Root Beer Bread

Sean and Jenna drove up for a visit with us. A good opportunity to try out a few new recipes. This one was the easiest of all, Root Beer Bread. It actually came out better than any of us expected. So here's the recipe. 


Mix together 3 cups of self-rising flour, 1 Tablespoon sugar, and 1 can of root beer. (The consistancy should be like a mudpie.) Spoon batter into a lightly greased bread pan. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until done. Let it cool before slicing and serve with butter.


I will definitely make this again, but next time, for that extra little zing, I'd like to try using ginger beer. 

An Afternoon at the Shelburne Museum

Today was "soft opening day" at the Shelburne Museum here in Vermont. Geo and I spent the afternoon  checking out new exhibits and walking the grounds, enjoying a delightful day here.

This year the Round Barn has a vintage sleigh and snow mobile exhibit.

 This snow mobile dates back to 1968. I love the colors.

The Ticonderoga is so impressive, a main attraction, along with the lighthouse.

A new exhibit opening in June will be all about robots. Outside of the gallery they're getting the gardens ready with a robotic theme. Here's one of the sculptures.

Another new set of sculptures outside of the circus gallery is of circus elephants made of recycled materials I've seen photos of the elephants, but they are much more impressive seeing them up close in their new setting,

After so much walking, it's so pleasant to take a break to admire the gardens. Here's Geo.

One of my favorite spring plants is the bleeding heart. There's a gorgeous one outside of the Ogden Pleissner  Gallery.

Thank you, Addie, for giving us a membership. We'll be visiting the Shelburne Museum often!

Lemon Waffle Cake

Okay, I just had to try this one. The recipe called for one box of Betty Crocker SuperMoist cake mix ~ chocolate. All I had on hand was a box of lemon cake mix.

Mix together 3 eggs, 1 and 1/3 cups water, 1/3 cup oil and the cake mix (2 minutes) Bake in heated waffle iron until done (3 - 5 minutes). I filled the iron 4 times.

I served the cake warm, with ice cream, and bananas dribbled with rum. 

It was a super quick dessert to put together and would be very unique and fun to serve guests.The rum-flavored bananas weren't bad either!

Please see my very latest updates here: My Kids Said I'd Never Do This... Thank you!

Today's Project

Branch Out Burlington, a non-profit promoting tree planting in our area, had a tree sale. I picked up two of them ~ a flowering white Hawthorne and a pink Adam ~ to replace two that we lost this past year. Getting the trees loaded into the Forester was the easy part. Digging into the still mucky clay in the yard was the challenge.

Without Addie's help, I couldn't do it by myself. The trees do not look like much now, but I have high hopes that they will grow well.

Here are a few photos of some flowers in bloom right now. I love the color of this parrot tulip.

These white tulips start out white, then gradually turn purple. AND they are called "Shirley Tulips."

The flowers on this tree seemed to have opened overnight. They are attracting bees and butterflies.

Someday I hope to see our two new trees flowering just like this!