ABC River's Edge of Peaceful Pipersville

Merry Christmas to ALL!

We are having a white Christmas this year- but barely, as the rain has been steadily falling for several days now.  Luckily the temperatures have held and it is not turning to ice so we are able to drive to Dad's.  This is a first, Christmas there instead of here or at my parents home.  I have never been a Santa girl, in fact I am sort of anti-Santa.  Chritmas is about the birth of Jesus.  The Orthodox churches have the gift giving at the correct time in my opinion, when the Wise Men came-celebrated here January 6 as Epiphany.  So, to me, Christmas is really about celebration, family and food.  And I am glad we are able to do those things together.

Here's wishing you the Christmas celebration of your choice, whether that be a quiet one remembering family and friends or one in a home filled with noise and mess.  And if you don't celebrate Christmas, take time to enjoy the day in some way special to you.

Back later with a picture of the tree.

All I Want For Christmas

is my right lower molar.

And Christmas came a bit early as yesterday I got my lovely gold crown installed.  When they took off the temporary crown they said I had worn it out.  That's because I am a firm biter.  But at least chewing is an option again-just in time for Christmas dinner. 

While I was In Madison I took some time to shop a bit- Wal-Mart, Half-Price Books, Michaels and Woodman's grocery.  Now I know Christmas is imminent, but people in line at the grocery were stressing over the coming storm.  We live in Wisconsin, not the first storm, nor the last we will be having.  The roads home were a bit dicey and is snowing yet again.  Christmas is two days off so we will need to wait and see if the ice comes true, but tomorrow is a stay at home day.  Angel food cake will be baked and decorated.  Nests (chow mein noodles with nuts and melted chocolate and butterscotch chips also need to be made. 

Then there's the gift wrapping.  I am not the best wrapper in the world, but I try.  One of my favorite Christmas memories is opening gifts Christmas morning.  Each was carefully opened and the wrap set aside as well as the ribbons.  Then after all was done the tape was removed or cut off and the  wrap ironed and rolled on tubes for use the next year.  Later, Bob & I shredded wrap to use in packages.  It's all about reduce, reuse, recycle. 

The Joy of Winter Solstice

Last night was Winter Solstice- honoring the longest night of the year.  Currently we have a mere 9 hours and 58 minutes of daylight.  But as of today that will be ever so slowly increasing.  I do not know how the people from the land of the midnight sun handle this, since they also must be the land of the noon night.  Over the years I have thought I might have SAD-Seasonal Affective Disorder, but also over the years I have gotten better about handling the long nights and short days.  Now, since I don't get up and on the road long before dawn and am not driving home in the dark things seem better.

It is very understandable why this time of year was chosen to celebrate the birth of Christ (there is a great deal of scientific evidence to support it actually being in spring).  There's the pagan Solstice celebrations to counteract and the fact that people really need something to look forward to in this gloom.

Our eastern shore got hit hard with snow last weekend and from all evidence we are going to get our share just in time for the holiday.  Actually it is snowing as I type this.  But we are a tough Wisconsin breed and will do all we can, short of risking life and limb, to celebrate together on Friday.

If only we could celebrate Thanksgiving in October like our Canadian friends to the North and not cram 3 holidays in 6 weeks.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We are rounding up a productive weekend.  Ann came Friday night and we frosted the cutout sugar cookies

While I was at work, Ann frosted the molasses cutouts

After which we went for lunch at El Mariachi's to honor my birthday and then to JoAnn's to shop for fleece to make alpaca coats

 

Ann found yarn for scarves and a baby blanket.  In the evening we knit while football was on and Chex Mix baked

 

This morning after breakfast Spritz cookies were decorated and baked (and I think a first, no curse words were used in the process)

Bob is busy tanning Deenie's hide, but took time out for a visit with a Gold-Laced Wyandotte

 
 
  

Sad Day at River's Edge

Deenie-daughter of Peruvian Royal Inca Legend and Destiny died today.

She was 9 years old and the mother of 5- Artemio, Dolly, Diego, Molly and Penny (the last 2 girls were here with her). 

Bob fed them all yesterday and she was coughing, spitting up and drooling.  He did the Heimlich on her as well as massaged her neck, which seemed to help.  When he went down this morning she was laying on her side and had labored breathing.  We called the vet again and she said she would be coming out.  But, unfortunately she died before the vet arrived.  Dr. thinks she aspirated and perhaps had pneumonia.

This is a first for us-losing an alpaca.  Not something anyone wants to think about, but now we have to.

But let's think of her running free in a beautiful field, silver grey coat shining in the sun.

Happy, happy, happy Birthday...to me!

Today is the day, 54 years ago I was born.  Seeing how it is 9 days until Christmas, any celebration has been frequently off-shifted, which is fine by me.  My Dad and sister each have a special cake for their day (Dad's is dark chocolate with 7-minute frosting and Ann's is pink-white checkerboard with pink 7-minute frosting).  I had a special dinner- pork roast, mashed potatoes and lima beans.  You were fine up to the last item, weren't you?  Then I heard the cosmic, EWWW!  But, I like lima beans, it's MY birthday, so we had lima beans.

