Traveling Tuesday

Big D!

As the move gets close for my daughter and family, I managed one more trip to this wonderful city called, Dallas!  On this last visit we took the opportunity to visit The State Fair.  A first for me!



Corn dogs,french fries, cotton candy, ice cream (yes, we tried it all) were delicious. The show stopper was this ear of corn......



Butter bean enjoyed every kernel of this and wouldn't move on until it was all gone! ha

We fed the goats, petted the baby pigs (wanted to take one home), watched the dogs perform and even rode the four wheeler:





Next on the visit was a trip to the Pumpkin Village at the Arboretum. You really must put the Arboretum on your vacation list of places to see. The grounds are manicured to perfection and every season brings such beauty.



Dallas will always hold a very special place in my heart. I have many, many wonderful memories of the city and spending time with my family there. My daughter became engaged, married and had a precious daughter in this city.

And now as they move to Arkansas to start a new chapter of their lives.....guess what? I'll have another wonderful grandchild born in Arkansas....yes, in May!!!! Life is good!


Join Traveling Tuesday....click here

Have a great day all!

Virus Alert

My computer at the office is very, very sick.

I was so impressed with the commencement address Steve Jobs made and wanted to print it to read and reread!!! I googled it and as it printed.....virus attacked!  I think that is just awful!  People with way too much time on their hands wrote such a program.

So I pushed the button:

They removed the virus....I worked with Century Link to log on again, (hours), installed new virus protection, (more hours), restarted computer and BAM, virus attack!!!

Presently pushing the button again!

Warning.....don't google Steve Jobs....and don't print his impressive speech! I'll mail you a copy if you want!

Greens

Earlier this week we took a drive to our hunting grounds.  Deer season is upon us in Arkansas.
Time to clean out the deer stands, fill the corn feeders, check on the growth of the food plots, etc.
This year the guys planted a mixture of clover, oats, beans and turnip greens.  When we approached the plot I nearly fainted.......




Do you see what I see?
A beautiful patch of young tender greens?
I scrambled for a sack and there was none to be found.
What am I going to do? I have to take "a mess" of these home to cook.
Ah ha, I spotted the 40 lb sacks of corn. I asked hubby to please pour the corn out...I need that sack. Luckily the feeder had enough room to hold one more sack of corn. And then I hit the greens. (he thought I was nuts)
Within an hour I had them washed and in the pot for supper.



This brings me to a question for you. Do you cook your corn bread with sweet milk (that's what mama and daddy called whole milk) or buttermilk?
I was using Paula's recipe for the greens so I thought I'd try her corn muffin recipe to accompany them.



I found a recipe of Paula's that I don't like!!!! The flavor of muffins made with baking powder and milk did not taste good at all, no, mam!

Soooo, the next night, with leftovers (I had lots) I had my good buttermilk corn bread sticks! Yum! I use the Dixie Corn Bread recipe on Aunt Jemima corn meal sack.



Needless to say, I overate that night.

Now tell me, do you like turnip greens?

One More Day!!

One more hot day for awhile!  Cool front is approaching.  90 today and tomorrow night 40's!!! Wow!

I want to sit here and tell you all about the week, read many, many blogs........but.......my chair and book are calling!

Until tomorrow..
Have a great Thursday!

Traveling Tuesday

A Sunday afternoon drive down the dirt roads, aka, "the bottoms".

The simple things in life bring much pleasure.

Click here and join at  Whistlestop Cafe Cooking

Happy Fall Ya'll

Cool, crisp, fall is here. The days that I put on jeans and long sleeves...then by noon I am back in shorts and tank top. I love the cool evenings, piling on an extra blanket and sleeping in! I love the afternoons when the sunshine is still really warm and we sit outside and soak up the healing rays!

On one side of my yard I have the beginning of fall colors emerging:





And on the other side the grass is thick, lush and green:



Parts of my tomato plants have given up:



And other parts are blooming and thriving:





The geranium hasn't given up....blooms are just very small:



And oh how I love the Encore Azaleas that Landscape Solutions picked for me this summer. They bloom in spring, summer and fall. How cool is that?
Since the temperature dropped this week, the blooms have really opened up. I love them.....



I hope you all are having a great Friday, first day of fall, and have a great weekend!

And don't forget.......To Call Those Hogs......GO HOGS!

Wordless Wednesday

Have a great day all!

