Mountain Musings

Olive Oil and Vinegar 101

I was given a unique gift certificate for my birthday, by my brother, Jonathan - how thoughtful. It was for an Olive Oil and Vinegar 101 class being held at a local store. I had enjoyed using some of the store's premium oils and vinegar before (also given to me by said brother; he knows what I like), so this sounded like an intriguing event.

This past week was the night for the class, and the other attendees and I gathered in the custom-built kitchen in the back of the store after they had closed for the day.

We each had an embroidered apron at our seats which we could take home. To begin, we were treated to a new method of flavoring iced tea: the addition of a spoonful of sweet and fruity balsamic vinegar!

I didn't know everything to expect, but this chalkboard menu awaited us, a full course meal with appetizers sprinkled throughout the informative talks.

The store's owner, Michelle, a former nurse, gave us the background on how this business got started and proceeded to share her knowledge of how olive oil is produced, things to look for on the labeling, the health benefits of both extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegars, and more.

She was well-versed in not only her products' beneficial qualities, but she also shared a wealth of creative ideas for ways to use the different flavors of olive oil and vinegar in cooking. Below she is stirring up a batch of her grandmother's gazpacho recipe, which included spicy Harissa infused olive oil. We helped ourselves to this delicious salad served with chips.

Her helper prepared a platter of dipping oil, vinegar, and Mediterranean spices, which we enjoyed along with a fresh pesto.

Next, we all got to select and whisk up our own special combinations of oil and vinegar to dress our salad skewers. Examples: strawberry balsamic + basil olive oil, Sicilian lemon balsamic + Tuscan herb olive oil, etc:

Here is my plate of freshly sliced roast pork tenderloin, which had been simmering all day in, you guessed it, oil and vinegar. It was served with a sweet and tangy apple chutney. Wonderful! 

One lady said she has attended these classes before, and she comes just for the food! We told Michelle that she should really think about writing a cookbook with all her recipe ideas. Since the store sells dozens of varieties of oil and vinegar, there are so many savory combinations to experiment with.

I might have done a bit of sampling and shopping in their tasting room after class. ;)

The following day for lunch I threw together a taco salad, on which I drizzled some chipotle olive oil that Jonathan had picked out for me and I hadn't yet opened until now....it was very tasty!

What a fun birthday experience gift. Do you have a specialty olive oil shop in your town?

~Hannah

Hannah's Birthday

On Tuesday we celebrated Hannah's birthday! How very thankful we are for her and for what a godly young lady she is. She is such a blessing as she serves her family. She wasn't allowed to do any work on her birthday--only fun stuff!

Here's Hannah on her birthday afternoon practicing calligraphy and some artwork while I worked in the kitchen preparing her birthday meal:

Here's the start of the Creamy Cajun Chicken Meatballs I picked from her birthday choices. I have my trusty computer on the counter with the recipe pulled up and the bowl of ingredients ready to mix and start forming meatballs:

So far, so good. It's looking just like the Recipe Critic's photos!

Everyone loved the delicious flavor of these meatballs over fettuccine, and we all agreed that it was a definite "do again" recipe!

Here's the blue and white themed birthday table ready for the meal to begin...decorated with snowman plates, an antique tablecloth, and our January centerpiece:

Here's the up close photo of the January words centerpiece made by my friend, Chris:

When the birthday girl picks peach cobbler as her main dessert instead of birthday cake, she improvises and pretends to blow out the candle after we sang Happy Birthday: Hannah opened several nice gifts, and we played her choice of games afterwards.

Oops, I forgot to take pictures of us playing games...so I'll just include one taken of us playing games over the holidays: To finish up the birthday evening, Jonathan took a brother-sister selfie:

We hope you enjoyed your special birthday, Hannah!  Thank you to everyone who wrote and wished her a Happy Birthday!

~~ Deb

Birthday Meal Preparations This Week!

We have someone around here with a birthday coming up this week...Miss Hannah!

Soooo...recipe blogs are being perused and ideas tossed around for possibilities for the special meal. Monday is my shopping day for all the ingredients, and Tuesday is meal preparation day!

