Thorny Rosebushes

I'll never forget this as long as I live.  On a hot summer day in 1971, I was in the park with my friends heading to the swimming pool.  We had one thing on our mind, to cool off.  As we were running through the rosebush garden, I stepped on something sharp.  Ouch!  Like any typical 11 yr. old, I dusted off my foot and kept right on going, nothing was going to stop me from having fun with my friends.  My foot was a little sore but I didn't pay it any mind and eventually the pain subsided after a day or two and I forgot all about the incident.  Until...

A couple of weeks pass.  I was strolling down the dirt road with my dad on our way to the trailer he lived in which was a short trek the hill from my Aunt Verna and Uncle Alva's cabin.  Just the two of us.  I cannot remember how long I'd been trying to clean my leg of these red streaks but finally I stopped my father and asked him if he knew how I could get rid of the Kool-Aid streaks running up and down my leg to my thigh.  I must have spilled some on my leg, I thought, although I couldn't remember doing so.

He began running in circles and crying out, "Oh, my God!  Oh, my God!  What do I do? What do I do?"  (Now, you must know we were eighteen miles north of Willits on Covelo Road, which was the nearest town with a hospital.)  I had no idea what was upsetting my dad, it was just some red streaks on my leg and I wanted him to help me wash them off.  Finally, he stopped saying "Oh my God!"  He scooped me up into his arms and ran up the hill all the way to my Aunt Verna.  She took a look at the bottom of my foot and got as many people that were there to hold me down.  She then ordered someone to bring her a bowl of water and some other paraphernalia I cannot remember.  I do know she had a long needle and a knife and dug very, very deep into my infected foot without anything to kill the pain.  It took everyone all the strength they had to sit on me to hold me down for I can remember that I was kicking and screaming bloody murder and wanted nothing to do with this nonsense.

After some time passed of this torture, she pulled out a extremely large thorn from my foot.  Yeow!  She doused my foot with alchohol and the streaks almost immediately started going down.  I never went to the hospital and I limped around for a few days.

I don't know if there was time to drive me into town or not but I suppose my Aunt Verna saved my life from blood poisoning.  Thank you, Aunt Verna.  (Uncle Alva and Aunt Verna are now deceased.)

Handcrafted Furniture

Our newest solid wood Cubby Shelf.  Everything you see on the shelf is listed in our shop, too.  I'm in love with those cute little Italian Tigers.  Roar!

Wooden Accent Table

Here's our newest item for the shop!  Michael made this cute little table and I painted and antiqued it using two of our most popular colors; Sea Glass Green and Lemon Sherbet.  They look so good together. 

The fish tile is handcrafted by an artisan friend of ours on the Mendocino Coast where he lives and works and surfs in the ocean.

North By Northwest - The Auction

North By Northwest Cropduster scene with music

Angelina

Nina's Shop on Etsy

My sweet 11 yr. old granddaughter, Angelina, has a shop on Etsy.  Here she is (she broke her arm recently while bike riding) displaying her newest little painting of a dream she had about a sunset.

In a Beige Mood

Peacoat HERE

Knitted Slippers HERE

Antique Juggling Pins HERE

French Tote HERE

Dark Side of the Moon Pendant HERE

Mini Salt Box HERE

Linen Towels HERE

Tuscan Bean Salad

Tuscan Bean Salad from Raley's Extra Magazine

Ingredients

1 (15-oz.) can small white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 (6.5-oz.) jar marinated artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped (do not drain)
1 cup (buy a jar of it) roasted red peppers, cut into bite-size strips (do not drain)
1 can pitted, drained and halved ripe olives
1/2 cup minced red onion
1/4 cup drained and chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp. basil infused olive oil (must use basil infused)
2 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup (sliced and cut small) fresh basil 

Directions

Prep time: 15 minutes, Marinate time: at least 1 hour

Stir together all ingredients except basil. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, for at least 1 hour. Stir in basil just before serving.

Makes 8 servings.

Happy Mother's Day! What we did yesterday...

