MY PERSONAL MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to

 go on my own motorcycle adventure.

I did my own quilt shop hop.

The first place I went is in Rome City, Indiana.

The shop is called Caroline's Cottage Cottons.

Her shop is located at

195 Weston Street, Rome City, Indiana 46784

I met the owner last year at a quilt show 

and I fell in love with the items she had.

Her shop is a ranch house that has been

converted to a quilt shop.

Every room was filled with so much 

that I had to use self control because

I knew I did not have the room to

buy everything I wanted on my bike.

 My form of GPS to get to the quilt shop.

 Caroline's Cottage Cottons shop

Fabric everywhere you turn.

I was in heaven 

Caroline and her employee.  

Two lovely ladies.

After I was done shopping, I decided I'm this close to Michigan

why not ride to Michigan.

So off I went to Sturgis, Michigan.

I was pretty proud of myself.

 As I started my way home, I saw a sign

that showed Shipshewana was a few

miles from where I was.

Shipshewana is an Amish town.

What was I supposed to do?

I rode and stopped at one of the quilt shops.

 This is a quilt made of very small squares.

It was absolutely beautiful.

I cannot imagine the many hours it took to make this.

Below is the letter that describes the construction of this quilt.

 I found my friend's quilt book.

American Homestead quilts.

These four patterns I bought at Caroline's Cottage Cottons.

No fabric was bought.

This pattern I bought I Lolly's in Shipshewana.

No fabric was bought.

 At the end of the day, I had ridden over 300 miles.

I "conquered" twisty roads at a decent speed.

I had a wonderful time riding

and was pleased with myself.

NEIGHBORS

We've been living in our neighborhood for 19 years.

We been blessed with wonderful neighbors.

On the street that we live, everyone looks out for each other.

If there is a need, we're all there to help out.

I don't know what I would do had it not been for our neighbors.

Since we do a lot of traveling, they have taken care of our dog.

They take care of our home while we're gone.

For example, for my youngest son's graduation open house,

all or our neighbors helped.

One of them took pictures and helped with the food.

The others helped with the clean up and parking

of all of the vehicles.

We've helped each other during the winter cleaning

the snow out of each other's driveway.

We have checked on the older neighbors to make 

sure that they are alright.

Our neighbors are wonderful.

We love where we live.

I don't think I would want to live any place else.

We love having our neighbors over

and we love their friendship.

CHILDHOOD MEMORY = POUND CAKE

When I was a child, we didn't have desserts after dinner every night.

My mom didn't believe in doing that.

Even though she hated to cook, she provided healthy meals.

But we always looked forward to Sunday's

because that was the only day we would ever get any desserts.

My mom would mostly make pound cakes.

She would make it out of a box, never from scratch.

But we didn't care, we were getting dessert.

So yesterday, I was remembering my Sunday's as a child.

We would have our lunch, have our slice of pound cake.

We would watch Frasier Thomas on television,

since he was the host for Family Classics movies.

And we would finish the evening playing Parchessi.

So yesterday I decided to make a pound cake.

Mine was not out of a box.

But it was fun making it because it brought back

a lot of wonderful memories of me helping

my mom getting the cake ready.

Funny how the little things in life have so

much meaning when we get older.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter

4 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Bring the butter and eggs to room temperature.  Grease and flour a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.  Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter on medium speed  for about 30 seconds.  Gradually add the sugar, beating 6 minutes or till fluffy.  Add vanilla.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating 1 minute after each, scrape the bowl frequently.  Gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture.  Turn the batter into the loaf pan.  Bake in a 325° oven for 55 to 65 minutes or till done.  Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack.  Remove from the pan and cool.