Showing posts with label Our Grandchildren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Grandchildren. Show all posts

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Farewell Summer!



    “There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.”
    ~ Celia Thaxter

    The fall season is just a few days away, and although it is my favorite time of the year I'm always a little sad to see summer end.  After a cold and rainy spring, our summer weather was mild and our lives were quiet as we stayed home most of the time and cared for our gardens. 


    Although the deer--and even squirrels--ate many of our tomatoes our patio container pepper crop was a good one. I roast them and save them in my freezer for chili, soups, and sauces.




    This morning I was greeted by a deer convention being held on my front lawn. They were enjoying the shade and drinking from our birdbath. 




    Even though they ate all my flowers and many of my tomatoes, I can't help but think they are cute!




    Our grandsons are both busy playing sports--high school football for the oldest and Little League Fall baseball for the middle school child.  Our oldest grandson accompanied one of his best friends from childhood to a high school Homecoming Dance this weekend. They have been friends from their baby days as they were born a week apart and both their mothers are also best friends. 




    Our oldest granddaughter, along with two of her classmates, was chosen to take down the American flag and the Colorado state flag at the conclusion of their elementary school day. With great care and respect, they folded both flags and stored them until the following day. Each morning, the students recite the Pledge of Allegiance and receive general announcements. 



    "I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”

    ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder


    I hope you all had a wonderful summer!


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    Monday, September 4, 2023

    September Joys: Peaches, Tomatoes and Football!



    A beautiful sky over the foothills near Boulder, Colorado

    Happy September! 

    Colorado experiences an early autumn due to its high elevation, however, there are still a few weeks of summer remaining to enjoy.




    One of the joys at this time of the year is Palisade Peaches from the western slope of Colorado. They are juicy and sweet freestone peaches and every year I look forward to them. Last year our daughter had a business trip to Palisade and purchased a box of peaches for us.  I made many delicious dishes with them which you can see on this post.  

    This year, our oldest grandson entered high school and his school orchestra has a fundraiser where Palisade Peaches, and honey from peach grove bee hives, could be purchased.  We bought 20 pounds of peaches and a jar of honey-- both so wonderful!




    I recently made a lifestyle change to eat a low carbohydrate diet from now on--see why on this post--but, happily, peaches are one of the healthier fruits that I can consume in moderation.  The first meal I made was a Tomato Peach Fig and Burrata Salad, with arugula, basil, and prosciutto added and a balsamic glaze on top.  We enjoyed it on our deck as we watched the sunset.   It was the perfect meal for a warm evening!




    This year I tried a Peach Quick Bread recipe from the blog "Sally's Baking Recipes" for my husband.  It was delicious!  It had a cinnamon crumb topping and as well as cinnamon-swirled peaches inside the cake's interior.  




    I had less success with attempting a low-carb version of a peach loaf using almond flour, coconut flour, and monk fruit sugar substitute. It did not rise too high despite having both baking powder and baking soda added. It may have been because of my area's high elevation as I live at 6,200 feet (1889.76 meters) and baking is often a challenge here.  It did taste good, and I hope to get better at baking with substitutions so that I can also enjoy some low-carb treats. Does anyone have any low-carb baking hints for me?





    A savory dinner with peaches was this one called Balsamic Peach Pork Chops with Blue Cheese from the blog "Closet Cooking."  

    It was fabulous!




    I used extra peaches since I had more pork chops than the recipe called for. I doubled the recipe and served them separately so I could regulate my portion size. 

    Additionally, I still have an abundance of zucchini and zucchini blossoms growing in my garden this September, so I made zucchini fritters for my husband to enjoy.



    As far as gardens go, a disaster hit my patio tomato plants!

     If you look at the collage above you can see the photo in the lower left corner of my plants a week ago. I was picking many red tomatoes every day, as you can see by the basket of ripe ones. I came out this week to find that a deer somehow squeezed past the chicken wire fence around my plants and ate all the tops and tomatoes it could reach!  AGH!!!  I lost so many tomatoes.  Knowing it would probably come back I pulled all the remaining tomatoes and will allow them to ripen inside by a window.  The season for tomatoes was coming to an end, but it was sad to lose so many.

