Don't you just love this charming old house?
With the red nandina bushes touched by the sun as it settles towards its nightly rest.
This house has a history...
located just east of our public library it is a Henley family home and now owned by Don Henley of The Eagles...
Sam and I were blessed to spend a few days with the grandson while their mother was out of the country with her job.
Read Colt's shirt. Every shirt I found had "Grandmother" or "Grandma" or "Grammy." NONE had "Granny." So...I broke out my trusty embroidery machine and made him one.
OH! Sam with the cutting boards he made for Brook and John for Christmas. Jonathan is in a camper and has no room but I think he's put in an order for a knife block.
Isabel turned THREE! She wanted a pirate party and her favorite color (of the day) is yellow. Guests were encouraged to dress in their pirate finery. I hoped Sam would agree...then one day he asked if I'd make him a big shirt. WELL YES! It even has 3 inch lace at the cuffs AND he has on a pierced-look hoop earring. :D
I dug in the back of my closet...found a dress with a denim skirt. Unbuttoned the skirt and pinned the points at the waist. I had a yellow gingham skirt from old-fashioned day at church about 25 or so years ago...had to add some elastic to the waist. I was going to make a corset and decided that would be too time consuming. Would you believe you can buy a brand new made-to-order corset on eBay for $10???
A few yellow sashes...Jonathan's rubber band gun for my pirate pistol and Sam made a wooden cutlass for his weapon. Arrrgggghhh! Matey! What colors be ye a flyin'?
Well...birthday girl preferred to run wild through the house. When I nabbed her for the photo, she went limp. Me thinks this pirate has been in the rum and needs keel-hauled. ;)
Jonathan's storage unit was robbed. Two weeks after the last time he was in the unit (locating his big shirt that I made for him to wear to Celtic and Renaissance festivals), I found the lock gone. One big plastic foot-locker type tub held his dad's stuff...Jonathan was just shy of his thirteenth birthday when his dad died.
We were both scouring Facebook resale/man cave sites. I was checking eBay and Craig's List a couple of times a day. Jonathan found one of these knives for sale...
I scrolled down and found another item that belonged to him. When I clicked on the thief's FB page...he had no privacy settings. He bragged about his dumpster diving and about stuff that people threw away...photos of three more of Jonathan's belongings were posted and mention of a fourth. Law enforcement was contacted. Thanks to his non-existent privacy settings, a warrant was served, he was arrested, many - probably most of the stolen items were recovered.
But not all. My first husband's memorial book from the funeral is gone as is my son's first best friend, Freddy. ;)
Many other items are gone as well. Jonathan will be making a list so that the judge will know what is still missing...including his toolbox and tools...
One of our wild "pets."
Doughnut Muffins! Recipe below.
Cardinal hens - through the sewing room window.
This has bloomed before. I have two of these - one on either side of the door. These are the first I have ever had to bloom. I think it is because instead of being houseplants, they are outside.
I got this recipe on the HGTV food forum from Martha (aka Linderhof - her blog is in the list on the right)
DOUGHNUT MUFFINS
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 to 1 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg, to taste
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup milk
Topping
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons Cinnamon-Sugar Plus
1)
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin. Or
line with 12 paper or silicone muffin cups, and grease the cups with
non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the
muffins nicely.
2) In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth.
3) Add the eggs, beating to combine.
4) Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla.
5)
Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk,
beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is
thoroughly combined.
6) Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the cups nearly full.
7)
Bake the muffins for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they're a pale golden
brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center
muffins comes out clean.
8) Remove them from the oven, and let
them cool for a couple of minutes, or until you can handle them. While
they're cooling, melt the butter for the topping (this is easily done in
the microwave).
9) Use a pastry brush to paint the top of each
muffin with the butter, then sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar. Or simply
dip the tops of muffins into the melted butter, then roll in the
cinnamon-sugar.
10) Serve warm, or cool on a rack and wrap airtight. Store for a day or so at room temperature.
Yield: 12
Wednesday on the way home:
Roses growing on a fence row.
I don't know what this is but pretty!
At home Sam, Kirk, and I checked out the neighbor's land clearing progress. This was not timber - just overgrown with brush and spindly trees.
Kirk enjoying his early evening romp.
He found this bone early in his residence here. LOL It is longer than he is. Jonathan had to carry it to the dog run for him.
Friday morning I tried it. YEP! I can now point my toes enough to pull my boots on. Yippee!! Only 10 weeks or so since I sprained my ankle. :D Still not totally back to normal but getting closer each day. (I'm staying off dress shoes with heels taller than one inch. bummer)
Pea soup fog Friday morning. (But remember...I had my red boots on!)
