A Romantic Old Barn

For several days I drove by a farmers past.

The color, a darkened red

planted on a bright green carpet of winter wheat,

backed up by the teal blues and  antique whites of the sky.

The paint peeling,

The roof sagging,

The hay door gone.

The romance of it grabbed my heart,

played songs in my mind,

demanded my attention.

Party link ups listed here…

Horse snorts.

I saw the funniest thing this morning.  I was cleaning out cabinets at mom’s when I found a jar of powdered sugar stashed way in the back of the lower cabinets.  Right before I could dump it in the trash I saw the horses standing at the feed trough outside the back yard. I opened the back door, which always gets their attention, walked to the fence and emptied the jar into the trough.  The filly approached first, taking a sneaking peak at the white substance there.  She lowered her head and then jerked back, startled.  I didn’t get it at first.  She did it twice more when the stud came to see what she was into.  He did the same thing, cautiously getting close to the powder and jerking back in surprise.  Then I saw it. 
When they got close to the powder, the breath from their nostrils made the powder poof up in a little cloud that totally freaked them out.  It made me laugh deep in my belly, especially when the miniature donkey foal bounded up to the trough completely unafraid, just like our little humans that haven’t learned to be afraid and started licking the sugar up.  It didn’t take them long to overcome their fear when they saw the little donkey enjoying it - to lick it up too. 

Then I went back to cleaning the cabinets out.

You can see where I link up here.

I heart Valentines

I like hearts almost as much as decorating for Christmas.  I have a Pinterest board dedicated just to hearts!   Don’t you just feel the love in the air when you see one?  While glancing through the newspaper, the wedding announcements caught my eye.  Beautiful people dressed in beautiful clothes and descriptions of the party give me a nostalgic feeling. 

A pair of scissors were near me on the end table so I began framing words within heart shapes.  Using a needle and white thread I connected some hearts in pairs.  A short walk out the back door and a few branches of dried sunflowers in hand, I headed for the paint cans.  White, of course, sprayed on both the branches and inside an old floral vase were done in minutes.  I scooped up some gravel to hold the branches in the place I wanted and draped the paper hearts on the branches.  Because everything in the dining room is white, I added one red heart for a little pop of color.  I really like the dry flower seed heads.  It’s sweet to catch a glimpse of those wedding notices.

Are you addicted to hearts?

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Night scape

No words,

just a moment caught on film.

A moment to remember.
A moment in time to be grateful
I saw it.

You can see where I like to link up here.

Baked Fried Pickle with Ranch dip

I feel like the last Texan alive that had not eaten fried pickles.  But something about the thought of fried dill pickle has deterred me since I first heard of them at the State Fair several years ago.  The recipes have floated by me on Pinterest and on numerous cooking shows until today.  I’ve been trying to give my mom a varied menu and today after a short discussion about fried pickles I gave in.  Why did I ever wait?

Milk White Ware Mantel

I indulged my new love of all things white on my mom’s fireplace mantel this week.  While taking down the holiday directions and rearranging the store room I noticed several pieces of vintage milk white ware.  The next afternoon I stopped in a thrift shop and again my eye was drawn to a milk white vase which I bought because…I have a new love of all things white.  I picked up a few branches of pussy willows and headed to mom’s.  I used a white lace curtain valance and placed some of the white pieces on it.  Mom loves it and so do I.  Then of course, I kept looking at it and improving it. 
I’ve been staying with my mom helping her out and preparing her for hip surgery.  It has been bitterly cold since Christmas so when we got a 51 F day, I hopped into my car and headed out.  It was still a bit too cold for mom, she opted to stay in.  I ran a few errands for her then stopped in at an antique store at the edge of town.  There is so much to rummage through there, it’s amazing.  Unfortunately the buildings are not heated and the sunny 51 degrees did not extend inside.  I strolled rather quickly through the isles stopping at a collection of white ware and picked up the cute little pedestal creamer you see in the photo. 

                      

Here are a couple of other pieces around the living room.

I love that the Christmas cactus is blooming!

DIL and little grand found this abandoned nest. I put some clay eggs in it. 

             Are you caught up in the "decorate with white" world yet? 

I often link up at these parties…

It’s Okay

To sleep-in later than normal…after all it’s COLD outside!
To drive around the county looking for a photo op that shows a landscape that is not as flat as a stale piece of wheat toast.
To settle for manipulating the camera filters to make a flat landscape a bit more interesting!
To savor Earl Grey tea like it is the nectar of the God’s on a cold winter morning with my sweet mother.
To delight in the sighting of two young wood peckers eating from the bird feeder.
To take a quick walk through an (unheated) antique store  and laugh to find the clerk huddled next to a wood stove, snugged down in an oversized chair, dressed in a heavy down coat and wool cap and mittens…sound asleep.
To see a bird nest hanging from a low tree limb over a country dirt road, stop the car in the middle of said country dirt road, step up on the hood of said car, to take a picture of said bird nest…because it’s weird for that bird to choose a busy location for it's nest!  What kind of bird makes this basket looking nest, anyway?

What kind of “okay” things have you done today?

You can see where I like to link up here.

A horse walked into a bar...

And the bar tender said, "Why the long face?"

A picture is worth a lot of words on Wordless Wednesday!

You can see where I like to link up here.

Paper White love

Winter can sometimes be dreary when it’s too cold to go outside and those wintry clouds can press down on any mood.  To get out of the anticipated winter blues this year I tried forcing some Narcissus Paper White bulbs and I’m really glad I did.  It’s day eight of freezing temps that make Spring feel a long time away but the beautiful tiny white blooms planted at Thanksgiving are successfully cheering us up.  It was a amazingly simple to do, you can be sure there will be  blooms all winter here!  
I purchased bulbs at a local nursery then found a couple of great containers.  The containers are filled 3/4 full with pebbles gathered from the driveway.  Bulbs are snuggly placed on top of the pebbles and water added to just the top of the pebbles.  I read on a Google site that a 1-10 ratio of alcohol to water will stunt the height of the greenery without stunting the blooms, and intended to do that.  However, I had to be away from home a couple of weeks and relied on someone else to keep them watered.  The stems are rather tall, but have not fallen over so I think it still worked just fine.  I am going to try it on the next batch though.

