Going to the big city,to process

I can' t believe it's already time for the Fancy Food Show. Sarah gave me this lovely print and I think it explains me to a T. I am forever in the process of. I always thought I would be done but, somewhere around 40 ish I realized we are all in the process, so now I'm happy with that . So this week I'm switching gears and putting on my N.Y. city hat to taste marvelous goodies in hopes of bring back just what my people need to comfort them thru these times. Of course we always allow a little time for us to process the big city . Included in this trip is always a visit to N.Y. city bakeries and restaurants and yarn shop and Takashemaya one of my all time favorite places to go. I went there for 3 years and savoured every inch of the store{mostly gardening treasures} before the owner asked "Have you seen the other 5 floors" Can you believe that? 3 years loving a place and not even seeing 20% of it. Well you can bet this country bumpkin got right on that elevator and checked out the rest. Every floor is totally different but the connecting thread is quality. The children's department has all unique gifts and books that will be treasured for a life time. I have 2 baby prezzies needed for this year so I finally get to shop this department. So I must rush off ...............so many things to do ............I'll never be ready but I'm in the process..........................said the hobbit

Successful stiching w/moderate bitching

Isn't this cute. As most of you know, Tuesday night is stitch & bitch. We started getting together last fall because one of the girls wanted to knit and we thought it would be fun to get together at a local coffee shop. Everyone lives in a different direction so this worked out great. This is Michelle. She is a produce manager at work, she gave up knitting about 5 years ago when she decided to de-clutter her home. Then we came along and talked her into coming to our soiree and this is what she produced. Just like riding a bike it all came back to her. This is heading for California were her new nephew is living. I bet they're going to love it. As you can see this pattern is a little fancy but, that's how Michelle likes it. Nothing plain Jane about her. The only problem she had was the zipper, you see, it didn't call for one. She had never sewn one in and she bought one that was better suited for a skirt rather than a jacket[2 pieces]. Not a problem, she got herself organized, checked our her instructions and got it done. We just think it's the cutest thing and I am so proud of her. GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It seems almost impossible to believe but I have been tagged. Someone out there in another part of the world wants to know a little more about me. So here I go.
I was recently tagged by Sheila , another blogger in the U.K. she would like me to answer the following questions: 1]What were you doing 10 years ago ?
Ten years ago I was working as a dental technician with my husband in his lab. It was an field I have always been involved in but, not my passion as it is with my hubby. Within a short area of my workplace was the farm I currently work at. I am a people person and my husband encouraged me to" go for it " as they say. In my spare time I was an active member on the board of a ballet company in Portsmouth N.H.
2]places you have lived?
I guess the most interesting to people is probable New Orleans. Mu husband was sent there to train their staff in dental technology and we lived there a little over a year. Coming from N.H. it was quite a change. I can't think of anything the 2 states have in common other than being in the same country. We had 3 children at the time and they took in everything they could. It was a great year for all of us. Everyday was an adventure.
3]Five things on your to-do list for today. 1] get this tag done 2]pay my bills 3]work on the Christmas list 4] do some ironing,my favorite,really!!5]go work at the barn 12-6:30 today It's a simple life,not much excitement here.
4]What is your favorite snack?
I assume your not talking about anything good for you? When I hear snack food I immediately envision Cheesy Poufs the one with the Tiger on the bag and the words Family size at the top. My family knows when these are in the house THEY ARE MINE and you need permission to have a few thank you very much.
5]What would you do if you were a billionaire. Probable pass it on. Money is the root of all evil or so I have noticed I never had much more than I needed and I'm one happy person I would not want to mess with that................................said the hobbit

