She just gets prettier as the days go by! And look, she is sleeping on the quilt I made for her!
I’m including this in Everything Etsy’s “I Made It!” blog party just because I am so in love with Amelia!
A Couple More Photos of Miss Amelia
My New Fab Granddaughter
Until today, I had four grandchildren–Michael, Sarah, Spencer, and Owen. Three Fab Grandsons, and one Fab Granddaughter. Every time one of my children and their spouse announced that they would be having a new baby, I always said, “You know if you have a girl, you will have to name her after me!” I never really expected that to happen, but a grandma can ask, right?
This morning, at 12:45 a.m., in a hospital in Maryland, Amelia Summer Gail Parson entered the world. She weighed in at 8 lbs, 13 oz. She is the pride and joy of my son, Seth and his lovely wife, Sarah. And, she shares MY birthday. They called me last night to tell me they were on the way to the hospital. The last time I talked to them was at about 11:45 p.m. Maryland time. Sarah said she was only dilated to 5 cm, so they didn’t expect the baby to arrive any time soon. I told them I had to get up early to go to work, and asked that they just text me, so I would know when I got up whether or not she had been born.
This morning, I called, and Sarah told me Miss Amelia was born just an hour after I last talked to her. She told me there were pictures posted on Facebook, so while I was talking to her, I signed on to look. And that is when I discovered that they HAD named this baby after me. I got so choked up I could barely speak. And my eyes started leaking. My son said that since she was born on my birthday, she had to have my name. Her “middle middle ” name, Gail is my middle name. What a wonderful birthday surprise–not only does she share my birthdate, she shares my name as well!
New Old Friends Visit
I have been friends online with Marcie for quite some time. I found out over the winter that she and her husband were going to be working in Kanab, Utah this summer. So, the first time we went down there, I stopped in one of the places that hires workampers and inquired if she worked there, since I couldn’t remember exactly where they would be working.
They didn’t work at that particular location, but the woman who did knew her, because all the workampers who work in Kanab stay at the same RV park. So, I left my business card, and asked that Marcie call me. The next week, she did–they were coming up to the North Rim to see the Grand Canyon, and we made arrangements for them to meet me at my duty station.
It is always so fun to meet the faces behind the online names, and this time was no exception. Marcie was fun, and nice, and just what I expected her to be. She brought along Chris, who I had run into online some, too. She was just as nice and friendly as Marcie. What a treat on a workday to meet such nice people in person!
Catfish and Peppers
Before we left Alabama last month, we bought a case of catfish filets to bring with us to the North Rim. I was going to have a fish fry for our friends, but that has not worked out, since we don’t have a place big enough to cook and serve to 15 people. So, I have been making catfish for us about once a week.
I didn’t want to eat fried fish that often (ok, I gained too much weight eating fried catfish 4 times a week over the winter!), so I came up with this recipe:
4 medium catfish filets (any firm white fish will work)
2 bell peppers, sliced up
2 onions,cut in fourths and sliced
2 closed garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add peppers, onion, and garlic, and sautee until they are done to your liking. Add salt and pepper. Move the sauteed veggies to the side. Put the fish filets in the pan, cover with cooked veggies. Turn the heat down, cover the skillet. Cook on medium low heat about 12 mintues, until fish is done. Serve with rice or potatoes.
Gluten Free At The Grand Canyon!
Yesterday was our “Friday”–we have Wednesday and Thursday off. So, when we got off work yesterday, we decided to go out to eat. Going out to eat up here gives you exactly three choices–The North Rim Lodge Dining Room, The Kaibab Lodge, and Jacob Lake Inn. At the North Rim Lodge Dining Room you have to have a reservation for dinner. We called, and the earliest appointment we could get for a steak was 9:15 p.m. So, that was out as we were both already starving.
To get to Jacob Lake Inn, it is a 45 mile drive, so we also decided not to go there. Which left the Kaibab Lodge. It is about a 20 mile drive to Kaibab Lodge, not so bad, so we jumped in the truck and headed down there. When we got there, we discovered that they do not start serving dinner until 5:00 p.m and it was only 4:30. We decided to wait, and ordered a glass of wine and a beer. I was not impressed with the person behind the counter, either. She was just a little on the rude side, but we still decided to wait.
Right at 5:00, several people came in, went up to the counter, and were talking with the person there, the same one who seemed a little rude to me. I got the impression that these people were other employees there. They were waited on first. We waited until ten after five, and no one ever came to our table, or even looked in our direction, so we left. In all, we waited about 40 minutes before we decided to leave.
We went home, and I made some bacon and eggs–sooooo not what I had in mind for my Friday night dinner. This morning, we had to get up and move our trailer from one spot to another, which is a major pain in the hiney. You have to do just as much work to move 50 feet as you do to move 500 miles. It took up about three hours start to finish. It was about noon when we got done, and both of us were hungry again. We decided to go to the North Rim Lodge Dining Room for lunch. You don’t need a reservation there for lunch.
