PUZZLE UPDATE ~~ WHAT'S HAPPENING AT TAHOMA CEMETERY ~~ ARTY PHOTO OF THE WEEK ~~ PARTING SHOT

PUZZLE UPDATE

I haven't given an update lately on how the jigsaw puzzles are going. We received several new ones for Christmas, and we were glad of that because we had already done our favorites at least twice. One of the new ones is titled "Kitchen Cupboard" and is by our favorite puzzle illustrator, Colin Thompson. We are currently working on this one, which has been a lot of fun.

Lots of little surprises in this one

Right after Christmas, Linda put together the other Colin Thompson puzzle that she got, entitled "The Bizarre Bookshop #2." I wasn't able to help her on that one because I was busy getting our new computer set up and transferring our iTunes music over to it. Anyway, the next time we do that one it will be like a brand new puzzle to me!

In between the two Colin Thompson puzzles we worked on this one below. I gave Linda this for Christmas because it is tradition that she get a flamingo every year. It was only 100 pieces, so it didn't take long. It is a beautiful picture, though.

Fanti and Mingo, perhaps?

Speaking of Christmas, below is a picture I took the other day of a snowflake ornament that I had neglected to take off of our plum tree in the front yard. I noticed it one day when I was sitting in the living room and saw a glint of something sparkling outside.

Christmas reminder

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT TAHOMA CEMETERY

This past week we took a walk at Tahoma Cemetery to get out of the house and smell some fresh air. Plus, we were hoping there might be some photo opportunities. It was cold but we decided we had to do it anyway. Linda got a couple of good pictures right off the bat. Below is one of them, a picture of lavender which I have named "Snowburst."

Snowburst

The second picture below is Linda's other photo, a nice close up of some rose hips. I took a picture of some of these same rose hips back in October. It is interesting to see how they have changed.

My picture from October

Linda's picture from January 27

I searched around for something to take a picture of that might be interesting. After all, we were in a cemetery so there wasn't a lot happening there. We walked down to the Japanese Garden area and saw that there has been some additional work done there since we last walked the cemetery, back on December 6th. Concrete has been poured to make a walkway up to a square area. We don't know what this is going to eventually become, but it looks inviting. At least the area is taking shape into something besides a weed patch!

Of course there were plenty of Canada geese at the cemetery. I'm not sure why they seem to like it there because there aren't any large bodies of water around. Maybe they like the big trees. Or maybe they just find it a nice place to get in some exercise.

Yoga, anyone?

ARTY PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Linda has been taking some fabulous close up shots lately. She took this one below on our walk at Randall Park a couple weeks ago. I think the colors and textures of this photo earn it the spot this week for our "Arty Photo."

Interesting bark

PARTING SHOT

I have been wracking my brain trying to think of some way to get a picture of Summer Girl when she isn't asleep. That is quite a challenge this time of year because she sleeps all the time. I couldn't come up with anything today, so I am going to put in a picture of her that was taken in about 2009. Here she is modeling her sweet little purple name tag that Emily got for her. It, and the collar, didn't last long. She got out of it three times. The first time someone found it and put it on our front porch, the second time we found it in our yard, and the third time it was gone, never to be seen again. I guess she didn't really like it.

She had an attitude, even back then

That's all for this week, be sure to check us out again next week!

A COLD WALK ~~ UPDATE ON THE FERMENTATION ~~ WHAT'S NOT THERE ~~ RESPITE ~~ PARTING SHOT

A COLD WALK

The wintertime seems to be a time for just hanging around the house, especially when you are retired. The weather here in Yakima is not conducive to being outside at any point in time, so we tend to hole up inside, huddled under blankets. But we do try to get out and take a walk in Nature about once a week. This past week we ventured out to Randall Park again, just because the pond is there and it makes for good photo opportunities. We both had our cameras in hopes that there would be some willing subjects to photograph. We pulled up in the back parking lot, got out of the truck, and were immediately spotted by the welcoming committee. Sound up on these videos below or you are missing out!

We proceeded on around the walking path to the pond viewing deck. There were a lot of ducks out on the pond at that time, and we both remarked on this one little duck swimming around that didn't look like all the others. He was also letting out the cutest little peep, so I had to video him. He's an American Wigeon. We also saw another duck who didn't look like the rest, a Manky Mallard, so I grabbed a video of him. This Manky Mallard is swimming alongside a group of domesticated Mallards (click here for info on the interesting Mallard duck), and it is easy to see the difference in their coloring. The Manky Mallard is a crossbred species of the domesticated wild Mallard, and appears in a variety of colorings. As we looked on around the pond, we saw a pair of very vocal geese serenely floating along (you can hear them in the background of the other videos, it is the African Geese).

