What Have We Been Doing (in the past 2 1/2 years)?

For my 5 subscribers and random blog creepers, I know, I know...you've been waiting by your computers for my next installment.  Life got in the way. Here are a few cool things we've done. (Sorry to the majority of my family who didn't get into this blog.  I'll get you next time ( as soon as I can locate your pics))

John getting in touch with his Davenport roots.

WWII Memorial!

Congress building, DC - Rosa Parks

Goes w/o saying

Same city, also goes w/o saying

Nauvoo - 1st Relief Society gathering spot

New daugher (in-law) and grandson

Michael saying hello to CA after 2 years

Glad he's home safe

What happens when the grandkids get the phone on a car trip 

 The Champ!

 Lindsey's reception

 Holiday games

 Chillin' with the dawg

To Crochet or Not Crochet

Okay, I'm into crocheting these days in a big way. I like it because crocheting doesn't take a huge amount of skill (at least not the patterns I take on), mistakes are easily fixable as opposed to knitting, and the projects tend go pretty quickly - when I understand the pattern.

In looking for free on-line patterns, I found this - great, modern patterns!

How We Spent Our Christmas Break

Thanks to our kids, we always seem to have really wonderful house guest over Christmas. This year Dane brought home his friend, Sergey, from The Ukraine. English is not Sergey's first language, but his last evening with us, he joined us for a really fun game of Balderdash. He may have been tired of my 999+ questions about The Ukraine as I've never met an actual Ukrainian.

Shopping, shopping, shopping in San Francisco. This is Neiman Marcus in SF, a little out of our price range; we just wanted to see how the other half lives. Loved their five-story Christmas tree.

After shopping, the beach. Look very carefully at the dot in the center of the blue.

It is a kite with a crazy guy in a wet suit on a boogie board attached to it. What nut case thought of that - I've got to try it!

Having spent ALL our cash, Lindsey and I went in search of a cash machine for the toll bridge. My mind set: let's look for a Whole Foods Market. They'll have a machine and good food for the ride home. Yeah...The Mission District. For some reason, Lindsey refused jump out and get money while I circle the block in the car. Might have been the 39 hobos (gross exaggeration, Candy) we saw out front. I was forced to parallel park - first time, I got it, so I had to take a picture. That's Lindsey swearing she'll never go to the Big City with me again as I make her pose for the shot.

My two sweeties, Lindsey and Julianne.

After New Years, we got the sad news that John's mom's health is failing, so we took Lindsey back to college and spent a few extra days visiting Dorothy. Even though she is now in bed with oxygen most of the day, she still insisted that she be allowed to put on lip stick and fix her hair for the camera. It's great to see her looking good the way she always has despite being so ill.

Ugh! The trip back to California - 700 miles of snowy mountains and frozen desert.

All the following shots were made from a car traveling 85 mile an hour. John refused to stop for me to take pictures:-)

Famous Pilot Peak in Nevada

Aftermath of a bad storm in the Sierras

Finally, The Valley - covered with fog!

Beth's Blintzes

My sister, Beth, mother of 1 girl and 7 boys, loves to cook. Her kids are grown and gone now, but she still loves cooking for all who visit.

Funny Story: All of Beth's boys are athletic and big - well over six feet - with corresponding appetites. One summer we bravely took all the kids up to my parent's cabin in the Sierras. Yep, 16 kids with a couple of friends. My parents wisely chose to stay home. One night we grilled hot dogs on the stove (what else are you gonna cook for that many people). John sat in awe as the starved locus descended on the weenies. One nephew - we'll call him No Neck because we've always called him No Neck since he has no discernible neck just muscle where his neck should be; yeah, he's a wrestler- made five trips to the kitchen for food without making it back to the dining table once, having eaten his hot dog on the way. He also had a funny habit of addressing his food first with comments like "Um, you lucky thing. I'm gonna eat you. You're goin' down!" For him, eating was clearly his passion.

You blintz purists will not recognize these as actual blintzes, since a proper blintz is supposed to be a thin crepe filled with mild cheeses, fruits, etc. Being more interested in ease and speed - you have to be when feeding the masses -, this is Beth's version, modified by her boys.

