A PERSONAL TOUCH

While it is a verifiable fact that Christmas at the Schmidt household was nothing short of spectacular this year, I must point out that two gifts stood out as more special than all the others.
Michelle's cookbook was a labor of love, creative as well as entertaining, and everyone got one. It is a mystery where she drudged up those old picutres, but she managed to make us all look young and beautiful. Hurray!
And then there is the calendar we have all come to depend upon, with fantastic artwork by none other than our talented Adam. If you haven't taken the time to get a good look at it, I recommend you do so. Wow! Many thanks to Bob and Julia for taking the time to put this attractive calendar together.
And now, we say farewell to 2008. It is time to hang up our 2009 calendars, wiggle into our aprons and get down to some serious cooking. I plan to whip up a delicious Cheese Spoon Bread. Thanks to Michelle, I don't have to call and inconvenience anyone for the recipe.

MORE ON THE OLD PECAN TREE

This is a picture of the top of the pecan tree we had to take down. If you click to enlarge it, you will clearly see the now misplaced woodpecker at work. I am not an advocate of removing sound trees, but this one had become unsightly, and worse yet, dangerous. Just the day before it came down, on a dry and windless day, a large branch came crashing down- broke two of the fence pickets.

You may revisit an old post in my blog dated December 2007 and titled A GUST OF WIND for an example of the kind of surprises the old pecan tree was prone to spring on us.

OLD PECAN TREE

It was sad to see the old pecan tree come down. It was quite an ordeal, what with a cherry picker and three brave Mexicans sawing away half a mile up in the air and easing the chunks to the ground with a pulley. It took them two hours to complete the job that probably took the tree a hundred years to produce. We don't know what to do with the empty space it has left in our yard. Frances has ideas, and it will be our project for next year to get some decent landscaping done. Meanwhile, there is a very misplaced woodpecker. Doesn't know where to peck now that his tree is gone. I hear him pecking here and there, trying out new trees, but so far he has not found the likes of the old pecan tree he so diligently pecked at day after day.

FAT CAT

What a difference a few months can make in a cat's life. Ragu has fattened up, so much so that she is now in line for a visit to the vet. We hope Ragu is not prego, if you know what I mean. She sure has an appetite, though, and it's not quite clear to us if she is or isn't. No doubt we will find out soon enough, whether she goes to the vet or not. At this point, I'd rather find out we've been feeding a tape worm, disgusting as the thought may be.

FROM RAGS TO RICHES

She wandered into our back yard in July, weak, sick, and apparently homeless. I made ten copies of this picture and posted them in strategic places all over the neighborhood.

I called her Esperanza, a reflection of my high hopes that she would soon be reunited with her owners.

Several weeks went by, and it became apparent that no one was going to claim the waif. I scratched the name Esperanza and named her Ragu instead. I sometimes call her Rags.

The haunted look in Ragu's eyes is gone. No more bony ribs or rickety legs to tell the story of her journey before she found a sucker, namely me. Now she is fat and round, and full of vim and vigor. Not even the dogs will have much to do with her.

IT'S ABOUT TIME

Last post: July 10, 2008.
Heavens, where does time go? Has it been that long? Have I nothing to say in my defense? I have answers to all the above querries.
Time flies. Though it may seem like only a few weeks, it has actually been almost two months since my last entry. I've been busy elsewhere, doing a little of this and a little of that, none of it making me a penny richer, but keeping me well occupied.
I've heard that time is worth its weight in gold. It weighs heavily on me, time does, so I hope it's as valuable as they claim it to be. Time is an investment in the future, and as an aspiring writer, I must believe this or I am doomed. I have to believe that the time I spend writing is time that will eventually pay off. Whether it will or not is beside the point. Thing is, I have to believe it will, otherwise I'm wasting my time.

ABOUT NOSES

Who knows? This flower nose. Please enlarge the picture by clicking on the image and see for yourself what I'm talking about. I mean, did you ever see a flower with a nose like this? Ever see a flower with a nose at all? I took this picture while Carlos and I were in Brownsville, navigating through cousin Rupert's amazing garden.

