Egg in the Hole

I made "Egg in the Hole" for breakfast this morning. It is a recipe from "The Pioneer Woman Cookbook." My husband taught me how to make this when we first got married almost 34 years ago. His mother called it, "Hobo Sandwich." She made a story about a hobo who was hungry and so he borrowed an egg from a chicken and milked a glass of milk from a cow. I don't remember where he got the bread. It is a quick, easy breakfast. I love eggs anyway. Did you know that Dr. Oz says you should eat an egg a day? No more problems with cholesterol like they used to say. It is full of protein and all the vitamins except C. It is a good source of iodine and vitamin A.

The recipe is in Ree's new cookbook. It is obviously very easy to make just by looking at my plate. Bread, egg, butter, salt and pepper. You just cut a hole in the center of the bread with a biscuit cutter and brown the bread in butter in the skillet. Drop the egg in the center hole and cook on both sides. Voila! Instant breakfast. No need to make toast. You already have it.

Wordless Wednesday-Home Away From Home

2005 Chalet Alpine

Home away from home

Hauling toys. Headed for Arkansas Mountains.

For more Wordless Wednesday go here.

Flower Power

Glorious morning

Hidden jewels

Two young lovers

Star of the show!

Fun Monday-Landmarks

Fun Monday is being hosted by Pamela of The Dust Will Wait.  She requests that we show her some landmarks of our hometown.  I have shown this landmark before so I will direct you to this post.  For more Fun Monday participants visit Pamela.

Wordless Wednesday-Tiffany

For more Wordless Wednesday go here.

More Garage

The exterior of the garage is completed with insulation inside.  The garage is 30 X 40 so there is plenty of room for an office in the end with the door and storage.  We will be able to work on the inside now.  It has two Genie garage door openers.  I haven't figured out what to ask the genies for yet.  For now, they can just open the doors for me.  So many possibilities...

Just a Spoonful

Just a spoonful of sugar...

Fun Monday-The Inside View

Latecomer to Fun Monday this week.  Here's my view inside the front door.  Julie at Another Chance Ranch is this week's Hostess.  Please visit her for more fun. 

Christmas is about The Birth of Christ

What do you think about when you hear the word Christmas?  Presents, food, family, traveling?  All these things are what Christmas is about, but the number one meaning of Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ.  You can't leave Him out.  
Jesus' birth happened while his parents were traveling to Bethlehem to be counted in the census that Caesar Augustus had decreed.  So there was traveling involved.  Jesus was born in a stable and placed in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.  He was visited by shepherds after angels announced the good news of a great joy which was for all people:  "for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."  I have always loved how Charlie Brown's Christmas included Lionel reading this passage from the Bible.  It is always very moving to me.  

Jesus was also visited by magi (the three wisemen) from the east.  They were sent by Herod to search for the Child.  The magi brought Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.  "And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their own country by another way."  This is why gifts are given at Christmas time.  So Christmas does involve family and gift-giving and traveling to homes but never forget that it is the celebration of the Birth of Christ.  A Christian holiday.  A Holy Day.  

Blue Madness

To say I'm fond of blue patterns and cobalt blue glass would

be putting it mildly.  Blue Willow, Blue Delft, Italian Blue

Spode, or any cobalt blue glass gives me a thrill.  See my

teeny, tiny cat in the basket?  The teapot in the middle is

actually from James Sadler of England.  The Oklahoma

plate is a present my mother bought for her mother many

years ago.  When I was a child I had a blue Fiesta ware plate

that my grandmother gave me.  I still have it.  I used to eat

all of my meals on this plate.  It must be over 60 years old.

Maybe that is why I like blue so much.  It gives me such

good memories.

I Spy

Calvin and Susie (Derkins)

Can I get a little Kitchen Aid?

Don't you just love Kitchen Aid appliances?  I have my

blender, toaster, mixer, and food processor.  They are

all so useful and well-made.  I first used to watch Julia

Child and then Martha Stewart using them.  I would long

to have one.  I got my mixer for Christmas as a present

from my husband many years ago.  I'll see if I can find a 

picture of me opening it.  I was thrilled.  I like practical gifts.

This is me and my mixer Christmas 1998.

