Month: May 2025

Making Scones

My adventure into making scones has persisted for several weeks. I had never eaten or baked a scone before April, 2025. I had read about them in many novels set in Ireland and Scotland. Many folks seemed to love them. However, with all the baking from scratch I’ve done, I had never even tried to make scones! Pretty embarrassing!

With the need to provide some products for the Ladies Auxiliary to the Fire Company bake sales, and various ads from the King Arthur Baking Company, I decided it was time to give it a try. I was sure the scone mixes would make the whole process fool proof! Haha!

I ordered 5 different flavors of scone mixes. The mixes just needed an egg, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 tsp. of salt and a stick of butter. That was the easy part. Then came mixing up a VERY stiff, sticky batter. My hand muscle strength is not very good, so I’m sure the batter did not get mixed well enough. Then I had to struggle to pack the sticky batter into the ceramic scone pan.

When I baked them, the scones raised up and made a solid mass above the dividers of the pan. I ended up having to add minutes to the baking time…up to 30 minutes…and the bottom of the scones still wasn’t done! Gee…maybe something was wonky with my oven!

(Bert got an oven thermometer and is working on “calibrating” the oven temperature today. We’ve had this oven for 20 years and never knew we could do that!)

By adding time, I was able to get the scones cooked enough to get them ready for the bake sale! It didn’t seem to matter…people loved them and we sold out two days in a row at the Yard Sale (about 70 individual scones) and again at the Memorial Day bake sale (another 70 scones). Holy cow! I think we’ve got a hit…but now that the sales are over until September, I need to figure out a better way to make them!

I had an extra Cherry Almond mix (my favorite) so today I assembled the ingredients.

The jar of “sparkling sugar” from King Arthur gave the tops a nice sparkle.

First, I cut up the butter and worked it into small pieces before adding the egg/milk mixture.

Then, I added the egg/milk mixture. Since the mixing process is tough with my hand strength (or lack thereof) I decided to mix the batter up in my stand mixer. I ended up adding a little more milk than it called for just to get it to mix.

The dough was still VERY sticky, but I dumped it out onto the floured table and gave it a few quick kneads.

Then I patted it into a thick circle…about 3/4″ thick.

I used a pizza cutter to cut the circle into 8 pieces and put them on a cookie sheet. I sprinkled them with the tiny bit of sparkling sugar I had left.

Note to self: Next time use two cookie sheets to give them room to spread out.

I still had to add a few minutes, but I could get them off the pan without breaking apart…much better compared to the ceramic pan.

They tasted delicious, but now that Bert has the oven calibrated, I hope it’s a little more consistent with time. I’ve also ordered silicone scone pans to try. Maybe when I get the baking part figured out, I’ll try making them from scratch! Stay tuned!

Mary’s Health Update

Over the last 5 months I’ve had the opportunity to consider my health in depth. I’m 78 this year and this was the year I thought I was certainly old enough maybe I didn’t need to do mammograms anymore. I’ve never had a negative screening, so of course I wouldn’t live long enough for anything to be a problem! Haha! Never say never! Of course, my yearly check up was my wake up call.

January and February was spent with multiple mammograms to study a suspicious spot on the Xrays. In March, I had a “lumpectomy.” Surgery was successful and recovery was not too bad (just don’t ask Bert about all my complaints!). In April, I started on an estrogen-blocking pill (that will continue for the next 5 years). No side effects from the pill so far. Now in May, I just completed 7 radiation treatments. I guess I’m good to go on living! The details of all this are not necessary for me to describe, but I thought some of you might like to know what’s been happening over the last 5 months. No one really needs to know all the nitty-gritty…just know that the little round stickers they use to protect all those permanent ink marks they made on my body to line up for radiation were the most painful part of the radiation treatment! Must be the old, thin skin in a sensitive area that was the problem! Now that they have been removed, I can start healing!

Much of the last 5 months has been “hurry up and wait.” While I was waiting, I tried to stay busy and if you’ve been following along you’ve seen my activities with various projects. Making/baking things has filled my time around all the appointments. Many of you have blessed me with flowers, cards and sweet calls. Thank you so much! Just as radiation treatments started, I got a mystery box in the mail from my niece…my very own Emotional Support Sunflower! Really made me laugh!

Along the way I had flower surprises from many friends…even a pop-up card of flowers that looked almost like the real thing! My thanks go out to all of you that were thinking of me. I discovered a lot of my friends have gone through similar health issues, so if you are a woman…or have a mother, wife, sisters or daughters in your life, I encourage all of them to continue routine screening for health issues!

Here are some of the lovely flowers I’ve enjoyed these last few months. Thanks to all!

And this card of roses that looks almost real!

Garden Update May 17, 2025

The garden is all planted. Yay! I’ll try to show you the pictures in the same general order each time so you can compare from one post to the next.

