Mom's Meatballs and Sauce, Painting the Kitchen

Grandson Jack, who is nearly thirteen, came to stay with us last weekend. Amid the weekend activities I asked him what he would like for dinner on Sunday. I gave him a list of options and he chose spaghetti and meatballs. Our meatballs and sauce recipe comes from my Italian mom. I recall my mom and Aunt Katherine both making their sauce the same way so I assume it came from their mother, my grandmother. Grandmother Irene was an immigrant to the United States from Italy. My mom did not have this recipe written down. She dictated it to me and I typed it on a recipe card in the early 1980's. It has endured a lot of wear.

Recipes for meatballs and sauce are as varied as Italian regions. Every Italian family has their own sauce and meatball recipe. If you have been raised eating a particular sauce and meatball, (eating it at least once a week throughout childhood), it is hard to accept the taste of any other. So, I am not offended if this recipe is not to someone's liking. It does benefit from adding the red wine. The only change I have made is to the meatball recipe. I make breadcrumbs from the bread slices and sprinkle those with water. This makes a more uniform consistency. My least favorite part of making meatballs is frying them in olive oil. It is time consuming and I dislike standing at the stove frying things. In the past I have tried baking them instead. I thought the taste was not the same. They need the olive oil for flavor.

  

Jack helped me make the meatballs. In my opinion, if you are going to make a batch of meatballs and sauce, you might as well double it and freeze a batch or two. It is the same amount of work either way. 

We cooked in a chaotic kitchen setting because we are in the midst of painting the kitchen cabinets. I procrastinated this job because it requires all the cabinet contents to be removed in order to sand the wall and base boxes. The cabinet contents were scattered between the living room, dining room, basement, and our bedroom. Once we finished the sanding, we washed all the shelves and replaced the shelf liners. Now it feels like move-in day, all fresh and clean! I purged a lot of unused items and then put everything else back in place. The next step is to prime and paint all the sanded doors and drawer fronts. This will take another week or so. The last time we painted these was about fifteen years ago. I used a paint sprayer that time. I did not like using a sprayer. Aside from having to create a spray "room" with plastic sheeting, I was not adept with a sprayer and I hated the whole process. This time I am rolling the paint on with a four inch roller. The finish is uniform and lovely. I also feel that I am much more in control. We are using Benjamin Moore Advance for cabinets, doors, and trim in a satin finish. We are using the same color as before, Dove White. 

The kitchen is nothing fancy but it is highly functional. We bought the refrigerator in 1991 when we built our house in New York. The thing won't quit. We are ready to upgrade it and the laminate counter top to granite but that's for another day. Steve and I were both brought up with the mindset, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." So, we tend to wait until something needs doing rather than doing it just for the aesthetic. I cannot say if this is sound advice, it is just the way we are.

 

A Spontaneous Act of Kindness

 I witnessed the loveliest thing at church on Sunday.

An older couple sat in the pew in front of us. The lady was slightly bent and walked with a cane. She wore a smart dress and a denim jacket with the collar turned up. Her husband stood close to her and I noticed a slight tremor in his hands. In front of them sat another older lady who I know just a little bit. She devoted all of her time to operating a food pantry for veterans. She wears her hair very long and dresses in flowy clothing. This week she was wearing a beautiful, turquoise necklace and large, dangling, turquoise earrings in the shape of a cross.

As we sang the last song of Mass and began to leave our pews, I noticed the lady on front of us lean forward to the other lady and compliment her earrings. Without blinking an eye, the earring lady took them off and gave them to the admirer. This lady gestured as though saying, "No. No." But the earring lady lovingly pressed them into her hands.

 At that point we were walking away so I did not see if there was any further interaction between these two strangers. I thought it was the loveliest thing.

Williamsburg, VA...A Crafter's Delight

 I could visit Colonial Williamsburg many times over and never tire of it. Two friends and I drove there for a three night, mid-week, girl's getaway. We rented an Airbnb which was a ten minute drive away from Colonial Williamsburg. 

