It Can Be Fixed!

 My friends on Facebook have given me information on how to fix my broken Bergs Potter Copenhagen pot. One person has given me specific materials and links to YouTube tutorials, so this project will be slated for the future. Here is some basic info, so I don't loose it.

"Do a dry assembly first, using masking tape. Then assembly with a slow cure time epoxy, not the 5 minute stuff. I'm using Araldite slow cure. This allows proper fitting. Finally fill the cracks and missing pieces with Milliput. There is a terracotta version."

Excuse the specs of soil. The pot is mostly clean, except for potting soil on the inside

The pieces placed on a lid for safe keeping. It needs to dry out completely so I can brush off the soil carefully, preserving the broken edges. Washing it would damage the fit of the edges.

Hubby had his orientation yesterday and he works tonight, 6 pm to 6 am. Training for this job takes about 6 months. Yes, it's that complicated.

Home on Monday, too tired to write

 We had a wonderful visit with my daughter and her hubby. She told me the pain medication she was taking made her groggy and unable to stay awake, thus her inability to text me back when I asked how she was. She assured me my son-in-law would have contacted us if something serious was going on. Well, that's good, but didn't do anything for my mom-worries at the time. She is done with the pain meds but still taking the ciprofloxin until Thursday. That antibiotic is horrible on the stomach. We drove down Saturday morning.

On Sunday all four of us drove down to Kankakee/Bourbonnais. Kankakee is a dump, but we did find a couple antique stores in Bourbonnais. After spending some time looking and shopping, we looked for a coffee shop. Not finding anything, we drove to Crown Point and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. The weather was pleasant, a bit foggy in the morning, no rain. We had so much fun talking and laughing together.

We left Monday morning, right before my daughter left for work. Hubby took a nice picture of us. I didn't write on Monday because the recruiter wanted hubby to finish reading about a dozen more online documents (initially he was to read them at the orientation) to free up more time at the orientation, which is where he is now.

My daughter (L) and I

After dinner we noticed the wind was blowing a lot and it was raining buckets. Exhausted, we went to bed early. This morning I woke up to this.

My . Favorite . Terracotta . Pot

There...on the ground. In pieces.

I love the heavy rim with the cute pattern.

About this pottery:

I found a company who sells them in the USA, so maybe someday I can at least buy a small one.

White Flower Farm

"Bergs Potter

From a Copenhagen-based producer of sustainably crafted, premium clay pots, these stunning containers are handmade by Bergs Potter in a small village in Tuscany by skilled artisans who use clay sourced from that region. In addition to stylish silhouettes, the pots are made exceptionally durable by high temperature firing and a subtle silicone treatment, which renders them waterproof. These versatile vessels are ideal for displaying your favorite plants both indoors and out, and they make distinctive gifts, too."

For reference, the closest to what I had is called "Rosa Castle Pot" and was about 20cm or more, not sure. I would need to partially assemble it to get an accurate measurement.

Oh well, enough about the flower pot. I would like to have a collection of beautiful clay pots, but 90% of them are just those simple ones you see at Walmart, or they are too expensive for my budget at this time.

Back to washing clothes and cleaning...

See You On Monday

We are leaving early tomorrow morning so I won't have time to post. I just heard and saw two Sandhill Cranes fly over! I don't think they are normally here this late. My petunias are still in full bloom. Next week we have some serious cold coming so that will probably take them out.

I have so much to do today and a lot on my mind. I didn't sleep well (about 5 hours) because I kept waking up. I wonder what I can add to my laundry to make my sheets smell fresher without actually adding a scent. I use unscented detergent because perfume gives me asthma, but unscented detergent is weird sometimes. Baking soda didn't help. Maybe vinegar? Oh, just sniffed my unscented dryer sheets...weird smell. That could be the problem. I have no way to add anything to the rinse cycle of my washer unless I use some type of dispenser, because I'm not going to stand there waiting for the wash cycle to end. 

Hubby is awake now so my day is busy now. See ya'all on Monday! 

Good News!

 My daughter is better! I don't think she realized how my "mom imagination" messes with my head when I hear only partial news and then crickets.

Today is cloudy and raining, a chance to get some things done here. Next week some serious cold is coming so I'm sure I will loose my petunias which are STILL blooming. I have a couple succulents to transplant. I transplanted some the other day. One pot turned into three, was not what I wanted to do, but they look so darn cute. I'm trying to downsize....hahaha good luck! I do have too many. I'm NOT buying more, but the ones I have keep growing bigger. Fred Ives is Crazy Big, might have to lop off his head. I love having three nice windows for plants, but alas, this is an apartment. At some point we might need to move, depending on job situations. I'm leaving it at that for now. If something significant comes up I will write about it.

Lace Aloe got Samurai's pot

Sanseveria Samurai got a slightly larger pot

The oddball Haworthiopsis I bought a few years ago divided into all sorts of variations of itself, so I divided them.

Orchids are busy growing leaves and roots and this one is going to bloom again!

Fred Ives

Fred Ives, the front side, it's about 10 inches across.

Updates

Tuesday, November 12th we took a walk at Lapham Peak. It has quite a few trails, some follow ridge lines and some go up and down hills and valleys. We walked a ridgeline for nearly a mile before we dipped back down to the valley where the parking lot is. It was good to get out, to get away from the TV and all the noise in our heads.

It's hard for me to show the ridge line. It's not terribly high, my phone said an elevation gain of 38 feet but I forgot to turn on my app until we were halfway through our walk.

