Saturday in the Park

A picture is worth a thousand words, so let's make a long winded post here.



















The Pearson Family came to visit uncle Mark and Aunt Bea this Saturday.
We walked up to the Pine Cove park to have our lunch under the oak tree and to explore the rock formations.



















Laura is having tasty pumkin cream and some baby crackers.


















Spitzers wold like to have a little pumkin too.


















Buck thinks doggies are abused. They should be allowed to sit on the quilt and join in the lunch feast instead of being forced to sit under the tree a few feet away.
































Laura and Kathryn are watching the boys gearing up to get scratched up on the rocks.
























The picture came out a bit dark, but the hat is a dead give away.......
Yes it is Tom! Hang in there Tom let me get a picture of you!


















Laura is getting grumpy with her auntie. OK...OK...let me practice holding a baby girl will ya?
It feels very different from holding Spitz.


















Jared says: "I don't need any help!"


















Buck and Spitz wonder why can't they go climb, they are roped up and all....


















Tom and Mark are having too much fun playing on the rocks.


















Laura got tired first.


















Come on everybody....follow me...

Jared knows an easier route.

Buck is just plain hot and ready for the snow.

Jared is a born climber.

Let's have some view!

Back in the house. Jared came out with three band-aids. He did not get hurt in the park. Oh no. He did all the climbing and never got one scratch. On the way home, on the flat pavement is where he took a fall to get his boo boos. After all, you can't have a day in the park and no band-aids.

We had a little playtime in the living room, while Mark and Tom were swinging the axe outside. They needed to do something physical...

Laura is playing away. She crawls and she is fast, so we had to keep our eyes on her to keep her out of trouble.

Jared is riding the camel back saddle and playing with his soldiers. I'm sorry Jared, what are they again?

You have to explain it to me next time.

We had a great day. Thank you Pearson Family for the fun Saturday.

We love you!!!

Rainy Weekend

Those are clouds. I haven't seem them since I left the east coast.

But, they made their way up to Pine Cove Saturday morning.

My garden is happy and all the plants and flowers act like a miracle occurred, which of course did. It rained for a whole morning!

We wondered all weekend what could a little baby girl be occupied with.

Grandpa said, she is either sleeping, yelling or eating.

...and then, we got the pictures to tell it all.

Snuggle up and snooze.

I'm a GRANDMA!

Well, I have been for almost 9 months, but this is for real!!!

Here is Dani holding little Tatum.















The proud Brandt Parents. Good job Dani & Greg!!!!


















Tatum was born on August 18th at 10:30 pm.
She is 6 lbs 6 ozs and 17 inches.

















The cutest little girl and I can't wait to see her!


I don't want to snorkel right now...I'd rather have something to eat, please!

Seriously! Anything other than finger food around here?

Still Quilting

This quilt has been in progress for months.

The white fabric with the blue flowers was sitting in the storage room for 4 years.

A day of fabric shopping in Lancaster with Mom Hougton resulted in the yellow fabric.

The quilt was made in co-production with Annamarie Padula of course.

She did the quilting and her free handed floral design is beautiful.

The wardrobe asked for a new look too, so new quilt, new bedroom.

Mark said, his blanket is too short and his feet are out in the cold.

You know what that means. I'm cutting out the fabric for the next one...

The Maiden Voyage

Well, today I took it on the maiden voyage after 12 years of dormancy. The poor 76 CJ5 sat abandoned in garages and in the yard never once fired up or driven. It still had the old 1997 gasoline, oil, filters...etc.

After the last few weeks of changing everything, I installed a new battery, added clean fuel and it fired right up! I did not even have to rebuild the Holley carb. The only problem was the breaks.

Changing out the master cylinder and a good flush & bleed I fired it up again, drove it up the street and back.


















Here we go......


















Holy Cow! What a feeling!
It was like my old pal and I were never separated.
Noted a few things to tweek here and there before I take it out again.
Next time, a short jaunt to the filling station to get a big drink.
AND THEN....with a full tank of fuel, out to the woods!!!!!!!!

Oh happy days are here again!
Now maybe my wife will get off my back about fixing the Jeep.

What? Buttermilk?

These are Emeril LaGasse's blueberry muffins:

I only modified it slightly.

No buttermilk in my house! I'm not one of those cooks that runs to the store in the middle of a cooking show. I improvise.

Here is my buttermilk: third plain joghurt, third sour cream, third whole milk,

mix them up to give a cup, close enough!

The muffins are soooooooooooo yummy.

Click on the title for the recipe.

Can't go wrong with Emeril's recipes.

This is not an advertisement!