Winter Waterfall

Hi there, thanks for stopping by! :-)  Yesterday I volunteered at Multnomah Falls with my younger sister, Denise.  It was my turn to get our mochas at the coffee cart, so I put in my order and then hiked up to the viewing platform.  Most of the leaves are off the deciduous trees and bushes.  There has been plenty of rain so the falls were gushing and the water was crashing down.  The air was moist, with the drizzling rain and the mist from the falls.

It was cold too, not one person was on the bridge in this shot.  The mosses and ferns are lush and green. 

I worked on my holiday afghan while we helped visitors with their travel plans.  There were people there from India and from Long Island, NY, and many other places. 

When it got dark early at 4:30 pm, we began to close the Visitors Center and headed out to our cars at 4:45.  I snapped this shot of the lodge lit up for the holidays.  

Our house is crazy for the last two days.  Our insurance company sent a cleaning crew to wash the walls and ceilings from the kitchen fire.  Lo and behold, they are also going to paint all the ceilings and walls with 2 coats of paint!  You would not believe what they do!  The lady took every single thing out of our cabinets and washed them and the inside of the cabinets and put everything back.. in a much more organized way than when she took them out!  Today 4 people were here - they removed the new microwave and pulled out the new stove and cleaned and sealed behind them and put them back in.  They are washing all our walls upstairs and down the halls!  She is even taking all the spices out of my spice rack and cleaning the rack and all the jars of spices.  She is taking everything off the counters and cleaning them.  Amazing!

But needless to say, our Christmas decorating has come to a screeching halt.  So, I have no new pretties to show you today.  I'll have to get my xmas decor jollies from you all! :-)

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 *H*A*P*P*Y* * *H*O*L*I*D*A*Y*S*!*!*!*
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((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

Hanging of the Greens

Little by little we're bringing out things and hanging them up and putting them around and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  This is our back door and we have a wreath on the outside and all you could see was the back, so I decided to hang another wreath on the inside for us to enjoy from inside, too.  

The tree is up, but not decorated.. I have an original watercolor painting of lilacs that my siblings and I bought for my Mom when she admired it in an art show I was participating in many years ago.  Now it hangs in here and I think of my Mom every time I see it.

This is the little tree that sits on our dining table during December - I have a lot of sailboats on it, some starfish, the Teddy Bears are handmade and I got one for each of my 3 children when they were little. 

I love this Hallmark ornament of Santa Claus sailing on the Santa Maria, one of the 3 ships that were with Christopher Columbus who discovered America. 

We had a sister's lunch yesterday at McGrath's Fish House and had their special which was a cup of chowder and this salad.. yes, it was as good as it looks.  Then I went over to my older sister's house to help her with her new MacBook Pro with Retina display.  That was frustrating as she didn't remember her Apple username and password so we couldn't load the printer driver so she can't use her printer.  Her job today is to call Apple and try to get her username and password. :-)

On Monday I went swimming.. egads, the pool heater was broken and the water was 74 instead of 84 degrees.. ::shiver:: so I persevered and got 45 minutes of exercise before I couldn't stand it anymore.  When I headed out to my car Mt. Hood was looking lovely with the Alpenglow shining on it.  I got this rather fuzzy photo with my iPhone.   

And so, I must tell you, it takes great fortitude to head out into the freezing East winds to go jump in the water to swim... but I'm going to do it.. ::sigh::.  

I'm enjoying seeing all the holiday decorations on other blogs.  I can't wait to get my decorating all done!  

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 *H*A*P*P*Y* * *H*O*L*I*D*A*Y*S*!*!*!*
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((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

Fountain Pens & Lace

Not long ago I got the cutest letter from my Aunt Susie.  My mom was one of 12 kids, and dear Aunt Susie is the last living of them.  The letter I got was hand typed on.. a.. ::gasp:: typewriter!  Poor dear can't write anymore, so she typed it!  She made it clear that she hadn't heard from me in a while.. SO.. yesterday I looked in my antique secretary desk for some suitable stationery so I could write a letter.  Then I cleaned my silver fountain pen and filled it with some sepia ink.. and began to write.  

Those of you who are familiar with me know I'm a collector.  :-D  And I have a collection of fountain pens.  I was introduced to them in high school where my shorthand teacher insisted we use them and learn how to care for them.  

This one is made by.. "Yard-o-Led"!  It's made in England and it's wonderful.   

I have to admit, my hand started cramping up a bit using pen and paper!  Horrors!  I love to write and I guess I'm out of practice.  I will be limbering up soon as I hand address my Christmas cards in fountain pen every year.  

