Whine, whine, whine!

I am so bummed! My throat started feeling scratchy on the way home from San Antonio. By last night it was really sore and my nose was stopped up. When I woke up this morning I had that 'sick' feeling. At least I was off today, but still had things to do.

I hate to miss choir rehearsal tonight because I've been out a lot lately. Oh well, Elvis and Presley will be glad. We can all pile up on the sofa and watch The Food network. Now that American Idol is over, there's nothing on TV.

I have a long day in the World of Hair tomorrow. I should drag myself to CVS and get some DayQuil.......and dark chocolate M&M's...and some Blue Bell!
I hear thunder. The weather guy just predicted a storm in the area. Guess I'll stay in and suffer!


I hate being sick, ya'll!

Flowers From my Garden

My Bromeliad is blooming!

The arrangement has one orange rose surrounded by purple hollyhock's, a white gardenia and assorted herbs. I don't know the names of the two varieties of red flowers. I'm sure I can find them in one of my 'flower books'.

I love flowers, ya'll!

Bread and Memories

My Rosemary and Oregano inspired me to try my hand at bread baking again. I browsed through my cook books and found a recipe for Herbed Focaccia bread. I ran to the store and picked up some dry yeast, whole wheat flour and sun dried tomatoes, which the recipe called for. Focaccia is a rustic bread found all over Italy. Now it's popular all over America. Dipped in olive oil and herbs, it is out of this world! First, I snipped bunches of fresh Rosemary and Oregano from the garden. I loved smelling the fragrant aroma as I finely chopped each herb. After mixing the ingredients into a beautiful dough, I turned it out on my floured counter and kneaded it until it was smooth and elastic. I sat the dough aside to rise, then baked it. The house smelled divine!

While the focaccia baked, I looked through the cook book and found a recipe for Lemon Balm Banana Bread. What an intriguing combination, I thought. I always have a collection of frozen bananas in the freezer, waiting to be made into bread. So, out I went, to snip some sprigs of Lemon Balm! I doubled the recipe and made two loaves.

The large antique mixing bowl was Aunt Era's. I remember seeing it at her house through the years. I was a little apprehensive about using it, for fear I would drop it and break it, but I could almost hear Aunt Era saying, 'Go ahead, use it!'. As I blended the ingredients together, I imagined all the things she might have mixed in this wonderful old bowl. She was a fantastic cook. Anytime we walked in the door, she immediately went to the kitchen and started warming things up. We never left her house hungry, that's for sure!

I'll take both the Focaccia and Banana Bread to my friends, the Louvins this weekend. I'm meeting them at Lake Medina near San Antonio for Memorial Day.

I may even go tubing!

Have a fun weekend, ya'll!

Technical Difficulties

Ever since I upgraded to Beta I haven't been able to post comments to anyone's blog. I'm trying to figure out how to fix the problem. Help!!

Just wanted my bunch to know that I do check in and read your blogs. I just have to keep my comments to myself for the time being!

After a dry spell, I'm finally getting back into writing and do appreciate your comments, though.

Keep on bloggin', ya'll!

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

The boys woke me up at 6:00 am this morning! Once I stepped outside with them and felt the cool morning air, I didn't mind. To the east was the most amazing sunrise. In the distance I could heard the bluebirds and cardinals singing their morning song. The bluebirds were perched on the fence, waiting to check on their nest in the birdhouse on the porch. There must be babies inside because yesterday afternoon I saw one of them taking in a mole cricket.

I can't be outside for long without starting to putter with my plants. I love the smell of the herbs! Just running my hand across the leaves releases the most wonderful aromas. The pretty orange rose bush is putting out new blooms and the little peach tree is loaded with fruit. I need to re pot the bromeliads I brought back from Florida last Christmas. I dug them up from my daughters garden and put them in my carry on bag! I still need to get the Passion Flower vine in the ground but it seems to thriving is its plastic bucket. It will take over the entire fence before long. Gulf Fritillary butterflies like to lay their eggs on this prolific vine. The caterpillars are bright orange, just like the butterfly.

The backyard is so big I call it a meadow. Except for a few sprigs of San Augustine grass close to the house, it is still in its natural state. Lots of bright yellow coreopsis, dandelions, wild morning glories and other assorted weeds and grasses have taken over. The birds like it because of all the seeds and bugs, so I don't mind, except that it gets so high that Elvis and Presley 'get lost'. In some areas all I can see are their tails. It really needed to be mowed so I had a teenager from my church take care of it yesterday. It looks better, but I miss the flowers. At least I can find the dogs now!

