Chelly... while at my sister's, they have train tracks nearby and I totally agree about white noise thing. When my hubby & I were married, my parents gave us a deep freezer for a wedding gift. It was a thoughtful & very useful gift for many years & is actually still running to rhis day only my nephew and his wife use it for storing meats they've hunted with bow & arrow. But our one bedroom apartment gave little space for it and it ended up in our bedroom! Talk about a WHITE noise! Literally! But it was actually really nice and kind of soothing to fall asleep to or just listening to it at any hour though the night.  On saying this,  I'm just realizing how crummy I've slept my whole life! Lol... 

@njewell1 ... Robert... my Dad used to smoke salmon every summer. You could get whiffs of it thru the neighborhood and it sure tweaked the old taste buds into a waterfall response. I still have his marinating recipe if you or anyone here are interested in the recipe I'd love to share it with you. 

I can digest fish but not red meats at all. So its my go to protein. Acquiring salmon in the 🏜 desert is so costly, I've often thought I'd love to buy a smoker and do some of my own smoked salmon as you pay through your eye teeth for a few small pieces at Christmas.  Its such a treat. With nephews that hunt & fish and one very kind neighbour who drives hours to go fishing, I get the occasional pieces of salmon but store bought is the usual. 

If your interested in the recipe, let me know and I'll try Eric's way to easier posting the photo here of the recipe... 

@tigerlily ... we live in a neighborhood of mostly seniors.  One is going thru their home, sorting things to keep for an eventual move to an assisted living unit.  One day 2 months back,  she called me and asked if Gwen would be interested in a ukulele! Its a beautiful instrument with Hawaiin type flowers engraved on it.  Gwen loves it! She picks it up almost every time she's upstairs and strums away on it.  The other day she made me sit and listen to a song she made up and played the ukulele along with it.  My heart about burst as her song was about "oh how much I love my Munga! We have such fun together playing on the floor and doing our fishes and walking our dogs..."  by that point I was starting to cry and wishing I'd thought to record it.  

I have another neighbour who has asked if I wanted some lessons to learn to play my hubbies guitar,  but now I'm thinking maybe she can help Gwen learn to play the ukulele...?  🤔 

Growing up, in Band class, I learned to play the Violin but gave it up for the Cello. An expensive instrument to purchase or now a days, to even rent, so maybe after this nasty nuckle on my hand heals I may look into a few lessons for Gwen and I. Dust off the guitar case!   Teach the children young right? Their brains are like little sponges!  

Good Morning all . LK I'm not a big fish eater but you bet I would like your Dads recipe for the salmon if you can post it on here . I'm always looking for something new to try . I have a brisket going right now for Easter started it at 3:00 am today . 

Happy Easter everybody 

@tigerlily ... me again... I'm doing this in segments its just easier right now resting my hand between. Who knew a broken nuckle on your hand did so much work for you!! There should be a nuckle or joint appreciation day. Those here with Arthritic  joints will know & appreciate.

  I'm glad you enjoyed the stories of the fish tank. I admit, I was in rather big feeling huff that day!! I was really worried how Gwen was going to take the loss of ALL our  pretty tigertail guppies and the sudden return of the Beta bully.  But explaining to her using a cut dandelion that turns into a pouff ball and its seeds, or soul,  are spread out into the air or Heavens to live in our memory and in your heart, really  helped her understand that like fish, flowers, animals and people, we all have our time on earth and like her Grandpa in the picture who is not here with us but his memory & stories of him live in our hearts forever, she understood life and death happen. 

So...  I have to say, having had small aquariums did bring about the opportunity to teach Gwen about life and death too.  They say snails only live a year and small guppies up to four years. The thing is you never know how old they are when you get them.  We had the given glo- 🐟 fish with a medical problem special treatment.  We seperated him into the smallest aquarium of 3 sizes, two in use with fish,  one with another Beta fish that G called "Moon Flower Rose" she lives up to her name, G names all the fish & even the snails. The little snail bodies are either blackish or white-ish, she calls them blacky & whitey. Very practical names as the Beta is called a Moon beta,  she's so pretty in her silvery bluey, white-ish colours & red trim on all her fins, she looks like a flower when shes staying in one place & her fins are all spread out.   But still,  we had to learn about why the blue glo-fish was tipping over like he may go bottoms up & die, so we put him  into the spare plant aquarium to avoid infecting and needing to treat all the fish including his pink glo-fish buddy . It turned out to be "swim bladder disease."  Many thanks to YouTube again. We seperated him into the spare live plant aquarium and G dubbed it the hospital room, while we learned how to help this pretty fish. Three days, he had to be fasting, on the third day he got some cooked de-spelled crushed peas and was also given some very mild Epsom salts baths regularly and on a certain day... I should have written it down. MILD epsom salt baths to avoid pickling him!!! On day four this beauty finally POOPED! Turns out he was constipated!!  Oh, the things you do & learn for the love of a child.... 

