More Photos From Pennsylvania

Pierre S. du Pont (1870-1954) created Longwood Gardens after purchasing land in 1906 to save an arboretm of historic trees. He went on to build the magnificent gardens, Conservatory and fountains that we saw and loved. We were there during the fall mum showing! The lily pads that are at the top can get as big as 8' across, and they looked like giant baking pans to me!

Molly by Golly!

Here is Molly wearing her newest cap. Let's see if she will keep it on long enough for the picture. Easy crochet pattern...made it up in about an hour. I still need to put a crocheted rose on the side, but I don't know if she will give it back!

The Happiness Project

I recently found this site, and it is fascinating! Many articles and quotes that are so inspiring. I thought of my daughters, both young mothers, who are so tired from sleepless nights and busy days. The author, Gretchen Rubin, addressed these years , by saying:

"The days are long, but the years are short".

Check out all of the good stuff on this site.....

Amish Breakfast

Baked Oatmeal

2/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten

Mix the above ingredients together well then add:

4 cups oatmeal
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 apples peeled and chopped
1 tsp. cinnamon
chopped walnuts

Pour into a greased 8" cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces and serve with milk.

I had this for breakfast in an Amish restaurant in Intercourse, PA. It was delicious and a great way to start the day.

Eight Days in Pennsylvania

I finally got my wish to see the Amish country, and just got back from a wonderful trip with friends. Heaven has got to look like Pennsylvania, at least in my book. Here are some of the many photos I took!

Amber's Birthday present

I finished Amber's shrug last night and I really like the way it turned out. I'm getting some crochet books in the mail that will have lots of these types of shrugs. I'm really excited to try some for little girls too. They make up really fast (now that I know what I'm doing!), and are sure fun to make. I love you amber and miss you so much!

Simply the Best!

These muffins rock!!!! I know I'm 55 and am not supposed to talk like my kids, but they honestly do! I've never tasted any better. They are really good when they are warm out of the oven and gooey with the drizzle:

White Chocolate Macadamia Muffins

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup white chips
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Glaze:

1/2 cup white chips
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

In a bowl, conbine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the chips and nuts.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

For glaze, in a small microwave safe bowl, melt chips with cream. stir until smooth. Drizzle over warm muffins.

To die for!!!!!! Let me know what you think!

First Snow!!!

After the clouds lifted a bit this morning, we saw our beautiful La Plata mountains capped with snow. FIrst snow of the season. Glad we had good luck and saw the leaves last Friday. I'm sure they are going fast now.

A Fall Treat

I made this today and it was great!

Goodbye Old Friend

Well, we had to say goodbye to an old friend yesterday. Molly was 14 years old and it was time to say good bye. She had been sick, so we took her in to the vet to be put to sleep. Very sad, but she had a wonderful life here on the ranch. Many happy memories. You were a good dog and you will be missed!

The perfect date........

How often do you get to have the perfect date REAllY? If you're like us, maybe once every three months. Well, this was the perfect date, good enough to qualify for about five years. Today Steve took me up to Telluride to see the leaves. Now in most years past, (like almost every year past) we either hit it too early and see green aspen, or too late and see bare trees. I don't know why we have such luck, but in general we do. Not today. Today we had a magical time from the moment we left the house. Steve has been up to Teluride a lot, what with manager retreats and such. He stays at his boss's condo. So he knows the ropes. We had an amazing ride up,even tho it was kinda stormy. From Dolores on it was gorgeous, and Telluride was just amazing. I kept looking for a sign that said "This way to Oprah's mansion". Steve knew all the in's and out's of the place. the free gondola rides from Mountain Village over to Telluride, even where to park! I was so impressed! We had a great lunch and then I found some pretty aspen leaf earrings to commemorate the day. I also got some good shots of Wilson Peak, a fourteener that Steve and his Brother Phil climbed back in the early 90's. My gosh, I'm glad I didn't know they were on something so steep. Yikes! Anyway, this was a great day and I got to rub elbows with the rich and famous as well as the maintenance folks. I did find that every local there owns a dog. Dogs were every where. Lucky dogs.

Fun at the movies

Yesterday my friend Kathy and I went to see Ghost Town. It was really good and I recommend it! How nice to get out and surrender to another realm for a while. I learned that I'm a grabber when it comes to surprise parts of the movie. Kathy, I hope your poor arm is okay today! Anyway, get out and see a movie. Give yourself a treat. And do it with a friend, which is even more fun!