Can I Buy Some Hours From Any Of You

I am in desperate need of more hours in my day! Either that or I need to be younger so I can get more accomplished. Of course, I must admit that if I stayed away from this computer, I would probably have more time for other things. But, then I would be missing all of you and your wonderful posts. Perhaps, I need to work with the word - BALANCE.

My To Do List is getting longer day by day. And, it really should be getting shorter. One big change to the list is that at the top of the list, it says HAVE FUN.  And, believe me, I have been doing more of that than  I have done in years. It's OK, you don't have to feel sorry for me. I will be quiet and just suffer in silence!

Sometimes, it is very amusing to see what the computer keys produce on these posts, isn't it!  ;>)

I hope you have FUN today.

I Love To Travel - I Am Going To Travel

To Germany with My Special Man.

My passport has been renewed and I am getting ready!

I am so excited about our trip in June for two weeks. We will be flying into Frankfurt (financial center and transportation hub) and then take a train to Berlin (the capitol) to visit for three days before taking another train to Munich (known as the city of "laptops and lederhosen")  for a couple days.  FYI - lederhosen means leather pants!  Then, we will be driving along the Bavarian Alps to Garmisch where among other things we will be attending The Passion Play in Oberamergau.. For years, I have heard about The Passion Play, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that one day I would be going to see it. 

According to the Passion-Play.com website - - - Things were going well for Oberammergau in the early 1630’s. The small town was respected for their high quality wood carvings. On a successful sales trip through other parts of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a woodcarver returned to the tiny hamlet in the Ammergau Alps with the plague. Within a year, a quarter of the population of Oberammergau had died. Not a single household escaped the suffering and loss.

In a desperate plea to God, the town vowed to perform a Passion Play every ten years if God would spare them from the plague. The play was first performed in 1634 on a stage they put up in the cemetery above the fresh graves of the plague victims The death rate, which had been as high as 20 adults a month, dropped to one a month. The villagers believed they were spared. The performance was first known as the "Play of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ"

God did appear to protect the village of Oberammergau and the Passion Play theater production began. Nearly four centuries later, the 41st production of the play will be held from the middle of May to the beginning of October, 2010.

After a few days, we will travel by auto to Friedrichshafen (which played a central role in Germany's aeronautics tradition) to enjoy more new experiences and then drive to Frankfurt for a few days before departing for home.

Our itinerary includes many wonderful places that we will be visiting. And, we will be doing some exploring on our own.  Since My Special Man has traveled to Germany many times during his professional employment years he has been able to plan the trip day by day.

My mother's heritage is German and I have my genealogy that goes back to the early 1800's. It has been fun for us to review my German heritage. 

My Special Man is of German heritage and he is first generation American.  We do not have very much information regarding his genealogy. However, we will be visiting some folks in Berlin that have contacted him in the past regarding the genealogy.

To say that I am EXCITED about our trip would be a gross understatement!

I hope your day is going very well.

Let's Dance

And, That is what he did - - - - - - - with his grandson's New Bride. 

And, Then he did this- - - - - - - While his grandson looked on!  It was so sweet and loving!!

It was a great wedding reception and we all had a very good time. I met many more relatives of My Special Man and thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

Late in the evening, we went to dinner with his son and wife. I had not met his son's wife previously because of difficulty with schedules and they live out of the area. I thought she was very nice and I think we could have had a tete-a-tete for a very long time. We all had lots of good fun and laughs!

It was a very busy weekend with it being Easter weekend, also. The Easter ham dinner "with all the trimmings" that I prepared turned out very good. I was just a little too busy to take pictures.  Actually, I forgot about it.

Another surprise SNOW fall last night. The garden was very white again this morning but it is starting to melt. We had reasonably nice weather Easter morning and that was much appreciated by all the children with their Easter egg hunts.

By the way, my refrigerator no longer looks like a guy's refrig with only beer and cheese!

I hope you are having a Great Day.

Happy Easter To Everyone

Wishing you a day filled with love, happiness and gratitude.

Going To A Wedding Reception

Today, we will be going to a Wedding Reception for the grandson of My Special Man. It is a good thing that it is indoors because the weather is less than ideal for an outdoor event. I will have the opportunity to meet many, many more relatives and friends. And, that is always interesting! I am pleased with what I will be wearing. Perhaps, I will be able to post a photo of myself at a later time.