Summer Reading

Just getting started on these books New and Old.Hope to finish by August. That is if I can figure out how to squeeze out a few more hours in the day. Just 2 would be great. I'm not trying to be ridiculous. Am I? Amy Sedaris I like you is pretty funny and informative.It's about entertaining and being more relaxed then "Martha" would have us think is possible. Amy has lots of ideas about using what you have in the house already to get a theme going.It's all very tongue in cheek,and give me the occasional chuckle as I can sometimes take things to seriously. Country Wisdom is for the person who whats to sustain themselves with no outside help. There isn't anything you need that is not in that book. Build an outhouse? Oh ya they can tell you how to do that. Good info if you want to leave the real world for awhile. Sweet miniatures by Flo Braker, my new obsession. Maybe it's because I think I should be downsizing. I'm not sure but,I can't wait to get my teeth into this one. Four season Harvest tell you how to grow your produce despite the fact that you live in a tundra for 6 out of 12 months. Could be useful if transportation take a bigger bite out of my grocery bill. Good Housekeeping circa 1932 I read this just because. No other reason than I have to reassure myself that we are going to survive whatever comes next. As you can see Champignon is still on my blog.He's sort of my conscience.Right now he's busy talking on my new phone. The girls at Stitch and Bitch thought I needed to get with the real world so on my birthday they got together and bought me this phone. Champignon loves it and sends a big thank you to all the girls. I'm hoping to have a chance to try it out if he ever gets off. I think he met someone online I'll ask him when he hangs up. Brings back memories of when the kids were home.


On the farm we are picking our first berries. Picture is a little fuzzy but, I was so excited my hands were shaking. Berries are my favorite. We'll be eating them as is for awhile but I'm hoping to find an appropriate recipe in Flo Brakers' book. Or maybe someone out there has a recipe to offer.
Tomorrow is Fathers Day and it's going to be a busy one so I think I'd better get a little rest. Lots going on.Boys are golfing with Dad, Sarah has her students giving a year end performance. This is her final with this dance school.She is moving on to do more creative work elsewhere but, is finding it hard to say goodbye to her students. So mum will be there for support. Diner has to be cooked and I get an e-mail that my local chickens are ready to be picked up at 11am. Looks like that's on my list of things to do. Well that's it for now Happy Fathers Day to everyone out there, hope it's filled with lots of hugs and warm moments..........................said the hobbit

It's 90 degrees I think I need a break

Well,it's hard to believe but, 2 days ago hubby was sitting on the couch wrapped in a woolen blanket watching his beloved Red Soxs'.Today the temperature is closer to the 90+ mark and he is still sitting on the couch but shall I say in much lighter attire. I myself prefer the cellar where it's about 30 degrees cooler. Of course my computer is on the 2nd floor of our home and no we do not have air-conditioning. It hardly seems worth it with such fluctuating temp.

Oh, have you figured out what that picture is all about ? No it's not an elephant about to suck up that plant. These are our greenhouse tomatoes. They are not exposed to the elements so therefore we must play bee by gently blowing them with air in order to pollinate the flowers so that they become tomatoes. It amuses us to.

Seeing as how it's too warm to do anything I went on a computer vacation today. I sometimes read Cowboys and custard. She recently went to Midhurst in West Sussex. Through her blog, dated Sunday June 1, I was introduced to the Walled Garden At the Cowdray Castle Ruins. I don't know that I'll ever visit but her genuine love of the area has made me place it on my"could happen" list. Part of the tour included a visit to an art studio. You must take a look. Just follow the prompts to small works .I would love to see some of these sculptures in our gardens.Maybe I should work on that. Well it's getting pretty warm up here so I think I need to go down to the cellar and cool off ...........................said the hobbit

Rhubarb time

Hi everyone. I hope you're all out there helping your local farmer with his produce. This is the rhubarb patch. We've been harvesting for about 2 weeks now so everyone should be looking for a new and interesting recipe. I know strawberry rhubarb pie is probable the favorite but it really is great in bread or muffins and besides it's not strawberry seasons here yet so let me know what you're doing with yours. I had a customer call at the barn the other day. He had decided to make his version of rhubarb crisp. He baked the fruit put crisp topping on and baked it some more.It seemed he was left with a very watery mess.What could be the problem he asked. Well it could be the exclusion of sugar or flour. Just a thought. First time cooks,oh how I love reliving those early mistakes and passing on my mothers' advice "oh honey, just put it on ice cream and it will

be just fine. Worked for me. So here I am ready to try a new recipe.It came from an older book, a little vague on size of pan and temp needed but, I gave it a shot anyway.

RHUBARB BREAD

1 1/2 cups brown sugar [lightly packed] or not

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 teas salt

1 cup buttermilk yum

2 cups diced rhubarb

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 1/4 cup white flour

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1 teas. baking powder

In large bowl combine oil and sugar,add egg salt and buttermilk, mix thoroughly. Stir in the rhubarb. In a second bowl mix nuts, flours, wheat germ and baking powder. Add dry to wet.

