Just not enough . . .

THANK YOU

just simply isn't enough to say to my

 blogging friends who have taught me

so much in the past few months!

You may have noticed

that I have been changing some things around on my blog.

Slowly I am learning but I have had a heck of a time indeed.

Color, size, placement, photos, you name it, I have had questions about it all!

I have had some fantastic blogger friends step up to the plate and offer to help.

Reluctant I was in the beginning and finally I said, "bring it on!"

My friend Barbie, from

Babs Just A Babblin'

was my first to teach me about blogging.

She showed me blogger and helped me set up

Irish Garden House.

She has answered so many questions

I can't imagine how she has remained patient with me.

She has a delightful blog and shares her love of her family,

talks about her crafts, knitting and decorating. 

Plus she is amazing in the kitchen and

we all go to her for the best recipe around. 

Thank you very much Barbie for bringing me to blog land.

And then there is Misha

 From My Front Porch In The Mountains

who I happened upon and we connected like kindred spirits.

She helped me rearrange and make tremendous changes in my blog. 

She has taught me a ton of things even though most of her excellent work

is now in my head and not on my blog. 

She introduced me to picnk,

 she showed me buttons

and also introduced me to

some wonderful blog land friends of hers, like 

NieNie and Gitzen Gal.

Misha has an amazing blog

with wonderful photographs of her

vistas from the porch.

and of her beloved family.

Misha has a wonderful gift

to write, create, to "tell story."

She too, is a gem, stop by and visit her.

Thank you Misha for teaching and for being my friend.

And most recently I said

"Bring It On"

to the delightful Diane,

The Blue Ridge Gal 

She has been helping me with my header.

How she has stayed with me

I will never know, but she has.

I love my new Irish Garden House

header, the font, the fall look 

the simple rectangular size.

Stay tuned because as soon as I make some decisions

about some color and design

 Diane is going to create me header number two.

If you haven't visited her

you are in for a treat.

She does everything:

You Tube

Music

Photos

Teacher

You will enjoy visiting her lovely home,

and for sure, you will enjoy the

antics of Izzy and the patience of Rowdy.

Diane is multi talented in design

so stop in and visit and see for yourself.

Thank you Diane for your guidance and your teaching.

Your delightful positive outlook on life/living is refreshing.

And an "over the moon" thank you

 for sharing your darling pups with me and the rest of blog land. 

They are charmers ultimate! 

I encourage each of you to

think

thankfulness.

Remember

your

friends

family

 teachers

Tell me about yoruself,

I would love to hear from you

I can't forget,

I really like my little Snickers

I am thankful for her!

She is delight!

It has been a mixture of . . .

SUNSHINE

rain

frost

freezing rain

SNOW

more sunshine

clouds

DRIZZLE

more

snow dust

IT IS MICHIGAN AFTER ALL!

 The roof top on a house across the street

was covered with snow on Friday morning

 and there was "snow dusting" here and there

throughout the neighborhood. 

Nothing like the east coast where

 they received a foot or more of snow in places.

Many of the trees still have their leaves

and tons of them have fallen to the ground. 

Our bitter sweet vine was holding on tight to her leaves until 

PRESTO

Saturday morning I looked out

and the ground was covered with the golden leaves.

Bring on Halloween

The chili is ready

the pumpkin bars are baked

the families will arrive in the afternoon

the kids are bringing friends.

Let the fun begin!

This poor gal lost her vim and vigor.

She was frozen to the bone on Saturday morning

after the freezing rain during the night. 

I spruced her up a bit and

she has rallied!

Happy Halloween

from

Michigan

Sometimes we find bits of wisdom along the way . . .

"At 17 I read somewhere,

  If you live each day as it is your last,

someday you'll most certainly be right." 

"If today were the last day of my life,

would I want to do what I am about to do today?

And whenever the answer has been

"no" for too many days in a row,

I know I need to change something. 

Your time is limited . . .

Don't let the noise of others' opinions

drown out your own inner voice. 

And most important, have the courage

to follow your heart and intuition . . .

everything else is secondary."

Steve Jobs

June 12, 2005
Standford Commencement Address

It's a wonderful world . . .

My favorite song by the way

If I hear Louis Armstrong singing it  . . .

