Tag Archives: Mother

Divinity/ ThursdayDoors

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For Thanksgiving, the doors were open in our home for dinner. This oven door got quite a work out with some sweet potato casserole and dinner rolls.

The towel reads, “A Life Well-Lived is Usually Messy”

So after eating the turkey, and some deciding to lie down and take a short snooze, we had the priviledge of a little cookin’ lesson from Mother, aka Grandma.

Step 1: Slather on the butter. Only real butter will do.

After some discussion of the dynamics of the recipe, there was some mixing and stirring.

Pardon the extra pan on the stove and the littering of items on the counter. Hence, my towel’s saying is ringing truth.

The recipe is for homemade Divinity as mother makes it and as her mother before her. Further discussions revealed that some people add pecans or dried fruits while we prefer our own local black walnuts.

Waiting for the candy to harden.

Did you know that Divinity has to be made with a humidity level of below 50% or your candy will not set (harden). We were blessed with 45% humidity according to the local weather report. 

Googling the origin of Divinity.

We learned that early versions of divinity were recorded in the early 1900’s and the recipe in it’s current form around 1907, except they used milk. We use corn syrup in our recipe.

Success!! Textbook perfect as mother says.

Google also explains the name was probably derived from exclamations of “Divine!” after biting into one of these nougats. We can certainly understand why!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this version of Thursday Doors and will check out more over at Norm 2.0, the founding father of our blog event. 

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Combination Star/#AtoZ

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The April A to Z Blog Challenge is an annual blogging event in which participants blog every day (except Sundays) one post for each letter of the alphabet for the entire month. My theme for the year will be “Quilts and Ozark Slang.” So gitchur coffee or sodapop, grab a pilluh, and sit a spell.

The Letter today is C

 

 

I’ve got to admit, there are a lot of ‘star’ quilt blocks out there. And I’m not very sure why this one is called simply “Combination Star” except for possibly the combination of diagonal squares in each corner to give it a different appearance. I will have to do a tally of just how many star blocks are in my selection for the A to Z Challenge. Til then, I’ll just  ask, Do you see the star in this block?

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For the Daily Ozark slang, I present “Chester Drawers”. This is the place you’ll find a stash of my quilts. In other words, a “Dresser”. Or where you store your socks, pajamas, tshirts, etc.

My mother was good about proper grammer due, I believe, to the fact that her mother was a one-room schoolhouse teacher. Grammer was her thing. So around my home, this word wasn’t used so much. Maybe it slipped out now and then? I don’t remember if it ever did. But we all recognized its use when used by others.

There are many more wonderful blogs this year that I hope you can spend a couple minutes reading. All you have to do is click here and select something that interests you. To read about the A to Z Challenge and what we are all about, click here.

Columbia, Missouri/ Thursday Doors

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A simple phone call can change your plans quickly. Such was the case when we discovered Mother needed a catheterization on her heart before moving forward on a separate procedure. The red flags seemed to be waving at both my sister and myself. Doctors wanted it done as soon as possible……like yesterday. So without further questioning, we took the day off to hopefully be totally wrong.

Extremely large waiting room
A world class team behind these doors.

Mother is pretty much the picture of health and so we were really figuring she’d be scolding us after her procedure. Mom hates for us to miss a day of work, especially for her sake. She forgets how many she missed for us. Time for paybacks.

What a showpiece!
Cafe offering Starbucks among other items. I went with H2O.
Hallways on this floor had so much artwork!

This blog is for her as well as you Thursday Doorists. Not sure how much she got to see of this hospital? And it is fairly newly renovated in the last couple years. Job well done!

This creation depicts early settlers following the Boone’s Lick Trail down Broadway which is beside this hospital, Boone Hospital. It takes you through the old part of downtown Columbia, Missouri. Just outside of Columbia you’ll cross the Missouri River to take us home.

Which is brings me to the end of Mother’s outcome. It seemed she had two blockages in her right heart artery with a 95% and a 98% blockage. Two stents later, she is home recovering nicely and we are extremely glad!

To see more great Thursday Door posts, visit Norm 2.0 and look for the blue frog at the bottom of his page. And hug your mother today!

Outing with Grandma/ Thursday Doors

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Having reached middle age, the priviledge to take my mother places that she probably wouldn’t go on her own is ranking pretty high on my list. Not to mention being able to include other family members on these excursions. Such was the case for this Thursday Doors post.

I’ve mentioned a few times the Lawrence, Kansas destination we take and the main reason being to visit the eldest daughter, soon to be Dr. Daughter. (Pardon this  outburst moment of pride.) 

Blake Hall
Sitting area overlooking a lovely view
Blake Hall to the right with Fraser Hall directly ahead.

The KU Campus was one of the places we took Mother, aka Grandma, to see. You can hover your mouse over each pic for a descriptive caption. It’s a lovely place to visit, with Fraser Hall’s flags flying in the above photo professing (no pun intended) its claim of being the highest point in Lawrence.

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I present the only actual door for this Thursday Doors collection. I know there are many more eye-catching ones but, sorry, they’ll have to wait until next year.

