Blooming Lace

My tropical garden is full of surprises and unusual floral blooms. Thus is the case for the Robelini, a Florida Palm. On these lovely small trees, clusters of pods can be seen for several days and then as if by magic they begin breaking open. Shown in the photos are spectacular lace like blooms with hundreds of gorgeous tiny little cream colored florettes. I'm finding it difficult when describing how nature in reproducing, can be so magnificent.click on photos...

The Best Time Of Our Lives

Disney World's Carousel Of Progress....

I've been doing some serious thinking lately, mostly about the progress we've made in America, just during my lifetime. Some folks seem intent on changing our way of life by reversing our forward movement. I'm not liking what I'm hearing. Some suggestions for conservation, with sacrifice by the population, sound all so familiar to me, and not in a good kind of way. I remember when we had no choice in the matter and we just quite naturally used some of these methods, back in the "good ole days." I suppose doing without air conditioning, one could save energy, but do I want to turn the clock back to days of window fans on hot sultry days? Washing clothes in cold water not such a bad thing, but hanging clothes out to dry to avoid using the dryer, I'm just not so sure. Seems like yesterday,my standing at an ironing board with a mountain of sprinkled clothes. Walk instead of riding they say, and use mass transit....they are unlikely choices. This is a good one.....take cold showers. Turn the hot water heater off!!! I looked up the word "progress" in the dictionary. It means, a forward movement, advance. I like this one...a gradual betterment. Oh yes, I've seen it all come and now, they want me to see it go. I find it interesting and enlightening when reading about ingenious Americans like Edison, Bell, and Ford. They made a difference and made life easier and better for all of us. Just seems like the folks in charge don't quite have it right. The vision for America was to go forward, improve life for all it's citizens, with all sorts of new and innovative ideas. Seems to me we have a handful of questionable talkers making the decisions for us all. Disney World's "Carousel Of Progress" has a good story line. Living in a free society is how to make it happen. God has blessed this nation with an abundance of natural resources and we need to use them. It would be really nice if some of these narcissistic folks would just give it a rest on this global warming thing. As long as man dreams, works and builds together we will continue going forward. These are, the best times of our lives!

Dulce de Leche

We often see Dulce de Leche (milk-based sauce) served in restaurants here on the Gulf coast. With a large Cuban influence, long been in the Tampa Bay area, we've been fortunate in our exposure to so many delicious foods. Now and then I pop over to Martha Stewart's Living and browse for a bit. Almost always I find something wonderful in home decor or, as in today's case a new recipe. I like simple and healthy when it comes to deserts. Keeping within the springtime theme, I found "Roasted Apricots with Dulce de Leche" a good choice for the Mister and myself or a lovely desert for guest. I like that not only can you use apricots, peaches, plums or nectarines, I'm quite sure a favorite...plantains would be delicious.

The Dulce de Leche is so simple....

Ingredients:l/2 Cup nonfat Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 tablespoons sugar

Directions...In small saucepan, combine the milk and sugar and cook over med heat until reduced in half ...about 10 mins. The mixture will turn color of peanut shells.

Fruit roasting directions....450 degree oven

Toss fruit in sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract

Roast in shallow roasting pan about 15 or 20 minutes....stir once or twice.

Serve

While fruit is warm, serve in a small glass dish. Be especially liberal when it comes to the Dulce de Leche....Yum!

Laughter and Happiness

Odd that most folks walked right on by, everyone but me. I had noticed them from inside the store, and as you can see, I had to have a photo of these ladies. Seated in front of the department store, they seemed to be laughing from the top of their heads to the tip of their toes. Isn't this the way it is between good friends? I have girlfriends that laugh with me. My beloved and I laugh often. Laughter is the best, and it makes you feel good all over. When my youngest child was in elementary school, now and then she would say, "Mom, let's laugh....say something funny." We would begin laughing and the more we laughed the funnier things seemed to be. Often we just made funny faces at one another and that would start our laughter. I like movies with comedy. I miss Bob Hope and George Burns. I could watch old Carol Burnett shows over and over. Don't you think if we had old fashioned, clean comedy on television, people would feel much better? There's just too much negativity out there. I want to laugh, and laugh a lot. As Woody Allen once said, "I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." What is "Happiness?"