We found some fall colors

the temperatures were cool

warmer coats, scarves and gloves for sure  . . .

My hubby and I enjoyed a nice day

together yesterday for our anniversary.

One of the things we did was take a ride on our bikes

on a new trail which has been recently developed

and located not far from us.

 

We took Snickers along too.

Our theme for our anniversary was to do

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

We talk about taking off on a bike ride

but don't do it often enough.

Jack had the bikes loaded when I returned home

from my class so off we went.  

We drove the car, parked near the entrance

of the new trail

and took off.   

After the bike ride we took Snickers home,

changed our clothes

and in our

"something different theme"

we tried out a new Italian restaurant

and foods which were new to us.

It really is a wonderful world if

we take the time to get out there and enjoy it.

Enjoy a happy day!

It is our anniversary . . .

We

were married

fourteen years ago today

 surrounded by

friends and family.

We met each other
later in our lives.
Like I often say,
when you least expect
someone or something
comes into your life.

Some days aren't perfect

but most days are

Perfectly Wonderful

We enjoy our Irish travels

We "get" each others humor

I like his patience

He likes my caring

I don't like his disorderliness

He likes my orderliness

I use Crest

He uses Colgate

Jack
is my companion,
friend, lover, life partner
and Snickers really loves him too.

Happy Anniversary
Mr Kennedy
I Love You

Yours, Lynne
October 18, 2011
~~~

Granny's recipes . . .

You may have read about my

Red Chili

White Chicken Chili

Pumpkin Bars

in my post yesterday.

Some of you have asked for recipes

so here you go.

My red chili and the white chili

are made from the combinations

of several chili recipes I have tried

through the years. 

The Pumpkin Bar recipe is my mom's.

It was a favorite of hers and one of mine! 

I have never taken photos of my

chili or my pumpkin bars 

and since none of them are

on the stove or in the oven cooking

I found some photos to share with you today. 

Believe me . . . 

I will take some photos of these favorites 

when the family gathers on Halloween. 

Granny Lynne's Red Chili

Serving for 10-12

2-3 lbs of ground chuck

1 package of Italian spicy sausage

1-2 large onions

1-2 stalks of celery

2 large cans of tomato sauce

3-4 cans chili hot kidney beans

chili powder to taste

 some garlic

Cheese and an uncooked chopped onion for garnish.

Brown the meat , onion and celery and set aside. 

Place the tomato sauce, chili beans

garlic and chili powder in large dutch oven.

Bring to slow simmer for 30 minutes or so. 

Add your meat mixture to the tomato mixture.

I do not cook this fast, I let it simmer slowly for 3-4 hours.

(I think soups are usually best the second day.)

Serve hot with sides of

shredded cheese, chopped onion, crackers

for those who prefer some garnish.

Now, I must say, I don't measure a thing when I make this.

I can tell how it looks, how it tastes, know what I mean?

I do change it up and usually add some diced tomatoes

The chili powder and garlic amount  is dependent on your preference.

My husband always adds some sugar to his bowl to reduce the acid. 

Granny Lynne's White Chicken Chili

6 halves of chicken breast

8-10 cups of chicken broth

1 large jar of Randall Northern Beans

2 cans of green chilies

2-3 tsp of cumin

1 can of beer

1 jar of salsa

2 small onions

2 cloves of garlic

1 brick Monterrey Jack cheese, sometimes two bricks

(I cut cheese in chunks before adding to soup.)

Save some of the cheese and shred, for garnish

Place chicken breast in oven, sprinkle breast with

a seasoning such as Monterrey Garlic Pepper

Bake for 30-40 minutes, let them cool a bit and then cut in small chunk pieces.

While chicken is baking, brown the onion and garlic.

Pour the chicken broth in large dutch oven

add the Randall beans, I usually drain the liquid from the jar to reduce the salt.

(Sometimes I use the bean juice though and just use a low sodium chicken broth.)

Add the green chilies

Add the chicken

Add the salsa

Let it simmer a bit

Add the beer last. 

Sometimes I find I need more beer,

less chicken broth, sometimes visa versa.

Add the Monterrey cheese. 

The soup will thicken more with the cheese and beer. 

Add some broth if it gets too thick. 

Just play with it, if it looks good, it probably will taste yummy. 

Everyone seems to enjoy my white chili

