Fall family photos

I've photographed this family before. And, the little girl is delightful! We went to the Old North Bridge in Concord and it was the perfect place. I really like that old boathouse; I'll be photographing there again.

Buttermilk pancakes

I've never made them before until tonight (late night breakfast for dinner). Wow -- they are easy and delicious! I think this recipe is either from my friend Kate Windsor or my friend Mariann Hilton.

Buttermilk Pancakes
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbl. sugar
Mix these dry ingredients together with a whisk.

Then mix 1-1 1/2 cups buttermilk, 1 egg, and 3 Tbl. oil together and add to dry ingredients.

And now make some pancakes!!

Stake Conference at Trinity Church

Tonight was the Cambridge Massachusetts Stake Conference adult session which was held at Trinity Church. Our Stake Center is under construction and none of the buildings are big enough for Stake meetings. I'm not sure how it happened that we got to use Trinity Church but it was really cool to hear an apostle speak (M. Russell Ballard) and the choir sing in such a beautiful historic building. Pardon the crappy photo and I probably shouldn't have taken a picture inside the church anyway (sorry Trinity!). Stake Conference on Sunday will be held at the beautiful historic Copley Marriott.

You asked for the recipe

Grandmother Pitchforth's Sugar Cookies

½ cup butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 T milk

2½ cups sifted flour

2 t baking powder

1 t vanilla (I use ½ t. vanilla and ½ t. almond)

Cream butter, add sugar and beat until light.  Add beaten eggs, milk and flavoring.  Sift flour with baking powder together and add.  Chill dough then roll and cut into shapes as desired.  Sprinkle with colored sugar before baking.  Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Halloween baking

I filled two tins with these sugar cookies tonight. One tin is going to some friends and the other tin will be sitting on my desk at work.

Watch out

Last night my watch got caught on my shirt and the band broke and then soon after the battery died (crazy coincidence?!). I love wearing a watch; in fact, today I looked at my wrist to see what time it was about a dozen times. I decided that it was probably easier to buy a new watch than try to get to a repair shop (full-time jobs can get in the way). After work I went to a few stores at the mall and didn't find the watch I wanted. I remembered that this morning I had seen an on-line ad for Timex watches at Kohls so I went there next hoping they had what I wanted. They didn't. But they sold batteries and watchbands. So I dropped $14.81 and my watch is like brand new.

Customer Service

Saturday I decided to stop at Wilson Farms to get 5 pumpkins to put in my window. The place was bustling with people shopping and going on the haunted hay ride. I quickly found 5 small pumpkins (a bit smaller than these in the photo) and paid for them. The sales lady put the pumpkins in a box. When I picked the box up the bottom collapsed and all 5 pumpkins fell to the ground. The sales lady felt terrible and was very apologetic and I told her the pumpkins were fine (they were only going in my window and would not end up as pumpkin pie). She said, "Please go pick out 5 new pumpkins, and it doesn't matter what size they are."

That my friends is Customer Service.

Today was a beautiful Fall Sunday

Who says baby boy clothes aren't that cute?!

There was a baby shower at my condo today. I thought my toddler sized Red Sox hat was going to be the cutest gift but seriously, this vest is adorable. I can't wait to see my friend's little baby boy wearing it this winter.

POTUS and his motorcade

POTUS pulled the ole bait-and-switch today and didn't drive in the way I heard he was going to. I noticed traffic was stopped on the Mass. Ave. bridge and figured he'd be traveling down Memorial Drive toward the Kresge Auditorium where he was speaking. I hurried down that way and was able to see the motorcade! I was too busy taking photos to wave to him but I heard he was waving to the crowd. And, seeing those guys in the back of the open SUVs sure caught my attention. I'm sure they were armed and ready to take a bullet for the President. I thought of "Dave" numerous times today!

P.S. Who knows what POTUS is?!?

Where will President Obama be tomorrow?

I didn't get a ticket to his speech, but I hope to get a photo of his motorcade.  

Fall favorite #5

Whip It

Friday night I went to see Whip It. I really liked it. Can you imagine the outfit I could make if I carved up my old Girl Scout uniform?

I have a roller derby story (of course -- I'm like a non-stop talking 80 year old woman with all my stories). When I was about 10-11 I watched roller derby (the L.A. Thunderbirds) with my brother John. It was on TV Sunday nights and we were hooked! I wrote the team members names on 3x5 cards and kept them in a little file box. I know. Weird. My mom took John and I to see the T-Birds (are they games or matches or what?!). There we were at the run down Olympic Auditorium (it was built for the 1932 Olympics) in one of the worst parts of Los Angeles; Nan and her two roller-derby-loving redheaded kids. I'm sure we were a sight.

The Baby Ward

We have a lot of babies in our ward. It's not unusual for 10-12 women to be pregnant. Tonight I went to meet Phoebe; the third baby girl to be born in three weeks (and now three boys are due before the end of the year). She's in the NICU; she weighed in at 4 pounds 4 ounces but she's got chubby cheeks and is doing well. I love her name.

