Category: About us

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View From a Porch Swing

Right before my eyes…

Some of my very favorite bare feet.

Our lovey mountains…covered with new snow…in June… Wow.

A tired boy with a grumpy old cat on his lap. Look fast because this scene won’t happen twice. :}

Two robins–can you spot them?–sitting on the fence posts, planning their strawberry swiping strategy–right in front of me!

Sweet baby kisses for mommy.

The most comfy socks ever invented.

A couple of kids with a couple of juice pops.

The view from here is  pretty darn good.

What can you see from where you are?

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Sugared Shortbread

Once upon a time–when I was a mere kid of 16, my family went to Scotland one summer–to visit long, nearly lost family nestled in the hills somewhere. It was an incredible trip that included checking out the local shopping mall where my dad promptly bought about 2 billion pounds of Scottish Shortbread all dolled up in those cute little red plaid tins. Pretty sure he figured that’s what you do in Scotland–you buy shortbread.

Well, on that very same day, we silly Americans locked our keys in the rental car which was parked in a lonely underground parking garage. Dear old Dad charged off to find help and didn’t come back for like three hours. I’m not lying–ask my sister. Anyway,  it was hot and muggy and we had nowhere to sit and nothing to drink and nothing to eat. Nothing, that is, except for Scottish Shortbread. By the time dad came back with Scotland Yard with the proper break-in-to-your-car equipment, the rest of us had completely eaten one of the two billion pounds of shortbread. Yeah, at that point, for me–the room was starting to spin but everyone else seemed to be completely unscathed. What luck.

Long story–short, it took about 10 years for me to get over the Scottish Shortbread Gluttonfest Fiasco of 1975, to where I could actually be in the same room with that little plaid tin and not feel my grip on reality slipping.

Many years and a couple of therapists later, I’m totally over it. In fact, I can actually make my very own Scottish Shortbread–and wolf it down with the best of them. It’s pretty dang good too–if I do say so myself. Might be better dipped in a melted Symphony bar, but we’ll hold that thought for another day.

Sugared Shortbread

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup sanding sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy–about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly add flour and salt; mix just until blended and crumbly.

Press into an 9 x 13 pan and cut it into slices.

Prick with a fork and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until edges start to barely brown. Cool for about 15 minutes then turn out onto counter and re-cut along the lines.

Allow to cool completely–and nibble in moderation…or dip in chocolate as previously mentioned and eat in the local parking garage.

I can not help you–you’re on your own.

Good luck.

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Sugared Shortbread
 
Print
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ⅓ cup sanding sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy–about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly add flour and salt; mix just until blended and crumbly. Press into an 9 x 13 pan and cut it into slices. Prick with a fork and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until edges start to barely brown. Cool for about 15 minutes then turn out onto counter and re-cut along the lines. Allow to cool completely.

 

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Do No Harm

Our baby bird met a little friend in the yard.

It was a sweet little baby bird that was too little to even be afraid of us. Baby Chomp got so close we were nervous that the little fellow would get stepped on–so we had her move back a bit.

He just sort of stood there and let us look at him–but we were careful not to touch him or get so close that his mama wouldn’t take him back. We told Chompy that his mama would come and take care of him until he could fly if we didn’t touch him.

Ooooh she sure wanted to just reach out and snatch up that little birdy–but she resisted. We went for a walk to visit a neighbor and when we came back the bird was gone. Spirited away–I’m thinking–by a little birdy mama who is certain that her baby had a very close call today–with those scary humans.  Little do they know…

we come in peace.

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Summerfest~ Nighttime

As the sun goes down on our parade day, the crowd thins out a bit and the truly stalwart settle in to wait for the…

amazing fireworks…

AND the glow-in-the-dark gypsy-man that only comes out on warm summer nights. Ooooh…


and more breathtaking fireworks…

and sweet babies who can’t figure out why the sky is exploding. Poor Baby Chomp.

All in all…it was a lovely, fabulous, beautiful night…

for fireworks…

all kinds of fireworks…

HAAA!

Sorry…couldn’t help myself! :}

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Summerfest~ Daytime

If sitting on the grass for hours on end waiting for a parade to start isn’t YOUR idea of fun–then you, my dear, are totally hanging out with the wrong people…

and you apparently didn’t bring your LoveSak!

I mean seriously, we even have a guy with a trumpet. Beat that if you can.

At last the parade finally, finally was ready to start–with the siren blaring police motorcycle squad. They didn’t seem to realize that nobody, NOBODY likes to hear a police siren…ever.

Then, of course, up on our feet for the military flag procession.

Next came the beauty queens who were wearing really pretty gowns THUS proving that they don’t have to be half-dressed to win pageants. Yeah ladies!

Oh, now wait. The sign on the jeep says that this gal is “Mother of the Year.”  I thought that was MY title. Wowww. How did this happen?

These little Swiss Misses made me thirsty for Hot Chocolate…in June!

And this Big Foot Wookie dude scared the heck out of some of the kids. He had a really loud motorcycle that tried to make me deaf too.

Purple is a great color for a band. There was a lady running along squirting water into their mouths and darting up and down the rows. Pretty sure SHE had the hard job!

This float had children holding signs that said, “Thank you, Military,” in a bunch of different languages.

A guy from the Missionary Mall Float came by tossing out neckties to the crowd. Lyndi just stuck her little hand up in the air and Poof! she caught one!

One of the best things in the parade are the gorgeous horses…

and the beautiful bagpipers. Someday maybe my two boys will be in the parade…playing those pipes…and wearing those kilts. They’re Scotsmen, after all!

I’m working on it.

A fireman tossed Lily a nice red fire hat, while her brother practiced his sword swallowing skills. Go Beckham!

Once the parade was over, everybody dog-piled on the LoveSak and gobbled down pizza and sat back to wait for the  evening to begin.

To be continued…

Heh, heh, heh.