Glenn Miller - Auld Lang Syne

We Cannot Conquer Time...

The Old Year

The Old Year's gone away
To nothingness and night
We cannot find him all the day
Nor hear him in the night.
He left no footstep, mark or place
In either shade or sun
The last year he'd a neighbour's face
In this he's known by none.

All nothing everywhere
Mists we on mornings see
Have more of substance when they're here
And more of form than he.
He was a friend by every fire
In every cot and hall
A guest to every heart's desire
And now he's nought at all.

Old papers thrown away
Old garments cast aside
The talk of yesterday
Are things identified.
But time once torn away

No voices can recall
The eve of New Year's Day
Left the Old Year lost to all.

~~John Clare

Old School Steak Supper

Well ... I was feelin' nostalgic about my mama's home cookin' today, so I went retro on some Iowa beef that ol' Hawgeye sent me ~ from a steer he butchered a while back. This is round steak ~ browned and baked tender ... was about the only kind of steak we ever ate when I was growing up ~ I recon I must have been 15-16 years old before I ever ate a real steak. Mama just called this *baked steak* .... here's to the mama that tried. Served up with some real mashed potatoes, pan gravy, boiled cabbage & buttermilk biscuits w/blackberry jam. Slide show <---click

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George Jones ~ Bartender's Blues

Remember When...

Remember when families sat down at the kitchen table & had meals together? And said grace?? I do ... and my mama made me (and daddy) wash our hands before we came to the table, too!!

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Dion & The Belmonts ~ Teenager In Love

Striper Fishing w/Hawgeye Mike

Just got this pic from my buddy Hawgeye Mike, who was striper fishing a couple days ago on some lake in Arkansas. He caught a whole boatload of fish like this ~ lucky bastid ~ and he won't tell me what lake he was fishing on, either!! LOL

Breakfast Sandwich

Well, I setttled in to watch some football today ... and couldn't decide if I wanted breakfast or lunch, so I had them both ~ a sesame bun on bottom, homemade sausage patty (texas hot), fried potatoes w/onions and green peppers, shredded cheddar, another sausage patty, more shredded cheddar, a fried egg, smoked chopped bbq pork, carolina slaw, sesame bun lid, splashed with some Rawtalent lemon drop hot sauce. Slide show <---click

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Blues Image ~ Ride Captain Ride

Sunday Morning Gospel Hour

Ralph Stanley ~ What A Friend We Have In Jesus

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

~~Robert Frost

Christmas Dinner At Grandma's - 1952

Back in the day, when a girl could still cook ... and still would.

The Kitchen Is Closed

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Gram Parsons ~ Break My Mind

Sometimes I Just YEARN For The Burn

Fat Johnny's Kaw-Cajun Pigmeat BBQ ~ Charred Hot & Nasty Over Smolderin' Peachwood Coals

Kaw-Cajun Venison Meatballs

Well ... one the great blessings dat's been bestowed upon me is that I've got many good friends ~ and one them friens, Hawgeye Mike, sends me a cooler full of goodies every Christmas ... and there was some venison in there this year. So, I hauled off and ground it up and made some big fat venison meatballs ~ seasoned Kaw-Cajun style of course ... then smothered them in a good chunky homemade Creole tomato gravy. Whooooboy, 3-2 them meatballs on top some good fluffy Louisiana rice was much mo' better than good, ah garrontee ~ and I'm here to tell ya, sliced cold Creole venison meatballs on a bacon/cheese biscuit is pretty good grindin', too!

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Little Walter ~ Mean Old World

Kaw-Cajun BBQ Pork

Pork butt ... chunked/seasoned and marinatin' in Cajun Power garlic sauce ... gonna marinate overnight to git a lil' gris gris on it, then put the ol' hot & nasty Boudreaux burn on it tomorrow, in a barrell smoker over direct hardwood coals ... chop chop ... pile it on a bun ~ ain't no fancy city vittles.

Headin' Down That Dixie Line...

Mais, mah frien Paola Greg got me reminiscing this morning about dat 'lectric train set I got for Christmas when I was a kid. My grandparents gave it to me, and every year for about 10 years they would give me additional pieces for Christmas. My dad nailed the track to a sheet of 3/4" plywood, and set it up on a couple of old sawhorses in a spare room upstairs in our farmhouse. This is the only piece that I've kept ... I think it's made by a German company ~ Marklin? As you can see, it's collected a lil' dust sitting on top my teevee for the last 50 years or so....

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Hank Williams ~ Pan American

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid

Mais, I hope y'all got what you wanted for Christmas ~ me, well ... I'm kinda hopin' for an official Red Ryder carbine lever action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time...

Brian Setzer - Dig That Crazy Santa Claus

Brian Setzer - Jingle Bells

Ho Ho Ho

Late Night Snack For Santa

Mais, this ought to seal the deal with ol' Papa Noel ~ figured I'd leave him this plate of smoked ham/bacon/cheese cookies and a cold beer (along with my somewhat lengthy wish list), for a lil' snack tonight. Ho Ho Ho ... here's a slide show <---click

Away In A Manger

Away In A Manger

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus no crying He makes
I love Thee Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh

Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever and love me I pray
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care
And take us to Heaven, to live with Thee there

~Rhonda Vincent

'Zat You, Santa Claus????

Alberto Vargas Christmas Pin-Up Girl

Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

From the Editorial Page of The New York Sun
Written by Francis P. Church, September 21, 1897

"Dear Editor--I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, 'If you see it in The Sun, it's so.' Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?"

Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West Ninety-fifth Street

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

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Humphries 1914 ~ The Night Before Christmas

Lemon Drop Hot Sauce

Dat's right ... hot sauce good as any I ever ate, too ~ made by mah frien Rawtalent Gary, with some lil' yellow hot peppers he growed in his garden dat has a faint lemon flavor (dat why they called Lemon Drop Peppers I recon.) In any case, ol' Rawtalent conjured up a mighty-fine hot sauce with'em ... hauled off and sent me a bottle of it, and it was damn good on dem ham & beans I had fer supper last night, ah garrontee!!

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Mississippi John Hurt ~ Shortenin' Bread

Christmas On Da Bayou

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Jo-El Sonnier ~ Silent Night

Dem Beans & Cornbread

Soaked the beans overnight, drained and cooked'em in homemade ham stock fortified with a lil' chicken stock ~ got onions, celery, carrots, fire-roasted tomatoes and lotsa big chunks of baked ham in the beans ... seasoned with bay leaves, thyme, fresh garlic and cracked black. The cornbread is Keri C's blue-ribbon recipe ( I tweaked it by subbing buttermilk for the whole milk), baked in hot cast iron skillet with a lil' bacon grease to make dat nice tasty crust.

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Jimmy Martin ~ You Don't Know My Mind

According To Plan, According To Man

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Melanie ~ Peace Will Come

Deviled/Smoked Turkey Sandwich

Well, here's something you don't see every day ... a smoked turkey, provolone cheese, deviled egg sandwich ~ I chopped up some sweet candied jalapenos & put them in the deviled eggs ... that gave the sandwich a nice lil' sweet/heat kick. Don't know why it took me 58 years to put a deviled egg on a sandwich, but I garrondamtee you I'll do it again! Tru dat.

Heart Like A Wheel

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Linda Ronstadt ~ Desperado

Nicolette Larson ~ Lotta Love

Apple/Cherry Crisp With Cashew Streusel

Well, I had one lonely Granny Smith apple in the fridge ... been there for about a week, so figured I oughta do something with it ~ had a few locally grown cherries in the freezer, a lil' butter, brown sugar, oatmeal & flour, cashews, badda boom ... dessert. Something from nothing ... gotta love it. Slide show <---click

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Nicolette Larson ~ You Send Me

Not Your Father's Hot Beef Sandwich

Cold weather grub ~ hot beef sand ... made with roasted strip loin, creamy horseradish mashed potatoes w/sour cream and butter & cajun caramelized onion gravy. Slide show <---click

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Wayward Sons ~ Winters Come And Gone

Ham And Redeye Gravy

Scratch buttermilk catheads, loaded with baked ham & smothered with redeye gravy ~ don't git much better than that for a good country breakfast. I made the redeye gravy with some ham stock from a ham I baked a couple days ago, and some dat good Arbuckle coffee ... even made the roux with fat rendered from the baked ham. Back in the day, the ol' cowpokes would have added a splash the ol' nasty to dat gravy, but me bein' a teatotaler, I opted for a couple three shakes hot sauce instead. Slide show <---click

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Charlie Musselwhite ~ Silent Night

A Cowboy's Christmas Prayer

Charlie Musselwhite ~ Silent Night

I ain't much good at prayin' and you may not know me, Lord
I ain't much seen in churches
Where they preach Thy Holy Word
But you may have observed me out here on the lonely plains
A-lookin' after cattle, feelin' thankful when it rains
Admiring Thy great handiwork, the miracle of grass
Aware of Thy kind spirit in the way it comes to pass...
That hired men on horseback and the livestock that we tend
Can look up at the stars at night and know we've got a friend

So here's ol' Christmas comin' on, remindin' us again
Of him whose coming brought good will into the hearts of men
A cowboy ain't no preacher, Lord, but if you'll hear my prayer
I'll ask as good as we have got for all men everywhere

Don't let no hearts be bitter, Lord, don't let no child be cold
Make easy beds for them that's sick
And them that's weak and old
Let kindness bless the trail we ride,
No matter what we're after
And sorta keep us on your side, in tears as well as laughter

I've seen old cows a-starvin', and it ain't no happy sight
Don't leave no one hungry, Lord, on Thy good Christmas night
No man, no child, no woman, and no critter on four feet
I'll aim to do my best to help you find 'em chuck to eat
I'm just a sinful cowpoke, Lord, ain't got no business prayin'
But still I hope you'll catch a word or two of what I'm sayin'

We speak of Merry Christmas ~ Lord, I reckon you'll agree
There ain't no Merry Christmas for nobody that ain't free

So one more thing I'll ask you, Lord, just help us what you can
To save some seeds of freedom for the future sons of man. Amen.

~~S. Omar Barker

Blue Cheese Dressing - 50 Cents Extra

Made some chunky homemade blue cheese dressing today ... with creamy Maytag blue cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, buttermilk, grated fresh garlic, grated onion, splash of Worchestershire & lemon juice, lil' white pepper, leaf thyme, and a couple secret ingredients that I can't disclose, else I'd hafta kill ya. Like buttah. Stinky blue slide show <---click.

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Roomful Of Blues ~ Duke's Blues

World's Shortest Fairy Tale

A guy asks a girl to marry him, and she says: "no" .... and the guy lives happily ever after.

Lame Joke Of The Day

An amnesiac walks into a bar & asks ... "Do I come here often?"

Got The Moldy Ol' Stinky Cheese Blues

Got a lil' present from ol' Papa Noel today, delivered right to my front door ... who knew he lived in Newton, Iowa, eh? Love me some Maytag Blue Cheese ~ and the extra sharp, aged white cheddar is mighty good, too! Maytag Dairy <---click

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Doc & Dawg ~ Blue As I Can Be