The American Wigeon in the video above is a male in his non-breeding, winter colors. During the breeding season he has a very colorful bright green head. Below is a picture of both the male (bottom) and female (top) of this species.

American Wigeons

I belong to several nature groups on Facebook, and I am constantly amazed at all the wonderful close-up pictures that are posted there. I always envy these photographers their extreme close-ups where you can see the individual feathers of a bird or the individual scales of a butterfly. I am constantly trying to take close-up pictures to achieve this goal. Usually my focus is way off and the individual feathers are not discernible. However, I did manage to take this picture below of a male Mallard duck, and you can actually see some of the feathers (if your screen is large enough). It's not perfect, but it's a start.

Love those feathers!

Another photography goal is to take some good pictures of birds in flight. I have tried to do this numerous times, but I am usually too slow and I either get a blurry picture, or I wind up getting a picture of just air, as I missed the birds completely! However, I did manage to get a pretty good picture of two Canada Geese in flight.

Coming in for a landing

Never one to miss an opportunity to take an "arty photo," I snapped this shot below of a cattail that was growing at the edge of the pond. At this point, my fingers were just about numb so we decided to walk on around the park and then head back home.

This week's "Arty Photo"

UPDATE ON THE FERMENTATION

I started fermenting my two jars of sauerkraut on January 3rd, so the other day I figured that two and a half weeks was probably long enough. I took off the tops and tasted each batch and they were both good. It didn't seem like they were as fermented as previous batches, but I do believe that I used the wrong salt this time. Anyway, it was good enough so I treated myself for lunch that day to a sausage wrap with my homemade sauerkraut. Next up in the fermentation experiment is kimchi. I will post pictures of that when I get it going.

Umm, homemade sauerkraut

WHAT'S NOT THERE

In the photos and video above, I am focusing on what's there...what is present in the picture that I find interesting enough for me to photograph it. You can also look at things another way, though. You can focus on what's not there. This means your focus is on something that is usually in the picture, but isn't there in the photograph you are taking. When you see these types of pictures, you automatically expect to see certain things, but then you notice that something is missing. These types of pictures are usually highly personal, as the general public may not know what is missing. Linda is really good at looking at things this way, as evidenced by these two photos below. Can you guess what is missing from each picture?

RESPITE

In the midst of a dreary winter it is always nice to take a look back at previous days, when the scenery and weather were more inviting. In the process of learning how to move video over from the old PC computer to the new iMac computer, I came across this video I shot last March when we were in Carpinteria for Dad's memorial.

PARTING SHOT

Summer Girl has enjoyed sitting in the window this winter and watching the birds from the relative comfort of being inside the house instead of outside in the cold. She is thankful every day that she became our "part-time indoor" kitty.

Birdwatching

That's all for this week, my friends. Join me again next week for more!

JUST ONE OF THOSE BLOGS ~~ REMINISCING ~~ PARTING SHOT

JUST ONE OF THOSE BLOGS

Sometimes when I sit down at the computer to work on my blog I have no idea what to write about. This is one of those times. The weather here has been dreary and cold, with not much snow since Thanksgiving. I remember when we first moved here in 2007, I was so amazed by the wintertime. It was way colder than I had ever seen in North Carolina (below zero? You're kidding!). Usually there was lots of snow, but the days would be extremely sunny. Now, for the past two or three winters, we have had very dreary days, and very little snow. To me, snow is the reward we get for the awful cold that we have to endure. But our reward has been lacking for at least two winters now. The reason I'm telling you all this is to try and justify the fact that I haven't taken any pictures this past week to put in the blog! But have no fear, my sweetie has come through to save the day! Without further ado, I am going to share with you some pictures that Linda took with her new camera, on our last nature walk a couple of weeks ago at the Arboretum.

Some kind of alien pod?

I just love this picture because of the way the background is blurred out so that the seed pods are the main focus. I often try to achieve this effect with my camera by manipulating the depth of field, but it doesn't always work. So, I am jealous of Linda for taking this picture.

