Gathering

Hello, come on in.. grab a chair and chat with me.  :-)  I was thinking of a title for this blog post and the word "gathering" popped into my head.  I like that word.  It means for people to come together and keep loving relationships vital.  It means to find items to make meals for your family.  Harvesting.. picking flowers.. bring together.. good stuff.  My younger sister Denise hosted my older sister Roberta and sister/friend Shirley for lunch on Tuesday.  Denise made salmon roasted with leeks and a wonderful fresh salad with crunchy veg such as carrot, pea pod, etc.  It was my job to bring the bread.  There is a bakery in Hillsdale, the little town where my sister lives near, called Baker & Spice.  Want to visit with me?  Look at this bread, it's called "Daily Bread".  It's a crusty sourdough artisan bread.

Their bread is on display across these shelves, isn't it clever to have the chalkboard fronts for the prices of the breads?  I got a loaf of "Daily", "Village" and "Fiselle".  

Oh.. I wanted one of these.. :-)

They had cookies, muffins, brioche, all manner of delicacies.. but I just got bread.. this time.

These were very hard to pass up.  Makes you want to bake, doesn't it?

My sister had the table set so pretty!  Aren't the table mats cute?

Now to cut the bread.. 

My sister is a quilter and I thought it looked neat where she hangs her quilts when not in use, being snuggled under on the sofa.  

I just had to show you this really beautiful lantern that my sister's husband got for them at an art fair.  It's a work of art made of wood, rice paper and beads.

They also have this gorgeous display of butterflies at a butterfly park.  I hope these guys died of natural causes.  :-)

They are so iridescent and pretty.

Luncheon is served!  Each bite was delicious!  

Shirley brought gluten free blueberry and marion berry cobbler!

After lunch we retired to the living room and visited - the conversation turned to meatloaf and I told the girls about the best meatloaf I'd ever had which my friend Judy made when I visited their home in Los Angeles, CA.  It had a regular type meatloaf, but she made a well on top and mixed cinnamon, allspice and sumac into applesauce and spread it on the top.  I'd been looking for the ground sumac.. and Denise said there was a market nearby called "Barbur World Foods".  She called them and they had ground sumac, so Denise, Shirley and I headed there after our visit.  What a neat place!  The produce was exceptionally beautiful.. I got two zucchini to make bread with later today.

The green beans were the most perfect I'd ever seen, now I'm kicking myself for not bringing home a bag of them.

And ladies and gentlemen (do any guys other than my husband read me?  I don't think so!).. so ladies.. this entire section was imported CHOCOLATE!  Oh my goodness.  

This one came home with me.. I have not tried it yet.. (the chocolate sticking out the top is part of the package design.. brilliant, yes?).  The decal on my laptop always makes me smile.

Here is the sumac, have you ever used it in cooking?  I posed it in front of our new toaster which I gave Dayle for Christmas - it has a glass window so you can keep track of how brown your toast is getting!  :-)

When I got home on Tuesday - the moon was glowing in a slightly foggy sky.. I 4-wheeled out into the pasture and got this shot.  I love our moon.

Yesterday I met Gracie at the pool and we both swam for an hour - I'll be back there tomorrow too!  Do you have any weekend plans?  We don't!  Just home and sunshine and warmth.. we're having a spring-y spell of weather!  The Snowdrops are coming up and so are the daffodil leaves!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)