Happy Birthday er... um... Happy Anniversary!

UPDATE II

Comments are working! Go for it and get entered in the drawing! Deadline has been moved to midnight Sunday, August 31st.

Happy Birthday, Blog! Or is it an Anniversary...

Guess what! One year ago today, I started this blog! (If you'd like to see the first post, go Here)

I wasn't sure if I'd make it very long, what I'd write about, how this would go. But so far, so good, I'm thinking, and hopefully next year I'll be celebrating again!

In honor of this birthday/anniversary thingy - *I* am giving presents!

That's right - *I* am giving the gifts! One week from today, next Thursday, August 28th, I will draw names from everyone who leaves a comment here on the blog.

What are the prizes? 

Either a jar of homemade jam or a hand embroidered dish towel. I will be giving away two of each. For the winners of the towels, you will have the chance to either choose a pattern, or I reckon I could try my hand at doing something original and personalized. 

Here are some examples of my embroidery, if you wanted to see it.

One from a while ago.

Love this pattern!

Another cutie!






So - there you go! Leave a comment here on the blog, and you will be entered into the drawing.

And here's hoping this blog will keep on going...

:)

First and Last

Here they are, happy and sad.

Yep, this is the first "real* avocado from the tree! And also, the last mango that's been hanging on for a while out there. There are two mango trees, but the don't give a ton of mangoes (hence getting to know my neighbors, who are totally cool, with or without mangoes!). And this is the first year there have been any avocados. There was one small avocado that fell off, and there's another one way up in the top of the tree that is gonna have to fall for me to get it.

I'll take these, though. I made jam from the mangoes. Now that avocado season is upon South Florida, I'll have to get some and make awesome stuff to freeze while they're here.

And just in case you were keeping score - tomorrow is the 1 year Anniversary of this Blog! Woo hoo! I need to do something cool, but I don't know what it is... yet, lol.

:)

Sweet Taters!

Another experiment that I couldn't resist! It was months ago, and I've been a little... anxious. Not in a bad way, but it's been super hard to keep from digging these babies up.

And according to the Borg, "Resistance is futile". (They probably weren't the first to say that.) So I stuck my hand in the dirt... just to see. I figured okay, if I found one, I'd pull it up. 

The cat food can is there for a size reference, lol.

Here is what I found.

Heck yeah - that's over two pounds of sweet potatoes! Sure, of varying sizes, and some probably shouldn't have come up yet. But I didn't know if they could be replanted like that. There was one plant that had at least 6 little potatoes on it, so I did stick that one back in the dirt to hope for the best. We'll see.

How awesome is this, though? Some to eat, and a couple of others to cut up and replant and maybe, in a few more months (seriously - it took a *long* time to grow), there will be more sweet potatoes.. And so on and so on. I'm not a sweet potato fanatic or anything, but this is one of those things in the garden that might work out, actually, lol.

I'm jazzed!

:D

Post Card Sat... Sunday (May-Elizabeth #6)

Once again, Saturday got away from me. But here we are with our next installment of the May-Elizabeth series. Only two more after this one! It's been a fun, if puzzling, series, I think, and as always, I'd love some insight if anyone has it. 

Our first postcard today (above) is also from Florida, and dated just the day after the last one from last week. Here's the detail of where the card itself is.

The back

And the Message:
Wednesday, Feb. 27
Received your letter. I drove all around Miami Beach this morning, and the homes and flowers were beautiful! Nobody with sense would stay North in the Winter!
May



Clearly Elizabeth is writing letters. It would be amazing to see some of their other correspondence, but it probably doesn't exist anymore. A shame. What a look into a different era.

Card #2 for today, still from Miami and dated two days later. Here's the front, above.

And the detail

The full back...

And the Message

Friday, March 1st
I went out to Hialeah Park for the races this afternoon, and I enjoyed it very much. The track is the most beautiful thing.
May

And as always, click "Read More" to see the last...

Neglected

This looks like a laundry basket, and you'd be right. Only this one isn't full of dirty clothes that need to be washed. What it's full of is unsorted embroidery stuff. I have, as evidenced by this overflowing basket of fabric, dish towels, pillow cases and the like, are many things that I intend to take my needle to one of these days. Soon! I mean it - soon! 

I'm not sure where my time has gone, because for a while I was doing a decent job of getting projects both started and finished. It's even fun! I enjoy it! So I'm not sure why this basket sits and sits and sits and the amount of stuff in it never gets any smaller. 

But I mean it! I'm getting back to it! Don't hold your breath waiting for it to show up here. Just rest assured that when I do it, it'll be here.

:)

Another Time

Not so much as you'd notice...

Wednesday nights are Trivia Night, if you didn't already know. Our team, well... is always an extreme. We usually are always in first place before the wager round. And then, either we win first place - or nada. Tonight was nada. It was fun, of course, it always is. We'll get 'em next week!

:)

Such a Loss

A terrible loss tonight. By now you've heard about Robin Williams. Such a talent, entertainer with so much to offer, such intelligence and honesty. I watched him as a kid in Mork and Mindy, and the list of movies we all love would just be too many to put here. The world is a less funny place now. Thoughts to his family and legions of fans who are less a shining light tonight.

RIP Robin Williams.


:(

Gettin' Close, Avocado!

There is an avocado tree in the back yard. In four years here, this is the first year that any avocados have actually grown on it! Once upon a time there were four - two way up top that I could only see on occasion, and two at eye level (for me. I'm pretty short, lol).

One fell off when it was really small. Here's the other though, getting bigger and bigger. Now is that going to make some fine guacamole or what? Of course I'll let you know how it turns out. For now, I'm just letting it grow and grow...

:)

Post Card Saturday

And here we are again - Post Card Saturday! And #5 if our May-Elizabeth series. The last postcard from last week was dated January 21st. We pick up at the beginning of February, so not so much time has passed. Still no idea what's going on with May, what the journey is about, but once again she's traveled some long distances. 

This first card is from Macon again, however.

Here's the close up of the card front:

The back of the card






And the message:

Saturday, Feb 2nd
I went to Atlanta yesterday, and certainly enjoyed my day. I shopped, and visited, and the day passed all too quickly!  May

The next card is a little over a couple of weeks later, Feb. 23rd. Here's the card, of course.

The detail of the front - notice she is now in Miami! 

Here's the back. Note the airmail cancellation. Advertising?

And the message (that indicates she's been there before):

Saturday, February 23rd
Here I am, back in Miami. It is lovely and warm.
May

Click "Read more" for the final one of the week...

Yummm... Trust Me!

Take a look at this cup...

It's from a "famous" pizza place in Memphis, where I used to live. There are several locations now, though for a long time there was only one. 

One of their specialties, however, or rather, one of my favorite things from there is - BBQ pizza.

Yes, I know how it sounds, but in the home of the BBQ, it happens. And not only does it happen, it is *amazing". And Garibaldi's has The Best in Memphis, hands down. I've been in something of a BBQ mood lately, which also prompted me to buy a package of cooked, shredded pork at Costco.

If you didn't realize, Costco comes in huge sizes! And there's only so many BBQ sandwiches a person can eat, you know? But there was all this pork left...

So time for some creativity. Frozen pizza + shredded pork + BBQ sauce (from the Rendezvous, no less) + a little mozzarella cheese and... voila! Here is my attempt at quickie BBQ pizza.

And yep, it's goooood. No Garibaldi's, but I'll take it!

:)