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~ Home Again, Home Again ~

December 3, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

From cool northern air to warm southern sun and back again. Again this year my sister and I made the trip with our Dad to Florida, where he stays to keep warm while we head back north to ~~endure~~ enjoy the seasons. The transition as we (they) drove (while I crocheted in the backseat) from cold to slowly warming up temperatures was one thing, but hopping a plane in T-shirt weather and being picked up by your Hubby holding a winter coat….well let’s just say it takes a while to adjust!

There wasn’t time to complain, I hit the floor running. I had three days till Thanksgiving, and family dinner was at our house this year. I decided to add to the fun by getting our Christmas tree early and having the house decorated for the event (so early I might add that no one around us was set up selling trees yet. The perk was that our friendly, local tree farmer escorted us into the woods, helped us pick out our tree, and then gave it to us! Gotta love favor!). Let me just say…I have NEVER had my tree up for Thanksgiving, even when the kids were little! My oldest son reminded me that it was two days before Christmas when we put up a tree last year. So WHY, do you ask, did I decide this was the year to surprise everyone with being ahead of the game? I’m blaming it on the temperature drop between Florida and home, maybe shock. But in hind sight…I’m now relaxing by a warm fire as I write this, sitting next to a beautifully decorated tree in the warm glow of its lights. So that’s one thing crossed off the December to do list. Here are some highlights from the trip…

First and foremost- I got to spend a week with my girls (my youngest daughter and her now 9 month old baby girl)-highlight for sure!

Of course there are never any complaints about having to spend time at my brother and sister-in-law’s place.

He even popped the cork on some bubbly while we celebrated some much needed sibling fellowship time on the dock.

Not to mention their 35th wedding anniversary!

I’m oh, so grateful for both of them!

We took the baby girl to the beach…..

...and we visited one of our favorite places in St. Pete, Mazzaros Italian Market. All that goodness under one roof! LOVE this place! It would be dangerous to live close to.

So I took some pretty pictures…

and ate some good food.

Unfortunately the neighbors were away, so no fun visits with them. (They were sorely missed!) I took this photo for you, Bob & Pat, hope you are having a great time!

We did get to meet the neighbors on the other side and it seems they are Mazzaro fans also. So lots of great “foodie” talk.

We shopped a little.

I found this sign, which made me think of the Beekeeper. So…

…I said a tearful good-bye to this little cutie…

…and headed back to the “Not So Little Brown House” on Main ST. EB, to another cutie.

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Filed Under: Events, Family, Grandchildren, Photography Tagged With: Florida

~ December…One Photo at a Time ~

December 1, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

I’m joining the December Photo Challenge, Mark 4:30 photo-a-day. I’ll be posting my daily photos on Instragram. Join the fun!

Filed Under: Photography

~ Beginning Again ~

November 10, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

Here I am, beginning again. I’ve moved my blog to a self-hosted spot in the blogosphere and I’m facing the new challenges of learning a new, much more complex theme. There have been frustrations along the way, but also a satisfaction of seeing it through. So, I’m here, lots more to learn, lots of room to grow and very eager to make this space mine. It’s kinda like building a new garden bed and deciding just what you want to plant and where. I’m picking out my seeds in anticipation of great things to come. So come follow along and watch things grow!

Filed Under: Events, My Potager, Nature, Photography

~ My Creation Week 6 ~

November 6, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

A little organization was needed this past week. I had at least six, large baskets full of yarn and crocheting supplies. I decided it was time to sort it all out and consolidate. So this is what I came up with….

I had the four vintage suitcases in the store and the two on top are Home Goods finds. So now all my supplies are in one place, easy to get to, and they make an attractive display (at least I think they do). So I’m set, as long as I stay out of the yarn shop for awhile. All the suitcases are packed full, no more room! Unless…I find another suitcase at the auction.

*************************

So with that finished, I decided to move to the “Inspiration Room” and work on some journal pages.

Now I’m thinking the “Inspiration Room” needs a little organizing. Maybe for next week.

Filed Under: Antiques, Creating Every Day, crochet, The Inspiration Room Tagged With: art journaling, vintage

~ My Creation Weeks 4/5 ~

October 30, 2013 by pafisher

I know, I missed week 4! Well, I didn’t really miss it, I just didn’t get it posted. The last two weeks have been a blur of Fall activities. Here’s a visit to the farm where we bought our winter supply of hay for our four-legged babies. They had a great Fall display and lots of pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn and all different types of winter squash for sale.

Fall brings on that “nesting” feeling for me. I want to move back inside, crochet by the fire and make Fall foods.

Blueberry banana bread

Pumpkin bread

I bought a new loaf pan that makes 4 mini loaves of bread. It works great, but I’m still adjusting my recipes for the right amount of batter. First time not quite enough, the second time a little to much. My boys don’t seem to mind eating the mistakes.

Pasta Fagioli soup w/ “rustic” meatballs…haha!