The three of us have gone away often together and we have our travel routine down pretty well. We typically go exploring during the day and settle in with sewing or hand work for the evenings. On this trip, we met up for lunch with a mutual friend who lives in Williamsburg. She recommended Carrot Tree Kitchens . It was a very nice, bustling place. I had a slice of spinach and feta quiche and a cup of tomato bisque soup. It was a rainy day and this was a cozy, satisfying meal. After lunch, we headed over to Liberty Hill Needleworks . Oh my, this is a wonderful shop for cross stitchers! I was here last December and thought I shouldn't need anything this trip. But that thought went down the tubes fast. 

 

A wall of linen, nicely arranged by count and color.

All types of floss plus another wall of DMC and yet another of silks.

After that bit of fun, we checked into our Airbnb. It was pouring rain and we got soaked to the skin carrying in our suitcases and gear. We changed into dry, comfortable clothing and settled in for an evening of stitching and gab.

The following day, we headed out to Willow Grove Primitives.  What a fun and well stocked shop. It consisted of two buildings, one being an historic house. It was nice to see that much of their stitchery, applique, and hooked items were crafted by local people. I found a pretty fall garland and three stuffed pumpkins made of gold flowered cotton. Next, we went to the New York Deli for lunch. This place is a must. We dined here last December and I could not wait to come back. After lunch, we stopped at Lightfoot Antique Shop where Kay found two nice antique frames. From there, we went to the Premium Outlet Shops. This conglomerate of stores seems to still be doing well as far as outlet malls go. I found two shirts for Steve at the Columbia outlet and nothing for myself anywhere else. After this full day, we again headed back to the Airbnb for an evening of stitching. For dinner, we had ordered Greek salads to-go when we were at the New York Deli for lunch. They kept in the car until we got home.

 

Now that's a Reuben!

 

The next day, we once again headed out early. The rain stopped and the day was beginning to brighten. Our first stop was back to Liberty Hill Needeworks. I am not sure why we did this, but Kay wanted to go back. I wasn't planning to get anything more until I spotted a pattern that had been on my wish list for a year. I don't know why I had not seen it when we were here two days ago. It is a sampler titled, "Louisa Barney 1892" by Reflets de Soie. The pattern is so beautiful to me that I decided to add it to my purchases. The Needleworks shop owner and her staff gave me a huge amount of time to get this pattern set up. I decided to stitch it in silk floss and they needed to convert all forty colors from DMC to Needlepoint Inc. Due to the cost of silk floss, I bought only fifteen colors for now. This is enough to get started. I may have to stretch this project out over a couple of years. The pattern is so beautiful and I know it will give me joy to stitch it.

After the Needleworks shop, we drove over to downtown Williamsburg. We were all hungry and decided to at at the Cheese Shop on Merchants Square. They make delicious sandwiches on all kinds of wonderful bread. We dined at the tables outside and enjoyed our lunch while we watched passersby. We ducked into the candy shop next door and each bought a milk chocolate covered caramel turtle to eat while we walked up the main avenue to take in the town and sights. (What great restraint it was to walk out of this candy shop with only one candy!) There were many people out and about. As always, it is easy to imagine oneself in Colonial times when walking around this place. Since we were just here last December, I did not take many photos. 

 

All the gardens are lovely here. I like the simplicity of this boxwood and Gomphrena.

This man was playing a lively fiddle tune. I hooked arms with Kay and got her to take a turn with me : )

Sadly, our week was coming to an end. Our plan was to make one more stop on our way home the next day. We wanted to go to Millstone Quilts in Mechanicsville, VA. Kay and Pat had been there several times in years past, but not recently. It is getting harder and harder to find reproduction quilting fabric and they knew that this wonderful shop carried a lot of it. The old mill building was fun to be in, albeit a little dark. There were several rooms of fabrics within two and a half stories. I was able to find yardage I needed for backing on a Jo Morton quilt I am piecing. There were so many beautiful prints that I was quite overwhelmed with wanting to buy everything. In addition to the backing fabric, I carefully chose some fat quarters to use in specific doll quilts I hope to make. We agreed that we will need to come back to Millstone Quilts again some time.

