Five on Friday

It's time for Friday and I have very little to show.  My spring afghan is going very slowly because I've hurt my shoulder--think it's because I used weights while doing aerobics, I have worked very little on my puzzle and definitely can't show where I got my B-12 shot.  So once again Mac's paintings will have to save me.  I may have shown some of these before, but they're worth a 2nd look.

This is a copy of A Special Pleader by Charles Burton Barber, an English painter and was painted originally in 1893,  Mac doesn't like to do copies, but can sometimes be talked into it.  This hangs in the white bedroom upstairs and is my craft room.

These two hang as a pair in the tv room upstairs.

Mac love all things fishing and this even have his hat in it.

I call this Tuscan steps and it hangs in the bathroom that's almost the same color.

Another fishing painting.

He's working on two really good paintings right now, a sheep dog herding some sheep through a gateway and one of bell ringers in an old church.


I'm joining in with Amy at Love Made My Home for this Five on Friday, hope you visit some of the other bloggers.

A Late Easter Post

It's days after Easter, but I'm just now getting around to posting about it.  Before our daughter moved to Japan we would fly up to D.C. to spend Easter with her.  Now we're on our own, just us and the cat.  But I still dye eggs and devil them for Easter lunch.  We've had lamb fairly recently so we opted for prime rib.  I bought a rib steak more than 2 inches thick and had to Google how to cook it.  But it was simple, a quick sear and finish off in the oven.  It was so good, almost melt in your mouth.  Of course I didn't remember to take any pictures. We finished with strawberries, ice cream and whipped cream.
It rained most of the day, we got more than 2 inches so things are a bit soggy around here, but so pretty and spring like.
Neighbors have Dogwood trees that are blooming and I love them.  But we've brought 2 Dogwoods home and though we tried they both died so we just have to admire our neighbors.  The Wisteria is blooming too and if there is anything more southern I don't know what it is.  We have it growing up our trees and draped over the garden wall.
Mac is busy transplanting Bell peppers and tomatoes out into the garden.  He also brought home some cuttings from plants in Florida, a banana tree among other things.  Yesterday we ate the first  Fava  (Broad) Beans from the garden and had lettuce from the greenhouse.  So good to eat what you've grown yourself.
Our electricity went off for about a half hour this morning so I'm behind on everything, so off I go, running to catch up.

An Easter present from Mac

Wisteria and Freesias

Eggs ready to devil

More Florida

We did go to the beach while in Florida, but not to lay on the beach.  My dermatologist assures me that those days are over and after seeing the folks who looked like very badly tanned leather I have to agree.  Note  to folks of a certain age, mine, and weight, mine, please put some clothes on.
Anyway we did go to Jetty Park so Mac could fish, beautiful park, nice beach and nice pier to fish from.

Very pretty, but tiny.

Lots of pelicans

More than a few sea turtles

Snowy egrets in the picnic area

The regular beach was just a 100 yards from our hotel, people were surf casting and the big blue herons were there to help out.

Coming back from the Space Center we stopped for Mac to fish along the Banana River, he caught a good-sized catfish.

We enjoyed the trip, Canaveral/Cocoa Beach is only about 4 1/2 hours from here, but as I say every time we go to Florida, there are just too many people there, could not live there, it would drive me crazy.

We've Been Awe Struck

I've been absent from Blogger because we've been in Florida.  To lay on the beach you ask, no, we went to see a space launch at Cape Canaveral/Kennedy.  It was a night launch so they don't let you get close, but it was still incredible.  Now we want to go back for a day launch which you can view from 2-4 miles away.
We had a hotel room in Cocoa Beach and joined the other guests on the 8th floor to watch the lift-off. No tail of fire like we'd expected, but it was pretty incredible to watch.
The next day we went to the Kennedy Space Center and spent the day.  To say we were awe-struck is an understatement.  We saw rockets, we saw models of space capsules, we walked on the gantry that the Apollo astronauts walked on.  We went to the I-Max theatre to see a 3-D film about space and the Hubble Telescope, we saw the Space Shuttle Atlantis, we went in the shuttle simulator and felt what it's like to take off.  We had the most incredible day and didn't have time to take the bus out to the launch pads--that alone is 2 1/2 hours.  We will be going back, probably this Fall if they're having a daylight launch.  You can view it from the viewing stands at the Space Center.
The launch we saw was an unmanned mission to resupply the International Space Center.
We learned about the present mission they're working on, the Orion missions that will begin going to Mars and sometime in the 2030's will culminate in a manned mission to Mars lasting somewhere between 2 1/2 - 3 years.
The pictures we took don't do justice to what we saw, can't wait to go back.

