Leave it to Chesterton!

"I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it."
-- G. K. Chesterton

Spider webs

My camera and I found some busy spiders in the backyard. Although it is hard to see with the sunlight, the third picture has a spider hastily wrapping up his recently captured lunch. I have never seen this happen in the moment and it was fascinating and a bit scary to see how fast the spider caught and saved a meal for himself. The poor bug probably didn't know what hit him. Spiderwebs are pretty when the sun hits them just right. When I was taking art, it was a project to spray paint a web and then quickly press a sheet of paper to it thus immortalizing the spider's hard work. I work too hard myself and just can't bring myself to do this anymore!

Passing Seasons . . .

September is always an interesting time of the year. The garden starts sharing seasons and you can see the tomato plants struggling to produce a last crop while the citrus trees start mellowing out their fruit. Although tomatoes are a great favorite, I'm extremely partial to oranges and lemons. Fresh lemonade is good with just about any lemon but made with lemons fresh from the tree . . . No words to describe it, you just enjoy it.

September is also my husband's turning point of the year as he has less to fuss with the fading garden but gets to start planning and dreaming about how he is going to make his garden next year.

I have to laugh as the neighbor behind us. He is a do-it-yourself kind of guy with no respect for the requirements of the building code. It will be interesting to see how he can ever sell his house as he has so many self-made code violations going on. He goes through phases as evidenced by the dank and empty fish pond he started several years ago. He has added onto his house both in the front and back - way too close to the rest of the houses in the area - code violations. His most recent 'addition' was to extend air conditioning to his illicit room extension. It is most lovely with a huge swamp cooler balanced on the edge of the room and the duct work snaking across the outside of his roof. He has a large citrus garden but never picks the fruit. Fortunately for us, he doesn't trim his trees, either, so we enjoy the fruits of his lemon tree that hangs way over into our yard. His lemons ripen at a different time of the year so it is a win/win situation for us. His tree looks a little sad at the moment as there are many beautiful lemons out of reach that will never be enjoyed by anyone.

We have our dwarf lemon and orange tree and they are our pampered plants. The lawn can go unmown and I won't say a word but I do nag about whether or not my citrus trees have gotten their feeding yet.

Lincoln and the Library all in one day . . .

The sudden ideas always turn out to be the best ones when it comes to field trips. Our friends threw out the option of heading to a nearby town to check out the Lincoln Memorial. I had seen this small building many times over the years but never thought to venture inside. So, on a summer day, last year, we finally got to see what the inside of this place looked like. It was amazing at how much Civil War History was in this rather small museum. We spent almost two hours and were ready to go back again and again. One of the highlights to the younger group was an actual piece of hardtack from the Civil War. Seems to me that any food substance that can last that long, cannot have tasted all that great to begin with!

Afterwards, we visited the library and gardens. What mother can resist posing the brood in a set of arch ways? Oh, and the studious group on the garden bench . . . posed!

Anyone who lives in the Redlands, California area should definitely check out the Lincoln Memorial there. Oh, as the group picture with Lincoln, Mr. Lincoln is not a ghost but cardboard. The soldier, however, was a real person but not of an age to be from the Civil War Era!

Getting away from obstacles . . .

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.

Henry Ford

Christmas Prelude? Cranberry Nut Bars

A good reason to freeze extra bags of fresh cranberries to have on hand . . . for emergencies . . . like a much-needed munch on a Cranberry Nut Bar. These work well for snacks, dessert, or a quick breakfast on the run. I like the sour tang of the cranberries with the sweetness of the cookie and the crunch of the nuts. In fact, it just came to me that a quarter cup or so of chocolate chips thrown in the mix wouldn't be a bad thing . . . at all!

Cranberry Nut Bars
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/3 c. butter, melted
1 1/3 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon, grated orange rind

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8" square baking pan.

Beat eggs in medium bowl until thick. Gradually add sugar, beating until thoroughly blended. Stir in flour and melted butter; blend well. Add cranberries, nuts, vanilla and orange rind mixing gently until just combined. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Ice while warm in the pan.

Icing:


Combine one cup powdered sugar with enough orange juice to make a spreadable icing. Glaze the warm cookies. let cool completely and cut into bars. Makes about two dozen cookie bars.

Christmas Cookies - Easy Roll-Out Sugar Cookies

Over the years, this has been the cut-out cookie I've turned to the most. The dough doesn't need refrigerating before use. You can make it, cut them out, and bake the cookies without pause! The best party I ever had for my children when they were little was cooking decorating with friends. I baked the cookies ahead of time and on the day of the party, I set out bowls of colored icing, candies, decorations, sprinkling sugar, etc. Each child had their own tray on which to place their finished cookies. Yes, there was some mess but it was a happy crew especially when they presented their Christmas cookies to their mothers at the end of the day.

Easy Roll-Out Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add baking powder and flour, mixing well. The dough will be stiff so you may have to blend the last bit by hand. Do not chill dough. Roll out a portion of dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out desired shapes and bake on ungreased sheets for 5-8 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets immediately and cool before decorating.

Cookie Icing

2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons light corn syrup
Mix sugar and milk thoroughly. Add corn syrup and incorporate well. Icing may be divided up and tinted according to your creativity. Colored sugar, sprinkles, bits of crushed candy cane, candied fruit or nuts can brighten up your cookies.