Turnips Again!

Ok, I usually do not post twice in one day, much less about the same subject, but would you look at the size of that turnip! I went into the vegetable garden to get my neighbor some onions and turnips and when I pulled this out of the ground we couldn't believe it.
24.1 ozs. that over a pound and a half! One Turnip! That could feed our family of three.
Or maybe not!

Anyone for some turnips and spinach?

LOL! I have found out that most people do not like turnips. When I was growing up I didn't like them either, except raw. My great aunt would cook them down to mush then cream them. Yuck!. However, when I got married my mother in law fixed them in her pressure cooker with potatoes and beef and I loved them. I do the same thing except I use chicken broth for flavor instead of beef. I also know that most people do not grow turnips in the spring. Turnips are usually grown in the fall, but one year I had some extra seed left and so I just went ahead and planted them when I planted my radishes and guess what? They grew just fine, so now I grow them every spring and every fall!

This is my first year growing spinach as I am not a big fan. However, Yngwie and Dear Husband love it so I gave it a try and it did fabulous! Last night I made spinach salads and everything in them I grew! The spinach, the onions, the broccoli. (Well I didn't grow the bacon!) No preservatives, no chemicals, just totally natural food. I really get a feeling of achievement when I can feed my family with foods that I grow.

This year I have started an herb garden. Notice that nothing is growing on one side? I don't know why! I planted those herbs are the same time and nothing came up. So I have replanted the parsley, and oregano, and some nasturiums with hopes that this time I'll have some success.

I started this blog as a sewing blog and I really do sew. Just not very much in the summer unless it rains or late at night. This weekend when a storm blew up for about an hour, I went in and made this tote. It is made from a dish towel that my grandmother gave me. She has no idea where she got it, she found it in one of her trunks. I added a little sparkle with the trim at the top. I really like how it turned out. I try and keep things like this on hand for quick gifts.

This and That

I hope everyone had a wonderful long holiday weekend. We were very busy. I feel like I need a couple days off from work to recover!

Friday night we had some friends down for a pool party and cookout, then Saturday we had a birthday party for my niece Rebecca and my Dad. Rebecca really liked the purse and dog that I had made her.

Sunday we spent the day out on the lake and then that afternoon went to Roanoke to see Josh Gracin and Pure Prairie League perform at Festival in the Park. The weather could not have been any better, a nice cool breeze and the smell of carnival food, YUM!

Yesterday we mostly just hung aroung the house. I did some sewing and some scrapbooking and Yngwie and his friend practiced the songs they are playing at an end of the year party another of his friends is having then into the pool to cool off!

I also wanted to share a couple of photos of some great finds from thrifting at the Rescue Mission Friday afternoon.

I am a big Thomas Jefferson fan! Mostly due to his agriculture and gardening knowledge. Anyway, I got this great tray that is aluminum with a tile portrait of him in the center for $1.50. I used this for snacks both Friday night and Saturday.

I was also thrilled to find this stack of cookbooks and craft books! The cookbooks were $1.00 each and the craft books were .10. There are 3 brand new Debbie Mumm craft books in there! I love Debbie Mumm! I can't wait to get started on some of the projects!

Hope everyone has a blessed day!

Linda

Friday Show and Tell

Kelli over at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com is having Friday Show and Tell. This week I would like to show you my favorite clock.

This clock used to belong to the sister of the lady who babysat me while my parents worked. The clock is very heavy and is black with bronze trim. But what I love most about the clock is the little bronze sculpture on top. If you look very carefully you will see that it is of two little boys fighting over a basket of puppies!

Everytime my baby sitter took me to her sister's ( we called her Aunt Shirley) house I would sit and stare at this clock, inventing all kinds of stories about the boys on the top while eating her homemade bread and hot dogs she would always give me when I was there.

Several years after Aunt Shirley passed away her husband remarried and held an auction sale to get rid of some of his stuff. I went to the auction and was able to purchase this clock and it has had a place of honor in my home every since!

We have huge Memorial Day plans for this long weekend including cookouts, birthday parties, boating, and the Festival in the Park in the nearby city. We will be going to see Pure Prairie League on Sunday afternoon. (remember them?). Everyone have a blessed weekend and be safe!

