Scary Recipe

Here's a scary recipe, courtesy Honey Boo Boo - her family's favorite passgedi.

Let me know if it's any good.

Sunday Sunday

What a fall we've had.  Warm and dry.  Very few leaves have started to turn as evidenced by this weeping willow over the  lake.  I certainly hope it doesn't bode for a hard winter.  When I got up this morning, it was clear, then a fog rolled in.  Unusual.  It is cooler though today.

I planted a small pencil holly this morning. I love that they keep their tall narrow shape and do so without any pampering.  The glass wind chimes I hung this summer were taken down and packed away for next spring.  This wreath on the patio was coming down too, but I spied Jenny Wren perched on it - checking it out.  They love to overnight in little pockets and just as I expected, she hopped right into the middle hole, so I'll probably leave it up for her this winter.

I can't remember if I showed you this book.  I ordered it from Barnes and Noble.  Supposed to be a southern novel, in the vein of Faulkner and others.  The author is from Montana??  How can you be a southern writer from Montana?  It was worth the read, which for me is a thumbs up.  I think you know from past reviews, I like books you can't put down - want my head to explode and I'm more often than not disappointed.

Since I have found so few books of fiction that take my breath away, I've been looking for more non-fiction books.  I hope some of these will take me down a new path.  Does anyone know a good biography of Eleanor Roosevelt and also Theodore Roosevelt?  

I just finished binge watching House Of Cards last night.  Boy, can I pick em - and at the same time of the coming election. Will have to find another series to start watching.  Any suggestions?

Superstitious Wishes

I have saved many of our annual wishbones from Thanksgivings past.  Why?  I don't know.

Guess you could make a sculpture or art piece from them.

Or perhaps, display them in a pretty tableau - maybe even paint them with gold leafing, though I prefer the natural bone.

Well, I wondered how the wish part came about.  The wishbone is a furcula, or 'little fork' in Latin.  In the 1400's, it was used as a method of divination.  A goose's wishbone was dried overnight after a feast of some kind.  The elder studied it the next morning and would predict whether the winter would be severe or mild, dry or wet.  It was also an object of superstition used by warriors on whether or not to wage wars and carried as talismans.

All good, but I wanted to know where the wish came in.  As you know, the persons hold on to the furcula (I like wishbone better) and the one receiving the larger part makes the wish.  This practice developed in the 17th century and at the time was called a merrythought.  

I'd hate to pull apart an ostrich's furcula.  Ick.

Obviously, it is a rainy day here.  I guess I am pretty superstitious, the yin of wishes. The number thirteen - well I never schedule anything on that date.  I'm sure there are many more that give me pause, but I can't think of any right now.

Do you have any superstitions?  I'd like to know.

The Road Not Taken

We own a mountain - at least part of one.  Pine Mountain is beautiful countryside, wooded mostly with oak and pine, and also has a lake at the bottom.  Limestone bluffs are full of fossils from an ocean that covered this land eons ago. Also, many arrowheads and spear points and even a carved stone button from Caddoan Indians that lived here for centuries.  We have two old log cabins, mostly down except for the stone foundations.  We've dug up pottery and flower bulbs from the settlers of long ago. 

I humored my husband and went with him to his "Cabinette" on the mountain this weekend.  He is in preparation for the coming black powder deer hunting season which begins next weekend.  He and his pals all come for a ten day hunt, one of two in the fall.  It is his favorite place in the world.  He would rather go here than go to Paris or Rome.

Me, I avoid it at all costs.  We definitely go down different roads.

Here is what they call the shitter.  It is a nightmarish place with cobwebs, rodent droppings, you can imagine.  And, guess who had to go there?  The toilet seat was full of mosquitos, but I didn't see any rats or snakes.  OMG!

The 'cabinette' is basically a shanty with an old school bus at the end.  That is where the snorers sleep. They have a kitchen and all the modernities of home including satellite tv and internet hookup. It is awful and you couldn't pay me to ever sleep there.

