I Am A Major Fan Of Jon Favreau!

Today has been great and so was yesterday, because Burma called me to give me an update on Katee Sackhoff. She told me that they added a middle name for Katee and her new name is Katee-Sioux Sackhoff, because Randy is a Sioux. She also told me that Katee-Sioux has stolen their hearts and she is one super dog and all of their dogs love Katee. And here's a picture  she took of Katee-Sioux.

Last night I watched the movie Burnt, another movie about life, chefs and cooking. It was good, but still my top two favorite movies about cooking are still Julie & Julia and Chef, starring Jon Favreau, because they both inspired me to try new recipes.

The movie, Julie & Julia, and my dear friend Cindy inspired me to make Julia Child's delicious Chicken and Mushrooms with Cream Sauce, that I serve with oven roasted asparagus, as Julia Child suggests, in her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And I am so glad that I did, because it is now both Tony's and my favorite dish.

I am a major fan of Jon Favreau, because he is a multi-talented Libra and a genius, because he wrote, starred in, directed and co-produced the fabulous movie, Chef. That our good friend and actor, Jay Pennington, got to be an extra in—playing a cowboy. 

I really love the movie Chef, because it is such a fun movie to watch. The cast of actors starring in this movie could not have been better selected for their roles. Anyway, last week, because of this delightful movie, I tried making Choi's signature Mojo Pork Cubano sandwiches, from the film, and it was totally delicious, too. And here's a link to this incredibly delicious recipe.

So last night, after watching Burnt, I went into our bedroom to get something and I caught Henry Standing Bear doing another one of his down-unders. So I grabbed my camera and seconds later, I snapped this funny picture of him, just before Little Debbie and I watched him crawl out from underneath the dresser.

After I took Henry's picture, I started Googling Egg Benedict recipes, because a few days ago, Cindy had suggested that I try making Julia Child's Hollandaise Sauce, found on page 79, in her cookbook. 

So this morning for Tony's breakfast, I surprised him and made Julia's delicious Hollandaise Sauce recipe and served him my version of eggs benedict: which is a half of a buttered muffin, topped with Canadian bacon, a fried egg (Yes, I know it is supposed to be poached, but Tony doesn't like poached eggs.) with Julia's easy to make, delicious Hollandaise Sauce. And needless to say, "He loved that, too."

In just a few hours from now, Tony and I will be taking Henry Standing Bear to his final Clicker-Training class, in Kerrville. So I am going to finish writing this and post it, because I need to go cook us lunch and then do some Clicker-Training homework with Henry.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! 

Scoot The Monkeys Over!

I've had so much fun today working on the beautiful, handmade altar that I purchased from Jody Armijo. Jody is Cindy's partner. They live in Northern New Mexico and I dearly love both of them.

Cindy has an altar and as do many of our friends. So a while back when I was watching one of my favorite movies, The Milagro Beanfield War, it made me want to get an altar, but I didn't know where to start.

So I asked Cindy, "Where do you buy altars?" She suggested that I buy Denise Linn's book Altars: Bringing Sacred Shrines Into Your Everyday Life. So I purchased this fascinating book.

On the back jacket cover, I read these words, so I  sat down in Roy's and my chair and read the entire book in one day.

So the next time that I was talking to Cindy, she told me that Jody had just made his first two, beautiful altars for some friends of theirs and she sent me a picture of them. Then Cindy also told me that Jody was going to start making altars and she was going to start selling them online, in her Pooh & The Brown Piglet Store. And before she and I adios-ed each other, I had purchased my very first altar.

My altar that Jody made that Cindy customized for me, arrived last week and it is totally beautiful. She told me that I had a heart of gold, so they named it, Heart of Gold. And this is a picture that Cindy took of it and e-mailed to me, before she mailed it.

When my altar arrived, Cindy had included: a rooster, a Great Pyrenees dog, two tiny bottles of beer and two miniature pumpkins and four tortillas, that Jody had molded out of clay and painted. And Jody signed the back of it and it is #6.

