Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake {From My Kitchen}

For some reason, I just feel like sharing a recipe today. This is one of my favorites (and my family loves it). It was shared with me by a friend who is now in heaven.

It’s never fail, and though it is called a breakfast cake, I always serve it as a snack cake.



Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Ingredients
½ cup butter-softened 
¾ cup sugar 
1 egg, room temperature 
1 tsp. vanilla 
2 cups flour 
2 tsp. baking powder 
1 tsp salt 
2 cups fresh blueberries 
½ cup buttermilk 
1 Tbsp. sugar, for sprinkling on top

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. 

3. Toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour. 

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt. 

5. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. 
Fold in the blueberries. 

6. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan.
Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. 

Bake for 35-45 minutes.
Check with a toothpick for doneness. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Delicious when warm, but also great the next day!

#buttermilkblueberrybreakfastcake #recipes #frommykitchen 

Saturday, August 8, 2020

Summer Watercolor

I continue to be challenged with my watercolor hobby. Seems like about the time I feel like I have made progress, the next painting feels like I’ve taken several steps backward. 

I suppose as long as I can feel like I’m farther along now than I was when I started, I should consider that I’m overall on a positive trajectory. 

Of the following pieces completed recently, I really like the full-body flamingo and the giraffe. The other pieces are just included here in the interest of being accountable and realistic, as I remind myself that I’m still at the point of “While none of the pieces are super great, still, some are better than others.”


















#watercolor #watercolorfox #watercolorflamingo #watercolorgiraffe #watercolorswallow #watercolordaisies #watercolorpractice

Monday, August 3, 2020

Recounting of My Professor’s Personal Meeting with Einstein

He always entered the classroom with dignity, walked to the front of the class and bowed his gray head in a moment of prayer, and with his verbal “Amen,” class would begin. 

I (always) sat near the front. During the silent prayer, there would be snickers from the back of the room, coming from inexperienced young people who had no clue about the wealth of experience, knowledge and wisdom to be gained simply by listening to this elderly gentleman, a sort of emeritus professor at SWBC. His name was Dr. David A. Weaver.


It was 1968, and my husband was in Vietnam. While my husband was deployed for 13 months, it was my “job” to finish my college education at the institution where I had begun, as a newly-wed in 1965. Having spent a year away from school, with my husband in USMC training, I was back on campus at Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Missouri, with two regular semesters and a summer to go, to complete my teaching degree. After that, we would finish his 3-year commitment with the Marines, on a USMC base according to his orders (Camp Lejeune, North Carolina) upon his return from the war.  

Typically an avid note-taker, in my memory from so many years ago, I often did not take notes in Dr. Weaver’s class. I simply listened with respect, aware that I was under the tutelage of a great educator, and realizing that his wealth of experience could benefit me.

One day he told of his personal experience in meeting Albert Einstein. I was mesmerized by the story. I remember thinking, “Really? I know someone who actually personally met Albert Einstein!” 

I do not remember how Dr. Weaver received a personal invitation to meet Dr. Einstein. As I recall, it was through a mutual acquaintance. Dr. Einstein asked to meet Dr. Weaver. 

As the story was recounted to my class, Dr. Weaver told of being very nervous, naturally. He tried to think of what he might say. Should he ask questions about physics? Dr. Weaver was an educator, not a scientist.



When Dr. Weaver arrived at the residence of Dr. Einstein, the scientist was comfortably dressed in a cardigan sweater with leather patches on the elbows. Immediately after greeting Dr. Weaver, Dr. Einstein said, “Walk with me.” 

Dr. Weaver recounted that as they walked outside (as I recall the story, along a landscaped hedge), Dr. Einstein said, “Now, tell me about your field, education. Tell me all about the field of education.”

Dr. Weaver shared with our class that, feeling totally at ease at that point, he enjoyed a comfortable conversation with Dr. Einstein, who was genuinely interested in a field that was “foreign” to him. He wanted to learn. 

I remember thinking that I had been given an insight into the person of Albert Einstein. I know something about him, from a personal encounter with someone I knew personally, that is not on Wikipedia. It was a personal encounter, and I was only “once removed” from that encounter. 

Subsequently I learned that in years prior to coming to the faculty of SWBC, Dr. Weaver had been Dean of the Baylor University College of Arts and Sciences. 

He was actually my Supervising Teacher as I did my student teaching that fall semester of 1968. As one of his student teachers, I was invited to his home, where he and his wife were such sweet and classy hosts.

As a student and lifelong learner, I have been blessed to have learned from many great educators.

#SWBC #SBU #AlbertEinstein #DavidAWeaver #educator #lifeexperiences