Sniffle Sniffle

This has been my constant companion. A good old fashion head cold,covid negative. So I have done a lot of nothing but sleep through tv shows the past two days. 

This late afternoon  I am finally feeling like a bit of hooking.  

 I hope you are all well and enjoying spring.

A Pleasant Morning

I had some time to clean out some of my gardens Sunday and lo and behold my daffodils are getting ready to bloom soon. 

The last of my house guests left Sunday Morning. (my brother)

So, it is laundry central here and finally the sun came out enough for me to get in the gardens. 

Today my sweet friend and I headed for Conaway to see Mary Ann Espositio and her husband Guy who is one amazing gardener! I believe he is a retired surgeon. His garden is huge 60ft by 30ft!

I would love to be his neighbor he said he shares. 

She is a very well-known tv chef here in NH on PBS. She said she has been on for 30 years. It was in formative and a great way to spend a morning. We each got her signed cookbook. I am planning recipes to try soon.  They want us all to get back to the basics of eating. 

Last week I had to purchase corn starch, I don't use much but I always want it in the house. Check your labels! Most of it was GMO (genetically modified.) Umm no thank you! So, I had to pay extra for basic corn starch. So truly we do not realize what is in our food. 

The forward of her cookbook was written by John Forti a very well known gardener here in NH and executive director of  Bedrock gardens in Lee.

If you have never been it is so worth a trip. Husband and I loved it!

I also have his signed book Heirloom Gardner. 

Can you tell I am ready to dive into gardening????

The news makes my nerves jump. My brother is a news junkie he watches it all and we are usually a very quiet house. So, it was not easy to not listen. 

I have an eye appointment this week and an oil change tomorrow. Then not much else so maybe I will get back to hooking my rug.

Have a great week! 

It Is Always Something

The solar eclipse yikes! They came by the thousands and thousands! What would have been a 4 hrs trip home for some of them turned into 13 hrs!!!! So glad I was going in the opposite direction to my rug class.

 

This is our fearless leader, Pam Bartlett. This is the first event she has held in her brand-new space. I get there a little early and I find out she went to the hospital the night before for a kidney stone!! She missed most of the first day. But our teacher Michelle kept the class on track. And Pam joined us late afternoon.

My sweet friend Bonnie worked on this rug. She has had lots of teachers in her hooking life and she said she has learned more from Michelle as any of the others. 

And this rug is being hooked by my sweet friend Dayle. 

They both stayed with me and loved their class with Michelle. 

But we were missing our friend Donna. (More on her later)

This is Sue she sat at our table and she was working on this rug. One of Michelle's patterns. 

Debbie Kelly this is a picture of her neighbor's window and she is hooking it as a gift for them.

Diane Lane is working on this Santa (one of Michelle's patterns)

Diane said she loves his face so much she kisses him lol. Love that!!!

Sue Barr is hooking one of Michelle's patterns and doing a great job! I love that she made the pumpkin head white instead of orange. 

And this is mine! Yes, I started it on the first day of class. 

She again got me out of that box I put myself into. I really want to

stay out of that box! I love how this is looking. No swatches involved!

This is Michelle's newest rug and oh my word I am so in love with this rug! Enlarge it see how she did the background. I took picture upon picture of this rug I am so interested in her background on this rug. 

This is a work in progress for Michelle. I wish you could see this rug. The crocks look like you could pick them right off the rug.

And other one of Michelle's rugs, she had stacks and stacks of rugs with her. I just cannot say enough good about this teacher! I tried to follow her to Florida next Feb the class filled up in 2 hours! She is in very high demand and her classes are very hard to get into. But I will keep trying to get into another of her classes. I feel lucky to have had 2 classes with her. 

On to Donna, her husband has had some health issues, so she was unable to join us for this class. Wed after class the three of us, Bonnie, Dayle, and I drove to see Donna and stay over with her. It was big boost for her and for us. The four of us have such a special bond and I am so blessed to be part of it. And the good news is Donna's husband is getting better lots and lots better.  

After our overnight at the beach I headed home in the morning. 

Because another sweet friend and I had tickets to see the Golden Girls. Not what we were expecting but funny still and we had dinner before so it was a nice night out and great to catch up with her. 

Phew!! 

So I had more fun than anyone should at this age lol

and ate and ate. 

Today I am changing beds as my brother is coming for a few days.

