What’s for dinner?

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When the kids were still living at home, I planned our weekly meals based on who had to go where and when each evening.   Piano lessons, drum lessons, band practice (for Mr. Aitch and the kids), soccer practice, orthodontist appointments, meetings, teaching, you name it.  Something was happening practically every weeknight so I had to be organized.  I made 30-minute meals long before Rachael Ray coined the phrase.

I went to the market every Sunday morning right after church while my kids were in CCD (Sunday School for the non-Catholics).  I still go then even though I don’t have to.  It’s just a habit.

The newspaper ads helped me decide our meals as I mostly bought whatever was on sale.  Ribs were on sale this week so that’s what we had Sunday evening but I didn’t think much about the rest of the week.

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Like tonight.

I have no idea what to have.

What are you fixing for dinner tonight?

What did you have last night?

Any ideas for tomorrow?

 

 

The most amazing jigsaw puzzle

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Five of us put together this amazing puzzle while we were visiting my brother in New Hampshire last week.  My brother, sister, sister-in-law, sister-in-law’s nephew and I.  Mr. Aitch and Mr. Are (my brother-in-law) cheered us on.

The puzzle has irregular edges.  It was in the shape of a frog.

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The pieces were not the typical shaped pieces either.  There were frogs, fish, mermaids, sharks, at least one seahorse, buffalo, birds, and many other fun shapes. Sorry, no separate photos of those but you can make out some of those shapes below.

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009-NH-Trip-Frog-5The puzzle called “Frog” by Sue Coccia and is produced by Liberty Puzzles.  Their logo piece is an eagle with the word “Liberty” on the back.  The cut pattern for this puzzle is different from the one currently one their website.

As we started oohing and awing over the various shapes Sunday afternoon, my sister kept saying “It’s too hard.  It’s too hard.” But we persevered.

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And by Tuesday afternoon it was complete.  The amusing, whimsical shapes and family interaction were extraordinary.

What fun group activities does your family do?  Do you like jigsaw puzzles?

 

Adventures in NH

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When riding a motorcycle 600 miles, one must be prepared for inclement weather.  We started out in our rain suits because everything was wet.  Good thing we did as we hit rain less than seven miles from our house.001-NH-Trip-Canal-Place

It rained off and on most of the morning.  I kept checking my phone weather app to see if we could remove those hot suits. Mr. Aitch took off his rain jacket when we stopped for fuel when this popped up.  We are the blue dot.002-Sheetz

We hung out there for about an hour while waiting for the rain to lighten up and spent the night near Albany, New York.

From  Albany, New York to my brother’s house in New Hampshire was a better ride and beautiful weather.

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My brother, sister and I went to the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s Fair and I met Carrie Cahill Mulligan of cmhats fame.005-NH-Trip-CCM-Hats

I’ve never met a knitter that wasn’t nice.  She is so warm and friendly and her hats are incredibly beautiful!  My favorite one is the grey and tan hat hanging just above my head in the photo.  Her hand embroidery is divine.

There were so many things to see that I forgot to take photos.   I did fish out my phone for a photo when I saw this quilt by Jane Frenke.  I love the bright colors and irregular edges. After doing some research I discovered her studio is about and hour and half away from me  Small world.006-NH-Trip-Jane-Frenke

We also worked on a very challenging jigsaw puzzle that my sister-in-law gave to my brother a few years ago and was never completed.  More about that on another day.

Three days of warm, sunny weather and then it started to rain.  On the day we left.

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This time we spent the night in Scranton, PA. Our boots were damp and Mr. Aitch’s glove were wet so we propped them over the fan in our room while we went for dinner.

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Rain showers were in the area when we got up on the last day of our trip so we decided to take our time at breakfast.  We donned our rain suits before we left the hotel though the radar was relatively clear.  Pop-up showers were in the forecast but after mostly sunny skies and the heat of the day, we decided to get out of those hot rain suits.

Thirty minutes later…

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Again – we are the blue dot.

013-NH-Trip-TyroneWe managed to get off the highway just as the skies opened up.  You can see by Mr. Aitch’s shirt that we did get a little wet.  We decided to have lunch hoping the rain would once again subside.  It didn’t.  After an hour wait we braved the rain and headed home.

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To mostly sunny skies.

Sewage, drainage, and rock walls Part II

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Welcome to Part II of the sewage, drainage and rock walls.  Click here for Part I.

To get to the front downspout the raised flower bed had to be torn down.  Well, at least part of it.

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My daughter and I built this rock wall about 22 years ago,  It didn’t hold up as well as expected but I learned a lot about building a stacked stone/rock wall in those 22 years. And I got to use that knowledge to tear it all down and rebuild it.  During the hottest part of the summer.

As usual I didn’t get a picture of the before but the wall undulated ( fifty-cent word)  in and out three times from the steps of the front porch the side of the house.  The downspout is behind that bush and the pampas grass.

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Daffodils and lilies of the valley were strewn about that section so as I torn out the rocks, I rescued those plants/bulbs to replant later in the fall.  I put off that project for a few years but it’s funny how one thing leads to another.

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Landscape fabric went between the rock wall and the soil.

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There are better other ways to keep the soil from leaking out and stabilize the wall but it’s the way I chose to do it.

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The raised bed/rock wall went doesn’t come out as far as the original and does circle around the side of the porch.  It kind of eases into the same height as the added soil around the foundation and heat pumps.

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All this work happened over the course of about three weeks…mostly because I couldn’t work on the raised bed/stacked rock wall for more than a few hours in the mornings and evenings at a time.  We’ve had some heavy rains and our basement is dry.

Grass is growing over the newly seeded areas though we will reseed some of those areas again this fall.

After the tomato plants are finished for the year, I’ll work on the other side.

Rock-wall-010Whew!