Would you believe these guys are all professionals; doctors, bankers, etc.?

This part of the state is hillbilly country - real Deliverance kind of place. This little gem was on the road a few miles away.  Now you know why I like the city.  I'm not showing the confederate flags, etc.  Though I'll go fishing, or used to, I only go to ride the ATV's around the mountainside.

We stopped by the feed store on the way home.  All the baby fowl are back.  These baby turkeys, my favorite fowl, are sleeping.  We have no more fowl at the farm.

It was 90 degrees this day.  This box (land) turtle has been scanning the patio for caterpillars and such.  He'll go dig a hole and hibernate soon.

And this last little something at the farm, before I head back to the city.  This was the only day that wasn't filled with errands; MRI's, x-rays and a sick cat to the vet.  I'll have to take him back to the city with me to keep an eye on him.  It is very hard going back and forth, my truck filled coming and going.

PS ~ Since Boo, who is white, is going back to my all white city house, I decided to try and give him a bath last night as the outdoor cats like to roll in dust and dirt.  First and last time, with a few puncture wounds to boot.  Ever try and give a cat a bath?

The first picture reminded me of my favorite poem by Robert Frost.  I memorized it many years ago and couldn't remember it verbatim, which was unsettling.  So here it is in toto.  I hope I don't forget it again.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a wood,

and sorry I could not travel both

and be one traveler, long I stood

and looked down one as far as I could

to where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair, 

and having perhaps the better claim,

because it was grassy and wanted wear;

though as for that the passing there 

had worn them both about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

in leaves no steps had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

somewhere ages and ages hence:

two roads diverged in a wood, and I -

I took the one less traveled by,

and that has made all the difference.

Saving The Monarch

I planted milkweed this spring for the Monarch butterflies, to see if it would work as fuel for their long flight to the mountains in Mexico. Sure enough, they've been lined up this week, waiting their turn to get whatever it is they get from the plant.

I have seen them flying south before a cold front at the farm.  Legions of Monarchs from high specks in the sky to ground level.  It was beautiful. 

It is hard to fathom how they know where to go, especially since they weren't born in Mexico, have no weathermen to warn of an impending cold front and their return is tenuous at best as they end up on many windshields, etc.  

The winds were fierce this week and with those thin wings acting as sails, they often had to fly past the milkweed and come back to them with the wind at their backs.  I don't know how they battled those winds.

Tulsa just recently built butterfly way stations on an piece of land.  Patches of wildflowers and milkweed to rest and feast upon before their long flight home. Deforestation and environmental practices have depleted their numbers.  I'm going to plant more milkweed next year.  

Beyond Low

 

I try to steer clear of politics and religion.  This person has all of the character traits that I abhor in a human being.

Please, use your own blog to defend this man if you must.  I don't want to know who supports him.

PS ~ last night my grandkids spent the night with me.  Bella, 9 years old, told me that Trump said to grab girls by the vagina.  How low can it go?  Not much lower.

Look Away

A blog friend mentioned she hasn't seen my booth at the antique mall, so better look away now if you scare easily.  Here are some pics from yesterday before I started moving things around.  It is full and thus, looks a mess.  I am basically just moving things around.  Sell a few things - add some new things.  Aye yay yay.

 I had an old floral hooked rug on the floor, but it was getting trashed so I took it out.  The antique tulip quilt and the homespun twin bed sized fabric are the only textiles left in the booth.  I've gone in several times to find them balled up on the floor.  The quilt is from the 1800's and in good condition as is the homespun.

I thought they would have flown out the door, but they've been there from day one.  The cradle did finally sell, but sat there for months.

Some booth owners paint their booths.  I am not kidding.  Yes, I would have liked another color than brown, but not going to happen.  I love the spare and styled booths, but I figure, with the rent, the 10 - 15% commission and card fees, if it isn't in there, it's not going to sell.

