Hodgepodging the Woolly Bear Desert

 I wonder if the caterpillar thinks he's crossing a desert.

Any way you look at it, it's going to be a long winter ahead.

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1. Have you ever been to and/or lived near the desert? What did you think? Travel and Leisure lists the 'coolest' American desert towns as-

Palm Springs CA, Virgina City NE, Bend OR, Winslow AZ, Marfa TX, Grand Junction CO, Silver City NM, Moab UT, Taos NM, Yakima WA, Borrego Springs CA, Terlingua TX, and St. George UT, and Tubac AZ

I did live near the desert at one time, and thought it wasn't a good place to be 9 months pregnant in the summertime.

Have you been to any of these? Would you like to visit a desert town? Which on the list would you most like to visit?

I would rather visit a dessert town. Recipes for cheesecakes below.

2. What's a plan or project you've deserted in the past year? 

I've deserted housekeeping, gardening, travel plans, and most of my friends.

3. Desert-dessert? Share two or three words you find yourself having to think twice about when it comes to spelling.  

I used to spell 'occasionally' incorrectly, but now my spelling is absolutily impeckible.

 Rudbeckia & Purple Asters

4. High and dry, like watching paint dry, dry run, dry as dust, not a dry eye in the house...which phrase can you relate to currently? Explain. 

'Like watching paint dry,' and anyone who has followed this blog at all will know what I mean, so I'm not going into further explanation.

Happy watching paint dry

(photo from the www)

5. How often do you frequent the dry cleaners? Starch or no starch?  

Infrequently. I don't buy anything that has to be drycleaned. 

 Coyote hat, dryclean only.

6. What's a food or beverage you enjoy that's named for a place? 

Chicken stirfry, evidently named after Chicken, Alaska.

7. Do you need solitude? 

source

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Last year's photo, but Mr. C. and same grandson went to the woods yesterday also, to mark the trees with yellow paint, so that when all the leaves fall to the ground, he's able to easily distinguish the dead from the living, when taking trees out for firewood. It looks like he marked it with hazardous materials tape last year. Oh that Mr. C.

 ***

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Blueberry Lavender Scones Recipe

 Blueberry/Lavender Scone
and London souvenir mug

As some of you may remember, Mr. C. and our oldest son recently took a whirlwind trip to England. While there, he bought me a few souvenirs, the kind of thing I like, one of which was this pretty phone box coffee cup. (You can't go wrong with a red phone box, in my opinion.)

While they were gone, my granddaughter stayed with me, and one of the things we did was to go to the local coffee shop where they have the most delicious blueberry/lavender scones with a lemon/lavender glaze. So after we got home, I decided to try to replicate them. In case you're interested, here's the recipe:

BLUEBERRY/LAVENDER SCONES RECIPE:

2 c. flour

1/3 c. sugar

2 1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1 stick (1/2 c.) butter

1/2+ c. dried blueberries, tossed in a bit of flour, just to coat them.

3/4 c. heavy whipping cream

1 t. almond extract

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 T. fresh lavender (leaves or leaves and flowers) extremely finely chopped (E. did this job and got it just perfect) Next time I would use 2 T. lavender because I want the lavender flavor to be more predominant, but you can decide whether you want the lavender to whisper, speak loudly, or shout.

Glaze:

Juice of 1 large lemon

Whisk in enough confectioner's sugar to give it the right consistency,

Finely chopped fresh lavender (leaves and flowers), maybe about 1 T.

1/2 t. almond extract (optional)

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter. (I use my food processor to do this, after mixing all but the butter, I then add the butter and pulse it about 20 times. It works great for this (and also pie crusts, by the way.)

In a small bowl, beat the egg, heavy whipping cream, and extract. Now mix all ingredients (including the floured blueberries) together, stirring just until the mixture is evenly moistened. It will be very sticky. Drop by 2 1/2 to 3"  glumps onto greased jelly roll pan. I think we got 8 on one jelly roll pan, the number made by this recipe. Baked, they're about 3 inches by 3/4 or 1 inch. And they're delicious!

Bake at 375 for about 15-18 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool before drizzling the glaze over the tops.

Serve with strong, black coffee.

