A Hint of Spring

I bought this pot of hyacinths last week and they were just barely budding. This week they are almost fully opened. What a wonderful fragrance they send thru the house. Just a hint of Spring!

Blessings

Linda

Friday Show and Tell

Good Morning! Kelli at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ is hosting Show and Tell Friday. Click over and join the fun.

Today I would like to show you 4 of my most favorite books. I am definitely a bookworm and am on the lookout for books everytime I go to a thrift store or yard sale.

The first book is a very worn copy of The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening by J.I. Rodale and Staff. This copy is dated 1959. This is my gardening "Bible"! You can look up anything garden related alphabetically. I spend untold hours during the winter reading this book.

The second book is a really cute book by Rebecca McCann, called the Cheerful Cherub. My copy is dated 1947. This book is filled with absolutely adorable pictures of the Cherub with cute little poems for any occasion.

One of my favorite little poems is called Food:

"When work seems rather dull to me

and life is not so sweet,

One thing at least can bring me joy

I simply love to eat"

The third book is a very beautfiul book by Howard Chandler Christy called "The American Girl". This book was in a box of books that I bought at an auction once for $1.00 for the entire box of books. This copy is dated 1906.

The book has photos very much like the "Gibson" girls. There is a section called The American Girl in the Coiuntry, The Debutane, The Bride, etc. The photos is this book are just beautiful.

The last book is another very beautiful book. It is called The Song and Garden Birds of North America. It was put our by National Geographic and mine copy is dated 1964.
The color photos is this book are frame worthy. It shows photos and descriptions of practically every bird in this country and at the back of the book there is a little booklet that has some very flimsy vinyl records that plays the birds songs. I have played the little record and it is so neat!
I hope you enjoyed my Show and Tell!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed weekend!

Linda

It's my Birthday!

I was born 47 years ago at 5:13 a.m. There was a huge snowstorm and Dad said it took forever to get to the hospital that was only 10 miles away. I was born 3 hours after they arrived at the hospital. Dad always jokes and asks me why I picked the worse weather day of the year to be born! The weatherman is calling for a "wintery mix" today. Seems we always have bad weather on my birthday.

My sister was born almost 5 years to the day after me. Her birthday is January 20th. So, we always have our birthday parties together. (I am the one on the left). Last Sunday we celebrated our birthdays, with our family, at my house. My family gave me many nice gifts but the one I really loved came from my grandmother, who is 95. Number one, she braved the extremely cold temperatures, 17 degrees, with a windchill of zero to come to my house. Number two, she gave me and my sister matching dishes that she bought when she first got married in 1930. I love gifts like this!I decided I would make our birthday cake this year and since purple is my favorite color, I made a chocolate cake with purple icing!

I had alot of fun making the tags for my sister's gift! The images were copied from an old childrens book onto card stock. I think they would work well as bookmarks too!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Blessings

Linda

Spring Fever

Thanks so much for the kind words and prayers from all of you. It was a very hard week, this past week. Brandon will be missed so much.

Last night dear husband and I went out to Lowe's in search of some "parts" my husband needed. When we walked in I went straight to the garden department, like I always do and low and behold, they had garden seeds out! Well, they weren't really "out" just kind of shoved in a corner waiting to get "out". So, I decided to help them along! I just sort of moved some "stuff" around so that I could get to them. I'm quite sure they appreciated my help! Anyway, I bought several packs. I can't help it. It's an addition. Then we went to Target, and they really did have some seeds out with no help from me! I bought some more! So this morning I went into the garage and pulled out my box of leftover seeds from last year and have found that I could probably open my own seed store. But then I remembered I bought some seeds when we went to Monticello last summer and I can't find them! I'm thinking I'm not really that early. Because in late February, I will start some of the seeds indoors on the "seed starting" shelves my husband made me a couple of years ago.

Oh, and guess what? It snowed this week! Not alot, but enough to keep the kids out of school. Remember, I live in the south and if we see one flake of snow we are required to run to the grocery store and buy milk, bread, and toliet paper and then close all the schools. It's a rule!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Linda

Brandon

Please remember my very good friends Mike and Dana in your prayers today. Mike's son Brandon passed away last night. I am still numb. This can't have happened. They have no idea why at the moment. Tests are being run to determine what happened. Brandon would have been 14 years old tomorrow. The above photo is of Brandon in our pool this summer. I will miss him so much.

I keep holding my own son so much today. I just can't imagine.

Linda

How happy are you right now?

I have been reading the book "Simple Abundance- A Daybook of Comfort and Joy" by

Sarah Ban Breathnach and have found it is very thought provoking, especially todays thought. How Happy are You Right Now?

I decided to list 10 things that make me happy in one minute. I was very surprised how easy this was and even more surprised that my list didn't contain anything "material".

1- A smile on my husband or son's face

2- A family gathering (that is not for a funeral)

3- The "belly laugh" of a baby

4- Warm spring days

5- The smell of the library

6- The smell of fresh baked bread

7- The sound of frogs chirpping in the spring

8 - An unexpected call or card from a long ago friend

9- Flowers blooming in the spring that I forgot I had planted

10- Knowing that I will be reunited in Heaven with my loved ones who have passed on, when my time on Earth in done.

