Betony Teaches Art Class

And here are some pictures of Betony teaching her classes. For those of you who haven't seen Bet in action, you should know that she puts 110% forward all the time. We are all proud of you Betony! You are a great Art Teacher! Papa and Mama

Camera!

Last night at church, I discovered yet another person who has the same problem I do with my camera. And she knew how to make it work!!!! Yeah, my camera is back. All it takes is a good whack on the bottom of the camera. Some piece must be loose in the inside. So, pictures are coming soon!
Love you all,
Bet
P.S. Katie, call me, I can't get a hold of you!

House Pics for Willow

Hi Villow- here are those pics I said I would put on. The house is a mess, but you'll get the idea at least! The blue bedroom is your room! So now you have to come up! And all the bags on the sun porch are full of pellets for our stove. Love you!!!! - Katie
PS - Papa I saw the ermine again this morning out in the back yard! I was trying out our snow shoes and saw him (her?) running around on the snow at the east side of the yard! Sandy is mad that he missed it! But cool huh!

ALMOND CRUNCH!

ALMOND CRUNCH

1 ½ cups almonds roasted and chopped

Combine and cook to hard crack stage or 300 degrees on candy thermometer:
1 cup butter
1 ½ cups sugar
3 Tbsp. corn syrup
3 Tbsp. water

Add all but 1/3 cup of almonds. Spread on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil for easy removal. Cool.

Melt: 8 oz. milk or semi-sweet chocolate. Cover cooled candy with a layer of chocolate. Sprinkle with some of reserved nuts. Cool and repeat with other side if desired. When cooled break into bite sized chunks and store in a covered container.

Snow, Snow and more Snow!

Our New Red Stove!

Hi! Here's some pics of from this morning having our new stove put in! And two pics of Monday morning when the sun was coming up early and the mist was rising from the river. Love you all! -K

Little guy at my back door

Good morning everyone!

This morning, Sandy left the garage door open (as usaual :) ) and so I was going out to close it and as I came back up the steps at the back door a little white face peeked out at me from beside the steps. I quickly got inside and watched the little ermine from the window. He/she had its beautiful white winter coat and a little black dot at the end of its tail. I didn't take this picture but found it on the web for you all to enjoy! I hope I'm right that its an Ermine, maybe Papa you will know better. It was an amazing site!
It's pretty darn could here today (-10!) and all of the trees are frosted with a very light snow and there is steam rising from the river out back. Actually its all quite beautiful!!!
The cats are wild this morning - pretty much like every morning! I'm just puttering today, getting some prints ready for a lady here in town, maybe going to the bank, and doing some painting! Also I might find something yummy to make for dinner. Hope you're having a grand time there at home Pip and I know you all in CO are having blast! I love you all soooo much! Katie

Pics from VT Thanksgiving!

Just a few moments of great times! Love you all! Katie

Canadian Joke!

I think everyone, especially sandy should be pretty entertained by this!!

A funny joke about how God created Canada
Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Heaven, God went missing for six days. Eventually, Michael the archangel found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God, "Where have you been?" God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look Michael, look what I've made." Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?" "It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put LIFE on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a place of great balance." "Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused. God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth, "For example, Northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth while Southern Europe is going to be poor; the Middle East over there will be a hot spot. Over there I've placed a continent of white people and over there is a continent of black people," God continued, pointing to different
countries. "This one will be extremely hot and arid while this one will be
very cold and covered in ice." The Archangel, impressed by Gods work, then pointed to a large landmass in the top corner and asked, "What's that one?" "Ah," said God. "That's Canada, the most glorious place on Earth. There are beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers, streams and an exquisite coastline. The people from Canada are going to be modest, intelligent and humorous and they're going to be found travelling the world. They'll be extremely sociable, hard working and high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace. I'm also going to give them super-human, undefeatable ice
hockey players who will be admired and feared by all who come across them." Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed; "What about balance, God? You said there will be BALANCE!" God replied wisely. "Wait until you see the loud-mouth bastards I'm putting next to them...."

