Archive for November, 2011
Sunday Family Day
It was a great Sunday, a nice family day. It started with a nice church service, then a wonderful meal at my favorite Japanese restaurant with the whole family. My youngest son had a bowl of noodles so big he could have swam in it! I love sushi!
Then a quiet afternoon at home just hanging out. I got to choose the movie today, so I chose one of my favorites, Avatar! The kids always say “No!”, but this week was my birthday, so I pushed the privilege. We watched it on our big TV in our great room, the room where my hammock is, so I was happy to sway in my Hatteras Hammocks woven hammock while enjoying the movie. We made three kinds of our favorite gourmet popcorn too! It was a great day, and I am thankful.
If you want a really unique, yet useful, piece of furniture to enhance tailgating, you should try a Green Eggs and Hammocks trailer hitch stand. It is a fun conversation piece also! Everyone is hanging out, cooking, eating, and walking around, visiting, and talking. Then they walk by my camp.
Well, let me tell you, it does attract attention. But I enjoy meeting new people and making friends. The stand hols two chairs, also, so sometimes I let others try it out! All of a sudden, I have made a new friend!
This is a great, yet healthy recipe for sweet potatoes this Thanksgiving. Roasting sweet potatoes is even easier than boiling and mashing them. Maple syrup glaze transforms this ultra-simple dish into something sublime.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces (about 8 cups)
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Arrange sweet potatoes in an even layer in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. Combine maple syrup, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper in small bowl. Pour the mixture over the sweet potatoes; toss to coat.
3. Cover and bake the sweet potatoes for 15 minutes. Uncover, stir and cook, stirring every 15 minutes, until tender and starting to brown, 45 to 50 minutes more.
Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Just before serving, reheat at 350°F until hot, about 15 minutes.
Don’t forget to go for a walk outside after that big Thanksgiving meal! Then you we be able to rest in your hammock swing in the corner with a good book!
I love Thanksgiving! It’s a wonderful time spent with family, watching the parade, talking and laughing, and just enjoying each others company. Did I forget to mention the food?! Oh, my, the “thanksgiving feast” is my favorite of the year!
After everyone is gone, in the evening, I am going to snuggle up with a blanket and a big, cushy hammock pillow, in my family room, beside the fireplace. I will read and then take a nap, feeling still full as a stuffed turkey!
Buck season is right around the corner! I have been hunting since I was a boy. Some years I have a tree stand and other years I just find a spot to start out where I think I might get a peek at a deer. Sometimes it is still a bit warm when deer season rolls around. Who knows how it will be this year with all of the unusual weather we have had.
In warmer years, I took one of my travel hammocks out to the woods where I wanted to be in the morning. I strap it around two trees, which are easy enough to find! Guess whose the first one in the woods? Me, because I have slept in my hammock and I am already in my spot in the morning!
I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is just next week! I am always amazed when it rolls around so fast! I love the traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, corn, potatoes, in my family, mashed, and sweet! I love watching the Macy’s parade and the wonderful smells from the kitchen.
It always is a pleasure to get together with family we don’t see on a regular basis throughout the year. Then, in the afternoon, a nice little nap in my Pawleys Island quilted hammock will be wonderful. Not only do I want a nap because I feel like a stuffed turkey,( reminder to self: try not to overeat), but did you know that turkey contains L-tryptophan, an essential amino acid, that has a sleep inducing affect? However, some studies show it too small of a quantity to produce sleep. So, it is probably just the big meal and the relaxed state we are in that causes us to nap. Either way, for me, the nap is a treat!
This morning I was up before the crack of dawn. I rather felt like sleeping in but decided to be kind to my family and help them with breakfast and packing lunches. When the house was quiet, and daylight was just starting, I realized something significant to me. Being a lover of tress and leaves, especially in autumn, I noticed if I left the lights off, the yellow maple leaves were so much more vivid through the windows!
I brewed some of my favorite coffee, then headed straight to my hammock chair by the window. The yellow maple, in all its beauty was right there for me to enjoy in the dim. The sun will not be out today. Will I let this get me down? Not after the wonderful start to my day, relaxing in my hanging hammock chair, drinking coffee, and enjoying the beauty of nature right outside my window!
I am just loving these beautiful fall days we have been having! I have been taking advantage of it while it lasts! I have been riding the bike trail the last few days.
I am happy that many trees still have their leaves. I occasionally stop to take a picture or just admire the beauty around me. Then, when I get home in the afternoon, I go out and brush the leaves off my quilted hammock, and take a short siesta!
Sunday afternoons, in my house, are all about football! Usually, it is a family day too, but sometimes we have friends over. This is the perfect time to get out the Algoma Hammocks butterfly chair. We have several extra ones that we keep in our closet because they fold up so nicely.
They are light and portable. They open in a second, and the funny thing is, the more excited people get about the game, the closer the chairs keep moving towards the TV! It’s a riot!
Did you know that it is the hammock pillow that makes your relaxation time in a hammock so wonderful? I have a standard hammock pillow that is attached to my spreader bar. But I have found that I like to add other pillows to make it really comfy.
It can make a great place to take an afternoon nap! I like to pick smaller pillows that coordinate with the colors in the hammock. Then I can prop myself up if I want to read. I can throw my legs over one. It’s like being on your own cloud, softly swaying in the breeze.
No comments