daddy long legs...ugh

I can't go too long without showing something creepy and gross.

So let's take a walk out to  the pool house. Oh, would you pick up that stick?

Well never mind, it seems to be crawling away on it's own.

But this is really icky!  This is the area over the pool house door.

Those are dozens of daddy long legs!  I have no idea why they like to congregate there. Of course, when I open the door they are startled and drop down on my arms and head.

Here , let me zoom in a little...

Horrible things! They leave "spots" too.  Time to sweep them off, scrub that area down and spray some poison!

fresh peach cobbler

It's the season for fresh peaches and they were on sale at the grocery so I decided to make a peach cobbler.

My favorite place to look for recipes is Allrecipes.com. I found this recipe for Fresh Southern Peach Cobbler there and it had hundreds of good reviews.

Fresh Southern Peach Cobbler

8 fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced into thin wedges.

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. cornstarch

dough

1 cup flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. cold butter

1/4 cup boiling water

topping

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

I used 11 peaches since they were small. 

In a large bowl combine peaches, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly. Pour into a greased 2 qt. casserole dish. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the dry dough ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in boiling water to form a soft dough.

Drop dough portions on top of hot peaches. (I used a cookie scoop).  Mix the sugar and cinnamon topping and sprinkle over all.

Bake about 30 minutes.

I started not to show this picture since it looks a little burned. It was only the sugar on top that burned though...maybe because I used my small oven and it was close to the top element? I even decreased the temperature the last 10 minutes. 

So pretend you didn't see that and look how good it looks when I spooned it upside down to serve!
Delicious with a scoop of Turkey Hill Natural Vanilla ice cream.

And Squirrel was delighted to get all those peach peelings. He seemed to really be savoring them.

deciding on a border

I have this quilt top completely sewn and now I am trying to decide on a border. The border will be only about 3" wide all around - I don't want the quilt to be too big for a "couch quilt".

I had been leaning toward using one of these blue fabrics, but when I asked for opinions from friends at my quilt group meeting, most thought the black would look better.

Maybe they think there is too much pattern and color already?  I have a tendency to use more colorful fabrics. To me, they look cheerful and energetic. To some, they may be gaudy and distracting.

Here is another picture narrowing down the choices to the blue stripe or the solid black.

To me the black is just too somber and takes the life out of the quilt. The blue makes your eyes start searching over the blocks to find more blues.

I am using the blue.

It makes me wonder why I asked for opinions when I knew which one I liked all along. I guess I was just expecting others to agree! 

Homemakers trip to Frankfort

A small group of us Bullitt County Homemakers went on a day trip to Frankfort, sponsored by the Extension Office, earlier this week.

A passenger van was rented and one of the Extension Agents was our driver for the day. Good weather,
not too hot...but sunny as you can see by my unattractive squint in this photo taken in front of our first stop, the Rebecca Ruth Candy Factory.

The factory is actually just two houses connected into one, a very small operation. They charge $4 for the guided tour, which is one room of of antiques, a small room where candy cooking is done and a larger area where the candy is dipped and wrapped. Disappointingly, no candy was being made while we were there.

We did each get a free Bourbon Ball...and of course they also sell candy there...and since the extension agent had thought to bring a cooler with ice...most of us purchased candy to take home.

The next stop was  lunch at "Jim's Seafood". Their slogan is "best restaurant by a dam site"...because the building overlooks this dam on the Kentucky River.

I had the Alaskan whitefish, which was good. Service was good, too. They didn't mind 9 separate checks and got the orders correct.  There was an outside eating area on a deck closer to the river that would probably be enjoyable in the evening or in milder weather.

Our final stop was Liberty Hall Historic Site, which features 2 historic homes built by Kentucky's first senator, John Brown.

First was the "Orlando Brown House" which  the senator had built for his son. There we watched an informational film.. Only 2 rooms and the hall were open to visitors.

                                     

Next door was Liberty Hall, where John Brown and his wife lived.

 James Monroe, Andrew Jackson and Zachary Taylor were all guests of John Brown in  this home.

This old catalpa tree was in the side yard.

   

Oops! I snapped this photo before they said " no pictures inside"   Fate punished me later by making my camera battery run down before I was finished taking pictures outside.

