Friends of the Library Book Sale Haul

I love our little town library, and stop by frequently to pick up books I have on hold.  A few weeks ago when Gary and I stopped in to pick up some of my books I noticed the Friends of the Library Book sale was going on.  Of course we had to pop in and do a little book treasure hunting.

It was a Sunday, and the last day of the sale, so I figured it would be pretty well picked over, but still worth a shot.  Since it was the last day of the sale, we were informed that as many books as you could fit into a paper grocery store bag would only be $3.00.  What a deal!  Gary stocked up on a nice supply of his favorite adventure novels, and I found quite a few interesting books.  Here are some of my favorite finds.

I got a great book from 1972 called Inns and Villages of England, full of interesting black and white pictures of English villages. I look forward to sitting down and browsing through the old pictures! :)  Also an old National Geographic book- World Beneath the Sea from 1967 - I love looking at vintage pictures and seeing all of the old equipment, and vintage outfits, not to mention great marine life photos.  The little red book was the first treasure I found, a 1972 copy of one of my childhood favorites- Encyclopedia Brown. The really cool thing about this book is it came from a Multnomah County Library, which is the county I grew up in as a child, and Encyclopedia Brown books were one of my favorite series to read back then, so sort of a treasure from my childhood.

I found a Corrie Ten Boon book, I have always wanted to read one of her books, so it was fun to find a copy of one, Corrie Ten Boon's family helped hide persecuted Jews during World War 2, and as a result she ended up spending time in a concentration camp, when she was released she began traveling the world doing mission work and telling her story.  I also found an interesting looking cookbook, from 1950 with recipes from preachers wives with devotionals for Homemakers- I love vintage recipe books as well as vintage Homemaker literature, so this mid-century book should be a fun one to browse through.

I found a practically brand new looking copy of Affluenza, a very interesting book I have read before and would enjoy reading again about the epidemic of over-consumption.  I love tips for living more simply so this book is right up my alley.  The Home Workplace from 1980 is full of Organic Gardening and Farming tips as well as plans for building all sorts of useful items like Cold Frames, Mushroom Growing shelves, Solar food dryer, different plant trellis types, the list goes on and on, quite a treasure trove.

This book from 1975 really caught my eye.  It is cloth bound and in excellent condition, I love the yellow color as well as the font of the title on the cover.  I have always loved the subject of writing, so it should be a fun one to look through, but also just a fun book to look at!

I had fun at this sale, and am looking forward to the next one in October.  The last couple of years I have been bringing our used books to the library for donation, I keep a spot in the laundry closet for our goodwill donations and a box for books we are done with to bring to the library.  The donated books often go to the used book sales that help fund different library projects.  

I love interesting old books, but unfortunately am allergic to old paper.  So I have a few tips that I follow for dealing with old books.  I don't shelf older musty books near my newer books, because the must will spread. If a book is too musty I read it and then donate it when I am done, and if I really love it or feel like I will need to refer to it again, I keep it sealed in a plastic bag, or in a tote out in the garage.  I definitely wash my hands after reading an older book and avoid rubbing my eyes or nose while I am reading it.  Some books that are too old I just can't tolerate, and sadly can't even read for more than a few minutes before they set off my allergies, so those usually have to be sent on their way.  Such a frustrating condition for someone who loves books like myself and could spend hours quite happily in any library or old book store.  I would love to hear your tips for dealing with old books?

Hope everyone is having a nice start to the week.  Thanks for reading!

You might also enjoy reading my older post on getting ready for Fall - My Big Fall Clean Up

Mid-August Garden Update and Favorite Garden Fresh Recipes

Every summer our whole family looks forward to all of the fresh veggies that our garden provides.  Late July throughout August the garden is in full swing.  Here is an update to how our garden has been growing this season, as well as a few of the yummy recipes that we have been enjoying using our own produce.