SALSA TIME

Apparently you weren't impressed by the size of our zucchini. I figure I would've heard at least a peep out of someone had the case been otherwise.
Maybe this piece of tomato art on our windowsill will impress you. If you could ignore the window splatters in the background and concentrate on the size and variety of our prolific crop this year, you would be impressed. Nearby, in a large stainless steel colander, are the rest of the tomatoes, too many to stack up.
The largest tomato so far weighed in at fifteen ounces. If that doesn't impress you, let me put it another way: it is one ounce shy of a pound. I'm telling you, it's impressive!

WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING

This photo hardly does justice to the size and girth of this squash. I swear it happened overnight, while we were sleeping. It's too big to bring home and cook, so I'll let it grow to maturation and harvest the seeds for next year's planting. No telling how big it'll be when that time arrives, but you can bet I'll keep you posted.

Bountiful Earth

This is what spring planting is all about. Even though we gripe about the endless work a vegetable garden requires, we come home with big smiles and even bigger plans for a feast when harvest time arrives. Now we can sit back and watch our veggies grow, pull a stray weed or two out of the ground, and enjoy the fruits of our hard labor.

Trial Run

This is a test run. Frances has taken a moment to explain how to post multiple pictures in a blog. She mentioned more than once that it is a simple procedure. Here goes...

Okay. So I have another picture, not in the correct order, but hey, there they are.

The top picture is another antique hanging outside the Ole Sawmill Cafe.

Thanks for the info, Frances.

Mount Holly in Little Rock, Arkansas

I took this picture thinking of Holly. It is the entrance to the cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. Carlos and I spent a few hours in this peaceful place. It was walking distance from the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at, and we found it quite enchanting. It's amazing how much history is buried in these old cemeteries. Some of the graves date back to the 1700's.
We stayed in the historic district of Little Rock, where many of the old houses have been restored and are quite beautiful to behold. As you can see from the blue sky in this picture, we had perfect weather during our brief stay in Little Rock. As a matter of fact, we didn't get a drop of rain during our trip to and from Indiana. How lucky was that?
More pictures to come. No one has enlightened me as to how to post a series of photos, so it'll be the tedious one by one routine until yours truly discovers how to do this.

Picture taken at the Ole Sawmill Cafe

One thing is certain: travelling across the United States of America is not what it used to be. There was a time, not too very long ago, that one could find a Mom and Pop business or restaurant on any given corner of any given city or town. Now it's Wal Mart, Home Depot, McDonald's, Sonic, and every other friggin' business that has franchized their chain nationwide. Boring!!!

Carlos and I managed to find a few independent businesses on our way to and from Indiana. We were happy to give them our hard earned dollars, and satified that in doing so we were helping them stay in business.

The Ole Sawmill Cafe, in a small town in Arkansas named Forest, was perhaps the best place we stopped to eat. It is unique, full of personality, and most importantly, the food was excellent.

I can't seem to download more than one image per blog. How irritating. I've tried to download a series of pictures, but my efforts have been fruitless. Maybe someone could help me out here, tell me what I must do to post as many picutes as I please, in the order I choose?

GRADUATION DAY

We are all aware that the big day has come and gone: Frances is graduated, suddenly cast into the ranks of educated people. Immortalized in this picture is the big smile on her face, not a trace of worry over the speech she will be delivering in less than an hour's time in front of hundreds of people: teachers, parents and peers. There is no need to say it, but what the heck, we are proud parents and we have good reason to be. Her speech was delivered eloquently and without flaw, in a calm, cool and collected manner that was like a breath of fresh air. Hurray!

Easter flowers

I hope everyone had a good Easter. Carlos and I drove down to Brownsville to spend some time with the old gals, and while we were at it we visited with his cousin, who has quite a garden. This picture is but one of the many types of Crown of Thorns he has in his collection.

