Newport cooks

No, I didn't forget that I'd promised you one more round of photos from our trip to Jess & Alex's in Newport. I only said that I'd hopefully get around to showing you before we went there again. Well, we haven't gone there again yet, so I didn't lie, either. Ha!

We ate a LOT of good food while we were there. Yes, we tried out some restaurants, the best of which was the Red Feather, where we got to sit at a bar right next to where they were cooking all the food. Wow, were those guys (yes, all males) good... organized, efficient, and fascinating to watch! The food was scrumptious, too.

We also had a lot of good food cooked right in J&A's kitchen (where we also got to sit and watch them cook). Here's Alex preparing his special banana french toast, as requested by Jess for her birthday.

It was soooo yummy!

One night he also made us a deep dish pizza from scratch. He was a good sport and tossed the crust in the air when we asked him to, just like a real pizza chef. He did very well for a first time! Unfortunately, I don't have a photo for you. I do have a video, but it's on the iPad, and it's complicated getting it onto my computer, so I'm not going to bother. It was fun, though. The pizza turned out yummy also.

Grandpa has gotten on a bread-baking kick recently, since he has more time on his hands these days. He gave several demos while we were there, and here he is with one of his finished loaves. It was very good.

I don't remember what Alex was making in this next photo, possible the topping for the fabulous filets he grilled for us on my birthday on their green egg grill. Jess was making us cocktails from a recipe sent by Aunt Audrey. Can you guess what was in them? I bet not.

It was rhubarb juice... made from fresh rhubarb! Don't they look pretty (especially on that brand new countertop)?

The taste? Not bad. Very drinkable. But probably not worth the bother, since there are lots of other drinks that are better and easier to make. But, it was worth trying, and now we can say we've had rhubarb cocktails! :)

Okay, I'm done. That's all the Newport trip photos I have to show you. At least I finished what I started, even if it did take me over a month. ;)

My busy week

Well... where to begin! I guess at the beginning... of my photos, anyway. I took so many that it's gonna take a while to sort them out and blog them in a reasonable order. For now, I'll just say that a lot of this was worked on...

... with these people...

Yes, we made a sort of spur-of-the-moment decision to take off for Cincinnati/Newport to visit Jess & Alex. The field crops were all planted, and it just seemed an opportune time to go. For me it was special because I got to spend Mother's Day with my daughter for the first time in a looooong time! :) It was kind of a mad rush to get ready to go (including finishing the tote so I could bring it along... and getting a few blog posts ready to auto-post last week), and then we were gone for almost a week. Whew! Kind of a whirlwind trip that just flew by!

We got to help transform their front yard from a tangle of out-of-control perennials and weeds into an organized flower/perennial garden. It was lots of work, but it's always fun doing it together with someone else, and I think our efforts will be rewarded with lots of beauty as things get growing and blooming.

I'll show you a lot more photos from our visit as I get them sorted out. I also still have some catching up to do around here (like planting my own flowers and garden whenever it dries up enough to do so), not to mention working on the pattern to proofread and test. So stay tuned......

Thermos to lamp

What do you get when you take an old vintage thermos,

break out the glass and drill some holes,

stick in a cord,

and add a bulb at the top?

You get a lamp, of course! And if you're lucky, you found a pair of thermoses...

... and made TWO lamps to decorate your office with, like Jess did!

The perfect bulbs had just the right filaments to give the lamps an extra bit of interest!

Whodathunkit, huh? :)

Cincinnati trip highlights

We ate. A lot. :) Being there over Thanksgiving, we of course had turkey and all the trimmings. Just look at this bird! It was smoked on the Big Green Egg grill, and done to perfection. It was so juicy and delicious, I think the best turkey I've ever eaten!

We ate in their lovely "grand hotel" (so dubbed by me) dining room. So pretty!

There was, of course, dessert, too!

The toppings were each delicious on their own, but nearly overpowered the pumpkin pie. I ate my second piece (the next night) with only whipped cream. The cinnamon crumbly stuff was yummy for snacking, which we did plenty of (there was about twice that amount to begin with) because the recipe made a huge amount for just one pie! Grandpa decided on the addition of the grated chocolate.

We spent a lot of time in front of the fireplace which contained a brand new gas insert. Jess will probably want you to know that it's not finished yet. She's going to paint the rest of the bricks black (after the mortar cures) and add some 'stuff' around the base of the logs to make it look more realistic.

