MY NIECE'S SUNRISE PHOTO AND A POEM

When we took a trip down to North Carolina, my niece took this photo on 4-16-25 at sunrise. I thought it was gorgeous and I asked her if I could share it on here. She was happy to say yes. Thank you my sweet, you are greatly missed!

"The tide recedes but leaves behind

bright sea shells on the sand.

The sun goes down, but gentle

warmth still lingers on the land.

The music stops, and yet it echoes

on in sweet refrains…

for every joy that passes,

something beautiful remains…"

and the sun will rise again.

~author unknown~

WALNEY POND - LAST POST UNTIL THE NEXT VISIT

I am always drawn to the water lilies. There is a large carpet of them on the pond and you can see those photos here if you missed them.

I found this graphic online.

More facts can be found here at the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC. We were here once and are way overdue for a visit. It's a marvelous place!

The next photo is called the Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera). There is a lot of information here. It is one of the tallest and most beautiful eastern hardwoods, with a long, straight trunk, a narrow crown that spreads with age, and large showy flowers resembling tulips or lilies. It is a tall straight, deciduous tree that grows to 150 feet tall (sometimes taller), has a medium to narrow crown and distinctive, star-shaped foliage. The yellow-orange, tulip-like flowers are often missed because they are up to 50 ft. or higher in the tops of trees. Their cone-shaped seedheads remain after leaves have fallen.

The trees are native to eastern North America. Specifically their natural range extended from southern Ontario and possibly southern Quebec, south toe Florida and Louisiana, and west to Illinois and Michigan. They are a common sight in the eastern United States, thriving in various habitats like woodlands, protected by hillsides and wooded valleys.

Introduced into Europe from Virginia by the earliest colonists and grown also on the Pacific Coast. Very tall trees with massive trunks existed in the primeval forests but were cut for the valuable soft wood. Pioneers hollowed out a single log to make a long, lightweight canoe. One of the chief commercial hardwoods, Yellow Poplar is used for furniture, as well as for crates, toys, musical instruments, and pulpwood.

I was too late to see it blooming on this particular visit, but I went on a hunt through my old blog and found the following two photos taken in 2009.

I got the settings wrong on this photo as it was a bit washed out to look at. I tried to darken it a little but need an expert. I need to find the book! It's a Pickerel Weed and I go into more detail at this post if you scroll down.

Shared before but wanted to include this pretty pink Swamp Rose. This link will give more info where I go into more detail.

I first shared the photo (taken at Walney) and the quote here, but felt it worthy of doing so again

We have been coming to Walney Pond for many years, and if you want to see those posts you can click here. Much too many to see in one sitting but you may enjoy one or two.

Thanks so much for visiting, and a thank you to all those who comment. I hope everyone has a great day!

MORE ABOUT BEES

 An old photo of mine taken near Walney Pond Visitor Center in 2011.  The old beehive isn't there anymore, long worn out but I am glad I have this photo. 

I found this interesting snippet online the other day.

"Telling the Bees - In an old Western European tradition, bees were seen as part of the household and needed to be told when major life events happened. Deaths, births, marriages, even someone leaving or returning home, all would be quietly whispered to the hive.

Why? Because forgetting to tell the bees was said to bring misfortune: they might stop making honey, abandon the hive or even die.

This custom may have roots in Celtic belief, where bees were thought to move between the world of the living and the spirit world. The presence of a bee after death was once seen as a sign the soul was departing.

To share the news, the keeper (often the "goodwife") would approach the hive, tap gently and speak softly, letting the bees know, with respect.

This practice was especially common in the 18th and 19th centuries across Western Europe and even carried to the U.S. It may have deeper roots in Celtic lore, where bees were seen as a spirit messengers, a belief that adds another layer to the tradition's quiet power.

It's a tender, beautiful reminder of how deeply people once honored the natural world, and the quiet bonds between all living things."

Thanks for looking and 

I wish you all a great day!

MY MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST ON TUESDAY INSTEAD - SCALLOPED POTATOES

I am robbing Peter to pay Paul so to speak, as this has been copied from my old blog. We again didn't make any new recipes this past week, eating lots of salads, and meals quickly put together. I remember liking these scalloped potatoes, so I am hoping you will too. Many of us probably have our favorites already.

So, anything written down below was actually written in April 2012.

On Sunday I cooked a pork roast and Gregg mentioned that he had a hankering for scalloped potatoes.  As I haven't made them in a very long time and don't really have a favorite recipe for this side dish, I went surfing and found one at Sweet Pea's Kitchen.  The actual recipe is here.

Scalloped Potatoes

Servings:                    4-6

Preparation time:        20 minutes

Baking time:               15 minutes

Source: Cook's Illustrated - March 2003

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium onion, minced - about 1 cup

2 medium cloves garlic, cut fine, minced or pressed through garlic press (need 2 teaspoons)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1-1/4 teaspoons table salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2-1/4 pounds russet potatoes (about 5 medium), peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup heavy cream

2 bay leaves

4 ounces grated cheddar cheese - 1 cup

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

In large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt butter until foaming subsides.  

Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned, about 4 minutes.  

Add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  

Add potatoes, chicken broth, cream and bay leaves and bring to simmer. 

Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are almost tender (paring knife can be slipped into and out of potato slice with some resistance), about 10 minutes.  

Discard bay leaves.

Transfer mixture to an 8-inch square baking dish (or 1-1/2 quart gratin dish) and press to an even layer; sprinkle evenly with cheese.  

Bake until cream is bubbling around edges and top is golden, about 15 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes before serving.

A delicious side-dish. We both enjoyed it very much and it has gone into our make-again folder. 

There are leftovers for another meal.

You can use any of your favorite vegetables for a side, or a nice mixed salad.

I used a low-fat milk instead of cream, only because the low-fat was in the fridge. I didn’t want to go up to the store for only one item. No complaints.

Thanks for looking, and have a great week.

ODDS AND BODS FOR JULY 2025

For a change I thought I would start off with a little humor and positivity. My recipe post will be tomorrow.

Well, as many of you know by now, I got through a big birthday recently, but I was well prepared, and I had a lot of help.

What I tell myself these days, is that...

because...

and…

When the world seems to be closing in, never harden your heart, do good, give someone a kind word and remember, turn that frown upside down. I know, I know, cheesy and corny though that phrase may be, and you want to throw a shoe at me, but I want to tell you something on…

because we all need a little breathing space. Let’s go out and find something pretty to look at. We all need a change of scenery, even if it’s just stepping outside your back door, looking at some flowers and listening to the birds in the trees.

Sweet, yes?

These wise owls know this. Step outside!

Time for the cottage of my dreams.

Or this one and yay, it comes with chickens! There’s Henrietta and Clementine and Snowball and Slippers and Abrahen Lincoln and Amelia Egghart and Maud and Fluffy Topknot, and I think Cluck Kent just flew up, up and away. "It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s a …"  

Cluck doesn’t know the excitement he just caused! 

Well, look at this, I even get a 'she-cave' in my dream world.

Here’s another.  I could happily live here  

and let’s enjoy a lively little poem. I won't tell her I am still in my PJ's.

And now it's time to say...

and…

Thanks for looking and enjoy your day.

With thanks to Pinterest for today’s inspiration.  

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - A POEM FROM A FAVORITE

I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the riverbed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
breathing around me, the insects
and the birds who do their work in the darkness.
All night I rose and fell, as if in water
grappling with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better

Sleeping in the Forest

~Mary Oliver~

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRDFEEDER - WHEN IS....?

 

and the water bowl has now been filled. Everyone's happy!

For our overseas blogging friends to translate.

1st photo: "I have a question for you. When is a water bowl not a water bowl?"

2nd photo: "When there's no water in the flipping water bowl!"

3rd photo: House finch on the right. "She sent this for you, with a reminder. There is a creek full of water 50 trees that way! Bird bath birds say: "I don't understand. It rained hard last night. An animal must have been very thirsty."

4th photo: Squirrel says, "Why are you all looking at me? I'm innocent I tell ya! It wasn't me!"

LOOKING AT THE WORLD THROUGH BINOCULARS

I saw him from far away, 

sitting high on an old wooden trellis. 

What did he say? 

"I have my eyes on you Missy!" 

"Good," I said, "I have my eyes on you too.

I may not have your fancy binoculars but 

my 20-20 vision will do."

With that we smiled and gave 

a bit of a wave, telling each other, 

in a nice way, to behave  

and wished, in that whimsical way,

to have a very nice day.

Yes, well a poet she is not!

I found froggy a long, long time ago in my favorite garden. I don't think he is there anymore. I have seen him two or three times since but I'm sure he has rusted away by now as the last time I was there, he was nowhere to be found. I have taken pictures of our froggy before. I am hoping one day he will appear in our garden, at least maybe a cousin of his. I can dream. Everyone needs a rusty old frog in their garden, don't they?

Ah well now, time to get sensible and get head out of clouds, and talking about clouds...

these were taken in the parking lot of a supermarket called Sprouts Farmers Market. It's in Manassas, a bit off our usual beaten path but it was nice to see something different, and we said we would like to go there again. 

I actually wanted to go to a farmer's market a couple of miles away but was a bit too late getting there. I looked for my honey (Gregg just looked up and I had to tell him no, not you Honey). That would be the honey I use to top my yogurt off with. I am running out of it and saw loads of honey at Sprouts, but didn't see the one I am looking for. Still on the hunt as I have a bee in my bonnet for this one local honey, pardon the pun, and for the groaners. It's late and my brain is getting a bit past its bedtime.

Instead, we bought a couple of pears, a piece of fresh ginger so that I can slice it and put into my tea, some Asian Pork Dumplings, quite small and they went great with the freshly made shrimp and vegetable sushi, also bought at Sprouts. We had this for our dinner. I think that was about it for our shopping trip. It was a nice, short trip but we got a bit of sunshine and that was lovely. A bit too hot but we weren't in the heat for long. Cooler today - 85 degrees F. (30 degrees C. I think that is). We have had it in the 90s for a few days and it has started to get hot and humid.

Okay, whimsical side just left. As I said it's late and I am off to bed. Sweet dreams everyone and have a great time tomorrow/today. 

Thanks for stopping by.