peach pie

2 cups of flour (approximately), 1 stick of margarine, 1 teaspoon of salt and a little ice water. No wonder pie crust is not good for you!

Last night I made a pie. My husband asked, "Why didn't you just buy a crust?" Good question. You can buy ready made crusts, pie dough rounds or pie dough mix in boxes or pie dough in biscuit tins and they are all good. So why make one?

I'm just fascinated by the idea of taking a few simple ingredients and creating something really special. Also, I found an old pastry blender in the drawer which renewed my enthusiasm for homemade biscuits and pie crusts, etc.

Anyway, as you might be able to tell by the quantity of ingredients, this was supposed to be a two crust pie. But when I began to roll it out, it was still a little crumbly even though I had rolled it in a ball and chilled it in a baggie for a while. It was not rolling out properly. The one thing I learned from my past attempts at biscuits is that continuing to try to make it pretty is what makes it tough as shoe leather so I just put it in the pie plate and used what should have been the top crust to build an edge around it.

For the filling I used two cans of sliced peaches in syrup which were on sale. I added some cinnamon, a little extra brown sugar, a pat of butter and a couple of tablespoons of tapioca spinkled on top for thickening. I cooked the filling on top of the stove and pre-baked the pie shell for 10 minutes before putting the whole thing in the oven for 20 minutes more (at 400 degrees).
Anyway, it was GOOD! I even liked the rustic look. With a little ice cream on top. Ymmm. The crust was flaky! And it actually had a flavor! Enough success to make me try again soon. Already had another piece of pie for breakfast. (See picture above).

not really!

Okay, Jaime is only trying to sell the never-worn wedding dress on Craigslist, but I couldn't resist putting these "bridal" pictures on the blog. Isn't she pretty? This dress is supposed to resemble the one that Caroline Bessette wore to marry John F. Kennedy, Jr. pictured below.

memories from last year's concert

A favorite picture of me and Jaime

Cory and Jill

Jill, Cory and Steph

Jonah and ice cream

Me and Roger in a much less crowded park

Karin and Alan -- Always a part of our lives. Family - not just friends

Mia and Sean

Jaime

A picture I love of Mia and Jonah

I didn't get any pictures of Stephanie and Cory at the park the other night as time went on and it got dark, etc. I also didn't have any pictures of Jill and Jonah. So for the record, here are some pictures I love from last year.

Friday nite Lowry Park concert - Tampa Orchestra

Jaime made this butter pecan birthday cake with cream cheese icing and cinnamon almonds for me -- YMMMMe and Jaime. Selfishly, I picked the one that was best of me. Not her best picture.

Sean and Mia. Jonah and Jill were running around near by.

Alan with some of the crowd behind him.

Mia, Sean and Karin.

Our view of the stage.

Tony and Greg, who were kind enough to share their picnic table. So we shared our food. They also ordered a pizza! They told the driver they were near the information booth! Somehow the pizza delivery was accomplished successfully.

My Birthday

Had a happy but stressful birthday (actually the day after my birthday). The kids were out of school so Jaime and I were going to take them to the zoo. First we stopped at the bank and the grocery store which turned out to be a lot more frustrating and time-consuming than we expected. In the end we took the kids to White Sands beach in Carrollwood by Karin and Alan's house. They only had a little more than an hour, but it gave the kids and the adults, too, a chance to blow off steam.

Later, Roger and I went to dinner at Vallarta's with Joyce and Karin and Alan. It was wonderful, even though Rick and Darlene had to cancel. Also, before we went, I got a call from Angie. It was very sweet. Angie is Cory's OTHER sister and my OTHER daughter.

Today we are going to Tampa Bay Downs to join Joyce, Karin and Alan, and Peggy and Stuart in celebrating the Kentucky Derby. My first time. Maybe I will have some beginner's luck. I am very lucky and very happy to have such wonderful family and friends.

Home

Here is our present and our future. My past where my children were raised and now my grandchildren are just as much at home as their parents were. It is beautiful after all the work that Alan did and we are very lucky to have it.

Goodby Southport Springs

The house at Southport Springs is gone. The pool, the club house, the golf cart, the friends. We tried very hard to find a buyer, but in the end there were just too many obstacles to overcome. Roger and I spent our first married days together here with many memories.