More food, more decorating

 We celebrated Christmas at my Dad's house early this year. We've been scheduling it like this for a few years to work around travel plans. It's fun to have gatherings spaced apart over the holidays...no rush and time to enjoy each one.

I had a smart plan and bought foil pans with snap on covers to take some food along for the get-together. Much easier than taking breakable casserole dishes!

Broccoli casserole, beans with bacon, green beans with red potatoes and cornbread casserole.  

I brought the pans home and washed them to re-use next year!

Macaroni salad in a plastic container. Coconut cream pie filling taken in a container then added to the pie crust when I got there.

Nice to have everyone together for a meal and conversation. No gift exchange to add stress to the day.

At home, I put more small plants in containers. This bunch to give to ladies in my quilt group. These are a type of sedum. I added the plastic berries and the Sasquatch made the small green planters (each a different design) with his 3D printer.

I put a few more Christmas decorations out.

What? What is this shadow? Is it the Batman signal?

Nope, it's only Puss.

Looks like she wants to go outside and stir up some trouble.

Holidays are coming up quick

 I received a few Christmas cards. The first two were almost just alike...red and black check with gold lettering.

It's fun to receive cards but I've never started the tradition of sending out cards. I'm just a Grinch, I guess.

But I have started putting out a few holiday decorations. I won't be hosting any gatherings here so I will keep it simple.

I planted my extra Aloe Vera plants in solo cups and added some fake berries. I'll pass these out to members of my coffee group at the library.

One-pan meals have been on my menu these past few weeks. A big pan makes enough for several meals. Easy clean up!

My brother kept telling me I should try maple flavored Spam. I have been trying to avoid processed meat but it was actually pretty tasty. Not artificial tasting.

I roasted it in the oven with chopped eggplant and a few jalapenos.

I am doing a poor job of avoiding processed meat because the next one pan meal was bratwurst with peppers and onions.  Pretty good.

I'm finished piecing that quilt and now I'm pin basting...getting ready to quilt it.

I need to hurry this up if I'm going to finish in time for the quilt group meeting.

Working on that quilt

 I'm moving right along getting this quilt ready for showing at my quilt group at our Christmas gathering.

Some of the borders are on and I was considering adding a border of the print fabric laid out by the right side.  It doesn't seem exactly right but it coordinates pretty well so I'll use it for a backing instead.

I'm also sewing together a few of these blocks made with the scrap fabric I've been cutting down. I like them and they're fun to sew.

Every day the deer are up underneath the oak tree chomping down on acorns.

It was a real bumper crop of them this year. The ground is covered.

Out walking some with Puss, the cat. It's easier to go into the woods at this time of year when the greenery has died back.

I can't say that I get a lot of steps in though. Puss takes a lot of time looking everything over and smelling it thoroughly.

Inside she likes to watch bird videos on YouTube.

Eventually she ends up much to close to the TV screen.  I really doubt if she can even make out the images this close.

Time to change channels, kitty!

Thanksgiving...White Castle dressing

 It seems like every year around Thanksgiving, I hear someone mention stuffing/dressing made with White Castle hamburgers.

I've been curious about it so this year I tried out the recipe.

https://www.whitecastle.com/crave-central/recipes/white-castle-turkey-stuffing

I made a only a half batch, using 6 burgers. To get started you take the meat and buns apart and crumble them separately. I lightly toasted the buns in the oven to add flavor.

The recipe calls for using fresh celery but I softened mine a bit by sauteing in a skillet.

It tasted okay and the texture was fine. I added enough broth to make it plenty moist.

It was fun to try but I won't make it again. 

I guess it might have been more appealing if I hadn't eaten a few White Castle burgers when I picked up the ones for the dressing. 😮

Also for Thanksgiving, I tried a mince pie for the first time. Easy with a jar of mincemeat pie filling and some granola sprinkled on top.

It was tasty.  I always remember the time when I was around 10 years old and I dropped an entire mincemeat pie to the kitchen floor by goofing off and acting like I was going to balance it on my head.  What a mess. It splattered in every direction.

This beautiful golden turkey was baked by the Sasquatch. He did a nice job with it.

Much larger of a turkey than we needed but we like plenty of leftovers.

It's a bit difficult to make only a small Thanksgiving dinner and still have lots of variety.

I did manage to scale down the quantity though.  Everything changes over time.

Gray skies

 The lovely fall skies are disappearing  on us to be replaced with gloomy gray. But the weather is mild and it's nice to get out for a walk with Puss, the cat.

My red maple holds on to it's leaves a bit later than other trees.

Some coyote tracks in the mud by the new garage.

I see a small deer track in the same area...made at different times, I suppose.

I'm working on a quilt project for a sort of game with my quilting group.

