Cookbooks are scrapbooks, really...
Monday, July 30, 2012
Day 28: Flowers
I know.
Ho hum...
These are roses I found in a greenhouse at a restaurant that my friends Kim and Bryan took me to for breakfast on Sunday morning. Such a relief to be able to post something besides my fraggledy old flowers!
Ho hum...
Day 27: From a distance
Okay, is it just me or are you all now singing that song?
"From a distance
You look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance
I just cannot comprehend
What all this fighting is for
From a distance
There is harmony
And it echoes through the land
And it's the hope of hopes
It's the love of loves
It's the heart of every man..."
"From a distance
You look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance
I just cannot comprehend
What all this fighting is for
From a distance
There is harmony
And it echoes through the land
And it's the hope of hopes
It's the love of loves
It's the heart of every man..."
Thank you, Nancy Griffith and Bette Midler.
Here's my submission:
This is the horse we see in the pasture off the road on our way to Miles City, EVERY trip. In fact, we worry when we DON'T see him. He's a landmark that moves around a little and everyone thinks he's THEIR horse.
I've always wanted to stop and take his picture, but we're always in a hurry, so on my way home from Billings yesterday afternoon, I took a few minutes.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Day 26: Close-up
And, unintentionally, when I blew the little seeds, they turned into....bokeh! YES!
Day 25: Something pink
It didn't say to find something pink AND adorable, but I DID!
There should be bonus points that offset the deductions for using old photos in previous posts....
Day 23: Sunflare
Obviously older, but one of my favorites....especially the sun in his eyelashes and the droopy diaper!
In which the Underground Bookclub Meeting and Visiting Author Party happily coincide, resulting in a good time for one and all...
That may be the longest blog post title I've ever done!
I have no idea what prompted the hilarity, but I love the smiles!
Angus is VERY serious about his food. For my foodish friends, the menu was:
Beef fajitas, Spanish rice, empanadas (Traci...recipe? Please?), fruit salad (Thanks, Marisa! Wish you had been here!), buttermilk salad, homemade ice cream and a full bar. We discovered that afternoon that it was National Daiquiri Day...yes! As one of my friends said, "It would be unpatriotic NOT to commemorate the holiday." We are nothing, if not patriotic...
Frank and I sat in the kitchen and discussed Brittanies and old books, two topics that I'm pretty passionate about. Meanwhile, in the living room....
The bookclub discussion was rolling right along without me! Dang! If only there were two of me...
(A-a-a-n-d all my readers breathe a collective sigh of relief that THAT is not possible...)
It's good to stretch oneself, don't you think?
I'm frantically trying to catch up on blog posts, so this event actually happened a week ago, but I'm just getting time to sit down and pull my thoughts together. Deepest apologies for the post barrage...
Our little bookclub decided that we'd continue meeting in the summer. Traditionally, we've had one book for the summer that we all read, but didn't meet until September to discuss it, taking the three summer months off essentially. But we miss each other. We need a reason to get together that our husbands will agree is legit. So far, it's been patchy, but at least we're trying!
I happened to have the June read and knew that Homer, Linda and Frank would be here in July (when we discuss the book) so I chose Sky of Stone, the last book of Homer's autobiographical trilogy. I think it's his best book and often overlooked. If you have the chance to read it, Sky of Stone by Homer Hickam...write and let me know what you think. (That makes it sort of an extension of bookclub, doesn't it?!)
We had scheduling difficulties.
We're so very jumpy about fires and storms that when we read the forecast the morning of the scheduled dinner, we decided to move it to the following Thursday. It turned out to be one of those 104 degree days, so we just stayed inside the air conditioned house instead of picnicking like we usually do. Traci and Anne were the only ones who could make it, but they were essential: Traci had appetizers and Anne had margaritas and daiquiris. Yes. It would not have been a party without them, you can plainly see!
*Disclaimer: Wayland took all the pictures because I was busy being the hostess and testing daiquiris.
Angus shows EVERYONE this ratty old sticker book. There are no stickers IN the book because he put them ALL on the wall in his room. I despise stickers....
I have no idea what prompted the hilarity, but I love the smiles!