    Finally, another September joy is watching our oldest grandson play football on his high school freshman team. It is nice to see the team learn sportsmanship and for them to be kept busy in the afternoons after school with practices.  He also hopes to play lacrosse in the spring.



    Fall's here soon. Let's enjoy these last days of summer!


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    Monday, May 29, 2023

    Blueberry Breakfast Cake

     



    I absolutely love the abundance of fresh, domestically grown blueberries during this time of year. They are definitely one of my favorite treats and I always keep a pint in my fridge. Aside from enjoying them as is, I like adding them to my breakfast cereal or yogurt, as well as using them in pies or muffins. It's always exciting to discover new ways to incorporate them into my meals.





    You have the option to prepare the Blueberry Breakfast Cake recipe using either an 8-inch pie pan or a springform pan.




    When it comes to my baking requirements, I prefer to use a springform pan. Recently, I got my hands on a brand new red Nordic Ware springform pan from the King Arthur website, which I absolutely love. I would like to mention that I am not being compensated for sharing this information, but I genuinely admire the top-notch quality of their products.



    I absolutely loved the cake's texture - it was both custardy and light, with the added bonus of juicy blueberries bursting throughout. Its unique combination of textures reminds me of both clafouti and Dutch baby, making it the ideal centerpiece for a fancy breakfast or even as a dessert after dinner. What's more, the recipe only calls for 1/2 cup plus two tablespoons of sugar (124g), which means each serving contains a mere 28g of total carbohydrates. It was a wonderful treat!  You can find the complete recipe by visiting the King Arthur Flour website through this link.  If you're looking for some guidance and tips on this recipe, you may want to check out the King Arthur Flour blog post through this link which shares the same recipe.




    June is just around the corner and the schools in Colorado have already wrapped up this academic year. Our family has been keeping busy with our grandchildren's end-of-school events and sports activities with a few more big events still on the horizon to keep us busy. 


    Let us take a moment on this Memorial Day to pay tribute and show our respect for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

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    Monday, May 8, 2023

    May Days


     " Never yet was a springtime when the buds forgot to bloom"  
    ~Margaret Sangster

    Spring weather has finally come to my part of Colorado and as always it is a joy to see nature come alive again.



    My first sighting of a robin this spring was on May first!

    I am in a "Colorado Gardening" group on Facebook, and many of the participants are anxious to begin planting their vegetables in their gardens, but the wise ones who have lived here longer are advising them to wait a bit longer as we may still have frost and even snow.  When I lived in New York City I learned to wait to plant until after Mother's Day, which is May 14th this year, so I can be patient a bit longer.



    My son planted tulip bulbs in their garden last fall and this spring they all bloomed so beautifully! 



    With afternoon skies that often look stormy like these, one would think we would have had a lot of rain, but the clouds move East quickly and we remain dry.



    The Rocky Mountains are still covered with snow, and we had a great view of them in the distance at our youngest grandson's little league baseball game this past week.



    Spring also means we have been attending our oldest grandson's lacrosse games...





    ...where we saw a large herd of elk grazing the new grass...





    ...and some pretty canyon views on our drive home.


    Please click on the photo to enlarge it

    A strange sight along a major highway in our area recently.  I'm guessing a truck cab sale? In the background, tucked into the hogback mountain, is a famous Colorado racetrack called Bandimere Speedway.  Bandimere Speedway, also known in the NHRA as Thunder Mountain, is a quarter-mile dragstrip located just outside Morrison, Colorado, and Lakewood, Colorado. It opened in 1958 and hosts the NHRA's Dodge//SRT Mile-High Nationals. The facility has a seating capacity of 23,500 spectators. This will be its last season in this location as they sold their property. They hope to relocate and re-open in a new location. We pass it all the time but have never been there. 

    So this is our spring so far, with more busy times ahead with the end of the school year for our grandchildren and their sports and activities. I hope you are also having a good spring (or fall)! Let me know what you are planning for summer in my comment section below.




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    Monday, March 6, 2023

    The Last Day of our Disney Wonder Cruise





    It was the last day of the wonderful Disney Wonder Cruise that we accompanied our daughter and oldest granddaughter on.  We were sailing from the end of Baja California, Mexico, back to San Diego, where our cruise began five days before.



    There were beautiful blue skies and warmer temperatures so we enjoyed sitting on our cruise ship cabin veranda and taking walks outside along the ship's decks.  Although we were sailing fast the ocean was calm and serene.



