When the Calm Returns

I love Christmas. I really do. I also enjoy when things get quiet again and I return to the sunroom with my camera. Here's a wee sample of the good life from my sunroom.

Christmas Wishes 2008

May your Christmas be especially happy this year. May you be surrounded with love and happiness, family and friends. May your days be blessed and every moment treasured! Thank you for the love you have given to me this year! It is the greatest gift of all! Love, Susan

Wrapping Day

For the last three days, I have been wrapping gifts. Raymond is my elfish inspiration who has kept me going.

Hope your wrapping is going well and your Christmas is merry!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

My New Favorite Movie

I LOVE Australia! Everything about this movie is fantastic! If you need someone to see it with, call me! You will laugh, cry, and fall in love - with all of them and the place! Wow!

The acting is remarkable and the movie is perfectly cast. You will love hard and hate hard - because the good guys are SO good and the bad guys are SO bad!

I don't own this image so if you do, and you don't want me to use it, just let me know.

As Thanksgiving Approaches...

...I realize how truly thankful I am. For:

• a special family. I couldn't be more loved.


• Mom and Dad's new home. They are happy.


• my boy who is so small and fragile - he's an aging teacup Yorkie for those who don't know.


• health and happiness. Some take these for granted -maybe I used to.


• close friends who know me so well and love me anyway.


• the children in my life - reminders that life goes on...


• my home that I now have time to enjoy.


• the wildlife that call my backyard home. They wow me with their beauty, antics, and ability to eats many pounds of expensive seed, suet, and critter munchies.


• even the chipmunks who take many pounds of safflower seeds underground for the long winter's nap.


• America - even in the tough times - but my generation has never seen REAL tough times - and I hope we never will.


• God's love for me and for all of us. I list this last because it is the one that I want to dwell on as I go through my day. Such undeserved love, mercy, and goodness - what all I could do so much better.

Happy Thanksgiving. May this season be filled with happiness and love!

And, did I mention that I am very thankful for smiling horses? I am!

For Camryn and Andrew

If you go to my YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/stwalraven, you can watch this video in high quality. It really is much better that way!

Licklog Creek - Cartecay River

What a beautiful sight to behold is north Georgia in November! This year we stayed in a beautiful cabin on Licklog Creek of the Cartecay River just outside of Ellijay! The beauty is indescribable and is very difficult to capture in photos! Here are a few of my feable attempts. Enjoy! BTW, this area is known for its kayaking, rafting, and year-round trout fishing. We, of course, did none of that instead supporting the local economy with our shopping adventures.

Harry Potter and the Jogger

We can't let the kiddies have ALL the fun! Happy Halloween 08!

Getting Ready for Halloween

My boy and I are considering our options for this Halloween. As inspiration, we pulled out an old photo. Who knows what we will come up with by Friday. Happy Halloween Week!

Something To Think About

In My Spare Time....(instead of ironing)

Saving Grace

As disturbing as all the political and economic news can be, I remember that God is in control; He is sovereign; and no one can separate me from His love.

Mom's Birthday

Yesterday was Mom's birthday. We had a great time in Senoia where my boy got to play in his favorite creek. October is a beautiful time for a birthday - don't you think! I was entrusted to make the birthday cake and this one worked! Happy birthday, Mom! I love you!

Birthdays and Grandmammas

I just had a birthday and with the exception of the homemade, self-made, disaster cake, it was a nice birthday. This birthday came in the middle of some pretty big changes in my world - what with china packing and all - and I have thought a lot about my grandmother who lived to the ripe old age of 100 years and 5 months to the day. So since I AM swimming in her gene pool, I could well be at the half-way point of my life - or not... (Also in my gene pool are those who make me hesitate to buy green bananas.)

We called her Nana and she was quite a Southern Steele Magnolia. She worked in a mill, played the mandolin, and had the good sense to marry my grandfather - the sweetest man ever to walk this earth. She was full of wisdom and shared it when needed. I remember her telling my cousins and me that "What's down in your well comes up in your bucket." She was right. Think about it.

This is a picture of Nana in her mother's arms. It is one of my favorites! I think they are both beautiful and I am proud to have them a few limbs up in my family tree!