Liar Liar

I told a friend that moved here recently that it doesn't really snow until January. Um...I took this picture today (at a cool farm in Weston). Forget the white Christmas; it's probably going to be a white Halloween!

Who is your architect?

Downtown Boston

I had to go to work today for a few hours and after that I took pictures of the Stake Center (see below) and then went into downtown Boston to take a few photos. I took a Street Photography class from the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. It was a terrific class. Here are a few street photography-ish photos from today. They are taken near/in the Boston Public Garden. I love the one of the woman on the bench. It looks like she was working on a crossword puzzle in the newspaper and I bet it's a daily occurrence. And, I love seeing the Make Way For Duckling statues. I heart living in Boston!

Cambridge Stake Center progress

Old friends

My friends the Daniels called this week and said they'd be in Boston and wanted to visit. They dropped by tonight and it was really great to see them. Bob and Gloria moved into my ward for one year back in 1994. One of their daughters was married and one was on a mission and the other two, one 18 years old and one 15 years old--very begrudgingly--moved to Boston with them. I dropped by the night I thought they were arriving and they were in their house with no belongings after a long road trip from Bountiful (Utah). The womenfolk hated being in Boston and they hated Bob (for dragging them there). They had no bedding, no phone, no food, etc. I brought the girls over to my apartment and let them call their friends from my phones while I gathered bedding and some treats. They say I was an angel for showing up (on the darkest of days). I was so happy to have new friends (and a new Mia Maid--I was the YW president at the time). As awful as that year was and after all the places Bob dragged them to (they saw a lot in one year) they talk of that year in Boston with much fondness and they have been back to visit and they love New England! It was really fun to reminisce tonight about the year they lived here. Bob and Gloria are on their way to Maine for a few days (they've got good taste in states!) and I'm sure they will be back to visit again (and again, and again).

P.S. When they lived here we realized Bob and I had a common relative on the Goldsbrough side so since then I've called him "Goldsbrough".

Who said let it snow?

I'm not talking about this.  Or that I couldn't find my scraper this morning and used a video case that was in my trunk to scrape off my back window.  That's a great way to start what should be a lovely Fall day.  

Not.  Really.

I made granola! What will I do next?!

I made granola tonight for the first time. I like it! I really like it! I used parts of these two recipes:

Saralynn's Granola
8+ cups rolled oats
2 Tbsp cinnamon
1 cup wheat germ or crushed bran or corn flakes
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans or other nuts, optional
1 cup sesame seeds or sunflower seeds
1 cup honey
1 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups dried fruit (raisins, craisins, pineapple, dates)

In a very large bowl combine oats, cinnamon, flakes, coconut, nuts and
seeds. In small saucepan heat oil and honey until very runny. Take
off heat and add vanilla. Pour over dry ingredients. Stir until well
coated. Spread on greased cookie sheets with rims. Bake at 350 F for
about 30 minutes or until honey and oil are absorbed and granola is
toasty brown. Stir once or twice while baking. Cool in pans and stir
once or twice while cooling. When cool, stir in dried fruit in a
large bowl. Store in airtight container.


Judianne's Granola
12 cups old fashioned oats
4 1/2 cups nuts (pecans, almonds)
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup honey
3 t. vanilla

Combine dry ingredients. Heat oil, honey and vanilla but do not boil. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and toss together. Bake a quarter of it at a time on a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

R.S. night at the Temple

A few weeks ago Cami J. taught a terrific lesson about the blessings of attending the Temple. There were lots of comments (we always have good comments in our R.S. lessons) and there was interest among the women to attend the Temple more often. I commented part way through the lesson that I would organize a time when we could go to the Temple together. Tonight was the night (the first of many times, I hope). There were 8 of us there and it was very nice.

Uh oh...

I took this photo this morning.  I do have plastic on the window but that's ICE.  

Not.  Ready.  For.  Winter.

Apples and granola

We have lots of R.S. small groups in our ward (I mean "Relief Society meetings"): book group, recipe swap, play group, sewing club, and there is talk of starting a photography class. Tonight was the apple recipe swap. Women brought something to share made from apples and copies of the recipe. I didn't take anything made of apples but did take some recipes I compiled for an enrichment night back in 1997 (that counts--especially because this recipe was included). After the eating of all things apple, the hostess showed us how to make granola. It's easy and quick. I'm definitely going to make myself a batch.

One weekend in Maine...

My friends and I had a great long weekend in Boothbay Harbor, Maine--one of my favorite places in the whole wild world. We enjoyed a late night stop at L.L. Bean (I love my new green fleece jacket), lots of good food (we each tried a new recipe), a game of Phase Ten (I won), movies (no trip is complete without Pride & Prejudice), sightseeing, shopping (my friends bought me a red "Got Lobster?" t-shirt), a yummy lobster roll, antiquing (I found 4 Pyrex tea cups and some cool books for a dollar each), and lots of relaxing. There's no place like Condo but the red cottage in Maine is a close second.

Relaxing in Maine