" A 200th Post Surprise "

This marks my 200th post on this blog which is almost 11 months old. When I started this blog I intended to talk about Books and Authors but it turned eclectic very fast. So Today I'm inviting you to visit The Book House where I will discuss ONLY THE WRITTEN WORD !!! COME ON OVER YOU GUYS....click here>THE BOOK HOUSE Be sure and leave a comment as there's a GREAT BOOK up for grabs!!!!!!!!!!

" Miss Mary BoBo's "

On Main Street in the small town of Lynchburg,Tennessee you will find an old Hotel which is very famous for the food served there. Miss Mary BoBo's Boarding House ! Lynchburg is located off I-65 halfway between Nashville and Huntsville, Alabama. Miss Mary ran the boarding house from 1908 till 1984 when she passed away just shy of her 102 nd birthday. This is a typical spread at Mary BoBo's where the dining is boarding house style. You can also purchase a wonderful cookbook (Miss Mary BoBo's Boarding House Cookbook) containing all her famous recipes such as her Jack Daniels Sweet Potatoes! Jack Daniel took his noon meal at this boarding house everyday until his death in 1911 at the age of 65.

Lynchburg draws a lot of tourist both for the food at Miss Mary's and those who wish to tour the Jack Daniels Distillery...........The Distillery now owns and operates Miss Mary's exactly the same way she did! I LOVE the Welcome Center!

I have toured the Distillery and it is a fascinating tour! Of humorous note is that Lynchburg is in a DRY county, No alcohol sold whatsoever !

You can also "sit a spell" and visit with Jack Daniel himself.............

Now here's what all you gals want..........The Recipe! They are actually called Sweet Potatoes & Pecans. I call them JD Sweet Potatoes! One of my favorite Thanksgiving Dishes!

4 large sweet potatoes

1/2 stick of real butter

3/4 cup sugar (I use brown)

1/8 teas. salt

1/4 cup of Jack Daniels Whiskey( any whiskey will do)

1/4 cup chopped pecans (and whole ones for decoration)

Mash baked sweet potatoes when cool enough to handle with the butter.Beat in sugar,salt and

Jack Daniels. Spread half the mixture in baking dish.Spread chopped pecans over the mixture.

Repeat with remaining mixture and top with more pecans, chopped or whole. Bake 30 minutes at 325 degrees or until hot and pecans are toasted.

Many of you also e-mailed for the Gumbo Recipe. I DO NOT use a recipe when making Gumbo.

You can find many Cajun Gumbo recipes on the web. I will give you some tips I go by. I use Shrimp that we get fresh and put up in the freezer. I buy Crab Claw meat, Oysters and Crayfish Tail meat. I boil my Shrimp an Crab Claws, remove and cool them. Then after we shell them, I put the shells and dug out Crab Claws back in the water to boil . Let this simmer for at least an hour, this is where your stock flavor comes from. I saute my red and green bell pepper,

purple onion, celery and garlic in Olive Oil, probably a half cup. When they are cooked down, I strain the veggies out of the oil . Then I make my roux which is just flour that is browned VERY dark in the oil. Instead of adding water like making gravy, I add the roux to my stock pot that had been strained of the shells and claws.I use a wire wisk to make sure I have no lumps.Then I add 1/4 cup of Zatarain's Cajun Seasoning. When this comes to a boil, I add my Oysters and their juice, the Crab meat, Shrimp, the Crayfish and their juice along with the veggies. You can then add salt and pepper to your taste. I turn it on low and let it simmer for several hours.

The Cobbler is a breeze with this Cobbler Mix! I added 2 cups of Blackberries from the freezer that I cooked down with a 1/4 cup of sugar. I hope you will make and enjoy all these dishes!

We had a pretty pastel Sunrise this morning............

And lots of mist over the pond.............

I wish my camera captured the intense color better............

My big surprise was when I walked out to take Sunrise pics the Moon was still high in the North/Western sky!

HAVE A GREAT DAY !!!!!!!!

NOVEMBER 2009

November........I love November, it has me thinking about Thanksgiving Dinner with family, Pumpkin Pie, Jack Daniels Sweet Potatoes, homemade Cranberry Sauce! UMMMMM ! Frosty Mornings on the farm. We had our first frost this morning!

Cable Knit socks..........

Christmas Trees all a glow............

Look at these darling ornaments! You Artist need to do these as gifts!

Look at this! I'd LOVE to have A Titans and A Saints for my tree...........The one shown is a USM Golden Eagles.

I had a dream come true on Friday when I got my set of GWTW Plates!

We got them put up on Saturday morning...........

I'm waiting on a pair of Peacock bookends to go where the angel is to hold my copies of GWTW,

Scarlet and the movie...........

The plates are fine china and came in their original boxes with certificates and pamphlets! I waited 20 years to own this set! :)

My sister, bIL and 3 nieces came down from Memphis this weekend to visit. Daddy and Jeanette joined us for dinner. I made a huge pot of Cajun Seafood Gumbo that was awesome!

And a Blackberry Cobbler with some of the BB's we put in the freezer.............

What a delightful time we had! (this isn't mine,I forgot to get a pic)

And......to start the month off right, Vince Young started as the QB for the Titans!!

Between Vince and the awesome running back Chris Johnson, the Titans WON their 1st game this year!

Spanked the Jaguars 30 -13 ! Now yesterday they LOOKED like MY TITANS !!! :)

The day ended with a beautiful Hunter's Moon coming up over the pond...........

Which later lit up the pond so beautifully...............

