Ball Canning Jars

It's the 100th anniversary of Ball and they have re-released their blue glass jars.  Just for a little while though.  Better get them if you see them, as they aren't making many.  I found mine at Target.  

Just a little factoid of Ball history.  Mr. Ball was a devout Christian and always tithed 10% of his earnings to the church.  When the great quake of San Francisco occurred in the early 1900's, everything in the city was leveled except for the Ball factory.
That bit of information came from Mr. Paul Harvey, a fellow Oklahoman, in his radio show, The Rest of the Story.

Native American Collection

I don't even know where to look for all my pics of Native American collectibles for those of you that asked to see some.  I don't think I've taken any photos of the jewelry or the totem poles or the pottery.  Type in Native American in the upper left hand corner to see other pics.  I think there are details and/or descriptions of these items.

Native American Basket

I never get rid of my Native American collectibles.  I have beaded moccasins, various beaded bags, pottery, jewelry and baskets.  This basket is a pre-1950's Choctaw basket.  The design is Jacob's Ladder.  Though the dyes have faded somewhat, at one time they were red, gold and blue.  

World Naked Gardening Day

The first Saturday in May is World Naked Gardening Day. No kidding. Yes, yours truly used to often garden in the buff in her younger days.  That free spirit Edna St. Vincent Millay also used to garden nude at her beloved Steepletop estate in New York.  Known for her wild ways, she famously wrote, "My candle burns at both ends."  

Alas, after a bout with skin cancer and my aging skin and body, I no longer garden without clothing and a hat.  It is much cooler without them though.  Oh, and yes, I got caught several times gardening nude. I either ran like a linebacker back to the house or grabbed a workshirt hanging on the tomato cages nearby.  Oddly, I wasn't mortified nor embarrassed. I was pissed - usually confronted the interlopers to let them know that I knew they saw me.  Mind you, I live on a farm and do not abide those who show up unannounced.  Nevertheless, happy naked gardening day.

Dirty Bird

Look what I discovered on my patio after a spring rain.  Sure looks like a bird to me.  Maybe the fairies were playing in a puddle with dirt.  Or maybe, I need to hose off my patio.

Puppies

By now, you know of my love for animals.  My daughter posted a picture of my weenies on facebook and said that they were her sisters and "Mom loves them more."  Nevertheless,  I found this old oil painting of puppies at a flea market.  Just had to have it.

Button Up

I've been collecting buttons for many years.  Some are glass, bone, bakelite; many with beautiful designs and jewels embedded. Some are huge and some are tiny baby clothes buttons. Usually they come in glass jars with pieces of costume jewelry, hair combs, thimbles and buckles included.  So what does one do with gallons of buttons?  I don't know.  

Here are some of my favorites.  The clear bunch of cherries, an art deco era piano keys button and my fav, this large 60's button with little velvet flowers encased.

Farm Kings

I have a new favorite show called FARM KINGS.  I just discovered it last week on the GAC channel. It just makes me smile. You can see their 2012 series re-runs and a new season started last Thursday.  

The King family consists of 9 boys, one girl, and an incredible mother.  This family is really something; their mantra is lead by example.  I love them, their work ethic and the love and respect they show one another. The family works seven days a week on their Freedom Farms and anyone who gardens and/or farms, knows how hard it is and that mother nature can make or break.  And, Dan, you're an angel.

Asparagus Time

Though it is near freezing, (yesterday it was 80 degrees), with rivers of rain, hail and tornadoes, it is asparagus time again. The first vegetable to arrive in the spring,  I am plucking handfuls and faced with what to do with it all.  I have quite a lot of it left from last spring.  It's in the freezer.  But, I don't really like frozen asparagus; it is the texture I presume. Pickling it would turn it to mush like freezing.  My husband won't eat it.  So, I guess I will have to start marinating it, roasting it and eating lots of it.  That, and  giving it away to my cooking daughter.  

Oh Spring, Wherefore Art Thou?

It has been raining and cold all week.  We need the rain, but please, enough.  My apple, plum and peach trees are in bloom and trying to produce this years' fruit.  I read this week that there is a study out that says researchers are trying to figure out how peach trees count the days till spring.  My turkeys are laying and now have twelve eggs in their nest.  Come on spring! I need some sunshine.

Salted Caramel Upside Down Cake

I decided to scrounge around in the freezer and start using up last years produce.  I found some white peaches and decided to try this cake.  It was good, but I think the peaches were too soft a fruit to go into this recipe.  Next time I will try apples or fresh pineapple.  

Spring Break

Spring break has finally come and gone.  Bella came to the farm for the week.  Here she is trying to pick up one of the baby chicks we bought.  There were a couple of warm days before another winter blast.  But, we did have a blast - right through the wall and door of our garage with our ATV Ranger.  I didn't know they were that powerful.  We screamed but were unhurt.  Not so much for the garage.  

