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Friday, November 25, 2011

Small Blessings

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and quite.  My husband, daughter and I drove to my sister's house and spent the day with her family.  She prepared a wonderful feast and we spent the afternoon visiting and playing with my niece's darling children. 

Today my husband and I spent the day with our daughter.  They tiled her back splash in her kitchen.  I watched and cut out a lap quilt.  My goal is to finish piecing the lap quilt this weekend.  That is if the weather forecast still says RAIN.  We have been having unusually warm weather for southeast Michigan and if it doesn't RAIN - then I need to finish working and cutting back my flower beds and prepare them for the winter season...

I recently purchased this cutting from a 1940s quilt.  I plan to purchase red fabric for the back and make a long pillow for my family room couch.  Being a basketmaker I thought the fabric was meant to be....

Monday, November 21, 2011

Thanksgiving Blessing



Psalm 111
Praise the Lord.  I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who have pleasure in them. Full of honor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures for ever. He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.
He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy, they are established for ever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is his name! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
a good understanding have all those who practice it. His praise endures for ever!



Thanksgiving Blessing

Friday, November 18, 2011

A Wonderful Surprise

Hello blogging friends.  I've been without a computer for two weeks and boy did I miss it.  I've been able to post a few comments with my daughter's Ipad, but I was challenged when it came to uploading photos.  I received a wonderful report two weeks ago from my oncologist that my cancer no longer appears on my lungs.  The spots of my liver are smaller - I have another scan in January to review and discuss the next steps.  We are encouraged and thankful to family and friends for their continued support and prayers.  Being a Christian woman, I believe in God and that he has a plan for each and everyone we just need to hang on and follow his plan.

Approximately three weeks ago I was fortunate to win gifts from Earlene of Primitive Passions.  Thank you Earlene for your kind delivery.  Isn't this adorable.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

History of Cranberries

The cranberry, along with the blueberry and Concord grape, is one of North America's three native fruits that are commercially grown. Cranberries were first used by Native Americans, who discovered the wild berry's versatility as a food, fabric dye and healing agent. Today, cranberries are commercially grown throughout the northern part of the United States and are available in both fresh and processed forms.

The name "cranberry" derives from the Pilgrim name for the fruit, "craneberry", so called because the small, pink blossoms that appear in the spring resemble the head and bill of a Sandhill crane. European settlers adopted the Native American uses for the fruit and found the berry a valuable bartering tool.

American whalers and mariners carried cranberries on their voyages to prevent scurvy. In 1816, Captain Henry Hall became the first to successfully cultivate cranberries. By 1871, the first association of cranberry growers in the United States had formed, and now, U.S. farmers harvest approximately 40,000 acres of cranberries each year.

The History of Cranberry Production
In 1910 the more efficient, but still labor intensive, rocker scoop replaced earlier scoops used to harvest cranberries.

Of all fruits, only three - the blueberry, the Concord grape and the cranberry can trace their roots to North American soil.

The cranberry helped sustain Americans for hundreds of years. Native Americans used cranberries in a variety of foods, the most popular was pemmican - a high protein combination of crushed cranberries, dried deer meat and melted fat - they also used it as a medicine to treat arrow wounds and as a dye for rugs and blankets.

Cultivation of the cranberry began around 1816, shortly after Captain Henry Hall, of Dennis, Massachusetts, noticed that the wild cranberries in his bogs grew better when sand blew over them. Captain Hall began transplanting his cranberry vines, fencing them in, and spreading sand on them himself. When others heard of Hall's technique, it was quickly copied. Continuing throughout the 19th century, the number of growers increased steadily.

Cranberries are a unique fruit. They can only grow and survive under a very special combination of factors: they require an acid peat soil, an adequate fresh water supply, sand and a growing season that stretches from April to November, including a dormancy period in the winter months that provides an extended chilling period, necessary to mature fruiting buds.

Contrary to popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. Instead, they grow on vines in impermeable beds layered with sand, peat, gravel and clay. These beds, commonly known as "bogs," were originally made by glacial deposits.

Normally, growers do not have to replant since an undamaged cranberry vine will survive indefinitely. Some vines in Massachusetts are more than 150 years old.

In addition to Massachusetts, the major growing areas for cranberries are New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, and in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Quebec. Additional regions with cranberry production include Delaware, Maine, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, as well as the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Prince Edward Island. Altogether the entire cranberry industry is supported by approximately 47,000 acres, of which 14,000 are in Massachusetts.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Pumpion Pie from Colonial Times

Take about half a pound of Pumpion and slice it, a handfull of tyme, a little rosemary, parsley and sweet marjorum slipped off the stalks, and chop them small, then take the cynamon, nutmeg, pepper and six cloves, and beat them, take ten eggs and beat them, then mix them and beat them all together and put in as much sugar as you think fit, then fry them like a froize*, after it is fryed, let it stand till it be cold, then fill your pye, take sliced apples thinne round wayes, and lay a rowe of the froize, and layer the apples with currents betwixt the layer while your pye is fitted, and put in a good deal of sweet Butter before you close it, when pye is baked, take six yelks of eggs, some whitewine or vergis*, and make a caudle* of this, but not too thick, cut up the lid and put it in, stir them well together whilst the eggs and pumpions be not perceived and so serve it up.

*froize = a kind of pancake or omelet
*vergis = verjuice, juice from unripened grapes or from crab apples or other sour fruit
*caudle = a warm spiced and sugared drink

Sunday, November 6, 2011

New Treasure

I was recently given this beautiful spinning wheel from my mother.  Isn't it lovely.
My mother is 89 years young.  She is a treasure to be with. 

LOVE IS A HEART GIFT

Love is a Heart Gift that cannot be bought or sold
For any amount of silver of gold
And there could never be another who loves more deeply than a Mother

Helen Steiner Rice