Two of my pen sets... the top ones are Parker Duofold "Centennial" Black and Pearl made with marbleized acrylic.  I have the fountain pen, pencil and pen.  Actually, this is my most used fountain pen as it writes wonderfully with a good flow and lovely look to the written word.  The bottom one is my prized solid sterling silver Yard-o-Led set.  My first one was the fountain pen, then much later I found the pen and pencil for a song on eBay.   

The founatain pen has been engraved with my initials.  I actually named my youngest son so he'd have my same initials, so someday these will be his.  :-)

Each pen or pencil is hand embellished and is hallmark stamped and is guaranteed for life.  I know this as my fountain pen had a acrylic end part that held the nib, which was gold.  The plastic deteriorated, so I contacted the company and they told me to send it to them.  Needless to say that was hard for me to do.  But when they sent my pen back, it had a new sterling silver end and a white gold nib.. all new!  

All of the Thanksgiving decor has been stowed in my office and I'm beginning to haul out the Christmas things.  Here is a new ornament, a tiny wire basket holding tiny balls of handspun yarn with tiny knitting needles.

I've decided to use a lace tablecloth this year instead of a red and green one.  It's fun to try different things each year.  This is just a few things I've hauled out.. the old wooden sleigh I painted, a Jim Shore Santa, a vintage box of ornaments that we found in Dayle's parents garage before the house was sold and an antique Ball jar that I crocheted a "jacket" for.  The tablescape will change as more things are brought down.  Note the lace tablecloth, it was done by my friend Weltha Wilson who lived until she was 106!!  

 A lot of my crochet/bloggy friends are making these crocheted jar jackets, I want to do some more lacy ones like some of them have done.  I just designed this simple one myself.

Lastly.. and I blame a blog friend Chris at Red Gate Farm for this... but I have been using red and green Christmas dishes for our Thanksgiving dinner for over 20 years, and then I saw a turkey plate on her blog.. and got rather obsessed to find some.  Below is what I found on eBay and will be winging their way to our farmhouse next week or so.   Now, I know that this is silly to buy dishes to use once or twice a year, but.. well.. when you get to my age and you are retired and all is well.. sometimes you get to do things like this.  I told my hubby, that I don't buy fancy shoes or clothes.  Right?  :-D  Now to wait a year to use them.  LOL!!

Have you started decorating for Christmas?  Hubby thinks I should wait at LEAST until December 1st.  But to me, the day after Thanksgiving is a good time.  Now if I could just get him to bring down the Christmas tree and set it up.  Oh, honey....
((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

Family FEAST!

Thanksgiving is the American holiday where we remember our founding colonists who gathered together at a harvest feast with their Indian neighbors in 1621.  We give thanks for our freedom, our families and friends by gathering together for a big feast.  :-)  I'm in! 

OK.. now to back up a bit and give you more details.. :-)  Dayle is our turkey and dressing guy.  My job is to taste it.  We're a good team. :-)  Our dressing is just like our moms used to make.  We use bread cubes, saute chopped celery, onions and parsley in butter, then pour that over the bread cubes, add chicken stock, sage, salt and pepper and mix together.  He stuffs the turkey with what will fit in there and then puts the rest in a baking dish.

Here is our 24 lb. turkey ready to go into the oven, he puts butter, fresh rosemary and sage from our herb garden under the skin on the breast.  He put the giblets in the baking pan too, along with a quart of chicken broth. He puts a tent of foil over the bird so it steams it and holds the moisture in.. removing it 3/4s of the way through to brown the bird.

The kids arrived around 3 pm, dinner was set for 4:30.  I had my 4 adorable grandsons pose for a photo.. aren't they cute?  Hayden had a new jacket on, he looked so dapper! 

You should have smelled the house!!  Here is the turkey when it came out of the oven. 

My sweetie and I.  

I make all the sides.. here is the corn casserole.  It's an old fashioned recipe, using corn, sour cream, butter, Jiffy cornbread and milk, with chilis.   

Green bean casserole, with French fried onions and cream of mushroom soup.  And candied yams!  I make them from scratch, using fresh yams, I peel and cube them and boil them until soft, then put them in a pan, put a cube of butter cut up in little pieces over the top, sprinkle some brown sugar over, then break up whole pecans over, sprinkle cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, then put miniature marshmallows over that, then bake until it's browned.  Everyone loves these! 

I found an easy recipe for homemade cranberry sauce - you use 1 lb of fresh cranberries, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar, 4 tsp Cornstarch, bring those to a boil to dissolve the sugar, then add cranberries and simmer until cranberries pop, then add 1 cup of orange marmalade.  We did add some fresh orange peel grated in, also.

