soup and friends

Posted on October 17, 2024 by is there any more pie?

My dear friend Nancy B. died of ovarian cancer fourteen years ago this month.  She was a brilliant writer and a faithful, generous, loving friend.

Those of us lucky enough to be part of her life miss her terribly.

In honor of her, I made her Tomato Soup yesterday.  Would you like to try it?

Nancy’s Tomato Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

1 chopped onion, sauteed in butter
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 cans of cream of tomato soup
1 1/2 cups of milk
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp each of basil, garlic powder and paprika
1 8-oz cream cheese, cut up into chunks in order to  melt faster

Mix all together in a crock pot or pot.  Heat and cook, stirring so that cream cheese melts (there might still be little bits but that’s okay).

Nancy served it with banana muffins!

I’ve been searching through pictures on my computer, but the darn thing is acting up and I can’t access what I want.  Here’s a picture of Nancy from her Silhouette page.   She wrote as “Dee Holmes”.

Dee Holmes's picture

Posted in food, friends, rhode island, writing | 3 Comments

a little reminder

Posted on October 16, 2024 by is there any more pie?

I have been attempting to age “with grace” until I saw this on the Bonnie Hunter quilting blog this morning.  I like this philosophy better, don’t you?

 

Posted in a more pie opinion, rhode island | 3 Comments

too lazy for words

Posted on October 13, 2024 by is there any more pie?

Okay, it’s almost noon and I am still in my nightgown.

Such a luxury.

Banjo Man is outside weed-whacking the edges of our very long driveway.  He is so happy to be cleaning up the place.  Daughter Nancy couldn’t get the darn thing started more than once, but it is working now and so far so good.

Not such great news for the lawnmower, though.  Despite having it fixed (again) before we left in April, it only worked once and then died.  Banjo Man hates it with a passion, so I have been researching lawn mowers and I think there is a trip to Tractor Supply in Banjo Man’s future.

Since it is close to the very disappointing Chinese restaurant, we might have a new mower later this afternoon.

Instead of accomplishing anything truly important, I am here in my office perusing things on my computer.  I have ordered a special soap dish for my Humby shampoo and conditioner bars.

Snuggle Tray

I have been mightily tempted to order one of these, but I am resisting.  I have one at the lake and it has been great fun so let’s see if I can make do with a round one.   The vintage ones are about twice as much on Etsy.  Who knew?

Square Tube Cake Pan

As I said, I’ve been researching lawn mowers.  The prime candidate is a Troy-Bilt 21″ gas push mower, but the reviews are of the “love it or hate it” variety.  Maybe Banjo Man will get lucky this time?

I think he should buy an inexpensive one, because the costly mowers don’t seem to last long, even after expensive repairs.  So why bother?

Just a non-mowing woman’s opinion.

Time to get dressed, I think.  If you own a lawn mower  you love or hate, please let me know.  I don’t want to read any more about them.

Enjoy your Sunday.

 

 

 

Posted in family, rhode island, shopping | Leave a comment

and the number is…3008

Posted on October 12, 2024 by is there any more pie?

That’s how many miles we covered on our trip home.

And yes, we are home.  At 5:15 PM.  It was a day that started calmly at 8:00 AM and would move along quite nicely until we entered New York State at Port Jervis.

Oh, there was traffic!  Lots and lots of traffic.  Bumper to bumper, stop-and-go, very stressful traffic.  It would last well into Connecticut.  I drove for over two hours and certainly didn’t go very far.

Banjo Man took over somewhere in Connecticut, but after about twenty minutes of smooth sailing, we were back in the middle of traffic.  Happy to reach 15 mph once in a while, we crept across the state until we could break free at Middletown and head south on Rt. 9, right down to I-95.

We stopped in Westerly, RI to pick up Chinese take-out from our favorite restaurant for dumplings, etc.  Later on we realized the food was inedible, the worst we’d ever tried to eat.  We are taking it back to them tomorrow, having called and told them how bad it was.

That’s a first.

Also it was the only bad meal of the trip.  Right here in our own backyard.  A bit depressing.  (I wish we had a Culver’s in RI.  I liked that place, but it was in Indiana.)

Daughter Nancy was waiting for us when we drove up to the house.  Such a happy welcome!

The house looked so good.

Banjo Man is on the couch watching college football.  I wonder how long he will stay awake.  I plan to go to bed soon and not get out of it for eighteen hours or so.  Or maybe not until Monday.

Or Tuesday.  Maybe by then I will have the energy to unpack bins of velvet pumpkins and start decorating.

After all, it’s October and pumpkins await.

 

 

 

Posted in rhode island, road trip, travel | 4 Comments

last night on the road, tomorrow home

Posted on October 11, 2024 by is there any more pie?

This is the prettiest bathroom floor of all the hotel bathroom floors I have seen on the road.

We’re in a Fairfield Inn in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. This pretty town is about ten miles north of I-80 and as we drove past farms, homes, barns and churches into a thriving town, I was second-guessing myself. Was there really a great hotel out here? Mystery solved when we finally found it…next to a cancer hospital. I imagine a lot of exhausted and worried people have stayed here. My heart goes out to them.

