Baking, Cooking, Sewing, Quilting, Gardening... one never knows what you might find here.
Thursday, August 28, 2025
Pathway blocks in place
Monday, August 25, 2025
Time for another change
I added a new plant to my front porch, it's called a Purple Flash Pepper... I do not think they are edible. I have never seen one before, so not sure if it is really suited to reside in its current location. It is in a big clay pot, so it is moveable
Friday, August 22, 2025
Meet Frankie
The Front Porch Garden Center I discovered through a post on Facebook. Samantha the owner of the garden center posted some plants I thought I needed to check out. I got Zoé to go with me this morning, and boy were we impressed. There was a good variety of plants and trees and succulents too. She also is a dealer for FoxFarm soils. It was so much more than I expected, and I was very pleased that I thought of Zoé to go with me.
Besides being a really neat garden center it was almost like a mini-zoo. Well not really, but there was a fabulous monkey named Frankie. She was on a leash, but that was only to keep her from wandering off I think as she was super friendly and loved being picked up and cuddled. You can see her long tail wrapped around me. Behind us there was a hen house with several chickens. Across the pathway there was another big cage... it had some birds, maybe doves. There were a couple small poodles and another terrier type dog.
Samantha is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to all the plants she has available as well as answers to questions about amending soil, etc. Overall it was an awesome discovery.
Thursday, August 21, 2025
Sewing Machines & a Kitty
My sewing room is home to several sewing machines, but they all have a special purpose. My current layout allows me to have 4 of my machines setup and ready to sew. A couple have covers as I don't use them quite as often, but I would not want to part with any of them. My kitty Butters can usually be found somewhere close by. If I go up the stairs she is right behind me. She wants to be on top of everything I do. When not in use I have to keep the door closed to my sewing room because somehow she always seems to find another ball of yarn, or a multitude of other treasures she drags down the stairs to show me her new found prize. Sometimes it is amazing the size of the treasures she can pull down the stairs, you can usually hear that she has something bigger coming down the stairs because she can make lots of noises.My workhorse is my Juki TL2000. It only does straight stitches, but it does them beautifully, and very quickly. I can usually find several tasks that I can compete better/faster using my serger, on the left. In front of the other window, covered, is my Juki DX5 that does fancy stitches. To the far right is my Juki Coverstitch... I forgot the # on that one. I am still learning all its capabilities... I haven't had it too long. It is a really cool machine with lots of possibilities, but sometimes I get too distracted with other things going on to take the time to really find this machine's full potential.
I have a couple antique sewing machines that still work. Those are not typically setup all the time, but my Singer Featherweight gets pulled into service now and then when I want to use a ruffler because it has a really nice ruffler attachment. I think that machine is older than I am.
Now I have a few other machines, but these are the ones I utilize most often.
Sunday, August 17, 2025
Salmon is awesome
Recent events have required a new look at Ron's diet. The doctor told him fish was good for him. Now he would eat things like fish sticks or a fish sandwich at a fast food place... it was like eating hamburgers instead of a steak. The fish was ground up and made into patties or whatever. He thought those were pretty safe. Well it probably doesn't have any fish bones, but I would not consider the process of getting them to your plate was all done safely from a health perspective. I asked him if it was okay to give salmon a try for his new diet and he gave me the go-ahead.
This is the salmon I used. I bought it at Walmart and the 2# pack was just under $20. There were 6 fillets in the pack and each fillet was vacuum sealed individually. I used a recipe that called for 2# of salmon, but there are only 2 of us here and neither of us like our portions too big... so that means if I only use 2 per meal, I will have a total of 3 meals for 2 at about $6.75 each meal... at least for the actual salmon. There were a few spices, a lemon, garlic and olive oil to make the sauce. I served asparagus on the side, so that would be probably a bit less than $10 for a totally awesome meal.Friday, August 15, 2025
Filling in the blank spots
I found a roadside vendor with sod for sale when I was on my way home from San Antonio yesterday. I really should have waited until mid-September when it was maybe a little cooler, but our neighbor was putting some in last week, so why shouldn't I? He mentioned that the guy with the sod was going to be there again this Thursday, and I just happened to be going into town and spotted him on the way home. There was a bare spot under my olive tree and there was only dirt in front of the garden shed. These two areas get lots of shade as the afternoons progress, but I think they should get enough sun in the morning.
