January Letterboxing

This has been a great month for letterboxing - I've practiced carving a bit, creating a couple stamps that I feel good enough to share.  They're still pretty crappy, but I love being a part of postals, so I'm working on my carve-man-ship as much as I can.  I went out last weekend and the weekend before, looking for plants.  Hit the 80 mark, most of them being "drive-bys," though a few were "strolls."  Next weekend is the Tucson gathering, which I'm pretty excited (and nervous!) about.

My numbers as of 1/31/16

P1 F80 X20

HH 3F
Postals 4P 26F 4C
LTCs 1P 9F 1C
Event Boxes 4F

Totals for January:
New carves:  
Quisp - Desert Morning (which I rip and distress and turn into the above)

Poet's Tree by Shel Silverstein for IR's Newbie Postal Tracker

Also a sugar skull, which I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet:

Plus:
Finds:
7 - (all drive-bys)

Postals
16 - most in the Favorite Books Ring,
the first two in the Scenic Drives Ring
Gnome Place Like Home micro
Hang Ten, Puka

I've Been Cooking - Salsa Chicken Casserole

(Recipe calls for an 8x8 pan - I don't think that would be big enough.  I used my biggish casserole dish.  You want it to be deep enough to immerse the chicken.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Dump into casserole dish:

1 c. uncooked Basmati rice
1 c. froz corn, thawed (I threw in the whole bag)
1 15-oz. can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 16-oz jar Salsa
1 c. chicken broth
1 t. oregano
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 1/2 lbs. boneless chicken (I used thighs)
      Make sure the chicken is immersed in the liquid.

Cover tightly with tin foil and bake for 1 hr.
(Rice was not yet cooked all the way and chicken didn't look ready, either.  I added another 45 minutes.  Rice, by then, was a little mushy - but I used regular white rice instead of Basmati.  However, a bit mushy or not, it was delicious.)

The recipe adds: take it out of the oven, cover with 1 c. shredded cheese and put it back in the oven for a couple of minutes for the cheese to melt.  Since, I'm not particularly fond of cheese, I skipped this step.

I found this recipe when someone shared it on Facebook.  It comes from a website called TipHero.

2016 CRAFT Challenges

Completed:
Brendan's Maine Woods Quilt

New Pattern to use and Kits to complete!
Charlie's Rag Quilt
Row by Row:  Simply Stashing (Littlestown, PA)
Row by Row:  Bittersweet Fabric (Boscawen, NH)
Row by Row:  The Yardstick (Cobbleskill, NY)
Row by Row:  Ivy Thimble Quilt Shop (Victor, NY)
Row by Row:  Country Treasures Quilt Shop (Brockport, NY)
Row by Row:  Sew What? Quilt Shope (Amherst, NY)
Row by Row:  Log Cabin Quilt Shop (Bird in Hand, PA)
Row by Row:  Stitch in Time (Greencastle, PA)
Row by Row "The Ninth Row":  Stitch in Time (Greencastle, PA)
Butterfly House Braggin Pole (Vertical License Plate wall hanging) by Patch Abilities
Fat Quarter Pop-Up (Came with the wire) by the Fat Quarter Gypsy
Fabric License Plate Tote by Cut Loose Press
Mini Alphabet Quilt by Primitive Gatherings
Pieced Pincushions (easy) by Indygo Junction
Feed Sack (with jelly roll) by Fig Tree & Co.
The Quilter's Advent Calendar by Meadow Lily Bridge
Arizona Postcard by Zebra
Goblin Hat (slouchy) with yarn bought in Rockland, ME
2 3-yd lap quilts
pajama bottoms
place mat (pattern bought in NY)

UFO Challenge 

Cacophony Quilt
Dede's picnic quilt
Josh & Julie's wedding quilt
Brian's Maine Lap Quilt
My window quilt (Suzi)
Brian & Heather's Burgundy & Green Bed Quilt
B & W & Bright Colored diagonal half-squares
Aqua Kokopelli tote
Heather's two rag pillows

Let's Use Up All Those Scrappy Strips!

Yup, decided to start a scrappy strip quilt.  I've got a huge basket of them.  I'm pulling out little strings and kids' fabrics to save for baskets and a baby strip quilt and chucking anything that is just too teeny tiny.  I've got to stop saving every little scrap!

I've decided on a couple of things:
8/5 inch blocks: I can use my leftover 8.5 x 11 printed-on-one-side scrap paper to make the foundation pies.  Easy peasy.

Center strip of a white (any white) 2-inches wide so that some sort of design will play out when I start putting the quilt together.

