This & That

Around Here This Week

So around here this week....

We had a little rain and wind come through and start taking down those Red Maple leaves. It's just a bit of a double-edged sword. I love kicking through dry leaves, but that also means the color is on its way out. That, and my beloved rain shakes loose my beloved leaves. It's kind of hard to know what to root for.

We had some gorgeous days as well and I happened to catch the light just right one late afternoon. 

Most of you know I grew up in Southern California, where the only way you can tell the difference in seasons is by the very narrow ebb and flow in temperature. 

Seeing things like this is just stunning to me. I love it on so many levels.

A small group of friends gathered yesterday to celebrate the 90th birthday of that lovely lady in the green. That's Miss Teala, and she was my children's piano teacher, and now teaches Gwen and Caroline. These gals are all role models for me for many reasons, but mostly they're just kind, good friends.

I did this project, that I've been putting off for a year or so.  A good friend of mine died last summer. She spent the lion's share of her church time playing the piano and organ, and accompanying church choirs. In fact, when I was the choir director at church, she was my accompanist for several years running. She took lessons from Miss Teala, and her curriculum was the music she played in church. Her husband gave two large containers of music to a man who used to visit them regularly, with the stipulation that it be given to someone who would appreciate it. He brought it to my house, which touched me deeply, and it took a while before I could start poking around in it without having some tears.

I found this church songbook, published in 1949. In the forward, it says the purpose of the book is for "community singing." I'm hanging onto this. So many good memories going through it all. 

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week....Collin's kids have been sick still. It's just making its way through the family. Poor John fell asleep watching TV.

From Marc's family, his precious baby now has its own blanket.

I also got pictures of their trip to the pumpkin patch.

My little sugar pumpkins can't compare to the behemoths at the patch.

Jude needed a chance to pose in front of the wheelbarrow, too.

Isaac had a pumpkin book report to complete and was pleased with the results.

From my daughter, the twins are now 8 months old. Jack is on the left, Leo's on the right.

And to finish us off this week, a little game of "boo" this close to Halloween. Baby giggles are just the best.

 

The Face, in Many Forms

It's probably time to give an update on what's been happening with my face since the surgery. The process was actually done in 2 parts. I went to Salt Lake one day and through the University of Utah's dermatology department, had a Mohs procedure at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. For those of you unfamiliar with this process, they lay you back in a padded chair, draw dots on your face, numb you up, and then take a slice of your face, which they then look at under a microscope. The hope is that they get all the cancer cells with that slice, but it takes about 2 hours to do some special staining and cutting of the tissue to check that. 

Wouldn't you know, that the staining didn't work the first time around, so they wanted to repeat the process on the tissue sample they had. They sent my husband and I to get some lunch, told us to go visit our daughter and the babies, which we did, and if they needed me to come back, they'd let me know. Thankfully, when I got the phone call, it was to say that all the margins of the sample were clear and we could go home. This is what I looked like after that experience, and no offense to the cute little tech who put the dressing on my face, but eyeballs don't tolerate tape on them very well. I'm lucky that I have an eyeball man that lives at my house, so he took all the gauze apart and put it back together so it wasn't rubbing my eye. It was hard because they slice they took was pretty darn close to my lower eyelid.

The second part of this adventure took place 2 days later, when the oculoplastic surgeon's office had me come in fasting for surgery at the university's Moran Eye Center at 12:45 for a surgery that didn't start until oh, about 5:00. The interesting thing about this surgery process is that I was in an operating room, having my face worked on for about an hour, with very, and I do mean very, minimal sedation....like a whiff of sedation while they numbed my eye....just barely enough that I didn't quite care that they were stabbing me and injecting that stinging Lidocaine, and then IV Tylenol throughout the rest of the surgery. I. Did. NOT. Like. It. I heard every scrape reverberate through my head, felt the tug and pull of every stitch, and even though the skin was numb, felt the pull and heard the rasp of the scissors cutting the graft from behind my ear. I'm honestly not sure what the reasoning behind this was and I really just wanted to be under enough not to experience it. I really like my surgeon and I'm very pleased with how things are going post-op, but the awake OR experience was really not my favorite. I had this shield for the first 24 hours, and then when I slept after that until the stitches came out.

This is what was under the shield. It's a compression dressing that kept pressure on the graft they sewed to my face to encourage it to "take." If you get a lot of blood accumulation under the graft, it might not adhere well. You can see the dressing was quite literally sewn to my face. Big stitches coming up to my forehead to keep the pressure on. The outside half of my eyelid was also sewn shut. It was itchy and uncomfortable. My brother said it looked like I had a cocoon sewn to my face and he was sure a butterfly was in there desperately trying to get out. You can see another incision on the left there by my hairline. That was where they took the "control" section of skin for comparison when they did the Mohs.