The cedar tree limbs placed along the edge of the beds are from my aunt and uncle's old home place. The old tree needed to be pruned and reshaped. Sis and her hubby saved all the branches. When they offered me some of the wood, I immediately visualized them as a border along my herb garden. One of the limbs is perfectly curved to fit the shape of the bed! As children, my brother, sister and I would climb the tree, knowing that if Aunt Era caught us in it we would surely be in trouble. The sticky sap is almost impossible to remove from skin and clothing, but we could have cared less. We just wanted to be up high in that old tree! Now, some 30 plus years later, as I tend my garden and touch this old wood, I am reminded of happy, carefree childhood times long ago.

Well, the morning is about gone.....it's time to get moving. I'm meeting Sis and Cousin at the old house later to go through the closets again. Today is the first opportunity the three of us have had to get together in a while. We need to get it done before the weather gets too hot....no A/C in this 1930's bungalow. I'm sure we will uncover many more mementos and share stories of long ago as we clean.

Where does the time go, ya'll?

Wedding Pictures

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day was extra special for me for several reasons. First of all, I was in Florida with my girls. That in itself was cool, but now that my daughter is expecting baby number three it was even more wonderful. Her youngest will be nine years old in a few weeks so this was definitely a surprise to everyone.

Anyway, we all got up early and went to church. Pastor son in law had to stay for the late service so we girls decided to have an early lunch at Woody's Bar B Que. After all the seafood at the wedding, I was ready for some juicy baby back ribs. Daughter was craving some fried onion rings. Her father in law and sister in law had the same idea and came in right as we were being seated, so they joined us at our table. This place is also known for their delicious homemade pies, cakes and banana pudding........well, it was Mother's Day and we had already blown the diet at the wedding. What would one more piece of pie hurt?
The girls shared a piece of French Silk pie, Father in law and I shared the Coconut Cream pie and daughter went for the banana pudding. Oh wow, was it ever good! We didn't forget pastor S-i-L....we took him a sliced beef sandwich, french fries and saved a few bites of pie and pudding.

Now, for the real story. After we had kicked back for a short siesta, we hooked up the boat and went to the lake to do a little tubing. CB, the oldest granddaughter hopped on for the first round. She's a regular hot dog and really loves to ride the waves. What fun, I thought. I had been tubing once before and felt up to the challenge again. I put on my life jacket and gingerly hopped on the big blue tube. They forgot to tell me to slide toward the back before take off and before I knew what was happening the thing flipped forward and landed me face first in the water. There was no way I could pull myself back up on the thing from the water, so I had to get back in the boat and climb on it from there. I managed to get on the ladder but was unable to pull myself up into the boat.
S-I-L had to give me a hand! Eventually, I got back on the tube and away I went. It was a nice ride and I managed to stay on the entire time. Getting back in the boat proved to be a challenge once again, but I made it in. CB took another spin, then the youngest granddaughter wanted me to ride with her. No problem, I survived the first ride, so the two of us climbed on and took off. I guess A felt safe with me because she wanted to go faster and 'get some wave'. I gave S-I-L the thumbs up to go faster and make some waves. Next thing I knew, we were hitting the waves, bouncing up and down on the tube. I was holding on for dear life and A was screaming like the little girl she is! All of a sudden, we went over the edge of the wake and I lost my grip. I went flying into the water and came up gasping for air. Every muscle in my body was jerking....I was exhausted! How was I going to get back in the boat, I thought. Somehow I was able to get onto the ladder but there was no way I could pull myself up. I must have looked like a drowned rat because they were asking me if I was OK...while laughing their heads off, I might add! S-I-L held out his hand but I was afraid to let go of the ladder. I knew I had to either get in the boat or they would have to idle back to shore, dragging me in the water. Long story short, I finally grabbed his hand. He literally had to flop my body over the side of the boat. I felt like a fish that had just been reeled in. My muscles were quivering and I felt like I weighed a ton! Those brats were still laughing as we headed for the dock. What a blast....so invigorating! Can't wait to go again!!

