Choice Morsels

The Mama Kat prompt topic today is: "What does your name mean?" Beverly is a classic name, an old Anglo-Saxon name, rich in history. It dates back to a time when peoples "names" related to either one's trade or where one lived. In this case, Beverly or more properly, Beverley, was a description of a place. It meant "beaver streams." So, in the early days of England one might be known as "Phillip of Beverley," for example, meaning "Phillip from the area of beaver streams." As time progressed, personal taxation was introduced and formal surnames became necessary, so "Beverly" became a last name. Phillip of Beverley suddenly became just "Phillip Beverley." There was also no standardized spelling for anything back then, so there were variations galore in the spelling of Beverley: Beverli, Beverly, Bevereli, etc.  The name "Beverley"originated in East Yorkshire, England (now Humberside) and an very ...

Greetings! Time to see the other half of my castlewall block project! You can see the blocks stacked around the project area in the photo below: This are where the two shrubs are is actually mound of ground higher then the rest of the yard. Really it was mound of higher ground surrounding a large pine tree the builder just left intact when the land was cleared for the house. We had the tree removed years ago, though it's stump and roots are still there. (Pines take an exceptionally long time to deteriorate because their veins are filled with pine sap rather then water.) But that doesn't bother the Lantana or the Azalea bushes that occupy the area. Next photo is what I accomplished on the project today: (Just me by myself in about 2 hours.) This end pictured is the highest end allowing a 3 high block row in front, but only in front. It  won't be that high all around. The surrounding yard is higher on the sides and back, so the block rows will quic...

I didn't find any appealing prompts in Mama Kat's suggestions today, which means today I get to GO BANANAS and post what I want! That being the case, I declare today a "Pinterest Fun" day! All the following photos either gave me a smile or a laugh. Finding friends with the same mental disorder as you...Priceless! Captain Jack Sparrow as Mona Lisa! Yo-ho!   "We're taking the Tribbles to Isengard. "  A Hobbit story reference, since Kirk and Spock are clearly wearing their Hobbit adventure clothes! Barbie and Ken dolls cleverly attired in Firefly TV series attire: In Barbie's world, she's been an astronaut, an airline stewardess, a cowgirl, a nurse---but Mattel never thought of this one! ! Come back tomorrow for Fridays Finds!

It's finally done--the beautification project is complete!  Three of us worked on the retaining wall: myself, my hubby and our young Air Force friend, Kullin. Kullin did the heavy ax work on some very thick roots that were in the way. One pine root was at least 5 inches thick! The whole project took about 3 hours. Kullin & my hubby.                                            So we went from this: To this: Ah, so much better! The mounds of green are Asparagus Fern Or more properly called Sprengeri. (pronounced: springer-rye)  The spikey plants are a type of Bromeliad that produces rather exotic blossoms in spring. I've also planted Liriope grass, which I have lots of, around the base of both pines and up their sides to help keep the soil in place. But this project used only half the blocks---next week I'll have picture of wh...

        Prompt topic today is: "a spooky story someone once told you."      I don't know whether my grade school chums were just imaginative or I just gullible, but whatever the case, they pulled off the best, most believable scare story I ever heard.      It was around 1965 when I was either in 2nd or 3rd grade and it was during recess.   In those days the whole elementary school emptied out at recess time and we were allowed to roam freely over it's football field size acreage.  I guess we could roam inside freely, too, since that's where the bathrooms were.     On this particular day, four of us had gone back inside the quiet school: me, Merry Jo, Robin and Diane. I'm pretty sure it was Robin's idea. She was the ring-leader in the affair.      Our elementary school was comprised of two parts: a two story brick building built around 1910 and a modern single story wing. The an...

We belong to a YMCA that's located up in the plaza, about 2 miles away from where we live. There future has been up in the air for over a year now--particularly since they had to close the pool area. Truthfully, the whole Emerald Coast YMCA, which consists of about 5 Y's spread throughout the community, has been operating in the red. They are terrible at managing their money over all. This Y branch near us has not, to date, even paid it's debt for all the remodeling done initially to open it 7 years ago. Today I got the news that it's officially closing on Dec 15. This means my husband and I need to find a new fitness location we can both go to that is also nearby . So, I did a little on-line research for local fitness centers and, guess what, there is a Snap Fitness center about another mile down the road from where the Y is that would cost us  less to belong to monthly then the monthly fee were presently paying for our decrepit & failing YMC...

Greetings! Final week in October!  How many trick or treaters come to your door? Generally I get 1 to 7, max. Most people who currently own houses on my street don't have children anymore, though a couple of the rental houses have young families---so who knows?     Today's Good Eating recipe is one from Pinterest for a "Dump Apple Cake," which is really a "Dump Apple Crisp" that I tried last night. The ingredients are just sliced apples, topped with a yellow cake mix and drizzled with 1 stick of melted butter. Missing from the recipe, however, any specific pan size or how many apples to slice and seasoning. It's was a "wing it" recipe on some blog. But apples in pies or crisps are tastier with a bit of lemon juice and cinnamon.   So here's the modified recipe for this Dump Apple Crisp I adjusted for a 10 x 13 pan:   Ingredients: 10 -12 sliced apples-- enough to fill pan with about a 2 inch or more ...