Limping Forward

Good morning, my friends. It's past noon as I'm writing this. Did you remember to spring forward?

We did...grudgingly. I don't mind the time change, but I think losing an hour is a more difficult adjustment than gaining an hour in the fall. As I'm writing this, I can hardly believe it's past noon, and I'm still sitting here in my pajamas. It's one of the best things about being home...plenty of pajama time. And plenty of pajamas.

All the unpacking is done, and we can begin to settle into what passes for a normal routine around here. There are a few things we're still working on. Mike is filling our hot tub. I put out the bird feeders yesterday. Our ice maker stopped working while we were gone, and so we've had to move everything from one freezer to another so that Mike can attempt to repair it. (Do you think he breaks stuff just so he can fix it and claim the hero's mantle?) 

One of the last unpacking tasks is to try to find room for the newest batch of refrigerator magnets. From this trip, I gained just three new ones. It wasn't easy, but I managed to find places for all of them. This is our overflow refrigerator in the laundry room. I might have to start working around the sides pretty soon.

Already I've arranged for the kids to come for dinner next month. They'll be here on the 4th. Matthew's birthday is on the 2nd, and so I let him choose what we'd have for dessert. After thinking it over, he requested creme brulee. Now...I've made creme brulee before, but it's been quite a while. It seemed worthwhile to "practice," and so I whomped up a scaled down version and made Classic Creme Brulee for Two. 

The challenge with creme brulee is that it has to bake in a water bath, and those little fluted dishes are only one inch deep. The dishes are placed in a larger baking dish, then the custard is poured into the dishes, and then boiling water is added to the larger dish before they're placed in the oven. To increase my chances of keeping water out of the custard, I used a funnel to pour the boiling water into the larger dish, and that gave me more control over the flow. When they came from the oven, they looked like this:

Getting them out of the oven was another challenge. Could I move them from the oven to the countertop without sloshing water on the custard? For that, I used a turkey baster to suck out most of the water, and then I used a spatula to remove the dishes from the larger baking dish. It worked perfectly, and it was much easier than anticipated.

Okay, so far, so good. Then, they cooled on a rack for two hours. Once they were cooled, I put them in the refrigerator to chill. When we were ready to eat them, I sprinkled Demerera sugar over the tops and then used my little blow torch thingy to "brulee" them. And lemme just say those were mighty tasty.

I was glad I did this ahead, because I feel confident about making them for our family dinner now. Here's my scaled down "for two" recipe:

Classic Creme Brulee for Two

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cups heavy cream, chilled

2 tablespoons plus 2 additional teaspoons granulated sugar

pinch table salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 large egg yolks

3 teaspoons turbinado or Demerara sugar

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine 1/2 cup cream, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, and salt in small saucepan. Bring mixture to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves. Take pan off heat and let cool15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place kitchen towel in bottom of large baking dish or roasting pan and arrange two 4- to 5-ounce ramekins (or shallow fluted dishes) on towel.  Bring kettle or large saucepan of water to boil over high heat.

After cream has cooled, stir in remaining 1/2 cup cream to cool down mixture.  Whisk yolks in bowl until broken up and combined.  Whisk about 1/4 cup cream mixture into yolks until loosened and combined; repeat with another 1/4 cup cream.  Add remaining cream and whisk until evenly colored and thoroughly combined.  Strain through fine-mesh strainer into 2-cup measuring cup or pitcher (or clean medium bowl); discard solids in strainer.  Pour or ladle mixture into ramekins, dividing it evenly among them.

Carefully place baking dish with ramekins on oven rack; pour boiling water into dish, taking care not to splash water into ramekins, until water reaches two-thirds height of ramekins.  Bake until centers of custards are just barely set and are no longer sloshy and digital instant-read thermometer inserted in centers registers 170 to 175 degrees, 30 to 35 minutes (25 to 30 minutes for shallow fluted dishes).  Begin checking temperature about 5 minutes before recommended time. (In my toaster oven, this took 35 minutes.)

Transfer ramekins to wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.  Set ramekins on rimmed baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap,  and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 4 days.