A Bronze Wheat Bundle between Blake and Fraser Halls.
Closer look

Waving the wheat is a long-standing KU tradition and this bronze is a tribute to that ritual as well as to the state of Kansas and its great farming legacy.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Thursday Doors posts this past year and have taken a moment to check out other Door posts starting with Norm 2.0. Click the Blue Frog button at the bottom of his post for doors from around the world.

Happy Holidays from Central Missouri, USA!

2 Senoritas & Herb/ Sunday Sampler

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It’s time to show off my mother’s stash that I finally put on Etsy today. Sorry I took so long, Mom.

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She does such a wonderful job at hand embroidery. I could definitely see these in a South Texan ranch. hint hint (we have some family there btw)

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This  lil’ berry pattern has a special touch with some blue leaves. They would be lovely sittin’ next to a July 4th dish.

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We used to know a guy named Herb. He was my husband’s boss for a short time. But the ‘herb’ here is obviously not a person, just a lovely Marjoram pattern for someone’s kitchen. Sous Chef’s, take note!

Hope you enjoy your week and this episode of the Sunday Sampler.

Stored Up/ Sunday Sampler

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In my boxes and multitude of photo albums, I have quite a few gems. Sharing my wedding picture takes it back 30 years as of last Monday. We had recently lost my father to cancer 6 months prior, so the event took on a bittersweet spirit. At least in my mind. Mother took the bull by the horn so to speak to insure I had a beautiful wedding day. With a simple budget, we managed to pull it off. I understood the sacrifice this was to her and I am deeply grateful. And this year she joined FaceBook. Thanks to my aunt’s generous gift to her of a laptop, my mother can finally read my blogs first-hand, my sister’s posts, and those of all her grandchildren, and keep up with the huge family we come from. There are a ton of us!

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So Happy Mothers Day and have a wonderful day!

As a mother, I have been blessed with two beautiful daughters. So now it’s my turn to turn the table this Mother’s Day 2017.

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Sunday Sampler is a weekly challenge to showcase handmade items. This week I’ve chosen to reuse an old photo that I plan to have framed. Old photos of real moments in my life are the most cherished. Take hold of those stored up photos and Create!

The Solo in Solitude/WPC

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Solitude

 As a youngster, I think I always knew when my father needed some solitude. He was a painter by trade in rural Missouri, USA, where he had work 6 out of the 12 months of the year. We lived too far from a major city for him to have regular work. So we did the best we could and lived a good frugal lifestyle where he spent the wintertime raising pigs or a couple calves to take to the butcher come spring. Most people back then called that Poor.

Playing solitaire was his ‘time’.bill-randall-11

And I’m glad I was quiet enough to sit and watch and learn. He was pretty cool like that.

He was also a daily Bible reader in later years. Not a lot of people know that. I am also truly thankful to have had that example to follow.mother

My mother is a living example to me of one who excels in solitude with her talents. She is always keeping her hands busy. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says,  “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;”. This defines my wonderful mother. Whether sewing, making jams, jellies, or reading novel after novel, she finishes what she begins whole-heartedly. Rarely does she have a UFO(Un-Finished-Object) lying in her stash. solitudebanjo

For me, solitude is respresented by my time to play music. Alone. Unhindered by life’s stress. Uninterrupted by anything.

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And just for fun to lighten the mood of this post, I’m thinking I should change my answering machine message to a 40 minute Banjo Solo 🙂

Is there 40 minutes on it???

To see other Weekly Photo Challenge entries, click here.

Quick Pick Request/ Sunday Sampler

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Sunday Sampler

Mother brought me a project. She is very accomplished in hand embroidery and she thought this needed an extra addition in the form of a crocheted edge.

Enter me.(She doesn’t crochet.)

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So I have a decision to make. I’ve narrowed down some edgings that I think might prove to be a pretty embellishment.border voting

I’ll be using the same color, ivory, as I’ve started with. No color changes. The intention is a charming heirloom appearance. Number 75 is my current pick. But like Missouri weather, change could come at any minute.

Happy Birthday Mom!/Summer

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Summer

Easter moms2

Mother, far right Mother-in-law, middle Youngest daughter, Kirsten, far left

Mother turns 73 today! This year it’s on the first day of summer and on the lunar/solar event. Since she has a great view of the horizon at her rural home, we’re hoping for some great photo ops 🙂 Of course they would call for rain today after weeks of none. So we’ll see.

Say No To Paparazzi2
One thing is for sure, Mother wants no big birthday bash. So a quiet visit this evening walking around her garden and enjoying a vanilla shake will do just fine!

And that’s just how a lovely first day of summer will begin.

Remembering to Reverse/ Sunday Sampler

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Sunday Sampler

Mother brought me a little something to ‘fix’. The photo on the left is of an embroidery project that has faded drastically. It made it nearly impossible for her to complete. The photo on the right is the pattern that she used to iron onto the towel.File_002 (4)

With sharpie and a sheet of mylar, I traced the pattern. Rough I know, but should do the trick.

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Unless you copy it to the wrong side of the towel. oops.

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Excuse #2006 to make a trip to the local fabric place and spend the last of my gift card. Blue will be better for Mother to see anyway. Right?!

Have a wonderful week!!