Merry Christmas

Yes, I know I'm late.  But we can never have enough wishes for a Merry Christmas and Peace on Earth. 

We had a quiet day here on the hill.  Did seem strange to not be with family.  It was the first time in a number of years that occurred.  

My treat here of late has been watching Eastern Towhees outside my windows.  We've had a pair around the place  for a long while, but this winter we're blessed to have about 6 of them (maybe more) moving around the yard.  They are such gorgeous birds.  

My quilting has been very slow.  I did finish one quilt that will be sent off to its new home in a few days.  The recipients have been in and out of town so I'll wait until they get back home before shipping it off. 

It has a cozy flannel back so should be good for a warm snuggle.  

No other excitement here, thank goodness.  

I do appreciate all of you who stop by for a read.    If I'm not back beforehand, let me wish all of you a Happy Year Year filled with good things and good health. 

Y'all take care. 

Happy Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for in my life.  Mostly good health, family, friends and financial stability.  With those things behind me, I'm allowed the freedom to enjoy a spectrum of activities, some simple and some not so much. 

This morning, my husband and I were simply sitting upstairs in the living room in very comfy swivel rockers facing the fireplace, each with a cup of coffee, talking and watching the many birds out at the feeders.  The sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky.  Leaves were still floating down regularly.  There is no more perfect moment in my mind.   That's the kind of stuff that finds me grateful beyond belief. 

Sunrise from the deck

I hope all of you who visit here take a moment to be thankful for the good things in your life.  I'm also grateful that you stop in to visit me.  

Y'all take care.  

Climbing on the Soapbox

Is it just me?  Why do people buy a house in the mountains with lovely trees all around and then within months, they've cut them all down?  We're not talking about diseased or damaged or broken trees.  Or trees within 10 feet of your house, or growing crooked.  We're talking about healthy, straight native trees that have been around already for 25 plus years, maybe even 50 years or more.   And I really don't want to hear "but they might fall on the house" which has also been right there with those trees for the last however many years.   Really ticks me off.   Passed a house down the way today and they were removing a gorgeous tree of some sort that has to be at least 85 feet tall and not a thing wrong with it, along with several other smaller trees.  

We also have a new neighbor just next to our lower lot who thinks the same way.  He's hinting at wanting us to agree for him to remove some large trees on our lot.  Guess what the chances are of that happening?  I've already plainly told him I'm a true tree hugger.

Errrrrrrr........just upsets me something fierce. 

Now, that being said, y'all have a good day and take care.  

Random Thoughts

Our weather is still quite warm and above normal but the humidity levels have dropped.  It's really gorgeous outside now.  As I've been driving around the last week I've been reminded of just how much I love living here in the north Georgia mountains.  I look at the valleys and hills and it just makes me feel good.  My husband and I sit in the mornings with our coffee and talk about how the foliage on the trees changes. 

Not this year but the view from our deck

We love our bird feeders and I'm an avid birder also, so we keep tabs on the activity around the house every day.  We've had both male and female rose breasted grosbeaks this week along with summer tanagers.  I still have at least one ruby throat hummingbird.  

We've had some erosion control/drainage work done lately.  Its the kind of job that couldn't be delayed.  We live on the side of a mountain and our lot is quite sloped so when a small erosion site develops it has to be stopped immediately.  We had several new french drains put in along with drain pipes from them down the hill.  We also had covered gutters put on the back of the house to match the ones on the front of the house.  We've not had a lot of rain since the job was finished so we'll see how it works.  

As much as I hated to do it, we also had to have some saplings removed and a couple of larger trees that had developed what I call root rot.  Its where the trees develop cavities near the ground and weaken the tree.  One was on our downhill lot and was threat to the neighbor's house should it fall, so it came down.  The other one was beside our driveway and would block us in should it fall.  Truthfully, if you didn't know the trees were removed you'd never know.  

I got a new laptop several months ago and still haven't transferred the photos from the old one.  Therefore, I don't have many pictures to choose from to add here.  And for whatever reason I haven't taken many pictures lately.

We visited Crater Lake earlier this summer

Hope you're all doing well.   Y'all take care. 

Uh Oh

Well, when Blogger knows I haven't posted in a long time and wants to know if I still want to get notifications about comments, I guess its time to fish or cut bait.  I'm not ready to cut bait so here we go. 

I'm still doing the same old - same old around here.  My quilting hobby keeps me fairly occupied and I still read voraciously.  

We took a trip to the west coast in July to visit family.  My stepdaughter now lives in Redmond, OR.  I went to the Sisters, Oregon quilt show while we were there.  That was the very first quilt show I ever attended back in 1996 long before I took up quilting myself.  It was hot, but then I expected that.  I and many others showed up about 7:30 in the morning while quilts were still being put out for display.  I met up with a couple of friends, one from here in the mountains and one who lives in Portland, OR now but used to live here in the mountains.  

Quilt Shop that sponsors the show

It had been many years since I'd been to Bend, Sisters and Redmond, Oregon.  Hard to believe how they've changed since we were there.  At one time I would have loved to live there but no more. 

After leaving Redmond, we drove up to Lummi Island, Washington to visit more family.  The drastic difference in weather was so welcome.  We left 100 degree temps in Oregon and arrived to the low 70's on the island.  

view from the deck Mt. Baker 

Also, the day after we left Oregon, wildfires erupted again covering the very highway we had traveled the day before.  They don't seem to have let up a lot since then.   The smoke from inland fires reached the Island a few days after we left. 

look close, afternoon snack 

While there, all four of us went up to Victoria, BC to visit Butchart Gardens.  Had a great trip up there.  Pretty gardens and good food and lively downtown Victoria. 

I'll do my best to be back without too much delay.  Hope you're all doing well. 

Y'all take care

Homemade Doughnuts

I've been lax with my own blog posting but I've been keeping up with others on a regular basis.  Leigh at 5 Acres and a Dream asked me to share my mother's doughnut recipe.  We didn't make doughnuts very often but they were scarfed up readily by the three teenagers in the house along with my parents.  It was a production to make them because they ALL needed to be made, rolled out, cut and left on parchment paper or waxed paper ready for cooking before starting cooking any of them.   Mama did the cooking, I did the shuffling from table to stove and then took care of the sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg when they were done.  YUM. 

Buttermilk Doughnuts
4 cups all purpose flour, sifted before measuring
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg & cinnamon (proportions to your taste)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup shortening
3 eggs beaten
1 1/4 cup buttermilk 

Sift all dry ingredients together.  Add shortening and cut in.  Combine eggs and buttermilk.  Work liquid into dry ingredients.  Knead for one minute.  Divide dough into 2 parts.  Roll dough out to 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out.  Place cut outs on waxed paper or parchment until all are cut. 

Fry in hot oil about 1 1/2 minutes per side or until golden.  Drain.  Shake warm doughnuts in paper bag with sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg mixture.  Enjoy.  

This is from an old recipe book she had and no oil temperature was given nor the number made but it's a bunch.   Hope you enjoy them.  Let me know how you like them. 

Happy New Year, friends

Y'all take care