Natalie's Page

The drive from Rockport to Waco, where our daughter goes to college, is almost 300 miles north on Texas Hwy 77. As I drove the route this weekend, I enjoyed this rural highway and all of the small towns along the way. Once I was past Victoria, (population 65,000) there was not another big town until I arrived in Waco.

Along the way are rolling hills, pastures, cattle ranches, horse farms, rivers, ponds and streams. Every now and then I would drive through a small town, many of them proud of the… Continue

As my husband and I were driving to my sister-in-law’s house the other evening, Glen noticed a sign along the road that read “Free Firewood”. This caught his attention because we have burned more firewood this year than in any of the other 18 years we have lived in our house. It has been a cold winter. In fact, the night we saw the sign we were about to burn the last of the firewood from our own tree thinning of last year.

Sunday afternoon we drove over to the house of the man giving away firew… Continue

I am known in my family as a whiner about cold weather. I really think anything below about 65° is just too cold. In fact, I always have a sweatshirt handy because many buildings in South Texas are always cold, if only because of air conditioning.

I grew up in Houston, where the winters are considered mild, but Houston gets a freeze or two a year. Since moving to Rockport, almost 200 miles south of Houston, the winters are even warmer. And I like that!

That being said, so far in 2010, we have… Continue

Are we pushing the calendar a bit this year? I went into a local store last weekend and the first thing I saw was a Christmas tree. Yes, that’s right. It was almost 100° outside and weeks before Halloween and the store has a Christmas tree.

Call me old fashioned, but I really like to enjoy the entire fall. Although we do not get cool, brisk weather or beautiful colors in the trees, I like to enjoy fall things, like football and pumpkins and Halloween. By late October we usually have cool enough… Continue

Since I have been growing fresh herbs in my hydro-garden, I have an abundance of fresh basil. Either basil grows like crazy, or it is especially happy in my garden. Both varieties of basil (green and purple) are beautiful and healthy.

Although I am not really much of a cook, I will share my super simple pasta del pesto recipe that my family loves.

Boil pasta –we use spaghetti, linguini or vermicelli
Drain pasta. While it drains, put pot back on burner, but turn to low heat.
Add olive oil to pa… Continue