Family Today!

We had a great time! Friday afternoon Isabel arrived with her chauffeur. Grandpa on a walk with Brook and Isabel...Isabel fell asleep about 2 seconds later.

For supper we had shrimp pasta salad and Irish soda Bread.

http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Traditional%20Irish%20Soda%20Bread

Before...


...after...

After Isabel's night bedtime Friday, Colt showed up with his entourage. After some visiting, Colt got fussy. Granny (that would be ME) took him out to the screen porch and we sat in one of the rocking patio chairs. He fell asleep in about 2 seconds.

Saturday morning...HELLO COUSIN. Unfortunately, Colt had a bit of a stuffy nose and they weren't permitted to get too close to each other.

We visited and played and I held babies ...although from the photos you would never guess it!

I baked a ham and cooked pinto beans, roasted sweet potatoes drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of grated nutmeg and a very light sprinkle of cayenne pepper, roasted asparagus drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Kosher salt, mixed green salad with homemade honey mustard salad dressing... http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/honey%20mustard%20salad%20dressing ..., homemade peppercorn salad dressing, and a bottled jar of raspberry vinaigrette. And a loaf of bread machine white bread...with butter!

For dessert...a strawberry pie. http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Strawberry%20Pie

Before... ...after.

I'm going to have to do something different with the strawberry pie. The juice is too juicy. I don't want it set up like pudding...but I don't want it like water. I've always used flour for thickening in my fruit pies. Next time I bake a strawberry pie I am going to use cornstarch. If that doesn't work, I'll try tapioca.

We also had a chocolate pudding cake.

http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Chocolate%20Pudding%20Cake

I did not get a photo of it. And now...there's only one slice left. Hmmm...See you later!

French Braid Quilt Revisited

My friend Bea/Holee used my tutorial and made this quilt top.

http://beashive-bea.blogspot.com/2011/04/french-braid-quilt-top-finished.html

Didn't she do a great job?!

They're Baaa-ack!

I kept hearing something bumping late yesterday. No tennis shoes in the dryer. The dishwasher was correctly loaded. Hmmmm. The TANAGERS are back! This darlin' couple normally starts up at 5 a.m.

(See her (yellow) top left? He's (red) sitting in the second bottom frame from the right.)

Every spring since 2005, we have to shut my sewing room door just so we can sleep. He is sitting so sweetly and makes cooing noises about that good looking hen over there. She just swallows it hook, line, and sinker and goes to battle. While he sits and winks. WHAT'S THAT?! Over there?! Making eyes at my woman? er...hen! I'll go ruffle his feathers for a change!

I Ironed. Blech!!

This was definitely a working weekend. The only thing left to do (in the house) is to bring the step ladder in so that I can put some quilts on the top shelf of the closet and clean the top shelves in the two open shelving areas in the master bath. I also need to dust the livingroom furniture and my breakfront china cabinet. Then...the spring cleaning...will be through!!! (Except for my sewing room and that's a different on-going project.) In other words...I worked my butt off. Oh...just turned around and it's still there. RATS! My floors are so clean! I ran around barefooted before having to put on shoes to go to work. Sam and I ate pizza for dinner Sunday. We were sitting there minding our own business when a young couple with two small children sat right behind me. Sigh. But the kids were cute and well mannered. Dad corrected the little boy when he grabbed a handful of ham cubes. Dad said, "No. Not a handful, only a few." Older sister replied, "A few means 'two'." While Mom was at the buffet filling her plate, the little girl started crying. Very obviously SOMETHING was wrong. I turned around and she was holding her hand out with one finger extended. She had BITTEN her own finger. I just about fell out of my chair laughing.

Boing

I almost messed up.

I'm not accustomed to working 40 hour weeks yet. It's really hard to do housework when you don't spend weekends at home. I hate ironing clothes! Have I ever mentioned that? Well...I hate ironing clothes!