I got all of them in place this morning early before it got too hot out there. I think I got them watered in pretty good. I don't know a whole lot about grass, but this one should spread as it gets itself established and all those spaces around them will fill in.. This is next to where I park my car and in the rare moments that it does rain, no grass means we could have mud. Of course I back my car in, so I get out on the other side, but in the event I have a passenger it would be nice to have grass instead of dirt.Watering seems to be the key factor for success when you put new sod down. I think I should be able to keep up with that.
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Two Geese & a Duck
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
CW Moment, again?
OK, CW can be a variety of tasks or accomplishments. Clean What, Cook What or better... Culinary Wonder, Create What, Call Who, Charity (help) Who. I know there are other Cs that could go with Who, What, When, Where, and Why, but I will come up with them as they are encountered.
Now this CW thing came about when I was trying to figure a new way to inspire my daily journal. This journal has become more important as a reference to know when I last did something. Age does have a way of getting in the way of a good memory. A written journal is good, but things can get buried and hard to find when I am looking back to see when I had my last haircut, or took the cat to the vet, among so many other things. This led me to look into what a bullet journal is... lots of info out there. There are good things that can be accomplished using a bullet journal... way over the top for what I was looking for, but I have started my own version of a bullet journal. I have adapted some of the techniques, but mainly I have included ways to focus on the highlights of each day to make it easier to spot when something has been accomplished.
My version of a "bullet journal" includes what time I got up, my weight, what bible verses I read, the weather and temp high and low, what I ate and then the list of tasks I know I have to do, and I add new ones as they occur. Appointments and events too. I have not come up with any hard and fast rules... I am still in the creation stage... coming up with new ideas as I go. My latest add-on is to be sure that I have at least one CW moment every day. I can envision a day having several CW moments, but I want to be sure I can include at least one.
So my challenge to you is... How many CW moments can you come up with today? What new CWs can you add to my list? Now I am not asking you to share what the task or accomplishment actually was... unless you want to, but rather if you came up with any new Cs to go with the 5 Ws.
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Diet Modifications
Saturday, August 9, 2025
Gardening in August
It's already mid-August... time does seem to fly when you get past a certain point when some might call you... well, old. This is what keeps me somewhat active, and feeling young. I can always find something in my garden to keep me busy.
I found lots of empty pots that needed to be filled. I think I have a good start. I even got our A/C guy to help me move a big molasses tub that was filled with dirt from the other side to sit in the back. It now has a Pride of Barbados in it... it could get to be quite big.
I replaced the big wooden gate at the entrance with an ornate arbor a couple weeks ago, and I have been tinkering with the rest of the garden to get it to be just right, a quiet place to just sit and listen to something on my phone or computer, and sip a cup of tea... or I can just sit and plan out what I am going to do next. Best part is I don't have to be careful when I open the gate that I got splinters in my hand so often from the 2x4 that kept the gate closed and secure from the wind. When we first moved here we needed a gate that would conceal the boat we had inside... we no longer have a boat.Now this tomato plant has a history. I planted it in the big bin between two of my raised beds before I started any of the other new changes, and this Sweet 100 has just taken off. It is way higher than the fence. Of course I put a tomato support at its base, and I guided and tied it up as it grew, but it just seems to keep on giving me awesome little cherry tomatoes, which has made many batches of sauce for pasta. This Sweet 100's history part is... a year ago my dear friend Louise left a Sweet 100 on my back patio and instructed me to get it in the ground... now! It also grew to be quite massive and gave me lots of little tomatoes. Well, in honor of Louise this year, when I saw a Sweet 100 at HEB I knew Louise would have wanted me to buy it and put it in my garden. Everything else is succumbing to the heat, but this one just keeps giving me little gems.