It has been quite a year. And here is the best thing that happened during my 58th year on this earth. The birth of this darling nugget. It snuck up on me. It wasn't something that I gave a lot of thought to-- after all, it wasn't up to me! But what happiness my granddaughter …
Category: baking
Bits and pieces
I used to roam the beach looking for whole, perfect shells and sand dollars. I spent more time looking down than looking up. Now I just pick up whatever I happen to see that strikes my fancy. Bits and pieces. Odds and ends. Kind of like last night's dinner here at the house we are …
Labels
Intelligent Extrovert (source: http://writical.com/four-personality-types-take-quiz-find-one-fit/) Most defining characteristics: You are lively, outgoing and emotionally open. You are a leader. As you probably already know, you are a born leader. You are a very charismatic, passionate, mature and calculated person. You are always there when people need you, you always know the right thing to say, and …
Sean of the South
(photo courtesy of Jackie Thompson Reagan) AKA Sean Dietrich. One of my heroes. I feel as if we are long lost cousins or I am his long lost aunt. I consider him and his wife, Jamie, my dear friends although I have never met them. We send messages. I've begged Jamie for recipes and she …
Summer to-do list
I am sort of a list maker. Not that I always can find the list. Or that I take it out and look at it. Or that I actually cross off everything more than two items. But I feel as if I have accomplished something just by writing the to-dos on a notepad. Mary Kay consultants …
SV Day 5: Over the mountain
Blowing Rock to Boone to Foscoe to Linville to Spruce Pine. That was my route this morning. I made a stop for breakfast at Grandview Restaurant. The address is listed as Banner Elk but it is just off NC-105 between Foscoe and Linville. This is the grand view- Grandfather Mountain as seen from the patio …
Summer Vacation Day 1: A porch with a view
Well, Summer Vacation, the 2017 Edition, is officially underway. There is the minor detail of about 20 student comments that still have to be written, but I have until Monday at 5:00 pm. Hours and hours. At the last minute, I decided to book myself into a writer's retreat. Remember, in the last post I …
Critters
I started looking through my photos from the January and March trips to France (yet once again) and found an theme: critters. I did not realize I had so many until I started looking for them. Of course, what would it be like in Paris without pigeons? Bertrand, our guide par excellence, said that you …
This & That: March 2017 Edition
Dirty dishes? This is a great photo because this is all I had to dirty in order to make two loaves of banana bread this fine Sunday morning. I found a new recipe, located the overripe bananas that the Ex-Ex had stashed on top of the refrigerator (the man detests messy countertops), and stirred up …
Love at first sight
I can be a bit cynical. Oui, moi. But love at first sight does exist. It's the love you feel the first time you hold your child. Actually, this may be the purest form of love. I felt it twice. And I have now fallen totally in love with my beautiful granddaughter. Yes, I am …
the sabbatical chef 