I am still trying to get the house back together and cleaned up.  My son came home from college to stay and my daughter came down with my three year old grandson.  We installed a new trampoline, our third.  The directions said it would take 45 minutes for two people to erect, yet it took us two days.  All had fun, but now, I think I need a spring break.

Tea

Just a heads up - the health experts say we should drink hibiscus tea daily.  Though hibiscus is listed as the first ingredient, it does taste of raspberry and is so good and good for you.  A win win.

Ashes and Snow

I got this dvd for Christmas.  I knew it was about interactions between humans and animals.  Performance art?  Someone's dreams?  A zen-like koan?  I don't know.  But you need to watch this.  A bit of heaven on earth.

Serendipity

I purchased this print years before I ever saw the neighbors horses much less started caring for them.  Gracie  (who wasn't even born yet) looks like the white one and Brownie has a blaze on her forehead and looks just like the brown horse. Isn't the world strange and fascinating?  Have things like this happened to you?  

Horse Slaughter

Oklahoma (and the UDSA) are getting ready to pass laws for horse slaughter.  I called my congressmen and their lame excuse was that it was humane for all the poor abandoned horses.  Horseshit!  Many stand to profit off the backs of horses or they wouldn't be doing it.  Go after the losers that have abandoned them. Nevertheless, they told me it was going to happen.  Makes me sick. Please call your state and federal legislators and tell them no.  Many voices will be heard. It is the only way we're going to stop this.  Time is of the essence.

Gracie thinks this is unconscionable too and the Humane Society agrees. The Humane Society said 90% of all horses sent to slaughter are healthy.  The ASPCA says horse slaughter is horribly cruel. 

Remember When

Remember when our towns were smaller and had a main drag?  On every street children were outside playing, skating or riding around on bikes, jumping on a pogo stick or walking on stilts.    When I go to the city these days, I don't see kids outside playing.   Too busy with school and activities?  Too many bad people?  On their iPhone and computer games perhaps?  Even my own grown children are always looking at their cell phones. I now hear that email is out, people just want to text.  What will be the result of this kind of faceless interaction?  I'm just sayin'...

Parade's End Trailer (HBO MiniSeries - 2013)

If you didn't get enough of Downton Abbey, HBO has a miniseries out now, Parade's End.  The same era as Downton, it has some of my favorite English actors.  Anne Marie Duff, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rufus Sewel - they just don't get any better.  I have followed Anne Marie Duff since she acted as Queen Elizabeth I with Tom Hardy in The Consort - The Virgin Queen. It is one of my favorite movies.  Rufus Sewell was in The Pillars of The Earth and Benedict Cumberbatch is in just about everything of late.

Beautifully filmed with sumptuous locales and interiors; it has it all.

A Walk

As I walked by myself

And talked to myself

Myself said unto me

Look to thyself

Take care of thyself

Ask none to take care of thee.

- Old English rhyme

Bye Bye Birdie

How did an ornery ole bird steal my heart?  Can't be that can opener of a beak that has drawn my blood more times than one could imagine.  He could bark like the dogs only louder if you can believe it. But, then he'd say, "good bird". Yet, we two got used to each other.  My little buddy stole my heart and I guess he loved me too in his own birdy way. We'd sing together. He loved a song I made up and sang to him each morning.  "It's a Birdie kind of day...it's a Birdie kind of day ay ay.  Just a singin' and a preenin' and a wingin' in a Birdie kind of way..." He loved to sit on my shoulder and blog with me.  Hated water though I made him take a shower with me from time to time.  He thought he was king of the manor - lorded over the dogs and cats and us.  Loved popcorn, blueberries and macaroni.  He woke me up last week right before he left on a journey.  Don't think my heart can break many more times from the loss of my pets. Oh Birdie, I'll miss you so. 

"Now cracks a noble heart.  Good night sweet prince.  And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."   

Shakespeare

And I can just hear Birdie's loud squawk above the angel voices.

Dandelion Greens

While most gardeners are already wringing their hands about how to banish those loathsome weeds from their lawns and gardens, I ordered some dandelion seed from Pinetree Gardens and Seeds.  You see, dandelion greens and roots make the most delicious salads, tinctures, tea and jellies, liqueurs and cordials too.  Not only tasty, but very healthy for you.  Smoke that in your pipe; oh no, I don't know if that is legal or not.  By the way, I am already gnashing my teeth about crabgrass.

