I Love Lucy!

So, I did a thing!

Monday morning, I drove in to Anchorage and boarded a plane bound for Billings Montana. I arrived later that evening and checked in to the Northern Hotel. The next morning found me waiting in the lobby for a very special package.

I got a new kitten!!!!! Her name is Lucy, and she is just the cutest little thing EVER! 

The breeder brought her to the hotel in a little carrier, then transferred her over to the one I had with me. She then gave us both a ride back to the airport, where Lucy and I sat for over 4 hours waiting for our return flight home.

Lucy did very well traveling. She was scared but calmed right down when I sang to her. The carrier I had was honestly just a tad too small, so Lucy had to spend the entire time laying down – but I unzipped the top periodically and let her stand up to stretch as often as I could.

We are both home now, and she is exploring her new environment. Naldo is less than enthusiastic about the new kitten. She made her opinion known unequivocally by actually pooping in Bryan’s pants the first night, so that when he went to get dressed the next morning, he had a very nasty surprise!

They are both adjusting well, however, and I am hopeful that soon enough they will be fast friends.

Painting with Sisters

For Kelly’s birthday this year I got her a gift certificate for The Art Café here in town. I told her to pick out a class, and I would hopefully be able to take it with her. We then had the great idea of inviting Noel along as well, making it another Sisters Outing!

We had fun with acrylic paints, creating our vase of flowers. As I knew would happen, both Noel and Kelly are such awesome painters – theirs turned out to be quite beautiful. I am so completely NOT a painter, but I had fun anyway. For me, it was more about the company than the activity.

More Experiments in the Kitchen

My sister-in-law has a strawberry patch in her back yard, and she invited me to pick them a few weekends ago. She was planning on being out of town and knew they needed to be picked before they all over-ripened.

I happily went out to her house with numerous buckets, planning to pick not only her strawberries, but her rhubarb and honey berries as well. Unfortunately, there were not nearly as many berries as I had hoped for. I had planned on making juice from her rhubarb & strawberries – but you kind of need more than 12 tiny strawberries for that.

So, I went to the grocery store and actually bought strawberries (gasp!). Darn it, I wanted Rhubarb-Strawberry Juice - or, as I call it, Strawbarb Juice!

Since I had all those strawberries, I decided to try making some syrup from the tops I cut off before juicing them. I had never made syrup before, so was just kind of making it up as I went. I have to say, it turned out pretty well – although, I would have preferred it to be a little thicker. It sure is tasty!

And, while the juicing and syruping was going on, I went ahead and cut up some lemons to dehydrate. My plan for that was to make a lemon powder, thinking it could be used to make Lemonade. I don’t think that will work exactly, but it can be used for cooking – so it’s not waisted, at least.

Hiking with Noel

Went on a couple nice hikes a few weeks ago. I had invited the family as usual but only Noel was able to make both of them. I’m happy to get out and about, regardless of how many can join me.

Reflections Lake is a nice little loop of a trail on the way out to Anchorage. Noel had her pups with her, as usual, and they enjoyed the outing as well.

Meadow Loop Trail is up in Hatcher Pass at Skeetawk (the ski lodge). It’s a very short little loop that actually took longer to get to, but it was still good to get out. We even ran into some friends of ours!