If yours doesn't turn out, please don't blame me

You can always  plan a trip to our house

and we can cook up some together.

My Mom's Famous Pumpkin Bars

1 cup cooking oil

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, beat until creamy

1 303 can pumpkin, (2 cups)

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 cups flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

Sift dry ingredients together and add to oil, sugar, eggs and pumpkin

Bake in TWO 9x13 pans at 350 degrees for 25 minutes

Frosting

1 stick of butter

1 8 oz of cream cheese, softened to room temp

31/2 - 4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp of vanilla

Let bars cool before frosting

Refrigerate bars

They freeze beautifully

(I do not add a pecan on top.)

Once Upon A Time . . .

when the kids and the grand kids

were tiny tots . . .

1967

This little hobo guy Scott

was three years old in this photo. 

And this was the first Halloween costume I made.

Halloween

is one of our "family gathering" times. 

The kids come home and bring their friends too.

It has changed and grown over the years

but it seems no matter what the

"sheep still come home"

and

Ganny's red chili plus white chicken chili

and pumpkin bars

 are part of the tradition.

Plus

we usually have a walk

around the neighborhood

to trick and treat. 

Amanda is now seventeen and Cody is twenty. 

They love the red chili.

Their dad Scott likes the red too

but their mom Sue

is a red and white gal.

Tyler is seventeen and Jordon is thirteen

and I think their vote is for the red chili. 

Their mom Suzie and their dad Michael

don't have a preference, they just say

"bring both of them on!" 

The costumes were made by me,

 exception being Jordon's elephant costume.

It was a store purchase but

reconstructed so he could wear it.

Loving it isn't he!!!!

How fast the days go by.

I hope each of you are enjoying

your family traditions as much as we are.

What about you,
red chili or white chicken chili?

Bitter Sweet in full bloom . . .

Almost thirty years ago I found a place to pick wild bitter sweet. 

I wouldn't harm it for the world and although it is a protected plant

 my picking/pruning has made this vine prolific, gorgeous, plentiful. 

Several others have helped themselves to the bittersweet as well.

I don't think I have ever seen a larger area, collection of the vine.

I thought this year I may be able to pick from my vine at home

but the berries are attached at the top of the vine in a huge old Oak tree.

 

So, last week my friend Barbie and I took off

to snip some of the vine from my usual hideaway spot.   

Blueberry Vine and Bitter Sweet Vine

combined into a wreath.

Bitter Sweet

in a very old piece of

Roseville pottery

Some real and some not so real . . .

Some of you may know

I have been struggling to create

a new face for my blog. 

I am still in the struggle,

but it isn't that

I haven't been trying. 

In the meantime . . .

I have taken a ton of photos

been taking a class at the local community college

closing up the gardens for the winter

celebrating birthdays

making applesauce and other apple yummies

"putting up" pickles

knitting dish cloths

laundry

cooking dinner

walking Snickers

making fake pumpkins

visiting Art Prize

 (twice already once more time this weekend with the grand kids)

Hey, I am a busy gal! 

I have tried everything with my header

and

I can't get it the way I want it.

 

I have friends who have offered to help

and

I appreciate each of them tremendously.

BUT

I want to see if I can figure it out for myself. 

Cuz'

I figure

if I

figure

it out

then I will know the next time

when I want to change my header.

 

Smart, huh? 

A bit stubborn too, maybe!

Now I have to stop playing and creating

and go read my book for book club.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Muriel Barbery

Have any of you read it?

Front door fern

dressed in

pumpkin fashion

Birthday Boy . . .

My guy had a birthday

a few days ago. 

Surprises don't come around

every day . . . and luckily

I pulled a surprise off for him.

Remember the key word?

APPLE

Yes, an iPad.

He has been itching to use mine

so I decided to treat him to one of his own.

He will enjoy it a bunch plus be able to use it for work things too.

Internet, photos, meetings,maps, you name it, it has it all!

SAY WHAT? 

No doubt about it. 

He was a happy guy!

Snickers was along for the fun

but a bit jealous over the doggie

on his birthday card!

She recovered!

Surprises when they work are such fun!!!!