TOURING JAPAN

To read why my camera is traveling in Japan without me, check out my previous post.

My son and his students have been in Kyoto, Japan now for three super-busy days!  The pictures are starting to roll in!!

They have seen silk worms eating leaves.

Then spun into thread.

Woven into silk fabric.

And, viewed a kimono fashion show!

Seen numerous shrines.

And visited gardens.

Had some fun being tourists.

Been to Kyoto Station to see the light show on the steps and to eat real Ramen.

Shown on the steps are some of the kids and their fearless leader, our son.

Personally, I don't think they pay public school teachers near enough for what they do.  In addition to his normal schedule of teaching math and science, he sponsors the International Club. I can't fathom the number of extra hours spent the past three years on fund raising and get-togethers to learn about international travel, culture, and customs.  THEN, to get on a plane with teenagers to travel to and traipse around Japan for two weeks.  
The next time you see a teacher tell them thank you for going above and beyond.

Next stop for this group is to Hiroshima on the bullet train. 

I'm joining the following:
Nancherrow for Fridays Unfolded
Pieced Pastimes for Saturday Sparks
A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday

TRAVELING CAMERA

What is a blog post without pictures?  Not much as evidenced by this posting.  

My camera has gone traveling!  It is the perfect size for travel and takes great pictures of shrines, churches, and buildings.  Our son likes to borrow it for his trips; so it is off to Japan for two weeks. It's been to Paris and Germany on previous trips, and may soon require a passport of its own!  

You would think I would have a back supply of drafts that I could pull up, but I don't blog that seriously and use inspiration of the moment only.  So, my posting will be spotty, at best, until after at least Father's Day.  In the meantime, I'll be here on a vacation of my own looking for some new inspiration.

Wishing safe travels to Mike and his students.  I'm sure they will have a great time -- this is Mike's third trip to Japan including a summer spent there living and working on an orchard. He is quite knowledgeable about the country; so I'm sure his high school students are in for a wonderful glimpse into another culture.
(Yes, Mike, I'm concerned about your and the kids' safety and not just that my camera is returned in tact!!)

A BUNCH OF BBQ BEEF

I've fixed this BBQ Beef for more celebrations than I wish to count over the last 40-plus years.  The last time was this past weekend for my mother-in-law's 100th birthday family get together.

OVEN BBQ BEEF

1 beef rump roast (4 lbs.)

1 tablespoon liquid smoke

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Garlic salt, onion salt, and celery salt to taste

1 cup BBQ sauce of your choice

Place meat on heavy-duty foil in 9"x12" pan.  Pierce meat.  Sprinkle with liquid smoke, Worcestershire, and salts.  Bring up foil and seal.  Refrigerate and marinate 24 hours.  Place in 300 degree oven for 5 hours.  Pour BBQ sauce on.  Close foil and bake another 2 hours.  Slice meat thin against the grain.  Put liquid in a separate container and refrigerate all over night.  Skim solidified fat from liquid.  Pour sauce as needed over meat to keep it moist as it heats up either in the oven or the crock pot.  Serve on a bun with extra of your favorite BBQ sauce.

(Allow 1/3 pound for a generous serving.  For this occasion I fixed 20 pounds of meat adjusting the other ingredients accordingly.  Twenty pounds fills two large crock pots.)

We had a great celebration of Bob's mother's birthday. First a dinner and reunion in my sister-in-law and her husband's beautiful yard.  It was nice for the three remaining siblings to reunite.

Lots of nieces and nephews, grand kids, other family members and more food than we all needed!

Then we had a public reception at her assisted care facility with cake and punch.

"A good time was had by all!"

Joining the following:
Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday
Nancherrow for Fridays Unfolded
Pieced Pastimes for Saturday Sparks
Confessions of a Plate Addict for The Scoop Tuesday
The Comforts of Home for Tasty Tuesday
Savvy Southern Style for WOW Us Wednesdays
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday

PHOTO BOARD FOR A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY

If you are a photo junkie like me, you enjoy seeing photo boards at different events such as weddings, birthdays, graduations, reunions, and, yes, even funerals.  Photo boards have been replaced recently by power-point presentations; but I still enjoy seeing the pictures up close and personal on a display board.

My favorites are the wedding ones where the bride's growing-up pictures are on one side and the groom's on the other side with pictures of their life together since meeting shown down the middle.  I also enjoy graduation photo boards showing their school pictures K-12 and college.  How fun to see how they have changed and matured over the years.  Funeral photo boards are often in celebration of a life well-lived - a great tribute!

This weekend we are celebrating Bob's Mother's 100th birthday with a family reunion/dinner and a public community reception.  

One of my responsibilities was to do a photo board of her life.  I had previously done several books of photos for her as gifts, so accumulating the pictures for this project was fairly easy this time around.  

The hard part was picking just a few of the pictures.  My scrap booking skills are fundamental; I don't do a lot of embellishments (mainly because of the expense involved) -- just letting the pictures and celebrant be the star of the show.

I tried to pick a variety of pictures of her 

 with her kids, grandkids, great-grandkids and other family members.

She was one of eight children; extended family has always been important in her life.

