Last night Denise and I were the only ones home for dinner. She had gone to town to study and didn't want to walk home. So after I picked up her, we decided to try out the new restuarant in town- the Redneck Gourmet. I had the chicken salad on a crossiant and she had a Rusty Rooster (chicken & veggies rolled up in a spinach tortilla). The food was fair. I would have liked a little more mayo in the salad and Denise's broccoli salad was just raw broccoli and dried cranberries with some kind of light dressing. (Definitely not up to our good friend's way of making broccoli salad!) But the place was very clean and the prices were okay. We may give a try again sometime- probably when everyone else is home to try it too.
If you are interested in learning more about the place- here's their website: http://www.redneckgourmet.com/
Friday, May 30, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Memorial Day parade
I forgot to take my camera with me when we went to the Memorial Day celebration in Senioa. But our neighbor was there and she had her camera and was gracious to send me copies of the photos she took. It was a great day. I think for next year I will buy one of the pop-up canopies and make some embroidered items to sell. There were a lot of people there and only one vendor was selling embroidered items (and only 2 items- key chains and travel mugs that had an insert for fabric.)We went to the fireworks show at the ball field parks after dark. It was a great day- except for JonPaul and Naomi missing it. But I know they were having fun where they are.Enjoy the parade:
neighbor kids on float- which belongs to our landlords' company
Catch the Reading Bug- entry by town's library
Denise (and probably JonPaul too) liked this car
Air Force Color Guard
neighbor kids on float- which belongs to our landlords' company
Catch the Reading Bug- entry by town's library
Denise (and probably JonPaul too) liked this car
Sons of the Confederacy firing their muskets
they later fired them (and a cannon!) in tribute to our fallen heros
Friday, May 23, 2008
Memorial Day
Here's a very moving video I found to honor all of all fallen soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines. It's because of brave men and women like these that our country is the greatest in the world. I am proud to have been in the Air Force and to be married to an Army man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_klwtm67ogg&NR=1
PS- You may want to have some tissues handy.
God Bless America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_klwtm67ogg&NR=1
PS- You may want to have some tissues handy.
God Bless America!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Travel
Naomi is leaving Saturday evening for an extended visit with Grandma & Grandpa. I'm not sure who is going to enjoy it more- her or them. Jon Paul is leaving early on Sunday morning for a week-long JROTC leadership camp.
Photos of Naomi
I did get the photos of Naomi from last week's award ceremony and concert.
Naomi- technology student of the year
Naomi receiving chorus award from Mr Edwards
8th grade chorus performing
Naomi- technology student of the year
Naomi receiving chorus award from Mr Edwards
8th grade chorus performing
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
How does our garden grow?
The snapdragons have re-bloomed.
The basil and parsley are doing well. And they are sharing their container with a sunflower that was planted by birds spilling seeds from their feeder. We actually have a number of sunflowers growing this way. Most we have pulled up because there wasn't enough room in the pots.
The tomatoes and bell peppers plants we bought are blooming and we have one small green tomato and lots of pepper buds. It's hard to wait for them to produce. The cost of peppers here is $1.79 EACH- and the price keeps rising.
The ones started from seed seem to be doing well, but are still pretty small plants.
(Sorry, I didn't take photos of these.)
The basil and parsley are doing well. And they are sharing their container with a sunflower that was planted by birds spilling seeds from their feeder. We actually have a number of sunflowers growing this way. Most we have pulled up because there wasn't enough room in the pots.
The tomatoes and bell peppers plants we bought are blooming and we have one small green tomato and lots of pepper buds. It's hard to wait for them to produce. The cost of peppers here is $1.79 EACH- and the price keeps rising.
The ones started from seed seem to be doing well, but are still pretty small plants.
(Sorry, I didn't take photos of these.)
Trumpet Lily
This is a former Easter lily that was rescued several years ago from being thrown into a dumpster. I have no idea what color it was originally as the flowers were gone when I got it. But since then it has been pink, and this year it is an exceptionally dark pink. Thought I'd share. And interestingly, it doesn't not have an excess of pollen to aggrevate allergies. I don't know if it this particular plant or because it's outside and not as potent.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Naomi gets several awards
At the 8th grade honors ceremony, Naomi was awarded several awards:
1. Technology student of the year
2. President's Silver award (for any student who has a year long GPA of 90-94)
3. excellent attendance (she missed perfect attendance by just the one day we were stuck in the Las Vegas airport trying to get home after Christmas vacation)
She also was awarded certificates for her chorus work and participation in the 2007 District Honor Chorus.
I had the camera with me, but did not get good pictures. One of the teachers there was taking photos of all the students who received awards. She is going to email copies. I'll post them when I get them.
