Tag Archives: September

A Sign of Hospitality

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I searched and searched this house for a pineapple (other than the can in the pantry). An Instagram daily photo prompt is the source of this distress. I knew I wouldn’t be venturing out on the town today so it was up to me to get creative. And since the last Sunday Sampler was in March before the April AtoZ Blog Challenge, it’s definitely past time for a new one!

Grabbed the tools, the fabric and a little inspiration from Pinterest — not necessarily in that order.

Pinterest Find
Fabric groupings
Tools and a 2 1/4 inch square

Cut enough squares to make 3 of these quilt squares. I don’t think they’ll be used together but you never know?

From the Green Stash
Squares with extras, just in case.

After a few minor adjustments – like increasing the size of the squares that were to become 1/2 square triangle blocks – I think I accomplished what I set out to do.

Without the sashing
Completed Block

A little batting, backing ,basting and it’ll be quilting time! My plan? A wall hanger will be the final outcome of this symbol of hospitality. Thanks for visiting!

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A Sunday Stroll/Thursday Doors

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We took a walk through the Missouri State Fairgrounds “Highway Garden”. This park inside the fairgrounds is a peaceful way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Path leading to the water garden complete with door opening. 

We weren’t sure how long we would be able to stay around. There were chairs set up for a wedding and we didn’t see a time. Guess we could have pretended to belong but I am pretty sure my casual attire wasn’t going to fit the requirements.

  • I would never photo bomb a wedding.

A peaceful place to wander.
An overhang to watch koi/or feed them if you’re so inclined.
Waterfall’s are so relaxing.

This water garden is complete with a covered promenade. During the State Fair there are benches lined all along this scenic spot.

Overloaded with begonias 
And what would a Thursday Doors post be without a real door?

Hidden away behind the rock wall is the maintenance door for the drinking fountains. They were winterized already with a little bit of duct tape (this is where you insert your redneck jokes) so no close-ups. But there are several around the front and sides of this man-made structure.

There’s even an ivy tunnel for the romantics, photo shoots (senior pics), or a reprieve from the sun.

  • GATE To NATURE
Thanks so much for joining me this week for Thursday Doors. I hope you’ll click here for many more doors entries.

Persimmon Report 2018/ThursdayDoors

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Findings have already been shown by a couple of my FaceBook friends, but I had a high school friend message me for my personal findings. We’re talking about the Annual Persimmon Report here. So for this week on my Thursday Doors post, we’re headed Outdoors.

Before we get to the results of my seeds’ hidden prediction, I’d like to take time to discuss where these trees grow and if you may be able to find one in your location.  According to https://garden.org/learn/articles/view/4136/, 

Persimmon trees are hardy in USDA zones 5 to 11. However, you’ll have to select the right type for your area. There are two types of persimmon trees. The Asian persimmon (Diospyros kaki) grows in USDA hardiness zones 7 to 11, and is known for its large fruits on smaller trees. It’s the type often sold in grocery stores.

The American persimmon (D. virginiana) is a faster growing, larger tree that’s hardy to USDA zone 5. It produces smaller fruits, which some consider richer in flavor than its Asian cousins.

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Un-ripe when green, but there was a 4th one that was ready to pick.

The American persimmon has always been my choice when doing my search for the winter predictions. It’s what I am most familiar with and it’s native to our part of the country. As far as being richer in flavor, I have no idea about that. I’ve never cooked with them and don’t plan on it. Very sticky, stringy and a major consumption of time and energy in my opinion. To those who make pudding, jam, bread and etc with these, my hats off to you. Just not for me. But apparently those pesky Japanese Beetles don’t like them. The tree was loaded with fruit.

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This particular fruit only had 3 seeds. Many have 5 to 6. May be a result of our very dry summer.

Fenced in
Mandatory Door/Gate

So drum roll please……………………………….

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This is just one more tedious task to find out that forecast. No cuts I’m happy to say.

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Spoons! All Spoons!

We’re headed for a snowy winter in case you don’t know what these spoons mean. Not what I wanted to find but to my dear fellow FaceBookians, you already knew this. Has anyone checked the Farmers Almanac for their opinion on this? I’d happily take a less dire forecast. Make sure you’re prepared if you live in these snow prone areas.

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Ending today’s post with this glimpse of 2 young deer about to cross the trail less than 200 yards away from my home.

Please take time to check the other Thursday Doors posts at our guest host this week, Mexi Move the Third. Much gratitude to them for keeping these doors from being snowed in.

Hint From the Kitchen

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Have you ever made too many pancakes?