This year we tried growing potatoes in potato growing bags, and overall they did pretty well.  This method of potato growing is perfect for smaller gardens, and is a nice way to be able to grow different varieties that are harder to find in the grocery store.  We grew a purple variety and Red Pontiac's, it was fun emptying out the bags and seeing how many potatoes grew.  We enjoyed them boiled with a pot roast, as well as roasted with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.  Gary and Joseph carved one of the purple potatoes into a heart for Sarah. :)

A yearly staple in our garden are the green beans.  I grow both green and purple varieties.  They got off to a slow start this year, but ended up growing beautifully, we are still harvesting large mixing bowls full every week.  We mostly enjoy them steamed and drizzled with garlic and browned butter, this year for a treat I made the bacon wrapped green bean bundles that I kept seeing on Pinterest.  The Green Bean Bacon Bundles took a bit of time to assemble but were well worth the work, they were delicious!  I blanched the green beans first, then cooled them down with cold water, and wrapped five green beans in half a piece of bacon.  I placed them on a metal cooling rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet, and baked at 375 F. until the bacon was crisp.  Definitely something we will be making again - delicious!

The zucchini started out very slow this year as well, we had some troubles with germination.  Fortunately the plants finally got growing, and although our zucchini crop was a little smaller than normal, we have still enjoyed some good zucchini along with our dinners.  Just like the green beans we mostly enjoy the younger zucchini steamed and drizzled with browned butter and garlic.  We still have a few extra large zucchini that will be shredded and made into zucchini fritters and zucchini bread, and stuffed zucchini.

Last week I made us a delicious thin crust pizza for lunch using some of our garden produce- we had a crop of garlic this year from bulbs I missed digging up last season, our purple basil ended up growing very well, and is beautiful and very fragrant.  So I made a pizza using thin crust refrigerated pizza dough, which I pre-baked for about 5 minutes, then topped with some pressed garlic and olive oil that I let heat up for a bit to saute the garlic, then cool back down (we like our garlic cooked more, otherwise we find it bothers our tummies, you could skip this step if you like your garlic less cooked).  I then topped the pizza with slices of mozzarella, and thinly sliced blanched zucchini, and purple basil leaves.  Then baked until the crust was golden and the cheese was melted.  It was very good, next time I will add more zucchini, it was a great pizza topping!

The pepper plants are doing well, and I hope to have pictures next week of our pepper harvest.  We also have a nice little pot of green basil that is doing very well, I had to replant the green basil multiple times and it kept getting eaten by something, but the little pot I planted in a different area it doing nicely.  The Corn didn't do well at all this year, I planted a new variety specifically for container gardening, and the germination was very poor, but I still have a few plants, so at least we have some honorary corn stalks for the fall season. :)

One of the most pretty things out in the veggie garden this week are the pumpkin and winter squash blossoms.  They are so pretty and sunshiny I can't help but want to walk out in my garden every time I spot them out my window.  This morning I spotted a few tiny pumpkins!

Some of the most pretty things out in my garden right now have planted themselves. In my corner garden, all around the hydrangea, volunteer nasturtiums and California Poppies have grown, they look really pretty by the old and new growth on the hydrangea.  One pink bachelor button plant popped up in the center of the raised bed I have waiting for fall kale transplants.  We always have a few thistles pop up in the garden, usually hiding behind something, I love their flower.  You can read all about the giant thistle we let grow one year as an experiment in my post Blueberries and Thistle, I imagine the smaller thistle are offspring from the giant thistle of 2011.  This year we have let some of the bird seed go to seed, and have some very pretty millet grass growing around the bird feeders, we plan to pick and dry some of the millet sprays to leave out for the birds this fall.

The hens and chicks are doing nicely, all of our succulents grow very well here, and the nasturtium and daylilies are brightening up our little corner garden.  I love nasturtium leaves they remind me of lily pads.

The weather has been warm and muggy, and we have been getting some rain here and there, which the garden enjoys.  We have had some thunder and lightening during this first half of August as well.  The sky has been putting on quite a show some evenings.  One night it went from an orange to a purple and a rainbow during one of the prettiest sunsets I have seen in some time.

I am really looking forward to the rest of the summer!

Thanks for reading. :)

52 Weeks of Fairy Tales #48 - Sleeping Beauty

It has been quite some time since I have posted one of my 52 Weeks of Fairy Tales projects, I am still working my way through the final few, slowly but surely.  I am also working on getting a post together with links to all 52, so they will be easier to access.  For week #48, I have chosen the very well known classic tale of Sleeping Beauty.

Sleeping Beauty was told by Charles Perrault in 1697, and was also told by The Brother's Grimm as Little Briar Rose.  I grew up on the Disney version as many also have, I still have my old Disney Sleeping Beauty View Master Reels that I loved looking at as a child (I loved view-master reels as a child, and started collecting the vintage reels about 15 years ago).

