Election 2016

I'm doing my best to ignore the campaigning because it's very scary.  I will make a prediction though.  If the candidates turn out to be Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, Trump will be elected President----doesn't that scare the beJesus out of you.  Because this country would rather elect a buffoon than a socialist.

Miss Marple

I have to tell you a little more about the Miss Marple book Mac made me.  He knows what a fan of hers I am and have been for years.  I've read all the books and short stories, seen most of the films and tv shows.  I've liked all of the actresses playing Miss Marple except for Angela Lansbury.

The first page of my little book has a map of St. Mary's Meade, Miss Marple's village.  He did it in sepia so it would look old.

In the 2004 tv movie with Geraldine McEwan  her cottage looked like this. I'll be adding this picture to my book.

The next page in my book says, "Know how to think"

  

The picture is Geraldine McEwan, my favorite Miss Marple

The next page says "Know when to be alert" and there is a picture of Margaret Rutherford, my second favorite Miss Marple.  Agatha Christie herself said that she didn't like the movie they made, but she loved Margaret as Miss Marple.

The next page is "Know where to relax".

But the very best page is the cartoon he found.  Please excuse Miss Marple's language.

I already have plans to add to this book with movie and book reviews.

Happy Valentine's Day

No you don't need Valentine's Day to tell others you love them.  But isn't it nice to share some love and a cake just made for two on a cold February Day.

To say nothing of the Miss Marple detecting book he made me along with the bright red tulips.  I am indeed a very lucky lady.

Creamy Corn Chowder With Chicken and Bacon

Not my soup, but a reasonable
facsimile 

I'm going to give the recipe I used for Creamy Corn Chowder, but I'll note where I changed it to suit us.

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless, skinless Chicken Breast, cooked and shredded, about 3 cups.  I didn't have chicken breast so I used 2 chicken thighs--there's just the 2 of us.  I skinned them, but cooked them on the bone and chopped them up when cool.

•  8 Slices Bacon cooked and crumbled, I used 4

•  1/4 Cup Butter  I have nonstick cookware so I only used 1 TBS

•  1 Medium Yellow Onion, I used a Videlia Onion, they're sweet

•  1-2 Jalapeños, seeded  Did not use, do not like I substituted about a teaspoon or two of Paprika

•  4 Cloves Garlic, minced

•  1/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour

•  6 Cups Low-Sodium Chicken Broth  I used 2 cans of fat-free broth and when more liquid was needed I used water

•  3 Medium Potatoes,  diced I used 2

•  2 Bay Leaves

•  2 1/2 Cups Fresh or Frozen Corn  I used one can of Corn

•  1 1/2 Cups of Half and Half  I used a cup of milk

•  Green Onions  Chopped   I skipped this

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot melt butter over medium heat.  Add onions, jalapeños (here's where I used the Paprika) and sauce until tender, about 3 minutes.

Add garlic and cook 30 seconds.

Stir in flour and cook 2 minutes stirring constantly.  While stirring slowly add in chicken broth and whisk until well blended

Add Potatoes, bay leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bring Mixture to a boil stirring frequently, then reduce heat to medium-low, I put it on low, and cook uncovered 10 minutes or just until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.

Add in cooked chicken, after cooking  the chicken I deboned it and threw the bones in too because my husband likes them, corn and the half and half (too rich, too fattening I used milk and it was just fine) and simmer uncovered 10-15 minutes more stirring occasionally.

Crumble the bacon in at the end.  I like the smoky taste of bacon so I put it in for about 5 minutes.

Though I cut down on the butter and the half and half this turned out creamy and rich.  In answer to Weaver of Grass, using canned corn was fine.

I went back and amended my original posting on this soup because the picture is not of my soup, I forgot to take a picture.  But it looks just like mine, minus the green onions which I did not use.

If you make it I hope you enjoy it.  I have some in the freezer waiting to be eaten, but today I made vegetable soup.

Five on Friday

Another week has rolled around and it's Friday again, so time to join with Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.  Do visit her blog today, she has some wonderful love quotes for Valentine's Day.

My Five are things that got made this week or made me happy.

The First is my Valentine's Pillow.  The front is done in a Half-Double crochet with Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick Yarn in this color:

Love the gold thread running through it.

The back I did in single crochet with a simple cream colored yarn.  The heart is done in a variegated pink that I had left over from another project.  It turned out pretty good considering I had no idea what I was doing.

My Second is the latest soup I've made.  It is Corn Chowder with Chicken and Bacon.  I made it yesterday and it was so easy, I'll definitely be making it again.

I should have noted that this is not my chowder, I forgot to take a picture, but except for the green onions it looks exactly like mine.

My Third is something Mac made.  When cleaning up the yard where a tree had fallen during a storm he found an interesting piece of wood and decided to keep it and make something out of it.

Before

After

My Fourth is one of his paintings that is more or less finished, to him they're never finished.

It's based on a photo we took in England at a Steam Fair.

