The Gravedigger's Daughter

Crystal, over at http://elsewhereliving.typepad.com/my_weblog/ was giving away 3 perfectly good books - and she graciously gave me one of them - The Gravedigger's Daughter.

I'm always so excited to get a package in the mail...

and a sweet note from Crystal...

I can't wait to start reading this book - I'm sure it's going to be really good...

Cornbread and Milk

Another thing that reminds me of Nanny - she would often have 'Cornbread and Milk' for supper - especially in the summertime - sometimes she would even use buttermilk - which I never liked...

This is just some leftover cornbread soaked in a little soymilk - with a sprinkle of salt and pepper (I get that from the Man - I never did it as a child) - I heat my cornbread up first and then pour the cold soymilk over it - and I get these little pockets of still warm mixed in with the cold - a nice contrast...

Cub Scout Pool Party

We had the Cub Scout Pool Party Monday night - you can rent the entire Public Pool from 8:30 to 10:00 - remember it's still daylight here until 10 PM.
As the end of summer draws nearer - things start to get a little bit more hectic - it seems like everyone is trying to cram everything into the little bit of time left before school starts back...

We had a really good turnout and everyone had a lot of fun...

They even let the boys make 'trains' coming down the slide - something you can't do during regular pool hours...

I used another feature of my camera - the First Burst - You hold the button down and it take pictures as fast a possible until you release it - for some reason they are a little bit blurry...

After the Party

After the Birthday Party...

Jack was so tired - he was actually still for a picture after falling asleep in a sunny spot...

and the Man-Cub fell asleep in my favorite chair - so sweet...

Belated Birthday

We were finally able to celebrate the Man-Cub's birthday with his friends and have an actual 'party' - either they were on vacation or we were out of town or busy with a wedding - but finally our schedules meshed...
We made a yummy vegan 'Cowboy Boot Cake' - using my old standby yellow cake recipe - iced with homemade chocolate frosting - just earth balance, powdered sugar, Free Trade cocoa (Equal Exhange is the best) and a little bit of soy milk - I didn't measure anything or I'd give you a proper recipe...
The Birthday table - do you see a theme here - this is a 'Cowboy Party' - and I realize it might be my last 'themed' Birthday party as the Man-Cub grows up - he'll probably be less likely to want a 'theme'...
One of the party favors ...
wrapped up and tied to a stick - hobo style...
A Cowboy/Pool party...
We spent the afternoon at the pool - of course that was a lot of fun - his friends live out in the country and this was their first visit to the public pool this year...
Notice one of the boys had his arm in a cast - it was too bad for him and after he had pouted on the pool deck for about an hour - I suggested that he at least get in the shallow end and throw the diving rings for the other boys - he did and seemed a lot happier - and cooler...
After swimming we played at the park - dried off and warmed up...
Here is some 'synchronized swinging' - they're trying to all touch their toes in the middle - I think 3 out of 4 was their best...
Then back home for cake - 10 candles...
...and presents...
The boys devoured the entire Boot cake - leaving the Man and me with the scraps from the cutout - oh well - they were just as tasty...
There was a BB gun contest in the yard - here you have to run and shoot the target...
Then a search in the tall grass for the 'Have a Heart' trap they had set out earlier - we need to get a flag for that thing...
After dark - back inside - the Man-Cub gives out the favors...
and everyone enjoys their goodies - all hand picked to match the boy by the Man-Cub...
After a little bit of sleep on cots and sleeping bags - it was time for breakfast
I made some really yummy vegan pancakes and was amazed at how many they ate...

Swimming Lessons

The first day of swimming lessons. The Man-Cub loves his teacher - he had her year before last too.

Perfecting the Crawl - the Man-Cub is better at this than I am...

Dog Park

Our little town has just built an elaborate double gated dog park - one side is for small dogs (under 17 inches - that's Jack's side) and the other side is for large dogs (over 17 inches of course). I'm happy to see this especially after the Man-Cub was bitten by a dog at the very same park - maybe it will help owners keep their dogs on a leash until they are inside the gate...

This is Jack with a couple of other dogs (Silo and Bosley - you get talking with other owners you know...) He had a great time.

Vegan Kielbasa

I've been fooling around with seitan again...


This is a try at vegan kielbasa - I looked at a couple of sausage recipes online and the only ingredients (besides the meat) were really just garlic and black pepper...
...so I whipped up a small batch of seitan - recipe below...
...wrapped each serving tightly in foil...
...and put them in my makeshift steamer - then I left for Tae Kwon Do and when I came back a little over an hour later...
...and pulled these steamy little goodies out of the oven - they smelled so good...

