Just need to talk to my friends (218)

Good one Ron!

Madeleines….love them…wonder if I can find my plaque

What is the story behind the madeleines?The story goes that, in 1755, Louis XV, son-in-law of the duke, charmed by the little cakes prepared by Madeleine Paulmier, named them after her, while his wife, Maria Leszczyńska, introduced them soon afterward to the court in Versailles. Much beloved by the royal family, they quickly conquered the rest of France.

Hello everyone!

Haven't seen the rabbit in a couple of days, but we've been gone a lot since we got home.

1 High School and 1 University of Alabama, so there's been "doings" all week.

DH decided he was ready for a home cooked meal so today is Chicken & Dumplings (with peas, carrots, onions), roasted every vegetable I could find and added smoked sausage. Cornbread with BACON grease, lol. And some fresh fruits cut up in a sweet cream for dessert.

The babies are running around everywhere, starting to try to climb on the spindle/spool playset DH put together for them. Grazing a little. The Grands have decided they want to keep the bottle baby so we will take a yearling Nannie up to keep her company once she is weaned.

Glad to be home. Still unpacking the camper. It takes a lot of "stuff" to do 3 1/2 weeks in a camper. Or at least it does for me.

My chicken is "resting" and DH is out bushhogging, so I'm headed to the pasture to see my babies. TTYL

Never picked a berry or a melon or an ear of corn or a tomato…lol

!!!!!!!!!!!!!GO THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep…until I moved to OKC I ordered over the phone and they delivered to my kitchen table. I now go to a meat market, bakery and green grocer. Lots of stuff comes to my front door via Amazon who now owns Whole foods. I will pick up some things from Homeland when I go to the pharmacy and my Brams is with in a mile.

I think it is too soon to know who we play next and where.

Bagpipe lesson this evening.

There was a C&W song several years ago called "I Never Picked Cotton." The singer brags that he may have spent much of his life in prison, but at least he never picked cotton.

Paleontologists can tell whether ancient bones were those of farmers or hunters by looking at the spines and knees. The hunters wore out their knees and the farmers wore out their backs. At age 35.

You also haven't lived until you've picked sweet corn. Not a breath of air stirs in a cornfield, so there is no place hotter on a July day. Well, yes, there is. The kitchen on a July day, with the windows closed so a breath of "cool" air doesn't strike the hot glass jars in which the veggies are being canned. My poor mother did that job. It must have been 120 degrees in that kitchen, with the gas range going full blast under the pressure cooker.

I like to garden, but planting a couple of tomato plants and picking enough for salads is not the same as planting 50 and picking a bushel every other day. I don't miss that. I just ate a piece of chicken on rice pilaf, with broccoli and carrots, and didn't have to pick the rice and veggies, kill the chicken, or even cook it. It's better that way.

Ron - Ha! I liked your head and neck story.

I have a question for you — my trainer at the gym brought this back to me from Louisiana (he has family there). Have you ever used this?

We put some on the salmon we had for lunch today - it was tasty!

Iris - you probably put some serious miles on your feet while you were in Italy. All that walking means you get to eat more with very few repercussions.

I hear you about picking fruits, and never again. I picked walnuts as a teen. Needless to say I don't even eat walnuts anymore. I can't even look at them.

I hope the senate bill on tracking FTD passes. It was one of the things I had to navigate with my sister - she had both FTD and Alzheimer's. Ugh.

$290 for a tour of the Brady house??? The only way I'd do that is if I gathered up five of my friends so that we could pose on the staircase a la the Brady kids.

Beth - that's a great photo of the three of you. I'm not super familiar with him, but I think he was on General Hospital for awhile (Peggy's "go to" soap opera).

I'm pretty sure our flowers are azaleas since they only bloom around this time of year.

Judith - I had no idea of the story behind Madeleines!

Have a great time tonight on he bagpipes.

Lorita - yummmm, blackberries. My s.o. has a yummy recipe for pomegranate margaritas, and the secret ingredient is blackberries. I tend to like them fresh from the store.

JeriLynn - I don't blame you guys for wanting a home cooked meal after your long road trip. Your meal sounds delicious.

Today was gym and then prepping the blog post for today, which went up around noon.

Death Guild was last night and it was good enough that I stayed up until the end at 2:30am. I found out that Depeche Mode recently released a cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's Universal Soldier. I only knew the Donovan version. I'm not a big Depeche Mode fan, but I liked their cover. It's synth heavy (which I like) and it all just works.

Thanks, Ron! It was a good time and I feel grateful for the experience. And blessed.

GG, I never saw that brand, but there is an expression: a food is so good it makes you want to slap ya mama! It's a southern expression, I never heard it up North.

I went on a Christian cruise and was offered a chance to participate in a charitable event. I chose what I thought would be packing food baskets. When we got to the location, due to something I can't remember now, picking oranges was substituted. Four of us picked a quarter ton of oranges in less than an hour. Most of the oranges were at arm's length. There was a step ladder to reach the higher oranges, but I didn't get on the stepladder myself. I hadn't expected to be outside, but it was okay.

When I was a child, I always wanted to be a farmer when I grew up. That came from reading enticing stories about farm life, like Little House on the Prairie and such. But farm life is too hard for me.

