Plates of Food, A Pineapple, and Bow Ties

Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa & Steamed Asparagus

Ultimate Grilled Cheese (three cheeses, tomato, bacon, red onion) at Davis Bakery in Avalon

Pastrami & Sauerkraut Sandwich at Davis Bakery in Avalon

A pineapple top I planted years ago.

Now it is growing a new pineapple!

Bow ties I made for Nancy's nephews to wear at her reception.

Easter Egg Fun

At Easter time, I helped my grandkids dye some eggs.

They had fun choosing which colors to use.

I gave them Easter stickers to decorate the eggs.

A line-up of her finished Easter eggs.

They also could use a magic crayon to write on the eggs before they were dyed.  The next day, these eggs became an egg salad for our Easter lunch.

The Knott House

This is NOT the Knott House!
It's the house next door, but it's beautiful, too!

This white columned house below IS the Knott House!

Let's pause for a photo before we go inside.

Cute sign out front.

Here is an old photograph that is displayed
inside the Knott House that asks,
"Is that a ghost?"
Do you see the white filmy figure to the
left of the white lamp?

The dining room is below.

Mrs. Knott loved large mirrors.

The glassed-in sun room overlooking the city park.

Foyer

One of the bedrooms.

One of the rooms had some displays in it.
Here is a large dollhouse that was made by
some locals craftspeople.

Looking at the backyard garden from the second floor.

I hope you enjoyed your tour!

A Day at Maclay

On President's Day, we went to Maclay Gardens.
It was a little chilly in the morning, but warmed up while we were there.
I like this sign at the entrance to the gardens.

This tree provided a good spot for a group photo.

Here are the Lyons looking at the lions.

This is the well-known spot where weddings are held.
That's Lake Hall way in the background.

Another good spot for a group photo.

The camellias were carpeting the ground everywhere.

In the gardens is the Maclay home.

Below is the living room.

In the home were many displays about
gardens, horses, dogs, and the Maclay family.

In the third paragraph is the name of Jan Snedaker,
Alfred Maclay's ancestor. Jan Snedaker is
also my 9th grandfather, so I am Alfred Maclay's
distant cousin.

I like this charming vignette by the front door
and the photo of Mrs. Maclay and her children.

Brick paths led us around the gardens.

A massive oak tree.

A pavilion provided a nice place
to look out on Lake Hall.

The Fairy Tale Trap

My friend, Emily Casey, has written a book called The Fairy Tale Trap.

She's doing a blog tour and I invited her to be on my blog.

Below she gives us an introduction to her book.

Take it away, Emily!

Hey, thanks for letting me do this blog post!

First, a bit about the book. The Fairy Tale Trap is about a girl named Ivy who gets trapped

in a fairy tale: Beauty and the Beast. My main character is sarcastic (as most teenagers are)

and gets herself into all kinds of trouble as she tries to find a way home.

Here's the book trailer, to give you a better idea:



I'm publishing the book myself, so at the moment, it's only available as an ebook. (I hope to change that in the future, but right now I just don't have the resources.)

The easiest way to find The Fairy Tale Trap is by going to Smashwords.

Once you get a copy of it there, you can get it in any e-format.

Now I have some questions for Emily:


Who or what has been the biggest influence on your book?

Well, fairy tales obviously made a big impact on this story. I've always loved them and now I'm reading them to my daughter at bedtime, so fairy tales have been on my mind a lot lately.


Have you always loved writing?

Hmm.. Well, I think my mom saved a copy of the first story I ever wrote. I think I was 4

and it was two or three sentences long. I don't remember the finer plot points,

but I know it involved a princess who lived in a castle.

But I really got into writing about 5 years ago, soon after I got married.

I've been writing pretty steadily this whole time. It's been a great journey.



You have two young children--when do you write?

Nap time!

Honestly, I don't know what I'll do when my daughter doesn't need her afternoon nap after school. I'll probably have to write when they go down for bed.

It's hard for me to write when they're awake, even if they're in another room.

That sixth mom-sense is always listening out for trouble or wondering why it's so quiet.

What are some of your favorite books?

You're making me choose? Well, I'm listening to Harry Potter on audio with my kids right now. I'm falling in love with the series all over again, so that would definitely be up there on my list.

I also just borrowed a book from a friend that I loved called Seven Daughters and Seven Sons. It's a retelling of a middle eastern folk tale.

Are you working on some new books and can you
share any of the story lines?

I'm working on Book 2, of course! It's called The Fairy Tale Twist, where Ivy gets

trapped in The Twelve Dancing Princesses and meets an interesting new character

that we'll hopefully see again.

Was it difficult getting your book published?

Yes! I mean it was fun, just exhausting. Aside from actually writing the book, there was cover design, editing, formatting, loading the book up onto Smashwords and Amazon, marketing (yuck!) and a whole slew of other things I never thought I'd have to worry about. Putting together this blog tour has been a lot of fun, though. I've met so many fantastic people. The blogging community has been really supportive! (Thanks!)

The Fairy Tale Trap is now available for download at Smashwords and Amazon.

You can follow Emily's page on Facebook here.

Emily's next stop on her blog tour is tomorrow (Monday) at Liana Brooks' blog:

http://lianabrooks.blogspot.com/

Emily's doing a guest post on Why Writers Are Off Their Rockers!

Should be fun!

Thanks for stopping by, Emily, and we wish you

much success with your books!

Roasted Vegetables and Chickpeas

For supper last night, I fixed Roasted Vegetables and Chickpeas,
a recipe I got from Better Homes & Gardens (Nov 2011).

The hardest part was cutting up the raw sweet potatoes.

Every cut I made, I was afraid I was going to cut my hand.
Next time I have to cut up raw sweet potatoes, I am going
to buy skinny ones, not big chunky ones.

See those potato peelings in the background?
They are going in my compost bin.

Besides the sweet potatoes, the recipe called
for carrots, a red onion, and chickpeas.

The recipe did call for white potatoes, but
we all know sweet potatoes are more nutritious,
so I only used them.

Arrange the cut up peeled sweet potatoes in a
greased 9x13 pan.

Next add the carrots--orange on orange!

In goes a cut up red onion!
Next I mixed a little olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper
and drizzled it over the vegetables.

An hour later (400 degrees, uncovered, stirring twice)
the vegetables are cooked and ready to enjoy.

Don't forget that pan of hot cornbread!

Chocolate Bark

Chocolate Bark with
Cranberries, Almonds, and Pecans

In this book, South Beach Wake-Up Call,
there are recipes at the back of the book.

One of the recipes is for chocolate bark, and since it's
almost Christmas, I decided to make it.

The doctor who wrote this book said "Just a
small bite of this delicious chocolate treat
provides important health benefits:

antioxidants in the cranberries and chocolate

and good unsaturated fats in the almonds and pecans."

You mix together 6 T chopped almonds,
6 T chopped pecans, and 6 T chopped
dried cranberries.

You then melt 9 oz of 60% bittersweet chocolate chips
(easy to find at Publix in the chocolate chip section).

Stir the nut mixture into the melted chocolate and then
smooth it all onto a foil lined baking pan.

Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Then break into about 30 pieces.
Store in an airtight container.
Store in the fridge for up to two weeks.

This bark was delicious!
Just what the doctor ordered!