First, the planters on the patio are arranged like this:

Radishes:

Two kinds of lettuce:

…and the onions:

You can see the fenced garden beds just off the patio and garden on the hill from here. Here’s a close-up of the garden on the hill:

OK…back to the fenced beds just off the patio. The asparagus crowns we transplanted in the far bed are growing…we won’t cut them until next year, but it will probably do best in another year.

In the front bed, we planted our small tomatoes, called Raindrops. If they are as prolific as our cherry tomatoes last year, the neighbors may find bags of tomatoes on their front porches! We’re leaving the right bay of this bed empty for now. We might plant some flowers just for color!

The garden up on the hill looks good so far. My job this morning was to plant the last three sections with carrots, beans and zucchini.

The lavender is turning green. The rainwater tank is almost full and the rain barrels will top it off this weekend.

Bert planted the tomatoes yesterday! Proof…Bert does most of the heavy lifting in the garden.

The 6 plants on the right are the SuperSauce tomatoes from Burpee. The 6 plants on the left are called “Bodacious” and they are big and meaty!

The next section is planted with carrots. We have found the YaYa variety does well for us. Nothing to see yet!

The next section has green and yellow beans…yellow on the right.

And in the last section, 4 hills of zucchini. I know, we must be nuts to plant so much but last year we put a few plants in the beds where the asparagus is now. They just didn’t do well…and I spent all that energy last year anticipating a bumper crop so I was ready with many recipes to try. This year I’m really ready!

And, finally, my beloved Echinacea bed! I hope the bees are happy this year! I can hardly wait for the color!

So, that’s our garden this year. Each year we modify the choices of seeds, depending on how well it worked out the year before. Some things that we use only a little, like garlic…we buy from the local farmer’s markets. Other produce that I need a whole lot all at one time…I buy from the local Amish market because they usually have a lot at one time…like cucumbers when I make relish.

For the first time I tried to take a selfie up in the garden. My phone case with a cover makes it hard to handle with one hand. However, here’s proof that I actually planted some seeds in the garden today, although I’ll credit Bert with doing all the heavy lifting! Enjoy!

Story Behind the Stuffed Dogs

I recently used my Facebook Cover Photo to share my memory of two special dogs…my grandpuppy Otis and his buddy Max. Max belonged to my daughter’s mother-in-law and Otis and Max spent a lot of time together. Otis was just a puppy when Kathy and Steve were first married and I had the privilege of driving to their house on the other side of town to let him out during the day. He was exuberant and playful…often running off when it was time to come inside. He became a loving friend when I was thinking about quitting my job at the time…his hugs were so special! I would stop at McDonalds on my way to let him out and of course I’d share a few chicken nuggets with him. He seemed willing to come inside more quickly. I guess I didn’t hurt his health too much…he lived over 16 years!

“Yes…I’m thinking about you Otis!”

When Kathy and Steve moved closer to Pittsburgh and his mother, Max became a frequent companion for the whole family. Unfortunately, Max was older than Otis and passed away first.

At the time, I was making stuffed dogs for Nittany Greyhounds and trying to alter the pattern to get the greyhound nose shaped just right. Here are a few of the stuffed greyhound dogs I made at the time:

Making the nose longer and the ears shaped differently helped it look more like the greyhounds.

When Max passed away, I wanted to make a memory dog for all of us. I modified the pattern so the ears would be closer to a regular dog shape. Compare the shape of the stuffed Max with his photo above:

I made three of these…one for Kathy’s family, one for her mother-in-law and one for me. Max had meant a lot to us all.

Shortly after that, before Otis passed away, I made black stuffed dogs for all of us. It wasn’t exactly a “memory dog” but a few years later it was perfect. I put away my “Max” and “Otis” at that time, but I think of them frequently.

Two years ago, Kathy’s mother-in-law was cleaning out stuff for a yard sale and wanted to let go of a small child-size table and chairs. Before I put it out for sale, I arranged the two dogs at the table like they were having a tea party. Such fun! You can read about that story here: https://marykisner.com/preserving-a-memory-of-a-childs-table-and-chairs/

I had the photo enlarged and framed for Kathy’s mother-in-law. A great way to preserve the memory without having to keep the table and chairs!

I’ve also used the pattern for the regular-shaped dog to make a memory dog for another family. Using a standard cotton shirt instead of fleece made a whole new challenge. You can read about that here:

https://marykisner.com/making-a-memory-dog/

So that’s the story behind the picture of the stuffed dogs on Facebook! There are many ways to preserve a memory…sometimes just photos will work. In my case, I seem to enjoy making memories that are soft and huggable! Enjoy!

