Just Layering

    Hi everyone.  Happy Thursday to you. February is wrapping up quickly so today I want to share my last page for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's February challenge at Art Journal Journey. Her challenge, as you probably know (if you stop by AJJ) is Anything, Anywhere, Anytime with Anyone.

   Thank you Elizabeth for hosting this month. You did a fabulous job, and I think so far you've published  a page a day. I'm impressed. I hope you'll participate more in AJJ as the year goes on. 

   Thank you everyone who have joined in also. There's still a couple of days to go before the month ends so if you're thinking about joining in, now is the time. 😉

   My page today is full of lots of anythings. 

   I'm not sure what I think of this page, mainly because it's so muted color wise, but I like the arrangement of my bits and pieces. It all started with this tag that I found in my stash. I added the outline and stamped the hearts, and I wanted something other than red so I used dark blue ink. I also stamped  the big pink heart. I stamped it on some painted paper, and then I fussy cut it.  (It's from a very old Stampington cube rubber stamp.) From there I added some things off my work table that include a large piece of door screen, a scrap of paper, a small crochet style flower and some fake postage stamps.

   My page still needed something to hold it all together, so I die cut the daisy chains, colored them in and then added them. They did the trick and made the other pieces feel like they weren't going to float off the page.

   I guess you'd say this is a true junk journal style page. 

  And not bore or depress anyone with more snow photos, but this first photo is from my yard. I was trying to figure out where to dump the newest batch of snow when I shoveled. In this photo you can see my shoveled pile from previous storms is already at deck height.

   This last photo makes me realize my shoveling issues were nothing. I trimmed down the person in this photo, but a friend sent me this. This is what her sister saw when she opened the garage door. This scene is in Providence, Rhode Island where they got an official 41 inches/ 104 cm of snow on Monday.  Yes,this is just one snowfall. 

   Yup, it's time for some warm weather and spring. 😉

T Stands for Winter's Return-AUGH!

   Hi everyone. Happy new week to you. And hello to everyone who stops by for T Day from my link over at  Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog .

   So what's new with me? Not much. Last week I did some spring cleaning which is not exciting but which always feels good to get done.  I cleaned some kitchen  cabinets, dusted the cobwebs away from the exposed beams, washed blankets, etc. Of course there are still about 50 other cleaning projects which may or may not get done, depending on how much longer there's still snow on the ground and how many blue sky days we get. The long term forecast for this week (right now) doesn't look very spring-like so I may be inside and may be doing more little projects. 😉 Or maybe I'll be outside shoveling. 😣

    For much of last week we had 40 degrees F/ 4-5 degrees C temperatures  and blue skies. It was great.

   One day I met up with a couple of friends, and we went for a 4.3 mile / 6.9 km walk.  At one point we saw 6 red tailed hawks circling together and calling out to each other.    This is the best photo I could get because I only had my phone on me. But look at that blue sky! ❤

   It was a fantastic walk,  and I enjoyed being in the sun.

  As you can see walking at home is difficult lately because my road went from snow/ice covered to this mud. (And this isn't even mud season mud yet.) Now with all the new snow, the road is covered with  a layer of snow again. 

   I can't even look at this any more.  

  I took this photo Saturday morning before we did any snow removal because we had a few new inches last Friday night.  And now as I write this post on Monday we're at the end of another  storm. 😩😭  We've been having an old fashion nor'-easter;  i.e. snow and strong winds to start the week. I know the city 2 towns south of my house was in the blizzard zone, so it could have been that at my house, but maybe not. I'm not certain. I hope if you're in the blizzard belt you stay safe and warm. I saw on the news some of the snow totals from southern New England. They certainly got hit big time. 

  I have 2 photos today for T. The first one was taken after my walk when I went out to lunch with my friends.

   We ate at the golf course restaurant on Pease (a former US air Force base in the area), and they make the best pastrami sandwiches, so I had one with their homemade chips and water for my drink.

   One other thing I did last week was make some sourdough muffins. You don't let these rise like you would bread, but you do add a cup of sourdough discard. Then you can add whatever you'd like to them. I added chopped dates, orange rind and the juice of that orange. They were not only tasty but light and fluffy too.   This photo shows my lunch when I was home one day.I just had to try one of the muffins-grin. In the glass is a coffee protein shake.

