Saturday Meanderings

From the extreme temperatures and the raging fires in Hawaii, Mother Nature is having a heyday. Our prayers are with those in Maui who are dealing with the devastation. We feel like we are in our mountain cocoon, where life is quiet and we are blessed with afternoon rains. Even though the retail stores are filling with fall and Halloween merchandise, I am still enjoying summer. Thank you for joining me today for Saturday Meanderings. I love writing this post and it is my hope that you find something here every week that is of interest.

Do You Listen to Audible?

For long car rides, I like listening to a book on Audible. English mysteries are a favorite and I am currently listening to An English Garden Murder by Katie Gayle, the first book of four in the Julia Bird mysteries. Successful listening to a book, for me, is so dependent on the narrator. I don’t know if my hearing is declining but some narrators are difficult to understand. Lucy Scott is the narrator and she does a terrific job. The main character, Julia Bird can be a bit annoying, but I’m enjoying it nonetheless. Here’s an excerpt from Amazon:

Recently divorced and reluctantly retired, Julia Bird has fled London to enjoy idyllic rural life in the Cotswolds. Determined to have the perfect English garden, her first job is to tear down the old shed, where she unearths much more than she’d bargained for: a body, apparently buried for decades. 

The length is 6 hours and 53 minutes and I find myself listening to it not only while driving, but ironing and cleaning too!

Centerpiece Inspiration

While out and about this week, I stop at the Blume Haus Floral Design shop. They have a great 75% display where I have purchased wonderful candles. But look at this birch or aspen log floral display! We are in the process of removing some trees from the forest and I would love to create something like this. Not only can you fill it with artificial flowers but real ones too. More to come on this.

Wallpaper

Do you love wallpaper? Now there are so many application options~peel ‘n stick, removable paper that doesn’t damage the wall, prepasted, and non-pasted traditional. Recently I receive a few samples from Spoonflower as I am considering wallpapering two small bathroom areas here at the cabin.

This whimsical dusky green bunny pattern by Katherine Quinn is one I am considering for a bathroom where the walls are currently painted a deep cranberry (what was I thinking?). However, the walls are that awful orange peel texture (not a fan) and don’t know how long a peel ‘n stick wallpaper will hold. If you have used peel ‘n stick wallpaper, please let me know about your experience.

I am also considering Willow Bough for the master bath water closet. It’s a small room and feels a bit dark so I am leaning toward this paper. This week I will try applying them to the wall and see if they stick or fall off. BTW~When did wallpaper get so expensive?

What a Weather Week!

I think we experienced all four seasons this week. From warm, sunny summer days to torrential downpours, deafening thunder to cold temperatures, hail and fog. Being at an altitude of 7500 feet, the lightning and thunder storms are a bit terrifying. This particular storm raged for an hour and then, just like that it was over.

The aftermath has a surreal quality to it with the late afternoon sun, low hanging fog and a hail covered golf course.

Making Sourdough Crackers

If you have sourdough starter then you know how important it is to “feed” it on a regular basis. In that process, you remove a portion of the sourdough and discard it. However, there are several recipes where you can use your sourdough discard. This week, I make the King Arthur recipe for sourdough crackers.

I flavor the dough with garlic and onion powder, Italian spices and dried parsley. You roll the dough to the thickness you like, and mine is thin for crispier crackers. Funny how the dough matches my granite countertop!

Brush the dough with olive oil, sprinkle with salt (I use black truffle sea salt) and cut into squares. My attempt to sprinkle sesame seeds is a good thought, but after baking they all fell off.

Bake for a total of 20 minutes and turn the cookie sheet around mid-way. Even though the ones on the edges aren’t perfect, they are delicious. See the King Arthur recipe here.

Perseid Meteor Shower this weekend

The Perseids — one of the biggest meteor showers we can see — occur every year in the late summer. Meteor showers happen when the Earth moves through fields of debris floating around in space.

This year’s shower is already active, but the main event will be this weekend, when the shower reaches its peak from Saturday night into Sunday morning. Starting around 11 p.m. local time Saturday, a few meteors will start to show up — maybe one every 15 minutes, NASA meteor scientist Bill Cooke estimates. They’ll keep picking up the pace until before dawn on Sunday, when “you’ll see meteors appear all over the place,” he said. With a small crescent moon, the meteors will be more prevalent.

We hope to get a good viewing here in the mountains, if the skies are clear.

Did You Know?

Did you know there’s a festival just for celebrating twins? The Twins Days Festival, appropriately held in Twinsburg, Ohio, brands itself as the largest annual gathering of twins and multiples in the world. This year’s event was last weekend and you can see 17 sets of twins who attended and see their matching outfits.

If you missed any of my posts this week, check out my new spice cabinet here and a few of my favorite watermelon recipes here.

Have a wonderful weekend! Do you have any special plans? Whatever you do be safe and cool out there!