After a bit of a vacation.....

I'm certain that this is the longest I have ever been away from here. I guess I needed a little break. I am refreshed and rejuvenated and full of fresh ideas. Thanks to everyone who continued to check in. I am looking forward to being on here again and my hope is that you will be too. 

Blessings, Sue

Senior Prom.....

 My BABY.... Yep.... My last woman child to graduate high school and fly out of the nest.. Yes, she wore her cowboy boots. She and her best friend Emily both went with their boots on. hahahahah

 Of course we had to get the customary "duck face" . She looked beautiful. She had a blast.

 I actually got them to be serious for a change.

 This last weekend found me rather on the down side...mood wise. Seth went on a hike and brought me back an amazing bouquet of wild flowers. This is something he has always done and it never fails to make my spirits lift. I am forever in awe of the details of these small, often non noticed flowers.

 Look at all the little fuzzy fingers on this  yellow one. I can just imagine a little bee in there busily collecting pollen and brushing her little behind up against them. (smile)

 and this teeny tiny work of art. It is absolutely perfect. Unless you are directly on top of it you would never see the perfect symmetry of its center. You may even pass it by all together.

 These little puffs remind me of baby's breath. Its not though. Each little round bud is stuffed completely full of the tiniest little petals and when they open up millions of little feather like seeds float around.

 There were actually two kinds of smaller yellow flowers, much like mustard flowers. In fact I think perhaps one of them is mustard.

 I wanted you to see the brilliant colors in the petals of this one again. I watched a documentary once about how the insects and bees see these colors. Not like us at all. Each color and pattern is perfectly planned to help direct them to the most pollen. God is amazing.

 Each one of these tiny blossoms is absolutely perfect. I am in awe.

This is the bouquet from a distance. Funny how in my lifetime I have seen probably hundreds, if not thousands of these wild flowers growing throughout the years. Driving past fields and hiking through meadows. They could be seen as nothing much more than a bunch of weeds, until you take the time to really ponder them. There are several verses in the bible where Jesus was telling us to consider the flowers of the field. They are here for such a short time and yet look how lovingly and perfectly each one is made. Each according to its own kind and purpose. Sometimes they are never even seen by human eyes, and yet they are still perfect.
If God made these tiniest of flowers for his pleasure, and I believe He did,  Just think how much more pleased He is with you!!
Blessings, Sue

I have my lap top back

 I finally have my lap top back. It was running really slow and doing weird things for quite awhile, so Seth has fixed it for me. He had to take everything off it and re-set everything . So as far as I know I have a "brand new" lap top. Its running like a charm and all is well again. It is however, minus all my pictures. But they are safe. The above is a picture of my mothers day lily. I took it with my phone. Good picture for a "phone" I'm happy with it.

I just really wanted to remember this breakfast.  Homemade sourdough toast with my very own plum jam. Homemade Greek yogurt with Mandarin oranges. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Well that's all for today... More again very soon.
Meanwhile, Ponder your blessings, some of them are unrecognizable at the moment but are truly there all the same.   Blessings, Sue

Fair Time.....

 It's once again fair time here is East County. If you have been reading long, you will remember fairs in the past with Allison showing her goats. This is her senior year and so she finally got to "do" her dairy heifer.

 This is Sweet Pea Honey Badger. She is a "loan" for Allison's FFA project from the Van Ommerimg Dairy here in Lakeside.

 Such a blessing to us because they actually kept her at the dairy and fed her and Allison got to go out and care for her and train her and show her...free. It costs a LOT of money to feed one of these babies and I'm not sure we would have been able to have her for a project this year without the Van Ommerings generosity.

 So this is the morning of. YES, that's me in the middle. I got roped in to help practice... by... "pretend your the judge"

 Some of the kids walked their cows around me and I stood there and said GOOD.... GREAT STACK....MOVE HER FEET A BIT BACK.... PERFECT!!!!!  You know all the things a great pretend judge would say!!!!! It was fun. Bless these girls hearts. They all have their white jeans and white shirts on under their sweats. Gonna have a talk with the big FFA kahuna about WHITE... COME ON REALLY.....

 This is the first year I have been able to fix my baby girls hair. I have been in the hospital every other fair. We have pictures of Jennifer and Molly fixing her hair. So finally, in the nick of time, I got my chance.

 So then after you hurry up and get ready... all the while trying to keep your clothes WHITE, you must sit around and wait.... and wait..... and wait your turn to show.

 Yes that's Daddies pesky little paw going in for a cheek pinch. hahahahahahahahaahahahah'

 Finally in the ring for showing. Allison did really great, Badger did really great. They didn't win any ribbons however. hahahah

 You see... Allison being a kid after my own heart, picked her heifer because she was CUTE... She was also the RUNT. hahahah    Her Ag. teacher warned her that she was picking the wrong cow for showing, but Allison said she was picking her because she was cute. SOOOOOOO If you know anything about judging dairy heifers... they are judged completely on the way they are built for having babies and producing milk NOT BEING EXCEPTIONALLY CUTE. hahahahahahahahah. A lot of character was built during this project and that's our real goal anyway.....

 Now Ruby.. on the other hand..... Won first place for best in her breed. Which again has nothing whatsoever to do with anything Allison could have or would have done but by simply the act of God making her perfect!!! hahahaha She is a Himalayan. And she is one of Allison's favorite pets. WIN...WIN....

And this is what my tired, woman child looks like the rest of the time, and by that I mean when she is not out wrangling thousand pound animals, reptiles and rodents. A beautiful angel if I may say so.... AND
 I MAY......
Blessings, Sue

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!!!!

 I am excited to share this cake with you. I made it for our Easter celebration and it was a BIG hit. It was fun to make and very easy.

 I found in one of my old cookbooks, Better Homes and Gardens, 1963, a recipe for a dear little yellow cake that is not only easy to whip up but really good. It turns out moist with a light crumb so I decided to use it a a base for my Lemon cake. I wanted my Lemon cake to turn out bright and sunny and taste of fresh lemons and I do believe I succeeded as there was not one crumb left on the plate, even after our ham dinner.

 The recipe is as follows:      Busy Day Cake

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour * see note at bottom*
2/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter or oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter until fluffy. Add everything but the flour and beat well. Add flour last and combine. Pour into a 9 inch greased and floured caked pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick come out clean.
This makes a single layer, cake. Perfect for a quick, light desert. You can use your imagination and add so many things to this recipe. I have served it with strawberries and whipped cream.
*note; To make all purpose flour into self rising flour which is better for some cakes etc you simply add 1 teaspoon baking powder to the 1 cup measuring cup and then finish off with flour to one cup.* Cool trick since I buy my flour in bulk and always all purpose. You can make all purpose into pastry flour by adding 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch in the same manner, I do that for my pie crusts.

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cups sugar
1 Tbs butter
The zest of one lemon, save some for the top of the cake if you want.
Put lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat just until sugar dissolves and butter melts. You don't need to actually cook it you just want the sugar to dissolve really well. Add lemon zest.

To make Lemon cake. Double the recipe for the busy day cake and bake in 2, 9 inch round cake pans. While baking make up your glaze and sit aside.

While cakes are still warm from oven poke holes all the way down to the pan with a wooden skewer or a fork. Make sure you poke alot of holes and make them deep. Pour the gaze over the top of the cakes and, make sure you get the sides too, and let them cool to room temperature. It will seem like a lot of glaze, but don't worry it will sink in. When your ready to decorate your cake, Place one cake on a plate, smear a bit of frosting and add second layer. Top with remaining frosting and sprinkle with lemon zest. It would be so pretty just like that but I added a few flowers from the bouquet I had that day. You could serve it with vanilla bean ice cream but believe me....It can stand alone.
Oh yes.... I cheated and used a tub of Pillsbury vanilla icing..
Please, please , please let me know if you make this. I would love to hear how it turned out. If you have any questions just ask in the comments.
Sunshiny Blessings, Sue

Thanks for stopping by.....

 Yes... the answer is yes.... I will continue to write on here. Thanks to all who have stuck by me during this weird time. I was having alot of issues with some really naughty comments being left on here and was about to throw in the towel so to speak. But My Blog means alot to me and I so enjoy writing on here. To have a few bad apples spoil the the whole damn basket just isn't going to happen. I have put a word verification on the comments so that automatic comments will be blocked. Pray this works.

 I can't even believe that April is almost gone. I wanted to keep with sharing from my book The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

 This poem especially caught my attention as there is a particular little mockingbird bird outside our windows that sings his little heart out almost constantly. Day and night. I think he has even got the sound of the guinea pigs down. too funny hahahahahahah

 My newest addiction. Hexagon piecing. I never in a million years would have thought that I would love doing this so much. I do love handwork though so I shouldn't be to surprised. I never had time before I guess...

 And so I never indulged in beginning. But now that I'm so aware of seasons in my life and understanding that the one I'm in right now affords me not only the time but the enjoyment.. I AM ADDICTED.

 We have been having  late rain storms here in San Diego. We are almost up to our average rain fall amount. Just 2 inches below, at 8 whole inches for the year.... hahahahahahah Can't wait to get to Georgia. I have always loved the rain. Do you happen to see the heart in this picture??? Its just for you.....

 I will leave you with this beautiful flower that came in my bouquet and another thought to ponder.

Be true to your faith. Know what and in whom you believe and don't be swayed from it. Hold The Lord your God fast in your heart and remember always the truths He has revealed to you.
Until next time, Be Blessed, Sue

What the Heck??

Where has the time gone? Seriously it seems like I was just telling myself that I had to wait at least a week until I added another post on here and then BOOM an entire week has already come and gone. It's not like I'm busy running around this week. In fact it has been Easter vacation from school and so that's probably why I have not been keeping an eye on the calendar as much. I have been spending a lot of time sitting at the ranch while Allison works the horses. She has a few new clients and is getting really busy!

 I was so not into keeping on top of things that I found my strawberries had gotten sick of waiting to become shortcake and grew fuzzy sweaters to stay warm in the fridge. I hate when that happens.

 We did manage to get Lily shaved this week. She is such a good girl. Just sits there and tolerates.

 Her under coat is so soft and downy, but very very short. I would love to mix some with some merino and spin it up. There are just to many guard hairs and it would be a HUGE pain to even get a enough for a little bit.

 I bought some tulips at the grocery. I have never, ever bought myself tulips. Weird huh?? They are so darn beautiful. When I was in Georgia this last February the daffodils were popping their heads up through the earth. I didn't see any tulips but am sure I just wasn't in the right spot. I will be planting some in my yard back there for sure.

 There are so many flowers that I am looking forward to growing when we get settled in. We only have one maybe two frosts a year here in my part of San Diego and some of my favorites need a few to be really fruitful. Lilacs being one.

This is the little squirrel who visits me at the ranch. I sit and stitch and she nibbles her way through just as much grass hay as she can. She is a chubby little thing and I'm sure she is a recent mommy as well. She has the cutest little hands and beautiful brown eyes. It is such a joy to watch and be part of her day.
I will write again tomorrow as I am sure I will have some alone time during our holiday. I do want to add a positive ponder.... Til then..then... Be blessed.