Gingerbread Houses at the Grove Park Inn 2011

At the Grove Park Inn, holiday decorations have been put in place.  The Christmas trees are up, the wreaths  hung and once again it is time for the Annual Gingerbread House Contest. The winners were announced this past week and all the houses are on display in the public areas of the Inn.  Competition was fierce this year from bakers all across the country and the results are pretty amazing!

Grand Prize Winner Ashley Howard, Winter Springs, FL

To celebrate the winners here is some interesting gingerbread trivia to go along with the pics -

~It is a tradition to wait until New Years Day to eat your gingerbread house.~

~Gingerbread houses decorated bakery shop windows during colonial America's Christmas holiday.~

Second Place Adult Heather Lewis. Austell, GA

~Crusaders brought the spice ginger to Europe from the Middle east in the 11th century.~

Third Place Adult Barbara Evens and Mary Jo Dowling,Edlesten, IL

~The original gingerbread was a rough paste of rosewater, stale bread crumbs, ground almonds, sugar and ginger.  The bread crumbs were replaced by flour and finally int he 17th century molasses was added to the recipe.~

First Place Teen Carly Owens, Swannanoa, NC

First Place Youth Lydia Gentry, Hendersonville, NC

First Place Child Abby Adkins, Kodak, TN

Wishing everyone stateside a wonderful Thanksgiving. See ya next week!

Mosaic Monday

Our World Tuesday

Ruby Tuesday

Rednesday

Roadside Humor

Tina's Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday

Outdoor Wednesday

Feathered Friend

Wordless Wednesday
 Outdoor Wednesday 
Camera Critters
Photo Hunt - Two

I am having a drawing just in time for the holidays on my other blog.  The give-away is the new book Awkward Family Pet Photos from the web site of the same name.  Just drop by Cats of Wildcat Woods and check it out and leave a comment saying you want in!  Good luck!

Dona Nobis Pacem 2011

November 4 is BlogBlast for Peace which began in 2006 with a small number of blog posts promoting peace.  Today thousands of blogs across the globe post for peace on this day.  This is my peace post for 2011.

I am fortunate to live in a very beautiful part of the country and whenever I feel the need to stop the world and get off, I only have to take a hike in the woods behind my house, gaze across the pasture at the ponies and goats, take a short drive to the mountain peaks nearby or just stroll in my garden and inhale the fragrances.  Nature is my energy source, my calm in the storm, my contact with the Great Spirit.  I hope you enjoy these photos of my world and the peace quotes below them. May you walk in peace.

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."  - John Muir 

 

"If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace." - Thich Nhat Hanh

"Peace is always beautiful" - Walt Whitman

"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."  - Black Elk