"Well, said Pooh, "What I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although "eating honey" was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. So, today, I wish you lots and lots of laughter and, happiness too.....

At Home In The Tidepool

I quite enjoy solitude now and then, in particular, I enjoy a quiet beach. We're fortunate to have such a place a short drive from our home. We are very close to Honeymoon Island State Park, and much of the designated land, including the beaches, have been left in their natural state. This is a lovely natural reserve protecting wildlife and plant species. Seaweed and driftwood lie about, allowing for some very nice photo taking. With few people around, one can listen to the ocean sounds, observe nesting sea birds and watch for little creatures that make their homes in tide pools along the beach. The Fiddler Crab can be part of one's afternoon entertainment, should you lie quite still on the sand. They are fun to watch and seem to pop up by the hundreds during low tide. I wonder, have you ever come eye-to-eye with a Fiddler Crab?

Spring In The Catskills

Awake, thou wintry earth-
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn

My daughter's garden...

No matter what part of the world you live in, spring is most likely your favorite time of year. The dictionary tells us that spring means to come from by birth, to decent. Spring marks the transition from winter into summer.

Here on the Gulf Coast of Florida, seems like spring just rushed in one day and out the next. Before we knew it, summer had arrived. For the past couple of weeks we have enjoyed temps in the high nineties. Not such a bad thing however, the ocean waters are warmer and our pool feels mighty refreshing. Last evening, I received photos from family members, taken in up-state New York. Spring comes much later to folks living in the Catskill mountains, but when it does, it is well worth the wait. Hmmmm.....God does such good work.

Sweet Memory Lingering

Pink Tulips....sweet lingering memories. A gift from our dinner guest, Friday evening, these pink Tulips just pop out and say "notice me" and we do. A black and white room and a splash of pink...pretty!

Happy Mother's Day

White Peonies

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? From the moment my eyes opened this morning, I was feeling good, and I felt excited and happy about the busy day I had before me. We were having guest for dinner, a good old fashioned cookout with steak and chicken on the grill and all the good stuff to go with it. We like entertaining and were looking forward to spending the evening with long time friends from Barbados, who are now concerned American citizens. You know, it's a beautiful thing to have unhurried conversation with folks that seem to be on the "same sheet of music." These friends are bright, articulate, understanding, practical and sensible. Friendly talk, laughter and good food lasted a while and then the dinner dishes were cleared away. I served a lovely peach torte along with coffee and we got down to some serious business. Wonderfully stimulating conversation lasted well into the evening. I suppose we covered it all, or at least we tried. We had no solutions, I'm afraid, but we had plenty of ideas on how to solve the problems facing our nation. First and foremost, return back to being a nation that worships the Christian God and, obeys His laws. So, you ask, what do the White Peonies have to do with a dinner party? Answer.....Only that they were beautifully placed in the center of the table and I wanted to share them.

FASHION

I do like blue....

I wonder how I would look with yellow hair..... Fascinating....

Love it!

I'll be the first to admit that the folks on The Fashion Show, premiering tonight on Bravo channel, are not your average individuals. Some are extremely talented in design, while others are to the extreme in the category of not- so- talented. Tonights designers, although an odd sort, seemed to pull off the making of some very nice pieces of clothing. None that I would wear, but I was intrigued by the effort they put forth while working in teams to create fashion.

At the close of the show, my curiosity to know more about these designers led me to the internet. I typed in Bravo The Fashion Show, and found some fun facts and info. Most likely, I will take another look at next weeks created fashions. One thing led to another and before long I had ventured onto Style.com.....love this site and you must take a look. I found a Paris fashion show featuring work by John Galliano. Hmmm....got me to thinking about hats, hair, make-up and fashion. Interesting.........What do you think?