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Credit for this blog post goes out to my youngest daughter who had a coworker uninformed of what I’m about to share. So here goes…….

Well with little hungry children (or big ones) around, there’s no such thing as too many.

But what to do with all those extras? If you make them from scratch, there’s all that effort and the box mixes don’t come cheap. Feeding them to the dog is a possiblility but I have a better idea.

First you’ll need some:

XBrand Freezer Paper
Scissors, Gallon Freezer bag & Cut squares of freezer paper.

  1. freezer paper, wax paper or aluminum foil. —I prefer freezer paper but I’ve used all 3 in a pinch.
  2. freezer bags (do you see where this is going?)
  3. scissors

Cut the paper into 5 or 6 inch squares but dont get too worried about them being perfect. Their use is mainly to allow you peel-ability.

And by now you know we’re about to stack the extra pancakes on top of each other with a freezerpaper square between. They’ll freeze for up to 2 months although they won’t last that long here

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You could place them on a metal cookie sheet and freeze them individually for baggin’ later like Pioneer Woman. But who has time for that? One and done is my motto.

4 slice toasters are the only way to go.
Our topping of choice. Butter and maple syrup with No High Fructose Corn Syrup added.

Pop them in the toaster to reheat and you have a snack/meal ready in just minutes.  I love this simple method that allows the little ones to help with meals too. Just don’t let them touch that toaster, please!

Thanks to everyone for your visit! Hope you’ll leave a preferred pancake topping in the comments below. I’m always interested in other ways to get these kids to eat here 🙂

 

1930’s Era/ThursdayDoors

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In early August each year, our city is invaded by flocks of campers whose aim is to attend the Missouri State Fair.

I did not attend this year.

But I was lucky to see this little gem parked along 16th Street a few days after the fair was over. I probably should say gem(s). That 1930’s truck is definitely an original. But I’m not knowledgable enough to know if the teardrop camper is Really from the 40’s or 50’s. You be the judge.

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Please take a few to stop in at Norm 2.0 where folks have been camping out with their door discoveries for quite awhile. Just follow his directions to the blue frog.

Keep Your Foot Hard on the Pedal/Thursday Doors

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I’m giving you a tour this Thursday Doors of Uncle Bob’s Car Museum.

UncleBob

Entrance to the museum

I won’t be showing the outdoor view because I’m a stickler for keeping folks valuables safe. Too many break-ins in our area of late, including your’s truly. But that’s a story for another day.

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My first ‘doormat’ feature.

Which brings me to this above photo of his theory on the subject. {please refrain from sharing the multitude of opinions on firearms. I’m only featuring the item, not the politics.} He and my aunt have staunchly supported the DARE program for many, many years and you may see signs of his extreme generosity within this post. We are very proud to have him as family!

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The use of cabinets is widespread throughout his building.

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He has hand-built these shelves as well.

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More mini cars (hotwheels) in those curio cabinets. Not to mention all the signs, hat pins, magnets and other memorabilia.

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Repurposed store displays.

We Are Talking Cases and Cases of Cars here.

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Remember those Christmas villages for under your tree? Yep. He has ’em.

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Trophies are in the rafters here as well as whereever they can fit alongside cars. I told you he was a DARE legend. I’d venture to say one of the top contenders in our nation. I’ll check in on that and write an update sometime.

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And my personal favorite of all the peddle cars (that I regrettably neglected to get enough photos of) is his identical replica pedal car of the racing legend, the Honorable Dale Earnhardt. Astonishingly, he has 2!!

And this seems such an appropriate post to be writing as I hear actor Burt Reynolds has passed. Who can ever forget Smoky and the Bandit?? I daresay, there’ll be a car here somewhere from that movie.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little tour of our local car collecting aficionado, my Uncle Bob. For other wonderful doors around the world, please begin at Norm 2.0 for the road map.

 

Don’t Make Trouble/Thursday Doors

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Mother’s have always been known for trying to steer their children in the right direction. I have a door this week that shows the worst result from a life of trouble.

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I first caught a glimpse of it here as I was capturing “Academy Boarding House” at Arrow Rock, Missouri.

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It’s really not too far from the boarding house. Just down the hill a bit.

I am glad my husband was willing to shut the door for me. I was kind of reluctant. Things break when I touch them. You can see we were treated with 2 doors. But I’m pretty sure both were air-conditioned. Well-ventilated is a more sophisticated way of expressing that I suppose.

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The modern roof is being held down with stablilizers. I imagine a good wind would topple the structure pretty easily otherwise. It’s surprising it is still standing to be perfectly honest.

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Here’s an inside view. Not sure where the lighting came from? There weren’t any windows. Only that little hole at the top. Spooky!