     
    Although there was a children's club on board with many activities available, and the pool and slide on an upper deck were open, this day our granddaughter wanted to relax with us and listen to her music.  She also enjoyed this large lollypop that she bought in an onboard gift shop.  



    One event she did not want to miss was a photo opportunity with one of her favorite Disney movie characters, "Stitch," from the movie Lilo and Stitch. She had a lot of fun taking a 'selfie" with him! 
    At ten years old she wasn't as interested in the other Disney characters, as she was when we visited Disney World together when she was five, but she really enjoyed the more contemporary characters she saw on the ship.




    We all watched the sun set over the Pacific




    Dinner that evening was held at the "Animator's Palate" restaurant on the ship.  The walls of the restaurant are filled with screens that change all during the meal and show famous Disney movie sketches in black and white as well as colorful backdrops and scenery from the movies.  

    On this last night, we were told there would be a surprise!  As we were seated at our table we were given a paper that had an outline of a person and told we could fill in details for the person any way we wished with colored pens and pencils. After were finished coloring the waiters collected our papers.  Then, after dinner and before dessert was served an announcement was made that our drawings had become animated!




    If you click on the short Youtube above you can see how the drawings were animated and each table's screen showed a video of them walking, dancing, and skating,  across the screen.  It was a lot of fun to see our drawings come alive!




    After dinner, there was a fireworks display off the upper deck and a wonderful musical in the theater of classic  Disney characters called "Cavalcade of Characters."




    Our last blanket sculpture was a cute elephant!





    The ship returned to San Diego, California, by seven in the morning and the disembarking process went very smoothly.  This was our last look at the Disney Wonder Cruise ship as we drove away to the airport. All in all, it was a fabulous and memorable trip!  

    Thanks for coming along and reliving all the memories with me!





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    Sunday, February 26, 2023

    Disney Wonder Cruise in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico



    On the fourth day of the Disney Wonder Cruise we took recently, (click here and here to see the prior posts) we woke up to see the beautiful sunrise and the land's end of the Baja California Peninsula outside from our veranda!






    We decided to have an early light breakfast in the concierge lounge of the upper deck before departing for an excursion into the town of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and a cruise of the Gulf of California also known as the Sea of Cortez.





    The Disney Wonder Cruise ship set anchor off the coastline so we had to tender off the ship on a ferry into the town. Cabo has many luxury resort hotels and we saw many expensive yachts in the port, as well as seals sleeping on one of the docks. 





    We boarded a large catamaran ship and cruised along the shoreline.  This was the second time my husband and I saw these beautiful sights as we took a Princess Ctuiese in 2017 that also visited Cabo San Lucas--click here-- to see that post.  


     


    The scenery was beautiful!





    This time it was special to share the experience with our daughter and granddaughter!


    We sailed to the land's end and then the catamaran made a turn around to the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja California peninsula.

    Here is a short Youtube video of the view we had on the lands end of the Baja California Peninsula from the Pacific Ocean side:






    There are many beaches on both sides of the peninsula and also along the Mexican coastline east of the peninsula.




    After our catamaran sail was completed and we were back in Cabos San Lucas, a bus took us to the second half of our excursion, which was a beachside cafe and lounge area. There we were served lunch --we had delicious fish tacos.  Our granddaughter was able to play on the beach and wade in the water.





    She had a wonderful time!



    When we returned to the Disney Wonder it was time for dinner.  It was a special "Pirates of the Caribbean" night and everyone was given a red scarf to wear.  The restaurant waiters and many of the passengers were in full pirate costumes which were fun to see. Dinner was a selection of seafood and everything was fabulous!  The best part was that the waiters brought a special dessert for our granddaughter and sang Happy Birthday while the other patrons in the restaurant clapped.  She was so excited!



    There was a fun pirate extravaganza celebration on the top deck that evening and a delightful Disney show in the ship's theater.  When we returned to our suite, exhausted after a long day, we found our blanket was shaped into a pirate accompanied by gold coin chocolates and was wearing its own red scarf which made us smile!   It was the end of a perfect day!

    The next day we sailed all the way back to San Diego, another day at sea, and that will be my next and last Disney Cruise blog post.  Thanks for following along so far!




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