As you well know, since I didn't blog for four days, I had a busy week. So this morning after I did a little paperwork, I vowed to set up my altar, using Denise Linn's book as my guide.

I first thought that I was going to set up my altar, in the big room, on top of the electric, faux wood burning stove, next to my guitar.

But I changed my mind and decided I wanted to put it in our bedroom, on top of the dresser, next to my monkeys. And all I had to do was remove the clock and scoot the monkeys over.

Then I opened up the book, to page 150 and used the Meanings Of Altar Objects as my reference guide, because it is a partial list of different objects with their associated meanings.There were lists of religious items, symbols, shapes and patterns, offerings, polished stones, metals, plants and flowers, shells, herbs, fruit and grains, twigs, branch and leaves, essential oils and incense, animal symbols, aquatic symbols, winged creatures, amphibians and reptiles, mythical creatures, colors, etc.

I spent over an hour, having fun and deciding what I wanted to put on my beautiful altar. And this is what I came up with!

And this is a partial list of Cindy's items and the items I chose with their associated meanings:

The altar itself:

Turquoise-relaxation, meditation, peace

Pink-love, softness

Dove-peace and feminine

Gold Heart-solar, magnificent, expansion, healing, balance

Roses-love

On my silver charm bracelet that Tony gave to me, hung top center:

Silver-ruled by moon, deceptive, feminine force, intuition

Bear- Health, strength and stamina

Turtle- longevity, stability, home, Mother Earth

Lizard-guardian of dream time, divination

Buffalo-abundance, courage, determination

Snake-wisdom, initiation

Rabbit-intuition, quick thinking

Then I added the rest of these objects: Please note that this *** means it is my interpretation

My mother's cross- Christianity, intersection of Heaven and Earth

Duck-emotional balance, domestic harmony

Donkey-surefootedness, determination

Dog-loyalty, protection, faithfulness

Peace sign hanging around the donkey's neck-peace, love***

Rooster-alertness, fertility, enthusiasm

Quartz Crystals-spiritual attunement (That's the way it is spelled in the book)

Beer bottles-fun ***

Tortillas-abundance, harvest

Candles-powerful symbol of spirit

Pumpkin-Thanksgiving***

Appalachian Trail sign-Photoshop or Henry, Fay, Miss Moneypenny and me on the Trail***

Key-opening inner realms, because I do not know what key it goes to***

Alien guitar pick-music, love, peace, Longmire—Texas Style video***

Silver dog bone-too cheap to buy a gold one***

Little Debbie's alien-attracting helmet-Longmire, way too cute and makes me laugh***

And that is about it for tonight, because I can't wait to add a few more things to my beautiful altar and figure out where I am going to hang my clock. (And I love that light circle that the clock left behind. It is northwest of my fabulous altar.)

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Who Knows?!

Today has been great and it rained again, this morning, so we still haven't done any mowing or weed-eating yet. Who knows? Maybe we can start cutting down the tall grass and weeds tomorrow.

Yesterday, a very dear friend of mine, in Utopia, called me and she sent me an urgent, heartbreaking e-mail about not wanting to, but having to give up one of her and husband's precious dogs due to circumstances beyond their control and that is all that I'm going to say about it. She sent pictures of Lola too, and this is just a portion of the sad e-mail she sent to me:

"Lola is a sweetheart.  She loves to just sit and cuddle with you. She walks on a leash well and she would be easily adoptable. She has all her shots and has been spayed."

Tony and I love these friends so much that we always include them in our daily prayers. We wanted to help them, so yesterday, after Katee Sackhoff's surprise super adoption, I called our friend and told her that we could take Lola.

So this morning our heartbroken friend brought Lola to our rescue ranch and Tony put Lola, in Katee's vacant pen. Then our sad friend came up to The Cabin, because she wanted to talk to me and give me all of Lola's records.

