Where's Abby (+ Dylan and dogs)

  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7985/blueberry-buckle/ Here are some good ol’ recipe DON’TS I learned while baking this blueberry buckle.  #1 Don’t assume it’s 2 CUPS of flour like you’re used to with cookies and breads. It may just be 2 TABLESPOONS.  #2 When it says “warm butter,” don’t heat it up til totally melted on the stove. #3 If you just can’t wait for butter to warm naturally by sitting out and do the don’t in number 2, at least don’t put it in the freezer to “cool off,” because you will forget it and you will get frozen butter, and you’ll be putting it back on the stove to warm back up. But maybe try on LOW and actually watch it this time. #4 Don’t be too cavalier about flour. It will get everywhere.  #5 Don’t give up. I poured my eggs and sugar mixture into my two heaping cups of flour and thought, hmph that just doesn’t look right. Do I need more milk? What is this supposed to even look like? After checking the recipe again and thinking surely SOMEWHE...

I should at least be able to write 1 blog a year for a review, right? If not for you guys, at least for future me to remember all that happens in just one year! So 2019 looked a little like this... Started the year hiking and roaming Asheville with these cool cats during our New Year's NC trip. Completed my first 3 clinical placements with grad school and they were all fantastic working with sweet kiddos, patients with aphasia (my new passion) and a variety of other adult speech-language disorders. Celebrated our 2nd anniversary in a muddy canyon in Georgia. Check out Hobie's legs! Went on the dreamiest road trip around France and Spain with Dylan and got to visit Aunt Cyndi and Mick in their sweet village, Cazals-- There's a post in my drafts that maybe y'all will get to read soon. Checked North Dakota off of Grandma's bucket list in a memorable road trip with family.   Enjoyed a quick NC mountain trip staying in this cabin and teep...

August 21, 2019, Dorothy Coe checked off a goal from her bucket list of visiting the lower 48 states, with North Dakota  as the last. Accompanying her were her husband, James, her children Mike Coe (South Carolina) and Julie Ross (Florida), and granddaughter Abby Ross-Kennedy (FL). Grandson Chris Ross even flew in from Colorado to celebrate the big accomplishment. On this trip, they drove 1000+ miles in just 5 days,  ate fresh ice cream from the South Dakota State University Dairy Science Hall,  walked across the headwaters of the Mississippi  Itasca State Park,  visited "the prettiest botanical garden" at McCrory Gardens ,  and enjoyed time w ith newlyweds Thomas and Demi Coe in Omaha. Scenery included vast farmland that made these travelers all wonder about North Dakotans' lives, an Amish man bailing hay with his mules, and a starry starry night worth stopping for.  On this trip, I heard so many great stories from Pa and Grandma. I learned that ...

We celebrated 2 years together in perfect Dylabby fashion. I planned a surprise camping trip to Providence Canyon in good ol' Lumpkin Georgia. I saw "scattered showers" in the forecast, but thought, "We can't let weather stop us or we'd never do anything. And it'll probably just be a short little spurt. It'll be fine." So we drove on up and were welcomed in late afternoon by heavy downpour for hours. Phones had no service and we didn't know anything around us, so we decided to just drive until we hopefully found a motel or somewhere to stay. "Omaha Brewing Company, 14 miles this way" we saw on a sign. "What?! A brewery around here?" Strange but true, and it kept us warm and dry for a while as we figured out our plan. It also brought us a crowd full of funeral goers that offered some interesting stories-- 34 year old lady that had joined a biker gang in the last several years... Said biker gang "raised hell" wit...

Since college I've been really experimenting with... Crafts!  All kinds of crafts. Painting- Enjoyed it, but never felt like I could come up with original work and just always kinda felt like an amateur. Pottery- took a class and had dreams of becoming a master potter, but a little too expensive and just not super practical at home. Cross-stitch, crochet, embroidery... Then comes an idea in 2017!  Quilting ! And I am so stoked on it. I finally feel like I've found my niche and favorite craft. With embroidery, I love how beautiful and free handed they can be and will continue some embroidery, but I love the practicality and functionality of quilts. I love thinking about the coziness they bring and creating these personalized pieces for friends and family, incorporating things they love. The family history also adds to the   I'm in grad school and maybe should be thinking about speech and language all the time but I just keep thinking about quilting and all t...

If this trip didn't deserve a blog, I don't know what would. Mom and I just had a blast on our first (stateside) road trip together.  Mom started of the trip in perfect Julie Ross fashion, packing a picnic lunch for us along the way.  We made our way to Hendersonville, NC to the cutest little lodge at Highland Lake. It was a lovely little retreat with a lake for kayaking (in warmer weather), an organic farm, chickens, and fall leaves. Saturday We had a lovely reunion with her friend Jenny and her hubs who are always so good to see. Italian dinner Friday night and downtown shops and lunch the next day with this wonderful couple. From lunch, Mom and I ventured over to Carl Sandburg's house, a must see for anyone in the area. I didn't know much about the guy before but now I love him and his wife and their goats. (If you want to be surprised on the tour, skip the next paragraph!)  A Swedish immigrant longing to be American, writing poetry ab...

Maybe over the last month a slew of things lead me to a plastic rampage the other day. It's everywhere. It's excessive. Plastic cups, straws, balloons, cans (ok aluminum too) all over the beach. Snack packs at Publix have made me maybe the most outraged-- wasteful packages with 3 pieces of cheese and some nuts or a spoonful of salsa with 5 tortilla chips in a double decker plastic bus for convenience? Bleh. I'm actually writing Sabra to express my extreme discontent with their entire company. I'm so feisty about this! I'd close em down if I were president. End rant, onto action.  So here's how I'm starting out.  Drinking and Eating  Keepin' on with the Nalgene everywhere and also taking my own coffee cup to cafes. Apparently several (Dunkin for one!) will give discounts too.  Saying no next time I want ice cream at school if they only have plastic options. Ice cream can wait, can't it, Earth? Take my own container for leftovers at res...