What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Cooler temperatures, 5C on my walk this morning but warming to 15 the weather forecast has promised, and just like that I'm thinking of heartier fare. But first I need to catch up on the cakes...recently Beth made the birthday folk here a beautiful New York style Cheesecake with Strawberry Compote.  The cake had 5 ! packages of cream cheese in it and was the most sumptuous cake I've ever eaten. It was silky and so delicious. And Tony finished off the compote over a little ice cream. 

I loved the colours here below...the wild Goldenrod which ...

 It is a surprise each time I step out the front door and look at the flower beds. SO much growing and flowering without me having to lift a finger these days. Summer '23 will be one to note; I could say this summer has been good on flowers, which is phrasing used at home. 

I just have to show you all by itself the Madagascar Jasmine...what is it now, 5 years old maybe and I've never seen anything like this. If I coaxed a flower or two from it before, I rejoiced. But Mother Nature does it ...

 I guess the humidity and high temperatures are good for flowers. I've never had such huge blooms on the Hydrangeas...totally smothering flowers I've planted around them. I must make a note to move these in the fall. 

 He doesn't ...

 Picture me that cloudy end of February morning gathering sticks on land that most of the year is a foot under water. A cardinal was singing its song in the background. This is usually the only time of year I can walk through there and the pickings are good. I  could see where some animal had clawed bark off quite a few of the trees. Porcupine perhaps. Ned trotted from tree to tree with me then patiently sat and waited while I filled the bag. So full I had a hard slog getting him and it back to the house ...

 Recent -42C wind chill temperatures and here I am bundled up for my outdoor walks.  Don't you think I look chic? 

Will Hammell for Puck Magazine

We both got our bivalent vaccine booster shots on Monday and both had a sore arm but, thankfully, no other effects. At this point where there seems to be a smorgasborg of viruses circulating, I don't know if it will be a help or not. Lots of talk of a bad flu happening here though too. 

Leeanna's Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week was to share our favourite pumpkin recipe. I shared this dump cake recipe in this post back in 2019 because it was just so good and the perfect cake for autumn. As you ...

 I can make myself feel nostalgic with very little prompting. For instance, listening to Mandy Patinkin singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" always makes me feel a little sentimental. What a beautiful pure tenor voice he has!

It was white with lemon curd and she decorated it to look like ...

I'm not feeling up to par this morning. Yesterday I turned my left ankle on a late afternoon walk (am I fit to leave the house anymore???) and it throbbed lightly in the night, enough to wake me around 2 and I didn't get back to sleep till 4 ish. Up at 6:30 per usual with Ned and relieved the ankle is a little sore but totally walkable. That's the good news.

And that aside, what bothered me is this... it didn't occur to me to get up and take a Tylenol. That link between ...

The view out my kitchen window now the rose bushes on either side of the walkway are in bloom.  They will rebloom till frost gets at them in late October.

Another cake from daughter...a lemon one that I really loved. She made the lemon curd and combined it with a mousse cream topping.  It was just the treat with a cup ...

 So happy to be writing a Thursday things we like post.  Here is something I adore...Ned is now about 20 in dog years, fully grown, but he still tries to get in my lap. He will balance himself in the strangest poses just to stay for a little bit and get a good rub. 

Love the flowers that are blooming just now here in my corner of the world. This is a lilac bouquet I had at the farm. Though in bloom, my lone lilac tree here does not produce such fine flowers as the three at the farm ...

The Eastern Phoebes are nest building on the back of the house. I'd cleared out last years nests and two pairs are using the exact spots again. Location, location, location, I guess. LOL

 My research of one site showed this was a Thanksgiving cactus. Because it bloomed at Easter, I thought it might be one programmed for spring, but no. I couldn't remember the colour of the original plant, but turns out this is pink. The Geranium there is also budding.

Of note this week...

A little bit of Irish- I spent a lot of time with William's wonderful words in younger days and also off and on throughout my life. A key 20th century poet and Nobel Prize winner and Irish as well.  I especially love his phrasing. 

Thank you all for the interest in items from the last post. Answers to the questions I received...

January's cake: Daughter Beth made Rock Recipe's Orange Velvet Cake With Buttercream Frosting and the recipe is at that link. She says she has made almost all of Barry's Velvet cakes and they all turned out well...we've eaten quite a few of them and can certainly agree!

 The word for the start of February is SNOW and lots of it. I've been shovelling and shuffling about the trails. So pretty. Thursday's walk was through a winter wonderland. I kept stopping to look up,  gaze around at how beautiful the forest looked. Despite it is a bold look, and stark too with the brilliant white against all the black looking branches, I felt it was very calming.  

And the view through the window on the back stairwell always makes me stop and admire...in all the four seasons.

  We have Ned's litter mate, Petey, here with us for a while and I've been making sure they have been getting lots of exercise and attention. Being Labradors, they both are needy when it comes to pats and rubs.  All joyful to the two of us as we are basically in isolation and this is a pleasant diversion. It's also like old times to have two dogs again. 

Well, was it you who stole August?  Where in the heck did it go?  Is it just me or are we in some kind of time vortex that is collapsing the hours and days. My head is back there in July somewhere.  Anyway, the calendar says it's September so I'll just have to go along. 

Here is the little poem that Kathy Schmitz included with this September redwork embroidery pattern below she called Woodland. I can't believe I stitched this set back in 2018-seems like only last year.

           "In autumn when the wind is up,

             I know ...

Don't know how you folks in warmer climates do it!  I guess it's because I'm originally an east coast Canadian that the humidity really really gets to me. I find it isn't at all pleasant to walk, jog or garden in. I can't shake the idea that even breathing air like that is not good for you. 

But I'm all set up with overhead fans whirring and this in front of me.

I'm listening to Anne Tyler's Red Haired Girl By the Side of the Road.  I think I read it before ...

 Hello all. A sincere thank you for the emails we are still receiving. All read, all appreciated and put a smile on my face.

It has snowed; I've been shoveling. There has been sun and brilliant blue skies. There have also been frigid temperatures with wind chills in the minus twenties celsius.  Yes all since I last wrote to you. 

All in all, a normal February for us...actually perhaps warmer than usual because we haven't dipped to the minus thirties which is normal too for here. On the warmer days, daughter and Robbie have been here riding the little ski doos around the property.