The boys decided to take the Butterfly (sailboat) out one fine breezy afternoon. Their cousin, Sam, decided to follow.
I'd been trying to get that sailboat out all week so this seemed like a terrific idea to me. Except, I quickly realized, Sam needed a life jacket. So into the canoe I hop and paddle over to Sam and give him a life jacket.
The boys then ask if they can go onto another lake. No problem. Oh crap ... we don't have a motorboat at all so I can't help them much if they get stuck in the other lake. Paddle, paddle, paddle I go to tell them to stay on our lake.
Well, then can they go all around our lake and not just stay near the cottage? Oh sure, that's no problem at all guys. Oh crap ... we don't have a motorboat and that's where Cassie and I turtled and needed help a few years ago and I can't see you from here. Paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle I go to tell them to stay closer to the cottage.
So glad that's taken care of. Back to the cottage I go. Paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle. Paddle, paddle, paddle. Paddle. I'm not going anywhere because of the wind and the bow of the boat keeps flipping backwards. No problem, I'm stronger than wind. Paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle. Paddle. Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe. Stop. Look around. Sam isn't going anywhere either. I tell Sam to head to shore with me. We do and we tie his board to the canoe and he climbs into the front of the canoe, which I know will keep the bow from flipping around in the wind and sending me backwards. Repeatedly.
Paddle, paddle, paddle. Paddle, paddle, paddle. Whew, finally we're moving! Eventually, long after the sailboat has returned to the dock, we make it back.
My oldest and youngest sons.
Youngest daughter and youngest son.
Fishing.
Fishing and swimming.
Love.
Youngest daughter and youngest son.
Fishing.
Fishing and swimming.
Love.
We were treated to a delightful visit by a Mama Duck and her babies. The kids could put bread on their feet in in their hands and the ducks would come right up and eat it.
I'm not ready to say "it's over", as I believe we'll be dealing with the repercussions of this for a while, but it's good to move past this part of it, to finally be able to turn this page.
Thank you for the continued suppport.This wonderful picture, which is not related to the rest of this post in any way, was taken by a family friend at the cottage this summer.
I love the way this quilt fits the cottage.
Long ago when I bought my first house this cottage was the "inspiration" when it came to decorating. At that time I hadn't visited the cottage since I was a very little girl so I'm not quite sure where my memories and ideas came from. When we finally started renting it each summer I realized that my what was in my mind and what was reality weren't quite the same. The cottage is much less light and white and airy than I thought it was, it's great but there's more dark wood and dark bedding than I remembered (yes, the furnishings from my childhood are still here ... how cool is that?). I see bits of what I remember though, and I guess I just let my imagination take those bits and run. No matter, I ended up loving the way my house looked and I love the way the cottage is, so it all worked out.
This quilt is more reflective of the colors and feel I thought the cottage had.
While my mind may have edited the color scheme of the cottage it didn't edit the feel, and I was able to capture that in my home. Or maybe I just reinterpreted the feel. Hmm ...
The cottage is so inviting. It's the kind of place you walk into and feel at home, whether you've been there one hundred times or once. Every year opening the front door and walking in creates this "blanketed" effect of feeling safe and loved and "home".
It doesn't hurt to see the children there, loving nature and reveling in the fresh air, water, and sunshine. That alone is enough to make me over the top with joy.
That feeling of warmth, safety, peace, comfort is what I want in my quilts. Along with a good dose of laughter and joy.
Enough of my babbling ... off to enjoy the last few days before we're back to school.
Long ago when I bought my first house this cottage was the "inspiration" when it came to decorating. At that time I hadn't visited the cottage since I was a very little girl so I'm not quite sure where my memories and ideas came from. When we finally started renting it each summer I realized that my what was in my mind and what was reality weren't quite the same. The cottage is much less light and white and airy than I thought it was, it's great but there's more dark wood and dark bedding than I remembered (yes, the furnishings from my childhood are still here ... how cool is that?). I see bits of what I remember though, and I guess I just let my imagination take those bits and run. No matter, I ended up loving the way my house looked and I love the way the cottage is, so it all worked out.
