Monday Nights

When we were first married and both working full time, our social schedule was incredibly busy. We spent Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Racquetball Club, going directly from there to our favorite hang out to play darts and drink with a large group of friends. The weekends were super busy with all sorts of activities; the necessary things you need to do to run a home during the day, and socializing in the evenings. At least once a month in the summer, we were camping or back-packing. And at least 4 times a month in the wintertime, we were skiing or snowboarding. Very, very busy, indeed.

Very early on in our relationship, we decided we needed one evening, quietly at home. We chose Monday nights, because we loved to watch Antiques Roadshow on PBS (lol...I just realized that that show has been playing on Monday nights for at least 28 years!). I nominated Larry to be in charge of supper. He chose to make hotdogs and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (ahh...the good old days when fat, carbs and salt did not matter to us!)....However, after about 2 years of this lovely Monday night diet, I could feel the blood coagulating in my veins, and decided we had to give up all that starch. Larry's solution was to incorporate the hotdogs into the Macaroni and Cheese. And his famous Monday night dinner became the standard for over 15 years!

My daughter, Mishel, ridiculed the idea of this, until she happened to be here on one of our Mac 'n Cheese nights, and actually tasted it. She was sincerely astonished at how good it is.

For one box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Larry slices up 3 regular Ball Park Franks and browns them in a little butter. While they are browning, he makes the pasta according to the directions, adding extra milk, because his wife likes it soupy. When it is made, he incorporates the sliced franks and stirs it up. He divides it into 2 bowls; I get the soupy part off the top and he get the thicker part. We always have this with sliced sweet pickle. It is surprisingly delicious! Try it sometime...

$8 Grab Bag

In our lovely little town of Hamilton, Montana, we have a lot of estate sales. I know it sounds odd, but frequenting these sales is one of my favorite things to do with my free time. Although golf is his favorite activity, my husband enjoys these sales too; and about 3 months ago, I introduced my mom to the one that is held indoors in a heated building, and easily accessible for her. Now she is addicted, too!

You never know what you are going to find. Two weeks ago, the pictures the company posted was almost entirely of dolls...literally hundreds of old dolls...which does not really interest me. (Miniatures, yes...dolls...not so much...) But Mama wanted to go, and, like I said, you just never know what you will find. It turned out to be a combination of two estates and a liquidation of sorts from the local museum. One of the estates did indeed have a few miniatures, but not much I was interested in. I did find a gallon sized ziplock bag with lots of odds and ends doll-related items and miscellaneous small toys in it. A tiny ceramic baby doll with moving arms and legs, and dressed in a tiny jacket and diaper caught my eye. I have been looking for a little baby for my 12:1 scale dollhouse, and I knew that these little hand-painted babies sell for a pretty penny. So I sprang for the $8 bag.

At home, I took the bag apart. I got one new wind-up toy to add to my collection (literally HOURS of entertainment for any visiting children!), a couple of small tin cases and a Micky Mouse Pencil to pass on to my little nieces and nephew, and my adorable little porcelain baby. But what I thought were a bunch of little wooden Christmas ornaments, turned out to be these:

This sweet little band of angels are barely 2" tall and stamped "Italy" on the bottom. I found 2 other partial sets that had sold on Etsy and Ebay, but none currently selling. I listed them on Ebay for $29.99 plus S&H and they sold in 3 days!!

I also found this in the bag:

She was also only 2" tall and also had her original label on the bottom. After doing my homework, I found she is a highly desirable vintage German Erzgebirge brand little angel. I listed her on Ebay for $19.99 plus S&H, and she sold the next day!

Never overlook the Grab Bags!

Pine Needle Balls

Two years ago, on Thanksgiving day, my grandson, Michael, was very proud to show us this discovery he had come upon during an excursion at Seeley Lake. We had never even heard of these pine needle balls! I found them absolutely fascinating and came home to look up anything I could find about them.

First this:

Larch balls

A specific type of lake ball, a larch ball is a structure created when Western Larch needles floating in a lake become entangled in a spherical shape due to the action of waves. They are most commonly known to form in Seeley Lake, Montana; however, they have also been known to form in similar regions such as Clark Fork and lakes in Tracy, New Brunswick such as Peltoma Lake, Big Kedron Lake, and Little Kedron Lake. Typical specimens are 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 centimeters) in diameter. More rarely, larger ones are found.

Then this:

In 2015, WLI discovered perfectly formed larch needle balls along a small shoreline reach of Whitefish Lake in about two feet of water. Although balls comprised of organic matter (in this case larch needles) are uncommon, they have been reported worldwide and are often called surf balls or beach balls. Gift shops are known to sell these oddities as whale burps, whale barf balls, whale fur balls and moose balls. Unique conditions are needed to form these balls. It is suspected that they are formed from surf action along the shoreline where as waves approach; they drag on the lake bottom, causing the wave crest to curl and crash onto the beach. The curling action may roll materials into a ball. However, the balls found in 2015 were within five feet on one another, suggesting other specific local conditions. These unique creations from Mother Nature are on display at the Whitefish Lake Institute office in Whitefish. Pine balls from Lindbergh Lake can be found at the Stumptown Historical Society in Whitefish, and from Kintla Lake at the Polebridge Mercantile in Polebridge.

And finally, this: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A lake ball (also known as a surf ball, beach ball or spill ball) is a ball of debris found on ocean beaches and lakes large enough to have wave action. The rolling motion of the waves gathers debris in the water and eventually will form the materials into a ball. The materials vary from year to year and from location to location depending on the debris the motion gathers.

The earliest known reference to lake balls is Walden: There also I have found, in considerable quantities, curious balls, composed apparently of fine grass or roots, of pipewort perhaps, from half an inch to four inches in diameter, and perfectly spherical. These wash back and forth in shallow water on a sandy bottom, and are sometimes cast on the shore. They are either solid grass, or have a little sand in the middle. At first you would say that they were formed by the action of the waves, like a pebble; yet the smallest are made of equally coarse materials, half an inch long, and they are produced only at one season of the year. Moreover, the waves, I suspect, do not so much construct as wear down a material which has already acquired consistency. They preserve their form when dry for an indefinite period. — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, chapter 9