Close-up

In the photo above we have a dried seed head. Upon looking at this picture, the first thing that popped into my head was "joy." The little stems around the outside resemble arms thrown up in the air, signifying pure delight. I doubt that is what the plant had in mind, but it's where my mind went. I tried to find out what kind of seed head this is, and the only thing I could come up with was some type of thistle. I think it is beautiful.

From the ground

Beauty can also be found right under your feet, if you look for it. This picture is a nice study in different shades of brown. The contrast in texture from the underside of the leaf on the right to the top side of the large leaf in the middle adds an extra layer of interest to the photo.

Look for it

How many of us would just walk past a piece of wood on the ground and not even notice it? But here we have a picture that focuses on the knot in this wood. It makes you wonder how it was formed...was it where a branch was attached to the tree? Or was it the result of some kind of injury to the tree? There is no way for us to know, but it is good to wonder. If you can see this picture on a large screen, there are tiny little lines in the wood, possibly caused by the bark that was once on this branch. To me, those lines make the branch look like it has skin on it, and in some places the lines look almost like the swirls on fingerprints. It's funny how you can make up all sorts of things about a simple picture of a dead branch on the ground.

Bridge over what?

Near the bird blind at the Arboretum is this small bridge. It spans a small "creek" that sometimes has water in it. That brings to mind something that I noticed about the West when I first came out here. Westerners are prone to name anything that ever in the history of the world had running water in it a "creek" or "river." It doesn't matter if this running water existed YEARS ago and is no more...it still gets to be called a "creek" or "river." I remember remarking to Linda about the numerous bridges we would cross over supposed "rivers," and the ground under the bridge was dry as a bone. She said that there was once water there, maybe only when it was the rainy season. To me, coming from the South, this was incredible! I don't know of any creeks or rivers in the South that do not have running water all the time. This was a good example to me of the difference between the very wet Eastern part of the country and the very dry Western part.

REMINISCING

The lackluster days of winter are a good time to reminisce. I've been doing a lot of that lately as I have been trying to transfer old pictures and video from our PC computer to the new Apple computer. Since I have about 8 years worth, that is a lot of data to be transferred. This gives me the opportunity to look at the old stuff and decide if I want to bother with moving it over to the new computer. Once I had sorted through a small part of it and exported it to my flash drive, I imported it onto the new computer. Then I discovered that my old video is not compatible with the video program on my new computer...at least, not yet. I am hoping that Apple is developing an upgrade that will remedy this situation. At least I am able to get my video from the new computer onto YouTube. After having said all that, I would like to share with you some video I made in August of 2016.

PARTING SHOT

Summer Girl's place of choice during the dreariness of winter is on the big bed. She wasn't very happy with me this morning when I went in there to take a picture of her for the Parting Shot. If looks could kill...

That's all for this week, see you next week!

LEFTOVERS FROM LAST WEEK ~~ A LITTLE SNOW ~~ PARTING SHOT

LEFTOVERS FROM LAST WEEK

Last week I didn't have enough time or room to post everything that I had intended, so I will carry it over to this week's blog. Most likely you are wondering what in the heck those things are in the photo below. They look like some kind of alien pod. You can probably guess that they have something to do with cooking. They are egg cups, which are used for making poached eggs primarily in the Instant Pot. They can also be used to make mini-meatloaves, egg bites (similar to the ones they make at Starbucks), mini-cakes, etc. So far I have just made poached eggs in them, but I will definitely be trying the other options as well.

Alien pods?

One of the presents I got on Christmas was this DIY Fermentation Kit from Em, John and the girls. I currently have a couple of jars of sauerkraut fermenting. I posted a picture on Facebook last week and got a comment requesting a video of the process. Since it takes a bit of time to go through the process, I am just posting pictures instead of a video.

DIY Fermentation Kit

The kit (shown above) consists of a beautiful Acacia wood tamper, 5 glass weights, and 5 silicone airlocks. The glass weights are the exact size to fit into a wide-mouth Mason jar, and the silicone airlock is sized to fit inside a wide-mouth Mason jar ring.

Glass weight and silicone airlock

First thing you do is shred your cabbage and then mash it down with the appropriate amount of salt (according to your recipe) with the tamper. The cabbage will release its liquid after tamping it for a while.

Tamping will build up your arm muscles!