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

" Spooks, Storms & A Tour of The Farm "

I love all the images of Halloween! I love Ghosts, Goblins & Haunted Houses & Cemeteries !! The Paranormal fascinates me! I 'm sure it's because I've had several paranormal experiences in my life and believe that there is so much more to this than some believe..........

I lived in a haunted house for 3 days in Joelton, Tn (a few miles north of Nashville) in 1974.

It was NOT a friendly spirit either! I've seen a full body apparition on NOT one, but two different occasions!! So yes, I know it's real!

So as Halloween creeps up on us, so does stormy weather...........Just before dawn

The storm clouds were gathering...........

There is a 100 % chance of storms tonight..............

Some could be severe the weather mans says. I hope they don't include heavy lightning and high winds!

Or make our skies as scary as this ...................

Last night Hubby and I shelled Pecans while we watched the Travel Channels Spook Shows!

This morning I went on a tour of the farm.........This is the Turnip Patch!

This is a Tropical Hibiscus that has gotten huge.............I'm going to cut it back and mulch it good and see if it will come back. They don't usually come back unless you keep then in a greenhouse.

This Cigar Bush dies back to the ground in winter then returns in the spring.

Some of the Roses are still blooming............

As are some Marigolds............

Love this Mandavillia! It will have to be dug up and put in the greenhouse.

These Orange Cannas keep reaching for the sky!

The Joseph's Coat is blooming again!

This Hot Pink Hardy Hibiscus must be 9 feet tall! We will cut it back to the ground in a few weeks. It will get even taller next year!

There are a lot of plants in the greenhouse that could still be out for awhile longer but we are just going to leave them in till spring because it's just easier to water them there.

These are the 2 Pagoda Bushes I ordered. We won't plant them till Spring.

I got these 2 fig Trees in Lafayette, Louisiana . We will get them out soon.

My pride and joy is this White Canna ! It has really grown and has a new shoot!

Those 3 little sticks in the long planter are Red Hardy Hibiscus..........

Ahhhh......my girls! There are several that should start laying anytime but in the meantime,

Miss Trix gives us an egg a day!

And Ole Oscar keeps the girls in line...........I think! May be the other way around!

Now after we got through with the Entertainment Center Hubby says: "no projects for awhile, I've earned a fishing trip"! I say; " you go for it" ! What does he do? Gathers the scrap lumber up and builds Roxie a DOG HOUSE !! HA!

MEN! Will we ever figure them out?????

Of course all 5 had to investigate and smell it! Roxie has spent this last 2 nights outside in it and did great! No barking! Not a peep! She will come in tonight though because I don't want her out in bad weather.................

I hope everyone had a good week and will enjoy this All Hallow's Eve !!!!!

" TA DA "

We're No Magician's.............. But we did turn this................

Into this in one week! Notice that the top shelf is empty?

It's reserved for this 50th Anniversary set of GWTW plates from 1989 that I bid on and won on EBAY! They should be here Friday! :)

Here's a view from the kitchen doorway...............

From the foyer looking toward the FD's that go into the dogroom............

Standing in front of the new EC. The Fireplace is on the wall where the sofa was...........

Another shot from the foyer....

Now I'll let you browse the awesome Sunset we had yesterday! Some shots were taken with a flash and some without.............

This morning we have heavy fog.........

HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYONE ANd Thank You For All the B'DAY wishes to Melanie, She loved it!! :)

October 27, 1978

On this date at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, I had a desire of my heart full filled! I gave birth to my one and only daughter. Her 2 brothers were 10 and 6 years old and were thrilled to have a baby sister to spoil and did they ever! We all did!

I named her Melanie Carol after my favorite character from Gone With the Wind, Melanie Wilkes and myself.........I should have named her Scarlett ! Just kidding! :)

She grew to be a wonderful, outgoing, compassionate and loving person!

With a wonderful family............

A loving excellent mother to her son Kohl......

and his sister Molly.............2 of the Grandest Children ever born!

A wonderful dog/mommy to Chloe too! Hey! Where's Haley ?

A great best friend to Teresa............

A loving daughter to her Mommy............

She loves travel! Honeymooning in Paris...........

And London...............

A fighter of wrongs! Testified before The Tennessee Legislature in 2007 about Domestic Violence and Judicial Corruption in the Tennessee Family Court System which resulted in new laws being passed!

Loves fishing with Hubby!

You go girl! Runs Marathons! This is The Country Music Marathon in Nashville!

Pretends to be a Civil War Southern Belle...........

Loves NASCAR and Sterling Marlin !

She's A TITAN'S Fan win or lose......just like MOM !

And a Tennessee Vol's Fan!

Loves Scuba Diving in the Bahamas...........

And a ride on a Jet Ski.............

Still a child at heart in Disney Land.................

She is now back in college to become an RN ! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL !!!! I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART !!!!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

" Harvest Ending "

No beautiful early sunrise this Sunday Morning, just a cloudy magical mist........... The sun has come out now and promises a gorgeous day with a high of 70 degrees! While Hubby painted our new cabinet yesterday............

This is after 2 coats, one more to go!

I dealt with the last of the Bell Pepper. Besides the herbs ,this is the end of the Harvest. After picking them all, I gave the bushes to the Chickens who just devoured them in no time!

These I cut in strips, froze for about an hour, then put them in a freezer bag. I have chopped peppers already in the freezer.

I got a gallon bag of Red.........

And a gallon of Green. I'm going to gather all the Basil today. I will make some oil, vinegar and freeze some. Then I have Oregano, and Rosemary to deal with.

Have A Great Sunday Everyone!! :)