Her two younger brothers, along with other family members and friends, will be attending the celebration.

Happy 100th (and counting) birthday to my favorite Mother-in-law!

I'm joining in the following blog parties:
Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Nancherrow for Fridays Unfolded
Pieced Pastimes for Saturday Sparks
Smiling Sally for Blue Monday
A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday
Ivy and Elephants for What's It Wednesday
Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday
Imparting Grace for Grace at Home Thursday
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday

PRAIRIE STYLE - FARM STYLE

I sometimes have conflicting thoughts about prairie/farm style.  I have trouble reconciling what I remember growing up on the prairies of Colorado in a farmhouse with what we see classified as prairie and/or farm style in our homes today.

This is my family's farm.  My parents lived in the tiny 3-room house in the center of the photo when I was born in 1938; and moved to the slightly bigger house across the road when I was 3.  (Click on the photo for a bigger view.) Grandma and Grandpa built the large Craftsman Bungalow in the 1910s shown center left in the photo.  When Grandma moved to town in the 1960s, my parents lived in the big house for a few years until the farm was sold.

So, because of my background, I devour magazines, blogs, anything on the web that goes by the title, Prairie Style or Farm Style.  I love it!  But, I don't remember our homes ever looking like so many of today's images.  

Our homes were nicely furnished, but not expensively.  We had wool carpets on the floors, well-made oak dressers and dining room chairs in a natural finish from the early 1900s, lovely walnut beds and end tables from the 1930s, comfortable overstuffed upholstery.  There was no chippy/distressed-painted furniture.  Grandma had a couple of painted small chests that had been damaged in a fire; but they were repainted every year for a clean look.  

There were no pillows made from feed sacks or burlap, no chipped dishes, no bead board, no utilitarian items in sight - nothing tattered and torn.

Some of what I see today in the style are items that came from the barns, workshops, and sheds of the farm.  

I don't love the style any less.  After all, our family farm had lots of out buildings with treasures to be discovered.  

As young-married kids, we loved scrounging around for those treasures for our new home - especially in what was known as the onion house with its dirt floor and the scale house, plus my Dad's workshop.  

I realize that this was my personal experience growing up in a prairie farmhouse - not all were the same.

This past week, I have thoroughly enjoyed perusing this new magazine.  It combines the feeling of the farmhouses of my youth with the style prevalent today.

Get out your magnifying glass and check it out to find those items that have moved today into the house from the outbuildings to combine with the nicer things of the era.

I'm joining the following:
Confessions of a Plate Addict for The Scoop Tuesday
Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at our Home
A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday
Knick of Time Interiors for Knick of Time Vintage Tuesday
Savvy Southern Style for WOW Us Wednesdays
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday
The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

BALLOT BOX

At the silent auction of a neighboring town's museum recently, we put in a bid for a ballot box and won!  Apparently at one time, it was the law in Colorado that ballot boxes were to be glass so that the ballots could be seen at all times.  This ballot box was used here in Fremont County, Colorado until the 1970s for local elections.  BUT, this isn't what the ballot box and its carrying case looked like when we won the bid!

This is what we got for our $10 bid - a ballot box and its carrying case IN PIECES.  It was amazing to us that the glass parts were unbroken and, thus, the project was worth restoring.

Bob worked his magic - he loves projects like this!

Incised on the top piece of glass is "National Ballot Box - Pat. June 17, 1884"

"Mfg. by Amos Pettibone, Chicago"

You can see here the brass rings that hold the two glass pieces together to allow the ballots to be retrieved for counting.

This beauty will join our small collection of ballot boxes.  You can read about our Otero County, Colorado box here and our fraternal organization ballot box here.  

We keep thinking this has to stop as we are running out of room; but it's hard to resist a historical item like this for just $10.

I'm joining the following:
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Inspire Me Monday
Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Confessions of a Plate Addict for The Scoop Tuesday
Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday
Knick of Time for Knick of Time Vintage Tuesday
The Dedicated House for Before and After Wednesday
Ivy and Elephants for What's It Wednesday
Savvy Southern Style for WOW Us Wednesdays
Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday
From My Front Porch To Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday

WHAT I LEARNED ON MY SPRING BREAK!

1.  PROM

It has been 23 years since my kids went to their high school proms, and 57 years since Bob and I went to prom.  Things have changed.

First - comfort:  The trend (locally anyway) is for the girls to ditch the sparkly high heels and just go with flip flops or skater shoes.  The salesman that sold my granddaughter her white (to match the dress) Vans, said that more and more are buying comfort shoes for the prom.  Maybe those teenagers are smarter than we give them credit!

Second - Wrist corsages have been popular for awhile, but now boutonnieres come with a magnetic strip on the back.  Navigating a long, sharp corsage pin without drawing blood is a lost art.  Who knew?

Third - The Pre-prom Photo Shoot.  In the past, a couple of fuzzy, Polaroids in front of the fireplace was good enough.  Now, they have full-blown photo shoots.  I was a secondary, tag-along picture taker; but I managed to get a couple of good shots of our beautiful granddaughter and her cute, dimple-endowed boyfriend.

If you want a fun people-watching experience, on prom night at about 4:00 or 5:00 pm go to your local attraction (historic building, park, river, etc.) and you will see lots of pretty dresses, beautiful girls and cute boys having fun getting their pictures taken!

On the same evening, our son, the high school teacher, was chaperoning the prom at his school.  He says that a successful prom is one where no one fails the breathalizer test at the entrance.  It was a good prom year!

2.  EASTER
Teenagers still get a kick out of an Easter Egg Hunt, especially if it involves chocolate, money and gift cards!

3.  OLD AGE AND RETIREMENT
Last week it took me the whole week to iron 4 pillowcases, 5 shirts and a blouse.  At my age, I've learned that I'm easily distracted, lack motivation, and my knees hurt.  In my heyday, I could iron 5 shirts in 30 minutes.  Oh, well!!

4.  COSTS ARE RISING
Sonic is now charging me $.40 extra to add a quarter of a lime to my Diet Coke.  Guess I'll need to forgo that luxury, so I can afford to buy meat at the new higher prices.

5.  SPRING TIME IN THE ROCKIES
The only predictable thing about Spring in Colorado is its unpredictability.  Guess I've always known about the weather, but it catches me unaware every Spring.  The past couple of weeks, we have had snow, rain, cold, heat, and wind -- sometimes all on the same day!

It's hard to tell the snow from the blossoms on our pear tree.

And, that is what I have learned in my short absence from blogland.

I'm spreading my new knowledge on the following:
Smiling Sally for Blue Monday
Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at our Home
A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday
A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday
Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday
Nancherrow for Fridays Unfolded

MUSEUM SILENT AUCTION AND EASTER JOY!

This past weekend, the museum in a small neighboring town held a  fundraising silent auction.  They were clearing out some of their duplicates and items that were not from this area of Colorado.  There were hundreds of items, and lots of bargains to be had.  So many items had high bids of $10 and under.  One of our scores was this youth chair.

It has wear in all of the right places.

The scale and size is wonderful.  Just wish I had a grandchild to fit it -- unfortunately mine have all grown too big!

In the future, I'll be showing you some of the other items we won the bid on after we get them all cleaned up.

But, for now, it is time to celebrate the Easter season.  We will be having the annual family Easter egg hunt followed by a Mexican food dinner on Saturday.  Then Sunday, it will be a quiet day after church to reflect on the meaning of Easter.

May you and your family have a joyous Easter!

I will be taking some time away from the blog world to rejuvenate my spirit.  Be back in a couple of weeks.

I'm joining the following:
Imparting Grace for Grace at Home
From My Front Porch to Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday
The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Common Ground for Be Inspired Friday
Miss Mustard Seed for Furniture Feature Friday
Nancherrow for Fridays Unfolded
Pieced Pastimes for Saturday Sparks

COWBOY CAVIAR

There are a plethora of recipes out there for Cowboy Caviar (also known as Texas/Mexican Caviar).  We love it and find it addicting.  

It's a great recipe as you can add and subtract ingredients depending on your family's tastes.  I've heard that it's also good with black beans or pinto beans, celery, cilantro, etc. 

This is the recipe I adapted for my family:

Cowboy Caviar

2 - cans (15 oz) black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

1 - can (15 oz) regular yellow corn, drained

2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup diced green bell pepper

1/4 cup diced red bell pepper

1/4 cup diced purple onion

Chopped pickled jalapeno slices to taste

1 cup Italian dressing (homemade or purchased)

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together.  Chill overnight.

This dish is versatile.  It can be used as a salsa, a dip on corn chips; on chopped lettuce, or just as is for salad.  It's just good from a spoon standing over the kitchen sink!

As a youngster, do you suppose Cowboy Bob had caviar on the farm?

He sure likes it now!

I'm sharing this yumminess on the following:
Pieced Pastimes for Saturday Sparks
Smiling Sally for Blue Monday
The Comforts of Home for Tasty Tuesday
Confessions of a Plate Addict for The Scoop Tuesday
Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays At Our Home
A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday
Cozy Little House for Tweak it Tuesday
Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday
Savvy Southern Style for WOW Us Wednesdays
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday
Imparting Grace for Grace at Home Thursday
The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Common Ground for Be Inspired Friday
Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday
Nancherrow for Fridays Unfolded

A LOOK BACK IN TIME

1973 was a very good year!

The Vietnam war ended and Secretariat won the triple crown.  The movies "American Graffiti" and "The Sting" were hits; along with the record of the year, Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face".  Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (MRI technology) was developed.

  We built a new house for $32,000.

The median household income was $10,512.00 a year.  Bob had a good job, so I was able to stay at home with two of the most adorable kids EVER!

Jennifer - age 10 months

Michael - age 5

AND, look here --- I had a red plaid jacket that I made myself and Bob had hair and sideburns!!!

What more could anyone desire?  We've been blessed!

I'm sharing my memories at the following:
Pieced Pastimes for Saturday Sparks
Sunday View for Inspired Sunday
Smiling Sally for Blue Monday
A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday
Imparting Grace for Grace at Home Thursday
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday
Common Ground for Be Inspired Friday
The Dedicated House for Anything Blue Friday
Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday