easter 2015, the adult version

Posted on April 6, 2015 by is there any more pie?

Alas, we had no young people around the table this year.   The kids all had to work, so the old folks managed to party without them.

Banjo Man was in charge of the ham.  He found a recipe for a pomegranate and tart cherry glaze that rocked the house.

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He spent many hours perfecting this ham. Totally worth it!

In honor of my New Orleans-born mother’s birthday, I made a vat of chicken sausage gumbo, which we served as an appetizer.

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Easter dinner at my mother’s house.

 

I tried a new potato dish from Pinterest.  These potatoes are sliced and then filled with butter and thin slices of Parmesan.  After baking an hour, I poured heavy cream over them and sprinkled them with shredded Cheddar cheese.

(Click here for the recipe and lots of photos of the finished product.)

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Happy 89th birthday, Mom!

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Alcohol is a necessity on your birthday.

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Banjo Man offers Ginny and Ken wine to go with the ham while Ginny serves cherry sauce.

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Mayme and George, world travelers, gumbo lovers and makers of shrimp cocktail.

And last but not least?  The birthday cake!

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Ginny has been a professional baker. Can you tell? Is this not gorgeous? I’m eating a piece for breakfast this morning.

A good time was had by all.  While we missed Sarge, Nancy, Mike and the raucous Pictionary competitions, we managed to spend the afternoon shrieking with laughter anyway.

The old folks know how to have fun.  We’ve had a lot of experience!

 

 

 

Posted in family, food, rhode island | 1 Comment

twenty years later

Posted on April 4, 2015 by is there any more pie?
1970 Dad at WEDDING008

1925-1995

We all still miss him terribly.

 

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taking a break from work with a little music

Posted on April 3, 2015 by is there any more pie?

Here are some of our favorite  Austin musicians performing down the road from us, at the annual Rhythm & Roots Festival that takes place every Labor Day weekend.

This is why I practice my steel guitar.   And my dobro!  It’s a challenge, but here’s the inspiration:

Posted in austin, just for fun, music, rhode island | 1 Comment

sunday is not just easter

Posted on April 2, 2015 by is there any more pie?
Jeremy Wade.

Jeremy Wade.

Season 7 of River Monsters starts Sunday night at 9 PM EDT.

Four more days.

I don’t have to tell you how excited I am about this.

river monsters with jeremy wade001

I love this photo. Yes, I glued Jeremy’s head over Banjo Man’s head, but I couldn’t help myself. In my own little fantasy world, Jeremy is happy I caught a fish.

He starts out in Alaska!

To read more about this season, click River Monsters Season 7.

Banjo Man was banished from the living room last year because he kept calling Jeremy a “nitwit” for doing dangerous things.

Silence will be observed on Sunday night, too.

There will be rules of conduct.

There will be snacks.

Feel free to come over and sit on the couch with me.

Posted in rhode island, River Monsters, television | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

it’s all about the cake

Posted on April 1, 2015 by is there any more pie?

My daughter turns 35 today.  Happy Birthday, Nancy!

We celebrated her birthday with the family Saturday night.  I managed to unchain myself from my desk and make dinner and — ta da!!!–bake a cake.

Thank you, Pinterest.

This cake is actually from a blogger called I Am Baker, where you can find the recipe for this gorgeous cake. She has a cookbook out featuring cakes with “surprises” baked inside.  This one has a secret layer of brownie soaked in chocolate sauce.

Yes, a layer of brownie soaked in chocolate sauce.

2015-03-28 003 I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top of the one I made.  There were a few issues getting the cake layers out of their pans.  The broken cake layers had to be patched together with frosting.  I had to put the cake in the refrigerator and hope that the chilled frosting solidified enough so the cake didn’t fall apart and tumble off the stand.

Oh, that wasn’t stressful at all.  

I sort of ran out of cream cheese frosting, too.

2015-03-28 009But it was pretty with the candles on it!

2015-03-28 006The Birthday Girl loved it.   And that’s all that matters, right???!!!!

