Natural Wonders

This summer I’ve been lucky to see a lot of natural beauty around me. I took a kayak day trip down a beautiful river with friends, looking up at gorgeous cliffs. And just yesterday I returned from 10 days on the road from Iowa to upstate New York and many cool places along the way. One of our first stops was South Bend, IN so I could check out Brain Lair Books and just to be in former Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s homeland. We had a delicious dinner there and then went onward across the country. Near Buffalo we veered over to see Niagara Falls for the first time. I’d only thought of this as a major tourist attraction and was delighted to behold the actual beauty of the water and the power it held. It roars over the edge but before that as you walk over the bridge you witness an almost ethereal blue color in the water. It was difficult to leave but the masses were starting to descend and we spent all of our vacation trying to keep ahead and away from the crowds.

We witnessed another amazing wonder at the Watkins Glen State Park in upstate New York. This gorge is a beautiful masterpiece carved into rock from erosion. The layers are striking as the waters rush through from up top. We hiked all the way up which took us behind two waterfalls and many, many wet steps up. It took us half the morning to climb up and then we spent the rest of the afternoon on a rental boat in the south side of Seneca Lake looking up at the rolling hills and waterfalls. Our trip out into the lake was cut short when a rainstorm rushed us back to the marina but we had fun tooling around on the boat and jumping into the chill lake in the time that we had. Some of our group went horseback riding into the hills and others traveled into the town of Corning to enjoy museums. Vacations are like that; there is something for everyone. Including wine slushees and Grateful Dead cover bands – thanks Hazlitt Vineyards. We had a fantastic time exploring the great outdoors and when we had to go indoors we masked up.

June; thank you so much.

Wow – this month has flown by. Groovy Girl and I started the summer off with a road trip to Denver, Co. We stayed with family and just had a lovely time. We hiked in the area and saw deer, bison + baby bison, and pronghorns. From Iowa, it is about an 11-hour drive and we did it in 2 days.

Our favorite things were Sushi Ronin, Little Man ice cream both in the Highland area of Denver and I loved the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse and we both loved hiking at Chautauqua in Boulder, walking the 16th Street Mall, and dipping our feet into Boulder Creek. We also had a great afternoon hanging out in Washington Park just enjoying.

We had dinner with friends and family we have not seen for years and it felt great to reconnect. It is very important to keep lines of communication open in friendships and family circles. If not nurtured in some way they can easily wither away. Sometimes that can even mean a place and I definitely enjoyed connecting with Denver/Boulder again and I’m happy my daughter loved our experiences as well. I wished on the trip that I’d had the foresight to take each child on a high school road trip. There are a lot of skills learned on a road trip that you don’t get if you take a 4-hour flight to the same destination. Different lessons. The talking and the navigation were the best parts; I’m trying to teach her to put down the phone as we drive so she can look out the window and daydream, think or just unwind. Unplugging is a huge challenge for all of us with smartphones.

This trip was also a challenge to myself. I used to make this trek back and forth frequently when my son was younger and the trip was longer because I was often driving back to Minneapolis/St. Paul or Rochester area. I wanted to prove to myself that I could still make it happen and get myself around. And I did it. Bravo to me. My life can now continue!

I’ve been lucky enough to call a variety of states home but Colorado will always hold a very special place in my heart. As we drove into the state and you can see your first glimpses of the mountains in the distance; my daughter said “hello mountains; its been too long”. I agree. Our souls are better now.

And then I’m just as happy when my little black Prius pulls us back into our little corner of Iowa and we are home; happy to sleep in our own beds and kiss the ground with happiness for a safe trip.

Reading and Recipes

(source)

I made yogurt this weekend after one failed attempt. Truth: It takes the whole damn day-you’ve got to be prepared for that and I don’t always have a full day to spend with yogurt so I try to sandwich it between things which is why every once in a while it doesn’t work for me. This time I had one failed attempt-stayed milk-poured it right back into the Hansen’s jug used by my husband for his morning cereal. Second time-score-creamy, happy yogurt ready for my morning breakfast.

I also made a curry dish today and soaked chickpeas for the recipe. I found the cauliflower chickpea recipe on The Wholesome Fork and read about the proper method to soak chickpeas on Inspired Taste. I like it when I can prepare a whole meal without opening a bunch of cans. I used fresh tomatoes and some leftover coconut milk saved in a jar in my fridge. It was good and spicy and there’s enough left for lunch tomorrow. While blog surfing I found this great post about my chickpea love just a few months ago.

I picked up a book, Shadow Mountain; a memoir of wolves, a woman, and the wild by Renee Askins, from one of my TBR piles that I’d purchased a few years back while visiting Yellowstone National Park. Nonfiction is not my thing but I loved Terry Tempest Williams’ book Refuge and she is mentioned twice on the back cover blurbs. I’m sure that’s what inspired me to purchase Renee’s book at the Yellowstone gift shop. I’m more than 1/2 way through and I love her story. It makes me feel a little guilty because while I was goofing around in Denver, Co, causing trouble, going to Dead shows, Askins was living her passion, striving and working hard to reintroduce wolves back into Yellowstone. A life well-lived. My passion came later; a late bloomer as my mother loves to say. If you love being in nature, the call of the wild, I highly recommend both books!

