Rodeo and Reading

~Charley Pride, baby goats and cotton candy .....its rodeo time! To start rodeo week off I won tickets on The Country Gold Show, to see Charley Pride(!!!!) at The Star of Texas Rodeo here in Austin. We had already decided this was the rodeo show we wanted to spend our money on this year , then on a whim I sent and email over to enter the kvet giveaway and it was my lucky day! The show is Sunday, and I can't wait to hear this legend I have loved since I was a little girl.


~For spring break, burger and went to visit Houston, and she treated us to a day at the fair. The day was warm, lovely and brimming with cowboys and livestock. We were quite taken with the baby goats, and Burger got gooey with his first bag of real cotton candy.



~and now for the reading....

I am lost in the life of Edna ST. Vincent Millay, with the help of Nancy Milford and her book, Savage Beauty. This incredibly detailed unraveling of the poet's life is my favorite sort of read; historical, feminist, artistic and sexual. First Fig , rushes me with memories from my own fast bright years... With these few lines she inspired her generation to live fast and free and they in turn inspired many generations to come.

My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-

It gives a lovely light!






I just started thumbing through this book, The Craft of Baking cakes, cookies & other sweets; with ideas for inventing your own. The title definitely lured me, with the subtitle sealing the deal. Although for now it is mine as a library loan, I am sure we will be adding it to our kitchen collection. I cannot wait to make the banana cupcakes with peanut butter butter cream...and for kg to make the milk chocolate hazelnut panna cotta. I love how this book is set up like a craft project book. It has basic techniques and materials outlined in the font and tips to specifically"build your craft" dropped through out the book. I was looking for a baking book that would give fresh flavor combinations as well as ways to explore and invent on your own( and succeed), and this book looks to fit the bill....yummily!!


~Last but certainly not least is ....THE new frock guide. A Valentine's gift from my ever supportive and thoughtful man, the Built By Wendy Dresses, has sat prettily on the trunk in the living room, collecting dust. March was full of pretty aprons but I have been dreaming of dresses. I have not really done more than a gentle Sunday morning pour over it and impulsively buy some beautiful cotton lawn fabric. But it did travel to Houston with me and I studied the wrap dress variation. I am thinking a new dress for Easter brunch? I am sure as usual this book will be an eye opening sewing experience. Wendy Mullin's books are required study for anyone green in the basics of garment construction. Her common sense sewing instruction and demystifying of pattern reading and usage put her books at the top of my sewing favorites. list. Get it!!