WISE WORDS...

Said the river: imagine everything 

you can imagine, then keep on going.

~Mary Oliver~

MONDAY RECIPE - SHEET PAN TILAPIA WITH VEGETABLES

Always on a hunt for a recipe to add fish into our meals, I found this one at Two Men and A Little Farm.  There are other recipes on their website and I look forward to trying more.  We made it last week and it was excellent.  It calls for Tilapia but as our supermarket didn't have any that day, we substituted cod instead.

Sheet Pan Tilapia with Vegetables 

4 tilapia filets, wild caught whenever possible
1 lb. green beans, cut and trimmed
2 cups of cherry tomatoes
Olive Oil
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 lemon 


Preheat the over to 425 degrees F. 

Put the green beans, tilapia filets and cherry tomatoes on a sheet pan.  Drizzle olive oil over the green beans and the tomatoes but not the tilapia.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over all.

In a small bowl mix together 1/4 cup unsalted melted butter, 3 cloves minced garlic and the juice of half the lemon.  Spoon the mixture over the tilapia to thoroughly coat.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and turn the beans and tomatoes so that they get evenly roasted.  Put the pan back in the oven for another ten minutes.  

Using oven gloves, carefully move the pan to the top rack of the oven and turn on the broiler on for about 5 minutes.

Check to see that the fish flakes easily with a fork.  
Place the fish and the vegetables on a plate and use the remaining half of the lemon to squeeze juice over the fish.  

Enjoy.  

The host of this blog has put very nice  photos at the link I have given above.

One of our friends was staying with us for a few days and this what we served up for dinner.  We all enjoyed it very much.  I wasn't very careful transferring all the fish so mine was broken up somewhat.  Didn't detract from the taste though.   Our beverage was a cup of tea still being sipped on from before, and a glass of white wine.  Not a very formal table setting, just comfortable and we ate at the kitchen table.  We  did not use any honey so the wooden honey 'spoon' was still lying there from breakfast time.  

GRIZZLY BEARS AT DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE

A few more photos my nephew took when we were in Denali last month.  

This was our bicycle chaser.  If you missed it you can read that story by scrolling down at this link. And over the hill he went.  

The following photos are of a mother and cub digging at the side of the road, either for roots or grubs?  I forgot to ask as there were lots of excited people on that bus.  They hadn't long awakened from their winter hibernation - the bears too - and must have been very hungry. Sorry, I could not resist that little joke.  

I could not believe that the bears were only a hop, skip and a jump away from us.  No one asked to get off the bus!  I doubt the driver would have allowed us anyhow, or at any time for that matter, this having taken place after the bicyclist incident.

The smaller bear didn't seem that much smaller than his mother and I wondered how old he was.  I read that cubs stay with their mothers for two to three years.  You can read more information here.

These videos are not that great, especially in the third one as I took a very good minute or two with the bar on the window but I wanted to show the cub making its way down the hill as he sank into the snow.   These videos were all taken with my cell phone.

DON'T FORGET...

"Don't forget to take time to smell the flowers."

Thank you for visiting and also for leaving those very welcome comments.  We have had lots of company this month but I will be catching up with you very soon.  

Have a great day everyone!

SON AND DAUGHTER-IN-LAW'S TRIP TO SAN DIEGO COMIC CON, AND MEETING THE STAR TREK CAST

Our son and daughter-in-law have just returned from their annual trip to Comic Con in San Diego.  They always have a great time, attend  Comic Con and then have a few days to look around San Diego and Los Angeles.  They said I could share so above you can see a photo of them meeting the cast of Star Trek: Discovery, which will soon be showing its second season.  They had spent a long time waiting for everything to open up, and early in the a.m. the actors came around handing out doughnuts to people in line.  Son and daughter-in-law said they were great and fun to talk to.  Anson Mount is a new addition to the crew.  He plays Captain Christopher Pike, the role that Jeff Hunter had years ago.  Doug Jones in the first photo also played the Amphibian Man in last year's Shape of Water.

Another favorite place they go to is the San Diego Zoo.  This time the flamingoes were having babies, and there were eggs on mounds, tiny chicks and larger chicks walking around.  They stayed for a long time near the flamingoes.  They also were interested in the Baboon enclosure where there were two factions at war with each other.  They said the noise was horrendous but it was more posturing than anything else and they soon went their separate ways.  There were a few babies there too.  They also enjoyed Otis the hippo who was born in the 70s.  Otis put on quite a show under water apparently.  

They went no further!

Another favorite of theirs is Coronado where they always have brunch at the Hotel Del Coronado.  

We used to take our son there as a little guy when we lived in San Diego.  When we had visitors we always took them for brunch at the hotel. 

 This is their house they said and laughed. Maybe in our second lifetime.

These photos brought back a lot of great memories, as we also loved walking around Coronado all those years ago.

