This year we’ve had a bumper crop of acorns in Minnesota.
The last year I remember so many acorns falling was when my mother and aunts were visiting about 5 years ago. We’d sit on the porch and it felt like it was raining acorns.
Minnesota Acorns
The walk to the mailbox down the long driveway is rather crunchy now. I’ve spent many hours sweeping up these acorns and one thing I can tell you ~ in bulk, acorns are quite heavy!
Minnesota Acorns
At first, I thought that perhaps we were the only ones in the neighborhood having the oak babies falling but then I saw a news feature and it’s happening across Minnesota.
According to the article, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says this is quite normal. It’s called masting and means that oak trees are having a bumper crop this year. One thought is that oak trees drop a bumper crop every now and again so that the squirrels (and any other critters who eat acorns) will not be able to eat them all so that baby oak trees can grow.
Perhaps this is God’s way of making sure trees continue to grow in spite of all the trees that are cut down.
About 3 years ago, I had quite a few saplings growing and had them all removed. We already have so many trees that we didn’t more.
Are there other areas that are having bumper acorn crops this year?
I was recently gifted the Instant Pot Duo ~ well, 3 months have past since I was gifted it but that’s another story.
The Instant Pot looks more complicated than my rice cooker but so far it appears to be easy to use.
I did have to deal with a psychological block: when we were at a friend’s for lunch a few years back, she had used a pressure cooker to make her lentil beans and while we were waiting for them to cook, the pressure cooker blew up in her kitchen and we spent lots of time cleaning lentils from the walls, cabinets, ceiling and floors.
So ~ with that small (uh, large) remembrance in mind, I stealthily tiptoed around the Instant Pot making sure I read all the directions.
There is one very small piece of instruction that I believe they left out ~ well, I can’t find it in my User Manual. When you start the Instant Pot (once everything is in the pot and the lid is securely closed), it has to warm up before it actually starts. The “Keep Warm” button was lit when I started my recipe and it didn’t turn off until the Instant Pot reached its desired temperature to begin.
Instant Pot Duo
That made me a little nervous because I assumed I had done something wrong but two recipes later and that seems to be a pattern ~ well, okay, two times is not much of a pattern but it’s what I’ve got right now.
The first recipe I made was one I found on the internet for a beef stew. In our household the reviews were mixed “it was okay” to “it was very good.” Of course, when I make a new recipe I usually introduce it to the family with “you will love this!” I find the brain has a funny way of enveloping what it’s told although quite honestly, my husband’s brain is a little harder to deal with (laughing).
I have to say that I deviated a little from the original beef stew recipe by Damn Delicious. I didn’t add Worcestershire sauce, caraway seeds nor celery. I tend to like my soups less complicated. I also replaced the all purpose flour with tapioca flour (a habit from my paleo days). In spite of that it came out great!
A month or so ago, my son was on the back porch looking through binoculars to see what he could see on our acre of land.
Unbeknown to me, a raccoon had set up house in a hole of a large tree.
Well, raccoons aren’t normally friendly creatures (or so I’ve heard). They also scavenge trash cans and find bird feeders that they can rummage through. Fortunately for us, our trash cans are inside the garage and the bird feeders are quite high ~ even our most ambitious squirrel has not been able to get to our bird feeders.
Every day we watched the racoon as he would scamper down and head to a watering hole on the other side of our back fence. He was quite consistent in his actions.
One day, we noticed that the racoon was not making as much movement as before. It seemed to have settled into the tree hole. Hmmm … I told my son that I thought this was a female racoon and so I named it Germaine.
Raccoon in Tree
Germaine eventually came down to go back to the watering hole in the back. A couple of times it lumbered towards our house and I yelled “Germaine ~ you can’t come this way” and she immediately scampered back to the tree. Of course, I don’t know how often she tried but the two times I saw her she appeared scared enough to return to her place.
One afternoon, my son said “Mom, you have to see this.”
Germaine had had 3 babies.
As the babies grew, we watched as they tried to scamper down the tree only to be pulled back into the hole by mama Germaine. She was quite adamant that these babies were not yet ready to head down the tree. They were persistent but she overcame their persistence.
A couple weeks went by and there were no raccoon sightings. Every morning, afternoon and evening we searched for the little raccoon family but they were not to be found.