 My ancient coffee grinder

If you want to make this recipe gluten free, you can try substituting the following flour types and amounts for the flour in the recipe above:

3/4 c. white rice flour

3/4 c. brown rice flour

1/2 c. sorghum flour

1/4 c. tapioca flour

I'm not making any guarantees on the flour substitute, but next time I make this, I will try the gluten-free flours and see how it works out. It would be nice if I'd tried it ahead of time, wouldn't it. But the substitute above is pretty standard, so it should work fine.

NOTE: Your coffee will taste better in a London mug.

Linking to Monday Social 

and Cooking & Crafting With JJ
and Favorite Things Thursday

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Hodgepodging Fall and Good Fences

 Coming soon to a ditch near you

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we write the answers.

Plug them into your own post

and join in.

Thank you, Joyce!!

Note: Please excuse the poor formatting of this post. I need to have my daughter look to see why I'm having trouble with it on every single post.

1. Thursday (September 22) is the first official day of autumn in this part of the world...how will you welcome the season? I know some of you have been celebrating way too early, but it's official now so permission granted. House Beautiful recently listed ten ways to make your home smell like fall (you can read the list here) What's a scent you love this time of year and how will you add it to your home? 

I will welcome fall by enjoying every sunrise and eating lunch on the porch as often as possible. 

 Late September Sunrise

I love the scent of pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and apple - They're always added to my home when I make a batch of Pumpkin Spice, Cinnamon Stick, or Frosted Apple Spice natural vegan soap! See photo at end of post. (Thanks, Joyce.) ;-)

2. Apple pie or pumpkin pie? Apple cake or pumpkin bread? Warm apple cider or a pumpkin spice latte?

I love pumpkin pie, but it always gives me heartburn. I love apple pie too, but really only like those two if they're made the way my mom made them. (I know, picky picky :-) Pumpkin bread with pecans or walnuts rather than apple cake...warm apple cider rather than pumpkin spice latte...are my favorites from the question above.

 Apple Pie Bars

Would not help avoid an afternoon slump. 

In fact, would pretty much ensure one.

3. Do you suffer from what is sometimes referred to as an afternoon slump? What helps ward it off before it hits and/or tell us what helps you shake it off once it's here?

An 'afternoon slump' would imply that I have energy and ambition before afternoon, wouldn't it. I actually do have quite a bit of energy and no longer ever have an afternoon slump. It all changed once I made sure I had at least 20 g. of protein with my lunch. Man (or woman) cannot live on carbs alone. It seemed to take me a while (like years) to learn that.

4. Ladies-how have your friendships with women inspired you or made you a better person? For the men here today- how have your friendships with men inspired you or made you a better person?

I think that women have possibly inspired me to be more creative, but the only relationships that might have helped me become a better person are those that encourage me to focus more on Jesus, to care about others, to live a life of faith, prayer, gratitude.

5. Are you a people pleaser? If you said yes, do you think that's a good or bad thing? If you said no, do you wish you were more of a people pleaser? 

I like people and like to have fun with people, but I'm not going to compromise what I believe is right, nor will I flatter, just to please someone else. If it has nothing to do with compromise or flattery, both of which seem dishonest, then yes, I think it's wonderful to try to please people, to make people smile, give them a day that's brighter than it might have been, etc. What I see in some people pleasers is the inability to be true to their own convictions. I definitely don't see that as a good thing.

The Carmen Peppers are beautiful this year.

Yea! They're my favorite.

6. The seasons are a-changin'...share a favorite song relating in some way to change (not necessarily seasonal change, it could be change of any kind).

The Four Seasons - Vivaldi (change implied).  Other than that, I can think of nothing. I even looked up to see that one site has 107 songs listed that have some variation of the word 'change' in them. I know none of them.

Hey, I just thought of one:  

"The steadfast love of the Lord never changes; His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness O Lord, great is thy faithfulness." 

(based on Lamentations 3). And I guess the word in the song is actually 'ceases,' but I'm going to substitute 'changes.'  And actually, His mercies never do cease, nor do they change. What a reassuring truth. God's mercies never come to an end!

 Sumac and fence on Fifth Avenue

7. What do you wish would never change? 

I wish summer and fall would never change to winter.

 I would never tire of this view from our driveway.

November through March

(I'm already tired of this view from our driveway and it hasn't even come yet this year.)

8.  Insert your own random thought here. 

Remember that toe I was whining about last week? Well, I found out yesterday that it is fractured, so now I have a cane *and* a boot. Quite a fashion statement, huh!