This is my third season working here at the North Rim. Last year, I had talked to the manager of the restaurant about getting some gluten free choices on the menu, but he never gave me a good answer “yes” or “no” that they would do that. I also talked to the park service person who is in charge of concessionaires. He asked me to email him some info on gluten free eating and gluten intolerance, so I did, but I did not hear anything back from him. Now, I don’t know if “I” had anything to do with this, but listen to this:
When we went to the lodge for lunch today, I asked about something on the menu by saying “Does it have any wheat in it?” and the waiter responded “Do you mean gluten free?” I was soooo excited about that. Ed, the waiter, brought me a two page gluten free menu, and told me that they need a 24 hour notice but they can make anything on that gluten free menu for me if I want them to. And there are some really good choices on that menu–not just stripped versions of the “regular” menu. They even have gluten free pancakes on the breakfast menu!
While Forever Resorts, the concessionaire that operates Grand Canyon Lodge at the North Rim, does not have their gluten free menu or the information about calling ahead 24 hours in advance to request some of their gluten free options on their website, I have sent them an email suggesting that they add it. But isn’t it wonderful to know that you CAN get a good tasty meal with a such a great view?
Here are some of the options on the menu:
Gluten Free Pancakes with butter and maple syrup: $6.60
Ranch Hand Breakfast: 2 organic eggs served with bacon or sausage and fresh cottage potatoes $8.20
Tiyo Tomato Salad layers of ripened tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves $8.90
Southwest Shrimp Cocktail chilled jumbo shrimp with a cilantro-horseradish cocktail sauce $10.90
Pasta Primavera gluten free penne pasta tossed with sauteed vegetables, garlic, white wine and olive oil $12.45
Salsa Chicken char-grilled all natural chicken breast served over black bean chili salsa with avocado and roasted pine nuts $12.45
Fresh Utah Trout please inquire of our server for today’s gluten free special preparation and accompaniments $19.90
Wafer Surprise (dessert) gluten free wafers with chocolate fondue
These are not the only things on the menu, there are more items, just wanted to pass along that they do have some very good options!
OHHH, My Aching Feet, or The Park Opened Yesterday…
I spent last week in training for 4 days, or in powerpoint hell, whichever way you look at it. A lot of the material we covered was refresher, some was new, but I can’t really say it was interesting. On the last day, Friday, we went out to the entrance station to practice doing transactions and making sure we had all the forms and equipment we needed for opening day. We encountered a mini-blizzard–NOT the ice cream kind, either. Mother Nature decided to bless us with another inch or so of snow. It was quite pretty coming down, but rather cold.
Friday was also dress rehearsal for us. We had to get our uniforms out of storage, brush off the hats, and try on those new boots. I had bought some insoles for my boots, because the last pair of boots I had needed them to be comfortable. I found out that this new pair doesn’t need them, because my feet STILL hurt from that first day. I took the insoles out that night, and the boots are good to go without them. The only other little problem I had was that I discovered I had eaten way too much catfish over the winter–I could barely button my pants. What was I thinking???
So you might ask why I go through the boring training, the snow until July, and the too tight pants? Because this is my commute: I walk about a half a mile through aspens and ponderosa pine forest to get to my job. It beats the heck out of 37 miles one way on I-285 any day of the week!
Ready To Go To Work
FabGrandpa started working on April 27, but I have been a lady of leisure since we arrived here. My first day of work is tomorrow. I have enjoyed my time off, and have spent most of it sewing. (yeah, BIG surprise there!) I still haven’t finished my quilt, but I only have two more pieces to add before the top is done. Then I start on the back. I found a quilt shop in Flagstaff. They gave me some business cards of people who do long arm quilting, so when I do get the back done, I will have someone to do the quilting. Yay!
Spring on the Kaibab Plateau
(the link above is supposed to be a video. I took it with my Nikon Coolpix when I went down to get the water heater. It is just a little lovely spring snow melt with the sound of the water running. I don’t know why it did not embed here, but if you would like to listen to it, click on the link and see if it works for you. If it doesn’t, please let me know)
I drove 45 miles down to Jacob Lake on Friday to pick up our new water heater. FedEX delivered it to the winter “mail box” down there. The drive was beautiful–the snow is melting very quickly so you can see the grass underneath. There were lost of areas where there was running water, this in a place where no rivers or streams exist. It looks so much more like spring now than it did two weeks ago.
Friday night, FabGrandpa and our friend, Curtis, installed the water heater. It was sooo good to be able to shower in my own bathroom again. I washed up all the dishes, too. This morning, we were sleeping so good, when there was a loud knock on the door. FabGrandpa thought he was off today, but that was not the case. His days off had been changed but he was not notified. So, he got up and grudgingly went in, while I went to do laundry and cooked a good dinner. By the time I was finishing up the laundry, he came by and was calmed down and his happy self again. The whole reason for changing his days off was so that we can have the SAME days off! So, that is a good thing
Tonight, early dinner, shower, then early to bed. Got to go make a dollar in the morning.
Almost Finished With MY Quilt
Although I have been making quilts for about eleven years now, I still don’t have one for my bed. That is soon going to be remedied, though, because I have been working on my very own quilt for a while now. I am getting close to being finished with it.
I am using the Mixed Tape Quilt pattern from Elizabeth Hartman, who writes a lovely quilt blog at Oh! Frannson! The pattern called for 16 different fabrics, but I only had 8, so I used each one twice as much. I still like the result. But then, I have always looked at a quilt pattern as a place to start and have rarely ever made a quilt exactly like the pattern.
I’m using this lovely brown fabric for the back–I think it will look so good quilted with turquoise thread. I hope to have this finished and on my bed before the end of summer.
I am participating in the Everything Etsy Blog Party this week. Check out the other pretty things people have made here:
