Happy Halloween!

Good  morning and Happy Halloween!

We hope you have a safe, fun Halloween with the kids.  As you can see, we're ready with the good stuff. 

What you can't see is that we get very few little trick or treaters so there's plenty for us, too. 

;),
Lois

Catherine's Turn to Cook

Good morning,

With three adults living in the house, it is fun to take turns cooking.  This dinner was prepared by our daughter, Catherine. 

The baked salmon is served with a sour cream based sauce.  The tomatoes with cheese and steamed broccoli completed a very tasty meal. 

Thank you, Catherine!

Yum!

:),
Lois

Road Trip Crochet

Good morning,

This week's road trip provided the opportunity for a few hours of uninterrupted crochet.

I was working on a hat that will be available in our on-line shop when finished.

My knit and crochet projects sure make the trips go fast.

All the best,
Lois

Italian Lunch with Friends in Kentucky

Good morning,

Our friends suggested a fabulous Italian restaurant in suburban Louisville. 

These images are of only a few of the items we ordered.  Above is lasagna.

This is a seafood pasta which I'm told was delicious.

Our friend, Tor, opted for a classic, Italian style.

And, then there was dessert!

Oooooh, this was good!

We had a wonderful lunch and an afternoon of great conversation with our friends Tor and Teresa.

Good times!

...I just wish I had taken off that giant sweater before the picture!    *sigh*

Lois

Mini Road Trip

Good morning,

We took a road trip South this week.  As we drove through downtown Cincinnati we saw the orange barrels are still in full bloom.  They magically appear every Spring and are in bloom until the snow arrives.

Driving South reminded us of going "back to work" on board the ships.  Now that My Honey is retired, we're not going quite that far.

This time we were only going to Louisville to have lunch with friends.

As we moved into the rolling hills of Kentucky, the skies began to clear. 

More tomorrow....

Lois

Happy Birthday, Catherine!

Good morning,

We had a birthday this month that provided another HUGE birthday cake for our consumption.  This is Catherine's birthday cake and the critter on top is just so cute I had to share it.

The cake is cream filled, too, which makes it very healthy, right?  Isn't cream a milk product?

Of course, there were presents, too.

Happy Birthday, Catherine!

Love you,
Mom

Bagel, Salmon, Coffee - YUM!

Good morning,

We are starting to get into a rut, a very delicious rut!

We have a bagel restaurant right in the middle of the shopping area where we go for the post office, haircuts, groceries.....

It's as if the place just calls to us when we pull into the parking lot.

We ate our blueberry bagels with cream cheese and salmon before I remembered to take pictures.  So, I'm afraid you'll have to take my word for it:  They were pretty and yummy!

:),
Lois

Raindrops and Fishies

Good morning,

Yesterday was an overcast day with a few drops of rain falling now and then.  The leaves floating in the pond danced around as the raindrops fell.  If you look carefully in the center left of the above image, you'll be able to see at least parts of two of our large goldfish.

As the weather gets cooler and the risk of ice in the pond approaches, I'll place an electric pond deicer in it to keep ice from forming across the top.  The fish have lived there for years in this self-sustaining pond.  The lilies will drop to the bottom of the pond during the winter, then surface again in the spring to grow new leaves and beautiful pink flowers.

Ah, the changing seasons....

All the best,
Lois

Beautiful Skies

Good morning,

On our way home from dinner Saturday night we literally drove off into the sunset.

What a beautiful Fall sky!

Enjoy!

Lois

Welcome to Club Britt

Good morning,

Welcome to Club Britt!

Club Britt is actually a nickname that has been given to our friend Erica's home.  Erica rescues Brittany dogs and has had up to eleven of them at a time in my most recent memory.  Catherine, our daughter, and our three Labrador Retrievers are regular visitors there, too, and Catherine often stays at Erica's house to care for the dogs when Erica is out of town. 

Erica has a large property, a pond, and a swimming pool so the dogs are all in heaven.  Above are our three Labs, Penny, Erik, and Wendy visiting their Britt friends this week.

All of the dogs are great friends and are enjoying this beautiful Fall day together.

Thank you, Catherine, for sharing your pictures!

How fun!

Lois

Burger and Fruit

Good morning,

Sometimes a burger for dinner just sounds right.  So, I made burgers and served them with pickles and...

...lots of fruit.

It was delicious!

:),
Lois

Seminar Knitting

Good morning,

Yesterday's post was about the seminar I attended this week.  The extremely well presented seminar provides professional updates about current issues.

It's a casual atmosphere at these seminars.  It's so casual that the participants were given a fidget spinner with the Ohio Society of CPAs name imprinted. 

Rather than spin my fidget spinner through the seminar, I knitted something I could take home at the end of the day.

Makes sense to me! 

When I finish this hat it'll be available in the shop where there are similar hats in other colors available now.

Lois

Continuing Professional Education for Certified Public Accountants

Good morning,

This week I spent an exciting afternoon at an Ohio Society of CPAs Continuing Professional Education seminar. 

I remember the days when we attended these events in business attire and the day was quite formal. 