   If anyone wants the recipe let me know in the comments and I'll add it to next week's T Day post.

  That's all for me. I hope everyone has a great T day and week ahead. 

   

T Stands for the Back Up Plan

    Hi everyone. Happy new week to you, and for everyone who stops by for T Day over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog, happy T day to you also.

   What's new with me?  The good news is that our temperatures were a bit warmer than they had been. This was especially true this past weekend, and they say Tuesday (this T Day)  we could hit 40 (or a bit more) degrees F/4 degrees C. It's been weeks since it has been that warm even though that really isn't all that warm. But since I'm used to really cold temperatures it feels pretty warm.  I'm very excited about that. 😀

   Last week I made 2 loaves of this banana sandwich bread. It's  not a quick bread, but a yeasted bread that you add bananas to. 

   Besides adding bananas, you add cinnamon and orange peel. Unlike  banana quick (or unyeasted) bread, I can't say it tastes very much like bananas, but it does have  a unique flavor and makes delicious toast or even French toast.

   I've made this bread a couple of times before, and the recipe comes from this bread book that I've had for years. 

   I know not all American robins migrate, but I was quite excited to see this guy out eating bird food on the ground by the feeder.

 I know we can't count on spring until April (and sometimes not even then) but I can hope, maybe, this is a sign it's coming early this year. 🤞

    The other good news was that when I went to check the beehive on Sunday there were some dead bees laying in the snow. You may wonder why that is good news, but since it needs to be above 50-55  degrees F/10-13 degrees C before I can open the hive, I need to look for signs that they are still alive. You can usually hear the bees if you put your ear on the hive, but seeing it's winter the hive is wrapped so you can't hear inside. Seeing a few dead bees on top of the snow (and we had our last snow a week ago) means that there are live bees inside and they have cleaned out some of the bees that haven't  made it.

  In last Friday's post I shared a bit about the dog saga where Maddie was taking over Pete's bed. I mentioned how Pete was quite upset about it. Not that there was ever any growling, because those 2 get along quite well (they can even eat food at the same time out of one dish although they always get fed with their dishes). Well I think those 2 have come to terms that they will take turns in the bed.

   The only thing Pete didn't like was when Maddie decided  maybe they could share it together. I didn't get a photo, but as soon as Maddie crawled in, Pete got up and left. I don't know if she was trying to take over the bed and get him out of it or she wanted to be close to him. By the look on his face he was quite disgusted. 😡

   Finally I need to share a drink for T this week.

   This past Saturday my daughter and son-in-law were coming home from a little winter vacation and were flying into Manchester (New Hampshire). They were due in at lunch time so we were planning on meeting them for lunch. However, Friday night my daughter said she was starting to feel awful and when we texted with them Saturday morning she said she thought she had a fever and felt really terrible. Sadly our lunch was cancelled. I haven't seen my daughter since Christmas, and I was looking forward to seeing her.

  But just because they couldn't make it to lunch, didn't mean my husband and I did have a backup plan. We decided to drive to Manchester anyhow and go to the Puritan. The Puritan is a large family friendly restaurant that is known for their chicken tenders. They serve lots of other food, but I have only had their chicken tenders. I keep thinking maybe if they were closer to home (they are an hour away) I would try other things, but since I only get there 2-3 times a year, I stick with their chicken tender meal. 😏

  They are also known for mudslides, and they have a big mudslide menu. The special for February was a strawberry cheesecake one, so that's what I had. Well I only had the half size because that is actually enough for me, especially when I was driving. 

  I finished the mudslide, but I can never finish the chicken tenders. I'll get 2 more meals from the ones I took home.

  That's all for me today. Have a great new week and T day too.

It's a Friday in Winter Again

    Hi everyone. Happy end of another Monday through Friday work week. Not that I go to work Monday through Friday any longer, but I still separate the work week from the weekend.

   Today I am joining Nicole at Friday Face Off and Gillena at Friday Lunch Break. 

   The good news about this past week is we've had several warmer days. Now  by warmer I mean it's been around the freezing point, but after weeks of some very cold days with wind chills driving the temperature down to around -10 degrees F/ -23 degrees C or even colder, these days at about the freezing point are wonderful. 👍 😀 ❤

  My husband is now semi-retired and working only 3 days a week. The other day he was off, and we went out to run an errand and to get some lunch. On our way to lunch we noticed that the runway on the Big Lake near us (Lake Winnepeesaukee) was open, and there were a lot of planes coming and going. We stopped to watch them for a bit.

