HAPPY EASTER!

 

This pretty card was sent to me from our dear friend Ann from Ann's Snap Edit Scrap. The little yellow Easter Egg came with it too, a sweet bonus to find when opening the card itself.

A perfect way to start this post.  

I love it, thank you Ann, and such a sweet sentiment!

I didn't realize when I got my post ready last week, and said I was going to let you know where we went to, that today would be Easter. I was going to share Ann's Easter card on its own, to give it pride of place. However, and not to go back on my word, here are a few photos taken. I will go into more detail next week.

We are at the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial in Lorton, Virgina, not too far from Occoquan.

The birds were being taken care of here. I saw more birdhouses nearby, and here is one of them.

Gregg took two lovely photos, of this Mockingbird...

and an American Robin. The robins are everywhere right now.

I will end my post for now and give you more on another day next week, with more information. This is just a little preview.

Happy Easter to you all, and thanks again Ann.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER

And so it goes on a Saturday Morning at the birdfeeder.

Have a great weekend everyone and hope you are getting a good night's sleep.

 

A RIDE INTO OCCOQUAN, VIRGINIA

We were looking for a place that I had read about recently. More on that in another post. I am putting the cart before the horse as we visited that and went to the town afterwards. (I have provided links all the way through giving more information.) Today's post is from the town. By the time we got there we were hungry, and we had a late lunch.

We were actually looking for a favorite sandwich shop, but sadly it was out of business. Not too far away was the restaurant we had enjoyed several years ago, now under new management. A yellow easter bunny greeted us.

The Maitre d' asked if we would like to sit on their open patio but it was a bit too chilly for us, even with the overhead heaters provided. There are also tables at the riverside. In the warmer weather that would be lovely. We fully intend to go back and do just that.

We opted for meals on the regular menu.  Our appetizer was corn fritters.

I ordered the grilled flounder stuffed with crabmeat and shrimp, with onion rings and French fries. Gregg had fish tacos which I forgot to take a photo of. No dessert today. Gregg had a coca cola and I had a glass of water, but the waiter mentioned Bailey's Irish Creme Coffee and I was sold. Dessert! It was a very good meal, and we certainly didn't need any more to eat that day!

I found these interesting to look at.

We had a very nice time as it has been a while between restaurant visits. 

Of course, there has to be some kind of plant that I took a photo of. This is Cherry laurel, also known as English laurel, Common laurel, Laurel Cherry and Versailles Laurel. Its botanical name is Prunus laurocerasus. These were in front of one of the private homes we passed by.

We both agreed that we could very happily live in one of these homes.

There are two rows one behind the other. In the above collage, in the photo on the left, the second row can be seen on either side at the end of the narrow road. Those are the homes on the river.

We continued walking. 

There are a lot of reflections but I think you can see what is on display, for the most part.

The word Occoquan is from an Algonquian Doeg word meaning "at the end of the water". The area that is Occoquan today was long occupied by the Indigenous People. Even though the Doeg Tribe split up into several sections across Virginia, they were still one Village of people.

The historic town of Occoquan, Virginia, stands by the river that bears its name in Prince William County, Virginia, 25 minutes south of Washington D.C.

In July 1608, John Smith of Jamestown sailed into the Occoquan River and was welcomed by the Doeg Indians at their settlement, Tauxenent. Just a little bit of history. The links will give you a whole lot more.

We are on the other side of the street now.

The red building used to be an all-year-round Christmas shop called The Christmas Goose. One of the places I would go to when visiting the town. I always enjoyed buying a couple of ornaments, either for gifts or for our tree. Another business was in there, but I couldn’t quite make out what was in the windows.  I will take a closure look next time. At this point we were making a bee-line for our car.

We had walked all the way on one side of the street and down the other. There are many side streets with other shops we didn't explore. It was time to cross over again as we had parked our car in a lot next to the bridge. The building in the following photo has shops on two levels, though we only browsed by the ones on the ground level. We were ready to go home. 

I used to sell my ornaments to one of the shops in my craft show days. That's a story for another day.

I wanted to make a point of saying that there are some parts of the town that have uneven sidewalks. From someone (me) who has a klutzy, oh-look-at-that-while-not-looking-at-where-I-am-going personality, do take care!

One last photo as you probably know by now how I like to take photos on our drive back. This time it is one of the local school buses.

That's all for today. The next one I will share about the place that interested me so much, and discovered it was only a short drive away from Occoquan. I don't want to talk about it until the day of its post. It was something different, nothing too exciting as I want to manage expectations, but interesting. Tomorrow I will be getting my birdfeeder chatter post out, and hopefully on Sunday I will have the next one ready.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!

 

This sign tickled my funny bone.  And it's not a dig at the people who knock on the door trying to sell something. We've all got to make a living and there are interesting chats to be had at times. My dear other half once invited a young man in who stayed for an hour-and-a-half. Shocker, he got us started on having our old bathroom on the main level refurbished. It was way overdue, and we were happy to get it done (this is going back a few years). Afterwards, over a cup of tea, we had a great conversation on what he wanted to do in life. He talked about knocking on doors and how challenging it could be, he appreciated us he said, and yes I am smiling. But my dear young man, if you ever come again, consider bringing a bottle of wine! 

All joking aside, I am putting together a post on our latest walk but it's taking me longer than I expected. We drove into Occoquan (Virginia). Walking down the main road full of interesting eateries and shops, I found the sign in front of one of them and decided to do a simple collage of the storefront goodies.