Back home to reality. There is work to be done! 

 

 

 

 

Reworking the Perennial "Step" Bed

 

 

We have garden steps that go nowhere. 

Twenty-two years ago, the vision was to replace this barren hillside with a garden. In reality, it  would have taken a crew of men with machines plus an expensive amount of plantings to bring that vision to fruition. But all was not lost. We found ourselves always climbing this little portion of hill when we wanted to walk up to the gravel road at the top. So we put in a mini version of the hillside garden. Back then, Steve got free railroad ties at his workplace. He brought a bunch of them home and then axed and shoveled out the clay hillside to set the steps in place. We then topped each step with pea stone. Over the years I have tried several different plants and shrubs to cover the area. It still a largish garden I always struggled with what to put there. It gets weedy very easily and it never looks pretty at the end of a hot summer. 

Lately, I let the weeds go for a long while and everything got really overgrown. When I knew Steve would be away for a few days and the weather would be cooler, I decided to tackle the task of cleaning it up. I drove the pickup truck to the landscape store and got a load of garden mix soil. I pruned back the shrubs and dug and weeded and dug some more. I pulled out old landscape fabric (what was I thinking using that stuff?!) and shoveled new dirt onto the area. I transplanted things I wanted to keep and added a few new plants to fill in.  

It took two days of hard labor. It also gave me great  satisfaction to complete the job. When I finally turned on the sprinkler to water everything in, that was my, "Hallelujah! The job is done!" I sat in the shade of a tree with a can of sparkling water and watched the sprinkler oscillate back and forth. The air was cool with a little breeze and it felt so good to just sit there and be finished. 

One of my best memories of the day was going back to the run-in shed, where we used to store hay for the horses, to get the garden cart. It has been years since any horses have been in there but it still smells like hay and horses. I love that smell.

I skipped the gym the next morning. I figured I had earned it, the hard way.

Ecclesiates 3:4, A Time to Cry

 Grief came to visit this week. It often lingers in the dark corners of everyday news. Most of the time I address it with prayer and introspection, determining to do more good and counterbalance the evil in this world with good. Love more, love better, love unconditionally...look to our Lord and Savior for guidance. But Wednesday's news of the assassination of Charlie Kirk darkened the sun and stilled the breeze. It caused a vacuum that momentarily sucked all common reason from the world. 

My heart is so heavy for what we have lost in the death of this good man. Evil attempted to take away our freedom of speech and open, civil debate. This same darkness wants to take away so much more. 

I found comfort in Charlie's widow's words of faith and encouragement and in her vision for her husband's legacy. And I find eternal comfort in knowing that darkness has lost. It was finished the moment Jesus defeated death on the cross. 

Erika Kirk's Words 

Wind's From the North!

 

The sky is clear and the upper and lower fields are mowed.

 Oh what glorious, cool air comes through the windows on the north side of the house! We have waited all summer for this change. It lifts our spirits and fuels our creativity. It induces me to clean and freshen every room in the house. I open windows on opposite sides of the rooms so the air flows right through. We keep some windows open at night and let the sounds of crickets and owls lull us to sleep. The screen porch is our evening haven now that the heat and humidity are gone. It was tolerable to sit there on a hot summer night but now it is downright pleasant. 

We have also begun to refresh the garden. The fields are mowed for hay which makes the entire property look brand new. The sweet scent of cut hay is everywhere. We tackled the tired vegetable beds and pulled out all the sodden, rotten tomato plants. What a disappointment they were this year. The pole beans came down too. They produced like gangbusters but were all spent now. Steve is harvesting hot peppers every day. He dehydrates some and grinds them into powders. He also makes a lot of hot sauce. I know it involves brine but I don't pay enough attention to his process. I took a turn with the dehydrator and filled it with sweet basil. I also made two batches of pesto which I will store in the freezer. 

