The Apron Discussion

My teapot post prompted another discussion about aprons. Both AngelLaura and Cyclin' Granny have posted about theirs. AngelLaura has made quite a few really nice simple ones. If it didn't mean dragging the sewing machine down off that high shelf in the basement and trying to remember how to use it, then re-remembering all my curse words that go with sewing, I'd make one.

However, Cyclin' Granny has kindly volunteered to make me one as long as I promise to wear it. I've committed, so I guess now she's on the hook. Speaking of on the hook, I do have some apron's to add to the discussion.


The one on the right hook is a little June Cleaver number, that belonged to my mother-in -law. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing she made it. The one on the left was made by my friend and Muggins' Dog-mother (sort of like a god-mother for dogs ... if I peg out the Dog-mother gets to raise Muggins). It's a Red Hat theme.







This one is the kind I remember from when we were kids. The tea towel wrapped around the neck and secured with either a knot or a diaper pin.












Thus endeth my apron collection - until Cyclin' Granny warms up the sewing machine.
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Words on the cartoon on the Red Hat Apron

"What the hell are we supposed to be doing with all this stuff?"
"I don't know dear, I haven't a clue."
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What A Blast

Yesterday, we went to Cyclin' Granny & the Mister's cottage for supper. We had an awesome time. The Hostess' meal was fantastic and she was able to do it after a day of painting walls, and when there's no running water in the cottage - and that makes it tough.

Here's the glowing hostess .... it's interesting how both she and The Grandaughter have bright red cheeks. I'm not sure if it's the wine or the cold weather, but they both have the same "glow".


The Hostess wore a lovely pink apron reminiscent of June Cleaver as she effortlessly went about her duties. Notice the posh pose, left hand dangled elegantly?




This is the Daughter-in-Law, observing the Hostess' ease in the kitchen with rapt attention and making mental notes for future dinner paries of her own.









Here is the Host, master painter, renovator and fire tender, looking relaxed after a hard day's work. Across from him was the Guest, and the Guest Dog enjoying the lighthearted storytelling and banter.














The table was set beautifully. Notice the foster-teapot (the teal one from my post a week or so ago) sporting her new, lovingly knitted tea cozy, as was promised. Special kudos for the charger plates. The Hostess didn't even know what a charger plate was a couple of months ago, now she uses them with creative flair.

This the view to the front of the cottage with snow pile to the decks railing. The piles at the sides of the driveway were enormous. During supper we say a couple of deer strolling lazily past down by the trees at shore of the lake.

Unfortunately my camera batteries wore down before I got pictures of The Son, or The Granddaughter.

What a great time we had, the food was great, the company was equally great. Also, we got our copy of The Son's book back How Words Can Speak personally autographed.

I don't know how these pictures will show on here, it'd be nice if they show up looking neat and organized, but I find whenever I post pictures they end up "higgledy-piggledy" with the text. (Ha couldn't resist that expression)

Last night we watched the lunar eclipse and I took pictures. It was a perfect night for viewing an eclipse. Perfectly clear ... the -26ºC was just a little bonus.

What doesn't show up in my pictures is how cool the experience is.

It was a full moon night, clear and bright. As we went outside before it began, the forest was brightly lit and the sky had only a few really bright stars. As the eclipse progressed, it got darker and darker. When the shadow of the earth fully covered the moon, it was really dark. The sky was covered in stars (as it usually is here in our area of Central Ontario. Gradually as the eclipse subsided it got brighter outside again until you could see through the trees perfectly well.

What an exciting event to witness. Although a couple of the pictures look black, when you expand them (click on them) you'll see the moon is still there.


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Teapots

I was thinking the other day as I made my tea, about the teapot Cheryl gave me. It's mosts definitely my favourite teapot. It NEVER drips from the spout. Ever. It's small, 3/4 of a pint it says on the bottom, only barely makes tea for two. It's blue and the rest of my kitchen is forest green, so it doesn't really go with the decor. But it makes a good cuppa. It stays really hot, even with no cozy, although I'm going to knit one for it anyway.

