A couple days ago we stuffed mushrooms with a lovely quinoa mixture, and had a bunch leftover.  So last night I cooked one of our very own butternut squashes, and stuffed it with the quinoa mix.  Wow, was it good.  

 

If you want the recipe, here it is:  cut a butternut in half and scoop out the seeds and discard, or save them to plant in the spring.  Cook the squash cut side down for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Then turn them right side up and stuff with your favorite savory mixture of rice, quinoa, or whatever grain you like, and cook another 10 minutes.  We grated a little Parmesan cheese on top.  Hey, curry something would be a really good stuffing too;  maybe next time.

 

 

HAPPY COOKING!!!

 

HAPPY 2026!!!  

 

Yikes!!!  It was cold yesterday.  Look at that wind chill:  8 degrees.  But also look at the future forecast:  snow!!!

 

It probably won't snow, but it's fun to think about.  I mean, if it's going to be cold, we could at least get snow.  I am not trying to tell Mother Nature how to do her job;  I'm just asking for a bit of the fun stuff.  

 

Anyway, it's supposed to be warmer today.  We will take it.  ;)

 

 

HAPPY WINTER!!!

 

After all this cold weather, the catnip is still green.  Gizmo's happy with that.  He still likes to roll in it, nibble at it, and sleep near it.  I think it's kinda stinky, but he loves it.

 

And it seems to be ok with the cold weather.  

 

I hope you are warm and happy.  

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

Yep, this is the trail.  Now you see why we needed resting rocks along the way.

 

Blood Mountain is a beautiful section on the Appalachian Trail.  In fact, it is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia.   The Appalachian Trail begins at Springer Mountain, Georgia, about 30 miles from this section.  We often meet through hikers in the spring on their way to Mount Katahdin, Maine.  That is the end of the 2,200 mile trail. 

 

Of course, we have no intention of through hiking, but it is always a happy day to hike this little bit of the Appalachian Trail.

 

 

HAPPY DECEMBER!!!

 

I showed you the resting rock in our neighborhood last week.  Well, yesterday we hiked up Blood Mountain in Georgia and we stopped at all the good resting rocks.  This was our favorite.  It is a huge rock along the Appalachian Trail, and located at just the right place for a needed rest.  And best of all, there was a spot just the right height for me to park myself for a little rest.

 

It was a gorgeous day for a hike: 73 degrees;  it felt like May or June.  There were lots of folks on the trail, and we all had smiles on our faces.  

 

I hope your weather is nice right now.  I know there are lots of places where it is really cold;  and we will get that soon enough, but for now we are loving our warm December.  

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

You gotta have pie for Christmas dinner, right?  Well, we made blueberry pie.  This is how it looked ready to go into the oven.  It wasn't quite as pretty coming out, but I'm not going to show you that.  It spilled over a bit.  And once we cut into it, it wasn't all that pretty anymore anyway.  Sure was good, though.

 

Hope you did something fun for your Christmas dinner.

 

 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

Who woulda thought that we would be planting anything on Christmas!!!  Well, here's the story:

 

Our neighbors planted raspberries years ago, and they took over their garden.  So this year they dug them out, and offered the canes to us to plant in our garden.  

 

So we made a Happy Christmas project of it.  The weather was perfect, 69 degrees;  so we planted 10 raspberry canes in our upper garden.  We mulched them well, and are hoping that they survive the winter.  

 

What a Happy Christmas indeed.

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

How about this for a cute Christmas memory.  

 

 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS, Y'ALL!!!

 

We went for a walk in the park on Saturday, and it was beautiful.  I think the temperature was about 55.  Pretty nice for the last day of autumn.  As we passed this American Beech, Jon mentioned how pretty the bark is:  it looks like camo.  It kinda matched his Mossy Oak hoodie, so I had to take their picture together.    

 

HAPPY DECEMBER!!!