Kentucky Derby Party

      Niece Amy and her hubby recently hosted a Kentucky Derby Party at their lovely home. The weather was a bit gloomy but no one seemed to care.We drank traditional Mint Juleps and nontraditional Margaritas, ate a variety of hors de'oeuvres, and anticipated winners with a couple of betting games. Fashion prevailed as the ladies sported beautifully embellished hats.

Rissy's chapeau featured a bow to match her dress and a little equine accessory

Poor little Gage - his horse didn't win any money!

Pink Piggy Birthday Cake

     Since my last post featured the effects of Pinterest, this subsequent post will feature a Pinterest inspiration for Rissy's twelfth birthday party. Two six inch cake layers formed the base which was covered in chocolate buttercream icing (the top was swirled to look like ripples in muddy water). The original recipe used Twix candy bars but I spied a couple of boxes of generic label cookies that were less than half the price of the candy bars, and looked just about the same! Two rows of cookies encircled the cake and were tied with a pink grosgrain ribbon. Then the fun began. The piggies were incredibly easy and lots of fun to make out of marshmallow fondant (reminiscent of Play Dough!) I made several body parts and used the best pieces for the cake. Rissy loved the cake...and her presents too, of course!

Interest in Pinterest

     At the moment, Pinterest is the third largest social network online, succeeding only Facebook and Twitter. It may be a temporary fad but I too am following the craze (though not in a fanatic way like some pinners). Having always loved magazines and often clipping pictures or articles to save, Pinterest allows me to collect similar items in a neat and simpler fashion. My boards include mostly home and garden decorating ideas, myriad inspirations for photography, craft, and holiday projects, and a couple of miscellaneous interests.

     What has emerged from this collection? At first it was just fun but one day as I perused my pins, patterns of significance began to emerge. I never pinpointed a particular style for my fashion or decorating sense because my interests seemed so varied, but those gathered pins indicated otherwise. The characterization of my online collections has given me a little more insight into who I am, what I really like and where I am most comfortable. I like that feeling.

Spring Sunday

     Early spring Sundays that feature a bit of warm, dry sunshine are a rare treat. Yard work is out of the question because it is way too soon to work in the soil or make any plantings, so the only thing to do is relax and enjoy! Out to the patio I brought a cold drink and a beautiful new gardening book from the library. Within minutes I heard an unfamiliar bird call so the binoculars and my trusty old Roger Tory Peterson bird book were also necessary accouterments. Not again till midsummer will there be the luxury of a long afternoon of leisure. (Oh and the bird turned out to be a very familiar Flicker with an unrecognizable song -perhaps he was immature or just from another part of the country).

Apple Oats

     Spring in the St. Louis area is so variable that in April and early May, some folks vacillate between the furnace and the air-conditioner every few days. We don't, in our house, alternate in such extreme measures and the air-conditioner is not even uncovered until mid-May. Ceiling fans and open windows are welcome elements after a long stuffy closed-in winter. However on one of the last few chilly mornings, we enjoy a hot breakfast that is a winter weekday staple: apple oatmeal. Before cooking the rolled oats (not the instant or fast-cook variety!), I peel and chop an apple. The apple pieces are popped into a saucepan along with the oats, water and a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar. In a few minutes, the house smells heavenly and breakfast is ready to serve. The oats are creamy, the apples stewed and the cinnamon tantalizing - a final winter meal that just might be missed!

Hello Grape Hyacinths

     In the past few years, I have become very interested in low maintenance gardening, or perhaps I should say lower maintenance, since every spring I still like to get my hands in the dirt. (I also still  like to start several plants from seed, which probably arises from my frugal creative nature that covets making something from nothing.) But a lot of the landscaping that I redid several years ago has matured and there is less barren area to fill in with annuals. These grape hyacinths are a case in point - they emerge every year on a warm spring day, bloom for a couple of weeks and then die back, soon to be replaced by the foliage of swiftly growing liriope (actually another variety of the species Muscari) - almost like armchair gardening!

Red Velvet Cookies

     Red Velvet cake seems to be popular at the moment, and now there is even a boxed mix available at the grocer's (or perhaps I just never noticed it before). When those boxes were on sale recently, I picked one up and decided to make cookies with it. Cake-mix cookies are fail-safe, easy and adaptable. Mixing up the three ingredients - dry mix, eggs and shortening - was a breeze. Shaping the dough into balls and then rolling them in powdered sugar was also a breeze. Washing the abundance of red dye off my hands was a little horrifying. However the cookies were good and thankfully, there was no sign of red dye on anyone's lips or tongue after dessert that night.



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