Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday Dinner

This is my old "climbing tree." I wasn't much of a tree-climber (just a hair afraid of heights, I guess)... but this one was safe up to the second branches.... Looks pretty high to me today!
Is there anything more enticing than a slow-cooker of farm roast beef, quartered white onions, potatoes, and carrots? I love to get up early early (about four a.m.), peel the vegetables, and put it all in the crock-pot with some salt, pepper, ketchup, a bit of water, and white cranberry juice....I add just a whisper of home-cooking love... Then I admire to slip off to bed again with that comfortable knowledge our dinner is well underway...
Today was such a morning...
Add in corn casserole, broccoli, cheese biscuits,
and a lovely green salad.... and we're all set...
just simple home cooking... this is a meal my sweet dad would have loved (except the broccoli!)....
Earlier I took a huge mug of coffee out the back door and ventured into the back yard. It was a refreshing moment, profound with something I hadn't felt in a while... I have been avoiding the back yard, Daddy's haven... and I hadn't realized how long I'd been absent... It felt like a date with an old beau after a long stint apart. I used to summer in this yard, piling up in the hammock, building a tent, sitting on the yard with my dog, playing in the little smokehouse.. With Mom on a walker and my status as AWOL, the yard is in horrible repair... This will be my third summer here, so it's time I ventured out and reclaimed the territory this spring and summer...
The back tree row is much farther in person... I used the zoom to capture those little evergreens...
Long ago, when I was a little girl, we planted this lilac from a sprout from Gramma's big lilac bush... This one is now as big as hers was then... Heady fragrance...
Winter winds have broken down this redbud and the other trees... But they are still giants of my childhood...
Magic gnomes and fairies delight in little communities around the roots of this old tree... I'm sure I saw a few today peeking out at me and remembering me from long ago. I think it's really lucky that fairies and elves have such great memories... and nobody grows too old or different to be recognized.... I dunno... I'm beginning to wish for a dog again... Quick, somebody remind me how much trouble they are!

4 comments:

Susan at Charm of the Carolines said...

Simply beautiful!

Susan

Becky K. said...

How I do wish we could just sit and chat. So many comments come to mind from this lovely post.

Dogs....trouble, yes....but oh so loving and sweet.

The roast...I have never heard of putting cranberry juice in it. I'm going to have to give that a try. But, if I got up 4 am for anything I would never get back to sleep!

About your Dad and his space...it makes me happy for you that you are visiting these spaces. So many wonderful memories. Soak them in.

If my Dad had lived he would have turned 63 today. Mom acted surprised when I mentioned it. Like she didn't think I would remember....

Hugs, Friend.

Maybe one day we will get a chance to really talk. Pennsylvania is a beautiful vacation destination, you know...((Smile)).

Becky K.

Lisa Pogue said...

YOU know how much I hate roast beef....good grief you are making me crazy wanting roast beef and all your fixins....mmmm I miss home cooked meals like this.

Someone at work told me just putting a little bit of white vinegar in roast beef gives it an especially good flavor too!

Susan said...

I have 2 dogs, gosh, my list can go on for not having one dog. But every time I go through the same question. It always comes back as an unconditional bond like no other. Then after a couple of months home, what was I thinking. :)

Everything looked wonderful. I enjoyed my visit.