I realized that I have a thing for teapots. I'd never noticed before. To me, they look friendly, comforting, or I suppose they represent it to me. They're all like Mrs Potts in Beauty & The Beast. Welcoming. Perhaps that's why I have so many.

It's a guest
It's a guest
Sakes alive, well I'll be blessed
Wine's been poured and thank the Lord
I've had the napkins freshly pressed
With dessert
She'll want tea
And my dear that's fine with me
While the cups do their soft shoeing
I'll be bubbling, I'll be brewing
I'll get warm
Piping hot
Heaven's sakes! Is that a spot?
Clean it up! We want the company impressed
We've got a lot to do
Is it one lump or two
For you, our guest?
She's our guest
She's our guest
She's our guest

This teapot was Grandma's.

I was given it when she died along with the great big teacozy. This is a great "company teapot", it makes 10 cups - a three bagger! The big tea cozy that goes with it keeps the tea hot for hours, so it's a good on for long tea conversations ... just keep on pourin'. It's heavy when it's full and as I pick it up I can picture Grandma's hand and wrist as she aged, it looked like wrist would snap with the weight.

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This one I don't like, but I keep it anyway. It's a cheap one that I got when we needed one for the house when it was under construction. The lid doesn't fit properly, the handle is awkward, the tea it makes isn't that good. It's pretty, but just takes up space. I can't just toss it out though. I don't know why.

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This is my "Good" teapot, for when I'm doing it up big. It goes with my good china. This one, along with the matching teacups (I'll do another post on the teacup collection) looks very elegant in a one-lump-or-two- sort of way.

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This is a lovely little individual cuppa set. The teapot sits on top of the mug nicely. Old Country Roses again ... I love that pattern. The pot makes enough for almost two cups. You can carry the whole kit and caboodle into the other room with one hand.

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This is the usual kitchen teapot. The colours go will with the forest green of the kitchen. It makes a lovely cup of tea, and will do tea for three quite nicely. The handle is comfortable and the lid fits well. It's a really good Sadler teapot, that I got on eBay for a song.

If I'm making more than just for me, this is the one I use.

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This is a tealight holder. It's cute as all get out and looks so pretty when it's lit. As soon as I saw this I knew I had to have it, although the last things I needed were another candle holder, or teapot.

So, that's my teapot "thing" that I have just discovered about myself.

I'm Such a Rotten Sister

A couple of days ago, Cyclin' Granny posted on her blog about a day counter 1600Days or Less . I asked her about the counter and where to find it. Now I was pretty sure I knew right from the get-go.

Her first answer was a link to her google home page, so from there I figured out what it was and in all honesty, I went and found it quite easily, but it occurred to me that CG has a fun way of describing things that resembles Gryper and it might be fun to get her to describe it to me. They both use the word "thing" in place of every noun as they describe items or events. (To quote Gryper about how he did a successful google search "I put the line in the thing and it came out". Every time she sent me an aswer, I would send back some stupid question designed to frustrate her further.

When she said "Ok, lets see if I can walk you through this....and I thought I was a computer dinko...", I though I would injure myself. I was laughing to the point of tears throughout the day, while doing completely unrelated things, at the mere thought of it. She instructed me to go to the google home page and it's "in the lower right of the pretty coloured part ". This is exactly the kind of responses I was seeking. I could tell she was starting to get frustrated with me. As I sit here typing, I'm in tears laughing for the umteenth time.

The grand finale was this:

"You're dumber than I look....wait a minute that's not the correct wording....lol
You know exactly what it is, after all Ken is a computer junkie, I'm a computer dinkie and you're a computer dumb ass. Figure it out....It's exactly where I told you and you can't miss it. Susan even explained it to you. Do I have draw you a picture...oh please so no, I can't draw and that wouldn't help you out either. You're just yanking my chain now. It's time to be serious. What does Ken say about it?"