Size?  Not too big - must decide who this is being made for!  But it's fun and easy.

I have the iron on a towel to the right of my machine so that I can iron each piece as I add it, with my iPod reading me a book (The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths right now) I can make one or two before getting bored and going on to something else.

Number of squares made yesterday and today:  6

3. The Fifth Wave - Rick Yancey

#1 The Fifth Wave
read on my iPhone
2013 G. P. Putnam's Sons
457 pgs.
YA Dystopia/SciFi
Finished 1/30/16
Goodreads rating:  4.17
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Ohio, after the world's been taken over by aliens

First line/s:  "Aliens are stupid.  I'm not talking about real aliens. The Others aren't stupid.  The Others are so far ahead of us, it's like comparing the smartest human to the dumbest dog.  No contest.  No, I'm talking about the aliens inside our own heads."

My comments:  This was definitely an edge-of-your-seat book, which I read in anticipation of the movie; this is one I wanted to read before I saw.  Entertaining.  Somewhat suspenseful.  Heavy.  And as much as part of me wants to run right out and see the movie - today - another part of me is definitely not ready.  I couldn't put it down, yet I didn't want to pick it up.  That's TRULY mixed feelings, about a book that really gets to you.  This one did. (When I ask myself why I gave it a 4.5 instead of a 5, I realize the violence factor was a little too much for me, which is what edged it down to the 4.5)

Goodreads synopsis:  After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
          Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

MOVIE - Burnt

R (1:40)

Wide release 10/30/15

Viewed 1/228/16 at Kolb Century Gateway

RT Critic: 29   Audience:  48
Critic's Consensus:  Burnt offers a few spoonfuls of compelling culinary drama, but they're lost in a watery goulash dominated by an unsavory main character and overdone clichés.

Cag:  4/ Liked it a lot

Directed by John Wells

The Weinstein Company

Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller

My comments:  Bradley Cooper.  Yup, that's my comment.  Bradley Cooper.  No need to say more!  Set in London, this is the story of a man's regrets, pain, obsessions, dependency, and dealing with outwitting his own self-destructive ways.  Sounds heavy, and it was in places, but if watched with a smirk (Bradley Cooper!) the story is quite palatable and completely entertaining.

RT Summary:  Chef Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) had it all - and lost it. The former enfant terrible of the Paris restaurant scene had earned two Michelin stars and only ever cared about the thrill of creating explosions of taste. To land his own kitchen and that third elusive star though, Jones will need to leave his bad habits behind and get the best of the best on his side, including the beautiful Helene (Sienna Miller). BURNT is a remarkably funny and emotional story about the love of food, the love between two people, and the power of second chances.

I've Been Cooking - COWBOY Stew

Cowboy Stew

1 lb. ground turkey, browned & drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
6 medium potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 can diced tomatoes - undrained
diced garlic,
lots of chopped onions, green peppers, celery, mushrooms
salt & pepper.

Cook in crockpot on low for 7 - 8 hours.

NOTE #1:  I found that at 5 hours it was perfect to eat.  Perhaps my LOW is not exactly low?)
NOTE #2 - This, of course, made a huge amount.  I enjoyed it so much that I ate it almost every night for a week.  The last night I added a (drained) can of green beans.  YUM.

2. Small Wars - Lee Child

Jack Reacher #19.5
(1:30) on Audible
audio read by Dick Hill
2015 Transworld Digital
44 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery "short story"
Finished
Goodreads rating: 3.97
My rating:  4
Setting:  Georgia

First line/s:  "In the spring of 1989 Caroline Crawford was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.  She bought a silver Porsche to celebrate.  She had family money, people said, and plenty of it.  A trust fund, maybe.  Some eminent relative.  Maybe an inventor.  Her uniforms were tailored in D. C. by the same shop that made suits for the president.  She was held to be the richest woman in the army.  Not that the bar was high."

My comments:  Short and sweet...a short story, I guess.  Another interesting look at brother Joe.... It's fun to read (listen to) a shortie in between the regular book-length ones.  Decent story, too.

Goodreads synopsis:  A young lieutenant colonel, in a stylish handmade uniform, roars through the damp woods of Georgia in her new silver Porsche - until she meets a very tall soldier with a broken-down car.
       What could connect a cold-blooded off-post shooting with Reacher, his elder brother Joe, and a secretive unit of pointy-heads from the Pentagon?