Another sign of Spring

Who could resist taking a picture of the beautiful clusters of puprle flowers that grace the branches of a Texas Mountain Laurel? There is nothing that says SPRING quite as boldly. There's no flower on earth that has a fruity fragrance like these blossoms; kind of reminds me of grape koolaid. There are lots of blossoming trees around Austin right now, but none can compete with a Mountain Laurel for beauty and vigor.

PEACHES

While the world was waging wars, campaigning, manufacturing new countries, the bees were busy making their own contribution. Now their work is done, mission accomplished, and the tree has entered a new phase, a quieter one.
These peaches are not nearly as big they appear in the picture, really not even the size of an olive, but they seem to be healthy and plentiful, so maybe...

But what am I thinking? A twenty-four hour surveilance, seven days a week, would not be enough to keep the critters from raiding the delectable fruit. Why, the pesky things, they can't seem to wait, they start systematically stealing the peaches long before they ripen. Squirrels and birds right under our noses in plain daylight, possums and racoons under the stealth of night. Not even the dogs can keep the theives at bay.

FIRST ASPARAGUS CROP EVER

This bunch of asparagus may not seem very exciting to some of you, but I just picked it fresh out of our plot at the Sunshine Gardens. I'm excited that our plant, now in its fifth year, has finally begun to produce enough asparagus for an actual meal.

Did you know that asparagus never has to be planted again? Granted, one must be patient with it; it takes about a decade before it really gets going. After that, I've heard it is difficult to get rid of. But why would anyone want to do that? Just when the going gets good and one has a continuous supply of one of nature's most nutritious veggies?

RAINBOW FLOWER

Irises come in many colors, but my favorite is this beautiful purple. The name iris comes from the greek word for rainbow, (arcoiris, for those who speak Spanish). It seems fitting that such a spectacular flower is named after one of nature's most spectacular sights..
All esle aside, it means Spring is around the corner.

CHAMELEON IN THE SUN

This little fella scurried across the flagstone path and took a flying leap, landing on the siding of our house. I was quite happy to see him, though I can assure you the feeling was not mutual. To my amazement, he was still there a minute later when I returned with my camera; he even cooperated as I shot a few pictures of him.

PURRFECTLY ODD

After much ado, I finally got a fairly decent picture of Seymour's odd colored eyes. He's rather camera shy, usually closes his eyes or turns away just as I press the shutter. This particular day he seemed to be rather indifferent to the camera; perhaps he's gotten used to my crouching figure following him all over the place in hopes of snapping the purrfect image.

Signs of Spring

What with all of Frances's wild adventures on the other side of the planet, these peach blossoms seem almost inconsequential. And yet, to the hundreds of bees and butterflies and other miscellaneous insects that buzz around it all day, it appears to be the center of the universe.
Too bad winter isn't over. Too bad, because it means we will probably not get any peaches. Though why that should concern us is questionable, seeing as last year's crop was sabotaged by the squirrels. They ate every peach, to the last bite, never giving us a chance to get so much as a taste.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Not everyone's brain works the same way. I'd have to be a touch crazy to leave a message clipped to a tree, in hopes that whomever it is addressed to finds it.

That was a gamble my neighbor took, and almost lost. A few hours later the skies dumped a couple of inches of rain on us. As it turned out, it was nothing important, certainly not as interesting as its unusual mode of delivery.

I'm sorry to say that the papayas are history. They prefer a more temperate climate, though it was fun to watch them grow.

The good news is that we are still harvesting lettuce and spinach, carrots and broccoli, and various other greens, from our plot at the gardens. Our tomatoes went the way of the papaya trees, just couldn't take the weather. Though we covered them to fend off the wind, it was finally the cold that got to them. We harvested the puny little things and had fried green tomatoes for the next week. They are surprisingly delicious.

Winter blossom

This peach blossom is a little ahead of its time. There are thousands of others lagging behind, still wrapped up in tight little balls, waiting for the next round of spring-like weather to unfurl their petals and attract a myriad of bees with their delicate fragrance. As in years past, the tepid winter weather has fooled this tree into thinking it is already spring. It is not a good sign, though I dare say it will be a breathtaking one in a few weeks, when the tree will be in full bloom.