Banana Crumble Muffins & Tanning

After the usual doggie walk, I made these oh-so-yummy, melt-in-your-mouth muffins. I love the allrecipes.com site because it's so easy to use and you can store your favorite recipes there. I really like to read the reviews given on the recipes to see how they could be changed up or made healthier.

Well, I doubled the recipe and added mini-chocolate chips to half of them. Yum! Good idea! Miya seemed to be really enticed by the smell, though wicked me, I did not share. But she is only a dog after all. I did, however, package up some of them and headed out to Tan-a-Latte and shared them with the staff there. The owner and her husband live down the street from us. He's chief-of-police here in town. So, I think it was good PR all the way around. : )

And I'm setting here now using their wi-fi. I am somewhat befuddled by what seems to be a contradiction in actions. Women want to stay young as long as possible. Keep the wrinkles at bay. From all I read and understand, staying out of the sun and away from the tanning booths helps accomplish that goal. But they also want the tan, the bronzed, fun-in-the-sun look. I've seen teen aged girls with wrinkled foreheads from too much tanning. That's not for me. I don't even like just lying out in the sun.

How things have changed! According to history, back in Victorian days, it was considered beautiful to be a little plump and to have nice fair skin. Women would rub lemons on their skin to keep it light. Catherine the Great was considered to be one of the most beautiful women of her time. She was quite plump and, judging from paintings of Her Royal Highness, very fair skinned.

I cast my lot with those fair and protected ladies of Queen Victoria's day. No, I don't want to be plump for goodness sake, but I would rather be fair than tanned. To each his own I guess. Beauty really is in the eyes of the beholder.

A New Day

Took Miya out for a long walk this morning. A different route and I'm pretty sure it was more than three miles. Good for me, I know...but whoa! The sweat! I hate it running down my back. And the heat, along with my sweat, fogs up my sun glasses. Oh well, I know Miya needs it too although it is not nearly the workout for her as it is for me. She enjoys the sniffing and the occasional dog we meet up with, but she would rather be fetching her ball or going for a swim in the lake. For a dog, I think she has a pretty good life.

My Hydrangea Bush

My First Blog Ever!

I'm setting at the Tan-a-Latte since our internet is down at home. Thinking about my flower garden. My husband bought me a hydrangea bush last year. I have never grown them before. I planted them in the ground in late summer and when they died (sometime in the fall) I cut them almost down to the ground. Well, because they are the "mophead" variety, I shouldn't have done that (I didn't know--just learning).

Come Spring, I didn't know if anything would happen with them. But, sure enough, some ever so tiny little leaves started to appear. Then they got bigger and more appeared. As the season has progressed, it has turned into a beautiful bush, albeit, sans flowers. Because, of course, I should not have pruned it. I have since learned that the blossoms grow off the old wood. Thanks to lots of internet research, I also now know how to prepare the bush for our long, cold, Wisconsin winter.

I'm SO excited now! I know I will have many lovely blue and purple-pink blossoms gracing my front porch for years to come. I've learned how to dry them too and am anticipating creating some lovely wreaths for myself and family and friends.