Have you noticed that I brought into service all my Jadeite bowls?  :-)  Here is one of the two bowls of mashed potatoes on the table.  I peeled 5 lbs of Russet potatoes, quartered them and boiled them until done, then I have to whip them in 3 batches in the Kitchenaid mixer - I add milk until they are fluffy (never put too much milk in or you'll have soupy mashed potatoes) - and I add 1/2 a cube of butter while beating.  Put in bowl, add a pat of butter on top and sprinkle with paprika.  That is how my MOM did it. :-)

When Dayle removed the turkey from the pan and cut up the giblets, I mixed flour and water and poured it in the pan, along with a quart of chicken stock, and stirred up the gravy.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

I bet you're wondering what is going on here?  WELL.. Hayden had started to crawl under the table, just when I wanted a photo.. so my son Travis and his wife Kristi pulled him back up and sat him down.  LOL!

And here is said photo.. :-) 

And our older son Shawn, his wife Beth, and Michael and Gabriel.  We're all enjoying the dinner immensely.  Michael said to me.. "Grandma, I look forward all year to coming here for this dinner!"  Awwwww... 

After dinner we all sat around and visited and the boys played and had fun.  When it was time to go, I snapped this photo of Caleb with his tiger hat and mittens.. cute thing.

I want to leave you with a poem I wrote to read to my family around the table years ago, my whole family was here, sisters, brothers, their kids and our parents (23 of us) and we were to dine for the first time on this great table that I'd rescued from my paternal grandparents farmhouse in Oklahoma, where it sat in the old chicken house for years and years.  We brought it home to Oregon and had it restored.  I read this before we dined.  Quite a memory for me.

The Heart of Autumn

Memories -- they roll through my mind.
All the years of Thanksgiving celebrations.
I remember them, with family & friends,
Different places, different faces.

Now, our home is where we gather.
It is because it is so right here.
The big old farmhouse, the barn,
The big oak tree obliges with leaves of red.

The family arrives, Dad brings ice cream.
Mom brings the pies fresh from her oven.
Robert, my only brother, brings his
Family from afar. Thank you brother.

As I open the door to our farmhouse
Welcoming Sister Roberta and her clan.
We all walk into the warm, steamy fragrant room.
Drinking in the smell of roasting turkey and sage.

Baby sister Denise brings her young ones,
What would the day be without them?
Thanksgiving day, we have always come together
The family draws tight as if by an unseen magnet.

The table is set with my finest china,
Napkins are folded like sculptures.
Goblets await cider, candles are alight.
The preparations reach a crescendo.....

Then, Dayle pulls his perfect creation,
The biggest turkey he could find,
From the oven, and the room quiets.
We all gather around, and glory in the scene...

A family, full of love and cheer.
This is the true America, our pilgrim
Ancestors would be proud, of what
Their brave adventure has wrought.

And we are filled with thanks.

Copyright 1995 by Teresa Kasner

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Thanks for visiting today, and again, I count you all as one of my blessings.  Let the holidays begin!  Now I start decorating for Christmas!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

Giving Thanks

We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!  Yes, we had a fire in our kitchen, but we got it out before it got out of hand and burned the whole house down.  Our insurance company is helping us get things back in operation.  Here is our new microwave - Dayle did all the work to install it himself, all I had to do was hold it in place while he screwed it in.  He's amazing.  I'm excited as it's a new kind that is a combination microwave AND convection oven!  Now we can have the turkey in the big oven and bake our other dishes in this oven.  I'll let you know how it goes.

The stove is very similar to our last one, with some changes.  It's a glass top with convection oven with a warming oven on the bottom.  YES, the knobs are still on the front, but we will be more careful, I promise.  

The microwave has a stainless steel interior, which is neat.  And a metal shelf goes across the middle so you can bake two things at once.

Remember I told you we were making Chinese Noodle Casserole on Sunday for our sons and their families?  It's not pretty, but it sure does taste good.  We affectionately call it "dog food" as it kind of looks like canned dog food. LOL!  

"Chinese Noodle Casserole"

2 TBS oil

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 Cup diced celery

1 Onion, diced

1 Cup sliced mushrooms

1 Green pepper, diced (optional)

1/4 Cup soy sauce

1/2 Cup water

1/2 Cup rice (uncooked)

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

dash pepper

1 can Chinese noodles (crunchy kind)

Brown meat and onions in oil - add other veggies and saute for a bit, then add all other ingredients.  Bake in covered casserole for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Uncover and bake for another  30 minutes.  Cover top of casserole with noodles for the last 15 minutes.

NOTE:  We *always* double this recipe as it's so good re-heated. 
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Here is Grandpa with Caleb who has his mouth full.. he didn't want to try it from looking at it.. :-) -- but then Grandpa encourage him to try a bite and he goes.. yum!

