I had the most delightful senior photo shoot yesterday afternoon.

At first glance, I saw she was tall and beautiful and could see the sparkle in her eyes.



And then I took a picture of her and I could immediately see that the camera loved her.





Truly a natural beauty!
I don't think she knows how stunning she is...and what a beautiful thing that is!
Humble. Strong. Smart. Lovely.









I came home and uploaded the pictures and was just over the moon happy with how these turned out!
Can't wait for her to see them!

Thank you, Lexie!


*****


Thank you for playing along with the Friday Five yesterday! It was so fun to read your responses!

We have a busy day ahead of us! Hopefully we will visit a museum I have wanted to see for three years and go to a Mexican restaurant we saw on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Doesn't that sound like a great plan?

Have you been to any of the restaurants shown on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives?
We have been to a few.

Ree took us to a fantastic bar-b-que joint in her town! It has not been on Guy's show....but it was killer!
Brisket, baby. My first brisket. I want some more. Now!


Bye for now!


Encourage one another,
Donna

Friday Five

Before you were born edition.


1. Of television programs that aired before you were born, what’s your favorite?
2. What person of historical significance was from your neighborhood or city?
3. What’s a story that’s often been told about someone in your family in the years before you came along?
4. Which of previous generations’ dumb mistakes (in deed or thought) baffles you the most?
5. What aspect of life in the good old days would you love to see a return to?


ht to fridayfive.org

Okay...
we have had enough of me blabbing away this week.

It's your turn to share!



"In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no danger that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own."
— Madeleine L'Engle


Encourage one another,
Donna

p.s. Can't wait to see your answers!

Everyday is a blustery day....
















in Oklahoma.


And that is alright with me :o)


There is an energy in the wind. I find it invigorating, exciting, refreshing, wild.
The blowing wind is like the roar of the waterfall. It is like the crashing waves.
All things in nature that have power and might in them.
I am no scientist, but I think there is something molecular going on in all of these natural events.
I can feel it.
It makes me feel more alive.

Okay.

Nevermind.

You all think I'm crazy now.


Did I ever tell you about the time I swear I saw a UFO?



Encourage one another,
Donna

"I had a farm in Africa."





Well. Not quite a farm...and not quite in Africa...and it wasn't mine....

I just wanted to say that.
With my best Danish accent.

But Out of Africa has nothing to do with this post.

I'm gonna talk about baking at the lodge....in Oklahoma.


The lodge is a spectacular place.

The remodel is chronicled here : Lodge Remodel

It looks very smallish and short from the outside. But I think that is because of it's setting.
Stepping in the front door felt a bit like falling down the rabbit hole.

But it was not filled with odd things. It was filled with familiar things.






The bathrooms were always my favorite.
So spa like.





Here Katie sips a Capri Sun in the middle of the kitchen.
She is in the middle of all the cooking action.
The big stove and fridge is to her left and she is facing the giant island.

But behind her is the baking and dish washing area.
(And if you are Emma, the coffee making area.)

It is a cooks kitchen.
A kitchen for a cook who cooks for large groups.
It is perfect for that!


Cooking in a kitchen like this presents challenges for the newbie.
I can not tell you how many drawers I looked into. More than once.
I needed a map with a big star that said, "You are here."
And I needed to wear my running shoes or rollerblades.

No wonder Ree is so slim! She gets in her daily steps in the kitchen ;o)

But before I could start baking I needed some chocolate chips.
The pantry had everything I needed to make the Neiman Marcus cookies except chips.
(I have a feeling there are chips in the lodge somewhere. I just couldn't find them.)

So Emma and I drove to town. It didn't seem too far. The only unusual part was driving on a gravel road and waving to mustangs for half of the trip.

Once we got home with the chips, I realized that I had forgotten to get the butter out of the refrigerator.

So. I'll just microwave it.
Now.....Where is the microwave?

And I could not find one.
Because the ONLY thing Ree forgot to put in the kitchen was a microwave!


And since it was 100 degrees outside, I stuck the butter on the deck.
I stuck the butter on the deck, went in the cool lodge for a shower and found a perfectly softened stick of butter waiting for me in ten minutes.


The cookies turned out fine, I guess.
They were gone in a few hours.
Don't you love when food disappears!?

I do.
I much prefer it to lingering pans, half-full.
I like to be able to say...All gone!

Neiman Marcus Cookies
Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder, slightly crushed (I use 1 teaspoon of instant coffee instead)
8 ounces chocolate chips (I use less)

Directions

1. Cream the butter with the sugars until fluffy.
2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract.
3. Combine the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
10 to 12 minutes for a crispier cookie. Makes 12 to 15 large cookies.

There you have it :o) Espresso powder...who would've thunk it?
Yum.

I'm not the best cook in town but I do have a recipe page that was started when I started this blog.
The things I know how to cook.
Most recipes are quite simple and fail-safe.

And so ends my thrilling story about baking in the lodge.
Tomorrow I will delight you with my story about turning the lights out at the lodge.
Naw. Just kidding.
Tomorrow I will talk about the wind.
The wind that comes sweeping down the plains.



Thanks for sticking with me :o)

Encourage one another,
Donna

Many of you commented that Katie and Ree's girls would be "fast friends".

And to tell you the truth, I just didn't know how it would go. Katie is exuberant, a little wild, a little in your face, a little goofy.
If Ree's girls were shy, Katie might come on too strong.

I

"Livin' on Tulsa time...."

(I'm not kidding. Ree had the television tuned to a country station. This song was honestly playing!)


But I needn't worried at all.







Ree and the girls brought over lasagna and gifts the night we arrived and the talking and the greeting and introducing went by in a flash.

