George Melies, you were a genius

Good morning all! I was just reading about Georges Méliès on who's life story the movie "Hugo" was based. The Hugo character in the movie is fictitious , but Méliès was a real person and was one of the first people to invent moving pictures with special effects back in the 1800's, fascinating! If you have ever seen the silent movie 'A Trip to the Moon', that was one of his hundreds of films.Many were destroyed during WW1, they were melted down to make shoe heels, how sad! If you are bored and have nothing else to do, you can go read here 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s 

Copperhead bread

Hello friends, it's another beautiful day here in Illinois. I made some tomato basil soup, yogurt, and copperhead bread. I'm going out for a walk but wanted to say hello to all of you. Have a great day!

 

The moon, Jupiter and Venus all in one frame

Made some blackberry jam today. My mother in law had some berries in her freezer that she didn't want. Also made a half gallon of greek style yogurt. I had some blackberries left over so made blackberry slump. I thought about you Mona McGuire Decker when I was making this today. The recipe said to serve with cream to take the tartness out of the berries. Remember when you came to visit me last summer, you said your grandma (?) always used cream on her cobbler, so I guess that's why. BTW it was yummy! Looks like some bad weather is coming our way the last few days, so I hope you all enjoyed your Sunday.

Herb and garden show at Mt. Vernon, IL Times Square Mall

 went to the Herb and Garden show at Mt. Vernon today. It was really a nice show, lots of things having to do with gardening. There were also free classes. I went to one on how to use herbs for healing, very interesting! Had lunch at Fazoli's, stopped by mom's on the way home I had something for her that I found at the garden show and now relaxing here at home. I hope you all enjoyed your day too.

Foggy morning in February

Good morning all! Very, very foggy this morning. I took this picture at 9 a.m. while I was walking the dog. STILL the traffic on the road was zipping along like it was a bright sunny day...people...they be crazy! Anyway, it's gone now, the sun burned it off pretty quickly and it's another gorgeous day! Have a wonderful Thursday everyone!

First Time for Egg Nog fudge

Had a very nice day today. First of all, my sis in law, Barb, who went to the ER with what was thought to be a heart attack, was not. Her heart is fine. They are doing some tests for other things. I talked to her and she sounded like her old self. Did some painting out in my little "studio" that Bill has fixed up for me. Then made some eggnog fudge. My son, Preston, gave me his recipe. It is really good, I put nutmeg on top, yummy. Bill spent some quality time with his mom and now we are having some coffee. I hope you all had a good day too.

Earthquake cupcakes

Good afternoon friends. It's been a cold and dreary day today. The trees are full of ice crystals and it's only getting colder. I made a half gallon of yogurt today and it turned out great. Also made Earthquake cupcakes. They are very ugly, but extremely delicious, there is coconut, pecans on the bottom and the frosting is in the middle...yum. Thanks to Janet Hanks for making me hungry when she posted a photo of her cake the other day. I took half of them to the guys at one of the gas stations downtown. Bill and I had one with some coffee, ah retirement is good! I hope you are all enjoying your day.

Had a really great day today. Ate a tasty lunch at Java Joe's: 3 cheese sandwich with cucumber dressing, cucumbers, lettuce, onion on thick wheat berry bread, pickle, chips and black currant iced tea. Then surprised my brother, Milo and sis in law, Barb with a visit. Had some dark chocolate brownies with cream cheese frosting and coffee. Had such a fun time. Mom bought me this coffee mug with a chicken on it, I love it. Thanks mom! I hope you all enjoyed your day.

Icy morning in Kinmundy, IL

Still extremely icy out, we have been in the house all day, enjoying some coffee and watching the birds on the feeder outside the window and the many bright red cardinals against the winter gray outside. I hope you are all enjoying your Saturday.

Birthday dinner for me and Dona

Ate at Ponderosa in Vandalia with MIL, FIL and Bill. Drove through town and looked at all of the victorian houses, the old Capital building, where Abe Lincoln served as a state representative. Stopped by the new Amish Grocery store in St. Peter, bought a few items i.e. SunButter (sunflower butter), honey, wheat germ, oranges and bacon and cheddar cheese. Saw hundreds of snow geese, and Canadian geese in the winter corn fields, just beautiful! It was a great day, now home in the warm house waiting for the sleet, ice or whatever is coming our way. Hope you all are enjoying your day.

North Carolina visit with Preston's family

 Caleb showing great grandma his game.

 Sweet little Molly.

 Hannah and Molly

 Austin playing his blue saxophone.

 Sisters

 Lunchtime.

 Xbox bowling, Molly helping dad

 Hershey the cat, getting a treat.

 Caleb, Austin, Hannah, and Molly in front.

 Austin and Caleb at the computer, playing a game.

 Caleb, Amanda and Hannah

 Molly trying to feed Preston plastic grapes, even though his head was tied up in his hoodie..lol.

Grand boys learn about country life..

It was exceptionally warm for a January day.  Bill built a fire in the fire pit so the boys could cook their own hotdogs.  We all went outside for a while and sat by the fire.  It was more like a spring day.  Garret and Lucas helped grandpa Bill pick up sticks and then he let them saw them into pieces and put them in the fire.  Mom, Shelley and I sat in the house and had a nice visit when we weren't outside.  It was a great day and the boys had lots of fun running and playing in the mud holes outside.  As they drove away to go back home, the sky was full of geese, so beautiful.  I love my family so much.

Midnight in Paris, frostys and christmas cupcakes

 First of all, I wanted to post my Christmas cupcakes, mostly so I would remember them for next year, they were all red velvet and I used up a lot of decorating things I had around the house.  Should have posted them at Christmas..

Yesterday was our weekly movieday at mom's.  We watched "Midnight in Paris" written and directed by Woody Allen.  It was VERY, VERY good, a different twist on life, as we always expect from him.   It was interesting that the costumes were all drab colors, even the rooms were always tan and gray, only one scene had reds and golds.  It made the story the main object in view and not the fancy costumes, of which there were very few.  We enjoyed it lots!  First we had a chocolate frosty and had a nice visit.  Always a great time with mom.  Hope her sciatica gets better soon, so she can get back to normal.  Other than that she is doing fine.  Came home and made dill poached salmon for supper, with some steamed carrots, but I blew it all by having strawberry shortcake for dessert, but, oh well, you only live once!