Our New Favorite Pie

John and Courtney Hacking came to visit us from Texas and brought a delicious pecan pie (No we didn’t know Texas was famous for Pecan Pies, but we do now).



Anyway, when they first gave it to us, I was just like the little kids at Christmas, I loved the wooden reusable box it came it and immediately starting playing with it. I thought I knew Pecan Pie, but let me tell you, Texans do know how to do it. It was incredible!

Now John & Courtney, your mission, should you accept it, is to find us a recipe like that! It was very rich, but not sticky & tough like some pecan pies. By the way, it was so much fun having John & Courtney here and we are making plans for the next time they come.

I hate Petunias

When I was little we had lots of flowers around our house and I hated them. For one thing, they were all the same. Granted, sometimes the colors were different, but every spring we would have to plant like 3,249 plants, 6 inches apart, all around the house. (I’m not sure of the number, but it seemed like that many.) Then we would have to water them every single day and keep the weeds out. They would finally start looking good just in time to die of frost bite. And then the whole process started over. I was at home for 20 years and that means planting 64,980 plants! Think of all the things I could have done instead – there is always world peace. As a result I have been traumatized and hate petunias as all you do is plant them and they die. To help end that trauma cycle over the years, we have had a lot of greenery, raspberries, etc., but not many flowers.

I now have a new love – Perennial flower gardens. It started out by planting a few hosta & lilies. Suddenly I discovered they didn’t die, came up every year and got better and better. A couple of years ago I went to Adams (a flower, fruit, vegetable farmer’s type market) and started to look at Perennials. I found so many beautiful ones it was a good thing we had an Expedition or they wouldn’t have all fit on my way home. Of course, it’s like a mouse who wants a cookie, one thing leads to another and David found himself, along with a few helpful friends, digging up shrubs, bushes, and miniature Alberta Spruces so I could have a new flower bed in front of the porch. It is wonderful, every flower is not the same (the more the merrier) and each year they get better and better and you can split them and end up with two plants. We have now added two other perennial beds. Poor Dave, I’m sure he is just waiting to see where I want dug next…

Greek Festival

In honor of Elder Eric Brown (now serving in the Athens Greece mission), we indulged once again in our annual pilgrimage to the Poughkeepsie Greek Festival. The date was locked in the calendar and our mouths were watering by early afternoon. Arriving early enough on Friday night to get good parking (and before the food lines were way long) we made a bee-line to the food concession tent where there was a grand spread of greek delights. 

          

  

Passing up the lamb and Mousaka, we settled on Spanakopita (spinach/cheese in phyllo turnover), greek salad, and stuffed grape leaves. Yumm!! And as we ate under the big tent we enjoyed Greek music and the festive atmosphere.

In Greek mythology, ambrosia was the food of the gods, but Mom thinks that it should be Baklava – and my was it good!! We also sampled the Galaktopoureko (custard filled phyllo soaked in lemon sauce) but the homemade Baklava was definitely the best. It was a great evening, and a delicious way to help support the local Greek Orthodox congregation.

Just thinking about it, I'm all ready to attend Barbie Smith's wedding at the Greek Orthodox church in Newburgh (Aug 16).  I understand that they'll be serving some Greek food at the reception dinner...

Excuses, Excuses, What Wonderful Excuses

We could say we were so busy that we couldn’t write, which was true, but boy the excuses we had were wonderful and fun. Amy & Jared’s wedding was great. You’ll have to see her blog for details. It’s a little sad to think your daughter is getting married and will no longer need you for her main support, but when you get a wonderful new son in the deal it is worth it. Even though we raised all girls, it is kind of neat to be adding sons. We are now up to three! (We’ve been told not to even think about adding another for a while).

Anyway, in addition to all the wedding excitement, flying to California, back here to NY for the wedding, to Utah for the Open House, then back home to collapse it was busy. Here we are, just the two of us. My how clean the house is without everyone’s stuff sitting around, but it just doesn’t seem right without little footsteps sounding all over the place. No one was shouting for Papa to come play or asking Grandma for something they had been told they couldn’t have but knew Grandma would provide!

So, as all good grandparents must do (yes, they too have grandparent rules) we are providing you with a picture of baby Joseph showing his newest trick, up on hands and knees. No, he can’t crawl and just rocks back and forth, but hey, he gets his picture taken and lots of attention, what could be better?

Rules of the blog….

Did you know there were rules to blogging? I didn’t. I thought a blog was a simple little thing you did if and when you felt like it. I have been informed that it is against the rules to set up a blog and not write in it at least twice a month. Hmmm, let’s see it was April last and now it’s July, that’s about twice a month give or take a few…. Does it count if you put a bunch on at one time?