Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE my neighborhood? And my neighbors? It makes me happy to walk out of my front door and into the whimsical world of Tin Man. That's what Nancy and her father Frank have named their garden art business. These birdhouses look so cool, tucked beside a butterfly bush or in a grove of birches. And they also look pretty cool just sitting in the driveway, readying themselves for the next summer art fair.
Both Sarah and Cindy had birthdays on Tuesday, providing a good reason to celebrate, and I was on holiday Monday, providing ample time to bake. I stopped by the Decorette Shop to pick up some cupcake liners and couldn't resist this stand. It holds 24 Fairy Cakes, which I think is a much cooler name than mini cupcakes. I also bought some Ghirardelli Chocolate Sprinkles, made with chocolate liqueur instead of, well, whatever those tasteless chocolate grocery store sprinkles are made of. The Milk Chocolate Dream Cakes were my favorite, although the Cream Soda Toffee were also very good. Both recipes are keepers and have earned a spot in the Favorites Cookbook. More on that project later.
Peter's acceptance into the NASA Inspire Program prompted a road trip to the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology earlier this month for NASA camp. Craig and the boys are all about road trips; me, not so much. But I've been keen to get back to Montana ever since my days of traveling the college fair circuit each fall for Willamette University. Back then, I'd fly into Billings, drive as far north as Cut Bank, over to Kalispell via Havre, down through Missoula, Butte, and Helena to Great Falls, where I'd fly home. On one occasion, Craig took the train out to join me in Essex, where we discovered the Issac Walton Inn, built by the Great Northern Railroad in 1939 to house winter snow removal crews. Nestled in the foothills just south of Glacier National Park, it has groomed cross county ski trails in winter and provides a relaxing backdrop in summer.
The Inn, which is just a few miles from the West Glacier Entrance, was our first stop. With no phone, television or internet service, the boys were unimpressed.
The Going to the Sun Highway was not nearly as narrow as I remembered ... the first time I made that journey I was terrified we were going to tumble off the side of the mountain.
How cool is that? The first time I visited this site, there was just a dirt road leading to the butte from I-94. Not yet a National Monument (that didn't happen until 2001), it was a quiet, lonely place back in those days and, standing alone amidst the rustling trees, I could almost imagine what it must have been like 200 years ago, seeing this part of the country for the first time. The site has been developed and now there is a visitor's center, parking lot, and boardwalk to the top of the butte. I'm not sure, however, that these additions constitute an improvement.
We did a few touristy trips, like Mt. Rushmore
and Crazy Horse, and generally did our part to curb the economic downturn. We also discovered that Hotwire.com can produce some pretty good hotel rates the closer you are to your destination. We dropped Peter off at the SD School of Mines & Technology at 4 pm on a Sunday afternoon, and I admit to shedding a few tears on our way back to Billings from Rapid City. After 24 hours of no texts or calls, I was feeling more than anxious until I checked his Facebook page and discovered a happy status post.
Returning from Oz, Dorothy assures Auntie Em that "if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard." Lately, my heart's desire has included sugar. And the wild blackberries in my back yard were begging to be sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and baked in a cobbler. I've used this recipe so often: Cut* 1/2 cup butter into 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour, add 1/3 cup milk and stir until the dough forms a ball. Turn out onto a cutting board, knead four or five times until the dough all sticks together, then roll out into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Cover with one layer of fruit (in this case blackberries, but my eldest's favorite is apple slices), sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and roll up cinnamon roll style. Cut into slices and place in buttered baking dish. Boil 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water, pour over dough, and bake for 1 hour (or so) at 350 degrees. About 45 minutes in to baking, I usually sprinkle some more cinnamon and sugar over the top for that slightly crunchy effect.
I originally bought this Classic Silk yarn from Classic Elite Yarns for the Summer Open Cardigan from Knitting Pure and Simple. The Summer Open Cardigan is knit from worsted weigh yarn at a gauge of 14 sts=4". Although the patten says that the loose gauge is necessary for proper drape, the drape was never proper--at least with the yarn I choose--and ended up just looking droopy. I frogged the whole thing (yes, I even had the loose ends woven in), but could not stand not starting on something else right away as this yarn was a splurge and expensive. I found the Easy Does It! Pullover in my pattern stash. I've had this pattern for so long I don't even remember where I got it, and couldn't find it through a google search to put up a link. But now it's my favorite summer tee pattern. And I love top-down patterns when you don't know if you have enough yarn to finish the project. I knit down to about an inch past the sleeves, then finished both sleeves before finishing the body. When I did use up all of the yarn I decided that I would like another inch or two and went back to All About Yarn in search of more Classic Silk. As luck would have it, they did have one more skein in the same dye lot (how often does that happen?) and I added another inch to the bottom. But the project would have been fine without that extra inch, which is what is so perfect about in-the-round knitting.
Elk wander freely through the campground and can be seen sauntering down the beach in packs of five or six. We don't get too close.
We have discussed replacing the REI two person tent, left over from Craig's bachelor's days, but I don't know ... it's cozy and filled with plenty of good memories.
The second round of dresses for Bailey and Chloe are finished and delivered. There were a couple of mistakes ... I didn't get the button holes exactly centered horizontally on one, and vertically on the other.
The dresses are completely lined with the pink eyelet; however, the only place the lining is sewn to the dress is at the yoke. The dress fabric is heavier than the lining and will hopefully hang separate from the lining.
An added bonus: the flower is perfectly centered on the front yoke of Chloe's dress. Completely accidental, but a nice touch nevertheless.
