Friday Freebie

To continue the "People are Strange" Series...

Here's another antique photo cards. These cards are real black and white photos, made into postcards and mailed. Rarely are the people's names on the cards. Sometimes the people are strange.

Here's today's Friday Freebie. Feel free to leave a comment with your caption for these interesting folks.

(Right click the image to save it to your computer.)

Never to be married, Agnes and her four sisters, Ethyl, Eunice, Henrietta, and Olga, were known about town as the Crazy Cat Hat Ladies.

Not your mother's Rose...

Should we even admit it? Do we dare?

We like pink wine. No, don't get scared, this is not your mother's White Zinfandel. Nor is it like the wine coolers you drank before you were of legal age.

These tart, dry pink wines are delightful on a warm summer evening, perfect with a backyard barbecue, and lovely with an appetizer of grilled vegetables. (Kerry makes some killer grilled tomatoes, you'll have to ask her for the recipe.)

We have sampled (read: consumed) two varietals of pink wines this season. The first is Crios Rose of Malbec, from Argentina. Yes, it is made with the same grapes of a traditional Malbec. The processing (with or without the grape skins) account for the color of the wine. I found the wine to be pleasantly tart and have a nice, dry finish. Robert Parker, Jr. gave the wine 89 points and said, "The 2007 Rose of Malbec is medium pink with an expressive bouquet of strawberry and cherry. The wine is medium-bodied with lots of glycerin giving the wine a smooth palate feel. Dry in style, the wine has rich flavors, excellent acidity, and a lengthy finish. Drink this remarkably food-friendly wine over the next 1 - 2 years. All of the Crios wines are outstanding values"

The second pink wine we tried was Nine Vines Rose made up of a Grenache and Shiraz blend. Again, this wine utilizes grapes traditionally used to make red wines. Again, this is a light, tart, dry wine. The Wine Spectator gave the wine 89 points and said, "This wine has raspberry and strawberry aromas on the nose. On the palate, zesty fruit flavors of red currant and raspberry from the Grenache combine with spicy cherry of the Shiraz to produce a crisp, refreshing wine with a long, full finish."

The Nine Vines Shiraz Viognier, a red, is another interesting blend and quite a tasty combination of grape varietals. It's a nice, lighter red that will be great to enjoy all summer long.

So, if you are looking for a new wine to try, be adventurous. Go pink--you might be surprised with what you find.

Irish Wit and Wisdom

Instructions of King Cormac, King of Cashel

Be not too wise, nor too foolish
Be not too conceited, nor diffident
Be not too haughty, nor too humble
Be not too talkative, nor too silent
Be not too hard, nor too feeble.

If you be too wise, men will expect too much of you
If you be too foolish, you will be deceived
If you be conceited, you will be thought difficult
If you be too humble, you will be without honour
If you be too talkative, you will not be heeded
If you be silent, you will not be regarded
If you be too hard, you will be broken
If you be too feeble, you will be crushed.

Tag, We're It!

Oh! We were tagged to play a game. Takes me back to elementary school, you know, when they picked teams for Kick Ball, or Red Rover. Sadly, I wasn't very coordinated, and was always picked last! Good thing coordination or kick ball skills didn't count in college.

So, last week we were tagged by the Lovely Kat. She is quite a great lady and sent us this great package a few months ago. Nice to have a friend in Canada.

The rules of the game are:
1. Link back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your entry.

Here are the six unimportant things about me...(in no particular order)

1. I love dishes! I love to collect, look at, and write about all types of dishes. Big ones, small ones, useful ones, and decorative ones. The problem with this collection is that it takes up lots of space.
   
2. I obsess about the details. I want to have each element of what I do relate to a "big picture." When I give a party with a buffet, I make menu cards for all the foods, I will even make a coordinating drink menu if we're serving drinks. Obsessive, maybe a little.
   
3. I dislike exercise. You get hot. You get sweaty. It takes a lot of time, not just the time to exercise, but shower and dress afterward. I do it anyway.
   
4. I am not a big fan of candy. On my list of dislikes: Necco Wafers, licorice (all types), jelly beans, taffy, cotton candy.
   
5. My weakness is chips and salsa, or cheese and crackers. Give me some fine Camembert and baguette any day. (that's why I have to do #3).
   
6. I am nonathletic and uncoordinated. That's why I always got picked last for the Kick Ball team.

That's a bit about me (Rachel). What about you?

Next, you're it, you fabulous ladies in blogland. I choose you for your witty, informational, creative blogs:

Amy
Kim
Kari & Kijsa
Heidi
Mary Ann
Brandy

Friday Freebie

In my mom's massive collection of vintage postcards are a number of antique photo cards. These cards are real black and white photos, made into postcards and mailed. Rarely are the people's names on the cards. Sometimes the people are strange.

For today's Friday Freebie, I have two lovely couples to share with you. Feel free to leave a comment with your caption for these interesting folks. (This is a fun game to play, Amy calls it Fantasy Family.) If you like these ones, who knows, maybe we'll put up some more.

Couple #1Couple #2

(Right click the images to save it to your computer for future use.)

Technical Help Question: Does anyone know why sometimes when you load a photo into a blog the reader can click on it to see it as a larger image, and sometimes the reader can't? I would like the photos to be accessible in that way, however I am about 50-50. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Oh Baby!

Two of my friends have had babies recently. I decided to try my hand at making baby blankets for their wee-ones. I have been drooling over the super-soft polka-dot fleece at the fabric stores for quite some time, but had no reason to buy pastel blue, pink or yellow for myself. So now the occasion arises. Having never made a baby blanket, it was a learning experience.

My concept was simple. One side of the blanket would be a super soft fleece, the other a cute cotton print, all bound together with one of those satin blanket bindings.

The execution of the concept was a learning experience. The fleece, I found, tends to bunch up in the sewing machine. The satin, I found, tends to slip. The woman at the fabric store gave me a tip, use a walking foot on my machine, but I don't have one. My solution was to use lots and lots of pins to hold all the pieces in place while I stitched. ( I really hate pinning! It's so tedious.)

First I borrowed one of my daughter's blankets to figure out what size. After washing the material, I cut the two pieces to the appropriate size. Cutting the fleece was an exercise in fuzz-making. Then I pinned the two blanket sides, right sides together and went to the sewing machine to stitch...and realized, I needed to pin them with the right sides facing out. So, I un-pinned an re-pinned the blanket--did I mention, I don't like to pin. Next tip, stitch so the cotton is on the feed-dogs, not the fleece, that will help avoid the bunching. After the two pieces were stitched together, pin (again) the satin binding on the edge of the blanket. Working one side at a time, I attached the binding and mitered the corners. Again, the stitching worked better with the cotton side down.

With one blanket done, the second one was a breeze! Wow! Two blankets done in one day! What do you think? I will put them in the mail, and hopefully my friends and their babies will be happy with their new cuddly blankets.

Irish Wit and Wisdom

You can keep away from the rogue, but you cannot keep yourself safe from the liar.