a dreary Saturday... and an earth day Sunday

Look at his little pink fingers...

This is our fat squirrel watching me take his pic...

Two of the frequent visitors to our backyard here.  Neither are too bothered by my taking their picture. 

I know that many people don't like squirrels, or possums, or raccoons, etc. Some don't even care for people feeding the birds. And I do understand that sometimes these critters can be pests... But the truth is, that we've been in this house for 33 years and we've not ever had any problem. We do feed them... and leave out water... and put out a heat lamp when the weather goes below freezing. And in return they don't go into our attic, or chew holes in things, or even disturb our garbage. I know it doesn't make sense to say that we have 'a working arrangement'... but sometimes it does seem that way. 

Registered for both my pottery and a walking class this semester. I'm not sure if this walking class is an extension of the aerobic/yoga class I took a while back... but it has the same Instructor and is given at the same time. We shall see. Classes start again in May.

The weather is cold, wet, and dreary today. I can't quite get myself motivated to do very much. Ran some errands early on, grocery shopped, made lunch (1/2 liverwurst sandwich and plantain chips), worked on Minecraft for a bit, read for a while, and now blogging. 
The liverwurst is something I haven't eaten in a long time... and thought it might be good for me. I do like it. I also started taking my 'one a day petite' vitamins... but haven't taken them long enough to tell if they will make any difference.

My youngest son, daughter-in-law, and grand daughter are in Seattle this weekend. We took them to the airport Friday. Son had some work related event and grand daughter was excited about her first plane ride. Today our DIL sent some pics from their first day. Look at the snow... and the wonderful wooded areas! 

snow up in the mountains

owl up in forested area

grand daughter by stream

Looks like they're having a great time. They love nature... and this area is beautiful!

Happy Earth Day!

from my kitchen window...

Someone mentioned at some point how much they enjoy their 'kitchen window'... and I remember thinking... "Yes! a kitchen window is a must for me too!" So much can be watched, observed, and enjoyed from one's kitchen window. I never mind washing dishes as my eyes are always entertained by the goings on outside.

One of my cousins once told me that she has her sink opened to the living area where she can watch TV while doing dishes. This while  expedient in her case, would never work for me.

Our backyard is just too fascinating to choose TV over the wonders of the outside world.  Watching kittens chase each other or mama raccoons and their babies splash and play in the large water dish is much more interesting. Sometimes the kittens, raccoons, possums, and turtles interact in the funniest ways. Watching a kitten follow a box turtle around the yard or watching 3 young cats circle around a tiny lizard that jumps at them is hysterical.  The fat squirrel that shimmies down the chain to the bird feeder makes us laugh... and the blue jays are the bullies in the backyard bird world (until the crows show up). Nothing bothers the possums... I read that they have both poor eyesight and poor hearing, so unless something is right on top of them, they don't back off. 

Anyway, on the list of *musts* when it comes to housing, it would have to be a kitchen window that opens to the yard. 

Happy Saturday!

figs, purple peppers, peach torte, and English TV...

It's the middle of July and our Celeste Fig Tree is producing like crazy!  We gave away about 6 dozen figs to friends on Wednesday and DH just picked 8 dozen more. We love fresh figs (as do the birds and the squirrels), but this tree is an over-achiever. We can't eat them fast enough (and I only like them fresh - not canned or preserved, etc.) But we have some friends that use them in various ways - so we try to give them away in bulk.

This is the second batch DH just picked. We really like the Celeste Figs. They are sweet.  We do have a Turkey Fig  in backyard, but it produces very large (not as sweet) fruit. We let the birds and squirrels have those.








BTW, are any of you familiar with *purple* Bell Peppers? Not red - purple! They also had the (what I call normal) red, yellow, orange, and green peppers - as well as these *purple* and even some *white* ones. This was at Central Market this morning.

I've been baking a bit too. Made a fresh peach torte Wednesday and a peach bread pudding with amaretto sauce yesterday. Why? Because my peaches were about to go bad if I didn't use them... as well as 3/4 of a loaf of egg bread with raisins! We had company Wednesday so the torte was eaten, but we may be having bread pudding for breakfast for a while....

On a different note, do any of you watch "Doc Martin" on PBS?  I've watched PBS shows for ages, but Doc Martin is fairly new to me.  I love the little English coastal town where the show is produced... so quaint!


A few pics:

my chick and his hatch-mate

squirrel outside front window doing acrobats to get birdseed

"Pie fixes everything" dish towel

I found this dish towel in Fredericksburg, Texas when a friend and I were there visiting a few weeks ago.  Loved it!  Says exactly what my hubby believes.  Out of the blue when we are either sitting around watching TV or doing something around the house... he will say, "I need pie!"  It has become a mantra as has "Have you pilled Jack?" (another story, another time).  Told him that I plan to write these on our tomb stones: "I need pie" on his and "Have you pilled Jack?" on mine.

The tomatoes on the Aga are from my friend's garden.  Tomatoes are apparently doing well this summer. My daughter brought some up from her garden in the hill country and my friend brought these last week from just north of Dallas. Luckily for us, we like tomatoes. I especially like them broiled with a little seasoned breadcrumbs and butter on top. They can't compare to the creole tomatoes grown down in Louisiana, but they'll do.  I did miss those when we first moved to Texas... as well as creole cream cheese, pickled meat, and other delicasies that can't be found here.

We also picked the first figs from one of our trees yesterday. There's a trick to getting any figs from our trees. They produce a lot... but between the birds, squirrels, and box turtles... we have to be quick if we want even a few.  Of course we plant the fig tree for the little beasts, so we really can't complain if they take them all.  Our yard is a certified wildlife sanctuary... and we like it that way.

Hubby just brought me some fresh made sweet tea, so I've got to go for today.  I like my new made tea warm and fresh from the brew.