Anyone who is a regular reader around here knows that Hannah always picks something different...never run-of-the-mill or the same choice as another year...often something exotic...and we can never predict what she will choose!

Here are some choices she's come up with for this year from the Recipe Critic blog....either Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken or Creamy Cajun Chicken Meatballs. Either of these would be served over pasta.

 For the vegetable, she's asked for Roasted Broccoli, and for the dessert....not a birthday cake, but Peach Cobbler. That's different for a birthday.

Here's one recipe she found called Super Easy Peach Cobbler from the blog Oh My Goodness...Chocolate Desserts from Vera's Kitchen Corner. Love the Super Easy in the title.

Or either The Best Peach Cobbler found on the blog Life in the Lofthouse. Which will I opt for...super easy...or the best?

If you'd like to read other years' birthday meals for Hannah you can go here for 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.

And hopefully, I'll post an update later in the week about Hannah's special birthday for 2018!

~Deb

Best Gifts of All -- Grandchildren!

Well...all of us here around Mountain Musings sure had a fun time over the holidays storing up enough memories and hugs and smiles to last us until we see these precious grandchildren again.

Our oldest son, Micah, and grandson Ethan visited us the week before Christmas, and we loved seeing them both again and celebrating Ethan's birthday! What a great gift it was to have them here!

This is a picture I'll treasure for sure.....Great-Granny at 89 and Ethan at 9 trying to be the first to "Spot It!" They were both pretty quick at this game! Celebrating Ethan's birthday with a Christmas ice cream cake was fun. Aunt Hannah is getting ready to light the 9 whimsical spiral candles: Ethan and Uncle Jonathan kinda like each other...a lot! Can't you tell from this picture they're a real twosome? Uncle Jonathan's and Aunt Hannah's birthday gift to Ethan was a bowling trip for the family. Aunt Hannah had a very fun time bowling with Ethan, and it was fun for this granny to watch them play: Waay too soon it was time for them to leave and time to prepare for the next grandchildren and Aunt Bet from South Carolina arriving in a few days.

Eric, Sarah, and the two boys--Andrew and Matthew, just missed seeing their cousin Ethan in person, but the visits just couldn't be coordinated this time.

Sarah has always been our Miss Christmas, so I planned a special surprise for her and decorated our bedroom where they would be staying. Here's a photo I took of the completed project:

• Merry Little Christmas Barnwood sign was from Kirklands and decorated with colored lights, Sarah's favorite
  
• Red and white quilt was a purchase from an antique shop in Georgia
• Snowman flannel pillowcases from Pottery Barn
• Oxford red stripe sheet set from Lands End
• JOY and NOEL pillows from Hobby Lobby
• Beautiful rectangular house pillow in the middle was made by my friend, Chris, and gifted to me especially for this room because she knew I was decorating it for Sarah. How very special!
  

Here's a close up of that pillow, and it was also featured on A Quilting Life blog: I also purchased a small tree from Hobby Lobby and decorated it for the dresser. Since Sarah was our enthusiastic Christmas decorator when she lived here, I knew she'd love the room being specially decorated: When Sarah arrived, she was wearing an I'll Be Home For Christmas shirt! How appropriate, and I loved it! Here's the little family around the table, unfortunately I didn't capture Aunt Bet on the other side of Great-Granny in the photo:  Everyone took turns playing with the boys. Here's Aunt Hannah pushing them both in a laundry basket!

Grampa read Scripture on Christmas Eve as we wrote our own Lessons and Carols program. Everyone took turns reading a passage and then we each picked a favorite Christmas hymn. This picture of Grampa and Andrew is just precious:

Hannah holding sweet, smiling Matthew:

Eric and Sarah holding Matthew and enjoying Christmas Day:

The family had such a good time bowling with Micah and Ethan that we decided to take Eric and Sarah. Granny Deb was the designated and delighted babysitter while the adults were bowling. Andrew was very occupied watching all the activity taking place. Fun times! Eric helped Andrew learn how to toss the ball in the basket. Go, Andrew!: I wish this little guy could wake up in my bed every morning

If he were wrapped up as a gift, I'd want my name to be on that bag! Can we keep him, Grampa??? Being far away from grandchildren and missing watching them grow up isn't fun, so we enjoy it so much when there's a chance to visit each other.

