Flashback - Retro Candy at Pops

We decided to go to the TLC nursery in Edmond, OK, in search of desert willows - we had seen them in Utah and fell in love with them.  We were in luck - they have them and they will grow in Oklahoma.  So now we just need to decide where to put them.  As we left TLC, we were driving on Route 66 wondering (and wandering) where we could stop and eat - Pops!!!!  So we headed east to Arcadia and pulled in at Pops - home of hundreds of sodas!!!  

Food was good as always and we brought home some different sodas to try as always.  But one new offering caught my eye...retro candy!!!  How cool is this...

Lots more blast from the past candy - love this place! - Kat

a Field of Dreams...Dreams of Sunflowers

A friend called me about this field of sunflowers in Harrah, OK.  Then at lunch yesterday, work friends and I were at the Red Raspberry Tea Room in Nicoma Park, OK - lovely place, sweet ladies running it, and the owner also was telling us about the flowers.  So last night, I drove to the field and was not disappointed (nor were all the other cars pulling over to see this unexpected site).  Supposedly the fields have raised cotton before, but this year the fields' owners have decided to try their hand at sunflower oil.  We are all grateful to them...

 

And here is the Red Raspberry Tea Room - stop by if you are in the neighborhood.

Happy Friday - Kat

By Oil Lamp

I love sitting out on my patio and reading or stitching.  But the winters here are brutal - not just the cold, but the fact that by the time I get home from work, it is dark!!  Sadness!  And I guess I didn't really want artificial lighting (though twinkly lights around the patio would be nice - need to do that for this winter).  So, one night last winter, I decided I was going to do it the old fashioned way - buy an oil lamp.  Do you know how hard it is to find those things (or to find a young person working at a hardware store that actually knew what I was talking about - LOL)?  I finally found one (though it is a little undersized for what I need - can't do any stitching with it - but I can journal and read the Large Print books from the library).  

Give me an owl hooting on a night like this, and it is heaven! - Kat

Another Tough Year for Gardens

Last year was bad for vegetable gardening (hottest summer on record here in OK).  This year, while not as bad, has not been great.  Especially since I was stubborn and am still trying to raise only heirloom vegetables.  From seed no less.  There is just something extremely satisfying about seeing your own vegetables growing.

my first ever eggplant

tigger melon still green

tigger melon almost ripe

Needless to say, heirloom gardening is always a good learning experience (no built-in disease and weather resistance - all natural).  And I am saving seeds too.  However, with the small output of my garden this year, I have now resorted to buying my veggies from the farmer's market.  I did get some veggies though, before the heat and animals (deer, raccoon, rabbits) took over.  Here are some of my various pickings:

Moon and Stars watermelon, Tigger melon, Cantaloupe

I am keeping my gardening chin up and planning a fall garden (with a few more modifications to the beds to help with the pests).  

Something simple - Kat

Happy 4th of July 2012

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 
- Declaration of Independence

... that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth 
- Gettysburg Address - Abraham Lincoln

Dale Chihuly at the Dallas Arboretum

Our Fastback at Round Barn in Arcadia, OK

Stand for our freedom !
Kat

Too Long...

My original idea of "simple living" wasn't cutting it for me.  I had to face it - what I considered simple living really meant not having a job so that I would have time to do the "simple" things - like being able to wash, iron, and hang my clothes out to dry on the clothesline, having a big garden where I can grow all our vegetables to eat and can and freeze, making my own quilts, clothes, potholders, rugs.  I realized that those things are hard work and time consuming in their own right. Oh, and keep my job!  Somehow, I had to make "simple" even simpler.  

Interesting that getting women into the workforce was supposed to make life simpler - easier - washing machines, already made no-iron travel clothes, microwaveable meals (gag), etc.  Well, I could do a dissertation on my take of that concept - yes, I admit that I am not Superwoman!!! - but I don't really have time in my new simple life to get a PhD right now!  (At least, not yet!)

So, since I don't plan on leaving my job (barring a lottery win), I have to figure out how to balance things.  Work aside, my remaining free time has to be divided into routine chores/tasks, health (eating, exercise, rest), relationships, hobbies, mental nourishment and spiritual growth - a lot to do in a little amount of time.  

I will continue my blog, SimpleKatStyle (posts will be a lot shorter than this - keep it simple), with more of a focus on life's simple pleasures - and we shall see together where this leads. 

I will also be launching a new blog in the near future that focuses on Stitching - the hobby that may turn into something more, God willing, for it is what my heart truly yearns to do more of.

Dale Chihuly at Dallas Arboretum - simple shapes glow in the beauty of nature.

Keep it simple - Kat