I've got some nice old baskets, but haven't sold a one.  Same with pottery.  I have a Clarice Cliff plate and a Wade pottery pitcher and don't think I could give them away.  In fact, I brought the Wade piece home as it is in perfect condition and they will break it.  

The most expensive things in the booth are the fairy painting and the french trumeau mirror which you can't see very well.  Pretty much, I am trying to get what I paid back, or even at a loss.  But, some things, the rarest, I'm not going to budge on.

Aye yay yay.  I've had several 25% off sales, but I didn't sell more, so I haven't had one in a couple of months.

There you have it.  Almost everything in the booth is old.  This mall is in an old supermarket and is huge.  I realize that means the money is stretched out over 300 booths, but it also gets lots of traffic.  From what I can tell, it is mostly the garage sale stuff that sells.  Like I said earlier, it is a new day in the antique biz.  I need a larger booth, but am not going to pay the higher cost.  So, it is just going to have to look junky. And, I've had many items disappear and broken.  

The only thing worse would be to have to take all of this back to the farm where there is more  waiting.  

River

My all time favorite singer/songwriter and muse - Joni Mitchell, from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  I think I know all her songs by heart, but this song seems apropo for this post.

While at the antique mall Saturday night, I found a pair of ice skates and I could not resist.  

Now a southerner knows about as much about ice skating as poutine.  It is never cold enough for long enough to skate on frozen ponds and lakes and therefore I have never tried it (plus my imagination of falling through ice is too scary for me) and, I can't even stand upright on ice and fall when it ices the sidewalks and such.

I wish I could photograph these to show you how wonderful they are.  Hand forged and carved by someone so long ago - I think they are from the early 1800's.  They just took my breath away.  Even the handmade rope is still there.

The nails for mending were even handmade.  The thoughts of where they've been touches my heart.  I'll put these out to decorate for Christmas.  And below is a photo from google that I found to share.

Little Caterpillar

Little caterpillar, da da dee da da....  Can't get that song out of my head.  This little orange caterpillar is finally on his way.  It sure better hurry since fall is here to stay.

Going to decorate for Halloween today.  Found this little ginger guy in my indian corn.

He is pretty furry.  Asps are furry and have a powerful sting so I'm not touching it just in case.

Aren't you glad you stopped by today?

And for a real scare, here is a cowkiller.  A little over an inch long, this furry bug has armor.  The reason I know this is that when the kids were in school, they had to turn in a bug collection for a school project.  As we tried to push a pin through one, it wouldn't hardly pierce the shell and it let out a banshee scream - (buzz?).  We let it go after that.

Anyway, in spring, they are tiny ant-like things and by the end of summer they are this big.  And fast.  This is the best shot I could get after chasing it around.  One of my kids was stung by a tiny one and it was painful, so I'd imagine the big ones HURT.  Any volunteers? I don't know if they could really kill a cow, but wouldn't want to get stung by one.  They are quite common at the farm, hurriedly going on their way.

Autumn

Though it is officially fall, it doesn't feel like it yet, but there are signs.  This cottonwood leaf floated by on the lake this morning.

Before I took all of your advice last year, not to pull up plants I couldn't identify, I plucked all of these umbrella like plants in the patio bed, certain they were weeds.  Well, look what they turned out to be.  Every shade of flower from fuchsia to coral and pink.  I have no clue what they are, but will remember them next year.

One last clematis blossom for the year.

Okay, my distaste for large blossomed flowers has been swayed.  I now like the cannas and the other ones are growing on me.  I'm still trying to smile at the hibiscus.

These have popped up all around this last week of summer.  Spider lilies or fairy lilies perhaps? A nice surprise nonetheless.

Mrs. Mantis, in prayer and laden with eggs, will lay them soon; I wish she could over-winter under bark, but I guess that is the way things happen.

We have had the city house for nearly a year now - have seen the gardens throughout the year. Though the garden has peaked, it has been a good year of growing.  

