World Championship Barbeque Cooking Contest

Every year Memphis throws a big party - Memphis in May. The first weekend is the three day Beale Street Music Festival (or should I say Mud Festival, since it ALWAYS rains that weekend). The fourth weekend is the Sunset Symphony where they play on a stage at the river and people come with their picnics to listen to the music and enjoy the fireworks. But by far the craziest weekend is Barbeque Weekend.



Some of the team names:
Greaseland Porkers * Notorious P.I.G. * Pork Illustrated *
Wasted "n" Basted * Three Pigs to the Wind * Four Pork Harmony *
Adribbers * Aporkalyps Now * Barefoot in the Pork *




When we first went years ago, we walked around and saw the crazy booths and smelled the good smells, and watched everyone having a party, but since each party is private we could only watch. This year we knew 4 people who had booths and were invited to stop by each. So we got to party and eat great barbeque. Here's Tim, Armando and Margie at the Rebel Roaster Revue booth - they came in 6th in the shoulder contest. They have winners in three categories: ribs, shoulder and whole hog. From those three winners they select the grand champion.





Oinking on the River * Pork Fiction * Rib Ticklers * Serial Grillers *
South Pork * Swine-o-mite * Swinebucks *



It's billed as the World Championship Contest - 240 teams competing for big prize money and bragging rights - there were teams from Denmark and Norway to make it truly international. But most of the teams are from Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas with a few from Georgia, Alabama, N.Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Indiana. Texas thinks real barbeque is beef, and Kansas City seems to think they are the #1 Barbeque capital in the US but we know better.

This booth belongs to Sow Luau. Every year they add a new head.



Any Pork in a Storm * The Hogfather * Holy Sow *
Not Ready for Swine Time Porkers * Parrothead Porkers of Hogaritaville *
Pit and the Pigulum * The Ques Brothers *










On Thursday at 5:30 they have the "Official Lighting of the Grill" - sort of like the Olympic Torch I suppose, but more like NASCAR -"Ladies and Gentlemen, light your fires!" They have the Miss Piggie Idol Contest - mostly guys dressed in pig noses and tutus. Friday night on the stage we watcged Ralph Stanley & Clinch Mountain perform - an OLD bluegrass band. If you saw "O Brother Where Art Thou?" it was that kind of bluegrass - in fact Ralph Stanley is featured singing in that movie.



Every year Memphis in May picks a country to honor. This year was Chile. We saw lots of Easter Island heads at booths. Some of them had pig noses.



We got invited to one party where they had a three story space. We went up to the top and got some great photos.



See the houses in the background up on the bluff? Cybill Shepperd has a house up there overlooking the river. What a view, but I'll bet they get no sleep during Music Festival or Barbeque Weekends.







Armando's cousin Magda and her husband Pepe are here visiting from Peru and they got to enjoy the 'Que experience with us. Pepe is the photographer for this blog entry.



Great food, great fun, great silliness.

Flocked!

A few days ago I woke up to discover that a flock of flamingos had landed in my yard! And not just any flamingos, but dressed up ones! Wearing leis and Mardi Gras beads!



Don't you think they go well with my azaleas? I thought they looked pretty cool, but couldn't really think who would put them there or why. And then I read the note. It seems that a woman named Millie McAllister is going to participate in the three day Walking for a Cure in San Francisco in the fall, and is trying to raise money. So she sent this flock of flamingos flying away, they land in your yard and stay two days, and then you get to decide where they fly off to next. What a great fund raising idea! I might not have donated if she had just asked for money, but the flamingos were so much fun, and then I got to send them to someone else, so I just had to send a donation.

The Girlfriends

Every year I get together with four crazy friends from high school. This spring it was my turn to be the hostess. Sue couldn't come so they brought a rabbit as a stand-in. Since it was Easter week, our craft was coloring Easter eggs. They turned out pretty neat, even though Mary complained the whole time that she hates coloring eggs.

Here we are at the theater with our bunny ears. Except Mary, she had to be different and wear lamb's ears. Notice the tasteful necklace I am wearing! Not only was it beautiful, the eggs flashed!


Not only did they bring me a special necklace though, they brought me this:


Here we are antiquing....


On Beale Street....



In front of the National Civil Rights Museum...



Since it was Easter Week, our craft was coloring Easter eggs, and I thought they turned out beautiful, even though Mary complained the whole time about how much she hated to color eggs.


Here we are trying on silly hats at A.Schwab's General Store on Beale Street.



And we decided to try some Asian Bubble Tea - we all decided after trying it that it was pretty silly.

Ziploc Omelet

This is a really cool recipe Beth gave me.

Each person cracks 2 large eggs in a 1-quart size ziplock bag. No more than 2 eggs. Shake to combine.

You put out a variety of ingredients such as cheese, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hashbrowns, salsa, mushrooms, anything you think might go into an omelet. Each person adds ingredients of their choice to their bag. Shake again to mix everything. Make sure to get all the air out of the bag, and zip it up.

