Happy New Year's Eve!

Penny and I wish you all a wonderful 2016.
Happy New Year!

From our house to your house!

Got myself a Peeler for Christmas.

Yippee, now I'll be able to make potatoes for my meals more often.  I love potatoes but with my thumbs and wrists acting up like they do, I have to limit them in my diet.  I sure have been missing them.
Well, a friend told me about an automatic peeler she got that peeled and sliced her apples for her crockpot applesauce.  Sounded good to me.  I looked it up on Amazon and then looked up demos on YouTube.  Saw it slicing apples while it peeled them and another demo with potatoes just being peeled and it looks so darn easy.  I ordered one.  Its my Christmas gift to me this year.

When I get it, probably around the New Year, I'll be trying it out.  Will take pix and post them here so you can see them. 

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all!

From me and my little corgi, Penny.

Christmas in Less Than a Week.

Its getting so close, that wonderful holiday, Christmas.
I've still a few stocking stuffers to buy since we are having a couple extra folks staying over with us for Christmas Day.
Breakfast will be a brunch actually, after gift opening and my DDIL is the good cook in the family so she'll be making that meal for our guests and us.  I'm contributing some Buttermilk Pancake Mix and Maine Maple Syrup from L.L.Bean, a gift to me from a very good friend.
Thank you KC, you know who you are.
I've got a 15-plus-pound turkey planned for dinner, with my sausage stuffing which was so well received by our family and guests on Thanksgiving.
On Christmas Eve we have our annual Christmas Party.  Its a potluck with invited guests bringing something to munch on but its an open house so anyone can drop in, and usually do.
My offering will be my Lithuanian Bundies, a meat-filled pastry that seems to go over well on holidays.

Pie pastry is filled with the meat mixture and baked.

You can serve it with beef gravy or ketchup if you like, but I like it plain and tasty.  Hot or cold, these are enjoyed.

I have a couple of candies planned for the days also.

 

I hope you all have a nice and Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas from me and my corgi, Penny.

Dark-eyed Junco

With my DDIL's help, I was able to get these pictures for you.  I had a visit from a half dozen Dark-eyed Junco birds yesterday and they are lovely. 

These little guys are a pretty slate gray with a light beak and light belly.

 

Here's another view of one so you can see its belly.  They also have some white in their tail feathers.

What was unusual about my visitors is that they were all gathering the fallen seed on the ground.  The other birds like the larger seeds better and scratch much of the small seeds out of the 2 feeders.  These birds seem to thrive on the scattered seed or else they are wary of feeders, for they only ate the seed on the ground.

I'm very glad to have seen them and taken a couple pictures.  I hope I see more of them thru the winter.

Have A Great Day!

Chocolate Walnut Clusters

Its Christmas Time and time to cook all our favorites to eat and to give.
One of mine is Walnut Clusters. 

Ingredients:
12 oz. Sweet German Chocolate Squares (Baker's brand in the Green packs)
1 can Condensed Milk (Eagle Brand)
1 1/2 Cups Chopped Walnuts
Note:  You can use any favorite unsalted nuts you prefer.

Melt the Chocolate in double boiler. Remove from heat and add the Condensed Milk.  Stir together well until its no more milk shows.  Add the Nuts of your choice.  Stir until its all mixed in together.

Here's how mine look with everything incorporated and ready to spoon out.  It will start to thicken quickly so don't dilly dally.

 

Spoon the mixture onto waxed paper on a sheet pan and cool in the refrigerator a couple hours until chocolate is firm.

You can make them as small or as large as you like.  You can get about 2 dozen candies from a batch. 

Mmmmmm, they are so sweet and good!

Merry Christmas!

Happy December to you all.

Well, its official.  The winter season is upon us and Santa is busy working in his toy shop with all his elves.

As for me, I've got to mail things out I made especially for friends and relatives so they can use them for their Christmas décor and use.

I also have Christmas cards to write.

And a Christmas wallhanging on which to work so I can put it up before Christmas.

Today here in southern Maine its bright and sunny, but cold.  Temps won't rise out of the 30sF today and tomorrow.  There's such a crispness in the air.

 

To date I haven't seen any red cardinals at my feeders.  I'm hoping.  I bought a new type of bird seed that has seeds they enjoy and lots more sunflowers seeds for all the birds around here.  Even the little Chickadees and Titmice love the black sunflower seeds.  I've watched them grab a seed, fly to the fence, place the seed under their foot to hold it steady and eat the seed.  They keep going back and forth filling their little tummies.

Today I saw our squirrel neighbor at the flat feeder.  He's fat and bushy-tailed and has no trouble getting up that pole to the seeds.  I love all wild creatures so I won't deny him his seeds.  He's got to live, too. 

I hope everyone is getting in the mood for a fine Christmas.

Merry Christmas season to you all!