I often link up to parties….here

A Grand Art Show

Phase one:  Create.
On a series of cold and windy winter break days I kept the little grands.  The five year old is quite imaginative.  I was sent on little missions outside to find perfect rocks and sticks.  There was a constant need for clean water to rinse brushes and expert transformation of paper bags to suitable table covers and note cards.  There was also a great need for plenty of paper towels when baby grand (the 2 year old) washed his rocks more often than painting them.

Phase two: Ask friends and relatives to participate.
After several hours of these activities little grand handed me a hand written invitation on a folded piece of brown paper bag. The front reads “ Party at MeMaw’s. Open. (translated…because she has only completed a semester of kindergarten) The illustrated inside reads, “Free cookies, games, pet horses.” At this point, if you don’t already have cookies on hand… make some. Conveniently for me her mom had sent some tiny sugar cookies along with many bottles of sprinkles. We took a break from the art world and entered the kitchen and cookie decorating world. That was loads of fun and entertainment for both her and the baby grand who enjoyed tasting them more than decorating. Oh, yes, I also sent a text message with attached photo’s of the invitation to the Aunts & Uncles so they could plan to drop by the Gallery tomorrow.

Phase three:  Set up a display.
We rearranged the dining room a bit and began taping up the art.  It is all in a row about eye level to a 5 year old around the walls.  On the window ledges are the painted rocks.  On the dining table is a plate of sugary cookies and napkins.  Little grand greeted the guests as they arrived at the door and took them on a tour.  She explained the idea and subject of each piece before inviting them to take a cookie.  It was really quite sweet.  I am looking forward to a trip to art gallery during the school Spring Break.  We will dress up in our Sunday best and go for lunch in a very “grown up” place.

Thank you for attending our Art Show.

You can see where I party link up here.

How to back up your (updated blogger) blog. And why you should NOW.

I had a small panic attack a few days ago when I tried to log in to my blog and it was "Disabled due to unusual activity".  What?  What unusual activity?  I never did figure that part out.  Going through some chat forums, I finally did something...heck if I really know what...that caused a confirmation email to appear from Blogger.  Then it was back.  I was on the way to heart sick that all those moments of my life recorded in cyberland could be lost.  I would survive, but would still have been very sad.

Today, Funky Junk Interiors posted this article.  How to back up your (updated blogger) blog. And why you should NOW. I immediately followed the easy instructions to back up my blog.  Now I have pinned the instructions to my Pinterest Blog Hint Board and saved to my Blog Hint Tab. Tomorrow, a trip to the store and I will back up the blog to a mobile pin drive.

Have you taken steps to save your blog?

No Resolutions

for the new year needed.  I have already admitted to being a habitual organizer and list maker.  I just woke up on New Years Day and continued on with the daily living towards being a better person and living each day to the best of my ability.  I truly believe doing this daily makes for an amazingly stress free existence.  I rose early enough to watch the new year sunrise because it's a nice way to mark beginnings.  This is the view that came as I drew in my breath that morning.

You can see the last sunset as I saw it on 1/31/12 on yesterdays post.  It was also an amazing site.

Today we kept a Texas tradition and ate black eyed peas.  Back during the depression and dust bowl days, many homesteaders were very hungry and a tradition was born as many Texans ate black eyed peas and hoped for better days of prosperity.  Prosperity eventually came and the tradition stayed on as a salute to survival.

We ate our black eyed peas in a relish type dip.  It is really delish.  I posted the recipe previously here.     I usually serve them with Frito brand Scoops, but my sister made some spicy saltines that were very good with them too.  I'll twist her arm gently for the recipe in a few days...

While I'm sharing, here are a couple of easy finger lings we had at our big family Christmas Brunch.  I sat the ingredients before a couple of nieces and they had fun assembling them while I made cup cake upside down pineapple cakes.

Found this easy recipe on Pinterest.  Purchased powdered donuts
and turned the into snowmen with candy corn & mini chocolate chips.

Another Pinterest find, Grinch fruit!  Spear a strawberry, banana slice and green grape.
We used purchased black icing in a tube from the grocery store to make the faces.

By far the favorite was this pineapple upside down cupcake recipe.
In a cupcake pan, place a teaspoon of butter and
a teaspoon of brown sugar
then a pineapple ring.
Enough simple yellow cake batter to fill the muffin pan 2/3 full.
Bake 350 F for about 20 minutes.
Flip over onto serving platter and
op with a marachino cherry.

I sometimes link up here...

Snow punch and the last sunset

This is the last sunset for 2012 from my mom's.  It was spectacular.

We stayed awake New Years Eve to toast in the midnight hour with both New York and Dallas.  Even though it was just two of us, it was a fun evening.  A toasty fire in the fireplace, roasted chicken, simple salad, stuffed jalepeno, and later a delicious punch.  The phone rang in many New Year wishes and our FB contacts reached out to us too.  It's good to know so many people love and care about us.  Here is the simplest punch recipe you'll ever be glad to have.  You can make a punch bowl full or mix one glass at a time.  We made two single servings.

• Spoon in enough vanilla ice cream to fill you glass 1/2 way.  
• Pour white Sparkling Grape Juice over.  

It looks snowy and is perfect for this holiday.  Since there's no alcohol kids can enjoy the special treat with you.

I sometimes link up here...