Refreshment & Curiosity with a Friend for August 2024

Welcome to those of you who are brand new to A Double Scoop of Refreshment & Curiosity with a Friend newsletter. And welcome back to those who have been around for a bit. Thank you for joining me!

I realize most of you recently received two emails containing “old” content. In trying to tweak some things behind the scenes, that mysteriously happened. Hopefully things will send smoothly from here on out. Thanks for your patience.

A (hopefully) refreshing Labor Day Weekend is upon us! I’m curious… Are you anxious to be back in the fall/school routine? Do the seasons visibly change in your area? Will you be putting away your white shoes until Easter?

The white shoes rule is probably archaic. I wouldn’t put them away if we were in Florida, yet it seems “wrong” to wear them in Pennsylvania after this weekend. Any thoughts?

I AM looking forward to seeing leaves change colors. Our September and October weekends in PA will be filled with Buckwheat Festivals, Burlington Apple Butter Festival, Pumpkinfest, Springs Folk Festival, and a niece’s wedding.

Refreshment with Summer Visitors

My sister, Bryn, and her youngest daugher, Jaelynn, came to visit for a week. Bryn is surprised that each year we find new things for them to experience. This year the three of us crocheted, J made a yeti lovey, J went horseback riding, we picked lavender and made lavender wands, and attended an ice cream social at a small country church to name a few new activities.

Farmers’ Market Book Sales

Most Saturday mornings this summer you would have found us at the Uniontown Farmers’ Market. I sold 51 There’s Only One You with Aunt Kitten books and ten amigurumi lovies (crocheted stuffed animals). The positive response from the community was overwhelming. My book is also available at Vito’s Tea House, a brand new business in Uniontown. Amy, the encouraging “flower-spitting” proprietor (she spreads joy and positivity), is the person who got me connected with the Farmers’ Market last summer.

Aunt Kitten Book Update

I had been in a deep, months-long slog with book illustrations. Let me tell you, the mental battle with “Imposter Syndrome” is a real thing. Thanks be to God, I finally got out of it and have been drawing. Kelly W. from my writing cohort has been extremely helpful in giving me drawing feedback. Here is Aunt Kitten welcoming some of the animals to the first day of Camp Aunt Kitten.

Sneek peek #5:

Curious Ice Cream Ideas from the Farmers’ Market

We’ve joined Doug and Emilee’s Sunday evening tradition of going out for soft-serve ice cream. Our collective favorite is Katie’s Ice Cream, a food truck in Grantsville, Maryland. So we’ve not often made ice cream at home.

White House Cherry:

Two Acre Farm and Brinery gave us a jar of sweet cherries to make ice cream. It tasted similar to “White House.” Not our favorite, but the week after we took the young couple a sample, she came over with another jar and arequest for more. The following week, he gave me two jars to see if that would give it a stronger flavor, which it did. We are so happy that this flavor is a hit with them.

Peach:

Another vendor, Treasure in Jars, sold, among other things, jars of canned peaches. A large jar made delicious ice cream. Sadly, we didn’t get a chance to share that flavor with them. But they enjoyed the White House Cherry we shared.

Apple-Pear Butter Sauce:

Although it didn’t come from the farmer’s market, our neighbor across the street gave us small pears from their tree. I made this recipe of Slow Cooked Spicy Apple-Pear Butter. (I left out the white sugar and vanilla and added a tablespoon of molasses.) We plan to pour some over ice cream. Yum!

Besides the pears, I’ve REALLY enjoyed eating homegrown cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, peppers, spaghetti squash, and zucchini from neighbors. We’ve also enjoyed farmers’ market produce like beets, corn, onions, and more.

Our “new to us” foods this summer have been:

• mac and cheese with BBQ on top. Yes, please!
• I have a newfound love of beet greens! Who knew?!
• And I’m delighted to have been introduced to acai by Simply Sisters Acai. The proprietors live down the street from Gregg’s brother here in town, but we “discovered” them at the farmers’ market.

Curious upcoming Travel to England and Scotland

Last but not least, we leave on Sunday for a pilgrimage of sorts, to visit places in England and Scotland that are significant to church history. We fly from Dulles to London on September 1 and return London to Dulles on September 20. We are looking forward to visiting churches, monastic islands, and see God’s creation.

Are you ready to travel vicariously?! I will be blogging along the way, so please don’t be surprised to get daily emails from me.

For the new folks, anything that is posted to my website triggers an email notification. So when we travel, I typically post daily. When not traveling, my goal is to send this newsletter once a month.

I plan to post our itinerary on the “Travels” page soon. I use the term “itinerary” loosely, as we have made a list of the places we want to visit but only have lodging reservations for the first four nights.

Are you curious? Follow along and watch the trip unfold with us!

Here’s to Refreshment & Curiosity with a Friend or Friends!

-Kristin Emily Friend 🐾

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