Wow!

I found this video on my FB page from Yellowstone National park.  It is a bison giving birth on May 26 of this year in a place called Hayden Valley where there are a lot of bison and other animals. We saw bears, bison, elk, etc. when we drove through there last year and even got in a traffic jam with the bison traveling down the road.

I'm Wondering...

When we finally reach our destination far, far away from home where will Bob and I end up drinking our first glass of wine or sipping on some Port??

In a rocking chair in front of the grand fireplace in the lobby?

Bundled up in a blanket on the deck waiting to watch Old Faithful blow?

Playing cards in the second floor lounge area?

Perhaps we'll do what we did last year.  Just a few feet away from what I call the lounge area on the second floor, are these old wood and leather sofas where you can sit (in your warm pajamas and house slippers) just watching the guests below wandering around the fireplace while listening to piano music and enjoying the laid back lifestyle of Yellowstone National Park.
We truly used the Inn as much as we could during our 3 nights there last year and are so excited about staying the entire week there this year.  It just feels like a big, old home and is very relaxing. We did sit in the lounge and played cards last year and looked over maps to decide where we'd venture to the following day.  Since I'm an early bird I would get up in the morning and sit outside on the benches or on the sofas and just people-watch and read a book or map.  The pictures above were just down the hall (maybe 75 steps from our room in the "old house" section) and we did go down in our pajama-looking-lounge-clothes and house shoes.  ha ha!  For this year we didn't book early enough....I booked 11 months ahead of time instead of 12 or 13, so couldn't get a room in the old house with a private bath so we will be in the newer part. There were rooms available in the old house without private baths but we decided against that option.  I don't want to walk down the hall to pee and shower with strangers.   I've read that the newer rooms are not quaint like the old house rooms are and are more hotel looking, but that's okay.  We'll still grab our bottle of wine, deck of cards and maps and enjoy the lobby and lounge areas every evening.  There's no tv, radio or phones so reality will be our entertainment. Can't wait!!

Yum Yum

I thought I would post some food pictures from the past couple weeks.  I'm making an effort to prepare more meals at home...ugh.  I love to cook interesting, new recipes but only when I feel like I have the time and energy.  I don't love to make everyday, regular ole meals anymore.  Anyway...

strawberry french toast I made on Mother's Day Eve for me and Robbie

fresh parsley from my garden

lemon-garlic shrimp scampi (made with fresh shrimp we brought home from Gulf Shores)

the shrimp cooking in butter, olive oil, lemon and garlic

grilled bruschetta topped with sauteed grape tomatoes and garlic

bowtie fiesta (kind of like mexican lasagna)

Spring Soccer

Only a few weekends of the Spring soccer season are left.  I thought I would post a few pictures from the past month.  Last weekend the team won their home tournament with Robbie contributing a goal early in the game (top photo; several players are missing from the photo).  It's been a long season with a lot of travelling but we've gotten through and enjoyed it.   This will be the last time he plays Spring soccer which brings us back to the reality that he will soon be graduating from high school!

Heck of a Week

I'M SO GLAD IT'S FRIDAY.  It's been such a busy week work-wise, making appointments for me and Robbie for various things, running errands, paying bills, etc.  I'm behind with my weekly work report due to client issues such as spending 1/2 day in ER with one client, 3 hours with another one, trying to find out why one is unresponsive and in ICU, one death and another one got some really bad health news.  Reports go along with all of this so in addition to my regular stuff I've had a lot extra to do.  This is incredibly unusual but it makes everything else fall behind.  It'll all come out in the wash eventually and I'll have days when I have just enough to do but I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel just yet.  I'd love a Lemon Drop martini about now.  ha ha!! 

TGIF!  Happy Mother's Day to everyone!!  I will be celebrating at The Cheesecake Factory this weekend :)

A Look Back in Time

Remembering  (click on the word for link to my former blog to view today's post)      The post for today can be found at this link.  Ahhh, what a wonderful day!!

Garden Update

My herb garden is coming along slowly, but it's coming along...basil leaves finally sprouted up last week...I use a ton of basil so cannot wait to have some fresh to use when I cook or just on a tomato sandwich this summer.

Dill is another herb I use a lot of and will be able to dry my own dill weed...

And this is the 2012 forestry relocation program I am working on.  In this pot are 3 Japanese Maple trees I foraged from the front yard before Bob mowed for the first time this year.  There were many more but I had to rescue a few of them and will grow them in this pot over the summer and see how they do.

You know, these aren't the first trees I've grown from seedlings in a pot then planted in our yard.  Free trees are a good thing!

Oh and that thing growing out of my compost bin is moving along quite nicely.  I am still not sure if it is a pumpkin or other decorative gourd but hopefully will find out soon.

Kaylyn's Birthday

Kaylyn turned 16 recently so we had a mini party for her.  I made her favorite cake, Red Velvet, and we gave her balloons and a gift card to one of those teen stores at the mall. 

She was so nice as to leave  forget the cake at our house overnight and we were able to try a piece...

It was a new recipe I hadn't tried  yet and ended up being the best Red Velvet cake I have ever baked (I've only made a few of them but this one was the best).  Jennifer had a birthday recently too so I made her one the following weekend and surprised her with it.  Red Velvet is her favorite also and she said it was very good. 

You know how I usually use boxed cake mixes for most of my chocolate, white and yellow cakes but I've tried the boxed Red Velvet and it's just not very good.  This recipe was from scratch and called for buttermilk and an entire bottle of red food coloring, of course.  I used a simple vanilla buttercream for the frosting.   Bob wants me to try to make a Green Velvet cake sometime so I'll post about that if I ever decide to try it.

An Epiphany

One day recently we had breakfast for dinner:  Biscuits, gravy, scrambled eggs and bacon.  I thought I'd ask Bob to help out with the meat but didn't want a mess in the kitchen so when he got home I asked if he would grill-fry the bacon for me.  He asked if it would work and I told him I didn't see why not as our grill gets super hot and the mess could then be contained out there (pointing to the grill on the deck) instead of getting grease all over the stovetop or inside the microwave.  I hate cooking bacon in the microwave...it's just gross.

He made a disposable "pan" from aluminum foil and sprayed it with grilling non-stick spray and went to it.  He had so much fun!  He loves bacon and he loves grilling meat then eating it.  The best of both worlds :)

He came in at one point and told me how well it was going...I believe it was along the lines of "It's f***ing awesome"... and we decided cooking bacon indoors is for idiots and we will forever more cook our bacon outdoors on the grill.  The pan he formed with aluminum foil kept the grease fires to a minimum but just in case he kept a water spray bottle handy. After everything cooled down we just carefully removed the foil and placed in the trashcan. We didn't have to clean anything, etc. and the bacon fried up very nice and tasted great!