The End of Summer

Well, it is official.  Summer is over in Fairbanks.  The geese and cranes are circling the skies getting ready for their long flight south.  The garden is about done producing.  The nights are chilly again and it gets dark.  And...there are a lot of sick trees on the hills turning yellow.

This poor, sick tree is turning yellow!  I just don't know why...

I got home from Seattle and cried leaving that little bundle of baby.  The other grandma (Nana) is so lucky, she will babysit three days a week.  I had to start drinking at the airport.  O.K. so I always drink at the airport, but this time I had a good reason.

Dave and I went camping last weekend.  It will be my last trip since my fall travel season starts soon and Dave will be out at moose camp starting on Thursday.  I cleaned all my stuff out of the camper for winter storage, except my electric toothbrush.  I'll have to use a manual brush until Dave gets over there to pick it up for me.  Oh those first world problems.

Chilling at our spot.

I am filling 4 black garbage bags with garden/flower stuff every evening.  I am hopeful I'll be finished before I leave on my first trip in a couple of weeks.  That really is my big plans for Labor Day weekend.  Yahoo.

Classes started for the Baby Boy.  This is his last semester and he will graduate in December. He is so over school, but excited that this is the first of the lasts (last first day back, last mid-terms, last homework assignment, etc.)  I made him this banana bread to help him through his first morning back.  It was a warm and delicious way to start the week.  He needed it too.  At dinner last night he told us how he wore his shirt inside-out for the first two classes.  Yea, and he is going to graduate and be on his own.

I hope your week is off to a good start.

1 year ago:    Tazlina Wedding
2 years ago:  Saying Goodbye to Lobo
3 years ago:  The wrong graham crackers and Lemon Bars
4 years ago:  Zucchini and Cheese Tart

August 29, 2016   Sunrise 6:24 am  Sunset 9:17 pm  Temp H 63/ L 39°F

Introducing Grayson Zachary, the beginning of the Grandma Adventure!

He is here!  After Mom going overdue, getting induced, pushing for 4 hours; that little stinker came via C-section. He came in wailing at 8 lbs. 1 oz, and 19 1/4 inches long. Mom and dad are recovering (although dad sure had it easy) and Grayson is home and settling in.

I am very lucky that my DIL wants me here and I have the ability to take some vacation leave from work so I'll be here a week.  I get cuddle time, diaper duty (I have already been peed on) and lots of pictures.

I also plan on getting 20 meals in the freezer for the kids.  DIL goes back to teaching as soon as she is healed, and the Curly Haired boy will be back to work before that, so sleepless nights with a newborn and working full time make for tired parents.  It makes me feel better that I can do something to help.
I will get to see this little guy every month with my travel schedule.  One nice thing about the kids living in the Seattle area, and flying out of Fairbanks you have to go through Seattle.

Grayson, just hours old.

I promise I will TRY not to just post pictures of my grandson, but I don't know that I can keep that promise.  A friend once told me, "There is only one most beautiful, smart, perfect baby in the world, and every mother has him."

I would add.."and every grandmother!"

1 year ago:    The First Talkeetna Zip Line Tour
2 years ago:   Introducing Nutella to a Friend via Nutella Pillows
3 years ago:   Teenage Braces and Oatmeal Cream Sandwiches
4 years ago:   An abundance of Zucchini and Moose Sausage Stuffed Zucchini

August 17, 2016  Sunrise 5:46 am  sunset 10:01 pm  Temp. H 73/ L 50°F

Saving A Life

I know I haven't been very consistent with blogging the last couple of months.  I've been busy, busy saving lives and stuff.

First, my parents are up for the summer so I get to have them over every night for dinner.  I get home from work, I make dinner, we play cards, they go home, I go to bed.  Sometimes I water my plants outside before I go to bed, sometimes I don't.  It has been a tough summer.

Second, we have been waiting for our grandson to decide it is time to be born.  As I write this, he is 5 days past his due date.  I know, that is not a lot of time, especially for a first baby, but it takes a lot of time wondering when he will decide to show up, worrying about him and my DIL, checking my phone, again, in case I missed a message from the baby parents...a lot of time.

Third, I've been finding these mushrooms in my yard and my neighbor's yard.  If you don't know, these are amanita mushrooms and they are deadly.  My kids went to a summer camp one year and part of a song (they still sing) is, "if you eat an amanita, that will be the end of you!"  So I am saving lives by finding these and picking them and throwing them away before some child or dog eats them.

So with such a busy summer schedule, you can see why my posts have been sporadic!  Hopefully, once the baby comes, my parents have to leave, and it gets too cold for mushrooms, I'll be back on my blogging game.  Until then...oh wait is that the baby parents texting me?

The REAL Grape Nut Bread

So, you know I have been hearing about this Grape Nut bread my dad kept thinking I made, so I found a recipe online, made it, had to make it again for it to turn out, and then presented it to my dad.

His response..."It's good, but it's not the same bread I remember."

So, back to the internet and my mom found this recipe.  I made it, had to make it a second time because I didn't cook it long enough and the center was doughy...I baked it the second time for a full 50 minutes in my convection oven and still a little doughy, so watch out.

Well, this "might" be it, but it was a long time ago and he doesn't really remember...

So here is a second type of Grape Nut bread for you to try.  It, too, is delicious and it is a quick bread, in that it uses baking powder and baking soda instead of yeast.  If you have Grape Nuts, you should try it.

Grape Nut Bread #2
adapted from A Family Feast

2 cups buttermilk
1 cup Grape Nut Cereal
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350˚F.
Spray bread pan generously with cooking spray.

In a large bowl mix buttermilk and Grape Nuts.  Let sit for 15 minutes.  Stir in baking soda.  In a small bowl mix sugar, flour and baking powder.  Add to buttermilk mixture and stir until well incorporated.  Place dough into pan, spreading dough into corners.  Bake for 50-60 minutes until bread is very brown and sounds hollow when you thump the top.  If bread begins to brown too much, cover with foil for last 10-15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes in pan.  Remove bread from pan to a wire rack to cool before cutting.

1 year ago:    Fishing in Homer
2 years ago:  New Cookbooks and Brandy Alexander
3 years ago:  Rhubarb Sauce for Rhubarb Crumble Bars
4 years ago:   Grandma McFadden's Zucchini Chocolate Cake

August 5, 2016  Sunrise 5:06 am  Sunset 10:45 pm Temp H 67/L 56˚F