Uncover ramekins; if condensation has collected on custards, place paper towel on surface to soak up moisture.  Sprinkle each with about 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar (1 1/2 teaspoons for shallow fluted dishes); tilt and tap ramekin for even coverage.  Ignite torch and caramelize sugar.  Refrigerate ramekins, uncovered, to re-chill, 30 to 45 minutes (but no longer); serve.

Notes:

Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks after the cream has finished cooling; if left to sit, the surface of the yolks will dry and form a film.  The best way to judge doneness is with a digital instant-read thermometer.  The custards, especially if baked in shallow fluted dishes, will not be deep enough to provide an accurate reading with a dial-faced thermometer.  For the carmelized sugar crust, we recommend turbinado or Demerara sugar.  Regular granulated sugar will work, too, but use only 1 scant teaspoon on each ramekin or 1 teaspoon on each shallow fluted dish.

* * * * *

Yesterday was a farmer's market day. It was good to see Erik and Mae, and the farmer's market was expanded...a surprising number of vendors so early in the season. Afterward, I picked up Eliza from her spa vaycay. It was good to have her home again. Now she's all set up and ready for quilting.

All the while we were gone, the Painted Ladies quilt was draped over her table, and it's nicely wrinkle-free now. If all goes to plan, I'll start the quilting on this today.

Also, I finished Block 7 for the Snowmen & Reindeer project. It had been several days since I'd done any stitching on this, and I had just a little left to do.

Now that one is finished. It's called "Reindeer Behind the Tree."

Also, I took the time to trim the rest of the blocks already completed. All of them have been trimmed to 8-1/2 inches square now. Here are the seven blocks I have for this quilt so far:

Since Block 8 is already made up, I continued on with that one, taking the first stitches Friday morning.

And now, I'm pretty well ready to put in some serious sewing time. Aside from getting a start quilting the Painted Ladies, my first priority in the sewing room will be to make January's and February's blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. As I mentioned, I'm doing this Inverted Star block for this year's project.

I'd been undecided about what color to use for the background. Since I have white in my stash, and no black, I'll stick with white for this project.

And that pretty well brings you up to date. I've made several appointments over the coming month, including a visit with an orthopedist to evaluate my left shoulder pain. (Pretty sure I have a surgery in my future for that.) Also, we'll do our grocery shopping on Tuesday. I'm seeing my PCP a week from tomorrow, and I'm due for some lab work. Probably I'll do that on Tuesday as well. So, there's still some catching up to do on the routine body maintenance and day-in-the-life maintenance fronts, but nothing is going to keep me from my sewing today.

So off I go. Since it's past lunch time, I guess I'll get dressed and start acting human. We're still regaining our energy levels from the long drive home, and "springing ahead" couldn't have happened at a worse time.  With the time change, I expect to get in a nap before I do anything else. 

Organizing

Good morning, my friends. For all my tough talk about unpacking yesterday, I didn't get very much done. We were both pretty well wiped out after our drive to home on Wednesday, and neither of us was much in a mood to spend more time in the RV. Of course, there was/is a mountain of laundry to do, and I'm four loads into what will probably end up being about eight loads. (I'm washing all the bedding and towels, which ups the number of loads significantly.) 

As you might guess, this little girl was pretty happy to get some outdoor time. She and Smitty were out for a couple of hours yesterday morning.

This morning, I'm feeling a little more energetic, and I'm hoping to get more done. I brought in the things I need on a day-to-day basis, and a few things from among my clothes. Today I'd like to get my clothes brought in and then at least get a start on the food. My fondest desire was to get my sewing projects brought in and my whiteboard updated. After telling myself I had to save dessert for last, I decided it didn't matter what I did when. It's going to take the same amount of time, no matter the order. So, okay. I convinced myself to eat dessert first. Life is short. 

Well, you didn't think I could do sewing room things without kitty help, did you?

Smitty was there to help too, but his picture didn't turn out very well.

He was holding down the fabric I bought while we were traveling. The fabric was so excited about seeing its forever home in my sewing room, it was flopping around crazily. Thus, the blur. (You believe it, right?)

Emptying the bins I brought in from the trailer, I added the Gumballs quilt blocks and the Raggedy & Friends quilt blocks to the "Quilt Tops to Finish" section.

The "Gumballs" quilt has been newly designated "Red Gumballs." That's because I enjoyed making those blocks so much, I want to make another one using different colors...this time, blues, greens, and aquas. It's a great scrap buster, and so why not? But moving the Red Gumballs and Raggedy & Friends out of that category left me with two openings on my WIPs dance card.

