Blushing Rose: January 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012

~ Sweet Moments ~ Love Is ... Memory Lane

Enjoying each season for its reason, I truly look forward to that gorgeous white fluffy flaky stuff.

As a child I would pray for snow & promise God I'd do something special if He would blanket us for Christmas. Now this rarely occurred in WA ST.

This one year ('49) we had a blizzard like no tomorrow. It was splendid, a child's delight. We could barely see over the top of
the shoveled walkway piles of snow. We 5 would build forts & snowmen & snow angels ... hours of cold fun, wet gloves & snow down inside our goulashes. Still we were relentless in staying outside to play. I can't tell you how much fun it was shoveling neighbors sidewalks for a paltry 25 cents (we thought we were rich). And deelish snow ice cream ... can't have winter without it!

Our neighbors teenage sons decided to build a snowman that
beats all snowmen. It was approx. 12' high. I remember them
asking Mother permission to roll the snowballs in/from our yard.

They then hollowed out the center of the snowman, put a ladder inside & pelted snow balls out the eyes/mouth/nose, at passersby.

It was quite the sight, we kids all delighted in the huge snowman ... & it took months for that fella to melt. I remember we walked down to see the last remnants, sadly.

Please join Donna @ brynwood needleworks for Memory Lane Monday.

Our Love Is... ladies ~
Sherry
Anne

Friday, January 27, 2012

PRAYERS ~ Saddle Up For A Country Winter Ride ~

Nothing more peaceful than a winter's day

***Kerrie @ kerrieskorner.blog
Her prince Bill (her husband)
entered the kingdom of
Heaven to be with God. Please pray
for her.

Decked out in her finest whites

Glistening in the ice coating like diamonds

The gently rippling creeks whispering

Winding thru the awesome countryside

Softly

The resting earth blanketed

Dressed with breathtaking creatures

Spectacular vintage barns stately adorn
the land

Surrounded by white fencing & a manure
cart awaiting the spring

The lightening rods piercing the skies

Adorned with beautiful artwork (probably because we are in Boyds Bear country)

Towering Gettysburg Battlefield memorial

And canons profoundly honor the fallen

That gave their blood for us, brother against brother, father against son ...

Lovely mural honoring the founders of
Emmitsburg MD.

Rolling hills surround the feeding cattle

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

~ The Greatest Sound Ever To Be Heard ... ~

Wellllllllll, almost!

It has been a very long 5 weeks ...

Minimal usage ...

A beautiful sight to behold ...

And one muddy mess in the process ..

Lead to the sweetest sound ...

Flush! Flush! Flush! Oh, yes! We can flush, once again.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

~ Just For BJ ~ Yummies & Prayers

Yummy breakfast is ALWAYS a good cup of steeping hot tea & delicious home baked cookies. Everything else comes second ...
right?

Next in line would be cold leftover pizza ... yum!

Please pray for Kerrie & Bill, as he travels
his final earthly journey. We have shared
wonderful moments with them, they are beautiful people. Kerries Korner in SC

Every time I go to my heart Dr. I take a cake or cookies to this precious man, & staff. Dr. Alan LOVES coconut so I always try to find a new recipe that uses coconut.

Seldom do I share a recipe but for sweet BJ @ sweet nothings ... honey, this is the palate delight.

Join our Love Is... ladies ~
Sherry
Anne

Chewy Lime & Coconut Sugar Cookies

2 3/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened (Do NOT set it on your foot stool in front of the heater to speed up the soften! It costs a fortune to have the melted butter that ran down the front, cleaned from the fabric!! Sigh!)
1 1/2 c sugar
1 larg egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of one large lime
3 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup toasted coconut
1/2 cup sugar for rolling cookies

Over 350.
Line cookie sheets with parchment
In small bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt
Using a mixer, beat together butter & sugar until smooth & very fluffy. Takes a couple minutes.
Beat in egg, vanilla, lime juice & lime zest. Mix well.
Gradually add in dry ingredients & toasted coconut. Mix until combined, don't over mix.
Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of cookie dough into balls. Put sugar in a small bowl & roll cookie dough balls in the sugar. Place on lined cookies sheets about 1 1/2" apart.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. The cookies will start to crack a little bit.
Let stand on cookie sheet 2 mins. Then move to cooling rack.

