“What really flatters a man is that you think he is worth flattering.” 

George Bernard Shaw, Playright

An acquaintance merely enjoys your company, a fair-weather companion flatters when all is well, a true friend has your best interests at heart and the pluck to tell you what you need to hear.

E. A. Bucchianeri, Author

Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

“A man’s interest in the world is only the overflow from his interest in himself.”

 George Bernard Shaw, Playright

The difference between appreciation and flattery? That is simple. One is sincere and the other insincere. One comes from the heart out; the other from the teeth out. One is unselfish; the other selfish. One is universally admired, the other universally condemned.

Dale Carnegie, Author

How to Win Friends and Influence People 

 To me…when someone needs to be flattered, when they are pleading with their whole being to be flattered, when they are desperate to be flattered…I think of a person who is also needing to stand on their own two feet. I think of a person who needs to be individualistic. I think of a person who should not be afraid to voice an opinion and to be proud of that opinion. How can someone who needs flattery to exist be grounded enough to be happy with the simple beauties of life? I think that it would be quite impossible for the person who looks for flattery to take the time to see the flowers on the hill or the floating leaves from the trees. Those who seek flattery are caught up in their own vanity. They are conceited. They are vain. Perhaps we are all at this position at some point in our lives. Surely we can find a way to walk away and find a bigger picture of the world than just ourselves.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/flattery/

 Halloween Treat or Any Day of the Week Treat!

These Praline Thumbprint Cookies are one of the best cookies ever! I cannot say “the best cookie of all time” because that would have to be my mother’s tea cakes or maybe my mother’s chocolate chip cookies. However, Praline Thumbprint Cookies are certainly in the race for top three designation. The recipe is easy, but you need to be very careful when you bake cookies…they may brown too quickly depending on your oven! These cookies are fairly quick to make…and they look festive! Plus…they are almost like the vintage chip commercial…no way can you eat just one…so be careful or there might not be any left for everyone else! That is a sign of a good recipe!

I have had this recipe since Christmas, 1992. I was teaching Pre-K at at a wonderful Methodist day school and one of my young students gave me a cookbook for a Christmas present. The cookbook was from her “very own” church…Countryside Bible Church. I remember the child bouncing in the room carrying a Christmas gift bag with tissue flying out everywhere. “Mrs. Davis!! Open this now! You’re gonna’ love it!”…and I did love it!

Merry Christmas note from Holly’s mother on the cookbook title page!

Collecting cookbooks is one of my favorite things to do…  then and now. Perhaps I have too many cookbooks, but I am always on the look-out for another. Bountiful Blessings became my one of my favorite cookbooks from the moment I pulled it from the Christmas gift bag.

My special Christmas present cookbook…well used as you can see!

As the dedication page reads: We dedicate this book to all cooks. In our homes today, as always, life is centered around the kitchen. Some of the recipes are treasured family keepsakes and some are new; however, they all reflect the love of good cooking!

Praline Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

2 cups flour

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions for cookies: Cream butter; gradually add powdered sugar, beating well at medium speed of an electric mixer. Add flour, mixing well. Stir in pecans and vanilla. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Press thumb in center of each cookie to make an indentation. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Be careful NOT to brown. Cool on wire racks. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon Praline Filling (recipe follows) into each cookie indentation. Yield: about 3 dozen.

Praline Filling for Thumbprint Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Dash of salt

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter in a medium saucepan; add brown sugar and salt; bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in evaporated milk. Bring mixture to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes or until 232 degrees. Remove praline mixture from heat. Cool to lukewarm. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla; beat with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth. As the cookie recipe says: Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon Praline Filling into each cookie indentation!

ENJOY!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/careful/

Texas Girls’ Choir Promotional Video: Choir Girls from 1962 to the Present.

Texas Girls’ Choir members have been singing their way around the world since 1962. Crossing borders into over 50 countries through the years has given the choir girls a deep understanding of other cultures. As parents of a former choir girl, we know that this understanding and acceptance of differences in the world lasts well beyond their youth.

Perhaps the lessons that the choir girls learn about lands faraway from Texas are equally as important as the professional musical training that they receive. I truly believe that offering an over-abundance of exchange programs for students is one key to solving so many of our current problems. I realize that this is an over simplification of the world situation, but every effort that we can make will push us forward.

Our daughter auditioned for the choir when she was eight years old and remained a member of the Texas Girls’ Choir for seven and 1/2 years. The choir program is a series of stepping stones through the various choir levels. The girls can advance through Preparatory Choir, Millsap Main Choir, Thompson Main Choir, Pate Concert Choir, and Carter Concert Choir.

Each semester, the girls take a written music theory test and have a vocal audition to move to the next level. With three rehearsals a week for the older girls, the choir represents a significant amount of their time. Parents are encouraged and needed to volunteer with every choir activity. Choir members, their parents, and the choir directors become a large family with one purpose in mind: to “Develop little girls’ lives through excellence of music”.

