Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Thanksgiving and the Sunday after. . . .

 Thanksgiving found us heading up to the country
to join wife's dad's side of the family for turkey
and all the trimmings.
Held again at the small park/country club, the day was delightful.
We had stayed over the night before to have an early start on setting up. (Wife's families turn to host the event)
 As best described by a friend; once the family starts to show up; ". . the population number on the town sign starts to tick up."
There ended up to be about 40 hungry souls for dinner.
 Daughter loved just about everything, favorites of course being olives and cheese.
 The day was wonderful weather and all other ways wise, so the kids got to go play on the playground. . .
 . . . and throw the football. . ..
 . . . and jump in the leaves. . .
 Daughter even got time to go check on great-grandparents kittens.
 Sunday following Thanksgiving found us running some things out to the cabin, which allowed plenty of time to  . . . . .
 . . .swing.
Grandma powered of course.
The day was cold and blustery, but we still had fun.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Is it about the frog or Yoda, or maybe, which came first. . .























"Easy Being Green it is Not"



Peter Deseve blogspot

Expedition Cabin and Bellflower. . ..

What a great Sat.
Another 'Expedition Day' for daughter and I, plus grandma this time.
Started at the cabin with a leaf pile.
Daughter did not get much out of that.
She needed her cousins to show her how it is done.
With dad's bad knee's, it sure wasn't coming from me.


She did however enjoy the new swing we hung on the porch.
A gift from grandpa.
After a few height adjustments, it got a lot of use that first time.
 We also broke out an old guitar and she did her best to keep the crowd entertained with renditions of 'Country Roads' and 'Witch Doctor'.
After the cabin we went for an adventure drive.
First passing this old Century Farm which will require some exploration at a later date.











The purpose of this 'expediton' was to scout out a restaurant we had been told about that now occupies an old church, and serves breakfast.
This was suppose to be located in the town of Bellflower.
Bellflower is a small rural farm town.
Lots of church's and a store.
It is in many ways a sad little town, probably quite typical of small farm communities in Americas rural areas.

 The town has many old homes, but most were in terrible repair, even the ones being lived in.
And even the new modular homes (trailers?) looked tired and run down already.
We did find an old church that housed a restaurant.
I am glad, till I can investigate further, that we chose to eat at a favorite place before we placed our hopes on this one. Although I am willing to try it sometime, it did not, on the outside, seem the kind of place I wanted to take a five year old, a grandma and a dad with bad knee's to without exploring first.
Outwardly it appears tavern like and duct taped together. Will check it out with a group of bikers someday. (Joy! Was this the place?)




The little town did boast a couple of well kept church's, and to be fair, a few nice old houses.


We stopped in the towns city park/school playground for our picnic.
It was so windy, (oh windy was it?) that it blew our butter away before we could spread it.


Grandma held tightly to her sandwich.


The towns elementary school.
Neat old building.


And the grocery/hardware store, still very much in use, along side the small post office.


This church seemed to be a good example of the town.
Pretty from a distance, but run down up close.
However, they were at least making an effort to save the church. You could tell the roof was in good shape and some foundation work had been done.
I think the top of the spire should be the symbol, at least for now, of all the run down little towns we don't seem to value any more.


Teaching daughter to explore old buildings. One of dad's passions.


The inside. Not to far gone yet.


Outside. Needs paint, but other than one broken window, not in bad shape.




Symbol of our small towns?
I hope not.
On the way home we passed through another small town, Truxton, and this is the post office.












Let's close on a happy note for such a great exploration day. . . .

The story that just won't go away. . .

More on (or off) the sugar plum fairy. . .

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Because it sounded like a great rainy day idea!

Sunday, November 20, 2011


Raining Chocolate

It is a wet day here in central Kentucky and although it may not be actually raining chocolate, heavy raindrops have been falling since early this morning.  So, what better way to celebrate a cool, rainy day indoors, but with chocolate?!  

Creamy, decadent chocolate at that.  The following recipe is for a flour less chocolate cake that is creamy and rich with chocolate flavor.  

The first thing you shall need is one, 8-inch pan.  I chose to use a spring form pan because I am like that.  Make sure you have an old school Snoopy ruler on hand to check the diameter of said pan. 




Grease this pan and give it a liberal dusting with cocoa powder.  



Next, using a double boiler, melt 1/2 cup of butter and 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate.  Butter and chocolate.....a beautiful thing. 

Mix the melted chocolate/butter combo with 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 3 eggs (beaten), and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Mix well and then pour into your prepared pan.  It should look like this.  All of this chocolaty goodness calls for a moment of silence.....


Bake that fantastic pan in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes. 




Allow the cake to cool and then slice it, plate it, and cover it with caramel and pecans.  

Just the right treat for a rainy Sunday afternoon and a nice gluten-free item for your Thanksgiving table.


Make it, eat it, enjoy it, and that's an order

From the link on It's a small town life over on the right.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

To get over our sadness about the SPF. . . trees. . .

Foggy coast line. ..

Well . . . the Mayor held firm.

Mayor Faith Makes Statement Related to Christmas Traditions Festival
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Mayor Sally Faith – Public Statement (St. Charles City Council Meeting – Nov. 15, 2011)
I wanted to take a brief moment to thank everyone who has contacted the city of St. Charles related to the Christmas Traditions festival.  I appreciate people taking the time to express opinions on the subject.  It is unfortunate that what has appeared in the local news media is one-sided at best.
As you might imagine, the situation surrounding hiring the Sugar Plum Fairy character for our year-end Christmas Traditions celebration is a personnel matter.  As such, it would be inappropriate for me or any other city officials to discuss related details.  However, what I can tell you is the city takes great pride in ensuring the integrity of all our various events and festivals, and we have policies and protocols in place to support that end.
For the purposes of background, our Director of Human Resources extended 62 prospective offers to individuals who applied and auditioned for the part-time roles of a Christmas Traditions character this year.  Out of those 62 people – two of whom were children applying for the role of Tiny Tim – a total of 61 people were able to follow the process to the letter, and, as a result, their job offers were approved and finalized.  In the case of the Sugar Plum Fairy applicant, these same contingencies were not met during the hiring process.
I’d also like to add that the individual who has played the character of the Sugar Plum Fairy in past years has done a fantastic job.  All of us involved with the Christmas Traditions festival appreciate her participation in previous years, and likewise, we were looking forward to having her back again this year.  However, given her excessively inappropriate behavior and language at the drug testing facility and actions following this process, the city made the right decision in not rehiring this former cast member.
In fact, I would go even further in underscoring we would not hire anyone to work for the city of St. Charles who behaves in such an unacceptable manner.  So the key element I would like everyone to remember is that as a prospective employee of the city, she was not fired, as she was never actually hired to participate in the 2011 festival.
As we move forward in kicking off this season’s Christmas Traditions festival a week from Friday, I would encourage everyone to continue supporting St. Charles’ year-end festivities, along with all the many fine merchants in our historic district.  Thank you and I’ll look forward to seeing everyone on Main Street the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Mayor Sally Faith

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

DON'T TELL MY DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even made USA today.
























This gal has been a treat for all the years I have been taking daughter down to Main St.
Out in all kinds of weather with the rest of the troop.