Joy of Puzzles

 I have always enjoyed jigsaw puzzles, so it isn't a surprise that I would have them around the house. Jayson and Corina like puzzles and so does Makynlee. Isla follows whatever her sister does, so she says she likes them too.

Today, Makynlee went to town on solving puzzles. I picked up a large size 100 piece puzzle with different animals about a week or so ago especially to challenge Makynlee. Makynlee would tell me her favorite animals on the puzzle, and sometimes would pick up a piece that she would recognize. But this puzzle has a shaped and numbered map and puzzle pieces that have a number on the back. She has two ways of identifying where each piece goes. Though it took her awhile she really enjoyed putting it together. 

Then she had the bug and wanted to put more puzzles together. I brought out the wooden puzzles for young kids, so Isla joined in and after Makynlee had solved most of them, she would take Isla's finished puzzles and solve them again while Isla was finishing another. 

Isla enjoyed her own play while Makynlee was busy

Nothing like success!

Makynlee finished all of them

Do as you do

 Younger girls like to imitate older girls. Amber is so happy when she is with her cousins.  She loves to do what they are doing. Sometimes it is difficult for a one-year old to do the same things a three-year old and especially a five-year old can do. But she will try! The girls played happily in the backyard. Amber picked up whatever it looked like the other girls would pick up. She didn't notice that they picked up a regular ball while she picked up dried up grapefruit. Hey a ball is a ball! It worked out better when they were all eating an apple.

Nona and Opa talents

 Jeffrey has so much fun with his granddaughters. Of course he loves and has fun with all of his grands, but the two girls are here often at the house, so life often revolves around them. 

This week the girls' Opa had a nice rambunctious up and down time and then he read Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel - stories which he used deep voice for Toad and a higher voice for Frog. The story was fun for all in the room.

Jeffrey reading low voice Toad

When the girls came again, their Nona gave them a lemonade tea party, and had them play with puzzles, safari animals, and more puzzles.

To the Temple with a friend

 Yesterday, Jeffrey and I with our neighbor Ruth went up to Yuba City and toured the Feather River Temple during the open house they are having. It looks like the church building and temple are brand new. The cool thing is the trees they had at the temple looked very old. The construction around them must have been complicated. I am not sure how they got the olive trees in the four corners there. They look like they have been in that place for years, but I found they are 100 year old trees that have been transplanted. The tree on the side has been there for years. Here are some of the facts.

The temple has beautiful stained glass windows and looks so lovely. I heard that everything about the temple construction is local.

We enjoyed the time with Ruth very much. She is easy to talk to and has so many wonderful things to contribute to any conversation. I got some very good ideas from her for future young women activities.

She is a really delightful neighbor and good friend.

In front of 100 year old Olive Trees

Ah moments

 

From Faith Kilcorse the next day:

"Oh my goodness guys thank you so much for the soft pretzels!!! You guys just made my hard school day great!!! Yea we couldn’t make it to the activity because my dad got his kidney stone! And my mom took him to the ER, so yea THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Love you all!

"

Soft Pretzels

 I am posting this so I don't lose it again. When I need to make pretzels in the future, I won't have to run all over to find the recipe. 

Soft Baked Pretzels

 

1 pkg active dry yeast (1 Tbsp)

 2 Tbsp brown sugar 

1 1/8 tsp salt 

+

1 ½ cup warm water 

+

4 cups flour (add until dough is malleable – maybe not full 4 cups)

Knead, grease bowl, cover and rise for 1 hour

 

2 Tbsp baking soda

2 cups warm water

Dip pretzels in soda water

 

2 Tbsp butter, melted to brush on baked pretzels

1-2 Tbsp coarse kosher salt or cinnamon Sugar

 

In a large mixing bowl add yeast, brown sugar and salt. Using 1 ½ cups warm water to touch add to bowl. Stir to dissolve. Add flour and stir well.

Place dough on floured surface. Knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Grease a large bowl. Place dough in bowl then turn dough upside down to coat the surface. Cover with a towel and let rise for one hour in a warm place.

Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8" square pan. After the dough has risen, divide it into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 1 ½ foot rope about ½" wide. Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the baking soda solution. Place on cookie sheets and let rise 15-20 minutes.

Bake at 450F for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter, and then sprinkle with coarse salt or cinnamon sugar. 12 servings

 

Dip pretzels in mustard or caramel sauce

 

Another flavor option is to sprinkle parmesan cheese over pretzels before baking.

 

Making Soft pretzels

 Our young women's activity last night was making soft pretzels. We had decided to give them to those who couldn't make it. Five girls showed up and we had help from some small cousins. But chaos reigned for some of the time because the guys were making chili and corn bread. Lots of people in the kitchen.

I had prepared three batches, one already done, one rising ready to bake, and dough that needed to be shaped and dipped in soda water before rising again. Rosie brought ready made pizza dough to make pretzels with and her recipe called for boiling water with soda that the pretzels were dipped in for 30 seconds. It made me wonder if my recipe had left out a little of the proceedings. 

The Girls who showed up:

Rosie Mannion, Alice Chapman, Emily Score, Emily Fawcett, Brin Muhlstein

Utility among chaos

Rock Salt on some, cinnamon and sugar on others.

Tiny bits with the left over dough

Finished Product:

These were the show and tell pretzels - the only ones that were made with parmesan cheese.

Drama in the Church Parking Lot

Arriving at 6:45 pm at the church, I noted the white RV in the corner of the parking lot and wondered who was staying over night. I went in to make sure the ovens were on to cook our soft pretzels. It wasn't even seven o'clock when there was great excitement and the kids who had been running around outside came in to report that there was a fire in the parking lot.

It was almost unbelievable how fast and furious that fire was. We kept hearing small explosions and sometimes the burst of flames from the vent on top went high. One kid reported seeing a man fleeing calling, "FIRE!" By the time I got outside the fire trucks were already there and water was flowing - not that we could see any diminishing flames. Even the trees had little embers flaring in them. I can't help but wonder what the story was about the RV. 

Fully engulfed in minutes

Avid Audience

Dipsea Trail with Prince

 Jeffrey and Prince traveled some of the Dipsea Trail from Stinson Beach to Muir Woods Visitor Center. Unknown to us is the fact that all parking at Muir Woods Visitor Center is reservation only and NO cell phones, internet etc. works there. 

The intrepid two take off from Stinson Beach trailhead and Prince is nice enough to send his location notification. Since I have some time, I simply go stick my feet in the ocean. After an hour or so I check in with them though their cell phones are spotty. I decide to go wait for them at the Visitor Center. Oh jolly fun -- NOT. After driving around getting lost in the fog, rain, and windy roads all over Tamaplais State Park for an hour or more, I did find the Visitors Center - with all its attendant problems. Great. My anxiety is rising and I'm praying. More driving back and forth as I keep checking to see if they happen to be at the trailhead when I drive by. An exercise in frustration. 

When I finally figure they will have discovered my problem getting to them, I decide to go back to Stinson Beach where they may come back. On the way I get a phone call from Jeffrey from the Visitors Center asking me to come pick them up. I figured that was my answer to prayer - I needed to go to a place that got phone coverage and he found a way to communicate with me. 

So alls well that ends well. Jeffrey said they only waited 10 or 15 minutes at the Ranger station before I got there. Jeffrey had a totally great time, Prince probably could have gone faster and further - but that is the price of going with old people. Prince is very kind, considerate, and polite. They said they had a good time and a fun hike. 

Something therapeutic about being in the ocean

Free labor

 On Saturday afternoon Jeffrey and I had the girls while Michael and Julia celebrated their sixth anniversary. It was so nice for us to have free willing labor!

I guess they are a little too young to know what a water fight is all about, so they haven't taken it up to that level yet. But their dad was very good at that back in the day -- so I'm just waiting....to see a simple car wash turn into a giant water fight.

