Making Candy using a candy mold

Yesterday the postman bought a package with 2 silicone candy molds
that I ordered earlier this week.   Nerissa asked if I could make some chocolate Clemson Tiger paws (the school logo) out of chocolate for her to use at her wedding next April.

I couldn't wait to try them out, so I melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips and poured into the mold.  I let it cool for awhile, and then pressed the mold and they popped out - all in one piece. She is going to love these!

Clemson Tiger Paw made of chocolate

 She doesn't need them until next April, so I will practice making them.  You can use the molds to make ice cubes, jello, or for making all kinds of candy.

I might try making some orange fondant tiger paws and paint the foot pds with white frosting.

I am going to have fun with these soft rubber molds.
you can even put them in the oven and bake tiny cookies, or put them in the freezer.

I used baking chocolate and they're not shiny and smooth like they will be when I use chocolate wafers and melt them down.

Orange Clemson University logo mold - Tiger paws

Happy Time Visiting Old Friends in Albany, GA

We took a stroll down memory lane last Monday when we left home at 7 a.m. and traveled for 3 hours to Albany, GA, where we lived 1990-1996, until Jim retired and we moved to the farm in AL.

We have talked about going back for a long time, to visit one of our "back yard" neighbors, Susan.  There was an alley between our houses and we each used the alley to get to our carports on the back of our houses.
Susan's father died soon after we moved there so we didn't get to know him.  Her mother Betty was such a sweet lady.  Susan had some learning problems and her mother took care of her needs.  After we moved to the farm, Betty had a stroke and never came back home to take care of Susan.  We worried about who was taking care of her and called often and she would always tell us her mother's friends were looking after her, and she was staying at home alone.

Then one day I got a card in the mail with her new address; she had moved into an assisted living apartment.
We were so relieved.  She had no siblings; just two first cousins who live in VA.

We hear from Susan throughout the year when she sends cards on birthdays, Christmas, etc.  She was so sad when James died in Feb 2009 as he was her friend.  Every afternoon when he came home from the workshop she would be watching for his bus to make sure he got inside the house if I happened not to be home.  Then at 4 pm almost every day, you could expect the doorbell to ring at the back door.  Susan would come for her visit while I cooked dinner or did other chores.  She and James would chat for awhile and then she would move into the kitchen to talk to me.   I think she was lonely from sitting at home all day watching TV.

We also visited another friend, our maid Lillie Mae.  It was so good to see her again and to see her beautiful new brick home that was built by her daughter and friends from Proctor and Gamble where her daughter worked.  Her old home was destroyed by the Albany flood of 1994.  Lillie Mae loved James and helped me out many times.

We took both of them to a buffet at Ryan's Restaurant and spent more time talking than eating.  After lunch we got in the car and drove all over Albany.  Couldn't find some sites we wanted to see; they are no longer there.  The County Extension Office is now home of part of Albany Tech.  Bob's Candy outlet is gone and they no longer make Bob's Candy in Albany; family owned business sold to a big candy company.  M&M Mars manufacturing plant had a For Sale sign on it.  Our favorite restaurant, Merry Acres, was closed and someone remodeling it.  The newest thing is the development of the waterfront downtown where the Flint River flows south thru the city.  How I wish we could do something like that with our Pea River in downtown Elba.

At 3 pm (EST), we took them home and headed back to Dothan to do some shopping and attend a church laity banquett at 6 pm (CST) at Covenant United Methodist Church before returning home to Elba.

Traveling from Dothan to Albany we noticed the big farms had a different landscape from past years.  If there were crops planted, they were suffering from the drought.  Many of them were "laying out"; probably in some type govt. program.  I missed seeing the beautiful rows of peanuts, cotton, etc.  The little towns are all "drying up" - not much left.  Roofs were caving in on some of the vacant school buildings and businesses in the towns.

It was a good day and we had so much fun with our old friends and it was good to see them in good health.
Oh, and our old house on Ardmore Lane looks the same.  The present owners are taking good  care of it.

Jessica's and Jeff's Wedding

             

The Bride and Groom, Jessica and Jeff

Jessica and her Maid of Honor

Jessica Estienne, my great niece graduated from William and Mary College in June and a week later she got married to her high school sweetheart, Jeffrey Schildt.  They both graduated from Suffolk (VA) High School.  Jeffrey went into the navy and Jessica went to college in Williamsburg, VA.

Jessica's mother Cyndi  is my sister Christine Knudson's middle daughter. Jessica has 3 younger brothers.

The wedding was beautiful.  It was held at Holy Neck Christian Church which is located out in the country where Jessica and Jeff grew up.  It was held at 11 a.m. and attended by a lot of friends and people from the community where they grew up.  Guests were treated to a sit-down barbecue lunch at noon. Despite the hot temperature, the younger set changed their clothes after the wedding and enjoyed playing volleyball, and other lawn games.  We, along with other older guests, went back to the air conditioned Hilton Garden Inn in Suffolk.

Holy Neck Christian Church

breakfast at the Hilton

The Hilton Garden Inn in Suffolk, VA

Family weddings are always so much fun.  The night before we got together and visited while the wedding party was at the rehearsal.  After sending the bride and groom off to Puerto Rico on their honeymoon late Sat. pm, the rest of us all went out to eat and then returned to the hotel to cut a big watermelon on  the "veranda" of the 5-story Hilton Inn.  We all had a big breakfast on Sunday morning and headed back to CT, MD, MI, NC, and AL.

