Thursday, April 29, 2010

Friday Fave Five, April 30th

Here we are again. It's Friday! And it's time for (insert drum roll) Friday Fave Five hosted by the lovely and gracious Susanne!  Go on over to Living To Tell The Story and check in with our constantly growing group of thankful people.

Wow, what a week it has been at Willow's Cottage!  I am not sure I can limit myself to only five favorites. (I also am not sure that I will be able to upload any photos today since I updated blogger and may have difficulties with new formats.)  But first I want to say that whenever I have one of THOSE weekends when I don't get around to visit everyone, I always feel sad. I really do make an effort to visit everyone who links to Susanne's FFF, but I missed out last weekend because, well, because:

1.  The Professor and I spent all day on Saturday at UCLA.  Yes, that big magnificent university in Westwood, Los Angeles.  The LA Times hosted its annual Festival of Books with UCLA and on the university campus.  Because Chaplain Dan was on call, The Princess came with her parents and a friend, and the six of us attended interesting and stimulating lectures by many different authors, grabbed lunch with thousands of our best friends, toured the book stalls and finally stood in line for a half hour to sample the world's best ice cream sandwiches at that locally famous Diddy Riese's.

Amazingly, I didn't purchase a single literary volume, although I was certainly tempted by Captain Richard Phillips' account of his time spent as a hostage of Somali pirates after I heard him speak at one of the lectures.

2.  The local hospice hosted a Garden Tour on Sunday. We thoroughly enjoyed our three hours of walking through five gardens.  Especially meaningful was the third garden--a home grown backyard garden belonging to our close friends T and D.  I'm hoping to post more photos of the gardens over the weekend (once I figure out blogger).

3.  Years ago, an Indian neighbor taught me to make kefir/yogurt.  I made my own yogurt until we moved to an Asian country where it was impossible to procure fresh milk.  Then I just never got back into the habit of preparing my own yogurt.  Why would I, when Trader Joe's carries such marvelous Greek yogurt?  After I received my dehydrator birthday present last month, I noticed that the owner's manual gave directions on how to make yogurt.  So. I made Greek yogurt this week!  Yummy!

4.  Knowing that my two girls are great friends who love and support each other makes this mother's heart happy.  MamaMia spent last week helping Kiti and The New Boy move to a larger apartment.  You may think, O how nice. But really, it's a major accomplishment considering that it takes MM as many hours of travel as it does me to get to Kiti's city and state.  I love seeing how my kids love each other and sacrifice to help their siblings.

5.  Speaking of kids, the two male siblings each called his mother on the same afternoon, just to check in and say hi.  Yep, Mom's heart was bursting with happiness!

6.  Oh, and speaking of the dehydrator (see #3), I received a book called The Dehydrator Cookbook from a blog friend who found out I had  a new dehydrator and had never used one before.  Thanks, Kathie!

I need to stop here at five, umm, six faves. But Willow's Week was so full of blessings!  How was your week?

21 comments:

nikkipolani said...

Joy joy joy this week at Willow's Cottage! The Festival of Books sounds very interesting. I'm amazed you managed not to buy anything ;-)

Marg said...

OK...Now I know how to get on that list first thing in the morning???or late Thursday pm...
I can't even imagine what you go through when you are moving your little one....my heart aches...but meanwhile there are many more uplifting highlights, thank God.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Mary said...

I'm looking forward to the time my kids call just to call and not because they need anything! That would definitely be a fave!

Jientje said...

I don't know what a dehydrator is, but making your own yoghurt is wonderful. I know, because I do that! May the next week be as wonderful as this one was Willow!

roxie said...

But Willow, if no one buys books, authors can't make a living, and there won't BE any more books. Shame on you! ;-)

Living in furrin parts has probably made your family closer than most. You have much to be proud of!

Home-made yogurt - YUM!

ellen b. said...

It is great to see our kids loving each other and boys calling their mother is a wonderful thing!!
Glad you were able to enjoy the festival. I've had that ice cream sandwiched between 2 great cookies and it was at the festival 2 years ago :0)
Looking forward to more photos from the garden tour...

Melli said...

I never knew a dehydrator was good for anything but um... drying stuff out! How cool!

I love those blue flowers - I think I have some in purple... but I could be wrong! ;)

You raised wOnderful children! And I know JUST what you mean!

Unknown said...

I always enjoy reading these posts. And a dehydrator! Gosh, I never knew such a thing existed.

Flower said...

Five great FAVE's! Your week was full of flourishing activity!!
Good luck with new Blogger!!

Beatriz said...

My mom used to make her own kefir from bulgaros that she obtained in Mexico. When I started college, she sent me off with my own little bundle of kefir bacteria. I got perplexed looks for my own yogurt...who knew it would make it way to so many grocer shelves nowadays. Like you, though, I don't make it anymore, not when there's TJ greek yogurt. I miss Diddy Riese cookies! Must visit the alma mater soon. The weather sure is perfect for it.

Kathie said...

Yay! I'm so glad you got the book and I hope it proves super useful for you.

TXDidi said...

The dehydrator sounds intriguing. I'll have to do some research on those. I almost bought Capt. Phillips' book for my brother this week for his birthday but I wasn't sure if he'd read it. It sounded very interesting to me, though.

Faith said...

love your list! that's great that your adult children call you!!!! I sure hope my girls do when they fly from the nest :)

Sniffles and Smiles said...

It does sound like such a wonderful week! Yum! Greek yoghurt! You are so talented! And the garden tour sounds wonderful! Can't wait to see the pictures! Will look out for them over the weekend! Speaking of which, I hope you have a lovely weekend...filled with sunshine! Sending you love, Janine

Barbara H. said...

What a lovely week! That festival of books sounds heavenly!! And it's so sweet when kids help each other. I don't know if it was like this at your house, but in my boys' younger years, I just hoped they'd be friends when they grew up -- I had my doubts! But they all mellowed a bit as they got older and love to do things together now.

And it is especially sweet when they call just to say hi and check in!

Laura@OutnumberedMom said...

Oh, my, that Festival of Books sounds like heaven!!!

Isn't it great when your kids help and support each other? There were days when you wondered if that would ever happen! (At least I did.)

You have to be reasonably near one of my boys -- he's in N. Hollywood.
Happy weekend!

Susanne said...

Homemade yogurt, yum! I haven't had that in forever.

Lectures by authors sounds like fun.

Anonymous said...

So glad you had a lovely week. It was great reading about it.

I haven't heard of a dehydrator though.

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

A special week, indeed! It is a blessing to have children who are "flying right" ;)

Everyone is talking Greek yogurt these days! I've been enjoying mine (also Trader Joe's) with blueberries and granola in the morning.

I'll be curious what you make with your dehydrator....

Knitting Linguist said...

What a wonderful week! Ours, too, was good -- time spent outdoors, time spent with the girls, time spent with DH. It doesn't get much better than that :)

Dorothy said...

That festival of books sounds just wonderful!!