Who Would've Thought

Hands down my kids' favorite vegetables these days is Brussels sprouts. Which, by the way, I always thought were called Brussel sprouts not Brussels sprouts, but I was wrong. And then there's the question of why no does Brussels not have an apostrophe, but I digress. Anyway...

My kids love them. Like, love them enough to ask to have them for dinner. That said, they have to be roasted Brussels sprouts.  They asked my mom to make them once and forgot to specify the roasted part, and my mom boiled them. Talk about two unhappy teenagers. I think the word "ruined" may have been used to describe them, and as you can imagine, grandma did not appreciate that commentary on her cooking. For the record, she happens to love Brussels sprouts; boiled with lots and lots of butter. 

So, if you are looking for something new to try with your kids, give these a whirl. You might be as surprised as I was. And even if your kids aren't into them, you might be...

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

You'll need: 

• About 1.5 pounds fresh Brussels sprouts (I use two mesh bags from Meijer to feed 4.)
• Olive oil, maybe a tablespoon or two
• Salt and pepper, OR your favorite spice blend (I like this one.)

 

What to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (about 205 degrees C.)
2. Cover your cookie sheet or baking dish with foil for easy clean-up. (This is optional.)
3. Peel off any outer leaves that look brown or wilty.
4. Cut the bottom end bit off each sprout.
5. Slice each one in half lengthwise. If they are bigger than a gold ball, quarter them. If they are tiny, you can leave them whole.
6. Toss  the sprouts with a tablespoon or two of olive oil.  Use just enough to coat them. 
7. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet or in a large baking dish.
8. Sprinkle on your spices.
9. Roast for 25 minutes or until they are slightly browned on the outside and tender in the center. (My daughter loves the blackened crunchy bits the best.)

Shoring Up

It's been a rough fall / winter on Mackinac. With the water at an almost record high and recurring storms, the shoreline has gotten pounded. 

MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) has shored up a few spots where the road has washed out, but they aren't responsible for private property.

Back before Christmas break my students and I noticed a barge near the school. Of course, we had to go out and investigate.

One of the water-front home owners hired the barge to drop boulders on their property. The hope is  they'll stop the erosion being caused by the extremely high water. I hope it helps. My husband tells me the Army Corps of Engineers predicts the water may continue to rise - up to an additional 18 inches. Yikes...

Back in the Day: Visiting Paris

Last spring, as I watched the news coverage of Notre-Dame burning, I started thinking about my visit to Paris. It took a while, but I finally managed to find a few pictures from that trip. It seems funny now, but I remember building money for film developing into my budget - enough for 10 or 15 rolls of film. At the time that seemed like so many pictures, but I took almost 1,500 pictures during the two weeks I spent in Iceland this past summer.

The summer I was 16, eight girls from my Girl Scout troop spent a month traveling around Europe. (We spent time in London, England; Paris, France; Munich, Germany; Venice, Italy; Salzburg, Austria and Adelboden Switzerland.) Our troop operated a Gift Wrapping Booth at the local shopping mall and believe it or not I managed to raise the $800 I need for the trip working there. (The trip actually cost $1,600 but my parents agreed to split the cost with me. I earned my $500 spending money by babysitting. Babysitting at $2.00 or $3.00 an hour no less.)

Nerdy uniforms, I know. But we only wore them on border crossing days. Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Gallagher traveled with girls every summer and they learned quickly that uniformed Scouts moved through customs much quicker than run-of-the-mill teenagers did.

I remember loving the gargoyles  up on Notre-Dame. My daughter is super envious of this picture. When she went to Paris a few years ago with my mom, they weren't allowed to touch them. 

As I look back on that trip, I feel pretty darn lucky to have gotten to visit before the fire...

Yikes

We were waiting for the boat to come home after Christmas break when my son noticed some smoke in St. Ignace. At first there were just a few little wisps but it didn't take long until huge black clouds were billowing out of the building. We quickly realized there was a serious fire on Main Street.

