Saturday, July 31, 2010

Beautiful Veils


There is a soft, cool breeze flowing through voile curtains

Another veil is also flowing through my mind.

Never before seen photos of my mother were recently sent to my brother.
They are are a treasure to us.
~
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
{Matthew 6:21}


Wishing you joy and treasures of the heart





curtains
 hanging in living room of Rachael and Juan's apt.
They were hand made by Dominga
{the beautiful mother of my son-in-law, Juan}

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

By the time we left Woodstock {VT}

It was as lovely as he said!
~
 Our son-in-law, Juan, told us that Woodstock, VT is a beautiful city to visit.
He said that we could plan our trip back from  King Arthur Flour Bake Shop
so that we pass through Woodstock.
Awesome suggestion, Juan!
 ~
This is how the Woodstock community decorates for summer!

~ It's historical ~

buildings Woodstock VT

Flowers adorn every street.
flowers of woodstock, VT
The store fronts are so nicely done.

scenes from woodstock VT

We found loveliness around every corner.

Woodstock VT

Shortly after we left, we passed some popular Vermont ski slopes.
Woodstock VT

The mountain views were beautiful.

Woodstock VT

But, the skies looked a bit different as we drove south.

storm brewing Glens Falls

... very different ...

Woodstock VT

"What are those?"


storm brewing Glens Falls
{EcoRover stopped over to tell me that these are called Mammatus clouds!}

As we approached Glens Falls, NY  the sun was setting, and the rain was about to begin.
Oh look!

~ pink virga ~
pink virga
{Taken with hand out of the window, husband going 65mph}

When the sun set, the darkness gathered, as did more storm clouds.

... passing under the twin bridges of Clifton Park...
storm over twin bridges

"I wonder what the weather looks like over our house?"
{heading towards the end of the "Northway"

storm over Albany

Hmmmm
thunder ~ lightning ~ power's out

It was non-stop lightning all night.
Luckily the power went out only twice for brief periods.
*Love an excuse for lighting candles*
...Thankfully, we had power in the morning so that we could bake our King Arthur Flour scones!

 *
Each week you will find hundreds of people from all over the world sharing a glimpse of what they discovered while sky watching.

A BIG shout out to our hosts at  Sky Watch Friday
Thank you so much
Klaus Sandy Sylvia Wren Louise Fishing Guy

*
I hope you are having a
B*E*A*U*T*I*F*U*L
week!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

New and Old

Our new  Rubbermaid carafe!
It's our little beverage  "lighthouse"
Carafe filled with Celestial Seasonings Blueberry Ice-tea ~ photo taken at Glimmerglass July 4

Our very old bowls recently purchased at my favorite consignment shop.
They are such delicate china, light as a feather and made in Austria!
They were on the clearance shelf!
5 bowls for $2
Since they match my old 1950's pink "diner" dishes ~ they came home with me!
Perfect for everything ~ especially double desserts like
strawberry rhubarb crisp and vanilla light ice cream!
Recipe is from my old Betty Crocker Cook Book.

Betty Crocker Cookbook

But you can find it the new  way... on the internet!
Betty Crocker rhubarb crisp recipe with less sugar and added berries.

Betty Crocker recipe search

Here is one of the new  chipping sparrows out of the nest for the first time!
...literally the size of a walnut...
baby sparrow
I was doing some weeding near by the barberry bushes and
two of the three babies flew to the ground right in front of me!
I feared I may have startled them...
but the "whole chipping sparrow family" came over
to guide the chicks to the nearby spruce tree where they had been perched.
They spent 10 minutes "teaching" the chicks how to fly up into the tree.
One of the adult sparrows gave the chicks repeated "examples of how it is done."
~ So cute ~
I knew that there was still one more left in the nest,
so I left for a few hours to give them some space.
By the weekend, they were all at the feeder waiting for the adults to feed them.
 ~

Dear Family and Friends,
Here are a few lessons that I learned about old and new.

It's great to try new things!

One of the best ways to recycle is to
find something old and make it
new  to you!

It's always wonderful to make a new friend.
feel like an old friend.


and as some of you have mentioned in comments
"how important it is to be a good 'role model' as in the example of the sparrows"
Oh, how much I treasure my new friends that feel like old friends!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Angel Hair {Sky Watch}

Rows


and

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flows
of

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angel hair

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and ice cream castles

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in the air

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and 
 feathered

Photobucket

canyons


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everywhere

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I've

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looked at

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clouds that way


~ sometimes I still do  ~

Dear Family and Friends,
Wishing you skies filled
with sunshine
and
beautiful reminders of the
angels that surround us
in the heavens
and right here among us
~ Thank you for being angels to me ~

 

Each week you will find hundreds of people from all over the world sharing a glimpse of what they discovered while sky watching.

A BIG shout out to our hosts at  Sky Watch Friday
Thank you so much

I am also participating in Friday's Pretties hosted by
the lovely Joyce @ I Love Pretty Little Things.


Beautiful lyrics from an artist that has brought me a lifetime of music and lyrical poetry.
"Both Sides Now"
by
~ Joni Mitchell ~


Most of the photos  were taken this Tuesday evening ~ July 20, 2010
Jason asked Juan to take the "ice cream castles" photo on Wednesday.
Thanks Juan and Jason!
{the heart in the clouds-last year by thoughtful Chris---Adirondack Mts.}


Monday, July 19, 2010

A Day at King Arthur's

I have always loved
B a k i n g
 with ingredients.

In her own way, my grandmother taught me that it was an art.
She rarely used measuring tools.
Pretty teacups and wooden spoons were her guides.

I loved baking with her...and we baked often!

Visiting King Arthur Flour Bakers' Store in Norwich, Vermont
this weekend
was such a treat for me!
I've used their flour for years and years!

Look at the different flours!
I picked up some pizza flour for me and for my father who LOVES to make his own homemade pizza.  My grandmother would have brought home a 25 lb. bag!

There were all kinds of baking tools available.
We bought their famous apple peeler!
With our apple trees ... this will be awesome!

{I'll let you know how well it works in the fall}
{picture from KAF website}

Turning the corner
...wow...
{it's blurry because I was jumping up and down LOL}

look at this!
{I wanted to take it all home}
{But, where would I store it!?!  I picked up lots of sprinkles though!}

I did take this home
 English Muffin Mix and Rings
as recommended by Misty @ Yellow Shoe Day.

Oh do visit her blog and read why she named it "Yellow Shoe Day."

I also bought several varieties of scone mixes.
I fall for the sampled items almost every time!
The cranberry-orange scones 
served up by Irene the baker were incredible!

the apricot sour-cream scones 
were highly recommended by another shopper.
I fell for that too :o)
{I made some Sunday morning for brunch!}

Here I am with Arthur.

The drive to Vermont from New York is so beautiful!
~ It was a day well spent ~
If you're heading to this part of Vermont
... do stop at King Arthur Flour Bake Shop...

A goal of mine is to eventually make it back there for one of their baking classes.
Rachael and I were talking about which ones we could take
and how we would get Amanda there too!


Here's an awesome video produced by the team at King Arthur Flour.


Dearest Friends and Family,
 ♥ 
Have a beautiful week!
Let us all keep our eyes and hearts open to all the gifts
our Heavenly Father blesses us with each and every day.
You are all precious gifts to me!


ps. Did you know that KA Flour has a blog?