Castle Randomness

We here at the Castle, just enjoyed a wonderful visit with my next youngest sister and her family! What a treat! Now, however, I am tired, a good, happy tired, so here are so random bits for you from the Castle Farm:

1. The wild blackberries are ripe. Super yum!

2. Four pies, one cobbler, one custard, and 5 gallon ziplocs worth of yumminess.

3. Lots of beautiful webs were seen in the bushes, the spiders on said webs, not so much.

4. Princess #1 and I did the best we could, but after a while we were pretty sure, that every rustle we heard was going to be Shelob (a little LOTR reference for you), so we hightailed it out of there with our berries.

5. The rustling was most likely the cows, but who could rightly say? {grin}

6. Speaking of the cows, we had our first fence go down today because of the bovines.

7. Fixing fence=not fun. I plan to reward the fixers with one of the previously mentioned blackberry pies and fresh whipped cream.

8. I am in the midst of another mystery knit. So far, the jury is out, but I will say this, super interesting knit! Pictures to come.

9. I am working on a giveaway here on the blog, it will of course, be knitting related, so stay tuned.

10. I ate a lot of mama humble pie this past week.

11. I despise that bitter taste it leaves in my mouth.

12. However, through the servings, I was reminded of an important parenting lesson. One that I was failing at, which is, simply, when you give instructions to your wee ones, it is important to explain how to do the task. For instance, if I tell my daughter to clean up her room, it may not get completed, because I didn't explain what my definition of a clean room is: put your clothes away, put your toys in the box, etc.

13. Laundry is calling my name.

14. Why does he have to be so blinking insistent?

15. Yes, my laundry is a he.

16. The goldfinches love the feeder on the deck, so do the house finches and the sparrows. And one little hummingbird keeps trying.

17. Guess, we need to make her some food too, and find a feeder.

18. Looks like the fencing crew is making their way home, better quick fold some laundry and slice the berry goodness. Thanks for putting up with the random, dear readers.

Wonder No Longer

Now I'm sure you've wondered dear readers,

how does the Queen make meals

that all the Royals will eat?

I'm sure you've thought to yourself, she doesn't seem to post 

much about cooking,

yet her kids are getting bigger and

seem to be healthy, hmmm. 

Or, her recipes must go through rigorous testing and

approval before she tries them out on her family.

Well, wonder no longer my friends.

I do have *a* stringent quality control measure in place.

His name is Clyde.

First Clyde cautiously does a sniff test.

Then, takes an aerial overview. 

Finally, the all important taste test.

If Clyde approves, then I know I have a crowd pleaser! {grin}

Just having a little fun with you all this fine Monday morning.

Best Wishes for a fine, mid-August week, dear readers.

Princess #2 is 9!!

NINE?!?

Whew.  Sometimes the passage

of time hits you all at once.

NINE!?!

The birthday girl with her Palomino cake!

Here are a few little things you should know about

my sweet Princess #2.

She (is a/an):

*fast and furious bicyclist.

*reader of anime.

*fabulous seamstress.

*knitter.

*Fashionista.

*songwriting wonder.

*aspiring singer.

*has yet to meet a stranger. {grin}

*lover of animals . . . especially horses.

*aspiring equestrienne.

*daughter of the risen KING!

*fun-loving and always fun-seeking!

God knew when He blessed us with Princess #2

that our castle was lacking in the adventure

seeking dept., the spontaneity dept., the

extroverted dept., and the flair dept.

So. . .

Nine years ago, 

in a big, ol' hurry,

Princess #2 was born

with the loudest cry I have ever

heard a newborn make.

And she has been making herself heard

ever since.  Our castle would

be awfully boring without her

to liven up the joint!

We love our free-spirited little miss very much.

Castle Quotable

Queen:  And we're having pie for dessert.

Prince:  PIE!! I like that!

Associations

I seem to have a lot of weird associations.  Most of them stemming from a certain food that holds a sweet memory. Hmmm, Sweet and Sour Chicken from Leeann Chin's comes to mind.  (The King will know what I'm talking about . . .) {grin}

Today I realized another.  While making strawberry freezer jam, I was overcome by the urge to make biscuits.  I blame my Mom.  Whenever my Mom made jam when I was kid, which was basically all summer long, she usually made the real deal--cooked jam., and one of the steps to making cooked jam is to skim the foam off the top.

She would ladle it into one of her peach lustre Fire King bowls and add to it from each of the batches she made that day.  Then for dinner she would make a big batch of baking powder biscuits and we could slather the fresh foamy goodness on and enjoy.

So tonight in honor of my Mom I will make a big batch of baking powder biscuits to go with my freshly made jam.  It won't be foamy, but I won't be hot and sweaty from stirring jam over the stove either.  Sounds like a win-win to me!

Happiness Is . . .

. . . eating homemade brownies.

♥Especially when they are made by your daughter. ♥