The story of Sleeping Beauty begins with a King and Queen who have invited all the good fairies to bestow gifts upon their baby girl.  The King and Queen welcome the fairies with beautiful jeweled chairs and special table setting, and have made everything beautiful for the fairies invited. The fairies bestowed gifts of beauty, intelligence, grace, song, and dance, and other good traits on the baby princess.  As the kind fairies were bestowing gifts upon the baby girl, a wicked fairy arrives and inquires why she was not invited.  The Queen quickly tries to appease the wicked fairy and makes room for her at the table, but it is clear to the wicked fairy that she was left out, so before she leaves she puts a curse on the baby girl.  A curse that one day the child shall prick her hand on a spindle and die!

Luckily one last fairy had not given the baby her gift, and she used her gift to soften the curse, instead of the princess dying, she would instead fall into a deep sleep for 100 years, and be awoken by a prince.  The king forbids all spinning wheels and spindles throughout the land, in hopes that he can prevent the curse from happening.

One day, years later, when the princess was a young woman, her parents had left the kingdom.  She was wandering around the palace, when she came upon an old woman in a secluded part of the castle in a tower, the old woman was spinning.  The princess was fascinated with the spinning, and asked what she was doing since she had never seen a spinning wheel before. The princess reached out, and pricked her hand on the spindle, and falls asleep.  The old woman gets help, but the princess cannot be woken, so she is put to sleep in the finest room, upon a beautiful bed fit for a princess.  The good fairy who had softened the curse arrives at the castle, and decides that it would be best if everyone in the castle was put to sleep as well, so the princess will have her family and friends when she is woken.  The fairy also causes bramble to cover the castle to protect the sleeping princess.

One hundred years pass.  One day a prince is out on a hunting expedition and spots the bramble covered castle, an old man in his hunting party tells him the tale of the beautiful sleeping princess within the bramble covered castle, that can only be woken by a kiss from a prince.  The prince braves the bramble and thorns and makes his way into the castle grounds, where he sees the castle occupants sleeping.  Soon he comes upon the stunning sleeping beauty.  Overcome by her beauty, he kisses the sleeping princess, and the curse is broken.  The princess and everyone else wake up from their long slumber.  The prince and princess fall in love, and are married right away, and they live happily ever after.

~

As a child, the scene in the Disney movie where the princess is lured up to the tower, where she ends up pricking her finger on the spinning wheel, was one of my favorite memorable scenes, so for my fairy tale craft, I decided to do another paper cutting for my fairy tale scrapbook, of that scene, along with the beginnings of the bramble that grew around the castle.  I was very happy with how the picture turned out, however as I was gluing down the paper cutting to it's backing paper, using very sticky spray glue the wind caught my project and glued it down crooked! I worked quickly to try and peel it apart to straighten it, but the bottom corner got crinkly.  I always use my glue spray outside, next time I will wait for a non-windy day! :)

Luckily once the page was put in the page protector the crinkles were not as noticeable.  I was originally going to use red as the backing color, but I really liked the hot pink, so I went with that.  I so enjoy paper cutting, and have decided that I may try stamp carving next!

I hope everyone is having a nice summer, my daughter continues to heal from her car accident, which you can read about in my post Sarah's Accident .  We are starting to gear up for back to school season, and I will be posting soon about the progress of our garden and all the yummy garden recipes we have been trying. Right now we are in the midst of a summer storm, the sky was a beautiful orange color and has just changed to a beautiful purple, and the garden is enjoying the rain.

Thanks for reading!

Sarah's Accident

It has been just over two weeks since I received the frightening call that my daughter had been in a serious car accident.

I have struggled to put her accident into words, how do you even put a title on a post about a day like that!

Just over two weeks ago my daughter and her friend went to the store to pick up ice cream for dessert, and a short time later we got the call letting us know that they had been hit by a semi truck only a few minutes from our house.  My husband, son, and I raced to the scene of the accident, and as you might imagine I was hysterical.  All I could do was fervently pray and pray.  When we arrived at the scene my daughter was trapped in her crunched up vehicle and barely conscious.  I was so grateful to see her alive!  My daughter's friend, the passenger, and who also happens to be my son's girlfriend, was out of the vehicle with bruises and a broken wrist, but fortunately had been able to call us and let us know what had happened.  Some of the first people at the scene of the accident were so kind and wonderful, they stayed with my daughter until help arrived and comforted and prayed for her, it made me feel so much better to know that good people had been with her, I am so thankful for them!  I am also incredibly thankful for the first responders from our fire and police stations!

