Here was a Man

No one can narrate a story like Johnny Cash. When he speaks, I listen. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Activities of the Season

I know how busy everyone is this time of year, but I wish you all many peaceful moments as well. Here is a glimpse of my Holiday season so far.

Christmas with my Mom and relatives on my side of the family-so fun.

My daughter has been working on crafts since her college semester has ended.

There was a major malfunction with my oven. I thought it was me, but it was the thermostat!

This is cornbread after 15 minutes!

It was too cold to grill outside, so we tried cooking steaks in the fireplace. We need a little more practice.

My soon to be daughter-in-law has the cutest little niece, and I love being with her.

We decided to turn the Children's Christmas Program at church into a dinner theater-very successful!

We had to use an artificial tree for the first time at church because of the drought. The children made the snowflakes to decorate it, no one minded the "fake" tree and now there is no rush to take it down.

It has been interesting, and challenging, but fun around here.

I hope it is the same for you!

Merry Christmas!

A Very Enjoyable Story

I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time. I understand that it has been criticized on several levels but keep in mind that it is FICTION. The movie also comes out on DVD next Tuesday. I will be watching it.
I hope some of you will try this book. I expect you to enjoy it as much as I did!

From Widipedia:
The Help is set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi and told mainly from the perspective of three women: Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter. Aibileen is an African-American maid who cleans houses and cares for the young children of various white families. Her first job since her own 24-year-old son was killed on his job, is caring for toddler Mae Mobley Leefolt. Minny is Aibileen's confrontational friend who frequently tells her employers what she thinks of them. Her actions have led to her being fired from 19 jobs. Minny's most recent employer was Mrs. Walters, mother of Hilly Holbrook. Hilly is the social leader of the community, and head of the Junior League. She is the nemesis of all three main characters.




Miss Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is the daughter of a prominent white family whose cotton farm employs many African-Americans in the fields, as well as in the household. Skeeter has just finished college and comes home with big dreams of becoming a writer; her mother's big dream for her is to get her married, although Skeeter is not interested. What does interest her is that Constantine, the maid who raised her, is nowhere to be found: Skeeter's family tells her that Constantine abruptly quit and went to live with relatives in Chicago. Constantine had been writing to Skeeter the whole time she was away at college and the most recent letter had promised her a surprise upon her homecoming. Skeeter does not consider Constantine's unexplained absence a good surprise and wonders what happened, but nobody will discuss Constantine.



This discussion awakens Skeeter to the realization that her friends' maids are treated very differently from how white people are treated. She decides that she wants to reveal the truth to the world from the maids' perspectives by writing a book about it. Written in the first person from the perspective of Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter, the struggles Skeeter experiences to communicate with the maids and gain their trust is revealed, as well as the issues of overcoming long-standing barriers in customs and laws by all of the characters. The daily lives of Southern homemakers and their maids during the early 1960s in Mississippi are explored. The dangers of undertaking writing a book about African-Americans speaking out in the South during the early '60s hover constantly over the three women.

A few things I loved about the Texas Renaissance Festival

My daughter (on the right) and two of her cousins enjoyed these adult sized swings.

I enjoyed the "magic garden" with these unicorn statues.

I loved watching the elephants. Thank you to this family (that we didn't even know) for letting me photograph them.

My daughter and I loved sharing this apple dumpling with ice cream.

Since my family's name is Griffin, I especially loved this majestic statue.

What I loved most of all: being there with my family. Here I am with my baby sister. Such a fun day!

not the sun!

No this is not the sun. It is the full moon rising over the trees in the same spot as the morning sun. So beautiful to step out into the cool evening yesterday and see this glorious yellow moon rising to take its place in the night sky.

Making my indoor garden

A few weeks ago, I started some plants outdoors. The weather has been very warm over all but we did get a few nights with temperatures in the 30's. I moved the plants inside and hope they will continue to produce.

I have mixed lettuces.

Basil

Kale

and spinach

I picked a variety of the greens. I got a surprising amount for the first picking.

I cooked some hot Italian sausage, onion, mushrooms and garlic together. Then I added the greens I picked and some crushed tomatoes. For supper, we had lentils topped with sausage and greens. It was wonderful-and fun to add the fresh greens that I grew myself. I still need to pick over half the lettuce and a lot of the spinach. That means we will have a fresh salad tonight.

Sweet/Salty Butterscotch cookies

Well, it seems as if all I am doing lately is baking. That is probably the last thing I need to do, but.....I love it.

These cookies are basic butterscotch chip cookies with a little twist. I made them sweet and salty by rolling them in a mix of 1/3 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon salt before baking. You can do this with peanut butter cookies or chocolate chip-just about any kind would be good, I think. I just used the recipe on the back of the butterscotch chip package and added my little secret topping. They were so good!