Have a good week. We’ve got some changes happening here at our home/sanctuary and I feel I’m going to feel 1000 % percent better when it happens. Ciao!

Where is Spring?

{Source}

It’s been cold, rainy, super windy here. For awhile. I need some sunshine and heat. I want to get out and walk outside around a big pond while the birds are chirping. I want to poke my fingers into dirt and plant a few seeds.

Every morning I wear my winter coat still to work. Today I actually didn’t need it when I walked out the door after school. Halleluja. But then I had things I had to get done and I’m left just gazing outside. I can hear a bird chirping loudly every few minutes. His chatter seems to say “Where is Spring?”

Now that I’m done with my inside meetings and appointments I’m headed outside for a quick run around the block, some stretches in the cemetary park across the street, and maybe, just maybe I’ll have some time to get some seeds started in my starter pots. For now I leave you with this springtime poem.

Spring

By William Shakespeare

When daisies pied and violets blue

And lady-smocks all silver-white

And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue

Do paint the meadows with delight,

The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men; for thus sings he,

Cuckoo;

Cuckoo, cuckoo: Oh word of fear,

Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,

And merry larks are plowmen’s clocks,

When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,

And maidens bleach their summer smocks,

The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men; for thus sings he,

Cuckoo;

Cuckoo, cuckoo: Oh word of fear,

Unpleasing to a married ear!

It’s Shakespeare…

Does he mean married men are mocked because it is Spring?

I don’t know. I like the rhythm of the poem though. Enjoy!

Signs of Spring

{new fountain addition}

It’s been a glorious weekend. We had exciting events to attend to and the weather stayed fairly nice all weekend. I have tulips popping up in my front garden that my mother and I planted late fall. I worried that the massive population of squirrels that reside in our front yard had dug up the bulbs but nope, there are 10 tulips plants springing up! Joy!

This afternoon my husband completed a fountain project that has been two summers in the making. Do-it-yourself projects often run long here but they always get finished. Tonight we dined outside and the fountain bubbled happily behind us. I love the sound of flowing water; it breaks up static energy or maybe provides good feng shui for my environment. We spend a lot of time outdoors in the spring and summer and I know this fountain will be a draw. We have a popular bird feeder that sits near the fountain and I think the birds will enjoy the fountain as much as we will. Our kitchen table sits facing a window that looks out on the back yard and the pond will be in our view. We need a few more rocks around the edge of the pond and Groovy Girl says we need more fairies. Naturally.

Weekend Cooking; Cupcakes!

Yesterday was the big birthday party. Each year a lot of thought goes into what to do for birthday parties at our house. When our older two were younger we had kite-flying parties, bowling parties, coffee shop soirees, and sleepovers. Groovy Girl takes it to a whole new level, naturally. Her themes have ranged from a penguin party (everyone wore black and white), a tie-dye party, a fairy garden party, and an art-themed party with a scavenger hunt downtown. This year she wanted it outside (this was NO surprise as all her parties are outside) and she wanted to bike, have a scavenger hunt, and do a craft. She called it an outdoor craft party.

This year’s scavenger hunt was in a nature area that all 5 girls biked to and instead of collecting the items from her dad’s long list they snapped a photo of it with her tablet. She turned the photos into a quick little slide show so they could “prove” they found the items. Everyone worked together to find the items and within an hour they rode their bikes back to me, waiting at the picnic shelter. We had pigs-in-a-blanket, salt & vinegar potato chips, grapes, and carrots.

{Groovy Girl is in the tutu!}

Their craft was button-making as my husband has a button-maker! They were able to pull objects from the area or magazines to create one-of-a-kind buttons. Each of them made 2-3 buttons and then we ate cupcakes.

I made the chocolate cupcakes from this Martha Stewart recipe. They were very easy and I would use this recipe again. Groovy Girl picked out a lemonade frosting from her So Sweet cookbook. We didn’t like it even before we put it on the cupcakes because we didn’t know what else to do. She was frosting them Saturday morning right before the party. I want to try the recipe again with much less shortening and more marshmallow fluff.

As it was the frosting tasted like plastic with that weird shortening aftertaste. NOT what we were looking for; plastic tasting lemonade. She did decorate them nicely with lemon zest and a tiny straw end poking out like they could drink it-which, of course, a few of them tried to do. We have a few remaining cupcakes from the dozen and I plan to knock off the frosting, dollop some of the real whipped cream leftover from her pancake birthday breakfast and enjoy the cupcakes anyway.

