House on Hillsboro

Highlights From a Bread Baking Trip...

...during which I couldn't bake bread, sleep past six, have Starbuck's more than once, accept the newspaper, make in room telephone calls, drink the "complimentary" water, eat the French Press Sandwich, order the cinnamon cake, or go to Crate & Barrel.  But managed to laugh constantly and have a really good time.  Concierge!

Becca signs in.  I take blurry picture (raise that ISO!).

Then Becca was off to learn and I was off to the gelato bar downstairs.

I sat at a little table outside the classroom that overlooked the store below.  Quietly, I read my new cookbook (LOVE IT), ate my gelato (and roasted brussel sprouts and four grain cranberry pilaf) and watched people shop.  Statistically speaking, the average shoppers in the Dallas, TX Lover's Lane Central Market at 8:00pm on a Friday is well dressed college students buying alcoholic beverages in six packs and elaborate desserts from the bakery.  And occasionally flowers, too.  Funny.

My Humperdink's late lunch.  I anticipated the Central Market fare so I ate light.

Heh heh.

On the way home, I grabbed my camera for this once in a lifetime shot of a cow shaped pond.  And after downloading and viewing it full size, I found other impressive pond art:  The Dog's Head, Upside Down Bunny Rabbit, Rubber Ducky, Shark, and Fish.  I had no idea people were doing this.  Wow, Texans are so clever.

I didn't learn to bake bread, but I did learn that good things come from wrong turns, Becca speaks Spanish, I don't like the pink lemonade flavor of EmergenC, Gate 23 takes you to Kileen, something is waiting for us in Denton, whole cumin seeds are good for something, Pomegranate Gus sodas spew when opened hastily, cheese curds really do squeak in your teeth!, I'd rather give up my TV than my TomTom, and I am lucky to have a sister.  Concierge!

Weekend Getaway, Part 2.

Part 1 here.

2.  Stay in darling B&B with nice (clean) rooms and eat only in locally owned restaurants.

Clockwise from top left:  JD's Dad, JD,  JD's Brother B, Aunty M, JD's Mama, Me (thinking that the timer had gone off on the camera, but No), and Ava.  Can you find Jack?

Here we all are in back of The Queen of Diamonds.  In the beginning stages of the planning of the trip JD and I hoped to find a hotel with an indoor pool for the kids.  HA HA HA The town of Murfreesboro, AR has no chain hotels OR restaurants.  None.  No Holiday Inn.  NO MCDONALD'S.   Amazing.  And lovely.

3.  Visit several antique/gift stores where husband repeatedly photographs you with odd pieces of merchandise he has outfitted you with while you act annoyed but secretly find it very amusing.

I would like to take a moment to address the fact once and for all that yes, JD wears very conspicuous outerwear.  I have to live with it and sadly, so do you.  The coat you see here was provided by his his employer.  I say "A coat meant to facilitate finding you should you fall from the rig into the frigid waters of the South China Sea is not necessarily the coat to wear antiquing."  He says,  "a coat is a coat."  Then I usually say, "Well, could you AT LEAST wear the ascot I brought you."  P.S.  Jack is cute in his diamond hunting clothes.

And the toy miner's hat looked much better on him.

4.  Spend lots of time in the sunshine,

with the people you love.

Watching the instructional 'How To Find Diamonds' video.

Uncle B & Aunty M

5.  Make sure the scenery on the drive home includes tepees.

That's a must.

Oh, and did we find a diamond?  Well friends, we did not.  But be not disappointed!  It only means we must go back.

Perfect Weekend Getaway, Part 1.

I have never really embraced the idea of a weekend getaway, mainly because I believe a weekend requires a certain degree of restfulness.  No amount of fun is worth starting a new week haggard (or worse! KIDS haggard) from travel and doing so could cause a downward spiral that could only be halted by doing nothing the next weekend during which I would find myself wearing that one weird pair of panties on the very bottom of the stack with the misshapen waistband and eating a can of Vienna Sausages from the back of the pantry.  And I don't like Vienna Sausages.

But, good grief, I was wrong.  Our weekend trip was the most fun ever and all this (very busy) week I have felt positively energized and rejuvenated.  My laundry and grocery shopping are tended to with energy to spare. 

It was so lovely, in fact, that I would like to pass along a few guidelines for the perfect weekend getaway:

1.  Choose a super fantastic location, go on and on about it at the Christmas party to a few of your favorite family members.  Agree enthusiastically when they call days later and ask to join you.

Crater of Diamonds State Park, Murfreesboro, AR.  Follow the link and you will learn all about this plethora of earthly delights but really they had me at 'is blessed with an abundance of geological wonders'.  Remind me to show you my rock collection sometime.

The park consists of a 37-acre plowed field that is the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic pipe that 95 million years ago, brought to the surface the diamonds and other semi-precious stones such as amethyst, peridot, and garnets.  Right here!  In Arkansas!  Two hours from my front door!

 

In 1906, John Huddleston, the local farmer who owned the property then, found the first diamonds.  Huddleston recounted the first diamond finds to Tom Shiras of the Arkansas Gazette: "I was crawling on my hands and knees …when my eyes fell on another glittering pebble…I knew it was different from any I had ever seen before. It had a fiery eye that blazed up at me every way I turned it. I hurried to the house with the pebble, saddled my mule and started for Murfreesboro…riding through the lane, my eye caught another glitter, and I dismounted and picked it up out of the dust."

Hee, hee.  Love it!  Here you will find more on the history and be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page for a table detailing the diamond finds in the park since 1972.  And here, read about the most famous finds including the flawless 3.03 carat Strawn-Wagner diamond - the most perfect diamond the American Gem Society has ever certified, the 40.23!!! carat Uncle Sam diamond unearthed in 1924, and more.

By some weather fluke, it was positively freezing that day, temperatures barely reaching 30 degrees.  But we donned our long handles and ascots (okay, only I donned an ascot which some less affluent persons may call a scarf, and lord, if those weren't so handy in keeping your neck warm they'd be worth having around just for the weekend long source of hilarity.  We don't get the opportunity to wear ascots (scarves) too often here in the South, but I did that weekend and was treated repeatedly with all the respect due a person of such refinement as to have/wear one) and braved the wind and cold till near closing time in that barren diamond mine.   And three separate times we heard the sirens ring out - SOMEONE HAD FOUND ANOTHER DIAMOND!  But did we?

To be continued...

Hello, Again.

If we must spend weeks at a time apart, at least I get to experience this moment six times a year.

It's THE BEST.