The stitches for the compression dressing came out about 5 days later. A lot of swelling and bruising, but the majority of the graft looked nice and pink, which was the goal. The scab you see on the edge of the graft closest to my nose was a little blood that was under just that end point of the graft. Not totally perfect, but good enough that the eyeball men in my life would check me frequently and both say, "Looks good" or "It looks how it's supposed to look." I was grateful for the fairly constant feedback. Because of the size of the graft, and because the Mohs took a bite out of the orbicularis oculi muscle, which is the muscle that closes the eyelids, my surgeon made an additional incision in the lateral corner of my eye and tightened up the tendon that holds the eyelid. That way, the loss of muscle combined with the weight of the graft wouldn't cause my eyelid to roll outward. The biggest chore after surgery has been to keep the graft moisturized and soft, and to massage it to keep it pliable as it heals.

And here I am almost 5 weeks post op. My husband took out the stitches behind my ear about a week ago, so that's the last of the foreign stuff on me. I can't say it's been the most pleasant experience of my life. I've been living with the diagnosis since the second week of January, and have been moving through the treatment process ever since. What I am grateful for, is the medical science and knowledge that exists so it could be treated, skilled doctors both here where I live and in Salt Lake, and a supportive family that listened when I needed to just talk about how I was feeling, and then cheered for me and gave me encouragement. Some of them drew me pictures "to help me be brave" when I was headed for surgery. I got lots of phone calls and FaceTimes those first few days after surgery checking on me, and even the funny comments from grandkids...."That looks......strange on you." It all helped me not take myself too seriously and distracted me from the pain and/or itching that was going on, and I am grateful.

I've begun the lovely process of full body checks. Those will happen every 6 months for a year and then every year thereafter. I told my dermatologist that I was a little paranoid about every spot I have these days. His response? "You should be. You have the perfect trifecta.....you've already grown a melanoma, you're fair skinned, and you grew up in the 60's and 70's and literally tried to bake yourself. Why do you even bother to go outside?" Wear your sunscreen. I anticipate this might not be the only time I'll have something cut off. OK, so when I was growing up, we didn't really know a ton about sun damage, but we do now. Protect your skin. 

Baked Spinach Ravioli with Pesto Cream Sauce

I'll start this off by saying....it's fall. Not a lot of cooking happening because my husband is living his best life. We'll leave it at that.

We had a couple of chilly days last week that required soup....no, demanded soup. Yes, SOUP'S ON!!! And I'm ready to happy dance my way to the kitchen because of it.

I had a little container of this Italian Wedding Soup in the freezer, just waiting for just the right soup day, and this past week was it. No stress, magic food right out of the freezer.  And speaking of Magic Food.....You must makes this week's recipe. It's just so good. Comfort food in every way, shape and form. It's PASTA!!!! Second only to soup in my cold weather menu rotation, pasta ticks all the boxes. Ok, maybe that's taking the gushing a little far, since there are plenty of comfort foods that tick the boxes, but you get my drift. The flavor is very reminiscent of this Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce I tried last year. Coincidentally, I found them both on the Pioneer Woman website. Note for this recipe------>Because I have a carnivorous husband who thinks a meal without meat is a crime against nature, I added Italian sausage to this. It was yummy. So yummy that I didn't get a better picture of the recipe. This small serving was all that was left after we ate it for dinner and then again for lunch the next day. I did split the recipe in half, and froze the half we didn't eat in a foil pan for another brisk day.

Baked Spinach Ravioli with Pesto Cream Sauce

• 2 (10-ounce packages) fresh or frozen spinach ravioli (I could only find mixed at my store so that's what I went with)
• 1 (5-ounce bag) baby spinach
• 2 Tablespoons salted butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 (7-ounce container) pesto
• 2 cups grated whole-milk mozzarella cheese (about 8 ounces)(I used part-skim and it worked just fine)
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400°. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ravioli and cook according to the package directions. Drain the ravioli.

Combine the spinach and ravioli in a 9-by-13 (I used an 8x8 pan for half the recipe) baking dish and gently toss to combine.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes (don't let the flour burn). Slowly whisk in the half-and-half until smooth. Cook, whisking occasionally, until thickened, about 7 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low. Whisk in the pesto until just heated through, about 1 minute.

Pour the pesto cream sauce over the spinach and ravioli. Spread with a spoon, making sure all the ravioli are coated. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and parmesan. Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the edges are browned, about 25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. Whole recipe serves 4-6.

