summer 2018 semester has started...

Aint' that the truth...

Saw this on Pinterest the other day and thought, "Yes!" 

Guess we all have those days. Well,  classes started this week. I'm back in my aerobic/yoga class twice a week. Am I sore already? You bet. This morning I woke up thinking... 'oh no, I can't move. How can I go do more exercise?' But I did and it was fine. Sometimes I have to tell yourself to 'just do it!' 

Pottery class won't start for another week.  And I am anxious to get back to it. But since I missed the whole spring semester, I was able to spend more time on my writing. I now have a little over 20,000 words into my latest work. Will I ever finish it? Don't know. But lately it seems to be flowing well... and I certainly enjoy the process.

This past week my  5 year old grand daughter had her dance recital. She takes dance, gymnastics, and swimming. I love watching the little ones at these recitals. They are so cute in their costumes... and whether they actually perform or not, they are adorable. After the performance, we all went out for frozen yogurt.

grand daughter is second from the right

She also came over to our house the other night while her parents attended an orientation for her kindergarten class this Fall. While here she decided that I didn't have enough pins, flowers, and hair clips and said she would bring some over next time so she could do my hair properly. 5 year olds are really fun. 

Actually 19 year olds are fun too. My grandson who is visiting with us right now told me that our house was like living in a zoo. This might not seem like a compliment, but I believe he meant it as such as he seems to enjoy the cats inside and the abundance of critter activity outside. And since our youngest son is the curator of the Herpetology Dept at the Dallas Zoo, we take any zoo reference as a good thing.

And lastly DH and I made our semi annual visit to Ham's Peach Orchard in Terrell, Texas this past week. We loaded up on fresh peaches, peach ice-cream, peach cobbler, peach cider, etc. Here are a few pics!

peaches

blueberries, strawberries, etc.

fresh veggies

...and DH enjoying his home-made peach ice-cream in the rockers out back!

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Weekend!  The Flags are flying and the weather is beautiful... (a bit warm as we may hit the high 90's or possible triple digits this week).

Home-made granola...

Home-made Granola

This is a picture of the Home-made Granola that I have fallen in love with.  I've never been much of a fan of any kind of cereal (although I do like oatmeal and cream of wheat in winter). So granola has never even come up when it came to breakfast. Well, a friend of mine had made some and had me try it when I was over at her place. She had originally made it with raisins and found that the dried fruit made the granola less crisp, so she made the one I was tasting with nuts only, no fruit. It was delicious! Such a good roasted nutty taste... and big chunks (for the most part) not pulverized like some you see. 

Anyway, I've made it twice since and think it makes a really good healthy breakfast or snack. So I'm sharing the recipe here. Remember, you can add raisins or dried fruit... but be prepared to lose the crunchiness.

Home-made Granola:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick oats and not steel)

2 cups + nuts (I use almonds, macadamia, pecans, and cashews)

Instructions:

1.  Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat to 325. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment.

2.  Whisk maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in bowl. Whisk in oil until mixture is emulsified - oil is no longer separated.

3.  Fold in oats and nuts and mix until thoroughly covered.

4 . Transfer mixture to prepared baking sheet and spread in thin even layer (3/8 inch).  Using the flat end of a measuring cup, compress oat mixture until very compact (this is important).

5.  Bake until light-medium golden (40 - 45mins) rotating pan once about half way through. 

6.  Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Break cooled granola into pieces of desired size.

*Granola can be stored in air-tight container* 

As you can see, Julie is always on hand to help me cook... 

Now the next pictures are ones I took after thoroughly cleaning my china cabinet. This gets done 2, possibly 3 times a year. I do the outside shelves more often, but taking down all the crystal on the inside is generally only done before Thanksgiving and Christmas...(when they might be needed) and occasionally in the summer. I don't mind doing it, but just need to set aside the time to spend on it. As you know, sometimes these things need a loving hand... and time to remember how and where that particular piece came into one's possession. It's a literal walk down memory lane.

I have given many pieces away to my daughter and other family members... and will continue to do so... as time goes by. When mom lived with us, we had both her china cabinet as well as mine to deal with. Now we're down to just one.

The cabinet itself is old and was bought in the 70's. It's showing the wear and tear of the years... but it's still a fixture in our house. I always liked crystal and liked letting the kids use it on holidays. Because of this we don't have a lot left... but that's OK. I believe it should be *used* and enjoyed, not hidden away. The china patterns you see are cups/saucers and salad plates that I collected over the years to use for tea or luncheons, showers, etc. I like the eclectic look of using various patterns. The big flat black rock on the bottom left shelf I picked up in Ireland (I really like rocks!). It's one of my favorite things.

This is a picture of the same cabinet after taking everything down, cleaning, and displaying it a bit differently. Nothing is terribly expensive, but each has it's own sentimental value. My mom's china pattern is displayed on the bottom right here. It's a New Orleans pattern... called "Orleans" I believe.

Son and grand daughter dropped by Saturday. She is at the age where climbing is her new adventure. She decided to climb into her grandpa's chair and was very content to play around in it...

And she has discovered the stairs... (I do think a child thinks climbing stairs is the ultimate in fun activities). We tried to put a gate across it, but she stands there shaking the gate until it comes down (she is persistent at 20 months).

Sorry if pictures are a bit blurry as they were taken with my iPhone and she doesn't keep still for very long...