Our great friend J. C. tells all about house and pet sitting across the country and the world!
For more information check out:
Noodle rodeo, hot weather, swimming in the pond, annual chicken liver pie birthday celebration, delightful visitors.
Buffalo Mountain Zipline, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway
A Little Sweet...
Mary Locke's lovely bags at Poppy's
|
|
|
Lenny Mud Yarn Bowls at Poppy's |
|
|
|
Phoenix by Hooked on Sunshine |
A Little Tart...
Trees that are close to our heart. The Handy Tree, Patrick County, Virginia
Friends in High Places by Katie Letcher Lyle
The devastation of the chestnut blight
A Little Unexpected...
Trees by Joyce Kilmer
Music Attributions:
Things are busy in Meadows of Dan. Leslie is busy at her shop, Poppy's and Beth has been working at the Reynolds Homestead featuring the Bushels and Barrels Festival and the annual book sale. Leslie also demonstrated spinning at Solitude at Virginia Tech for the Crooked Road Homecoming celebration. Beth talks about her Wild Women gathering today.and a special funeral where a Red Hat group honored a friend.
A Little Sweet....
 |
| Butterfly - Papillion Shawl |
Leslie is still making socks.
 |
| Hopscotch Socks from Think Outside the Sox, pattern by Lisa Swanson |
Mix and Match Knitting Tools from katrinkles on etsy.
 |
| Amy's Ball of Ladders Shawl with Wolles Creation Yarn |
|
|
|
Poppy's in Meadows of Dan |
Catching up on all the news. Leslie's new shop, Poppy's, at 10 Concord Road in Meadows of Dan. Beth has been busy including a trip to West Virginia for a sister's birthday celebration. Hat making at the Reynold's Homestead for Mother's Day.
 |
| "Merry Widow" Hats |
Rhododendron and other beautiful spring flowers on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
A Little Sweet....
Lenny Mud yarn bowls at Poppy's.
 |
| Dreamin' of Tulips Sock in Lion Brand Sock-Ease Yarn |
A Little Tart...
Special guest Aida tells about her special name, how she found Meadows of Dan and about her interesting adventures on a motorcycle. Willville Motorcycle Camp in Meadows of Dan. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
A Little Unexpected...
Quotes from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.
“When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion.”
“The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.”
“You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge.”
“Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive”
“We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone. ”
“In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”
Music Attributions:
Catching up on Reynolds Homestead and other adventures.
A Little Sweet...
Jemima Duck Soft Toy Knitting Pattern
Duck Yarn Bowl by KidAnMePotteryAndArt
A Little Tart...
 |
| Duck postcards |
Spirit animals, especially ducks, and animals as signs, robins and killdeer as signs of spring.
 |
|
Return of the Bird Tribes by Ken Carey
|
Red Dog, movie
Beautiful Joe by Margaret Marshall Saunders
Lad, A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune
A Little Unexpected...
Great article by local author in Blue Ridge Outdoors, Jack's Trail Review by Rebecca Adcock.
Music Attributions:
Welcome to Quince!
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
A Little Sweet...
 |
| Mary Maxim Head Hugger Vintage Pattern |
 |
| Lost in Time Shawl |
A Little Tart...
"The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?" Yann Martel, Life of Pi.
A Little Unexpected...
Reviews of food boxes
 |
|
Our beautiful area, Lover's Leap near Meadows of Dan, Virginia |
After being AWOL for three months, the girls catch up with all that has been happening.
Reynolds Homestead Victorian Christmas
Lots of cancellations in the area because of snowstorms and ice storms. Kindle On Deck to the rescue after a long power outage.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Making memories for Thanksgiving and Christmas, an intervention for Beth to set up her lovely new TV from her son.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Beth is being dragged into the 21st Century with a new phone, Echo and other Smart stuff gifted by her son. Do all these things threaten our privacy?
Hillbilly Drug Baby by Andrea Brunais
Time for a lifestyle change for Leslie with the help of Noom
A Little Sweet...
