Week 15, 4-3-2016

Tough:  I've decided I must be to put up with the year I'm having.  I made a plan for Trimming and Thinning, went to the markets on Monday and had my plan all mapped out.  

While shopping, I was surprised to find Bosco.

When my cousin was a toddler, she loved chocolate milk made from Bosco, and drove everyone nuts fixing it for her.  My dad started calling her Bosco, which he later shortened to Bos, and that's what we called her until the day she died.  She was an only child and our only cousin, so she spent a lot of time with our family.  She was the oldest and I had five younger brothers.  The neighbor kids thought we were calling her Boss because she was the oldest and she WAS bossy.  She was born in 1936, so Bosco has been around a long time. I heard the story of how she got her name a gazillion times, but this is the first time I've actually seen the product.

Trips:  Remember, Trips are little day jaunts, as opposed to Travel, where you sleep in hotels.  Brother Bill and I went to Joplin (where I bought my car) for my oil change and a general check up.  We hadn't gone two miles on the freeway before a car flipped a rock up into my windshield.

The ding wasn't large enough to abort our day, but large enough that I wanted a new windshield, rather than a patch.

We got in some Thrifting at Goodwill and a flea market.  I found a very nice teapot for $5.

And a new purse for $5 with the $20 price tag from the store still on it.

Also some sweet little pictures which are several layers either painted on several layers of glass or cut outs inside with the outer layer painted on glass.  You can't really tell how pretty they are by looking at the photos, but I thought Friend Katie (who loves anything blue) might like them.  At $2 each, I couldn't leave them.  They're very small, probably 4 X 6, so it took lots of patience to accomplish this.

I returned to my yard work, feeling very disheartened to find that a lot of my seeds haven't germinated in my raised beds, but the weeds my grandmother called Lamb's Quarter sure have.  

I was cleaning out along the house, preparing it for flower seeds, when I found another T.

Termites!!!  

Luckily I was able to schedule a Saturday appointment for the bug man to come out and take a look.

Safe-lite replaced my windshield on Friday while Friend Katie treated me to lunch at Ruby Tuesday. And, yes, she liked the little pictures.  I promised her that we'd get back to card

making soon.

Tasting:  I did make cherry fool on April Fool's Day.  I'd never made it before, and I decided that I'm the fool, as I didn't have company for dinner, and now I'll end up eating all those calories.

  

It's really simple to make.  Here's the recipe:

CHERRY FOOL

3 cups fresh or frozen dark cherries, pitted

2 tsps fresh lemon juice

4 Tbs sugar

1-1/2 cups whipping cream, very cold

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp almond flavoring

Combine the cherries, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan, and cook over medium heat until boiling.  Let it cook for 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat.  When completely cool, puree in a blender or food processor.

Whip the cream to soft peaks; add the powdered sugar and almond flavoring and continue beating until the peaks are slightly stiff.

Fold the cherries into the whipped cream and serve.

 Tales:  I managed to finish another Joanne Fluke book.  Love her recipes, and her mysteries are enjoyable as well.  So far, each book has had two murders.

Tidbits:  I'm always confused when a recipe calls for a can of something identified by a number; for example, a 303 can of apricots.  I found a chart and thought you might find it helpful also. Click here.  I haven't mastered "Links" completely yet, but you'll figure this out.

Thoughts and Quotes:  Brother Bill told me this, and I don't know where he heard it, but it's a real eye-opener.

"What if today, all you had was what you were grateful for yesterday?"

I find that it's so easy to take our most precious gifts for granted - our health, sight, hearing, our ability to taste, smell, and reason, the ability to drive, our beautiful world, friends and family and pets, the birds and butterflies right in our own backyards.  "Thank you" is a powerful prayer - say it often.

Sorry, not much of a post this week.  Too much Trouble.  And I didn't even bore you with the spat I'm having with the cable company or my worry over Friend Billie's surgery and Friend Joey's sick kitty, Tuxie. Next week has to be better.

I NEED A VACATION!!!

P. S. Just got reports on Billie and Tuxie and both are improving.