We had a blast at our sleepover at the farm. We told stories and walked out to see what a really dark sky looks like. It was the first time Little has actually seen the Milky Way! We warmed up leftover pancakes and corn cakes for breakfast. I sat on the front porch with my knitting and coffee and listened to the birds. Little slept in then we packed up and did a little walkabout. I showed them what the buildings were used for. We looked at the pictures of the people who built them. I explained how things worked before they got running water on the farm.
There was an inch and a half of water in the rain gauge yesterday morning. Add this heat and you can almost HEAR the grass grow! I rustled Little up out of bed fairly early. I fixed corn cakes for breakfast and man…they were fantastic if I do say so myself. I didn’t really have a recipe. I used a couple cups of self rising flour, a cup of finely ground yellow corn meal, half a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of baking powder…even though there’s baking powder in the self rising flour. I also added a heaping tablespoon of sugar. Whisk the dry ingredients. In a liquid measuring cup, pour about a cup of milk, 1/4th cup vegetable oil, and two eggs. Beat with a fork till combined and pour into the dry ingredients. If it’s too thick, add more milk, a little at a time and stir till you get the consistency of pancake batter. I added a little vegetable oil and butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat and cooked the corn cakes two at a time, flipping them when the edges were golden. I served them hot drenched in syrup. Divine! I normally would have a side of eggs for some extra protein and maybe sausage or bacon but I used the eggs to make the batter and didn’t have any side meat. Little loved them!
I let Little sleep in yesterday morning. I remember when my daughters were that age. They need to sleep because they’re growing and they’re busy cramming their brains full of new knowledge. I cleaned house and knitted till I finally woke them up to get the day going. We drove to town to visit our favorite antique shop. Little bought three neckties, a teddy bear and a necklace. Then we went to Michael’s to get some crafty things. They love art so we bought a new sketchbook and colored pencils and a few other things. I bought some green, red, and white acrylic yarn to knit some Christmas stockings for the kids.
Little and I slept in the camper their first night here in West Virginia. They wanted to see the lightning bugs in the trees. We couldn’t really hear the night sounds because it was so warm in the camper, we had to have the fans running. We both went to sleep fairly early because we were exhausted after the ten hour drive from Williamsburg. We were awakened at 3:00 yesterday morning with an amazing thunderstorm. Little wasn’t really afraid of it. Fifteen is a pretty worldly age, after all. But, the pillow WAS turned around to the other end of the bed away from the window…you know, just in case.
We left the campground at 10:00 yesterday morning. I’m not going to share the name of the campground. I wasn’t terribly pleased with it, and I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with the owner, so I don’t want to give it a bad review based on the couple of things that I really didn’t like about it. Let’s just say…it’s centrally located and folks seemed to be fine with it. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Ahhhhh….sweet tea! Nectar of the gods. Southern house wine. There is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than a mason jar (or in this case, a Kerr jar) of southern sweet tea. The way the light shines through the amber richness. The way the sweat drips down the jar. The way the ice tinkles against the glass. I have to admit, there are indeed a zillion true souther ladies rolling in their graves when I say this, but…I don’t use sugar. I do like it sweet though, so I use stevia. Yesterday morning, I mixed up a batch of hummingbird juice for the feeder. I use a quart jar, put in one cup of granulated sugar and fill it to within a half inch or so from the top with water. I stir it with one of my wooden spoon so I don’t chip the rim. When I fill the feeder, I always have about a cup or so of the sugar water. So, I added ice and filled it the rest of the way with tea. It wasn’t quite sweet enough so I added on packet of stevia and it was perfect.
The buttonhole placket was so much easier to knit than I thought it would be.
I paid $4.36 for gas yesterday! It’s coming down. The supply chain issues are evening out and they are predicting prices on most goods will fall accordingly. The crazy housing market is cooling off and maybe someday young people will be able to buy that little house with the white picket fence. I don’t know. All I know is, when you live on a fixed income, you’ll take every break you can get!
All done except for the plackets, buttons and buttonholes, and weaving the ends!
When I’m riding the tractor, my mind wanders from topic to topic. I try to be mindful and present and actually…you know…mow. With all the feelings and smells and sounds and techniques that come with that. Sometime’s I’m successful at that. Other times…not so much. Yesterday was one of those days. I did manage to keep in the moment when I was mowing the little tiny rises along the road and out by the circular drive because the grass was still a little damp and the tires on this tractor can get a little slippery. But as soon as I had that done, I was off somewhere else.
Forty-eight years ago, I became a mother. Forty-eight. I don’t understand how she got older than me but she’s a keeper and I’m so proud to be her mom!!!
This whole week went by so fast, I lost track of the days. We are in heavy grass growing season with all the rain we had in the last ten days so that means more mowing. Mr. FixIt went to town on Saturday to help a friend with some plumbing and I stayed home and knitted. Then yesterday was mowing day at the farm.
I met Hubby #2 in the late ‘70s. I worked in the small x-ray department at a rehabilitation hospital in downtown Denver and he was working as a Physical Therapist between premed classes. We knew each other for a year but there had never been an indication that he would like to go out with me. And, I didn’t have the nerve to ask him. Finally I asked a mutual friend why he didn’t seem interested and she said, “Do you really want to know the reason? It’s because you smoke. He would never go out with someone who smokes.” I took my cigarettes out of my pocket and threw them in the trash and said, “Tell him I quit!”