(Sarah's Car, and pictures from the ICU and ICU window)

My daughter suffered a severe blow to her head and left side, after half an hour of carefully extracting her from the vehicle, the paramedics Life-Flighted her to a hospital in Portland, about an hour from our home. When we arrived at the hospital we were greeted by family and friends who had also made their way to the hospital.  I was wholly focused on my daughter, and her care, but I definitely felt the love and support from all of our family and friends.  My daughter had some bleeding in her brain, as well as a severe cut on her forehead, and glass embedded in her arm.  She was not conscious for the first 24 hours, but when some of her medication wore off she was able to wake up and communicate with a thumbs up, once her breathing tube was removed she was able to talk to us, and I tell you, hearing her little whisper was music to my ears.

We were in the ICU for 2 days and then the trauma ward for 2 days.  She is now back home and healing very well.  She has no memory of the incident or even most of the day of the accident, and no memory of the hospital except the last day.  Her short term memory has returned, and although her balance was off as a result of her head injury, her balance improves every day.  Her stitches are healing nicely, and we have all been spending time nursing her back to health.

(Thanks everyone for the beautiful flowers, cards, gifts, company, and support!)

During our time at the hospital, and now that we are home, we have had such wonderful support from our family, church family, friends and community members.  I am so thankful for everyone's prayers and love, and feel incredibly blessed to have my daughter home and healing.

"...He is my rock..."  Psalm 92:15

A Small Town Fourth of July - Part Two

Every year on Fourth of July our town hosts the Molalla Buckeroo Rodeo.  This year was the 100th year of the rodeo.  People from all around come to our town to celebrate the fourth of July and watch the rodeo and enjoy a fireworks display after the evening show.

After the Fourth of July parade, which you can read about in my post  A Small Town Fourth of July - Part One , we got ready, and made our way over to the rodeo grounds.  As you can see the weather was beautiful!

Rodeo's are always so exciting, my grandma used to bring my sister and me to the rodeo every summer that was held at the county fair, and I used to love watching the horses.  The rodeo opened with a beautifully coordinated flag display. 

It is always so exciting to see how long the riders can hang on!  

All of the horses were stunning, at one point they let the horses out to just run around, sans rider and gear, they were just gorgeous!

Both the saddle and bareback broncs events were fun to watch, I will have to say though, especially watching the bareback event, those riders get in the most contorted state, it is a wonder they can walk afterward! 

The team roping was fun to watch, and went so quickly!

Of course the barrel racing is always very exciting to watch, I love how fast they get going!

I really enjoyed the bull riding, they were feisty!  

We all got a kick out of the bulls' personalities, some would finish the event and head right out of the arena, others would turn around and look like they were deciding whether or not to give some trouble.  Such powerful creatures, and always so exciting to watch!

The rodeo was a perfect way to spend fourth of July!  Afterward we walked over to the little carnival at the park next to the rodeo grounds, to get a snack.  When I saw they had a Red Velvet Funnel cake I knew I wanted to try that.  So we all split an elephant ear and a red velvet funnel cake, which was yummy.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out, and enjoyed some of the fireworks that were going off around us, had a nice Fourth of July dinner of ribs, corn on the cob, potato salad, rolls, and apple pie for dessert. All around it was a wonderful day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July and a great weekend!

A Small Town Fourth of July - Part One

We had a wonderful Fourth of July Celebration yesterday, and spent the day taking part in our small town festivities.

The weather was absolutely beautiful, nice bright sunny weather, but not too hot.  The town's parade is in walking distance from our house so we grabbed our fold-up chairs and walked a few blocks to find a seat for the parade.  

The parade started off with a marathon, and we all cheered on the runners.  Then the parade began.  There were vehicles and representatives from the local police and fire departments.

A lot of red white and blue and nods to our town's rural farming and logging roots.  

There were lots of beautiful horses, as well as some rodeo royalty. :)

Some of the parade entrants made me smile- I loved the old man in overalls driving the old tractor, I am a huge fan of Smokey The Bear, the Clickscales Porta-loo twisting and turning along the parade route made us all laugh, and the giant Ronald McDonald Shoe was pretty fun too!