Angus is VERY serious about his food. For my foodish friends, the menu was:
Beef fajitas, Spanish rice, empanadas (Traci...recipe? Please?), fruit salad (Thanks, Marisa! Wish you had been here!), buttermilk salad, homemade ice cream and a full bar. We discovered that afternoon that it was National Daiquiri Day...yes! As one of my friends said, "It would be unpatriotic NOT to commemorate the holiday." We are nothing, if not patriotic...
Frank and I sat in the kitchen and discussed Brittanies and old books, two topics that I'm pretty passionate about. Meanwhile, in the living room....
The bookclub discussion was rolling right along without me! Dang! If only there were two of me...
(A-a-a-n-d all my readers breathe a collective sigh of relief that THAT is not possible...)
We visited as long as we possibly dared, wishing the evening could be just a little longer...
I think in the future, we should start the shindig around 1 p.m. in the afternoon. Maybe 9 hours would give us a good start.
The next morning, when I got up, there was Maggie sitting in front of her goodies from Homer and Linda. She looked very sad and I couldn't figure out why...had she lost something? broken something?
"What's the matter, baby?" I asked.
There was a deep sigh and then she said, "I MISS 'em."
We all do.
Until next year!
Day 20: Bokeh
I know.
What in the world?
I was hoping it was a type of food from India or Thailand, but no...
Bokeh is the weird little background lights that appear in photos like little hanging, shiny dots.
I couldn't get one, try as I might, this time, but I remembered one I accidentally shot a couple years ago.
Am I eliminated from the challenge?
What in the world?
I was hoping it was a type of food from India or Thailand, but no...
Bokeh is the weird little background lights that appear in photos like little hanging, shiny dots.
I couldn't get one, try as I might, this time, but I remembered one I accidentally shot a couple years ago.
Am I eliminated from the challenge?
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Cows
I know.
It's not the blog challenge.
I'm working on catching that up this evening!
The yearling heifers are in the pasture next to the house, here, and are a constant source of amusement to me. Think: eighth grade girls. They like excitement...of any kind. It might be something like a sagebrush blowing or a bird landing on the fence; one of them will notice something amiss and they all throw their tails and noses in the air and run. Together. Like one big, black bovine mass. They don't know WHERE they're running or WHY, but it's deliciously scary to run from something. However, it occurs to them that they're running away from something that has potential to be interesting to examine and they throw on the brakes and trot back; heifers are ALSO notoriously nosy. (Have you noticed? It's all drama...)
They're beautiful little cows, unencumbered by the responsibility of raising calves, (oh, yes...that's NEXT year) and they tickle me to no end if I'm not trying to move them to another pasture or get them through a gate. We laugh at them because there won't be a yearling in sight...really!....and the minute we start feeding the bums, they appear from out of nowhere to watch the goings on. (You can see how exciting it is, to live in Cohagen; we watch the cows, they watch us.) And of course, they're in a group. They are looking for action, hoping for action, but so far we've been pretty lame in that department. There's really not many ways to jazz up bottle feeding, you know?
This morning, though, the dogs and cats followed me around, down next to the barb wire fence.
This showed promise.
They pretended not to know what a cat was, even though they've seen them every day around here. (Apparently, it was a slow day for sagebrush scares...)
Hoping, hoping for something to happen...anything...
My camera "scared" them, so they have to run away from the cow-killing eye or whatever they thought it was...
Pretending to notice the cat for the first time in their LIVES...
Elizabeth the cat has a very low tolerance for cows.
Don't you think this heifer just wants to snuffle up the cat's fur?
They're disappointed that the cat didn't do something scary.
The cat is practically rolling her eyes, can you tell?
Oh, well...better luck at the evening feeding...
This picture is for Shelly, who likes cow's eyelashes. I, myself, like their top knots and their sweet little cow lips and nose.
Yearlings really are pretty, I think. And so silly.
It's not the blog challenge.
I'm working on catching that up this evening!
The yearling heifers are in the pasture next to the house, here, and are a constant source of amusement to me. Think: eighth grade girls. They like excitement...of any kind. It might be something like a sagebrush blowing or a bird landing on the fence; one of them will notice something amiss and they all throw their tails and noses in the air and run. Together. Like one big, black bovine mass. They don't know WHERE they're running or WHY, but it's deliciously scary to run from something. However, it occurs to them that they're running away from something that has potential to be interesting to examine and they throw on the brakes and trot back; heifers are ALSO notoriously nosy. (Have you noticed? It's all drama...)