The challenge is to make a quilt based on artwork.  

It can be any size but I decided to go ahead and make mine big enough to use in the recliner.

I'm sewing and laying out blocks for now. I think I'm going to add a few more shades of color.

You can see my inspiration artwork taped to the wall. It's Van Gogh's "Mulberry Tree".

As usual, I made soup. I used veggies I had on hand including some frozen sweet potato fries.

Leftover chicken and broth from the freezer.

Pretty good. 

A big batch. Some to eat now and some to put in the freezer.

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About those loofahs

 The Sasquatch started some loofah seeds inside in the spring and we planted the seedlings by my screen porch.

Since loofah vines are climbers, the Sasquatch tied some mesh netting up to the top porch rail and staked it near the base of the plants.

We waited and watched for the vines to start climbing but they were taking some time to settle in.

Once the growth started, the vines practically raced up the netting.

Here is a photo from August. Pretty yellow blooms but fruits were just beginning to form.

This picture is from an upstairs window in September.

Long vines!

This was the first time we have grown loofahs but from what the Sasquatch read online...they should be picked before the first frost.

So here is the harvest. Ideally, they should have started browning a bit on the vine but I guess these had a bit of a late start in growing.

Still, we were both surprised at how large some grew!

The Sasquatch took care of the task of peeling, de-seeding and rinsing the sponges.

This is the final result.

Some of the smaller loofahs were a bit soft but those will be fine for using as body sponges.  The stiffer thicker ones can be used as dish scrubbers.

The loofahs were fun to grow. Not bothered by any pests.

The Sasquatch saved seeds for next year's crop.

Not very fun

 A couple of friends from the asked me if I'd like to join them in signing up for a season pass for matinee performances of the Louisville Orchestra.

It seemed like something fun and different so I told them yes, I would join them.

At the first performance, I got the feeling I had made a mistake. It started with the car ride. One of the other ladies drove and although she seemed to be a good and confident driver, it made me nervous and anxious.

Plus, I was in the back seat and it was an effort to join in their conversation because of my lousy hearing and the hum of the engine.

When we got there, I was shocked to learn it cost $15 to park!  My other friend paid it that time and we established we two would alternate paying parking.

So, the next time it was my turn to pay. The garage attendants could not accept a $100 bill.

Really?  I handed over my credit card...and that bugged me for safety reasons.

This second performance was more fun that the first. The orchestra performed as an old silent movie, Nosferatu, played...special for Halloween.

So besides the parking cost, it ruffles my feathers that even though everyone must pass through metal detectors...they ask random ladies to open up their purses so they can look inside.  I felt like storming out of there after that!

We had good seats. Mid-way up and in the center. The musicians are talented and it is pleasant to see the variety of gleaming instruments.

But, I was basically just enduring rather than enjoying. "When can we leave?, lol".

I have to say this bit of culture is wasted on me.

One other thing that bugs me about these concerts and many other live performances...the audience is repeatedly expected to applaud during the show.

Can't we just save it until the end?  Unless maybe something is extra amazing.

Maybe my bad hearing affects how music sounds to me? Maybe I'm not hearing the full range of things, making it less pleasing.

There are 3 more performances in this series. I am trying to think of ways to explain my way out of them.  The truth is always best.

Fall color

 This is a year that the fall colors are really outstanding. So many lovely shades.

The warm colors are my favorites but they are at their best displayed in nature.

I was taking a photo of these red berries, then I looked closer...

A perfect little nest remaining.

These trees are all maples, in and around my property.

This is sumac, I think.

Puss gets a nice view with this window seat...

Colorful weeds and grasses in the field next door.

So pretty! Wish these fall colors could last a bit longer!

I brought a few leaves inside to display with my Halloween decorations.

Getting dark earlier too, though, as the season changes.

Odds and ends

 I have an indoor plant blooming...the Aloe Vera.   It sent up a long stalk over the past few weeks and now the blooms have opened.  Hard to get a good photo...

Here is a close up, little pink trumpet shaped blooms.

This was unusual...five of these planes flying over in a line one afternoon. I couldn't get my camera working fast enough but you can just barely see the first ones off in the distance.

And notice the field next to my house. Earlier this year they had cut and cleared it.

I was worried about what might be built there, but so far, nothing.

It's quickly growing and filling in. I have to say I enjoy having that view.

I made soup...cabbage, ham, and lima bean.

The Sasquatch came over to help test out my new meat grinder.

He uses a grinder attachment for his KitchenAid mixer and makes sausage, so he had some good tips on what works best.

He slices and freezes his roasts to help them feed through the grinder more smoothly.

It's a bit of extra trouble but good to see what goes into your sausage.

The Sasquatch has made loose sausage but has also bought intestines to make sausage links. Both are very tasty!