A Serious Reflection for Independence Day

I know I've talked before about loving my country - The United States of America. I do. I am so thankful to have been born in this land where we have the freedom to speak out for what we believe, the freedom to worship God as we believe we should, the privilege of voting to elect our own leaders.

I am extremely disturbed and saddened when I see so many people who should know better dishonor our heritage and act as if these things came at no cost. Freedom isn't free. Many good men and women gave all, including their own lives to obtain this bounty we enjoy, and yet many of us act as if it will continue indefinitely with no effort on our part.

I've just finished reading a tribute to Ronald Reagan and I've been reminded of the years before he took the Presidency. I remember the sort of shame we felt about our country, as if we'd done something so terrible. Ronald Reagan gave us back a pride in our nation, a feeling of unity, a sense that we could accomplish anything.

I believe that is what we're all looking for in this election, but I don't see any candidate equipped to meet that need. Perhaps it is finally time for all of us to look to the only One who can help us.

His Name is Jesus.

Cool Comfort Cooking

Somehow or other, Mr. Sweetie Pie and I managed to get a little touch of food poisoning, virus, whatever over the weekend. I am not sure at all what did it, but my tummy is still not back in happy land. :(

So today, I made a nice, comforting vegetable soup for lunch. It was perfect!


Also some of these nice, crispy corn sticks, also perfect!



I am really loving our new convection oven. It is so much cooler than turning on the big gas oven, and does a wonderful job.


Score!

Have you noticed the new feature on the right hand side of the blog - "My Blog List"? This is so neat - you get a little taste of what's new on some of my favorite blogs. Blogger really did a good job with this one!

Have a great evening.

~Elaine~

Edited Update: Corn sticks are cornbread made in the shape of ears of corn - traditionally in a cast iron corn stick pan. Although, to tell the truth only the part in the pan looks like corn. And if you're still in the dark, cornbread is a bread made primarily from ground corn (as opposed to wheat). I know it's the "staff of life" in the South where I've lived all my life. :)

And I tell a little about my new convection toaster oven in the comments following this post.

Lazy Day and Yellow Brick Road Baby Quilt

I think Bruno has the right idea for days like this - so hot all you want to do is take it easy.





I finished the Yellow Brick Road Quilt I've been working on for my niece's baby, due in November. So, another minor miracle - I'm ahead of the game for a change :).

I had a lot of fun with this quilt, and though I am nowhere near the level of skill I would like to possess, it still turned out pretty well. I hope she likes it.

I think my next project will be making another one of these for my other niece's daughter. For sure I've got plenty of fabric!

Isn't it fun to create something entirely new out of things you have!

~Elaine~

What to do with figs and a new baby quilt

Last night I managed to can eight pints of fig preserves. Here they are in all their glory. I canned six pints on Tuesday night and sent four of those to Mississippi with our son to restock my Mother's supply.

Not everyone likes figs. I don't understand this at all, as I think they are wonderful! I like to eat them fresh off the trees and the fig preserves are mighty good on a hot buttered biscuit. Yum!

Here's a recipe for a cake made with fig preserves for those of you fortunate enough to have access to fig preserves. They are hard to come by, which is why I started growing my own figs and making my own preserves :). This is from my friend Irene and is very sweet, rich cake.

Fig Preserves Cake
2 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup pecans (optional)
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup fig preserves, chopped
Sift together the dry ingredients; add oil and mix well. Add eggs; mix well. Add buttermilk; mix well. Add figs and pecans. Bake 40-45 minutes at 325 in 9 x 13 greased pan.
Topping:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
Mix all ingredients together; boil 3 minutes. Remove from burner. While hot, pour over cake. Punch small holes in cake with fork as topping is poured on.

A friend at church has a new "preemie" grandson, and I wanted to make something for him. This is the result.

I love those happy airplanes with the cat and dog pilots.

The cloudy sky on the back is pretty, too.

Have a great evening!

~Elaine~

Figs and Flowers

I've been picking figs today. The ladder in the picture is six feet tall, just to give you an idea of the size of that fig tree! No way can I get all the figs on there, but that's okay. The birds enjoy the feast!


And this is what's in the bucket you can see in the picture of the fig tree and the ladder. It's a "Hansel" eggplant. There are three of these little babies on that plant right now.



And this little fellow is a cucumber, believe it or not. They have very pleasing taste in spite of their lack of color. It was an experiment this year. You know how it is, I just wanted to see what it would be like. :) And there are lots of them out there in the little garden.
This supposedly "dwarf" black fig is growing next to our chicken house, and if you notice, on the other side of the chicken house is a rather tall sunflower that I did not plant. My guess is a bird dropped a seed. That plant is well over ten feet tall.

These four-o'clocks are some of my favorite flowers. They bloom in the afternoon and as it gets closer to dark, they are wonderfully fragrant.

These white ones really show up in the evenings. If you ever get these plants started, they just keep on growing. Their seeds look like little hand grenades, and as they fall to the ground you end up with a never-ending supply of these happy plants. They will still be blooming in the morning, but as the sun rises these blooms will be done.

I love my little corner of the world. Can you tell?

~Elaine~

Birthday Cake + Quilt = Happy!

I made this little birthday cake for our older daughter. De - licious!

And I finally finished her Yellow Brick Road quilt. She's happy with it, and so am I.

Are you picking up on the fact that she really likes purple:)?

Have a great day!

~Elaine~

Fabric Bonanza and Snickerdoodles

I have found a wonderful new friend in my wanderings on ebay. Her name is Michelle . Turns out Michelle's fabric store is moving because her landlord has not been very diligent about keeping the air conditioning in good working order. Rather than move all their stock of fabrics, they have been selling (at really great prices) a lot of their stock on ebay.

This is some of the loot that came for me today. I am in fabric heaven.
I hardly know where to begin, but I can tell you - there's going to be a whole lot of sewing going on around here!

Happy, happy, happy!!!!

Oh, and I made the mistake of showing my Sweetie the picture of snickerdoodles Oiyi had posted on her blog. Guess what I made today?

I think hers look a lot prettier than mine, but these are still mighty good!

Have a great evening.

~Elaine~