A Night with the Woods

Today, O and I hopped (OK...it was more of a shuffle) into the car (OK...it was Captain Cletus' car) and drove to Louisiana to visit Aunt Karo and Uncle J.
The ladies had a nice lunch and visit, then came up to "the woods" where they live.
I love it up here. It's serene and cozy.

How do you entertain yourself in the woods? Sit, Talk, Laugh and Cook!

Aunt Karo needed some Pumpkin Raisin Bars cooking, so I popped into the kitchen to make a mess.

Here's the recipe:
Pumpkin Raisin Bars
2 C. All purpose Flour
2 C. Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Cloves
1 C. oil
4 eggs
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1/2 C. chopped nuts
1/2 C. raisins

Frosting:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 C. powdered sugar
1 Tblsp milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease 15" X 10" X 1" baking pan. In a large bowl combine all bar ingredients expect nuts and raisins; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Stir in nuts and raisins.

Pour into greased pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine all frosting ingredients; beat until smooth. Frost cooled bars. Store in refrigerator.

For a Pumpkin Raisin Cake, use a 13" X 9" pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.

The funny thing about cooking in another person's kitchen is that the tools are not your own. For instance--the pre-historic hand mixer and jazzy apron. See photo below...


Pre-historic though it was, it worked like a charm!

What fun to get to spend time with people I love and don't get to see very often.

The next morning, we took our time getting up and about--ate some pumpkin cake for breakfast and took a few snaps before hitting the road to visit some other folks.
Here is one of me, Aunt Karo and Uncle J.




I liked Aunt Karo's hat so much that I went out and bought one for myself!

First Major Home Improvement

As much as we love our house...we don't love spending vast amounts of money on "maintenance". Especially when there's still so much to do inside the house. But...this week, that's exactly what we did.
The garage doors looked decent from a distance, but get too close and you see the chinks in the armour. Rotten wood, peeling paint, and a latch so secure that a toddler could pull the doors open.

So, we now have new garage doors. Yippee!?

Before (imagine it without the car)...


And After...

That Little 'Ol Band from Texas

A couple of weeks ago, on an average Wednesday night...Paulster, Hachie Gal, a couple of other friends and I went to see the amazing ZZ Top at Wembley Arena. It was a fantastic show...taking me right back to the days of driving around in my Nissan 280Z with the T-tops off, wearing my Ray Ban Cats sunglasses...blasting the Eliminator cassette tape. Back before I understood what the songs Pearl Necklace or Tube Snake Boogie were really about.

It was an enclosed arena, so pretty darn loud, and our seats were...well, not so close to the stage. So it was perfect to just sit and enjoy the music. Billy Gibbons is turning 60 next month and he's not slowing down one bit. The guitar, bass and drum trio were incredible as ever.

Pearl Necklace was the only song I could think of that I expected to hear...but didn't. The rest were all on the play list that night. Sharp Dressed Man, Legs, Tush, La Grange, Gimme All Your Lovin, Jesus Just Left Chicago--all there!
And a bonus track of Foxy Lady that was as good as Jimi Hendrix himself could have played it.

Here's a video clip of Legs, complete with the fuzzy white guitar & bass:


And a few other shots and videos from the gig.




Video of Foxy Lady:


Turn your computer screen to see the clip of Sharp Dressed Man!




What a great way to spend a Wednesday night!