Saturday Meanderings

Happy first Saturday of June! Typically by now we are experiencing the summer heat, but I must say our weather has been just gorgeous! Mornings in the low 60s and highs in the low 90s. The next few days may get to triple digits but the forecast is lower temperatures for most of next week! A lovely, long delightful Spring~I will take it! School is out, the snowbirds have left and there’s little to no traffic. Quite honestly, I do love this time of year. What a week! Let’s get started chatting about all good things.

Last weekend was Memorial Day and it was a relaxing one for us at the cabin. Mid-week I drove back to Phoenix which generally is a 3.5 hour drive. Unfortunately, however, a semi-truck fire occurred about 1 hour from my home destination on State Route 87. It appears the contents of the truck caught on fire and traffic slowed as we came upon billowing black smoke.

Even though the driver pulled over to the side of the road, it was a very windy day. Soon the fire spread to the adjacent brush and quickly became a 10 acre active fire….all while I am sitting parked in bumper to bumper traffic with no place to turn around or back up or proceed forward.

Of course, this all occurred out in the middle of nowhere, without close local resources to fight the fire. Eventually ADOT closed SR 87 in both directions. For 3.5 hours we watched as fire fighters tried to contain this wildfire, while also trying to extinguish the huge truck fire.

The good news is that no one was hurt and in spite of the high winds, fire fighters were able to contain the fires. Plus during the 3.5 hours of not being able to go anywhere, everyone got out of their cars and were very friendly. So grateful to those who are trained to rush toward danger to protect the rest of us, as fires can be so unpredictable.

Thank you for your Suggestions

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate all your comments and ideas last week on how to tie in the decor on the back porch of the cabin. You are all so talented and each comment I read, I was so impressed with your feedback.

As a result, I found these Bria Gray Stripe Throw Pillows at Big Lots (we only have a few stores up in the mountains) for $9.97 and they are the perfect size for the red chairs. The neutrals of gray and white are a big improvement in tying in the colors of seating area to the dining space.

It’s a first step, and I will be implementing some of your great ideas. Thank you! You are the best!

Cabin Projects Completed

It is a busy week checking off all the projects from the To Do list for the cabin. My husband, is the real champ here, getting so much done. With our neighbor Gary, they are busy splitting wood for the fall woodpile.

He also rented a professional carpet cleaner from Home Depot. I do not believe we have ever cleaned all the carpeting at the cabin. Even the outdoor rug on the screened in porch got a good cleaning.

Typically we bring our outdoor cushions inside over the winter, but failed to do so with one piece of furniture. Even though the furniture is covered, the mice did quite a job on one of my cushions.

The furniture is from Pottery Barn and the cushions are made with Sunbrella fabric. However, it is several years old. I attempt to go to a fabric store which sells Sunbrella but there is nothing in stock that matches. They also make (not repair) cushions but the first available date to get my cushion into production would be late August and it would be expensive too.

Darn. I decide to walk the fabric store to see if I can find any fabric that might match, because I can do this, right? Fortunately, in the remnant section, I find 1 3/4 yard of this Sunbrella fabric.

It’s a slightly different color but I have enough fabric between the decorative Greek key strips to replace the damaged section. Plus this repair will be on the back side of the cushion, not the visible front edge.

Here is the repaired cushion. Not bad for someone who doesn’t sew alot!

I have never been a fan of the angled roof-line over the front door entrance to the cabin. Obviously, the cabin footprint has been added onto over the years, but this part of the structure has always bugged me a bit. This past week, my husband hung a large set of elk antlers and I’m hoping this will be the focal point vs. the roofline.

A Gift that keeps on Giving

Currently, my son, Benjamin and his girlfriend, Delaney are living in Chicago while Benjamin gets his masters degree at the University of Chicago. They live in a high rise apartment on the 36th floor and do not have any outdoor space. However, Benjamin loves to cook and Delaney is creative, so for Delaney’s birthday we send her an Aero Garden, a hydroponic indoor garden system.

The unit is small enough for their apartment, and is providing an abundance of fresh herbs for their cooking.

Their garden is loaded with Genovese basil, dill, thyme, mint, parsley and Thai basil. The control panel tells you when to add water, reminds you when to add plant food (included), automatically turns lights on and off for your indoor herb garden.

I know Father’s Day is around the corner, but this gift would be great for anyone that wants fresh herbs but may be limited on time and gardening space.

The added benefit is that I get photos with plant growth updates as well as pictures of the delicious food they make with these fresh herbs.

You can buy the Aero garden on Amazon here for $119.99. This also includes the plant food and the seed pods. I’m actually thinking about getting one too. Growing and eating your own food does something good for the soul.

Garden Update

We are picking spaghetti squash and love this easy recipe. Roast the squash by cutting in half, remove the seeds and sprinkle olive oil, salt and pepper on the cut side. Pierce with a fork all over the squash and roast in an oven at 400 degrees (cut side down) for 40 minutes. Scrape out the “spaghetti”. We then pour my homemade tomato sauce with ground beef or bison or turkey on top. Top with shredded Parmesan cheese. An easy, nutritious and delicious meal.

This weekend I really need to focus on using up the balance of the peaches. It’s time to pick them all, let them ripen and find recipes so they don’t go to waste. If you missed my post yesterday, it is filled with peach recipes.

The apricots are just starting to turn yellow, but I am picking them a few days earlier so I can get to the before the birds. Looking forward to making my almond apricot tart.

From around the Internet

Have you ever used Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing? I’ve seen it in the stores but have never purchased it. Here is an interesting article from Kitchn about how this product can really whiten your towels. Someone washed my white towels at the cabin with the red ones so I’m wondering if I can remove the pink with this product. If you have used it, please let me know your thoughts.

Speaking of laundry, Carrie Vitt from Deliciously Organic sent an email about toxins in laundry detergent. Here is a paragraph from her email:

The fact is, most laundry detergents are very toxic to our bodies. 

Popular detergents contain over 25 toxic chemicals—and those are just the ones that are blatantly listed on the labels. There are many more trace toxicities that aren’t printed. 

Here are some of the biggest toxins (including known and probable carcinogens) you’ll find in common detergents: 

• Phosphates
• Bleach
• Formaldehyde
• Ammonium sulfate
• Dioxane

And don’t forget about the dyes, fragrances, and brighteners, which are enough on their own to make it a product you’d never sign off on having in your home. 

But, obviously, detergent is a necessity.

Carrie recommends Molly Sud’s Laundry Powder. I’ve never tried this, but let me know if you are concerned about the possible toxins in our laundry detergent. If so, what are you doing to minimize this?

My friend, Andrea from Design Morsels, doesn’t use detergent at all since she converted to an ozone system. You can read her post, the Ozone Laundry System: Pros and Cons, Does it Really Work? Andrea is the modern day Hints from Heloise (am I dating myself?) and her blog posts are always filled with really good information.

Well, that’s a wrap! Here are some pretty pictures to send you into the weekend! Thanks for joining me today.