Not Dangling participial

December the ONTH!

The Popover recipe re configured…what a bust that was!

However the Apple Pies were YUMMY

With Thanksgiving just barely over we head to the BIG ONE.

Our Thanksgiving was fabulous.

What could be more enjoyable than having family together?

Hectic, sure is BUT man the fun HECTIC makes...

puts a spring in my step to be sure.

Food smells permeated the home, homemade ice cream,

Joe’s Green beans, Sweet Potato Goodness, special YUMMM there,

gravy and dressing; store bought frozen turkey.

Still love to watch the cranberries POP…such fun in the kitchen for sure.

The ICE CREAM MAKER of ALL TIMES!

Christmas Goose is in the freezer, NO not one of ours…

Old but a tried and true recipe

Perfect Ice Cream making causes a STIR at our HOME

The Store Bought Turkey

The tree has been picked out, now to ready the PROPER location in the home. Ah the smell of fresh pine…

HEAVE HO

Lovely LIVE Bird!

Slate preforming in front of the dogs

Gentle touches

Home Sweet Home

NOW

Time to get the inside decorated and begin to surreptitiously drag out from hiding places gifts to be wrapped.

Ponderings

Taking time to SMELL the Roses…metaphorically speaking

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OR

This Quote seems to say it all!

"Plenty of people miss their share of happiness,

not because they never found it,

but because they didn't stop to enjoy it."

William Feather

1889-1981, Writer

OH NUTS

This little DITTY entered my mind…………………………………….

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In flavor and quality the SHAGBARK HICKORY is held in the highest esteem as the choicest of native hickories. The pecan and SHELLBARK HICKORY are a close second.

~~

Alternate name: Big Shagbark, Hickory Kingnut

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Some Facts!

Hickory Nut Cake* 4 eggs

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of milkone-

half cup of butter

3 cups of flour

2 cups of Hickory nuts

2 teaspoons of baking powder

lemon or almond flavoring Beat sugar and butter to cream, then add eggs, well beaten;

add milk;

mix baking powder and flour and add;

beat well, then add nuts sprinkled with flour.

Cook in moderate oven. Mrs. H. M. Royal

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Dainty Nut Sandwiches* Nut Mixture:

1/2 almond,

1/4 English Walnuts,

1/4 Hickory Nuts

2 cups of sugar

butter

loaf of bread

salt grated cheese

Chop the nuts very fine.

Butter the bread, slice, put on it a thin layer of the chopped nuts, a dust of salt, a

sprinkle of grated cheese and cover with another slice of bread.

GASTRONOMIC,Allentown, October 27, 1897

Hickory Nut Salad* 1 cup of nut kernels

1 stalk of celery

celery salt

salt

3 to 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise or salad dressing

Crack, pick kernels and chop enough nuts to have a cupful of kernels;

chop fine one stalk of celery (saving ends with leaves for garnishing);

sprinkle some celery salt,

pinch of salt and mix the kernels, celery,

celery salt and salt with mayonnaise or salad dressing.

Serve on salad or lettuce leaves, a small quantity being put on each leaf,

or it can be garnished with the ends of the celery stuck upright in the salad bowl.

Servings: 6

Mrs. L. J. K. Fowden,Philadelphia Press, 1897

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Shellbark Cake*

1 level cup of butter

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of milk

3 even cups of flour

6 egg whites

3 whole eggs beaten separately

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 cup of shellbark kernels, chopped fine

Cream the butter and sugar.

Add milk and gradually stir in the flour and baking powder,

then egg whites

and lastly one cup of shellbark kernels, chopped fine, stirred in gently.

Bake in pound cake mold.

Mrs. F. B. Wisecaner

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More Nut Recipes CLICK HERE!

LEAF it to me

Off on a New Adventure

Look out Los Angeles here I come

Ha ha Leafing on a JET Plane… John Denver

Oh, kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that youll wait for me

Hold me like youll never let me go

cause Im leavin on a jet plane

Dont know when Ill be back again

Oh babe, I hate to go

Or The 5th Dimension and

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon

We could float among the stars together, you and I

For we can fly we can fly

Up, up and away

My beautiful, my beautiful balloon

The Nest

Goldie has for sure perked up… This is her nest… 4 eggs and one Walnut… WHY a walnut you ask? There is one growing near the pen…

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AWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww it is so neat!

Are you Stumped?

Well I am talking about Old Roots

Fall is a neat time of year, but then I like all of the seasons and what they offer. Sounds trite I suppose… It seems no matter how well you plan there is always something else that needs attention. But then that just makes LIFE more interesting.

The soil in this particular area is clay based and not conducive to digging easily. Case in point the Green Fence we planted last week. We muster on for sure; bit by bit the improvements are beginning to show.

