Nantucket Journal

I'm back from Nantucket and thought I would share a few pages of my travel journal with you. I always (well, almost always) do a journal for a "major" trip, and Nantucket surely falls into that category.

I collect all sort of ephemera and have a great time cutting and pasting my daily finds into my journal. I like to take a business card from favorite restaurants and shops. I often want to revisit them the next time I'm in the area and having the card in my journal is a great way to be able to refresh my memory before visitng the next time.

I love to use my Polaroid Pogo printer to print out copies of a few of my photos to add to my daily entry into the journal. I like the fact that the Pogo is small and easy to take along and I can add the photos I want as I go, not having to save space in the journal while I wait to get prints made. The 2 by 3 inch format is perfect for journaling, too, as most of my travel journals are 6 by 6 inches (small enough to fit into my pocket or handbag, large enough to allow me to add ephemera up to regular postcard size).
I take a few Copic markers with me on my travels, a glue stick, small pair of scissors, several pens, a travel watercolor box with brush and some sort of tape. I need a white out tape, too, as I am always making mistakes! I usually take along a small alphabet stamp set and one small ink pad. I like being able to stamp in place names or phrases to give some parts of the page special emphasis.
I don't worry about my journals gettng too "fat" as I just add a ribbon to tie the covers together.
I try to work on my journal every day, but if that proves to me impossible, I just make sure I've take some notes about what I did and collect the ephemera for that day so that when I do have more time for journaling, I have the material I need to catch up.
Often I find that I am too tired to work in the journal at the end of a long day, but since I am an early riser, I often get caught up in the early morning hours. It's a uiet activity that you can do even if your DH or travel companion is still asleep and it keeps me from going stir crazy waiting for my companion to wake up.
Often I will collect three or four postcards that I want to add to the journal, and using tape, attach them to each other and then add the accordian of cards to my journal at the spine with more tape. I have found that there is a Japanese masking tape product on the market now that comes in a rainbow of colors and patterns and I really enjoy using that tape to add some pizazz to my journal pages. I like having to unfold and flip over additions to the regular pages of my journals.
Using edge punches is fun, too. I loved how the "hydrangea border" turned out. I use rubber stamps occasionally, too. I bought a few different stamps while I was in Nantucket so I incorporated them into the journal.
The bathing beauty shown above is a Polly Minick design for a hooked rug. Polly taught at the 1800 House while I was in Nantucket and I was lucky enough to take her class in a hooked carpet bag (more about that in a later post). I took one of Polly's postcards advertising a show she had in Nantucket and cut it up and made the collage above with the bits and pieces. The postcard was too large to use in its entirety so I made it fit!
I collect feathers and bits of shells and rocks and often add them to my journal pages. They add a lot of texture even as they add a lot of bulk. I don't mind, though, as they are keepsakes.
ACK is the airport code for Nantucket.

I had a wonderful visit to Nantucket and will be posting more about the trip in a later blogpost.

Nantucket Bound!

I am off to Nantucket Monday morning, very early, for a two week visit with my dear, darling Bee. I plan to spend every available moment catching up with Bee and her life, patting and walking her dogs (Ted and Grady) and taking a couple of classes at the 1800 House, sponsored by the Nantucket Historical Association. It's a sort of Art Camp with wine and lobster that I get to attend with one of my BFFs....a sort of win, win and wine situation. (Sorry. I'm giddy with excitement!)

I know I will have lots to share when I return. Maybe even some art....

I hope, Dear Reader, that you are enjoying your summer as much as I am mine!

Big Weekend!

The weekend of July 3rd was a big one for our family. My DH and I celebrated our 40th anniversary with family and friends at a local park. The clan gathered and food was consumed. We had the traditional summer barbecue foods---brats, dogs, burgers, chips, watermelon, green salad and....Bean Glop.

What? Really? You have never heard of Bean Glop? Oh, I am sorry. You've missed a great side dish to summer outdoor grilling (or winter ham dinners, for that matter). We always have Bean Glop. My mother passed the recipe on to me, years and years and even more years ago. I will pass it on to you, too, if you like. See end of post.

Dear old friends came to help us celebrate. (Mac is a friend from my college days and Susan W. and I started out bowling together about 30 years ago....maybe more.)

My eldest came with her intended in tow...

...and Joyce (left) and Nonie (right) caught up with each other since our trip to North Africa...

....my grandson from Southern California....
and his sister came....(with their parents, my daughter Annie and her husband Chris).

My sister-in-law Gwen brought a friend...

...and my son Don (left) was the grill master for the day (and a fine, fine job he did, too!) while nephew Eric's lady Jeannie chatted with Twyla, our niece.

Much cake was consumed...

by children and DH, especially....

"Auntie" P had the worst picture of her life taken by yours truly, I am ashamed to say (she is much, much prettier than the photo).

DH had chats with his trap shooting buddies...

...while Chris S.'s mother, Ginny, met one of our granddaughters, Emma, for the first time.

Emma and her sisters....

Abbie and.....

Olivia came and had a lovely time. As did we all. I had such a good time I mostly forgot to take photos and when I did, I didn't pay much attention to what I was doing. These are not my best work. But fun? Oh, I had THE BEST TIME.

Why, it seemed like EVERYONE came!
(Darth and his Storm Trooper buddies were actually spotted the next day at the Edmonds 4th of July parade. There were pirates, too. Very mixed group at that parade....)

BEAN GLOP
This recipe came from my mother, Pete Rawlings. She got it from a good friend of hers, Aileen Reynolds. Over the years I have tweaked the proportions a bit and spiced it up, but it’s still very similar to the “Bean Glop” Mom used to make WAY back in the 1950s.
Serves a bunch.
2 large cans low sodium garbanzo beans
2 large cans low sodium kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can cannelli beans
2 cans black beans
3/4 lb. good, smoked bacon, diced
4 tart green apples (Granny Smith, Braeburn or Gala); cored, seeded and diced
2 large onions, diced1/8 to 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce (to taste)
1 jar Snappy Tom tomato juice or Spicy V-8
brown sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a large, oven-proof casserole well (or use a crock pot and let the mixture cook for 8 to 10 hours on low). Drain all the beans and add to casserole. Add the apples, onions and raw bacon and mix well. In a large measuring cup, mix brown sugar* and tomato juice. Pour over the beans. The liquid should come up almost to the top of the beans.
Bake the glop for several hours. The liquid should gradually be absorbed and the sauce will thicken. Stir occasionally, being very careful as it’s very hot and loves to splash onto tender flesh. (Trust me, I know.) If the glop seems to be drying out before it’s melded into the proper consistency, add more tomato juice-brown sugar mixture.
Freezes well.
*The proportion of brown sugar to tomato juice is up to personal taste. Some members of the family like it sweeter than others. It should taste mildly sweet, at least, before adding to the bean mixture.

Happy Independence Day

Wishing all of you, Dear Readers, a most happy and safe 4th of July!