Snow in Tucson!!

Snow in Tucson! We woke up to a wonderful Winter Wonderland!

The dogs had so much fun! Of course, it melted by about 1030AM. Really fun while it lasted!

Creating an ad

What do you think? Should I change the color of my shop name? Should I make my name bigger? Do you like the layout of 4 pictures? Should I use different pictures? Of course, the ad will link to my shop Woolies. I need a collaborator.

Thanks!

Baking Bread

One of my favorite foods is bread. Bread of all kinds. Wheat, rye, sourdough, crusty french loaves - I could probably live on it. Hmm, perhaps I look like I do.

My mother used to bake bread from scratch - not too many mom's did that, where I grew up. There truly is nothing like the smell of baking bread.

It's one of my favorite things to do.

This weekend I decided on Barefoot Contessa's honey bread.

I adore all Ina's recipes. YUMMMMM.

If you've never tried her recipes, I highly recommend. I think I have all her cookbooks.

So, one of my most favorite kitchen tools is my Kitchen-Aid. And the dough hook. Does a lot of the work for you, but you still get to knead the bread, and punch it a few times.

Then you leave it alone in a buttered bowl to rise for an hour. YAYY.

This recipe makes 2 loaves. So you divide the risen dough in half, and let it rise again, this time in it's buttered baking pans.

And you end up with this.

Utterly delicious. I gave one of the loaves to my father in law. Makes the best toast!!!!! YUMMMMMMMMMM

Mister Grumbles

Dozer is our quarterhorse. He talks to me. Back before he lived on our property - and I used to board him at a stable - he would recognize my car and whinny to me almost as soon as I pulled up.

Smart, yes?

His stall is a little distance away from the house - not too far. He can see everything that goes on. If I take the dogs outside, he starts to talk to me. He grumbles. It's a wonderful horse-talk deep in his throat.

So, I've renamed him.

Mister Grumbles.

Of course, he's asking to be fed. So, most often, I comply with his wishes.

I love that horse.

Magical SouthWest

You might have to listen closely, but there is something magical about living in the southwest. You can almost hear the drumbeats of the Native Americans who lived here before us. Just down the road from our house, they often find shards of pottery from the Ho-Hokam tribe.

I often imagine their struggles - what did they do for water? It is very dry here in the Sonoran desert.

We've seen petroglyphs and ruins - they are all over Arizona. I used to ride my horse in Catalina State Park, just ten minutes from home. There's an area of huge boulders, where you can see (from up on top of your horse), where they pounded grasses (maize) into grain.

One of my favorite images of the southwest is Kokopelli. Kokopelli is a jester, a flutist. He is a fertility deity, and also he is a trickster God, and represents the spirit of music.

I've been fascinated by Kokopelli since my first visit to Arizona, when I was 16. I have several paintings, and one great print by an artist I found on Etsy.

So when we found this great image of Kokopelli, just the right size to be set in an almost-antique typewriter key setting, I fell in love with it. The background color is turquoise, just right for the southwest. You can find it in my shop, Buster and boo, later today.

Spring Lambs a'comin'

I dropped by my friend Kathy's ranch today - Kathy raises angora goats, sheep, llama, alpaca - all kinds of sheep (you should see the HUGE merino sheep) - and it's starting to be baby season.

I saw a 2 week old cria - baby alpaca. SO CUTE.

Kathy takes great pics! And I love seeing the animals.

I'll be there for Spring Shearing Day with lots of Woolies. Stop by and visit all the animals!