Close to the Big Barn is a row of trees that were once part of a fence line. In recent years it was a horse pasture. When the time came that the horse was no longer here and the final realization that we were never probably getting sheep…bit by bit the old fence came down. In this particular area I found some HUGE stones, which my Sweetie and youngest son moved to a different area. [Ah yes a possible project that is on the back burner, for now]

I took the weed eater and whacked the crap out of that area. I knew there was poison ivy there because many of the vines are in some of the trees. What I wanted to do was get the LITTLE stuff on the ground around the existing trees semi contained. My Sweetie had sprayed and that indeed was a help.

Now we are trying to get the little Stumps of icky scrub down to the bare earth so one can walk around it without falling flat on ones face. Right into the poison ivy YIKES!

As I stretch from the arduous task of weed eating I watch the fall leaves gently float down to the meadow. The birds begin their pre flight instructions from their parents…the Canada geese sail overhead and the butterflies are abundant. Squirrels are delighted as many walnuts PLINK off the barn roof. The Hickory nuts are not near the barn so THAT plink is only noticed when one hits near where you walk the dogs. Oh how funny that was when Jazzy got Beaned…

Yup Fall is here I even have started wearing socks… ;)

How to remove a tree stump

Tri-colored European Beech

Fagus sylvatica 'Roseomarginata'

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One of last years Mother’s Day Trees…Beautiful tree

Intermittent Blogging Vacation for a few days or what ever it takes… Mowing, weed eating, gardening between rain showers…but first Puppy / Mom/ MANIA… Everyone is doing well.

Stuff is POPPING out Everywhere ;)

Flee!

Flee fly flow!

Vista,

cumala, cumala Vista.

Oh, no, no, no, not the Vista

Eeny-meeny-desimeeny...

A new Lilac Lilacs that have been here since this home was built @ 120 years ago Lilacs I transplanted from the Niece of the original owners lived in what is now our home

Lilacs over Sarah's Koi Pond

Poppy

Iris almost ready to burst forth

Ferns

YUMMY! Check it out!

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Facts on Fiddleheads

Shrimp and Fiddlehead Medley

Purple asparagus originated from a region around Albenga, Italy. This "cultivar" is known as Violetto d/Albenga. Although the spears are of deep purple color, the ferns are actually green. The farmers in Albenga region propagate the plants using seeds from open pollination. Seeds are usually collected from vigorous female plants producing large spears. ~~

Purple hybrids produce larger spears but fewer in number per plant than the green hybrids Green, White and Purple!

To keep the purple in asparagus, add acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to its cooking water. The acid anchors the red pigment, anthocyanin. If you don't do this, the color fades to green--a bit extravagant, because you pay a premium for the purple. Dishes that maximize purple asparagus's color maximize its value, as in the purple, white, and green asparagus platter and the citrus salad. To keep the purple in asparagus, add acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to its cooking water. The acid anchors the red pigment, anthocyanin. If you don't do this, the color fades to green--a bit extravagant, because you pay a premium for the purple. Dishes that maximize purple asparagus's color maximize its value, as in the purple, white, and green asparagus platter and the citrus salad. ~~~~~~~~

Purple Asparagus recipes

Spring Tabbouleh Recipe

used it raw here.

~

Blueberries the kids called them boo babies the picture shows the blossom that sure looks like pantalets to me

Sweet Shrub Scientific Name

Calycanthus floridus

Common NameSweet shrub; Sweet Betsy, Carolina allspice

SWEET SHRUB (Strawberry Bush, Sweet Shade)Sweet Shrub is native to the Appalachian stream banks of the Smokies, where it is also known as Carolina Allspice, Strawberry Bush, Sweet Shade, and Bubby Blossom. Women used to place the flowers in their bodices as a perfume, hence the name "Bubby Blossom". Sweet shrub was once commonly found as an ornamental around colonial homes, especially south of the Mason-Dixon line. Several large bushes can fill a small yard with the combined fragrance of strawberry, cantaloupe, spiced apple, and burgundy wine. Sweet shrub has a distinctive maroon-red flower about 2" across. It is pollinated by small beetles that were the first pollinators of flowering plants and were instrumental in the evolution of flowering plants, long before bees and flies appeared on the scene. When the flower first opens it has the fragrance of spiced apples as it opens over a period of 7 to 10 days. Flowers first appear in mid-March with a flush of flowers in April, and a trailing out through May. Even the leaves are fragrant when rubbed, and in the fall they turn a sunny yellow. In colonial times the cinnamon-flavored bark was used as a seasoning. Sweet shrubs are ideal for planting close to the house near a window where the fragrance may drift indoors. Plant additional plants by a favor-ite path or sitting area. Will flower splendidly in full sun, but is best adapted to light shade. Flowers in 2 to 3 years from seed. Medicinal: Useful for damp spleen. An excellent herb for moving stagnant chi. The leaves, twigs, and buds have diaphoretic properties. An emmenagogue, and possibly has some anti-viral activity.

The seed pod