This quilt is more reflective of the colors and feel I thought the cottage had.
While my mind may have edited the color scheme of the cottage it didn't edit the feel, and I was able to capture that in my home. Or maybe I just reinterpreted the feel. Hmm ...
The cottage is so inviting. It's the kind of place you walk into and feel at home, whether you've been there one hundred times or once. Every year opening the front door and walking in creates this "blanketed" effect of feeling safe and loved and "home".
It doesn't hurt to see the children there, loving nature and reveling in the fresh air, water, and sunshine. That alone is enough to make me over the top with joy.
That feeling of warmth, safety, peace, comfort is what I want in my quilts. Along with a good dose of laughter and joy.
Enough of my babbling ... off to enjoy the last few days before we're back to school.
Oh yes, fresh corn on the cob. There isn't much sweeter than fresh picked, fresh shucked corn on the cob. Most dinners corn on the cob was a "must" at the table.
Prepare to be subjected to a gazillion vacation photos.
Same vacation destination as last year and the year before and the year before and the years before that. Ahhh..., back to the cottage in Wisconsin.
River thoroughly enjoyed his visit this year, and especially appreciated the stairs and the walk down to the lake.
Talking to Boppa.
And off to explore some more.
Same vacation destination as last year and the year before and the year before and the years before that. Ahhh..., back to the cottage in Wisconsin.
River thoroughly enjoyed his visit this year, and especially appreciated the stairs and the walk down to the lake.
Talking to Boppa.
And off to explore some more.
This is not a new concept, or my own concept. Mostly I'm printing this here because I get asked so often for the recipe and referring to this post will be much easier than retyping it each time!
Originally, I found the recipe here. Another great easy-to-follow rendition is here. After giving you those links I know I don't have much else to say on the subject but I'll give you my "plan of attack" anyway.
In the crock pot goes 8 cups of milk. I use whole milk because that's what I buy. You can use 1% or 2%. Turn the crockpot on low and let it sit for 2.5 hours.
After 2.5 hours turn the crock pot off, unplug, and let it sit for 3 hours. Now, you can let it sit longer if you want (or if you forget about it ... not that I've EVER done that. much.) but it leads to more sour yogurt if it sits too long. Just know that you don't have to be rigid with any of the times, but they do seem to produce the best results.
After 3 hours add 1/2-1 cup yogurt (I use one single serving container). You can use plain or flavored, regular or greek or one of the "plus" kinds ... the greek and plus ones seem to produce slightly thicker yogurt and the other cultures in them also seem to grow (I don't know this for a fact, but I choose to believe it), so I go with these. I add 1/2-1 cup sugar or honey at this time as well, stirring until it's dissolved. Sometimes, if I have it on hand, I add in a tbsp. or so of vanilla, but if I don't have any I don't sweat it.
Cover the crock pot with a thick towel or blanket and let it sit for 8-12 hours.
Eat.
The yogurt will generally be slightly runnier than regular yogurt. That's fine. For babies I freeze little bits in ice cube trays and give them that to work on - great for teething and lets them eat it themselves.
I store it in the fridge in ziploc containers. If I have fruit on hand I'll add it in before storing so the kids can just grab and eat. You could also freeze the yogurt, in this house I'm lucky to not run out even when making batches back to back.
Or I make smoothies with yogurt, ice, raw spinach, and fruit ... and whatever else we have on hand. The spinach will make the smoothie green but it won't make it taste like spinach so it's a good way to up that iron and green leaf intake. I freeze little bits of that for the babies too.
It didn't take long at all for my kids to decide that they liked Mama's yogurt better than store bought.
I broke down the cost once but I don't have the results right here ... basically, 1/2 gallon of milk is about $1.50, 1 cup yogurt is about $.50 (not that I'd ever actually pay full price for it, but if I did it'd cost that!) ... total cost for 9 cups of yogurt = $2 ... about $.22 a cup. Single serve yogurts at the grocery store are less than 1 cup, so this ends up being a really good price, it doesn't beat a super Publix BOGO deal topped with coupons (which is when I stock up on the starter containers of yogurt and freeze them for future use), but still, it's a really good price and you have more control over the final product.