My Fifth is my new pair of silk long johns.  My old pair had mysteriously disappeared.  We walk every morning before breakfast and I bundle up with jacket, gloves, scarf and earmuffs.  So I stay pretty warm on the top, but not the bottom.  I love jeans, but they don't keep you very warm, so I wear long johns in the winter or at least I did until mine went missing.  But now I have a new pair and I'm very happy.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Midweek Mutterings

Can't believe I haven't blogged since Saturday.  Nothing earth shattering has happened, it's just that time seems to be traveling at a different speed than me.  Lots of housework, lucky me, Monday spent running around town on errands, and trying to keep warm.  It's blooming cold down here.  Not in a hurry for summer to come, but it would be nice to warm up some.
Crocheting a pillow and over half-way through doing the back I notice that it's not the same width as the front----grrrrrr.  Undo, start over.
Made my first vegetable soup this week, threw in a couple of pork neck bones and made some meatballs so it was sort of like albondigas a Spanish meatball soup, very tasty if I do say so myself.
Watched parts of the Super Bowl, didn't really care who won, wait, let me restate that.  I didn't care if the Carolina Panthers won or not, didn't want the Denver Broncos to win, but wanted their quarterback Peyton Manning to win another Super Bowl.  And that's kind of how it worked out, except that Denver had to win for him to win.  I don't like Denver.
Almost Valentine's Day, hoping I get some chocolate, I've got a serious craving.

Gloomy Saturday

Cloudy and cold today, they're actually muttering that there maybe some snowflakes in our future.  Nothing to stick, but snow.  I would like to remind them that we live in the deep south, but an hour's drive from Florida.  It should not snow here.
Busy week.  Working on a crochet project that I of course ran out of yarn for and had to wait for Amazon to save me.  It should be finished tomorrow.
I finished my painting on the black canvas and I'm rather pleased with it.  Next is a stork in flight, no baby though.
Looked for something different to cook this week and I found a recipe for lemon/shrimp risotto.  It turned out pretty good, but I need to tweet the recipe a bit for next time.  A little more lemon and a little more white wine.

Time to go play with Mozart.  He was in a good mood yesterday and I'm hoping he'll behave himself today.

Five on Friday

The Cat's here to tell you it's time join up with Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.  And why a watch?  Because this week my Five are some of the clocks we've collected through the years.

The First is a German Wall Clock that we bought when we were living in Bad Kreuznach, West Germany---a country that no longer exists.  In fact all of the clocks are German.  This style is sometimes called a German striking  clock. No idea as to its age, would guess turn of the century around 1900-1920.











My Second clock is  sits on our desk.  Again, no idea as to age, perhaps a bit older than the first clock, so 1880-1900.








My Third clock is a "gold" mantel clock in the French style, but it too is German.  It originally had a black wooden stand it sat on and a glass dome, both of which have been lost or broken through the years we've had it.  He should be holding a long rifle in his hand and it's around here somewhere.  It's about the same age as the second one.

The Fourth clock is a Cuckoo clock.  I know it doesn't particularly look like one.  It is wooden with a pewter dial.  It has a wooden pendulum, but it's put up somewhere.  It's quite old, maybe mid-1800's.

My Fifth clock is our Grandfather clock and it stands at the foot of the stairs.  It's an open-well Grandfather and probably dates from the late 1800's to early 1900's.

Do we run the clocks?  No, too noisy, too much trouble, too lazy.  Though each year I ask Mac to get the Grandfather clock going and he always agrees to and always forgets.  But that's ok, I know what time it is, the cat tells me.

Rainy Thursday

The tornado at Ft. Stewart

The bad storms that wrecked havoc across Mississippi and Alabama got here yesterday afternoon.  The worst of it stayed on the other side of the I-95 highway, that's the main north-south freeway here. We're on the eastern side of it close to the coast.  But Ft. Stewart, the huge military base,  is on the western side and it was hit by a tornado yesterday.  No one was hurt, but quite a bit of property damage.
We're still having rain, will probably rain all day, but no high winds or lightning.
In better news our friend Mike came by yesterday to pick up his pressure washer and to bring us some eggs.  He started raising chickens and he's sharing the bounty with us.  Aren't they pretty!

More of the storm that came through

I've never had a blue egg before!

What Me Worry

Weaver of Grass was writing today about whether you're a worrier or not.  I am and I've gotten worse the older I've gotten.  If I don't have something personal to worry about I worry about the state of the nation and the world----don't even get me started on that. If worrying was an Olympic sport I could worry for America, I'm that good at it.
I read an article one day in the Huffington/Post 50 by Karl A. Pillemin, Ph.D who became interested in the subject of what people regretted the most in life and was surprised to find that the most frequently mentioned item was worrying, people wished they hadn't worried so much.
I wish I didn't either, I wish I were more like Miss Kitty and these lovely Freesias and Daffodils, neither of whom has a worry in the world.

Tuesday in the Swamp

It's beautiful here in the swamp, almost 80º, feels like spring, but I know better than to get too excited. We'll have overnight lows in the 30's this weekend.
Have been doing some deep cleaning, not much fun, but oh so satisfying when it's done.
Had to run into town for my B-12 shot today, should give me some more energy.  Plus my latest bloodwork showed that I had to up the dosage of the thyroid medication I take.  I've had an underactive thyroid for years and have taken medication for it.  A couple of years ago they removed half my thyroid because they thought it might be cancerous---it wasn't,  just full of lumps and bumps.  But anyway they monitor it to make sure I'm getting enough whatever the heck it is the thyroid produces and now I'm taking more medications to see that I do.  That should give me more energy too and might also explain my weight gain.  We'll see.
Well the Iowa caucuses are over and Trump didn't win, thank God for small favors, though Cruz isn't much to crow about either.  Glad to see that Iowans had some sense.  Looks like they really couldn't make their minds up between Hillary and Bernie.  It's off to New Hampshire next and I bet Bernie wins there.
Just imagine an election for President that features a socialist and an idiot-- there are some good Republicans, it's just that they don't have a snowball's chance of getting the nomination.   In the words of Kelly Bundy (Married With Children). The mind wobbles.