Wa-Hoo!!

About a week and a half ago, my son took me fishing and swore that they loved wax worms. The fish couldn't bit on wax worms fast enough. They loved the silly stuff. Uh-huh. I caught about 12 baby bluegill that were no bigger than half the size of my hand. Cute little buggers, but not trout!! He, on the other hand, managed to catch 5 keeper trout. Hardly seemed fair!

Today my son came and dragged me, kicking and screaming, up to the lake in the chilly wind to fish. So glad he did!! Here is a picture of my first rainbow trout. It was about 18" long and 2.5 pounds!!!! The second one was an itty bitty guy who got tossed back in. Unlike last time, this was the ONLY fish we caught today. So, this is the catch of the day! Definitely more fun to catch than clean, however! (Can you believe he made me clean my own fish???)

Yummy Chocolate!

You know you want some! This should probably be illegal in about 37 states! Yummy Chocolate Pecan Upside Down cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Granted, it isn't on a par with the stuff on Foodgawker. It doesn't contain various colors and flavors of sea salt or bacon or tofu or bean curd. Just yummy chocolate, nuts, more chocolate, store-bought ice cream, and good old Hershey's chocolate syrup. Bet nobody could tell the difference!

Busy Weekend!

Finally, with the cooling temperatures and nice breezes, some life is returning after the lazy summer! This Saturday I got the energy to put decorative concrete edging bricks along the side of the garage to make the garden there a bit nicer. Note on the bottom right the huge rocks I had to dig up to install the silly thing! Hopefully, my neighbor will enjoy the view out her bedroom window a bit more now! Especially, once I get more iris planed along here, should be stunning in the spring!

I also spent time on Sunday with my sis-in-law, Grace, downstairs in the glass studio. I've been putzing along with an entire desk set for what seems like forever! I had the thing almost completely cut out (after changing leaf colors several times), and realized there wasn't enough of the background color to complete the whole set. Grace and I went back to the glass store and, since they had no more, bought a close runner-up color. Never satisfied with it, I headed to the glass store in downtown St. Louis and, as remarkable as it seems, found more of the background color!! So, was able to get the whole thing cut out, This is the completed set! There's a business cardholder, desk organizer with a space for Post It notes, and a pencil holder. I even managed to take a couple "artsy" pictures of it outside, even though the sun didn't cooperate!

Fall in St. Louis

Fall?? Fall, you say? Maybe you could trip and fall over leaves like this!!!

I found this in the driveway when I came home this evening! Amazing! I've seen some big leaves out there this year, but this one tops them all!!! Am just thankful they're not ALL this big!

Boring Blog's Anniversary

Seems this is the 5th anniversary of this blog. It hasn't been getting too much attention lately - I've been kinda busy. It's been a crazy summer in St. Louis - July was the coldest on record, and since August it's been exceedingly HOT. Ugh! I may never be able to get outside and work in the yard.

My nephew and his wife and two sons came through on their way to live a few years in Tokyo. Right after they left, my niece came for a week-long visit from Washington, D.C.

As usual, I'm still hunting for a full-time job but get the feeling nobody wants to hire someone who's almost 60. Sigh. Not even an interview in months. They say seniors are going to have to work until they're older - I'm just wondering where they'll find jobs . . .

Anyway, it's been a busy summer with family and friends here. But not much else happening. I've opened a shop on Etsy.com (just search for Blu486). Sold a lovely orange and cream (creamcycle) stained glass birdhouse so far, and loved knowing somebody other than friends and family enjoy my work.

So that's it in a nutshell. Will try to be a better blogger!

Happy Anniversary, Boring Blog!

Spring Strawberries

I got some totally unbelievable strawberries
at Costco on Monday. These things are the size of golf balls! It's hard to believe, but they actually taste good, too!!

So, tonight, I made the first of the season's strawberry shortcake - just like mom's. A lightly sweetened biscuit cake, warm from the oven, split and spread with real butter, topped with the sweetened berries, and topped with shipped cream. Not the dessert for diabetics, but every now and then it is nice to feel normal. And this was one of those times!

Funny Doctors

Ok - so last LABOR DAY I fell and landed on my left knee. Instead of just crushing the kneecap like a normal person, I broke a major blood vessel in my leg. The leg swelled up and blood drained clear down to my foot, and the whole thing looked positively awful.

Now, eight months later, I have a horrible sinus infection that causes me (finally in desperation) to the doctor's office. Mind you, I was SUPPOSED to make an appointment in December, but didn't. Heck - I felt fine, no insurance, simple decision.

Anyway, while there I showed him the huge spot on the back of my left calf, down the front of the shin, and just to the left of my knee. I asked him how much longer he thought it would take to disappear. This is what he said:

"When the blood drained into your leg, the iron in your blood bonded with skin cells sort of like a tatoo. Basically, you're rusting!"

Swell - a bruise that won't ever go away, and a funny doctor.

Tulip Trees

The tulip trees in my yard are blooming again! Even though there are quite a few of these around St. Louis, not sure lots of people in other areas have seen these pretty little flowers. I used to have three of these until the biggest was hit by lightening a couple years ago. Now there are two . . . . so here's a picture of the flowers!

Spring Has Sprung!

Ok - so my last post was March 14th - and the place was blanketed in snow . . . .

Today, there's quite a change!

Now looking out the front door, there's this lovely, vivid pink azalea - the biggest one in the neighborhood! Thought you'd enjoy a close-up . . .

Doubt you could get one more flower on there!! Seems the entire bush is weighed down in all its springtime glory! Now if the guy would just cut my lawn . . .

The back yard azaleas look pretty nice, too.

These are by the patio, and below are by the far side fence.

The clematis came back strong this year (for a change) and looks amazing with huge purple flowers.

And I also wanted to include a picture of this year's batch of Batik iris for Julie, who loves iris.

Oh - and in between taking pictures, I made English Muffin Bread!

St. Louis Snow

Ok - so I left the outside Christmas decorations up until last week in the vain effort to take a beautiful Christmas shot of the house for next year's Christmas Card. Of course, it never snowed, and my neighbors' snickers and guffaws were almost audible. So, I trudged outside on a balmy 45 degree day, took it all down and hauled it to storage in the basement.

Barely a week later, THIS happens!



This is the view directly out my front door . . . .













and a view down the street to the right . . . .















The backyard's not much better. I believe St. Louis officially got just under 6" of the beautiful, twinkley kind of snow that is so darned beautiful.

And, since I'm allergic to the cold, harsh temperatures (no, really! physically allergic, as in break out in hives!), I stayed inside (except to drag the trash can to the snow bank by the road) and baked these!