Google Reader Gone Tomorrow

Hello friends, hope you are having a wonderful weekend.


A quick note to remind you all that Google Reader is gone tomorrow. I don't know anything more than that and had thought that it was just Google Friend Connect, but I am now seeing this report all over the Blogs.

Join bloglovin here

       
I will remind you that you can follow me at Bloglovin and I will be following you there. Bloglovin explains how to transfer all of your blogs over...I have not done it yet but will need to do it tonight so I don't lose any of you.

Hopefully I will see you all after this big change. xo

Happy Summer

 Happy Summer my friends..yes, it is finally officially here and the proof is all around.

The currents are ripening on the bush that I gave my mister on his birthday a few years back.

I

I finally wised up and put the bird netting over it when I caught the hens helping themselves!

They love the 'septic garden' and have taken to laying their eggs under the big fennel.

You can see this one sneaking in while no one is looking, they like to call it the Summer Nest as it has a bit of an exotic sound to it.

Today is my hubby's birthday and I will be making him a special dinner and trying a new cake.  I know many of you have probably made the famous Texas Sheet Cake, but I have never tried it.  Daughter Kami has told me that The Pioneer Woman, makes a sheet cake that she claims is the very best, hence the title of the recipe..."The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake, Ever" and it can be found here.  I will let you know the results.

So I will leave you now and wish you the sweetest of summer days and a lovely weekend.

xo

Can You Identify

 Good day to all.  I do hope your week is going well.  Things here remain busy with odds and ends around the yard and garden.  Speaking of, I have a question for you...


I have never had a confirmed identification of this bush on the side of the house and I would love to know what it is for sure.

It only blossoms once and has the most intoxicating smell, kind of like a gardenia or perhaps jasmine or maybe lily of the valley..I think you get the basic scent that I am trying to give.

Here is a closer look..the flowers are not very large, about the size of a small rose.

Thank you in advance for any help....Even guesses will be welcome.




We have a new addition to the Little House and do believe that construction is now complete.

A swallow family has decided that our door would be a great place to set up residence.  To be honest, I'm not so sure it is going to go well after little ones are hatched out..For some reason, I have a feeling that we might need to be using the back door for awhile.?

I will keep you posted on all of the latest activities, it should be interesting.

Off I go to get the lawn mowed/mown (?)  before the rain and a bit later I think I'll try a new bread recipe to go with a nice pot of soup to cheer up the next few grey days.

See you soon, enjoy the rest of your day.  xo

Beachy Sort of Morning

Happy Flag Day, Friday! I hope you all had a good week and are ready for the weekend.

We decided to have our coffee outside this morning. It is a typical beach morning with a slight misty overcast but not enough to really get wet.

I had to share this tuberous begonia with you...Isn't it the prettiest thing you've ever seen?  So delicate and tissue like.

The Mister had his coffee out of an early Father's Day gift from the grands...all of the kiddos are on it, minus our latest little sweet, Sydney (not to worry though, he keeps a photo of 'grandpa holding Sydney' in the car on the visor!).

Here is what he chose for his Fathers Day goodie, 'Blackberry Long Cake with Ginger Crumb', taken from my Vintage Cake Cookbook...Yum.

Speaking of Cookbooks...It is time to announce the winner of the Pizza cookbook giveaway..

My hubby drew the name out of a bowl and the winner is.....Roxie at Sweet Vintage of Mine, Congratulations Roxie, please send your info and I'll get that ordered right away.

I hope you all have a very happy Fathers Day weekend...Have a good one all of you dads out there!

xo

Sometimes It Is Hard To Go

Saying goodby to City House again.  My stay, no matter how long, just never seems long enough.  It seems that I just get started and it is time to close everything up and shift gears to the North.

I am thankful for both of the homes that we have...just thinking out loud and feeling a bit nostalgic.

Enough of  that now, my sweet hubby is waiting along with Frederick the cat, chickens, garden and flowers.  So off I go.

Have a wonderful Wednesday my friends and don't forget the cookbook giveaway (here), open through tomorrow night and announcing the winner Friday.  xo

Cookbook Giveaway

Let's have some fun and do a giveaway.

A few weeks ago, I tried my hand at homemade pizza, even though I had rave reviews from the Mister, I knew it was a long way from being the pizza of my dreams.

 

Photo - Amazon.com (here)

So, I will be ordering this book by Jim Lahey, you may remember him from the 'My Bread' fame of the no knead revolution, and I will also give one away to the lucky winner.

Just leave a comment and I will announce the winner this Friday, June 14th in honor of Flag Day.

Have a happy Monday.  xo

Snail Mail Not Dead After All

Since I'm not one to mince words, I will start right off with a warning...
If you are 'not' extremely alarmed with the fact that 'all' of our tech activities are being collected then read no further...You have been warned.