The new KnitPicks catalog
Spectra Bleeding Art Tissue for dyeing
Super Fine Sampler by Marken of the Hat & I
Susie's Reading Mitts by Janelle Masters
Yax Trax and snowshoes
A Little Tart
The Monday Night Book Club
Code Girls by Liza Mundy
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd
A Little Unexpected
Antique Postcard and Collectibles Club Dinner Recipe
 |
| From Beth's Collection, a postcard with a corn pudding recipe |
Music Attributions:
by _ghost
featuring Pitx
Meadows of Dan and Reynolds Homestead happenings. Shearing a rabbit, yard sales, gynecologists, hurricanes, flood memories and guardian angels.
|
|
A Little Sweet...
|
|
|
Crocheted Blanket Pattern by TheHatandI |
|
|
|
Leather Wrist Ruler by Ilovehandles |
A Little Tart...
Inspired by the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, the topic is "Laying Down Your Life."
"16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."
The ways to serve friends and communities. Sacrifice the friendship when you have to let go because of destructive behaviors. Cut people slack. Be present for people. Motherhood. Reaching out to friends and others in trouble.
"let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow." - Kahlil Gibran
A Little Unexpected...
|
|
Music attributions
Catching up on the news. Beth's memoir classes. College for Older Adults at the Reynolds Homestead. Meadows of Dan Folk Fair and Story Space. Way too hot in Meadows of Dan this week. Guests Ruthie and Amy. Rainbows and skunks. Vintage Tony the Tiger doll that Beth bought for herself when she was very young.
A Little Sweet
|
|
|
Amy's beautiful yarn and Tony the Tiger |
Long color changes in yarns.
A Little Tart
Life on the farm with rabbits, chickens, goats, Knightley and Emma and their kitty Darcy. Beth and her kitty Clue have a skunk friend.
|
|
|
Leslie's little bandits |
Life with wild animals on the mountain.
A Little Unexpected
Contest! Contest! Contest!
Tell us a fun or unusual birthday meal request and win a prize! More info in the previous post.
Sure cures for bad muscle cramps in the legs.
"I Can Sing a Rainbow" song.
Empower Yourself to Live Well with Alpha-Gal
Dealing with ticks in the environment with tick tubes that attack the ticks in the nest.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy
Music attributions
Adventures for Beth at Chataqua Institution, whimsy and wisdom. Leslie's adventures in swimming.
A Little Sweet...
Black tri Australian Shepherd stitch markers
 |
| Inca Trail by Svenlana Gordon |
A Little Tart...
A discussion of salesman samples inspired by Reynolds Homestead Tidbits of History. Many types, including book samples and caskets, that were available into the 1970s.
A Little Unexpected...
Grandma Flanagan's Taylor Cakes / Molasses Cookies
1 cup boiling water
2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup Crisco
1 cup molasses
5 cups sifted flour
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 pinch of cloves
2 beaten eggs
Dissolve baking soda in boiling water. Add brown sugar, Crisco, molasses, flour, cinnamon, salt and cloves to baking soda-water, and mix thoroughly. Add beaten eggs last and gently blend. Drop by spoonfuls (they do not spread) onto a greased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes. Yield: several dozen little cakes, depending on spoon size.
Frosting: Mix browned butter, a little cream and vanilla to flavor with enough confectioners sugar to spread well. Frost cooled cakes. Do not stack cakes, frosted or unfrosted.
This is a recipe from the 1800s, and makes soft, delicious molasses cookies. Mary Lois Barnes Flanagan was a 1910 graduate of the Lucy Webb Hayes Deaconess School in Washington, D. C.
******************
A Contest! A Contest! A Contest!
What's the most unusual meal anyone ever asked you to make for their birthday dinner? Send us an email, make a comment on our Facebook page or on this web site, or mail us a postcard (we love them) to the address in the right column of the web site, with a description of the most unusual meal or dessert that anyone ever asked your for as a birthday request. We'll put together an impartial panel and the best entry will win a prize of handmade, antique and scrumptious things from Meadows of Dan. It has to be a REAL request and we hope to have a lot of fun with this on the podcast. We WILL mention your names. Deadline August 31, 2018.
