hand of God ?

I was headed into the pool when I decided to see if I could grab a nice shot or two of the gardenia blooms. This one almost got deleted. I thought it was average. Jim (the other one) stopped me, told me to really look at the photo and see if I didn't notice "something". I never was too good at noticing subtle signs from God. But this has taught me that I need to spend just a little more time looking....

"white" hibiscus

Okay... I must have misplaced the better pic for this flower, but... this is supposed to be a white hibiscus. It was, when we got it.... snow white. Evidently nature decided to add a little color. I like it! BTW - for hibiscus fans, this one (and it's twin) spend most of the day in shade... and it's been blooming non-stop for a year now. Okay, there was a week or two in the winter when we had freezing temps and they stopped but - they've really put on a show!

a day at the farm....

One nice thing about where we're at is that there are still lots of rural areas. Right behind our community, for instance, are farms. We took the back roads home one evening after dinner, and we stopped to visit with the animals. This mother & child seemed very content - at least until we showed up. Then junior decided to visit us at the fence to see what we were all about, OR - possibly to see if we had anything interesting to eat besides grass. We felt really guilty that we had nothing to offer aside from a very old piece of Orbit gum (dirty mouth? Clean it up!) .

Junior let us pet him (or her, we never did find out), and mom didn't seem too worried. She did look up once or twice, but I guess that we looked harmless to her. That, and the fact that they were inside a secure fence, and she knew junior couldn't go too far.

In the very same field were a herd of goats. They were as far away from us as possible when we arrived... but we did our best goat impersonations, and they all came running to the fence. (probably to see what they could do to shut us up!)
They too, were disappointed that we didn't have any treats. Unlike the lil donkey-who let us pet him - the goats ran back off to the other side of the field... except for this one - who was a real ham (!)

















The cows, on the other hand, took off running in the opposite direction when we tried to get them to "moooove" toward us!

Sugar-Free Carrot Cake

Tried this recipe, and it's not too bad! I know a lot of sugar-free recipes either have no taste, or an awful taste, but this one is pretty good! The recipe doesn't include walnuts or raisins, but every carrot cake that I eat - sugar-free or not - has to have those two ingredients, so I threw them into the batter. I didn't provide any measurements for those...add according to your own tastes. Also, if you have a lemon sitting around, add a little lemon zest and just a pinch or so of the juice. I found that this adds a little something. Sprinkle Sweet is, of course, saccharin- which isn't the healthiest. And Splenda (aspartame, a killer) or any of the other sugar substitutes can be used, but I found this recipe as good as any! If you try it, let me know how it turned out!

Sugar-Free Carrot Cake

2 c. flour
2 tsp. soda
2 c. Sprinkle Sweet
1 1/2 c. oil
4 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 c. grated carrots

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and eggs. Add carrots. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

ICING:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 lg. pkg. instant sugar-free pudding (6 serving size)
1 sm. can crushed pineapple, in own juice (no sugar), very well drained

Happy Memorial Day

Well here I am, back again... I can't believe I haven't posted since the beginning of March. I really did plan to spend time here on a regular basis.... but nothing has gone "as planned" for the past year or so (for anyone I know, it seems), so.... I should have known better.

I've been keeping pretty busy these days with the usual stuff, and have had extra stuff to fill my time as well. Since the beginning of the year, I've been working on our high school class reunion. We just decided last week to cancel the reunion. More on that later, maybe.

As some of y'all know, we'll be moving - sometime (soon I hope!), so with the daily routine comes the added work of making sure that everything - inside and out - is in top condition. More on that at another time as well. I started to add a few comments, but I found myself writing way too much, as usual!

Life in general has been pretty dismal... (again, for most everyone that I know). I hope that someone gets some really GREAT news soon - a winning lottery ticket, a weight loss of 100 lbs (or more), a clean bill of health from the doctor.... anything!

Almost finished a quilt top, but ran a little short of fabric... and we can't have a mess when people come to look at the house.... also can't keep moving the sewing machine around... I'm sure that's not good for it. So no pics to post... but hopefully I'll have one soon!

And of course the first thing I did when I got back here was to play around with the layout. Even though I backed up the one that was here, I couldn't get it back to where it was. So I've been messing with fonts, colors, layouts, etc. All I really want is one 3-column layout. I can't seem to access the great pre-made templates available on the 'net, and although Blogger has a lot of people who have spelled out in great detail what you need to do to set up a 3-column layout, I just can't seem to get it. Maybe one of these days.... Grrrrrrrr

Memorial Day.... I almost forgot. I don't keep in contact with any veterans at the moment... and since the climate in Florida is generally the same year-round, you're never quite sure what time of year it is. No spring blossoms/bulbs, no kids in school, so we don't know when they start or are finished for the year.... no snow.... no autumn leaves.... all I know for sure is that June 1 is the start of hurricane season.... and this year, they're predicting a 70% chance that there might be a 50% chance of several named storms that have the potential for possibly becoming larger than average. They always want you to prepare well in advance, but when the predictions are so bad, who can plan for anything? The freezer only holds so many Dove bars. The fridge only holds so much beer/wine. And the pantry only holds so much snack food.

Lots of discussion about Memorial Day this year.... Supposedly Generation Y is now learning to appreciate the day.... over 4,000 dead in this war, and bazillions spent on something that doesn't appear to have an ending. Veterans for Peace wanted to carry a small coffin in a parade, and were accused of being too "political" and disrespectful. I would imagine that a great many soldiers, veterans and family feel that a good way to honor the fallen is by promoting peace. I'm sure there are those who would argue as well, that all war is political. I also noticed several discussions in cyberspace about the difference (or whether there was a difference) between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. To the best of my knowledge, Veterans Day is to honor all Veterans.... while Memorial Day is to honor those who have lost their lives.

I just hope that sometime during the weekend, each of you took a few moments to remember those who sacrificed their lives for each and every one of us, our country, and the many freedoms we enjoy.

Talk soon, I hope!