Happy COVID New Year!

We have done everything we could to remain safe during this pandemic:  JP isolated for 7 months in 2020, we all have been triple vaccinated, we never stopped masking in public - and in fact started double masking or wearing N95s about a week ago.  In spite of all of these precautions, JP brought COVID home for the New Year.  He was infected at work (of course) but began quarantining as soon as he got home.

I had to test in order to return to work, and have been negative.  J had to test to return to the dorms, and she was negative as well.

None of us have had any symptoms, except for JP, who had some sneezing prior to his test, and lost his sense of taste and smell for a couple of days.

He has tested negative again, and moved back with the family now.

Please stay safe out there everyone, COVID infections aren't always so mild for everyone!

Sweet Sixteen

 Guess who turned 16 right after Christmas (and who's birthday was overlooked by visitors and this year - a funeral)?  That's right - L turned sweet sixteen this year!

We finally had a chance to have a little family birthday party for her on New Year's Eve.  (Sheesh.)  We are hoping to have a bigger to-do for her friends sometime this month.

Happy Birthday, my dear, dear daughter!

Santa Claus and Ho Ho Ho and Mistletoe and Presents...

Oh my goodness has our Christmas break become busy! 

J came home the weekend before Christmas.  L had to continue school, and I had to work through Wednesday.  The following day, we began baking our Christmas cookies.  We also spent several hours hauling and stacking wood in the lean-to by the woodburner.

We finished our cookies and finished watching our annual Christmas movies on Christmas eve.  J decided to bake Christmas feet and fish, while L made some Amish conjoined twins.

Christmas morning brought fresh cinnamon rolls baked by JP.  We all enjoyed opening our presents.  J was especially happy with the cape that I made her.  We had a delicious Christmas dinner with my parents.

L's 16th birthday was on the Monday after Christmas.  We will try to celebrate tomorrow, since JP is working again today.  I made her crepes for breakfast for her birthday.  A few of them actually turned out ok!

Monday evening, both of my brothers, and 2 of my nephews arrived from out of town.  They stayed overnight, and then we all left bright and early Tuesday morning in a caravan for OH and the funeral for my grandma.  My youngest brother and his boys stayed for the next day, but my brother from TX had to return home immediately after the funeral.

We watched some movies, and put together a puzzle.  It was a nice visit.

Today L is working on homework.  J is cleaning out her fishbowl, and I am washing and putting away bedding from our many visitors. 

Tomorrow is New Year's eve, and then we start a brand new year!

Tiny Grandmom

My last living grandparent passed away this morning.  My grandma was 106 years old. She lived through 21 presidents and 2 pandemics.  She outlived 2 husbands and beat COVID last year.

When J was just a little tyke, she was trying to figure out how her great grandmother fit into the scheme of things.  She decided that her grandmother was "Grandmom," and her great grandmother was "Tiny Grandmom."  We have called her that for the past 16 years or more.

This is J with me, grandma and great grandma - a 
year or two before she dubbed her "Tiny
Grandmom."

In 2008 L and her cousin joined Grandmom and
Tiny Grandmom for photos.

The girls invited Grandmom and Tiny Grandmom
to a tea party in 2011

Grandma was the first person that I ever saw putting on make up.  I remember watching her when she and grandpa came to visit us in Idaho, when I was about 6 or 7 years old.  During the same visit, I was also pretty impressed that her teeth could come out!

Back in the 80's, after my grandpa passed away, grandma decided to go into Mennonite VS (Voluntary Service), teaching arts and crafts in a Nursing Home.  During that time, she learned how to do ceramics.  For many years, she made ceramic dolls, complete with beautiful outfits.  Most of her granddaughters were gifted one of her "babies."

JP was my "plus one" to my grandma's 2nd wedding.  It was one of our early dates, and we spent the car ride from Virginia to Ohio and back talking for hours and learning to know each other better.

She has been such an institution in my life, it's hard to believe that Tiny Grandmom is gone.  She lived an amazing life, and I feel so lucky to have been a part of it!

Embrace

Once again, time got away from me!  We have all been going at 90 MPH for a few weeks.  We are just days away from Thanksgiving Break, so I'm hoping we'll have some down time for a change!

JP and I have been working hard to winterize the garden.  I dug all the carrots a couple of weeks ago, which was the last harvest to do.

Two of the carrots were locked in an embrace.

We have put many, MANY loads of leaves and grass clippings in there, hoping for better yields and easier soil to work next year.  We keep hoping...

L's theater production, "The Elves and the Shoemaker" went well, with 3 shows. 

The following weekend was the Cinderella Ball (CB.)  L went with a group of friends, and even got to ride in a limo!

Last weekend was the annual Turkey Trot fundraiser for the Library.  J came home for the weekend specifically for her birthday (can I possibly have a 19 year old daughter?)...

...and to volunteer at the fundraiser.  She sang the National Anthem before the race, and helped out in general where needed.

She is working from home today and tomorrow until her Thanksgiving Break officially begins on Wednesday.  L has a half day of school on Wednesday, and then she is off for several days as well.

