PBS Cookie Swap

I don't believe that I shared the event my daughter-in-law and I attended several months ago at our local (one hour and forty five minutes away) PBS station. They were premiering the last PBS episodes of the Great British Baking Show and were having a viewing party prior to the first episode featuring a cupcake baking contest! We had such a good time and when the station introduced a Holiday Cookie Swap party prior to the showing of the final PBS Great British Baking Show Master Class, Christmas edition - I rounded up the whole crowd!

I rounded up two daughters, two daughter in laws, a granddaughter and one of my co-grammas, my oldest daughter's mother in law. Four of us, plus my newest 5 week old grandson made the trek while three of them live in the area. Our tickets allowed us to sample coffees from a coffee cart, treated us to two cookies (since we did not actually participate in the swap) and enjoy the big screen presentation of the Master Class with Paul and Mary. 

 Since we had an almost two hour road trip and the event started at 6:00 p.m., I packed Christmas boxed lunches for our journey.

We really cleaned up on the door prizes. Everyone had entered their names and the first winner was my co-gramma, who won the Milk Street cookbook. Next was my daughter in law, who also won a cookbook, Cooks Holiday Entertaining from America's Test Kitchen. The third winner was someone from another table and the fourth winner was my granddaughter who won a t-shirt. And, if you can believe it, the fifth and final ticket for the grand prize was me. I asked that they re-draw for the large book (I am not even sure what it was) since it is a little ridiculous for one table to win every prize LOL. 

Rememberance Garden

I was awakened one early morning last January by the sound of an ambulance. The lights reflected on my bedroom windows and I jumped out of bed thinking my elderly next door neighbor was ill. As I walked out into our dining room I could see flashing lights in every window of my house. I shouted for my husband and moved to look out the side door. 

A horrific sight unfolded.  The house across from me on the cul-du- sac was completely engulfed in flames stretching 3 stories high in the sky. We would later find out that nonfunctional smoke detectors failed to alert my neighbor Becky, her husband who was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, their adult son who was disabled and wheelchair bound and his service dog. All three would perish by smoke inhalation in the few short moments before our firefighters arrived. 

Our neighborhood was devastated. I was "facebook friends" with a few neighbors near me and we messaged all day long. I was recovering from surgery and was really depressed. Their burned house was right outside my kitchen window and there was a constant stream of traffic from my other windows. One teary afternoon, a school bus of children from the Catholic school stopped and prayed in the circle. There has to be something good that could come from this. 

My answer to most things is pie. I decided for Lent that I would do a service. I baked 10 pies each Saturday and took them around my neighborhood. I introduced myself, made them introduce themselves to me, commiserated about our tragedy and invited them to join a private facebook page I created for our neighborhood. I believe I made over 40 pies. 

Sharing and conversations led to a discussion of creating a memory garden in the circle near the house. Here we have Mr. Merry supervising the planting of a weeping cherry tree while preparing our flower bed. 

On a warm May morning, a group of neighbors gathered and planted the garden. Everyone donated flowers and some donated funds for the purchase of small flowering bushes. A nearby neighbor purchased the plaque. 

Another neighbor donated the lighthouse, one of Becky's favorite things and now a focal point of the garden. 

Small annuals provided summer color and we planted perennials to take hold and bloom next year. 

And while we planted, the house - boarded for almost 6 months by then, watched the garden take shape. 

My elderly neighbor donated the sleeping angel, which my grandchildren called "baby napping" as we took buckets over every day to keep the flowers alive during  a very hot and dry July.

In late July a neighbor, who is a disabled Viet Nam vet and felt bad he could not help with the gardening, donated the solar lights to showcase the garden after dark. The house had finally been torn down. 

Our Facebook page organized our very first block party in August. Despite temperatures that nearly reached 100 degrees, we had a great turn out. One neighbor who DJ's on weekends donated his services and the city granted us a permit to close the street. 