And I mean serious.  We stood on the bow of the Huron, in awe. I can't remember the last time I saw a fire like that - one that wasn't on a screen.

Luckily, the St. Ignace Fire Department, with support from both the Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island Fire Departments, quickly contained the blaze. There was smoke and water damage to the buildings next door, but thankfully the fire didn't spread. 

Scary stuff.

Rescued

I'll tell you - there's nothing like combining the power of the internet with a small town.  Within 10 minutes of posting my plea on Facebook, I was on my snowmobile heading out to pick up a little carpet cleaner. Then, while my son feverishly worked to clean up the mess he accidentally created, I was getting text messages of support from friends down state. 

This experience has, once again, reinforced why Mackinac Island is the best place in the world to live.  Hopefully the take away from this whole thing for my son is - when his dad says he needs help completing a job, it means he needs help.  He doesn't want my son to do the job for him. Especially when the job involves a container full of  disgustingly fowl black water that smells like death, and tan carpet...

Here Comes the Sun

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Winter Solstice.  May your heart be filled with sunshine today and every day...

Beware!

This lovely little tradition has just legitimized all those times my kids got clothes for Christmas. I was just looking out for them...

Also, I think they will get new underwear for Christmas this year. New undies with giant, smiling cat faces on the butt. (Thank you Allen.) I wouldn't want them to get eaten, especially now that they've been to Iceland and could legitimately be on the Yule Cat's radar.

I think my friend Kelaine might need a pair, too...

Saying Good-bye

I haven't really discussed it much,  but my husband's father passed away this summer. A few weeks ago we traveled to Sunderland, Massachusetts, to say our final good-byes.

Sunderland is a lovely little town on the banks of the Connecticut River. The kids and I had never been there before, and while it was a sad reason for a visit, we enjoyed getting to explore his old stomping ground.

We laid him to rest in the most beautiful cemetery I've ever seen. There was just something about the light through the leaves that day. It was lovely.

He served in the Navy during the very end of the Korean War, so he was buried with military honors.

And while I know you didn't know Dick, know that he would have appreciated being laid to rest near a patch of brussel sprouts, a corn field, and in view of the church where he married the love of his life. You can read his full obituary here.

Rest in peace Grampie;

we love and miss you...

Teacher Halloween 2019

This year for Halloween, the Mackinac Island teachers decided to dress up as if we were characters in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinny.

We thought about just picking characters from the book, until I found this site - Wimp Yourself.  It's a fun little site where you can personalize a character. Some poster board, black Sharpies, tape & paint stir sticks and quick as a wink, we were wimped!

Halloween 2019

This year we were lucky enough to have friends come up from Lansing to celebrate Halloween with us. They moved off the Island a number of years ago, but their mom and I have managed to get the kids together once or twice a year ever since.

 

This year I had a D&D character - a rogue. K put a lot of time into creating her costume. She had a clear vision and worked hard to bring it to life through thrifted (and then altered) items. D&D is serious business but don't let that face fool you - she was thrilled withher creation.

I also had a Laughing Jack - a macabre clown. My son also knew exactly what he wanted to do. You should have seen him walking around the fabric store looking for the items to make each part of the costume. Finding the feather boas for the shoulders made his day!

S has gotten into horror (think Stephen King) and really enjoyed creeping people out with his costume. Luckily, he hasn't lost his sense of humor. 

As for candy, 2019 was an average year. The four kids brought home between 7.4 and 9.8 pounds of candy each (about 3 kg - 4.5 kg.)  Given that they all went together to the same houses, I'm not sure why there was such a difference between their hauls.  By far S's favorite item this year was the blood bag. I'm not sure if they came from Amazon, but that's exactly what they looked like; except these were filled with a thick blood-red sugary liquid. It was all I could do to watch S slurp it down...

How We Roll

My husband has been running a weekend D&D game for the kids and a few friends. It is nothing like the D&D I played back in high school.