Downton Abbey Blues

This Sunday is the last installment of season 3 of Downton Abbey.  Not only have I been watching this season, but I have also been catching up on seasons 1 and 2, though not in order. It has been all Downton since January. I am going to go through withdrawals.  Let's hope they don't take too long to put out season 4.  I am such a fan.

Peter Beard

Peter Beard.  I've been a fan for a long time. I recently saw a short interview on another blog with Lee Radziwill.  She spoke of Peter.  He is endlessly fascinating, (moreso, I propose, than Hemingway). You hear the phrase, a man's man.  Well, I say that Mr. Beard is a woman's man.

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Peter attended Yale as a pre-med student, but quickly learned he wasn't interested in it.  Photography, journaling and art were his passions and he pursued them to the nth degree.  He was the darling of the jet set - Capote, Warhol, the Kennedy clan, Mick Jagger et al.  He was once married to Cheryl Tiegs.  But, his love and passion was for Africa and her animals.  He met Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) and bought land next to hers.  Though wealthy, he railed against Western capitalism and its effects on Africa.  

 Whether being trampled by an elephant, posing with crocodiles, painting with his own blood, or photographing the world, Beard has lived life to the fullest - more than most I suppose.  

Who Knew?

Will wonders never cease?  It seems George W. Bush had a side no one knew about.  His portrait of his beloved Barney was published recently.  I think it is good and the President could benefit greatly from some formal training.  Guess the peevishness and the 'doesn't suffer fools gladly' attitude was because of his creative side.  Go George.

Half Empty/Half Full

One of my favorite books is CANDIDE by Voltaire. While staying in St-Germain-des-Pres in Paris, I had to go aound the corner and have a look at the building where Voltaire lived and died.  It is on the left bank of the Seine. Just for a little backstory, Voltaire, the great French philosopher, amassed a library of more than 21,000 books with his favorite subjects being metaphysics, moral philosophy, physics, history, critical deism...  He wrote his satire, CANDIDE, in 1759, during the Age of Enlightenment.  It was considered his magnum opus.  

Voltaire rejected a common theory of the time, that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds."  He argued that this theory of optimism was wrong - that if this were the best possible world, then it would surely be better than it is, citing natural disasters, war, catastrophes etc.  Thus, Candide was born of Voltaire's writings and discussions on this subject.

Candide did set out and travel the world, full of hope and optimism, looking for the good in man.  An epic journey, the end finds Candide returning home, "to cultivate his garden."  I won't give more away than that.

And, about another modern credo, the glass is either half empty or half full, I've always said, it's half.  Guess that makes me a realist.

Cat Study

I am sure you have heard of the latest study saying cats kill billions of birds and small animals.  My cats drag in animals and birds.  Yet, I am certain that humans kill more animals than all the animals in the world combined.  Windows kill more birds than animals do.  One could go on and on.  So it makes me wonder who funded this study and what their agenda is.  Where are The Lone Gunmen when you need them?  By the way, the sweetest cat on earth, Boo, Teddy's brother, just wants to be tickled.  Nothing more.  

Bonnie Raitt - You Got to Know How

Sippy Wallace was born in 1898 and was one of the original performers of the blues.  I got to thinking they don't make them like that anymore, but they are still amongst us.  Bonnie Raitt.  They just don't get any better.  This song is Sippy's and Bonnie does it great.  To see Sippy perform live, and with Bonnie, go to Youtube.  It is the perfect song for your Valentine.

Daffodils

  

Just had to let you know that my daffodils are up about four inches. Spring is coming!

Strawberry Lemon Marmalade

What to do with all my citrus.  Besides juicing it, I made strawberry lemon marmalade.

Here is a small corner of my greenhouse.  Someone please stop  me.

This is about 1/4 of all my citrus.  I'm afraid I am going to burn out my electric juicer.

Blood oranges, Meyer, Etrog, Ponderosa lemons, and tangerines too.

Finally.  Need to get some English muffins as I think they would be perfect for the marmalade.

Strawberry Lemon Marmalade

1 cup thinly sliced lemon peel

2 cups lemon pulp, chopped

4 cups crushed strawberries

1 (1 1/2 oz.) powdered pectin

1 tb. lemon juice

6 cups sugar

1. Place lemon peel and pulp in a pot with just enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.

2. Turn off heat. Cover and let sit for 12 - 18 hours. Drain water.

3. Combine peel and pulp, strawberries, pectin and juice in a large pot.  Bring to a boil. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved.

4. Bring to a roiling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly.

5. Remove from heat.  Skim foam if necessary.

6. Ladle hot marmalade into jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.

7. Makes 9 half pints.

I also made a blood orange, lemon and raspberry marmalade.  I didn't boil the pulp with the peels this time and I think it made the marmalade a tad too acidic.  It's good now though.

