In The Heat of Summer

 I am back from a lengthy visit with my daughter Holly and hubby Richard.   We spent days elbow deep in paint….I’ll have pictures later of her freshly painted formal dining room.  We also did a little shopping and eating…a pregnant girl gets hungry quite often…haha…not me, Holly, who is going on 20 weeks!  My 13 year old niece made the trip with me and we all enjoyed the beach at St. Augustine and a wild water park on another day.  I’m getting too old for that kind of stuff and the sun is just out of my league now.  I actually got quite a bit of sun on the beach with 30 and 50 SPF sunscreens, while sitting under an umbrella!  Gosh what would have I looked like if I had not done that?  I fear a visit to the ER would have been in order!  And the spot on my left leg where I failed to get any sunscreen…well you can only imagine what it looked like…it stayed swelled for about a week!! No kidding! It is starting to peel today!

Holly picked the fabric for the new cover I will be making for their baby’s high chair…It is neither boy or girl related but will match her kitchen!  Aqua, white, and red!  

This willl be the ruffle trim around the cover!

These items of fabric were purchased from sewdeerlyloved Etsy shop!

 It is too cute…wish me luck in sewing this project!  I’ll let you know how it turns out!

My veggie garden is on a slowdown…just too HOT this time of year!  But we have enjoyed fresh white peas, tomatoes, plenty of okra which is still making, bell peppers, onions, English peas, cucumbers like crazy, and potatoes. We are planning to plant a fall crop *wow crop sounds BIG* of more English peas, rutabagas, and collards.  A little something all year to keep us fed!  I’m on my second batch of homemade pickles right now…it’s a week long process! I was also able to obtain some fresh figs from my SIL with which I eat a pile of and the rest I made into preserves!  Now this is a common thing here in the southern part of the south!  A homemade buttermilk biscuit, buttered while hot, with a fig preserve is divine!  Yep…wish I could share with you all!

Its review time again…yep another Gooseberry Patch cookbook review of what’s cooking!  I will be sharing at least 3 recipes I have hand-picked from one of their latest new books.  You will also get the chance to pre-order this book at a discount before it hits the store shelves.  There will also be a give-away in my review for one lucky winner!  So stay tuned and look for this review coming up soon!  I have one more recipe to make and then I will be ready!

I hope you all are enjoying your summer, hot as it is…I have missed being here and sharing with you…but as you know life has a way of taking us away from our hobbies and past time pleasures.  Life gives us more of the things we need at certain times, more challenges, more opportunities, more experiences, and more excitement. We must take those times and live, learn, laugh, and of course LOVE it, making memories all the while!

In the Garden…In the Kitchen

…two of my favorite places to spawn some photo art.

In the garden I walk in my flip flops, I pick the harvest; I pull a tiny weed or two.
I pluck a flower and snap a picture to capture its smell forever.

In the kitchen I preserve the taste forever. I smell the aroma of fresh goodness mixed with some sweetness. I stir and stir until all is perfect.
I stash it away for another day.

  

I love to create works of art from the blessings that flow before me. 

Grab your camera and click away in your daily doings! 

You will not only have fun but you will create wonderful memories.

Where O Where…

…have I been? Around the world and back it seems like. After spending 9 days in New Orleans helping Holly and Richard pack up all their belongings, then back home for a few days, then meeting them in Jacksonville, FL to help them unpack for 5 days……We are tired and beat!!! And now this week is dedicated to Bible School by helping out in the craft room with LOTS of kids!! Thank the Lord I’m able!   I do feel so behind in visiting with you all and missing out on your posts. My inbox was flooded and people were beginning to wonder what was going on! Thank goodness for Facebook as I tried to keep family and friends updated when I was able to get to a computer.

Our children are so proud to leave New Orleans in their past…it’s a nice place to visit, but they did not like living there. With their backs to Louisiana they headed out with smiles on their faces and Holly’s Murano loaded down, to include their three kitties and her new puppy as she followed a huge Penske pulling a small U-Haul trailer driven by Richard and his dog. What a site!!!  They made it as far as Tallahassee FL, stopping there for the night. Old friends of Richard’s family took them out for a steak dinner that night before they headed out again the next morning for Jacksonville. We rose really early that same morning to meet them in Orange Park (outside of Jax) to help unload. There are still boxes to be unloaded as I type this because of the cleaning we had to do inside and out of the house and Holly wants all the walls painted before hanging any pictures. You can only imagine their excitement going from a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment to a BIG  house of over 2,000 sq ft.!! Talk about room to breathe!

Now for the reveal of the surprise that I painted for their new house... This initial “H” for their last name is now hanging on their front door.

Now you know the old saying "It’s a small world after all"…well it’s so true! From my postings on Facebook, a high school friend of mine had read about Holly and Richard’s move. Long story short…she lives in Orange Park also!! She came looking for the moving van on the street I had mentioned and found us! We had not seen each other in 30+ years. She welcomed the newcomers to the area by bringing us supper that night…fried chicken with all the trimmings down to dessert, sweet tea, paper plates and plastic forks!! She also provided Holly with addresses and phones of places she would frequently visit. How awesome is that? It also turns out a friend that Holly grew up with lives in the area too. They had not seen each other since Holly's wedding shower almost 4 years ago.  We all went out to dinner on Friday night and enjoyed some good steaks on Jackie’s wallet!! Awesome again!! Orange Park/Jacksonville has some wonderful friendly people living there!!

