My Latest Project--Recipe Books!

OK, I finally have something for the blog!  This is a recipe book I made for my grandson Thomas.  He has just moved out on his own and I thought he might like some favorite recipes from his summers visiting us up at the cabin.  I am planning on making one for each of the grandkids, personalizing them with pictures of them from "the good old days".  I may even have to change some of the recipes depending on their own favorites from those fun summer days.

Free printable recipe card made with Smilebox Now, former students, don't get excited thinking I'll make recipe books for you anytime soon.  I have 10 grand kids and 3 (right now) great grand kids!  We'll see how long that takes!  I'm thinking if I did do a recipe book for each school I taught at, it would be kind of fun but the pictures for North Park HS might not be as good as WWHS because I didn't have digital back then and so not as many pics--well comparatively speaking.  It's a thought' though.

I'm Back With Some Great Book Selections!

Eating ice cream in Fredricksburg, TX on New Years Day.

After a 2 month rest, here I am with some fresh ideas and a few pictures. For some reason I just couldn't get motivated to sit down and write even though there is always plenty for me to say!

The girls show off their butterfly pillows they learned to make in my "home school sewing class".

One reason I haven't been working on my blog is because I have been reading some very engrossing books that I feel the need to mention. The first is Tom Clancy's latest book "Locked On".  Bob got it for Christmas and we both read it while we were in Texas with Micah's family.

A very good read especially if you are a Clancy Fan.

This is the back story on John Clarke one of the characters in Clancy's John Ryan books.  Full of action, blood and guts but I liked it.

 It was so good I checked out one of Clancy's older books called "Without Remorse".  They have been trying to make a movie of this book since 2008 but still haven't got it done. These plus several other books Kim wanted me to read, kept me interested so that I didn't have time to write in my blog. Of course we had other things to do there as well.

Bob, Micah, and Kim enjoy the warm afternoon in Fredricksburg, TX on New Years day.

I figured I would have more time when we got up to windy, frigid Casper and I couldn't fit my Christmas book from Paul (11/22/63? Not sure of the date now) into my luggage when we flew up to Wyoming. When I got there, we had a lot of things we wanted to do and I had kind of gotten out of the habit of writing in my blog.

A Taste of some of the things going on in February in Casper, Wyoming!

Carla's and my pottery decorating attempts done at Pottery By You.

We had about 9 deer come visit the house.  These were right under the window in the yard.  Some even climbed several of the front porch steps!

 A coffee or hot chocolate pot Carla and I decorated.

We did a lot of dog sitting with Izzy and I had to sweep up loads of white hair all month as she was shedding her winter coat!

A travertine formation in Thermopolis, WY.  It is formed from minerals in the hot springs.  The water is bubbling up through a pipe and it is pouring over the sides.  The whole thing is a mineral formation that just keeps growing! We spent a weekend there "taking the baths" and sight seeing.

 Then Carla gave me a gift card for Audible.com and I had 3 free to me books to choose for my listening pleasure! I had several books my friends on Facebook had been recommending. It was a tough choice but I finally picked "The Hunger Games".

The Hunger Games trilogy.  You won't be able to quit after reading just one!

 Wow! It was a great choice. Both Carla and I read (listened to) the whole trilogy in 4 days! It is a riveting story for adults as well as teenagers.

Katniss takes aim!

 I can hardly wait for the movie to come out. I hear it is coming in March so maybe I won't have to wait too long. I hope they do a really good job with it.

Some of the Tributes from the movie.  I think there is a contest going on to win an arena Tribute jacket.

 The set designers, costumers and hair designers must have had a great time doing this movie! I am still having dreams with this book in the background!

I kind of liked that the books were audible. The whole story seemed very intimate. (I used ear phones to listen). I felt like I was right in the middle of the action, but maybe I would have felt that way reading it too. One thing I didn't like about only listening was that I couldn't see how the names were spelled so I couldn't remember them as well. Weird, how visual can you get! I guess I will read a review or summary of the book on Amazon so I can see how those names were spelled and I’ll remember them better.

Haymitch and Katniss.  Woody Harrelson is playing Haymitch in the movie.

Well that wasn't so tough to get back in the groove so maybe I will get going on this blog again! We are leaving for Phoenix in a couple days and I do have several adventures to talk about, some recipes and memories, too.

Reading Fantasies and More Pictures

One of the reasons I have not been keeping up with my blog lately is because of my Kindle!  Amazon has a whole bunch of free books offered to Kindle owners every month.  The trick is that many of them are the first in a series and they get you hooked and you have to buy the rest of the series.  The nice thing about Kindle is that most of the books are around $10 or less.  That's what happened to me and it was a book that I thought I would not be interested in but was really good.  The rest of the trilogy was under $7 so it was not too bad.  It's called The Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobbs.  The other 2 in the trilogy are The Royal Assassin and The Assassin's Quest.  They are  fantasy books located in a fantasy time and place complete with Kings, Queens, a Fool, Assassins (duh), deceit, court politics and dragons (last book of the trilogy).  Hobbs writing is good and keeps you wanting more.

  I never got into fantasy too much until I read Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and loved them.  I have to admit something about those books.  I read them at school when we had the ten minutes every hour every Wednesday to do nothing but read.  I think it took me almost 2 years to finish all 3 books of Lord of the Rings (I had read the Hobbit first as instructed by Marianne).  My students caught me crying as I finished Return of the King not only because it was sad but because there was no more to read about.  Don't you just love books like that?  I tried to stay ahead of seeing the movies and I did, which I like because the books are way better than the movies but I love the movies too.  I really would plan a whole vacation to New Zealand around visiting the sights where they filmed it!  What fantastic scenery and those sets must have been terrific too.

Back to the Assassin, I think these books would make a good film too.  Lots of intrigue, battles, heartbreak, even drugs to keep the action going.  I think I am ready to try some other fantasy books now that I have gotten my feet wet.  Of course I need to try some other genres too.  I still can't get into the vampire stuff too well.  A long time ago--even long before the movie--I read An Interview with a Vampire and absolutely loved it.  I have to say, though, that I can't get into the Twilight series.  I started the first one several years ago and couldn't even finish it.  Just not my thing, I guess.  Futuristic and Sci-fi are also not my bag although occasionally I like one of those too.

I have a lot more freebies to read plus I want to read some of the recommendations of friends as well.  Can't wait for summer to sit outside and get in some good summer reading at the cabin.  OOOOPS! I forgot for a moment about the mosquitoes, flies, and sunburn possibilities.  Silly me!

Carla and my empty chair await me at the cabin!

Here's some more pictures of what's going on here!  Click on the pictures to make them larger and hit the browse button to get back to the blog.

Mr. Grassman in less than 1 week after Easter.

Nat and Maizie wonder whether he needs a haircut after 2 weeks!

What do you think?  I vote to wait and see if they curl like Nat's

Samara getting up on the balance beam.  She does a roll over on it in the video I took.

Samara is mounting the high bar.  This was her last gymnastics class of the season.  Next week she starts swimming lessons!