Sundance Film Festival

I love the Sundance Film Festival.  So many good films, many of which we'd never see without their showing at Sundance.  Last year brought BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD.  A year or two ago it was WINTER'S BONE.  My own son-in-law Matt, entered a short film for this years festival, but didn't make the cut.

I have written about Gael Garcia Bernal before (you can type in his name in upper left corner).  He is an incredible actor, director, producer...  Acting with the likes of Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Daniel Day Lewis and Cate Blanchett, he is a phenom in so many areas.  He played a young Che Gueverra in THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES,  and in one of my favorites, Y tu MAMA TAMBIEN.  You need to google him to find out more about this amazing man.  His latest, WHO IS DAYANI CRISTAL is showing at Sundance.

Face The Wind

Seasons of change

Nature waits

The animals face the wind

Donna B. Shaw


The genesis of this painting was the approach of winter and the hardships that come with it.  Then, I wrote the haiku and it morphed into the future animals face, with human over-population, the loss of habitat and environment, extinctions, critical mass, etc., etc.

Winter Wonderland

Winter wonderland - Ha.

I wish I could go out and play, alas, I'll have to be content to count the minutes until spring has sprung. Can you tell I don't like winter? My husband says, "you don't like summer either," but that's not true.  I don't like it when it is 115 degrees and hasn't rained for months, but this time of year, even that sounds good.

Heart of Hearts

My little five year old sweetheart, Isobel, is staying with me until the Christmas holiday is over and school begins again, hence the cherry heart-shaped lollipops; easy to buy and greatly appreciated.   I had to show you how a Dad or Grandad showed his love for a child a long long time ago.  Hand hammered and forged  from iron over a crucible and anvil, this little stirrup with a cutout heart is just the sweetest.  Imagine a little girl galloping her pony across the fields of prairie grass, not a care in the world...

Blackeyed Peas and Hoppin' John

Re-posted from 2009

One of the few things left in my vegetable garden are black eyed peas. Notice the deer also enjoy them and have snapped the pea vines off. I posted this recipe around the new year and it is called Hoppin' John. I can't remember why it is called that; guess John was so happy the deer didn't eat all of his peas that he hopped around and did a jig. This recipe is a variation and could be eaten as a meal instead of a side dish. Very southern!

Hoppin' John

Boil Lundberg's brown rice. This brown rice is to die for. It is the brown rice that P.F. Chang's uses. Next add a ham hock or some bacon (no I don't eat mammals) to a saucepan with the peas and boil until peas are tender. In yet another pan, (I'm sorry but this dish is worth it) fry okra breaded in cornmeal and flour then drain on a paper towel. Now, cut a tomato into a small dice. Also a few green scallions, or as many as you like. Experiment. Don't forget to salt and pepper according to taste. Assemble dish - rice, peas on top with a spoonful of juice and some pork, tomatoes next then scallions topped with the fried okra. Splash with Louisiana hot sauce. Enjoy!

Old Boxes



 

 

I like old boxes.  I do not know why.  This old document box is well, rustic, but it had my initials in nailheads on the curved top.  Dating from the early 1800's, these boxes were hauled around in wagons and carriages, holding legal documents, perhaps the family bible, etc. It is decorated with nailheads, deer skin and brass and iron locks and handles.  I don't know when the pretty blue paper was added, but it is heavy.  The bird of paradise does not show up well in this picture.  Would have been wonderful to find old photos and paperwork.

HYMNE DES FRATERNISÉS - - - Choeur d´enfants Amazing Grace

This song is from a wonderful movie, JOYEUX NOEL, an actual event that occurred on December 24, 1914.  During World War I in the trenches, amidst the carnage, the Scottish, French and German forces called a truce to celebrate Christmas together. This song is from an old Scottish hymn and is sung in the movie by the Scottish soldiers. The original soundtrack version can be downloaded on Itunes, sung by a children's choir and a famous soprano, Natalie Dessay. 

L'Hymne des Fraternises

(I'm Dreaming of Home)

I hear the mountain birds

the sound of rivers singing

a song I've often heard
It calls to me now
so clear and so loud

I stand where I am

and forever I'm dreaming of home

I feel so alone

I'm dreaming of home.

It's carried in the air

The breeze of early morning

I see the land so fair

My heart opens wide

There's sadness inside

I stand where I am

and forever I'm dreaming of home

I feel so alone, I'm dreaming of home

This is no foreign sky

I see no foreign light

but far away am I

From some peaceful land 

I'm longing to stand

a hand in my hand and
forever I'm dreaming of home

I feel so alone, I'm dreaming of home.

For all those who can't or won't be home for Christmas.

Christmas Boots

Look what the cat dragged in or what I found in the top of my closet.  I can't believe I wore them.  I am blushing.