They're beautiful little cows, unencumbered by the responsibility of raising calves, (oh, yes...that's NEXT year) and they tickle me to no end if I'm not trying to move them to another pasture or get them through a gate. We laugh at them because there won't be a yearling in sight...really!....and the minute we start feeding the bums, they appear from out of nowhere to watch the goings on. (You can see how exciting it is, to live in Cohagen; we watch the cows, they watch us.) And of course, they're in a group. They are looking for action, hoping for action, but so far we've been pretty lame in that department. There's really not many ways to jazz up bottle feeding, you know?
This morning, though, the dogs and cats followed me around, down next to the barb wire fence.
This showed promise.
They pretended not to know what a cat was, even though they've seen them every day around here. (Apparently, it was a slow day for sagebrush scares...)
Hoping, hoping for something to happen...anything...
This is how they look when they're REALLY checking you out; nose up, ears alert, tail ready to go.
My camera "scared" them, so they have to run away from the cow-killing eye or whatever they thought it was...
A-a-a-n-d they're back, because they just remembered the cat who is more intriguing than the camera is scary.
It's good to have perspective.
Pretending to notice the cat for the first time in their LIVES...
Elizabeth the cat has a very low tolerance for cows.
Don't you think this heifer just wants to snuffle up the cat's fur?
They're disappointed that the cat didn't do something scary.
The cat is practically rolling her eyes, can you tell?
Oh, well...better luck at the evening feeding...
This picture is for Shelly, who likes cow's eyelashes. I, myself, like their top knots and their sweet little cow lips and nose.
Yearlings really are pretty, I think. And so silly.
Monday, July 23, 2012
And just like that, he's SIX!
My son had a birthday, last week.
A BIG one; the now-I-can-go-to-Maggie's-school birthday!
He wanted to go swimming, have a super hero theme, the Incredible Hulk on his cake (which was to be white with white frosting; what's THAT about?) and open presents that contained LEGOs. All these things happened!
(I know...the kids cannot believe I pulled off TWO parties that actually looked like parties, either. Once every 10 years, babies...it's a long, long time to wait for another super hero party. But if I save the leftover decorations, I'm halfway there, right? Can you imagine Angus's 16 year old face? This could be really fun...)
The obligatory singing of the birthday song...
(I didn't take pictures of the magnificent crepe paper streamers hung above the table! Drat.)
Birthday boy, making a wish (for more LEGOs) and nearly toppling the Hulk with his enthusiastic blowing!
Cake'n'ice cream, with Ben telling the whole party about the super hero movie...the Avengers?...I think. Maggie looking like she's going to contradict his "facts" even though she knows nothing about it.
Hope it's more sharp little plastic pieces to scatter around the living room, down the hall, under the stove...
This picture makes me laugh! See the beautiful teen age girl in the midst of the kids? That's Haley, who ALSO had a birthday on July 20th (her seventeenth) and who spent the afternoon with kids significantly younger than her without pained sighing or rolling of eyes, even when we all went to the pool! We didn't even PAY her to do so!
Travis and Jen Pluhar just had their third baby, Sydney, and Maggie got to hold her and feed her. This was such a precious moment! And NO matter how much you beg, dear girl, you ARE NOT getting a baby sister. You can just borrow Payson and Katie's once in a while.
A BIG one; the now-I-can-go-to-Maggie's-school birthday!
He wanted to go swimming, have a super hero theme, the Incredible Hulk on his cake (which was to be white with white frosting; what's THAT about?) and open presents that contained LEGOs. All these things happened!
(I know...the kids cannot believe I pulled off TWO parties that actually looked like parties, either. Once every 10 years, babies...it's a long, long time to wait for another super hero party. But if I save the leftover decorations, I'm halfway there, right? Can you imagine Angus's 16 year old face? This could be really fun...)
The obligatory singing of the birthday song...
(I didn't take pictures of the magnificent crepe paper streamers hung above the table! Drat.)
