A Low Country Twilight

click to enlarge

Twilight is my favorite time of day. Its peaceful colors invite a calmness of mind and a slowing of rhythms. For some, like the solitary Osprey seated on the branch, it signals the beginning of the hunt. I live near a little salt creek marshy area and pass this tree daily. It often has an Osprey in it, scanning the creek for fish. Sometimes she catches one and will sit on a branch, fish in talon, enjoying her meal. This particular humid late summer evening, I passed the tree as usual but was struck by its beauty, so much so I had to pull over and take a picture. Cars were going past, oblivious to the magical scene above them. This is Coastal Savannah at its best. I love it. It is home.

Bonne Nuit!

Surfs Up at Tybee

Click on the image to enlarge it.

How Do You Catch A Squirrel?

How do you catch a Squirrel?

Climb into a tree and act like a nut!

What do you call a cow with a crown? A "Dairy Queen"!

Chicken Butt!

What do you call a Donkey with one leg shorter than the other? A Wonkey!

So this katydid walks into a bar...

The bartender says "Why the long face?"

Quick Chicken and Dumplings

My girl loves these chicken and dumplings!

It's easy and quick and you'll have leftovers for lunch the next day and most likely dinner that night.

Or take some to your Grandmama for pete's sake...

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Drumsticks (with skin)

2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup

4-6 carrots (chopped into slices)

1 medium Vidalia onion (or 1 small regular onion) quartered

1 tbsp minced garlic (I use the little jar of pre-minced)

salt and pepper to taste

1 package of Mary Hill's Dumplings (God love this woman!)

Fill a stew pot half full of water and put your chicken in it. Salt and pepper to taste (not too much b/c the soup will add some sodium). Bring to a boil and boil for about 45 minutes. Add the carrots, onion, and garlic. Continue boiling about 30 minutes or longer until the chicken is done and real tender.

Remove the chicken from the pot (leave the carrots etc.) and set aside. When the chicken is cool, shred the 2 breasts with a fork but leave the drumsticks whole.

Remove about 2 cups of the chicken broth from the pot and whisk with the can of mushroom soup til the lumps are gone and then add the mushroom soup mixture back to the rest of the broth. Return to a boil. Add the dumplings one at a time to the broth (per dumpling package instructions), reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Add all the chicken back to the dumpling mixture and then serve.

Serve with Butterbeans and an episode of Masterpiece Theatre for ultimate satisfaction.

p.s. I'm an eccentric old lady at heart - as if you couldn't figure that out by the above comment.

p.p.s. I'm still waiting on the that supscription to "Reminisce" Nana.

Roly Poly Giveaway

Congrats "Shari" you are the winner of the Roly Poly Contest!

Please contact me at rolypolyplanet@gmail.com with your mailing address.

Thank you to everyone for participating in my first give-away and I enjoyed reading your comments!

Meet "Charles Chuggypeg".

He's a Roly Poly Bug aka a "Pill Bug"

Would you like to take him home?

He can help introduce your kiddos to our Natural World, Recycling, and Composting!

I began crafting Roly Poly Plushies over a year ago and selling them at craft shows and on my Etsy shop.

Kids seem to love them and my future plans are for a book featuring the poem below.

"Charles Chuggypeg" will arrive with the above printouts (but not in the plastic critter cage below) which include the poem and an info sheet describing how to create a Roly Poly Habitat.

All you have to do is leave a comment about your

favorite recycling/composting/zero-trash tip!

A winner will be picked on Monday August 31st so check back to see if you've won.

Or just to read all the cool tips that were left!

I no longer sell them on my Etsy shop but you can buy the pattern and make one yourself IF your feelin crafty:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29706026

Roly Poly's are handmade with love out of wool-felt blend, embroidery floss, and fiberfil.

2"W x 3"L

For U.S. residents 18 years of age and older only please. Thank You.

We Love Oatland Island Wildlife Center

In addition to charming animals, there's this spooky building in the process of renovation. I am entranced with this building and stare intently through the windows whenever I get the chance.

You know you want to touch his beard...



Hard day in the barnyard?

