Happy Anniversary .......21 years and counting.

We celebrated our anniversary today, since we were busy Thursday. We went to Lebanon to Dr Jazz Soda Fountain & Grille for lunch. It is a great (small though) place with a 50's theme, and jazz music playing. It has an old fashioned soda fountain they they actually use. Love it! Then we roamed around town for a while looking in the antique and gift shops. We sat on the corner and did some people watching. Soon it was 92 degrees, so we went to Brewers Bar and grill for a frosty mug of beer. A nice place with quite a lot of people in there for a Saturday afternoon. Spent some more time around town and then drove to Breeze, where we stopped at the Dairy King and had a blizzard...so we won't be eating any food for.....about 4 days...lol...stopped in to visit our friends, Don and Brenda Gordon in Sandoval for a couple of hours and now are back home...what a fun day spent with my sweetie...I hope you all enjoyed your day too.

A really cool 50's theme and jazz music playing, loved it!

Also there were lots of antiques from days gone by.

They even had a working phone booth

Chicago style hot dog and fresh made fries

Emotional bananas

Lots of antiques were in the display windows of Dr. Jazz's as well.

We found a beautiful mini-garden in the center of town too.

Hummingbird festival.

We had an interesting and fun morning today. We went to a Hummingbird Festival in Walnut Hill at the home of Donita Morris and her husband. The hummingbirds were being captured, banded and then we got to hold and release our own little bird. It was awesome and amazing. The hummingbirds kind of go into a trance for a few seconds after they are put in your closed hand, so you can actually hold them in the palm of your hand...here are a few pictures, Bill took video and I extracted these stills, so they are not the clearest, but you get the idea. When our own little bird is recaptured sometime in the future, we will receive notification of where it was found and how far it had traveled...so exciting. We both sure enjoyed it. There was a short informational talk before hand too.

The hummingbirds fly in here to eat and they can't get out, the people doing the banding, reach in and catch them and they are banded from there.

Get there early so you can adopt a hummingbird

Here is my "adopted" hummer getting banded.

The hummingbirds actually go dormant when they are in your closed hand, but flay away as soon as you open it.

Time for peaches and blueberries....

Well, now that I'm done looking at the sky, reading about Pluto and looking at new photos of Earth...I think it's time for a treat....picked the blueberries from our yard

yesterday, just love them with sliced peaches.

The first new photo of planet earth since 1972.....taken from a million miles away, so beautiful!

A fish-eye view of our beautiful sunset tonight.

Swimming fun with the grand boys

It was a scorcher today. We so wanted to go to the Thunder Moon Festival, but with a 9 year old and a 6 year old and 105 heat index, thought it was better to go to the pool. We stayed there for 5 hours, until they closed, and what did we hear "But we wanted to keep swimming!"...lol....They have had their bath and I think they are winding down pretty good, I know grandpa and I are....here are a few pictures, it was a great day!

Bubble Gun Fun...

We picked up the grand boys this afternoon, then got caught in a terrible storm, but we made it ok. The boys are enjoying their light up bubble guns that grandma Mary got for them....wow, toys today are great! After dark was really fun....they ran right into each other, but just kept on going...lol.

Grandpa was showing Garret where his mom is living right now, in Irving, TX

Cool car races on Youtube.

Throw back Thursday.

A few random photos for TBT. My mama's two brothers, Bob and John Westman, me and mom, 1987, me and my daughter sometime around 1980...how fast the years have f

lown by....

Quick one layer yellow cake....best recipe ever!

Quick One Layer Yellow Cake
(A very light cake, perfect for a small family)

1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350?
Grease an 8 inch square baking pan. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add shortening, milk and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add egg and beat for 30 seconds more. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Allow cake to cool before frosting.

Serves 6
Bobbie/IL

* Powdered buttermilk does not have to be mixed separately. I just add the powder with my flour and the water with the my other liquids and let it mix in the batter.
Nancy Rogers

http://www.nancyskitchen.com

A storm is coming...

Aunts

Magic Mike XXL

Carol and I went to lunch at Cracker Barrel in Mt. Vernon, we had a delicious meal, and a nice long visit.  Then we went to see Magic Mike XXL...it was really good.  It's so nice to spend time with friends.............and male strippers...lol...

Lunch with my Red Hat sisters

Had lunch with my Red Hat sisters today, we had a great time visiting and eating pizza! Mary Albert brought her quilt that she had made out of some random fabric squares she bought from our garage sale a while back, She did a beautiful job! Our youngest Pink hat "lady", Stella, joined us too, as alway

s.

One of our many little friends around here

Just caught this deer standing outside the window. Bill was outside by the blackberry bushes and the deer was watching him...he was trying to get to the apple trees, I guess.

Lunch with Danie.

We went to Fairview Heights today and had lunch with Danie, it has been at least 10 years since we saw her, and we had just a wonderful time catching up.  We went to Olive Garden and Darren joined us too, as well as the moms.  Danie, I can't tell you what it meant to us to see you again, I hope it's not so long next time.

Blueberries....mmmmm

The blackberries have started getting ripe now, so it will be an everyday thing to pick them. thank goodness we have someone who wants to buy all we don't want! Also picked these blueberries, of course, there were more but I had to taste-test them to make sure they were ok..

Fried squash blossoms.

Got these at the farmer's market this morning, and boy were they good!   I put Parmesan cheese in the batter and sprinkled them with dill when they were done.

Happy 4th of July!

Found this strawberry/ blueberry patriotic pie at the Effingham Farmer's Market this morning, lots of wonderful locally grown produce, including peaches.