I planted potato vines that cascaded over the eight foot drop from the patio to the bottom yard.  The chartreuse was spectacular.   I learned that some of the coleus I planted grew too tall for this bed as it shaded out other plants and somewhat obscured the lake view. I really had nowhere to plant new things and will fit in some small bulbs and seed the beds in the spring. 

 All in all, it was a good year in the garden. I am not looking forward to that first freeze and will miss all the color, but will try to find interesting things in the winter garden.

Oklahoma Shakes

It happened about two weeks ago.  My weenies woke me and we were on the couch in the living room.  At about 7:00am, the sound of a jet's engines began and the weenies started to bark.  Then the shaking began.  There was a whole lot of shaking going on. Unbelievable rockin' and rollin'.  A 5.8 on the Richter scale.  This time I knew what was happening.  My first thought was that it was the New Madrid Fault rupturing.   Last time that happened, it caused the mighty Mississippi River to run backwards.  The last New Madrid quake was huge (7 or more) and occurred about 100 years ago.  It is past due for a repeat and will be terrible.

Ours lasted for one minute, but seemed longer.  I jumped up and ran to the back door to see what the lake out back was doing.  It jiggled like a bowl of jello.  As the shaking slowed, I heard the sound move away to the south then vanish.  It was a trip.

I looked around the house for damage. They say look at the chimney as that will show damage first.  I'm looking for cracks in sidewalks and patios and walls etc. A couple of days later, I noticed the overlapped wood on the chimney had fallen loose. Our rooftop is steep and with varied pitches; I don't know what you call it, but we (hubby, as I would have rolled off the roof in seconds) had to borrow a ladder tall enough to get up there and screw the wood down.  Not much damage that I have found, but the town at the epicenter had lots of damage as did many houses in my city.

This quake was caused by greedy oil and gas czars, fracking our state to death.  They dispose of the chemical filled water by-products from the drilling process deep underground, which has caused Oklahoma to have more quakes than California.  A few years ago, we had two quakes.  The last two years, in the thousands.  The oil companies won't (with help from politicians and lobbyists) divulge what is in the noxious chemical mix, but groundwater and aquifers are being poisoned.  I could go on, but won't.  They did shut down some of the disposal wells, but that was after the fact.

Insurers will sell us quake insurance, not covered on homeowners policies, but the deductibles are 20% of the cost of the house.  Can you imagine?  I believe that this is just one of the reasons our country is facing such a political mess.  The masses have had enough. 

A Little Help From My Friends

Not such a clear pic from my iPhone, but thought this little dead moth worthy of a photo.  I think it was a female from its small antennae.  If you look on its back there is a beautiful rendition of an orchid, perhaps an iris...

BTW ~ while searching high and low for simple instructions to add a watermark to some of my art and photos (I told you I saw some of my art on Instagram) and to make it more difficult, it is a different process on the Mac than Windows. Anyway, I found a disturbing little fact I didn't know.  Where's Picasa?  Google did away with it.  I'm usually the last to know, but was unnerved by this.  Supposedly, there was a way to watermark your photos there.  And, I'm worried about losing some of my favorite photos.

Anyone know about Picasa vs. Google photo? Can you watermark art/photos on Google Photo?

September

Older.  Wiser?  This is a favorite song from one of my all time favorite movies - Harold and Maude.  It still makes me laugh.  Long ago and far away.

And to make you laugh, I'm going to learn to play it on my ukulele.  Sunday and piddling around.  I should play it outside to make my neighbors laugh too.

Reading And Different Things

Why do I try?  I've spent the morning trying to figure out how to do different things on the computer.  Maddening.  Nothing has worked though I have googled, youtubed and bloggered.  I am about to pull my hair out. That's not funny.  Time wasted, FRUSTRATED and, I'll have to fiddle around more later as I'm done (or not done) after this post until I can get my space pleasing to my eye again.  It has been a very long time since I last changed anything.

