is there any more pie?

he’s 40

Posted on October 24, 2017 by is there any more pie?

Forty years ago today, at 3 AM, Banjo Man and I made the wild 65-mile trip to Coeur d’Alene when I was in labor with this guy. He was 6 weeks early so we weren’t at all prepared. We had very little gas in the car, but we found a gas station in the middle of nowhere and paid the owner $3 to open the tank and bought $2 of gas, because we only had $5.

I really didn’t want to give birth in that old blue Datsun.

The day before we’d had a football party that began at 9 AM with a breakfast brunch, in honor of the New England Patriots game being televised and a friend who would be in the stands in Foxboro holding up a sign for us.

Everyone we knew wanted to see the sign. And we were not disappointed. “HI GLEN IN HOPE IDAHO” was clearly visible many times. We cheered. A lot.

The party continued throughout the day, ending with Retired Mountain Lady playing the piano and all of us gathering around to sing.

A few hours later, when everyone had gone home and we were cleaning up, things got a little intense. This was a high risk pregnancy and there were…issues.

But Son #2, aka Will, aka Story Man was born around 6:15 AM and was in pretty good shape for a preemie. He would stay in the hospital for more than a week, but he was going to be okay.

And now he is 40. The miracle pregnancy turned into a wonderful man who brings joy everywhere he goes.

I am so grateful.

Happy Birthday, Will!

Horseback trip to Moose Lake, July 2017.

Posted in family | 3 Comments

it’s a start

Posted on October 23, 2017 by is there any more pie?

Foggy morning.

Here’s the only color in our yard. It’s all green, except for this one bush. When I’m driving to town I see all sorts of colors as the leaves turn to gold and orange and red. It’s lovely.

At my house in the woods? Not so much. It’s green, it’s brown, it’s bare. In that order.

But it’s nice to enjoy my one spot of color as I sip coffee this morning.

Posted in rhode island | 1 Comment

takin’ it easy on sunday afternoon

Posted on October 22, 2017 by is there any more pie?

Here it is, waiting for me to sew something.

Everything is so clean on my new table. To the left are some pillowcases to finish for the Funny Grandson’s Christmas. There are owls and deer on them, so they are sure to be a hit.

Here are some things waiting to be sewn. I have big plans to finish the 2015 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt (on the right) before starting the 2017 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt next month. Please don’t ask about the 2016 creation; it did not turn out well.

It is obvious I need to get organized.

Like that’s going to happen any time soon!

Nope.

I have a serious–and hopefully temporary–problem: I don’t want to cook.

Not at all.

I am living on Subway sandwiches between visits to Mom at the rehab wing of the local nursing home. That new turkey club with the cranberry mustard topping is pretty tasty.

Today I went down to Walmart, hoping to get excited about food. I had perused Pinterest, printed out new low-carb healthy recipes, and was ready to get in there and shop! Once inside all I wanted to do was run back to the car. Truthfully? Everything looked disgusting.

I’m calling this affliction “Supermarket Anorexia”.

So I bought a bunch of candles and a new 4-quart Crock Pot for winter-morning oatmeal (I don’t eat oatmeal, but I’m going to try once the temperature drops–it was 74 today). I also managed to buy protein powder (for a new protein bar recipe), eggs, gum and some shoe inserts.

Then I headed to a much nicer supermarket in hopes that it would inspire me to cook–or at least make food look appetizing. The place was packed, but I managed to get some butternut squash, two green apples, two sweet potatoes and a can of coconut milk for a Pinterest soup recipe. Oh, and a little pot of yellow mums.

I still don’t want to cook. Or eat. The flowers look pretty, though.

Thank God Banjo Man has taken matters into his own hands and is cooking beans in one of our giant crock pots.

He is on a diet and doesn’t care if I cook or not.

Tomorrow I hope to dig out my fall decorations–including all of the velvet pumpkins from last year’s sewing extravaganza–and spiff up the house a bit. I love this time of year and the decorations that go with it.

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend and have a pumpkin or two to make you feel cheerful!

Last year’s crop.

