Me? Cooking??

I'm not known for my flare in the kitchen...

I do alright...I mean, I'm not starving.  My general motto is that if I can't fix a meal in 20 minutes or less...forget it. Since retiring from education, and not eating the main meal from the cafeteria, I have had to "step it up" in my own kitchen.  Also, since purchasing a Bountiful Basket of fruits and veggies every couple weeks, I've eaten more healthy meals and have had to research how to fix some of the items I've received in the Basket.  Case in point: artichokes.  This week I received two. 

Remember Kathy B suggesting we not put away our crock pots for the summer???  OK, I thought maybe artichokes could be steamed in one...so I looked up a recipe on-line.  Sure enough - it's doable!  I watched a great little video about prepping the artichokes (cutting off the tips of the prickly leaves, removing the flowery heart, and cleaning up the stem).  Then, they went in the crock pot with a cup and a half of water, some lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Oh, and one thing more: they suggested adding some garlic.

I remembered that I had purchased a garlic press...but had never used it.  Hmm.  I scrounged through a drawer of utensils and found it...still in the plastic packaging!  Wow...it works great!  Why didn't I use it sooner???  Oh, Nancy, Nancy, your lack of cooking knowledge and experience is a disgrace. Maybe you better not disclose that info. 

I put the lid on, and set the crock pot on LOW for (maybe) 7 hours.  I would have to check them, as they could be ready to eat in 4.

I'll let you know how it went...
 

SPRING

Started watering and mowing growing grass

Planted flirty flowers in pretty pots

Raised a glass of ice-tea at The Middle Fork

Invited friends for a drive into Sinks Canyon

The Popo Agie River before the big spring run-off.

Noted the last evidence of melting snow drifts

The river flows into this cavern and "sinks" into a large underground reservoir. The water surfaces again through cracks and fissures about a half mile away.

 

 

 

 Gave gratitude for a day of grace

Spring is making me smile...

Yippee!!  Yahoo!!  The leaves of the cottonwood and aspen finally started to pop out!!  We have had crazy days of rain and sun, and the trees have decided it's safe to leaf out!  The temps have settled into spring...thank goodness!  We are all so ready! 

There are two rows stacked so far.

I'm still working on getting all that wood stacked.  When my ukulele student came by for a lesson yesterday, her mom INSISTED that she stack wood while she waited for her daughter.  WHAT???  She was so thankful that I had been helpful to her in another project, that she wanted to help me out with this...Is that something, or what? 

There's still plenty to do... and I hope to tackle more today.

This little creature was hanging on to the wood pile.  Anybody know what he is?

Keep dancing...

Even if some days you look a little shaky...

Gettin' down on the ukulele

I have piano and voice student who wanted to play guitar too.  But she's still so little, I suggested she start on the ukulele.  So, now a year later, here we are, preparing for her first recital on the ukulele. 

To give her lessons, I had to dust off my old ukulele and relearn what I had stepped away from for years!  It's been really fun, and I've managed to learn a lot of new stuff too.  I decided I needed to graduate to a better (newer) instrument, so at Christmas I was gifted with this standard size ukulele.
 

Just a month ago, my student was introduced to... and bought a gitalele.  What?  Yeah.  I'd never heard of it either.  It's a 6 string ukulele that looks like a small guitar, but is tuned like a ukulele. It is a pretty nifty instrument!  Evidently there has been a big upsurge in sales and popularity of the ukulele in the last few years.  So, we're right on trend. 

Have you ever heard of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain?  Check out this YouTube link:
whttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga_EP7RObKw

Cotton Sweater Shawl

I got started on the sweater shawl that a friend commissioned from me.  I decided to make it out of cotton, rather than wool.  This is a worsted weight yarn, and it's thick and thin, not an even, smooth texture.  Because it doesn't have the "give" that wool has, it's not as easy on the hands, either.  I had to go from size 6 needles down to size 4 to get the right gauge.  That gave the the opportunity to use the glass needles I bought in Reno last fall.  Oh, they are smooth...and are working well with this yarn.
I'm anxious to see how this garment looks and feels as I progress.

This is what the finished wool sweater shawl looked like tied in the front.

Badlands on the Plains...

I finally finished up some needle-felting I started a couple months ago.  I made a backing/frame out of old cedar remnants for this piece, which was wet-felted, machine-stitched, and needle-felted (in that order).  The hills are felted to look a bit like the badlands near Dubois.  One of my friends gave me a rusted ol' horseshoe, and I am also using a railroad spike I found years ago.  Another friend picked up some rusted barbed wire off her dad's ranch, and I used that to frame the weathered cedar. 

Cutting and bending the barbed wire was tough!!  It was really hard on my hands, so I don't know if I'll do that again.  However, the creative aspect was fun.