Picture Frenzy

My wife, Pam, recently went into a picture taking frenzy. Several years ago I gave her a digital camera for Christmas. Of course there was a liberal dose of Christmas pictures that year. Then as special occasions came up we would have a new set of birthday pictures and an occasional picture for Mother's Day, Father's Day, a set of vacation pictures, or whatever the occasion might be. Then the camera seemed to go dormant for a while. It came out ocassionaly and was shoved into my hands to snap a few pictures. Recently I got my own digital camera as well as a one of those inexpensive HD video cameras. Pam's camera seemed to have disappeared for a while. Then, with the Grandaughter, Kira, growing and changing so fast the camera has recently been resurrected from the closet. Here follows some of Pam's recent photographic endeavors:

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Here is a really good picture of Kira taken recently.

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Next is a picture of Kira with . . . ?

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Kira with . . . ?














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Wait a minute! What happened to the grandbaby? These are pictures of clouds.












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I'm looking through pictures from Pam's camera and all of the sudden I come across a whole set of pictures of clouds. It seems Pam has a particular fascination with clouds. One recent afternoon, just before sunset Pam went out and saw these clouds. She came back in for her camera and went out taking pictures of every cloud in sight. She tells me these are Mammatus Clouds and are usually seen after a severe thunderstorm has passed. Earlier that day we had experienced a set of passing thunderstorms, which is a usual weather occurence for this part of Texas at this time of year. For more information on Mammatus Clouds you may follow the links to the Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Recipe Wednesday #7 - Oops, It's already Friday!

I guess this will have to be 'Recipe Friday #1' or maybe 'Late Recipe Wednesday #1' or perhaps it should just be 'Recipe Wednesday #7 - Oops, It's already Friday!'

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I apologize for the late Recipe posting. I was extremely busy with close out procedures and other duties at my place of work. Some of you may know that I work in the field of education. For those who do not know, I work at a large public high school as a counselor and some of my duties include such things as preparing student schedules for next school year as well as grade and credit verifications for all grade level of my high school students, especially for those senior students who are graduating from school. This does include the unhappy task of helping those students with the upset of failing grades and incomplete credits. These students will either not promoting in grade level or will not graduate. They must plan for summer school or some other means of recovering the grade and credits required. As you can imagine the end of the school year can be one of the busiest times of our year. For another perspective and for a look at a different level of education and how busy the school year can be for educators you might be interested in my brothers Blog post "It's Always a Learning Experience" or "The End of an Era-Sort Of". These give his "perception of the world" as another educator. He is a kindergarten teacher at his current school assignment in Central Texas.

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Well, whatever the reason for the tardiness (more than obvious reference to the classroom and education) and whichever title you prefer, here is the Recipe for today:

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Aunt Dora's Pulled Mints

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2 cups sugar, 1/2 stick butter, 1 cup water, 1/8 tsp. oil of peppermint.

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If color is used, add at the first and cook in coloring. Combine ingredients. Put on stove and boil to 264 degrees F (hard ball). Pour out on marble. Cool 2 or 3 minutes. Make a fingerprint in the center of the candy and put in it 1/8 tsp. of peppermint. Fold all edges over. Pull until stiff, with little ridges. Stretch out on the edges of marble, away from the hot-spot. Cut with scissors. Leave on marble and cover with wax paper for the night. Store in airtight box. Might need to put a little butter on hands for pulling.

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Now, for the story behind this recipe. No, I don't have an Aunt Dora and neither does my wife! I was looking through one of our family recipe books for this weeks recipe. I found a piece of paper with a recipe printed on each side of it. This is not a hand written recipe. It was printed for public distribution by some individual or group. There is no other identification or reference to anyone or anything other than the two recipes. Neither my wife nor I are familiar with the recipe or the paper and where it might have come from. The cook book in which I found the paper is entitled "The Family Cookbook". I have not used this book for any recipe yet. The paper looks like it might have been cut or torn from another part of some kind of circular or advertisement. I simply thought the recipe looked good and it seemed like it might be easy to try. Please enjoy "Aunt Dora's Pulled Mints".

Recipe Wednesday #5

This week I would like to share one of my favorite recipes with you. This recipe is found in one of my recipe books. The recipe book is America's Best Recipes: A 1994 Hometown Collection, published by Oxmoor House, Inc. Book Division of Southern Progress Corporation.

These recipes are submitted by different clubs, groups, and organization from across the country. This recipe is found in a section of the book entitled 'Quick and Easy Recipes' on page 13. I hope you and your family enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Here is one of my favorite recipes for:

Breakfast

1 pound mild bulk pork sausage

1 (8-ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
4 large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper


Brown sausage in a skillet, stirring until it crumbles; drain. Place crescent roll dough in bottom of a greased 13- x 9- x 2-inch baking dish; press perforations and pinch seams to seal. Sprinkle reserved sausage and cheese over dough. Combine eggs and remaining ingredients; pour over mixture in dish. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 8 servings.

Roaring Springs Recipes & Memories

Roaring Springs Volunteer Organization

Roaring Springs, Texas