MMmmm...mmm, good stuff.

They love Oatland too. The boy was a little frightened of the tree...but not of the cougar exhibit. Me...afraid of the cougar especially the glint in his eye when he gazed at my tender morsels (aka my children)... but he was ensconced in a protected enclosure and we felt completely safe from his appetite.



My Girl's favorite chicken. I think it's the rakish way the red-flappy thing hangs over it's face that she finds endearing.

Baby Showers Are Fun

I adore baby showers. Especially if I'm hosting them.I found these vintage-y plastic rose cupcake toppers at one of my favorite Esty shops "Hey YoYo" http://www.heyyoyo.etsy.com/ again. In addition to being fabulously cute, I plan to reuse them for something crafty....
I made flower pens with silk flowers and floral tape which doubled as table decor as well as writing utensils for games. They are the ones in the vintage coffee cups on the table.


My antique china cabinet, which I treasure beyond words, has decided to not let me unlock it. The skeleton key/lock has worked for years but all of sudden it has decided not to...and it has my punch bowl hostage. So I had to find a replacement for the party punch. Luckily Publix carries these chic sparkling berry French Lemonades. Served over ice in my dollar-store find (.50 each to be exact) classic green-glass mini coke glasses, it was treat, and much better than the punch I had intended to serve. So take that you criminal china cabinet...does anyone know a good hostage-negotiator/skeleton key expert?

Would you like to buy a TICKET?

To the GUN SHOW?

I mean look at that mouth....soooo cranky!

"Ya can't see me comin', til BAM!, can ya see my CLAW now buddy, huh? can ya?"

It would appear that Mother Nature does have a sense of humor.

Fantastic Chocolate Sheet Cake

I don't get to bake as often as I would like. There's usually 2 small children and a geriatric dog underfoot but yesterday I came across a recipe for a chocolate sheet cake that insisted I make it. The pictures of it DREW me in and floated around in my brain ALL day until finally after dinner when the kids were otherwise occupied destroying another room of the house and the old dog snoozing by her dish, I began, with lust in my heart and mixer in hand....

Let me also say, to this cake's merit, I am a picky cake eater. It must be moist - which I struggle with daily; dry skin, dry hair, dry cake. And I live in SAVANNAH for peach sake, possibly "The Moistest" city in the U.S.

I found the recipe here

http://sugarmamabakingco.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/recipe-nanas-chocolate-cake/

and will be forever grateful to this lovely humorous lady for generously providing it to my dry-self.

In my haste to make this I discovered I was short one egg so I substituted a 1/4 cup veg oil but it still turned out so delicious. I skipped my dinner so I could have a piece. It was MOIST and RICH but I warn you, DO NOT attempt to eat it unless you have a half gallon of ice cold milk at your disposal.

A Taste of Thai Dressing Recipe

This "Thai Vinaigrette" Recipe can be used for just about any slaw recipe. Just grate your veggies and pour it over. It's quicker if you use these herb blends (instead of fresh herbs) which send me into ecstasies of admiration. Very flavorful and fresh tasting; all you have to do is squirt them in! My local Publix grocery store carries them in the produce section, no chopping or washing required! These are my 4 favorite blends pictured below:

Thai Vinaigrette:

Veggies of your choice, grated or sliced (the "Benriner Cook Help" slicer is recommended!) which you can read about here http://ambersapron.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html

-I like carrots and Vidalia onion, but also good with cabbage or cucumber, using the "Cook Help" of course!

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp each herb blend: ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, chili pepper

1 tbsp. fresh lime juice

1/2 tsp honey

1 tsp fresh orange juice

crushed peanuts (put them in a ziploc baggie and smash them with a blunt object to get them crushed really good)

Whisk all ingredients together except veggies and peanuts. Pour a little over veggies of your choice and top with crushed peanuts. Garnish with lime slice.

It makes about 2/3 cup of dressing but it packs a punch so a little goes a long way. Put it in a dressing bottle and refrigerate for other uses (salad dressing, dipping sauce, etc.)

This Carrot Slaw is our absolute favorite. My 6 year old daughter LOVES it!