A few weeks later, my son (who seems to be looking for wildlife all the time) called out again: Mom!
I hurried over and walking along the edge of our property was Germain with, not three, but five baby raccoons behind her. She lumbered along and passed the tree that she at one time had made her home ~ onward to the back of our property.
Since then, we haven’t seen her although there have been sightings on some of our neighbors properties.
Raccoon in Tree
This was the first time we had raccoons on our property. People I spoke with told me it was probably a female who would give birth then move on. They were right.
I was looking for a quick and easy pattern so I could make a baby quilt for my niece who is expecting her first child the end of July. So, I headed over to Craftsy.com and looked to see what kits they might have and found one called Like A Charm Bear Mountain Expand-A-Quilt Kit.
The quilt is made up of 5″ squares and then pieced together which means it was not very difficult and could be put together quickly since the material arrives in the correct size.
I mainly stitched in the ditch and decided to “tie” the quilt together but instead of the usual tying method which uses knitting thread, I used a stitch on my Janome sewing machine that made two hearts and sewed those randomly throughout the quilt.
Like A Charm Bear Mountain Baby Quilt
With this baby quilt I also decided to use flame retardant batting called Quilters Dream Angel that I purchased through Fabric.com.
Like A Charm Bear Mountain Baby Quilt
I really liked the ease of making this quilt and plan on making another baby quilt for a another niece who is having a baby in November.
Like A Charm Bear Mountain Baby Quilt
I’m on the hunt for a different pattern. This next baby is a girl.
In March 2000, friends were kind enough to take a trip with us to Japan.
This memory recently crossed my mind so I went back and looked at some of the pictures I had taken.
Has your path every crossed with someone who became a permanent part of your life? That’s what happened to me. She lived in Japan and had come to the U.S. as a student to study nursing. It just so happened that she came to our church one Sabbath and I met her and we’ve been friends since then.
I had always been interested in Asian art and, I know this sounds strange, to meet someone who was Asian in person made my curiosity of Asia even stronger. This was a way for me to really get to know more about the culture.
It’s not that I didn’t know Asian people but for the most part they were Americanized. This friendship would be special.
But I digress …
The airplane trip to Japan seemed long ~ a lot of sleeping and reading.
Once we arrived though everything went smoothly. One thing I remember distinctly is that the food all seemed to taste the same. My friend said that they add a seasoning to their food and a lot of times it’s the same seasoning. I had to laugh when one day we saw a McDonald’s and I was happy that we were able to taste something different.
While in Japan, one of my hopes was that we would see a geisha girl but Yoko (my friend) explained that they aren’t out often. One day while we were walking through a plaza there was a lot of excitement as a car with an open top was coming through and inside was a geisha. I couldn’t believe all the excitement as people (who I thought were reporters) tried to snap pictures as the car whizzed by. Unfortunately, the excitement came to a quick stop as the car sped by too quickly.
Later I ran into what I thought was a geisha and took a picture with her. Yoko explained that it wasn’t a “real” geisha as the woman I took a picture with smiled and trained geishas would never smile because it would mess up their make-up. Interesting, no?
Visiting Hiroshima was a somber experience. My mind could not grasp the thought of so many innocent people perishing for the government’s actions. Any killing to me seems senseless.
Hiroshima, 2000
The bullet trains were very fast and we took them from one city to another. My husband was able to decipher the maps even though they were written in Japanese. People were friendly when you stopped them to ask questions but most of them spoke only Japanese so most times they weren’t helpful.
There were lots and lots of bicycles ~ everywhere you looked there were bicycles.
Japan – Bicycles
One time Yoko took us up a really long hill to a grave site. I had never seen anything like it before. The graves were so packed together.
Japan Grave Sites
I believe one of the reasons I am attracted to Asian art is the simplicity. Clean lines ~ nothing overly bold. The Japanese gardens I have been to create such a peace in my heart. It’s as if distractions float away.
Japan – Garden, circa 2000
And the same can be true of the architecture of their temples and prayer houses.
Japan – Temple or Prayer HouseJapan – Temples or Prayer Houses
And now, the rest of the story (didn’t think I’d leave you hanging, did you?)
Yoko and I became pen pals. I introduced her to a friend of mine (also Japanese but born in Hawaii) and they got married and had a son who next year will graduate as a doctor.
