Black Eyed Pea Stew

I just love making home made black eyed stew!
If you have a crock pot that will help but it can be done on the stove also with a pot.
First cook up bacon and cook it until its really crisp, cook about 1/2 of the packet of bacon for this. Or if you can get a packet of bacon ends even better to cook up.
Set the cooked bacon aside.
Slice one large yellow or white onion, dice into small pieces and add butter to a small skillet and cook onion until transparent.( Be sure to add onion and butter to the crock pot or large stewing pot on the stove.)
Okay now add 7-8 cups of water to pot or crock pot and one full bag of black eyed peas, onion, back, 2 cans of beef broth, a bit of basil, sometimes I liked to add stewed tomatoes add the cooked bacon.
Set crock pot on low or cook on stove on very low heat.
Stir occasionally; start this early so that it will be ready for dinner and this is a large amount so you can put it in a container and freeze for another day.
This is a easy idea but I thought I would share it anyway, I love black eyed peas! Yum!
Remember this is going to cook all day on a low heat, you will know its done when everything looks thickened.
Serve with corn bread muffins and cold glass of milk.

Frillanna and Dutter the cat, a 19 inch cloth doll and 19 inch stuffed animal.

This is a adorable set a 19 inch Americana rag cloth doll and her cat; The cloth doll is 19 inches and so is the cat. I have made the doll from muslin and filled her with fiber fill; Dutter the cat is made from Berber and filled with fiber fill.
Frillanna's facial features were designed by me and painted on with acrylic paints, the dress is denim with cotton plaids mixed in and the colors of red, white and blue.
The hair of the doll is a wool yarn an off white with bits of black in it
Dutter the cat is made with a blue Berber and he had small black beads sewn into his head for eyes and a red ribbon around his neck.



This is a close up of the facial features that I designed, I had so much fun designing this cloth doll and using my drawing skills, each doll I make comes out with their own personality and I can't duplicate the same doll so that must be where the adventure lies.






One last look at these two, I will be adding them shortly to It's Krazy Kute Productions so that they can be purchased.

Sharing the Walk My Walk

Yesterday was a nice day so I and my husband decided to go for a walk along the Lewis and Clark river which is only a 100 yards from my home.
This is the view up the river and one can see a old cannery and the backside of Astoria and the Lewis and Clark Bridge.


This the the view looking down the river and across the river down further is the Lewis and Clark fort, things are starting to get that green look.
Thought I would take a picture of the shipyard that does repairs but I did not get the building in the picture but I did get some of the fishing boats.




A picture of one of the creeks as the tide is now coming in and a little bit of the field where geese do some nesting.



it was such a nice day warm and a bit cool with the breeze blowing.
The picture below was of an interesting piece of driftwood sitting on the river bank and I thought it would be interesting to take of picture of it before the tide came back in, it looks so old.