Katie waited a decent amount of time before she started hugging and clinging to Ree's girls.
They seemed okay with it. They have little brothers, you know. As long as she didn't kick them in the shins, I think they were gonna like her :o)


Horses are natural ice breakers.



So...she waited 12 hours before jumping on Ree's oldest gal.



The Game of Life: Twists and Turns Edition.

Not your mother's board game.

Just before the girls arrived at the ranch to play Life, I found a sweet spot to take pictures.



I was trying to take pictures of Katie with the wind in her hair on the deck. It was just too bright and not working at all.
So I went in search of some open shade.



You know you have hit sweetlight heaven when you don't have to edit your pictures and they look like this.



"May I take your picture, please? I found a really nice spot. I'll be quick."

How I love this picture. She is such a beauty.
Lovely and gentle and tender-hearted.





And this stunning girl.
Soft-spoken, graceful and smart.

Thank you, girls, for letting me take your pictures.
I will cherish these photos.





Oh! And how cool is this?

When we returned to the lodge we needed a little help working the television.
Ree and the girls came in and I heard a little jingle jangle....

It was the spurs.

"You have spurs on! How cool is that? May I take a picture?"



So they think I'm a little kooky.
I wish I had laid down on the floor for the boot shot like Ree did.

And I wish I had taken pictures of the girls in the gator. But I must have been talking.
We all really love that gator.

The gator had the second sweetest light on the ranch.

I'll go there tomorrow!


Encourage one another,
Donna

I knew I would love the view at the ranch. I love a view. I dream of a view.

Oklahoma has lots of view.

The every day glories are on display.

Here in our little grove of trees we can not see the moon rise and the sun rise. We see them rise over the trees,
but the drama of the pre-sunrise and the big fat moon rise are pretty spectacular!

I'm not complaining. I'm just saying that the view on the plains is special.
I felt more connected to the land.

Willa Cather....where are you when I need your words?




The light at six in the morning is beyond gorgeous.
It makes me want to schedule photoshoots at six in the morning.
Do you think that will make me a real popular photographer?




Ree's little niece wanted me to take a picture of her horse.
They were both wonderfully photogenic :o)
Horses and cows are hard to shoot. They move a lot and fast and in weird ways.
(Ree is an excellent photographer!!)

When it came to the children on the ranch. I didn't want to just shove my camera in their faces.
I had just met the boys...so I left them alone for the most part.
But I really do regret not getting a picture of Emma and Ree's youngest boy.
They kind of bonded.





She loves her horse




I think I shall call this one:

Mama's Got a Feed Truck

I am hearing a song from the 70's in my head right now...something about a squeeze box...

Ree's girls really do call her Mama. It is very sweet. They love their mama so much!




These are the things I will tell you about MM.

He is wise and soft spoken. Works hard.
He is a wonderful papa and adores his delightful wife.
I glanced over at him when Ree was doing one of her many imitations and I could see it in his laugh.

Ree is really the funniest mimic and has a mind like a steel trap!

She can recite movie lines better than anyone I have ever heard! And since this is my favorite thing in the world, I egged her on and kept thinking of lines for her to recite. And the fun thing was...Ree can do voices! She is Rich Little on the Ranch.

It helps that some of my favorite movies are her favorite movies.

Especially Parenthood.

Oh my gosh. Ree can recite lines from this movie with ease and she sounds just like Mary Steenbergen!

And Sophia from The Color Purple...and Celie and her long lost children!

Brilliant!

I am not kidding you, we could sit for days and do this.
Over and over. Ree really is funny!

What is it about movie lines?






It was such a beautiful morning. It was a gift.
We thanked God.



The mustangs were rather shy.

I think my shouting, "Horsey. Horsey. Here! Horsey" might have scared them.

Emma and I would spot them along the roads.
I would jump out,
sprain my ankle on the rocks and lumpy land
and they would turn and run away.

"Run Away. Run Away."

(Name that movie)




"Do you like my new dangly earrings? I got them at Claires."



I hope Ree doesn't mind this picture. I looked carefully and I think it is absolutely beautiful of her.

She has a real sparkle in her eye. I think that sparkle exemplifies her wonderful attitude, her love of life, her bright spirit and her big, big heart.



***


And with that, I will stop for now.
I'll share more with you all tomorrow.

More about the wind and the light and the food and the faces and the fun.


Encourage one another,
Donna

Let's start at the very beginning...

Katie thought the airplane ride was interesting.

She was quite brave. I held her hand and prayed on take off and landing.
I didn't tell her. I just held her hand.



Somehow I birthed a Jamacian.

No worries, mon.




We arrived at the ranch at 6:00. This cheery note welcomed us.
We were told to make ourselves at home.



We did not need to be told twice.

"This is like heaven." exclaimed Kaite.





Par-tay!!!



An early morning round up.



We were blessed with a gorgeous morning complete with a stunning sunrise!






Ree was there :o)
She reinacted scenes from Gone with the Wind.

Well...not really. But this reminded me of the part where Scarlet says,

"As God is my witness, I'll never go hungry again."



The workers crossed a highway.
They managed without incident.



We had such fun following the ranchers and their helpers around the ranch.
And taking pictures. Lots and lots of pictures!

Isn't Ree pretty. And tall. And really really kind and fun and sweet!



I was tickled to see this on the photostream...
Can't wait to plug it into photoshop to help it out a bit.

Love the action, tho!!!



This is one helpful, adorable cowgirl!!!



Please excuse this un-photoshopped picture.
I just thought you would like to see these dolls!



That's the wonderful view from here so far!

Lovely people.
Grand vistas.

Beautiful.



Encourage one another,
Donna