This soup turned out so good, (I was wishing my brother hadn’t been a duck and headed to Florida already, he would have really liked this one). One of these days I’ll start putting my soup recipes to pen and paper!

Potato Leek soup

Here is a similar Potato Leek Soup recipe to what I made (I made a really large pot so I don’t have exact amounts for mine).

The Beekeeper has been busy taking the honey boxes off the beehives and getting the bees ready for winter. We have about half of the honey extracted, looks like a good honey year for us.

And then there was the grape harvest….just when I thought I was done making jams and jelly! I forgot about the grapes.

I did get a new scarf crocheted and a little doodling in between the fall chores.

Time to get started on the next week!

P.S. Here are the bread recipes:

Blueberry Banana Bread

1 cup blueberries

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup margarine (I use butter)

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed banana

Toss the washed and drained blueberries with 2 tablespoons of the flour. Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together. Set aside. Cream the butter and gradually beat in the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the mashed banana, stir in the blueberries. Bake in a greased loaf pan in a 350 oven for 50 to 60 minutes (this is different of course if you are using a mini loaf pan like I did). Makes 1 loaf

This recipe is from a great cookbook I use a lot, The Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook.

Ruthie’s Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 eggs

1 cup oil

Mix well.

Add:

1 cup pumpkin

2/3 cup water

Blend in:

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

Bake in 3 greased and floured coffee cans (you need the kind without a lip), filled 1/2 full, at 350 for 1 hour. This can also be done in a loaf pan.

This was my Mom’s recipe. I’m not sure where it originated from, but pumpkin bread in a coffee can reminds me of my childhood…happy memory!

Filed Under: Creating Every Day, crochet, Honey Bees, In the kitchen, The Catskills Tagged With: blueberry banana bread, fall, Honey, pumpkin bread, soup

~ “My Creation Week 3” ~

October 16, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

We went camping again last week. The same spot back up to the lake in the Adirondack Mountains, but this time with the Beekeeper’s family. Finding time to create was a little tricky, I did work on a few pieces that may end up in my journal and I took a lot of photos. Since photography definitely counts for creating in my book… I’ll start with those.

So the leaf on the lake is my favorite, I just love the way it turned out. Sunsets on the lake are always beautiful and a great photo opportunity, as is the wildlife. The geese that were using the lake for a stop off point on their way south didn’t like our kayaks passing through. I’m not even sure how many picture I took of this blue heron, who usually evades me and this trip decided to pose for me. I was so excited to see the young loon again that I wrote about in this post, but this time I discovered that there are four of them now. I think they make their migration trip together, anyone know ? The Beekeeper did lots of fishing, as did the fisher in the picture under the hubby’s hands on the reel. If you look close that little black creature (the fisher) has a fish in his mouth. The fire was one of “my creations”, and then the artwork I was able to get in, not a much as I had hoped, but some anyway. It was a good week, but I’m glad to be back home.

Filed Under: Adirondack Mountains, Creating Every Day, Nature, Photography Tagged With: Camping, loons, watercolor

~ “My Creation Week 2” ~

October 7, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

Well here we go…week two. I’m a little obsessed right now with my art journal, bear with me. First I just made new pages for the little one I started.

art journal page

journal page

But that wasn’t enough so I had to create a whole new journal….

I’m taking this online class with Mary Ann Moss. I really like it. Mary Ann is a great teacher and a little quirky (I love that!). The Beekeeper says the same thing about me, I find it endearing. This is the first journal from the class. My plan was to make a journal with only watercolor paper to take with me camping for Columbus weekend, but I couldn’t seem to stick with that once I got started. I had this old children’s book in the store that was the right size for my paper. The cover was coming off anyway, so I figured it would be a good candidate for this exposed spine journal. Plus I loved the cover. But when it came right down to it my antique loving self had to keep the inside of the book with the cover. So now I have just complicated my first journal making experience. My seven, three page signatures have to each include a signature from the old book. I ended up with two signatures of just watercolor paper and five with a combo of watercolor, ledger paper and the old book sections. I’ve started putting clear gesso on the book pages to strengthen them and prepare them for watercolor (I plan to watercolor the black and white illustrations).

The rest of my creating time has been spent building a website to move my blog to. Just a switch from wordpress.com to wordpress.org, my URL will stay PatriciaFisherDesigns.com. So, Coming Soon, a new look! Here’s a little preview…

blog

Filed Under: Art Journaling, Creating Every Day Tagged With: art journaling, watercolor

~ What I Learned in September ~

October 1, 2013 by pafisher

Today I’m linking up with Emily Freeman at Chatting at the Sky to share what I learned in September.

