Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

We had a church potluck last Sunday and the dessert I made for it was really good, and it was easy to make too!  It has a fudgy brownie base, creamy chocolate filling and whipped cream on top.  All good - so, I'm sharing it with you today.

French Silk Brownie Dessert

1 box brownie mix
1 egg
5 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup milk
8 ounce cream cheese at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup butter, cubed
16 ounces Cool Whip, divided (may also make your own whipped cream
shaved chocolate for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.
Stir together the brownie mix, egg, melted butter and milk until smooth.  Spread into prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes until done.  Allow to cool.
Beat cream cheese and vanilla together, then add powdered sugar.
Melt chocolate and butter together, stir into cream cheese mix. Then stir in 8 ounces of the Cool Whip.
Spread over cooled brownie base.
Spread remaining Cool Whip over chocolate layer and garnish with shaved chocolate.

Wordless Wednesday

 

(Fungus on a branch that I thought was pretty in its own way)

A Day at the Lake

Bob and I had such a nice day on Saturday.  Some friends of ours have a cottage on a small lake and had invited us to some spend some time there this summer and we finally had a Saturday free to do that.

Their cottage is about 45 minutes north of our house, and we totally enjoyed this beautiful drive through the country.

This cottage isn't the typical cottage on the lake.  It has an interesting history.  It was built in 1930 as resort and was used as a bath house, dance hall and area for socials and swimming.  In 1942 it was repurposed as a skating rink, while the lower level was still used as a bath house.  In 1960 business had declined and it was vacated. A couple bought it in 1970 and renovated it to be used as a cottage.  They did a lot of work on it, but had to sell it in 1979 due to illness. The next family that bought it owned it for years and brought in a lot of antiques to decorate it to reflect the time it was built.
When our friends bought this cabin, it came with everything in it - the antiques, the decor, all the furniture and even dishes and glasses!

Now that I've told you the story, here's some photos of it.

This is painted on a storage shed next to the cottage.

The front of the cottage

The back deck 

The lake; you can see how dry it's been in our area, the lake level is way down from the usual as seen by the docks.

The inside - this is the back porch which has so many vintage things.  Old oil lamps, old pictures, readers digest magazines, old cook books and tools.  It was fun to look through it all.

This little table which has old hymns under the glass top.

Inside there is a huge loft with antique beds, a sewing machine, trunks...  You can see an old player piano in the corner on the main level.

Also in the loft is this wringer washer and other washing tools.  (A reminder of how spoiled we are now!)

This is one of several beautiful old dressers left for them.

This is one of the bedrooms.  It's called the Miss America room...

The reason for that name is because Miss America from 1988 stayed there and sent this signed photo as a thank you.   :)

This trunk was used by someone named J van Putten when he traveled to the USA from Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 1903.

They even have this original sign for the roller skating days.

Here's Bob and Sandy.  We enjoyed spending the afternoon with them and seeing their beautiful place on Little Sand Lake!

A Day in my Life

It's August already!  Here's how the first day of the month went at our house.

I started the morning my starting some laundry.  The laundry room is downstairs and not so beautiful, but it works!

In the family room downstairs is the treadmill, and my morning walk was next on the agenda.

After my walk, I went back upstairs, got ready, ate a boiled egg for breakfast and had a little computer time.  Not too long though because this was waiting for me:

Yes - beans to be canned!

Bob came and helped me do some snipping.

Don't they look pretty?

While the canner was running, the laundry got done.

While I was in the kitchen, Bob's brother stopped to help him cut down a tree. Bob's planning to put up a storage barn in the back, but a tree was blocking the spot.

And it's down - but as you can see it took a little more cutting to get it completely down and out of the way.

Meanwhile, I was having trouble in the kitchen.  I have a pressure canner and I got an error message saying it wasn't coming to pressure. I stopped it and started all over only to have the same thing happen.  

Bob and I had to get out to bring back an Amazon return and to grab supper so I stopped the canning and thought I would try again when we got home.
We brought our return back and stopped at Panera for supper.  I forgot to take any pictures while out!

When we got home, I got ready to try again and the canner wouldn't even turn on.  So frustrating since I've only had it for a year.  I called the company and they were very helpful.  They sent out a new lid for the sealing/pressure issue and told me how to get it going again. I've already canned Salsa with the new lid and it worked without any issues!

Here's the beans that got done!

A little walk outside is good for frustration!

Do you remember all the acorns we had last fall?  Bob put them all in a pile in our back wooded area and these are some crazy mushrooms growing there.

The garden phlox are blooming.

The Black Eyed Susan's are just beautiful this year.  Lots of our flowers have suffered in this drought, but they seem to handle it ok.

Then we had a little time on the front porch before coming in and watching an episode of The Repair Shop.