Posted in food, personal female whining, quilting, rhode island | Leave a comment

late to the party

Posted on October 21, 2017 by is there any more pie?

treme

Boy, are we loving this show!

We’ve never had HBO, where “Treme” debuted, but this mini series (all four seasons) is on Amazon, free with Prime.

And we can’t stop watching this show about New Orleans trying to recover after Hurricane Katrina.

The acting, dialogue and the music are all wonderful. We try to limit ourselves to two episodes a night.

Love it, love it, love it.

Have you seen it? What did you think?

Posted in music, television | Leave a comment

home for the winter

Posted on October 20, 2017 by is there any more pie?

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in over two weeks.

There has been a lot going on.

Descent into Baltimore.

My trip home from Texas last Tuesday (the 10th) was an easy one, aside from the 3:30 AM start at the Austin airport and a pathetic lack of coffee. I do love those early flights, though. I was in Rhode Island at noon, hugging Banjo Man and wondering where to go for lunch.

Block Island, Rhode Island.

The next day I visited with my mother, unpacked one little suitcase and headed north with my sewing machine to see what it would cost to repair. There were a number of things wrong with it, but the major issue was its inability to wind bobbins.

Guess what happened!

Yes, after more than a year of agonizing and shopping and researching and saving and selling stuff on Ebay, I bought my new dream machine! The Quilt Show Special (more about the quilt show in another post) gave me a great price and included a sewing table.

What more could I ask for?

The next day was spent with my mother with her doctor and then the ER. Complications from a stomach bug led us to get help, but that hospital visit didn’t help. Sunday she was taken by ambulance to the ER and thank goodness this time we got some answers. After 8 hours in the ER she was admitted to the hospital. She was there for three nights and is now in rehab getting her feet back under her and growing stronger. The rehab place is lovely and right here in town so I am able to be there easily and pop in and out.

Needless to say, the new sewing machine remained in its box for many days! I have tried winding a bobbin and threading the machine, but that’s about it. But I have all winter, so I’m not complaining! It is great fun to look at it sitting here on the dining room table. It will go into its new table in my office soon and I plan to finish some projects and create a few more quilts this winter.

Banjo Man and daughter Nancy put the new table together on Sunday while I was with Mom at the ER. It’s perfect.

I finally unpacked my giant suitcase two days ago. I’m still doing laundry, in between trips to town. I’m so glad Mom is out of the hospital–such a stressful, exhausting place!—and is now getting specialized care. The goal is to get her back to her assisted living apartment and we are all cheering her on.

Time to head to town and check up on her…but I will post again tomorrow and get back in the groove!

Posted in family, quilting, rhode island | 3 Comments

day in, night out in austin

Posted on October 5, 2017 by is there any more pie?

One of our favorite blues men, Johnny Nicholas, was playing at our favorite bar, the Saxon Pub, last night.

Will and I planned to be there. Of course. Johnny no longer does the Wednesday Happy Hour, so when he does appear at the Saxon it’s a real treat. The Saxon used to have a lot of parking available, but the recent condo development on one side and the two new restaurants on the other have squeezed their parking into a small area. Parking in the neighborhood behind the bar is still an option, but these old places are being threatened (and demolished) constantly here in Austin.

Times are a-changin’.

The band starts setting up. Mid-set the guitar’s amplifier would die, which meant Johnny played the keyboard more than he expected to.

It was a great show and the band sounded especially great. Scrappy Jud Newcombe played a small 3/4 guitar that sounded beautiful. The neck looked wider than normal and the placement of the sound hole was unusual, so I don’t know what it was. I intend to find out, though.

I’d spent Wednesday puttering and sewing. Tuesday I’d spent several hours walking around town, defying the heat and humidity to duck into shops to browse. The St. Paul’s thrift shop has gone, as has another of my favorite vintage stores. The largest one, Uncommon Objects, can no longer afford the lease and is moving elsewhere next week, well out of walking distance from the condo. There are more restaurants along South Congress now, and some lovely jewelry stores and expensive clothing shops, but I’ll miss browsing for vintage artifacts and clothing.

On the way home I ducked into Torchy’s for a taco and cold drink before walking the last couple of blocks home. I made it right before the rain began and eased Will’s worry that I was outside somewhere getting drenched.