Jonathan and I are very proud of Naomi's hard work this year.
1. Technology student of the year
2. President's Silver award (for any student who has a year long GPA of 90-94)
3. excellent attendance (she missed perfect attendance by just the one day we were stuck in the Las Vegas airport trying to get home after Christmas vacation)
She also was awarded certificates for her chorus work and participation in the 2007 District Honor Chorus.
I had the camera with me, but did not get good pictures. One of the teachers there was taking photos of all the students who received awards. She is going to email copies. I'll post them when I get them.
Jonathan and I are very proud of Naomi's hard work this year.
Recipe Notes
Well, I made the Chinese chicken last night. I think when I make it again, I will make some changes. The family agrees that a peach or apricot jam rather than orange marmalade would give a better flavor. And a thickener is needed in the sauce as it is very thin. Overall, it's not a bad recipe. We ate it over noodles, with some of Denise's sourdough cheese bread. The bread was very good!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
New recipe
I just came across this recipe from one of the online forums I belong to. I think I will make this for dinner tonight. I may cut back on the soy sauce a little though, to cut back on the salt.
Chinese crock pot chicken
4 or 5 boneless chicken breasts
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup marmalade
4T ketchup
4T Tastefully Simple garlic garlic (or 12 cloves minced garlic)
3T Tastefully Simple onion onion (or 2 sliced onions)
Mix the sauce. Pour on top of the chickens. Swish around. Cook on low for 3 hours. Check and see if you need to cook it for one more hour. Serve with white rice and steamed veggies. :-)
Chinese crock pot chicken
4 or 5 boneless chicken breasts
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup marmalade
4T ketchup
4T Tastefully Simple garlic garlic (or 12 cloves minced garlic)
3T Tastefully Simple onion onion (or 2 sliced onions)
Mix the sauce. Pour on top of the chickens. Swish around. Cook on low for 3 hours. Check and see if you need to cook it for one more hour. Serve with white rice and steamed veggies. :-)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Bird on nest
Mama bird has hatched a second set of eggs. I saw her through the window by the front door and took her photo. She was a little wary, waiting to see if the door would open.
Yesterday, I climbed up and looked into the nest, it was hard to tell, but I think there are 4 little half naked chicks.
Yesterday, I climbed up and looked into the nest, it was hard to tell, but I think there are 4 little half naked chicks.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Jon Paul gets award
The JROTC program had it's yearly awards banquet on Thursday. Jon Paul was presented with the "Cadet NCO Leadership Award". Another cadet also recevied the award. Here's a photo of some fine looking Marines.
C/GySgt John Perry, C/GySgt Jonathan Landon, COL Ingram
C/GySgt John Perry, C/GySgt Jonathan Landon, COL Ingram
The Old Fisherman
I saw this story on an online group I belong to. I thought it is worth sharing. One word of caution, you might want a tissue handy. :)
=====================
THE OLD FISHERMAN
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the Clinic.
One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. Iopened it to see a truly awful looking man. 'Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old, ' I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body.
But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, 'Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'till morning.'
He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success; no one seemed to have a room. 'I guess it's my face. I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments.. .
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: 'I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.' I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. 'No thank you. I have plenty' And he held up a brown paper bag.
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.
He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was
prefaced with thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.
At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded, and the little man was out on the porch.
He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if
asking a great favor, he said, 'Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.' He paused a moment and then added, 'Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind.' I told him he was welcome to come again.
And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a
gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of th e largest oysters I had ever
seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4 a.m. , and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.
Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.
When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. 'Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!'
Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice But, oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.
Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, 'If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!'
My friend changed my mind. 'I ran short of pots,' she explained, 'and
knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in
the garden.'
She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. There's an especially beautiful one,' God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. 'He won't mind starting in this small body.'
All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'
=====================
THE OLD FISHERMAN
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the Clinic.
One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. Iopened it to see a truly awful looking man. 'Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old, ' I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body.
But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, 'Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'till morning.'
He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success; no one seemed to have a room. 'I guess it's my face. I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments.. .
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: 'I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.' I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. 'No thank you. I have plenty' And he held up a brown paper bag.
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.
He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was
prefaced with thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.
At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded, and the little man was out on the porch.
He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if
asking a great favor, he said, 'Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.' He paused a moment and then added, 'Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind.' I told him he was welcome to come again.
And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a
gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of th e largest oysters I had ever
seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4 a.m. , and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.
Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.
When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. 'Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!'
Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice But, oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.
Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, 'If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!'
My friend changed my mind. 'I ran short of pots,' she explained, 'and
knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in
the garden.'
She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. There's an especially beautiful one,' God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. 'He won't mind starting in this small body.'
All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'
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