Stir till just moist and spoon into a 9x5 bake at 350 40-50 minutes or till tester comes out clean. I use spaghetti as a tester.

It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself. Hope you are all enjoying the summer although it has not officially started in N.E. But, that never stops us................said the hobbit

Has anyone got an extra hour I could borrow????

Things are a little busy here. Everyday I tell myself I need to sit down and write a few lines but, all I can do is drag my you know what to bed and start all over in the morning. Since Mom died I've had a few additional things to take care of. Nothing major just time consuming, and needing a call or letter. One of these was a letter telling her this was her second notice and she had to reply immediately. To what I didn't know.So I called because it was concerning her insurance. It seems they needed a verbal description of the fall that landed her in the hospital. Was it an accident??Did someone cause the fall??? When I told them she had passed away they said they would accept my interpretation of the accident. I was 50 miles away but,that didn't make any difference to them they just needed to close this file. Seems strange they didn't even ask for proof of who I was??

Anyway as you see it's gardening time. No that's not me I'm the one taking the picture silly. I was impressed at how gently they were raking the soil. The naked area had radishes there,they had been picked and the soil was being prepared for another planting.The lettuce on the right hand side had another week before it would be harvested. That would be yesterday. I told you I was it need of extra hours.

This is one of the things I've been doing. It's a veggie platter and I've taken those new radishes and cut them into little mice. Aren't they cute? Farmer Will took one look at them and said you are one crazy lady.I think that meant he liked it . He was laughing at the time so that was good enough for me. Well gotta go for now.Next time I'll tell you about my birthday[2 weeks ago] I am sooo behind.............said the hobbit

Finding Cambridge

At last I'm back. It's been such a hectic week, with no end in sight. I thought it best to just forge ahead and post the best I could ,so, If I seem to be rambling, give me a break will ya. When I last spoke to you we were leaving Massart. Betty was in a state of shock and needed some familiar sights. She thought a walk thru Cambridge would soothe her soul. We were willing to go anywhere just point us in the right direction. So Betty called husband Bob and told him where we were. After getting off the phone she informed us of his directions. Find a bridge and cross it, you should be able to find Cambridge from there. So off we went to find a bridge. This is not as easy as it sounds. There are many bridges in Boston. Hard as this may be to believe it worked out perfectly, althought Betty often told me to get in the left lane and then after recognizing some shop or intersection whe'd have me make a right turn. But, lo and behold we found Cambridge and that was easy compared to finding a place to park. We rode around about 20 min making circles into residential areas, checking out lovely homes till finally we found a parking lot behind Barnes & Noble. I was so excited that when I got to the gate I pushed the button for my ticket and a gentleman asked "can I help you" I informed him I wanted to park my car and he informed me I was pushing the emergency call button would I please try the green button.Oops!! Car finally parked we put our walking shoes on and hit the pavement .






We managed to find a great little bakery with biscotti like I never had before,some contained blueberries and ginger and I just could not pass them up. I wish I had written down the name but, being new to this blogging thing it's a detail I forget .Oh well I guess I'm a work in progress. We finally hit paydirt for Betty when we spotted a shop called Papersource
Being a scrapbooker she was in heaven. The place was filled with ideas for memory books which Betty is a wiz at. I am at a total lost in this field. My mind just goes blank and I can't think of a thing to do.





Betty had me take a picture of this memory book to give me something visual to work with. I don't think it's going to help .I can't remember for the life of me what it was about. So off we went to find food and a restroom. I don't think peeing is allowed in Cambridge. We tried 2 restaurants before we found one that had a public restroom,however,that one had no seating available so after doing what we had to do off we went to the first restaurant. Soon we were back at our vehicle ready to go home when I spotted a small sign that read parking for customers only have ticket validated in mall. Oh oh here we go again. I went into the mall spoke with a security guard who found my adventures quite amusing and informed me our parking ticket would be $1

I gave it to him in quarters and made my escape. Soon we were back in N.H. having been gone a total of 12 hours bringing our first adventure to a close.Next stop Portland or maybe the South end open market. Of course that's in Boston.Dare we try again ............said the hobbit