Welcome to 2025, it’s hard to believe it is a new year. Not much happening here, I have been busy baking and sharing the cookies with lots of places I frequent like mechanics, first responders, grocery stores, etc. I also have been making thousands of inspirational smiles, which are 1 inch wood circles and I put a colored smile face on one side and a short inspirational saying on the other side. I bought lots of different colors and styles of smiles, and over 125 different sayings and I give these out all over and sent thousands to friends all over the country. I also did watercolor paintings and since I don’t need the paintings I cut them into bookmarks and send them to friends all over the country as well.
When I was helping at my friends bakery in Texas this past summer for a few months I learned about sourdough. They make lots of different types of bread and baked goods using sourdough. So, when I got home I made some sourdough starter, which took a few weeks to get it to a good usable dough. I found many great websites with sourdough recipes and I have been making several sourdough recipes and have a few favorites, including easy ones for crackers. After a few weeks of baking a lot of sourdough items, and feeding the sourdough daily and also having lots of sourdough discard, which is a portion to separate before feeding the sourdough more flour and water, I found out that I could take some of my active sourdough and spread it on parchment paper and let it dry and put in a jar for future use or to share with someone. So, I have a large jar of active sourdough starter. I also keep my active starter in the refrigerator so it doesn’t have to be fed daily since I am not using it as often right now. Besides a few delicious cracker recipes, I made pistachio, almond, chocolate chip biscotti which is now my favorite along with the chocolate, chocolate chip, pistachio biscotti I have made for years. I also made sourdough bagels, pretzels, english muffins, pancakes, and a few other things.
I am loving my new car which I bought in October since my 2000 Toyota Camry had water damage over the summer from all the rain and was declared totaled by the insurance company. I bought black and red seat covers for the new to me car, it’s a 2022 Buick Encore GX that had 17,000 miles. Lots of new features and a backup camera. I always back into spaces and don’t need a camera for that, in fact I do better using the white lines than the camera. It does have some features like blind spot light in the side mirrors, and I got the State Farm drive safe and save gadget which is supposed to save money on my insurance premium. I wish I knew about it and had it on my Toyota which had a higher insurance premium. The drawback which is not a big deal for the newer car is that it is a SUV and I can’t reach the roof and parts of it to wash as easily as my smaller Toyota, but I have a long handle brush I used for my camper van that I now use on my car.
As for the camper van, last summer I realized with wet carpet and water in a rear cabinet I had water leaks somewhere, and when I was in Texas at a friends I thought we fixed the leaks but evidently not. When I got home a friend and I looked for the leaks and thought we fixed it, but it turns out we only fixed one and about a week ago thought we fixed the other one in the rear where it got wet inside the cabinet, so we have to do a bit more work to fix the remaining leak but we think we know where it is. I have to remember it’s a 1998 Dodge van that was converted into a camper at a RV company in Canada that is no longer in business, but they made a great camper van. I bought it November 2005 with 25,000 miles, and now in 2025 it has about 116,000 miles. I drive it every two to three weeks to keep it running well and get it serviced regularly and I run the generator and roof air conditioner at the same time frame after I have driven it for about an hour every few weeks.
I am still doing my weaving and making pretty bags that I send to a friend in Washington state that buys them and gives them to her friends and students and she tells me that everyone she gives them to loves them. She asked me to make some that she can see at craft shows where she lives and that’s what I am working on now. I learned how to do this weaving technique called twining which is an old Native American weaving technique. I learned this at the Native American Flute festival I go to every November in Melbourne, Florida, you can check it out at the Native Rhythms Festival website. This past year the instructor that taught the class the previous year encouraged me to enter a few of my pieces in the arts competition, so I did. I didn’t win, but she told me later that I was only a few points away from 3rd place and that everyone loved my pieces and how they admired the evenly woven stitches and the colors I used. So I am continuing to weave, it gives me something to do and I have given away lots of bags to friends, and I gave many away on my trip this past summer.
When the weather warms up maybe in April I am hoping to take another trip in my camper van. Not sure of the route yet, I have so many places I want to visit, including my firefighter friends in Georgia. I always enjoy my time with them and they are so nice to me and not just because I bought them and surrounding cities fire equipment. It’s the way they are to everyone I believe. We even have a few cookouts when I am there and the firefighters and their family members come and we have a nice time and it’s been a joy seeing the children growing over the years. One year when I was there the chief and his wife had a new baby and he was only about 3 months old when I was there, and now he is in his early teens.
That’s about it for now. I still have not figured out how to post photos in my story so for now, if you want pictures send me a message and I will try to connect with you to send them by text.