Stinkin' Rotten Smelling Flower

5. The Foul-Smelling Starfish Flowers Of Africa

Some of the most notorious carrion flowers belong to the Milkweed Family (Asclepiadaceae), a very diverse plant family characterized by milky-white sap. Several South African succulent genera, including Stapelia, Caralluma and Huernia, resemble spineless, sprawling cacti with strange starfish-shaped flowers. The flesh-colored, hairy blossom of S. gigantea may be 8 to 10 inches across (20-25 cm), with a nauseating stench. Fringes of soft white hairs on the reddish-brown petals superficially resemble a layer of mold growing on rotting matter (at least through the compound eyes of carrion insects). Occasionally grown in southern California, the curious flowers attract flies and maggots when they are in full bloom. Another South African species, S. flavirostris, has strange blossoms that look and smell more like a furry, dead animal than a flower. The striped "zebra flowers" Huernia zebrina also produce an intensely fetid odor as they lie on the desert sands of South Africa. Another genus of climbing milkweeds (Ceropegia) produces striking, malodorous blossoms shaped like a wine glass, often with glistening cilia to attract flies. Like Aristolochia, they detain their visiting flies until the male flowers are mature.


The putrid-smelling starfish flower (Stapelia gigantea) is flesh-colored and covered with soft white hairs. It attracts flies and maggots to the central orifice where the male and female floral sex organs are located.  I found this information here.

These flowers start out as a big closed white plume.  But buddy, when they open you better be ready for the scent.  If you were a fly you'd be in maggot heaven, otherwise you are ready to clip that flower off and take it outside where it belongs.  With the flies.  I have had several blooms in the past but none lately.  I forget to water my cactus sometimes, so it has been a dry year for it.  Quite like a desert?

The first time we had a flower I couldn't wait for it to open.  Then one day it did.  I was walking by the laundry room and smelled a foul odor.  I got closer to the bloom and realized that it was stinking like rotten meat.  I took these pictures and then decided the blooms needed to take a little trip far away from our noses.  They do look just like a starfish.  

Wordless Wednesday-As Time Goes By

Time seems to fly by these days. 

For more Wordless Wednesday visit here.

Washing Time

My new Maytag Epic front-loading washing machine was

installed yesterday.  I am pleased with the small amount

of detergent and water that it uses.  It only uses about 18

gallons of water compared to 40 with a top loader.  It really

spins out the water too leaving your clothes practically dry.

Which means less dryer time and less lint.  The service man

said it would probably last about 20 years.  Which is wonderful 

but they may invent a washer that dry cleans by that time.  And

I may just have to have it?

The Office

For those of you who might like to see the view from my home office.
Here is what I look at while working. This computer is not online.

I like to keep the sun and the moon and the stars around for

company and light.

My three beauties below:  treasures they are!

My little Ziggy poster.  Capture all the joys life has to 

offer!  So true.

Fun Monday-The Wall

So sorry I'm late with this Fun Monday. We were without internet
most of yesterday. This week's host was Jan at The Prytz Family.  We are

supposed to show our walls and what's on them.  I am only going to

show you my bedroom wall for now.  I have artwork on most every

available wall.  I am currently changing some art on my living room

walls.  I'm not about change.  I could keep something like it is for

years, just ask my kids.  Anyway, here are bedroom photos for your

enjoyment(?)

This photo is the view from my bed every morning.  The

picture on the left is artist George Bates.  The middle is

Yuri Dvornik with a Paris scene.  The right is "The Girl

with the Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer.  I love 

Dutch paintings.

This is above my dresser.  I collect wooden shoes.  I love

Monet.  This is called "View of Tuileries Gardens."  

Behind the bed are more pictures.  Of course, the building

of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  Other various farm scenes

I picked up at Arts and Crafts fairs of local artists.

Below these are prints that I picked up on our trip to

Paris.  The one on the bottom right is a very old watercolor

by a Parisean artist in the mid-1900's.

Just another view:

Another Monet print:  Red boats at Argenteuil 1875

Final view of room below

Sorry for being late.  

Wordless Wednesday-Our House

Here are more Wordless Wednesday's.

My View

tj wanted to see the view from my bathroom window. She just didn't realize that mine was nothing much to look at.
I usually keep the curtains closed so no one peers in even though it's highly unlikely that would happen. I open the curtains occasionally in the spring and summer.

Sunshine

Always makes me smile:

You need a healthy dose of it every day.

Vitamin D and a smile.

Add a little color and a kitty too.