I attended my HOA meeting tonight. Living in a development is supposed to be more carefree than living in a single family residence, and perhaps it is, but there are a lot of goings-on behind the scenes and under the table that we homeowners don't know about. We have to trust that other people are doing the right things with our money. Apparently they had not been. But issues seem to be being addressed now. I have to wait and see what happens next.

While I was away, one of the feral cats delivered seven kittens, all of which had homes found for them, thanks to cat-loving neighbors.

Regarding the C/W song about never picking cotton, the clothes the songwriter and singer wore were probably made of cotton. The people who picked cotton helped to build our nation that we are so fortunate to live in. We can't look down on the people who picked cotton.

Iris

Beth, I have rosemary in several pots as well and with you ,I also love how they smell. The rosemary will not over winter outside so pots it is. I do cook with both a bit but like you just love having herbs in the garden. I did not know about the parsley and dill for swallowtails. We have yellow not black swallowtails here. People often mix them up with the monarchs, which we also get here. I think I will plant some dill along our ditch this year and see if the butterflies like it.

Bunny update - I touched it's back for a nano second yesterday. it is letting me get much closer so I think I will be able to catch it soon if I stay calm and keep at it. I just planted marigold seeds so I better get at it. In the meantime it is doing a number on our purple cone flowers (Echinacea). 😕

Good morning. Sunny and breezing at the moment. Clouds and rain moving in later.

Lorita— I'm glad you were happy with the cookies. It's frustrating when you make the effort and aren't happy with the outcome. I got an email the other day that the caladiums I ordered for my niece at Christmas are on the way. I hope she likes them. She's a plant girl.

Beth— We have "rabbits" in the yard as we're one of the few dog-free families in the area. I'm not sure if they're rabbits or hares or both. They hand under my deck and in the hedgerow along the street behind the house.

Funny you mention playoffs. There's a house near me where the family has a 6' T. Rex near their mailbox that they dress. He had a Flyers jersey for a while; they lost and then it was a Sixers one. This week he's supporting the Phillies. I'm beginning to think he has a more extensive wardrobe than I have.

Iris— The dairy store near me gives away greens they've trimmed for folks who have rabbits. It always seems to be mostly the outer leaves of green cabbage. Given the price locally, bok choy would be awfully spendy for a pet.

No bacon grease here. We only ever eat bacon during BLT season (Aug-Sept). DH grew up with it, but I didn't.

Goodlife— I hope the coneflowers survive. Last year the deer decimated mine. I came out one morning to a bed full of headless stems. I always enjoyed watching the finches feed on the seed heads. They're adorable as birds go.

Maybe you could donate some of the basil to your local food pantry. Ours is always happy for fresh produce.

Carl— I picked blackberries, too. My maternal grandparents had bushes along the far end of their drive. We only ever snacked on those.

Jerilynn— DH would kill for the meal you described. Chicken 'n' Dumplings is one of his comfort foods from childhood.

Gothic G— Is that a rhododendron? We had one similar at out old house. It was a story tall and really rangy, but I didn't have the heart to give it a hard prune or remove it. A few of the stores here sell that line of seasonings and hot sauces. DS is fond of their hot sauce.

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When I got to mom's yesterday, she was wearing a sweater niece 2 gave her. It's from Victoria Secret— a pink striped boat neck (meant to be styled with a shoulder bare) and a 6" tall VS monogram on it. It is so not her style. She felt self-conscious all day. LOL.

We got mom's specimen delivered yesterday and then she food shopped. I'm curious if she'll hear from the NP or if this can wait until she sees the cardiologist in a couple weeks.

I managed to get the new azalea planted but the hostas I wanted to move wouldn't budge. I guess I'll just buy more. I've been toying with getting a seat/kneeler to work in the beds and the garden center has one on sale.

Niece 2 stopped by again. She and her DH are having "daddy issues". They're doing discharge planning for her dad— back to the mental health/substance rehab. Because it's not secure, niece is charged with finding/removing a shotgun from his house which has to be documented by local LE as ex-BIL has made threats against himself and others. He refuses to give HIPAA access to Niece 1 yet wants financial support. Girl needs boundaries. Her FIL (physician) is also misbehaving. He's 82 and had a tumor removed from his lung. The surgery was extensive enough to break ribs. He lied to the discharge team about having 24/7 care from family and a home set up for recovery. It's utter nonsense. He called my NIL for a ride home— 90 minutes from his kids to a 7000 sqft multilevel house. I don't know that any of his 13 kids are available to provide the level of care he'll need at first.

HB

Good morning.

Judith, that's an impressive undertaking.

Goodlife, good luck with the rabbit.

Iris

Good afternoon.

There is nothing better, IMO, than picking fresh blackberries and making a cobbler. That's good eatin!!!

My dental appointment went very well. Better than I ever thought it could have gone. One injection that I seriously hardly ever felt which was wonderful. But what I really liked, was that the dentist & her assistant never left the room from the time they started working on me until I was completed. My old dentist would see several clients at a time, but her replacement doesn't work that way. My gum is a tiny bit tender, to be expected & my jaw is muscle sore from being open, that's it. Excellent experience on my end.

Back to work. I'm attempting to clean out my linen closet. With attempting being the correct word, DH seems to be particularly 'helpful' with this endeavor so its going very slowly!

Let's be safe everyone.

DS and I had a good time in Branson this afternoon. We saw Jerry Presley, Elvis' cousin and imitator. Pretty good show. 🎸