Eclipse

Our little town was on the path of totality!  Warnings of crowds swelling in our vicinity have been on going for weeks.  

How did we prepare?

We planned a block party—not traveling anywhere.  We gathered food week before, neighbors brought their favorite dishes—eclipse worthy!  

I made midnight pasta salad, funeral potatoes, blinded deviled eggs—and chicken rolled in darkness for the grill. 

For the fun part—we did wine pairing!!

 

Dash Away

Were you one of many that jumped on the Chaffee craze?  I admit—I was one!!  I had one (now,  I have 3) of those little Chaffee makers—it was a quick way to make a low carb breakfast or snack.  And recipes!! Oh my!! So many things you could add to make your little Chaffee!!!

Awhile back, Costco had this Dash maker—I couldn’t miss out on this!!  

Just look!! How many interchangeable plates are included—WOW!  Such cool designs! And—it would be easy to put in dishwasher or hand wash!

Love it!! Dashed to Costco to purchase the super duper Dash!  Of course, you don’t need one of these little makers to satisfy your Chaffee cravings.  The recipes work just as well in a regular waffle maker or even as pancakes. 

Need recipes to make on your Dash?  Here goes…………

But, doesn’t the Dash make such cute chaffles! 

 

Crusty Hot Cuban—Sandwich!!

 The Cuban sandwich, better known as a Cubano, begins with soft, slightly sweet Cuban bread. Heaps of heavily seasoned pork roast and sliced ham alternating between layers of Swiss cheese and sour pickles. The sandwich is cemented together with yellow mustard and a garlic butter schmear.

So, there was leftover roasted pork; decided to make something different with leftovers!  We don’t need to do bbq pork or pulled pork sandwiches, Brilliant idea, my brain said!  The ingredients, as listed above, were not so much in my brain when I went grocery shopping—

Our Cuban contained roast pork, ham, cheese (not Swiss but jalapeño cheese), Famous Dave’s pickles( not sour pickles), spread of yellow mustard, forgot the garlicky butter spread, not on sweet Cuban bread but small crusty bread, heated in oven instead of paninis maker.

So, is it still a Cuban sandwich?

Tasted good anyways! 

Books, Booze, Bluebonnets

 Books, books, books!  Oh how I love books!!  Any genre! Oh yes, I have some favorite authors!  But, give me a good book and I’m happy! 

Interesting read!  Only read in afternoon—not a night time, before bed kind of book.  Descriptive of brutal killings and harsh treatment of people.  But, that’s the way it was.

Okay read

I’ve read several of her books—The Housemaid, Housemaid’s Secret—all have interesting twists

Supernatural ghost story, if you like that kind of story

Just recently received these two books from brown headed daughter—given her stamp of approval!  

I love her notes!!

The only problem with these thick heavy books, while reading in bed, if you happen to fall asleep while reading, that heavy book falls on your face and scares the dickens out of you!!

We sip on our booze as we read.  On our recent trip, we passed thru Kentucky bourbon country.  Well, of course, we had to make a few stops—sipping bourbon is a “thing”!  

Now, admire bluebonnets!

Apps, Apples, Alphabets

 

Today begins bloggers’ month long challenge—A to Z.  What does this mean?  Bloggers can take the challenge anyway they mean.  It could be taking one topic and dissecting it piece by piece to write about it.  Or it can mean to take one subject at a time. 

I really don’t have a certain topic to dissect each day—I’m taking the challenge to blog about letters of alphabet.  Thus begins this day with letter of A. 

It is after all April Fool’s! Which fits perfectly beginning with A. 

The last few days, I’ve been experimenting with Apps—some are good, while some are costly, others pop with ads, hence making them free.  I highly recommend this app—Merlin Bird ID.

I was amazed how the app picked up the bird song amongst all outside sounds and identified the bird!  A walk in the woods would be great with this app—it picks up every bird it hears. 

Ohh, so many apps!  There is the Star gazing app—Up Ahead app, audio tour through various national parks; song apps, knitting apps, game apps, book apps—how did we ever live our lives without apps? 

Now, let’s discuss apples!

Take your pick!  Such a variety all year long.  My mother-in-law always said “an apple a day keeps the doctor away!”   

She would buy a bushel of apples in the fall, keep them in the basement to have her apple a day!  She lived to be 95!  

There you have today’s A—see you later for B

Noah’s ARC

870 acres!! 

You can not imagine how this impacts your life.  

On our journey to this destination, we read the story of Noah and the building of the ark.  The Bible story is just a few lines—we had so many questions!  

And never! Never believe how our eyes and mind was opened. 

At arrival, it looks much like an amusement park with lines criss crossing to bus loading that takes you to the Ark, which you can see in the distance.

As we waited in line, I couldn’t help but think, everyone here is interested in the Bible and the story of Noah.  

It was a great friendly happy group!

Our travel crew pose in front of Ark

Map of the park—be prepared to walk!

Before you reach the Ark entrance, there are many informative exhibits along the path, as well as live animals that might have been a species of passengers. 

First impression—oh wow!  It’s Huge!

How did Noah and his two sons build this??  How long did it take? 

The twelve stones

Inside bottom level—some clay pots used for food storage—I took many photos of storage elements—just in awe to think ANY and ALL had to be made before the flood waters came.  

AND prepared by Noah’s family!  

Look up!!  The structure is unbelievable!

More storage containers

Info on building of Ark

More answers to our questions 

The third level—we skipped the second ( contained several exhibits that impacted the reason to build the Ark)going up to work our way down. Ramps move visitors floor to floor. 

This level was mostly the living quarters for the family along with some animal cages.  The lowest level was shown to have various cage sizes

There was display of rock weighted loom

Bird cages on third level—so many exhibits, films, lectures, music events, virtual theaters—it is a world of knowledge packed in this 870 acres.

And now, it’s time to board the bus back to the car park—we had a delicious lunch and chance to shop, 

This could definitely take two or more days—there are other interests for family—zoo, zip line, climbing tower, etc.  the over all park is extremely educational.  

GO VISIT!! You won’t regret it. 

 

Road trip continues

 Crossing over into Tennessee, we are now on interstate highways: lots of 18 wheelers, less green nice scenery, some dogwood trees and redbud trees.  Rather boring drive now!  Perfect time to knit without distraction. I’m working on socks from bits of stash. 

Across the Mississippi River bridge into Memphis—we spy downtown and Tennessee welcome center

Area for Elvis, King of Rock and Roll

And blues musician, B B King.  

We tune our music to some Elvis and BB King blues. 

Tennessee has many state parks, civil war battle fields, Land Between the Lakes, lots of state police patrolling the Interstate!  

Nashville!!  Music City!!  We do not stop this trip. 

Onward to our night destination—Lexington, KY.  

We enjoy our dinner in the hotel lobby.  Earlier in the day, we had purchased spinach salad, bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, cheese/meat tray, etc.  it was a treat to enjoy the small meal along with our Texas wine.  We brought along several variety of Girl Scout cookies to pair with a white and red wine. Yum! Yum! 

The next morning we left hotel @ 7 AM drive to Buffalo Trace Distillery;  arrived @ 8 to reserve place in line for bourbon special of the day.  Each day a different bourbon is presented to those in line, with wristband.  It’s interesting wait, make new friends as we wait.  Once open, line moves quickly inside to receive our wristbands—boom, you’re ready to hit gift shop and or take a tour.  Some tours require a reservation. 

Products sign featured for day is located on the entry door of the gift shop.  So many things you can buy!  

The day is still early, which gives us the opportunity to continue to Williamstown, KY and our major destination—Noah’s Arc!