It’s been many years since we traveled together to Japan and we are separated now by a couple of states, but our friendship remains.
Funny how people can come together from different parts of the world and have such an influence in your life.
When we’ve gone to visit her, she has a handmade quilt on her twin bed. It’s simple but effective in keeping her warm. However the thing I noticed first is that it has very bland colors. To have to look at bland day in and day out ~ well, what’s a quilter to do?
So I decided to make her a bright cheery quilt.
One of the fabrics for this quilt was purchased in a small store that we happened to enter into while we were traveling. I don’t remember the store just the “event” of walking in, seeing the fabric and thinking “This is beautiful. I must have some of this fabric.”
In my mind I decided that this was going to be a scrappy quilt with fabric that I already owned. That worked for the top but the back of the quilt was a different story. I didn’t have enough matching scrappy material to make it work.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. A scrappy quilt doesn’t need to match but in my structured head, I needed the backing to match part of the front so I did have to purchase the backing fabric.
Barbara’s Quilt
With this particular quilt I decided to send it “out” for quilting. This saddened me because the previous quilts I have made I have not had to send out. But at the time I still had my small Brother sewing machine and it was so difficult to get the material through the harp of the machine to sew it. And I did want it to be special.
So ~ no blood on this quilt. Haha Seriously, on some of the other quilts I’ve made it was tough getting it through the machine since I pinned it and sometimes I poked myself quite hard with those pins.
Here’s the quilt in full (minus the backing which, of all things, I forgot to take a picture of):
Barbara’s Quilt
The large turquoise colored fabric is what I had purchased while traveling.
Not too bad, eh?
Since my sister-in-law was visiting us, I sent the quilt with her to deliver to my mother-in-law since she lives in another state.
Her response when she opened it: Such bright colors!
Seems like every year I have to hire help to remove the Minnesota invasive plants off our acre of land – buckthorn and the garlic mustard plant.
At first it appeared that the garlic mustard was almost under control but unfortunately our neighbors don’t clear theirs so one side of our property is more heavily infested than the others. Unfortunately Roundup will be the only way to kill them. It’s a lot of back breaking work to get every single plant removed.
Fortunately the buckthorn is under control this year so that has left time to work on the landscaping closer to the house.
Although we’ve removed approximately 85 trees (both large and small) our property is still fairly shaded so getting plants that have color can be a challenge.
This year though I’m quite pleased with how things are turning out so far ~ mainly because the deer haven’t eaten anything yet. HAHAHAHA
The front yard caused minimal work with the exceptions of pulling a bunch of maple seedlings that had grown 2-3 inches and adding 15 bags of bark.
The large leafed aster really surprised me and had spread out so much that I had to cut it back. Fortunately this is one plant that the deer don’t find tasty.
Front Yard Landscaping
I could have planted more impatiens but last year the deer ate them all and I didn’t want to invest more money on feeding them.
Front Yard Side View Landscaping
The astilbe both in the front and the back yards are so beautiful. I had planted some along the driveway but those haven’t done as well – hmmm, perhaps because they don’t get sun?
White Astilbe
This magenta astilbe always makes me feel happy. Something about this shade of color gives me a sense of peace.
Magenta Astilbe
Last year I laid down a bunch of black weed control tarp that looked awful but we weren’t sure what we wanted to do so I left it that way all summer. This year I did some landscaping in the area and added bark. It came out looking pretty good and once the plants grow it should look great. Two new plants I added are peonies and yellow day lillies. This portion of the yard gets afternoon sun so we’ll see how they fare.
Small Backyard Landscaping
Most of the backyard is covered with hostas that I divide in autumn and replant elsewhere in the backyard. Unfortunately deer love to eat hostas so we spray Deer Repellant on them after every rainfall. One missed spray and the deer know they have found a new feeding ground.
Every year, a friend and I spend many hours weeding in the backyard and this year I became a little wiser. Rather than having to re-weed later in the summer I picked up a large container of weed deterrent called Preen. Once the weeds are pulled, Preen is spread over the area you don’t want weeds to grow in then it is watered in. So far, this has worked in preventing the weeds from returning. This does give me more bare spots but I’m hoping to add decorations in some spots along with replanting hostas in those areas.
Backyard Hostas
Lastly, the red bridge in the front of the house has brought me much comfort. I put it together from a kit and stained and painted it myself. Every 3 years or so I bring it in and re-sand and re-stain it. The paint has held up well over the last almost 8 years.
