Weekend Fall Vibes

 It was a busy weekend with a good balance of work and fun. It began on Friday evening with a delicious corned beef and cabbage dinner at our house with Tim and Kay. Steve saw the corned beef briskets at Sam's Club and asked if we could make it. I questioned the timing as it wasn't St. Patrick's Day but he was convincing so we went ahead and bought it. It was delicious! Everyone enjoyed the meal. I expect it was so good because it is something we only eat once (or twice) a year. 

We woke up Saturday morning to a chilly thirty-four degrees! We had a work day at church planned. Boy were my fingers frozen in no time. Our tasks were to spread mulch and cut back some shrubs. As we got moving we warmed up quickly and began shedding layers of jackets. We were a team of seven people and had the work done in four hours. It always feels good to step back and gaze upon all that hard work.

 Back at home, I gathered up all the summer potted pants and dumped them into the lawn cart. I added all the dead marigolds from the raised beds as well. It was time to tidy up for winter now that the frost had come. The porch plants were still bright and cheery so it was hard to say goodbye to this part of summer. Out they went. This was no time for plant pity; things had to be done.

In the evening we went with Tess and Blake to the Fincastle Ghost Tour. This was put on by the Historic Fincastle Society. Our group walked around town with a host and made several stops where various characters told ghostly stories. One stop was at the Godwin Cemetery in the photo above. We stood below the national champion Honey Locust tree, deemed to be over two hundred years old. As the photo shows, it is growing right around a grave stone. It really is a stately, gorgeous tree. Fincastle is an old town with log cabins dating to the late 1700's. (Two of my friends live in them.) This evening's walk was a foretaste to the Halloween walk we will make next weekend. On Halloween night the town will be filled with trick-or-treaters and happy sounds echoing through the streets. Tonight, we shuffled through crisp fallen leaves and enjoyed the warm glow of lighted windows as we passed by homes.  

On Sunday evening, Tess and Blake invited all of us to their bungalow in town for Tess' twenty-ninth birthday. I can't believe our youngest is this age. Tess made rosette ribbons with fun titles on each for us to choose and wear. Steve chose "Queen" and I chose "Lovely". Others said, "Boss", "No. 1", etc. We ate yummy foods and then went outside for some wood burning. They recently had two large maples cut down with one being hollow. Tess counted the rings on the solid stump and counted ninety-two. The guys used the hollow logs as stoves for the smaller logs. It was fun to be outside and we all enjoyed the fire. We ended the evening with Tess' traditional birthday dessert, fruit pizza. For the first time ever, Steve helped me decorate the pizzas. My happiest times are when we are with our children. This was a perfect ending to the weekend. We look forward to gathering again at the end for the week for Halloween and trick-or-treating.

 

Open Studios, Botetourt, VA and Cake Pops

 

The weather was so pretty on Saturday that Steve and I decided it would be a fun day to go out for a drive. The annual Open Studios event gave us some good destinations. Each year in October, local artists open their studios for anyone to visit. We visited seven artists at three locations. 

Willie Simmons' family opened his wood shop to display and sell some of his prolific work. Mr. Simmons died suddenly in a motor cycle accident earlier this year. His sudden passing was a painful loss for his family and for the community. I purchased some Christmas gifts here. We also visited Ed Bordett's studio in town. His is a fun space to explore as it is in an old Oldsmobile dealership in the heart of Fincastle. The cavernous space has a tin tile ceiling, loads of antiques and all kinds of artist materials. Brett LaGue also displays his art there. I have always admired his Impressionist paintings and his wonderful colors. We bought a demure painting of azaleas from Mr. Lague. We went on to visit three other artists located on a farm with the beautiful view, above.

 

After we got home, I decided to take a broken chocolate cake out of the freezer and do something with it. I stashed it in there over the summer after it didn't turn out of the pan very well. It was too good tho throw out but too poor in shape to frost. I decided it was a good candidate for cake pops. I never made cake pops before. I figured that I did not have much to lose. To make them, you basically crumble up a cake, mix it with fluffy, homemade frosting, form it into balls and dip them in melted chocolate. In this case, I used white candy melts since the cake was chocolate. Voila! We ate them on Sunday when Tess and Blake came over for dinner. The crunchy candy coating with the moist cake interior make them delightful.

 

Stepping Into Fall

We left the summer vibe behind when we drove home from Holden Beach last weekend. Falling leaves and chilly temperatures greeted us upon or return to the mountains of western Virginia. It feels good to be in autumn. Our evening walks on the beach have been replaced by walks up our road. During our last walk, we came out of the wooded section and saw a beautiful rainbow over the Peaks of Otter. It was not raining but the sun was setting through some clouds which (I guess?)  is what formed the rainbow. We stopped and studied that rainbow for quite some time, enjoying all the colors and light, before we headed home.