As you can see, it was a Christmas to remember! We all absolutely LOVED it, and we're still....

~~Deb

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ August!

For Today: Monday, August 7th

 

Looking out my window...It's a chilly, rainy day here in the Shenandoah Valley...so happy for refreshing rain on the garden and yard. It's a perfectly cozy day to put on some Christmas music and sew...'cepting...too much cleaning to do this week to have fun today!

I am thinking...we have to baby-proof this house pronto! Two little munchkins from Georgia will arrive on Friday and that will make me one happy Granny! It's their first time to visit Virginia, and we're super excited!

Sarah sent me this picture of Andrew with the caption:  "I'm going to VA in a week?!?! Wha?!?!? I'm so excited!!!"

I am wearing...cleaning clothes: old holey tee-shirt paired with a navy paint-stained skirt.

I am thankful...that Tom's two sisters from Connecticut were able to visit us last week--it had been a long time between visits! We enjoyed them being here and especially enjoyed touring Monticello one day (future post coming on the Gardens of Monticello).

Here's a photo of Aunt Toots and Aunt Ellen taken Saturday morning just before we drove them to the train station for their return trip back home:

We all decided to ride over the mountain to see them off...with hugs and tears. Here we are waiting for the Amtrak train to arrive: In the garden...the black-eyed peas have started producing! We enjoyed a mess of them recently with our relatives for lunch; they had never tasted black-eyed peas! Oh, my! We're looking forward to many more pickings, shellings, and servings this season.

In the kitchen...in addition to all the tomato sauce canning and hot pepper pickling going on in the kitchen, Hannah made another Swiss chard quiche to use up some garden produce, along with garden cukes and tomatoes: I am creating...actually, it's Granny who's doing the creating. She recently taught a friend how to make a basket. Kathy came over to learn and went home with a basket she created in a few hours. We all had a good time visiting together and enjoyed the quiche Hannah made for lunch.

Here are Granny and Hannah...yes, using the new craft room for basket-making (not sewing!) as the very first craft done in there: Here's Kathy setting up her basket. She was a fast learner:

A Shared Quote...(passed on to me from Jonathan this evening):

"Women were created from the rib of man to be beside him, not from his head to top him, nor from his feet to be trampled by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, near to his heart to be loved by him." ~ Matthew Henry

 A moment from our day...thankfully, cabinet varnishing (on the inside) was on Tom's agenda today and not mine. These are the island cabinets for the kitchen...slowly, slowly, one by one. When these are done, the kitchen will be finished!

See what I mean by baby-proofing? All this mess has to be vamoosed before Friday! Postscript...Our 37th wedding anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure yet what adventure awaits, but I'll be sure and post pictures after we get back!

If you'd like to read other August Daybook posts, visit The Simple Woman.

 ~ DebSave

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Summer Garden Update

Hello! I have been asked by a few people to give an update on our garden this year, so I'll include some photos from earlier this spring in this post, as well as current pictures of everything growing and producing right now to catch you up.

Picked a variety of these green veggies this week: zucchini, banana peppers, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, okra, and sugar snap peas.

I've been harvesting a good amount of green beans, too, and just started getting in some cucumbers and a head of broccoli (my first time planting that). Granny is my green bean snapper and is usually ready and waiting to do her part when I come inside. :)

This season I planted 50 tomato plants of various types (Amish Paste, Beefsteak, Boxcar Willie, Champion, Early Girl, Golden Jubilee, Goliath, Pink Girl, Roma, Sugar Lump, and Ultimate Opener), many of them grown from seed by a friend. Below you can see the newly-planted beds back in May (with strawberries and rhubarb in the background):

 And another of vigorous cherry tomato plants and beans, taken this week:

Stepping back from the south garden, bordered by perennials:

 Peeking into the upper picket-fenced garden:

We have cucumbers and squash vines (otherwise known as cukes and zukes) here:

Peppers and okra are planted in one raised bed, just waiting to be included in spicy or southern dishes (excuse the poor quality photos):

Swiss chard greens and cabbage (the bugs have enjoyed it) grow in another bed:

What are we making with all this produce? Recently, I made a lunch for us ladies of a Swiss Chard quiche:

I've also been freezing lots of berries for smoothies and muffins later on. We've enjoyed cobblers and coffeecakes, too.