When we got home, father in law had gone to the store and bought a huge ice cream cake. He's such a nice man! Oh mercy....more dessert, but I couldn't resist. Besides, it would be rude to refuse.....and I needed to replace the calories I burned during my wild ride around the lake!

So, how was that for a fun Mother's Day, ya'll?

A Beautiful Wedding

A Limoge box was the inspiration for the wedding cake, designed by the bride. Fresh citrus fruit, tropical flowers and sea grasses adorned the top of a delicious lemon pound cake.

The large vase to the right of the cake is filled with seashells. In the bottom of the vase, the grooms sister placed sand from the beach. Each guest placed a shell in the vase as they exited the beach after the ceremony. I'm sure the bride and groom will enjoy this reminder of their special day for years to come.

I just returned from sunny, or I should say, smoky Florida this afternoon. The smoke from wildfires in Georgia and northern Florida was blown by a subtropical depression, covering the entire state. I flew into Tampa Wednesday afternoon and the skies were fairly clear, as they were most of Thursday in Winter Haven. By Friday, the sky was a little hazy, but we had a wedding to attend.

My daughter, son in law and grand daughters left Friday morning, driving south to Naples/ Fort Myers for my niece's wedding. We arrived at The Bellasera hotel www.sunstream.com around 1:00 pm, entering the lobby through two huge, heavy dark wooden doors. A metal spiral staircase led to the second floor landing. I felt like I was in Italy. Our two bedroom suite was beautifully appointed in a warm Tuscan decor. The complete kitchen had gorgeous granite counter tops and beautiful black appliances. I could live there!

After checking in, we met up with my sister and other family members and went to the pool area. Her two grandsons and my two granddaughters enjoyed a swim while we sat and had a glass of tea. Soon it was time to get ready for the wedding. My daughter and I were 'in charge' of the bride, so I gathered her and all her stuff and we went to our suite to work on hair and make up. The little girls were fascinated by the whole process. Since both were members of the wedding party, I styled their hair too, and helped them get dressed. My sister took charge of the boys, and soon we were all ready for the trek to the beach for the ceremony.

When we arrived at Lowdermilk park beach around 6:30 pm, the wind was blowing and there was a smoky haze covering the entire area. The chairs weren't set up yet, so everyone pitched in a got them set up. Then, to the melody of a Jamaican steel drum, the bride made her way to a bamboo arch, festooned with palm fronds and orange tropical lilies. She wore a beautiful cream gown and held a hand tied nosegay of orange calla lilies and tiny green orchids. Her handsome groom awaited, dressed in a light summer suit, a lime green Cymbidium orchid pinned to his lapel. My two granddaughters stood by the bride while the brides two sons stood by the groom. My son in law officiated the ceremony, and as he pronounced the happy couple husband and wife, my heart swelled with love and appreciation for being blessed with such a wonderful family. At the end of the ceremony, instead of throwing rice, everyone tossed a seashell into the surf while saying a prayer or blessing for the newlyweds. Their names were inscribed on each shell.

After the ceremony, the entire group of about 25 people, went to Truluck's Steak and Stonecrab restaurant. We all enjoyed a beautiful sit down dinner of steak and seafood. Need I say more? Yum!!!

Wait, there's more! Saturday morning, The groom's family hosted a brunch at the couple's new home in Fort Myers. More food......including mimosas, desserts from the night before that we were all too stuffed to eat, PLUS wedding cake!

Finally, it was time to say our goodbyes and get on the road. We decided to stop by Sanibel beach before we left the area. The smoke had cleared and the sun was shining brightly as we walked along the waters edge, picking up sea shells. What a perfect end to such a perfect day!

Guess what I did on Mother's day! More about that later.....

And a good time was had by all, ya'll!

Birdhouses

I found this cute birdhouse at the Bluebonnet festival a few weeks ago. It has a crackled tin roof and I love all the metal work on it. The little green birdhouse and the Boston fern are hanging on a piece of metal scroll work from an old screen door.

One day I noticed a pair of Eastern Bluebirds flying near the porch. One of them lit on the front of the house and went right in while its mate waited, perched nearby on top of a wind chime. They must have liked the location because they immediately began to bring pieces of straw inside and started making their nest.

I can't get close enough to take a picture of the birds. I caught this shot as they were dragging a piece of grass into the house. I love collecting unique, hand crafted birdhouses and have quite a nice collection. This is the first time some of my feathered friends have taken up residence in one.