A SURPRISE AND AN ANNIVERSARY ~~ HOMEMADE STUFF ~~ JUST A WALK ~~ PARTING SHOT

A SURPRISE AND AN ANNIVERSARY

Way back when I first became a member of Facebook, I joined a group that is now called Steven Raichlen's Project Fire, Project Smoke & Primal Grill (<---Facebook link). It was just called Primal Grill back then, but has since expanded to include smoking and cooking over an open fire. I met a lot of nice people in that group, all of whom love to grill and cook outside. One of the members, who lives in Monticello, Mississippi, is an avid quilter. She messaged me last week that she was going to send me one of her quilts. It arrived on Saturday.

I was completely stunned by this because, as you can see, this is an absolutely gorgeous quilt! My friend said that she has gifted several quilts to members of our grilling group over the years. I thought this was such a sweet and generous thing for her to be doing. I know that Facebook gets a lot of grief for some of the things that it represents, but I have to give it credit for allowing me to become friends with people all over the country...people I would never know otherwise. I placed this quilt on the big bed, on top of a quilt that was made by Linda's grandmother. It keeps my feet nice and toasty at night. The colors of the quilt blend in with the room decor very nicely. I love it! Thank you, Catherine!

Now, Saturday was a good day for this to arrive because Linda and I celebrated our 21st anniversary on that day. It definitely doesn't seem like it has been twenty-one years since she moved out to North Carolina, driving all the way across country by herself in her little Toyota. The day kind of sneaked up on us, as we had both forgotten about it until we received a card in the mail mid-week from Linda's sister Wendy. Since we had planned to go to a Holiday Bazaar at Glenwood Square on Saturday anyway, we just said that was going to be our celebration. It was just perfect, although the only thing we purchased was a couple of baked treats to enjoy at tea time. However, we did get to sit for an hour and listen to a free concert by the Flute Troupe of Yakima.

Program from the concert 
(please excuse the creases)

We had heard this group play on a previous year at this same bazaar, so we had been hoping they would be there again. It was such a joy to sit and listen to live concert music, performed entirely on flutes! Who ever knew that there were so many different kind of flutes. There is the regular type of flute that you usually see someone playing which is called a "concert flute." But there is also an "alto flute" and a "bass flute." And of course, we can't leave out the "piccolo," which is also a flute. Before seeing the Flute Troupe I had only ever seen a piccolo and a concert flute. The different flutes have different tones, so it makes for some very lovely music when they play together in a group. If you would like to find out  more about these flutes, click on the link here to read a short article.

Below is a picture of the two treats we purchased at the bazaar to help us celebrate our anniversary. Both of these were made by a local company, Ahtanum Berry Patch (<---link). This farm right outside of Yakima grows all of the berries that they use in their baked goods. We had bought from them before so we knew these were going to be good, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint.

Tea time, anyone?

Our trip to the bazaar was just the thing we needed on our anniversary. It got us out of the house, we got to listen to some beautiful Christmas music, we got to see a lot of pretty things, and we got a couple of treats to share over the weekend. Then we came home and did some puzzling and had our cocktail hour. Pretty much just a normal day for us, but that's the way we like to do things.


HOMEMADE STUFF

Every now and then I get in the mood to make some homemade jelly. Since I've been making my own yogurt in my Instant Pot, I felt like I needed something sweet to add to it. I like to make plain non-fat Greek yogurt, so it does need something to kick it up a notch. I saw this recipe (<--link) for Carrot Cake Jam and was intrigued. Last Friday I decided to make a batch. It uses canned pineapple, fresh pears, and grated carrots. It was easy enough to do and the resulting jam (more like a jelly if you ask me) is very tasty, and also quite pretty.

This jam is bound to go well with this bread, recipe here (<--link) from the Cup of Sugar Pinch of Salt website. I just took this loaf out of the oven four minutes ago. Right now, the house smells amazing!! I'm patiently waiting for it cool down, then for lunch I will have a slice to go with the soup I made the other day. Has to be done!

Healthy multi-grain whole-wheat bread

JUST A WALK

Sometimes Linda and I like to take walks somewhere other than Kissel Park, usually once a week or so. This way we get a change of scenery and I often get some interesting pictures for the blog. This past week we took a walk at Calvary Cemetery, which is right down the road from us and beside the Tahoma Cemetery. Calvary is a Catholic cemetery maintained by the Diocese of Yakima and is much smaller than Tahoma. We walked all the way to the back of the cemetery where the mausoleum and cremation niches are located. While we were looking at the niches, a sweet elderly gentleman (he was 83, he told us) drove up and walked over to us. We got into a conversation with him about his wife and son-in-law, who are both buried near where we were standing. He showed us their markers and told us a little bit about them. He said he tried to get out there every Sunday to visit them. It was very nice meeting him. As we left the back area, something caught my eye a little ways over from there, so we walked on over.

This is the Tree of Life. It caught my eye because it is obviously not a real tree, but rather an iron rendition of a tree. The Sisters of Providence and local hospitals cooperated to provide this as a monument to the unborn. There was a plaque beside it telling the story of the Tree of Life, so I took a picture of it (below). The monument was created by Matt Orthmann (<---link) of LaGrande, Oregon, who was born and raised in the Yakima Valley.

Linda and I have walked at both Calvary and Tahoma cemeteries numerous times, but it seems like every time we go, we find something new and interesting. And we usually learn a little bit more about this Valley in which we live.


PARTING SHOT

Ah, Summer Girl. She loves to sleep on the big bed, especially if she can catch a sunbeam while she's at it. There aren't very many things that are quite as sweet as a sleeping kitty.

But, lest you forget, the blades of death are always at the ready.

That's all for this week, my friends. Join us again next week for more from the Southerner in the Northwest!