Another trip around the sun

I had a very nice birthday yesterday although I did nothing very special.  We went out for groceries quite early, and then I got busy making a blueberry pie.  Paul was picking berries as I was working on it, but we still have plenty left.  He thinks we'll get another quart or so tomorrow.  What neighbor will I "gift" them to?  We've already given some away.  

I used the recipe for Triple Berry Pie that's available at Sally's Baking Addiction, my go-to site for all things baking.   I wish I'd put in a little more corn starch because the all-blueberry filling was still a bit runny, even though I didn't remove the pie from the oven until it reached the 200 degree temperature in the recipe.  But it was delicious!  Not too sweet with a nice crust, albeit made from a box.

We had planned to go to the Asian Gourmet restaurant with Chris for dinner, but in the afternoon we had off and on torrential rain.  The city was preparing sandbags for businesses to use in case Main Street flooded (it didn't), and, since the restaurant is right downtown, we decided to postpone our dinner to tonight.  That was OK with me as we had leftover curry chicken salad and, of course, the pie with some vanilla gelato on top.

I did a little reading and some more quilting on the Christmas round robin quilt, which I will continue with today.  I talked with Mom and enjoyed lots of emails, text messages, and Facebook well wishes throughout the day.  Just a nice way to greet age 76!

Summer's end

It's always a bittersweet time of year, isn't it, the end of summer.  Time for school to start again, sweaters at the ready, and leaves beginning to turn color and fall.  Here in Vermont, RVs head south and tour busses galore roam the state.  Road construction seems to speed up, and pumpkins and mums appear on doorsteps.  

My impatiens, which bloomed profusely this year due to all the rain look a bit out of control and spent.  I'll be taking the window boxes and planters in for the winter soon.  Will there be time to plant some more bulbs?

This summer was odd due to the flood and its continuing clean up.  Roads are being fixed and a second Green Up Day has already been held.  We are looking forward to delayed Heritage Days at the end of September, and there are several more big events to look forward to.  What are the highlights of this summer?

- my little On the Patio quilt won an honorable mention at the Gypsy Moth Quilt Shop.  I sold a quilt (Hunter's Star) and finished at least five others, including a little house medallion mini (above).  I have just a few lines to quilt on a white-on-white piece that I've been working on (and mostly off!) for 20 years.

- quilters around Vermont mourned the end of the Vermont Quilt Festival and wondered if it can be resuscitated.

- we attended a few plays:  The Addams Family musical, Popcorn Falls, and Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson:  Apt. 2B, all at different venues.  We made plans for a few more fall activities with our friends Pauline and Bob.

- I celebrated my 75th birthday with an open house for neighbors and friends, along with dinner with my two dearest men.

- we grilled between frequent rains on a new-to-us grill we got at a yard sale, and I tried to master a new artisanal bread recipe with mixed results so far

We are looking forward to our Colorado trip (here's Mom at age 98 - three years ago!) and, then, in mid-winter a return to Alabama for a few weeks.

Staying home - all OK

 

This was the scene downtown yesterday at 5 pm.  I hate to think what all the business owners are going to be coping with.  Their basements are a mess!  People, including business owners, are being asked not to go downtown before noon today.  They hope the flood waters will recede a bit by then.  I imagine the sludge on the streets will make driving difficult anyway.

My long arm class this morning was cancelled, of course, but we will reschedule for another time.  Mary didn't sound too concerned about the store.  She didn't see any water using her cameras, but the parking lot may be impassable for a while.  

A number of major roads, including a stretch of the interstate, are closed.  I hope things improve because some people were stranded last night.  We felt very lucky not to lose power, TV, phone, internet.  Being up the hill at 1200 feet on blacktop is a big help.  I was afraid to go down into our basement this morning, but Paul says everything is fine.  Phew!  I'll be sewing more strippy log cabin blocks today as I stay tuned to developments via phone and Facebook alerts.