The Texas Girl’s Choir was founded in 1962 by Shirley Thompson Carter and the Executive Director is now Layne Trent. The choir began with 16 members and now has approximately 275 girls in the five levels. It was Mrs. Carter’s belief that the choir would accept all girls with an adequate voice, an overall B or above grade average in school, and be selected without regard to race, creed, or religious origin. I view the choir as an early lesson in the positive results from being a part of a diverse culture.

Besides leaning to appreciate diversity, the girls in the Concert Choirs may audition each year for the wonderful opportunity to tour to various locations around the world. In addition, the choir has sung at the White House six times since 1989 and has appeared on many television shows. They have performed at many of the most outstanding concert halls in the world. The girls learn about the results of accepting responsibility and the joy that comes from perseverance.

Their voices are beautiful, but their sense of personal discipline and focus is a gift that they will never forget. Our daughter traveled throughout Europe, to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, New York City as well as the White House. She is grown now and still very involved with helping the choir to keep succeeding. The friendships she made in choir are still important to her. Perhaps even more important are the borders that she and the other choir girls crossed in order to bring music and friendship to distant countries.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/border/

 A trail through the woods at our farm.

From a very early age, our son was drawn to the woods at our farm. Justin knew every trail through the woods and would hike for hours at a time. He could identify every unusual type of plant life. He could name every type of tree. Our farm represented his heritage and he spent every moment possible enjoying the thick grass, the beautiful wildflowers, the soaring pine trees, the flowing creek, the flowering dogwoods, and the rolling hills.

Justin taught his sister how to appreciate and love the land that was bestowed to our family. We have never taken our responsibility lightly and Justin realized that we are caretakers of our ancestor’s land. We are caretakers for future generations. As a family, we joyfully share the land with family and friends. This would have been Justin’s wish as well.

Our son is sadly no longer with us, but our memories will always remain sweet and loving towards our free spirit of a young man. We lost him on October 4, 2004 because of a car accident. It was raining and a truck came over a hill losing control as it reached the top. The other driver moved into the oncoming traffic. Our son, Justin was gone instantly and our lives changed forever. We have been able to find our smiles again because of faith, friends, and resilience.   We know that…

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3-1

Justin left many of his journals at the farm. We had no idea that they were there. Reading his words has brought us such understanding and peace. Justin was a writer and had written for a publication in Austin. Just before we lost him in the accident, he had spent about six weeks at a seminar in Oregon. Justin had been studying Sustainable Living  and Permaculture at the Lost Valley Educational Center. At the time, they had a magazine titled Talking Leaves. While at Lost Valley, Justin wrote an article for the magazine. We found the article with his journals at the farm. His words were profound and gave us a look into the depths of his inner being.

When we finally found the right memorial for Justin, we decided to incorporate one important paragraph from the article into the stone. The memorial is a large piece of granite with one smooth side…we had it shipped to Texas from North Dakota. My husband and I found an artist in the Texas Hill Country who could etch the writing onto the stone as well as some artwork of trees that I drew. It is our wish that those who read Justin’s words in the future will have a much wider understanding of the environment and particularly the land that Justin loved so much.

Written by Justin Davis on July 31, 2004: 

The wilderness is my church.

I can go into the wild

and receive guidance for anything.

It is mainly a matter of opening up

my heart, my door by breathing

through it and focusing on it.

My heart is my connection to the

Great Spirit/Nature/God.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/tree/

Texas Rangers Baseball!

I am a huge baseball fan. This is a breakthrough for me. I spent my childhood listening to a loud radio tuned to any baseball game, anywhere. My brother was crazy about all sports. Baseball was the #1 sport in our house. If a game was on the television…we watched it. If not, the radio was the alternative.

Late into the night, I could hear my brother pretending that he was doing play by play along with the announcer. I thought about moving my room to the garage. And then it happened…my brother left to go to college in Austin at the University of Texas. No more baseball at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I missed baseball.

 By that time, I knew about all the teams, all the players, all the best announcers. I was hooked. Even now, I simply like the way the game is played…the slow plays, the fast plays, the strategy of the game.  Actually, it doesn’t really matter that the name of the team is not the Texas Rangers. I sort of like every team.

I TAKE BACK THE LAST SENTENCE!

ACTUALLY, I AM CRAZY ABOUT EVERY   BASEBALL TEAM!! HOOKED ON BASEBALL!

There is no doubt that the Texas Rangers are MY home  team. When my husband and I married, the Texas Rangers had been playing in Arlington for four years. I was so excited that we would live not 20 minutes from Major League Baseball! By this time, my brother lived in Philadelphia and regularly went to NYC to watch Yankees games…his all time favorite team. Envious!!

I absolutely loved going to the games, even though my husband was a reluctant fan. He changed his mind after we had children. That is a real breakthrough! After our son and daughter were born and grew just a little bit older, baseball was their favorite sport. Soccer and football were right up there near baseball. We went to games at the old stadium and in 1994, we were there when The Ballpark in Arlington opened. It is now called Globe Life Park In Arlington and a brand new stadium is most likely in the plans… if voters approve.

Baseball in Arlington is BIG…especially since the Texas Rangers are…

FIRST IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST!

