Welcome to new readers, and thank you for coming back, regular readers and commenters. See the button to your right, which takes you to the blog of the fearless leader of this annual event, Vicki, of Two Bags Full, whose idea is to introduce blogs to new readers and readers to blogs they might never have found before.
Meanwhile, back here, this blog is what you might call wide ranging, from stories of my houseplants and the adventures of being the neighborhood Plant Clinic Lady, not a job I applied for
To book reviews and why I liked or didn't what I'm currently involved in reading
To food and the adventures I have in the kitchen, creating and improvising all kinds of dishes, particularly with vegetables from my farmshare, and the occasional recipe review from other people's books
To the resident pets, Marigold the Burmese and Duncan, the Big Black Cat, and, watch this space, there may be a new resident chez Boud before too long, a singing one..
Marigold here suspiciously checking on a mouse I knitted from yarn I'd spun
And Duncan assisting with stick weaving
To all kinds of crafty and home decorish ideas usually low or no-budget ones
No cost rearrangement to free up counter space
No cost arrangement to provide myself with lower counter space to accommodate my lack of inches.
To my local walks in a beautiful region
Local events get in here, too, here the Italian American festival of 2014, best food evah
and last but they would say far from least, to the life and times of the Dollivers, my five character dolls, Blondie Firstborn, Dreads, Call Me Michelle, Bette Davis and NameMe, who have adventures in Field and Fen, get about all over the place, pose everywhere, and have their traveling accompanist, pianist Elton, who creates popup concerts on request.
They have an extensive wardrobe, thanks to their endless demands on Boud to create outfits, knitted, crocheted, stitched and draped, for every new venture
Serious weight training, left to right NameMe, Dreads, Call Me Michelle, Bette Davis, Blondie Firstborn
Birdwatching at Cape May
Doctor's office visit
2014 Westminster Dog Show at home, with Dog Wrangler Name Me dolled up to show her kennel, see the Westminster winner at her feet, from the Dolliver Kennels
NameMe is active in the kitchen, too, here making pasta from scratch
She left the resident agility mixed breed in charge of the Easter eggs
Pianist Elton leads a singalong
Friend in both art and music, Stefi accompanies the singers dressed in their best black
And here the assembled company welcomes back the Chilean miners to safety, wearing sympathy hard hats
They love a wedding, note the fascinator worn by Bette Davis
This blog also comes with a little gift to be drawn at random from your comments on this blogpost. To see it, scroll back a post or two..how cunning I am, forcing you to read more..but be aware that you don't need to sign up as a follower, though I'd love you if you did, and that you don't need a blog in order to be in the drawing for the little giftie.
All you need do is put a comment in here. Drawing will be on February 15th, when I'll announce the lucky winner and request an address to ship to.
And thank you so much for stopping by today, please browse here and enjoy the fun.
For a lot of us in the northern hemisphere, a new polar express of cold and wind is upon us, a great day to stay at home tomorrow if we can and enjoy the day. Our southern hemisphere friends are already up to Saturday, and probably blistering hot weather! with the problem of not letting the chocolate melt.
The Ds demanded their red and lace outfits, and the heart mobile was commissioned for their viewing pleasure.
After a while, Elton, who had a new hat for the day, demanded to play with the mobile, chased it around a bit and ended up wearing it as he played the selection commanded by the Ds.
He went from Red Roses for a Blue Lady, to I Love New York, then on to You Are My Sunshine, Hearts and Flowers, ending with a Few of my Favorite Things. The Ds. inserted items such as diamonds, new dresses, parties and prosecco to the list of favorites.
But they also want to remind blogistas, amid cries of work, work, all we do is work around here, when requested to make the reminder, that February 14 is also the last day to enter the giveaway for the Grow Your Blog Party.
To enter, just make a comment here and you'll be in the draw. Make sure I can reach you if you are a winner!
Here's what the lucky random winner will receive, to be announced February 15th.
Image of two acorns on twig, goldwork including purl and plate, total image size 3 x 3 inches, stitched on Belgian linen.
Please
note that all you need to do to enter is comment on this blog on January
25th. No need to have a blog of your own, no need to sign up as a
follower, unless you're dying to do that, just comment and you're in. Your comment can be about anything you've found on the blog, or whatever you love in stitching or any other art or craft, it's up to you.
Mark your calendar, tell your friends! Some readers don't know how to comment, but do respond via my mailing list, so I will include you.
So acting on the urgent need for midwinter fruit, I
remembered that I had frozen and stored farm apples in the chest freezer
next door, courtesy of good friend, since my own freezer was jammed.
So I moseyed off to retrieve them.
And remembered that since the freezer is in his outdoor storage closet, he stacks a lot of items on top of it. Since my wrist is not yet up to moving heavy items, I had to catch him home and get his help, given willingly, to remove all the stuff so I could lift the lid and get into my apples.
The stuff involved auto parts and tools, gardening equipment, picnic items, a pogo stick (!) and various electrical gizmos. And I did get in and find the desired apples.
So home again, here's my favorite dish waiting to be filled.
I did make a slight error in the amount of butter for the topping for my apple crumble, Martha recipe, and found I had no oats for it either, having made them all into flour. And I added in walnut flour, great with apples.
So I soldiered on anyway, and it turned out well enough that when we had afternoon tea in the middle of sorting the studio, a lot of it vanished, son playing an active role in this activity to restore his strength.
The reason it turned out well was that the apples had such flavor, frozen same day as picked, wonderful apples last year, so I could have missed out on more ingredients and still had something good to eat.
And then it was empty again...
Speaking of missing out and being careful not to, note the button on my blog up there about Grow Your Blog 2015. I'll be posting a special post on that day and invite you to come in, comment, and be in the running for a little giveaway.
Haven't decided what it will be yet, since I work in many media, but it will be an original artwork by me of some kind. I'll pick randomly from comments in mid February, date to be announced on Grow Your Blog Day. And I'll be glad to visit your blogs, too, if you have them.
No need to have a blog to enter and comment, though, all readers are eligible. Last year I discovered some wonderful blogs I hadn't come across before, through this blog party, so I invite you to do the same. The Fearless Leader of this event is Vicki at Two Bags Full, and if you click on the button, you'll find yourself at her blog.
And, following on the great suggestion at Comptonia, one of the blogs I found last year and have become a devoted follower of, nemmind the grammar, please let me know if any weirdness happens when you comment in here. Sometimes Blogger installs a function the blog writer is unaware of and I really appreciate a heads-up.
I do have comment moderation installed, and I'm very quick to read and publish your comments. But I don't use those awful guess the word and type it in things. If that appears, please tell me and I'll remove it.
And I do allow anonymous comments, but please do what a number of wise commenters do and insert your name into the body your post so we know who it is! I'd rather strip out spam than miss the comments of readers who don't happen to have any of the online IDs called for.