For Bet

Pics: My friend Carol and I at the art fair yesterday, we shared a table. The pick-up trucks at the dealership across from us, all of them with snow ploughs on them! And another ornament I painted.

Spinach Pie:

*buy phyllo soon so it has time to thaw!

1 med potato - peeled and cut into small cubes
1 carrot - peeled and cut into cubes
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
10 ounces fresh spinach (large stems removed)
1 cup cottage cheese
2 or 3 pinches nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt, or more, to taste
fresh gound pepper
4 phyllo sheets (thawed) - but I would double this to 8 sheets!
3 tablespoons melted butter (this will need to be doubled too)

In small pan cook potato and carrot cubes until tender, about 10mins, drain and run under cold water - set aside

In skillet, heat olive oil and add onion and saute until soften - about 5 mins. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add spinach in two or three batches at a time, letting each batch wilt before adding more.

Take spinach off heat and put into food processor. Add cottage cheese, nutmeg and 1/2 tsp salt and the pepper. Adjust seasonings if you like. Puree the mixture well.

Peheat oven to 400F. Lay out phyllo sheet on cutting board and brush with butter, put another sheet on top and continue until all are used with butter spread on top of last one. Cut the phyllo in half crossways so that the pieces are 8 1/2 by 11 inches.

Gently mix together spinach mixture, potatos and carrots all together and pour into 8X10 casserole dish. Place plyllo layers over top. You might need to tuck in the edges of the dough to fit the pan.

Bake the pie for 20mins or until the phyllo is golden brown. Yummy!


Pumpkin Bread Pudding:

1 baguette cut into 2 inch slices
3 eggs
3 1/2 cups whole or low fat milk
1/2 nutmeg
2 tsp ginger (but I used 1 tsp and even that I thought was too much! - I don't think I'll even use any next time!)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree (I used fresh, but they say you can used canned too)
3/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Cover bottom of 10x13 inch pan with bread slices.

Whisk everything except brown sugar together and pour over bread slices. Push them down into mixure so they soak it up. Let stand to soak in for 10 mins.

Bake pudding for 45 to 50 mins, until knife comes out clean. Let pudding cool for 10 mins.

Sprinkle brown sugar over top and place under broiler. Broil until sugar starts to bubble. Watch really close! It doesn't take long at all! I was wathcing it and I even burned it a little! Be careful at this part! :)

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream! Totally yummy!

Love you! Katina

Good morning everybody!
Finally we got some actual snow!! It has been ssooo cold here the last week or two. It's really funny walking around campus because we are all so cold that we bundle up in lots of layers from head to toe, so only our eyes can be seen. It's like a bunch of eskimos walking around. It makes it hard to recognise people! Last night Erin and I went to Yoga and the teacher asked us if we might be interested in getting our Yoga liscences and maybe be able to teach it starting in the summer. Isn't that cool!! I really hope it works out. After Yoga we were going to go to Panera and do some studying but the roads were so bad and it was so cold that we just decided to go back to the dorms and study there. I am so ready for finals to be over and christmas break to start!
Well I have a crossword that is calling my name!
I love you all!

A thought

We don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think humans should live, in definance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory. Howard Zinn

Early December Pictures

Here are a few seaonal pictures. Selecting the tree, decorating the tree, the finished tree, Mom at work, and Woo reading a book.

Beautiful Poster for PestaRoo

Here is the poster that Bet made for me, for my Pest Convention in KCMO, this next week. I think she did a great job. Also Betony is flying out to hlep me in my booth and in my presentation. I can't wait! I'll have her for 2 1/2 days. We'll have a great time! I'm hoping we also sell some software!

Christmas Ornaments

Hi all - I was telling Mom about the Christmas ornaments I've been painting for an art show this weekend and said I would put some pics on the blog - so here they are. I'm using brown paper pre-made balls, bells and stars with watercolor, a little acrylic and gold paint. I think if I don't sell the little peace dove I'll send it to the Seymours for x-mas. I also put together a wreath for Anne and Bill which I think turned out well. And Simone loves to play in the leftover greenery! I love you all! Katie