BETH'S BLINTZES

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup flour

1 cup cottage cheese

1 cup sour cream

2 Tbs sugar

pinch of salt

Optional: blueberries

Combine ingredients while heating a skillet (I prefer to use an electric) to medium high heat. Spread the rather thick batter on the butter-coated skillet; about 1/4 cup for each. Push the fresh blueberries into the blintzes as they cook. Turn when edges are a bit dry looking. Cook on the other side until the blintz is no longer jiggly - trial and error. Serve with syrup or powdered sugar. Great topped with strawberries and whipped cream, too.

Serves 2 big boys or 4 normal-sized people.

Here is a similar blintz recipe .

Merry Christmas 2010

Sleep, Who Needs It!

My camera has decided to take a trip to Provo, Utah in my daughter's room mate's car, so you, my two readers, may have to use your imaginations - or not - as some of the below visualization may be too nauseating.

Running on 2 hours (gross exaggeration!) of sleep, I was in a slightly grumpy mood this morning as I was getting ready for work. Why? Let's just say that my husband can be pretty active and loud in his sleep. Yes, I have ear plugs, sleep in a CA king bed, etc. - basically, anything I can think of in order to get a night's sleep, but on some nights, nothing works. I was running down my list of "Why John Really Bugs Me", when, in an unprecedented moment of self-reflection, I began thinking of a few of my cute (strange) little sleeping habits, which John seldom mentions but has had to endure for 32 years now.

So, in Letterman style-

****MY TOP 10 MOST IRRITATING SLEEPING HABITS****

(this is for you, Babe)

10. I frequently knit/crochet/talk in bed before I fall asleep.

9. I ALWAYS grumble about the sheets being too cold, and try to guilt John into laying on my side of the bed until he can warm them up for me which sometimes works. (we tried flannel sheets, but John's cotton underwear kept twisting around his neck, almost strangling him - a small price to pay for me getting some sleep.)

8. See previous: I have to sleep with a hot water bottle, woolly sock (really attractive, I know), 2 extra blankets, and sometimes a knit cap (again, attractive), and I won the birth-control pajama contest with my wide variety of modest (ugly) pajamas. One set actually had flying pigs on them.

7. I have to sleep with one knee up to my chest, the alternate leg straight, basically doing the splits on my side, with my arms over my head, sometimes smacking John in the face - and other vital spots.

6. For whatever reason, I only sleep 6 to 6 1/2 hours at the most a night, and no matter what time I go to bed, I always wake up at 6:25 AM.

5. Also see previous: when I'm awake, I'm awake, and when I'm asleep, I'm asleep; no semi conscious state - no wind down or snooze mode, and I'm impatient with others who are not like me- everyone else in the world.

4. I am told I snore, but I have never heard/believed it. All lies!

3. Once I'm asleep, nothing, NOTHING can wake me up forcing John to get out of bed for all strange noises, kids vomiting, pets barking, etc.

2. I am told I talk in my sleep - a lot.

1. (This is John's favorite) When I'm too tired to find my woolly socks or fill my hot water bottle, I put my ice cube- like feet between John's legs (well, up a little higher. Sorry for the disturbing picture) to warm them up, which causes him to spend an extremely painful, extra 1/2 hour trying to go to sleep with zero feeling from his waist down .

Autumn in the High Sierras

Every fall, we try to take the Best Drive on the Planet, a back road in the Sierras from La Porte to Quincy, to see the changing colors of the season.

Until a few years ago, this historical road was nothing more than rough washboard only fit for 4-wheeling. Now that it's paved, the road can still be a challenge, plunging more than 1,000 ft. in places, but if you've maintained your breaks, the trip is truly awesome.

We literally travel along the spine of the Sierras. I believe that's Mt. Lassen in the background.

Beautiful forrest on either side.

Michael on the old bridge, which is a bit shaky, over Nelson Creek.

This was taken on our short hike to Frazier Fall, near Gold Lake.

Frazier Falls

We took a detour to historical Johnsville which lies along the old Emigrant Trail, home of an old gold mine, stamp mill...

and early ski resort. In those days as the Sierras are so rugged, I'm sure skiing was the only way miners could get supplies and mail.