Have each person write his or her name on the bag with a permanent marker so they don't get mixed up. Place into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. Six to eight omelets can cook in a large pot. If you have more, heat a second pot.

Open the bags, roll out the omelets and serve.

Ghost Birds

My brother, David, has written a book called Chasing the Ghost Birds, Saving Swans and Cranes from Extinction.

From the Barnes and Noble website:
"Part environmental essay and part adventure story," Chasing the Ghost Birds takes readers to the front lines of three of the most important and innovative wildlife conservation projects of our time:
* Returning the trumpeter swan to the Midwest Flyway after an absence of 120 years
* International efforts to save the last of Russia's Siberian cranes
* Saving North America's whooping cranes from the brink of extinction

The book offers up details about the birds' biology, behavior, and habitats, and of the meticulous fieldwork required, without losing the sense of drama and excitement inherent in these efforts. Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes funny, Chasing the Ghost Birds ultimately gives us hope that "with enough brains, resources, determination, and hard work," we humans can preserve and protect the wild world around us.

No other book, no other source, covers any of these three projects in as much depth and breadth as Chasing the Ghost Birds. Yet it remains a very engaging and readable book. George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation, calls it, "a remarkable chronicle," told with "balance, accuracy, and lucid detail."

Since he is my brother, I may be biased (I doubt it) but I have to tell you, the book is really a good read. I even thought it might be dull until I picked it up and couldn't put it down. Read more about the book, and then go here to buy a copy.

Last year I decided to make a quilt for him and asked what he'd like. He said earth tones and if it had a crane on it, he wouldn't mind. So here is the result.

This was a quilt that didn't want to be made. I found the crane fabric and cut wedges - each block needed 6 identical wedges. I sewed them together by hand because it's more accurate. Then I found the blue-green fabric and decided the blocks needed that for sashing. Turns out the only way to attach sashing to a hexagon is to undo part of each seam, sew the sashing and then resew the seam.

I finally got it together and took it to my friend Marge's house so I could quilt it on her longarm. It sat there for months. Finally I loaded it on the frame and started to quilt the border using dark redish brown thread. I wasn't totally sold on it and was afraid that if I started quilting the center I'd really mess it up. So it sat on the frame for a month and I very carefully avoided quilting.

Finally she asked if I would mind if she quilted it. No! Of course I wouldn't mind! Thank you!!!! So she used metallic thread and outlined every feather. It turned out gorgeous. Then I had to take it back and pick out all the quilting I had done so that part of the border could be requilted with the metallic.

I gave it to him last summer (a late, or early, birthday, Christmas, Easter, valentine's, fourth of July present). It was supposed to be for his office, but he said it's going in his living room so he needs another quilt for his office. I'm working on it.

This is the back.

Bathroom Remodeling

We had some cracked tiles in the master bath floor. Decided to fix the tile. You know how that goes. We discovered we only had 4 spare tiles, and then discovered that the toilet had been leaking and the whole floor had to come up. So, I'd always wanted to tear out the cheap plastic tub/shower surround and build a shower. I didn't necessarily want to do this right NOW, but since we had to replace the tile, it was now or never. Too bad I forgot to take a before photo of the bathroom. Here's right after we ripped out the surround. That's part of a curious cat in the lower right corner.
Here it is in progress. In this photo the shower walls were tiled, and the other walls painted but the floor wasn't done.
While we were doing everything else, decided why not make an even bigger mess, and scrape the popcorn texture off the ceiling and make it smooth.
A word of caution... Large tiles look good on shower walls, but they are a pain to install. They are too heavy for the mastic. We would glue a couple of them, hold them for what we thought was long enough, let go and the tiles would come crashing down. We finally had to put nails beneath each tile to hold it. But that wasn't easy either, because that isn't sheetrock, it's cement board. We would pound one nail in and two would fall out, then pound those in and another would come out. Aaaagghhh!

And here it is finished!!



I made a stencil and painted little "tiles" around the back splash to match the little insets in the tile walls and floor.
And I got a roller shade, took it apart and made this shade for the window.
We're on a roll - now we're working on the upstairs bathrooms!

2009 Guild Challenge

Our Uncommon Threads Quilt Guild Challenge was "Opposites Attract" - to take a color and its opposite on the color wheel and make a quilt using only those two colors. Last night was the deadline and we had seven great quilts. Unfortunately, in order to enter American Quilter's Society's Ultimate Guild Challenge contest in Knoxville, we needed eight quilts, so we won't be going this year. Too bad because we had great quilts, and we have been accepted into the show every year but one. Oh, well, there's always next year, and anyway we first and foremost make quilts because we love to. Congratulations to everyone. And thanks to Marilyn L. for chairing the challenge and for the great little gift each participant received.

Marge N. - "Dancing in Circles"

Carolyn J.

Marilyn L.

Mine - "There's One in Every Crowd"

Linda L.

Nysha N. aka "Tall Guy"

Kathy S. - "Halloween Night"