So yesterday I stayed out of the hot weather and did this.

Progress was made on the snowball-patterned baby quilt.

The Funny Grandson and his parents might come down later on this evening, but that depends on how much energy they have. I told them not to worry if they were too tired–they certainly get up early and have very busy days! I think we’ll either send out for pizza or walk up to the Magnolia Café for dinner. I’ll make chili for Friday and Saturday, then a lasagna for Sunday’s Early Birthday Party. FG turns 7 in three weeks, but I told him we’d have a party here before I flew back to Rhode Island.

He’s going to spend the night down here Sunday, because he doesn’t have school, and we’re going to go out for breakfast. I may have promised root beer floats for lunch…

So today? I think I’ll head back up the street. I saw a pair of blue glass violin salt & pepper shakers at Uncommon Objects that I may not be able to live without. For $8 I might just have to indulge myself. And then there is Torchy’s and the Trailer Park Taco for lunch. I’m going to try something other than the Fried Avocado this time, wild woman that I am.

Time to enjoy the sunshine…

Posted in austin, family, grandmother stuff, music, texas | Leave a comment

sunday’s antique mall

Posted on October 2, 2017 by is there any more pie?

Will and I decided to do something a little different Sunday afternoon, so we headed north to the Austin Antique Mall.

You never know what you’re going to find.

How about a handknit clock?

I wished these boots were my size.

Will is in his happy place studying prints and history books.

And here were some vintage sewing machines crowded under a bookcase. They intrigue me, but not enough to risk buying one. I don’t have the room–or the repair skills–to start collecting them.

We left empty-handed, having found nothing that called to us to take it home. But we had a good time looking.

I am still learning how to use the new cell phone. Somehow I end up taking videos instead of photographs, so I apologize for the size of the previous pictures.

What am I doing wrong? I don’t know. But it keeps happening.

Will and I have a problem deciding where to go and what to do when we’re left to ourselves to figure it out. It took a while to decide to get sandwiches from Thundercloud Subs and take them back to the condo. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening talking about writing and scripts, eating leftovers and watching a new series on PBS, The Sacred Wonders of Britain.

We were riveted. Seriously. It was so good! One of the segments featured Lindisfarne, a Holy Island near the castle in Northumberland where Will spent a summer volunteering at an archaeological dig.

We taped one of them to watch tonight. We think it features some sites on Orkney, which we visited together that same year.

Today is Will’s day off, so we are having a quiet day in front of our computers. Later on we’ll hit the grocery store again, then probably go out for an early dinner. He has to be at work at 4 AM, so bedtime comes early on Monday nights.

It is sunny and warm here in Austin, which is lovely. There will definitely be time for a walk in a little while.

We watched the news this morning and saw the horrific footage of the shootings in Las Vegas. Where does this kind of evil come from?

My prayers go out to everyone involved.

Posted in austin, family, secondhand stuff, shopping | Leave a comment

catching up here in austin

Posted on September 29, 2017 by is there any more pie?

It is raining lightly this morning, something folks in Austin never seem to mind. No flash flooding, no tropical storms or wind. Just a calm little rainy morning, overcast and gray.

I am going to fill the crock pot with the ingredients for an Italian meat sauce and have a family dinner before the Nebraska football game tonight. Will and I went grocery shopping last night, after we visited Torchy’s for tacos.

Will’s dinner.

I of course had the Fried Avocado Taco’s. Because they were there and I was there and everything was right with the world.

At the grocery store I bought food for several crock pot dinners and this beautiful bottle of wine.

It reminded me of the Driftwood Goddess Painting Event given by Linda, our resident accordion player and awe-inspiring artist at the lake. I wish I could send her a bottle.

Banjo Man’s suitcase is still missing. They found a bag that wasn’t his, thought it was his, and then delivered it to the wrong person in RI. His bag has his name on it in four different places and also inside. We do not understand the confusion.

I really, really hope Banjo Man calls this morning to tell me all is well.