Corn, sunflowers, and winter squashes are coming along, and the ever-bearing strawberries are hanging in there in this heat:

You can see the growth progression in these 3 stages of the purple-hulled field peas, from over the last month:

Looking back at the 2 gardens at the end of the day:

Though it's a lot of work, we enjoy cultivating this plot of land where God has placed us and seeing the beautiful and tasty results. I'll leave you with some flower photos from around the yard!

How does your garden grow? Leave a comment with your favorite recipe using fresh garden produce.

~Hannah

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The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ April!

For today: April 1st

Looking out my window ~  Beautiful sunny Saturday morning with a hefty breeze, but temps will be getting up to 60 degrees today.

 

Activities for today ~  Hannah and Tom are attending the Blue Ridge Bible Conference in Harrisonburg last evening and today. The subject of the conference is God Has Spoken.

 

I am thinking ~ That this spring will be the best ever! Tom retired yesterday!!! My Honey-Do-List is shouting Hallelujah! Actually, that may not be what he has in mind...

 

Here's a picture of him with a shirt from his co-workers that says it all: "Woodworking is My Full Time Job ~ I'm Retired!"

Tom has three different offices which he travels to up and down the Shenandoah Valley...that means he enjoyed three going-away luncheons this past week, each complete with cake, gifts, and speeches. Here's Tom at one of the luncheons in Woodstock:

His main office invited our whole family to attend the last retirement luncheon yesterday on his final day of work. They presented Granny, Hannah, and me with beautiful vases of flowers (seen below) and thanked us for all the many days we sacrificed without him when he worked snowstorms and thunderstorms from power outages throughout the years.

The event was very nice, and it was enjoyable listening to the speakers tell various remembrances about working with Tom for almost 38 years! Congratulations to my husband! Here he is accepting his plaque:

I am thankful ~ that Granny is doing better. She took another big tumble back in February but recovered fine from that ordeal. Now she's in physical therapy again for a few weeks for hip pain. Please continue to pray for Granny to be extra careful and not fall again.

 

Here's a recent picture of her. She's still making her handmade baskets on days she feels up to it....you can't keep a good Granny down!

I am creating ~ besides the Caterpillar quilt that I mentioned in the previous post (by the way, I'm sewing the binding on today and then it's all done!), I'm laying out a table runner using Sweetwater's fabric line Sunday Supper.  I love the Amazing Grace yardage in that line, and that fabric will be the backing. I'll post a picture later this month when I'm all finished.

 

I am wearing ~ green turtleneck with a navy skirt...around-the-house work clothes today.

 

I am watching  ~  April the giraffe! Isn't everyone? She's going to have a baby, and I've lost quite a bit of sleep waiting and watching for delivery for a few weeks now!

 

I am loving ~ this Amaryllis from a friend that's blooming again this year in my kitchen nook window. It's more colorfully vibrant in person.

One of my favorite things ~ day trips and adventures. I have a fun adventure coming up next Saturday. It's Barn Quilt Trail day over in Monterey. Hannah and I are looking forward to going. I'll post about our adventures when we get back next weekend!

 

I am hoping ~  to visit Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania sometime this spring. Jonathan gave me a ticket to the Gardens for Christmas. He must know me well! Has anyone been and have any tips to share for a good visit?

 

Happening on the Web ~ Hannah has been super busy developing two new websites. She has completely revamped her soap website and has a new home for her business over at Pleasant View Soaps. Head over there to check it out and let her know what you think of it.

 

She also plans to develop her dad's wood-working business website....still in the early stages, and we'll share that link when it happens.

 

In my kitchen ~ I experimented with a new recipe this week to celebrate Hannah's spiritual birthday. She picked a pumpkin cobbler, and we found the recipe over on Lauren's Latest food blog. I think it turned out okay...it actually looked just like the one in Lauren's post. I guess I haven't totally lost it in the kitchen...some days I wonder though!

