lovely shiny purple Elenker All-Terrain walker from the truck bed where I put it yesterday when I started out on a trip that started with a stop at the church, the recycling center, the Post Office, the gas station (but the gasoline delivery truck was there so I drove on by...),  the Hobby Lobby store, Staples to drop off a return for Amazon--a beautiful Baggalini purse that I could barely get my phone into, let alone all the other stuff I really need to carry along with me, a quick stop at Big Lots which is going out of business in our town where I hoped to find a shower curtain liner, which I did...a map of the United States of America so I can stand in the shower memorizing the names of towns and cities in every state, if that is something I want to do.  

The last stop yesterday was at the Mi Promesa food truck.  We are working our way through the menu.  So far we/at least I,  have loved everything.  Dear One just wanted a burrito yesterday.  His burrito was like those mammoth burritos my sister and I used to get in the 24-hour taco stores when I would visit Utah.  They were big enough for three or four meals.  Same story here!  We also got a Birria Pizza.  My goodness, was that good.  Also costly.  But since you only needed to eat one piece, it made the pizza $3.00 per meal!  Good deal.  The leftover pieces are in the refrigerator wrapped in parchment paper and sealed in freezer bags.  I ate one for breakfast. Dear One says he wants one eventually.  I am not sure what he means.  He might be too late...!

So--here I was walking down the sidewalk away from our house when I noticed one of the four stakes we put up at the road side of our property to keep the U-turning people from driving over our Rain-bird spray nozzle irrigation system and breaking them.  I picked it up from the lawn where the U-turner had made it land.  I felt very good about being able to drive it into the ground again without calling in assistance from the older person in our house...!

While doing that small project I glanced down at the blueberry bed and decided to go visit them on my way home.

As I was nearly to the end of our road a sweet girl came up behind me and gave me her business card: for home care assistance services!  That was so nice.  Some of their services are: companionship, respite care, personal care, total care, in house nail technician, medication reminders, meal prep, etc.  Pretty comprehensive and good to know.  When I came home and shared this card with Dear One, he said I must have looked pretty pitiful to have someone come out of their house to offer services!  Pretty funny, Bucky!  Pretty funny.  I responded that since he had his own All-Terrain vehicle the nice girl must have realized the day might come when we did actually need help--with both of use All-Terraining around the neighborhood....  Right now the only reason we might need help is because I get mired in sloth periodically or better said, I find other things to do than house care.  Anyway,  I thought it was so sweet of her to offer her help.

When I came back from the short walk I did go to the blueberry bed and took some pictures. I had meant to talk with them  (the blueberry plants) and check in on how they were doing but I tripped over a small stick and that flew out of my head.  No falling, not even close, but it put speaking to the plants out of my head,  Here is a picture that I took:

 I think this plant is a Brightwell blueberry.

Here is another picture I took:

This one  below the Brightwell I did not bend down to check the name of and I cannot read it through the label.  I do know that we have some Premier blueberries, a Climax blueberry, and I think the other one is Alapaha.  They are all rabbiteye blueberries which is what we need to grow here,  We are hoping for the best this year. (Fourth time is the charm, right?!) 

 Now is the time to begin the heavy-duty blueberry care and culture YouTube videos chain-watching for the midlands of South Carolina.

Dear One has no interest at all in trying to raise vegetables.  We have different views on a fair number of topics but we have made it work, somehow, for nearly 52 years so I guess we will continue on.  I AM going to plant some kale seeds soon and some more lettuce seeds.

Wednesday Wonders: Night Sky

 Recently we were out at night, not my favorite thing. Well, I like being out at night; I just don’t like driving at night. I stepped outside to change the orientation of the car so we could drive out instead of backing out into the street.

I love this photo.

Tuesday Times: Spring is Coming!

At least Spring is coming to South Carolina!

 Last week I walked out to the front porch.  I glanced down and this is what I saw!!  Absolutely surprised to see these little daffodils babies shooting up.

This week they look very different!

Maybe next week there will be blossoms!  I am looking forward to that.  I LOVE daffodils!

Finished Object for the Knitting Gift Box

 Last week I showed you the little Sweet  Baby Raglan Sweater that is part of our Knits That Fit course.  When I started the course, I decided to make this optional sweater to practice top down raglan sweaters.  I did not have the yarn weight called for in the pattern (sport weight) so I used the pretty yarn that came to hand.

Knitting this sweater in a different gauge was marginally taxing to my brain, but I did it.

Here is that sweater that I just finished.  Even wove in the ends!

This little sweater makes me happy. It looks like it is actually proportional and might actually fit a little child.  The yarn was Yarn Bee Sugarwheel yarn.  I must say it worked up pretty well but I guess I really am a yarn snob.  I MUCH prefer using natural fibers, especially wool.