 

The Last of the 4

I know I've explained this before, but there was a period of just over a year in which 4 grandsons appeared. In my family, it's the greatest concentration of grandchildren in the shortest amount of time...Roger, Isaac, Emmett and James.  These four little guys follow each other around the year, getting one year older. 

James is the youngest of this group, and he turns 7 today!

He's the youngest, and perpetually his family lives the furthest away. 

He remains staunchly Jurassic and Lego'd. If he can combine the two, so much the better.

We miss him and his brothers, and his parents. Air Force life doesn't consult grandparents when they move people around

We love this boy, who hasn't been feeling well this week, as we love each and every one of our grandchildren. Happy birthday to James!!

Around Here This Week

So around here this week.....

I'm continuing to love this season of the year. My Red Maple has started to turn, and soon the thousands of leaves will start falling.

Take a look at this aspen in pasture. About 6 hours later most of the leaves here were on the ground. We had a storm blow in yesterday afternoon that took a good 2/3 of them. Of course, it was the afternoon Marc's family was scheduled to come over and have family pictures taken....t'was ever thus. Adjustments had to be made. Still, just so pretty. Isaac spent some time literally rolling in them on the grass when we were taking the pictures.

The family came over for Sunday dinner and we had a cake to celebrate Ephraim's birthday.

My husband and I walked the Snake River Canyon rim trail this week. At least we did after he made me hike up the Evil Knievel Jump ramp. I don't do heights, but this was wide enough that I did OK. I took a picture from the top across the canyon.

We wandered to Shoshone Falls, which is turned off this time of year. The flow over the falls is regulated seasonally and just like the river up at the cabin, water levels are low this time of year. 

"I'm gone" flowers arrived this week. A really pretty autumn arrangement with an added extra feature.

Cute, huh?

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week....I got this one from Evan's wife, Jan. Quincy wrapped himself up in a blanket and their puppy, Cookie, thought he was buried alive and tried to dig him out. I'm dating myself, but Cookie didn't run anywhere to try to tell them Timmy was in the well. Bonus points for identifying that reference.

Another picture of Quincy disguising himself as Santa Claus.

There are some new kittens at Eric & Elisa's house that are getting plenty of love.

Gwen had to do an experiment on an egg. When it was finished, she wanted to be sure the pet toad got a chance to pose with it.

The family went to a ward activity where Elisa was in charge of the face painting. Love the bees....

Emmett chose a shark,

and can you guess what Ephraim was?

Elisa noticed that the leaves were the exact color of her pants, so she needed a picture. I support that decision.

There are some cows on part of Eric's acreage...not his, a rancher uses part of the ground, but one morning they got out and tromped around their yard.

From Collin's family, can you see the feet sticking out of the bag. I guess John can fit in there.

They've had some late summer days when the boys could play outside and do boy stuff in the dirt.

And while I realize this instance here is not the exclusive purview of boys, it just reminded me of days gone by.

 

It's Great to Be 8!

We had a special family day recently.

With Roger turning 8, he made the decision to be baptized, so family and friends gathered for the special day.

Of course there were lots of pictures taken, documenting this very important occasion. Here's Roger with his family.

I got this 3-generation one that kind of expands sideways. Roger with Grandpa, his dad, Evan, and 3 of my 4 other sons. Look at them all there....this just makes my heart happy. We missed Collin and my daughter, but any time I can get a good percentage together, it makes my day.

This is a 4 generation including my mother.

And 11 of my 16 grandkids. Jude didn't necessarily want to appear in the pictures, so Jan helped him participate. They aren't grouped by family in any way....just kind of mixed together in a fun mish-mash.

Had to get the silly pictures as well.

Elisa got this picture of Jan and Edward warming up for the special musical number. For those familiar with the song, it was "A Child's Prayer" with each of them taking a verse while I played the accompaniment and it worked out really well. Edward is taking band at school and quite likes it.

We all trooped over to Evan's house for lunch,

Where Elisa got this one of me at the grown up's table. My boys mostly stood around in the kitchen grabbing whatever food they could. It's a familiar scenario for me.

 

 

From the Kitchen?

The kitchen? What's that? The preceding comments may give you some idea about how much cooking I have not been doing lately. It indicates how much my husband has been enjoying his retirement. I have been relegated to the post of house-sitter/dog caretaker as he trips the mountains fantastic. Not only does he have his own critters to chase, but without work restrictions he can obligingly chase everyone else's critters with them. I keep a running tally of hunting days. This year is rather spectacular. It's kind of bad when those totals can be expressed in months...plural months...rather than days. While this cuts down drastically the number of meals I have to plan for and prepare, there have been a few times in the last little while when I have actually cooked. 