A moment from my day ~ here's a poster gracing our fridge this week. As you can tell, this retirement is going to occupy our thoughts until we get a bit more used to it!
A Chance to Meet Up ~ does everyone know about the Landmark Events History Tours? They're having a tour in our area in May--it's the Shenandoah Valley Tour!  The first one was so popular it's completely booked, but they've added a second tour for the next week. If you think you're going, let us know, and we'll invite you over to our home one evening after the tour!

Closing Notes ~  Thankfully, I've received only two emails asking what was going on with us and why hadn't we posted in so long?! I'll try to do better!  But...mulching and gardening season is coming up....just saying.

See other Simple Woman Daybook posts. A new April version will post by Monday, April 3rd.

~Deb

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Recipes From My Road Trip

As a follow-up to my Quilty Weekend Road Trip post, I wanted to share a few recipes that were part of the weekend. Isn't it always so much fun when you can bring home a new recipe from someplace? I think so!

As an example....remember last spring when my sister and I traveled to Arkansas on our Sister Trip? We brought home a delicious chicken salad recipe and a cookie recipe we enjoyed in P. Allen Smith's kitchen...unfortunately, I couldn't post that particular recipe since it's copyrighted in his cookbook. But the recipes below I can post.

First Recipe:

When my friend Christine and I ate at Center Street Grill last week, I ordered their Ham and BLT Sliders and the Soup of the Day which was Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup...mildly spicy: I mentioned to one of my neighbors whom I visited right afterwards that I just loved that soup. Anne told me she had the recipe and made a copy right then and handed it to me. I'll post her hand-written copy below....I think I'd add something extra to spice it up a bit when I make it.  Second Recipe:

That same night after enjoying homemade pizza at my friend Chris' house, she brought out a beautiful platter of cookies and said they were Lisa Bongean's Self-Frosting Oatmeal cookies which she had recently posted on her blog! They were excellent!

I made some this week as shown below but, unfortunately, had more of a fail than a success...both in looks and taste! But I'll try again soon...because I have a Cookie Monster living here who not only gave me this cookie jar, but he would also like me to keep that cookie jar FULL! Third Recipe:

Chris always serves the most delicious breakfasts when I visit her! Here's a Cranberry Nut Dessert recipe that she served for breakfast one morning last week. I'm going to try this recipe, too! Hopefully, you can read this: 

 Fourth Recipe:

For dinner one evening Chris had planned to make Chicken Piccata. This is a new recipe for me. It calls for a jar of brined capers...something I've never purchased in my life! 

As it turned out, we were both so tired from late nights and the quilt show that we opted for eating out instead of making this meal. But...I have the recipe to try sometime.

I took a photo with my phone (what an easier way to copy down a recipe these days!), but you can also click the link above....same recipe:

If anyone has a good link you'd like to share of a new recipe you've tried recently, please do so in the comments. I'd love to know about it!

~Deb

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Girlfriends' Quilty Weekend ~ 2017!

Last Wednesday morning I headed out for the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival being held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. I was so excited to be spending a few days with my friend, Chris!

On the way there I stopped by Williamsburg to see another friend and some neighbors with whom we still keep in touch. What a wonderful time of catching up!

Christine has been a homeschooling friend for 25 years! We had lunch together at Center Street Grill in New Town, a huge new complex that was built after we moved away in 2002:I don't have photographs of my visit with my former neighbors (completely forgot!), but we also had a very fun time together. They watched our kids grow up and were very interested in how everyone was doing, especially little Andrew for whom they'd been praying.

Once all the visiting was over and I arrived at my friend Chris' home, the plan was to go browse the Quilt Festival Wednesday evening for the Early Bird Opening for pre-registered workshop attendees. Here's the Hampton Roads Convention Center all lit up as we arrived that first evening:These two colorful quilts are the first of hundreds of beautiful quilts that awaited all the quilt lovers who would be attending: Here are my friends: Chris' sister, Linda, who drove down from Connecticut for the quilt show; their mom, Barbara, who was with us previous years at the shows; and my friend, Chris, standing in front of a quilt titled A Year in My Life: I didn't get the name of this beautiful yellow and gray quilt, but a lot of work went into it: The quilt below was selected Best in Show for 2017: The vendor hall consisted of hundreds of vendors with quilting supplies and enticing eye candy like this booth. Fabric, beautiful fabric, everywhere!: The two-day class we signed up for was Flower Garden Crazy Table Mat taught by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop.

