Good Morning

Bran muffins....something that we love for breakfast. I make them pretty healthy using bran, buttermilk, splenda brown sugar, assorted dried fruits, and chopped walnuts. They are chocked full of good things. This morning they are full of dried apricots, raisins, and walnuts.

 I just bought a new item for my kitchen...a silicone muffin pan.  do you know why I bought it? It's red and I love red accents in the kitchen. Not too crazy about it. It's floppy when full of batter and after I almost dropped it, I decided that (for me) the metal ones that I have used for many years will do for me. 

 I print a lot of recipes from the internet and I love to get recipes from blogger friends. I know that those are good ones.....just like the recipes from Church groups. I have several little Church cookbooks that I use over and over again. I keep the recipes that I print off in a plastic baggie handy in my kitchen. As I try them, I write some remarks about the recipe and toss the ones that aren't good.

 Here they are...all ready to enjoy. I am just waiting a little while for them to cool. I love a muffin like these with a cup of tea and some fruit for breakfast.

I thought yesterday, while shopping for produce, that I love this time of year. Everything is fresh and ripening. I bought strawberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, a pineapple, and blueberries. Sounds like a fruit salad. We are going to a birthday party soon, and I spied a melamine chartreuse bowl on the shelf for $1. I put it in the cart. When I got to the checkout, the bagger put some of the fruit in the bowl and said, "There I made you a fruit salad" The bowl will hold a pasta salad, however. It's just the right size and I can leave it there and not bother bringing it home.

I hear a plane flying low over our house this morning. We hear and see it each year. I think that they are dusting the crops. Reminds me of years ago when they sprayed for mosquitoes. We would hear the truck coming and make a dash and shut all the windows, so we wouldn't smell it inside. I can remember kids following the truck on their bicycles. When I think about the hazards in that....I wonder what is happening to their bodies now years later... as a result of that spray.

I'm planning a day in the garden. There are several things that I want to do. First I'm taking some pictures of flowers on the woods border. There aren't too many flowers there now. I sprinkled seed in the fall, but with our lawn mower mowing so close, I don't think that they had a chance to grow, but there are a few a little ways back that are blooming. 

I also want to cut down the spikes of the hosta flowers. I don't like them once they loose their flowers. I have a lot of hostas, so that will probably be my only project out there.

We're going to have fried chicken today. When I have buttermilk in the house, fried chicken is always on the menu. Probably mashed potatoes, gravy, fresh green beans, salad and fruit for dessert will be our meal. 

Can you believe that tomorrow is August already? Where did the summer go? My daughter in law sent an email with Merry Christmas as the subject. My grand daughter, Xoie and her family, will be here for one weekend in Dec. and Karen wanted to get our plans made early so we could all see them. 

Have a nice day,

Balisha