I enjoyed the traditional Hispanic outfits of these riders and dancers, I especially love the vibrant yellow!

This darling little rider and her miniature horse along with a darling baby horse was soooo cute!  Hmmm...just might be the right size horse for my little garden. ;)

We were especially excited to see the Molalla cheerleaders marching in the parade, my son's girlfriend is one of the captains, and we were watching the parade with her family.  They did a great job!!

More Red, White and Blue fun- a family from our church decorated their truck red white and blue, and another truck was decorated in support of our troops.

The parade was a lot of fun, when it was done we spent some time chatting with friends, and then walked home to get ready for the rest of the day.  Stay tuned for part two. :)

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Fourth of July.  Do you have a local parade that you attend?

Thanks for stopping by!

Click here to read A Small Town Fourth of July - Part Two

Early July Garden Update and Cooking with Garlic Scapes

The weather has been absolutely beautiful the last couple of days, temperatures have been in the 90's, and although it has been pretty warm, I just love it, and the garden has really taken off!  I spent the morning watering the garden, and soaking up some Vitamin D while reading out on the patio while I waited to switch the hose around.  The goldfinch were out, and one of the male goldfinch was singing such a pretty song, it was a very pleasant morning. 

These are some of the pictures I took of the garden a couple days ago, the plants have grown even more in the last two days with all of this heat. Last time I did a garden update, the zucchini had not germinated very well, and I had just replanted them.  The second planting did wonderfully, and are catching right up.  Something is nibbling at the leaves, but it still seams to be doing okay.  I also planted the winter squash bed, and they all came up beautifully, I am growing acorn squash, and sugar pumpkins this year, as well as miniature white pumpkins.  I have been thinning out the plants for the last couple days, trying to leave the best looking plants.  This is the first year that I have tried growing a regular sized pumpkin in my side garden, up until now I only grew baby pumpkins for fun.  Sugar pumpkins are on the smaller size, so I thought they would be a good start, I look forward to pumpkin vines rambling through the garden!

The green and purple beans are doing very well, the purple variety already have little flowers, and are filling up the bed.  It won't be long now and we will be enjoying our summer favorite.

The pepper plants are trying to catch up, I planted them far too early, and was afraid they wouldn't get going, but like everything else, the sunshine has really given them a boost, and I even spotted a tiny pepper peaking out from under the leaves.  

The blueberries are ripening up, I had to replace a couple bushes this year, so my harvest will not be nearly as large, but I am so happy with one of the new blueberry bushes I planted, the berries are huge!  Blueberry muffins are definitely on the menu this week!

The purple basil is doing very well, and starting to get it's bigger leaves, I am excited to try it out.  The green basil in the pot next to it did have a few sprouts, but they were gone when I went out to check them today, luckily I put a few basil seeds in a stray pot I had, and they are doing much better.

The most exciting thing in my garden this week are the garlic plants.  I kept hearing about garlic scapes, and how good they are.  I wasn't sure what garlic scapes even were until last week, when I decided to read up on what they were and how to use them.  Then I went out to my garden, and noticed that my garlic plants had scapes on them ready to harvest.  Garlic scapes are the curly stems you see below on the garlic plants.  They can be used like scallions and taste like a mild fresh garlic.  So I decided to harvest a few and give them a try.

 First I cut off the flower bud end, and discarded it.  Then chopped up the scapes, and sauteed it in some olive oil.  I then added to the pan some chopped pre-cooked chicken tenderloins that I had steamed earlier, and let the chicken soak up some of that good garlicky flavor and added some salt and pepper.

 I served the chicken and garlic scape mixture over a bed of curly pasta, with a sprinkle of Parmesan.  I loved the flavor and have been thinking of it since, I plan on trying it again, next time cooking the scapes a little less.  I think scapes would be a wonderful addition to a cream cheese spread, or as part of a delicious crostini topping. I want to leave a few scapes on the plants, but I will probably harvest a couple more this week to try some other recipes.  I will definitely be planting a larger bed of garlic next year for more fresh garlic scapes, I may also have to hunt some down at a farmers market.

I would be curious to know how many of you have tried garlic scapes and how you like to use them. :)

Thanks for stopping by!