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.

This little light of mine

I have a new addiction....not what you think!  My dear friend K. and I have gone to many an Antique Fair where we walk for hours searching for what snatches our interest (or heart!).  She being way more experienced than I,  is quite the haggler...which I do enjoy overhearing from time to time.  Your secret is kept K. on your special technique!  K. has found some incredible deals of silver, tarnished where I thought it was okay but thinking could it ever polish up all pretty...only to have her shine it up and Voila! it becomes a unique and beautiful find.  And then I remember the steal of a price she paid for it... smart woman that K.

"I don't need anymore silver...." I say this often as she does find some dandy items.  I do have an ongoing search for silver baby cups.  But it does have to be a special one.  With engraving, or it must be simple adorable that my heart sighs when I see it.  I have a dear friend who found one at a antique shop in her home town that had "Beloved" engraved on it.  What a find...I too would like to find one like that.  I mean really...what a dear family or friend to have put "Beloved" on a baby cup.  Of course that wee baby was going to be beloved!   Still, how did it wind up in an antique shop?  Why would anyone give up a cup with that one sweet and loving word?  Yes, I do have that search on but I haven't found one baby cup to date that cries out for me.  K. keeps helping me though.

I also have the search on for Blue Willow dishes.  Once again I am looking for special pieces.  I don't want anymore teacups.  I look for bowls or serving pieces.  Dinner dishes too but I haven't found any great deals on those.  K. discovered a lovely vegetable dish with a lid that I was so happy to buy.  I have found some deals from time to time and bring them home as though I have been on a treasure hunt.

My new search is an odd one....I don't know what made me decide to search these out but now I think I am a bit over the moon for oil lamps.  Yes, oil lamps.   I hadn't thought about these until I noticed how cute some of them were.   So now K. is helping me find these and of course it has to be a deal and it has to call my name.  It has to be pretty and unusual.  I think this could be dangerous as all this oil in my house in these cute little lamps is flammable!   Still I am very careful and they are only on my hutch to be used inside or outside over dinner.  

   
So this is what I have now.  The ceramic one is a lamp we bought 14 years ago while on a trip to Drakesbad.   Every night when we ate dinner they had these little oil lamps on the table.  There was minimal electricity at this Guest Ranch and the glow from this lamp with my family all around brings many happy memories of that family vacation.  The three glass ones are my finds from the past three Antique Fair trips.

  

This is the largest one I have.  It has a lovely glow that spreads more light than the others.  I love the beading work around the base and it has some raised designs above the beading as well.  Plus it came with the wick which was nice.  It was going for $19 and I got it for $16. 

  This little cutie K. spotted for me.  The design it has is called a Thumbprint design because of the little dimples it has all around it.  Plus it is blue and blue is my favorite color!







The little frosted chimney I thought
was real pretty too.  This one I paid $14 for.  It 
might be small but it is quite unique.   

 My last one is real tiny.  It has been through a life of being knocked around as it isn't in the best of shape.

   The detail on the base is full of design work and it has an itty bitty handle that only little hands could hold.  I small chip on it but thankfully not broken. It's base design reminds me of a zipper look.   It's chimney has a fluted rim that goes well with the base.  I do need to replace the brass neck area as the turn knob for the wick doesn't go up or down as it should.  Bit of a problem for when you need to raise the wick.  This small size of neck and the wicks it uses are called "pixie" size.  I can find wicks but the neck I will have to look for at another Antique Fair or on ebay.  Oh well....it was just begging to have me bring it home.  I think I paid $12 for this one.







I can't wait to see what treasures K. and I find on our next antique hunting trip....and I can work on my haggling too.  

Unicorns...evil ads

When my girls were teens we rented this wonderful movie called "Legend".    A very young Tom Cruise was in the movie though that is not why I loved it.  My daughters and I were captivated by the fairy tale story of a lovely young girl, the damsel in distress and the magical story that unfolded. Of the Dark Lord who wants the lovely Mia Sara, our damsel in distress, for his own and wants to destroy the last unicorns which would make a world of darkness all over.  Evil....yes....

For me, seeing those two beautiful white unicorns that appeared running downstream, playfully tossing their lustrous long white manes and tail that made me melt.  I could watch that scene over and over wishing to ride them.  Such are dreams!  The filming was simple lovely to watch, so many magical scenes.  Even the evil parts filled the part of the story you had to endure though painful as it was.  We knew our damsel would be saved, we knew the happy ending would come!

Then what did I see in on the internet the other day?  This awful joke of  Unicorn Meat!!!!   I mean really who would come up with this sick idea?  Joke or not I was disgusted.   This is how they describe it (gag!)......