And if that grosses you out, here are much cuter toes to look at:

Lucy and Grandpa

2015

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Also Linking to Theresa's Good Fences

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Cows, Campfires, Clouds, and Kids

 Curious Herefords

It was a dark and stormy night. Actually, it was just a busy week. I've managed to lure you into this blog post with the Hereford cattle, but I must confess that today you'll mostly find photos of grandkid visits. I hope you don't mind. 

We were on the way to town when my daughter spied a little Holstein calf on the wrong side of the fence that kept the Herefords contained. We went to the nearby farm, only to find the owner puzzled as to how a Holstein calf had appeared. It's still a mystery, but the owner of the farm did get the hungry little bull calf to suck on her fingers, following her all the way home (about a city block in distance) to the farm where she would later surprise her husband with their newfound livestock. This was quite an exciting event for what had started out as a simple trip to town. So the latest theories are either that the bull calf wandered a few miles from the nearest Holstein farm (very unlikely) or that it fell off a truck that was taking it to the sales barn or to some other location (much more likely, in my opinion). Either way, it was pretty odd to see the poor little creature huddled against the barbed wire of the Hereford pasture.

(All photos were originally taken with my cell phone, which is why they look a little grainy and odd.)

Evening of the 16th

from the edge of the yard

On the evening of the16th we enjoyed a bonfire and absolutely wonderful skies. I have already posted some of those photos on Instagram, but for those of you who are not Instagrammers, I'm reposting them here. Spell check doesn't recognize 'Instagrammers' or 'reposting.' :-)

 Morning sky, September 16

from the front porch

 It was the perfect evening for a campfire!

Burning marshmallows

 Mr. Cranberry and

the littlest granddaughter

at the campfire

The marshmallow burner (and harmonica player)

in a pensive mood. (photo by his mom)

Oliver (whose parents insist upon calling him 'Ollie') :-)

He always finds my shoehorn or cane as soon as he arrives.

Here, it's the shoehorn, or through his eyes, a sword.

I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead. I see the oral surgeon on Thursday (NO FUN) and in downloading the version of AdobeReader that they insisted upon in order to fill out patient registration forms online, two other programs piggybacked onto my computer, neither of which I wanted. Not only that, but with the newly downloaded AdobeReader, it still said 'Page Not Found' when I tried to open their forms. I was so annoyed, for there was no way to opt out of anything. Ack! Now I have to enlist someone who knows something about computers to go through and get rid of those programs (and all the other non-essential programs that are running, causing my computer to run extremely slowly.) Oh well, it's high time for a good cleaning out anyway. Maybe our son or son-in-law can do this little project when they come for our early Thanksgiving in mid October. If I'm nice and bake apple pies?

Hope to see you Wednesday at Joyce's Hodgepodge!

***

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Sports? What's Sports? Hodgepodge

I can see that I need to get a new photo editing program for my computer. Even Snapseed, which I use for some of my photos  Instagram, is far better at helping me display an image that is closer to what my eyes actually see. The photo above was taken last evening when the sun was almost down. The soybeans were glowing - which can't be proved by this dull photo. I'm sorry, but I guess if you want to see glowing soybeans, you'll have to visit me on Instagram. @cranberrymorning. The view is from the edge of our yard looking south.

Join Joyce and the Gang

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 She writes the questions

we write the answers.

Plug them into your own blog post

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1. What's changed in your life, home, or community since your last birthday?

My husband and son visited England (without me) and had a whirlwind tour of York, the Yorkshire Dales (and meeting a famous author), the Cotswolds (which was packed with tourists), and London. My granddaughter spent the week with me studying, working on an art journal, taking photos, finding coffee, and in the evenings we watched old movies: Roman Holiday, Charade, How to Steal a Million, High Society. I got my hair cut a bit too short. The soybean field is turning golden. I sprained my next-to-little toe. It's not funny. (My birthday was in August, so not a lot has happened in the interim.)

 Rudbeckia and High Bush Cranberries

Experimenting with different settings.

2. September is Classical Music Month. Do you like/listen to classical music? If so what's a favorite piece and/or who is a favorite composer?

Yes, I love classical music. Bach and Prokofiev would be the two favorites that come to mind.

 Cattle on an Amish farm.

I wonder if they know they're Amish cattle.

3. Besides The Bible, what's a book that has positively changed your life, relationships, career, or perspective? How so?

