Black Bean Salad

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 small jicama, small dice

1 tomato, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1/8 cup fresh cilantro, chopped*

3 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1/2 tsp cumin

1 clove garlic, diced

2-3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Splenda to taste (1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp)

In a large bowl, combine beans, diced tomato, jicama, onion and cilatro. In a separate bowl, mix the lime juice, garlic, cumin and olive oil. Whisk until well blended. Add Splenda to taste. Pour over bean mixture. Stir. Serve room temperature or chill.

Enjoy!

*or substitute 1-2 Tbsp dried if you don't have fresh, and mix with the dressing.

This is a recipe I found on the South Beach website and modified for my tastes. Everyone who has tried it has loved it. I think you will too. I made this for my lunch today, but ate it before I could remember to take a picture. C'est la vie. Jicama is a mexican root vegetable that is crunchy and slightly sweet. I first had it on the barbecue chicken salad at California Pizza Kitchen.

Winterboro 5-0

Mother and her best friend

This fine looking fellow had a crush on Mother but she never knew

This lady took care of Dawn "when she was in diapers"

Last Saturday, Mother went to her 50th high school reunion. She graduated when she was 16. The 1958 graduating class of Winterboro High School was 37 strong. 15 members returned to celebrate this year, which is a pretty good turn out. The senior class sponsor came this year, too, and was in his 80s.

Odds and ends

Well, these finally came up, and then finally bloomed. I love the color - a sort of coral-red.

This butterfly was missing some of its wing, but it didn't seem to affect the flight.

Gus and Cotton usually enjoy being on the porch. This day, though, they were plotting the destruction of all squirrels, everywhere, but most certainly the one just out of reach in the hickory a few feet from the porch.

Good hair day

Does anyone know why a 3 year old would lie down on a concrete porch when someone wants to take her picture?

Do yourselves a favor and double click on the photo and see how sparkly her blue eyes are.

I emphasized them a bit with my favorite toy, photoshop elements. And I may have complemented them by encouraging the blue paint on the porch. And perhaps have even given the butterfly hair bow a boost. You see, Olivia gets 2 M&Ms every night that she makes it through the whole day without pulling down her hair. So we must notice and complement the hair. Which is why I juiced up the pink butterfly barrett. Just a touch.

Olivia, your hair looks very nice. I hope you got your M&Ms.

Curiosity

Do you remember being curious about everything? I do.

This is an old building at my Grandmother's. It has housed tools, honey, boxes of books and quail egg incubators. At least that's what I can remember from childhood. It was always very tempting to push open the door and go look inside. There was always something interesting in there.

The cute little pixie peeking in the door is my niece Olivia.

She was curious about what was in there.