Calaboose is the title they give for this building and it means Big Cage. I find it rather amusing that the prisoner had enough street smarts to know he’d be upsetting all the students in the nearby boarding house. I can imagine they were kept awake til the wee hours of the morning with all that racket.

Thursday Doors, implemented by Norm 2.0 is a place to see doors from all over the world by simply finding the blue frog in his latest post on the subject here and clicking. You’ll see a list of entrants for this week and I encourage you to visit them for a wide variety of beauty we find simply in ‘doors’. They’re pretty awesome people too!

Persimmon Report/ Thursday Doors

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I have to give kudos to Google for ‘trying’ to make this into a panoramic photo. So we’re going to ignore the fact that this roof line is a little, shall we say misshapen. But it does give me a jump off point for this week’s Thursday Doors post.

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Back Doors

I present the Academy Boarding House, circa 1829, at Arrow Rock, Missouri.

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Arrow Rock, Missouri is a National Historic Landmark. It is a village along the Missouri River that has been restored and is now preserved in its 1829 version for tourists to see a typical river town of the time. My first visit there was on a 7th grade field trip. (Thanks Miss Carter)

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Since public education didn’t exist until after the Civil War, the students of ‘The Academy’ (no longer standing) boarded here for $2.50 a week back in the year 1843. This is a log house underneath that white clapboard siding.

 

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Peering inside one of the front windows, I was able to capture one of the back doors. And outside that door is a persimmon tree that I’ve used to find the ‘winter prediction’ a few times. Inside each seed you’ll find one of three: Knife, Spoon, or Fork.

  • Knife = biting cold
  • Spoon= lots of snow shoveling
  • Fork = mild winter

Do you want to know what the verdict is for this year??

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I’ll let you know after I reminisce about watching my little girls roll down this hill. They probably wouldn’t want to try that now that they’re in their 20’s. You can tell we’ve visited here often. Great place to take a stroll in the Fall!

And the verdict is in……………… The 2017 Persimmon Report shows

 

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1 Spoon and 1 Knife. The 3rd seed was undetermined as it fell apart upon slicing. Be ready for a snowy, sharply cold winter according to Native American legend.

For other wonderful Thursday Door posts, click here to stop by Norm 2.0 and find the blue frog button. 

It’s Yarn O’clock Somewhere/Thursday Doors

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 On my outings, if a yarn shop is detected, we must stop. Such is the case when the sign below was in my sights at Arrow Rock, Missouri last Saturday afternoon.

Yarn frontage

Not the best angle for a door pic. Please forgive this photographer-in- training.

We were across the street when I spied this sign. After taking some pics of some doors around this historic site (future doors stash for later), I dragged the hubby with me to give in to the call of the wool. Once inside, I asked the salesperson permission to take some shots of this charming little niche.

A good yarn

Behold the masses of yarn. Not the Walmart or other-mart type. But true, hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn from artisans. Real. Good. Stuff.

A good yarn c

So with the required door pic taken, a few steps more took me to a little bin that had sets of yarn, which I bought one of. You could read about that here, but only if you’re so inclined. My focus this post is on the eye candy.

 

And a cabinet-to-die-for was sitting along this wall. I need one about half this size and have been carefully watching local auctions for just the right one to fit in my chosen spot at home. Doors attached would be a must. I would need a few items hidden away. Can’t have the hubby seeing All my yarn purchases 😉

To see other wonderful door posts from around the globe, I welcome you to visit Here and search for the blue frog button. Click it and find all the links to fellow door lovers.

Mini Cathedral/Thursday Doors

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I’ve kind of held off on sharing this gem for Thursday Doors for a few weeks. It’s a work of art and my fellow Doors enthusiasts will be at least slightly amused at my take on it this week.

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I only wish I’d been looking at the detailed information just a little bit more as there’s no way to return to find it now.  The Missouri State Fair 2017 is long gone.

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There’s a whole page of details in the top right of this pic. I was so focused on the flash reflecting in many of my shots that I neglected to capture the entrant’s story behind this lovely cathedral in miniature.

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Some of it did ‘make it’ though and so if you care to read what was captured, you can get a fairly good idea of the main story for the piece.

Anyway, this is my entry for Thursday Doors and I hope you enjoyed and appreciate the time it took for the creator to complete this scrollwork cathedral — 3 months.

For other Thursday Doors entries, click here and find the Blue Frog Button to direct your path.

And many thanks to the guest hosts manning the challenge, past, present and future! Norm 2.0 is much relieved to be in good hands I’m sure 🙂