Next, you pack it into a jar and press it down with the tamper until the cabbage is underneath the liquid. You have to put a cabbage leaf on top to help hold the shredded cabbage underneath the liquid. I made two jars and on one I used a torn cabbage leaf and on the other I used one that I cut down to size, just to see how they'd do. One jar has just cabbage and salt, and the other jar has cabbage, salt, and some garlic flakes. After you place the cabbage leaf on top, you put in a glass weight to hold everything down under the liquid. Then you place on the silicone airlock, screw on the jar ring, and you are set to go. The silicone airlock has a slit in it so that it can periodically release the gas that is going to build up in the jar from the fermentation process.

Tiny slit in the airlock to release gas

The jars should be kept in a cool, dark spot for 3 to 6 weeks, at an optimal temperature of 65-70 degrees. I can't make sauerkraut in the summer because it is just too hot in the house for it to ferment. So I plan on making enough this winter to hold me over through the summer. It will keep in the refrigerator for a long time.

You can see a bit of foaming, which means it is fermenting

Another new thing I got for Christmas was a 6" Bundt Baking Pan. It is so cute and tiny! Why on earth would I want a 6" baking pan? Well, it's to use with my Instant Pot (also known as "IP"), of course! I tried baking in the IP with my regular 6" pan, but the middle did not get done, so I got the bundt pan to remedy that. I tried it out for the first time on New Year's Day when I made cornbread in it, using the fresh yellow stone-ground corn meal that my friend sent me from North Carolina. It turned out to be delicious, and went so well with the Hoppin' John and sautéed kale.

Hoppin' John & Cornbread from the IP

Not all of my presents had to do with cooking (although that's my favorite thing), some of them had to do with drinking, LOL! Linda's sister gave each of us one of these cute glasses with elephants on them. Anybody who knows me well (and has seen the display rack in our dining room), knows that I love glasses of all kinds. These glasses really fit the ticket, and we have used them repeatedly for our gin & tonics and also beers.

Pink elephant for Linda, green elephant for me

The big (huge) present of the day was my new computer from my honey! Our old PC is about 8 years old and was starting to act up, so we bit the bullet and replaced it. I am still learning how to use the new set-up, but so far it blows my old PC out of the water! The new one is an Apple computer, so it is somewhat different from a PC, but the basic principals are still the same. You will most likely be seeing more interesting videos posted, as the program for making movies is far, far better than what I had on the PC. I am now able to do my blog without getting frustrated 15 times!

The new rig

I was determined to get outside on a nature walk last week, so we managed to go to the Arboretum for a short walk, even though it was very cold outside. I wanted to check out the bird blind, and I was happy to see that repairs had been made on it and there was bird seed available to feed the birds. I got a few shots of the usual suspects (sparrows, juncos, chickadees), but my best shot was of this squirrel, who posed pretty for me to take his picture.

Munching out

A LITTLE SNOW

We finally got a nice snow this past Tuesday (about 2"), a week late to give us our White Christmas, but we'll take it. It was beautiful to watch it falling. Below is a short video I took while it was coming down. Look closely and you might be able to see the snowflakes. Sadly, it is starting to melt now.

PARTING SHOT

Yesterday while I was learning how to take pictures and videos off my camcorder onto the new computer, I kept getting interrupted by a little fuzzbutt who was constantly meowing for attention. I finally put her outside. She was not happy and glared at me through the kitchen window.

Trying to look pitiful

That's all for this week, see you here again next week!

BLOG POSTPONED UNTIL TOMORROW

Due to the fact that my honey gave me a new computer for Christmas, my blog is going to be posted tomorrow instead of today because I am still learning how to use it. So bear with me on this, I hope to have it posted by noon tomorrow. We shall see! Keep your fingers crossed!!

Oh, by the way, we had a nice snow yesterday. Here is a picture of our spruce tree in the front yard.

'TWAS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS ~~ PARTING SHOT

'TWAS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I know that we certainly did! We even had a smattering of snow on the Sunday before Christmas. Too bad it didn't wait a couple of days and fall on Christmas Day, but we were happy to at least get some. Linda and I both have always delighted in having it snow on Christmas Day, as neither one of us saw that happen until we moved to Yakima. I am not sure, but we may have had snow on the ground for one or two Christmases when I lived back in North Carolina, but if we did it was only an inch or so. I don't believe it ever snowed on Christmas Day. Since we moved to Yakima, we have had quite a few Christmas Days where we actually had snow, and some of them we even had a gracious plenty of the white stuff! At least that's how it used to be in years gone by. Last year we didn't have much snow all season, and so far this year we haven't had much. It's too early to say for sure if this is a trend. Now that we are both retired, it can snow all it wants to and we will be content and warm inside our little house!

