The Centerpiece

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I would like to show you a centerpiece that my sister Polly made. Yes, I have mentioned my talented sister before. She is the one who made the scones in baking school  :) Actually, she is a very good cook. Are you wondering how she made this? By the way, the fruit is real.

Several years ago, our Dad made all five of us girls this wooden frame with nails in it. (he was crafty too). He had seen an apple tree decoration in a magazine. They also had shown an example of how they made it on a cone shaped piece of wood, that had nails in it. The top had four nails sticking straight up, and the idea was to impale a whole pineapple there. I still have my cone too. We always make my apple tree at Christmas....a tradition at our house. Tom's grand kids love to help.

Well, Polly changed hers up a bit by using a variety of colorful fruit, and crowning it with just the top of a pineapple..Then, she filled it in with holly sprigs from  her yard , and  made the whole thing shiny by spraying it with cooking spray. Amazingly, it will last a long time, especially if you replace any over ripened fruit. In the end, you can sit it out backyard for the birds to enjoy. It certainly was beautiful on our family Thanksgiving buffet.

A Fall Hike

Tom and I enjoy hiking in Colorado all summer. So we were delighted to be ask to go in a hike in Ft. Worth with my sister, her husband, another couple ...and Lulu their dog.

They wanted to see the Fall colors  at Eagle Mountain Lake northwest of Ft. Worth, Texas

They knew that a cold front was coming in this weekend, and the leaves would fall off of the trees

The hike is on the north end of Eagle Mountain Lake, where the is a large park with five miles of hiking trails and picnic pavilions. The cactus reminding us we are in the west

I also thought these Juniper berries were pretty

Some of the trees were unbelievably colorful

and the picnic was unbelievably delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate this holiday. I hope that you are sharing food with family and friends and that you have a lot to be thankful for. I sure do!

A New Bridge

Ft. Worth, Texas had a celebration this week commemorating the opening of a new bridge

This beautiful new bridge (which replaced one that was 100 yrs. old)  connects the downtown area of Ft Worth with the culture area.

On Friday night the bridge was blocked for a special party....right on the bridge

There were bands for dancing and several food stations.

Fort Worth is very proud of this bridge, which not only handles four lanes of traffic, but has both bike and pedestrian lanes. Another of the reasons that we are so pleased to call this our new hometown.

Indian Territory

On a foggy cool morning we were driving through eastern Oklahoma last week, which was called Indian Territory, before it became a state. I love getting off of the freeway and exploring small towns. We stopped in the tiny town of Atoka, Oklahoma (population around 3,000), where an old Phillip 66 gas station has been re- purposed  and is now the Chamber of Commerce.

Atoka was named after a Choctaw Indian Chief. Chief Atoko,  one of the signers of *The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, a treaty between the Choctaw Indian Tribe and the United States Government . The Indians signed over 11 million acres of the Choctaw Nation, which is now part of the state of Mississippi in exchange for 15 million acres in Indian Territory, which is now the state of Oklahoma. A large percentage of the Choctaws were then relocated . Sounds like a reasonable trade to me...until you realize that both areas already belonged to the Indians.

We were headed to Chicago...where we are now. Spending some quality time with my new granddaughter Hannah.

Just had to show you my bee-tiful little bee on Halloween

*I might add that my ancestors were some of the early Mississippi settlers that entered the state in the 1840's....after that treaty.

*all of my genealogy records are in storage, so I do not have the exact date. .

Don't Eat The Scones

I couldn't wait to eat these delicious scones, with our morning coffee, that my multi- talented sister Polly  had dropped by (one of the  many treats of living near family).

Polly (on the right), is a successful professional, a talented crafter, short story writer and fabulous photographer.

So, I am not sure how she has also found the time to take cooking lessons. Sometimes, I think some people have more hours in their day than I do! This weekend, she signed  up for a cooking class at an Artisan Baking Co. to hone her skills at making pie crust, biscuits and scones.

Polly had a ball. She was doing a lot of talking and picture taking and didn't hear the correct instructions for  the scones........ which were: "add  three teaspoons of baking soda" She thought she heard " add three tablespoons baking soda." The story has a happy ending though...she quickly sent me the following text::

 DON'T EAT THE SCONES!"

Have you ever had a cooking disaster?