Lunch at the Marina

Today, we had lunch at a marina restaurant on the Mississippi River.

As it was a hot day, 95 degrees with humidity in the mid 50s,
we ate inside.

Afterwards we went to the shaded patio below.

There was a light breeze. 

 A pleasant spot to "boat watch" for a short while.

It's always exciting to watch the tug boats push their barges past ........

and the railroad bridge, farther down river, swing open to allow the barge to go through.

On the drive home we passed the most charming flower shop 

with lots of gorgeous flowers........

 I don't even know if it was Open.... we were too hot to think about getting out of the car to shop outdoors. 

 I'm saving that for a day when I can take my time and enjoy exploring every little crook and corner. 

Wishing you a Blessed Sunday,

          Hugs,

Serve Cookie Balls at your Next Tea Party

More like a truffle than a cookie in my opinion. Made with cream cheese and a package of sandwich cookies they are just too rich to eat more than a couple bites at a once. But, yes, you will be left craving another soon after. 



I don't have an exact recipe but use one 8 ounce brick of cream cheese to a half package of Oreo sandwich cookies. Just crush the cookie very finely and smoosh in the softened cream cheese. Roll into bitesize balls and dip in melted almond bark.  You may wish to reserve a little crushed cookie to sprinkle on top. Refrigerate to set coating, then keep refrigerated until serving.

Who says you have to stop at Oreo?  There are other sandwich type cookies out there......Nutter Butter..........Lemon is a favorite at our house, although we found the flavor of the Lemon Cookie to be very mild so added a few drops of lemon extract. 

What will your favorite be?

Hope You Had a Happy Fourth!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a look at a parade performance by the  South Shore Drill Team of Chicago......

bagpipers,  another favorite.......

........and the parade theme this year centered around Ronald Reagan

he claimed Dixon as his "place to come home to" as quoted in his film International Squadron, after asking permission of the director to change the line to Dixon.

Hugs,

Remember These TV Dads?.....

"Dad"  was always looked to in high regard..........

.............as a best friend

.........adviser, teacher

..............problem solver

 

.........there was always a moral to the story

 

..........Dad could fix anything, or

........make it "all better"

"Dad" was always a good role model for his family,

keeping high values, 

taking pride in doing whatever necessary

 to provide for their safety,

happiness and well being.

Blessings to all Dads on this Father's Day!

A Music Page Feather and a Canvas Painting

I've been wanting to make a music page feather for some time now after seeing Karen's tutorial at Todolwen here . 

 And here is the result.

 I love it next to my little bird nest themed cloche.

Or maybe beside my little birds nest canvas painting.

Hmmmm,  I'm off to make some more.......... 

Hugs,

The Pot of Geraniums

(this photo from Sunny Side of the Porch)

Today I'm Featuring two Bloggers I know you will enjoy visiting:

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Sunny Side of the Sun Porch, here

http://sunnysideofthesunporch.blogspot.com

see additional red/geranium tablescape photos in her older post, here http://sunnysideofthesunporch.blogspot.com/2010/06/geraniums.html

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and NanniePannie's Blog, here,

http://nanniepannies.blogspot.com/2011/05/red-geranium.html

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I was visiting over at NanniePannie's and her recent post reminded me of a favorite short story from my childhood about the Geranium.

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I was so very happy to find the story posted at Geraniums Online and just had to share it with you. Click here to read http://www.geraniumsonline.com/culture7.htm

My Hummingbirds are Back !!!

I've come to realize that the first part of May is when the hummingbirds return for the summer. They hover and look in my kitchen window as if to say "I'm back, where's the feeder". I hadn't seen any yet this year, but last week I made some nectar and hung the feeder out my kitchen window, and as I was doing so I noticed a ruby throated hummingbird patiently waiting on a nearby tree branch.

My Nectar Recipe is as follows:

1 cup white granulated sugar

3 cups water

Boil for 2 minutes in saucepan on stovetop. Cool.

You may refrigerate extra until you need to refill the feeder.

Dying the nectar is NOT necessary. Hummingbirds seem to be attracted to the color red and most feeders are red I assume for this reason. But I know of no health benefits for the birds to ingest food dyes.

It's such a treat to see two or three buzzing about my feeder.

I recently was directed to this site and just had to share it with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=EUEZkwJulBY

Hope you enjoy!

Hugs,