Snow on December 23rd

One of my favorite things during Christmastime here in Yakima is when Linda's sister comes over to spend Christmas with us. She has made the trip over here many times over the past 11 Christmases. Linda and I decorate the tree before she arrives, but we save the hanging of the lights around the inside of the house until after she gets here. There is always a lot of talking and laughing as we hang lights everywhere we can, and Linda and her sister take many walks down memory lane.

Panorama shot of our living room

On Christmas Eve we open our stocking gifts, which usually generates more laughter and walks down memory lane. The night is filled with wine, gin, music, laughter...and lots of love. Christmas morning is more laid-back as we all arise at different times. There's always coffee to be had first and foremost, then a "fend-for-yourself" breakfast. After everyone is up, coffeed and fed, we commence with the opening of presents. It seems like every year we all tend to go more and more overboard with the presents. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The Three Musketeers

Christmas Morning

As always, we had lots of fun opening presents. I don't want to bore anyone with a long list of presents received, but I would like to highlight just a few. Linda usually gets a flamingo ornament from my sister each year. This year my sister decided to send something else (more on that later), so I was determined to get Linda a flamingo of some kind. Did I have any trouble finding a flamingo way up here in the Pacific Northwest? Affirmative. Did I manage to somehow find SOMETHING with a flamingo on it? Absolutely. To my surprise, Linda's sister also got her a flamingo item. Below is a  picture of the kitchen towel from her sister, and the puzzle from me.

I received lots of wonderful presents, but there is one that is a little out of the ordinary. Every year, my BFF from back in North Carolina sends us a box full of presents for both of us. The last two years she has included a bag of cornmeal. To most people, that probably sounds like an odd gift, but it is one that I cherish. This isn't your ordinary cornmeal. It is fresh, stone-ground, yellow cornmeal...ground so fine that it is almost a powder. The cornmeal we buy in stores around here is very coarse, akin to polenta. It's okay, but it is definitely not what I was used to. I am grateful that my friend sends some for Christmas so we can enjoy some good ole home-made southern cornbread. And we did, on New Year's Day.

The BEST cornmeal ever!

Cornbread on New Year's Day (to go with the Hoppin' John)

There were many more presents of note, which I plan to touch on in future blogs. However, Linda probably received the most unusual present of all, from my sister and her partner. Instead of a flamingo this year, they sent her Lil Bub, and it is the cutest thing you ever will see. Of course, you have to know the story of Lil Bub to appreciate the gift. Click here to go to Lil Bub's website and read all about this amazing cat that is actually an alien. Well, she isn't actually an alien, but she's pretty close.

Bub is a special needs cat that who has managed to survive and thrive despite many, many physiological disorders. Not only has she thrived, but she has raised over $300,000 to benefit other special needs cats. Click here to read the amazing story of Lil Bub.


Of course, all that hanging around the house opening presents and drinking wine & gin does tend to get to you after a while (not really), so lots of walks were in order for Linda and her sister. I was usually tied up in the kitchen, (anyway I can't keep up with them!) so I passed on the walks. It was pretty chilly outside so they had to suit up in snow pants and puffy jackets.

Is that a Carolina Panthers coat?  Yes!  Yes, I believe it is!

During the holidays we were diligent in our efforts to keep our little birdie friends well fed. However, we didn't count on feeding one particular bird. Linda spotted him outside on the ground and at first she thought it was a squirrel. That would be amazing in itself because I think I've only seen one squirrel in our yard since we moved here. I grabbed my camera, and by then Linda had gotten a better look and informed me that it was a hawk! Here's a picture I snapped of him through the window before I went outside and chased him off. I will spare you all the video that I took as it did not make me happy. But he is a bird, and like Linda's sister said, "Everything has to eat."

Cooper's hawk or Sharp-Shinned hawk?

So, now we've come to another New Year. It is hard to believe that we have seen 12 Yakima New Year's Days! Time surely seems to move so fast nowadays. I find myself dragging my feet just to slow it down (nod to Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game"). I hope this new year brings us all a little less sadness than we had last year. 2018 was a rough one. But there were many bright spots as well. I guess we have to take the bad to help us to appreciate the good.

PARTING SHOT

Summer Girl was keeping a wary eye on Florence the Flamingo in the days leading up to Christmas. Even though she knows Florence is a bird, she's an awfully big bird...and Summer Girl's not sure she could take her in a fair fight.

See you all next week!