The Robins are BACK!

Spring is just around the corner here in East Texas! YEA!  Altho I must admit we might get another cold snap before it's all over with.  It was in the 70's here late this afternoon.  So nice, so me and my camera and Gypsy went for a stroll around the farm, well, part of it anyway.  Robins were everywhere- swarming up in the hackberry tree - picking the little tiny berries and chasing each other away from their branch.  They're pretty territorial about food I guess.

Had to go to pay the water bill today and I ran across the photos below on the way - just down the road from us.  The sun didn't come out til about 3:00 this afternoon - it was still a little cloudy...

Below, my plum tree is coming out.  Think I may have already showed you that one last post.

And I USED to have a lovely real wicker settee on the front porch that I loved to go out and sit on.  You see who has taken over that settee, don't you?  No point in trying to keep Gypsy off of it.  She's claimed it and it's hers now.  I think when it gets warm, she'll be laying out in the grass or dirt.  But for now, she perches on the settee and stays there all night keeping a watch on our place.  She is a good watch dog and barks to alert us to human or varmint.  So I guess that's a good trade-off for her using my settee.  Ya think?

Keep yer dress down...

Hints of Spring

The daffodils are out all over town, the tulip trees are blooming (I'll try to get some photos of that soon, too) and I can tell that spring is right around the corner here in East Texas.  Sure didn't feel like spring today tho.

Plum and peach trees budding...

Iris coming out...

Tail-end of my pansies...

Tiger lilies coming up...

We had a quick blast of cold last night.  Rain, 24 degrees Saturday night, 30 degrees last night, and strong winds.  That's about the extent of it for now.  By Wednesday we're supposed to have temps in the 70's again.  I sure hope so - I need to start getting things outside cleaned up around here.  Flower beds need new mulch and weeds pulled.  You know all that little spring green rye and purple flowery thingies?  They are coming up every where.  Tony already mowed once!

Garden is plowed and ready to go!

See what I scored in the dumpster at my office?  YES!  One can always use another birdbath!

Gypsy came a runnin' when I went outside.  She was sopping wet, and of course her being an Aussie mix, she had to "lean" all over me.  My jeans were muddy and wet, but I guess I knew that before I went outside.  She's a sweetie.  She had to roll over for a (wet and muddy) belly rub...

Tomorrow promises to be beautiful and clear - too bad I have to work.  I've gotta get my square foot garden beds constructed - Dad's gonna help me - just a few and then my row crops. I've already got my onion starts.  Dad's already set his out.

Ok, well that's all for today.  Keep yer dress down!

Kickstart the Day!

Just a little Howdy! and a good morning to you wonderful friends out there in Bloglandia!  It's a beautiful day here in Texas and I'm going to be painting today!  Lots of light here this morning that I cannot waste!  Check out my South Light painting blog later on this evening and I'll update what I've been working on.  Last week, the weather was dark, rainy and gloomy on my days off from work, so I didn't get to work on it as much as I'd like.  I hope to get alot accomplished today and tomorrow.

ATTN:  SOUTH LIGHT ART BLOG has been updated... if you're interested...

On that, I'm leaving you with a little sunshine I snapped out my front door to brighten your corner of the world - specially if yours is gloomy this morning!  Have a wonderful day!  I'll get some pictures of my painting progress up later on IF you're interested!  Hugs to you all - you just don't know HOW MUCH y'all mean to me!

The Red Hutch

Did I show y'all my red hutch?  When I was taking some photos of my painting that I'm working on right now, I noticed it in the background.  I also noticed alot of folks talking about showing  little corners in one's home, so I thought today I'd show you blog peeps the northeast corner of my living room.

There's this flea market downtown near the old railroad station that I like to visit from time to time.  They have lots of vendors there, and they have good sales in certain booths once in awhile, and I love to go look.  There is a vendor there that I REALLY like what she collects and what she sells.  Right down my alley. Lots of ... well, let's see.  Not really primitive altho there are a few pieces that I might consider "prim".  Old kitchen stuff, rolling pins, tins, washbowls, breadboxes, kitchen stools, old canister sets, crocks, shelves, etc.  It's very well organized.  What I love about her booth is that it's clean and neat and it's got furniture in it, too, NO JUNK (well, I take that back - all this old stuff is somebody elses' junk, right?)  And no foo-foo stuff.

She does ALOT of her pieces in RED.  I'm recently falling in love with red.  My tastes are running to more primary farm colors instead of the pinks and pale greens that I first put in this little farmhouse.  Told you I was phasing out the pinks and foo-foo stuff.  A few months ago, I was there looking and she had this old, old hutch that had been painted several times.   You can still see the white layer and the vintage light green under that red.  It's very sturdy, and when you look inside the shelves and drawers you can tell it's really primitive.  I don't know if it had glass in the top doors at one time or screen.  It could have been a pie safe on top - I'm not sure.  Now it's got a bigger gauge screen in it.

