Cards & Letters

More cards out the door and in the post.

Wordless Wednesday

Start to the Week

 Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest... It's about who came, and never left your side...

- Unknown

Another week begins. I am blessed that though we were having cold weather, it has warmed up a few degrees.  Better still we are having clear skies and lots of sunshine.  This is a rare treat at this time of year and it is supposed to last all week! Yah!

On Friday I bought a new pair of flannel sheets. I already have some neutral coloured sheets but I wanted some plaid ones to change them out when I am doing the laundry. I bought this blue, red and white tartan and they kept me very warm during my first night of use.

I've been wanting something in shades of red and gray for some time.  The neutral pillow cases in the back are also made of flannel.

 
You might remember that on Friday I also went out shopping for a few little gift items and for a food care package for my mom.  I am hoping that she will be feeling a little better by the time the package arrives in a day or two and she will have some thing to eat late at night.  Where she lives they give her a snack after dinner.  But a few years ago she started a habit of having a bite to eat before bed and the care homes do not provide food after 7:30 p.m.  She gets agitated if she doesn't have anything to eat.  My brother and I buy her food for a few weeks during our visits. Once in awhile I post something to her in the mail and other times we have something delivered.  Delivery doesn't work so well because they don't shop for just the right things at the right price. You get what you get.  Sadly they don't seem to be able to provide anything at her residence for late night munchies even though the residents pay a fortune to live there.

On Saturday I prepared the care package for mom and prepared a few other small parcels and cards for posting.  I took them in to the post office though they won't actually get picked up for delivery by the mail man until Monday morning.  It is better if I take the cards and letters in over the weekend.  That way they will go out very early Monday morning before I am even ready to go out for errands.

Parcels and envelopes ready to go. My table is a mess (again).

I am so glad to have some of my parcels done.  Though the real Christmas mail rush has not quite begun I already missed one of the cut off dates for guaranteed Christmas delivery to Africa.  I am still hoping the mail gets delivered earlier than expected.

I spent a part of the weekend resting because I feel like I'm coming down with something.  My tummy doesn't feel quite right and my chest feels very unusual too.  I did get the flu shot but that is no guarantee of anything. My mother got the flu shot too and she is currently fighting a very bad case of the flu.

Saturday evening I continued reading this book I picked up 2nd hand entitled, Below the Peacock Fan:  First Ladies of the Raj. It is a very interesting account of 4 British ladies, all of whom lived in India at different points during the time of British Colonial rule.  It's fascinating to read what their lives were like a few hundred years ago in India.  Soon I will also finish the wonderful book, The Perfume Collector, by Kathleen Tessaro.

I'm looking forward to meeting a few friends tonight for a cooking session.  We cook in pairs and work on different parts of the menu.  Then we all sit down and eat together. It is always nice to see friends.

If you are part of the Crochet-A-Long on Thursdays, I probably won't be updating again until I finish the afghan. It may take awhile.


Have a wonderful week ahead!

Gluten Free Pineapple Carrot Muffins

If you've been following my recent experiments in baking with millet flour, you may also enjoy this recipe.  This is my favourite of the 3 recipes I've made with millet flour so far.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 millet flour (I used Bob Red Mills brand but you may have another brand where you live)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking power
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger (fresh is always nice but I used powdered ginger this time)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 cup crushed or chopped pineapple (I used a can of pineapple tidbits)
• 2 cups finely grated carrots (next time I will use half zucchini and half carrots)

Directions 

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Combine the mashed banana with the pineapple, grated carrot, ginger, cinnamon, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.  I used a Kitchen-Aid mixer but you can also just combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix them with a wooden spoon.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and baking soda,  then fold it into your wet mixture.  The batter will be very moist.

Pour into the muffin tin of your choice. I used my silicone muffin tin. When you use silicon muffin tins you must place them on a flat cookie sheet or other flat pan when putting them in the oven.

Bake 20-25 minutes. I baked 9 regular to large sized muffins with this recipe.

Notes:  Let the muffins cool before removing from the pan otherwise they will fall apart.

I find when using the silicone tin, the muffins are always very moist at the bottom, almost like pudding. Today's muffins were no exception.

