Sweet Magnolias...

I have loved Magnolias all my life.  I am from the Magnolia State afterall!  We have a large gorgeous tree on the East side of our home outside our breakfast, kitchen and laundry room windows. I love that tree. I love watching the birds skitter about in the branches.. love the deep green of the leaves.. the red berries that show up after the creamy white blooms have played out.. the light sweet scent that lingers in late spring while the tree is in bloom... I really love seeing red birds on the branches.. that red against the green leaves! Wow!  And a few times we have had snow and red birds at the same time. Amazing!

The Magnolia is starting to bloom right now. I love to find a bloom that hasn't opened and then watch it progress day by day from a bud to a wide open flower.  Here are a few photos showing the various stages... Once again I wish I could attatch smells to this blog.. light sweet fragrance... hmmmm...

The white bloom will actually turn a golden brown color as it dies.  As strange as it may sound, those dying blooms have a beauty all their own. We don't have any of those yet.

Here is a shot of our tree.. I couldn't get it all in the frame.. it is sooo tall.... it was about half this size when we moved here 21 years ago.

One more thing I love about that tree... memories of my kids climbing in it!  Magnolias have great branches for climbing!

the simple woman's daybook

I have seen this mentioned and shared on other blogs and always think it is neat. So I decided to try it here. I hope I do it correctly!  The main site is found here...  the simple woman's day book

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... the sun is shining and I have been watching birds flit from flowers to feeders (which are now empty and need to be refilled)

I am thinking...that I need to do something more productive than being on the computer!

I am thankful...for the life the Lord has given me.. for peace.. for the assurance that He is Sovereign over every detail!

In the kitchen...I have yummy smoked chicken salad, as well as the makings for big green salads with grilled chicken and other yummy additions. Nothing cooking today.

I am wearing...t-shirts and shorts... at home attire.

I am creating...a scrappy disappearing nine-patch quilt.

I am going...to church tonight for our mid-week service REFRESH. 

I am wondering...how something is going to play out in my life.. waiting to hear about "it".. another lesson in patience!

I am reading... A Time to Heal by Barbara Cameron and Mighty Prevailing Prayer by Wesley Duewel.

I am hoping...in the Lord.

I am looking forward to...lots of things.. quiet weekend with my husband, starting up the next Ladies' Bible study at church in a few weeks, being with church family tonight to pray, .........

I am learning that thoughts are powerful and negative thoughts are often rooted in sin.. mainly pride!

Around the house...laundry is done (thanks to my sweet husband who finished it up for me!), the pups are napping (again!), it is quiet as I am home alone.

I am pondering... how to get my motivation back for exercising.. especially with the summer heat and humidity here!

A favorite quote for today... You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough for me. C. S. Lewis

One of my favorite things...my quiet time basket. It is a large footed basket we found at my grandmother's home after she died.  That was almost 30 years ago!  I have used it ever since and it still looks great. Keeps me connected to her. :-)

A few plans for the rest of the week: Normal house stuff.. more laundry, some cleaning, things like that. I need to catch up on some blogging.  Continue working on Bible study.  Church tonight and Sunday. Empty Nest Friday and Saturday. A fairly quiet week.. yeah!

A peek into my day... fabric is calling my name....

Memory Lane -- the Annex Chocolate Chip Cake

I grew up in a fairly small town. When I graduated high school the population was around 20,000. Yes, I am aware there are towns much, much smaller.. but there are also towns / cities much, much larger. And honestly the small townness of my hometown had more to do with attitude than numbers. It felt like a small town.  Everyone knew everyone else and all their business!  There were no secrets (or very few) in my hometown.

My hometown is located an hour and a half from any larger city. There are a zillion little communities all around... mostly rural, country communities. To do serious shopping in the big city, we had to drive 90 minutes or more.  I grew up in the 60s and 70s, so there were very few chain stores or restaurants etc. and we had none. We were off the beaten path.. so no reason to be there. 