Independence

 Prince Asante came very late on Saturday night after he finished work in Fairfield to visit for Sunday and Monday. Those are his days off. Prince is one of our Young Single Adults that we had so much fun with in Accra. He was on all of our outings and went to most of the Wednesday night classes Jeffrey taught at the church. To see him again really fills an empty part of my heart.

Prince really cracked me up yesterday at dinner. When we have guests, Jeffrey usually takes the dirty dishes, cleans them up and loads the dishwasher. Prince seems to be a very independent person, so he told Jeffrey on Saturday night that that he would clean his own, but Jeffrey insisted and took care of the cleaning up. Jeffrey was fasting yesterday and I let Prince do his own dishes at lunch time. 

We had a nice dinner and were chatting after. Jeffrey was talking with Andrew and Briona when Prince  got up with his plate, and Jeffrey said, "Oh I'll take care of that." Prince said, "I can't hear you," and proceeded to take care of his dirty dishes. Jeffrey's face was priceless as no one has ever taken care of their own dirty dishes when he says he'll do them. I laughed all the way to the sink. Prince proceeded to take care of all the dishes I brought over and fill the dishwasher. I just love that guy!

Sunday with Prince Eugene Asante

Temple work

 Jeffrey was hoping to bring Bernard and Neal to the temple with him when he did baptisms for the dead. But for different reasons they couldn't make it. He went himself and did baptisms and other proxy work. After he got home, he asked if I could come with him the next two times because he has a certain great-some-odd grandmother he would like to seal to his great-some-odd grandfather and her work has not been done.  I look forward to doing that with him. 

It is fun to watch Jeffrey with the "Elijah spirit" getting excited about finishing work for his ancestors. He gets out of his good clothes and then goes on line to see what is done and needs to be done.  Right now he is systematically going through his family tree because he finds "orphan" names, who have those around them who have their work done, but not the 'orphan' name. 

I guess I haven't been so thoughtful and nice as I just click on the tab that says, "ordinances ready' and just take what comes. Maybe it is computer generated and so it leaves "orphan names" behind. Since I have so many in my family doing the work already, I probably won't be looking for those names - though maybe later - now that I know there is an issue (but don't hold your breath too long). I have no problem jumping on Jeffrey's bandwagon and going for ride. I love watching and participating in someone else's joy and enthusiasm.

Looking for names 

Comfort zeal - unhelpful

 An instance occurred that has me wondering if I have hurt someone's feelings when I try to console or comfort. My daughter-in-law has been at several pool parties and her miscarriage has come up in conversation almost every time. No one knows what is going on behind her closed doors as she is invariably smiling. But it was the comment by one comparing her experience with Julia's saying that she "wanted to have a baby", probably meaning she was trying to get pregnant versus Julia's IUD. Why is her  loss and suffering more? All babies come from God and Julia and Michael were definitely grateful and happy to embrace and enjoy their new son that was such a miracle. So why the assumption that their suffering was less than those who were planning ahead? 

I can't help but think of the advertisement with the lady holding a smiling face while she is stone face or frowning going about her day. I think that describes Julia exactly. I am trying to think about the times I jump in to help and wondering if I am irritating and unhelpful in my zeal to comfort. I probably don't know anything about their home life and what is really happening as I only have my assumptions. I am going to try to do much better and not be one of those who rub a little salt in wounds already given. How exactly is the question......

Trash Bag Fashion Show

 The girls had fun on Wednesday night having a fashion show. More time was spent laughing and giggling in the corners than was actually spent on walking the runway. In fact only three girls had the guts to get up on the stage. I think everyone had a good time. I can't say I saw any fantastic designs, but we all laughed and enjoyed the show.

This was probably the first time I just wore socks in a public place. I literally could not get my shoe on over my enlarged baby toe. The next day when I went shopping, Laura graciously stopped at a store to buy flip-flops so I could be comfortable. I'll probably wear them at church on Sunday too. So we all have reasons for our own fashion statements.