April 30, 2020

april 29, 2020

Daily photos... Late today because the internet was out. We had a lightning storm last night. I think I knocked the cell phone tower out. I did a lot of waiting and watching by mom's vines. Humming birds as well as other birds. I will just put up many.

April 28, 2020

April 27, 2020

Hummingbirds

I got hummingbird pictures tonight! Those little guys are fast. They swoop past go straight to the flower, taste the flower and vanish.

April 26, 2020

April 25, 2020

April 24, 2020

This is a photo Katharine Clark took, many years ago.

One I took a couple days ago. The wind blowing the flowers made an interesting effect. I have my mighty Olympus set for focus stacking when I do the macro. I like the camera a lot, except the battery doesn't last long. Yesterday evening when I was fiberglassing the van roof we saw a hummingbird on mom's vines. I will be watching for it today. The thrill of the hunt, with camera in hand. Then the anticipation of downloading the photos to see if they are in focus. I need bifocals to see the camera screen well and the rest of the world too. 

Helping

There was a tornado near here yesterday afternoon. Our weather was perfect. It didn't rain and was so cool and breezy I was sitting out on the patio under a blanket. About 20 miles away, 3 people were killed, many were trapped and injured, houses were blown apart and 5 communities were devastated. The search and rescue teams are expecting the death toll to rise as they investigate the wreckage. Most people in this county, and our neighboring counties, want to help. Many drove over to drop off water and toilet paper at the shelters. When they couldn't get there, they dropped it off at the fire department. This is going to be lifechanging for many families.

Mom and I were sitting comfortably in our living room watching our usual youtube. She said, I feel a bit guilty. Me too. We have everything we need, are comfortable, mom owns her house free and clear so doesn't have to worry about a mortgage, we know where our next meal is coming from, and know all our family is safe.

How do you not feel bad when bad things happen to your neighbors? We pray for them, thank God for his protection on us, thank God for His provision for us, and look for opportunities to help people out, make them feel comforted, show them care, and spread a smile.

What are some things you can do to make someone smile today? How will you help your neighbor?

I can't help the tornado victims today. They have plenty of help from experienced first responder groups. As they start cleaning up damage, I will post offering to scan and clean up family photos if anyone was able to find some.

I did not take the picture, I found it, along with many other on a public facebook post. The damage was very extensive. They still haven't been able to get to everyone affected.

April 23, 2020

Baked spinich and eggs

I get eggs at someone's house now. Her chickens get to roam, protected by her dogs, and she sells their eggs for a little extra money. I think they need the money badly. I like cooking with eggs. They are a great comfort food. I read a recipe the other day in Michael Symon's Fix it With Food book I checked out of the library and adapted it to fit what I had. It was delicious.

1/2 bag frozen spinach
2 cups leftover rice and broccoli
about 1 cup vegan protein broth
4 eggs
fried onions (yum)

put spinach in a glass baking dish
microwave for 5 minutes (until hot)
mix in leftover rice, level it in baking dish, cover with broth
microwave 2 minutes (until hot)
make 2 cavities in vegetables to hold eggs
crack 2 eggs in each cavity. I cracked them into a bowl and poured them in.
top generously with fried onions

bake in toaster oven (house was too hot for big oven) at 375 for roughly 20 minutes until eggs are done to your taste and liquid from the broth is pretty much reduced. Better to bake too long than too short. Let sit for a minute and eat. It makes 2 servings.

No food pictures yet. I don't think about having my camera with me when I am cooking.

April 22, 2020

April 21, 2020

Going through old photos

Mara and Toby

My current project is going through my oldest backup drive before I couldn't get anything off of it. I have gone through thousands of photos, emailed some off to the people in them and saved what I wanted to keep. I still have the three biggest folders to go today. Fortunately there were a lot of duplicated. Why do I feel bad deleting photos of kids who's names I do remember but I haven't communicated with them for 5 or more years. I have no idea how to reach them. There are even some kids whose names I don't remember. I feel less bad about deleting them. But have some really cute photos I kept of some of them. I know who the horses are in all the photos. Not all the names of the dogs though. Many of them, but not all. I am glad digital photos don't take a lot of space. I will be keeping a lot, but my rule for myself is that I have to be able to label them if I am keeping them. I think I will be doing this for years. Especially since I try to take new photos daily. 

Debbie on Saddig

Smokey lake