Early Mornings

I love to take my hot tea outside on cold mornings and enjoy what God brings to me. My hummingbirds are still humming, the cardinals and chickadees eat early, and the squirrels are always looking for yummy treats. A neighbor kitty will drop in my fenced backyard for a visit. Those things I can depend on. It's the rare treat I have to watch out for and not miss. On the morning I took this picture, Charlotte (the spider for those of you who slept through elementary school) had just caught a special treat and had wrapped it up in a lovely silk sac. What a wonder... (click on the picture for a larger image)

My #$%^&* Birthday Cake

Well, today is my birthday. Tomorrow my family will celebrate my special day with a lunch at Mom and Dad's. I, of course, volunteered to make my own cake since I AM the proud owner of a new KitchenAid mixer. It is now 8:42 pm and the cake is out of the oven. LOOK! My little friend Betsy helped me create this disaster. Never in all my attempts at baking have I/we fallen so short of the goal. JM's Dad's cake at least just fell off the plate. Mine fell off the plate and oozed magma all over the counter. I wish you could have seen it when I first flipped the pan over on the cake plate. For approximately 17.38 seconds it was a beautiful cake. Betsy says I need a cake tester. I think I need a man in my life who can bake - to hell with the tester. Does anyone want a slightly used KitchenAid mixer? By the way, I WAS somewhat distracted by the eggs that were coming to room temp (see below - note my birthday portrait in the tea kettle). Perhaps I should stick to photography! And, finally, Note To Self: One should never make one's own birthday cake...

America's Problems

There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, love of freedom, intelligence and energy of her citizens cannot cure....

Dwight David Eisenhower

Elvis' Favorite Pound Cake

• • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering
    pan
  • 3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) plus
    additional for dusting
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 7 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • Special equipment: a 10-inch tube pan (4 1/2 inches deep; not with a
    removable bottom) or a 10-inch bundt pan (3 1/4 inches deep; 3-qt capacity)

  Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven.
  Generously
  butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess flour.
  Sift together
  sifted flour (3 cups) and salt into a bowl. Repeat sifting into another bowl
  (flour will have been sifted 3 times total).
  Beat together butter (2 sticks)
  and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale
  and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or 6
  to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after
  each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add half of flour,
  then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition. Scrape
  down side of bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes. Batter will become
  creamier and satiny.
  Spoon batter into pan and rap pan against work surface
  once or twice to eliminate air bubbles. Place pan in (cold) oven and turn oven
  temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in
  middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool cake
  in pan on a rack 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inner and outer edges of
  cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack to cool
  completely. (from Epicurious.com)

If it's good enough for the King, it's good enough for my birthday. Cross your fingers!

If I were a rich man,Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.

Is this not the most beautiful cookware you have ever seen in your whole entire life? It certainly is to me, so, if I were into coveting, I would covet this stuff! If I had a man with a million dollars (or a million men with a dollar), I would be the oh so proud owner of this very set. Guess I better find that man....

For those of you with money, it is Ruffoni Hammered Stainless Steel from Williams Sonoma. If you buy it, may I come over and visit it?

Adorable - Must Share

You know how you get all those forwarded emails and you delete most of them with just cursory notice? Well today I received one that is so precious that I had to share. The topic is Identity Theft. I have no idea who composed or photographed these shots. If I did know, I would certainly give credit and thank them for sharing somthing so sweet and beautiful! Enjoy!

Life Changes - Passages - Should I Write a Book?

• OK - It's already been written.

• Anyway, I love this picture for so many reasons. First of all, I am the adorable young child looking at the camera. The other child is my much older sister. We are standing over with my aunt who prepared this lovely dinner. (Notice there is no place for us children at the table. I'm guessing we had already eaten or were being sent to eat in the kitchen.) My mother is the one looking at the camera and Dad is beside her. Across the table are my cousin and his girlfriend. My uncle took the picture. I remember eating with Mom's or Dad's family all the time. We didn't have to have a holiday or special occasion, we just did it.

