Wonderful log barn . . .

You'll have to take my word for it till I can get a picture with the doors open.

The center crib of this classic, not to far from the heart of town, is all log.
The additions, which make the barn what it is today, are all post and timber.
They keep it in wonderful shape.
And my goal is to get a photo with the doors open.

The morning after. . . .

Another one bites the dust. . .

As I was walking to the garage yesterday I spotted this. . . . and ran back and got my camera. . .

 One of the oldest houses in O'Fallon, it was pretty well consumed by a fire yesterday.
Although it had been going through rental remodeling hell for a few years, with much of it's interior original charm re-muddled, with new renters coming and going every year or so, it is, non-the-less a shame to see an old house go.

The outside had stayed pretty close in style and made a nice image driving by it each day to work.

During one of the stages of remodeling I actually got a few old pieces of hardware for one of my projects.

I will try to get a picture today of after the fire.
Sad.

The week before Christmas and all through the land. . . .

Friday night.

The week or so before Christmas is always the most fun, once you get a chance to stop and breath.

Bass Pro in our area has a great Santa on duty, or I should say, Santa on duty.

 Once again we got to Main St. to collect the cards we missed the first time.

 Daughter got to ring the bells for the carolers.
And did a lot better than rhythm-less dad would have done.

Daughter and friends with the Christmas Angel.

All the shops had their best on display.

 Sat. found us heading to the country for extended family Christmas at the farm.

The feeding line.

 Weather was nice enough for some outside play time.

Cousin powered merry-go-round.

 Girl powered.

 Grandpa powered.

 Uncle powered.

 Gift time from Great Grandma.

 Out to the farm.

 The cows sure have strange markings.

 Oh, wait, . . . shadows.

 Wife and cat.

 Catch up time with cousins.

 Daughter finally got to hold her favorite.

 Sunday evening, cookie decorating time.
The three hard at work.

 The family tree.

 Favorite ornaments.

 The finished product. Yum!

Testing the Christmas morning PJ's.

Merry Christmas from out west. . .

Thanks Michael!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

A couple of treats from out west. . .

Michael Haynes

"I've been working on some small oil paintings as well as some pieces for the NPS. I've attached a piece I recently finished and is in a gallery in Tubac, AZ. It's of an 1870's era Apache warrior."

"I'm also working on some more paintings for the NPS. One of those projects is to visually reconstruct the original Ft. Smith based on the original description and the existing foundation stones. Been working in SketchUp to do that. Here's the results so far."

I had to share this it sounded so good. .

Southern CornBread
1 1/3 cups of buttermilk or milk
1/3 cup of vegetable oil or solid shortening (melt if solid shortening)
2 cups of buttermilk cornmeal mix
1teaspoon of sugar (optional)
1 ounce of melted butter
1 egg

Oven temp 450 degrees

Place a cast iron skillet, or cake pan with a small amount of shortening inside the oven until the shortening melts and pan is hot.
Add mixture, bake for 15 / 20 minutes until golden brown.

Another famous log cabin. . . .

Grey Owl

How many of you grew up. . .

loving the books by W. Ben Hunt.
Ben Hunt

W. Ben Hunts cabin.

Let the quest begin. . . .

Main Street St. Charles Christmas is always a treat. The town and merchants go all out and it is a wonderful
family time. Shops are all decorated. Costumed characters are on parade, always staying in period.
It is the characters of Christmas's past that are the quest, at least for the young and young at heart.
Each Christmas character has a card to give to kids. I believe there are 33 this year, so daughter and I started on the collection of this years this past Sunday.

 Sunday first started with a Christmas program at church.

Followed by cookie baking till mom had to go to work.

 Late afternoon we started our quest for cards.
Here with the Snow Queen.

 Dickens era carolers.

Horse and carriage.
This gal and her dogs have been doing carriage rides on Main St for years.

"Tiny Tim, may I have a card please?"

More carolers.

Flower girl.

The whole group for the last carols of the evening.

The Snowmen were seen rehearsing their lines.

Happy Holidays!