Traveling Tuesday

Grand Canyon of the Pacific


I couldn't let you think that all Kauai has to offer is: world famous beaches, dramatic waterfalls, painted sunrises and sunsets, because it also has a canyon that literally takes your breath away.



From Fodor's:
Carved over countless centuries by the Waimea River and the forces of wind and rain, Waimea Canyon is a dramatic gorge which is 3,600 feet deep, 2 miles wide and 10 miles long.



I love participating in Whistlestop Cafe Cooking's, Traveling Tuesday, click here and join us!!
Let's go traveling!

Weekend Review

How was your weekend?  Hope you had a great one.
We had such pleasant weather, cool, sunny, just perfect.  Then during the night we had rain, lots of rain.  I can almost see the grass turning green again.  Yippee!

But back to the weekend.  Fall and cooler weather makes me want to bake...crazy, uh?  Something about staying indoors, windows up, I just need to cook......



Chocolate cake was first on my list.  I didn't want to use the canned frosting in the pantry so I used my sister in law (family chef) recipe for frosting.  She puts it on the best homemade brownies you ever tasted so I thought surely it would be good on cake.  It was yummy and so easy.

Next I dusted off the bread machine, set it on dough and made rolls for dinner.  Nothing smells better than yeast rolls rising and baking. (recipe courtesy of family chef) 

Steaks were thawing and I decided to top them with onion rings.  Do you make onion rings?  Oh how I love them.  So I sliced a half of onion, covered the rings in buttermilk and waited til everything was ready and on the table to drop these babies in hot grease....

You have to time all of the cooking just right to sit down in time for the football game.  You didn't think I was going to leave that out did you?  Hog game wasn't televised this week so the radio was booming, yes, you can't converse at my house during game. (hubby likes it loud)  Maybe he thinks that will keep him awake (ha)  it doesn't.  Full tummy + recliner = sleep!

Have a great Monday all! 

Lizard Patrol

There are two things Trixie doesn't allow in the yard.....lizards and squirrels.  She chases squirrels up trees and sits all day looking up, waiting (they have long gone, jumped tree to tree, but she misses that action).  Lizards are another story.  That girl is fast and if she sees one they are in big trouble.  She has learned that they run under the nearest rock so she immediately takes them to the middle of the yard where there is no cover to run under..



She proceeds to paw them, and the rest isn't pretty. She's a hunter, what can I say?

She patrols under every bush and rock in search of her prey....she sniffs them out and believe me she has a keen sense of smell.

She was sniffing out the flowers in this picture, very alert, look at that tail. lol



It's funny though, if I go in the house she stops hunting and wants to come inside. I think she likes the thought of having backup in case she needs it.

She's my buddy.....unconditional love......

Wordless Wednesday

No words to describe......

In The Yard

I am so happy that I had beautiful Lantana growing in my flower beds this year.  I always have them in pots but this year I have several growing in the beds.  They have grown so big and just bloom like crazy.  The other thing I love about these flowers is how the butterflies swarm them.  So much fun to watch. 



Aren't the colors wonderful?

Fall is definitely in the air around here.

The county fair opened yesterday and that can only mean one thing.....Rain! Yep, happens every year. The runways will be filled with muddy little feet waiting in line to ride....

Go Hogs!

Sunrise

The cooler weather is bringing about so many changes.

The sky has been so blue!

The sunrises/sunsets are breathtaking!

I'm glad you didn't see me running around the yard yesterday morning (early)  in gown.....trying to get a shot of this sunrise! lol



By the time I went back indoors and reviewed the shots, the sky had changed, no longer pink. You sure have to hurry when photographing clouds and sky!

Have a great Friday all!

Tater Salad

Hello again.....I'm back!!!

I found a delicious potato salad recipe last weekend and feel the need to share it with you.

First....do you watch Cooking with the Neely's?  I love their show and almost all of their recipes.  I googled potato salad and was drawn to this recipe. (courtesy of the Neely's)

Creole Potato Salad

3 # potatoes - cubed and cooked with skin left on
3/4 cup mayo
1/2 cup creole mustard (oh yeah)
2 T apple cider vinegar (another favorite of mine)
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste

chop 1 small onion, 2 stalks of celery and 2 cloves of garlic

Stir it all up and voila:



I cut it in half and it was plenty for 2!

I was tired of the same recipe of pickle relish, boiled eggs, mayo, etc.

This one has a completely different flavor that I really loved. I mean can you go wrong using creole mustard? Don't think so!

The ribs I cooked with this salad deserve a post all their own....coming soon.