** To toast coconut place on lined baking sheet, bake for 5 to 8 minutes at 350, tossing a couple times. Remove when light brown.

FROSTING ~
Take a couple Tbsp. butter softened (sometimes I melt it instead). Add to a softened 8 oz cream cheese. Beat with mixer until smooth. Then add some fresh lime juice, maybe 2 Tbsp. or so. Now start adding the powdered sugar (no way to measure this, just keep adding) until you have a creamy but firm spreadable frosting. Occasionally, I will add just a wee bit of coconut also. Glob it on there.

**COOKIE & FROSTING Variations ~
We also made them using orange extract & orange zest. Everyone went wild over them both. Even almond would be fabulous.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

~ Albino Hummingbird ~

Have you ever seen an albino hummingbird? Fifteen-year-old Marlin Shank took lots of lovely photographs of this rare white ruby-throated hummingbird he saw at a park in Staunton, Virginia.
~ Enjoy! ~

Thank you Cathy for sharing this.

A true albino hummingbird, one that has white feathers & pink eyes, feet & bill; is
extremely rare. Only a few true albino
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have been reported.

Albinism is a genetic condition that results in a lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair, scales or feathers of an animal. Typically an albino creature has blood-red eyes, which adds to its odd, otherwordly appearance.

It's a relatively rare condition, and photographing such an quick-moving example of it as this albino hummingbird is a rare feat indeed.

(Animal Planet)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Black Eyed Pea History ~ Civil War

History of the Black Eyed Pea Tradition

"The Real Story is much more interesting and has gone untold in fear that feelings would be hurt. It's a story of war, the most brutal and bloody war, military might and power pushed upon civilians, women, children and elderly. Never seen as a war crime, this was the policy of the greatest nation on earth trying to maintain that status at all costs. An unhealed wound remains in the hearts of some people of the southern states even today; on the other hand, the policy of slavery has been an open wound that has a

lso been slow to heal but is okay to talk about.

The story of THE BLACK EYED PEA being considered good luck relates directly back to Sherman's Bloody March to the Sea in late 1864. It was called The Savannah Campaign and was lead by Major General William T. Sherman. The Civil War campaign began on 11/15/64 when Sherman 's troops marched from the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia, and ended at the port of Savannah on 12/22/1864.

When the smoke cleared, the southerners who had survived the onslaught came out of hiding. They found that the blue belly aggressors that had looted and stolen everything of value and everything you could eat including all livestock, death and destruction were everywhere. While in hiding, few had enough to eat, and starvation was now upon the survivors.

There was no international aid, no Red Cross meal trucks. The Northern army had taken everything they could carry and eaten everything they could eat. But they couldn't take it all. The devastated people of the south found for some unknown reason that Sherman 's bloodthirsty troops had left silos full of black eyed peas.

At the time in the north, the lowly black eyed pea was only used to feed stock. The northern troops saw it as the thing of least value. Taking grain for their horses and livestock and other crops to feed themselves, they just couldn't take everything. So they left the black eyed peas in great quantities assum

ing it would be of no use to the survivors, since all the livestock it could feed had either been taken or eaten.

Southerners awoke to face a new year in this devastation and were facing massive starvation if not for the good luck of having the black eyed peas to eat. >From New Years Day 1866 forward, the tradition grew to eat black eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck."
-- Pass the peas,Please!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

~ Love Is... ~ Wedding Wishes

Ahhhh! for the memories of yore ... my glass runneth over!

Sherry & Tony Smith

Happy blessed 36th sister & brother.

We love you both so much, Sherry & Tony.
Pop over to send them your love ...

Join the love Is... ladies ~
Anne
Sherry
Tete

Sunday, January 8, 2012

~ Looking Back, Moving Forward ~

Yesterday I took down all the old calendars and put up the new ones for 2012. It was nice to see some thing new and fresh hanging in the spots where the old calendars had hung . . . the written over, dog eared and old was gone, replaced with nice pristine, clean and crisp pages. How clean and bright the new ones look!

Marie @ A Year From Oak Cottage
wrote this marvelous piece. With her permission I am sharing this complete MUST read.

