Last week was a quiet yet busy week for me. I was off work all week. We decided not to go on a trip and just hang out at the house. I loved every minute of it. I think it was a great preview for retirement.
We are so enjoying our new girl, Bunnie, if you missed my post about our newest family member you can check it out here. The kitties are adjusting. So far Gus has been the least friendly and he has been so territorial. We are trying to introduce Bunnie to them slowly. it is taking some time.
I finally finished the afghan I was working on for my niece. I couldn’t show it before I finished because it was a surprise for her for her Birthday which was last week.
Not the best picture but you can get an idea of what it looks like. She loved it.
My hubby and I decided to take a little road trip last Thursday. We went into the mountains to look at a local waterfall, Bald River Falls. The road leading to the falls has been closed for over a year so that a viewing bridge could be built. The road opened back up last month and the new bridge was opened. We went to check it out. It was just beautiful. Because of all the rain we have had, the waterfall was flowing fast and hard.
We decided to get a Frappuccino to start the trip into the mountains. It wasdelicious.
We stopped and had lunch in Tellico Plains at Ironworks Grill, and then stopped at the local Mennonite Market.
Beautiful vegetables. We will go back on Saturday and stock up for the week.
This was our haul from the Market. Mark wanted some local honey. I love the oatmeal raisin cookies.
I had to take my sister in law and her daughter and granddaughter to the airport on Friday and then we helped another niece move into a new apartment on Saturday. So a busy and fun filled week. It’s back to work for me today and the usual summer crowds.
I leave you with a picture of Bunnie enjoying a walk with us and a picture of Gus who has claimed Bunnie’s new bed.
Sweet Bunnie
This is the bed I bought for Bunnie but both Gus and Kitty Kitty have claimed it.
Hi friends. I hope you are having a great start to this new week and fairly new month. A lot has been going on around here. Grab a coffee or a glass of wine and I will introduce you to the newest member of our family.
The biggest piece of news that I have to share with you is about our new baby, Bunnie. No, she’s not a rabbit she is a dog. She appears to be a Golden Retriever or something along those lines. We first noticed her in the yard a couple of weeks ago. We actually saw her coming around at night on the security camera.
During the day we would catch a glimpse of her now and then but she would not come near us. She tried to follow my car a few times when I left for work. It was almost like she was looking to see who was in the car. This makes me think she may have been dumped out by someone. Because we live in such a rural wooded area people do that all the time. It makes me sick to think people do that but they do. We have gotten most of our babies this way.
She’s always smiling!!!
After a week or so she finally came to the edge of the yard. We put a bowl of food out for her and she ran over and ate it ravenously. The next day we did that a few times and she came closer and closer. Finally after standing, for what felt like an hour, but was more like ten minutes, with my back to her in a half squatted position and my hand extended behind me, I made contact. She crawled on her tummy over to me. I finally started petting her. I could see her hair was matted and she had so many ticks on her. I could see she was a female.
She was afraid of Mark for a little while. She jumps at every little noise. We made her a bed under the deck. I bought her a nice large dog bed and she refused to sleep on it. She felt more comfortable on the stones under the deck.
She is just the sweetest goofball and she looks like she is grinning constantly. Once we were able to brush her and get some of those nasty ticks, about forty so far, off her she felt a lot better. I bought her a flea and tick collar and we haven’t seen a single tick on her since. We did notice that her left eye had a white place on it. We thought it was a cataract.
I called the vet to get an appointment to bring her in for a checkup. They didn’t have an opening for almost two weeks. However, when I mentioned the eye they wanted us to bring her in immediately to get that checked out. They said if it were an ulcer the quicker they could treat it the better they would have of saving it.
She loves being where we are. She listens to us and peers through the window.We can’t wait to bring her inside with us.
Because she had gotten so familiar with us, although she is still shy around us, I thought she would be fine with the vet. The day we took her to the ver, she jumped right into the back of my car. Mark got in the back with her. But once we got to the vet clinic she freaked out. She went berserk and it was all Mark and I could do to hold onto the leash. The vet tech had to bring out an extra leash to put around her. Getting her inside the building was not an option. The vet had us come to the back of the building away from cars and noises and she came out to look at her eye. They also handed me the wand to scan her to see if she had been chipped. She had.
The vet said the place on her eyeball was a scar that had resulted from some type of injury a while back. She would never get her eyesight back but at least she still had one good eye. Through the identification number from the chip we discovered the owners name and phone number and email address. The Vet Clinic tried to locate the owner. But after many attempts to locate her they, nor we, had any luck. Let me just say, this girl has been through a lot.