2015-03-28 005Happy Birthday!!

 

 

 

Posted in family, food, rhode island | 5 Comments

looking for lunch

Posted on March 31, 2015 by is there any more pie?

2015-03-30 001Meet my hawk.  He likes to hang out here outside my office window.

He’s hungry.  I am, too.  I’m on a diet.  I often feel like swooping down on an unsuspecting piece of carb-filled bread.

His wings are huge, but I’ve yet to take a successful my-hawk-in-flight photo.

I hope he eats the mice that try to get into my basement.

I hope he eats the squirrels that try to get into my attic.

But I hope he leaves the chipmunks alone.

A few years ago I trained the local chipmunks to come running when I called them.  They knew I had sunflower seeds and they learned to pop out of their dens when they heard the back door slide open.

It was quite entertaining, though Banjo Man was not amused, especially when the chipmunks grew so tame they’d hop up the back steps to the sliding glass door and chirp for me to feed them.

fanpop.com

fanpop.com

I once had some great chipmunk pictures.  Wish I knew where they were…

Note to self:  organize digital photos.

 

Posted in rhode island | 4 Comments

still time

Posted on March 30, 2015 by is there any more pie?
From amyriceart at etsy.com

From amyriceart at etsy.com

I came across this on Pinterest this morning.  I was taking a break from writing (yes, this is the last week of writing!), sipping some fresh coffee and looking for anything to distract me from today’s 1700 unwritten words while I tried to stay awake.

Still time to change the road I’m on.

Nice.

I needed to be reminded that my road is going to change by the end of the week (if the planets line up with the stars and my brain continues to function).  The last deadline will have been met.

Next exit, next road comin’ up.

I’d better put my blinker on!

P.S. Check out Amy’s Etsy store.  Very cool things at amyriceart.

 

Posted in a more pie opinion, rhode island, shopping, writing | 2 Comments

how i feel about last night’s snow

Posted on March 29, 2015 by is there any more pie?
No Spring in sight.

No Spring in sight.

Posted in a more pie opinion, rhode island | 3 Comments

a little problem with depth perception

Posted on March 28, 2015 by is there any more pie?

I love this dog.  How funny is this!!!

Posted in just for fun | 1 Comment

flights home

Posted on March 27, 2015 by is there any more pie?

Banjo Man and I arrived at the Austin airport at 3:45 AM Wednesday morning.

Yes, it was painful.  But the plane was only half full, so that helped.  The flight crew turned off the cabin lights and let us sleep for a while.

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Flying into the sunrise while Banjo Man slept beside me.

IMG_20150325_073907We landed in Baltimore about four hours later and staggered off the plane to hear the sound of cheering.  I saw American flags waving a few gates away from us, so we went over to see who was arriving home.

“It’s an Honor flight,” Banjo Man explained, reaching for his handkerchief.  “I’ve seen them before.”

Honorflight.org

“We fly veterans to Washington DC to visit memorials built to honor their service to the nation.

Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America’s veterans for all their sacrifices. We transport our heroes to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans – World War II survivors, along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill.

Of all of the wars in recent memory, it was World War II that truly threatened our very existence as a nation—and as a culturally diverse, free society. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 640 WWII veterans die each day. Our time to express our thanks to these brave men and women is running out.”

“We can’t all be heroes. Some of us have to stand on the curb and clap as they walk by.” – Will Rogers.

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We watched as World War II veterans exited the plane (in groups of about 10 at a time).  An honor guard representing five branches of the military lined up against the wall to salute them, Vietnam vets acted as escorts, and the crowd clapped and whistled and waved flags.  It was terribly moving and such an honor to see.

Here are my pictures, as awful as they are (I don’t know how to take a clear picture with my Kindle yet).

IMG_20150325_090614 IMG_20150325_090408 IMG_20150325_090327 IMG_20150325_090317I’ll be writing a check to Honor Flight today.

(In honor of my father, who would have loved to have been part of this.)

 

 

Posted in travel | 2 Comments