There was yummy Baked Potato Soup one Sunday. So good, and made better with homemade chicken stock. I've become a real stock fan, and I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving for the chance to make some Carcass Soup and maybe have some stock leftover.

Bryce was with us that Sunday.

His wife (that's her in the red) ran the Boston Marathon this week. (Woohoo!!!! Go Girl!) He stayed home to work on school stuff. He's also a fan of the soup, but then he's a fan of just about everything edible, kind of like my husband.

The Perfect Age?

Our Ephraim is 4 today!

I have long maintained that 4 is the perfect age. Kids are old usually old enough to communicate, dress themselves, are insatiably curious and amazed by absolutely everything in their worlds, and aren't yet jaded by the influence of others. I loved my kids at 4. I love them all the time, but for some reason 4 was very memorable.

I see Ephraim with that 4 year old wonder and excitement. 

He's pretty much just ready to tackle, explore, and comment about anything and everything.

It makes me smile that no matter how long he's been at my house, somehow it's never long enough for him to do everything he wants to, even though he's literally touched all the toys, usually with some of his cousins.

We love this boy, as we love all our grandkids....they're all just getting so big, growing so fast! Happy birthday to Ephraim!

Around Here This Week

A Friday edition of AHTW because tomorrow is a special day.

So around here this week....

I mean seriously....the colors, and I didn't compose this in any way. This was just a random gathering of leaves on my front walk.

The honey locust tree is dropping its bright yellow leaves on the back patio.

We had a real cold snap this week...like highs in the 40's. As you are aware, this is not a problem for me. The pipes up at the cabin are a different matter, though, so my husband and I took a quick drive up to winterize the place. You can see there's snow in them thar hills.

This was me early, early the day before doing a little grocery shopping. I sent this to my friend in Florida, who responded with the screaming face emoji. Of course, nothing stuck and it was gone an hour later, but it's honestly not uncommon for us to get a bit of snow this time of year. Last year I think the October snow was the only snow we got all winter.

This was the view at the cabin. We were a little concerned there might be 6 or 8 inches we'd have to deal with, but there was just what you can see on the mountain across the road. The road itself was wet, but no snow all the way in.

What a difference a week makes, right? Last week these aspen leaves were all golden yellow. This week they were either on the ground, or frozen black on the trees.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, I got a slew of pictures from Collin. This was on a hike.

They have a nasty black walnut tree in their backyard and they spent some time picking them up this week. Side note: My husband loves black walnuts. Nobody else in the family can stand them, but then my husband also eats raw fish and black licorice ice cream. Ew.

John very creatively solved the "I need a drink" problem.

David with some goat friends.

Collin also took a couple of artsy pictures on their recent outings.

There you go....some tree fungus.

James likes to fall asleep reading. 

There's the whole family together.

The boys absolutely love to gather treasures like sticks and rocks on their outings, but Collin's rule is that they have to carry those souvenirs home. If they can carry them, they can keep them. Sometimes it's a little problematic.

And lastly, here's this week's picture from my daughter, and I'm pretty sure that's Leo with her.

It's My Favorite

After the big family gathering for general conference, my husband and I took a day last week to just enjoy fall at the cabin. 

Of course, we took a wander to the river. You might notice....or maybe not, that I have new walking shoes.

Remember I'd walked the tread off my old ones? These have plenty of tread, and have the added bonus of being waterproof...just in case I wander through a stream.

We weren't the only ones who have been walking to the river. Several elk left tracks,

as have some deer.

The water is really low right now, as you might expect. We walked right out into the middle of what's usually covered by water in the summer. Well, my husband strode right out. I picked my way carefully. Remember, I'm not the most sure-footed wanderer.

It was really nice to just spend a day with this guy. As you know, he's often in the wilderness this time of year. Time with him in the fall is definitely at a premium, especially now that he's retired. 

Gus found a tennis ball on the walk,  and carried it in his mouth all the way to the river, anticipating some Fetch It Up. I have to say this was just a little bittersweet as we remembered Ollie.

We wondered if we were too late for some pretty leaves, but were able to find some.

I just love fall...everything about it.

Happy little pockets of sunshine tucked into the pines just for me.

It's hard to explain how it soothes my soul to see the beauty like this in the world.

My husband actually took this picture trying to zoom in close on the aspens across the river. They were in the shade by the time we got over there, so it was hard to catch the color very well, but we tried.