More to follow!

THE SENTINEL

I found this interesting fellow on our latest walk. I tried a search to find out more about him but wasn't successful. I could have walked up, knocked on the door and asked but it was very quiet, and I certainly didn't want to be a bother. Besides, I have now named him myself. I have no idea where the name came from, it just popped into my head. I have probably heard it before but who knows where or when, I don't have a clue.  Anyhow, meet Montague!

I found him rather magnificent! I think in my heart I would have enjoyed being a sculptor. I have probably mentioned this before but my Dad was a hobbyist carpenter. He loved putting things together in his spare time. I used to watch him and hand him his tools, while Mum was inside getting dinner ready, with my sister's help. He made Mum a small table once, lots of things over the years but that one stuck in my head. She would ask Dad and he would happily get his tools out. Once he made bunk beds for their caravan up north. It's probably why I love even today to see how things are built out of wood. I watch shows on YouTube, the process of building a log cabin for instance. I have always found that fascinating and admire the skills of every builder. It wouldn't have been too big of a stretch to change my interests to metal sculptures. To see them come together like this would be very rewarding.

 

So, hello Montague, how are you doing today? He is not one of those fire-breathing dragons, so we are all safe.

Montague and I thank you all for dropping in, and we hope you have a wonderful day.

THE GREAT SECRET…

The great secret that all older people share is that you really haven’t changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don’t change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion.

     ~Doris Lessing, 1992~

Doris May Lessing CH OMG (née Tayler; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remained until moving in 1949 to London, England. Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described her as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny". Lessing was the oldest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, at age 87. In 2001 Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British literature. In 2008 The Times ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"

You can read more about her life here, which is where I read the information above.

MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST - ROAST SALMON SANDWICH WITH CHIPOTLE MAYONNAISE

I found my recipe here, at Season with Spice, hosted by Mark and Reese. My thanks to them for a very nice lunch. I think you will enjoy checking out this recipe blog, as there are some great dishes in here and the photos are great. 

Roasted Salmon with Chipotle Mayonnaise

Makes 2 sandwiches

1/2 salmon fillet

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Fresh lemon juice

1 avocado - sliced

Handful of arugua leaves or your choice of leafy greens

Slice of red onion

4 slices of your choice of sandwich bread (a dark rye is suggested)

Chipotle Mayonnaise

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt or sour cream

1 large garlic clove, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)

1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle, or to taste

1 teaspoon honey

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F.

Line a baking pan with foil. Coat salmon fillet with a drizzle of olive oil and place it on the pan.  Season the salmon with salt, freshly ground black pepper and lemon juice.

Roast for 15-20 minutes, or until just cooked through (roasting time will depend on the thickness of the fillet and your oven temperature).

While the salmon is roasting combine all the ingredients for the chipotle mayo in a bowl.

When the salmon is cooked, remove from the oven and flake it with a fork into small pieces. Add the salmon into the bowl of chipotle mayonnaise and mix well.

To assemble the sandwich, add the chipotle mayonnaise-salmon mixture first, then top with red onion, avocado and arugula. Enjoy!

I thought this was a very tasty recipe, and very filling. I fixed this for lunch one day when Gregg was away for a few days. (This is an old recipe, before retirement. It has been made several times since and enjoyed each time.) 

I had half a portion for dinner and ate it minus bread with salad fixings. The salmon tasted really yummy even before adding the rest of the ingredients. In fact, even though I enjoyed the sandwich very much, it would be excellent with just salmon and salad. 

This time I used a crusty Ciabatta-type bread roll but I can also see how good it would be with a dark rye, as suggested by Season with Spice. 

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - MEADOWLARK GARDENS CONTINUED...

We are making our way down the hill and looking up you will see the greenhouse building.  I am not sure its proper name, but it contains many plants which we have yet to explore.  On its left you can just about see the chess set I showed you in this post.

And a little more clearly here.

In my last post I mentioned the couple who were having some professional photos taken in one of our favorite spots.  We were sitting across from them, seated underneath the cherry blossom trees.  We always enjoy sharing in others' joyful moments, even at a distance.  It was a lovely scene!  This is Gregg's photo and I like the fact that he caught the branch in sharper focus than the couple, giving them their privacy.

Here's another!

It was a lovely day and the turtles were out sunning themselves. We noticed several green bags floating on the edges of the pond. Whether these were for the turtles themselves I'm not sure. Perhaps something to do with cleaning the water in the pond also.

  Whatever their purpose, the turtles certainly seemed to be making use of them.  From what I read at their website, they are Eastern Painted Turtles.

These pretty blue flowers are called Glory-of-the-snow, also known as Boissier's glory-of-the-snow, Lucile's glory-of-the-snow, with a botanical name of Scilla lucillae. 

Not the clearest photo but it will give you an idea of what it looks like close up. It gets its name because it blooms so early in the spring or late winter.  Like snowdrops, you may see them poking up from the snow.  They are grown from bulbs and they tolerate full sun to partial shade.

One last photo for today of the Common Hyacinth, also called Wild Hyacinth with a botanical name of Hyacinthus orientalis. Another heralder of spring.

A shorter post as it is getting late. I will share another next week sometime.

Thanks for visiting and I hope the weather is treating you well. I've read that some of our northern friends are still getting snow. 

Take good care of yourselves everyone.