A Strawberry Scarf

My granddaughter, Elly, loves strawberries! She collects vintage strawberry porcelain pieces, Strawberry Shortcake themed things, strawberry fabric....essentially all things strawberry.

A few months ago, on eBay, I found a dozen of these lovely little velvet strawberries, about 2" long and 1.5" wide, with little beads sewn on them and topped with green felt "leaves" and "stems". I spent some time trying to come up with something I could make her using them.

At an estate sale, I had purchased a bunch of wonderful wool yarns and one of the skeins was nearly the same color as the berries. So I knitted this snuggly scarf, long enough to wrap around her neck a couple of times. I added a yarn fringe at the ends and sewed on the velvet strawberries.

I was unsure whether she would like it -- who knows what a 19-year-old will like to wear?

But she loved it! Whew!

On Nurses

This post came up on my Facebook feed at a most appropriate time. My husband, Larry, had been in the hospital for nearly a week. This was by no means the first time (or even tenth time, for that matter!) that he had been in the hospital for a post-surgical stay, or post-pneumonia stay, etc...and so it made me want to give a shout out to all our nurses. Between Larry and I, we have five nurses in our immediate family. They are amazing people.

In my personal opinion, nurses just do not get the credit they deserve -- in so very many ways. They have this amazing vault of untapped knowledge; they oftentimes put the needs of your sick family member in front of their sick family member; during their shifts at the hospital or clinic, they seldom eat a meal at a single sitting; they are compelled to maintain what they have learned over their years of working, and to add new knowledge and new skills -- Every. Single. Year. And we expect them to do all this and more, and still be there with a smile on their face when we push a little red button.

While Larry was in the hospital, one nurse asked me if I would like a cup of coffee, every morning that he was on shift. Another helped Larry with a shower twice - which meant he had to protect 9 different incisions with waterproof covers and remove 5 different IV hook-ups and monitors. A nurse brought him pain meds when he asked for them. A nurse checked in before leaving at the end of their shift. A brilliant and amazingly efficient team of nurses stabilized him when we came into the ER at 6am. A nurse pushed him to the curb upon checkout. These people, probably "just doing their job" to themselves, were Heroes to us!

And we are so very, very appreciative of everything they, and any other nurse we have encountered over the past 22 years, have done for us!

Summer's Bounty

Here in Hamilton, we have a Farmer's Market every Saturday from 9am-1pm. There are several local farmers who have large stands selling all the wonderful things summer brings. Granted, fresh produce is a good bit more expensive than what you buy at the supermarket, but tomatoes, cucumbers and green onions right out of the garden are so delicious, they are totally worth the extra money.

This is what I grabbed last Saturday. I made a wonderful Hamburger Soup (see my previous post for the recipe) with the Leek, Stir-fry with the peppers and onions, and tomato cucumber salad with those.

For a quick and easy salad, in the bottom of a bowl, I mix mayonnaise with a little white vinegar until smooth. I slice the cucumbers and cut the tomatoes into chunks, add them to the dressing and salt to taste. If you like onion, you can add very thinly sliced onion to the mix. Yummy!