So I went digging through my quilt patterns and came up with two I've had for a very long time. The first one, "Where the Cows Come Home" was a block of the month during the 14th Century. I saw it online and bought the pattern, even though I wasn't intending to participate in the block of the month. It's barns, right? I like barns.

Also this one: "Across the Wide Missouri." I enjoy making quilts that teach us something. There is a story associated with each of the blocks. I'll share the stories as I make the blocks.

Okay, and so that fills out my list of WIPs. If you're wondering, "R" means I'm making the blocks a row at a time. "B" means I'm making them a block at a time. I'm making the Northern Wilderness blocks two at a time simply because there are 20 blocks (I think), and I'd like to finish it before I die.

And then, I added all these little quilts to my list of small quilt tops to finish. The list was empty when we left home at the end of December. There's plenty to keep me busy now. (Also, that should say "Hawksbill" Honu, not Hawksville. I must have been thinking about the Last Train to Clarksville, or something.)

Finally, I need to get going on this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt. Of course, I'm three blocks behind now. My goal is to make January's blue block and February's green block in March. Then, in April, I'll make March's red block and whatever April's color is. Doing it that way, I'll be caught up when April's block is made. This is the block I'll be making this year. 

I so loved the quilt my friend, Kate, made from these blocks. You can see Kate's very creative version of the finished quilt right here. And you can find the free pattern for this quilt block right here.

Okay, and in my laziness yesterday, I didn't get any slow-stitching done at all. I'm going to do it this morning. No more excuses. And then I'll get busy with the unpacking. Hopefully, I can get it all finished no later than tomorrow.

As for tomorrow, I'm planning a trip to the farmer's market with Erik and Mae. My plan is to take a couple of days off from blogging. Probably, I'll be back on Monday morning. For now, there's a lot going on, but none of it is particularly interesting. By then, I should have Eliza back, and we'll get started on some quilting. There's a charity project facing a deadline, and so I'll start there when my quilting machine is back on the job. I'll say more about it when I get back from the drudgery of unpacking. Hopefully, your days will be drudgery-free for the time being. I can pick up the slack at this end.

Home Again

Good morning, my friends. I'm happy to say we're home at the Three Cats Ranch this morning. We'd planned to spend the night in Grass Valley, Oregon. As I told my friends on Facebook, we arrived at the RV park at 2:00 p.m. The place was run-down and scary looking...as if it might be the lair of a serial killer. We'd both been thinking silently that we should just head for home. When we saw the RV park, it made the decision to continue on home an easy one.

Leaving Klamath Falls, we drove quite a distance along the Upper Klamath Lake shore. 

Upper Klamath Lake (sometimes called Klamath Lake) is a large, shallow freshwater lake east of the Cascade Range. It is the largest body of fresh water by surface area in Oregon, at approximately 25 miles long and 8 miles wide. In the early 20th century, most of the wetlands and marshes surrounding the lake were drained for agricultural purposes, damaging the larger habitat. The lake's water has been used to support the federal Klamath Project for irrigation by local farmers for a century. The lake depth fluctuates due to regulation of its water supply, averaging between 8 and 50 feet deep.

The lake level is kept within 4,137 to 4,143 ft above sea level to ensure a viable fishery and to protect coho salmon in the Klamath River below the lake. The lake is fed by a watershed of 3,768 square miles including the Williamson and Wood Rivers, and is drained by the Klamath River (known here as the Link River). The Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge has been established on land along the northern edge of the lake to preserve natural habitat. If you're into birding, it's a wonderful resource for that.

Okay, and we saw quite a few barns in yesterday's drive.

As we reached the higher elevations, we got into some precipitation, falling as snow. This was worrisome. Happily, the temperature was well above freezing, and so it wasn't sticking, and we encountered only wet pavement.

Eventually, we drove beyond the stormy weather. The sky continued to be menacing for most of the day, but we didn't get into any more rain. North of Bend, Oregon, we drove through wide open spaces.

For the remainder of our time on US Hwy 97, we would be traveling the "Journey Thru Time" Oregon scenic byway. It wasn't included in our book, and frankly, I'm not sure why it's designated as a "scenic byway."