  In fact, the frozen lake was hopping.  You can tell it's been a cold winter because for several years there wasn't thick enough ice for this runway to open. This is the only FAA sanctioned frozen lake airport in the lower 48 states of the US, and since it was a beautiful winter day at that point, I think  the pilots (and people) were taking advantage of being able to be outside.

    Here's (photo below) a plane taxing down the runway to take off. I couldn't get a photo of that actual liftoff since he was too far away to take a photo on my phone. I had hoped to catch a photo of a plane coming in for a landing since they land at the base of the bay near where we were, and I thought I had snapped a couple, but I guess I didn't. 😞

   And ha ha, notice the covered pool table and the raised fire pit at the bottom of the above photo. Off to the side of the runway are lots of ice fishing shacks.  I guess some people want something to do while they wait to hook a fish.

   All this adventure is right across the street from one of my favorite summer time places to eat, which many of you have seen several times in some of my posts. It was too bad they close for the winter (though they never even did take their umbrellas down this past winter) because a  Pop's lobster roll would have hit the spot. 😏

   Instead we drove around the lake and went to a local NH only chain restaurant that serves  tasty food. I had a bowl of fish chowder .

   By the time we finished lunch the clouds had moved in and a couple of hours after we arrived home we had another 4 inches/ 10 cm of snow. Here's the view from the restaurant parking lot. This view is another bay in another part of the same  big lake (Lake Winnepeesaukee.)

   I need a face  for Nicole's Friday Face off, and since the only photos of faces I've taken all week are of the dogs, I guess one of them will have to do. I take daily dog photos to send to my daughter since she likes seeing what the family canines are up to

   Now this may just look like Miss Maddie laying in a dog bed, but this has been Mr Pete's point of concern all week. This is actually Pete's bed, and Pete isn't the most flexible of dogs. Especially since Maddie believes her bed is my and my husband's actual bed, and she will  growl at Pete if he even looks  at it. For the last 10 years, this has been Pete's bed, and he hasn't had to share it.

   Then all of a sudden during the Superbowl, while Pete was laying on the floor elsewhere, Maddie climbed into Pete's bed, stretched out and went to sleep. Pete didn't know what to do. He kept looking at me and at my husband with a  practically panicked expression. If expressions were words, his face would be saying  "Oh no. Help! Maddie is in MY bed. What can I do?" And this event didn't happen just once.  It's been happening daily all week. 

  If you looked carefully  you can probably see that there are 2 dog beds in the photo,so I tried separating them so they would both have a bed. Ha ha. Neither of them would get in either bed, and Pete's expression this time said "What's happened to my bed?".  So the beds went back together, and the saga continues.

  Ha ha. You can tell life is wildly exciting at my house, can't you? 😂

  That's all for me. I hope everyone has  a great start to the weekend and of course, a lovely Valentine's Day if you celebrate. 

 

Friday Photos

    Hi everyone. Happy Friday to you. I've had  good week, at least as of Thursday morning as I write this post. One reason is because my husband went back to work (at least part time). Not that I am trying to get him out of the house, but that means he's improved enough to sit at his desk and do some consistent work. 👍 😏  It's good that he is healing so we can get back to regular life.

     I'll be linking a up to Nicole's Friday Face Off and also Gillena's Friday Lunch Break.

      I'll start today's post with some wintery views from last week when a friend and I went bird watching on Plum Island off of Newbury, Massachusetts. (Here's the other post about that if you're interested: T Stands for an Owl Hunt.) For those of you who are sick of winter (that includes me), sorry for the winter views, but that's all there is around my area.

Above is a plowed a pull off. Below, the snow pile at the end of this pull off was taller than me.

I like this next photo even though the bird isn't all that in focus, but you can tell it's a cardinal.

But you can see some birds and their faces in these next couple of photos. I know there's a blue jay but I'm not sure the type of sparrow is in this first photo.

This trail went out to a marsh view, but our exploration of it has to wait until there isn't so much snow (or no snow).

The salt marsh  looked like the tundra.

