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