Birthday boy, making a wish (for more LEGOs) and nearly toppling the Hulk with his enthusiastic blowing!
Cake'n'ice cream, with Ben telling the whole party about the super hero movie...the Avengers?...I think. Maggie looking like she's going to contradict his "facts" even though she knows nothing about it.
Hope it's more sharp little plastic pieces to scatter around the living room, down the hall, under the stove...
This picture makes me laugh! See the beautiful teen age girl in the midst of the kids? That's Haley, who ALSO had a birthday on July 20th (her seventeenth) and who spent the afternoon with kids significantly younger than her without pained sighing or rolling of eyes, even when we all went to the pool! We didn't even PAY her to do so!
Travis and Jen Pluhar just had their third baby, Sydney, and Maggie got to hold her and feed her. This was such a precious moment! And NO matter how much you beg, dear girl, you ARE NOT getting a baby sister. You can just borrow Payson and Katie's once in a while.
After that, we went swimming and THEN....
BONUS!
We went out to Beth's house to play with cussins, eat pizza and watch a movie!
(I had to pick up 4 months worth of People magazines; what richness!)
It was a good birthday for the boy.
And now he can go to Maggie's school.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
No Air
I've been thinking about this for awhile, now.
You know; when I'm not thinking about quantum physics or global warming or molecular biology...
I never hear any Air Supply songs any more.
Why IS that?
I mean, all sorts of awful things from the 80's has "come back" to haunt our children as retro-cool, but Air Supply hasn't shown back up on the culture radar. (That, and banana clips, which I'm hoping NEVER do.)
I'm telling you, if ever we needed syrupy, sentimental love songs, it's now!
There's angry rap, get-offn-my-truck country, political reggae for heaven's sake, alternative Indie music that I really can't seem to define, and yes...bless their hearts...Bon Jovi is still alive and well. There's still teen-idol music, blue grass, the blues and the Black Keys. There's gospel music and contemporary Christian music...good stuff there....but no sappy love songs.
What I think is remarkable about Air Supply is that they put out love song after love song....whole ALBUMS of them...and people kept buying it. I don't know about you all, but when I've heard one Air Supply song, it holds me for a while. A LONG while. I'm not sure I could handle 8 of them in a row or whatever they put on an album. It would take me a year to get through.
But still, I kind of miss them, you know?
When I hear an Air Supply song, I'm INSTANTLY eleven years old again, listening to Brenda Thomas's boom box in her room in their trailer, it's hot and we're bouncing off the walls from all the Mountain Dew. Nothing touches a dramatic girl's pre-teen heart like a good, overdone love song. Except maybe a horse.
So, for your listening pleasure, and because I really think they need to be heard again,
here is a link to one of my favorites...well, it was one of my favorites when I was eleven:
Enjoy!
Don't watch the videos...just close your eyes and sway.
:)
Lost in Love
AND....
just in case you're feeling REALLY nostalgic and can handle buckets of drama...
All Out of Love
You're welcome.
You know; when I'm not thinking about quantum physics or global warming or molecular biology...
I never hear any Air Supply songs any more.
Why IS that?
I mean, all sorts of awful things from the 80's has "come back" to haunt our children as retro-cool, but Air Supply hasn't shown back up on the culture radar. (That, and banana clips, which I'm hoping NEVER do.)
I'm telling you, if ever we needed syrupy, sentimental love songs, it's now!
There's angry rap, get-offn-my-truck country, political reggae for heaven's sake, alternative Indie music that I really can't seem to define, and yes...bless their hearts...Bon Jovi is still alive and well. There's still teen-idol music, blue grass, the blues and the Black Keys. There's gospel music and contemporary Christian music...good stuff there....but no sappy love songs.
What I think is remarkable about Air Supply is that they put out love song after love song....whole ALBUMS of them...and people kept buying it. I don't know about you all, but when I've heard one Air Supply song, it holds me for a while. A LONG while. I'm not sure I could handle 8 of them in a row or whatever they put on an album. It would take me a year to get through.
But still, I kind of miss them, you know?
