When Life Gives You Lemons

Why not make lemon pound cake? That's what I did!

And it was good, both sweet and sour, kind of like life wouldn't you say?

Actually it is a lemon-lime pound cake made with Sprite, of all things. Corrine still gives me her Southern Living magazines when she's through with them, and this recipe came from there. According to the article, using soda was all the rage in the '50's so why not the new millennium? It acts as the leavening agent. Who knew?

Thank you to all for the kind words regarding Bruce's abrupt departure from Darden. Well, as I stated in my last post, not entirely abrupt as he's still working, but, shall we say, unexpected departure? He has been overwhelmed with good wishes, and he'd want me to thank each and every one of you. For the record, he's doing okay. Of course, he's been in Miami since Tuesday morning, so I will have to take his word for it. No slacking for him--he stayed at the job until 8PM Tuesday night!!

It's been dreary as all get out here which has not been good for me. I'm staying busy, but it's been a bit of a struggle. I finally cut up all my birthday envelopes Tuesday afternoon, making this piece I'm calling "Love Knows No Color."

Dreadful photo really, with such poor light, it's the best I could do! I think I'll cover the heart with Mod Podge and see what happens.

The poor birds are eating more than usual, maybe to stay warm? The highs have been in the mid 40's with rain to boot. Now, that doesn't seem so bad to some folks, but for a Floridian, it is torture! While watching the painted bunting in the pre-dawn this morning, I was reminded of this scripture, which is well known to me, but not one I've thought about for some time:

Matthew 6:26-34

New King James Version (NKJV)

26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

And yes, the painted bunting keeps coming back. 

He knows a good thing when he's found one! This bird sat on the fence singing his heart out:

I can't identify him, but he sure had a pretty voice.

As well, I'm still working on my coaster idea. These came out pretty good, 

until I realized all of the writing was backward. Obviously, I did not pay attention to the instructions that told me to reverse my image before copying. While I was at Office Depot having the laser copies made, the helpful young man told me he could do it for me, as well as size them. Searching Google, I learned how to reverse the image so at least I'm part of the way.  Today he re-sized some, and you'll see how they turned out soon, but before I was armed with that knowledge, I made this batch:

You can see that they are in various stages of completion. I'm getting better, or so I think. 

After rubbing and rubbing, I at least recognize when I don't have all the paper off. At the very least, if I don't attempt to sell these, they will make nice hostess gifts! Ironically, I got a call from Audrey at SunDance on Tuesday, with news that there is a manufacturer who wants to license one of my images to make coasters! I'm all for it. Furthermore, I got a nice little bit of "mailbox money" from them the other day. Bring it on!!!

One of the great things about having my darling around the house all the time will be that everything will not only look great, but work perfectly! As you know, he can make, or fix, just about anything. The lighted globe, given to me by Sue, was dark. No one could seem to pry the thing open to figure it out UNTIL Bruce did over the holidays. 

He warned me he might break it trying to get it open, but knowing Sue only paid $5 for it, made that decision a no-brainer. There is the tiniest light bulb on the end of that stick along with a little magnifying glass. A word of caution here: while doing a little Google search for this globe, I came across a listing in Etsy for one. The price? $245!! Really?? Watch those Etsy prices as many are super inflated! Ebay had one for $45. By golly he got it to work!

But that doesn't surprise you does it? It casts a lovely glow in the living room, very welcome on a day like this.

Well, it won't be long before you know who gets home from Miami. There is some pizza dough waiting in the fridge to come out and warm up before I roll it out for dinner. I'm going to have to get used to a new schedule, that's for sure!!

p.s. Please forgive the font changes, I've no idea what is going on!!

Helping the "Boys"

It is not like I don't have any practice at it---I will always be a helper to boys. In this case, they are really men, but that doesn't sound nearly as interesting does it?

Thursday morning, instead of getting there on my bike, I drove over to Eric's house. He lives around the corner, but Mrs. Camera Crazy is a wimp! It has been too cold for the likes of me to hardly go outside! This is the expansive view of the back yard from the house he shares with his parents, but not for much longer.

