Aw...Mondays/Blue Monday/Love is.../Maxiine Cracks Me Up/

Leo and Smokey were resting in the cool comfort of air conditioning while outside the temperatures were rising. They are just adorable. Please visit Sandee and say Aw...Monday. I am late, the internet was on the fritz, we kept getting five minutes of giant raindrops and then more sunshine. It was a weird day.

Leo was enjoying the Fourth of July festivities yesterday. My son-in-law Roger snapped this photo.

Hannah's diamond shaped birthday cake. Vickie at the Albertson's bakery near our home does one amazing job with these beautiful cakes.

The lighting made the frosting look lime green when it was really Hannah's favorite color, mint green.

Hannah bought this pool and we have all had so much fun. I will tell you, you have not lived until you ride that slice of pizza in the pool!

Noelle enjoying the cool pool.

Rebekah and Noelle enjoying some pool time.

Noelle and I enjoyed sharing that pizza slice. It was fun to float on. I hope Jeanne and the Blue Monday crowd stop by soon.

Too much fireworks yesterday! People were shooting fireworks at 2:00 A,M. Oh my goodness, I did not think I would ever get to fall asleep. Jeremy said it was the same in his neighborhood, and the police showed up at two a.m. on the street directly in front of his house. Silly people.

Ah,,,,even Maxine was wishing the Stars and Stripes well. Hope you had a wonderful 4th and hope it was safe. Considering the disgraceful turn our nation is taking, I pray, trust God and value my freedom for the time being and those who fought and are fighting to keep it. 

Pink Saturday/My BoJon Heritage/Happy Easter/

Happy Pink Saturday to everyone! Please stop by to visit Beverly and all the Pinkies too. Make sure to check out the giveaway at A Simple cottage Life. The button is on my sidebar and the giveway photo belongs to the delightful owner of the blog who is giving away the wonderful items pictured there.

This beautiful photo is a confirmation photo and these two kids were my mom's cousins. Their last name was Krall but I am not sure which two kids they are. I wish they wrote names and dates on more of these old photos. I love their dressy clothes. Being confirmed is still an important part of Catholic  church life.

Look at this array of beautifully painted Easter eggs. You know for Christians  eggs stand for new life and zegec is blessing of the baskets of food.  Velika noc means Great Night. In  sLOVEnia Easter is celebrated with lots of good food including krofi pictured here:

My mom made krofi every holiday and they were so good, I liked to slice one in half and add a piece of ham. Oh my those memories were on my mind.

 I am glad no bunnies were found in our Easter ham!   I am very proud of my BoJon heritage and I am going to find a way so that I can recreate those traditional foods. Living in the high altitude is tricky when baking and especially when baking items that are filled with yeast. My mom baked the lightest loaves of bread but could not create a pie crust for anything! I can not make a pie crust from scratch but if you give me a bread maker I can make a tasty loaf of bread.

Vesele Velokonocne Praznike and in English: Happy Easter! I wish I knew the language my folks were fluent in. But their parents came from Slovenia which formerly were known as Yugoslavia. They were very proud of their heritage.

   Cherry Rose Scones

  Ingredients:

1. 2½ cups all-purpose flour
2. ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
3. 2 teaspoons baking powder
4. ½ teaspoon salt
5. ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
6. 1 (3-ounce) package cold cream cheese, cubed
7. 1 (2-ounce) package dehydrated cherries*, finely chopped
8. ⅓ cup heavy cream
9. 1 teaspoon rose water†
10. ¼ teaspoon cherry extract
11. ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375˚. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter and cream cheese until mixture is crumbly. Add dehydrated cherries, and stir to combine. Combine cream, rose water, cherry extract, and vanilla extract. Add cream mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to ¾-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch round cutter, cut scones. Place scones on prepared baking sheets, and sprinkle evenly with remaining sugar. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until light golden brown.

Notes

1. *For testing purposes our test kitchen used Organic Just Cherries, which can be purchased at specialty-foods stores or at justtomatoes.com.
2. †Rose water can be purchased at Middle Eastern markets, specialty-foods stores, or at americanspice.com.

The recipe and photo are courtesy of Tea Time the tea loving magazine. I thought that sweet photo would be perfect at Pink Saturday and some of you might like the recipe.  You might like to know that a black tea is best served with these tasty scones.

A little chuckle from Maxine to end today's post. Next week I will share some news about the mother of the groom dress I finally found! Have a terrific weekend.

Blue Monday/Love is.../Aw....Monday/Maxine Cracks Me Up/

I am literally laughing out loud when I read this! Last week I started a healthy eating and exercise program and Tuesday I cut my finger and it changed my plan a bit! It seems I have had one disaster after another with my plan to get fit but I have not had any problems with the workouts. I guess I am more fit than I imagined! My finger is healing nicely so hopefully by Thursday I will be able to get rid of this splint! I hope Sally and all those who share their blues like my button.

Do you know Grumpy Cat? He doesn't like much of anything! I am just the opposite of him and love football. I hate when they get stuck though, on silliness, for instance the zebra tights Cam Newton wore coming off the plane and heading to his hotel in San Francisco. They called them pants, I wear those to workout in, those are "tights" or "leggings" but they ain't pants! Because now the limelight is shining bright n him. Oh well...as my dad would say, tomorrow he will still be a millionaire and you will still be living your normal life! I hope you visit Sandee and share some furry fun today.

I thought I would stay with the clothing theme for just a moment longer. I love shopping for my hubby. He likes the wear golf shirt and Nick is our golfer not my hubby. Love is...makes me smile.

Leave it up to Maxine to have a wise remark regarding just about anything!

The empire state building has some blue lights too, for the two teams in the Super Bowl this year. My Broncos and the Panthers both sport a little blue. Have a great week everyone.