My Grandma, affectionately known as "Tiny Grandmom" by my kids, turned 106 yesterday.  Hospice called all her children 2 weeks ago to say that they didn't think that she had long.  She rallied (again) and is still hanging in there!

Yesterday we all managed to get away to the city to our South to watch "Dune."  It's the first time we've been to a theater in 2 years!  It was a nice get away!

In between all of these beautiful things, have been some really hard and scary things happening too.  I'm not ready to share those on this platform, but let me just say this - hug your kids.  Let them know that you love them without bounds.  Be thankful that your family can gather together this Thanksgiving!

Finally Fall

After weeks and weeks of warm weather, it seems that Fall has finally come.  This week we have had cool nights and days, and even some frost in the valley one morning.

Yesterday was misty all day, but I decided to get some things finished in the garden anyway.  I came in damp and muddy, but I got my squashes and flint (Indian) corn harvested.  I spread leaves that my dad swept up and grass that I swept up.  We need to put a LOT more leaves and compostables on the garden yet this fall, but all in good time!  There are still some carrots out there and basil to harvest.

I had 2 butternut squash plants, which went crazy.  Here is my harvest - I will be sharing for sure!  The flint corn came from a cob of corn that I had been using for years to decorate with, but it got dropped several times, and all of the kernels were loose.  I decided to plant some of it, and this is the result (keep in mind that we only got a half dozen ears of sweet corn from the garden this year - apparently not a good corn year in general):

There were a couple of squashes that needed to be used right away, so I started some Curried Butternut Squash soup in the crock pot (this still needs to be blended with a can of coconut milk):

I picked up an eggplant when grocery shopping last week, so I stuck it in the oven to roast with a few cloves of garlic so that I could make one of our favorite dips, Melanzzano.  JP and I first tried this in a restaurant in Alaska that we visited in 2000.  I have googled this recipe many times, and merely find that "melanzano" means eggplant in Italian.  I guess it's a bit similar to Baba Ganoush.  I roast an eggplant cut in half and drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt, along with 4 large garlic cloves, likewise drizzled at 350* for about 40 min.  When cooled, I scoop the flesh out of the eggplant peels and whirl it in the food processor with 1 cup grated parmesan, 8 oz cream cheese, and 1/2 cup olive oil until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

While on the vegetable kick, I grated up the last zucchini from the garden (which has been lying on the kitchen counter for several weeks) and made Zucchini Brownies with Chocolate Peanut Butter frosting.  Although it's a tried and true recipe, L and I plan to "taste test" them this evening, before sharing them with my parents at dinner tomorrow!

With the oven and the crock pot on for several hours, the house has stayed nice and warm on this dreary and chilly day.  You can smell roasted garlic, curry and chocolate, depending on where you stand.  Just don't hang out in the breezeway - it smells like something died out there!  I spent a couple of hours yesterday clearing the entire thing out, shaking out all of the coats and shoes, wiping down doors, baseboards and shelves, and mopping (twice.)  Thankfully the only dead things that I found were spiders and stink bugs.  In any case, it is super clean now, and I feel like I've had a couple of very productive days!

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Boost

I got my Pfizer booster shot last week.  I didn't quite have the strong reaction that I got last time - no fever this time, and bad headache and joint pain weren't as severe as I remember from January.  I was down and out for the whole next day, but am feeling fine now!

We have done some other things to boost our spirits up here on the hill this Fall.

We were gifted a rooster.  He is not the brightest of all birds - it took 3 days of me stuffing him through the door of the chicken house twice a day for him to figure out how to do it on his own - but he is quite gentle and has a lot to say.

The black walnut tree in the chicken yard was well endowed this year.  I have picked up half  a trailer load one time and half a tractor bucket full another.  It needs to be done again.

The hens are laying quite well.  I found this enormous egg last week:

When I cracked it open, it had 2 yolks!

Besides being great layers (we get almost 3 dozen eggs weekly from our 5 hens), the hens also seem to be good excavators.  They scratched such deep holes in the dirt near their door, that it took 4 layers of stones to get them closer to the opening so it wasn't so hard to go in and out.  Luckily we have no lack of big rocks to use.

L volunteered to help out the band in a couple of competition parades last week.  She has also been really busy with the Fall theater production, AND spent the night at the hospital last week for a sleep study (the sleep apnea has been corrected - hallelujah!)

J has been home from YSU for 2 separate weekends.  Most recently, she came home last weekend to take in the Renaissance Festival.  It was an interesting visit, and she went back to her dorm afterwards with a reproduction sword.  

JP stays busy hauling water and mowing grass (and hoping the grass will soon stop growing!)

I have been pulling plants and weeds from the garden and mulching with grass clippings (so I am hoping for the grass to continue growing!)  I got the pool whipped into shape and then closed down for the winter - it takes all 4 of us to get the cover on every year.  

We have somehow slid into Fall, and my brain is still trying to adjust - I'm working on that.  In the meantime, there seems no end to the other work around this place!

Happy Fall!