Quiet thoughts

To everyone who comes to visit this site, I wish all the best to each and every one of you.

I'm having an extremely quiet morning here at the house, and am enjoying a mimosa for breakfast.

Later on, we may go out for a walk but bay-bee, it's cold out there!

This is a little volunteer impatiens that I found blooming in the aloe pot I keep in the kitchen window. Click to enlarge. It's a cheery little sight as the sun comes in the east side of the house.

Morning treat

When I awoke early this morning, the windows in the bedroom were covered in frost. The wind had howled all night long and inside was just a little chilly, especially up in the bedroom. We use blankets to keep warm at night, to cut down on the heating oil.

I ran downstairs to get my camera, smelling the delicious scent of coffee emanating from the kitchen. God, I love that smell.

I'd like to thank you all for your kind comments on Sunday's post (below). I've been busy cleaning all day and then made dinner and am just sitting down for a well-deserved rest.

I like cleaning and polishing (to an extent) and am proud of how nicely the house gleams. Our eldest son comes by train from NYC tomorrow afternoon and I can't wait to see him again. Our youngest son may not make it out by Christmas Eve, but you never know with him. He just may surprise us. And we'll see him on Christmas Day for sure.

A present came via FedEx today. Although we both agreed that we would not exchange gifts this year, SOMEBODY couldn't help himself. And all I had gotten him was a card. Oh, bugger!

Readers are urged to head on over to Kacey's blog, Wine on the Keyboard, to vote in her Photo 2008 Contest. Beginning last March, Kacey has had a contest every month and each month's winning photo has been presented. You can vote for up to 3 of your favorites.

Disclaimer: I am not asking you to vote for mine. It's just a fun thing to do, plus there are a lot of beautiful and fun entries. So go ahead and vote!

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Our own private table

Thanksgiving at our house was a quiet affair this year. And understandably so.

My husband isn't quite ready to be with crowds of people, even if they are all family. It's just a little much right now for him.

And so we elected to stay home and have our own private meal. George is here, as is our cat Blackie, but other than that, it's just us and the birds and squirrels.

Our sons are having the Big Meal over in NJ with the rest of the family today and I'll miss all that, it's true. I talked to both of them today and our youngest was just out here for a quick visit yesterday.

I have no idea where my silver candlesticks are, so I'm using my backups here. It's a plain table setting, but I'm happy with it.

I'll tell you what the best part of the day was. It was coming downstairs at one point this morning, and smelling all these wonderful scents emanating from the kitchen. And then walking into the pink-countertopped kitchen and seeing my husband steaming the chestnuts and frying the sausage for the stuffing and well, I haven't seen him doing this for quite some time now.

It was a beautiful sight.

I hope that those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful day.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Another day, another chardonnay

Continuing on with my husband's idea for taste testing several different chardonnays from the Russian River Valley in California, it's me, the wine dork, again.

I'm doing all the taste testing as he is looking at me, with amusement, mind you, down the reading glasses on the edge of his nose.

Well, this was your idea, my husband dear. And this afternoon on this glorious Sunday in Maryland, I'm having a glass of 2005 Martin Ray Chardonnay.

Today, I'm using my favorite tasting glass from Barboursville Vineyards in Virginia. It's just the right size.

Our guest bottle stopper for this tasting is one I purchased at the gift shop at the above-mentioned winery.

It's an old drawer-pull that was fashioned into a wine bottle stopper and it's also another one of my favorites.

Readers should note that for a real wine review, they should go elsewhere. I'm just a girl, who's having some wine, and asking it to love her.

What the hell?

The first thing I notice about this wine is that it rhymes. "Martin Ray, Chardonnay".

Chalk one up, so far. You should all know by now how much I like rhyming.

The winemaker notes that this 2005 Russian River Valley Chardonnay begins with rich aromas, highlighted by fresh peaches, apples and vanilla. It also notes that the wine's superior structure and balance has a backbone of crisp apple, peach and creamy vanilla flavors that continue flawlessly on to a ripe and elegant finish.

Yum. And I can't agree more. This is the perfect afternoon drink to sip as I sit outside on my front porch with a good book and a little knitting project that I'm working on.

It would also be excellent paired with a succulent dish of fresh lobster tails with a rich butter sauce.

Chalk up about another 20 more, then.

On my own personal wine scale, this one gets an 8 on a score of 10.

Signing off here for now, and until tomorrow my friends . . .

Forever the dork,

A little tune I hum

I was strolling through the fields one day.

In a not-so-very-merry way.

I was taken by surprise

by a pair of bright green eyes.

While strolling through the fields one day.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

My favorite colors

I took a walk this afternoon in the autumn chill. George loved it, but got hit on the tail end by a falling walnut at one point. He probably thought I did it!

I love the colors of autumn and found these leaves to share with you.