 

Holden Beach, NC

 

This is our third year at Holden Beach in October with Kay, Tim, Sandi, and Dan. We have been lucky to have perfect weather all three years in a row. (You never can tell when booking a beach trip during hurricane season.) Days typically get into the low 80's and evenings and nights are cool.

Dan loves to fish. This year Steve asked him to bring an extra fishing pole so he could give it a try too. They caught a lot of little Croakers, as Dan called them. He showed me one so I could hear it croak. It sounded like a purring cat to me. All were released back into the water. Other fisherman up and down the shore caught similar fish. One neighboring fisherman caught a thirty seven inch Drum up near the pier. Anyway, while the guys fished, I sat in my beach chair or walked in the waves. The water was nice and warm. We recently invested in a Cool Cabana for our beach trips. We saw Chelsea's back in August when we went to the beach in Massachusetts. It provided nice shade when we needed a break from the sun.

There was a beautiful Harvest Moon during our vacation. I especially enjoyed our evening walks.

The sunset on our last evening walk.

 

 We always have a lot of fun with our friends. We get together almost every week at home so we are well acquainted with each others' idiosyncrasies. We all have a sense of humor and everyone likes to have fun. We also have our serious moments when we discuss our lives and when we pray together. As we get older, we do not take these friend trips for granted. They are precious and they have given us many cherished memories.

Who knows what they were discussing. It could have been anything from world politics to the Three Stooges.Whatever it was, the view was nice.

Mom's Meatballs and Sauce, Painting the Kitchen

Grandson Jack, who is nearly thirteen, came to stay with us last weekend. Amid the weekend activities I asked him what he would like for dinner on Sunday. I gave him a list of options and he chose spaghetti and meatballs. Our meatballs and sauce recipe comes from my Italian mom. I recall my mom and Aunt Katherine both making their sauce the same way so I assume it came from their mother, my grandmother. Grandmother Irene was an immigrant to the United States from Italy. My mom did not have this recipe written down. She dictated it to me and I typed it on a recipe card in the early 1980's. It has endured a lot of wear.

Recipes for meatballs and sauce are as varied as Italian regions. Every Italian family has their own sauce and meatball recipe. If you have been raised eating a particular sauce and meatball, (eating it at least once a week throughout childhood), it is hard to accept the taste of any other. So, I am not offended if this recipe is not to someone's liking. It does benefit from adding the red wine. The only change I have made is to the meatball recipe. I make breadcrumbs from the bread slices and sprinkle those with water. This makes a more uniform consistency. My least favorite part of making meatballs is frying them in olive oil. It is time consuming and I dislike standing at the stove frying things. In the past I have tried baking them instead. I thought the taste was not the same. They need the olive oil for flavor.

  

Jack helped me make the meatballs. In my opinion, if you are going to make a batch of meatballs and sauce, you might as well double it and freeze a batch or two. It is the same amount of work either way. 

We cooked in a chaotic kitchen setting because we are in the midst of painting the kitchen cabinets. I procrastinated this job because it requires all the cabinet contents to be removed in order to sand the wall and base boxes. The cabinet contents were scattered between the living room, dining room, basement, and our bedroom. Once we finished the sanding, we washed all the shelves and replaced the shelf liners. Now it feels like move-in day, all fresh and clean! I purged a lot of unused items and then put everything else back in place. The next step is to prime and paint all the sanded doors and drawer fronts. This will take another week or so. The last time we painted these was about fifteen years ago. I used a paint sprayer that time. I did not like using a sprayer. Aside from having to create a spray "room" with plastic sheeting, I was not adept with a sprayer and I hated the whole process. This time I am rolling the paint on with a four inch roller. The finish is uniform and lovely. I also feel that I am much more in control. We are using Benjamin Moore Advance for cabinets, doors, and trim in a satin finish. We are using the same color as before, Dove White. 

The kitchen is nothing fancy but it is highly functional. We bought the refrigerator in 1991 when we built our house in New York. The thing won't quit. We are ready to upgrade it and the laminate counter top to granite but that's for another day. Steve and I were both brought up with the mindset, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." So, we tend to wait until something needs doing rather than doing it just for the aesthetic. I cannot say if this is sound advice, it is just the way we are.

 

A Spontaneous Act of Kindness

 I witnessed the loveliest thing at church on Sunday.

An older couple sat in the pew in front of us. The lady was slightly bent and walked with a cane. She wore a smart dress and a denim jacket with the collar turned up. Her husband stood close to her and I noticed a slight tremor in his hands. In front of them sat another older lady who I know just a little bit. She devoted all of her time to operating a food pantry for veterans. She wears her hair very long and dresses in flowy clothing. This week she was wearing a beautiful, turquoise necklace and large, dangling, turquoise earrings in the shape of a cross.

