Penny Candy

I have many fond memories of the Old Village Store in my hometown. This picture is of the 1856 Country Store in Centerville. It is of the same style as the store I knew as a child. The floors are wood, the shelves are stock full of antiques, curios and stuff the tourists love to buy... Cape Cod Cranberry Soap, T-shirts and Sweatshirts with the local logo's printed on them, writing paper with beach scenes, kitchen magnets of lobster claws and lighthouses.... sailor's rope bracelets and scrimshaw jewelry


and best of all... way in the back of the store, past the old post office boxes
the best place on earth to be when you are a kid.....the penny candy aisle!

Red licorice, Mary Janes, Squirrels, Bit O'Honey, Root Beer Barrels, can you name any others?

Driving through Centerville down Main street you will see many historical homes, beautiful churches and in true Cape Cod fashion, even the median strips at the traffic lights are decorated like this....


In the winter, we have a Christmas Stroll... and I'll leave you with this last picture of a lovely painting that I see every time I step into the Country Store... something most tourists won't see....

Shepard's Pie

The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of work, getting my daughter ready for college and finding just a little time for a walk on the beach. I do have time to myself once in a while... and when the morning's aren't too unbearably hot and humid(and I'm actually HOME and AWAKE), I might be persuaded to turn on the oven or stove. I've been cooking most of our food outside on the grill... or sucumbing to the allure of a/c at the local 99 Steak House, so a good old fashioned home-cooked meal has been far and few between. Today, the clouds parted and low and behold I turned on the oven and baked peanut butter cookies! Carried away in the joy and glee of baking, I decided I'd be pro-active and get dinner ready ahead of time, so all we had to do was heat it up when the appropriate time came to pass. (I'm going in at 1600 hrs for another 16 hr shift). So I whipped up some Shepard's Pie,(Hamburg gravy w/mushrooms and onions, smashed potato's and corn). I don't spice it up too much because my daughter is of a finicky nature...just salt and pepper. I was wondering... just how other's might make shepard's pie? I've seen it with different veggies (peas, carrotts), but even when I order it at Up The Creek Restaurant it is made with hamburg. Feel free to share a receipe or perhaps you've eaten it somewhere that serves it differently?
~~The days are now numbered, only 19 left before we move a truckload up to the dorm, and review the remaining items left behind in the two rooms she has occupied since we moved here in 1997. It's amazing how much she has accumulated in those eleven years. Toys no longer played with. Dolls stuffed into the bottom drawer of a dresser. Clothes that don't fit, and arts and craft projects scattered about... those two rooms look like a bomb exploded in them! "What should I take with me, Mom?"
Only my heart, my life and my memories..... and your hopes and dreams daughter.

HT to For The Birds Blog