This post is not a debate.  I am a reasonable person and I am not an idiot.  I take information gathering very seriously and take the time to keep up with all of the news, with all of the distasteful things that are going on here in the United States and as much as possible word wide.

I realize that our world is a dangerous place and we need to take many precautions to keep our country safe.  The Patriot act was designed to do that...I was not a big fan of that but at the time, could see the need for it.  The original design was for specific targeted individuals out of country and limited in scope.  It was not designed to cast a wide net and gatherer all the information of all citizens in the U.S.

As citizens of the United States, we are guaranteed privacy and the 4th Amendment of the Constitution protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures...See Here.

We are not all criminals until proven innocent...that is for other countries, like Mexico, for example.

We are supposed to feel safe in our homes, to be able to protect our belongings and loved ones.  Also to be safe to express our thoughts and inner most feelings even on our computers when we visit each other on our blogs.  That is a reasonable expectation unless we have broken the law in some way or are in the process of planning something horrid against our fellow man and country.

We can put up signs of warning to protect our property......

But what signs can we put up to protect our words and photos?  None!!

Unfortunately, we have lost all trust in our government...the IRS scandal is just the first one that comes to mind.  And, I might remind you, if you are thinking "It doesn't affect me", that those were the words from people back when Hitler was having his way....you all remember that, now don't you?

Now that we have gotten all of that out of the way, I will get to the real point of this post.

As far as I know, the government couldn't possibly open all of the snail mail and read it and then seal it back up and send it on (oh wait, maybe that's why it takes so long, just kidding),

So, for those of you that are interested (thank you to those that have already emailed me) , I will exchange physical addresses with you, just email me and we will go from there.

This is not some secret weird thing, no back room conspiracy correspondence, just a woman, wife, mother, grandmother, sister...etc....that would like to still have some privacy.  Is that too much to ask?

I will end this post now and get back to my normal, regular life.

Much love to you all.  xo

Fresh Cut Friday

Better late than never. I'm joining in with Liz's Fresh Cut Friday, over at her blog, Rose Vignettes.

Whenever I come to City House ahead of my husband, he stops at Albersons grocery store right before he gets here and picks me up 3 bunches of flowers.  He started bringing me these when I was in treatment and has continued on with it.

The green flowers in  the arrangement have become one of my favorites as they last and last.  The Easter bouquet he brought included these and some powdery pink carnations, oh so pretty.  When I left the house that time, I decided to just leave the arrangement on the dining table, it was just to lovely to throw out and to my surprise, when I returned a few weeks later they were still as pretty as ever.  

I had a check up today with my Gynecology Oncologist and radiologist and they said that all is well and I am doing great.  No need to come back until September..Yay!

Much love to you all and have a happy weekend.  xo

Following You On Bloglovin

Happy Wednesday!

 A quick post to let you all know that I am in the process of changing the way I follow your blogs. Google has been too unpredictable to risk my ability to keep up with you, my special friends. I am not savvy enough to keep up with Google getting rid of Friend Connect and what that means for me, if anything...and "what next?", type of thing.

I have been gradually adding blogs to my bloglovin' account so I can familiarize myself with the new way to visit you and keep up to date...so far, so good.

So, if you see that I no longer follow you in the regular way, it doesn't mean I have 'broken up' with you, just moved you over to a safer place.    If you would like to do the same you can visit here.

Have any of you changed over to another place?


Have a great day.  xo

This and That Outdoors

Good day my friends and happy June!

We kicked off the new month getting those last plants in their new homes, either in pots or in the ground.

Here are a few shots of what's going on outside the Little House.

This is what I have named "The Salad Bowl",  a pretty enameled bowl that has seen better days, with holes in the bottom, perfect for drainage.  The greens are called 'Spicy Mix'.

I was so excited to come back from City House and find that the beans have sprouted..yeah!

Yesterday afternoon, I got busy and potted up some pretties to take up to the Shed.

A few pink geraniums and lobelia, left over from the window boxes, were happy to join the begonia on the porch of the Shed.

Last but not least....Our sweet neighbor across the road, Miss E. taking a bit of a break from adding pretties to her flower beds.  It is a joy to look over at her carefully tended yard.


There is still much to do around the yard and garden and mowing is on the list for today and tomorrow.

In the kitchen, there will be baking going on.  Frozen fruit needs to be used up to make room for this years bounty.  I am currently seeking a good recipe for blackberry bread.  Please share if you have a favorite that you recommend.

Off I go now to let the chickens out for a bonus free range session...they will be so pleased.

Have a wonderful Monday, my friends.  xo