• The china on the table belonged to my paternal grandmother - more about her later - maybe next post. I digress... Back to passages - my sister is now packing this very china up to be handed down to my great niece, her granddaughter, who is now the age my sister was in this picture. I love the way we do that here in the South.. My great niece already needs a china cabinet and she's not even ten years old yet. What a very lucky little girl! (This china came from her great, great grandmother!)

• I love the watch chain you see on Dad's pants. His pocket watches are very special to us!

• I love the color of the walls in my Aunt's dining room. I love the drapes. Note the battenburg table cloth - I must have inherited that gene from her. I remember that house and all the good times I had there. This was a cooking Auntie. She would let us watch and help and I know I learned a lot from her.

• I love my family. They are rich blessings in my life. So we pack up the china and turn another page in the family history book. I love this story...

In Search of: THE PERFECT POUND CAKE

I may not have it in me to make the perfect pound cake but I haven't given up yet. As I have talked to great cooks, here are some of the suggestions I have gotten:

1. Start with a cold oven.
2. Start with a preheated oven.
3. Use only unsalted butter.
4. Any butter will do. Don't use margarine.
5. Margarine will do.
6. Start with all ingredients at room temp.
7. It doesn't matter what temp the eggs are.
8. Spray the pan.
9. Never use spray in the pan. Always grease and flour the pan.
10. Only use an old tube pan. Never use a bundt pan.
11. Only use a bundt pan - the cheaper, the better.
12. Use only cake flour.
13. Use only plain flour.
14. Don't over-beat the batter. Just beat it until it looks right.
15. Beat the hell out of the batter.
16. Undercook it just a bit to get the "sad streak."
17. Never undercook your cake. You will get that nasty sad streak.
18. Don't walk in the kitchen while the cake is baking.
19. Don't open the oven door while the cake is baking.
20. Nothing really matters but how much LOVE you put in the cake.
    

Great cooks use terms like "looks right" and "little bit." They use definites like always and never. They know when it "smells done."

I think I should now keep trying and quit asking. Then one day when I have found my way to do it just the way I want it, I'm going to find me someone who just bought a new KitchenAid mixer and confuse the hell out of 'em!

Home-Baked Goods 2 - I DID IT!

I did it! This is my second attempt and 100% of that sucker came out of the pan! Hooray! It is a Williams Sonoma Almond Bundt Cake. Actually, I'm sure I just paid big bucks for a box of sugar and flour - but it DID come out of the pan.

Now - tomorrow at lunch we find out if it's edible! Cross your fingers, please. And. Coach, things are looking up!

Home-Baked Goods - The Fun Starts Today

Back in my old principal-ing days, Coach Kidd would always ask me about bringing in home-baked goods. He seemed to be serious, as if I should be expected to bring in goodies for such a great staff. Didn't he know that I was a busy woman who could not concern herself with such as that? Didn't he know that I didn't even have a cake pan - much less a mixer? Didn't he know I thought he was great even if I never made him a pound cake?

When all my friends were getting married (some of them over and over) and having showers and receiving mixers and cake pans, I was in school and working. (Not that Mom didn't warn me - she asked if I would be happy spending my life with my books - and yes, I am pretty happy with them...)

But I must admit that I have fond "growing-up" memories of home-baked goods. Mom and I would bake - with varying degrees of success. Once we had the GE oven man come check the oven. When it was found to be calibrated exactly right and performing properly, Mom and I had to take a bit of responsibility for a few disasters. But we got quite good with Lemon Supreme and Prune Cake (Yes, you read it right - had a jar of baby-food prunes in it - tasted like spice cake.)

My grandmother and my aunts were/are great cooks. I watched them for years and learned a lot.

Martha's Mom and Dad were pound cake bakers. I loved to show up when the cake was in the oven and the milk glasses were in the freezer! Yummm!

My sister and I would bake and still do, actually. We're still perfecting our cookies with royal icing and she's a pro with the gingerbread house. JM and I made a pecan pie once and left out the sugar. About half way through the baking time, we found the sugar bag still out and added it then. It was perfect, teaching us that all these silly steps in these recipes are not all really necessary. And the carrot cake I made for JM's dad's birthday cracked and fell off the plate - so I delivered it in baggies and he said it was the best cake he had ever eaten. He was a precious, precious soul!