Hayden got a few good bites down before he lost interest in dinner.. and tried to sneak a big spoonful onto MY plate.. :-D

We went shopping yesterday for all new groceries for Thanksgiving, since most of it burned up in the fire.  Want to know what we're making for dinner?  There will be 10 of us.  Dayle, me, our 2 boys, 2 DILs and 4 grandsons.  

Roast Turkey - 24 lbs.
Sage Dressing
Mashed Russet Potatoes 
Turkey Gravy
Green Bean & French Onion Casserole
Corn Casserole
Candied Yams with brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and pecans topped with mini marshmallows
Orange Cranberry sauce, made with orange marmalade and fresh cranberries
Hot rolls & butter
Martinellis Sparkling Cider
Pumpkin Pie with vanilla whipped cream

What do you think?  Think we'll have a feast?  :-D

We'll be sharing things we're thankful for, and it's a lot.  And want to know something?  YOU are part of what Dayle and I are thankful for.  I have so enjoyed meeting you all and getting to know those of you who leave comments and those of you who blog.  So.. thank you!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 


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Wild Arts

I met my sister Denise and friends Shirley & John for lunch at Besaws (over 100 years old!) yesterday as a prelude to the 4 of us going to the Wild Arts Festival put on by the Audubon Society.  Our tall good-looking waiter, Sam, used my camera and got a fun shot from above the table for me.  I told him he'd be in my blog -- Hi Sam! :-)  

I can't believe this was my first visit to this great place, I want to take Dayle here soon. 

Sam, our waiter. 

I had their macaroni and cheese with wild mushrooms and bacon. Oh yeah.  Iced tea served in mason jars.  A good time was had by all. 

On to the Wild Arts Festival held in the Montgomery Park building.  Our host!!  Hello, Turkey Vulture! 

And this American Kestrel.  Adorable little hawk!  You can see why he was rescued, he's missing one wing.

My favorite pottery booth.  Wouldn't it be neat to have a whole set of this? 

This is another favorite artist of mine, it's glass with nature patterns on it and petroglyph images from the Columbia River Gorge, they are iridescent, too.  Lewis Creek Glass Works

Last year I got several of these neat little plates.. you can use them for tea bags or coins or jewelry.  

This item below is amazing.. it's a wind chime and the chimes are obsidian and the top is a bunch of dried flowers.. check out their website.. Obsidian Windchimes.

I thought you'd enjoy seeing these felted "stones".   I got the cutest little Sheep ornament from this woman, her website is Reclaimed Wool.

I got this cute little sheep ornament from the lady above.  The wool is from a Wensleydale Sheep from Idaho. :-)

Below is a wonderful jeweler, Lori Presthus. I got a Christmas present from her for someone special.. :-)  She does all kinds of birds in jewelry.

She does flowers and leaves, too. 

I love this artist, he makes rock cairn lamps and makes little candle holders and vases from rocks.  Here's his website, Made In Paradise. 

I got a vase from him last year, it is made of granite. 

I found wonderful baskets made of cedar bark.. remember the one I made?  Here is her website.. Woven Fire Designs.

The design in this flat basket is divine! 

As we headed out we saw two of the Audubon volunteers that had two owls.. this is a Spotted Owl, which is turning white. 

I went behind to get his face and got a cute photo of my sister Denise and Shirley getting photos of him with their iPhones.  :-)  I guess you have to have your mouth open to take photos.. teehee.

And just look at this Great Horned Owl!  How's that for "the look"? 

See these gorgeously painted and embellished gourds? 

I got this cute little Goldfinch ornament for Dayle as he loves his "little yellow birds" that come to his feeder.  The lady makes each one by hand.. here's her website. Tanya Harvey Designs.  SOMEONE was very interested in the bird that I was "trying" to photograph.

A better photo of the bird ornament "in the wild".

Our daughter-in-law Kristi, brought this gift for us on Friday. :-)  And see the ornamental squash next to it?  Our grandson Hayden saw these growing on the edge of our woods and insisted that Dayle come and see them.  Apparently they grew from some squash we tossed into the woods after Thanksgiving last year.  :-)

Lastly, my older sister Roberta showed me this photo she took of a mushroom she found while out for a walk at her vacation house at Fish Hawk Lake.  It's an "Amanita Muscaria".  Isn't it pretty?  But don't eat them, they are poisonous!

Well, we're off to spend the evening with our sons, DILs and grandsons.. we're helping to make dinner.. our nickname for it is "Dog Food", but it's called "Chinese Noodle Casserole" - maybe I'll get a photo to show you.  It's delish!  This post has gone too long, so I will show you our new appliances next time.. but the stove and microwave are IN.  The dishwasher.. we have to do some plumbing changes first.  Have a good week!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)