I took this picture of our garden in early October while a few brave marigolds still held the fort. I want to remember to plant some again next year for fall color. 

I won't mention the insurance company. It has been a struggle as a neighbor with a vacant boarded shell of a house, home to wildlife for six months, then demolition rubble, and now . . . nothing. It is my understanding that lumber to frame the replacement house will be delivered on November 30th and construction will begin in December. We had our first snow fall last night and I am wondering how that works. I feel so sorry for their surviving children. They are in their thirties with young families and this is never ending for them. 

But if one good thing has come from this horrible experience, it would be that we have transformed our neighborhood into our mini Mayberry.  We continue to "talk" on our Facebook page. People post lost pets, found garbage can lids in the wind, local information. We held a street-wide garage sale, admired everyone's teenagers in their homecoming togs, and lamented the lack of parking when our street was repaved this summer. We have even organized some outings (okay, ladies only). 

Now, when I look out my kitchen window, the memories of that horrible morning are starting to fade. There is still sadness with the loss of life, but I also see new beginnings when I look at our garden. 

And Now There Are Nine

Sometimes I just think to myself that 

I am the most blessed grandmother ever. 

And then another blessing appears. 

Announcing Baby Leo. 

Gramma Camp Wrap Up

I always have great ambitions of blogging again. I was going to do a five part series on the six days of my Gramma Camp. Well, it has been six weeks since camp, so let's just look at some highlights. 

I found a fun idea on Pinterest and gave it a spin. Why do tie-dyed t-shirts when a pillow case will last longer? I found bulk pillow cases on eBay, bought some inexpensive squirt guns and filled them with fabric paint mixed with a little water. Hung them dry, ironed them on high setting, washed in warm water, re-ironed and sent them home. The kids loved this one. 

 Painting tool boxes. Temperatures were in the 90's so we moved several activities indoors. 

 Luckily my youngest granddaughter has a pool in a nearby town and invited us over in the evenings. 

 My older grandchildren, a 10 year old and 8 year old twins are now my counselors and create activities on their own. 

 To escape the 100 degree temperatures on the third day we went to an indoor playground. 

 Then my husband and I took 8 grandchildren aged 10 and under to a Mexican restaurant by ourselves. Because we are that crazy. 

 I had an engineering challenge each day for the oldest four who do not take naps. This was constructing a house from spaghetti and mini marshmallows. 

 It cooled off slightly and we took them to a nearby "touch a truck" event and got caught in a horrendous thunderstorm. 

 Another Pinterest activity - suncatchers made from glue and glass beads. Note: glitter glue does not work. The glue evaporated and left the glitter. I refilled the plastic lids with regular glue and they are still drying

 More Pinterest

 The camp theme was construction so we learned how to make concrete. 

 We broke up chipped dishes and put them in cake tin filled concrete to make a walkway in my fair garden. FYI - 1 large bag of concrete fills 8 disposable cake pans. 

 Then my engineers made bridges from popsicle sticks. 

 We toured my granddaughter's Uncle Joe's farm where they have a cattle operation with almost 1,000 head of cattle. My counselors were very interested in the electrical grid and all the mechanics of the operation. They are still talking about it. 

 And my two year olds are still talking about the cows and mooing.

 They made Uncle Joe a giant thank you card. 

 The next morning we made our annual beach trip to the north coast. We can almost see Canada from here. 

 We always follow our beach outing with a trip to the local pizza buffet. 

 The engineers attempted gazebos from coffee stirrers. 

 We visited Uncle Michael's to check on the status of his vintage car project and enjoy a potluck dinner. 

 Then back to Uncle Troy's pool. 

And camp finished on Friday with a big kid trip to the Rutherford B Hayes Presidential Library and Museum. 

We dropped these kids off at their homes and immediately left for a funeral three states away. It was a very hot and very busy camp week. I always make Shutterfly photobooks for each family for Christmas to help remember all our camp memories.