I'm still wearing the big boo boo bandage on my finger, and even though I type a lot for a living, it's amazing how my middle finger has taken over and is now in charge. If I could write poetry, I'd write an Ode to My Middle Finger. In this poem, I would lament the things for which I've used this digit in my past. Like the time the trucker in the 18-wheeler tried to run me over. He backed off after I opened the sunroof of my Volvo and used my middle finger on him. I don't do that sort of thing anymore, however.

But I would like to publicly thank this hardworking finger. It's taken over and has earned my respect.

Back to the colors of fall, however. Black and white is also one of my favorites.

Do you see that tail wagging? Oh yes, this is a happy dog.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Today's quickie

Sometimes you feel like a nut.


Sometimes you don't.

My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.

~ Cary Grant

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

A feather and a compliment

Let me begin by saying that I've been up for hours. Hours, I tellya and I still haven't gotten a lick of housecleaning done. Saturday mornings, for me anyway, are for housekeeping chores. And I actually rather like turning something messy into something shining and fresh. But I do tend to put it off. Um, like today. So far I've accomplished drinking 3 cups of coffee, with half and half. I love half and half. No flavored stuff for me, thank you. And never. Ever. Ever. Skim milk. I'd rather drink my coffee black. But here I go digressing.

I've also accomplished packing up 6 weeks of plastic, glass and paper stuff from the garage and taking it to the recycling center up the road. And then driving down my favorite road to a store to get the aforementioned half and half.

After that, it was time to take George on the Big Saturday Walk. I usually make this an hour and a half so he gets plenty tired and will nap while I clean. It's really difficult to tire out a border collie, however. Anyway, there we were on our walk, and we were heading towards home, down the canopy road. I've mentioned this road before here; it runs along part of the perimeter on this property, is shaded by huge trees and is wide enough for a couple of extra wide pick-ups trucks to pass each other, if need be.

What I haven't mentioned before is that exercise riders also use this road. Every Saturday, I run into at least one or two of them, riding racehorses. Sometimes they're galloping, and sometimes they're so quiet when they come up on me that I don't know they're there until they say something or one of the horses snorts loudly. And then I turn around and am surprised to see four riders right there next to me. But this morning, George was happily sniffing under bushes about 50 yards ahead of me when I noticed a solitary rider turn the corner ahead of him. I can tell the mount is skittish because the guy was patting him and began to approach very slowly.

I whistled to George, who turned towards me and then I told him to sit. Then lie. He does both as I continued walking towards him, telling him he is a Good Dog.

The exercise rider gets closer. He's riding a young horse, probably one that will race at Delaware Park tomorrow. There's a big farm nearby and I don't know if they're racehorses, or if they're steeplechase mounts. But this horse looked like it could bolt. I was at George's side now as he continued to stay down. The rider spoke gently to his horse and then said to me "what a beautiful day, isn't it?" I agreed with him. Then he said, "That's a really well-trained dog you have there." To which I replied, "thank you." He then told me that his mount was a little afraid of dogs, and he wanted to thank me for keeping him still while they passed. I told him "you're welcome", and to have a great day and then I let George off the command.

As we walked, I thought that hey, I do have a good dog. What a nice compliment. Then I looked down and saw this feather. I picked it up and saw that it was a bit dirty, but nonetheless would make a good subject for my macro lens. (Hey, this is about as thrilling as it gets around here, ya know. Newcomers need to realize this.)

So here's my feather. I took it home and popped it into a section of fence to keep it still for my picture. I usually always have my gorillapod on my camera and I wrapped a piece of it around the fence to hold it still, and voila! (Sometimes it doesn't work to click on the pictures and I don't know why. If anyone knows, help is needed.)

And shortly afterwards, my husband drove by in the gator as I was crouching down to take another mushroom picture and shook his head. Ah, well.

Have a great Saturday, everyone! It's beautiful here in Pennsylvania ~~~~

Until tomorrow, my friends.

Not the fruits of my labor

While George and I were walking yesterday evening, I came across some pokeweed. Now pokeweed isn't vile, but it is poisonous if ingested. This time of year though, I think the plant is almost pretty. Well, almost.

The first picture is a semi-mature cluster of berries. See how the stem is turning that bright purple color?

You have probably seen pokeweed. It can sometimes grow to 10 feet tall with its smooth fleshy stems and clusters of flowers that bear tiny fruit. As the fruit ripens, the clusters become heavy and drooping, resembling a grape bunch, and the stems holding the berries turn a bright red-purple.

This poisonous weed is often found in pastures, along fencerows and barnyards, in unfortunately close proximity to livestock. It's not very palatable, so most animals avoid it.

Here is a photo of the berries just beginning to burst forth from the flower.

All parts of the common pokeweed are toxic to both humans and animals. Roots are the most poisonous, leaves and stems not as severe, but the toxicity increases with maturity of the plant. Children are most frequently poisoned by eating the raw berries. Infants are especially sensitive and have died from eating only a few raw berries. So this is not a nice plant.

Above is a mature bunch of berries.