He goes all out.

I sure hope the kids appreciate the effort he puts into it...

Escape

This little guy seems intent on escaping the third and fourth grade classroom. Three times in as many days I've discovered him making a run for it down the hallway...

It's Been a While

Apparently I haven't been picking up my mail often enough. All of this, plus a pile of bills, junk mail and catalogs was waiting for me at the post office this afternoon. The red envelopes are from my kids' new favorite T-shirt shop - Redbubble.

On Mackinac Island we don't have home mail delivery. We have to physically go to the post office to pick up our mail. Usually it is no big deal, but today my bike basket was a tad on the full side.

It's That Time of Year

Barrel time!

Every year the Jamaican workers on Mackinac (and maybe workers from other countries, too - I'm not sure) get a barrel to take home. 

These guys had just picked up their empty barrels and were heading back to their housing. They weren't exactly sure why I wanted a photograph of barrels, but did give me permission to snap their picture.

A Jamaican friend of mine said she always wants to stock up on items that are significantly more expensive back home in Jamaica. She tries to fill her barrel with a winter's worth of face cream, hair dye, shampoo and other toiletries, as well as brand-name clothing and electronics to use for Christmas gifts. Jamaica is probably a lot like Mackinac - a place where almost everything has to be imported, so it all tends to cost a little bit more.

Big Plans

My plan for today is to snuggle under the covers with my cat and, hopefully, a good book. I'm a few chapters in already and am quite intrigued with the direction Atwood is going.

What do you have planned for today?

Old Dog - New Tricks

If you happen to be looking for me on a Thursday night, for the next eight weeks, you'll find me parked in front of my computer. I'm taking a class on helping kids think about fractions. I love that I can Zoom into the meeting and don't have to physically be in Sault Ste. Marie. It makes it so much easier for me to participate in professional development opportunities like these.

El Gato

All my son wanted to do tonight was finish up his Spanish homework before he went to bed. (He's got mono so he's crashing early these days.) Our cat, Minnie, had other ideas. She thought it was time for him to give her scritches. S would gently nudge her aside, but she'd come back and plop down again. Finally, they compromised - scritches first, then Spanish.

Berry Picking Time

Blueberry picking is one of my favorite things about August. I love torturing my children by dragging them out into the woods and not feeding them until they reach their hourly berry quota. Yeah, I'm that mom.

Seriously though, the kids are usually pretty willing to pick for at least a few hours, especially if the weather is cooperative. Luckily my son remembers the amazing blueberry pie filling I made a few years ago. Now, all I have to do is suggest that we are getting close to having enough berries for pie and jam and he gets a renewed burst of energy. (Regular snacks help, too.)

We almost didn't go this year because summer had been so dry. I'm so glad went after all because the berries were better than they've been in two or three years. The four of us managed to pick 12 pounds (abut 5.5 kg) of berries in just a few hours.

My daughter even spent an additional hour winnowing with me when we got home. I think she's hoping there will be some blueberry jelly in her future...

Favorite

Hands down, this is my favorite bread-making book. (Check out the authors' other books here.) I love bread. And when I say love, I mean love. No question, my daughter inherited her weakness for all things bready from me. 

My favorite thing about this recipe is I can come home from a long day at work and still have fresh bread on the table for dinner. (Which actually never happens any more since Allen does all the cooking on school nights. Yes, I know how lucky I am to have a husband like that.)

So now I enjoy easy-peasy homemade bread on the weekends.  As often as I can.

Fall

Fall is my absolute favorite time on Mackinac Island.  I love the warm days, the cool nights and even the rain. (Except the horizontal rain in November. I really don't enjoy that.)

Don't get me wrong, I love summer.  Sleeping late, puttering in the garden, and having a looser schedule all make me smile. I just don't love hot weather. Once fall rolls around, it's warm enough where I can wear dresses and sandals to school, but I'm not sweltering in the heat. I much prefer the "sweater weather" of September.