Here it is, no fire tail like we'd expected

Drano For Olives

As I said in my last post you can't eat olives straight from the tree, they're hard as a rock and have to be cured before you can eat them.  There are 3 main ways to do this; with salt water, with oil and with lye.
The salt water method, which Mac has tried, takes forever and really, the olives are just so-so in taste.
He hasn't tried the oil method, but we've eaten oil-cured olives and though reasonably tasty, to be blunt they're oily.
So he decided on the lye method and after doing a lot of research he decided to use Drano crystals, they're almost pure lye---though I've read that they've changed the formula and it might not be as good to use.  Anyway, you put the olives, the Drano and water into  a plastic bucket and let them soak.  After a couple of days you cut an olive open to see if the lye has penetrated all the way to the pit, the flesh of the olive will turn pinkish in color, check the biggest olives first.  When the lye has penetrated to the pit, dump that water and put the olives in fresh water.  As the lye leaches out it colors the water red.  You keep changing the water until the water is clear.  Dump the water again, put in fresh water, add garlic, oregano or any herb you like.
Then put them in jars.
They were wonderful, everyone use to ask for a jar.  I would love it if this tree produced, but if I remember you have to have at least 2 trees.  We'll see.

Five On Friday

Not unlike the white rabbit, I'm late.  Had to go running around town buying things we've been putting off buying.
So for my Five on Friday I'll be joining in with Amy at Love Made My Home and showing you where the money went.
First is for a new dishwasher, ours went out some time last summer and we're just getting around to replacing it.  For 2 people it's just about as easy to wash by hand.  But some day we'll be selling this house and it will need a working dishwasher, in stainless steel to match the rest of the appliances.  It will be delivered next Saturday.
Next we're sprucing up Miss Kitty's bathroom and she is so appreciative.  We thought about replacing the whole vanity, but there's really nothing wrong with it, it's the cheap looking top, sink and faucet that needed replacing.  So that's what we did.  This is the top we bought.

Love the rectangular sink

It didn't come with a faucet so that was our next purchase.

It's in brushed nickel and should look good.

Next up is a new kitchen faucet, something we've needed for quite some time.

Then we saw this at Walmart----an Olive Tree.  We grew them in California, Mac made olives for us---did you know that you can't eat olives directly from the tree they have to be cured.  He cured ours with Drano, can you believe it?

We're going to plant it in a pot and put it in the greenhouse during the winter.  Don't know if we'll ever get olives from it, but we're going to try.

That's my Five, hope you have a good weekend.  Ours will be quiet, we're now broke.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  Savannah hosts the 3rd largest St. Patrick's Day celebration in the world.  This year there are thunderstorms in the area, but I doubt that will slow people down much.  We went out to breakfast and saw some of the annual parade on tv.  Up to 30,000 people were expected to view the parade and close to 400,000 people descend on Savannah for the celebrations. It will be going on through Sunday.
It all starts before the big day with the greening of the fountain in Forsyth Park and the Irish Festival--Tara Feis held a few days before.
This celebration has been going on for 190 years, with a few breaks.  Parts, like the Irish Festival are family orientated and some are just an excuse to get drunk.
We stay out of Savannah and usually go somewhere this time of year, crowds are not our thing and drunk crowds ever less so.  But I'm a bit Irish on the maternal side, we're from the poor branch of the Kennedys.  So Erin Go Bragh.

The fountain in Forsyth Park

A Good Day to Sun Bathe

I guess St. Patrick must have missed a few.  This one was sunning himself next to our driveway.this afternoon.  Mac said he's a Black Racer and was about 4 1/2 feet long. You know I didn't take the picture.  I'm not particularly afraid of snakes, but then again, they're not on my list of animals I'd like to hang out with either.
After seeing this one Mac saw another  snake swimming in the lagoon, he studied it with binoculars and decided that it wasn't a moccasin or a cottonmouth so he didn't shoot it.  He thinks it was a Great Northern Water Snake.
Now snakes on the land are one thing and those in the water another.  I HATE WATER SNAKES!  There's just something evil looking about them.
So if you happen to see St. Patrick tell him I have a job for him.