@njewell1 ... OH, yummy! That sounds so good!  I've never had brisket.  My sons cooking a turkey dinner for tomorrow.  He's another man that loves to and does most of the cooking for his family when he's not working closing shifts. 

Does anyone know if we can BBQ veggie burgers? 

I'll certainly dig up the recipe for you asap.  I have also learned that smoking can be done in a BBQ as well.  You don't need a designated "smoker" to do it. Has anyone here tried that at all & if so what was it like for you?? 

@tigerlily Here is a picture of a pair of pot holders that I kept for myself - other than those and an apron I mostly give my projects away (yes, hopefully to someone who will appreciate them). I write about American Indians in northern Minnesota; I am Ojibwe from a small reservation an hour or so from the Canadian border and live in a small city. My research and writing are about American Indians in northeastern Minnesota, absorbing and meaningful for me. as it interweaves with my own family’s histories and experiences.

@llholiday ... those are very cute pot holders.  I love chickens on kitchen fabric  too & if I could manage it, I wouldn't mind keeping two or three egg layers in my back yard for eggs.  Anyone here keep chickens?? They usually have the best eggs & most yellow yolks. We can buy fresh eggs from the ladies who own & run a rock quarry. 

I have in the past made hot mitts for my hubbies big hands, giving him the length he needed as well. He loved them! 

I'd love to read your book/books. Would you mind posting  the ISBN Numbers again.  I tried a few years back but that was when my eyes really started to give me trouble. I'm hoping this is the year for fixing cataracts & finding an eye Doctor worthy of the TITLE,  said with a huff! Lol!  

I sincerely appoligize because on the same page was the pattern number for the Aprons you make and I still want to make one for my sisters & nieces & maybe even those nephews! Lol! 

Like you,  I tend to gift what I've made over the years and recently realized I need to keep a few of those things too.  I used to do a lot of beadwork. Daisy chain bracelets & earrings a couple chokers & one very fancy time consuming Swarovski Crystal & sterling silver bead necklace & earrings as a gift for my sister who was to attend a very special occasion, fancy dress required. I still have a bead loom I'd love to bring out of storage & maybe when Gwen is a bit older I could see of I can put a spark of interest in her.  For now even G has a hobby besides gardening with me.  She loves making wooden bead necklaces & bracelets to give as gifts too.  

This past Summer we were finding the seed pods from the Sycamore Trees in town.  I related to G the Bible story of Zachious. But we dug deeper into the seeds and discovered that back in the day, Indigenous people would use the hard inner seed for such things as buttons, for currency and children used them in games. But what I really liked and started collecting them for was basket weaving. The stems of the pods, when gently beaten and dried were even used for some sewing and basket weaving long before I had the idea.  I have weaving supplies in a bin that when these eyes are working right, I really want to work the hard seed pods and thready like stems Into the walls of a basket & use a seed pod for a knob on the lid.  

I better rest a while. I keep nodding off & getting wacked in the face with my phone, some help this phone hold is!  🤣 😂 😂 I'll check spelling later... 

Have a lovely Easter Sunday everyone! 

Hi Linda . Yes I would guess you can do veggie burgers in a smoker . I think you can smoke pretty much anything just a matter of how long time wise . And yes I haven't tried smoking on a grill but you absolutely can do it on charcoal or gas . I usually use a pellet smoker but I also have an electric chip smoker and a offset wood burning  stick smoker . The stick one is new to me takes practice and patience and attention  . The Brisket yesterday took 6 1/2 hours cooking then rested it for 3 hours . Turned out good 

@llholiday That is very interesting! Where I live, in SW Ontario, we have several small reserves nearby. The closest are Chippewa of the Thames (Anishinaabe), Oneida of the Thames (Haudenosaunee). Also, not too far away are the Munsee - Delaware Nation (Lenape) and the Kettle and Stony Point Nation (Anishinaabe). At the high school where my husband and I both worked, students were bused from the Chippewa and Oneida reserves, and a dear friend and colleague of mine was from the Kettle and Stony Point reserve. He told me that his ancestors were originally from the Potawatomi nation in the US. He died about a year ago, but he wrote a children’s story about how his ancestors came to Canada, and he asked me to proof read it for him. It wasn’t for publication; just for his nieces and nephews. It must be fascinating for you to research all of this. I wonder how far back the records go, and how much is oral history? Good for you writing about this. It’s so important that it doesn’t get forgotten.

Your pot holders are lovely, and very practical. Does the apron match them?

Laurie