I grew up going to locally owned businesses... many had been in the same family for generations... and I knew the owners.  I bought shoes from Mr. Case at Case Shoes.. he went to market with his customers in mind. I remember hearing him say to a lady once “I found the perfect shoes at market to fit your narrow heel”... the ladies at my favorite clothing store would call every so often and say “We just got in a shipment of dresses and I put several back in your size that will be perfect for you!” I would then run by the store and pick up those dresses.. without paying.. take them home and try them on. Keep what I wanted.. return the rest.. all went on my parent’s charge account. No Visa.. No MasterCard.. no Credit Check.  This was true with pretty much every business in town.. including restaurants.  

I remember when we got our first fast food chain.. Burger King. Kids were overjoyed!  Before that we had to make do with the local burger joints.. the Homochitto Malt Shoppe and the Belmont Shake Shoppe (don’t you love the names!).. or Kathy’s Dairy Bar!  Restaurants were the same.. we ate catfish at Jughead's... elegant fare at The Side Track.. homemade croutons and peanut butter at the Rendezvous...

Great memories.. 

Recently we celebrated my husband’s birthday. I decided to take us back to my hometown.. at least in our minds.. and relive one of those yummy memories.  My husband did not grow up in my town, but moved there for work after college. We courted there and lived there the first 4 years of our marriage.  One of our favorite places was owned by a local doctor’s wife... The Annex Tea Room.  The Annex was located in a sort of warehouse... not a super large one. It had housed a heating and cooling supplier once and had brick walls, concrete floors and the high ceiling was covered with exposed pipes.  By today’s standards it would be considered industrial. Mrs. Amacker, the owner, filled it with oak pedestal tables she bought at estate sales, antique shops, flea markets etc. And oak chairs. It was not matchy at all!  She added white table cloths and flowers every where. It was wonderful!  The recipes were her own.. the best chicken salad ever, fruit plates with poppyseeed dressing, homemade bread with butter, broccoli soup, roast beef sandwiches, ham sandwiches, and the desserts.. oh my!  

One of our favorites was her Chocolate Chip Cake... and that is what I made for Hubby’s birthday. I did alter it a slight bit.  

Here is the original recipe with my changes noted below.

Annex Tea Room Chocolate Chip Cake

1 box Duncan Hines Yellow Butter Cake Mix

1 small box milk chocolate instant pudding

1 8 oz carton sour cream

1/4 c water

1 c oil

4 eggs

Beat all together. Add 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup chopped pecans.  Grease and flour a large sheet cake pan.  Bake at 350-degrees F for 35-40 minutes. Spread icing over cake and cut into squares.

Icing

1 stick margarine 

2 Tbsp cocoa

5-6 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Bring to a roiling boil. Add 1 box powdered sugar. Beat until ready.

NOTES: I made the cake as instructed except I baked it in a Bundt Pan. And then instead of icing, I made a chocolate glaze and drizzled over the cake (found a recipe online).  I then added some sprinkles since we were celebrating.. how can you have a birthday without sprinkles! It was YUM!!!!! A Huge Hit that was gobbled up quickly. No doubt it will show up here again to provide another trip down memory lane.

Oh yes... Mac and Mia did not get to sample the birthday cake but they did celebrate. They ran a wild wiener dog race around and around the house until they both collapsed with exhaustion!

Yard Update

Thought I would share some photos to show where things are with the yard and all the flowers and such...

My husband plants a lot of the same plants each year.. plants we love like petunias and verbena..

 but he always enjoys adding something new to the mix. This years newbie is Agapanthus.. Lily of the Nile.  These plants grow sooo tall!  We have to whose blooms are just about to open that are easily 3 feet or more. We have 2 others (pictured below) that are not as tall and have nice open blooms.   I love the soft lavender / lilac color.

We have Asiatic Jasmine in our bed and I love it!  It has spread and filled in some bare spots and is so rich and lush with color. I really do love it!

And I shared earlier about our confederate jasmine. It continues to grow and bloom profusely!  Love it too!

When we planted these beds years ago, my husband's new discovery was Anthony Waterer Spirea.  We planted two and have enjoyed watching them grow and bloom with these bright pinky-purple flowers.

A few years later we planted a third... only to discover its blooms are white and a lighter purple.  We love them both.

As always I have herbs growing and yes, I use them in cooking!  In fact last weekend our son used some of the mint to make Blueberry-Mint-Lemonade.  I, for some reason, failed to snap a photo of the mint or the oregano... but here are the other 3 we have this year..

Isn't this thyme lovely.. so green!