Michael worded on the backyard, putting in some black bark and river rocks.  Two pickup truck loads to fill all of this in with a three inch thick layer.  The small river rocks went over by the shed near the new brick step that Michael made.

Once all the plants mature, the black bark won't be so stark.  Hey, that rhymes.

Patio looking toward table.

Meandering pathway.

Gate to secret garden.

Looking toward house and side yard.

See the hummingbird getting a drink?

My wild roses.

Looking back toward secret garden.

Hummingbird getting a bath.

Looking toward hammock where you'll find Mike most days.

One of our Four Seasons statue: Winter.

Jocko's Steak House

Mel and Kym took the group of us (eleven total) to a famous steak house called Jocko's in Nipomo, California.  Dinner was delicious.  I had the small (ha ha) house steak and french fries.  All the dinners came with a green salad and some yummy beans.  If you ever go, please do not skip the beans or the salsa they bring to the table to eat with the steak.  All I have to say is, oh my goodness!  If you have room at the end of the meal, they bring a small dish of ice-cream to help settle your stomach from all that good food.  Worth driving a long distance to try out this gem of a place.  

The open pit grill in the back where your steak is cooked over oak by the experts.

Steve's pork chop dinner.

After dinner we drove out onto the beach at sunset.  That's a first for us!

Avila

The beach at Avila

We spent the afternoon in the beautiful little town of Avila.  Just as we were heading back to the car, we saw a place that served fish tacos.  Well, you know me and fish tacos.  Had to try it out and yes, it was very delicious.  They did it just right, grilled the fresh fish and served with coleslaw, salsa and cheese.

Avila

Bloody Mary

I had a Lemon Drop

Everyone except Sharyn

A friendly walkabout traveler posed for me.

Love and Family

Another poem of love by Grandpa.  To see the first poem of his go here.

What is a Home?

What is a home without a mother?

What is a home without a dad?

When one's gone from the other -

Well, it's bound to make them sad.

What is a home without a baby?

With their tiny pattering feet.

You think there are other pleasures, maybe.

But there's nothing half so sweet.

How you miss those smiles they gave you

And those eyes so blue and bright.

How you miss their arms about you

And those lips that kiss goodnight.

But the source, of that parting

Will not make our heart so sore,

As the joy you'll have in meeting

When you'll never part no more.

I have one more poem of love and longing that he wrote and a poem about the state of Wyoming where he worked on a ranch as a cowboy and a poem that is very cute and funny about being a happy bachelor.  Wyoming and the Happy Bachelor are my favorite two he wrote but I cherish all five.

Next time I'll share a little bit of his background with you.  No one in the family knows for certain when he exactly wrote these beautiful poems but speculation is he was a young man.  

Yesterday

I made ice-cream.

Michael planted in the yard and put in the drip system.

Michael rested after all the hard work.

Homemade Chocolate Chip ice-cream.

Here is my favorite (and easy) recipe for Chocolate Chip Ice-Cream. 

Makes 5 quarts.

3 1/4 cup Milk (1%, 2% or whole)

3 1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 tsp. Salt

3 1/2 cup Half and Half

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

5 cup Whipping Cream (not heavy)

1 pkg. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 

Choc. Chips: (chopped up in blender, not too finely, to bits and smallish pieces)

Heat milk to scalding point, small bubbles form around edge of pan.  Remove from heat.

Add sugar and salt.  Stir with a whisk until dissolved.  Add half and half, vanilla and whipping cream.

Cover and refrigerate for 40 minutes.  Put chopped chocolate chips in mixture and gently stir.

Freeze as directed for your ice-cream maker.  Approx. 20 to 35 minutes.  Once completed, remove dasher and put can in freezer to ripen.  Best if served the next day, otherwise, it melts too fast.

A Few Ideas ForVariations:

Add fresh, ripe strawberries, (wash, remove stems and puree leaving some small chunks)

Add peanut butter cups (kinda broken up into chunks)

Fresh peaches or other fruit.

Chopped up Snickers bars.