Linda

Pool flowers and a great idea!

I have really been doing alot of work on the flower gardens around our pool. It is a very large area that I had previously only had a few azaelas and small shrubs in. That would be because young kids were running all over the area and would step on any flowers I had planted.

Well this year I decided to make it more of a flower garden as Yngwie and his friends are teens and no longer chase each other all over the place. I was inspired by my neighbors flower garden and purchase several lillies in orange, yellow and a fuschia pink. I also planted some perenial verbana in purple and some dahlias in white. It is really shaping up and I will get a picture of it when everything is in bloom!

I always have a hard time remembering what I planted and use the plastic tags cards to write down the name of the plant. Problem is, it always wears off the plastic and they look so out of place amoung the plants. The metal ones are too costly. When I was watching "Gardening by the Yard" Saturday, Paul James gave a great tip for keeping your plants identified. Choose small flat stones, (and believe me we have a gazillion of them!) use a permanent marker and write the name of the plant on the stone. This looks so much better in the gardens than those white plastic id tags sticking up all over.

I hope everyone has a blessed day!

Linda

Show and Tell Friday!

Kelli over at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com is having Friday Show and Tell. So today I thought I would show you someone who is very dear to me. My Grandmother. I know I have already written about her before, but she is just so amazing I am going to do it again. The above picture was taken last Sunday on Mother's Day. Tell me, does that beautiful lady look 95 to you?

Grandma was born in Christiansburg Virginia, May 15, 1912. Her father was killed in a train accident in 1911, 5 months before she was born. He had gone to get the family a Christmas tree and was taking a shortcut over the railroad trestle. Nobody knows for sure why he couldn't get off the trestle before the train hit him, maybe his foot was caught, nobody knows.

Grandma had 3 older siblings. When she was 15 months old, her brothers and neighbors child was playing with gas and matches. Somehow she got gas spilled on her and when her brother lit a match, her dress caught fire. When the neighbor looked out her window and saw Grandma on fire she ran and put the fire out. All that was left of the dress was the binding around the neck. Dr.s did not think she would live. She was burned from her neck to her knees. She had to lay in a sheet that was stretched over the tops of four chairs so that air could circulate around her for almost a year. She proved the Dr.s wrong, and continued to improve though she had to learn to crawl and walk all over again.

When she was 20 she met and married my Grandfather. My Dad was born one year later. Her happiness was not to last however. When my Dad was only three my Grandfather went into business with his brothers, who were not the most savory men around. Soon after he began to drink heavily and not come home at night. Grandma found out he had been seeing another woman. Not only had he been seeing this woman, the woman was also pregnant with his child. (Which she aborted). My Grandmother did something that was practically unheard of in the 1930's. she filed for divorce. Later, my Grandmothers sister came to live with her and together they raised my Dad.

Ten years later she met the man that I always considered to be my Grandfater. He worked with her and after a year of dating they married. They moved to Giles county to a farm where they lived happily until 1991 when my Grandfater passed away. Then Grandma moved to Roanoke to live closer to us.

Grandma turned 95 years old this past Wednseday. I made her a card and told her if you were to look up the "perfect grandma" in the dictionary, her picture would be there. I love and adore her so much and have been so blessed to have her in my life.

Take a walk through my garden with me

I

I love flowers and flower gardening! I love the smell of freshly turned earth. I love the smell of aromatic herbs. I love the warm morning sun on my face. I could work outside all day long and not get bored. My grandmother had huge flower gardens when she lived in the country. She grew every kind of flower you can imagine and they were absolutely beautiful. I loved going out into the garden with her to water, deadhead, or transplant.

My roses have not done so well this year as I have some major black spot going on. I may just have to cut them back and start again. The rose in the photo is a "Hot Cocoa" rose. It is much darker than what the picture shows. When in bud it is almost brown. The tiger lillies are new to my garden this year and have been doing very well. I have the bright "Orange Pixies" and some fuschia colored Asiatic lillies that have not bloomed yet. I also have some very bright yellow ones.