We ate on Main Street in a local restaurant with many Greek specialties. Very nice and a special dinner for our last night on the road. Have you ever heard of Greek lasagna?

We were in the car at 7:30 this morning. Drove 460 miles. Mostly on roads narrowed by “road work” signs and cones, but we never saw anyone actually working on the road.

It remains a mystery.

We have 381 miles to go.

I can hardly believe we are almost home!

Posted in road trip, travel | Leave a comment

how did we get to howe?

Posted on October 11, 2024 by is there any more pie?

Indiana, that is.

We were up before six yesterday, on the road before seven-thirty. By early afternoon we were feeling so good about the day, I booked a hotel (free with points!!) to make a 500-mile day.

We weren’t going to have such long days, but it was a good day to drive.

Until it wasn’t.

Forward progress was halted for an hour and twenty minutes outside of Chicago. It was a very long time to the Indiana border. Traffic? Oh, yes! The stop and go kind for mile upon mile.

We arrived at Howe at sunset, discovered a chain called Culver’s for salads and chicken tenders, then crashed into our free hotel beds.

I don’t know what our philosophy is today. We are 815 miles from our New England home.

Tomorrow night I will be in my own bed. But we have no idea where we will be tonight.

Stay tuned and wish us luck.

Posted in road trip, travel | 1 Comment

iowa, yes, we made it

Posted on October 9, 2024 by is there any more pie?

This morning at 9 we “Ubered” to the airport. Our driver was a musician from Nashville who plays jazz bass.

Ah, Austin…

I saw these at the Austin airport. Tempting.

We flew to Dallas, then to Omaha. A very easy trip, as flights go.

A sign at the Omaha airport:

Sounds good to me!

The airport is under construction.

These are views from the sky walk.

Our GPS never works in Omaha, so it was a challenge finding the interstate to Des Moines.

We didn’t make it to Des Moines, but we came close. We’re in a small town off I-80 in a not-so-great hotel, but we were tired and not fussy.

It’s 7:30 but it feels a lot later. We hope to be up and out early. The three-day Columbus Day weekend is coming up and I have no idea what kind of traffic we’ll encounter between now and home.

Tomorrow: Illinois and Indiana!

Posted in road trip, travel | 1 Comment

tuesday night lights

Posted on October 8, 2024 by is there any more pie?

A beautiful evening in Round Rock, Texas.

The Funny Grandson’s team won.

And cheers were heard o’er the land.

More pictures to share tomorrow, but it is late and we are off to the airport in the morning to fly back to Omaha, pick up the car and start driving east.

I wonder where we will be tomorrow night….

Posted in austin, family, grandmother stuff, road trip, texas, travel | Leave a comment

a very big sigh of relief

Posted on October 6, 2024 by is there any more pie?

Our Nebraska football watch party was this afternoon. We loaded up on snacks, cheese, crackers, cookies and pie from two grocery stores. There was chicken, potato salad, salad and coleslaw.

Here is son Ben enduring yet another close, stressful Nebraska game.

They won. The first time we had all been together for a victory was eight years ago. And here we were in Austin again, screaming and celebrating.

We were exhausted!

Banjo Man and I flew down here yesterday from Omaha. The Funny Grandson has a football game Tuesday night and we are really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow we are all going out to lunch and then returning to the condo for an Early Birthday celebration. The FG turns 14 on the 29th.

But he is not too old to camp out at the condo with us. I hope he never is!

Posted in austin, family, grandmother stuff, road trip, texas, travel | 2 Comments

wednesday night in lincoln

Posted on October 3, 2024 by is there any more pie?

I think I have lost my motel-lovin’ mind.

I booked a room at a Best Western hotel here a month ago. I thought I had booked with points.

I hadn’t.

I thought it was a new hotel. It wasn’t.

Huh?

The receptionist told me although it was a pet friendly hotel, it didn’t smell.

She lied. We left.

Fortunately for us, the hotel next door was not pet-friendly, didn’t smell, had an available room AND a pool. Thank you, Holiday Inn Express.

Still, my reputation for finding great hotels is ruined. Banjo Man keeps giving me worried looks.

We had such a lovely visit in North Platte with Nancy and Ned. Bonus: discussing paint colors for the office and the gorgeous upstairs tv room. Want a design tip? If you don’t have a rich navy blue paint chip, take off your dark blue jeans and hold them against the walls.

While wearing your underwear.

It worked. We loved the color. And I put my pants back on before we sat down to lunch.

Our view this morning:

On to Lincoln to meet special friends Tom and Cynthia for dinner. So much fun to talk and laugh and share stories!

The restaurant loved pumpkins. And I loved this one.

I’m now in bed, having done a lot of stretching in the pool. My Sunday afternoon hike up to the Pictograph cave was long, steep and hot. So much steeper than I remembered, but I had no doubt that I could do it. After all, I spent the last five months doing water aerobics three times a week. And hiking up and down the hill to the lake is great exercise. I am in shape!

I was so wrong. My right hip has been complaining ever since. I am limping and taking Tylenol and walking like an ancient person.

Am I too old for archaeological adventures???? Oh, please, no!!!!!!

Maybe not this, though.

We are off to Omaha tomorrow!

Posted in family, friends, road trip, travel | 2 Comments