Well, I bought my new mixer today and I'm ready to figure out how to bake. I made my first pound cake tonight and I'm proud to announce that over half of it came out of the pan. I felt compelled to eat all that part that stayed in the pan and I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow.

If you have recipes I must try, send them on - and please don't leave out any key ingredients - I'd never know it!

So, Coach, give me a bit of time to practice and then come on over. The home-baked goods will be waiting!

There's a New Dawg in Town - UGA VII!

If Squirrels Could Cuss - Brought to You by Our Friends at Squirrel Buster Plus

You Need a Day Like This Once in a While

If you walked into my backyard or sat down in my sun room, you would not notice a single thing. Only if you had a before and after photo would you have a chance of knowing what all I did today.

I spent HOURS in one flower bed - the one with the bird feeders. I pulled up trees and weeds and sticker vines. I cut the limbs that the squirrels were using to get on my roof. That led to cutting other low hanging limbs. I cut dead limbs out of hydrangeas. I dead headed flowers and shrubs. I cleaned and filled feeders and the birdbath.

The birds kept on eating when they realized I wasn't going away. So, of course, I had to get my camera and take 126 pictures - OK - that took a while...

I was wearing flip flops and no gloves during all of this and copperheads did cross my mind a time or two as I reached into the dense ivy. The only scary moment was when this guy showed up. At first, he didn't mention that he was only a lizard - I thought I heard him say the snake word...Oh well, I got his picture and we didn't scare each other to death after all.

I had lots of time to think and solve the world's problems. I needed a day like this!

The Romanov Prophecy

Recently I finished Steve Berry's Romanov Prophecy. It is fantastic. It is full of good history with excellent fiction woven within it.

I've been to Russia twice and knew or at least knew of many of the places mentioned in the book. Stalin's metro stations, the train ride from Moscow to St. Petersburg, Red Square, the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's tomb, the onion domes of the Russian Orthodox Churches, the Alexander Palace and Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo - all fond memories of two remarkable trips. I think it's time to get out my photos and journals and relive them without the pressure of Berry's characters rushing me forward through an excellent book...

So if you're a fan of Russian history, the Romanovs, great historic fiction, or fast-paced thrills, you will love The Romanov Prophecy!

AND Berry lives on the Georgia coast...

Baby Bulldogs - I Hope!

What could be nicer than a couple of baby bulldogs in the family. Here are Logan and Mason with their Mom on their first trip to Athens. These are the grandchildren of a cousin of mine - (sadly her son is a Tech graduate - so I will NOT be posting pictures of their first trip to the North Atlanta Trade School.) Adorable! ...and they look right at home in Athens, now, don't they! Go Dawgs!

Guard Cat, Guard Hummer

Those of you who know me know I don't even have a cat. However, this is my gazebo in my backyard. The cat comes to enjoy his freshly cleaned gazebo, freshly cleaned furniture, new seat cushions in the rockers, and full feeders to attract those birds he loves to listen to and watch. What a great place for a summer nap! (Good thing I have two rockers!)

As for the hummer, he's guarding his juice - the feeder I clean and fill religiously so that he and his family, but no others, mind you, can always get fresh, yummy food.

So today, I finished cleaning the cat's gazebo and the hummer's new feeder. And with all that guarding going on, I know I will sleep well tonight!

Greet Each Day

I will greet each day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth I will look on all things with love and I will be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. ... I will greet this day with love in my heart.

Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World

Now They Tell Me!!!

Your Career Personality: Independent, Insightful, and Ingenious

Your Ideal Careers: Architect Artist Business strategist College professor Computer programmer Mathematician Neurologist Philosopher Photographer Video game developer

The Quick and Dirty Career Test

Oh, Italy!

What could be better than a good looking Georgia guy in a good looking Georgia jacket standing outside the Bulldog Inn in Rome, Italy! What a life!

I'm ready to head back to Italy.....

A Parable for Our Time

I just finished reading The Shack by William P. Young. It is a very interesting story. If you have read it, what did you think?

I love a book that makes you think and this one does!