Krispie Sushi

We're not big on kid's birthday parties and usually just invite my mom and a few family friends for dinner with a homemade cake for dessert. Nina, though, decided that for her 10th birthday she'd like something a bit out of the ordinary (surprise!), so she had a typical party complete with little girl guests, balloon games, a Hello Kitty cake and even, thanks to David, take home treat bags! One of the activities was sushi-making... Rice Krispie Treat fingers topped with gummy fish or gummy eel and wrapped with green Fruit Roll-Up seaweed. Oh, and yellow squeezable frosting for "hot mustard". Very yummy glow-in-the-dark fun!

It Takes a New Yorker

We've lived on the Topisaw Creek for 15 years now and have found, in our wanderings along the rocky banks, loads of fossils and quite a bit of petrified wood but never any arrowheads. A neighbor of ours has glass cases full of Native American artifacts that he's found on/in the creek--from spear points to clay pipes--but we've always come away empty handed. So it was a bit of a surprise when, on a recent visit, my New York born and bred nephew turned out his pockets and said (in a very matter of fact voice), "Look what I found." I'm proud to say that I only borrowed the arrowhead to take the photo. It did make it to upstate New York. And we're still searching...

A Bit Off The Top

Our Gulf Coast Native Sheep finally got their first "hair" cut, and they're looking none the better for it. Their robust woolliness is gone, revealing tiny little bodies and (seemingly) great big heads. They're also a lot harder to catch with no fleece to grab onto. On the plus side, we were left with bags of lovely, multicolored wool, ready for carding and spinning. I did a bit of spinning and weaving many years ago in Vermont--think I'll order some nice carders and find someone else to spin it for me, though, as I'm not sure I'm up to the learning curve. I can imagine scarves and perhaps a sweater in the natural hues of the wool--off white, grey, black and even a bit of brown. The satisfaction of wearing a sweater that you knitted with wool from sheep that you raised must be incredible. I'll let you know if I make it!

At Last!

After thinking that winter would never end, I have been proven wrong by the profusion of blooms everywhere I look, both here at Camp Topisaw and at Rose Gate Farm next door. I can't remember a spring that has been more beautiful in recent years. It seems that all the plants have burst into bloom almost at the same time. I'm grateful to be able to enjoy it. Edie and I went to a nearby nursery yesterday that had loads of very nice hosta plants for sale. We bought quite a lot that we plan to use to make a shade bed underneath a large, treelike Magnolia fuscata. Now I am waiting for summer tropicals to break dormancy and begin growing. I have seen some sprouts on the ginger plants, but nothing yet on the bananas. Perhaps in just a week or so more we will see them sprouting.

Eggs in several colors

The hens are certainly making up for lost time this winter by laying prodigious numbers of eggs now that spring has arrived. We are getting about three dozen eggs everyday, which takes up a lot of refrigerator space. I am thankful that we have a separate fridge that we can dedicate solely to egg storage. While I have had many dozen at once earlier this spring, I now only have a few to store, thanks to the boom in our eggs' popularity. The eggs pictured come from our mixed flock of Black Australorps, Ameraucanas, Rhode Island Reds, and Marans chickens. They surely are good, and far superior to those available at the local markets. Let us know if you'd like to try a dozen or two.

Emma and Her Family

Our granddaughter Emma was baptized recently. She was, of course, incredibly well behaved and looked beautiful in the dress, bonnet and slippers that her great-grandmother Gale made for her. It's always nice (probably because it's so rare) to have our entire family together. There's a freedom in having your grown kids come home to visit--you've done your job, and now you just have to listen, encourage and trust them to make their own decisions. Having grown kids AND children still at home is especially nice--knowing that we can raise them and that they will move on, get jobs and function (and bring us such swell grandchildren!) makes us much more relaxed with the younger ones. Anyway, a beautiful day and a photo to treasure.

Year of the Camellia

After the cloud of this year's winter, which seemed like it would never end, we are finally seeing a little bit of a silver lining. The camellias have been especially beautiful this year. The have kept their buds tightly closed until now and they are all opening in a burst to welcome spring. We are still waiting on the azaleas, though. They are fully one month behind normal, but I know that they will be exceptional a little later this spring. We ordered a few new camellias this year from Camellia Forest, a nursery in North Carolina that we like a lot. We even got a tea plant (which is a type of Camellia) and hope to try to pick,cure, brew and drink our own tea in a couple of years. Just for fun.