Salty...

Another weekend over in a flash.  I got quite a bit done, never as much as I want to.  Saturday, my husband and I made a quick trip to Spearfish to pick up the batting I forgot to buy for the quilt.  Since the weather was nicer than we anticipated, we took a walk on one of Spearfish's beautiful and plentiful walking paths.  It is good to see a community place value on the recreation of its citizens.  There is a paved walking path from one end of town to the other.  It is paired with mountain biking trails, disk golf courses, and many nice benches to just sit and enjoy the view.

The corral below was used to hold horses for the Spearfish, Lead, Deadwood stagecoach.  Can you believe it is still standing?  Better yet, no graffiti.  I wish I had taken a photo of the plaque. It explained it better than I could.

Another snowstorm is on the way.  At least the cabin has the occasional bloom to keep my spirits up.

Here is the storm, slowly creeping up the valley.  Drat.

Probably just as well.  I am running out of time and have to get quilting.  I was going to do in the ditch, then bees, now maybe flowers.  I need to just get started.  Sandwiching everything together is my least favorite part.  I have to crawl around on the cold tile floor in the basement.  

I finally found some coarse sea salt at the store, so it was time to work on my flavored salt project. I really enjoy Pinterest, as I find so many new things to try.  Long ago I found this Melot and Maple popcorn salt.  I LOVED it.  sweet and salty.  Of course, they (I don't know who they is) stopped making it.  I've searched everywhere.  I looked it up and could find a wine salt recipe, but not Merot and Maple.  I decided to try: 1/2 cup of homemade wine, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup (I'll be honest.  I just globbed in there and didn't measure).  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Take 1/2 cup of salt and add 2 tablespoons of the wine mixture.  Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake 30 minutes at 200 degrees.  Make sure you swirl it around every 5 minutes or so.  Otherwise, it hardens.  Turned out great. Can't wait to use it on my popcorn.

I'm not certain what I am going to use my bacon salt on, but something will come up.  I added 2 tablespoons of crumbled bacon to 1/2 cup of coarse sea salt.  My husband smoked it on the grill for an hour at 200 degrees.  Again, make sure you swirl it around.  It hardened and didn't take the smoke very well.  We mixed it up and put it in for 1/2 hour and that worked better.

I took a walk in the woods today.  You can see our cabin if you climb the big hill across the way.  There is nothing more refreshing than a walk.  Dressing warm was a must as it was about 15 degrees and snowing.

Normally, sunrise and sunset photos are my thing, but the moon has been just as amazing.  Every night my husband and I go outside and look around before we go to bed.  It is a new tradition in honor of Ella and we are enjoying it.  Life is pretty amazing if you just stop and look around.

Have you ever made flavored salts?  Any ideas for the bacon salt?  Any ideas for a pattern to quilt?  Do you have anything blooming in your home?  If you have anything blooming outside, I don't know if I can hear about that right now.  It is supposed to snow for the next couple of weeks.  Let's not talk about the garden.  It may put me over the edge.  Hope it is sunshine and roses where you are.