Gemstone Bracelets Update

Over the last year and a half, I have spent a lot of time and money to learn about, design and make gemstone bead bracelets. This hobby was perfect to satisfy my need to learn something new and provided the motivation to work toward a goal of selling the bracelets at a mid-summer arts festival. This festival was held in mid-July at Way’s Fruit Farm outside of State College. Last year I was able to make and sell $60 bracelets for $10 each. I also came home with a healthy respect for all the vendors who attend multiple festivals and fairs during the year. Sitting, standing and interacting with hundreds of people during three hot days last July was quite a challenge for me! I’m already thinking about which shirt and hat I can wear this year to protect me from the sun!

This year so far, I have about 130 bracelets in three sizes ready for sale. Each bracelet has a tag that identifies the stones in the bracelet and a brief phrase that describes the stone and how it could be used.

Additions for This Year

This year I’ve been learning more about how the various gemstones are used to help folks with specific health issues. I am aware that wearing a bracelet is not a medical device! I’m certainly not promising that certain stones can help ease medical symptoms. I see them as serving a purpose like the native American dream catchers. If they ease a person’s mind by wearing, holding or having a stone nearby, why not! And most of the stones/beads I use are pretty too!

I decided to add a statement to the back of my business cards that will be available with each purchase:

So, my next focus for research was how the stones I use have been used in history for various ailments. I did a search on “Best crystals for…” and typed in the ailment. Many different stones are recommended and described why they could help…of course if you believe they will help ease your worry about something, they might help! I now have a new way to design bracelets.

I’m now putting together bracelets that have a specific intention, not necessarily by color. That makes some interesting combinations! I have bracelets that could ease arthritis symptoms, ease inflammatory combinations and support better food choices which might help with weight loss. I’m hoping to offer a few of them at the Festival this summer just to see if folks might be interested.

I do not plan to sell these bracelets through this website…ever. You can come to the festival (Art in the Orchard July 11-13, 2025 at Way’s Fruit Farm near Stormstown, PA). If you have questions about the bracelets, please email me directly instead of leaving a comment on my blog…I now get over 100 spam comments a day from automatic servers. It takes me time to make sure I don’t miss a real comment. Use email…it’s quicker! maryjkisner@gmail.com

If you’d like to read about how I started this hobby last year, please see:

https://marykisner.com/gemstone-bracelets-good-vibrations-for-the-whole-family/

If you’d like to read about how the festival went last year, please see:

https://marykisner.com/coming-soon-art-in-the-orchard-festival/ and

https://marykisner.com/follow-up-of-the-art-in-the-orchard-festival/

Enjoy!

Garden Update May 1, 2025

It seems awfully early in the spring to be talking about planting the garden. We’ve had hard frosts and even snow in May so we’re careful to protect the tender plants for a few more weeks. However, the grass is very green and Bert has had to cut it twice already! After the forsythia blooms, the next color I notice is the blooms on the Redbud trees. They are such a pretty pink but they don’t last long…just trying to get a decent picture is hard. But they do make me smile!

Here’s a close up of the flowers:

The Japanese Dogwood trees in the front yard are budding out. I’m looking forward to when this whole row of trees is in bloom!

Of course, the huge batch of onions in planters by the patio are doing well. They look crowded, but we’ll eat them as we thin them.

We saw our first hummingbird so we quickly bought our favorite begonia plants. The red flowers match the feeders and help attract the birds.

Kathy and Ben came to visit last weekend and brought us a bunch of asparagus roots from their property. The roots had spears that looked ready to eat…but we’ll leave them alone this year and give the roots time to get established. Since they are pretty vigorous roots, we may be able to get a meal or two out of them next year.

Bert set up the rain barrels last week and they are now full! It takes about 1/4″ of rain on the roof of the shop to fill the barrels. See the set up at https://marykisner.com/setting-up-the-rain-barrels/

Here is the big barrel up by the garden. If we plan it right, we can use rainwater all summer to water the garden. You can read about how Bert pumps the water from the rain barrels up to the large tank at https://marykisner.com/pumping-the-rain-barrels/

Our tomato plants are doing well under grow lights in the shop. Each day that isn’t too windy Bert sets the plants outside to harden them up. If it’s hot and sunny, he puts them in the shade by the shop so they don’t get sunburned.

Amazingly, Bert has been babying a tiny oak tree that sprouted from an acorn from the tree in our yard. That tree was also sprouted from an acorn that came from the Kisner hunting camp, so he’s pretty protective of the plant!

Up in the garden, I finally see the new growth in the row of lavender plants. I should have a nice crop of lavender to dry this year.

Here’s a close up of the new growth:

And of course, the Echinacea bed is going to town with new growth. The flowers really make me smile and make the bees happy!

So, that’s what’s happening on the first of May, 2025. Next week I hope to plant lettuce and radishes in the raised planters on the patio. In the meantime, we’ll be careful to protect the tomato plants…in the past, due to a late freeze in May, we’ve had to totally replace all the tomato plants because we planted too early. Live and learn! Mother Nature has an agenda of her own!