Now OSCPA members are encouraged to dress casually, use their smart phones to participate in real-time surveys related to the conference, and get up to get another cup of coffee or just walk around and stretch during the conference. 

Not only is it great to attend these professional updates twice a year, but seeing old friends is fantastic. 

Tune in tomorrow to see what I did during the conference while listening to the presentations.  ;)

Lois

Wendy on the Wall

Good morning,

Here's Wendy "framed" in the greenery in the back yard. She's standing on a stone wall that is covered with vines. 

The dogs enjoy "walking the wall" where they can see whatever is happening in the back yard.  It makes a beautiful picture, too!

:),
Lois

It was a plot!

Good morning,

Today's picture is very dark because it was taken in the middle of the night.

It was definitely a plot to get my spot in bed when Wendy, our youngest Labrador Retriever came to tell me she had to go out to go potty in the middle of the night.  Sure, I got up and took her out.  We are delighted our dogs tell us when they have to go out.

I was very careful not to make any noise so My Honey would not wake.  I went downstairs with Wendy, turned off the security system, let Wendy out and waited at the door for her, then let her in, reset the alarm, and came back upstairs to go back to bed.

What I found was the other two pups, Penny and Erik (he's behind Penny in the image above) very comfortably sleeping in my bed!

I'm sure it was a plot! 

I love those dogs.  Of course, they moved over and gave me a small space so I could go back to sleep.

;),
Lois

Blueberry Bread Pudding

Good morning,

A couple of days ago My Honey asked me to make bread pudding.  I reminded him we are both watching the calories and he made some sort of a snorty sound that definitely meant he didn't care.  ;)

So, it was off to the kitchen to make bread pudding.  Of course, we always have plenty of bread.  I didn't find the recipe I used often many years ago so I searched the Internet, found several interesting recipes to get the quantities of milk and eggs to bread, then went wild with the rest.

The image above is the result.

It was (yes, past tense, it's gone) SO good I will definitely make it again soon.  This batch was with blueberries, but I have plans to make it with apples and walnuts, bananas, chocolate....  Ah, yes, the possibilities are endless.

Here's how it looked going into the oven. 

While the bread pudding was in the oven, I made the vanilla sauce with light brown sugar, thus the light brown color.  It was wonderful, too!  *sigh*

OK, we can't afford to eat so many calories very often, but this sure was good!

:),
Lois

Good Friends

Good morning,

Our friends Martha and Russell sent me this image of themselves with our friend Ricardo, the Restaurant Manager with whom we sailed on board Freedom of the Seas for six years.  It's good to see this image of them all looking so great!  The image was taken recently aboard Liberty of the Seas, sister ship to Freedom of the Seas.  Martha, you look marvelous in that color!  :)

Thank you so much for sharing the picture!

Lois

Crab Dinner Salad

Good morning,

This was last night's dinner.  A salad just sounded right for some reason. 

This salad included red leaf lettuce, spinach, boiled egg, beets, tomato, yellow peppers sharp cheddar, and crab, of course.  :)  I could have kept going with walnuts, raisins, etc., but this was more than enough to satisfy our hunger. 

Yum!

Lois

Finally Finished!

Good morning,

As of last night it's finally finished!  It has been a joy to work with this gorgeous shade of lavender.  Or, is that orchid? 

This is an adult small size sweater that I've been working on between custom orders and projects I worked on in waiting rooms and on road trips.  The sweater got too big to take it along so I finally only worked on it while at home. 

I snapped these pictures with my phone. I'll get the sweater photographed with my good Canon camera over the weekend if I can get a sunny morning.  I like to photograph items in natural light.  Then I'll write the listing and get it on line in our shop.

Yay!  I'm so glad to have this pretty sweater finished.

Now, on to the next projects.... 

;),
Lois

Changing Skies

Good morning,

When I got out of the car to open the gate across our driveway yesterday afternoon I snapped this picture of the flags that fly in our front yard. 

Below the Stars and Stripes is the flag of the State of Ohio.

It was the sky beyond the flag that looked so interesting to me at the time.  The clouds were Fall and Winter-looking while the bright blue sky beyond still had the feel of Summer.

Seasons are changing....

All the best,
Lois

Soup Night

Good morning,

It was soup night and we decided on chunky cauliflower and carrot soup once again.  This time My Honey asked me to add some sausage.  Nice twist.  :)

Do you make soup at home?  We have become more and more fond of a simple meal of soup.  As the weather gets cooler, it just seems right.

All the best,
Lois

He's Hiding in our Garden!

Good morning,

Our little garden gnome looks a little scary hiding in the vines on the wall beside the steps up to the second level of our back garden. 

I think he needs a new paint job next Spring!  He's been here for so many years we could never give him up.

;),
Lois

Salmon ala Kjell

Good morning,

My honey prepared dinner last Saturday night.  It was simple and delicious.

He pan fried a side of salmon....

...boiled red potatoes...

..."smashed" some peas (this is common in Norway)...

...and made a sauce for the salmon and potatoes of diced tomatoes, sour cream, and dill. 

 My contribution was freshly baked bread made with sour cream, applesauce, and brown sugar. 

Yum!

:),
Lois