These muffins are moist and tasty though a bit too sweet for my liking. Next time I will experiment a bit perhaps using only half of the sugar or substituting half of the shredded carrots with half shredded zucchini. I won't omit the banana because that whips up into a nice frothy, liquid mixture in which to mix the dry ingredients.

 

Here is a link to a site extolling the virtues of millet flour.   These days many people are turning to millet flour because it contains no gluten.  But beware.  Millet contains goitrogens, a substance that suppresses the thryoid activity and can cause goiter.

I'm joining up with the lovely Hannapat for her Weekly Bake.
Please click on the photo above to join in.

This concludes my experimentation with millet flour.  I will probably use again in future as I do a lot of baking over the winter months. I will be looking to use it in loaf bread too.
Thank you for following along.

A Glorious Sight

Hi friends,

I'm a bit late with the post but it is still Friday where I live so I am posting my Skywatch Friday pics.

I took these about two weeks ago when I was in a different part of the city running errands. I am not usually out at dinner hour looking at the sky so I often miss the beautiful sunsets.

I hope you like these photos of the one I caught that day.

I had a busy day today dealing with my mother and her needs.  There is a flu outbreak at her residence and she and 13 other residents are quarantined. It sounds rather serious. I pray that she and the others will be better soon and that the staff will give them the very best care. In all honesty, I am not pleased with the level of care she has been receiving since she moved in there 4 months ago and I've put in a request to move her to another residence on a priority basis. We are now waiting for an available room.

After discovering mother was in quarantine and that I'd done what I could to ensure her needs were taken care, I decided to go downtown for a few errands and a distraction.  I wanted to buy some yarn, crochet thread, snack foods to send to mother, and a lot of smaller items for gifts to friends near and far.  I also thought I might get some flannel pajamas or some flannel sheets as it is now quite cold where I live.

Despite the fact that I don't really need more yarn, I continue to purchase a few skeins here and there of colours that I like and don't think I will easily come across again.  I'm actually thinking of starting to purchase skeins on line so I can have more colour options.  This way I will have what I want on hand for new projects. I want to make another African Flower Afghan once I've finished with the first one I'm making for a gift (see here if you like).  Truth be told I already have far too much yarn and other craft supplies on hand.  But it is the age old problem of never having quite what you need when you need it. I think other crafters can relate.

Tonight after I got home and had dinner there was a brief rap at my door. I looked out the peephole to discover that there was no one there but something red was sitting on the ground outside my door.

When I opened the door, there was this HUGE RED surprise there to greet me.  I joked that the poinsettia is so huge (you can't really tell from the photo) that it could take the place of my Christmas tree.

My nephew & his girlfriend left this surprise at my door but couldn't stay to visit. He called me to let me know.  I was very touched that he remembered I get poinsettias every year to brighten my home at Christmas.

I had a another happy surprise yesterday when I went to the Post Office. I won this beautiful Christmas book in a giveaway hosted by blogging friend Terra from Terra Garden.

The win was a delightful surprise as I don't tend to win things. The small Christmas book is beautifully presented and chock full of wonderful Christmas items such as recipes, heart warming stories and crafts. Terra also sent me a note card with a delicious sounding recipe on it. Thank you so much Terra for your generous heart!

Happy Skywatch Friday!

Progress

Brrr, it has been quite chilly here both yesterday and today. On Monday it was overcast and raining. I think it was Monday night when it snowed on the mountain top. On Tuesday it was very windy and by the afternoon the clouds and dull sky had cleared.  I went out and joined a friend for a few hours of relaxation over coffee and a natter (chat).  Last night the temperature went as low as -2 Celsius and I had to turn the heat on for awhile in the living room.  My feet are like ice blocks this week so I also have on a pair of socks and slipper booties and from time to time I put the heating pad on my feet too.  I'm drinking cups of tea and hot chocolate to keep warm late at night.

Today it was another cold day.  I dressed warmly when I went out to buy the week's supply of vegetables and fruit.  I stopped at the Post Office where I posted a birthday card to a local friend and a Christmas card to Joshua, son of my new blogging friend, Tammy from Texas.

Tammy is my buddy for a home made ornament swap.  It turns out her son Joshua is in the Army and he is currently posted to the Middle East.  Sadly, he won't be able to join his wife or the rest of his family for Thanksgiving, Christmas or his birthday.  Being the good mother that she is, Tammy has asked people to help bring some Christmas cheer to Joshua by sending him a Christmas card.  Please read here and if you can, do send Joshua a card.