Grandkids romped around the hay bales.

 

 

 

We had a happy Labor Day weekend with three of the four daughters and their families here for a cookout. It was an easy picnic with meats on the grill, a few sides, and two kinds of fruit cobbler with ice cream for dessert. We took walks, played outside, ate good food, and shared stories and dreams for the future. Tess and Audrey have declared that they enjoyed the family gathering for Violet's birthday party so much last month that they want to keep the gatherings going throughout the year. I say, "Amen" to that! Next month is Tess' birthday, Halloween, then Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will have plenty of opportunity to celebrate.

Dried basil leaves ready for crumbling into recipes and three jars of pesto for the freezer.

 On the quiet front, I finished stitching a large-ish cross stitch pattern. Now I must find a frame. I also took two quilts to the quilting studio and just picked them up this week. I need to bind them and then give them a wash so they pucker up. I will include them in my next post. Tomorrow Kay and I are driving to Lewisburg, WV to browse the antique shops and have lunch out. It is a very pretty drive with barely any traffic. It is my reward to self after having a routine c _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ py today. ; ) 

PS. I can't decide which font I prefer. ??  

 

Visiting New Hampshire and a Day at the Beach

 

Photo from our 2022 visit. It looks exactly the same today.

 

 

 

The Follansbee Inn at Kezar Lake, NH has become like an old friend to us. This is where we stay when we visit our daughter and her family in New Hampshire. This year, we made our annual August trek to the beautiful state of New Hampshire in our old pickup truck. It is not the most comfortable for long range travel (and I questioned its road worthiness) but we had a load of furniture that Chelsea wanted and I was happy to endure the truck ride in order to clear it out of our basement.

The common rooms at the inn are lovely and comfortable and the breakfasts are a culinary treat. We always enjoy the dock and the beachfront area. Guests have free use of the inn's kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards. We spent two days exploring the lake, swimming off the beach and dock, and relaxing under the big pine trees. One afternoon we formed a three boat caravan and Simon guided us over to an inlet at the lake where we paddled through rushes and lily pads. We looked for water birds, turtles and little fish as we paddled along. Our three grandsons are already energetic outdoorsmen and keep up quite well with their father. 

Other activities we enjoyed were the League of New Hampshire Craftsman Fair, a beach day on Plum Island, MA, dinner in Newburyport, MA, a home cooked lobster dinner eaten on the picnic table, an afternoon of candlepin bowling, reading books to the boys, and quiet evening chats with our daughter and son-in-law. I had hoped to get away from the Virginia heat but it was also hot in the north. We were able to sleep with the windows open at night and that was nice.

We spent a total of twenty-eight hours driving to and from New Hampshire. It is a long, painstaking drive in the moment but it is always worth it in the end. We try to have an audiobook, which helps with the long drive. This trip we listened to Peter and the Starcatchers on Audible and it was fantastic! The narrator was excellent and Steve enjoyed it as much as I. I don't often give five-star ratings but this was a full five star book for me.

It is always sad when we have to drive away from our family. Our final morning leaving the inn, we drove to the highway instead of to our daughter's house. I fought the lump in my throat, as I always do at times like this. I feel like I straddle two worlds, the north and the south. My heart longs for one but our life is rich and full in the other. There is no solution and I have come to accept that this is how it must remain. 

The dock at Follansbee Inn

 

Watching the family from my napping spot under the pines

Scotch eggs, roasted potatoes, pear tart, fresh fruit

 

Egg- brie- prosciutto and pear quesadilla, beignet, roasted potatoes, fresh fruit

Our three grandsons at the League of NH Craftsman Fair. 

The beach at Plum Island State Park

Steve at candlepin bowling