I also made this group of four 8x10 canvases for their Florida room which will have a beach theme when completed. They will hang inside of a large shabby frame over a vintage bookcase on one wall. These are decoupaged vintage photos from magazines and scrapbook papers, along with sticker letters. The paper flowers and large buttons give it some dimension and the brown ink gives it that grungy look.

 And here are Holly and Richard standing outside their new home…for the next four years anyway. Richard is stationed at Cecil Field with the US Coast Guard where he is a boat engineer. He will also be doing tactical training for helicopters pilots who will be chasing boats on water. He will be driving the boats running from the choppers! Note the yellow ribbon tied to the tree on the left. Richard’s sister is still in Afghanistan, due to leave and return home to the states mid June. Gosh it’s almost mid June now!!!!

This is Holly and her new baby…Willow... a Malti~Poo, which is a mix of a Maltese and a miniature Poodle. She is so cute and smart and Holly adores her….she treats her like a baby!! This pix was taken after a long day of working and unpacking so please excuse the looks….we were tired and Willow looks a little dirty from playing outside. She really liked the little pink plastic flamingo that I bought and put in Holly’s back flower bed near the bird bath. She thought it made an excellent teether for her baby teeth. Pink flamingo you ask? Well it’s a Florida thing…everyone has to have a least one! Haha…..

Holly and Richard live about 5 hours from us here in Alabama now, which is closer that NOLA and it’s a much easier drive, so we look forward to many visits back and forth!

Thank you for all the anniversary wishes…I hope we make 31 more years!

It's good to be home and settled down for a while.

Welcome to summer!!

It's a Holly Day

Here is another place I wanted to share with you from my trip to Holly’s in NOLA. Franky and Johnnys in uptown New Orleans.

Now like I mentioned about Hansen’s...the place is nothing to look at…so don’t judge a restaurant by it’s cover…it’s the food that counts, right?

And yummy it was. Holly had been there with friends once before…so she knew the special treat on the menu…Fried Bell Pepper Rings!!

Oh yes ma’am they were great! A delectable appetizer dipped in a ranch sauce that was different in every way! After jumbo fried shrimp, po-boys and salads…we were stuffed with smiles on our faces. Funny thing though…is Franky spelled with a “y” or “ie”? Did you notice? Guess no one really knows!!

     ~~~~~~~~~

Today is a special day. A day to remember. A day to celebrate. It is special for Jackie and I and for our daughter, Holly. You see… 25 years ago she came into the world, given to us as a miracle gift from God.

 She was sent from heaven above as the angels sang at her arrival and as we were breathing a huge sigh of relief. Prayers rained down on us as a morning whirlwind came rushing over us with uncertainty, confusion, and fear. But with God’s mighty strength, blessings and our faith…we over came and welcomed her with joy, smiles, hugs, giggles, and the awesome wonder of such a miraculous moment!

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…"

James 1:17

    Now 25 years later we celebrate her as an adult,

     with the same sense of joy and wonder.

So HaPpY BiRtHdAy Holly and many many more!!

While she and Richard were home last week we celebrated her 25 years, with family and friends. We had a big cookout with all the trimmings, smiles, laughs, and remembering good old times together. What a blessing! Holly added Richard to our small family 3 years ago this month too!

HapPy AnNivERsaRy to you both!! 

 

What I’m likin’ lovin’ today~

Holly

25 years of blessings

Joy and peacefulness

Wishes on candles

That smile on my face

A job well done





Where the Wild Things Are

Wow….where has the time gone? Here it is almost mid September and I’m still trying to figure out what happened to August. Holly and Richard were home with us this week from their vacation in Tennessee. They returned to their home in Louisiana late last night with all their fur babies. Now I have the chore of cleaning up the aftermath and putting things back into my order. I miss them already.


I wanted to share a few fun smiles from our trip to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. You remember back when families would bore their friends to a sleeping stupor of death with their home slide shows and movies of their vacation…well please bear with me in my sharing. Believe me when I say I have spared you, really…there were lots of photos taken of lots of animals.  ~Enjoy

Richard and Holly

I look like I've been out in the sun too long!

Wake up now!!!!  The show is not over yet.....

A face only a Mama could love!

There were a few funny looking breeds too...

and a few that didn't mind expressing themselves.

After we cooled your hot bodies *smiling* in this running pool…we decided to treat ourselves to a famous Hansen’s Sno-Bliz,  a New Orleans tradition for 71 years where people old and young stand in line for this icy treat.

Yeah it looks kinda bad…not a place I would just walk into off the street…but by word of mouth from friends and locals…you gotta go get one if you are there!

Cream of Chocolate and Cream of Coffee….yummy!

The chocolate tasted like a good ole Tootsie Pop.

Oh yeah…didn’t I mention that we were going fishing? A fishing we did go.

One fish, two fish, red fish, no blue fish, we did catch.

Now...If stingray were good for eating we would have a freezer full. They were such a nuisance and scary too! The catching was rather slim on the red fish; out of the seven that were large enough to keep, Holly and I caught six!!

I caught the biggest two ~smiling happy evil smile! One a full 24 inches long!! Boy did he put up a good fight! Sorry guys that we out-did you!

Now back to my cleaning up and catching up with all of you!

Why aren't red fish red?