So we are planning to keep her unless an owner turns up that truly wants her back. We did discover through this information bank that she had been adopted through our local animal shelter two years ago. She was estimated to be about six years old at that time. That would make her eight years old now and I’m just not sure about that. She acts like a big puppy. That means we are unsure of her exact age.
Our sweet Bunnie girl.
We will slowly start introducing her to the inside cats. So far she has been great with the outside cats. I have done a lot of reading about Golden Retrievers. They want to be near their family. They are great with cats. We are hoping that very soon she will be an inside girl with Gus and Kitty Kitty. That is our goal.
Why did I name her Bunnie? I’m not sure. We didn’t even know if she was a male or female for a long time. When I went outside to call for her I just called out Bunnie, and she came. It stuck and that is her name. We love her so much!!
Last year I tasted lavender and lemon ice cream from a local ice cream shop. The shop is in downtown Sweetwater and happens to be owned by a very dear friend of mine, Emily. It was the first time, I could ever remember, having lavender and lemon ice cream. It was so refreshing so delicate so creamy and so yummy. I have traveled back to the creamery a few times to get a half pint or two of this deliciousness. But I thought to myself, what if I could make it?
For my Birthday in April I told my husband I would love to have an ice cream maker. I bought one for my nephew for Christmas but I’m not sure he has ever used it. Another nephew told me he absolutely loved his and used it all the time. I had to have one. I love ice cream.
Well I got the ice cream maker for my birthday back in April and I have made a couple of different flavors of ice cream. I was finally ready to try making the lavender and lemon ice cream. I searched for a few recipes and found several and decided to combine a few that I liked. Here is what I got.
This is the ice cream maker that I got from Amazon. I love it!!!
I searched for lavender flavoring and finally just settled for a lavender syrup that you can use for many things, such as tea, ice cream and lots of things. You can buy it just about anywhere. I did receive a tip from my friend from the creamery she said you have to use a lot of this flavoring to get a lavender flavor. That is okay with me, until I find the perfect lavender flavoring.
So here is the recipe I used:
1&1/2 cups of whole milk divided
1 cup of sugar
5 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1&1/2 cups of heavy cream
Juice of 2 lemons, (I may only use 1&1/2 lemons next time)
1/4 cup of lavender flavoring
Heat one cup of milk, salt and sugar in a saucepan to steaming, stirring to dissolve the sugar. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks. Pour 1/4 of the milk mixture into the egg yolks whisking constantly until they are smooth. Pour the tempered egg yolks into the saucepan over medium/high heat until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup of milk, heavy cream, lavender syrup and lemon juice. Refrigerate until fully chilled.
When the mixture is fully chilled pour it into your ice cream maker according to the instructions. it’s usually about 20-25 minutes of churn time. It will be sort of like soft serve ice cream after this time. I could still eat an entire container of it.
After churning let your ice cream freeze for up to 6 hours and then enjoy. I have found it best to let your container of ice cream set out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving. It’s delicious!!!!
Not everyone will appreciate the flavor of lavender and lemon. My husband is not a big fan but that just means more for me. I love it!! It’s a perfect spring or summer treat.
I use quart containers for my ice cream. I got these from Amazon.
I will let you in on a secret I did add a little purple food coloring to give it a pretty color.
Last Saturday my niece and I took a coiled basket weaving class in nearby Etowah Tennessee. We signed up for it several weeks ago.
We took off early Saturday morning and decided to stop at a quilt shop on the way to the class. I had been to the shop several years ago and was happy to see that it was still there and owned by the same sweet family. Not only does this shop sell quilting supplies but also beautiful hand made quilts and other quilted items. They also do quilting classes.
I even bought a set of quilted placemats.
We continued on to the basket class. It was being held in the old Etowah Depot.
The basket class was a lot of fun. It lasted for about four hours. This is a beautiful old building and there is so much history within the walls. The woman who taught the class, Tonya, was just a true gem. She is so talented and teaches lots of classes locally and even travels to other states. She teaches a beaded bracelet class that I am interested in. There was a lunch break but we kept working through because we wanted to finish our baskets. The baskets we made were small. It was just to give us a lesson in making coiled baskets. I am going to put rings or earrings in mine. I have already bought the supplies for making another larger basket.
The instructor went from table to table helping us with our baskets. She was so awesome.
Most of the group after working on their baskets and some showing their finished baskets.
Some of the supplies for the class.
My basket. I can’t wait to try a bigger one.
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Happy Memorial Day!!!
I am joining Natalie The Explorer over at Weekend Coffee Share and wow you should see the beautiful flowers she has to show us. You can check out her post here
Southern Patches 