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First snow of winter 2016

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The pond frozen over with a dusting of fresh snow.

A few days ago we had our first snow.  It started with a blustery wind and chunks of snow that blew around the yard.  About half an hour later it was over.  The few flakes had already melted as the temperature rose to the high 30s.  We went to the gym, we fed the dogs, and I settled down at the table with my computer, answering and writing emails.    I had sent a number of emails to friends the day but some of them had not arrived . . . gremlins at work, so I was trying to reconstruct them. Continue reading →

Vegetable tagine with friends

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Over the weekend we hosted our first dinner party.  Well, not exactly a party in the traditional 1950s sense, but a dinner with friends.   Since I love to eat and I love to cook it was an opportunity to try out something new.   I decided to focus the meal around Turkish food, one of my favorite cuisines.  What’s not to love?  Garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, olives, feta cheese . . . seriously, this is great food.

The lentil soup is already done.

The lentil soup is already done.

I stuck to some old standbys that I knew would come out well.  I started with baba ghanoush and artichoke hummus as starters with pita bread.  For the soup course I made a red lentil and bulgar soup.  For the main course I served zucchini squares and vegetable tagine. Continue reading →

Time Travel at Zern’s Farmers Market

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On Friday nights and Saturdays the place to go for local food items and an assortment of other shopping pleasures is Zern’s.   This place is hard to describe.  It’s part food market, part flea market, and part craft market.  Wrap it all up into an indoor shopping experience in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania.   This iconic place has been around a long time.  As a boy in the 1960s, my husband rode his bicycle there from his home in Pottstown, about six miles .   Continue reading →

Season’s End

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In honor of the end of football season, at least in Philadephia, and because it’s the New Year and the time for new ideas, I asked my husband to write a guest blog.   Larry was eager to write about one of his favorite topics, the Philadelphia Eagles.

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture… We control the horizontal. We control the vertical… we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to… The Outer Limits.

Coming out onto the field when hope springs eternal

Coming out onto the field when hope springs eternal

Football season is over.  Okay, not really.  Continue reading →

Remembrance of things past

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As a student of history I appreciate old houses and like to read historical fiction and biographies.   A few years ago I began researching my family history.  As my parents age and have forgotten their past, I am trying to revive it.  Last year we visited the house in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where my mother spent the early years of her life   The house still stands, at the top of a hill, as does the home of her grandparents across town.  The current occupants have no memory of my mother’s family, but the place endures.  I will make more visits like this, to see the places where my ancestors lived and worked and raised families. Continue reading →

Finished objects

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Newly finished object,  Knitspot’s “Pedal Pusher”

There is a special vocabulary for knitters.   A UFO is an unfinished object, and a WIP is a work in progress, and DISO means you are almost finished with something but ran out of yarn so you are desperately in search of some more of it.  These words are a shorthand knitting language.  Then there is the SABLE,  which means stash acquired beyond life expectancy.   I have been working hard since October to finish some projects, and have sprinkled pictures of them throughout this post.  All of them have been completed in the past two months. Continue reading →

Twas the night before Christmas . . .

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Twas the night before Christmas and in Marla’s house, we were busy preparing for a day that would not interest a mouse,

For we had no presents, no tinsel, no tree, just two grown up people in wait for a  day that was free,

Our fridge was packed, our house nice and warm, as we hunkered down for a quiet day outside the norm,

No children were waiting, no brew was chilling, as we eagerly looked forward to a day that was thrilling,

When what on our lawn did we spy from the door but some deer, a grouse, squirrels, and wait . . . birds galore!

As darkness descended on our small village street we heard the sound of peace, joy, and a new day to meet.

So my virtual friends I send you a warm greeting, in hopes that one day we may be meeting,

And wishing you all a joyful weekend, filled with family, food, good cheer and old friends.
Continue reading →

In a holiday frame of mind

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It’s that time of year when we get together with family and friends.  We go to parties and eat and drink too much, stay out too late, spend too much money and flit between a state of bliss and stress.  We want to drift into that place where all we feel is sweetness and light.  Inevitably we are sometimes disappointed.   Our plans don’t come to fruition and our Continue reading →

Why did the deer cross the road?

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I just returned from a visit to my parents in New England.  Whenever I visit I always have grand plans, which inevitably get waylaid by other things.  Everything takes longer.  I left for home about an hour after I had hoped, so I drove the five hours without a stop.  About 20 miles from home I spied three deer by the side of the road preparing to cross.  This was not make way for ducklings.  When a deer wants to cross the road you had better stop or get out of the way.   Continue reading →

Getting organized the Japanese way

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I recently heard about a book that promised to change your life.  It’s called “the life-changing magic of tidying up:  the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing” by Marie Kondo.  I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.   I put my name on a list of over 100 waiting to read it at the library and a few days ago I received an email that  a copy was available. Continue reading →