Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Not Quite Ready . . .
While this year's fruit output is uncertain because of lack of rain and extremely hot temps, we're hoping for enough fruit to make a cobbler or pie. The peach trees are overloaded now, but none are ready for picking and quiet a few have already fallen off.
This week, we gathered up most of those and placed them in a paper bag, hopefully to promote ripening.
And, when (and if) we get enough for Grenville to bake one of his specialty peach pies, y'all are invited for dessert. (Just let Grenville know who's bringing the vanilla ice cream.)
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Ribs Rubbed Right
Crockpot cooking is easy, but ours has been on hiatus, since warm weather meals are often salads or grilled foods.
Until last week, when we bought a package of boneless country-style pork ribs. I had read that these were great cooked in a crockpot with a few added ingredients — barbecue sauce, sliced onions and rubbed with spices of your choice, which makes the ribs extra flavorful. While there are lots of choices on what rub to use, mine included brown sugar, garlic powder, cumin, and chili powder.
Crock Pot Country Style Ribs
- 4-6 lbs. country-style ribs (ours were bone-in)
- 8 oz. barbecue sauce
- 1 onion, cut in slices
- 3 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
The Rub
- 1/2 TBSP paprika
- 1 TBSP brown sugar
- 1TBSP ground kosher salt
- 1 TBSP chili powder
- 1 TBSP ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1TBSP garlic powder
Put onions in bottom of crockpot, dry off ribs. Mix dry rub ingredient together. Rub the ribs with Worcestershire sauce, then with the rub. Criss-cross the ribs in layers in crockpot. Pour barbecue sauce in and cover. Set crockpot on LOW 6-8 hours; HIGH 3-4 hours if you’re in a hurry, but for this meal, low and slow is best.
The ribs were served with these easy side dishes (the recipes were posted before, but repeating means no links to another post.)
Classic Slaw
Buy a bag or prepared Cole Slaw mix which is SO much easier then shredding everything by hand. Then, just make the dressing:
- 1/2 C mayonnaise
- 2 TBSP rice vinegar
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 2 TBSP milk
- 1 tsp ground celery seed
- 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
Whisk ingredients in small bowl. Let sit 15-20 minutes so flavors blend. Stir just before adding to salad.
Asian Marinated Cucumber Salad
- 1 large cucumber, thinly sliced (seedless if available)
- 1/4 onion, thinly sliced
- 1/3 C rice vinegar
- 1 TBSP minced fresh dill or ½ tsp dried dill weed
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 TBSP toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Gently toss together ingredients until evenly coated. Place in a container with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Gently toss again before serving.
Dinner was great — leftovers were even better !
Monday, July 29, 2013
Backyard Beauties
We have a several butterfly bushes in bloom and a large wildflower meadow which grows large unattended, much to the delight of bees and a lone ladybug.
And also butterflies.
Of many varieties and colors . . .
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Birthday Blast
Granddaughter Ellie celebrated birthday #2 last weekend which for us required a(nother) road trip to RI (in June, we travelled there for grandson Bobby’s kindergarten graduation).
This trip we also spent a beach day in New London, CT with Ellie, Bobby and Aunt Anita. Can you tell that everyone had a great time ?Later, Grandpa Grenville and Ellie shared a story together.
Birthday calls came for Ellie.
Then, it was time for cake.
And, of course, presents — for Ellie AND Grandpa since Grenville’s birthday was several days earlier.
We left RI BEFORE Ellie’s birthday party at Chuck E Cheese’s that
weekend.
Can you tell we were (not) disappointed?
Friday, July 26, 2013
Veggie Leaf IDs
And, Grenville said that while he would gladly share a 'mater sandwich with you, he won't be delivering it to your cottage in Sweden. However, you're welcome to join us at The Frog & PenguINN anytime.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Keeping Kool
Enjoy ice cream while standing IN the ocean as she did last week at our New London, CT beach day. Ellie really likes ice cream and enjoyed it to the melting, messy end
Later there was more ice cream.
And it too was enjoyed to the end. Can you tell ?
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Grenville's Garden Grows
Right now we have 3 freshly picked eggplant that will be enjoyed later this week. We cooked one last week when Grenville made a wonderful eggplant parmesan. We've had a few cukes and peppers, but are still waiting on the first ripe 'mater of the season. Grenville has been walking around with a salt shaker in his pocket, so it should be very soon.
Can you tell what plants go with each of these leaves?
There's no prize, just the satisfaction of knowing you were right. Isn't that enough ?
(OK, if you really need a prize, we'll share a 'mater, but first you have to get it away from Grenville.)
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Oh No — FOMO !

