Amazing Trees From All Around The World

 It was Buddha who said:
“A tree is a wonderful living organism which gives shelter, food, warmth and protection to all living things. It even gives shade to those who wield an axe to cut it down.”

And Joyce Kilmer immortalised the grace and beauty of trees in poetry:
“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.”

Here we present some of the most amazing and unusual trees from around the world. They include the Basket Tree, Giant Sequoias of California, Circus Tree, Chapel-Oak. Tule Tree. Banyan Tree, and Baobab Trees – including one with a toilet built inside it.

Memories from Denver #1

I have been wanting to post about a couple restaurants we tried on our last trip to Denver.  Our son introduced us to:

(Jack-n-Grill).  This has been featured on Man vs Food, wherein the guy attempts to eat their 7 pound burrito!!   The burgers were GIANT!   I thought I'd keep it light and order something smaller...so I chose (thinking also by the lower price) a stuffed sopapilla....

Uh, not too small!   I ate about 1/3.   Maybe.   So my son got a take home box so he could enjoy it for lunches during the week.   This was my husbands order:

I think he ordered the Chili Rellenos.   At any rate, the service was GREAT and the food was awesome.   Go hungry, or share!!!

Spoil them while you can....

My daughter, Crystal has been begging for posole for a while now....but I told her I wouldn't make it until someone else was here to eat it besides us. So, I made it today while her brother is here, as he likes it too.



Crystal helped me make the tortillas.


Nothing smells better than when you cook tortillas! Come on over....it's nice and warm and yummy.

Easter Weekend

There were no dyed eggs this year!! I did miss my two little ones, Brooklyn and Chloe. They were not with us for Easter this year. I know they had fun, though. Chloe was with her other grandparents and her dad this year. Brooklyn just got home from a vacation to Maui with his mom...wow!!, and spent Easter with his dad, and our extended family in Denver. It was strange not dying eggs and getting up early to watch the big hunt!

We had an awesome time in Dubois. Tina did a great job hosting Easter dinner for us and three others, friends of theirs in Dubois. It was a nice day, beautiful outside, and a wonderful gathering inside.

It is beautiful in and around Dubois, the landscape is ever changing, and you can't tire of anything, because of the great variety. They have the most awesome view from their house all the way around. It is just heaven.


We missed our other children, and hope they can experience the beauty of Dubois as well sometime soon.

Click on this sentence to view Easter Weekend Photos of our trip.
(It is easiest to click Slideshow in the upper left corner to view photos. )

Notes from the Weekend

Our youngest daughter, soon to be 20, became engaged recently. Her fiance will be leaving in a couple weeks for basic training in the Air Force. On Saturday, I cooked a celebration dinner for them, and his family. At Crystal's request, I made chicken enchiladas for the dinner, and a tossed veggie salad. She was happy! Everyone seemed to enjoy the dinner, so that was good.

I know they seem awfully young, but I wish them the best. I have worried about our youngest for years now, and raising her has been a struggle at times. We love her with all our hearts, and know that we have given her the best that we could and that she knows from our lives, some of what it takes to get through life. We hope that we have given her the base that she needs to make it. And, we married young, and we have made it for nearly 33 years! It CAN be done...with hard work, determination and lots of love and laughter (mostly learning to laugh at yourself, right?).

Anyway, for dessert, I made "red velvet cake" from scratch. I have never made it before, but thought I'd give it a try...let me tell you...YUMMY! So moist and good. Of course cream cheese icing is always so scrumptious, too! (And, just a hint for those of you wondering about The Biggest Loser contest...I used baking splenda for the sugar, reduced fat cream cheese, etc, so it reduced the calories by a lot! And, of course, limited my portion!) But, give it a try...it's so good!

Domesticated??

Not this past weekend, but the weekend before, I felt very "Martha Stewart" like for the day for some reason. I attempted, for the first time making homemade noodles. I made some yummy beef tips to go with the noodles. And, we had green beans and salad. I had a small serving.





Both of my grandmothers made homemade noodles. They were so good. One grandma made them fat and big, the other small and very thin. Mine turned out too fat, but I'll give it another try sometime...

That same day, I made hubby a cherry-apple pie. (Off-limits for me, darn!)


This most recent weekend, I wasn't so domesticated!