Pumpkin Patch Soup

My daughter Miss Norway made this great Pumpkin Patch Soup and I told her to take photos and I would post it in my blog.

 

Final of Pumpkin Patch Soup by Miss Norway [my daughter]

This is the book the recipe comes from

The actual recipe

Here is the recipe:
2 teaspoons Olive oil
1/2 cup raw Pumpkin seeds
3 slices of thick bacon cooked
1 onion chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Chipotle chili powder or equivalent
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 - 29 ounce cans Pumpkin
4 cups of broth - Vegetable or Chicken
3/4 cup Apple Cider drink
1/2 cup unwhipped Whipping cream

bacon cooked

Cooking Instructions:

My daughter Miss Norway [her screen name] made this for her family several times and I asked her to take photos for the blog. All ingredients were purchased in the Pacific North-West. 

Miss Norway says:

Saute the pumpkin seeds (I use soybean oil not olive oil) one minute until they pop! Set aside in a bowl.

Cook bacon. 

Let bacon, drain and reserve some of the bacon oil. Cool the bacon and set aside.

Saute the onion in the bacon oil, as per recipe. I added the spices into the onion, so the onion would be more flavorful.

It is difficult to find real apple cider this time of year, so I spent $3.99 on this really yummy juice, not from concentrate!

After your onions are translucent you put them in the crock pot. Add the 2 cans of pumpkin, the stock and the apple cider drink. You can use some of the stock to get all the pumpkin out of the can. Stir until smooth.

After the soup cooks for 4 hours, whisk in 1/2 cup of whipping cream.

Onion cooking with bacon oil and spices

Pumpkin, stock and cider in the crock pot and cook 4 hours

Pumpkin seeds that have been heated in the olive oil until they pop! 

After 4 hours 

Whisk in the whipping cream

Place servings into bowls. Top with bacon and the popped pumpkin seeds.

 Doesn't that look good and very nutritious and yummy???

For vegetarians use vegetable broth and omit bacon.  For those who do not use dairy you can skip the whipping cream. 

January - the last friday

All in a week's work

Batman looks out the window as Robin says "You make a good pillow brother..."

I have begun to work on Valentine's and Easter projects. See below for the photos as work in progress. 

This year I am making some simple felt designs which will be inserts in greeting cards. They will be very flat so they should comply with the thickness to go through the Post Office Machine.

I am going to start adding my tutorials at a website called the Daily Two Cents.

There is a proposal set forth to add a subdomain for Crafty Closet a group of writers who met online via Facebook and other places where we all had our craft stories.

I will be adding my tutorials there from new stories to my older stories.  I am not so worried about generating interest in directing people to go purchase items from Amazon.  I would like to teach for free. That is my goal and mission statement.

As soon as the Daily Two Cents subdomain is up and running I will add a post with the link on my front page. 

                                ~^~^~^~

The Third Floor

Living on the third floor without an elevator for someone like me who has multiple disabilities has become too difficult. 

So I am actively looking for a Senior apartment that is ground level and no stairs!  I will live alone again and the kids will live close enough so the my youngest daughter will still be able to work through IHSS - In-Home Support Services as my personal caregiver. IHSS gives me so many hours per month for my daughter to assist me with housekeeping and cooking; driving me to my medical appointments and laundry.   

 ~^~^~^~

New Poems this week

A new poem by Marilyn I Lott

Growing up Country
 © by Marilyn I Lott

I remember as a child many years ago
Spending time in the country air
Picnics under the warm blue skies
Going to those great country fairs.

Watching the cows and their babies
Chewing their cuds and strolling along
I loved to sit on a log for hours
Humming an old country song.

And the chickens, how I loved to spend
Time sittin’ in the hen house as well
Listening to the cackling of laying hens
In the home where these birds would dwell.

Sniffing the hay up high in the loft
As you climb up that ‘ole ladder
Watching mama in the kitchen
Stirring up a delicious cake batter.

She’d punch bread dough with a fist
And let it rise nice and high
Oh, the smell of that bakin’ bread
Makes me let out a wistful sigh.

Seein’ daddy chop up the wood
I can hear the sound of it still
The warmth and crackle of the fire
I can still hear it too at will.

Ah, yes sir, a life that truly was
A perfect one for my brother and me
If I had my life to live over again
I would still be growing up country!

© Marilyn Lott
11-18-07
                                 ~^~^~^~


New Poet for my favorite Modern Poets Page 

Vern Taylor is a distant cousin to me and I have been following his poems and writing since 2010.  I am adding him to my favorite Modern Poets Page.  I saw his Genealogy page and saw he had some of my family there. So emailed him and found that we were related a few different ways. He told me about Melvina Germain's Prayer Warrior's page. From there I found out about Melvina's Poetry group.  That is where I met most of the poets who I have added their poems here in my blog.

Vern Taylor:

                        Painting by William Blake in 1805 
                          'The Meeting of the Family in Heaven'


The Door to Life is Called Death
© by Vern Taylor 2015

What is death but the door to new life;
Relief from all the pain and cares and strife.
Reunion with all those who've gone before
Hugs and love from parents and those we've missed
Reuniting with those special ones that we've kissed.

What is death but the best chance to find;
An ancestor that was lost in the mists of time,
An answer to what an author meant to say,
A chance to talk with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul,
A chance to see the beautiful Saviour of us all.

What is death but the proof of life that we have lived;
Death is but the proof of heart that we have loved,
Realization that life is a lot shorter than we are to be.
It is a time to look back and see the world we left,

And send our comforting prayers to those most bereft.