As we drank coffee together, in the kitchen, she teared up several times as we talked about sweet Lola. So I kept looking up towards the ceiling, so I wouldn't tear up, too or quite possibly find another visiting Bat, that had attached itself to the ceiling beam. 

In case you didn't know this—if you are trying not to cry you should always look upwards, because it stops you from tearing up and it always works for me. Luckily, I didn't discover a Bat and I didn't tear up. Anyway, before we adios-ed our dear friend, she told me that Lola is only two-years-old and that she had a gift for me.

After she drove away, I opened up the pretty sack and read her beautiful, handwritten card, with a donation included, so I looked down and let my tears finally fall. Then I reached back inside the sack and there was this beautiful, floating/moving angel attached by a spring, to an engraved rock. And to say the least, I love her gift.

Then a couple of hours later, there was another gift for me, that came in our mail. My dear friends that are hiking the Appalachian Trail sent me this T-shirt and I absolutely love it! And I'm going to wear it with pride. "Thank Y'all!"

So I laid it, on top of our bed, so I could take a picture of it for my blog tonight and when I came back seconds later, to take the picture—this is what I saw. 

So, I patted Henry Standing Bear, on the head and then removed my T-shirt from the bed. Then I took my super-cool T-shirt and put it, on top of our branded coffee table, so I could take a picture of the back of it, without Henry hamming it up.

I love that it says in big lettering "I've Hiked the Entire APPALACHIAN TRAIL" and if you can read between the lines, in much smaller letters is "WIDTH OF THE"! Talk about a perfect T-shirt for me to wear, because that is exactly what I plan to do when I finally do hit that trail and get a real picture taken of me that has not been Photo shopped. Like the funny ones that I Photo shopped, a while back, on January 29, 2015. 

As I finish writing this for tonight, I want you to know that I love reading Craig A. Johnson's fabulous book The Highwayman that Kris & Jim gave to us yesterday. And now that I've thought and written about it—I think that picture I took of Henry Standing Bear, laying on top of my brand new T-shirt is a sign to let me know that Henry Standing Bear wants to walk the Appalachian Trail with me. Who knows? Maybe they will allow Henry to walk the entire width of the Appalachian Trail with me?

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Another Longmire Connection!

Today has been great and also the last few days. This past Wednesday, our dear friends Jim Keaveny and his sweet wife, Anna Oakley, and Tobu, their super smart dog, came to visit us and spend the night, in my pretty, pink, writing cabin. And even though we had thunderstorms, for most of their visit, we had a wonderful time with them.

Today we met our great friends/volunteers, at Fuddruckers, in Kerrville, to celebrate Ellen's and Lisa's birthdays. As we ate our lunch, Ellen and Lisa passed around their hilarious birthday cards and because the cards kept us laughing, it took us a long time to finish eating our food.

June brought a beautiful, Creative Cakes By Sharon, birthday cake. And the delicious cake was divided by a thick row of chocolate frosting. One side, written in pink frosting, were the words, "Happy Birthday Ellen!" and the other half of the cake was written in lavender frosting, were the words, "Happy Birthday Lisa!" And needless to say, Tony and I had a blast with our friends and it will be a birthday party to be remembered, unless of course I forget, which seems to be happening fairly often these days.

After the fun birthday party, I asked Lisa, Eileen and Kris & Jim to follow me, in the parking lot, to Buttermilk, because I had something I wanted to give to them. And Jim says, "Nancy, we've got something we want to give to y'all, too."

"Oh my goodness, Jim!" I said. "Does it have something to do with Longmire?"

Jim tilted his head sideways, and said. "Well, yes. Why?"

"Oh dear," I said. "Because last Friday Eileen gave me the coolest tray with our cast and crew's picture on it and I absolutely love it, but I had to tell her that I had sort of  come up with the same idea, because I had already ordered 10 posters of that picture to give away to the cast and crew of Longmire—Texas Style, except the picture that I used didn't show the Grey Goose Saloon sign, in it like Eileen's did. Did you make prints, too?"

