People are always making New Year's Resolutions. To make a resolution you need a plan.

How will you go about accomplishing the goal? What are your long range plans after (if) you accomplish the goal?

I make resolutions that I know I can keep.

Here they are along with how I plan to accomplish them.

1. Quit smoking

I don't smoke anyway so that should be easy.

2. Stop dieting.

self explanatory

3. Exercise more.

Getting out of bed counts.

4. Spend more money.

Why leave it for someone else to spend?

5. Volunteer

Not yourself but, your 38 year old son who lives in your basement and is out of work every three months but, finds the funds to buy beer.

6. Stop using credit cards.

An overdrawn checking account is just as good as an over-the-limit credit card.

7. Bury the hatchet on sour relationships.

Dig it back up and use it when things go sour again.

And there you have it. There's nothing wrong with making a resolution just as long as you have an idea as to how to make it work for you.

THAT'S IT***

Pear Cobbler

AFTER having pear cobbler at Gabriella's I decided to try my hand at it. Naturally I used a store bought frozen crust since I have never in my life even attempted to make a crust from scratch. I didn't expect my concoction to be as good as Gabriella's and it wasn't. But it was edible.
Here are the ingredients:
4 Bosc pears, cored, peeled, and cut in wedges (I used canned and cut them in chunks)
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 lemon juiced
1/2 stick butter
1 store bought piecrustI followed the label directions for the pie crust and allowed it to cool while I made the filling.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all of the ingredients except the pie crust in a saute pan. Saute for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and pour cobbler mixture into medium ramekins. For topping, put pre-made piecrust over cobbler and bake in oven for 15 minutes.

THE REAL DEAL: I didn't have another crust to put on top so I made a crumbly Brown Betty type topping to put on top. As you can see, I also didn't use ramekins. I also didn't do any sauteing

Here it is before I put it in the oven.

Here's the finished product. Edible but not that great. First and last attempt.

THAT'S IT***

HALL OF TREES

Some photos removed 11-4-12

These are more pictures from last year's Nashville trip.

The Hall of Trees display was located inside the Gaylord Hotel. Each tree is sponsored by a business or celebrity. Silent bids are made on the trees and the person with the highest bid gets the prizes associated with the tree. The money from the trees goes to charity.

Click the photos for detailed views and captions.

The tree below was decorated by Special Olympics participants. They made the decorations.

St. Jude Hospital


Regal Cinemas featuring Madagascar.


Louise Mandrell. We also had tickets for a dinner and show that next night to see her perform.

  

Soldiers tree. The Soldiers Prayer is on the easel.

Animal Cruelty





The Rockettes were performing and we had tickets to see them that night. It was spectacular. The dancers have such precision. The costumes were so colorful. It kept my interest. Pure entertainment.

The "snow" on this tree would light up.

THAT'S IT***

ICE

photo removals 11-4-12

Click photos to enlarge and read captions.

All sculptures are made of ice. The sculpting begins in summer with the ice sculptures being kept in a large freezer type warehouse.

The temperature inside is -20 degrees. Each person is loaned a blue parka upon entering. The parkas are returned after the tour.

If you look closely you can see the seams where the pieces are put together.
Still a work of art.

*************

THAT'S IT***

Perdido Beach

some photos removed 11-4-12
A few weeks back, just before hurricane Ana (??) I went down to Perdido Beach with friends for the weekend. JF was scheduled to attend a conference there. She and AC had already planned to go. JF knew that I'd been a little stressed and asked if I'd like to go along. I rearranged some things and was able to be the third wheel. Though we did nothing out of the ordinary it was just what the doctor ordered. The weather was absolutely beautiful.
For me:
No rushing
No deadlines
No work
Just relaxxxxxation.
I can't say how much I appreciate her asking me to go.
 

Here's the outside of the Perdido Beach Resort . This is where we stayed.

 
Though there are so many places to stay these are just a few shots I took from inside the car as we were riding along.

This is a view from the beach of our hotel.

 
This picture is the most relaxing. Standing on the beach listening to the waves crash on the shore is so calming. I wanted to sing the song by K'Jon, On the Ocean.

I'm not sure if these birds are sandpipers or not but they reminded me of a movie from long ago, The Sandpiper. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were the stars. It was one of those movies that Mama wouldn't let me watch because it wasn't for children. We're talking about the 1960's.

Later in life I did watch it and the references to immorality were tame and much more subdued than movies are presently.

A partial view of the shoreline.

For JF and AC I'll end with the word "Coach."

That's It***

More Bedtime Stories

I think I've told you before about my enjoyment of audio books especially for putting me to sleep at night.

I picked up several titles that the library was selling for 25 cents a piece.

These should last me for quite some time.

I picked up these three for Dad. It was hard finding something that didn't have sex and foul language in it.

I've listened to them. Not interesting at all. I will put them in the "give to charity" bag

THAT'S IT***

Bass House 2

These are additional l photos from the Bass House in Leeds, Alabama.

This is one of the better pictures of the parlor.

Native American Artifacts
These are arrowheads found on the Bass property and other places.
A plaque to Marie West Cromer, a white woman who was a positive activist for Native Americans.
The "chungke" stone was an oval stone similar to a discus that Native Americans used along with a spear in the game of chungke. The sporting events were played all day and in all types of weather. The stone was kept in a safe place and passed from generation to generation until it was completely worn out. This stone was found on the Bass property.
AROUND THE HOUSE

Not sure but, I think this is called a rim lock. It would use a skeleton key to open. To lock or unlock it from the inside the person wouls flip the latch that you see on top.

North Electric Telephone

This fixture illuminated the table inthe kitchen.

Coffee grinder. Place the beans in the top. Grind them by turning the handle. Open the drawer and remove the ground beans for coffee.

Reproduction wash board. Used for scrubbing clothes to get them clean.

Brown jug, atop a whirlpool refrigerator. The ceramic jug was probably used to store milk and lower into a spring to keep it cool. NOTE: The Bass House has incorporated the old and new in its kitchen. The kitchen appears to be a functional one.

Notice the white flour sifter on the lower left of the cupboard? It is attached to the cabinet. A large bag of flour(probably in a cotton flour sack) was placed inside the cabinet with the sack tucked down into the cylinder of the sifter and used as needed. That way the flour is stored and there's no need to lift a heavy bag of flour each time it is needed. The closest I could find to something that looks like this was a Hoosier cabinet.
Pie safe

Not sure what this copper container is but it appears it has held water judging from the patina inside.

ice box

??Where does the large block of ice go??

Outside The Bass House

This is a well that has been covered up. The family would hang a bucket from the pulley above and hoist up the water. I'm sure it has been nailed shut to avoid any inquisitive souls from opening it and falling to their imminent death down a deeeeep, dark, hole. The well was located right outside of the kitchen attached to the house. That's convenient.

A barn or shed of some type located at the back end of the property.

Back of the Bass House .

ARCHIVES ROOM

  Former basketball player Charles Barkley hails from Leeds, Alabama.
Heroic Veterans of Leeds, Alabama

This was a good day trip for me. While I have quite a few photos here, there was so much more I didn't photograph.

I am impressed with the way the museum encompasses the history of all of the people of Leeds. The museum shows the diversity of the history of Leeds, Alabama.

Museum guides are volunteers and admission is free.

Street Address: 1129 Montevallo RoadLeeds, AL 35094

Hours of Operation: The Jonathan Bass House Museum is open to visitors on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sundays from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Group tours are available by appointment and can be arranged by calling 205.699.2721.

The museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Day.
THAT'S IT***