In case you want to give it a go:

lemonade filling {73-74, Sur La Table’s So Sweet)

1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
1 1/4 cups marshmallow cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp lemon oil (I didn’t use)
1 tsp lemon juice (I used about a Tablespoon instead)
1 package (.23 oz) lemonade drink mix (optional) (we used it)

Place the shortening and the cream in the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment. Cream them together on medium speed for 4 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl. Place the powdered sugar in the bowl, starting on low speed to incorporate. Increase the speed to medium and beat for an additional 4 minutes. Add the lemon ingredients and beat 4 more minutes.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click over and read other food-related posts.

Happy Sunday!

Sunrise Service

(Groovy Girl and Teenage boy share a quiet moment)

My alarm went off this morning at 5:30 am as it has for the last 5 Easter mornings. I got dressed in my overalls and a warm sweater and woke my two children up to do the same. I went down and warmed up the car, made sure we had blankets and a pile of hats and mittens. My husband and his merry band of teens lead the service so he’s been up since 4 am getting ready for early risers to arrive at this beautiful spot at a nearby state park.

The fellowship (the doughnuts and hot chocolate) makes the early morning bearable for the teenagers.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Especially to the man who gets up early to get it all organized:

The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman

It begins:

The town of Blackwell, Massachusetts, changed it’s name in 1786. It had been called Bearsville when it was first founded in 1750, but it quickly became apparent that a name such as that did little to encourage new settlers. True, there were nearly as many black bears in the woods then as there were pine trees, but there were also more eel in the river than there were ferns sprouting on the banks. You could stick your hand into the murky green shallows and catch half a dozen of the creatures without using bait. If you ventured in waist-high you’d be surrounded in moments. Yet no one considered calling the village Eelsville…(1)

and so begins the reader’s journey into this small village in the woods. The bears, the eels and the weather all play into the theme of man vs. nature. The book is filled with short, connected stories about the town’s inhabitants; some of the events are linked and some are not but they all take place in Blackwell and they all demonstrate how small towns emerged all across this nation.

Hallie and William Brady lead the first expedition out of Boston with several other adventurous families and Hallie quickly becomes their champion. William turns out to be a worthless salesman. Each story goes forth often reminding us of a previous story by some note or wisp of gossip about the crazy town founders.

I found each story delightful-Hoffman’s writing is vivid and descriptive and each character human. There is a magically element with mermaids,, a garden graveyard, and one or two ghosts creeping about the riverbanks but nothing every small town doesn’t already have!

Alice Hoffman makes it on to my favorite author list! We read this for our November book club choice and it was not everyone’s favorite but other’s put it up there with Stockett’s The Help. Happy Reading!

Other thoughts:

The Halifax Reader
Just Joywriting
Smallgood Hearth

Ivy + Bean; What's the Big Idea?

by Annie Barrows + Sophie Blackwell
(2010)

From the book:

“It’s Science Fair time at Emerson School and the kids in Ms. Aruba-Tate’s class are supposed to find a way to cool down the earth. Some kids are making litterbug-eating robots. Some kids are holding their breath for a very, very long time. But what should Ivy and Bean do? Somehing with explosions? Something with ropes? Or maybe something…different.” (inside front cover blurb)

Ohhh, we positively glowed and giggled while we read this book! I won this special copy from a giveaway a few months back (a signed copy!) and Groovy Girl and I read it together. We’ve loved the six other Ivy + Bean books and this was no exception-and in fact this may have been our favorite. We liked that best friends, Ivy and Bean, focused their attention on the science fair project and ways to help the earth. This book is a fantastic introduction to global warming and how solutions are hard to find. It will take more than just one or two ideas from one or two people. It will take many of us, working together, using multiple solutions but certainly alerting future generations to the concept is a great start.

After a dull presentation by several fourth graders, the students in Ms. Aruba-Tate’s classroom are curious about polar bears and their habitat loss. Taking advantage of a teachable moment, Aruba-Tate turns the upcoming science fair into a global warming fair. Every other student team easily decides on a project while Ivy and Bean are long on ideas but none that work. We enjoyed how they kept problem-solving, brainstorming and generally thinking outside the box until they finally come up with the coolest idea ever! I hope Barrows and Blackwell have other books cooking as this one is a hit. Any age person will love reading this newest addition of second graders, Ivy and Bean.

We can all help…Do what you can, one step at a time. Buy some reusable sacks and leave them in your car for grocery shopping. Even better find some second-hand canvas bags and reuse those as grocery bags. Do your laundry at night when usage is low or dry your clothes outside now that the weather is just beginning to warm up. Barrows includes a list of Save-the-earth ideas at the back of the book. Highly Recommended.

Quick Quote:

“Think-how do you cool down a hot thing?” asked Ivy, “Ice cubes! If we could put ice cubes up in the sky, the air would get colder, right?” “Right,” said Bean. “But how are we going to put ice cubes in the sky?” asked Ivy. “Well, in real life, they’d probably have to drop them out of airplanes, but for the science fair, we could just throw them up in the air to show what we mean.” Bean slapped her hand on the table. “Great idea! And easy, too!” (47)

Other excellent reviews:

Kathy @ Bermudaonion
first daughter @ There’s A Book