1. Crime of Privilege - Walter Walker

audio cd back & forth from school January 2016
audio read by Stephen Hoye
11 cds/14 hours
2013 Random House Audio
432 pgs.
Adult mystery
Finished 1/22/16
Goodreads rating: 3.30
My rating: 3/ definitely kept my attention, got tired of the protagonist
Setting: Cape Cod, Massaachusetts

First line/s: "Almost everyone had heard of the family mansion on Ocean Boulevard, but very few had been there."

My comments:  It did seem like there were some cumbersome/drawn-on-too-long places, but overall, this was a very good read.  I never really liked the protagonist especially (maybe it was the way he was read) and although there were no real surprises, I enjoyed listening to how the story unfolded.  I know the story was a parody of the Kennedy family (I know there were all sorts of scandals and secrets) but I hated to put them in the place of this Gregory family, for some reason.  I guess I really like the Kennedy family....

Goodreads synopsis: A murder on Cape Cod. A rape in Palm Beach. 
All they have in common is the presence of one of America's most beloved and influential families. But nobody is asking questions. Not the police. Not the prosecutors. And certainly not George Becket, a young lawyer toiling away in the basement of the Cape & Islands district attorney's office. George has always lived at the edge of power. He wasn't born to privilege, but he understands how it works and has benefitted from it in ways he doesn't like to admit. Now, an investigation brings him deep inside the world of the truly wealthy--and shows him what a perilous place it is. 
Years have passed since a young woman was found brutally slain at an exclusive Cape Cod golf club, and no one has ever been charged. Cornered by the victim's father, George can't explain why certain leads were never explored--leads that point in the direction of a single family--and he agrees to look into it.
What begins as a search through the highly stratified layers of Cape Cod society, soon has George racing from Idaho to Hawaii, Costa Rica to France to New York City. But everywhere he goes he discovers people like himself: people with more secrets than answers, people haunted by a decision years past to trade silence for protection from life's sharp edges. George finds his friends are not necessarily still friends and a spouse can be unfaithful in more ways than one. And despite threats at every turn, he is driven to reconstruct the victim's last hours while searching not only for a killer but for his own redemption. 

MOVIE - Grandma

R (1:22)

Limited release 8/21/15

Viewed Friday 1/22/16 at Kolb cheapie theater

RT Critic:  92  Audience:  71
Critic's Consensus:  Boasting a stellar performance from Lily Tomlin and some powerfully empathetic work from writer-director Paul Weitz, Grandma is a dramedy that shouldn't have to ask you to visit.

Cag:  4 - Liked it a lot

Directed by Paul Weitz

Sony Pictures Classics
will be on DVD 2/9/16

Lily Tomlin, Marcia Gay Harden, Sam Elliot

My comments: Lily Tomlin was great, though I must say some of her "antics" were a little too over-the-top.  Many were right-on of course.  Grief, loss, love, disagreements, family sticky stuff were all examined, with a pretty decent resolution.  I totally enjoyed it, and the thinking that was provoked during and after.

RT Summary:  Lily Tomlin stars as Elle who has just gotten through breaking up with her girlfriend when Elle's granddaughter Sage unexpectedly shows up needing $600 bucks before sundown. Temporarily broke, Grandma Elle and Sage spend the day trying to get their hands on the cash as their unannounced visits to old friends and flames end up rattling skeletons and digging up secrets

2016 Oscars

Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Director 
Adam McKay for The Big Short
George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro G. Inarriut for The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson for Room
Tom McCarthy for Spotlight

Best Actor
Bryant Cranston - Trumbo
Matt Damon - The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Carol
Brie Larson - Room
Jennifer Lawrence - Joy
Charlotte Rampling - 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale - The Big Short
Tom Hardy - The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo - Spotlight
Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone - Creed

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara - Carol
Rachel McAdams - Spotlight
Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs

Best Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia)
Mustang (France)
Hungary (Son of Saul)
Theeb (Jordan)
A War (Denmark)

Best Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out - saw it, but didn't review
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There

I've Been Cooking - Ramen Skillet

Ramen Skillet

I've adjusted the ingredients so that it has less meat (there was too much the first time) and more noodles (there wasn't enough the first time)!

1/2 lb. hamburger
2 pkgs. Ramen Noodles
1 bag frozen corn
2 cups water (or broth that matches the ramen flavor)

Brown the burger - I didn't use a skillet because I didn't have a cover, I used a very large saucepan that had a cover that fit.  Drain the grease off as well as you can.  I added everything else, covered, brought it to a boil, tested the noodles, and ENJOYED!

Of course, with a pound of burger and 4 pkgs. of noodles, it'll last all week!