This is the sample of what our finished project should look like. It was beautiful with tons of embroidery stitches to learn: We were the first students to arrive early for class and took a front row seat: And here's our wonderful teacher, Lisa Bongean: We all had a lot of fun getting the wool pieces prepared, tracing and ironing flowers onto the fusible web, and starting stitching: Here I am with Chris in class working on our table mat: Our teacher was so helpful with instructions and was so patient showing us over and over how to make certain stitches. She gave such personalized attention to anyone needing help...which I did many times! We had lots of homework the first night, and Chris and I stayed up way past 1 a.m. trying to get all the flowers traced, cut, and ironed down on the mat...which didn't happen. Zzzzz....

I have some flowers ironed on, but here I'm practicing the crazy stitches that separates each section. I'll need to go back later and finish adding all the flowers: Lisa went around checking everyone's work in case we had any questions:Here's a picture of our class at the end of the workshop. No one completely finished their project...that will take a lot more time! We so thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and were so glad we had signed up!

Our girlfriends' quilty weekend soon came to a close, and I made my way home back to the family. Now I need to pick up this stitching again...quickly...before I forget how it's done!

Thanks for following along on yet another quilting adventure!

Check back next week...another road trip is in the works!

~Deb

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Friday Favorites

Here we are at the end of the week...and we have many things to be thankful for. I'll start with a beautiful sunrise over the Blue Ridge Mountains. I never tire of this scene, and a camera just doesn't quite capture the real beauty:Another very obvious reason to be thankful this week is...."We Have Water!"  The water guys showed up and started working on Tuesday, so we were only without water for 2 1/2 days--long enough for sure! 

Hannah made hot chocolate, and Tom brought it out to the guys to help them in their task on a very cold day:They changed out the old water pump and gave us a new and higher horsepower one. So...over $2,000 later, ugh, we're back in business, but I'm so thankful for hot showers again! Thank you for praying!We enjoyed celebrating Hannah's birthday earlier in the week, and here's the family singing Happy Birthday to "Sweets" as she is affectionately called: And a picture of the Chai Spice Cheesecake I mentioned in the last post. It turned out looking just like Sarah had made it--ha ha--well, not quite! :)Another praise this week...Granny went to her very last Physical Therapy session. She has improved so much in the last two months since she started going. She and her doctor became fast friends, and she gifted him with one of her baskets as a thank you!And now we're about all done with medical appointments for awhile. We have one more hospital visit for an IV antibiotic infusion this weekend--five days in a row of IV for Granny.

We get this done at the Cancer Center where folks are getting chemotherapy--our first time to be in this section of the hospital. Here's Granny waiting for one of those appointments. How very thankful we are that she's so much better and that we weren't there for the same reason as other patients: Hannah has been busy making soap this week. Here she is in the kitchen making Lavender Oat Castile:

And after it's made and cured for a couple of days, it's ready for cutting into bars. Don't those bars look lovely?:Two big mail days for me this week. I received five quilt blocks from a giveaway at Quiltmaker Magazine over at Quilty Pleasures blog. They are delightful blocks, and I will have to decide how best to use them. I'm thankful for the quilters across the US who made these blocks to donate for the giveaway: And a big batch of selvages from a fellow-quilter in Pennsylvania who found out I wanted some selvages to participate in Melissa's tutorial on sewing selvages over at Happy Quilting. Thank you, Kathie! Before I close up, I'd like to ask that you pray for sweet baby Andrew. He's doing very well, and at 9 months old he's becoming a happy, smiley baby!

What a praise to the Lord for getting him this far! He's having surgery on his airway Tuesday afternoon, so please pray that the doctors would help Andrew get to his next level of development. Thank you all!

Do you have any specific praises or requests to share?

~Deb

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