They seem to symbolize the high hopes of the new year. As I flicked through the pages of one of them I suddenly became aware of the mysteries of an unknown future . . . all those clean pages representing unlived time, all the promise of the seasons to come and not yet fulfilled dreams of the future . . . days not yet granted, which are still God's secret . . . it is quite awesome and wonderful to think about. What amazing and wonderful things will this year hold for each of us.

We had a very good lesson in Relief Society yesterday. The teacher began by writing these words on the white board: "Look not behind thee." We then read the story of Lot and his family who had been living in the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were very wicked places and how they had been visited by Angels and told that the Lord was going to destroy those cities, but because they were righteous that they were to flee immediately, leaving everything behind . . . but also warning them not to look back, or they too would be destroyed. When they were fleeing Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a Pillar of salt. You can read the whole story in Genesis, Chapter 19 in the bible. Here are the angel's exact words:

Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

That is some pretty heavy duty warning . . .

For the remainder of the lesson we sat and talked about the ways this warning can still pertain to us today, in today's climate of fear and uncertain times. As I sat there listening to the other sister's speak . . . the thought occurred to me that this story could also be an allegory for our own pasts . . .

We all come with one. Our pasts stretch behind us like the written on pages of a calendar . . . the pages all spotted and tattered . . . words and works scribbled all over them . . . some pages dirtier than others. Sometimes it seems that we can only remember the things that we have done that we may be ashamed of . . . and we carry them into our futures like badges of dishonor, bringing them out every once in a while to beat ourselves with . . . or I do at any rate. I have made some terrible choices and mistakes in the past . . . things I cannot change or undo . . .

Things I am terribly sorry for and that I have repented of . . . but still I cling to them, allowing them to punish me even now. The thought occurred to me as I was sitting there . . . that as long as I clung to the past that I have no power over . . . I risked turning my present and future into a pillar of salt . . . just as Lot's wife had done in turning back to look towards Sodom and Gomorrah as they escaped into the mountains.

When I was Baptised . . . my sins were washed clean from me . . . "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." (Isaiah 1:18) Why do I still lug that past along with me? I have no need to . . . in Baptism I was given a new life . . . a fresh life and I am a new person. It is time to forgive myself, and even if there are still people in my family who wish to use and hold some of these things against me, I just have to move forward and stop looking back at things which I should have done differently, or things I should not have done at all. I should not let the narrow mindedness and unforgiving natures of a few people colour my future or write on my pages. Let this be their sin . . . for it is no longer mine.

Anyways, that was my thoughts . . . and I just wanted to share them with you. We all have a past. We all have a future. Let us move into our futures embracing all the promise and hope that they hold, leaving behind the things we cannot change.

"Look not behind thee." Don't you think it's time?

http://www.ayearfromoakcottage.org/2012/01/look-not-behind-thee.html
~~~~~
Thank you Marie for this beautiful piece & allowing me to share. And may I add, THIS is EXACTLY what we are doing.

We have tried for many years to change things, with deep love & no reciprocation. Our hearts were/are broken but we have to accept what will not be changed despite our love & heart extended hands ... tho we continue to have HOPE & LOVE. May God direct them before it is too late, to resolve for their selves their issues. We are here, still/always/forever/with love.

Love Is... ladies ~
Anne
Sherry
Tete is on break

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

~ Horse & Buggy or Car Birthday Trip ... ~

We are taking you to southern Maryland. You have your choice ...

Horse & buggy ... or ...

this hot classic beauty. Ready? Let's go ...

I love crossing this bridge. It spans so beautifully across the bay ...

The girls are all greeting us on the pier

Love this beautiful Victorian home nestled
amongst the small sea village scape.

You see the briars, brambles &

bushes surrounding quaint homes ...

tucked here & there ...

amongst the trees ...

& fields ...

where the farms are still alive ...

but quiet for winter's rest ...

the terrain is relatively flat compared to our 'mountainous' region ...

These are the birthday cupcakes we brought with us for a very special loved lady ...

Marie we met nearly 20 years ago. Our daughter has a lawn service, doing some work for Marie. We fell in love with this sweet lady, becoming fast friends forever.

Marie moved to Florida for awhile. We went to see her there, taking Joshua with us.

Her birthday was this week so the trip was perfect.

Marie hence moved back to Maryland. A few times we wished to go see her health issues for us, or her, hindered this.

We had the most wonderful visit. Love her to pieces.
She looks gorgeous.