It was mainly high desert with very little to see, but each time we passed through a small town, we'd find barns both coming and going.

After deciding to drive on from Grass Valley, we considered finding a place to stay when we reached the Columbia River Gorge. By then, though, we were just about 125 miles from home. Our nav unit promised us we'd be home around 5:00 p.m., meaning we could avoid the rush hour traffic through downtown Portland. We decided to go for it.  

The traffic wasn't too bad until we reached the interchange from I-84 to I-5 southbound. It's always a bottleneck there at any time of the day. The traffic loosened up as we crossed over the Willamette River on the bottom deck of the Marquam Bridge. There's our fair city.

It was a long drive at 404 miles for the day, but we forgot all about the length of the drive when we turned onto the driveway of the Three Cats Ranch. As you might guess, the kitties were thrilled to be out of the RV, and we were thrilled to be out of the truck. Walking in, it was cold...55°F. We have the ability to turn on the heat before we get home, but we didn't think to do it. It took a couple of hours to warm up enough to be comfortable. And let me just tell you, it was a cold toilet seat. I almost stuck to it.

Since my winter table runners were still out, I made it my tippy-top priority to get out the St. Patrick's Day stuff while I still had time. On the dining room table:

On the breakfast bar:

And on the wall between the kitchen and dining room.

Phew...that was a close call. I guess I can keep this stuff out for a couple of weeks, and then I'll have to move quickly for Easter's decor. Easter comes early in April this year.

Looking out the window this morning, I saw this guy strrrrrreeeeetching as if he'd just awakened from a long winter's nap. We eyed one another through the window while I took his picture.

It's been raining here (no surprise), but I took advantage of a break in the rain to get a closer look at anything blooming. There's not much yet, but the daffodils are heading up and I expect they'll open soon. I have some new colors to surprise me this spring.

In one of the whiskey barrels, I found these mini iris blooming. Since they're the only flowers right now, they get to be designated as the stars of the garden for the time being.

So, there's a lot to do to get back to what passes for normal around here. I'll probably spend at least two days unpacking the RV. I haven't consulted Mike yet about his priorities, but I'm thinking I'll probably unload my clothes and my personal items today. Also...my sewing projects. I'll leave the food until tomorrow. I believe we have food to get us through the weekend before we'll need to make a trek to the grocery store. Also, I need to pick up Eliza from her lengthy spa treatment. Already, I have a date with Erik and Mae to go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday. It'll be good to see them. I've missed them while we've been traveling. 

Next week will be a little more structured. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday. Since the day we left on our trip back in December, I've been plagued with left shoulder pain, radiating to my left elbow. I have an idea what's going on since I experienced the same thing in my right shoulder about 20 years ago. If I'm right, I probably have an arthroscopic procedure in my future. I'll know more after I see the doctor. Also, I have an appointment to see my primary care doctor for my annual check-up. I'll need a haircut and a pedicure too, but those things can wait until we're more settled.

For today, I'll get busy unpacking my clothes and my sewing projects. If there's time at the end of the day, I'll try getting organized in the sewing room again. Also, I've been Jonesing for Korean food from a local restaurant, and I'm pretty sure I can force Mike to take me out for dinner tonight, even if I do have a hurting shoulder. If we disagree on this, I cannot rule out the possibility of violence.

Right now, though, I'm going to get back to my slow-stitching. On driving days, there isn't time, and so I've missed stitching the past couple of days. With this morning's effort, I believe I'll be finishing up the sixth block for the Snowmen & Reindeer project.

Okay, my friends. You're probably glad to be home too. Let's make it a good day, okay?

Three States

Good morning, my friends. We find ourselves in Klamath Falls, Oregon, this morning. And YAY! We're not home yet, but at least we're in our home state. And forget everything I said yesterday. We had to spend a couple of hours yesterday morning rerouting ourselves when we heard there was a winter weather advisory for the Cascades and the Siskiyous. It will be hazardous trying to get across the mountain passes with that kind of weather, and so we've rerouted ourselves to head north to the Columbia Gorge and then head west toward home from there.

So, let's talk about yesterday's drive. As you might guess, there were lots of barns in all levels of disrepair.

Just about 20 minutes into our drive, we crossed the border from Nevada into California. We would spend all but about the last half hour of our day in California.