"No, not exactly," Jim replied. It's something else." When we got to Buttermilk I quickly handed Eileen, Lisa and Kris & Jim a poster and they seemed to love it and that made me feel good. Then after we adios-ed Lisa and Eileen and they walked away, Jim said, "Kris and I got this for y'all. And it's only been out for two days. Hot off of the press, so to speak." Here's a picture of Eileen's one of a kind tray and the poster that Tony I gave to our friends.

Oh, and that's my Rolling Thunder Ranch brand, that I designed and then burned into the wood, on the upper left hand corner of our coffee table. The beautiful coffee table that Tony made for me over twenty years ago. And here is the 1st edition book, that that Kris & Jim gave to us. That Tony said I could get to read first!

Late this afternoon we had another Longmire Connection. Randy & Burma came out to meet Katee Sackhoff, because they were pretty sure that they wanted to adopt her and add her to their family.

While they were petting Katee, Burma told me that when she saw Katee's picture and read her story, that Judith Pannebaker, had kindly published, in last weeks Bandera County Courier newspaper, she knew that they had to adopt her. And they loved Katee Sackhoff's name and are not going to change it, because they too, are big time fans of Longmire and the beautiful actress that plays Vic. 

Tony and I really liked Burma and Randy from the git-go, but not as much as Katee already loved them and they already loved Katee. And here is a picture I took of Katee with her new, awesome family.

This evening I received an e-mail from Kinky's friend, who is touring with him, in Europe. It read:

"Hey Nancy, we have a message from the great man for you: Thanks for checking on the lodge for me. Will see you guys on the 25th, late. Then I'm back for good. I'm never leaving again. Love, Kinky"

So, I immediately shot this back to Kinky, via his friend:

"I'm never leaving again." Famous last words ; )  or is this a threat?....

Please tell Kinky that it is no big deal. Bob left today and The Friedmans are doing just fine. It has been raining at least every other day for several weeks. The creeks are over-flowing and the grass, weeds and thistle make it look like a jungle out here. So don't be shocked if you can't see The Lodge when you drive in, because it's there. It is just being hidden by the tall thistle, weeds and grass. And the rescue ranch looks like a jungle, too. I send my best to y'all. Take care and keep on laughing..."

As I finish writing this tonight, I want you to know that as I am typing this, Henry Standing Bear (another Longmire connection) is snoring loudly, underneath our bed and that I am fixin' to start reading Craig Johnson's The Highwayman! Longmire Rules Big Time!

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! 

His & My Leftovers!

Today has been great and I am on Day-2 of my juice and smoothies fast. And, I feel great. This morning, while I was fixing Tony and me our regular, healthy, delicious smoothies, he told me that he saw his older brother Sam, this morning, at The Old Timer, while he was drinking coffee. "Yesterday, the lightning hit his pole near their house and it fried all three of their TVs..."

"Oh no," I replied. Then Tony went on and told me that they have great insurance and it will take care of everything. "Well that's some good news. Now Tony, that's the reason why I am always unplugging everything, turn off the wi-fi and never talking on the phone, during a thunderstorm," I stated.

Later, after Tony had done his morning chores outside, it rained for a while, so I did a little more writing on my third novella, even though we were still unplugged.

This afternoon, I heated up Tony's leftovers and he posed for me holding the Tropsticks, but he asked me not to shoot his head, because he wasn't wearing a cap and from the look of this photo I took, it appears that I also, accidentally cut off the pink flamingo, even though you can see the pink stick legs.

After Tony had posed for me with his Tropsticks' pink flamingo, he grabbed a fork and enjoyed eating his lunch.

After I fed Tony his leftovers, I juiced four carrots, a beet, an apple and a pear and then I poured the juice mixture into Jaws.

Then I added some kale, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, cantaloupe, walnuts, almonds, cinnamon, ginger, cocoa, goji berries, chia seeds, banana and almond milk and then I let Jaws do his job.

Then I drank two full glasses of my juice/smoothie and then put my leftovers, into the refrigerator, for a snack to be enjoyed later on this evening. Of course and needless to say, it was absolutely delicious, besides being healthy and extremely nutritious.

