Me Again!

Let me explain what this is...it is a ball of sand covered with a shell of rusty red iron ore sandy clay. Think about rolling a snowball into a big then bigger then biggest ball of snow to build a snowman. A few grains of sand stick together and with rain over a period of time roll a bit and pick up more sand - repeat - then it rolls through some of that rusty red iron ore sandy clay. Over a period of time, you can find this on your walks through our rusty red iron ore land. I found this one "out back" on our ten acres. I had it on the base of a bird bath (basin broke a long time ago). One day I noticed that it was missing. It had been knocked off because of hard rain and/or wind. And I probably stepped on it.

Here it is with some smaller "balls" of clay that my first husband and I found during one of our many walks "through the wild." I keep them in a small jar on a small shelf in my bedroom along with that thing in the middle. It's a blob of ore that is pretty much perfectly rounded on bottom but dished out like a bowl on top! The two objects to the top right **one blue/one whitish** are clay marbles that we found on the piece of property his aunt and uncle gave us to build a house on back in the mid 1970s. The property was the site of Uncle's childhood home. These marbles could very well have been his or his siblings'. 

My sunshine visitors. I finally hung a second feeder. The 5-6 hummers that we had brought friends. We have close to two dozen hummers acting fools for what I called "hummingbird crack" until my husband informed me to call it something else. Eh...it's crack to them!

 They don't come out in the rain - GLORIOUS RAIN!!

I've been having trouble with my CD player so loaded some music on a flash drive - some music from my son and some of mine. I am thoroughly enjoying Classic Rock from MY era!

Speaking of crack.....

 Wonderful drive on the way home! We have so needed the rain.

 Take a pork tenderloin and butterfly it (or a loin and cut it like a jelly roll).
Season it up GOOD to suit YOU! A few herbs...I like basil. 
Cheese of choice - this is sharp cheddar.
And because they've taken all the flavor out of pork to make it "healthy," lay a strip of bacon on each side...do that before you cheese it.
Bake until done. (Don't you LOVE my Lodge cast iron platter?!)

What is a grandparent's job, you ask? Spoil 'em when you've got 'em!
We kept the boys while the grown kids went off for a grownup weekend. Day One - Whataburger for shakes.

Day Two - Soccer

       Then playground with a friend between games.

        Game two.

Day Three (and day two too) - HOMEMADE chocolate chip waffles! HURRY GRANNY!!!

  Rosemary Parmesan bread baked in cast iron. This bread is ready in about 3-3 1/2 hours start to finish!

Jonathan's new kitten. I call her Squeaker. I don't know what's he named her. 

Sunset

Sunrise

Through the sewing room window...

Homemade Granny Smith apple pie. I read a recipe on King Arthur Flour for an apple crumble-type pie in which they added RUM. Ooooooh...made it sooooo good! Sam wanted ice cream. That's his plate on the right. My serving is on the left. (Pssstttt....I went back for seconds!)

 

Sam doesn't cook much or often, but he knows how!

This was absolutely the most beautiful sunset I've seen in a very long time. That "plume" to the left of the HAM antennae went up clear over my head!

I chunked up some of that grilled chicken and tossed it with BBQ sauce. Smooth more BBQ sauce on the dough. Distributed the chicken. Thinly sliced onion. Mushrooms because I had them. I intended to put jalapenos on top but forgot. Cheese--whatever you want along with some mozzarella. Smoked cheddar would've been good!