Happy Thoughts on a Sad Day

On a sad day of remembrance like this, we all need a happy thought or good news to remind us that life is sweet and that the world is full of good people who honor and cherish life just as we do.

…and what better news is there than the arrival of a new little girl!  

This little girl needs a quilt to commemorate her arrival on this beautiful earth.  I can’t tell you who she is right now because first of all her parents haven’t revealed her name and secondly because this quilt will be a surprise for her family.  But what I can give you is some sneak peaks at what her quilt is going to look like.  

I’ve wanted to make this quilt since I first learned that I was going to be a grandmother.  The pattern is from a 2009 issue of “McCall's Quick Quilts”.  

It  would’ve been Calvin’s baby quilt, if he’d been a girl, but I’m not complaining and now I can make it for someone else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though I “shopped my own stash” first….I still had to make a shopping trip but for the most part, this is going to be made from scraps.  

I love shopping the remnants baskets at quilt shops.  For $5.00 you can fill a large bag full and most of these scraps are large cuts.  This is a great way to add variety to your stash.

I have a small design change in mind for this quilt too but it’s part of the surprise and story.  I’ll have to share it with you later.

Gail

Things to Remember About September

For the past ten years, I’ve had conflicting emotions about September.  Since first grade the greater part of me has flat out loved this month and always will.

It’s because September is a transitional month between the best two seasons of the year—you know—salad and crockpot season LOL:)  September is also the month of shorter days, cool nights, greener grass, asters and goldenrod, sweaters, getting the flannel pj’s out, putting the down comforter back on the bed, open windows, turning off the A/C, warm sunny days, no mosquitoes, harvest time, picking apples, making homemade Concord grape jelly…last cookouts.  

It’s bittersweet.  I know I only have a few more weekends to enjoy sitting on my porch.

But then tomorrow is 9/11.   Do you remember what you were doing or where you were when you first heard of the terrorist attacks?  I do.  It was a beautiful day and tempted as I was to “play hooky”, I did go into the office that day. I had just finished checking my calendar and replying to emails, when another manager called  to tell me a plane flew into  the WTC.  Though it was tragic, I remember not feeling  alarmed—it just seemed like another terrible  accident--a small plane out of control, or a suicidal prop pilot--it happened before.  It wasn’t till the second plane hit, and then the third and then the fourth that any of us realized what was really happening  Someone in my office brought up a radio and we listened as the towers collapsed.  Most of us holding our hands to our mouths and sucking in our breath so that we wouldn’t cry out in horror.

I doubt any of us actually got any work done that day.  Our office was unusually quiet and subdued.  At noon, my boss’s wife called to tell him that one of the pilots on Flight 11 was their neighbor—a nice guy who loved to drive his John Deere around his small 5 acre farm.   I suggested we lower the US Flag and the company flags in the front parking lot to half mast and later when I left work for the day I saw that someone had done it. 

Things changed in America that day.   It’s no longer easy to check in for a flight or easy to get a drivers license or credit card or even open a bank account.  That’s the price we pay for 9/11 and I’m OK with that.

But what about the other things that 9/11 brought about?  That night we all  counted our blessings when our loved ones came home and called those that lived far away and told them what so many others never got the chance to say,  “I love you”.  I once was shy about expressing such emotion but 9/11 changed that forever and I never hesitate now.

The terrorists thought they were successful, they celebrated in their part of the world—how foolish they were if they thought they had succeeded in causing chaos, fear and anti-government sentiment here.   Instead they created unity--Americans rallied, we thumbed our noses at them by flying our flags everywhere from our car antennas and pick up trucks and we carried on.

I will never forget that day, I will never forget the loss or the victory---I hope you won’t either.

 

The Aftermath

Thank you for your comments and concern.  Thankfully Irene blew through here without causing too much havoc and headed for parts unknown, never to return.  There seemed to be a lot more hype about this storm than was necessary but I guess after Hurricane Katrina, no state government wants to come under fire again for its lack of preparation or response.

The lights flickering on and off lasted most of yesterday, then about 3 o’clock they did their final “flickering” and stayed out for good.  I wasn’t really concerned because  I had done such a good job of preparing.  I had candles, food, water, flashlights, cell phone, reading material, hand sewing projects and even a radio.

The only thing that I didn’t prepare for was being able to cook---I forgot to cover the gas grill and it got so wet from the torrential downpours that I couldn’t light it. :(

The power did come back on about 3:00 am this morning but so did everything else that had been left on, LOL.  It took me a good half hour to run around and shut off the lights and appliances and reset clocks on all of the appliances! 

I am grateful to have power again so quickly.  I know there are still many that don’t.  My sister is one of them. 

