Time Well Spent

Lending a hand this week...dusting, laundering, tidying, lunch making, diaper changing, and of course plenty of this!

Grandbaby

Last Saturday, Felicity and Walter were here for dinner, and Colette snapped this picture of her radiant sister.  Carrying that baby all out front, she was.



By Monday, she was carrying the baby in her arms!



It's a boy!  Mother and baby, Theo, are doing fabulously!  And quite frankly, there are just not enough hours in the day for baby holding.



"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!"

--Psalm 127:3-5

Banana Oat Muffins



This is our family's favorite recipe for banana nut bread, although I eliminate the nuts and I never make it in a loaf pan.  I always make the recipe in muffin form.  They are moist and delicious! Not sure what makes the difference, but this is not your average banana nut recipe.  It's a cut above!  It's definitely worth trying!  A small army of them stood at attention, cooling on the counter today.



1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. mashed bananas
1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9 x 5 pan, or a muffin tin (yields 12 muffins).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; then stir in the banana and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Beat into creamed mixture.  Stir in oats and nuts (optional).  Spoon into prepared pan or muffin tins.

Bake for 50-55 mins. (for loaf), or 25 mins. (for muffins).

*Recipe can be easily doubled, tripled, or quadrupled.  Freezes very well.

Snowboarding Camp

Colette had a most excellent time at a women's freestyle snowboarding camp last weekend.  The camp included two days of instruction, fabulous food (including amazing hot cocoa with a bowl heaped high with whipped cream), a yoga warm-up, and a bevy of freebies: yoga mat, scarf, tote bag, sunglasses, and Oakley goggles (which each participant could design herself).



The ski resort built a terrain park just for this camp, which was fenced off from the rest of the slopes.  It included this tent, with seating, drinks, and snacks.



Landing a jump!  Way to go, girl!



Her new, self-designed goggles.



She had a fabulous time!

World's Longest Candy Counter

Colette and I discovered, in the same town as the grist mill, there is the World's Longest Candy Counter!  The Guiness Book of World Records says so!



Naturally, we had to go in and see just how long it is.

One hundred twelve feet!  Three rows!  Accounting for thousands of cavities, I'm sure.



Here's a close-up look at some of the most unusual and/or tempting confections.





Chocolate-covered Jelly Bellies!



Colette and I purchased a sampling of Chocolate Dipped Raspberry Jelly Bellies and Chocolate Dipped Coconut Jelly Bellies (like a bitty Mounds bar!), and a disgustingly large gummy snake to take home to Max.  Definitely a must-stop destination any time we're far north in the state!

Visiting a Grist Mill

Since we were already headed to the northern part of our state for Colette's snowboarding camp, we decided to take a field trip to a grist mill near that same area, as she's currently studying bread making for her "homesteading skills" course.



A grist mill, in case they're unfamiliar to you, was a very familiar sight in most small towns of centuries past.  This is where people would've brought the grain they grew to be ground into flour.  This particular mill was built in 1798 and recently restored.  It still stone grinds grain today, although not under the power of the water wheel anymore, but with electricity.



The water wheel would've turned the giant gears in the basement of the mill.  The gears there today were reproduced from fragments of the original gears found in the mud of the excavated basement.  I believe the video presentation we watched said that they were reproduced by the owner's 13-14 year old son who was "quite precocious with wood".  I was impressed!



Upstairs was the hopper, into which the grain would be dropped to grind between the two heavy mill stones (contained in that wooden box on the floor).



They grind all sorts of different type of organically grown grain at the mill today.



Colette, studying the bags of flour and trying to decide what to purchase.  In the end, whole wheat bread flour and a bag of chocolate chip pancake mix came home with us.



Then we walked to the Littleton Diner, which has been winning culinary awards for its pancakes.  They make their pancakes from the mill's flour!



And I must say, that I thought it was the best pancake I've ever had!...soft and fluffy, yet hearty and gently chewy. 



That bite missing from my pancake?  It was Colette.

Baby Shower

It was Felicity's baby shower today!  The color palette was neutrals.  But not greens and yellows...oh no.  Neutrals as in: chocolate brown, ivory, tan, oatmeal.