'Surprised by Hope,' by N.T. Wright. Definitely changed my perspective about heaven, about the Kingdom of God, about the mission of the church. You'd have to read it, but I encourage you to do so.  It really does make one think.

 Our barn and pink petunia

4. I read (here) these ten hobbies will make you smarter...play a musical instrument, read voraciously, meditate regularly, work out your brain (puzzles, sudoku, board games, etc), exercise often, learn a new language, write your feelings down (blog, journal, just write), travel to new places, cook different kinds of meals, participate in sports actively

Are any on this list your current hobbies? Which hobby on the list would you be most inclined to try?

I'm always reading; I do play the piano, but rarely and not very well; I meditate regularly (pray, actually); work out my brain through trying to figure out how to make my sprained toe stop hurting; exercise is something that seems in the distant past, but I do hope to do in the future; haven't learned a new language, but am trying to understand English speakers; I don't write my feelings down, for I don't believe in leaving a paper trail. I pray instead; I'd love to travel to new places; I'm not good about cooking new things, because I usually don't think to shop for the specific ingredients, and if I don't have the ingredients on hand, I'm not going to drive 25 miles to get them; never participate in a sports activity, unless picking tomatoes and peppers is considered a sport.

 Taking New Soap Photos

5. What sports traditions does your family have?

No sports traditions, although our two youngest boys get together and watch football on TV and play softball.

 Dallas Pond and dam

6. In a few words, weigh in on the current football/National Anthem brouhaha. Keep it family friendly please.

No sports interest, although with this particular case, I'll state that I believe in defending the First Amendment. Still, I get annoyed with those who get a sudden interest in even a legitimate cause and use it to take a stand against something they know little about, and for reasons they are ill-equipped to defend - most of which seem to be selfish and attention-seeking.

7. Where do you have loads of patience, and where do you most lack patience?

Most patience - animals. Least patience - hip, knee, toe.

 Winters past.

R.I.P. Misty & Bridger

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Sorry my Hodgepodge answers are even more random than usual. Lots going on, and I'm still working on walking. Everything seems to take way more energy than it did prior to June. I'm going to try to visit my blogger friends, but unfortunately cannot make any promises. I hope you have a good week and maybe we'll meet here at the Hodgepodge again next week. Thank you, Joyce, for providing the Hodgepodge questions.

***

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Can You Believe that September is Already Here??

Hello Blogland, This is your long-lost blogger, Cranberry Morning. I decided that even though I've not been out getting new photos with my real camera, I'll put up a few pics that I took with my not-so-smart phone.

That fencing you see above is the gate to our garden. The brick is standing in the gap between the post and the gate to try to keep out the bunnies. It seems to work relatively well.

I  have about a dozen tomato plants, but they're determinates so they are all getting ripe at about the same time. (Determinates or determinants?)  I'd really like to open-kettle can them. Does anyone still do that? I know that the County Extension Office strongly advises against it because the 'new' hybrid tomatoes are not as acidic as the 'heirloom' tomatoes were. But if I add a tablespoon of lemon juice to each quart, can't I still open kettle? It would be so much more convenient, because at this point I'm not hauling heavy things up and down (where there's a second range) the stairs, and my kitchen range on the main floor is a ceramic top, so I don't want to use the pressure canner on it. I've heard that they can crack from the sustained heat of canning. Okay, you're right, I'm rambling, and it's not your problem. Sorry.

 Terrible photo, nice dog.

Jazzie is back for a visit. This afternoon she was out in the front yard sniffing the breeze. She's got a smorgasbord out there and is loving it.

Above is the view to the southeast from our front porch. I know I tend to put too many photos of views from our porch or our back deck on Instagram, but I happen to love those views, and besides, if I came across something better, I'd be sure to share to post that too.

At the end of last month, we were at our daughter's home, celebrating the SIXTH birthday of Henry. What a fun kid. What a Lego lover! What a Minecraft lover!  Anyway, it seems impossible that it's been six years since that little guy was born.

This was Henry on his introduction to winter, back in 2010. That's kinda how I feel about winter, Henry.

Can I ever publish a post without a barn? Not usually. And I like the star on the front of this one. I hope everyone has been well and enjoyed a great summer. My summer was non existent, so I'm going to try to make the most of autumn and hope that it lasts about six months.

Trying to ease back into Blogland.. maybe.

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