A FAVORITE PHOTO - BIRD OF PARADISE

 Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae)

An old photo that I thought I would showcase today. It has other names, Crane Flower, Mzimvubu Flower and Queen's Bird of Paradise. It is native to South Africa. Its name comes from, as you might guess, its resemblance to the head and beak of a colorful and exotic bird. 

I haven't seen one in several years. I found this one inside the conservatory of Brookside Gardens, in April 2013. Others I found while on vacation in various areas of the States. 

It doesn't do very well in cooler climates. Summers may be okay depending on where they thrive, but in the winter-time it should be brought inside. You just have to check on your zone I guess. That's why we saw it in the conservatory. Also, people tend to put them in large pots in their gardens, so that they can be brought inside in the wintertime.

We haven't been to Brookside in a very long time as it's a little further away in Maryland. Only 47 minutes to an hour by car but as we have several botanical gardens within easy reach, we usually head to one of those. Still, it would be nice to go back, maybe this year. It has a lovely butterfly house in the summer. I am not sure if it still does as it's been a long time, and I need to check on that. The butterflies are always a big draw for me. You can click on this link which will take you to Brookside’s website. More information can be found here.

WEEKLY HAPPENINGS - MONDAY 1/27/25 TO SUNDAY, 2-2-25

Hello Family and Friends! Back again with this week's weekly happenings. Thanks for letting me know you still enjoy them. It will keep these going, for a while at least. I hope you've all had a good week. 

Monday, January 20th, 2025 - 1.39 p.m: Gregg went out got himself a bagel with cream cheese from our local bagel shop again. He bought one for me, having gone to the supermarket before coming home. 

After I woke up and before I got out of bed, I did two of my daily exercises with the Pilate ball. I paused for breakfast as the man arrived home, and exercises were completed afterwards.

In late afternoon, early evening, we usually chat about current events. We both have our strong opinions and it's always good to air them. We agree on most things, but sometimes disagree, while staying quite cool about it all, giving our reasons why we disagree with the other. We are both avid readers and keep up with what's going on here and around the world, quite often saving snippets of news and talking about them later. Truthfully, Gregg is more knowledgeable in many areas. If I feel very strongly about something, I am a bit stubborn and hold my own.

Tuesday, January 28th, 2025: “Would you like to stand closer to the wall?”  I had another physiotherapy session. They sent me on a crab walk down a long corridor and I had difficulty balancing, hence the above question. Who knew walking sideways would be so difficult. (In my youth I seem to remember going to the disco with my friends, a dance I did all the time with these movements, but that's been 50 plus years ago.) I found myself reaching out to the wall several times. I had my usual bicycle ride, tippy toes, pressing ball on the wall behind the knee, and then my physiotherapist came in to do the rest of the session. After 45 minute I was glad to head to the door, and yet grateful for everyone who helped me today. The place was super quiet. We were the only ones left, along with the staff.  

Someone has decorated the walls with paper hearts for Valentine's Day. 

Took me a few moments to realize that February is around the corner.

Wednesday, January 29th, 2025

I had a short walk at Green Spring Gardens today, but I already shared on this post.

I didn't take many photos, except for what I have shown already, and more berries! 

The berry bush is huge and reaches several feet over my head. 

It was still loaded with berries.

In the afternoon father and son went into DC. Son was attending a talk taking place at the Library of Congress. That building is amazing outside and in. If you click this link we were there years ago and I took these photos of the ceiling. I know I have more somewhere but can't find them at the moment. The one below is son's photo.

Thursday, January 30th 2025: and I am playing catch up as I was really bad at keeping my journal going this week. I stopped after Monday for a few days, and now I'm trying to remember.

Dear other half met up with his old buddy today for lunch. It's a drive to get there, about an hour-and-a-half, but always enjoyable for him. He arrived home 5 o'clock-ish. I enjoy my quiet time, pottered, read, pottered some more, read some more, looked at the birds off and on all day, pottered. My day went quickly. Word of the day: "pottered!"

Friday, January 31st 2025: it is 9.16 a.m. and I have a 10.30 a.m. appointment for my physiotherapy. I have to be there for 10.15.

I am back and it is 12:39 p.m. There was a 12-year old with a sports injury today, a young girl. When she got on that exercise bicycle she rode like the wind. Me, not so much! Let's just say it felt like a 3-chocolate brownie day today, but stopped at one.

On the way home our son and daughter-in-law called. They were on their way back from somewhere and wanted to tell us about it. We had a fun time talking to them both. Very happy we had the opportunity of chatting with our dear daughter-in-law for a good length of time. She has a truly delightful humor. Their hours of work vary and when son calls, she is usually working, and vice versa. 

Today I drew a dinosaur! This is thanks to Jan at The Low Carb Diabetic. She has a post here that talks about “Draw A Dinosaur Day”. I'm a bit late but it put the idea in my head and here is mine. Thanks Jan!

I looked through pixabay.com and found several but this was a more simplified version and thought I might be able to copy it. I go to pixabay for a lot of the graphics I use for my signatures and so on. All royalty free graphics. And thank you once again to our good blogging friend Sandra aka MadSnapper n Beau who introduced me to pixabay a long time ago. 

