Apps, Apples, Alphabets

 

Today begins bloggers’ month long challenge—A to Z.  What does this mean?  Bloggers can take the challenge anyway they mean.  It could be taking one topic and dissecting it piece by piece to write about it.  Or it can mean to take one subject at a time. 

I really don’t have a certain topic to dissect each day—I’m taking the challenge to blog about letters of alphabet.  Thus begins this day with letter of A. 

It is after all April Fool’s! Which fits perfectly beginning with A. 

The last few days, I’ve been experimenting with Apps—some are good, while some are costly, others pop with ads, hence making them free.  I highly recommend this app—Merlin Bird ID.

I was amazed how the app picked up the bird song amongst all outside sounds and identified the bird!  A walk in the woods would be great with this app—it picks up every bird it hears. 

Ohh, so many apps!  There is the Star gazing app—Up Ahead app, audio tour through various national parks; song apps, knitting apps, game apps, book apps—how did we ever live our lives without apps? 

Now, let’s discuss apples!

Take your pick!  Such a variety all year long.  My mother-in-law always said “an apple a day keeps the doctor away!”   

She would buy a bushel of apples in the fall, keep them in the basement to have her apple a day!  She lived to be 95!  

There you have today’s A—see you later for B

Noah’s ARC

870 acres!! 

You can not imagine how this impacts your life.  

On our journey to this destination, we read the story of Noah and the building of the ark.  The Bible story is just a few lines—we had so many questions!  

And never! Never believe how our eyes and mind was opened. 

At arrival, it looks much like an amusement park with lines criss crossing to bus loading that takes you to the Ark, which you can see in the distance.

As we waited in line, I couldn’t help but think, everyone here is interested in the Bible and the story of Noah.  

It was a great friendly happy group!

Our travel crew pose in front of Ark

Map of the park—be prepared to walk!

Before you reach the Ark entrance, there are many informative exhibits along the path, as well as live animals that might have been a species of passengers. 

First impression—oh wow!  It’s Huge!

How did Noah and his two sons build this??  How long did it take? 

The twelve stones

Inside bottom level—some clay pots used for food storage—I took many photos of storage elements—just in awe to think ANY and ALL had to be made before the flood waters came.  

AND prepared by Noah’s family!  

Look up!!  The structure is unbelievable!

More storage containers

Info on building of Ark

More answers to our questions 

The third level—we skipped the second ( contained several exhibits that impacted the reason to build the Ark)going up to work our way down. Ramps move visitors floor to floor. 

This level was mostly the living quarters for the family along with some animal cages.  The lowest level was shown to have various cage sizes

There was display of rock weighted loom

Bird cages on third level—so many exhibits, films, lectures, music events, virtual theaters—it is a world of knowledge packed in this 870 acres.

And now, it’s time to board the bus back to the car park—we had a delicious lunch and chance to shop, 

This could definitely take two or more days—there are other interests for family—zoo, zip line, climbing tower, etc.  the over all park is extremely educational.  

GO VISIT!! You won’t regret it. 

 

Road trip continues

 Crossing over into Tennessee, we are now on interstate highways: lots of 18 wheelers, less green nice scenery, some dogwood trees and redbud trees.  Rather boring drive now!  Perfect time to knit without distraction. I’m working on socks from bits of stash. 

Across the Mississippi River bridge into Memphis—we spy downtown and Tennessee welcome center

Area for Elvis, King of Rock and Roll

And blues musician, B B King.  

We tune our music to some Elvis and BB King blues. 

Tennessee has many state parks, civil war battle fields, Land Between the Lakes, lots of state police patrolling the Interstate!  

Nashville!!  Music City!!  We do not stop this trip. 

Onward to our night destination—Lexington, KY.  

We enjoy our dinner in the hotel lobby.  Earlier in the day, we had purchased spinach salad, bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, cheese/meat tray, etc.  it was a treat to enjoy the small meal along with our Texas wine.  We brought along several variety of Girl Scout cookies to pair with a white and red wine. Yum! Yum! 

The next morning we left hotel @ 7 AM drive to Buffalo Trace Distillery;  arrived @ 8 to reserve place in line for bourbon special of the day.  Each day a different bourbon is presented to those in line, with wristband.  It’s interesting wait, make new friends as we wait.  Once open, line moves quickly inside to receive our wristbands—boom, you’re ready to hit gift shop and or take a tour.  Some tours require a reservation. 

Products sign featured for day is located on the entry door of the gift shop.  So many things you can buy!  

The day is still early, which gives us the opportunity to continue to Williamstown, KY and our major destination—Noah’s Arc!  

Road trip!!

Nothing like a road trip!

 The car is packed!  All four of us found our place in the car—driver, navigator/educator ride in front; two more in the back seat—I’m happy to ride as a back seater so my hands can be flying with yarn through my fingers!  I’ll get some knitting finished is my goal. 

If you are the front seat navigator/educator, it is your duty and responsibility to keep other passengers abreast of any road side attractions, historical markers, wildflower sightings, places of interest and of course, it is their duty to find good places to rest stop and eat. 

Back seat riders can heckle, taunt, bring attention to any wrong turns; and nap!  After two or three hours, we’ll swap seat assignments. 

Our trip takes us northeast—across Texas!  Hopefully, we’ll make our first night lodging in good time—it’s a must to have some wine and snacks before dinner time. 