Fast forward to today- going to see Dad, go shopping and to lunch.  I think we will go to the Silver Spring House and I might even have dessert.

Later I will meander home and make some stops at shops along the way - Penzeys, Half-Price Books, Michaels, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Sentry, Target, Brennans and whatever else I can fit in.  Is a bad time of the year to be out shopping, but I will try to keep my wits about me.

Have a cup of coffee in commemoration of The Boston Tea Party, held on this day in 1772.  Or play a little Beethoven, born December 16, 1770.

Or, eat a lima bean!

 

What we've got here is a failure to communicate

I remember the first time I saw the classic film Cool Hand Luke and heard the above quote drawled out.  But my communications issue has nothing to do with those beautiful blue eyes, or eggs or prison, rather an issue with the internet, wireless router and/or snow. 

Last Wednesday we got SNOW.  Not just a dusting, but a dumping of about a foot of wet, heavy , white wintriness.  After sweeping both satellite dishes I was able to get television to come in, but no internet.  Off and on since then the world wide web on the laptop has been accessible.  But not much.  And Sunday was out totally again. 

My thought was that the cloud cover was knocking out the waves, but once again I was proved wrong.  Upstairs to the cold, where I checked the internet and was working just fine, thank you very much.  After work the decision was made to try one more time.  Everything was shut down and rebooted and voila'-internet & wireless, including the printer. 

So, sorry for the outage, but we are back in business and I will be posting again. 

And, writing of posting-what do you think of the 3 column set-up?  My thought to add it was due to the recipe addition, but in retrospect, I am not thrilled and think after the holiday we will be back to 2 columns, but shorten up the book of the week section.  Thoughts, opinions, anyone?

Yarn Yearnings

In a previous post I noted I was going to attempt to not purchase more sock yarn. HA!  My favorite LYS (Local Yarn Store), the Knitch, had a coupon, $15 off a $50 purchase.  Trying to be supportive of the shop I went out for their Holiday Open House.  There were some little Christmas project instructions to be had, along with a cookie.  And I looked at yarn.  Why?  I don't know.  It's not as though the Wall of Wool in the attic has come down any.  But, I gave in to my baser instincts and bought yarn.  Sock yarn. Three pair worth to be precise.  There are 4 pair on the needles in various states of wearedness, so does that mean I am really ahead here? 

The OnLine Circle color with the turquoises caught my eye as I have 2 sweaters given me by my mom & dad that the yarn will go with perfectly.  The Santa Fe is a new yarn.  I thought the browns were very nice and I don't happen to have a brown pair (yet).  And last, the Trekking Pro natura is a repeat of a skein I have.  My thought was I would have enough to make a pair for both Bob & me with the extra skein. 

 

Needles at the ready-en garde.

The S Word

We have been experiencing a delightful autumnal season.  But that Four Letter S Word has finally arrived. 

Not as much as was predicted (2-4 inches), just a dusting.  We have had flurries on and on for several days, but nothing stuck until now.  Officially it is not Winter-yet- Solstice being December 21, but this is Wisconsin after all and getting snow in October is not unheard of.  We are anxiously awaiting the Solstice since it is Bob's favorite day of the year, when the days start getting longer.   

Make Mine Meringue

I have a passion for baking.  To make the process even more fun for the last 15 years I have used a 325 watt KitchenAid Mixer.  But as Tim Allen would say, "MORE POWER".  

A friend of ours was in the market for a new mixer for Christmas, so she asked us to research for her.   So, we scanned the newspaper flyers, searched the world wide web, and came up with some deals.  The best deal we found was Amazon - the 600 Pro (575 watt).  KitchenAids come in a variety of colors, from white to black, with pink and pewter thrown in as well. While I would have loved a red or cobalt, the best deal was on the meringue mixer.  Apparently this was a limited edition color at some point, but it is a beautiful soft white (not glossy), think the peaks of softly beaten egg whites.  While we weren't really in the market for a new mixer, we just could not pass up this deal.   After the sale and the rebate we paid 50% off retail.  And here's the best news-we ordered the mixer Thanksgiving night (Thursday) and it was delivered Saturday morning!!!

 

So, yesterday was test the mixer day.  First, a batch of cheese bun dough, then Asiago cheese bread, followed by a loaf of rye and 2 loaves of 7-grain bread.  In addition, the cream cheese layer for the Pumpkin Torte (see Recipes for more on this) was whipped into being and finally the dough for cutout sugar and molasses cookies. 

 The mixer is everything I could hope for.  The extra wattage helped get the heavier rye and 7-grain doughs kneaded without taxing the motor.  This mixer has a redesigned dough hook which has a much better kneading action-the dough was taken off the bowl sides with ease.  And the larger bowl size is splendid.  I will need to watch for an additional bowl and covers, which I have with my smaller mixer and used quite a bit.