Unicorns, as we all know, frolic all over the world, pooping rainbows and marshmallows wherever they go. What you don't know is that when unicorns reach the end of their lifespan, they are drawn to County Meath, Ireland. The Sisters at Radiant Farms have dedicated their lives to nursing these elegant creatures through their final days. Taking a cue from the Kobe beef industry, they massage each unicorn's coat with Guinness daily and fatten them on a diet comprised entirely of candy corn.

As the unicorn ages, its meat becomes fatty and marbled and the living bone in the horn loses density in a process much like osteoporosis. The horn's outer layer of keratin begins to develop a flavor very similar to candied almonds. Blending the crushed unicorn horn into the meat adds delightful, crispy flavor notes in each bite. We are confident you will find a world of bewilderment in every mouthful of scrumptious unicorn meat.

So gag again....funny...not so with me the unicorn lover!  Seriously they say it sparkles!  So I will try not to think of that but set my eyes and heart on this instead...... I may just have to watch this movie real soon to get my fantasy dreams fulfilled and have sweet dreams....

Who am I?

Who am I?   I am a mother of four to three girls and a son who mean the world to me, a wife of a man I have known since I was 15 that let me grow up when I was so young and still loves me like the day we wed, I am a daughter to a woman who scares me for fear that I will lose my mind to a disease she has with no cure.

Who am I?  I am a friend who loves my friends dearly, I am a little sister to my big brother, I am an Auntie who loves to have gatherings with all her family to remember the very best of living and loving and creating memories to last all our lives.

 Who am I?  I am a want-to-be writer, a want-to-be photographer, I am a marginal cook who sometimes actually makes an amazing dinner and sometimes a laughable one too.

Who am I?  I am a lover of my puppies and kitties, I am a once-upon-a-time horseback rider, a big daydreamer, I am a attempt-to-be-gardener to my potted plants because that is all I can handle right now.

Who am I?  I am a woman on a journey upon a road that is not familiar, I am a gatherer of feelings, of hopes, of dreams still to come.  I am a nurturer to my family even while I hold back sometimes that need to still be "mommy" while they can make their own decisions and choices.

Who am I.... to you...?

         who will I be...to you?

                what will I become...stronger, weaker, meeker, louder, quieter, fearful, fearless?

Lend me your arms, your hands, hold me, be my strength when I am weak, laugh with me when I am joyful, tell me a story, sing me a song.......be with me...always.

Because summer is on the way...

     Yes, summer is almost here....school is almost out....time for being lazy....sleeping in...

     Summer is almost here...and I was thinking of last summer as we went rafting down the Truckee River....drifting slowly...finding the time together as family as we do each year to reconnect ourselves.  It is harder as our girls have grown up.  They have their own lives away from us.  Sometimes we can work out these vacations together and sometimes we can't.  For our R~man he basks in being with his sisters.  I wonder if he feels he missed out on those many years when it was only his sisters with us.  All those trips he never was on...and so for me it is really special and important when we all can be together....making those new memories that he can say he was there and he remembers.  

     This year may be tricky doing a vacation together but somehow we will gather who can come to do some kind of get-a-way to somewhere even if just for a day and hope for a weekend.  We shall see....and then we can be lazy and laugh, be silly and just be...that is all we need...to just be....together.

    I love you my family....I do....

Eric Whitacre

 

                        Sleep


The evening hangs beneath the moon
A silver thread on darkened dune
With closing eyes and resting head
I know that sleep is coming soon


Upon my pillow, safe in bed,
A thousand pictures fill my head,
I cannot sleep, my minds aflight,
And yet my limbs seem made of lead


If there are noises in the night,
A frightening shadow, flickering light....
Then I surrender unto sleep,
Where clouds of dream give second sight.


What dreams may come, both dark and deep
Of flying wings and soaring leap
As I surrender unto sleep
As I surrender unto sleep.


      ~Charles Anthony Silvestri~


     I have loved this song ever since my dear M. was in her school choir and they were singing music written by Eric Whitacre.  Hearing the choir perform year after year I had heard so many lovely pieces as her choir teacher seem to pluck music out that sounded perfect for their performances.  It was she who prompted me to keep asking or looking for more of his work and we did.  Mr. Whitacre is a brilliant composer that writes music that moves the soul in ways unimaginable until one hears it.  Live is best but recordings are what I have so I play his music when my soul needs a deafening to all the outside world.  Here I am drowned in the peaks and falls of the voices of men, women and youth who sing his works.  Oh to be able to sing with them in a unison of bliss!