Posie Goodies and Swap Surprises

But first.. in honor of the 4th of July that is coming soon.. I had to buy this cute Statue of Liberty tin sculpture at Pier 1 Imports and she's on the table ready for the holiday.  Actually I love her so much she could stay there all year.  

Blogger and craftswoman extraordinaire, Alicia Paulson from "Posie Gets Cozy" blog fame, put some items on her online shop recently and I bought two things.  Her products are beautiful, high quality, and wonderful and they are packaged so prettily.  I like that she used a paper bag instead of plastic.  

Her latest crafty obsession is dying yarn and I *LOVE* the candy pastel colors she's doing.  When I went to buy some, almost all the colors were sold out, but I managed to snap up this pretty skein.  Now.. what do you suggest I make with this sweet stuff?

And then.. oh my.. she is making this cool lotion bar!  Be sure to look at her post about this.

Can you believe how cool this is?  There are two designs and each has it's own aroma.  Forest Flower is made with beeswax from local bees; coconut oil; unrefined shea butter; and essential oils of cedarwood, Ylang Ylang, clary sage, bergamot, sandalwood, and jasmine absolute.  

You hold it in your warm hand to melt then rub it in, I use it on my fingernails, hands and arms.  This has a woodsy aroma.

Another shot of the yarn.  

And now for the swap I participated in on KathyB's blog.  My swap partner was Kim from Georgia at Hand Eye Crafts Two blog.  This arrived with a nice note.

Some pretty yarn, a red, white and blue item - which is a mug, and a button.  Fun!  I'm not sure if this is sock yarn, anyone know?

Isn't this a neat button?

The mug has yarn on it.. lol!  Thanks, Kim!  I sent some sock yarn in the colors she asked for, several buttons and a hand-made red, white and blue sterling silver and glass bead necklace with a sterling silver bead chain.  

Here is a full size image of my Lady Liberty.

Kristi and the boys went grocery shopping this morning and brought me home these wonderful, summery flowers!  Aren't they pretty?

I spread a patriotic tablecloth on the table this morning and am ready for our 4th of July parade and BBQ next week! :-)  What are your plans?

I am off to swim soon.  The weather is simply perfection.  Have a wonderful weekend!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

Sourdough Flapjacks and Family Memories

First I want to share with you the full moon I captured last night.  I went out at 11:30 pm and sat as still as I could in my rattan chair and snapped away.  My camera does not get the accuracy of some crazy spendy cameras but it gets a fairly good image of my beloved moon.

My grandson Caleb mentioned he'd like some sourdough pancakes like we made at camp so we rejuvenated the sourdough starter and I mixed up a big batch of batter and we had it for dinner the other night.  Have you ever had REAL sourdough pancakes?  My friends, it's pretty amazing.  Did you know you can make your own sourdough starter?  I did a long time ago, you can google how.  Better yet is get a bit of a friend's starter that has been going a while.  Mine is from my brother Rob who got it from a friend who got his from his family and it's about 150 years old!  I'll add the recipe at the bottom of this post.

Caleb has decided he didn't want to take piano lessons any longer.. I was disappointed.. but then Kristi told the piano teacher she'd like to take over his lesson time.  AND.. Travis will start lessons too!  I'm so excited!  Hearing Kristi learn and practice gave me the push to practice the songs I taught myself so long ago.  I've been enjoying brushing up on the songs, Shenandoah is the last one I played last night.  I'm so happy that my beloved antique baby grand piano is getting used by the family.  I can't tell you how many times people have told me I should sell it and free up the space in the living room.  I steadfastly refused and now my stubbornness is being vindicated.  :-)

I was looking for a specific photo in the family photo album I put together years ago and used my iPhone to snap a few photos to share with my relatives on Facebook and here on my blog.  This is my mom on the right with me as a baby and in the middle is my aunt Wilma who was married to my uncle Pierce and their first baby Nancy, on the left is aunt Helyn, married to Uncle Harold and their first child Steve.  

Little me standing by the water pump on the porch of the farmhouse where my grandparents lived in the countryside of Watonga, Oklahoma.  The old house where all my uncles and one aunt were born.  The house where I rescued the old kitchen queen cabinet and 5 legged oak table currently in use in our farmhouse here in Oregon.  :-)

My parents moved all 4 of us children to Oregon when I was 4 1/2.  On the right is me and my younger sister Denise and on the left are cousins Anita and Mona who obviously were brought out to visit us from Oklahoma.  Their mama was my dad's only sister, Mary Ann.  Our mother's always dressed us up like dolls.  :-)

Leaping forward to Dayle and I dressed up for his Senior Prom.  Mom again made my dress for me in emerald green satin and picked out the black gloves and black, a black beaded bag and high heels, diamond costume jewelry and got my hair done by a hairdresser.  I was 16 and Dayle was 17.