It was a day with some frustrations, but still good!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

When my friend Terri was here, I made a new recipe for a coffee cake and it turned out really good.  It has blueberries and peaches in it and was so moist and flavorful.  If you want a yummy treat, try this one out!

Peach Blueberry Coffee Cake

1/2 cup salted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar, divided
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup blueberries
1 cup diced peaches

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 inch round cake pain with non-stick spray.
Beat together the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Gradually add it to the butter mix, alternating with the sour cream, mixing just until combined.
Stir in the blueberries and diced peaches. Spread into prepared pan.
Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup sugar over top.
Bake 35-40 minutes until top is crackly and lightly browned. Toothpick inserted into middle will have moist crumbs.
Allow to cool in pan before serving.

Last Day in Dearborn

Yesterday I told you about touring Greenfield Village and all the historic place Henry Ford saved and moved. He also started a museum that's attached to the Village.  It has some amazing things in it; the Wright Brothers first plane, the chair Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot, JFK's limousine, George Washingtons camp bed...
We've seen all these thing in the past and didn't go into the museum this time because it really takes a whole day to go through it all.

However, they also have a huge IMAX, 3D movie theatre that we thought the girls would enjoy.

We were the first to arrive and it really didn't get too full.

We've got popcorn and are ready for the show!  Ruby even has her 3D glasses on.

The movie we watched was called 'Wings over Wetlands'.  It showed how birds migrate thousands of miles and come back to their own area.  It had lots of beautiful and fun shots of turtles, ducks, Sand Hill Cranes, racoons and other wildlife.  The girls thought the 3D effect was great.

When it got done, it was time to head home.

However, it wasn't a smooth ride home.  We were caught up in construction 3 times in what was supposed to be a 3 hour drive.

This was taken the last time we were stuck. (Look at those happy faces and all the cars behind us!) We ended up stopped on the highway for 1/2 hour with the car turned off and not moving.  It's so frustrating because you are stuck and there's nothing you can do about it!  But finally things started moving.  However, the drive home took over an hour more than the drive there.

We stopped to see Cassie when we got to Grand Rapids and brought her a little brass candle stick they made at the brass works in Greenfield Village.  She was happy to see the girls but sad it was just a short stop.

Then we drove Alaina and Ruby home.  They were happy to see their parents again.

Here we are turning onto our road and it's raining!  Our area has had 1 inch of rain since June 1, so we were thankful to see this!  We ended up getting 1/2 inch of rain that day.

It was a special time away, with lots of good memories made with Alaina and Ruby!

Greenfield Village

On Tuesday, we went to Greenfield Village. It was started in 1933 by Henry Ford, covers nearly 80 acres and is home to nearly 100 historic structures.  Most are from the United States; like Thomas Edison's original lab, moved from Florida.  Some buildings came from Europe - like a cottage that was built in the 1600's in England. There is an old train to ride, horse and carriage rides, Model T rides...  The staff are dressed in period clothing so you really feel like you are stepping back in time.

Here's some pictures of our time there.

We started the day with a ride in an antique car.  We went all around the village and were told about different buildings.

The Wright brothers bicycle shop where they first started working on flight.  This building was moved from Ohio.

This clock tower was moved from England.  It rings on the hour and the figures move around.

A carousel ride!  It was originally in San Francisco, then the state of Washington. It had fallen into disrepair when it was moved and renovated.

This is the courthouse that Abraham Lincoln first argued cases in.  It came from Illinois.

This is Thomas Edisons original lab from Florida.  He and Henry Ford were friends.  When Henry Ford was just starting Greenfield Village, he asked Edison about moving it.  Edison was still using it, but Ford said he would build him a new lab, so Thomas Edison agreed.

Slave homes moved from Georgia.

An old home from New England. When we were there they were preparing a lunch of food from the period for a group of young kids.

This blacksmith shop came from England

So did this cottage.  It was built in the 1600's in the Cotswalds.  It was dismantled and put together brick by brick in Greenfield Village.  The whole interior came too - even the limestone stairs inside that showed the years of wear.

Such a beautiful scene.  The chapel in the background was built in 1929 and is named the Mary-Martha chapel in honor of Henry Ford's mother and mother-in-law.

This covered bridge came from Pennsylvania.

They have a steam engine train!

We enjoyed a ride around the village.

This is Noah Webster of the Webster Dictionary's home - moved from Connecticut.

We had a ride in this carriage.

At this point we were very hot and tired!  We walked over 8 miles and it was so hot and humid.  But we had such fun seeing everything.

We ended the day with some frozen custard which was a big hit.

It was so hot, the sprinkles slid right off the girls custard!  Alaina said she had a mud slide.  :)

I know this is a lot of pictures, but I took lots more!  On top of going through all these things, we saw pottery making, weaving, glass blowing, a working farm...

If you ever have a chance to visit, we highly recommend it!