Yesterday was an enjoyable day for me because I was doing some preparation for our Easter Dinner. It has been quite a long time (maybe three years) since I have done much in the way of holiday cooking for guests.  The most fun activity was preparing everything for Baked Alaska.  I baked the sponge cake base from scratch  (how difficult can that be) and prepared the ice cream mold in a bowl and then unmolded it onto the cake base. So, now it is in the freezer just waiting to have the meringue prepared and baked just prior to serving. I really love making Baked Alaska because it is so easy and always gets a reaction of Ooohhs and Aaahhs.

I just talked with My Special Man and he wants to pickup Lily after we are home from the reception and go to his house where some of the out-of-town family will be this evening. So, what did I do? Of course, I gave Lily a bath. It is a good thing that she is such an easy and good dog. It is probably the fastest bath she has ever been given.

Lily is going to be so pretty and fluffy when she is dry.  Just, all in a days work. 

I must run now and get dressed.

Wishing you a Fabulous Day.

The Daffodils Are Still Blooming

In a few places in my garden, anyway. This is one of my favoite! I believe the name is Wave Daffodill. I remember it was ordered from Breck's in 2008.

The Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils
Beside the lake, beneath the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet coud not but be gay
In such a jocund company!
I gazed - and gazed-but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.


by William Wordsworth

Leg of Lamb

Since I had this little Leg of Lamb that is called Short Cut in the freezer, I thought it would be best to pop it in the oven today and then put together some microwave dinners for myself.  You see, My Special Man does not care much for leg of lamb.

I have done next to no cooking during the past few months.  And, that makes it a little difficult to find ingredients to prepare food without going to the store.  I wanted to put a glaze on the lamb, so I went cupboard to cupboard to refrigerator to see what I could find. I came up with just enough apricot preserves in the bottom of a jar, some mustard, garlic power, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce and some locally grown and produced Manzanillo olive oil. 

After sprinkling the lamb with lots of salt and pepper, I baked it until about 140 degrees before adding the glaze for the last twenty minutes until it was a nice medium-rare. I need to give consideration to the fact that I will be microwaving it in the future. Thus, it will cook a little more.

  

 OH, Yes - it turned out very nicely. Not only does it look good, but it tastes so, so good with the flavorful glaze! How do you like the canning lids that I used for the rack. My philosophy is that most everything has more than one use.

Now, I will prepare some vegetables and either potatoes, rice or noodles to go with the lamb for my little microwave dinners. It will taste so good at the end of the day of working in the garden.

I took the easy way and just steamed some rice and vegetables. I am cooking for ease, convenience and nutrition today, not gourmet cuisine.

I am beginning to think my refrigerator looks like a "guys refrig" with only beer and cheese inside ! ! !

Just a note, we are having Baked Ham Easter dinner here in my home!

That's all until next time.

Forget The Rain Umbrella - IT IS SNOWING

I thought it was going to rain, maybe. But, not snow!  What a surprise to wake up to brightness reflecting into my bedroom window from the white pristine snow! It is so very beautiful. However, it does not thrill me at this time of year like it does in the winter. After all, this is Spring. My garden is going to be very, very confused. And, of course, the weight of the snow has already caused many plants, especially the rose bushes to droop to the ground.

White on white is quite pretty. Don't you think?  Especially, when it is white snow on a white camellia.

I wonder how the flowers  in my garden are going to do with all the snow. Mother Nature has a way of challenging "us gardeners".  We may have plans for our garden by planting certain plants at special times of the year for special bloom time and Mother Nature has different plans and tries to teach us patience and flexibility.

It was just a couple days ago that I was talking to My Special Man about having an afternoon drink sitting at the garden table.  Who knew?

Yes, the white tulips are white before I expected them to be. I was posting about them yesterday. But, had no idea I would be posting a photo so soon, especially with snow instead of open blossoms.

Just look at those snow tipped lovlies!

Have a Great Day.

Get The Umbrella Out

The storms have returned, just like the weather man reported. And, we are suppose to have more tomorrow.  I am so glad that the major garden cleanup was completed yesterday. The rain is going to give all of my new plantings a nice boost.

The white tulips in the White Garden are just about to burst into full bloom. It looks like there will be more blossoms this year.  Some of the plants have as many as ten blossoms to a plant.  I will certainly be posting some photos when the time comes.

 I hope you have a warm an cozy day if you are having rain storms where you are. Stay dry and warn.