Followed by this: "I DON"T KNOW anymore....leave me alone.....I'm confused. I'm lost."

I 'fessed up. Yup, I had to stop before I ended up on the TV show "House" with some weird laughing illness that was actually killing me.

So I've signed on to "msn" to await my verbal sh*t-kicking, which I know is imminent.

I'm going to miss the tears.


EPILOGUE

I found out after having posted this that she and Susan were dragging it out and toying with me. I've been double crossed. They're such rotten sisters.

What Am I, NUTS???

Grandpa headed out for his usual Tuesday evening practice with the local men's chorus. They're preparing for their concert this Sunday.

I'm sitting here looking at the computer shoving a really awesome salad into my "pie hole", as Cyclin' Granny calls it, saying to myself, "Okay, after I check my e-mail and make a couple of moves on my facebook Scrabulous games, I'll practice, oops, I mean rehearse, I'm supposed to say rehearse (it's less dreary sounding), my violin pieces for the Music Festival.".

I'm not stressing about it, I've got lots of time, it's not till April and that's still a couple of months away. Hmmm, let me count the weeks. There's still over eight weeks. ONLY EIGHT WEEKS?!?!

Our concert band will be playing two pieces, but the flute parts I have under control, no problem, not easy, but I'm pretty close to knowing them (well except one little timing issue). Besides, I'll be one of four or maybe five "flautists" so if I mess up, miss notes or collapse of stage fright, it'll hardly be noticeable.

It occurs to me that I don't have that same cushion with my violin pieces, solo pieces. Standing there in front of a judge, a really smart, musical, scholar judge and an audience. I know my legs will shake from hip to ankle all the way down the outsides, my bow arm will tremble and my tummy will do that weird little flip-flop thing.

I guess I better put the wine bottle back in the fridge, finish my salad and warm up the metronome. What I had in my mind as "over two months" turns out to be "less than eight weeks". Oops, there's that funny feeling in my tummy again. If good ol' Handel heard what I do to his Bourrée right now he'd shriek and cover his ears right in the grave. My Ste Anne's Reel fiddle piece is not too-too far from being do-able. Deep breaths ... ohm .. relax ... ohm.

Wish me luck ... no wait wish me a good practice, oops, I mean rehearsal. Deep breaths ... ohm .. relax ... ohm.

Physics Demo in the Kitchen

Many years ago, somewhere in the neighbourhood of thirty, I believe, I bought a really good set of cookware. The set was around $600 and guaranteed for 25 years. They were the kind that you use only a little water and get a really good seal with the lids. It was a tough sales pitch as I recall, (stainles steel, nickel, blah blah) but over the years, well worth it.

When using pots and pans often they get bumped and banged and over the years and show their age with little dents and dings.

Well my good ol' Amway Queen cookware, after lots of bumps, bangs, and several moves, have stood the test of time. This morning we were amazed at the quality of the lid and the great demonstration of some law of physics - perhaps someone knows what one.

Ken was poaching eggs for breakfast. He brought the water to a boil, took the lid off the frying pan/egg poacher and set it on the stove surface. The lid had moisture in it from the steam and as it cooled, the lid stuck to the surface of the stove. It was so tight we couldn't move it. We tried to turn it to break the seal, no luck. We tried to find some tiny spot where we could put the point of a knife in and give it a twist to break the seal, again no luck. So our next thought was to turn the
elements on to heat the air underneath enough that it would let go. I was concerned about damaging the lid, but we had no alternative.

It worked and the lid is still in perfect shape. It seals the pan beautifully.

So, now I'm wondering what physics law is it that covers this sort of event. How about "The suction of shrinking air under a lid is directly proportional to the amount of surprise experienced by onlookers, and indirectly proportional to the amount of sleep onlookers have had the night before, resulting in complete and utter puzzlement." Hmmm, perhaps that's not so much a law of physics as a law of psychiatrics?!