Earlier in the week, he'd sent me an email, hoping I would help him with his camera before he spends the next two months digging in the forest at Caracol, Belize. Not content with his role as an anesthesiologist, he's gone back to school to get a Masters degree in Anthropology. For reasons I can't fathom, he thinks I'm an expert with cameras, thus his request. Well, first off it is old, or at least in today's technology. Then too, the first thing I noticed is that it was set on Panoramic, which would not do at all. Eventually we had to turn to the internet for help, getting to the obscure menu where it could be changed. Well, the part about the internet is true, but actually we re-initialized it to the factory setting, which is how I knew that it was seven years old, a lifetime in digital camera technology! Anyway, we got him pretty well squared away for his trip leaving on Monday.

Helping Bill is ongoing. The other day I purchased a tub of chlorine tablets for the pool, in order to stop the whole green thing from ever happening again. Except, try as I might, I could not open it. Neither could Bill, or Herbert, his expert helper!! Taking it back to the store today, the fellow had to use a rubber mallet, along with another tool just to get the darn thing open. He now has chlorine in his floater...

Then there is Will from FAVO. I'm pretty sure I've neglected to mention I moved out of FAVO---or did I? Well, just because I moved out, doesn't mean that we aren't still friends. Celebrating his 10th anniversary at the church, he will be giving an organ recital. Sometime last year I took a photograph of him that people seemed to love, so he asked if I could do one for some promotional material. Of course I said yes. He's a great subject, that's for sure! I turned this one black and white, just because I wanted to, although he won't be using this one, or black and white, for that matter.

It was very nice to meet his Mom who is visiting for a few weeks from Kentucky. She's also the mother of four boys, or I guess I should say was, as Will's brother died two months ago. My heart breaks for her.

Oh my goodness, you won't believe it, or I guess maybe you will, but I hardly do, so there. Look who came back!

Sorry, but you're going to be bombarded with pictures of this little cutie!

Yes sirree Bob, the bunting was on the feeder, however Mrs. Cardinal thought otherwise. At least she did on the front feeder, the back one she was perfectly happy to share.

Then our little cutie flew into the hibiscus bush, or really, let's be honest, it's getting so huge it could be a fat tree with very few leaves!

Woo hoo!!! I take these through the windows--if only I could get closer without them flying away. The birds were feeding in full force this morning, including a tufted titmouse, doves, red-winged blackbirds, a blue jay, and of course Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal. Maybe it's the cold weather, don't know, but they were a busy bunch.

Wednesday night I had some ladies for wine and snacks, and what a fun time we had. Baxter knew something was up, sitting by the door waiting for their arrival.

What's that on the table you ask? Boxed wine? Indeed. And not bad at all. Bruce was aghast that I'd serve it, however, I know my friends, who, at least to my face, claimed they liked it. Here's the only problem as I see it with the box---it holds four bottles of wine, which, if you're not careful, because you can't see it diminishing, you can get a little carried away! Of course, I'd never do that, but some folks might! :)

What else have I been up to? I've been obsessed with learning how to do a photo transfer for ages. Finally, I bought a tile from Lowes and gave it a go. I printed a photo at home (!), and used a gel medium to attach it to the tile.

Perhaps you can see that it is a palm tree. Imagine that? Anyway, once it was dry, I put water on it and started rubbing the paper off.

Once that was all gone, I let it dry, finishing it with a coat of Mod-Podge.

So, you see not only what the tile looks like, but as an added bonus, you see my dirty thumbnail!! Despite wearing gloves to clean Bill's gutter, my nails got filthy and I'm still scrubbing them to remove all the dirt!

In truth, although I'm okay with how this turned out, it isn't right at all. I think there is still paper attached that I didn't completely rub off. After extensive time wasting on the internet, I'm going to try again, armed with some of my new found knowledge.

In conclusion, the other night, my friend Bev, only half kidding, called me Martha Stewart. Can you believe that? I told her I was far from MS, only that I enjoyed making things. Furthermore, I told her MS would NEVER serve bread sticks formed like this:

Undoubtedly, hers would be the same shape and length. Don't you agree?