Nothing to See Here

Just a wet, cold day here.  Here is the pug on a sunny day.

Still Here

Well of course I am working on socks, this pair is for the oldest for Christmas.   The youngest is in his last year of high school.  Everyone in the middle are doing well also.  I am blessed.  My husband came home with a bean pot and warmer that belonged to his mother.

And an enameled cast iron dish he calls the macaroni dish.

This pot followed me home one day.

And I bought a clay bread baker from a potter in New Orleans.  Definitely a weakness as I have three of the damn things from different potters.

Most of the Sawtooth Oaks my husband started last year are between 1 to 2 feet tall.  

This lemon tree is a dwarf that I bought my mother-in-law many years ago.  We planted it here and there are 15 lemons on it now.  

I will have more news in the upcoming months.   A lot will have to do with planting.  I bought this book not too long ago and when it arrived I thought it couldn't be very helpful since it was pretty thin, but it is a good book for someone starting out.

The weather went from hot drought to wet, freezing cold very quick!   I will post again soon and I hope this finds you well.

Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

Just Wait 5 Minutes

It was hot, hot!   Then all of a sudden the skies opened up.

But before the rain there was bread:

Why I did not listen to my own intuition when the book said to slash and my brain said " Don't do that", is beyond me.  My dough dropped down to three inches, it was still fluffy and cooked through but it was gloriously risen before I took the knife to it.  

This is my second recipe from A World of Breads by Dolores Casella.  The name of this bread is My Good Father's Shepherd's Bread, isn't that a hefty title?  It is a monster of a bread!

BTW, the downpour lasted 5 minutes and it is hot, hot again.

I Saw The Sign

As you can see Seamus Cuddy (yes I named my statue), is a little wet but has had plenty of small snails to keep him company.  We have had quite a bit of rain which started last Wednesday and has kept up ever since.  I am not really complaining, everything is green and fluffy and I am sure I will wish for rain when the sun comes burning through.

Last week I noticed that a used bookstore opened up in town.   My daughter had a friend visit over the weekend and it turned out that her grandmother owned the bookstore and her mother works there. Since I had to drop her off there I took that as the stars were in alignment.  I walked away with a handful of books and you will be surprised to know only one cookbook.  I see more trips there in the future.  

A Word of Breads by Dolores Casella 1966.  Oh my gosh!  Bread recipes galore.  I was in bread heaven.  I flipped through and made her Onion Rye Bread p.80-81.  Very good!  I made DH a sandwich with it when he arrived from Missouri last night and he asked for another one made from it for lunch today.   With 294 pages of bread recipes it will take me a while to bake through this book but it tastes like a winner already.  I paid $3 for my copy but I think on Amazon used I have seen them for $.29.  

Flowers to Fish....

My Calla Lilies, Trumpet Tulips, Bearded Iris',and my lemon tree are all making a come back. One of my white Amaryllis decided to bloom.  It may want to rethink that decision since we will go back into the 30's at night come Wednesday.  We have had tornado warnings, flash flooding and hail storms already so I can hardly wait to see what else April will bring.   

Now onto a more serious subject,  my mother could be turning into the crazy Betta fish lady of Walmart.  She now has 12 that she has rescued from the Blue Box Store hell (no she did not buy them all at once).  The cashiers ask her how to take care of them because they too feel sorry for the dying fish and a couple have been rescued by them as well.  

Here is the cat eyeing some of the line up:

Until they can reside in their new residence, there is no room at the Inn.  Going down the aisle another day one of them jumped in the cart to avoid the blank stare, belly up fate of it's companions. This one (and only one) is mine:

This is Panel C, killer fish.  He was rescued in order to celebrate my not having to go to Jury Duty because I was on Panel C.  So here he is, C for short, tuff guy with his pink and blue self.  

R Rated Post

I woke up to a lovely 15F this morning.  The problem with this is that I live on the Southern Gulf Coast.  This is me this morning:

Now we are up to 25F.  Rumor has it this is the last night we should freeze.  We'll see.   I am not a Damn Yankee, I do not miss winter, my right not to own a firearm, etc... I like my winters warm, I am spoiled after all these years. 

Shared from Big Food, Big Garden, Big Life, stay warm everyone!
 

Hurricane Season Validation From the Gulf

Tropical Storm Karen is on the way.  Our forecast shows it could increase to 70mph when it hits here but our actual forecast is calling for 20-40 mph winds.  I think our local weathermen are happy to be forecasting a more serious storm and the local news is probably happy not to be forecasting about day 4 of the furlough.  We have two military bases and a lot of people not working.  I have plants and small projectiles brought in so far.  I am not very worried about the storm, it will be windy and dump about a foot of rain on us, which we could use.  It will give the town a chance to see if all the drainage they installed in our flood prone area pans out.   I am definitely more concerned about being cooped up with 2 teens and 1 preteen.