Fluffy Flowers

Happy Thanksgiving redux

Thanksgiving was a beautiful day here in the deep south of Georgia. It was a warm and wonderful 65F (18C) degrees and the dogs were desperate for some turkey.

That poor Ginger dog looks pitiful, doesn't she? She was indeed a bit squeaky while we were at the dinner table. But it was poor ol' Lucky cowdog that probably over did it.

Is that Lucky I hear groaning?

"uuuuuhhhhh, I ate too much turkey...uuuuhhhh...."

Best of all, Christmas is right around the corner. What better way to kick off the season than with an alien spaceships and robot tree?

Remember I'm having a totally groovy sale over in the Fluffy Flowers shop. Now through this Cyber Monday receive FREE shipping to anywhere in the world. Doing your shopping now will save you oodles of stress during the season.

breakfast of champions

Raise your hand if you've got the day off today. I do and I'm thoroughly grateful for this three day weekend. After the exhausting adventures I had last week I certainly need it. Today we sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast courtesy of a great man who believed the world was a place where we could all live in peace and harmony.

I did battle with the sewing machine Beasty a fair few times this weekend. Each time I advanced a step or two it seemed his fire breathing ability pushed me back. But I tried out bits and pieces of all your fabulous advice and wow, have I ever learned a few things. Results soon!

Meanwhile, the over the top car repair bill seems to have done the trick. It runs like an expensive dream.

savory pie

Peter Percival Patterson's pet pig Porky loved pie for breakfast, pie for lunch, pie in the afternoon and pie before he went to bed.

Peter Percival Patterson's pet pig Porky ate so much pie do you know what he did? He popped!

Can you name the musical group from which these lyrics come?

Its been a weekend of savory pies. I didn't even know you could get meat in a tin can any more. But there it was, on the shelf, looking suspiciously like the corned beef I remember as a kid. There was even a little key that you snap off and use to open it.

But instead of turning it into the corned beef hash meal that was a staple of my youthful household, we made it into a pie. It turned out pretty well although I suspect it would have been better had we included the recommended tabasco sauce.

Now there is some lemon curd lurking in a jar in the pantry calling out to be made into a tart!

an American Thanksgiving

American Thanksgiving is held the first to the last Thursday of November every year. The menu is so very different than the stuff we eat every day.

• Gianormous turkey with a pop up timer cooked in a bag
• green bean casserole
• squash casserole
• mashed potatoes and gravy
• sweet potatoes
• stuffing
• bread
• cranberry sauce (no one eats it but it sits there nonetheless)
• and of course, pie! Or maybe that should be pies. Pumpkin, pecan, and more.

 

Our Thanksgiving is really viewed as a time for friends and family to get back together. Doesn't matter how far apart you are you always try to reconnect for this holiday. I like to have the meal at noon but others do an evening meal. Some folks travel to one branch of their family for lunch and to the other for dinner. People will endure all manner of delayed flights and slow Greyhound buses to get to their destination on time to have some of that turkey dinner. Its nuts!

In most households there is a lot of football watching too but thankfully at chez Fluffy Flowers there's none of that nonsense. The morning starts off with the Macy's Day parade and we tend to gather and talk and might watch some silly show. Of course dogs tried to steal food while this whole thing is going on. You can't turn your back on them for a minute I tell ya!

The Friday after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) is the traditional start to the shopping season with lots of early morning sales specials. This seems more of a sociological female bonding phenomena rather than an actual bargain seeking event. Those who go out on these mornings always take a sister or friend. And often more than one of each.

We do love our Thanksgiving here in America and I've never known any different so I've carried on the tradition. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Cracker Barrel

The funny thing about the south is that folks love home cookin'. Even when people go out to eat they tend to gravitate towards food generally found at grandma's table. There are these odd little mom and pop restaurants everywhere that are fondly referred to as "meat and three" places. It's a place where you get your choice of meat (fried chicken, meatloaf, etc.) and three side items (corn, green beans, etc.).

One restaurant in particular has taken this local concept to the chain level. Cracker Barrel is always crowded with locals and travelers alike. These restaurants are located right off the interstate for ease of access and the parking lot is always packed with cars and RVs.