A few interesting tidbits about this roadside weed:

Supporters of President James Polk wore pokeweed twigs instead of campaign buttons during the 1845 campaign.

And more importantly, medical researchers have isolated a protein (pokeweed antiviral protein or PAP) from pokeweed that is being used to try to inhibit the replication of the HIV virus in human cells.

I just found it interesting.

Allrighty then, that's it for my little biology lesson for the day.

Until tomorrow, my friends.

The bees knees

I have missed taking pictures and writing my blog. It's cumbersome typing, but I'm getting the hang of it. For those who don't know, I cut my hand Saturday morning while washing a glass. I'll keep this short because I don't want to overdo it, after a long day at work.

Today, after I got home, I picked up the camera and held it in my hand. I thought to myself that I can do this. I put the camera strap over my head and carried it around a bit. I turned it on and it felt ok in my hand. George saw me doing all this and barked, "Let's head outside!"

So out we went for a leisurely stroll around the perimeter of our property here and I took pictures until my hand began to feel sore.

Thanks to all of you for your show of support for me and this blog. I am often astounded at how encouraging you can all be and I want you to know how much you mean to me.

I'm still posting daily on the Picture A Day Blog, so try to stop by. And click on these pictures to view larger.

As an aside, does anyone remember the saying "the bees knees"? It means "the highest quality". My mother said it now and again when I was a child and I found out it was coined around the 1920's. According to Wikipedia, one of my favorite sources for information, in the 1920's it was fashionable to devise nonsense terms for excellence - 'the snake's hips', 'the kipper's knickers", 'the cat's pyjamas', 'the sardine's whiskers' etc. Of these, the bee's knees and the cat's pyjamas are the only ones that have stood the test of time.

It's how I feel about you. You are excellent.

Just so you know, ok?

Until tomorrow, my friends.

Monarch butterfly chrysalis

I came across something interesting today to share with you. School starts today where I work and I'm excited for the new year to begin. So, in the spirit of all things educational, I'd like to present you with three butterfly chrysalises.

The jade green one is such a beautiful color!

In the picture above, the chrysalis on the right opened this morning. The monarch butterfly rested for a bit and then took off. If you look closely at the chrysalis on the left, however, you can see the wings of the butterfly inside. This one will probably open either later today or tomorrow.

These were on the porch of the main house on the horse farm on which I live. The owner was given them yesterday as a gift from a friend. Adult female monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. The eggs hatch in 3-12 days, depending on weather conditions. The larvae feed on the plant leaves for about 2 weeks, developing into caterpillars about 2" long.

After a little while, the little caterpillars attach themselves, head facing down, to a twig as they shed their outer skin and begin the miraculous transformation into a pupa, or chrysalis. This takes a few hours. When the caterpillar's done, the pupa looks like a waxy, jade vase (like the photo above) and becomes increasingly transparent as the process progresses.

And in about 2 weeks, voila! A beautiful adult butterfly emerges. But they have one more step until flight. The butterfly will inflate its wings using a pool of stored blood in its abdomen. When done, excess fluid is expelled and it rests, waiting for its wings to stiffen and dry before it flies away to begin the process all over again.

Aren't you glad you come here? Because I'm certainly glad that you do! If you'd like to see pictures of the process happening, or would like to show them to your children or grandchildren, visit the monarch picture story site. It's specifically designed for young ones. Um, and people like me.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures of the chrysalides!

Jewel Weed: The hiker's friend

This is a bloom from a tall and gangly weed that grows all around the hedgerows and borders of the woods here in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

The excellent thing about Jewel Weed is that it's the best cure for stinging nettles, poison ivy and a host of other irritating plants. I know it works because I've used it often. The stems should be broken open and the gel applied to the affected area.

Jewel Weed usually always grows around sources of water, and can also be found growing around poison ivy and stinging nettles. A sure test to determine if it's really the plant you seek is to take a leaf and push it gently underwater. The underside of the leaf will turn a liquid silver. (Hence the name!)

Oh, and if you click the link, don't mind the author. I think he's just a horny guy.

Until tomorrow, my friends.

Thank you, Renee

When my friends arrived last weekend, they brought an unexpected housewarming gift with them from Renee. Renee is Adrienne's sister. The box alone was a nice enough gift, but inside I found blueberry jam and blueberry tea.

Now, I love blueberries and blueberry jam is excellent, however I've never had blueberry tea. It sounded really strange, but I gave it a go and decided to make iced tea with it. And you know what? It's very very good. Surprisingly good, in fact.

Here's the recipe I used:

Blueberry Iced Tea

Boil 2 cups water, remove from heat

Add 3 blueberry tea bags, let steep 20 minutes

Add about 2/3 cup (or less) sugar

Stir and pour into 2-qt. pitcher

Fill pitcher to top with cold water

Serve over ice

Renee, thank you so much for the thoughtful gift. So when are you planning on coming out?

Love, Kate
Until tomorrow, my friends.