Rocky Road: Add miniature marshmallows, chopped chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

I've made Strawberry Chocolate Chip before and it's also very good.  This is my favorite ice-cream and is a good base for pretty much any flavor you want to try.

How To Make Candied Orange Peels

Peel skin of 6 oranges, remove white pith.

My granddaughter, Angelina, got this recipe from a book about the early American colonies and my daughter, Shilah, gave me a copy.  Angelina learned about the children of the colonists and how they didn't have many sweet treats to enjoy as children of today do.  Sugar was expensive and hard to come by in those days.  Candied treats were called 'Sweet Meats' back then.

This is one candy treat that children long ago looked forward to.  Make orange juice with the oranges and candy from the peel.  Nothing goes to waste. 

The first time I made this yesterday, I peeled the orange peels with a knife and removed the pith by scraping it off.  I found out today while making some candied lemon peels it's much, much easier to use a good handheld vegetable peeler.  Takes the peel right off with very little pith attached and they are already cut into the perfect size and somewhat longer strips as you peel away.

Boiling the peels in sugar water.

Letting them cool off.

Candied orange peels.  Yum, yum, yum!!!

Candied Peels or 'Sweet Meats'

6 Oranges, washed and peeled into strips, no pith

Fresh Water

1 Tbsp. salt

2 Cups sugar

Extra sugar to roll peels in

Place the peels in a large bowl.  Add enough water to cover and add the salt.  Cover with a small plate to hold them under the water.  Let them soak overnight.  (This removes the bitterness)

Drain the salt water and rinse the peels in fresh water.  Place the peels in a saucepan and cover with water.  Heat to boil and cook for 20 minutes.  Drain the hot water off and cover with fresh water.  Boil and drain again.

Place the peels in the saucepan.  Add 3/4 cup water and 2 cups sugar.  Stir often and cook slowly over low heat for 30 minutes.

Remove the strips and spread out on a towel, cutting board or plate to cool off.

Put approx. 1 cup sugar into a medium sized bowl.  Put about 1/2 of the cooled peels into the sugar and toss gently using your fingers.  Place on a waxed paper to dry.  Depending on how much sugar is left in the bowl, you might need to add a bit more sugar to toss the other 1/2 of the peels.

You can use lemons or grapefruit, too.  I've got some limes soaking in the salt water right now and will make those tomorrow.  I'll let you know if they're any good or not.

Grandpa

I have been searching and searching for months and months.  Throughout the house, the attic and every nook and cranny.  Five little poems written by my maternal grandfather that have been in my family for many, many years which seem to have vanished into thin air.  I ended up asking my Aunt Sandy if she had copies, to which she replied she did but haven't seen them in years and would have to find them.  Guess what?  She couldn't find hers either.  I'd just about given up when I got an email from Aunt Sandy about a week ago.  She asked my other aunt (Aunt Bernice, the oldest of seven) to see if her son, Jerry, had copies.  Which he did and mailed to my Aunt Sandy.  And she made copies and mailed them to me.

So, now I have my grandfather's cherished and dear to my heart poems once again. 

A pipe and the odor of tobacco.  Dipping plain cake doughnuts in black coffee.  Sitting on Grandpa's lap and whispers in my ear that Jesus loves me.  These are some of the things I remember about my grandfather.  My grandfather died from cancer when I was still a very young girl and so I really don't have very many memories of him.  Except these few and his funeral.

And his poems.  Here is the first poem I'll share with you.

I Need You

I'm feeling sad, I'm feeling blue

I need someone, someone like you

Your voice drives all my cares away

Your smile turns night into day

I need you -

When everything seems so upset

There is just one thing I can't forget

I can't forget my love for you

I can't forget my sweetheart true

I need you -

When all alone without a friend

When troubles seem to have no end

It's then I know, when I think of you

That behind the clouds the sky is blue

I need you -

I need your arms around me tight

I need your smile to make things right

I need your love so tried and true

I want nobody else but you

I need you -

by my grandpa, William T.