Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2011

Toby and...

Finally, a long-awaited blog post about Virginia!  I'm afraid you will have to wait a little longer to hear a little about all our fun activities (we fitted in beach and mountains, what more could you want on a holiday?) but the main purpose of the trip was to introduce Toby to some more of his family.  He charmed 'em all. First, the most important: Toby meets Grandma (or Meemaw as she is known to her great-grands) Of course, Grandpa (or Grampoo) was just as important, but didn't get quite so many cuddles owing to having heart surgery while we were there (you wouldn't know it, would you?) It was the second time for meeting Uncle John, but Toby's changed a bit in 6 months! Inspecting the James River with Aunt Kristal. With a couple of my cousins, Lloyd and Ben.  At the rate Toby's growing he may rival their height one day. With Great-Uncle Ben. Walking in the woods with Great-Aunt Mary, who did a great job entertaining us i

Summer Soup

A few years ago my friend Laura made a chilled watermelon tomato soup for a picnic.  The unusual but delicious combination stuck in my head, and I recently decided to recreate it.  I looked up a few recipes on the internet but mostly proceeded by trial and error.  After much blending and pouring of pink slushy liquids, I came up with something quite tasty.  And very refreshing when the mercury is topping 100F day after day. Chilled Watermelon Tomato Soup 1/4 of a largish watermelon About 6 tomatoes (1 lb 4 oz or so), peeled 1/2 of a medium onion, or a shallot if one happens to be residing in your fridge Handful of fresh parsley.  A bit of mint might be nice too. Juice of one lime 1 tbsp of wine vinegar (I used white, but red seems to be generally specified) Salt and pepper to taste This amount pretty much filled my blender, which says it has a capacity of 1.5 litres or 6 cups.  That was 4 generous servings, or you could easily get 6 out of it, especially i

Look what I made!

If you'll forgive a bit of bragging about my crafty exploits... We had a couple of frames that I thought would work well in Toby's room.  All we needed was something to fill them.  Inasmuch as the room has a theme (we never did get around to decorating the nursery) it's probably insects.  There are a few slightly blurry stencils of dragonflies and butterflies on the walls, left by the previous owners of the house.  So I found some cheerful insect pictures on the internet, and enlarged them freehand from the inch-square originals.  Acrylic paint gave the perfect bold effect. My sister-in-law Kristal has given us many beautiful sewn items, so for her birthday this year I wanted to give her something handmade too.  I discovered the technique of making pendants from glass microscope slides a few years ago, but after a frenzy of Christmas ornament making, I sort of forgot about it.  It was fun to take it up again, and this is the biggest project I've tackl