MOVIE - Mustang

Nominated for Best Foreign Film, 2016 Academy Awards
PG-13

Wide release 11/20/15

Viewed 1/19/16 at the Loft with Sheila

RT Critic: 97   Audience:  89
Critic's Consensus:  Mustang delivers a bracing -- and thoroughly timely -- message whose power is further bolstered by the efforts of a stellar ensemble cast.

Cag:  5/Loved it

Directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven (a female!)

CG Cinema (at the end of the credits it said FRANCE, GERMANY, TURKEY

In Turkish with subtitles

Actors were AMAZING!

My comments:  It took place in Turkey and was in Turkish.  It told a great (though sad) story.  The acting was superb.  Getting a chance to glimpse a little bit Turkey once again was fantastic.  Watching it with a friend: extra special.  Loved this movie!

RT Summary:  Early summer in a village in Northern Turkey. Five free-spirited teenaged sisters splash about on the beach with their male classmates. Though their games are merely innocent fun, a neighbor passes by and reports what she considers to be illicit behavior to the girls' family. The family overreacts, removing all "instruments of corruption," like cell phones and computers, and essentially imprisoning the girls, subjecting them to endless lessons in housework in preparation for them to become brides. As the eldest sisters are married off, the younger ones bond together to avoid the same fate. The fierce love between them empowers them to rebel and chase a future where they can determine their own lives in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's debut, a powerful portrait of female empowerment.

A Sunday Drive (On Monday) and So Much More!

What an awesome "Sunday Drive" I had today - enjoyed my day off celebrating Martin Luther King and Civil Rights in this gorgeous desert.  I made a huge loop around the city, wandering around on the west side of the Tucson Mountains where I don't think there's more gorgeous terrain anywhere in the world.  So many cactus!

First, though, I went up to Sentinel Park and visited A Mountain.  It's sort of like going to the top of Cadillac (in Acadia) but with a completely different feel.  Since it's not part of the National Park system, it's not in pristine condition.  There's graffiti.  There's shining glass and ground-in litter in the parking areas.  The views are incredibly expansive - 360 degrees!  Granted, the view does not include ocean and lakes and incredible greenness, but the views of the city, with mountains, and cacti and beautiful blue skies are just as spectacular in their own way.  The cars parked up there - and there are many, many people enjoying the vies, sitting on the rocks and looking out over the expanse - are, for the most part, battered and old.  Mine included.  A free view.  Clean air.  What more could one want?

I found a letterbox up here, too, which was the reason I ascended, but became a plus.  I really enjoyed this trip.  The woman who planted the box let me know that she no longer comes to Tucson (her daughter was a student at the U of A when the mom planted it) and she's glad it's still safe and being found.

From there I hit Silverbell and headed north.  Hadn't been over here in years.  Stopped at Christopher Columbus Park where I found another plant by Desert Flower.  I was sure I was nowhere near where I was supposed to be, but followed the directions and VOILA!  There it was!

From there I headed north even more to go to the Picture Rocks area, meandering across the Tucson Mountains, along Sanderio Road, Kinney Road, and Gates Pass Road.  LOVE IT SO MUCH OVER THERE!

I found my last letterbox of the day along the side of Wade Road, in a desert setting, in the midst of all sorts of cacti.  The letterbox was called "Cactus Village."  Cactus Village to be sure!  Two different kinds of cholla, barrel, prickly pear, and saguaro plus a whole lot of creosote bushes and small palo verdi trees - just gorgeous, just sitting there.  With the letterbox sitting innocently a hundred feet or so from the edge of the road.

As a side note, I checked my altimeter reading at the top of Gates Pass and it was 3150 feet.  I don't usually drive from west to east over Gates Pass and I missed the view going the other way.  It was still pretty darned breathtaking.....

Pickin' Away - Found Three on Saturday

When I headed out Saturday it was to do a few errands, but ended up hunting for ... and finding ... three letterboxes.  The first was at El Corral Restaurant, just west of where I work, on River Road.  The parking lot was empty so I was a bit conspicuous, but I tromped up the hill and easily found it under a tree.  So much fun!

From there I headed to La Encantada for a fabulous carving - parking and walking along a somewhat busy intersection at the north of the shopping center.  I often wonder what people think when they see a rather large older woman picking her way through the cacti in the middle of nowhere, heading for a rock.....

My last find was at the Holy Hope Cemetery on Oracle.  I LOVE the directions for this one, "find Jesus in the roundabout" !! There was a perfect hole in the junction of some branches in a tree.  For all three I could hop back into the car and enjoy my stamping with not time constraints.

So much fun!