As we sang the last song of Mass and began to leave our pews, I noticed the lady on front of us lean forward to the other lady and compliment her earrings. Without blinking an eye, the earring lady took them off and gave them to the admirer. This lady gestured as though saying, "No. No." But the earring lady lovingly pressed them into her hands.

 At that point we were walking away so I did not see if there was any further interaction between these two strangers. I thought it was the loveliest thing.

Williamsburg, VA...A Crafter's Delight

 I could visit Colonial Williamsburg many times over and never tire of it. Two friends and I drove there for a three night, mid-week, girl's getaway. We rented an Airbnb which was a ten minute drive away from Colonial Williamsburg. 

The three of us have gone away often together and we have our travel routine down pretty well. We typically go exploring during the day and settle in with sewing or hand work for the evenings. On this trip, we met up for lunch with a mutual friend who lives in Williamsburg. She recommended Carrot Tree Kitchens . It was a very nice, bustling place. I had a slice of spinach and feta quiche and a cup of tomato bisque soup. It was a rainy day and this was a cozy, satisfying meal. After lunch, we headed over to Liberty Hill Needleworks . Oh my, this is a wonderful shop for cross stitchers! I was here last December and thought I shouldn't need anything this trip. But that thought went down the tubes fast. 

 

A wall of linen, nicely arranged by count and color.

All types of floss plus another wall of DMC and yet another of silks.

After that bit of fun, we checked into our Airbnb. It was pouring rain and we got soaked to the skin carrying in our suitcases and gear. We changed into dry, comfortable clothing and settled in for an evening of stitching and gab.

The following day, we headed out to Willow Grove Primitives.  What a fun and well stocked shop. It consisted of two buildings, one being an historic house. It was nice to see that much of their stitchery, applique, and hooked items were crafted by local people. I found a pretty fall garland and three stuffed pumpkins made of gold flowered cotton. Next, we went to the New York Deli for lunch. This place is a must. We dined here last December and I could not wait to come back. After lunch, we stopped at Lightfoot Antique Shop where Kay found two nice antique frames. From there, we went to the Premium Outlet Shops. This conglomerate of stores seems to still be doing well as far as outlet malls go. I found two shirts for Steve at the Columbia outlet and nothing for myself anywhere else. After this full day, we again headed back to the Airbnb for an evening of stitching. For dinner, we had ordered Greek salads to-go when we were at the New York Deli for lunch. They kept in the car until we got home.

 

Now that's a Reuben!

 

The next day, we once again headed out early. The rain stopped and the day was beginning to brighten. Our first stop was back to Liberty Hill Needeworks. I am not sure why we did this, but Kay wanted to go back. I wasn't planning to get anything more until I spotted a pattern that had been on my wish list for a year. I don't know why I had not seen it when we were here two days ago. It is a sampler titled, "Louisa Barney 1892" by Reflets de Soie. The pattern is so beautiful to me that I decided to add it to my purchases. The Needleworks shop owner and her staff gave me a huge amount of time to get this pattern set up. I decided to stitch it in silk floss and they needed to convert all forty colors from DMC to Needlepoint Inc. Due to the cost of silk floss, I bought only fifteen colors for now. This is enough to get started. I may have to stretch this project out over a couple of years. The pattern is so beautiful and I know it will give me joy to stitch it.

After the Needleworks shop, we drove over to downtown Williamsburg. We were all hungry and decided to at at the Cheese Shop on Merchants Square. They make delicious sandwiches on all kinds of wonderful bread. We dined at the tables outside and enjoyed our lunch while we watched passersby. We ducked into the candy shop next door and each bought a milk chocolate covered caramel turtle to eat while we walked up the main avenue to take in the town and sights. (What great restraint it was to walk out of this candy shop with only one candy!) There were many people out and about. As always, it is easy to imagine oneself in Colonial times when walking around this place. Since we were just here last December, I did not take many photos. 

 

All the gardens are lovely here. I like the simplicity of this boxwood and Gomphrena.

This man was playing a lively fiddle tune. I hooked arms with Kay and got her to take a turn with me : )

Sadly, our week was coming to an end. Our plan was to make one more stop on our way home the next day. We wanted to go to Millstone Quilts in Mechanicsville, VA. Kay and Pat had been there several times in years past, but not recently. It is getting harder and harder to find reproduction quilting fabric and they knew that this wonderful shop carried a lot of it. The old mill building was fun to be in, albeit a little dark. There were several rooms of fabrics within two and a half stories. I was able to find yardage I needed for backing on a Jo Morton quilt I am piecing. There were so many beautiful prints that I was quite overwhelmed with wanting to buy everything. In addition to the backing fabric, I carefully chose some fat quarters to use in specific doll quilts I hope to make. We agreed that we will need to come back to Millstone Quilts again some time.

Back home to reality. There is work to be done!