                                ~^~^~^~

Valentines Day and Easter Card inserts

I bought felt by the yard from Hobby Lobby. You have to order 2 yards of each color to qualify as bulk for the sale. It could be their regular order set up. So I had used a ton of felt at Christmas and ran out of a lot of colors. So I got 2 yards of White, Peacock blue, Magenta, Light Pink, and Red. I already had the big bolt of the dark purple I got previously.  I still will need more. I like the felt by the yard as it is much thicker than the standard 10 x 11 inch sheets you get individually or in bulk pack.
For Valentine's day I cut two sizes of hearts out of many colors of felt.

For the people whom I am sending just one heart in the mail they will be just the two layers hearts.  For those who will be made for family and more than one per envelope they will be four hearts.  The two layer hearts will not have the buttons.

The four layer hearts have two large hearts and two small hearts on each side of the large heart.

Here is the photo of the four layer hearts.

 Each set will have embroidery designs and buttons.

I have collected a ton of Felt designs at my Pinterest Felt Projects Board.

I cut out all these bunnies. Each one is one piece of felt, as above, so that the envelope will not be thick. Each one will have embroidery design.

Two more bunny designs

Last Easter I used the same pattern and made the bunnies two pieces and firmly stuffed them with acrylic fiberfill. I used Tulip paints and made lines for the mouth and eyes.  I made Easter baskets with plastic canvas.  So this year I wanted to use felt for the bunnies. Again they will be inserted into cards so one piece of felt for each bunny.   They can be tacked to the bulletin board or used as a bookmark.

After Easter last year I found this egg made of felt and I only made one as a proto type.   I will make more this year as I think they are cute. I glued the three colors onto a purple egg.  This year I am going to do a bit of embroidery.

I will have a link on my post for every tutorial I make.

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Auschwitz Liberation day January 27, 1945 - 2015

Photo and article at the Washington Post

Auschwitz

In Auschwitz the air hung still.
The dragons are imaginary.
Once they had their fill.
The only gold fell from the fingers of those now perished chosen ones.
The birds crying relinquished flowers.
Lilies all dressed for death.
The classless funeral attire of the blue stripey pyjama death.
Now the camps be emptied.
Those passed inside be free.
Camp be closed.
All souls released, but still the sky hangs heavily.
May God please bless the free.
(C) by Livvi  - Olivia Kent
 January 22 2015


Books to read about this subject:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas  by  John Boyne
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas  2008 Movie on DVD

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

This and that for January 25, 2015

One month after Christmas


We love Christmas so much we have not taken down our decorations.  I still use my small string of lights in my bedroom!

I have been adding stories of my Grandparents and my Dad this month.  I am working on my Mom's page this week.
My Mom has collected a lot of information on the families over the years. It started out as family history for Genealogy. It progressed over the years to include scrapbook items and photos that were sent to her or photos and movies she has taken of the family as well.  My Mom and brother took the movies and first transferred the Super 8 films to VHS format.  Later my brother took the VHS and the originals and transferred them to DVD.  I am so glad to have those DVD's. We are only missing one film which is the oldest starting from when they got their 8 MM camera back in the mid 1950's when I was about 5 years old.

When the Smith Grandparent's passed away we got a lot of photos and negatives. Mom got a scanner for the negatives and started to work on that.   There is so much to do but she was unable to finish this job.
Mom is doing very well in the Care Center. She wheels around in her wheel chair and visits all the people who are living there. She has her meals in the dining hall and goes to all the craft and movie and game times.  I am glad that she is so active there.

Here are some poems from my friends onlin. 


New Poems by my friends:


LOVE
Love is an egg.
It is blessed, within a jolly fine shell.
Inside lives life.
If the egg is an ova.
Fertilised by love itself .
Love grows rapidly inside.
The cracks appear, love's broken free.
(C) LIVVI

(C) Livvi

Solstice by (C) Livvi

AUSCHWITZ
In Auschwitz the air hung still.
The dragons are imaginary.
Once they had their fill.
The only gold fell from the fingers of those now perished chosen ones.
The birds crying relinquished flowers.
Lilies all dressed for death.
The classless funeral attire of the blue stripey pyjama death.
Now the camps be emptied.
Those passed inside be free.
Camp be closed.
All souls released, but still the sky hangs heavily.
May God please bless the free.
(C) Livvi

~^~^~^~^~^~

My kids hands 

I did not write this poem. I came in a kit where you had the kids dip their hands in some paint and put it on this special paper.  My youngest was born after this and so we traced her baby hand and added it inside the frame under glass.  We later took it to the copy machine. Mom has the original. Here is the copy.

                          ~^~^~^~^~^~

Extremes in weather for December 2014 and January 2015

In December we had several rounds of severe rain that caused flooding. Our drought was in the number four category all year.  Here is the December 9 map.

January 24, 2015

We did not get any snow this winter, so far anyway. January 23 and 24th we had extreme heat!  January 23 it was 82 and January 24 it was 91!!!!  I woke up from my nap and it said it was 77 in my bedroom, which later went to 79.

                

January 24, 2015 - AT 4:13 pm

Here is the photo from my smart phone from Weather Underground. This was taken at 4:13 pm. 

January 24, 2015 about  6 PM after they posted the high for the day.

It has the 91 high for the day and the day before as 82.8 on January 23, 2015.

Today it is expected to be back lower!

Full screen showing final of 91.4 yesterday!!!

That's good it will be cooler today back to our near normal of about mid 70's!