Have a good evening all!

Friday Already?

I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

 Stay safe!

 I hope to start the week with time set aside to blog.......I miss you all!

Wordless Wednesday

This great southern comfort food has been a favorite of mine since childhood! (and that's a long time)

Skywatch Friday

The sky has been filled with big puffy clouds this week. There has been much thunder and lightning.....not complaining because rain has fallen almost daily, leaving the yard green, not dead like last year!

Have a great weekend. We're having a birthday party for a special two year old tomorrow!! Fun!!

Linking to Skywatch Friday....show us your skies! 200 entries so far....

Traveling Tuesday

First stop; Opaeka'a Falls, (pronounced oh-pie-kah-ah), if you remember that you will be doing better than me.  It plunges hundreds of feet to the pool below. Opaeka'a means, "rolling shrimp," which refers to tasty native crustaceans that were once so abundant they could be seen tumbling in the falls.

I can't imagine living in the house just above the falls.  What a view!



For a closer look;



Next stop; Wailua Falls. You may recognize this one from the opening sequences of Fantasy Island.





Last stop; Secret Falls. These beautiful 150 falls are found by taking a kayak trip down the Wailua River, then hiking thru the lush tropical jungle.
I think the first view of the falls as you walk into the opening is just the best of all......



I can still feel the cool spray from the falls. The water was too cold for us to swim in but finding a nice rock to sit and just take in the beauty was worth the work of getting there.



Guess I should add that these falls are all in Kaua'i.....paradise!

I am linking with Whistlestop Cafe Cooking for Traveling Tuesday....

Macro Monday Bugs and Blooms

No Bugs on this beautiful Plumeria! Can you smell it? Oh so sweet!

I love this topic for Macro Monday hosted by Lisa.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Monday....first day of school in many places.  Where oh where did this summer go?

Random Thoughts

1.

Yee haw! The Pioneer Woman gets her own TV show!

Where have I been and why have I not heard about this?  Just saw the commercial on Food Network and I cannot wait until August 25th, 10:30 AM!!!!


The USC student-turned-cowgirl-turned-Internet and publishing sensation is also the subject of a big screen adaptation of her life on the range, with Reese Witherspoon set to play her.  How cool is that?


2.

I love Red Box!   Reserve online and minutes later a $1.00 (unbelievable) movie is in my hands.  Bye bye $4.69 for 5 nights, late charges blah, blah, blah.  Tonight it's Soul Surfer!!

3.

I discovered these crackers while on vacation and the flavor is wonderful.  Japanese Style Rice Cracker.....soy, salt, seaweed, paprika.....Yum!  I bought an extra bag to bring home and dread eating the last one......

That's all for now....have a great weekend all!

The Garden Isle

I've had a difficult time settling into my pre-vacation routine.  I seem to fall asleep earlier and sleep later.  My mind is still at the beach and I wish I was there with it!

I want to share experiences and pictures with you and will do so in small doses, hopefully not to bore you.

We arrived in the evening and didn't get a glimpse of the beauty that surrounded us.   Had to try and get some sleep in hopes of a big day to follow.  The very first thing we all noticed upon entering our rental home.....No A/C!  Uh oh!  It  would be a tough decision as to which of our homes is kept the coldest!!

The shutters were open and yes I felt a breeze.....but it was a damp one.  The rain fell most of the night and the sound was very peaceful.

Finally the sun rose and just look at the view from my bed.....



Lush doesn't begin to describe it, and yes that is a wonderful fan at the foot of my bed! Yippee, they knew I was coming. Actually there was one in every room, and we put them to use believe me.

I worried about the sound of rain and hoped it wasn't an indication of the week to come....but it was.....because minutes after it stopped



I felt better already. Time for the beach.

Tunnels Beach, on the North Shore where the waters are as calm as a lake in the summer months.


We arrived early and for a time had the beauty all to ourselves. Heaven!

Days later we chose Hanalei Bay Beach Park. From Fodor's: In summer the bay is transformed - calm water lap the beach, sailboats moor in the bay, and outrigger-canoe paddlers ply the sea.  The sailboats were there, such a pretty sight, the paddlers too.  Next time I'll be on a board paddling, looks like great fun!




You know you are in paradise when you can't decide which direction to look toward. The sight of the mountains, with waterfalls take your breath away.

Ok, enough for today. Tomorrow it's waterfalls.

I've missed you all and am trying to catch up with everyone, (in between sleeping, cleaning, etc)