And there were more barns.

 

Here, we stopped at a rest stop. On one side of the rest stop, I noticed these two cinder cones. We were not far from Lassen Volcanic National Park, and so seeing this sort of volcanic formation wasn’t at all surprising.

On the other side of the rest area, we could see Honey Lake, a shallow, endorheic (terminal) lake that often dries into alkali flats during summer. As a key remnant of Lake Lahontan, it serves as a crucial birdwatching site for migrating species like cranes and geese, supported by the 7,600+ acre Honey Lake Wildlife Area.

Turning just a bit to the left, we could see a town across the way. Not sure what that is. We were headed in the opposite direction.

There were birds singing here. I couldn’t see the birds, but I noticed this bird house on one of the trees.

Moving on…more barns.

This one tried to hide behind that tree, but it was one of my favorites for the day, and so I’ve included it.

As we left the town of Susanville, we drove up, up, up a hillside. Below, we could see another barn.

At the top of the hill, we had an expansive view of the valley below. That’s Leavitt Lake you see there… a high-altitude alpine lake (approx. 9,500–9,570 ft), known for its rugged beauty, fishing, and camping. Accessible by a 4x4 trail or hiking, it features stunning, glacier-fed scenery, with the best access from July through early fall. 

On down the road, we happened on Eagle Lake. It sits 5100 feet above sea level in northeastern California about 16 miles north of Susanville in Lassen County. It is the second largest natural freshwater lake wholly in California. Having no natural surface outlet, Eagle Lake is a closed basin lake with its water levels fluctuating with variations of inflow. Water surface areas have fluctuated between 16,000 to 29,000 acres with a present area of 26,000 acres. You can see it is shallow at the edges, with tufts of grass poking up through the surface of the water.

Turning more westward, we were treated to this pretty view of Mt. Shasta.

And then…more barns.

Just a few miles from the California-Oregon border, we passed through the little town of Tulelake, California. Having driven this road several times, I was ready with my camera for the structure you see below. It has quilt blocks.

And, I can never get a picture of the whole thing. One of these days, we should park. There might be more quilt blocks on the other side, although I only just now thought of that as I was writing. In any case, I tried to get the quilt blocks on the left side…

I’ve yet to get a good picture. Below is one I took in September of 2024. You can see the whole of the quilt block on the far left

Okay, and then it was just a few more miles until we reached…

Home, sweet home! Here’s the thing: I have lived in seven states, and I have visited all fifty. There’s no place else I’d rather live than Oregon. I realize probably everyone feels that way about their home, and if you don’t, then I wish that for you someday.  

It’s a little different for me since I never had a place to call home when I was growing up. I was born in California, but we moved away before I can even remember. We lived all over. There was a time when someone might ask me where I was from, and I had no good answer. My answer usually was something like, “I’m from everywhere, and nowhere.” 

Many years ago (before Facebook), I joined up with an email group called Military Brats of America. The question of where someone is from came up over and over again until one of the members suggested saying we were from “Samuelsville.” It was a made up place, but I liked that idea. Having lived in Oregon since 1978, I call Oregon home now. When I’m asked where I’m from, the answer is Oregon.

Okay, so the first town one comes to after crossing the border where we did is the little town of Merrill, Oregon.

There’s a good quilt shop in Merrill, called Tater Patch Quilts. I’ve visited a couple of times, and I’m always happy to see they’re still in business, as they were when we passed through yesterday.

You can read my blog post about Tater Patch Quilts right here.

So we're back to reaching home on Thursday, as originally planned. Our next stop will be in Grass Valley, Oregon (not to be confused with Grass Valley, California). Neither of us has been to there, and so we'll be traveling through a part of Oregon where we've never been before. Originally, we'd planned to spend a night in Bend, Oregon, and have dinner with some long-time friends there. That part of the trip is off. Instead, we'll spend tonight in Grass Valley, and then head for home through the Columbia River Gorge. By driving north and heading west through the Gorge, we can avoid all mountain passes.

That’s all I have for you this morning. It’s raining as I’m writing. We’ll be heading out soon, hoping to get an early start. We have about 260 miles to drive today…farther than we like, but it will make for a much shorter drive for the last leg of our journey on Thursday.