Happy Birthday, David!

Growing up the youngest of three boys meant that you had to deal with always being called "spoiled" and introduced as

"my little brother". This never seemed to bother David.

The plus side of being the youngest is you get along with people and you are (almost) forever young!

Well, at 63 on February 16th

David will continue to feel only that he is 63 years young!

You've been a wonderful son, faithful brother,

devoted father (of three sons)

and the BEST husband/friend/companion

a woman could ever ask for.

Happy Birthday, David!

David was born  February 16, 1948 in  Texas. He was the youngest having two older brothers. After graduating from Texas A&M University in 1970 he was commissioned into the Air Force and that week married Karen on June 6, 1970. They had one son while in the Air Force. After assignments in Colorado, Maine, Korea and Arkansas, David left the Air Force to join the family farming operation in deep south Texas. David and Karen added two more sons to the family.

David and the oldest son are now business partners in their own farming operation in Mexico.

Remember My Milk Glass Punch Bowl?

Several months ago I was thrilled to find this punch bowl

in Brenham, Texas. It has 12 punch matching cups.

It reminded me of my mother's punch bowl that she used

for many years. Somehow the punch bowl was lost. All that

remained was the pedestal.. or base.

Here is a picture of my mother with the long-lost milk glass

punch bowl. My mother was the ultimate hostess!

There isn't a piece of milk glass that doesn't remind me of

her style of entertaining.

Well... today was a special day for me!

 

I found a punch bowl that is exactly like my mother's!

It did not come with the base, however, that did not matter. I still had my mother's!

The really special part to this was that it came from some of the sweetest friends I have. One of them you may know well.

Laura from White Spray Paint and her daughter, Lauren, are milk glass collectors.

Lauren had purchased the punch bowl sometime back

and because she has other milk glass punch bowls, she

decided she could part with this one. It was displayed in one of her Market Days that she and her mother participate in.

Right away, I got word to her that I would love it if she would set this punch bowl aside for me.

What has probably been about a 15 year quest for this

punch bowl, I am thrilled to pronounce the search over.

Thank you to two very sweet ladies!!

I am sharing this with

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

 

Green Bean Bundles - A bundle of yum!

Green Bean Bundles

This recipe comes from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, Entertaining in Texas by Junior League of Victoria, Inc.  I've learned that you just can't go wrong with
a Junior League cookbook. They're wonderful!
Above you will see what page 71 in my book looks like.
I write all around it so that hopefully whoever inherits my cookbooks will know a little history behind the recipes.
This recipe is just about over the top as my family says it.
It's been made for holiday dinners, pre-wedding dinners,
birthdays and bird hunting season.
It's just downright tasty!

Green Bean Bundles
(with my tweaks!)

8 slices bacon
2  16 oz. cans whole green beans
(I like Blue Lake Green Beans)
1/2  c. butter
1   1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. garlic powder

Drain green beans. Divide into 8 "bundles", wrapping each bundle with bacon slice and securing with toothpick. Place in 9x13 inch glass baking dish.

In saucepan, melt butter and add brown sugar and garlic powder. Bring to boil and remove from heat immediately and pour over bean bundles. Bake in 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Serves 8

I'm linking to 

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Be sure to visith Designs by Gollum

for more delicious food and recipes!

 

Aluminum brightened their homes

"Jean"

I love writing about "Jean", my maternal grandmother.

She was quite the character. She insisted we call her by her first name since she was "too young to be a grandmother"! 

Never mind... I really did not know that "Jean" was a first name. I just knew that it stood for my grandmother!

She arrive from Italy with her mother and two older sisters 

when she was just nine years old. Someday I need to write

about the adventure of the trip.

Her father met them at the ship at Ellis Island. 

He was already employed by the Ithaca, N. Y. transit system which as I understand included the trolley cars.

The aluminum crumber below was purchased by her

mother. As I remember the story, my great-grandmother

bought it at Niagra Falls about the time aluminum was being used for household items. Jean gave the crumber to me early in my marriage and of course I have always cherished it. 

The aluminum dish, shaped like a leaf, was a wedding gift to my parents when they married in 1946. My mother used it

often in her home decorating. It's definitely a cherished, sentimental piece to me.

I am linking to

Three or More Tuesday

http://www.thegypsyscorner.com/

Beauty, silver, tickles and giggles!!

Hydrangeas ...

under construction!

Amazing what I will show ... I just treated myself to

these at Pier 1 yesterday. I fell in love with hydrangeas

when I made a visit to Blowing Rock, North Carolina

during the Mitford Days. Real hydrangeas were

everywhere!!

Now I have to see if I can create an arrangement with them.

Silver Tray...

Frankly, I do not know my "silvers", but this was

beautiful... after I polished it. I'm a weird sort... I love to

polish silver. It's very theraputic, you know.

Would you believe... I bought this for

$15!

"Bree-os-kee"

Recently my refrigerator has not had a bottle of

Brioschi in it. It's a lot like Alka-Seltser. That's a first in probably 40 years of marriage...

or my lifetime! The local stores and pharmacies here have stopped selling it. So I ordered a box on the internet.

When I was a little girl my sister and I would take just one

little piece of Brioschi to plop onto our tongue.

Ohhhh... the tickle and the giggles!!

Have a super weekend, everyone!

Stay warm...

It's Show and Tell Friday

So make a visit toe

My Romantic Home

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Smudgy - one of a kind... maybe 7!

Smudgy - One of a kind... maybe 7!

Smudgy was one of those "hand-me-down" pets. He was too much for my grandparents and aunt, so my parents took him in. In the late 1950's it was still okay in our town in Texas to have a dog loose... no chain and rarely a collar needed. Smudgy was probably half German Shephard and half Border Collie with whatever else mixed in there that made him so wonderfuly special to us.

It was proabably about 1958 when I entered him in the local

pet show at the high school. It took my mother and sister and me to contain him as he had rarely ever been around so many other dogs and seldom with a collar and, heavens,

never a chain. He was entered in the mixed-breed division, however, from the pictures I wonder if he didn't get mixed up in the wrong division. When the judges came by I remember telling a friend who was standing nearby... loud enough for the judges to hear, "Smudgy has seven breeds of dog in him."  I was terribly proud of that! Oh, how little I knew. Needless to say, Smudge and I got an "Honorable Mention". Oh well...

That is me, the blonde, squinty kid. In one of the pictures is my mother with my younger sister and brother... and our parakeet, "Tweety", who always cheeped himself into a near stroke if he ever saw Smudgy trying to sneak inside our home.

Fun memories!!

Today I am linking to two wonderful sites:

Little Red House for

Mosaic Monday

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

and

Brynwood Needleworks for

Memory Lane Mondays

http://brynwoodneedleworks.blogspot.com/

By the way, this is the first installment for "Memory Lane Mondays" from Brynwood Needleworks. For those of us who especially enjoy reminiscing or reading about someone's favorite memories from years gone by you will love this. It will take place the last Monday of each month. So come by for a visit!! It's going to be fun.