My thanks to the Star Trek cast for stopping by and making their day.

WISE WORDS...

If I had the power to turn back the clock,

Go back to the house at the end of the block,

The house that was home when I was a kid,

I know that I'd love it more than I did.

If I could be back there at my mother's knee,

And hear once again all the things she told me,

I'd listen as I never listened before,

For she knew so well just what life had in store.

And all the advice my dad used to give,

His voice I'll remember as long as I live,

But it didn't seem really important then.

What I'd give just to live all over again.

And what I'd give for the chance I once had,

To do so much more for my mother and dad,

To give them more joy and a little less pain,

A little more sunshine, a little less rain.

But the years roll on and we cannot go back,

Whether we were born in a mansion or in a shack.

But we can start right now in the hour that's here,

To do something more for the ones we hold dear.

And since time in its flight is traveling fast, 

Let's not spend it regretting that which is past,

But let's make tomorrow a happier day

By doing our "good to others" today.

~Author Unknown~

RANDOM PHOTO OF...

a bee on St. John's Wort

MONDAY RECIPE POST - ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD

Looking for a main course salad I found this one at Skinnytaste.  To see all the info its host Gina shares, you will find it at this link.

Italian Choped Salad - 2 servings at 271 calories per serving.  

Change or add vegetables (or meat) to suit your own taste.  Of course the calorie count will change with the adjustments.

4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1/2 cup peeled English cucumber, cubed
1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
Sliced red onion
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
1/2  roasted red pepper (in water), chopped
1 ounce genoa salami, sliced
6 tablespoons shredded part skim mozzarella

Toss the lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion with oil and vinegar.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Top with roasted red pepper, salami and mozzarella.

Serve and enjoy!  

Check out the link above for all the nutritional information.

A very nice salad, thank you Gina!   We added sliced radishes, and as we have leftovers for tonight I am adding sliced garlic stuffed green olives.

WISE WORDS...

Simply give others a bit of yourself:

A thoughtful act,

A helpful idea,

A word of appreciation,

A lift over a rough spot,

A sense of understanding,

A timely suggestion,

You take something out of your mind,

Garnished in kindness out of your heart,

And put it into the other person's mind and heart.

~Charles H. Burr~

THE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IN WASHINGTON DC

About three weeks' ago I shared that we had met family members in Washington DC.  They were only visiting for a few hours and we went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  

The African bush elephant is in the main lobby as you enter the museum.  He is a favorite of mine and is named Henry (not sure how he got his name).  Henry comes from Angola originally.

Two rodents below, a Mara and an Armored Rat.

The crab below looks like a King Crab, could be a prehistoric one, I'm not sure.  We are in the marine life area.

Below is a display of Tiger Cowries.  They are placed on the map where they were collected.

This tropical sea snail lives on coral reefs throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from ankle deep waters to 30 feet (9.1 m) under the ocean's surface.

Below is a photo of a photo in the same display.  It shows what one looks like if it were alive.

The adult snails don't travel very far but their tiny larvae drift on currents, accounting for the species staggering geographical range. (All my information comes from the display.)

We went through the dinosaur exhibit briefly, and I managed to get a photo of a couple, the Tyrannosaurus...

and the Triceratops.

There is a live insect exhibit and the mural is at its entrance.

We were heading to the butterfly exhibit which I posted here.  

I didn't take too many photos of the insects but will share these.  It was crowded. 

These are White-spotted Assassin Bugs of west and south African origin.

The only other photo I tried to take was of a Pink-toed Tarantula, but it came out so blurry it is hard to tell what it is.  If you aren't adverse to looking at big hairy spiders, you can go to this link to see what it looks like, or not!  As mentioned it was very crowded with lots of curious children, so we went onto the butterfly exhibit where we were heading to in the first place.  I have already provided a link to those, but to save you scrolling up I will repeat it here.  That was crowded too but we didn't mind waiting in line.

We passed through another exhibit where a life-size Narwhal was hanging from the ceiling.  There was a sculpture in the same area.

Its description is below.

Another sculpture...

and another description.

One more photo from the museum, a cartoon showing that though we have different names for everything, the scientific name stays the same.

The rest of my photos from this day were taken outside.  Let's start off with a yellow hibiscus.

Normally I would have taken many more photos of this pretty...

but I stopped at three.

And one pretty purple flower.

Nearby is a large water fountain that is used as an ice-rink during the winter.  We were happy the spray of the water was cooling us down.

 It is surrounded by lampposts.  

There is a banner of artwork hung from each one.

Across the street is the 

National Archives Building.

By this time we are making our way back to the car.  I see one last thing that I wanted to take a photograph of, so that I can remember to go there next time we take a trip into the city.  

Once we got back to where we had parked our cars, we said goodbye to our family and each started for home.