This morning I was expecting a lot of trees down on the way to work but there wasn’t any damage to see.  I have a feeling that all the bad storms and power outages we’ve had in the last couple of years since the ice storm of 2008 have thinned out the weak and sick trees. They’re usually the ones that topple first.  This is the worst destruction that I came across on my commute, and it’s my road.

 

 

Goodnight Irene

Irene has been downgraded to a tropical storm but she’s still packing a punch and giving us a good whipping, even here 40 miles from the NH coast.  

My lights have flickered on and off twice and I’ve decided to turn off my sewing machine after a morning of playing around with some new designs.  It’s a good idea to always have your machine hooked up to a surge suppressor, especially if it’s a computerized model.  You should also read the warranty that came with your machine.  You’ll find that most of the warranties only cover  the electronics for five years!  I don’t think that’s a very long time when I’ve had my Viking 6570 for over 30 years.  It’s probably the most expensive item to repair also.

Not sure how much longer I’ll have power because in the last half hour, we’ve had some pretty big gusts and it’s the noise that was the scariest part—sounds like a locomotive roaring by. 

So I’ll say “Goodnight and good riddance” to Irene now, in case I’m offline for the next couple of days!

Hoping for the best

So many people in the path of Irene.  Most of my family lives in that path on the South Shore of Boston, Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard but they’re safe, thankfully. Those that live in coastal areas have evacuated to higher, safer ground.  They’ve done what’s needed, they’re prepared and now it’s just the wait.

But how do you evacuate a beloved beach house?  The beach house of my friend Sandy is in a very vulnerable area prone to flooding and has endured many hurricaines and major storms in it’s 125 years— Hurricane Carol in ‘54, the blizzard of ‘78, Gloria in ‘85, and Bob in ‘91.

It’s a beach house that has seen several generations of children grow up in this family.  Cousins and grandchildren come each summer weekend with their parents to spend a day at the beach with their aunts, uncles and friends—boogey boarding in the waves, building sand castles and finding shells and seagull feathers  to show the adults, later standing excitedly in line for snow cones.  Their pictures adorn the walls of the beach house and tell the story of it’s history and theirs.

 

Each of the bedrooms has a name:  The Blue Room, Gert’s Room, The Fisherman’s Room, The Chimney room and Edie’s Room.  Named for what the room is or who’s room it once was.   

It’s not a fancy beach house, the walls are not insulated and there’s no central heat. There’s also no insuance.  It’s just too cost prohibitive to insure an 1885 building  that’s only used for 3 months in summer and  located in a flood zone but like a cat, the beach house seems to have nine lives and survives.  Even an anonymous arson attempt that destroyed the building next door and sent burning sparks onto it’s roof failed to destroy it.

I’m just praying it’s still got a few more of those lives left.

Letting go and moving on to grilled pizza!

Since I went back to work in April I’ve been struggling to keep up. Maybe some of you know where I’m coming from and can relate--the house, yard work, garden, bill paying, paperwork, errands, family, friends, community and commitments, it’s left little time for anything else.

I didn’t plan on this job turning permanent or being so all consuming—but those are good things, right?  With the economy in shambles and so many still unemployed, it would be selfish of me not to be grateful for the good fortune of finding a job with such potential for growth.

I hate disappointing anyone and “No” has never been a word I’ve been comfortable using when I’ve been asked to help out (a psychologist would probably have a lot to say about that).  I’m also a “recovering” procrastinator which means I’ve sometimes had to stay up till 3:00 AM to finish projects that had deadlines.  That was “OK”  while I was unemployed because I could steal a cat nap during the day, but I doubt I’d be able to come up with  a plausible explanation to my boss, if I did that at work. 

What’s really painful for me, is admitting that I can’t finish something that I started and having to give it back unfinished or pass it along to someone else partially complete. I feel a bit like a failure or a fraud.

So this past month, I’ve been having some serious conversations with “SELF” about what I can reasonably achieve in the limited time I have available outside of work and still feed myself and wear clean clothes.  The net result of these “heart to hearts”is that some of my leisure time activities have to be shelved and put on the back burner, at least for the present—maybe indefinitely. 

In order to do this, I had to make a list of the things that I’m unwilling to give up  with a scale of 1 to 10 based on their value and importance to the quality of my life,   Don’t worry---blogging made one of the top spots on the list!  So did sewing/quilting and gardening though I’m going to scale back a bit on gardening.

Some of the things that I’m shelving, I will miss but in the long view  they are not adding enough enjoyment for the amount of time that I allot to them and are cluttering up my life and my space and possibly holding me back from achieving more in my other areas of interest.

I feel good about the decisions I’ve made because I know I’ll now have more time to devote to the pursuits I really care about and I’ll be able to share more with all of you too!

So now on to grilled pizza!