Rosemary... one of my favorites!

Basil... ranks up there with Rosemary!  I use a bunch of both of these,

While out in the yard, I noticed the blue birds going in and out of the house.  Couldn't catch the Mr. but got a nice shot of the Mrs.

The day before these photos were taken we had some rain and wind.  Our River Birches always loose some twigs and such. A nice size limb fell that day. Mia had to investigate, but deemed it safe and went on to better things.  

Be Joy-filled!

Morning Walk

I enjoy morning walks, especially in my neighborhood.. which is a great place to live!  We have been here 20+ years.. so it is home.. we are rooted here.  As I was walking yesterday, I took some pictures. I tried desperately to snap some shots of the crazy squirrels and their antics, but they would never let me get close enough.  I also tried to capture some pictures of the lovely birds that fill our trees with their songs, but again.. they skittered away. There was this one fat robin that I tried to stealthily chase down.. didn't work!  Evidently, I don't have what it takes to be a stalker.

But I did get shots of flowers and such... one of my favorite subjects!

A number of our neighbors have knock-out roses in this vibrant red-pink color.

These neighbors always have lovely blooms in their yard!

Our neighborhood was built in the early 1970s, so we have nice big lush trees for shade 

and to house those crazy squirrels and melodic birds.

So the sun was soo bright that this picture didn't come out like I wanted.. BUT you can see the size of this majestic pine and also the gorgeous blue sky we enjoyed here yesterday.

I love oleander!

Horrible photo.. I know.. I am determined to take another and post soon. But I wanted you to see the vibrant color of this clematis.  Isn't it gorgeous!?

Yes, that is a bush... look at the depth of variation of the greens. I love the greens of nature!

The cross in this yard is cute, but I took this shot because of those ropes. They have foot loops at the bottom. I have no doubt you will often find children swinging and giggling here.  Fun!

A reminder to STOP today and enjoy the beauty the Lord has placed all around you. 

There is nothing like Spring in the South!

Enjoying the Rain

It has been raining all day here today... some pretty heavy rain at times. But this afternoon it has tapered off to a steady slow rhythm that has enticed the birds to come out of their hiding places and play!  I wish I could video tape them. Their antics and singing is so fun!  I have seen a mockingbird splashing in a puddle... hubby saw a blue bird enjoying a break from nest watching to have a splash.  The cardinals are singing as loud as they can and getting what little food is left in the feeders. Of course the finches and sparrows and chickadees are flitting here and there. But the surprise for me came when I saw a male Rose Breasted Grosbeak on the bird feeder... and he didn't fly away as I ran in the house for the camera and then got as close as I could for a shot!  The rain and lack of sunshine don't make these these prettiest photo ever, but still... he was fun to watch.

He had a lady friend with him, but she was camera shy. After all it is raining, no doubt her feathers are a mess!  LOL!  

Thank you, Lord for birds!  

A Different Kind of Candlelight Dinner

Years ago my husband landscaped our back yard.  I have shared many photos of the flowers blooming and such.  We have worked on the beds over the years adding this and that. Everything has grown and is so lush and lovely.  2 years ago he added some iron stakes that hold these glass containers which in turn hold candles.  They are spread throughout the garden and when they are lit, it is magical!  

We are having an amazing Spring here in Mississippi. The mild winter melded into gentle spring warmth and has given us amazing color and scents from flowers blooming everywhere!  And our temperatures and humidity have been staying low and sweet.  I would love for it to stay like this for many, many months. But alas, I know the spring will soon give way to summer and the heat and humidity of the deep South will return as it faithfully does each year. 

In the meantime, Bill and I have decided to enjoy it while we can!  Sunday night I was reheating some leftovers for us. I went to put my plate on the kitchen table and he shooed me out the back door to the patio... where I found the outside table set with linens and a candle and all the garden candles were lit. Magic!  

It is a bit dark, but here is the view from the patio table.  

I wish you could smell the light scent of our confederate jasmine as it wafts by on the wind.

It was quiet except for an occasional frog croak or a dog barking in the distance.  Even the 2 wild wiener dogs were quiet as they explored the flower beds (their own personal jungle) looking for frogs and bugs and such.  

We will continue to eat by candlelight in the garden as long as the weather permits.  There is just something special about eating outside.