Life is what you make it.
As we grow older and outdoor spaces become more work than we can handle, many gardeners feel the need to downsize. They sell their homes and move into smaller apartments or maybe a condo – some place that won’t require lawn and garden chores. As a result, they save themselves the work, but they lose… Continue reading The Low Maintenance Garden Experiment: Planning a Garden for Senior Living
Maybe it's the drama and tiresome happenings in the daily news that is causing everyone to need an escape. Looking around my small town yesterday, it seems that everyone is getting geared up for the holidays extra early this year. I even saw a couple of homes with outdoor holiday lights brightly blazing. While my… Continue reading A Williamsburg Style Holiday Wreath
When I was about 3 years old, my dad very gently hammered two tiny nails into the wood paneled wall of our dining room. He tied a length of string between those nails and Voila! We had a holder for the first of our Christmas cards that had arrived that afternoon. It was fun to… Continue reading Merry Christmas in the Mailbox
Growing up in the 1950's, my mom, aunts, and female cousins were all making fudge. It didn't require fancy and expensive ingredients like chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, or marshmallow cream that those West Virginia farm girls didn't have. It was made with basic ingredients they found in their kitchens. If the too soft candy… Continue reading Old Fashioned Hershey’s Cocoa Fudge
What gal doesn't love a notebook? We use notebooks for all sorts of things. We write our thoughts into journals and diaries, draw our ideas onto the pages of sketchbooks, save mementos in scrapbooks, take notes in classrooms, and perhaps, even use them to document our business data. WhackyBinders are my newest product. They give… Continue reading Currently in the WhackyShack Shop…
Even those of us who like to cook, don't like to cook all of the time. In the middle of doing other, more important things, the need to stop what we're doing to prepare a meal can be a bother. I'm always excited to find a new "from scratch" recipe that is both tasty and… Continue reading Fast Fix Steak with Mushroom Gravy
Most of our grandmas were not fussy bakers. They didn’t have the time. Household and farm chores kept them busy through much of the year. When peaches came ripe, grandma took advantage the surplus by canning quart jars of the sweet summer fruit to be enjoyed through the winter. During peach season, Grandma's simple cobbler… Continue reading Grandma’s Fresh and Easy Peach Cobbler
My husband’s son, who lives across the country, asked if he could come for a visit. “Of course!” Always! No need to even ask! I knew my husband would be thrilled. Mark not only booked a flight but he ordered tickets for a concert that his dad would love and he booked a hotel room… Continue reading A Son Visits His Dad or “The Ruse”
