Tasty Tuesday

My long desired red Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer arrived a few days ago and today was the first time I've had a chance to use it. Wow, that dough hook is something else! No more kneading and mixing and mixing and mixing the stiff dough! I made a wonderful loaf of sour dough bread to share with a friend who's coming by for lunch today and my mind is already racing, trying to decide what to experiment with next. I have a feeling I'm gonna be the 'baking queen'...at least for the next few weeks.

Memory Monday

When I awakened this morning I realized that exactly one year ago today I was touring the Holy Land with a group of the most wonderful friends one could ask for. The trip was without doubt one of the greatest events I've experienced in life and I would absolutely love to go there again some day. The picture I've posted is of a cemetary on the Mt. of Olives, which is directly across from the Eastern Gate. According to the Bible, this is the site where the Lord will set foot when He returns to earth and because of this, the gravesites there are highly coveted and cost as much as $250,000.00 each. The graves are extremely close together and cover the hillside for as far as the eye can see. You will notice that there are no flowers on the graves and that many of the graves have stones placed upon them. We were told that flowers represent celebration and joyous events, therefore, they have no place in the graveyard. The stones are symbolic of heaviness, therefore, they adorn the graves as a symbol of the heavy heart the surviving loved ones have. This tid-bit is just one of the dozens of interesting facts I learned in that glorious ten days.

With a Little Luck and Creativity....

Sometimes when I stumble upon something, I end up with much better results than when I carefully plan a project. Point at hand--I much prefer old treasures that have been cast aside over new ones but recently, out of curiosity, I decided to make a quick pass through a furniture store that was going out of business. Near the back of the showroom I spotted hundreds of fabric samples hanging neatly on racks awaiting, I suppose, to be tossed out. I asked the manager what the plan was for these lush, beautiful fabrics and much to my surprise, he said he would love for me to rid him of the stash. I quickly packed them into a couple of over-sized trash bags and had a grand time that afternoon organizing them by color and texture. Most of the pieces are rich earthy tones and I can hardly wait to create some unique carpet bags from them to give as gifts next Christmas. Any ideas of what else they could be used for besides the pillows? After all, it's not too soon to start planning is it?