Happy Halloween!

Over the past few years I have discovered I enjoy doing “historical” stuff; visiting museums, memorials, cemeteries and the like. Virginia is packed full of history and with the help of my friend, Ms. Hartt the history teacher and my mother-in-law, I mean mother-in-love, Kathy the self-professed history buff, I have begun to explore. I am continually amazed at the amount of history that actually holds a fair amount of significance right in my own back yard of Lynchburg. There’s Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson’s retreat from Monticello, there’s Fort Early, site of one of the few remaining intact Civil War earthworks and Sandusky House , which served as headquarters for Union General David Hunter during the Battle of Lynchburg.
My favorite historical place in Lynchburg has got to be the Old City Cemetery. It’s my favorite place in Lynchburg to take pictures. Established in 1806 on ground donated by the city’s founder, John Lynch, it’s the oldest continuously operated public cemetery in Virginia but it’s not just a cemetery. There are 5 museums on the premises that explore the history of the cemetery and the surrounding area. The most recent to open was the Chapel and Columbarium which celebrates the religious leaders buried there. There’s also a tree swing, a column from a local bank, a lotus pond and butterfly garden.
The grounds at the Old City Cemetery are absolutely beautiful. It was a common practice to plant flowers, trees or shrubs that held significance to the deceased at their grave. This not only adds beauty but also serves as a historic record of period planting. Fall is hands down my favorite time of the year. I love when then weather gets cooler and my sweaters can come out of hiding. I also love watching the leaves change color. It’s neat to think that the glorious colors we’re seeing have been there all along but we don’t see them until the chlorophyll fades and no longer over powers them.
On Saturday morning I stopped by the Cemetery to start my day off. It was the perfect Fall morning; cool, breezy and cloudy. It had rained on Friday so the clouds were still looking ominous. It ended up being a long, tiring day and it was nice way to start out. I took the picture of the Jack-O-Lantern on Saturday and the rest of my ‘findings’ are here and in the spirit of sharing, here’s some projects I’ve done using some of my Old City Cemetery pictures .

UPDATE: Kitchen Experiment #1

I was able to get the Mister’s response to Kitchen Experiment #1: Cornbread Biscuits. He did concur that they were like eating stuffing with corn it and that they did not have a biscuit texture at all. However, he enjoyed them so much he would like them to be made again. I’m not sure, but he may need to do that himself, I’m sticking with Fritos for now.

Moo MiniCards

I got these 10 MiniCards from Moo for free! I had them made from my flickr pictures. I’m thinking of using them for price tags…I need to actually order some because I not only put the wrong mailing address on them, I spelled the website name wrong. Oh well. They’re $20 for 100 cards and each card can be a different picture. Get your own Moo MiniCards here.

Kitchen Experiment #1: Cornbread Biscuits

Last night I made of pot of chili. Cornbread is a chili staple where I come from but I don’t like cornbread so I tried a new recipe from Kraft.
CORNBREAD BISCUITS
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Cornbread Stuffing Mix
1 cup hot water
1 can (8 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
1 egg
2 Tbsp. TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Thick ‘N Chunky Salsa
2 Tbsp. chopped pitted ripe olives

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Spray 8 medium muffin pan cups with cooking spray.
MIX all ingredients; press evenly into prepared muffin cups.
BAKE 25 min. or until golden brown. Let stand 5 min. Run metal spatula or knife around edges of cups to loosen; lift “biscuits” out carefully.
TACO BELL Logo and HOME ORIGINALS are trademarks owned and licensed by Taco Bell Corp.

***I omitted the olives since the Mister doesn’t like them. I also used an 8 inch square pan as suggested in the full recipe.
My thoughts? I felt like I was eating stuffing with corn in it. I like both stuffing and corn so this was not a bad thing but it was certainly not the biscuit like experience I was expecting. It also made me want to slather it with gravy. This may have been due in part to baking it in a pan rather than muffin tin. I am also adjusting to a new oven so I may have not even baked it long enough. I baked it for 30 minutes and it was golden brown but it was still pretty soft in the middle. I also think I may have lost some flavor by omitting the olives. I couldn’t even taste the salsa that I did inlcude so I’m not convinced we missed out on much there. I probably won’t make this again, however I have not received the Mister’s reaction to it yet. If I do make this again I will add a topping of some sort. I was thinking breadcrumbs, crushed corn flake cereal, or even some of the dry stuffing would add to the texture. Positive side to the experiment: I learned I like whole corn from a can (I usually buy frozen).  

Looking on the bright side

We recently moved. It was unexpected and crazy and I’m still reeling from the experience. I would say that the only thing better than moving is putting my eye out with a hot fire poker except for the fact that it does afford me the chance to redecorate. This I enjoy. Our last home had every room a different color. This time, since we need to return the walls to their original color upon leaving, I’ve opted against painting. Since I already deplore moving, I do not want to have to worry about painting as well when we depart for the next homestead. Besides, I discovered Blik Wall Graphics a while ago and needed a good excuse to buy some. They were a breeze to hang and even came with a little tool to assist with the smoothing out onto the wall. Pictured is Fly in the living room.