Originally, I found the recipe here. Another great easy-to-follow rendition is here. After giving you those links I know I don't have much else to say on the subject but I'll give you my "plan of attack" anyway.
In the crock pot goes 8 cups of milk. I use whole milk because that's what I buy. You can use 1% or 2%. Turn the crockpot on low and let it sit for 2.5 hours.
After 2.5 hours turn the crock pot off, unplug, and let it sit for 3 hours. Now, you can let it sit longer if you want (or if you forget about it ... not that I've EVER done that. much.) but it leads to more sour yogurt if it sits too long. Just know that you don't have to be rigid with any of the times, but they do seem to produce the best results.
After 3 hours add 1/2-1 cup yogurt (I use one single serving container). You can use plain or flavored, regular or greek or one of the "plus" kinds ... the greek and plus ones seem to produce slightly thicker yogurt and the other cultures in them also seem to grow (I don't know this for a fact, but I choose to believe it), so I go with these. I add 1/2-1 cup sugar or honey at this time as well, stirring until it's dissolved. Sometimes, if I have it on hand, I add in a tbsp. or so of vanilla, but if I don't have any I don't sweat it.
Cover the crock pot with a thick towel or blanket and let it sit for 8-12 hours.
Eat.
The yogurt will generally be slightly runnier than regular yogurt. That's fine. For babies I freeze little bits in ice cube trays and give them that to work on - great for teething and lets them eat it themselves.
I store it in the fridge in ziploc containers. If I have fruit on hand I'll add it in before storing so the kids can just grab and eat. You could also freeze the yogurt, in this house I'm lucky to not run out even when making batches back to back.
Or I make smoothies with yogurt, ice, raw spinach, and fruit ... and whatever else we have on hand. The spinach will make the smoothie green but it won't make it taste like spinach so it's a good way to up that iron and green leaf intake. I freeze little bits of that for the babies too.
It didn't take long at all for my kids to decide that they liked Mama's yogurt better than store bought.
I broke down the cost once but I don't have the results right here ... basically, 1/2 gallon of milk is about $1.50, 1 cup yogurt is about $.50 (not that I'd ever actually pay full price for it, but if I did it'd cost that!) ... total cost for 9 cups of yogurt = $2 ... about $.22 a cup. Single serve yogurts at the grocery store are less than 1 cup, so this ends up being a really good price, it doesn't beat a super Publix BOGO deal topped with coupons (which is when I stock up on the starter containers of yogurt and freeze them for future use), but still, it's a really good price and you have more control over the final product.
We just returned from a decadent vacation, which I will post about shortly (and while on vacation I finished a few quilts ... more on that later too).
But for the moment I have a few questions I've been pondering ...
1. When sewing baby clothes, is there really a difference between a pajama pant (woven, not knit) and a regular pant? If there's a difference what would it be?
2. Can I paint corkboard?
3. Why isn't my "to do" list getting any shorter???
4. Why is fabric getting so ridiculously expensive and is anyone else getting kind of upset about this fact? I understand the whole cost of fuel and production thing but it seems to me that higher end fabrics have gone up 25%+ in the last two-three years. Even JoAnn's is getting a little over-the-top pricey. Ok, that might be more of a vent than a question.
It's good to be back. More later. Thanks.
But for the moment I have a few questions I've been pondering ...
1. When sewing baby clothes, is there really a difference between a pajama pant (woven, not knit) and a regular pant? If there's a difference what would it be?
2. Can I paint corkboard?
3. Why isn't my "to do" list getting any shorter???
4. Why is fabric getting so ridiculously expensive and is anyone else getting kind of upset about this fact? I understand the whole cost of fuel and production thing but it seems to me that higher end fabrics have gone up 25%+ in the last two-three years. Even JoAnn's is getting a little over-the-top pricey. Ok, that might be more of a vent than a question.
It's good to be back. More later. Thanks.