All Things Bright and Beautiful

One morning last week I was up early checking my email and happened to glance outside. I decided to try and capture this sunrise from our deck. The picture isn't bad, but the real thing was positively gorgeous.

Several weeks ago when my sister-in-law was here for a visit, we took a trip to the South Carolina Botanical Gardens. We took Suzi along as she loves to visit the duck pond. The azaleas were in full bloom. Our favorite was the Piedmont Azalea pictured below.
This bloom was another that caught our eye . . .
While I'm on the subject of blooms I must slip in this special one - a an indoor variety of Iris that was given to me by my sister-in-law. Our sun room must be the perfect environment for it as it has bloomed several times and looks as if it may bloom again soon.
We had a fun-filled visit to the gardens. After all the fun Suzi fell sound asleep in her stroller.The rest of us would have loved to be in Suzi's place as we plodded back up the hill to head home.
Until next time . . . .

Loin of Wild Boar with Bog Myrtle?????

Several Sundays ago our church held a Kirking of the Tartans Service. Everyone was requested to bring a Scottish dish for the covered dish luncheon after services. Since my DH is interested in his heritage and all things Scottish, I had purchased a Scottish cookbook a while back. I asked him to choose a recipe for the luncheon. His choice was "Loin of Wild Boar with Bog Myrtle". One look at the recipe told me I had some adjustments to make. Since I was out fresh of loins of wild boar, I sent him to the store for a large pork loin. Then I wondered, what on earth is bog myrtle? Upon closer inspection, I found in the recipe that rosemary could be substituted for bog myrtle. Lucky me! I have rosemary growing in my herb garden. I followed the recipe pretty closely and it turned out well. I've prepared it for company several times since and everyone seems to enjoy it. I thought I'd share it.


Ingredients:

• a six lb. pork loin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I prefer sea salt)
  
• 1 large onion coarsely cut
• 2-3 carrots peeled and cut in large pieces
• 4-6 stems of rosemary (3 or 4 inches each)
  
• 2/3 cup dry vermouth
• 2 teaspoons prepared mustard
• flour and water (to thicken gravy)
• seasoning to taste

What to do:

• preheat oven to 425 degrees
• coat a large roasting pan with oil spray
• place onions carrots and rosemary in the pan
• place loin in pan fat side up
• rub salt on the loin
• place in 425 degree oven (uncovered) and bake for 40 minutes
• after 40 minutes at 425 degrees, reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake for 40 additional minutes
• remove roast from pan and set aside to rest for 15-20 minutes
• drain drippings from pan into sauce pan, stir in the vermouth and mustard
• bring this to a boil
  
• mix 1/12 cups cold water into 2 heaping tablespoons flour and add to sauce pan stirring constantly to make gravy

Slice loin to desired thickness and serve with rice or potatoes and gravy. Add a green vegetable and salad for a well balanced meal. Hope you'll like it!

I've been tagged!

I have been tagged by Babyfingers and requested to share my six word philosophy of life.
This is my philosophy:

Do the math ... count your blessings.

I learned a long time ago that I can either sit and worry about things I can't change, or I can take the time I would spend worrying to count my blessings. Pray instead of worrying, do something nice for someone instead of feeling sorry for yourself, surround yourself with positive people, volunteer, get enough rest . . . see how many uplifting possibilities you can think of and PLEASE share them!

My next task is to tag six others to share their six word philosophy of life. Since I don't have a lot of blogger friends most of mine will be email buddies. Knitting Nonpareil, you are the exception - you have been tagged. You need to share your philosophy on your blog and then tag six others.

Until next time . . . .

Friends, Friends, Friends . . . .

On Easter Sunday Suzi and her church friends gathered in the nursery. Taking care of this sweet group was an enjoyable task for Miss Lauren and me.


Thomas was the youngest one there.

He left for a while to go to the sanctuary for his Baptism. After all the excitement he came back and took a nap in Miss Lauren's lap.


Aiden is too big for the walker now, but our little sound engineer kept the music box on the walker going to entertain us.


Dulcie loves reading books. She's growing up so fast.


Suzi sat beside Braydon for a long time. She kept "borrowing" the animals from Noah's ark, but he didn't seem to mind. He's such a little gentleman.


Aiden and Suzi sat in my lap. He put his head on her shoulder and almost fell asleep.
Wouldn't it be perfect if these little friends could grow up together and become lifelong members of our church? I think it would.

Suzi's New Butterfly Tent

After church Jenny, Jordan and Suzi came home with us for lunch. It wasn't exactly a traditional Sunday dinner . . . we watched the basketball game while we ate. When Suzi finished her lunch she was ready to "go-go", so we went out to swing on the front porch.

When we came back inside I decided to give her the pop-up butterfly tent that is part of her Easter surprise from us.

She was having so much fun playing in her new tent that her mama and daddy decided to get in on the act.
Jenny got inside with her first to take a few photos. Then Jordan crawled in and played with her for a while. When they left the room she started taking her toys inside.

It made me happy to see that she is going to enjoy her tent.

Nice Weather for Little Bare Feet

Today the weather was so beautiful and warm that we had to get outside. We took a trip to the duck pond. This is the first time so far this year Suzi has been outside with bare feet.

We passed the daffodils on the path to the duck pond.

There were NO ducks on the pond! But there were several geese and lots of huge coy (carp) . . . . who had been so well-fed by a school group that they didn't show much interest in our bread. We had not been to the pond in a while and were surprised at the size of the fish. It's hard to believe that these fish were probably once someone's goldfish.
We paused at the pioneer cabin for a minutes to take advantage of the shade on the porch.

Then we walked back up the trail to the swings . . . . where Suzi's daddy proposed to her mama. Suzi and Grandpa enjoyed a few minutes relaxing there and posed for a picture.

We are blessed to be able to see our little Suzi almost every day. The time we spend with her and the memories we make are our most precious treasures.

Born to Make a Joyful Noise

I haven't blogged about my oldest child. There is so much to tell that I hardly know where to start, but I'm going to start with his music. Brad was born to make music. When he was baptized on Christmas Eve 1967 , the 3 month old let out a wail that could be heard all over the church - and probably outside. Fortunately, the minister was our long time minister and family friend, who had a wonderful sense of humor. He predicted that this child would someday be an outstanding choir member. The prediction has more than come true. Brad has loved music since he was a baby. He first sang in in Cherub Choir at age 3 years, his strong voice drowning out most of the others. He enjoyed school music . . . taking part in elementary, middle and high school chorus, high school band, show choir and All-State Chorus.
Always able to multi-task, Brad has never had trouble making time for his interest in music.
He began his college career by studying for a degree in Music Education. Two years later, a summer job opened new possibilities. . . . he changed his major to Therapeutic Recreation. He ended up with a B.S. in Therapeutic Recreation, M.S. in Outdoor T.R and Ph.D. in T.R.. He found musical outlets all along the way. . . .church choirs, college groups, marching band.

He has become a professor and continues to make special places for music in his life. He now sings with the church choir, with a group at the college where he teaches, as well as Knoxville Choral Society. Never satisfied with what he knows, he continues to take classes each semester. . . . . this semester it's conducting.

There's so much more to tell . . . He's still multi-tasking . . . keeping busy with his fiance, teaching, writing, traveling to conferences to present his work and ALWAYS making music!
Next installment soon!