1. Art Journaling – I’ve had many journals that I’ve written in… I’ve doodled… I’ve made “art”, but never thought to combine them all together. Now, I have seen nature journals, and people’s sketchbooks that they write notes in, but the idea of an art journal was new to me, and I must admit fascinating! I stumbled upon them on a couple of blogs like here and here, and I wanted to know more. I told my sister, sister-in-law and niece one day that I was going to strongly resist the urge to start a new thing. What a joke! They know me better than that. Within a couple of weeks I had immersed myself in blogs about art journaling, ordered twice from amazon, been to Hobby Lobby and found two classes to take here. I’m gone…lovin’ this “new to me” thing. You can find me in “The Inspiration Room” with mod podge on my fingers.

2. What gesso is – This was an art journaling discovery. Found this stuff that artists use to prepare their canvases or paper. It makes a rough surface, comes in clear, white and black. Very fun stuff!

3. How many wonderful pens and markers are out there – Also part of the above discovery. Wow, how do you choose?

4. And last on this subject…I somehow learned of this sweet girl and her blog – I’m not sure how I came to her spot in the blogosphere, but I just love these little videos of her calendar pages. Check it out here.

5. How to make apple butter – I had never made this and our apple trees are loaded this year, so time to learn something new. I searched on Pinterest for apple butter recipes (there were many), read through some and gave it a whirl. My Dad was my guinea pig, so to speak, and trust me he will tell you if it isn’t right. The first batch was too thin. You have to cook this for a long time, so go with the slow cooker recipes. Here is one to start with.

6. How to build a website – This one is an adult continuing education learning curve. I need to move my blog to a self-hosted website, so I have begun this process. I think the learning is definitely going to continue well into October and maybe November, so this will be on my list again next month. I have the hosting, I’m on WordPress.org, I have framework, a new theme, and now to decorate it to my liking and transfer over from WordPress.com (keep me in your prayers)!

Filed Under: What I Learned Tagged With: art journaling, canning

~ “My Creation Week” #1 ~

September 30, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

I’m a firm believer in the fact that everyone is creative. The people that know me very well know this about me. I have a hard time being quiet when I hear someone say, “I’m just not a creative person”. We were all created by the ultimate creator (artist of all time), and we do carry His genes. We may not all be in touch with Him or His creativity, but the potential is still there. It’s a little different in all of us, but it does exist. So I’m kinda launching off the idea of Creation week in the Bible. Having said that I can now explain my new plan for myself. Being creative isn’t the hard part for me, but making the time can be. So that brings me to the reason for this post title. I’ve come up with a way to motivate (push) myself to create something every day, which I intend to post about the following week….Eek! I figure it will get me thinking everyday about ways to be creative, about documenting it with a photo (which is creative in itself)… and a weekly blog post to keep me committed. So it should be a win-win for me…I make something and I have a way to remind myself of all that I’ve done each week. So I’m thinking anything that I make goes; painting, drawing, art journaling, writing, gardening, sewing, crochet, jewelry, cooking and baking, photography…..pretty much anything goes. Since we all know that God rested on the seventh day, I may also. So it isn’t about exact numbers, but it is about exercising creativity as often as possible. So here goes week one, which started last Monday.

So from art journaling to watercolor to canned tomato sauce and a new pair of earrings… it’s not the sun, the moon and the stars, but it’s a start. Join me and document your creativity.

Filed Under: Creating Every Day Tagged With: art journaling, canning, jewelry, watercolor

~ Peach and Plum Jam ~

September 22, 2013 by pafisher

We only have one peach tree and one plum tree, and they are both young, but they are producers! The Beekeeper had to prop their limbs up to keep them from breaking under the weight of all the fruit. That always reminds me of Aaron and Hur holding Moses’ arms up during battle ( Exodus 17:12 ). I know, really one has nothing to do with the other, but still those propping sticks always bring that bible story to my mind. Anyway the point of all this was, we had a lot of peaches and plums this year, and they were delicious! So we ate some, we sold some on our little farm cart out in front of our house and I made jam. Here’s a look…

…just like that!

Delicious!

~ Here are the recipes ~

PEACH JAM

1 quart chopped peaches (peeled, pitted/cored)

7 1/2 cups sugar (mine came out a little too sweet for me…next time less sugar)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 pouch liquid pectin

Combine fruit, sugar, lemon juice in a saucepot. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in liquid pectin. Return to a boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, skim off foam. Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process for 10 minutes in water bath.

PLUM JAM

2 quarts chopped plums (pitted, but not peeled)

8 cups sugar (you may want more, mine came out a little tart, but I like it that way)

1 tablespoon butter (cuts downs on foam)

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 package of pectin

Combine plums, sugar, butter, lemon juice in a saucepot. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. I used my hand blender just a little at this point. Add pectin, return to boil, boil 1 minute. Ladle into hot jars, add lids. Process 10 minutes in water bath.

*my plum jam was silky smooth and a little thinner than the peach. I was really happy with it, but if you like it set up more cut back on the amount of plums per batch.

Happy Canning!

Filed Under: Fishers Beehive Shoppe, In the kitchen, My Potager Tagged With: peach jam, plum jam