Welcome Spring!

It's really looking like Spring in our yard!  This time of year, Bob and I go out and walk around the yard most every evening. It's so fun to see what's flowering and what's popping open.  Come walk with me and see what is what's blooming in our yard right now.

There are lots of flowers blooming, including the wild violets in our wooded area.

 The candytuft adds a nice spot of white in the back yard.

 This is a red twigged dogwood.  I love the red color of the branches.

I always enjoy seeing the bleeding heart bloom.

 This is our crab apple tree - almost ready to burst into bloom!

 I love seeing the dogwood bloom!

 And the daffodils are always such a cheery sight!

 This is a snowball bush. I love the texture of the leaves, and the flowers will soon open.

This is an oak leaf hydrangea.  The leaves stay very tightly rolled for some time.  Here they are glowing in the sun and are finally opening up!

 This is Brunea. It has silvery leaves and these dainty blue flowers.

 The grape hyacinths are tiny but look pretty in a group against the trees.

 Grecian Windflowers are also little, but make a nice splash of color when planted in a group.

The hosta are growing several inches a day.  I love seeing them line the walkway.

Here's my gardener - surveying his work!

Friday Funny

Cooking Thursday

I've shared with you before some of the ways I like to make leftovers into a new meal.  When I make a roast, I buy one that is big enough for leftovers. This is one of my favorite recipes to use that leftover roast in.  I've been making this one since I was married, 36 years ago - so you know it's good!

BBQ Beef
2 cups shredded, cooked beef
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
4 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Heat all ingredients, except beef to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir roast into sauce and serve on buns.

One more stop in Ohio

I have one more thing to share from our trip to see Cheryl in Ohio.  Fairly close to their home is an old mill named the Bears Mill.  We stopped for a short time on Saturday morning.

It was established in 1830, and the current building was built in 1848 by Gabriel Baer, who it is named after, but somewhere the letters were flipped, and it became Bears Mill.  He was an accomplished miller from Pennsylvania.  This is one of only a few functioning gristmills left in Ohio.

The wood siding on this building is the original walnut wood, put on in 1849.

This old truck sits in front of the building and adds to the charm.

This is one of the original old mill stones. There are 3 on the property.

The 4 story building is filled with antique milling equipment, along with other antiques from the time.

The old staircases led to several floors of interesting items.

 The old floors were quite uneven!

I love the view of the stream from this 3rd story window.

 These are some of the old bags they used for corn meal and flour.

They even have an old wagon.

More antique milling equipment.

 The property the mill sits on is beautiful, with this stream that is used to power the mill.

The flowering trees around the mill were so pretty!  It was a very enjoyable stop. If you're in the area, I recommend it!

What's in Ohio?

Yesterday I was telling you about the trip my sisters and I made to Ohio.  While we had a lot of fun doing things there, the reason we went was to visit our friend Cheryl.  Cheryl blogs at the Winds of Life, and we have known her for some time.  My sister Cheri and I were able to visit Cheryl and her husband Alan when they lived in Pennsylvania, and this time my other sister Terri was able to come along.   Cheryl is such a sweetie, and it was so good to spend time with her.

We were planning to get lunch on Saturday and then go to their house, but Cheryl invited us for lunch.  We told her not to fuss, but look at this wonderful lunch she had prepared - with lots of help from her husband Alan! 

(I got this photo from Cheryl's blog)
She had croissants, chicken salad, veggies and dip, tortillas and cheese dip, a yummy jello salad and homemade potato soup.  We were so full!  I told Cheryl that this was a much nicer lunch than I ever usually have!

Here is Alan, being so good and washing up the dishes so we could visit.

After lunch, Cheryl took us to the park near their home.  We had been looking for a bridge we saw on the internet, and she was sure she knew where it was.

 Isn't this a great bridge?

 Cheryl said that Alan used to camp here as a boy scout when he was young.

We got a passerby to take a picture of the 4 of us on the bridge.  Me, Cheryl, Cheri and Terri.


This park also has a peacock aviary.

 They have such brilliant colors!

This one even put on a show for us!

There is also an old log cabin at the park.


After we left the park, we drove around and Cheryl gave us a nice tour.  We told her she could become a tour guide!  Then we went back to their house and talked and talked!
We ordered supper out, Alan and their son Chad picked it up and we ate at their house.
We had such a good time, with lots of good conversation and laughs!

I made Alan and Cheryl pose for a photo before we left.  It was a wonderful time together.
Thank you Alan and Cheryl for being such great hosts!  You are always welcome in Michigan!

A getaway with the sisters

My 2 sisters and I returned from a few days away this afternoon.  We love doing things together, but with our busy schedules, we don't get to spend as much time together as we like. 
Earlier this year we scheduled this getaway and have been really looking forward to it!
We left on Friday morning from Michigan, destination - Ohio!  We made it to Ohio in the middle of the afternoon and decided to stop at a mall and wander around for a few hours.

 This was a really nice shopping area.  One of the stores was this bookstore.  Can you see all the names of famous authors that are written all around the top of the building?

There were a lot of neat looking buildings here.  We didn't eat here, but thought this building looked like it belonged in England!

Here's where we did eat - The Cheesecake Factory.  I've never eaten in one of these before, and I enjoyed it. We got a piece of cheesecake to take back to the hotel that night.
After eating supper, we headed for our hotel.  It was supposed to be an hour away, but we ran into construction and lots of traffic.  At one point we were driving and suddenly the road was barricaded - no warning and no instructions on detours.  We managed to get around it, and did make it to the hotel.
We drove around the town for a little while and found a nice park.

This cute little family was wandering around the park too!


The next morning, we went into town to do a little shopping.

One place we stopped at was The Kitchen-aid Experience.  They had every Kitchen-aid appliance and accessory you could want.  They also had a little museum which included this gold plated mixer.


We walked around town too.

The courthouse is beautiful!

Here are Terri and Cheri posing for me.  We were wearing our winter coats as it was kind of a dark day, windy and cold!

This town is pretty, with lots of nice old homes.

There was a statue commemorating Annie Oakley who was born nearby.

Although all this was fun, it's not the reason we came to Ohio.  I'll tell you about that tomorrow!

Friday Funny

Cooking Thursday

Last week I brought a meal to a family in our church who had a new baby.  I usually try to include cookies or bars along with a meal.  This time I included bars that everyone seems to love.  I think this may be a recipe that I have shared more than any other!  When my kids were younger and had to bring a snack, people would often ask if they would take this.  It's another oldie, that I remember my mom making when I was young.  They are chewy peanut butter bars with a chocolate topping and are so good!

Chocolate Scotcheroos

1 cup white sugar
1 cup white corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Place sugar and corn syrup in a pan, stir to mix and place on stovetop.  Heat, stirring frequently until mixture barely begins to boil.  Stir in peanut butter, then stir in Rice Krispies.
Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and press into place.
Melt together chocolate and butterscotch chips.  Stir and pour over mixture in pan.
Place in refrigerator long even to cool and set chocolate topping.  Cut and served