While the cherry tree and pear tree were in bloom, we had a very heavy frost and I feared that it killed off the fruit. And it did some. But a few hardy cherries and pears have made it through and hopefully we will have cherry preserves this spring and pear preserves this fall.

Gardening is a great stress reliever for me. I am always so happy and blissful when I am out in the gardens. I don't even mind weeding. I hope all of you have a "happy" place where the stresses of life melt away when you spend time there.

Linda

What a beautiful week this has been weather wise! Yesterday was my Grandmothers birthday! She is 95 years young. I had planned to post her beautiful picture today but forgot to upload it this morning before I left for work. She is so amazing. She still lives in her own house, has a vegetable and flower garden, and goes to her missionary meetings every Wednesday and church every Sunday. She has been such a positive influence in my life. She's not afraid of doing new things, meeting new people, and looks for the silver lining in any of the dark clouds that come her way.

I had my grandma, mother in law, sister and her children down for lunch on Sunday for Mothers Day. We had a great time just hanging out together and watching the kids swim in the pool. It's a little chilly still but the kids insisted it was just right. Then we went down to the lake and watched my DS ride his "new to him" jet ski. My Grandma was so excited watching him and said if she was a little younger she would ride it! Speaking of Mothers Day, my dear husband and son bought me a small tiller. I was so excited! My old one died several weeks ago and was too old to have it repaired.

My Irises are blooming! They are my favorite flowers because they are so bold and showy. I have several different colors in my flower garden, which incidentally I worked on all week-end. I planted several day lillies, tiger lillies, and cala lillies along with a butterfly bush in a deep purple. I also transplated some of my hollyhocks and lambs ears. I also planted some coleus in the most beautiful copper color. They will look great in the fall with the mums.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed day!

Linda

Friday Show and Tell

Today I thought I would show you my husband's mistress!!! She is a little younger than I am, has most of her original parts and is his favorite color, blue.

Meet Miss Blue. She is a 1966 Chevrolet Corvette. Back when we were dating in the 1970's, he would always say one day he was going to own a corvette. Well that wish came true for him. He purchased this corvette 8 years ago from his brothers neighbor and it became a part of our family. He really doesn't drive it too much, mostly just to car shows and cruise in's.

Do you see the guitar in front of the car? My dear husband made that! He bought a "donor" electric guitar at a pawn shop and pulled the electronics from it. My son designed the shape of the guitar and helped with the construction. The knobs on the body are made to look like dash board knobs, the Chevrolet insignia is on the back, the trademark crossed flags are on the neck with "Corvette" inlaid in mother of pearl up the neck. Of course it is finished to match the color of the much adored Corvette!

This weekend is going to be a very busy one! Saturday night my son is participating in the high school talent show. He is playing "Voodoo Chile" by Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan on the guitar and his friend will accompany him on the drums. Sunday I will be having my Grandmother and Sister down for lunch!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a blessed Mothers Day!

Just Rambling

This is a photo of my very favorite Iris. I love the color purle and this deep purple with white flecks is so beautiful. I really like the white Iris too! I have some pink and yellow that haven't started to bloom yet but have lots of buds on them.

My sister and I have been talking about what we will do on Mothers Day.

Our mother died from leukemia when I was 16 and my sister was 11. Our mom was 37 years old. So we usually celebrate with our grandmother who will be 95 years old next week. I am planning on having them down to my house Sunday for spaghetti, salad, homemade rolls, and cherry cheesecake trifle. My Dad is out of town on Mothers Day but hopes to make it back in time to come for dinner.

Yesterday I went to see my adorable great neice, Mackenzie. She is two and when I told her I was coming to see her she said "Oh my doodness, I will bake a cake" I told her I loved cake and what kind was she going to make and she said "Pink of course". So yesterday I ate pretend pink cake and a plate of real cool whip to go with it. We had a very nice party.

Today marks the 27th year of me and my husbands wedded bliss! We were just babies when we got married 27 years ago, we were only 19 years old, but I knew that he was the one I wanted forever. If given the chance, I would do it all again. I would have liked to post a picture but I didn't have any that were not in a scrapbook. Our photographer was terrible. The photos are so dark you can't even tell who they are.