During our week there, this was my view quite a bit:

We drove around to many places, one of which was the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Unfortunately, there were very few horses there at the time. No photos. It was also quite chilly walking around. We did, however, wander through the horse museum, which was nice and warm and also interesting. During our week, we also took in a distillery tour, a craft show, a couple of antique shops, did some other shopping, etc., etc.

Oh, yeah... we ate some more along the drive. :)

We purchased and put up the Christmas tree...

... which made for such a cozy scene in the parlor.

The outside lights were also hung...

... so their house is ready for Christmas! Now if only mine were. So much to do... so little time. Don't be surprised (or worried) if I don't blog a lot between now and Christmas.

We had a great time which went by much too fast. That's all the photos, except for one interesting project Jess and Grandpa worked on. I'll show you that later.

Now... where was I?

I was here:

Back home now. Safe trip, despite many miles of nasty roads on the way down... freezing mist, blowing snow, ice and slush. But loved the 68° on Sunday!

Now I'm trying to catch up... mostly on sleep. More trip details later!

Ornaments and Annabelle

Of course those ornaments made by Courtney and Auntie Jess were destined for a Christmas tree. As you can see, our tree seemed to be a bit top-heavy with ornaments and pretty bare at the bottom. That's because of a certain kitten named Annabelle who LOVED to pull off everything she could get her little paws on! I don't know how many times I had to replace even the strings of lights that were around the bottom half.

Jess decided it would be more fun to hang some of the newly-made ornaments down low especially for Annabelle to have fun with. Hmmm....

So here's the (sorta)fully-decorated tree. Look quick, while everything's still there! (Yes, the tree was leaning a bit, but that had nothing to do with Annabelle. Its trunk was kinda crooked.)

Didn't those hand-crafted ornaments look pretty amongst the store-bought ones?

Even when there were only lights on the tree, Annabelle had begun eyeing it. Actually, when I grabbed the camera for this next photo, she was on the back of the chair next to her, probably wondering if she dared jump. She'd hopped down before I could snap a pic. Wise decision, Annabelle!

(Don't you just love her interesting markings?)

She never actually got IN the tree, thank goodness. I think it was because it was a real Scotch pine, which I've read has the sharpest needles, and they deter cats from climbing. It has seemed to work for us over the years, as I've never had a cat IN a Christmas tree. (Courtney's kitties proved their climbing expertise in their artificial tree, though, I've heard. ;) )

But Annabelle thoroughly enjoyed pulling off every ornament that Jess left low enough for her to reach!

There were many scenes like this:

Over and over and over......

At least she didn't damage them... only pulled them off... so we'll be able to use them again next year - yay!

Happy New Year, everyone! May you all have a great year, filled with lots of times of fun with a pet or whatever you enjoy the most!

Crafting with Courtney...

...AND Auntie Jess! Courtney spent Christmas Eve day with us (after all, it was a Tuesday), so since Jess and Alex were here, she and Jess spent a long time making some special crafty things.

They worked really hard cutting, folding, and hot gluing.

Here's what they made:

They turned out so cute! Yes, they're Christmas ornaments. I'll show you more photos tomorrow and tell you what they did with them. Courtney was quite enterprising. ;)

Cincinnati/Newport, Part 5 (final)

We played, too!

We did some touring while we were there, of course. Here are some of the sights we saw. Being on the Ohio river, there were a number of bridges, and this yellow one really stood out:

There were so many lovely plantings all over the place:

And interesting-looking buildings:

The bridge below is called the "Purple People Bridge". It looks more gray to me than purple, but I guess it does have a lavender-ish tinge to it. It's only for people to walk or bicycle across, no motorized traffic:

The next pic was taken just before we started across that bridge. I'm not sure what's going on here... looks like Grandpa is teaching Jess some kind of new dance step:

Lots of hilly scenery viewed from that bridge:.

Another view of the yellow bridge (do those arches remind you of anything?):

There were also lots of pretty flowers lining the "purple" bridge. The cannas were gorgeous!

Driving around later, we viewed this lovely scene from up on the hill:

And these couple of gentlemen having a... picnic???

We also did some great eating out. One of our best meals was eaten "in", though... and cooked on this Big Green Egg smoker and grill:

It was a chicken, cooked by the master chef, himself... Alex!

It was his first time using the grill... and the chicken turned out delicious!

That's the end of my Cincinnati/Newport photos. As I said before, we had a great time... working, playing, and all. I only wish it were closer so we could do it more often!!