Fredericksburg, TX

Just got back from celebrating our wedding anniversary. This year we spent a long weekend in Fredericksburg, TX. Loved the wildflowers, shopping and great food!

You can check out my fabric-related purchase at TexasRed Quilts and more Wordless Wednesday posts at the WW Headquarters. Check out Wildseed Farms for updates about the Texas Hill Country blooms!

Prairie Dog - Kicking Back

It's a hard life for a prairie dog out here in West Texas.

I tell ya!

You can check out my pinwheel quilt progress at TexasRed Quilts and more Wordless Wednesday posts at the WW Headquarters.

Teaser Tuesday - Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day

Teaser Tuesdays are hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

It asks us to:

(1) Grab our current reads.

(2) Let the book fall open to a random page.

(3) Share two (or three) teaser sentences from that page somewhere between lines 7 and 12 (avoiding spoilers).

We're also supposed to share the book title and author so others can find the book themselves.

Here's my teaser for today from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe Francois (we definitely had this problem last summer):

Seems that everyone who doesn't have a green thumb grows zucchini -- they grow like weeds. The problem is that you end up with bushels of zucchini and no one could possibly eat it all. If you have stored dough, some Parmigiano-Reggiano or other grating cheese, and parsley, you can create this very fast zucchini flatbread -- it's absolutely scrumptious"

It Was Starting To Look Like Spring...

Fall bulb planting and a few spring additions had paid off and it was starting to look like spring around here:

my favorites -- daffodils -- plus othershyacinths!

rosemary we inherited with the house

new strawberry plants Until it snowed on Saturday. We'll see what survives.

Irish Soda Bread

One of my goals this year has been learning to make bread. Yesterday I did a holiday version of this goal by making some Irish Soda Bread. Here's how it turned out:

This was based on the Food Network recipe my friend Shan (meg's mommy) sent me, with some substitutions suggested by Melonie at Wandering Quail Road (raisins instead of currants, half whole wheat flour, and fake buttermilk). Thanks, ladies! This was a big hit at our house. I was just looking for a new holiday tradition, but this is going to show up as a regular feature at our house.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Chicago River turned green for St. Pat's

Planning an exciting day here of wearing green and watching The Quiet Man. Hope y'all have good days, too!

And Another Thing

Sorry it hasn't been a regular posting week. Between a birthday and some other things going on here in West Texas, everything's a little off-schedule.

I did manage to pick up a copy of this new book (published in the US October 2009):

How did I miss that there was a new author chosen to carry on Douglas Addams' series? Eoin Colfer is the writer of the Artemis Fowl series. Here's part of what the publicity release on his website says:

Jane Belson, the widow of Douglas Adams said, ‘I am delighted that Eoin Colfer has agreed to continue the Hitchhiker series. I love his books and could not think of a better person to transport Arthur, Zaphod and Marvin to pastures new. The project has my full support.’ ...

Colfer has been a fan of Hitchhiker since his schooldays and said, ‘Being given the chance to write this book is like suddenly being offered the superpower of your choice. For years I have been finishing this incredible story in my head and now I have the opportunity to do it in the real world. It is a gift from the gods. So, thank you Thor and Odin.’

I'll let you know what I think once I'm able to dig in!

Zombies!

For those of you who read Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and wondered how Jane Austen's classic heroine developed her zombie-fighting skills, do I have the book for you!

I'm still in the middle of reading Dawn of the Dreadfuls, but it is the pre-quel that gives us some background into the development of the crisis in Regency England that led to the zombie infestation and young gentlewomen, like the Bennett sisters, becoming martial arts masters.

Of course, if you're like my husband and prefer your zombie equipment to have a little more firepower than a katana, you can also check out Outdoor Life's recommendations for zombie hunting guns.

Logan's Gem by Donna Daniel

Plot Summary:

It's the 1840s and Emerald King is more headstrong and adventurous than most girls her age. Instead of settling down to marry someone in New York, she takes a yearlong trip to Galveston, Texas. This is allowed because she'll be chaperoned by, and staying with, family who live in the city.

We travel with Emerald to Texas and meet the dashing Logan Barrymoore. He and Emerald immediately clash and Emerald tries to avoid him. When her aunt and uncle are called away on a family emergency in Europe, she and her cousin decide to take a trip together (in part, to get away from that disturbing man). Unbeknownst to Emerald, they have booked passage on the ship Logan owns and captains. Her cousin is injured and unable to travel, so Emerald ends up traveling from Texas, through Havana, Panama, and Colombia, to California, with Logan.

My Reaction: This is a first novel from one of the West Texas Writers. Donna Daniel is from New York, but has moved to Texas, and is lovely.

I liked Emerald and several of the characters we meet throughout the book. Logan was dashing and brave, although I sometimes wanted to scold him -- for the same reasons I wanted to scold Mr. Darcy (less scowling in the corner and more talking about your feelings, sir).

This book is one adventure after another. I don't always think about the ways different parts of the world were developing at the same time, so I don't connect the fancy Southern balls with the Zorro-like adventures and gold prospecting going on in California at the same time. I really enjoyed seeing all of these different bits and pieces of Emerald's adventure.

This is a fun read. Leave me a comment here if you enjoy historical romances and would like me to pass my gently-used signed copy on to you. I'll pick a winner at random at the end of March. My one request? If you enjoy it too, please let people know and pass it on.

(Thank you to the author for my review copy of this book.)

Prairie Dog Tunnel

We got this tunnel for our pet prairie dog to play in.
Apparently he had other plans.

(Notice the neglected toys hanging behind him?)

You can check out the second block of my pinwheel sampler at TexasRed Quilts. Click here for more Wordless Wednesday!

Teaser Tuesday - The Source of Miracles

Teaser Tuesdays are hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

It asks us to:

(1) Grab our current reads.

(2) Let the book fall open to a random page.

(3) Share two (or three) teaser sentences from that page somewhere between lines 7 and 12 (avoiding spoilers).

We're also supposed to share the book title and author so others can find the book themselves.

Here's my teaser for today from The Source of Miracles, by Kathleen McGowan:

People are doing the best they can with what they have. This is almost always true.