The crowds make the place as loud as sin but the reasonable prices and cute decorations make it irresistible. There's even an old fashioned general store stuffed with new vintage treasures to purchase. And right out side is an old fashioned tub washing machine, rockers to sit in to wait on a table, and a treasure trove of beautiful flowers complete with green spider.

the last straw

I don’t use straws in restaurants anymore. Actually, I don’t use any straws at all anymore. I stopped using them a few years ago when I was helping with a clean up at a soon to be off leash dog park. The property was around three acres of creek overflow area that sat in the middle of a historic Macon neighborhood. It was exciting to see an off leash dog park in the making so I promptly signed up to help.

Several clean up days were organized to ready the property for human and canine use. We trooped out there with gloves on, trash bags in hand and smiles on our faces. After a few hours the smiles were gone and the bags had been replaced several times over. Taking a look back at our work area it was tough to see a difference. There was just so much debris in and on the ground that is was hard to make progress with a handful of volunteers.

One thing that I picked up over and over again during that clean-up were straws. Plastic straws. Lots of plastic straws. The kind you get with your drink at every drive thru in America. The kind they automatically hand you in every restaurant too. They were simply everywhere in the ground and quite amazingly intact. They might have been flattened a bit but they were undeniably unbiodegraded. I came to a realization after hours of picking them up. Straws are an unnecessary item that clog up our precious earth and add polluting waste to our landfills.

They seem like such little things, really, such an ingrained part of our daily lives. But they are one thing that I can live without. Now I politely decline all offers of straws at restaurants. I’m happy to sip my water from the rim of the glass. 

angora rabbits & blueberry cobbler

Meet Pixie & Dixie the angora sweater rabbits that are now available in my shop. These twins were both made from a felted angora sweater and they have totally different opinions on traveling.

Say hey to Pixie the angora sweater rabbit. Although Pixie was born in the south her thoughts often travel to foreign lands. Pixie is ready to see new places and new things. She’s bored with sitting home and just reading about other places. Pixie is ready to hop a plane and head for the great unknown.

Say howdy to Dixie the angora sweater rabbit. Dixie was born in Macon, Georgia and frankly that’s really where she’d like to stay. But her twin sister Pixie is packed and ready to jet off to parts unknown so Dixie doesn’t want to be left behind. Dixie is a bit worried about this whole travel business. She is especially afraid of flying but has decided she will shut her eyes tight, give her toy mouse a squeeze and make the best of it.

All this blue background in Pixie & Dixie's pictures brings to mind the lovely and delicious blueberry cobbler that I made the other night. I hauled out the old peach cobbler recipe and substituted fruits. Yum!

peach cobbler recipe

I've been enjoying some of those delicious peaches from my backyard trees all this week. But by far I must say this peach cobbler recipe from my mother-in-law was the tastiest. She gave me the recipe over the phone while I quickly typed it out on the computer. When I looked back over the recipe later I had several hearty laughs not the least of which was the way I spelled 'flower'. Wonder where that comes from? :) I swear ya'll I really have been educated!

Peach Cobbler

1 c self rising flower
1 c sugar
1 c milk

beat til runny

poor over one stick of hot marg

poor 2 c peaches

slap back in oven real quick

oven should be about 400

when its brown its done, when its black its buggered

did someone say peaches?

I was delighted to see that the new house had a couple of peach trees in the backyard. I've never had a peach tree before. I did grow up around orange trees so I figured that these fellows couldn't be much different. Turns out, uh, yeah, they are.

I sort of missed the boat on killing off the bugs that like to worm their way into this tasty fruit. Apparently there is about a 23 minute window of opportunity in the lifespan of the peach in which to spray those bugs dead. Otherwise you end up with a bunch of fruit that has a tiny hole in it which is the front door of the worm's new home. I seem to have missed that tiny window of opportunity.

It doesn't matter though because I've been assured by countless online sources including the Georgia Extension office that you can still eat the fruit and the worm won't hurt you. So I spent quite a chunk of my Sunday enjoying the peach picking process. After some time cutting out the bad spots I've got a couple of bags of tasty peaches ready for smoothies. Yum!

tea corner

I had another successful day at the City Market on the Green yesterday. Thank you to all those folks who came out to support the market. Thank you all also for your positive wishes for me! I have learned so much about having a craft booth in the last four weeks. Today I'm going to enjoy being around my house.

Toni over at Simple Sparrow has inspired me to clean up my act and get to organizing! She just completed an overhaul of her crafting area and I'm determined to do the same. I thought I'd start with this tiny tea corner. But I won't stop there, no siree. I've gotta get the guest room ready because my mom is coming for mother's day!