Astilbe and Red Bridge
It’s the end of June and I’m hoping that the deer continue to stay away from our yard. When we have visitors, they love to see them but when I see deer I think of how they’ll eat my plants and of how they bring ticks onto the property. These are animals who should be appreciated from afar.
Walking through the Oakdale Nature Reserve in Minnesota, one sees the beginning of spring. A sky blanketed in shades of blue gives respite to a soul that is longing for respite from a very long winter.
Spring in Minnesota
Yet, it’s May. And although spring will “catch up” to summer quickly, it will still be a short spring. Not that I have any say in the matter, but I prefer a long spring and a short summer. The Minnesota insects will be out in full force way too soon. Tick season has already started and the mosquitoes aren’t far behind.
Oakdale Nature Reserve
For now though, being present in this moment is important. Too many times we dash through the day without really enjoying “now.”
Oakdale Nature ReserveOakdale Nature Reserve
A week later, the world seems to have started to turn green.
Spring in Minnesota
For now, thoughts of insects and hot humid weather escape my mind as it savors this moment.
As we were looking forward to celebrating my husband’s 60th birthday and our 37th wedding anniversary, we decided to book a cruise on the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas.
Unfortunately, unlike other Royal Caribbean cruises that we have taken, this one was very disappointing.
The Royal Caribbean online process of printing forms before arrival made check-in quick. On previous cruises, we have always had someone show us to our room but perhaps that nicety is dated as no one showed us to our rooms.
A couple of weeks before our cruise, we had noted on their website that we had two events that we were celebrating. Those events were never acknowledged by RC except when we told the waiter later in the week and he was nice enough to gather people together and sing to my husband.
Well ~ here’s everything that went wrong …
We had no cold water coming out of our faucet. For three days the plumber worked in our room until we were told that it was not fixable and they gave us a $100 shipboard credit. This was quite odd as the restrooms throughout the ship all had cold water.
The shower water was lukewarm at best. The plumber was able to change the hardware to fix it.
The bed linen was ripped in quite a few places. After I told our cabin steward, she made sure they were changed immediately. But really, don’t first impressions matter?
The curtain liners were filthy. We didn’t mention this as we didn’t expect it would be fixed.
We had asked for My Time Dining which meant that we could call and reserve a time for dinner. The first day we went to do so we were told they couldn’t take any more reservations as they had too many people. The next day I went back early in the day to reserve a time for dinner and I was told that they didn’t have any place to put us and that we would have to stand in the “no reservations” line and hope that someone didn’t show.  This was very odd as on Day 5 we were seated at a table and the waiter told us that the table had been empty the whole time of our cruise.
A friend had sent us a cake for my husband’s birthday/our anniversary that was to be delivered our first day at dinner. When it hadn’t arrived after the second day our son went and spoke to the front desk and was assured that it would arrive that evening. It didn’t happen. The following day a group of staffers came to our table singing happy birthday at dinner ~ unfortunately they sang to me with the name of my friend instead of to my husband. The cake that was delivered was ~ well, quite unprofessional, wouldn’t you say? It looked nothing like the picture that our friend was shown online.
Royal Caribbean Birthday Cake
We only went on three excursions and the beach excursion was pitiful. We were alloted a certain area to sit and since we hadn’t rushed out of the bus to get a seat, we were in the back row and all we could see were umbrellas in front of us. But we could not move from that area. However, the Barbados Harrison Caves Tour was pretty good and it went quite far under ground.
Most of the food was good although there were few options from day to day and sometimes you didn’t get a very satisfying portion such as this ravioli entree with 5 small pieces.
Royal Caribbean Ravioli
The scenery on this cruise though was amazing.
St Kitts
I especially like trees so had to take a picture of this one.
St Kitts
Antigua was also pretty. We had nice weather while we were there.
AntiguaAntigua
One day while we were sitting in our room, there was a knock at the door. When we opened the door we were handed a plate with a cover on it. After removing the cover we were surprised to have had chocolate covered strawberries delivered. But … like, why? No reason was given. Perhaps this was their way of saying “sorry that we can’t find seating for you when you want it?”
Chocolate Strawberries
We did enjoy the weather on this cruise and of course, being with my husband and “boys” always makes me happy.