And the theme was owls, as Felicity's had a love affair with owls for a long time.  The centerpiece was a cylinder vase filled with shell fragments and holding twigs from our property (the beech twigs with a leaf or two still clinging to them).  Seemed appropriate for a winter shower, especially with a parliment of owls, drawn by Colette, roosting in the branches.



The menu:

fruit platter with fruit dip

vegetable platter with dill dip

mixed nuts

crackers and assorted cheeses

chocolates (packaged in pink and blue, please)



raspberry-lemonade-white grape punch

water infused with oranges and garnished with mint leaves (so light and refreshing!)

and the most amazing owl-crowned cake (decorated by Felicity's talented mother-in-law)



And, of course, there was a shower of blessings in the form of gifts!

I knitted a pumpkin hat for the baby, and can hardly wait for next autumn!



It was a lovely, lovely day!

And then, when the loveliness had come to and end, and the presents were all bundled off with Felicity, and the dishes were all washed, Max took the balloons, stood in the doorway, and used them for target practice.



Back to reality!  It's a wonderful life!

Sugar on Snow

Last week, just as the snow storm was ending, Colette and I made sugar on snow.  Remember the story in the “Little House” books where the Ingalls family drizzles maple syrup on fresh snow?  Well, that’s what we did!

First, you have to slowly bring maple syrup to a temperature of 240 degrees.  Patience required for this part.  I think it took us at least 20 minutes, because we were constantly adjusting the temperature to keep it from boiling over (since cleaning hot, sticky syrup off of my stove top does not rank high on my list of fun things to do).

Then Colette scooped up a plate of fresh, clean snow.



Then she drizzled the hot syrup on the cold snow.

The syrup does harden, but not as much as I was expecting.  I assumed it would harden up like a hard candy, but that’s not true at all.  It hardens to more of a rubbery, soft-caramel-like texture.  You can peel it right off the snow and eat it.





Delicious, intense maple flavor!

The Victorian Ball

“It may be possible to do without dancing entirely. Instances have been known of young people passing many, many months successively without being at any ball of any description, and no material injury accrue either to body or mind; but when a beginning is made -- when the felicities of rapid motion have once been, though slightly, felt -- it must be a very heavy set that does not ask for more.” - Jane Austen

For many years, when we lived in California, we attended a large and lovely Victorian Ball.  Oh, how our hearts pine to dance those quadrilles, waltzes, polkas, contras, and schottisches with our dear friends again.  Well, this year Colette was invited out for the Ball!  Although I attended, it was just as an observer, since Technohubby could not go.  But observing is almost as much fun as dancing!

An entire suitcase was devoted to her ball attire, which included: pantyhose, bloomers, corset, camisole, petticoat, bustle pad, underskirt and apron, bustle, bodice, ballet slippers, purse, lace fan, necklace, and earrings.  And we carried that suitcase on the plane with us, because what on earth would she do if it was one of those horrible cases of a lost suitcase that is never recovered!?!?!

The ball is actually called “Mr. Fezziwig’s Ball” and is held in conjunction with the weekend-long Riverside Dickens Festival.  As such, Queen Victoria made a grand entrance, with bagpipe accompaniment.



The dancers lined up to dance The Grand March.



Here’s a glimpse of the crowded dance floor.  I do so wish I had a video camera, so you could hear the Philadelphia Quadrille Orchestra play.  They’re wonderful!

Everyone has their best, Victorian manners for the evening.  Dance cards are issued as the dancers enter.  Gentlemen ask the ladies to dance and fill in the ladies’ names on their cards next to the name of the dance for which they have engaged the lady.  Ladies note the gentlemen’s names on their cards. Everyone has an itty-bitty pencil attached to their card by a tiny cord.  Gentlemen keep their dance cards in their pockets.  Most ladies use the cord to dangle their dance card from their wrist.

There was an observation area for those in attendance who were not dancing.  We spent much time admiring attire, pointing out fine dancing to each other, chit-chatting with our friends as they rested between dances, and generally have a grand time!

All the ladies were beautifully coiffed and beautifully attired!  Oh...such silks and tafettas and velvets!



Colette wore her 1880's dinner dress in dark green with black velveteen trim and ecru lace.  I'm sorry to say that this is one of the few photos I took of the front of it all night.



The back view of her gown, as she is led onto the dance floor for the next dance.



The dancing was splendid!



A dance is a joyful affair!