Nevertheless, I am reading this book.  I'll not tell you about it till I finish.

Turtle Time

If you have followed my blog for long, you know I am Mother Nature; feed just about all creatures.  Gammera and his wife remain at the farm pond, though I have thought about bringing them to the city lake.  You'll have to type in Snapping Turtle at the top left of the page to see posts of Gammera.  Anyway, the lake we have out back is full of water turtles.  They line up on rocks or land or logs to sun during the day.  As you can see, I still don't know how to crop my photos or anything relating to pictures.

They have terrific eyesight and jump into the water when you get too near them, but always arrive before the fish when there is food in the mix as they are quite the scavengers of the waterways. Won't be long before they dig down in the mud and hibernate till spring. Some of these guys are as big around as a peach basket.  Others not so much.  This smaller one decided to swim over to watch me watch him.

Last Of Summer

Okra is the last vegetable left in the garden.  It loves the dry and heat and comes on like gangbusters. Of African origin, it can be eaten many ways.  Lately, I see it salted and dried whole in containers, but I've yet to try it.

I have deep southern roots; my mother and her family were from Louisiana.  Where I live now, okra is mostly dredged in cornmeal and flour and fried.  Farther 'down south' it is eaten stewed with tomatoes or in my favorite dish, Gumbo.

I slice it and put it in a freezer bag and toss it in the freezer.  Some dredge it in their favorite mixture then freeze it to fry later.  This Gumbo recipe is the real deal, straight from New Orleans.  I make so much of it, I freeze what is left for later and it is just as good as the day I made it.  So here it is.

New Orleans Gumbo

Make a roux with bacon grease and flour.  I use about 1/2 cup grease to 1 cup flour.  You want to cook the roux till it is golden to amber in color and the consistency of gravy.  ADD 2 lbs. of sliced okra and cook down for about 15 minutes.

ADD    2-3 cups of chopped onions
1 cup chopped green
scallions
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 TB. minced garlic

Cook 10 minutes more then ADD 1 1/2cups chopped tomatoes

ADD 2 quarts cold water.  Mix ingredients.  ADD 1 whole chicken that has been boiled and pulled from the bones.

ADD seasonings:
3 whole bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
5 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
4 TBS. lemon juice
10 whole allspice
8 whole cloves
1 tsp. mace

Bring mixture to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for one hour.  Stir from time to time and stir bottom of pan to keep from scorching.  At the end of the hour, add another 1/2 quart of water and a package of sliced polska kielbasa or your favorite kind of sausage.  Cook 15 minutes more and serve over your favorite rice.

POINTER'S - I've used the water that I cooked the chicken in or added chicken bouillon to the brew.  I don't like chomping on the cloves and allspice so I use it ground up. And, since I rarely measure, certainly adjust the spices to your taste.  I usually use more than the recipe calls for.  I've also added shrimp and crab at the last few minutes of cooking.  I don't think you can mess this recipe up.

Dogs

I found this book from the 30's at the antique mall.  If you know anything about me, my dogs are the joy of my life, my shadows, love me as much as I love them; I could go on and on.

Evidently, Lucy Dawson (Mac) drew dogs then did their poses in pastel.  She even mentioned doing work for Princess Elizabeth and her beloved Corgis.

This book is one of three dog books that were published, I believe.  

This Westie is Timothy.  She writes about how the dogs reacted to her drawing them and their behaviors.



Another Timothy, Lucy said he was a six month old at this sitting and could often be found at Battersea Park.  Such a cute book.  Loved her descriptions of the dogs and their sittings for her portraits.

Uptown Funk Redux

Now, here's one for us oldersters, or should I say, the original hipsters...

Uptown Funk

I downloaded this video for the grandkids, but found another version we oldsters might like even better. Only problem is I can't figure out how to get them both on this one post.  So stay tuned for the next version in a bit.