We saw several rooms upstairs and down, and also an outdoor kitchen. There was a well...

and  that's the smokehouse beside it....but that's when my camera battery died. 

There are large formal gardens in the back that are open to the public. Lots of things were blooming - so nice and inviting. I'd like to go back just to take time to wander through there.

Perfect distance for a day trip - we were back at the Extension Office by 5pm.

Maybe Lonnie and  I will drive over there one day. It's been years since I visited the State Capitol Building and I'd like to see that again, too. 

what I am reading

With longer daylight hours, bedtime gets pushed back a little later and I can't read very long each night before I get sleepy.

I did make it through this book from the library discard shelf.
"Trail of Crumbs" by Kim Sunee.

This book is a memoir, which is mostly my favorite type of book.

 The author was born in Korea but was abandoned at a marketplace there when she was 3 years old. She was adopted by an American family and raised in New Orleans, where, at an early age she developed an interest in cooking and a love of food. Only about 20 pages of the book are about  her life up to college age and much of that is spent explaining how she never felt as though she "fit in" ...at school or at home.

While in college, Ms Sunee was able to live in Europe through a study program and it is there that she began to feel more at home - but still felt disconnected, knowing nothing about her birth family and why she had been abandoned.

This disconnected feeling  is a cloud that always hangs over her...even after she meets and begins a long term relationship with Olivier, the wealthy founder of  L'Occitane , a bath products company. In spite of seemingly "having everything", the author insists on constantly looking inside herself  to find that spot of unhappiness.

Overall, the book is well written but is a downer to read...especially when there are so many inspirational memoirs written by those who overcame huge obstacles to work toward what they wanted in life...they worked toward happiness.

It was interesting to read her experiences but difficult to have sympathy for this intelligent and beautiful author who is unable to appreciate a lifestyle and a relationship that most people could only dream of.  Being in her early 20's, perhaps she was just too young and inexperienced to realize what she had. Maybe she is just one of those people who can't ever be happy.

So, I can't say I would recommend this book - just because of the gloomy outlook on things.

Food and cooking is a theme throughout the book and there are recipes at the end of some of the chapters.

how our garden grows

We are enjoying our little gardens. It's easy to keep them watered and the weeds can be removed quickly.

First, I'll talk about Lonnie's onions...the ones he planted from onion sets. Two of the four that he planted developed a big flower head. 

I read online that that means the underground part will not develop any more - so just take them up and see if there is anything that can be used.

There wasn't on the two flowering ones...but he went ahead and took up the other two also. They did have bulbs on them and we sliced them and ate them on hamburgers.

The blooms were kind of pretty though. I think they would be fine for decorative planting. You sure wouldn't want to put them in a vase in the house  - really oniony smelling.

This is my crowded bed. That's zucchini in the front left and I believe butternut squash behind there. Next is kale, cherry tomatoes and potatoes. somewhere there are 2 small pale cucumber vines. They aren't getting enough sun.

The potatoes are a huge surprise. I really didn't expect much from them but they are thriving. They have pretty little blooms on them too.

The kale is producing. The young leaves are fine...but they get bitter as they get larger.

I noticed a tiny zucchini this morning...it may be ready to pick tomorrow or the next day.

roasted chickens

This recipe for roasted chickens makes a good Sunday dinner. It's fairly simple and the chickens turn out flavorful...except the breast meat can be a bit dry.
You have to plan ahead because the chickens must be prepped the night before you want to serve them.

Roasted Chickens
2 whole chickens (about 4# each)
4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. onion powder (I leave this out)
1 tsp. thyme. (I use poultry seasoning)
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 onions quartered

Rinse chickens and pat them dry with paper towels inside and out.  Mix spices in a bowl. 

Rub each chicken with spices inside and out.

Place quartered onions inside the body cavity. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

In the morning preheat oven to 250 degrees, remove plastic wrap. Bake chickens uncovered for 5 hours.

Allow to rest in pan drippings about 15 minutes before serving.

Looking at this picture, I see why Junior likes to help take the food to the table. He has the things he likes down at his end...rolls, peas, cranberry sauce. He put the carrot salad and the red potatoes far away.

When we are having broccoli, my older son likes to set that down near my younger son's plate...to annoy him because he doesn't like the smell of it .  (Sigh)...I guess it's just what brothers do.