Life Goes On...

It's been quite a while since I've posted.  Seems like nothing exciting has happened lately, at least nothing worth writing about.  First we had the hot weather.  Sitting at home in front of the fans is not news to write home about!  And now we are having a few days of cooler weather, which is a great relief, but still we haven't done anything fun.  It must be the end of the summer rut.

Zip is continuing with his guitar lessons but is now down to only one day per week instead of three.  Maybe that's where so much of our time goes.  He is specializing in bluegrass under a new instructor.  Much of his day is spent sitting on the front porch pickin' and grinnin'.

A lot of my time has been spent sewing uniforms for Brad and Kami.  I'm averaging one tailored wool woman's jacket, skirt and hat per week.  Their business keeps growing.  I thought I was 'retired'!?!?

I have missed several weeks of hook-ins because I was having trouble deciding what pattern to do next.  The Toad rug seemed to have taken up all my creative energy.  But this past week I decided that I must move on, no matter what.  So I've decided to do my Thanksgiving pattern.  Fall is fast approaching!  I think it's possible to get it done before the end of November.

It will be done in  mostly browns, oranges, and terra cotta with some green.  I may not even have to do a lot of dying.  I ran out of printer ink so will have to get to Staples before I can enlarge and put it on backing.  Will have to get it done before Monday so I have a project to work on at the Blue and Gray hook-in.  (Thank you Marian for emailing me and letting me know that the Cumberland Valley hook-in is Monday, not the B and G.  I am so lost sometimes!)

I needed a break from sewing today so I decided to make pizzelles.  They are not something that's common in this area.  They are very popular in western Pa where Linda Keller (Grant Street Woolworks) grew up.  Her Mother, who passed away a few months ago, used to make these.  Linda kindly gave me her recipe.

The batter is made of flour, sugar, eggs, oil and flavoring.  Today I made almond flavored.

We are lucky in Shippensburg to have an old-fashioned hardware store that still sells unusual and hard-to-find items.  Pague and Fegan has been a family-owned store for I think, over a hundred years.  I found my pizzelle iron there.  As you can see, it looks a lot like a waffle iron.

You just spoon the batter in.

And in a few minutes you have thin crispy light golden cookies.

This recipe makes a BIG batch.  So after two hours and over a hundred cookies.....

It's time to rest and have a nice cup of tea.

The kitties continue to grow and provide us with entertainment.  I don't have any good new pictures of the little guys, but the big ones need some attention too.

Tipper and Deiter usually don't spend time close together.  They are usually like two kids in the back seat of the car on a long road trip.  Mom, he touched my tail!  Swat!!!  She's giving me mean looks!  Smack!  Hisssss!!!  Then they both run off to separate areas of the room.  But here they are, tolerating each other fairly well.

Tippy only looks a little bit grumpy!  And half an hour later they are still together, with Deiter's head against Tippy's thigh.  Could they be forming a pact to stick together against the foolishness of little kittens???