And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Walks With Chopstix! or Eat Like A Bird!

Today has been great. This morning Tony and I went to Medina to check out the Medina Garage Sale event. We saw many of our friends, and we had a fun visit with our friend Judith Pannebaker, the editor for the Bandera County Courier newspaper, and her husband.

As we wandered up and down Main Street/Highway 16, I found a real bargain that I could not pass up. I bought a small, portable, used amplifier for my guitars, even though I already have two great amps that I use.

After I purchased it for only $5.00, from Dalton, Tony asked me, as we walked away, “Why did you buy another amp?”

“Because it was a bargain and I believe that you can never have enough amps, because our friends can use mine, instead of dragging their amps over here to play music with me.”

Thirty minutes later, when we climbed back into Buttermilk, to come back home, it started to rain with some thundering and lightning thrown in. And by the time we got back home it had stopped raining just long enough for Tony and me to get back inside The Cabin, which we had earlier unplugged, before we took off for Medina.

Our dogs were so glad to see us back home too, especially Big Al(ice) and Roy, because they get even more nervous than me when it’s thundering and lightning outside. Then a few minutes later, came the heavy rainfall, with loud, rolling thunder and lighting strikes that were too numerous to count and a little too close for comfort.

Well, I’ve started my 5-day juice and smoothie fast and so far so good. After we got back home, for breakfast, I made Tony and me super, delicious, healthy smoothies made with: almond milk, banana, peach, cantaloupe, ginger blueberries, strawberries, cinnamon, beet, walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, kale, goji berries and cocoa. And here’s a picture I took before letting Jaws take over.

For lunch today, I made Tony's favorite meal— Julia Child's Chicken and Mushroom with Cream Sauce and roasted asparagus, but I didn't eat it, because I juiced instead. You can click on the pictures below to get the recipes.

I made myself a delicious Bloody Mary (Tomato Bell recipe), without the Mary part, and it was absolutely delicious, too. And the coolest part about all of this is that there is enough leftover chicken and mushrooms with cream sauce and roasted asparagus that Tony will get to eat the exact same thing tomorrow and all that I will have to do is heat it up for him.

I used the Big Book of Juices' Tomato Bell recipe to make my Bloody Mary and I drank two glasses of it. And just look how healthy it is.

Well, it finally quit raining and storming here, around 2:30—thank goodness. So all is well once again and the sun is shining brightly, but now we're talkin' humidity.

Today in the mail I received a special care package, from some very dear friends of ours, who are hanging out, camping out and hiking the Appalachian Trail, in North Carolina. And I absolutely love their thoughtful gifts, especially their hilarious note: "for your next movie shoot: "Walks With Chopstix!!"

And when I read the back side of the Tropsticks' package I literally laughed out loud, because it was so cute.

You're probably thinking, "Okay, but what is that stuff, inside the Baggie?" Well, I am glad that you asked me that question, because I'm betting that it is some dirt and twigs, taken from a certain trail, that I've been wanting to hike—but not to go incriminating anybody, I'll just call it some dirt and twigs. 

These two dear friends of ours know that walking the Appalachian Trail has been on my bucket list for a very long time and that is why they sent it to me or maybe they just like to give dirt and twigs as presents. Anyway, I love my new dirt and twigs and the Tropsticks. "Thank y'all!"

And who knows? Maybe tomorrow I'll even try to get Tony to try eating his delicious leftovers lunch, using the Tropsticks, while I'm sipping a delicious, healthy juice and trying to write the script—Walks With Chopstix! 

Heck, I'm already inspired! And just think, that would be such a great photo opt for me, if I can capture Tony eating like a bird. And that's about it for today, because I am fixin' to go call our dear friends to thank them for my presents. Because even though it is a dirty job—someone needs to do it.

P.S. I purchased that cute dish towel "Dogs Welcome. People Tolerated." at Bad Girlz of Texas.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!