Coming down from the ridge to the valley, one enters a nice stand of pines.

Looking back at the pines

Today, Wednesday the 13th was another good day so we walked in West Bend. Maybe you have guessed hubby is between jobs right now, so we have lots of time to walk. I told hubby I wanted to start the walk at the west end of the parking lot (new trail for us). According to my app we had a 34 foot elevation gain. These daily, or almost daily walks have really helped as I can walk right up these things with only stopping once to rest now.

Looking back at the beginning of the walk up.

Someone's old outdoor fireplace?

Our decent back down to the river trail.

One of our favorite stops, the grassy area.

Looking back at the trail from the grassy area.

Next stop, the waterfall and these two trees. I've taken pictures of them in spring, summer, fall and winter. This is the most desolate I've ever seen them.

Standing near the waterfall and looking north, toward the parking lot.

A noisy squirrel was scolding us. 

My favorite picture from this walk.

The red dot is where we parked. The green dot is where I remembered to turn on my app, so that is just past the beginning of our walk.

Elevation gain, 34 feet.

I had a scare when I learned yesterday that my daughter ended up in the ER with a painful case of diverticulitis. She is on antibiotics that make her nauseous, so she also has anti-nausea medicine. I have been so worried about her because she is mostly too sick to talk, mostly from needing to sleep. I told her I will do all the cooking and any cleaning she needs when we go there on Saturday.

How I Bake Keto Cookies

 This post was supposed to be for Sunday. Again, my daily posting record is terrible, mostly because my hubby hasn't started work yet so he is always home.

Most of the food I eat is beef based or egg based, or chicken. Sometimes I just want a cookie. So, what is involved in baking a keto cookie? The obvious answer is to look on the internet and find one of the many recipes using almond flour. Another flour is coconut flour, but I don't like the taste and it's so dry it sticks in my throat. In my quest to learn more about extremely low carb, non-grain flour, I learned about Victoria's Keto Kitchen. Victoria is not diabetic, she has epilepsy, and carbs cause her to have a seizure. By eliminating grains she has been able to reduce the number and severity of her seizures. Her issue is that she absolutely loves bread, cookies, muffins, pies, you name it! To remedy the issue she developed Victoria's Keto Flour. I won't post the recipe here because it's just better to watch the YouTube video (link below). I will post some of the ingredients because they need to be sourced. 

Egg white powder is a must in most keto baking. Bamboo fiber is an ingredient in Victoria's flour. Both are found on Amazon. Bamboo fiber has been used in Europe for some time. This brand is from Germany.

Psyllium husk is often used in keto baking. I use this one, also from Amazon. Some brands turn your recipe purple. This one does not. It is also fine. Victoria grinds hers, I never do.

This is what the husk looks like

Here are my very high fiber pecan sandy cookies. They taste pretty good, but I limit myself to no more than two per day, because of the very high fiber.

Victoria's flours can be substituted cup for cup in any recipe! I love to add a tablespoon to cooking juices to make gravy. Combining the ingredients for the first time can seem intimidating, but it's really not hard. Measure in GRAMS! 

Victoria's Keto Kitchen (YouTube)

Victoria's Keto Kitchen (website)

Keto Pecan Sandy Cookies

1 STICK BUTTER, SOFTENED

2 TEASPOONS SWERVE GRANULAR (I add some Splenda because it's not sweet enough for me)

1/2 TEASPOON VANILLA

71 g. VICTORIA’S KETO FLOUR

1 TABLESPOON COCONUT FLOUR (I omit the coconut flour and just add 1T more keto flour)

1/8 TEASPOON SALT

1 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER

CHOPPED PECANS (about 1/2 cup)

MIX INTO DOUGH BALL, DIVIDE INTO BALLS, EACH ABOUT 2 TABLESPOONS IN SIZE. ROLL INTO BALLS AND PRESS SLIGHTLY.

BAKE AT 350* FOR ABOUT 7 MINUTES, COOL

Happy baking!

 

A Few Minutes to Catch Up

 Thursday November 7th, we decided to walk at Mauthe Lake but drove by an Ice Age Trailhead and decided to stop there instead. The Ice Age Trail is a thousand mile walk through the state.

Ice Age Trail History

We "only" walked a mile, short for us, but it ran along a ridge that rose and dipped and we were quite tired from climbing. The fact that it is the Ice Age Trail means it never loops, so the longer you walk, the farther away you end up from where you parked. And there are no facilities, and I had to pee, so in the woods it was, behind a giant tree with hubby standing guard. We never saw anyone else on our hike.

I took a few pictures, none of them showing how steep the climb was, I guess cameras do that. Here is my favorite picture.

Near the beginning of the walk

Map My Walk record of our walk

Elevation gain, why we were tired

After our walk we decided to stop by Magic Willow Alpacas, a local farm just north of town, to buy a couple of farm raised whole chickens to bring to my daughter and her hubby, since that is his favorite food now that he is working to reverse his diabetes through diet.

Magic Willow Alpacas

Friday we stayed home and cleaned. Today is cloudy, chilly and rain is expected, so I will finish cleaning. My petunias are still blooming! The weather has been unusually mild for November. We have had a couple nights with frost but apparently, Petunias are tough!

Next weekend we are planning to drive down to visit my daughter. It will be our last free weekend before hubby starts work. He has Orientation on the 19th and will begin training the next day on Wednesday. His normal schedule will include weekends. This job is completely climate controlled and dust-free. ProAmpac makes food grade packaging of many different types.