And ha ha, the bathrooms were shoveled out, but it was a chilly visit.

Even on the inside.

   My other faces for the week are these 2 moochers. They're looking so old, but then again, they are. 

   I have been knitting some evenings while I watch TV. (I've also been working on a 2025 photo book, and some nights I'm just crashing on the couch and then it's off to bed-😉.) I'm getting closer to finishing my sweater. I hope to finish it before winter is over, but I hope by that point  it has warmed up enough so I can't wear it until next year. 😉 

I lightened it up quite a bit so you can see some of the darker colors better. 

    I'm really liking how it's coming out, especially since I'm making my own design as I go along. 

    That's all for me. Have a super Friday and start to your weekend. 

Some Views from a Winter Walk

 Hi everyone. Happy Friday. Another week is quickly wrapping up.

     Today I have some photos from a late winter walk I took last weekend, and  I'll end this post with a journal page. That page is  for both my Home Sweet Home challenge at Art Journal Journey. and is  my face for Nicole's Friday Face Off.  I'll also be joining Gillena's Friday Lunch Break.

     With some warm March weather, we've not only been getting a lot of melt but the frost is coming out of the ground. That means a lot of MUD. Last weekend the temperatures hovered around freezing during the day and were even colder at night, so the dirt roads solidified a bit, at  least enough so I could walk.👍

   Puddle ice made some interesting shapes.

Some lichen.

       Here's some signs of last year and a sign that nice weather is coming.

     Today's photos are from the  walk I took on the road out from my mother-in-law's home. She lives way down this road where it narrows, and it is now even more narrow from snow plowing. Her house is closed for the winter and the driveway isn't plowed, so we parked in a pull off area. My husband took the dogs and went trekking in to check on her house, and I headed down the road for my walk.

    I need a face for Friday Face Off, so let me share another nostalgic journal page. I'm dedicating this one  to my Nana  because she loved to cook and made some really fantastic food too.❤❤❤

     This lady is a Tim Holtz image, not my actual Grandmother.

    Two of my prized possessions are her recipe  cards  and her cast iron skillet.  I was very close to her and we used to do all kinds of things together like go to the movies and even take a few trips.  I still miss her a lot as she was also someone I could talk to while growing up.

     Have a super rest of your day and a nice weekend ahead too. 

Friday!

    Hi everyone. Happy Friday. Another week has flown by, and so far this week I can say we've gotten no new snow at my house. Hurrah. Instead we had some rain.  And one day we hit 58 degrees (14.4 degrees C). ❤❤❤And with snow still on the ground and warmer weather, we've had lots of fog too. But rain and fog are spring weather which I will take. 😀 

 I'm going to start this post with a journal page for my Home Sweet Home challenge at Art Journal Journey.  I am also joining Friday Face Off hosted by Nicole and also Friday Lunch Break hosted by Gillena. 

     I think of this page as the frogs being at home in the pond. 😏

     I used a blue glaze on the background. After covering the page and while the glaze was still wet, I made some brush strokes in it. Since the background is representing water I wanted to have it have a bit of motion. Once that dried, I used some various frog and lily pad stamps from 3 different stamp sets. They were all stamped on white paper, colored and fussy cut before I attached them on my page. I used a grassy imaged stamp along the bottom and also a dragonfly stamp to add the dragonflies. Finally I stamped the quote. I know some of the images are stamps that came from a Hero Arts set and some are from a Woodware set, but a few of the stamps are in a set that had no labeling  (since I don't have the packaging) so I don't know who made them.

     I also have a few photos to share. Here's some antique architecture.

     Here's a covered bridge which looks a bit drab in the light of a grey day.

     The bridge is between Cornish, New Hampshire and Windsor, Vermont. You can see the Connecticut River under the  bridge is still basically frozen, but I'm not sure if it's frozen enough to be safe to walk over. This interesting church steeple in the next photo is in Windsor. It also looks a bit drab against the sky. It's interesting how my phone was able to pick up the bits of blue within the grey when my eye only saw grey. It reminds me of how the phone could pick up the colors of the northern lights when my eye could barely see them last fall. 

     And to end this post on a bright note, my tulips bulbs from Costco are looking better and better every day,

     That's all for me today. Wishing everyone a great start to the weekend.