Crusty Cornbread, Knitting and Misspelled Words

Cornbread Baker
Originally uploaded by nsdis

Hate to keep talking about the Festival of Flowers but.....
One of the activities of the festival is the craft show. This show features the usual vendors - jewelry, garden decor, specialty foods, candles, arts, etc. One of my favorite vendors are pottery vendors such as Soap Creek Pottery from Lincolnton, Ga. She doesn't have a website so I can't link it for you. She has clever items for sale like this cornbread baker. I purchased one and made a pan of cornbread the other night to accompany my vegetable soup. Fresh vegetables in the summer make a delightful pot of soup. My husband was a little skeptical.

Cornbread Baker
Originally uploaded by nsdis

According to his discriminating tastes (yeah, right!), his criteria for good cornbread is crusty edges with a hearty but not too dry texture. I must admit I tend to agree with him as far as cornbread goes; the crustier the better. I love cornbread baked in my iron skillet and cornbread stick pan. They both bake crusty cornbread. The potter assured me that her cornbread baker makes crusty cornbread just as good if nit better as iron skillets. I am happy to report it passed the test. Can't say it is better but definitely more attractive than an iron skillet.

Haven't done much in the knitting department. This is all that I have done.
The dishcloth is knitted in the feather and fan pattern with festive colors. I had never tried this pattern and found it to be very easy.

Saw this sign the other day.....

Not sure I would ask these people for help.

Festival Of Flowers, Part 2

The garden tours during the Festival of Flowers were wonderful. My husband had never participated in these tours in the past. He agreed to go with me since my usual comrades were out of town. Here is a small sampling of what impressed us:


The boat was cut in half and used as a goldfish pond. Very creative.

Loved the wire rocking chairs and rooster. This gardener had some calla lilies that were 4 feet tall. Amazing! Mine are only 12 inches tall max! His entire backyard was divided into separate rooms, each featuring something different as the focal point.

The owner of this garden created all the sculptures in this yard.

This is the type of garden I would love to have. It was loaded with what I call "picking flowers" - roses, daisies, coneflowers, rubekia, bee balm etc.

This wonderful day ended with a night of bluegrass music, barbeque and ice cream.

SC Festival of Flowers Topiaries

Every year during the month of June, there is a festive atmosphere in my town. This is the 41st year of the SC Festival Of Flowers. There are various activities throughout the month from a triathlon, golf tournament, theater production, craft show, art and photography show and, of course, tours of Park Seed. This weekend is the big weekend. I always look forward to this part of the festival. The weather is suppose to be perfect.

This year in the uptown area, topiaries have been placed in various spots. My husband and I walked through town a couple of days ago and were impressed with the creativity. Many of the schools adopted these topiaries. Amazing work. My photography doesn't do them justice, but I thought you might enjoy seeing them. These are just a sampling of what is on display.


I am looking forward to the garden tours on Saturday. I'll walk away wishing I had a larger yard than my little postage stamp sized yard. But then again, more yard means more work.

Treasures

Tonight as I read Tipper's entry on treasure hunting on her blog, Blind Pig and a Acorn, I was reminded of some treasures we have found throughout the years on vacations to the mountains or the beach. One such memory was many years ago at Edisto Beach, SC. My husband spent the entire week walking the beach looking for that one huge shark's tooth. You know the tooth that would fit in the palm of your hand. Our son spent the entire week playing in the water and on the beach. Looking for shark's teeth was not on his agenda. My husband had no luck at all. He must have walked 100 miles up and down that beach. He found numerous small teeth of different shapes but not the prized tooth. On the last day we were there, my son wanted one last time on the beach. When it was time to head home, my husband called out to our son. As he ran to the car, he stopped, looked down, and yelled, "Hey, Dad. Look what I found!" Low and behold, it was that tooth. The tooth my husband spent his entire vacation looking for. The tooth that only took a second for my son to find. You can imagine the look on my husband's face. Bless his heart!


I tried a new cake recipe last night -

Triple Decker Strawberry Cake. It is out of this world and definitely a keeper. It is made with fresh strawberries and it isn't a complicated recipe at all. Delicious.

It's Official!!!

Yipee....It has finally arrived....It is official.....I am on summer break. Now to decide what I want to accomplish while I am home. Hmmmm.... I do know that I need to make some window treatments for some windows, clean out some closets, remove some carpet and just enjoy my time at home.

Queen Anne's Lace

One of my favorite wildflowers is Queen Anne's Lace. Every summer when I spot these flowers growing along the roads, I get this urge to stop and pick the flowers. If you have ever picked these flowers, you know they are not easy to pick without scissors or a knife. And as luck usually has it, I never have scissors or a knife. This spring I have noticed some Queen Anne growing across the road from our new school. Since I am still working and schools have scissors, I picked myself some flowers this afternoon, brought them home and placed them on my mantle. Aren't they beautiful in the green glass vase? Every year I say I am going to collect the dried flowers for seeds and try to grow some in my flower bed.


My mother used these flowers in her wedding bouquet. Wish I had a picture of her and her bouquet.


She spoke often of how as a young girl, she and her mother would pick them and place them in the same green glass vase. Sometimes they would add food coloring to dye the flowers.

Now for an update on my recent sewing and knitting projects:
I participated in an apron swap organized by Abby (A Feathered Nest)and made this apron -


This is a small dish scrubber made with cotton yarn and tulle. I knitted a small one to try out while washing dishes instead of my usual Scotch Brite pad.

So far, it is a hit according to my husband and assistant dishwasher.

Road Trip

This was such a nice weekend. My husband and I took a road trip to Black Mountain, NC. We left SC with temperatures reaching:

and hoping the temperature would be a little nicer in the mountains. Wrong....It was hot there too.
The sole purpose of our trip was our nephew's high school graduation, but we also included a couple of side trips:
Western NC Farmer's Market, and time enjoying nature.

Now it is back to school for my last week of work before SUMMER BREAK!!!!!!

Zinnias and Mammie Jo

I love zinnias.



Every year I try to grow a few zinnias in memory of my grandmother - Mammie Jo.


Mammie Jo was a delightful woman. She smoked Kent cigarettes, loved watching "As the World Turned" (soap opera), and when told a nugget of news would reply, "You know not!" I loved visiting her and my grandfather every summer. They lived on a lake. Every summer my cousin and I would pack our bags and stay with them for a few weeks. Fishing off the pier with bamboo poles, baiting our own hooks with worms or minnows, picking blackberres, singing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" along with papa as we sat on the porch swing, and trying to beat my grandparents in gin rummy every night are just a few of my favorite memories.


Mammie Jo loved flowers and always had zinnias in a small vase or pitcher on her kitchen table. Zinnias of every color and size.

One of The Many Reasons Why I Love Summer

Home grown veggies.....

Check out the steam rising from the iron skillet full of yellow squash.

Check out the little slice of country ham in the pot of beans and potatoes. Yum, yum! The only veggie lacking from this delicious dinner was homegrown tomatoes. Wish I could say I had picked these veggies from my garden. I wish....but having relatives with gardens comes in handy.

And now for my latest felted bag - ROY G BIV bag.....I love it.
Before felting:


After felting:

Originally, the bag is called Rainbow Tote , but since I am a former science teacher, I couldn't resist the opportunity to call it ROY G BIV. (Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet) The only color I omitted was indigo or violet. I never understood what the difference was between indigo and violet.