Come Join Me In My Secret Garden

I think I have the neatest little area in my garden that lends itself to a cozy little Secret Garden. There is a large mound of dirt and rock at the edge of my patio. The front door opens out onto the patio. When this house was built they excavated a flat area for the house to be built on and left the natural ground level which is about six feet higher in the front of the house beyond the patio. Actually, the hillside was excavated to build some homes. 

 My house is the first house beyond the original little gold mining town lots. I think they were trying to save the many trees that are growing on my lot. There are pines, oaks and cedars, and they are beautiful.  There is a informal rock wall which I had rebuilt because many of the rock were starting to fall.

 

Look at the nice patio privacy from the street after I planted (years ago) one-gallon size Photinia plants that have grown to be very nice and tall. I planted the plants around the mound so there would be privacy for my little Secret Garden. The plants at the front have not grown as tall, but they are still growing a little more each year.

Come walk with me up the stepping stones I placed when I first moved here. Recently, I added the railing that I acquired years ago at a yard sale. The railing's first life was at the entrance to a mobile home. I fastened the two pieces together to make it one piece.

 

This is a little bench we can sit on. This bench was on the property when I moved here. I had it moved up here on the mound when I started thinking about a Secret Garden. The bench appears to be very old and so perfect for the area.

This past weekend I cleaned this flower bed and planted some border marigolds. I need to plant some more Indian Hawthorn plants to fill in the bare spots. I had planned to do it last year when I refurbished this flower bed.

And, I replanted my Tipsy Pots!

These Tipsy Pots will look more interesting when the plants start cascading down the sides.

My primroses are still giving me more flowers. I think it is because my garden has a lot of shade and is not getting very warm as yet.

I hope you have a Wonderful Day.

A Day To Play

Out 'n' About is becoming a common activity of mine - - - and I like it! Today we went to see a movie. But, before the movie we had lunch at a favorite restaurant of mine that is known for its outstanding hamburgers that are prepared with fresh and organic (whenever possible) ingredients. Oh, so good. A little red wine and a side order of deep fried onion rings and you just can not go wrong. If you are in the historic town of Sonora in the Sierra Nevada foothills, stop by Diamond Back Bar and Grill. You won't be sorry.

The movie was Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. A really fun movie!

I hope you have a Good day.

Time For Wheelbarrows

I have this very old wheelbarrow that I rescued when someone was going to throw it in the dump. I have planted it every year for about ten years. This year when planting some six-packs, I noticed that the bottom is totally rusting out at the front corner! It makes me sad because it probably will soon loose the entire bottom. I thought about lining it with plastic but the weight of the soil and plants would probably cause it to fall apart anyway. So, we will just watch the colorful flowers burst into bloom this year and enjoy it while we can. ------- And, maybe, I will come upon another "old beauty" that needs a restful home.

This is a photo of my wheelbarrow at the end of last season. This year there will be lots and lots of color and variety!

I think I am getting a good start on having a few home grown vegetables this year.  It is a little early for tomatoes, but I have had these "WallOWater" plant protectors for years and never used them. The outside perimeter of the circle is filled with water and left to warm in the sunshine. After about a week, tomato plants can be planted inside each cylinder and be protected to 16 degrees F.  Plants can be planted earlier and not be severely effected by the chilly nights that we usually get at this time of year.

Since I am going to be away on vacation the first two weeks of June, I thought it would be a good idea to try the "WallOWater" this year. I know I am a little crazy trying to add vegetable gardening into my current schedule with a Special Man in my life. Oh well, I try!

And, look at this empty refuse box. It is the second one to be delivered, The first one was filled in two hours by two very good workers I was able to hire. It is a tremendous help to me. This way I can spend my energy and time having fun in the garden doing the things I most enjoy instead of the heavy clean-up work from the winter storms. Oh, it makes me so happy.

 

If you are a gardener and have sunshine, I hope you have a happy day outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

               

Busy - Busy Day

This is another very busy day starting with walking with a neighbor friend to the Bakery on Main Street for coffee and some kind of bakery goodie and chit-chat. Then back home to meet with a yards person to help with the huge job of cleaning the garden that is in need of racking of all the leaves and debris from the winter storms. A three-yard refuse dumpster was delivered yesterday for disposal of the yard waste. As soon as I have the yards person "squared-away", I am off to the dentist for a scheduled appointment. Then, I'll check back at home to check out the progress before heading down the hill to my Charity Knitting Group (aka, Knitters and Hookers). And, most likely I will be having dinner with My Special Man. I am so busy and so happy.

I hope your day has a little time for relaxing!