Thistlewood Manor

Peppermint Shampoo and Body Soap

I’ve had a lot of requests for peppermint soap and I now have a batch ready to go!  This soap is made from Castor, coconut, and olive oil so it’s all vegan.  It will give you a clean, tingly, refreshing feel and I’ve even read that smelling peppermint makes you more mentally alert.  What a great way to wake up in the morning!

I’ll have this one listed in my Etsy shop , or you can send me an email and let me know how many you want.  They are $4.00 each. I will deliver if you are local or planning to be at an SCA event I’m attending.

Lilac Jelly

Nothing says spring like the fragrance of blooming lilacs.   Yesterday I stumbled across a recipe for lilac jelly and thought I’d try it.  It was definitely a success!   It’s hard to describe the taste……sweet, delicate, and delicious.  Try it yourself, or buy a jar from me.

Recipe for  Lilac Jelly

4 cups lilac blossoms, green parts removed

4 cups boiling water

8 tablespoons lemon juice

1 slice dried ginger (optional)

2 packages powdered pectin

8 cups sugar

Rinse lilacs and place in a large bowl.  Cover with boiling water, add the ginger,  cover with a lid and let sit for 24 hours.  This will make a nice lilac infusion which smells nice but doesn’t look anything like you would expect.  It is murky and green or brown.

Strain the lilacs, squeesing out the excess water, and discard.  Make sure you have 4 cups, add some water if you need to.  Put in a stainless steel pot and add lemon juice and pectin.  Bring to a boil,  stirring frequently.

Add the sugar all at once and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil for one minute, skim, and pour in jelly jars.  Top with sterilized lids and rings.

Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

Stay tuned…… technical difficulties.

No, I haven’t fallen off the planet, just been really really busy and no access to internet a lot of that time.  I’ll be back to (nearly) daily posting in a minute…….or two.

Weekend projects

It’s so nice to have Greg back!  It’s been fun hearing about his travels and good to be able to do things together again.  This weekend we worked on projects we need to finish.

Greg’s first project was a new faucet for the sink.  It came apart while he was gone and although I had screwed it back down, it was leaking.  It was pretty cheap to begin with and I’d never really liked it, so we bought one  that I can put big kettles under to fill.

I love it!  So much nicer than the old one.

While he worked on that I planned what I need to do to be ready for Gulf Wars, a re-enactment event I’ll be attending in a few weeks.  I started with a list of things to make.

Then I worked on my banner for a bit.

These are the embroidery designs I used.  Here’s the finished Cherries:

  Fortunately I have good help.

This is Gracie, supervising.

Greg finished the faucet project and decided to work on the submission forms to get his device registered for our re-enactment group.

He said he doesn’t know how kindergarteners do all that coloring, it was a lot of work!

Meanwhile, I finished a baby quilt top so I can get it quilted and off to it’s recipient.

I love the zig zag pattern in soft pastels.

So, that was our weekend, we felt like we accomplished quite a bit!

Play time in Sri Lanka

Greg has a little down time before his flight back home takes off, so he’s doing some sight seeing.  Here’s where he stayed last night:

Morning swim on the beach.

Breakfast time:

After breakfast they went on a drive through the jungle.

They saw shrines.

And a “farmers Market”;

And elephants:

And deer,

And asked that age old question:

“Why did the peacock cross the road?”

Then they had a very fancy lunch at a restaurant in the game preserve:

   

Looks like they are really enjoying their trip!

Meanwhile, back in Sri Lanka….

I haven’t posted pictures in a few days because Greg didn’t have a good internet connection to send me any.  He’s now finished with the second job and is at a hotel near the coast with better internet.

Here’s a picture of what he’s been working on:

The parts to the grain dryers were shipped over and Greg and 3 other men from Sukups have been putting them together.

Looks like they’ve had plenty of help:

Here’s the accommodations at the last site, not quite as posh as the first one:

Talk about an efficient bathroom:

And of course, pink and blue mosquito netting.

Greg would like me to point out that HIS bed has the blue netting.

Of course, we have to have more food pictures.

Snack time!  Nice to see they have Diet Coke in case I ever go visit there.

Interesting………

This looks tasty!

Time to rest!

Greg and his coworkers will be doing some sight seeing before coming back this week, so hopefully I’ll have more pictures to share.

Patchwork

A few things I’m working on in the Sewing studio today:

Using up scraps in a scrappy couch quilt.

A mug rug for a friend.

Now back to sewing!

Just like downtown.

I was hungry for good Mexican food tonight and discovered I had all the right ingredients when I looked in the refrigerator.  I decided to make taco salad, so first I fried up some tortillas.

The first one got a little dark because I pressed it against the bottom of the pot.  The dogs still enjoyed it.

Then I topped the shell with lettuce, taco meat, cheese, sour cream, taco sauce, guacamole and olives.

Just like going downtown!

Puppy time again – 8 weeks old!

They are getting so big!  3 of them have left for new homes and 1 is staying with us; leaving 2 girls and a boy still wanting to be adopted.

Have you ever tried to get 4 puppies to cooperate for a photo shoot?  Well, I didn’t succeed.

But I tried.

Don’t you love this little face?

And this one?

Hey, let us out!  We want to play outside again!

Food and cooking in Sri Lanka

Greg sent me some really interesting pictures this time!  Of course, since cooking is a big part of my life, any pictures with food in them are appealing to me.  It’s so fun to see how another culture lives.

Greg said they mostly have fruit for lunch on the job site.  I love how nicely this is presented:

They eat in a bungalow on the job site.  Can you imagine cooking in this setup?

It reminds me of a camp kitchen, which I guess it is, in a way.  Here’s a picture of an evening meal:

Always eat with your right hand!  Greg also sent a picture of one of his coworkers picking a snack for himself:

 

Mmmmmmmm, yummy.

Hope you enjoyed today’s pictures, I’ll have more tomorrow!