I fell in love with this silly thing and knew I had to have it.  AND it was ON SALE!  So, I bought it, called Tony and had him come down with his pickup and help me get it. He just asked me, "Now what?"  It sits here in my living room with my few pieces of ironstone and a some other items in it.  Lots of storage space in the bottom is holding household bills and files that really need to be in a file cabinet (which I don't have room for and which is also ugly).   I guess I justified getting it for that reason...  But I did get it really cheap and didn't have to do a dadgum thing to it.

Oh yeah, it's got some milkglass stuff in it too, and some platters that wouldn't fit in my pie safe in the kitchen.  Can you see that little string with the tiny clothespins on it?  At Christmas time, I hung my Christmas cards across that little clothes line.  It was very cute!

Anyway, here she is and I really like her.  Plus, with me switching to the reds, greens and gold/yellow colors of farmy-decor it fits in perfect with my house.  Think I could do a little better on the sunflowers - they were some leftovers from another project.  They look a little sad, but I'll work on that later.  It's about time for me to go back to the Flea and see what else RED that I can't live without!Ok, that's all for today.  Bye!

Vickie Can Cook!

Haha!  I do cook, really I do!  Today, I made a  big cauldron of chicken vegetable soup AND used up some bananas that were ripening too quickly - made them into banana/nut bread.  I rarely show you a recipe and what I'm cooking. I'm usually half-way through before thinking, "Duh, Vickie, you could have blogged about that."  Well, today I remembered.

Easy - soup is easy.  Slow-cooked 4 chicken breasts with onion, garlic, celery, bay leaves, salt and pepper - your basic chicken stock.  After the chicken was done, I added carrots, potatoes, some leftover broccoli, some green peas, and simmered until the veggies were done.  Season to taste.  Wish I'd have had some mushrooms...  Oh well, it turned out great - that's what we had for supper tonight!   I had that going for most of the afternoon...

I always have some bananas that I wind up putting in the compost because we just don't eat them up.  I crave them when they're not here, but when we have several I don't eat them as much. Plus, I don't like them when they start getting dots on them.  Somewhere between barely green to yellow - that's when I like 'em!  I had some leftover pecans in the freezer, too, so...   (by the way, they are called puh-KONs, in case anyone wants to know, not PEE-cans or pee-CANS... just sayin' )...

Ok, Banana Nut Bread.  I've tried lots of different recipes for this - it's everybody's favorite and I'm sure you've got your own favorite recipe.  Mine comes from Dr. Payne's wife.  Dr. Payne was mine and Tony's pediatrician when we were kids.  Then, he was also MY kids' pediatrician until they were all over 18.  I'm so glad he didn't retire until they were all grown!  He really knew all our family history!  I've had this recipe for probably about 30 years.

BANANA NUT BREAD

             3/4 c margarine (or butter)                                       2 c. sifted flour

             1  1/2 c. sugar                                                          1 t. baking soda

             1  1/2 c. mashed bananas (usually 3 large)             3/4 t. salt

             2 eggs beaten                                                          1/2 c. buttermilk

             1 1/2 t. vanilla                                                             (or cheater buttermilk)

                                                                                             1 c. chopped pecans

                                                                                                             (or walnuts)

Cream margarine and sugar thoroughly. Blend in bananas, eggs and vanilla.  Sift flour, soda and salt together.  Add to banana mixture alternating with buttermilk.  Add nuts and stir well.  Bake in a greased and floured 9x5x3 inch loaf pan at 325 degrees for 1 hr 15 minutes.

Now, following are some pictures showing my progress.  NOTE:  I usually split up my dough into 3-4 small tins.  Today I used 3 small tins and it almost ran over the edges!  Also, towards the end of the cooking time, I place a piece of foil loosely over the tins to keep the edges from getting too done.

Above - some ingredients - the sugar, butter, eggs and dry ingredients were already mixed - see?  I almost forgot to blog about this today!  Thank goodness I caught myself before it was too late!

Above, just used cooking spray (didn't need flour) and I always cook things on another pan just in case something spills over!

Above - have already added the eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla.  I'm adding the dry ingredients now...

Above, now for the pecans!  Some of those go missing before they make it into the batter...

Ready to pop in the oven!

Be sure and eat some batter before it goes in the oven - it's really good.  Better yet, let's just not cook it at all - let's just eat the batter!  I've eaten raw eggs all my life and it hasn't hurt me yet!

These little boogers nearly overflowed the small tins, and the edges are kinda crispy - my favorite part!

Ok, after they've cooled a bit and pulled away from the tin, I up-end them and let them finish cooling.

One I'll keep out for us to snack on, and the other two will go into the freezer to be enjoyed another day, OR to give to someone who just needs cheering up a little bit!

There ya go!  Hope you enjoyed it.  I usually make a bunch of small loaves during the holidays, but it didn't happen this year.  I guess better late than never!

PS - I just visited my friend, Tara, at her blog New Day, New Season. Please go over and give her a cyber hug and some love - her daddy has been sick for a long time, and now he could go either way.  She's really hurtin' but she's strong.  She and her family need your prayers. Thank you so much.