Have a great day everyone!

Roses!

My roses are finally blooming! I really like this coral colored one. I can't remember the name of this coral one. I also have one called hot chocolate which is cocoa colored, angel kisses, which is purple, an old fashioned burgundy colored one that I dug up in the woods around an old foundation just up the road from us. (with permission!), a Princess Diana that is pink, and a yellow one that is called Sunsprite.

I really love roses but mine get black spot so bad. I spray and remove diseased foliage but still have a problem with it. Does anyone have any suggestions that works for them to prevent and manage black spot? I will keep plodding along with my rose garden because the end result is so beautiful!

Hope everyone has a great afternoon.

Friday Show and Tell

It's Friday Show and Tell and I would like to show you one of my very favorite books. It is a very old book by Julia McNair Wright, called "The Complete Home".

I bought this book in a box with many cookbooks at an auction almost twenty years ago. It is falling apart and I usually keep a rubber back around it to keep it from losing it's pages.

The book was originally given to Miss Kate Cassell in 1896. There is no copyright date in the book. I have no idea if the persons in this book are fictional or real. It is narrated by "Aunt Sophronia" and the first page of the book says this:

"Aunt Sophronia lives in one of our inland towns. She is relative to many of the townspeople- The Oracle of all. Firmly intrenched in hr own opinions and more than self complacent, she is yet ready to give other people their due. Her ideas are broad and sound, and she is no doubt a great blessing to our community. An indefatigable diarist, she has for many years recorded the best of what he thinks and learns on her favorite subject - The Home- These journals being to voluminous and too full of private affairs to present to the public, she has at our earnest solicitation reproduced part of them topically and with a happy faculty in discussing her subject from the beginning."

I have read this book from cover to cover many times and love it more everytime I read it. It covers the subjects of Order in the Home, Economy in the home, Beauty of the Home, Hospitality, Methods of works, Attention to dress, Religion, Friendships, Mistress and Maid, and many more! In the back is a chapter of "Useful Information" like what to serve the sick, how to get rid of stains, etc.. I don't know if it has every been re-printed, if not it really should.

Thinking Summer today!

It's almost that time of year! The weather has been in the upper 80's for the last few days and I am thinking summer! Our family lives on Smith Mountain Lake. It is beautiful lake with 500 miles of shoreline and breathtaking view of surrounding mountains.

We love the water, especially "Yngwie" our DS who is 15. He absolutely loves to wakeboard. He learned two years ago and wants to go everyday when the weather gets warm. He has actually been begging us to take him now. Not happening as the water is far to cold.

At least 4 days per week, we will go out in the boat or jet ski's and enjoy the scenery or pull Yngwie and his friends on wakeboards, skiis, tubes, knee boards, etc.. I am thinking that I may learn to wakeboard this summer. I can water ski, but I'm not too sure my 46 year old bones will take to many falls on a wakeboard. We'll see.

Anyone else who can't wait?!

Weekend Fun!

This first pic is for Sharon. It's kind of dark, but I think you can see that it matches your vase. This teapot belonged to my great aunt Clara. It set on the shelf that separated the dining room from the hall. She gave it to me after I got married. Mine says McCoy on the bottom.

This weekend my DH, son and I put our cars into the car show for the Dogwood Festival. It was a beautiful day and there was a great turnout. They have a carnival, food vendors, craft shows, music, etc. followed by a parade. This festival dates back to the 1950's when the local high school sold dogwood trees to raise money from band uniforms. When the uniforms arrived they had a parade so everyone could see their new uniforms and they have held the parade ever since!

Yesterday I went out to the garden and much to my surprise my radishes were ready! These are french breakfast and cherry sparkler! I am really not all that fond of radishes but I love to see them grow! We give away alot of radishes!

Today during my lunch hour, I am going to the nursery and get my tomato and pepper plants. I love to garden.

I did not get any sewing done this week-end, but I did cut out a really cute rabbit that I hope to get finished this week.

Hope everyone has a great day!