I started making grilled pizza a couple of years ago.   I can remember why too—I’d picked up some pizza dough at the supermarket on a humid Friday night on the way home from work because my daughter and a friend were here for the weekend. After being closed up all day the house was just too hot and humid to turn on the oven.  

This pizza comes out delicious.  If you like thin crust pizza, flatbread pizza or anything other than deep dish you will LOVE, LOVE this pizza.

I should first tell you that I  use my gas grill just about everyday during the summer and fall and even in winter.  Heck the only time I haven’t used my grill is during a nor’easter! 

So here’s how to make grilled pizza.  Once you make this, you’ll never settle for any other kind.  It’s FAST too.

Grilled Pizza Ingredients: 

• Gas grill
• Pizza dough, either homemade or store bought.  (I buy a brand called “Portsmouth Pie Company” at my supermarket).  My favorite is whole wheat.  It should be room temperature for best results
• Olive oil for brushing or make ahead garlic oil (see recipe that follows)
• Pizza Sauce – any kind, jarred is fine, you can use left over spaghetti sauce.   I’ve also used Alfredo sauce for white pizza and mixed BBQ sauce with tomato sauce for BBQ chicken pizza.
• Any toppings you like—Fresh tomatoes from the garden, leftover veggies, spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, grilled eggplant, turkey pepperoni, leftover sausage meat, shredded cheese, leftover chicken, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese,

1) Preheat your  grill, if you have a top shelf, heat it to medium high, if you don’t have an upper shelf on your grill, light only one side or burner.  Spray the grill with PAM or brush with olive oil.    Close the cover of the grill and let it get hot.   One note here—make sure your grill racks are clean or whatever is stuck to them will be on the pizza, hopefully it will taste good.

2) Divide the ball of dough into four parts.  This will make four good sized individual pizzas.  You can refrigerate any dough that you don’t want to use up to 3 or 4 days (I wouldn’t go longer than that before using it up).

3) Shape the four pieces of dough into a ball and brush very lightly with olive oil and let them sit for about five to ten minutes to rest.  After that roll the dough out onto a plastic cutting board (mine is about 10” x 13”) so you can pick it up and put it on the grill.  Shape it into a rectangle as best you can with a rolling pin or your hands.   If it “fights” you, give it a short rest and repeat shaping till you have a pretty even thickness.  Brush it lightly with olive oil and let it rest another five minutes.

4) Now carry the cutting board to the grill and carefully peel the dough off the board and place it onto the top grill rack with the oil side down.  You still have a few seconds to pull/ push reshape it if it didn’t come off the board perfectly—this is a rustic pizza anyway so don’t OCD about the shape. 

5) If you don’t have an upper rack in your grill, do the same procedure but put the dough opposite the burner that’s lit (indirect grilling). 

6) Close the grill cover and wait 5 to 10 minutes, then using kitchen tongs—check the dough.  You’re only cooking one side at this point—the bottom, so carefully lift to check for grill marks and that the dough can be lifted easily off the grill.  The top should be under done but not doughy. 

7) When the bottom’s done, lift it onto the cutting board and brush the top lightly with oil, then flip it so the grill marks are on top and spread your sauce, seasonings, toppings and cheese onto the pizza crust.   Return it to the bottom grill rack.  Reduce the heat or turn off the opposite burner and close the grill.  Check every five minutes.   My grill takes about 15 to 20 minutes to cook the pizza using only one burner and indirect heat. 

Garlic Oil

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 head of garlic, cloves, separated, peeled and smashed.

Place garlic in a sauce pan with EVOO and heat on medium till tiny bubbles form around the pieces of garlic.  Watch carefully if garlic starts to brown, reduce heat,  garlic should just simmer for seven to ten minutes.  Remove from heat and cool.  Pour into an air-tight jar and store in the fridge for up to a week.  Yum, yum—use in salads, brush on veggies before grilling, use for garlic toast.  It’s wonderful.

Indian PIpes!

Just thought I’d share some pictures of Indian Pipes (Monotropa uniflora). I found blooming in the woods the other day.  Have you ever seen this unusual flower?  Believe it or not, it’s related to blueberries! 

It’s translucent white sometimes tinged pink and often has black spots. The reason for the lack of color is because it doesn’t have chlorophyll (non-photosynthetic). It grows in rich dense woods where little light hits the forest floor.  Even though it’s bizarre looking, It’s a true flower with leaves, sepals and petals but it’s also a parasite feeding off of beneficial micorrhyzal fungi that grow in the soil.

It’s common name refers to it’s resemblance to the clay pipes used by early Native Americans.  It’s beautiful and ethereal and looks as if it’s made out of glass. 

This is why I love walking in the woods —you just never know what magic you’ll find.