T Stands for Tea and a Snack

Hi everyone. 

I hope everyone here for T has had a wonderful last week, as did everyone else who visits my blog and reads this post. We're in the last few days of September, (which is hard to believe), and here in New Hampshire the weather has been pretty mild so far. Our leaves are just getting a slight tinge of color (except for the swamp maples). They say our peak foliage season is running a week or so later than usual, but should be good as we've had so much rain. 

Last week I had a much needed  low key week. I had lots of time do some fun things like art, reading and walking. I also did do a few small chores.

Saturday I cleaned up most of the veggie garden, except where there are a few plants  that are still growing. You might remember my overgrown weed problem, choking out my garden plants, and since we had some landscape fabric from putting in the beehive, I laid that down after cleaning up the unwanted growth. When the leaves fall my garden fills up with them, and hopefully that will keep the growth down come spring. Next year I want to finish putting in some raised beds, as I only added 2 this year.

For an update on the deck project, the engineering  is now done. Hurrah. This next photo might look weird but you should  look at the front where there is a white post; the right side is lots of short term scaffolding for holding boards. That is a mock up of what my husband plans to do, and next weekend, weather dependent, he should be ready to start laying boards. Hurrah for that. 

A few of you mentioned it would be easier to hire someone to do the job, but it's good to see my husband excited about a home project.  Right now finding anyone to do anything isn't easy, and my husband is insanely picky. He would probably go redo some of it anyhow. I would say he is  probably a contractor's worse nightmare. He is still complaining when we hired someone to put siding on the new house  almost 20 years ago that they didn't do it right. Meaning, they didn't do it his way. Smile.

It's also been time to start more fall clean ups. Last Thursday my husband took the day off, and I was "volunteered" to go help him clean up some things at his Mom's home on the lake. Luckily it was a warm and humid day because the 2 projects meant someone had to go into the lake and get wet.

First the swim raft was brought in.

Maddie and Pete enjoyed a ride. I got to help lift and pull it onto the dock in the forefront of the photo. (This dock is on land, so  it can stay in place through the winter. The rest of the dock will need to be pulled out sometime in the next few weeks because everything usually freezes solid.)

Then we had to get the little boat out of the water. Yes, my husband has a boat collection, all bought used. He has a good eye for finding bargain boats that are in great shape. I think it is comparable to me finding crafting bargains. If you love something you always have your eyes open and looking. Smile.

We call this one "My Boat" ( meaning me, Erika's boat) because he asked me to register it when he first bought it, even gave me a check from his account to do it. I was told at the town hall that if I registered it, it had to be in my name.  So it is technically my boat. We never even used it last year, but this year my husband decided to put it in the water at his Mom's.  Because of his mom's health issues, we've been at her house a lot this summer. He also wanted to take her (his Mom) for a few rides. Getting her into the boat has not been easy, but if this ends up being her last summer at her home, then at least it was a good one.

This angle of the photo makes the front of the boat look really big. It is not, as the boat is only 16 feet long total. And if you aren't familiar with boats, it seems that most people think bigger, like well over 22 feet, is better.

My MIL will be moving back in with one of my husband's sisters sometime in October. 

Hopefully these minor to dos haven't bored you. I know, after reading this you must be ready for a cup of tea or coffee. Or something to drink. And maybe a snack.

I baked a couple of things in the past week.

First I made a pumpkin cake with cinnamon frosting. I had to adjust the frosting recipe because it called for 7 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, which is crazy since it only called for 1 cup or 2 sticks of butter. I cut the powdered sugar down to 2 cups, and I added a bit less of the cinnamon. Now it was just sweet enough.  If anyone is interested in the recipe let me know, and I will include it for T next week.

This cake recipe came out of an older Taste of Home special fall edition. It was delicious (especially with my fixed frosting, but if you like it sweet, then maybe you'd like the original). And I know some of you might wonder what happened to the apple pie with a cheddar crust that I mentioned last week. Once I made this cake, we didn't need to pie, so that is still on my list of things to make this fall.

Then I also made a recipe that Kathy posted this past week in her cast iron cooking post. It is for a marbled sourdough loaf, half pumpkin and half chocolate.

When I remake this bread (it was delicious!) I will add more chocolate to that part, as it could have been a little more chocolaty.

Here is the recipe for that: Pumpkin and Chocolate Sourdough bread. It is written for cast iron loaf pans (Lodge Cast Iron sponsored this), but since I don't own any I just used regular loaf pans.

Which would you like a slice of? I can certainly share both as I don't need all the calories.

It's not any day I would invite you for a fancy cup of tea or coffee, but this lady makes it look like she does it everyday, doesn't she?

My ticket to T this week is is this page for Wendy's vintage challenge at Art Journal Journey. This challenge wraps up at the end of this month, later this week.

My page has a background to look like a vintage doily, and this lady comes from an old 1950's LIFE magazine in my stash.  I stitched a bit, die cut and colored the spoons, and stamped the quote on a little patch of gesso. I also added a few silver sequins for some sparkle.

Don't forget to stop by  Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog  to see what the T gang has been up to.

That's it for me. I've got a busy week this week, with new challenges starting and things going on in real life.  

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and have a super T day and week ahead.