Celebrating two birthdays the same day

 On July 15 we celebrated two birthdays.  Bill turned 53 and Jim advanced to 77.

Katie put "131" numbers on the cake. It should have been 130 but we didn't have a "0".

Also attending were Alice and Jerry Thrasher from Charlotte, NC.
We actually had several parties that weekend, beginning Friday and ending at noon on Sunday.

Bill had Friday off and he and Jim played golf.  They went back Sat. morning to play golf again and included Mark.

We had chocolate layer cake and a pound cake with coconut icing.

Bill and Jim had made "wish lists" and they got a lot of nice birthday presents.

Front row: Nerissa, Nell, Caroline Gilmer; back row: Mark Vahle, Bill Gilmer & Jim Gilmer

The Merry Month of May was busy!

Alphonso and Dennis win medals

May was a very busy month for us. When I learned that two
of our son James' bowling buddies would be competing in the Ala
State Special Olympics at Troy Univ, I got busy and made a
banner for them to carry in the Parade of Athletes at the stadium at
Troy University. Jim and I attended the ceremony and they were
excited to see us there in the stands. They went on to win a first
place (Gold) medal at the state level.

James bowled with these guys for 12 years every Friday.  They were two of his best friends.

We celebrated Cindy's birthday which was May 29th.  Liz and Chad invited us to their house for a cookout.  He grilled "beer can" chicken and and beef brisket and it was so good.

Liz made some really good dishes to go with the meat and I made a banana pudding from scratch (at Cindy's request).  We also had birthday cake.  I took the photo on the right.  Suzi, Cindy's sister came from LaMarque for the occasion.

 Ronnie took us for a long ride up and own Lake Austin which is down the side of the hill from where they live in West Austin. The lake was a busy place on Sat., Memorial Day weekend. 

  

Back again! Took a 3 month leave

My last post was April 17.  So much has happened since that date.

April 25-29  Charleston, SC - We went to Charleston to be with our son Bill and his girls for a week at Isle of Palms.  Joining us there were Julie and Alan Taylor and their daughter Caitlin and son Sam from London.   Julie's brother Robert and his wife Jennifer also came from Salt Lake City, Utah.    It was a fun time.  We stayed in a 2 story old house near the ocean.  Lots of fun sight-seeing, walking on the beach with the younger set surfing every day.

 Alan's birthday was during this time and we went to a nice seafood restaurant called Boathouse for dinner one evening (photos were taken there).

On Friday, April 29, I got up at 5 a.m. to watch the Royal Wedding to see Kate and William get married.  The Brits slept in and the American got up to watch the wedding!!  It was beautiful, even if I had to turn the sound down so low I could hardly hear what was being said!  We left to come home later that day.  Everybody else left the next day to go to the airport to fly home to Utah and U.K.

Bill and Caroline drove  back home to Florence, SC.

Note:  Julie and Robert were brothers of Bill's wife Barbara who passed away in 1996 when Caroline was just a year old.  They make frequent trips to the US to see Bill and the girls, who in turn go to London to see them, and Grandmother Mary Bailey who died last year.

This photo was made in front of the oldest building at College of Charleston when Katie took us on a tour of her school.
 

Caitlin Taylor, Caroline, Katie, Nell & Jim, Jennifer & Robert Land, Julie, Sam & Alan Taylor

Coming Soon:  
May 26-31 - trip to Austin, TX to visit Ronnie, Cindy and family
June 9-14 - went to my great niece Jessica's wedding in Suffolk VA
July 14-18 - off to Florence, SC to celebrate Jim's and Bill's birthdays on July 15

Leaving a Legacy of Roses

 I fell like Johnny Appleseed sometimes.  I plant roses instead of apples.
I like to propagate (root) flowers, especially antique roses.  The pink rose shown here is a Chinquapin rose (also known as a Chestnut Rose or Burr Rose).  The leaves are very small and the rose will soon be filled with blooms.  This is what I found out about this antique rose:
Bright pink, satiny double flowers with soft creamy yellow stamens on an un-rose-like shrub having flakey brown bark, stout thorns which protrude from just below the leaves in pairs, and hairy leaves. The hips are like small chestnuts in their husks, turning from green to russet brown as they age. The plant is angular and stiff in habit. This rose is also known as the 'Chinquapin Rose' and 'Burr Rose'. William Roxburgh, assistant surgeon to the East India Company, came across this rose in a garden in Canton, China, where it had been grown for generations as 'Hoi-tong-hong'. He sent it to the Calcutta Botanic Garden after which it reached England and then quickly on to America. It still exists in many old Southern gardens today.

 The next rose is an antique climbing rose with many "wicked" thorns and it's like kudzu in that the canes grow very fast and you have to train it to run along a fence.  I got my starter for this rose from a 90 year old friend in Albany, GA when lived there.  She got it from her great grandmother in Savannah, GA many years ago.  We traced this rose back over 200 years.   I rooted dozens of this rose and have given them away to friends and now they are blooming all over Georgia and Alabama!

They would bloom all summer if you would dead head the dead rose blooms, but who wants to spend all day doing that?  Not me.   I just enjoy them for about 2 weeks around Easter every spring.  Then there will be fewer, scattered blooms the rest of the summer.

This morning I gathered some roses and put them in a big glass vase and placed in the vestibule of the church for others to enjoy.  I like to cut them and give them to friends.  I tell people to stick one of the limbs in soil and it will root in a short time.

Planting roses goes along with my motto:  "Live so that when you are gone it will have mattered".   People can look at their roses and remember me??


This 17th century poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick  begins:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying