Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog friends here in the USA and round the world.
"Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice and sing praises.
Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm,
With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King." Psalm 98:4-6

Funny knit hat, blue hat and zinnias

I bought this cute red hat for a young friend of mine, and next to it is a blue hat and scarf for me. They were knit and prayed over by ladies at my church, and all the money raised goes to help local people. Each hat and scarf has a tag attached which says "Hand made with love and prayers in every stitch by the Knit Wits" of our church. Any items not sold are given to local charities including one for children with cancer. All the yarn is donated.

This photo is a two fer since it shows the zinnias I bought at the Farmers Market, organic and locally grown. I picked out twelve stems for $5 and got a nice bouquet.
Guess who the blue hat and scarf are for? Lucky little me.

Garden quotes and photos in my garden

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see." John Burroughs  To this I would add "all the prayers I want to pray and all the family I want to see."

"Our first job is to prepare the soil. The best tool for this is your neighbor's garden tiller. If your neighbor does not own a garden tiller, suggest that he buy one." Dave Barry

"I have great faith in a seed." Henry David Thoreau

"Laying out grounds may be considered a liberal art, in some sort like poetry and painting." William Wordsworth

Surfer sculpture with 2 pumpkins on his head

Here are two photos I took today of a Surfer sculpture with two pumpkins on his head.

Persimmons Wordless Wednesday

Almost wordless: just a warning. Wait til persimmons are fully ripe, very squishy, the insides like a soft jelly. If not fully ripe the astringent taste is a dreadful experience; when ripe they are very sweet. We cut them in half, add a touch of lemon juice and whip cream and eat them with a spoon.

Bargain books, 2 memoirs, a detective novel and a book related to Downton Abbey

I bought three of these books at our local Goodwill book store. It is a small store that just sells books, dvds, and music.

My husband and I have read the whole detective mystery series about John Rebus by Ian Rankin except for this most recent one, "Saints of the Shadow Bible." "A Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle" by Liza Campbell, is a memoir. Her father was heir to Cawdor Castle where she was born and a review says "wild sorry tale with an offhand wit."
My third Goodwill purchase is "Blue Nights" by Joan Didion, another memoir. I have read other memoirs by her, and she writes about the death of her beloved daughter in this one.
These hardcovers cost $3.49 each and the money goes to a good cause.
My fourth wonderful book is "Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey", which is nonfiction about the 5th Countess of Carnarvon written by the 8th and current Countess. The Carnarvon family estate is Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey is filmed. The real life Lady Almina and the fictional Lady Cora Crawley have much in common, including opening their estate to wounded soldiers in World War I, and I love this book. If you like Downton Abbey or history I recommend this book.

Apples on our George Foreman Grill

Recently I posted to y'all how I was thinking about getting a George Foreman grill. Well, we were given one, and it is fabulous.

The photo above shows apple slices prepared to be grilled. There is brown sugar, cinnamon and olive oil on them. I think they are Winesap apples.

A must have feature of this George Foreman grill is that the heating plates easily remove for cleaning, in soapy water or in the dishwasher. One night we cooked two pork chops and sliced apples at the same time.

The above photo shows the cooked sliced apples. Yummy. At the bottom of the photo is the separate grease catching plastic container that came with the grill; that makes anything cooked on the grill more healthy as the excess fat drains away. The grill makes nice black lines on the food cooked on it. The lines are not so evident on the apples but zucchini, hamburgers and pork chops had them.
The apples take about 10 minutes to cook, and that is true of everything we've done, from 5 to 12 minutes. Eggplant slices are fabulous cooked on it.
Do you have favorite foods to cook on this type of electric grill?