...and here after a short stint on the grill - served with a little 'Bubble and Squeak'...
...So Good...

VEGAN KIELBASA

Dry ingredients:
1 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup soy flour
1 tbsp vegan bouillion
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp ground paprika

Wet ingredients:
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 cup cool water
about 6 cloves of minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce

Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients together in another bowl and then mix them together - just until everything is incorporated.
Then I used a 1/4 cup measure to portion out the sausages - roughly shaped it into a log and then rolled it up tightly in a piece of foil.

I filled a pan with water and set the rack over it - put the sausages on the rack and covered the whole thing with foil - I baked mine in the toaster oven for a little over one hour at 350 F - but I'm sure you could use a proper steamer for this as well...

The Photo Meme

This was fun - I've seen several out there...

1. What is your first name? Teresa
2. What is your favorite food? Mexican
3. What high school did you go to? West High
4. What is your favorite color? Purple
5. Who is your celebrity crush? None
6. Favorite drink? Tea
7. Dream vacation? Denali
8. Favorite dessert? Key Lime Pie
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Mom
10. What do you love most in life? Family
11. One word to describe you. Happy
12. Your Flickr name. Affectioknit - that last one is sort of hard to see - it's a screen shot since the search engine didn't find any results for 'affectioknit' it suggested affectionate and the picture is of a Mama Baboon with her baby...

Want to play too?
a. Type your answer to each of the questions above into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker - http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php

Camera Settings

This is a picture of a pretty Anvil Cloud that we saw last evening and I was fooling around with the settings on my camera...

This is just the auto setting - which I use most of the time...

This one is my favorite - it's the 'Sunset' setting...

And this one is the 'Landscape' setting...

I use a Kodak Easy Share P850 - and now I'm intrigued - I don't often take the same picture with more than one setting and it makes quite a difference - I think I need to read my manual...

Mail

Don't you just love getting packages in the mail - I know I do - so I was happily surprised to receive this in the mail...

It's from Sarah at http://www.betterthanrubies.typepad.com/

sweetly wrapped with a sweet note too...

Corners of my home

This is also posted at the Flickr group - http://flickr.com/photos/21126752@N06/2681901007/in/pool-86662290@N00

These were my Nanny's still lifes - they hung in her dining room as long as I can remember - Now they're in mine and are a constant reminder of her...

College for Kids

The Man-Cub spent every afternoon last week at...

- College for Kids -

The classes he took were 'Tie Dye' - he's so proud of his 'spider' shirt - it's pretty cool and it reminds me of the ones Karen made for the trip to BVI - http://world-of-karen.blogspot.com/2007/12/karens-finally-being-crafty.html - he also made a square of cloth using a different technique - we'll hem that up and it can be his special napkin and he made a door hanger - not sure what that's for maybe it's a 'The Man-Cub is in the building' sign...

He also took a class called 'Design your own shirt and bag' - his shirt has a Jack Russell Terrier on the front and his bag has an eagle and flag...

And he took a class called 'Recycling - Trash to Treasure' - and he made a decoupaged box and a camo bulletin board out of styrofoam covered with cloth - and for me a super cute little pin holder out of a small tin can stuffed with fluff and covered in felt - of course I love it very much - it will always be beside me at the sewing machine now...

One small further embellishment when we got home - he added a pretty red ribbon - just what it needed I think...

Discovery

The Man-Cub and I love this commercial from Discovery Channel...

Our favorite part is the African tribe singing the boom-dyada part...
so of course we had to go to You-Tube and find it - dontchajusluv You-Tube...

Ice Cream

We've been playing with flavors...

We made a batch of ice cream http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2007/08/really-awesome-vegan-soymilk-ice-cream.html same as before and just plain vanilla - so we could add whatever we wanted...

Here we added about 5 drops of peppermint extract - go easy on this stuff - it's very strong - and some vegan chocolate chunks - http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2007/09/chocolate-chunks-if-you-dont-need-cute.html

This was so good - the Man-Cub and I love it - the Man not so much - he once said 'it's a sin to mix mint and chocolate'...

...next new flavor - I think we may try Maple/Nut...

The New Baby Kildeers

Our second brood of Kildeers hatched Monday - it's funny but every other group has hatched on Sunday - I wonder why...

Once again - its impossible to photograph them all at once...

Here's Mama Kildeer feigning injury again...

Mama with one baby still at the nest...

Two babies in one shot...