First stop—load up on breakfast tacos from our favorite taco truck—Tex Taco.  Just a little off the beaten path but oh so good!  

We’re on back roads through Texas.  So many quaint, interesting small towns along the way.  One stop for lunch was Jefferson, TX.  We chose Caddo Lake Eatery—there was a pot of pinto beans on the back table, sign—“one bowl per person”  yum! Yum!  Menu item was cornbread salad!  One order was cornbread square for our beans!  We walked short three blocks to double deck red bus for cupcake creations. 

We had a good history lesson about this small Texas town.

On the road again—arriving to our destination. First night stop in Little Rock, Arkansas.  What to eat here?  Always the question!! 

Possum pie!  Oh my! Possum? Really?  Not really—possum pie is a rich chocolatey dessert—

For breakfast—chocolate gravy over biscuits!  No way!  But, I’ll try it once. 

Onward we go—

Preparing

 Preparing for Easter!!  First—we must plan our menu

Second—issue an invite.   Third—learn how to boil an egg.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it;  boiled eggs are the star of Easter and they need to be center stage.  

Got to have boiled eggs for dyeing, right?  Yes, boiled eggs get a pretty shiny coat of color before we mash them for egg salad, deviled eggs, potato salad, nicoise salad, pickled eggs, Cobb salad, etc etc etc

Learn to boil an egg!!  What method to use?  Instapot?  Boiling water on stovetop? Air fryer? Oven?  Coffee maker?  Add baking soda or salt to water?  Poke small hole in egg shell? 

Once cooked—will the egg peel easily?  Too many means to an end for peeling!  Favorite way?  Mine way is to put in glass jar, seal with lid and shake, shake with hopes the egg shell will loosen completely!  Good luck with your method. 

So many questions—just to have a boiled egg for Easter!!

Ok—what else is on the menu?  Hot Cross Buns—definitely!  All the essential Spring items—asparagus,  green peas with new potatoes, ham, lamb chops, baby carrots, green beans…….

And I have this pretty dish for those devilish eggs!

Menu solved—now, what to put in the youngsters’ baskets?  

A visit to Joann’s fabric store helped with that situation!  Most every item was discounted—bonus!

The 2.5 yr old great grandson will love this walking bunny that poops jelly beans.

Found two new Crayola for my collection—love these!

Another basket item for 2.5 yr—

And for the 13 month old baby, this!!

And of course, plastic eggs filled with various candies, cookies, treats. 

That’s alllllll folks!!

Just Can’t!!

 It’s been almost two weeks since time change and I just can’t get my body turned around to adjust.  I know it’s only an hour BUT it’s that hour ‘jump’ ahead that gets me!!  I had the routine down pat, after that fall back change took place last fall.  I admit, it took For-ever, though!!!  Of course, when I get use to losing that hour, it will be time to Fall Back!  Really? 

I just can’t get over—March is half way gone!  That’s what happens when you get older—time goes faster and faster, even when you’re sitting still. 

There are decisions being made about food buying and watching our budget.  Just can’t get over the price of some things.  Now, that warmer weather is arriving, we’ll eat more salads; which brings the mind to making our own salad dressings.  

One of my gifted birthday presents was this handy dandy immersion blender—mixes well in small amounts, just what is needed for salad dressings.  

The other night we had grilled Romaine Lettuce with Caesar dressing. I wanted to make the original kind using anchovies, coddled egg yolk—no mayo as some recipes added. 

Usually, you mash the anchovies in a garlic rubbed wooden bowl—just can’t imagine me doing that; besides, our kitchen isn’t equipped with such a bowl.  Into the little blender went the anchovies, coddled egg yolk, garlic, whole grain mustard, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire, olive oil—give it a whirl, taste and adjust to your taste!  

Hubby grilled the Romaine lettuce (cut in half with core intact.). Once off the grill, we squeeze lemon juice over the lettuce, sprinkle with salt and pepper, pour over our homemade dressing and top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  Tasty! 

And that’s just what we can’t do without—homemade salad dressings!!

Let’s Give it a Try!

 I most often give some things a try.  The headline stated—“most delicious dessert—so simple  and delicious”. I didn’t doubt the word delicious when I looked at the you tube video BUT then came ingredients list and step by step—not simple by any means.  Yes! Delicious it would be with dark and milk chocolate, whip cream, cream cheese, peanuts, and the list went on and on!  

Needless to say, after the first step of coating a ridged plastic box with melted chocolate, I gave up!  Nope—not simple enough for me! 

Melva loves Scraps blog post for her 2024 quilt along, she stated she was making this project “quilt as you go” I’ll try that!  We are unable to use our local quilt shops long arm machines by ourselves.  I need help getting some tops quilted.  I'm ready to try this method.

In my research, I found several different methods to quilt as you go.  Here is some idea of what is involved. 

There are many different ways you can do this, but the basic idea is all pretty much the same: you stack your pieced block, with batting and backing cut to the same size, sandwich them together and quilt them first, and then actually join blocks together.

Here is one way to complete smaller projects.  I'm interested in trying Melva's way to complete a much larger top.  

Years ago, our quilt group had a brilliant quilter who had her way to quilt as you go.  I did try that method.  She made her garments and small quilts reversible.  

Let's give Melva's method a try!