Photo 365 #286

May 20, 201512 Comments

2015-05-19 12.57.59 I still can’t get over how beautiful it was yesterday. It was a little chilly, but not bad. Sweatshirt weather.

I love sweatshirt weather.

But today? Today we’re back in the cold, gray dumps. It’s wet, but not windy (for the first time in a good week and a half). I woke up exhausted, which makes the grayness seem even more dreary, somehow.

So today I’m sharing another of the beauties I captured yesterday. It fairly screams spring. It’s cheery and bright and just the thing to chase away the gray.

How do you chase away the gray?

Photo 365 #285

May 19, 20153 Comments

White coral bells, upon a slender stalk…

Despite the forecast, it’s a lovely day outside. After running some errands this noon, the boys and I came back home and spent some time in the yard playing. They played with each other, and I played with my camera. 🙂

We’ve got some beautiful lily of the valley coming up along the north side of our house and as I stretched out in the grass to capture it, Shadow and Opal stopped by to keep me company. Turns out Shadow just wanted to laze about on my lap in the sun. If I hadn’t had other things to do (and others to keep track of), that would have been a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Cricket finally tired of the wind and decided he was ready to go back inside. “Do you have just one more picture to take, Mom?” he asked me. I assured him that I only had just one more, but after about ten just-one-mores, there was no more putting off the inevitable and we all headed inside.

Except Buddy. Despite the puppy-dog eyes, he stayed parked outside in the shade. 😉

Do your cats demand your attention while you’re trying to work? How do you handle it?

Photo 365 #284

May 18, 20155 Comments

Prior to this spring, I don’t think I’d ever seen a baby pine cone before. Imagine my surprise, then, to see what looked like bright red berries on the pine trees outside my bedroom window.

2015-05-03 16.29.43

I found this on the ground a few days later. With all the wind we’ve had lately, they’re all over the place now, but this first one intrigued me to no end.

Ain’t nature grand? 🙂

Photo 365 #283

May 17, 201518 Comments

Yesterday morning, I hit the streets with my mother-in-law to go garage saleing. It was time for city-wide garage sales in the neighboring town, and we had a ball. The city publishes a map of the town with a list of all the sales and puts them out at the local grocery and convenience stores, so we grabbed our copy and headed out.

There were 31 sales on the list and a whole bunch more besides (it costs five bucks to have your name on the list), and we hit a ton of them. We went to half the sales on the list and I don’t know how many that weren’t. We saw all sorts of things, from a solid wood rolling pin that could really do some damage if used as a weapon to a stock tank someone had used for a kids’ swimming pool. There were a couple of estate sales, a couple of plant sales, and several people selling baked goods in addition to other stuff.

We even saw a couple places selling everything including the kitchen sink. 🙂

I lucked out and found…

Photo 365 #282

May 16, 20152 Comments

I spent yesterday afternoon picking, washing, and chopping rhubarb. I picked so much rhubarb, in fact, that I didn’t even come close to chopping it all, but I did manage a fine pot of strawberry rhubarb sauce for supper, so there’s that.

Today, I thought I’d share my recipe. I even remembered to take pictures last night while I worked! FYI, those are the prettiest strawberries I’ve seen in ages. Yum.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

6 qts. rhubarb, washed and chopped
2 lbs. strawberries, chopped
3 c. sugar

Wash and chop fruit. Combine in large pot. Add sugar and mix well. Let simmer on medium low heat till fruit reaches desired tenderness; let cool. Serve alone or over ice cream.

Note: I started with two cups of sugar, but added a third later. If you have more strawberries, that adds to the sweetness, so then you might not need as much sugar. I let my sauce simmer around two hours, and pulled it off the heat when it started to froth. You can run it through a blender if you like it smooth, but I like mine chunky, so I didn’t. Once cooled, this makes a thicker sauce, which my family likes. Adding water thins it out.

Photo Friday again already?

May 15, 2015May 16, 2015Leave a comment

Okay, then. Let’s party like it’s 1999!

Much to my excitement, my high school recently sold off a bunch of extra yearbooks spanning 23 years. Included in their stock was the yearbook from my freshman year, which I didn’t get when I was in high school because I misunderstood the ordering procedure. I spent all week flipping through it and reliving my younger years. It was fun taking a trip down memory lane, that year in particular. 🙂

Have a great weekend!

Photo 365 #281

May 15, 20152 Comments

It was a beautiful spring day today! Mother Nature surprised us. It was supposed to be warm and rainy, but instead it was warm, sunny, and humid. I’ll take warm and sunny any day, though if I had to judge by today, I’d say it’s gonna be a long, hot summer.

Still, you can’t beat a day like this. 🙂

I’m a guest!

May 15, 20153 Comments

Today I’m being interviewed at Kev’s Great Indie Authors. We talk books and cover design and inspiration and all things writing! There’s even an excerpt from A Song for All Seasons. It’s a lot of fun, and I hope you’ll check it out. 🙂

Photo 365 #280

May 14, 20156 Comments

It’s a wet and windy day today, so of course, the boys were up at the crack of dawn wanting to go outside and play. There’s a chill in the air, so all I wanted to do was stay snuggled up in bed. Luckily, I was able to reach a compromise – the boys came and snuggled in bed with me.