The weekend was spent with our daughter and SIL in York, SC. Julie is feeling just fine, thank you, and is visited at home three times a week by an RN, and less than a dozen times a week by a CNA. Her CA prognosis is up in the air, as a PET scan will be reviewed by the tumor board this week. Her chemo has been suspended for a while as her tumors have responded well to the drugs.
We celebrated her birthday with presents, a lunch in Rock Hill, SC and champagne. This is Julie:
Julie, Jack, Gene and Jack's dad on their porch...very hot and very humid!
Historic York and its ancient cemetery and tombstones gave a glimpse into the past and occupied some of our hot and humid time in the outdoors. Next time, I will take pencil and paper for rubbings so I can get the oldest dates on the marble that have been obscured by moss and the ravages of weather.
Engraving on the stone above shows that Isabella Davis died in 1834, a consort of the Reverend William C. Davis. A consort? That was odd wording, but she would have been born in 1767, so terms were different back then. (Mrs. Davis would certainly not know what a microwave, airplane, digital clock, battery or the internet was, so why do I think the term "consort" is odd?)
To round out the history of the graveyard, a Civil War veteran's stone:
Kudzu, originally imported from the Orient to prevent soil erosition, is an invasive species in the South, growing a foot a day under optimal conditions. This picture showing kudzu covering both land and power lines is around the corner from Julie and Jack's house:
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Historic homes abound in York, SC, population of about 10,000 people. Here are a few old homes on Congress Avenue:
Now we are home. The brief interruption in the South did allow one visit to a Pineville, NC yarn shop. Yes, the credit card was used for some pettable and pretty fibers at The Yarn Shop by Rainy Day Creations in Pineville.
We had a Mexican Sunday lunch that was pretty tasty, IMHO. The husband does most of the cooking, but he cooks only what HE likes. So when I have a hankering for Southern food or Mexican food, or desserts, or anything with more than a few ingredients in a longer recipe, I do the cooking.
Here was our lunch, based loosely on recipes for Chicken Pablano found at this site, and Mexican Fried Rice found at this site, and pinto beans, and tortillas.
Start out with roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped pablano peppers:
For a quick cream sauce to add to chicken that has been browned and cooked in garlic and onions with a bit of chicken sauce and white wine and herbs and S&P, just mix sour cream with the chopped pablano peppers and a bit of cumin for seasoning. Put this atop the cooked chicken in the skillet for about five minutes, or long enough to warm up the sour cream.
Actually, the entree was the easiest part of the meal. Start off by cooking the pinto beans (soaked overnight, but not necessary) with a few slices of bacon, a fresh chopped tomato, cilantro, chopped onions, chopped garlic, chili seasoning, and S&P. It takes around two hours on a low stove top burner to take out the crunch in the beans.
And then there was the rice, browned in a skillet with bacon, chopped garlic, and chopped tomatoes prior to adding the water. I used 1 1/2 cups white rice and about 2 cups water after browning the rice and vegetables and cooked it while covered for about 20 minutes. I also added a can of corn after the rice cooked. Peas and carrots could be added, too. And don't forget to season with all the herbs and spices you like!
(Pretend there is cilantro atop the rice. It would have made a better pictorial essay.)
Knitty Magazine had a free pattern several years ago called "Iced", a sweater knit up mostly in stockinette stitch. A free downloadable pattern can be found here. It uses chunky yarn and is a quick knit. Designer Carol Feller says of her pattern:
I knit this cardigan for my holiday. It was designed to be loose, casual and in a neutral color so that I could wear it with everything. I like to pack light and going to Florida, I didn’t want to bring more than one warm cover up.
However all did not go according to plan. I did bring this cardigan on holiday with me and I also took some very nice photos on the beach with it. What I wasn’t planning on, though, was my sister-in-law. Nicki came to visit, picked up the cardigan and tried it on. It was a perfect match and I just had to give it to her.
Nice sister-in-law!
This is a picture of a completed Iced sweater from the designer's Ravelry page:
I am knitting it up in Lamb's Pride Chunky in the Ink Blue colorway. Here is the cardigan in progress:
Next up on the sewing table is McCall's Pattern 6241. Using jersey fabric, it will be a mainstay in the wardrobe. And all those shawls and kerchiefs will have a nice under layer.
But there are people to see, places to go, things to see before I can get back to these projects. Enjoy your day!
"If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don’t do that by sitting around wondering about yourself.” Katherine Hepburn