The playoffs will begin on Thursday, 10/6. The Texas Rangers have been in the playoffs seven times and were in the World Series in 2010. No matter what the outcome of the games, our family will remain fans of our “local” team. Our daughter is grown up now, but still a baseball fan, along with her husband. Thank goodness he likes baseball as much as she does!

Our daughter is such a fan that she wrote a children’s book about the Texas Rangers and their mascot, Rangers Captain. Her book was published in 2014…    

It’s Baseball Time in Texas

Go Rangers!!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/breakthrough/

Made with trash cans? And maybe tops to storage boxes?

Go ahead and dress-up for Halloween. Do not be afraid that someone will laugh at you, because they most likely will laugh at you! That is the main reason to dress-up in a costume to me. Right? Or is the main reason that you want to pretend that you are someone else? Whatever makes you happy and does not embarrass the friends that are with you!

This one is really clever!

So what if you are 35 years old or 65 years old…there are times when you just need to let your silly side out. I am not suggesting that you wear a risque outfit or anything particularly scary. We have enough really scary things happening these days…like the presidential election in the U.S.

The traveler…easy to put together!

Oh! Forgive me there…the election should be the subject of another blog post or maybe ten blog posts. But really now…think maturely (or try to) before you choose your Halloween costume. I have done the exhausting research (sure I have!) and I have a few more suggestions that I found for this year:

Not sure! Maybe a family going on a hike?

 Maybe Mary Poppins?

The Lego Guy!

Traveling man…complete with a fanny pack!

Bicycle built for two!!

Just A Month Until Halloween!

The Gingerbread Man was the star of my last post earlier this evening. As I wrote about the children’s book titled The Gingerbread Man Goes to School, I acquired more and more of a craving for homemade gingerbread. I already have all of the ingredients except for molasses and cloves. So the gingerbread making is on the schedule for tomorrow. I found the recipe that I want to use…a very old recipe.

The recipe is called…Great-Grandmother’s Gingerbread    and it is not my own relative we are talking about. The recipe came from a 1968 cookbook titled Cherokee Club Cookbook. The recipes were collected by the members of the Cherokee Club in Longview TX, my hometown. I have written a post about my attachment to Lake Cherokee. The Cherokee Club is a private country club without the golf course, but with an elegant dining room and areas for events and meetings…as well as a beautiful view of Lake Cherokee. This cookbook was one of my mother’s favorites and she knew many of the people who collected recipes.

 Lake Cherokee, Longview TX

 Everything that I have made from the Cherokee Club Cookbook is delicious. It is one of my “go to” cookbooks when I want to make something special. This recipe for gingerbread is surely over 150 years old and belonged to an aunt of a former Texas governor. It is truly “good old fashioned gingerbread” as the recipe states. I hope that you enjoy the following recipe as much as I do!

Great-Grandmother’s Gingerbread

1/2 cup butter & shortening, mixed

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup molasses

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon soda

2 1/s cups sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water

1 teaspoon ginger

Cream butter/shortening and sugar. Add beaten egg and molasses. Stir together.

Sift together dry ingredients and add to first mixture. Add hot water last and beat until smooth.

Bake in greased shallow pan for 40-45 minutes in a moderate oven (350 degrees). Should make 15 portions.

Yum!!!

The Gingerbread Man

Loose in the School

Written by Laura Murray-Illustrated by Mike Lowery

There is never really an inappropriate time to have some Gingerbread for a snack! I had some at a soup & salad place just last week. Therefore…anytime is the right time to read a book about The Gingerbread Man! Luckily, there are many choices these days and the children absolutely love them!

In The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School, the cookie or cake or bread (whatever it is called!) is made by a class of children at school. The eggs were his glue! Thank goodness that they remembered the eggs. Otherwise, how would he run?!! The children rolled and molded the gluey dough to make it look like a man. They put him in the oven and guess what he said to himself…

Finally! I’m A Gingerbread Man!

Right at that moment, the teacher said:

Recess!!!

The class jumped in line and raced out the door. They left the Gingerbread Man BEHIND!

I’ll Run And I’ll Run As Fast AS I Can.

I Can Catch Them! I’m Their

GINGERBREAD MAN!

He goes just about everywhere in the school: to the gym (He lost his toe in the gym) to the nurse’s office (Because of his toe problem.), to the art teacher’s classroom (Oh no! He was downstairs!), and to the principal’s office (where he took her desk chair for a spin)!

Wouldn’t you know it?!!! The principal had seen the children and knew what they were doing! They left him behind so that he could cool! They were hanging posters all over the whole school that said…

MISSING!!!

From Room 23…

If Found, Please Return Him As Soon As You Can. We think He Is Lost!!!

He’s Our GINGERBREAD MAN!!!

Right in the middle of the posters, there was a picture of The Gingerbread Man!!! When he finally got back to the classroom, the children shouted…

Hooray!!!

***One of the most fun children’s books that I have seen lately! And…the one that I bought at a bookstore included a poster!***

A Gingerbread Man craft to make with children!!