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
 
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.

 

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! :}