I was delighted to get a surprise at the post office.  I will write about the surprise very soon.

Today I also made 6 more crocheted hexagons for my blanket.  Yesterday and the day before I made the other 11 hexies and weaved in all the ends from the many other hexies made previously.  If I counted correctly, I only need one more hexagon to complete my blanket (I'll have to do a re-count to make sure).  I'm not excited yet. I'll be more excited when I'm finished joining all the pieces.  I'm joining in with Chrissie at Chrissie Crafts and Marianne at Ladybird Diaries

Since I snapped this photo I've made 6 more hexies, woven in all the ends of the others and took apart the hexies I joined together in week 1 (to get a preview of what things would look like).  The colour of the blue in the hexies at the front is off. They are a softer shade than what shows.

I made a couple of  foot appointments today. One for my mom's monthly foot care treatment.  I need to see the doctor to get some antibiotics for an infected toe and a referral to a foot nurse.  I've been going for a pedicure for years and years.  About 3 years ago I started getting infections in my big toes after getting my nails done.  I gather this is common for anyone with ingrown nails but it is a real pain, both figuratively and literally.  I found a mail person who was able to clean my nails and keep them infection free for almost two years now.  Then last week she informed me that she can no longer do ingrown nails due to health inspection rules.  When I heard that, I went back to my former nail salon (naughty me).  Two days later, I my toe was infected.  Lesson learned.  I am hoping a foot care nurse can correct the problem for good.  If not, I will likely need to get my toenails partially removed.

Yuck and sad face :-(.


I leave you now with a view from my patio today.

It was very windy yesterday and today. The good thing about the wind is it drives away the cloud cover.

Have a wonderful rest of your week!

My World Tuesday

In my world this week I am trying hard to juggle everything.  Mostly I find it hard to keep up to housework.  I am never caught up but I try.

I continue to work on 5-6 projects for Christmas.  Most of which will be unveiled on this blog if I remember to take pictures of the finished products.  I'm pleased with the progress I am making so far .

Two projects underway.

It is a very good thing I got an early start on these projects as they are all taking a lot of time and I need to pace myself and do other things in between. 

I've been enjoying reading the book, The Perfume Collector whenever I need a break from crafting.  Sometimes too there is a good movie on television.   I  "enjoy" vacuuming and washing the floors for a physical break every few days.  When I need to run my errands, I  manage to fit in a short walk in the neighbourhood.  Friendships and family remain important in my life just as they are for most people and these relationships all need time.

At this time of year the skies are mostly a dull gray. Now and then we see some clear skies and some sunshine.

It is late Fall in my part of the world.  Most of the brilliantly covered leaves are gone with the winds and rain.

The weather has gotten cold.  It is about 8 or 9 degrees Celsius during the day and about 4 or 5 degrees Celsius at night. On Friday night we had a rain storm to usher in the weekend. Thankfully I missed most of the storm by the time I went out to the pharmacy in the early evening.

About 6 weeks ago I took some flower photos and saved them for days such as this.  Here is one of the dahlias.

Joining up with Our World Tuesday this week. Thanks for sharing my world.

Butterscotch - Oatmeal - Millet Cookies

Last week I made a millet-5 grain cereal loaf. This week I'm trying some cookies.

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats

• 1 cup millet flour (Bob’s Red Mill brand)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup butterscotch

• ½ finely chopped almonds

• ¼ oil or shortening

• 4 tablespoons milk

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl adding the wet ingredients last.  Once thoroughly mixed, drop dough by small spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. 

If you are using butter or margarine as your shortening, you can blend it together first with your sugar and milk before adding all the dry ingredients.  If you bake at all you already know this but someone who is new to baking won't necessarily know.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until done. Gently remove cookies from the sheet with a egg flipper. 

This recipe makes about 32 cookies formed with a teaspoon. 

These cookies break apart easily if you are not careful.  I also found them quite sweet but they have a good crunch to them which I like.  If you don't like butterscotch chips you can also substitute chocolate chips or alternate making both kinds.  I got a "thumbs up" on these cookies.

I'm joining the lovely Hannapat for the Weekly Bake. Click on the photo to join in!