In the meantime, I’ll be cooking. Because that is what I do on rainy mornings, especially when looking forward to feeding my sons. Italian meat sauce, spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies (from the bakery section of HEB) for dessert. A feast!

One of these days I’ll come up with an official recipe for the sauce, but I fear it’s embarrassingly simple.

Time to head to the kitchen…

Posted in austin, family, food, texas | Leave a comment

flying east

Posted on September 28, 2017 by is there any more pie?

Sunrise in Spokane.

We headed out of our hotel at 4 AM Wednesday. Banjo Man was very, very unhappy with the weight of our luggage. He said so many, many times.

47 pounds of clothes, fabric, quilt supplies, presents and jam.

His suitcase was heavy, too. Banjo Man’s initial statement of, “My suitcase will be almost empty, so we’ll take home all the jam you want,” had changed to, “We are never taking jam home again! Never!”

He had a lot to say as we staggered down the sidewalk and across the street to the Southwest check-in line (we would later discover that the Ramada had a shuttle that would have made life easier).

To add more insult to his morning, he did not get the TSE preboarding designation yet again. I did. While I waited on the other side of the lengthy security process, BIL George joined me and we watched Banjo Man mouth some very bad words as he repacked his two carry ons. He was surrounded by the Univ. of Idaho womens’ volleyball team, which then seemed to cheer him a bit.

None of us would stand in line for $4 Starbucks coffee–no matter how good it smelled–so we went to the gate to spend a few last minutes together before boarding. Then it was onto a flight that, after cruising to the runway, had to return to the gate. A Southwest employee somehow had to be returned to the airport. We never did understand it, but she was seated in front of us and seemed to be confused, too.

Beautiful scenes from the plane as we flew over southern Idaho, Montana and Colorado:

On to Denver, where I kissed Banjo Man goodbye and left the plane to catch a flight to Austin. He would go on to Baltimore, and then home. Daughter Nancy would pick him up at 8 PM, his checked baggage would be lost, and he would not find his car keys in his carry on bag (if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that Banjo Man has lost several sets of car keys and endangered our happy marriage on more than one occasion).

Will, Son #2, was waiting for me. I had slept all the way from Denver to Austin, so I was feeling pretty chipper. Will also made a comment about the weight of my luggage, which I ignored. We went out for dinner and brought slices of apple pie home.

Daughter Nancy texted to ask where I kept my car keys. Banjo Man’s luggage had been located in New Jersey.

Time to go to bed.

Today the Funny Grandson will arrive and tell me all about the KISS concert he went to in Dallas last night. In preparation he had grown his hair long, like the original KISS drummer, and intended to have his face painted.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Posted in austin, family, travel | 2 Comments

oktoberfest, etc.

Posted on September 24, 2017 by is there any more pie?

Getting cozy with Banjo Man.

We are still a couple of days from leaving the lake until next year, but of course we are trying to fit in all the social activities we can in the remaining time we have left.

I dropped my cell phone Friday. It was just a little drop, on the wood floor, but it killed my ancient I-Phone. Yesterday I drove to town to see if it could be fixed (it couldn’t) or replace it (which I did, with an I-phone 7). If you had asked me two years ago if I would ever need a smart phone I would have laughed and shaken my head, “No way.” But I have now realized that a life with email, texting and an easy-access camera is one worth living.

How things change.

It was a bit stressful–spending an hour in a Verizon store is like that–so I had to go to a fabric store to detox. I tried not to think about how many quilts I could make or fabric I could buy with what I had just paid for an I-Phone. I bought a tiny bit of fabric and felt better.

Then it was on to town, to visit a new hairdresser and have my witchy white hair cut. She did a great job, giving me a new look and all sorts of advice. I do look a bit different, but that’s a good thing.

On to Oktoberfest, to meet Banjo Man and BIL George. Oktoberfest is Hope’s fall fundraiser and it is always such a good time. The locals come out in droves and there is a bonfire and music, along with great food and beer.

Banjo Man volunteered to serve sauerkraut, which he did joyously for over two hours.

My French Friend Janou is one of the organizers/cooks for the event every year and I can’t wait to find out how many meals were served. It looked like everyone in town was there. So much fun!