Another leap forward in time, this is the photo I was looking for.  My daughter Amy and her family recently went on a vacation to Florida and I wanted to share with her this photo of when we were young parents and we took her on a trip to Florida, to Panama City, where we camped in the VW camp-mobile that we bought as my car.  :-)

Oh how I loved that VW bus!  We'd gone to the VW dealership to look at a 23 window VW bus but in the middle of the showroom floor was this sparkling new red 1970 VW bus opened up with the top popped up, the little sink, fridge, table, closet and I fell heart and soul in love with it.  Interestingly Amy began in this same spot on a trip there the year before.  :-)

Another leap forward to all three of our children with their baby goats.  I was such a idealistic hippie, I wanted goats so I could milk them so the children would be raised on home produced and healthy milk.  We also raised chickens so they'd see how food was made and participate in the care of the animals.  I'm still that hippie, but in the last years of my life here on this earth.  

While the children were young and growing up I took pottery classes at Mt. Hood Community College.  I really took to making my own bowls, mugs and things and set up a pottery studio on the garage with a Lockerbie kick wheel and Olympic kiln.  Here I am throwing a pot using earthenware clay.  I always kept my interests in crafting while the kids were growing up, I spun wool on a spinning wheel, knitted hats and mittens for them, did stained glass and took jewelry classes too.

I was the 4-H Dairy Goat leader for 5 years with my friend Diane.  The Oregonian newspaper even did this article about our group and this is Amy showing her goat!  Such memories!

I hope you didn't mind my walk down memory lane.  Below is a photo of the Hollyhock in a pot on our deck, I swear it's like 6 feet tall!  Isn't the bloom pretty?

SOURDOUGH FLAPJACK RECIPE

(For 2 people, use this recipe.  For 4 people, double it, for 6, triple it.)

Night before - mix 1 cup flour (I recommend 1/4 cup wheat and 3/4 cup white) with enough warm water to make a nice thick batter (like cake mix consistency).

Stir that up good then add 1/2 cup sourdough starter - stir it in well but don't beat it too much.

Next morning, stir together 1/4 cup milk, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1 beaten egg, 1/6 cup oil, and stir these ingredients into the batter you made the night before.

When the griddle is hot, brush it with cooking oil.  

Then add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in a bit of warm water and add this to the batter just before cooking, stir it in, don't beat it too hard.

NOTE:  Never use metal spoons or measuring devices or bowls when using the sourdough. Use wooden or silicone spoons for mixing and rubber spatulas for scraping.

Batter will be fairly thin - use ladle and put about 1/2 cup of batter for each flapjack.

(NOTE: YOU WILL HAVE TO EXPERIMENT WITH HOW HOT THE PAN OR GRIDDLE IS AS YOU COOK THEM.  I HAD TO LOWER MINE OR ELSE THEY GOT TOO BROWN TOO FAST.  YOU WANT THEM TO BE GOLDEN BROWN.)

Cook till brown on one side, then flip over and brown the other side.  Serve with butter on top and maple syrup.

Feed sourdough batter with a batter of about a half cup of warm water and flour.  It will foam up when it's happy.  If you aren't going to use it for a while, put it in the fridge, and when you want to use it, take it out a few days ahead and feed it and keep it on the counter.

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OK, you get a gold star if you made it all through this post.  :-)

((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

Beaded Bracelet and Wild Black Cherries

Do you recognize this bracelet?  I gave it to my blog friend Gracie a few years ago as a gift.  After a time of her wearing it full-time, the 49 strand stainless steel beading wire broke.  I re-strung it and added two really cool sterling silver owl beads that my blog friend Meredith had gifted to me - along with a whole collection of wonderful beads and findings she had decided she no longer needed and so sent them to me.  :-D  Gracie wanted to switch out the owls so I offered to remove them so a 3rd stringing was necessary.  This bracelet is getting quite a story surrounding it!  It has pearls and gemstones such as amethyst, garnet, turquoise, chalcedony and peridot.

So I got out my crazy messy bead work box and got started with the re-stringing.  I removed the owl beads and replaced them with 4 gorgeous sterling silver beads from Meredith's collection.  I had broken 1 strand of my 2 strand turquoise bracelet and had meant to re-string the 2nd strand but decided to just wear it with the one strand for now.  But I think I will re-string the 2nd one as I like the 2 strand look.  See the flame stitch needle case that I peyote stitch beaded?  Oh.. and the sequin and bead decorated Easter egg I need to add a pin to the back of.. some day.  LOL!

I think I'm somewhat obsessed with bracelets.  Here is Gracie's on my wrist.  To it's left is a peyote stitch bracelet I made years ago.  My glass bead bracelet from the 4Ocean group and far left is a Byzantine bracelet I got last year but never showed you.  Do you wear bracelets and if so.. what kind?  Do share!

We all went out to dinner last night at a little independent place called Ristorante Pompello - and upon returning Kristi told me about a cherry tree covered in little black cherries and I saw them as we pulled in the driveway.  So, I took my iPhone and walked back to take a photo.  I also ate some.  These are tiny and black and the tree is covered with them.  I'd never noticed them before!  I tried one and it was tart.  I believe this is another wild "bird" cherry tree but I didn't know there was a variety with black cherries.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Kristi has been picking them.  I wonder what we could use them for?  They are pretty tart but the juice is an amazing color.

