Of Shawlettes and Hand Towels

She loves to knit and make things with her hands. She makes hats for big and little heads, socks and slippers for cold feet,and  shawls and shawlettes for sisters and friends. Down below is what my sister Jenny gave me. A beautiful shawlette that I cannot wait to use. The color is autumn and the design is simply intricate. She actually has a pile of them already made waiting to be wrapped and gifted for Christmas time. Pray you're one of the lucky ones to receive her shawl. And oh, she uses NO cheap material for these.

Isn't this shawlette soooo beautiful?

When she gets tired of  knitting intricately designed shawls and shawlettes, she takes a break from them and she knits these beautiful hand towels using different designs. Again she asked me to take some, and I picked two. She said to pick more and so I got five. 

They are so beautiful, I don't think I can bear to use these.

Now down below is a stepping stone in my garden, which Jenny also made years back. She has a bunch in her own garden with different flowers on them. I remember when the both of us used to live in New Jersey and she first got into making these garden stepping stones, I could hear the whizzing of the machine at 5:00 in the morning!

 Look! she's started a new blue shawlette. That is mine too. It is my order and I insist on paying for it. The material is silky and expensive and the design I chose is delicate. Can't wait to have it.

You will NEVER find her hands idle....Jenny is always making beautiful things!!!

THANKS JENNY!!!!!

So I went to the beach this afternoon primarily to catch a beautiful sunset. Steve and Zach have gone ahead of me since I was busy folding laundry when they were ready to go. Truth is, I needed a 30-minute Me time so, I made myself pre-occupied. ;-)

On my way along the dunes, my unsuspecting eyes rested upon milkweed pods. I got excited and started taking pictures of my future green entree. Shoot! I did not bring a bag---how will I carry my loot back with all the sticky sap that seeps out of its stem?   Love finds a way, you know.

Some mature  milkweed pods that must be  boiled and eaten dipped in  vinegar and  anchovy sauce.   

And young pods to be married with butter and  garlic and a dash each  of salt and pepper

Then I saw some rosehips  that I have been wanting for the longest time to make. Hello rosehip jelly!!!!

I  noticed the sea rockets have  seeded. Can the leaves still qualify to make a crunchy salad? Hmmm...

Then I spotted where the two set camp. Seeing Zachary's wet hair, I knew they already frolicked in the water.

I posed for a remembrance picture (of my forty-some years) ;-)

Here's my loot from nature's bounty. Yes, I left a lot more in there so as the butterflies do not get shortchanged.

I found some other clusters of searockets and I could not  keep myself from picking a little bunch  to go with my salad tomorrow.


Oh, and the sunset I wanted to catch was not much at all. The sun actually hid behind the clouds and that was that!

We got home to NY tonight from a two-week vacation in Colorodo. What a blast we had visiting, sightseeing and camping with my sister Jenny and her husband David. We also met some of their friends who took us to places that inspired and took our breaths away.They had fishing, canoeing, ATV-ing. What fun! Another couple also showed us around the prestigious United States Air Force Academy from where their two daughters graduated. What inspiration they are to me in raising their daughters. My sister Jenny welcomed us to their beautiful log home that always had hummingbirds feeding on her syrup concoctions, deers grazing on grass and click-clacking grasshoppers as they fly around. Jenny and David showed us around Colorado, but even IF they didn't even a drive to town is quite breathtaking to see beautiful mountains of blue, purple, green and gray(the ones with the recently burnt trees) sitting so majestic all around their town. They took us to Pike's Peak, yup right on the summit with all 14,000 PLUS elevation above sealevel. Woof! I was out of breath for every two steps I made for lack of oxygen. The views are soberingly beautiful...the drive up was nerve-crunching esp. when all you see are nothing but empty space which means steep drops of the ravines. the drive down was no better...but everyone else in the SUV seemed to enjoy the drives both ways. I guess I was the only "scaredy-cat" in the bunch. Then Jenny and David brought us camping at Tin Cup Pass, 12,000 feet above sealevel. The drive up was arduous, the drive down was even worse, but the sceneries through the drive up and down were exhilarating. It was no light camping we did, yet Jenny and David had everything we needed. The meals cooked by bonfire were delicious. Zachary looked forward to the marshmallow roasting and s'mores and stargazing after. The roughest terrain we drove was going down from Tin Cu Pass, and after much jiggling and shaking and jostling and bumping we ended in a very beautiful and serene Mirror Lake. Just what we needed after the rough ride. There is much to be said about this wonderful trip, but now I will let the pictues do the talking. Thank you Jenny and David Ware for sharing this vacation with us!!! (pictures will be uploaded tomorrow...my eyelids are closing involuntarily!)

A bunch of TARO leaves (dashen bush for the Carribeans, gabi for Filipinos) makes good laing...

yup, it doesn't look very appealing, BUT...this laing dish is very delicious! Filipinos usually cook the  heart leaves super sun-dried, I like mine fresh and green cooked with ginger, coconut milk, shrimp paste, and shrimp with lots of chili hotness
(I made this dish a few days back and it gets better every day ...sooo satisfying...)

what do you do when this beauty down the block beckons?

why, go to it, of course! grab your swim suit, flipflops, book, a cold drink and hit the beach!

Zach's in his elements in this environment

Steve has set up ahead of me...

Zach tells me stories...I love to listen to his yappities

As I was eyeing the pretty rosehips (hello rosehip jelly!), I saw a  bunch of these searockets at the beach...I might go back later and pick some to make me salad...;-) and maybe catch the sunset...

yes, catch the sunset

This is how we ate the daylily buds and  milkweed tops I foraged in the Poconos.

green and purple frisee, tomato, artichokes and pickled daylily buds

 pickled daylily buds

spicy singapore meifum with milkweed greens and daylily buds

A Day at Tobyhanna State Park

Steve and Zach checking out Tobyhanna Lake

We took a walk on the path along the lake which as I discovered is lined with wild blueberry bushes

Zachary's hat comes in handy for the blueberries

Some milkweed tops was just too good to pass up

these blueberries will not reach home

We decided to hop on a rowboat and explore the lake

I spot a patch of water lilie, so I asked expert rower Steve to get us nearer

thewater  lilies have yet to open

on our way home I harvested some dayliliy buds along the road

We stopped by the recycling station before we went home.
What did I do with the milkweed and dayliliy buds?   That's for next entry)