When I hear an Air Supply song, I'm INSTANTLY eleven years old again, listening to Brenda Thomas's boom box in her room in their trailer, it's hot and we're bouncing off the walls from all the Mountain Dew. Nothing touches a dramatic girl's pre-teen heart like a good, overdone love song. Except maybe a horse.
So, for your listening pleasure, and because I really think they need to be heard again,
here is a link to one of my favorites...well, it was one of my favorites when I was eleven:
Enjoy!
Don't watch the videos...just close your eyes and sway.
:)
Lost in Love
AND....
just in case you're feeling REALLY nostalgic and can handle buckets of drama...
All Out of Love
You're welcome.
Rancherese...additions to the glossary
1. "I think we'll let 'em stand for a bit..." -translates to "Get on your wheeler and get those cows moving, now!"
2. "You wearin' THAT?" - my choice of corral garb is either a. too light for the conditions, b. too heavy for the conditions, c. too bright for the conditions or d. not enough pockets for all the shtuff I'll be needing to tote around.
3. "You said you were goin' to town? Right away?"- I sure hope you didn't have anything planned because I need you to stick around until I get the part off the swather and my list of gotta-have-by-5-p.m. things.
4. "Stick your head out once in a while and look for...(smoke, the white pickup, the cow with the #148 yellow tag, cumulonimbus clouds)" - bring your dishes outside, because you need to be scanning the horizon with your Leupolds every 3.68 minutes. Conservatively.
5. "Be here at 8 or so..." - be there by 7:25 and ready to roll.
6. "Have you heard from...?" - call them and find out what the h-ll is going on, then report back to me around 8 or so.
7. "It's no big deal." - I'm trying not to wring your neck with my bare hands, so step back and don't say a word. (This one is mine. Seriously. Out in the corral, everything is a big stinkin' deal.)
2. "You wearin' THAT?" - my choice of corral garb is either a. too light for the conditions, b. too heavy for the conditions, c. too bright for the conditions or d. not enough pockets for all the shtuff I'll be needing to tote around.
3. "You said you were goin' to town? Right away?"- I sure hope you didn't have anything planned because I need you to stick around until I get the part off the swather and my list of gotta-have-by-5-p.m. things.
4. "Stick your head out once in a while and look for...(smoke, the white pickup, the cow with the #148 yellow tag, cumulonimbus clouds)" - bring your dishes outside, because you need to be scanning the horizon with your Leupolds every 3.68 minutes. Conservatively.
5. "Be here at 8 or so..." - be there by 7:25 and ready to roll.
6. "Have you heard from...?" - call them and find out what the h-ll is going on, then report back to me around 8 or so.
7. "It's no big deal." - I'm trying not to wring your neck with my bare hands, so step back and don't say a word. (This one is mine. Seriously. Out in the corral, everything is a big stinkin' deal.)
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Day 17: Technology
Love my MP3 player!
Right now, (not in this picture) my new download is the Uncaged album by Zac Brown Band.
Particularly, The Island Song.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I hear a pina colada calling my name...
*Guess what tomorrow is? That's right folks; the one I've been waiting for....SHOES!!!*
*Stay tuned!*
We're FIREMEN!
It's fire season, here, in a big way.
There was a fire last night at a neighbor's house and fires on the news, everywhere. Montana burns, with the incredible heat and lack of rain, lightening storms and sparks from machinery. We're all jumpy and cautious; any little wisp of something in the air causes phone calls and concern.
This morning, Maggie spotted a tiny little smoke plume in the south and ran in all breathless to tell me about it. I tried calling the Farmer, but he was moving cows and couldn't answer, so we just kept an eye out for a little while.
In the meantime, Maggie got organized and formed a fire fighting crew.
I KNOW.
I had the hardest time not laughing at these very serious fire fighters with helmets and everything!
The helmets are very versatile...water buckets when finding a flame, lunch bucket when needing refreshment.
Yes, that's a cowboy hat on top of the helmet.
You're never fully dressed without a cowboy hat.
Especially in times of peril.
Oh, do you see the war paint?
I have no idea why they did that, but it really is black ash from campfires past and seems to lend them a note of authenticity.
The plan is this:
Spend the night out in the yard, taking turns being on guard watching for fires.
They're gathering "supplies" right now.
Updates to follow...
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