Pine pollen season is over. My house needs a really good spring cleaning. Saturday afternoon while Sam was watching the race (since Dale Jarrett retired, I don't watch any more) I cleaned our walk-in closet. I had already stripped some of the old clothes out and set them aside for charity (delivered them yesterday). I tossed shoes out of one of the shoe racks and moved it out of the way so that I could vacuum that part of the closet floor. I walked out of the closet to put something somewhere else. When I walked back in, I tripped on the shoe rack. My mind was on the shelving...I did not want it literally ON the shelving! So I tried to make myself as small as I could tucking in body parts and ducking my head.

That probably kept me from throwing a hand out and breaking a bone.

My head hit a shoe. I lay prostrate on the carpet and thanked the sweet Lord because he led us to a house with a large walk-in closet. If it had been ten inches narrower...

Then I laughed at myself. Stooopid!

Many Blessings on Sunday

I got to see Isabel...more about that on another post.

The main blessing on Sunday had nothing to do with attending an organized church service. On our trip home, we stopped for a hamburger in Sulphur Springs (Texas). I noticed a couple of men dressed in fatigues and mentioned to Sam that I saw a couple of military men. When we entered the Whataburger...they were everywhere! I talked with one of the kids...er...young men and found out that they were from Little Rock and were on their way back to Fort Hood to complete their training before being deployed...he was headed to Iraq. Sam had found out the same thing talking to the soldier he was visiting with.

Then Sam talked to an older man, a civilian. A Little Rock church (I didn't get all the information from the side of their bus but it was a Baptist church in LR) sent their big bus and their little bus to Fort Hood and brought the men and women back home before deployment! They were on their return trip at the end of their leave and had stopped in Sulphur Springs in an area that had several places to eat and the soldiers had spread out.

We had a couple dozen soldiers eating with us. Sam and I sat at a table eating our hamburgers. I could barely eat for trying to keep the tears out my eyes. I made certain that I looked at each person and said a prayer.

Get Out of the Way!

I had to stop and backup this morning. Yes! I kept a check on the rear view mirror as I backed up on the wrong side of my country road and stopped on the grass in front of this pretty little filly. She turned toward me but look who got to me first. LOL

A Breath of Fresh Air

One of these days I'm going to get a dogwood in MY yard. They are all in the woods around here. But my yard does have this... ...and these... For me? Awww...how sweet.

Man in Kilt

For Elsie...and every other red blooded woman in blogland. But, most especially ... for me. P.S. Ducky, Your mother does NOT want the visual of you wearing your kilt on your motorcycle. Shudder!

Men In Kilts

We went to the Tartan Festival in Minden Louisiana again this year. My friend Nancy wants to know what they wear under the kilts. I kept watching this particular kilt wearer but never could catch him bending over. Sigh. Nancy, I tried. Thought about tripping him but I think Sam realized what I was thinking and gave me "the look." Kilts weren't the only dress of the day. Look at this dapper gentleman. This guy evidently doesn't like walking. Then...there's the music... ...And sheep dogs rounding up the Scottish Highland Cattle. They were "over yonder." My little camera did a pretty good job of zooming in on them, but the clarity suffered. I think this is a Norwegian Fjord horse. You could ride for $2, but you were led around, not turned loose on the horse...so I passed. The Irish dancers from Mississippi performed again this year. He is doing the "plank" dance......as in walking the plank.Last year I ate Shepherd's Pie. Sam ate Haggis. (Gag me with a spoon! But it's not the idea of cooking it in a sheep's stomach...that's just a vessel for cooking. It's the garbage that is put in the stomach that gags me - liver, heart, lungs. No wonder they season it...to disguise the taste of the innards!) This year we had coo burgers. That is - Highland Cattle burgers. Highland beef is leaner. The burgers would've been really good if:
1. They were fully cooked - not rare.
2. The meat was hot - not stacked in a foil pan covered with foil and allowed to cool.
3. Hamburger buns had been toasted - just wave 'em over the grills please!
4. The meat had been seasoned before cooking. Bland, bland, bland!

So, next year I already know what I'm getting. Meat pasties, Scotch eggs, and taddies. My mouth is watering already! So much so that I've already got the butter coming to room temperature. I'm baking shortbread in a few minutes! Photos to follow!