Pretty rudimentary but it entertained me for a while. I have to slow down as I draw too fast, need to be more patient. (Hmmm, sounds like a song I know.)  I forgot to add a leg! Just getting used to holding a pencil in my hand again. Here is Dino with the cat I drew last week.

We made a stir-fry for dinner. Neither of us liked it very much, even though we have made stir-fries before. We added a can of stir-fry vegetables and the whole meal had an after-taste, completely took away from the rest of the fresh vegetables. Not the kind of after-taste that would make us feel ill, but not what we are used to. It was not very pleasant. Gregg found the can in the pantry and quite rightly thought we could use it. There was something about the brine. It would have been a good idea to drain the can and rinse the veggies before putting them in with everything else. But there you go, we live and learn and both agreed, never buying that again.

Saturday, February 1st, 2025: not much of note going on today. Very quiet!

We made a new recipe. Thankfully this one was very good. I will put it on one of my recipe posts. It was seafood.

Sunday, February 2nd, 2025: son came over. Always enjoy catching up with his week.

Later in the day Fluffy Kitty turned up.  She was sitting on the steps looking around. I wondered why the birds disappeared! She is definitely someone’s cat. With all the cold weather, we haven’t seen her for a few weeks. She stayed on those steps, turned a few times when she heard me talking to her. I left her alone and when I looked again half an hour later, she was gone. Hopefully back in her nice warm house.

Nothing of note for the rest of the day, and will end my journal here.

Have a great rest of the week, 

and thanks for stopping by.

MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST - SHRIMP CASSEROLE

I try to put seafood on the table more these days. This recipe popped up in one of my feeds and as we hadn't had shrimp for a while, I decided to take a look. Let's just say it exceeded our expectations as we both gave it a 10 out of 10. It suited our taste anyway and we look forward to trying it again next time shrimp is on the rotation. The food blog is called 'Cooktop Cove' and many thanks to Morgan Reed who is a contributing writer. The recipe can be found here. I recommend visiting, not only to look at tips about this recipe, but also to look at others. Great photos too.

Shrimp Casserole – serves 6

1-1/2 cups long-grain white rice

2 1/2 cups chicken broth 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 medium onion, finely chopped 1 sweet bell pepper, diced (red or green - I used red) 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup grated cheddar cheese 1 cup sour cream 1 can (10.75 oz.) cream of mushroom soup 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional for garnish) Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish. In a large pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the rice, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15-18 minutes or until the rice is cooked and the liquid is absorbed. While the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Sauté until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp to the skillet and cook until they just turn pink, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooked rice, sautéed vegetables and shrimp, grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, Old Bay seasoning, paprika, black pepper, and salt. Stir until well combined. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish, spreading it out evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until the casserole is bubbly and the top is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes before serving.  Garnish with chopped fresh parsley if using.   I am adding Morgan's suggested variations and tips here:  For a different protein option, consider substituting the shrimp with diced cooked chicken or turkey. You can also add more vegetables such as celery, peas, or mushrooms for extra flavor and nutrition. If you like a bit of heat, try adding a pinch of cayenne pepper or some diced jalapeños. Lastly, using a blend of cheeses like Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack can provide a nice twist to the flavor profile of the casserole.

We made this dish on Monday, January 27^th, 2025 for the first time. It was an excellent dish.

Gregg picked up a large bag of frozen shrimp from CostCo's the last time he was there, so we thawed those out for this dish, patting them dry before cooking them.

We downsized the ingredients to half as didn't want to have a lot of the shrimp left over. We still had leftovers but don't mind eating them one day later, though don't really want it around any longer.

Instead of cooking the rice with the broth, we had packets of already cooked Jasmine Rice in the freezer from Trader Joe’s. We used two packets, so we didn't need the long-grain rice or chicken broth. We added it to the veggies and shrimp in the mixing  and continued with the recipe.

There was a miscommunication on preparing as Gregg mixed the shrimp in with all the other ingredients (after first cooking them in the frying pan). I wasn't around at the time to read the directions. The original recipe had the shrimp lying on the top of the casserole and not mixing them in, but we were both happy with the way the casserole turned out. It was delicious and I wouldn't hesitate doing it this way again. I've mentioned it before, I'm corner to corner, would have put the shrimp on the top like the recipe, but Gregg's adventurous soul is always fun and we both enjoyed the end results.

He made a cocktail sauce mixture of ketchup and horseradish. It was a very nice addition and I put a small spoonful on the top of mine.

We added lemon wedges, and the lemon juice squeezed over our meal at the table added a very nice tangy and refreshing taste.

Here is the full website address for the recipe, if you prefer to copy and paste rather than use the link in the beginning.

https://cooktopcove.com/2024/07/16/delish-need-to-make-2-of-these-next-time/

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - FAVORITE PHOTO

 

I loved the side-eye on this beauty! This is one of two oxen we saw at Mount Vernon in 2016.  

What do you think he is saying?

Have a wonderful Sunday and thank you for visiting.  

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - THE NORTHERN FLICKER WAS INVITED FOR COCKTAILS

 

All is well on this Saturday Morning at the Bird Feeder. The Northern Flicker slept under the guest toadstool, and is safely continuing his journey this morning. Camera Lady is hoping he will be back soon.

Have a great day everyone and I hope wherever you are, your nest is cozy and warm.