No, it’s not a medical problem or computer virus. But it IS a major issue for many folks.
If you don’t know what FOMO is, don’t worry. You’re NOT alone.
FOMO = Fear of Missing Out
It was the word of the day on April 14, 2011, in the online Urban Dictionary, where new words are daily added by internet users. It’s defined as “the fear that if you miss an event, you will miss out on

FOMO applies to the worry someone can have that he/she will miss out on something great or the anxiety felt when trying to choose between more than one event.
Its creation is credited to Kelley J. Watson and Diane E. Meyer. The two women were inseparable as children. Later, as they established separate social lives, then came anxiety associated with missing something one or the other was doing. Kelley reportedly told Diane, “I have this fear of missing out on fun stuff!” to which Diane replied “You have FOMO!” The term caught on with family members, who when missing events, declared they too had FOMO. Friends of both families started using the term and its use spread.

Yet, the fear of missing out isn’t new. It’s been promoted in newspaper society pages, party pictures, holiday letters even emails. The difference is that now instead of receiving occasional updates, we’re reminded 24x7 what we’re missing out on via the method of our choosing.

FOMO is a phobia. When you get it, there's no going back. You’ll be texting it, tweeting it, even status-updating it — it can become overwhelming.
What’s the Cure ?
It’s simple, just be in on — well, everything.
BTW (yikes —another acronym)Grenville and I are social “misfits” by current standards it seems. Our online contact is blogging, posting here and reading other blogs. Nope, we are not “reachable” via Facebook, Tweeting, Google+ and we’re OK with that.
How about YOU ?
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Yikes, Up 17 Cents
And, here's what is was when we stopped this afternoon, a 17 cent hike in 3 days (gas prices change weekly on the Turnpike on Fridays).
As we got closer to home, prices were hovering between $3.63 to $3.69/gallon. Hopefully they won't increase overnight as we need a fill-up.
Thanks, Anvilcloud for the heads-up on what to expect when we travel to parts of Canada in late fall. We will be sure to rent a compact car. And, Triumph we may stay away from Oregon travel for awhile, and NJ is the other lone U.S. state without self-service stations.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
What Goes Up in Summer?
We travelled through 5 east coast states from our VA home (MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT). Lowest cost (then) was on the NJ Turnpike at $3.38/gal and highest (as always) was in CT at $4.15/gal. All other gas costs were in between those ranges.
Of course, these rates could all be different by the time we reach home Sat night. While we don't expect they will go lower, temperatures are expected to drop by the weekend.
1 out of 2 isn't bad, but we would rather the gas costs dropped.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Look WHO'S 2 Today
Granddaughter Ellie is 2 years old !
It seems like only yesterday that she entered our lives and we first saw her as a tiny 2-week old infant whose favorite activity at that age was napping.
In the months that followed, it became clear that this little girl most definitely would be a very vocal and expressive child. Her favorite activities included "hamming" it up whenever the camera was aimed in her direction.
Through family road trip visits we watched her grow. Last July we were in RI as she marked a milestone event — birthday #1.
We're in RI to celebrate this next in a long line of birthdays to come.
Celebration photos will be posted later when we're back home.
Can you tell we remain smitten with this child?
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Berry Berry Good (Again)
Earlier this season, we enjoyed a LOT of fresh strawberries with breakfast every morning. Then, there were none. It looked like the patch was done for the season. But, in the past couple of weeks new flowers appeared, then green fruit, and now ripe strawberries have started once again.
These were picked today — delicious sprinkled with some sugar and whipped cream for dessert.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Flurry of Fluff and Flutter
They were relocated to the side of the house which lets us watch the activity from the dining room window. There's been a host of sparrows and chickadees and many young ones being taught how to feed themselves.
Most of these young ones are fully fledged and can fly well on their own, but like many bird young-uns they prefer to have mom gather food and feed them.
It's quite entertaining to watch the process. The young ones gather around the feeder, fluttering their wings excitedly until given food. At times, they seem to be more patient, sitting stop the feeder.
Then after being lunch, it's naptime and any nearby branch will do.
Our fluffy feathered friends have provided so much entertainment this week, that sometimes we need to walk away to get other things done.
But wait, we're both retired so there's always time to sit and watch the
Like tongue twisters?
Try repeating this post title 10X fast.