Vacation Time.....

Hawaii 2008....my Love and son boogie boarding


     Vacation time for this family.....at last.   We had plenty of air miles on the card so our airfare is free....we found a condo that looks great and booked it months ago....and now tomorrow morning bright and early we are gone to Hawaii!  We need this vacation more than I can say, oh boy do we.  
     I won't be writing for awhile...9 days to be exact...hope I can read some blogs every once in awhile between my watching the ocean and reading a good book.  I will miss you all  that is for sure.
      Aloha!

Still Life...in a boy's room.....

  I was in my son's room changing sheets on his bed when I noticed he has such an interesting room.  It has distinct places in it that stood out as Still Life portraits.  

    This is what I saw......

 

His guitars and baseball bats.....

 

A laptop on the floor.....

The windowsill...of odds and ends.....

Trophies and childhood knick-knacks in the closet..... 

                  

       On the floor of his closet toys from years gone by.....

 Yep...the amp...and all the wires, headphone, guitar strap...

     His space, his cave....

     Tomorrow it could be different.  The guitar could be on the bed amongst a jumble of sheets and comforter.  I am use to finding guitar pics in the bed, on the floor and in the laundry.  IPod headphones find a home under the bed, in the sheets, or next to the amp.  Oddly today his clothes were not in sight...that is odd as they are usually on the floor, a trail of them discarded around his bed. He must have found the clothes hamper in the closet was still there. 

     Wires...so many wires!  I wonder if all this electricity between the guitars, the amp and the laptop will be bad on his growing 14 year old body...I think of the days when we played with blocks, trucks and cars....they were fun but nothing can beat the sound of him playing the guitar....nothing.

    

4th of July in my little town.....

I love my little town of Danville....

    Every year they do a 4th of July Parade and I do believe this year's was the best that I can remember in a long time.   There was way less political or real estate garbage which is just silly to have in ANY parade.  So here is a snippet of photos that I took....

 We had a Color Guard Group....

We had folks in silly outfits....

W

We had a Chinese Dragon Group....

W

 
We had WWII vets...

We had the Methodist Church who turned BBQing into a flying event with music and great team maneuvers....

Oh yes, we had more horses...these little ones I especially love....


We had old trucks....

We had old cars....

We had a Civil War Reenactment Group....

We had Scotsmen in kilts....

Yep...we had a Military Marching Band...

 And see that old house in the background?  I always thought that would have made a great Bed and Breakfast in the heart of our little town...but it became office space.  At least it was restored and not torn down.

  Yes, it was a lovely day with warm sunshine and a bit of a breeze to cool oneself off just when you thought it was getting too warm.  The kids were enjoying the tossing of candy from the parade folks.  There were small American flags passed out which of course I had to collect for decoration on my table for our BBQ that day.  It was the biggest crowd I have seen in a number of years.  

   Did I say I love my town?  It's a day like this that I am happy they do control the type of buildings on our main street.  Vintage style and nothing over two stories.  Trees lined streets all the way down...dog friendly, and plenty of quaint shops that amazingly are still in business even with the downturn of the economy...

   Hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Granola Recipe you will keep!

     A very dear person shared this absolutely yummy granola recipe with me.  It is so very easy to make and yes it is healthy!   While many granola recipes have either lots of oil, sugar or butter this one does not.  


                   Everyday Granola


3 cups old-fashioned organic oats
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3 T. packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/3 cup honey
2 T. vegetable oil


Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Line rimmed large baking sheet with parchment.  Mix first 7 ingredients in large bowl.  

Stir honey and oil in saucepan over medium-low heat until smooth.  Pour honey mixture over oat mixture; toss.

Spread on prepared sheet.  Bake until golden, stirring every 10 minutes, about 40 minutes.


Stir granola; cool.  

     I mean...how easy is that?  The fun creative part is deciding what else you might want to add after it has baked.  Dried fruits such as cherries, cranberries come to mind.  I also thought of adding Bob's Red Mill flaked coconut which reminds me of another favorite item I find unbelievably divine though it is a bit pricey.  I only buy it when I find it on sale.  It is from a company called Dorset Cereals.  My favorite one is called Fantastically Fruity Roasted & Toasted Muesli.  I think using some of the items used in that brand would be perfect in this granola.

I like to use either Trader Joe's Organic oats or Bob's Red Mill Extra Thick Oats.

  

The possibilities are unlimited so enjoy!  Oh, and of course this goes wonderfully on top of homemade yogurt with fresh summer fruit on top.