Pretty simple. Just like me. I know people who are never happy. I can't imagine living like that. I have had my share of grief and tragedy in my life, but through it all I have kept my faith. I guess that would be the number one thing that makes me happy. Faith.

My challenge to you is to do the same thing. In one minute, write down 10 things that make you happy. Bet you'll be surprised!

Have a great day

Linda

Easy as Pie!

Good Sunday afternoon! This Christmas one of my friends Diane G. gave me this awesome old cookbook from 1953 called The "New Cook's" Cookbook. I love the first paragraph of the book. "Once upon a time- and not so long ago- it was fashionable for all lovely ladies not to know how to cook or at least pretend not to know. My! How times have changed!

Today a woman can look like a cream confection, but she's got to know how to make one too. Popularity in our modern times, is reserved for those who are good cooks as well as those with good looks!

It's easier than you think to claim your share of that special envy reserved for good cooks. With the way we've worked things out for you on the following pages, you'll be an expert cook in little more time than it takes to roll up your pin curls! If you read our instructions carefully and follow them as faithfully as your best beau follows you, what treasures will be yours to set before your king!

We show you how, and how easy it is, with these tried and tested recipes and electric cooking procedures.

Yours for Success and Popularity!"

How I remember pin curls! LOL

Anyway, I have made a couple of recipes from this book and we really liked the Apple Pie with cheese crust. Delicious!

For Pastry:
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 tea. salt
1/2 c. shortening
3/4 c. grated cheddar cheese
1/4 water
Sift together flour and salt. Cut in shortening and cheese until consistency is like coarse crumbs. Add water and mix lightly. Form into a ball. Turn out on floured board and roll 2 crusts each 1/8 inch in thickness. Place one crust in pie pan.
For filling:
3 1/2. cups peeled, sliced, fresh apples
4 tbls. flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tea. cinnamon
1 tbls. butter
Combine flour and sugar and spread about half of this mixture over crust in pie pal. add the sliced apples. sprinkle remaining flour sugar mixture over them. Sprinkle with cinnamon and add butter in small bits. Moisten edge on bottom crust with water and palce top crust over filling and seal edges by crimping with fork. Bake in preheated electric oven att 400 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

This turned out really well and was very easy to do. The only thing that would have made it any better was if I had some vanilla ice cream to go on top! So today I was very popular and succesful with my family, especially my king, even if I didn't do my hair in pin curls!

Blessings!

Linda

Friday Show and Tell!

Kelli over at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ is hosting Friday Show and Tell. Head on over to her site and join the fun.

This week my show and tell is about a warm, fuzzy, feeling I get when I look at these Ken-L-Ration Dog and Cat salt and pepper shakers.

When I was little, I loved to go to my Grandparents house in the country and would sometimes stay a week or two. There was a creek that you had to cross to get to their house and the soil around it was very sandy. One of my favorite things to do was "play in the sand". In Grandma's basement there was a box of broken dishes and a pair of cat and dog salt and pepper shakers that Grandaddy had gotten out of a bag of Ken-L-Ration dog food. These items were my "dishes". I would play for hours each day, making my dolls pies, cakes, all sort of confections made entirely from sand.

As I grew older I quit playing in the sand:( and one day when I was around twenty, I went down in the basement looking for my dishes. They were gone! Grandaddy had thrown them out years ago. I was so disappointed. I really wanted the cat and dog salt and pepper shakers.

A couple of years ago I took my grandmother to a doll show and while I was looking around I spotted my dog and cat! (well, not really mine, but a pair just like them). I bought them on the spot for a ridiculous price, but I had to have them. Other than my "real dog" had an ear missing, they are exactly the same.

I keep these in my hutch in the kitchen and actually put them on the tree as ornaments this year. They remind me of my carefree days playing in the sand at my grandparents.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Blessings

Linda

New Years Eve Fun

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year. We met some friends and went out to eat. I figured the restaurant would be packed but there was hardly anyone there! After dinner we went to our towns New Years Eve celebration. One of the churches had video games set up and Yngwie was thrilled that they had Guitar Hero III set up on a gigantic inflatable screen.

We stayed until midnight when the Virginia Tech ball dropped and announced the beginning of 2008. The fireworks were spectacular!

Yesterday I was off from work but spent the day cleaning and cooking! We had our usual Black-eyed peas, collard greens, macaroni and cheese and a family specialty Corned Beef Pie. This dish is one that my Grandmother has always made and she said she got the recipe in a "Spry" cookbook. I have never heard of anyone else who makes it. Basically, canned corned beef, sauteed onions, a little flour, a couple cans of tomato sauce, salt, pepper and a little sugar all heated together, when thick pour into a pie shell and cover with another pie shell. Bake about 30 minutes until golden brown. We love it.

It is bitterly cold here today. 24 degrees and with the wind chill it feels like 8 degrees! BRRR

Hope everyone has a great day

Blessings

Linda