Glen Echo, sweet treats, needle nonsense & fall approaches

As the weather gets cooler (37° this morning) and the season draws to a close, I was thinking about how much we like Glen Echo on a lot of levels. We are pretty solitary people in general but have to admit it is pleasant to have "occasional" neighbors to visit with and also, to have the appeal of well-maintained seasonal yards. Many highly transient RV parks don't have nearly the curb appeal that a well run park has and I for one appreciate the effort my neighbors put into the grass and flowers in their sites. 

Some people might be bothered by the trailer park nature of this park but I have seen plenty of grubby, junky parks with zero appeal. In addition there are plenty of transient sites available so we get to see other people's rigs/toys as they come for a stay. Add to that propane refills on site, a great laundry facility, a store and both a restaurant and pub and it's a winner in our books. Here are a few shots of the neighborhood on a sunny morning. Sure makes for a pleasant walk in the mornings.

A few sites have built decks/patios

These people are investing in a beautiful selection
of cold hardy perennials to upgrade their yard. 

After spending 5 summers out here and thoroughly enjoying them, we will continue the pattern next year, God willing.

Onto other subjects, namely crapification - GRRRR! 😒Color me unamused - *sigh*

Way back in the mid to late 2010's I started making trivets while aboard Dreamtime. I purchased a pack of Dritz Cotton Darner needles and used them with gusto for many moons. Sewing through the many swirls of poly-filled tubies  requires putting some "english" on the needle and thread to get it through where I want it to go (I have to use needle nose pliers to help). So, some 10 trivets into this season out here (using the same needle I'd been using all winter at home), the needle's eye started to go and eventually was unusable. I considered it a worthy life's service from 1 needle, and not to worry, I had recently purchased another pack of the Dritz needles at Joann's - good to go so you'd think. Not!! After 2 trivets the new needle not only developed a burr on the tip but also a bend.

(excerpted from another blog)

"Are you familiar with the term crapification?  It refers to the gradual, inexorable reduction in quality of manufactured goods over the last few decades.  Remember the toaster oven you owned for twenty-five years and replaced with one made by the same company (or so it seemed) that lasted six months?  That's crapification."

Getting tired of crapification. The original needles were produced in the Czech Republic, the new ones in Malaysia. I guess I'll just have to treat them as semi-disposable now. Thanks for letting me rant! 😊

Hey, on the food front, I tried a new way to cook ribs that is really easy - dry-rubbing them, saucing them up some, wrapping in foil then using the crockpot (on low for ~3 hours) to get them pre-cooked and tenderized, (be sure to put about 1 cup water in the bottom of the crockpot) and then, finally, saucing them up some more and putting them on the Ninja Grill for a bit of a broil/grill. They come out so good!

We work with a half rack at a time. Cut the half in half
and run with it. Save those juices in the foil to flavor
your next batch of pinto beans.

I also got busy and made a batch of our favorite sweet treats, coconut macaroons with chocolate chips and pecans. The Boss doesn't think they meet the definition of the name "cookies" since there is no flour involved, lol. They sure taste good. My oven rack only has one position so it doesn't necessarily cook evenly, hence the brown bottoms on some. Still excellent with a cup of hot tea after dinner.

Here we are mid-way through - got about 4-5 dozen.

And finally, for the fabric hounds out there, I picked up a few fabrics at Joann's, one pretty batik multi, 2 mottled basics for blending and a Christmas print.

The red & blue blend well with other more highly patterned fabrics

And a few new trivets for your enjoyment, followed by one of my pretty hanging baskets. Thanks for visiting and come back again sometime. Please feel free to leave a comment!

Pretty weird and pretty bright.

Awfully pretty petunias - so hardy and carefree maintenance

Northern Flicker hatchlings, travelling Flamingos & cooler weather

 We had a planned power outage the other day which, when combined with the glorious weather (sunny and low 70's), presented the perfect opportunity to take a nice walk across the river and around the neighborhood. 

Hwy 14, which runs east and west through the canyon, has a few bridges for access over the river to the roads running parallel on the far side. In previous years we were able to walk these roads together quite often, however foot problems in recent months have put the kibosh on that.

It worked out great, with my feet on good behavior for the 1+ mile trek. I know, some of y'all can hike for miles & miles (you go!), so my effort seems kind of puny comparatively speaking, but I was happy with it. 😊

The pale blue arrow points to our car/site, for some perspective
of our location vis-à-vis the river. Nice and shady too.

We've been under a flash flood watch due to a fair amount of rain, and you can see that the water is a bit ashy with runoff from the burn scar up the road.

A while back I posted about the Northern Flickers nesting in a cottonwood next door to us. Well, they were noisy chicks, and I was hoping to watch them fledge, but one day that was it - dead quiet at the nest and no more sightings. We didn't know what had happened, but maybe 2 weeks later, here was the family of 5 back "home" for a visit and to search for bugs in the lawn next door. Whew, so happy they all made it.

The parents watch the kids on the ground.

Speaking of birds, these "travelling flamingos" showed up on our neighbor's lawn the other day. A note around one's neck suggests moving them to a new locale every week or so, haha.

The are metal and very well made - cool idea
as long as they don't travel home with somebody.

We are car racing fans, F1 and Indy in particular, which we record so we can stream them at our leisure. We usually have some good eats ready when watching at dinnertime.

A race and a half rack of ribs to split.

Another drive and picnic lunch up north to the Dowdy Lakes area. Lots of dirt roads around but fortunately, most are in decent shape.

Dowdy Lake @ the Day Use entrance

Some sights of the area we travelled through. Big bee on thistle, birch tree with a blemish, and rock formations.

We've had some great sunsets and moon sightings, so I've included a couple of those here as well. With cooler weather we have checked out the sunset and evening approach in front of the firepit too.

Sunset and moon above.

A nice evening was had by all.

Well, that about wraps up this post, thanks for visiting, and come again!