Monday my friend and I have tickets to see a local cook and get her newest cookbook. 

Why is it I have nothing for weeks and then I have everything going on?

But I am loving it!

And in my spare time I have been stitching.

We are rain and they are talking about floods it will not affect us but it is always something.

Have a great weekend!

Hookers And The Eclipse

That is rug hookers.

The first day of rug school we had the eclipse. I have so much to tell you about and show you. 

Not now but soon!!!

The Storm Has Passed

We got about 12 inches this storm. But the difference is this was very heavy and the wind was fierce.

And the trees fell and the power poles broke, and the wires tangled and it was a MESS. We lost power for about 16 hrs but our generator did its job and it wasn't bad at all. My sweet friend lost her power for 4 days!!! No generator sadly. There were thousands without power at one point.

I kept busy between stitching...

And eating cookies made from chopped chocolate Easter bunnies.

Yes I am an expert at puttering.

Today I took a ride to the beach.

The skies turned blue and while windy it was so nice to smell the salt air.

The winter storms have caused such damage at the beach. It was so sad to see.

****

Tomorrow I am starting my 3 day rug school. And I will have my dear friends staying at my house,so much fun. 

If you are going to see the eclipse tomorrow please be sure you have the proper glasses.

Have a great week!

Use Up, Make Do

This is not a very good picture, but I would love to tell you. 

how I used up some leftovers.

I had mac and cheese, chicken salad, focaccia bread, and a couple of tablespoons of whipped ricotta cheese.

I made a casserole with these leftovers!

I layered the mac and cheese on the bottom, I mixed the ricotta cheese in and a little milk to make it looser.

Next layer I put the chicken salad. (It was a pretty basic chicken salad

I baked the breasts with French herbs all over them and once baked, I ground it in the food processor with some mayo and salt and pepper.)

Then I took the focaccia and put it in the food processor to make breadcrumbs. In the oven at 375 for about 20-25 min voila! Husband loved it!!! So don't throw those leftovers away make a casserole.  

And speaking of leftovers I have a few of these left.

I think I am going to chunk them up and make cookies.

(Although I see the exp date is Dec 2025. Do I save them for next year? Yikes!)

Red skies in the morning.... We are supposed to get 12 to who knows how many inches of snow!

We are tucked in waiting for the first flakes to fly. The woodstove is humming along, and I have a beef stew in mind for dinner with homemade biscuits. The winds are starting to blow. We do have a generator thankfully if we lose power.  You know I always wonder about the people before us when there were no weather forecasts. April comes along and they think time for cleaning out from the winter and a huge storm hits! Life was surely hard.

My germaniums are so happy and waiting to be put outside.

I need to get the rest of them in soil so when the good weather does come, they will be ready.  

On my walk yesterday I saw my neighbor doing holly tone on some of her shrubs. She has wonderful gardens, so she spurred me on. I bought some this morning on my way home from an early dentist appointment and got it put out before the snow started. It makes me hopeful for spring. 

We have Britbox streaming service and they have British gardens streaming right now. So interesting and then they take you to other countries to see their gardens. They just showed some Dutch gardens so interesting!

Excuse me while I trade my coffee for a nice pot of tea.

I am going to embroider some tea towels. We have bluebirds getting ready to nest so I thought this would be a sweet towel to stitch. 

*****

Well, my sweet friends thank you so much for all your visits.

I do hope you are all safe from the horrid storms we saw on the news this morning. I will give you an update on the snow totals later. 

But the really good news is the weather will start to turn they are talking high 50s and 60s this coming week. And we will be clear to see the eclipse. 

I have sweet friends coming for a few days while we all take a rug hooking class, I am so looking forward to seeing them, hugging them and laughing until we cry. 

Have a great week!

Thats a wrap

Well peeps another Easter

Has gone by.

We were a smaller group this year. The kids had a good time and it was nice to see those that could make it.

Of course a week before Easter our microwave died. So thankfully husband could install a new one. 

I did get a quick stop at the thrift store. I found this handmade vase for 2.00. I love it.

Well they are predicting snow in feet this time around. And it is suppose to snow from Tue night to Fri afternoon! I don't mind snow in the winter but this is spring! The 21 inches last week went fast because it rained most of the week. 

                 **********

I hope your Easter was just how you like it. 

          Have a great week!