Look how loaded the tree is!

Walking back to the house I snapped a photo of my Scentsation rose, isn't it pretty?

Later in the evening I enjoyed some time on the deck and seeing the clouds swirling in the sky above.

Later still my darling grandson Caleb came in and informed me that I needed to bring my camera out as the moon was full and right in plain view.  Well.. those boys know me well.  Here is my almost full moon.

Dayle in his favorite spot.. on the deck by the pond and waterfalls.  Feeding the koi and guess what?  Seems the dogs like a few nibbles of koi food.  What?  

Would you believe that our electricity went out last night?  It got very windy and chilly last night and 900+ people lost their power in our area.  Dayle had to shuffle to get the generator powered up so we could run power to my CPAP breathing machine.  I have sleep apnea - and all three of my children have it.. so it's obviously hereditary.  My mom had it.  Luckily the power came back on after a few hours.  So.. I'm off to swim.  What are you up to today?  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

Farmyard Garden Safari

Ahh.. summer.  Windows are open and fresh air is blowing through the house.  Mother Nature is showing off and a stroll outside provides one's senses with color, aromas and beauty.  Would you like to walk along with me and see what is blooming?  First off is the 4th of July rose which is offering up some pollen for a friendly bee.

I must say that this rose is the best rose experience of my life.  It's right by the deck so I see it coming and going and it's a floribunda so there are a lot of flowers on each stem, kind of like a whole bouquet in one cutting.  :-)  And it blooms all summer.  A real joy of a rose.

Dayle's wintered-over Bonfire Begonia is doing very well.

Such bright flowers.  I can highly recommend this flower to add to your garden and you can winter it over every year and never have to pay for a new one!  :-)

The two big flower baskets are thriving.

The Petunias in this one are quite remarkable and look like a starry night.

Kristi placed several pots of lilies in the ground-cover and it's fun to see them bloom.

I've been keeping an eye on the Hydrangea by the deck and was thrilled to see some color begin to show on the flower buds.

I actually love these flowers at this stage, lime green with lavender beginning to show.

Can you spot the photo bomber in this shot?  Can you guess what it is?  Let's see how good your eyes are!  :-) (OK, nobody found it so far, to the left of the lily in the middle of the photo is a black Buddha that Dayle got when he was in Texas teaching helicopter flying after he returned from Vietnam and was recovered from being shot while flying.)

Dayle potted up this colorful Begonia in a pot I found for it - now to wait and see if it will flower.. hmm.  I think this is called "Spitfire" Rex Begonia.

My Sweet William that comes back every single year.  Love it.

Our Canterbury Bells that Kristi found growing by the barn and pulled up to show me.. I suggested that she plant it in a pot and see if it grew and lo and behold.. it's back bigger and better every year.  Amazing.

I wonder if I can thank a bird for dropping it's seed there?  Who knows.

Kristi brought home this Mandevilla and put it in a larger pot and it's thriving.

Some of our wild Rose Campion - which managed to escape the blade of the riding lawnmower.

I find these flowers eye popping in their color.. love them.

Looking across the pond to the deck and the new gazebo.  Yes, there are pine needles on the roof.. living under our 70 foot tall Douglas Fir and Cedars it's just impossible to keep the roof clear.  Oh well!  The room you see on the right is my craft studio which Dayle is also using as his office for his treasurer duties for the Friends of Multnomah Falls and also his assistant treasurer duties for Portland Women's Forum.  :-)

Kristi bought this flower and planted it and I have no idea what it is.. can you identify it for us?
Thanks to reader, Linda - It's a "New Vintage - Violet color - Yarrow - Achillea - millefolium - :-)

Mandevilla close up.

Yellow flowers in the pot that is the home of the red Banana palm.

Bananas don't winter over here but it's worth buying one for the summer as I just love them for some reason.  The red lace leaf Japanese Maple behind it.. on the left of the bird feeders is a Blue Fountain Bamboo and on the right is a striped Maiden Grass that comes back every year and gets quite large.  Kristi has worked very hard to weed and tidy up our huge wild garden.  

On inside pursuits I'm making a little hat for a newborn of a cousin that I found on the internet.  :-)  This yarn is so soft but sad to say that they stopped carrying this variety.  What a shame.

This was on my drive home from swimming on Wednesday, can you see how hot it was?  What song is playing?  I tried to take a selfie of my hair blowing in the wind and drying but decided I didn't want to scare you all.  LOL!  See the carnelian arrowhead hanging from the rearview mirror?  We got that from a Navajo Indian woman who was selling her wares at a roadside viewpoint near Hoover Dam in Nevada.  She told me it would bring me good luck.. as we merged back onto the highway a FedEx truck threw a rock at us and cracked my brand new car's windshield.  LOL!

Sharing a pretty image of Mt. Hood I saw on Facebook.

Well.. off I go to swim.  What are you up to today?  Do share.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)