Along Some Rivers in Life

Ahoy Mates!

Time spent with my dear older sister, Margaret, who flew north from Burbank, CA to my home near Portland, OR, and with my local dear youngest son, Tim, and with other dear family members and friends highlighted the month of July for me.  I helped put four puzzles together in a week...a record for me and fun for us all.

On the bank of the Clackamas River, I celebrated Independence Day in the USA, having a BBQ with a family member and friends...see the smoke drift over the river?

Margaret and I explored a part of the great Columbia River by floating in sternwheeler for several hours.

It was a just-right sunny day to enjoy the lovely scenery as we listened to the captain's stories about the area.

Several days later we also got to see a bit of the Salmon River at Wildwood Recreation area near the base of Mt. Hood.  It was interesting to see into the river through the fish window.

One of the stars of the July flower blooms around me is Hydrangeas. The deep purple-blue blooms of this bush near my home is my favorite.

Margaret and I enjoyed starting to knit preemie blankets.  Margaret made much faster progress on hers than I did on mine.

Both of us used acrylic yarn.  It was very pleasant to knit out on the patio.

After Margaret flew home I invited three friends over to work on our scrapbooks.  I especially enjoyed working on some pages that featured my husband, Louis, who passed away ten years ago.

He enjoyed working as an engineer at Train Town in Sonoma, CA, while we helped to run an eldercare facility.  The photos were from a day we took some of the residents to ride on the train.

Have you explored rivers, enjoyed crafting and enjoyed time with family and friends in July?

Gracie xx

Crafting Time Around Mt. Hood

When I attended Central Missouri State University and graduated from San Jose State University I am convinced now that I should have worked on a Dabbling in the Arts Degree instead of a B.A. in Speech-Communications :) I want to paint with water colors, knit, crochet, quilt, write, photograph, and now I want to work more with polymer clay mixed media projects thanks to a craft night I attended at our church.  Shirley Rufener, who has a regular craft segment on the KATU morning show in Portland, demonstrated how to make a polymer coated pen, using colored chalk to enhance textured designs we made in the polymer clay after wrapping the clay around a pen.  Although I was not familiar with Shirley's work I was very excited to discover she has a book she has written with directions to make many beautiful polymer clay mixed media projects....now all I have to do is craft my time to enable me to do more crafting!

I have six rows of Continental knitting I have done on the blue, Merino wool blanket I am knitting!  The blue dishcloth is another story.  I used the Continental method of knitting for about  three rows, but somehow lost the garter stitch for one row.  So I ripped out the three rows and tried again...with the same result :(  When I showed my friend Idella what I was working on she picked out three or four rows for me and thinks that when I used the Continental method on the dishcloth I somehow twisted my stitches so in effect I did a row of purl stitches.  [If at first you don't succeed try try again...]

For several Saturdays over the last two months I have worked on a scrapbook album for my youngest granddaughter, Rose.  So far I have made a special scrapbook for five of  my grandchildren for their first birthdays.  I incorporated pictures of them in their first year along with some sort of story that highlighted the alphabet and numbers. Before Christmas I purchased some Faber Castell watercolor pencils and have used them on the first page of Rose's album...I had visions of using them to add an impressionistic touch to the work, but so far I have just managed to create some smudginess around "ROSE" :) More learning necessary for G'ma!

While I am not wild about the planning and the process necessary to swim on a regular basis, Teresa, definitely helps keep me motivated.  Both of us love the feel of being in the water and gently swimming laps for an hour and chatting while doing so :)  It is especially cheering when the sunlight glistens through the water.

When I visited Meredith's last post, I was so pleased to see that Fluffy Baa-Baa now has a little buddy to play with from time to time!  My Grand Girls enjoyed seeing FBB being kissed and pulled around in a wagon.  Thank you for the pictures and story, Meredith :)

As I am out and about I am always looking for some views of Mt. Hood to share with you. Even after seven years of living here, I am excited when I spot Mt. Hood, and I want to share its beauty with anyone who will let me share it with them :)

A friend made a gluten and dairy free peanut butter cookie recipe for me a year ago, and ever since I have been fiddling with the recipe to create variations on it. I can get fresh ground peanut or almond butter at our local market so I have been experimenting with using almond butter.

Chocolate Almond Butter Spice Cookies  350 degrees for 9minutes

1cup almond butter
3/4 cup palm sugar [or brown sugar]  [can try 1/2 cup honey or agave]
1teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla
dashes of salt, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne pepper
2-3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips [gluten, dairy, soy free]
1 beaten egg

Combine ingredients. I use a small cookie scoop and scoop out 30 cookies.  Pat down the balls of cookie dough before baking. Let the cookies cool a few minutes before transferring them to a rack.

If you try the recipe, please let me know how you like it or how you modified it.  I am curious :)
And I am also curious to know how you are crafting your time! I love your comments and learning what is happening in your life.  Often you inspire me, which I appreciate so much, and I long to encourage you as well :)

Gracie xx