Mr. Moon

Song - Moon Shadow by Cat Stevens


 Just in case you were not up early on Wednesday morning.....

5:02 am

.....I took these for you!

 

5:24 am

6:12 am

Unfortunately I forgot to set up my tripod the night before so the photos are a little wonkey but you get the idea of this spectacular moon event!

"The world is full of magic things 

patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper."

--attributed to W.B. Yeats

Bee Yourself

Song - No Rain by Blind Melon

As to the above song - "Shine on little bee girl......."

I have this Camellia shrub outside my office window and right now it is in full bloom.  The bees just discovered it today!

Pollen on Camellia's was something I never have thought of (probably because they don't have a scent) but the bees know.

Stopping my work for awhile, I put my camera on a tripod and went outside to watch their activity.  I saw them remove the pollen and place it on their back legs.  When they had a sufficient amount, they would fly away and come back clean & ready to keep working.  How do they know when they have gathered enough pollen or too much to fly? What do they use the pollen for?

Actually they store the pollen to use when it's too cold or there are no flowers pollinating.  Stored pollen is mixed with mouth secretions to make brood food/bee bread which is essential for new little bees!

Pollen is not readily available when the bees start to rear their brood early in the year.  They rely on stored pollen.  Nurse bees consume bee bread as a stimulus to produce royal jelly for very young bees.

The bee in the above photo was taking a little break to "re-distribute" his heavy load. Now I know why they call busy people "worker bees"!

"What a kid I got, 

I told him about the birds and the bee 

and he told me about the butcher and my wife." 

 --Rodney Dangerfield

Sipping on Saturday

Song - Little 'Ol Wine Drinker, Me by Dean Martin

My friend Jill brought me up to Calistoga for my Christmas gift yesterday.  We had a beautiful drive up there, the weather was gorgeous and then we ate lunch at a yummy Thai restaurant downtown.  After lunch we went into some of the shops along main street.  And you won't believe it but they have a real live bookstore that's still in business!

We headed on down the Silverado Trail to visit one of my favorite wineries - Frank Family!

It's a tad expensive but when I want to splurge on occasion - this my go to wine! The guy (Saul) who was pouring our tastings said that I looked familiar.  We finally figured out that he worked at Chimney Rock Winery when my artist friends from BASA and I had a nine month show up there!

It was a beautiful day in the country with my beautiful friend!  

Thanks Jill.  

We need to celebrate Christmas more often!!!

"Each friend represents a world in us, 

a world not born until they arrive, 

and it is only by this meeting 

that a new world is born." 

-- Anais Nin

Listen

Song - Rain by The Beatles

Six days into the new year and I hope you have had time to curl up by a fire 

and read a good book after all of the busyness of the holidays! Sigh....

It's finally raining in California!  It was so wonderful to hear mother nature's "pitter-patter" on the rooftop. There was a certain amount of calmness about it but then we had an earthquake later that night that jolted most people awake, so that was the end of "calm" for awhile!

My Sweet Peas have begun to bloom - they were just a little 

confused by the warm, dry winter weather.

The Daffodils have begun to emerge from the ground.

And the Snowdrops have begun to show their little white bells.

The birds began coming to the feeders a little more often as if in anticipation of the rain.  Above is a female Nuttall's Woodpecker who seems to have made herself quite at home in the bowl of seed!

 And the hawks have been calling to each other in the early morning sky.

 My roses are about done for the year but it's fun to catch one blooming in January! 

I think I will wait a few more weeks before pruning them back for the winter.

What do you hear in your garden?
Have you been listening?

PLUVIOPHILE 

(n) a lover of rain; someone who finds joy 

and peace of mind during rainy days

Twenty-eighteen

Song - Don't Panic by The Hot Club of San Francisco

Best wishes for a great new year!

"Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath."

--Mark Twain

Where Have You Been?

Song - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall by Bob Dylan

Where have you been my darling young one?

I'm a bad, bad blogger.....I forgot November and December!

Well I didn't really forget them.  It was more like they bowled me over!!!

 I babysat my son's sweet pup Chewy. What a cutie!

We had 22 guests for Turkey Day!

I completed two commissions and started a new painting.

This was from our Spring trip to Scotland - a piper greeted us in the Highlands near Glencoe.

My mom and I had some downtime at Lake Tahoe.

We had a great cousin's reunion which I did a lot of family tree work for.

David, Timmy & myself

And then Christmas just blew by......

And I was sick the entire time (3 months) with some kind of 

flu-bronchitis-pneumonia-cold-cough thingy! UGGG!

And being stubborn - I never went to the doctors.

Lucky for me, my husband and my boys all cook as well do their loveys, so I had plenty of help.

I hope you will forgive my absence for the last two months.

I'm still here!

As a treat I am going to share two special yummy recipes 

Pumpkin Bread a la Monica

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

1 ½ c. flour

½ tsp. salt

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. pumpkin puree

½ c. vegetable oil (I sometimes use ¼ c. water and ¼ c. oil)

2 eggs, beaten

¼ c. water

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. allspice

¼ tsp. cloves

½ c. chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour, salt, sugar, & baking soda together. In a separate bowl, combine the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water, & spices. Pour into bowl with dry ingredients & mix until all are combined. Stir in the nuts. Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3-in. loaf pan, bake 50-60 minutes until done in the middle. Remove from pan, cool on a rack.

 

Jacque's Delicious Cranberry Honey Butter

 1/4 c. honey
1 c. butter
1/4 - 1/2 c. chopped dried cranberries
& orange zest to taste

Jacque placed the butter in small canning jars with handmade labels. 

“And now let us welcome the New Year —full of things that have never been.”

—RAINER MARIA RILKE

Spooky Transformations

Song - Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr.

It all began with a simple wreath on the front door.....

And ended with my youngest son's head in a jar......yikes!

Let me tell you what transpired.

There were barfing pumpkins and then......

.....big 'ol pumpkins began to arrive......strangely in pairs!

The table was set with tools, pumpkins, gut containers and carrot-parsnip noses.

 

So.......we all got to work decapitating, pulling out innards and furrowing our brows trying to think of the very best design........all while sipping some mighty fine wine!

 Suddenly it got very quiet........and that's when it happened.......

Everyone entered into..............."the twilight zone"!

We were creating, working and thinking so hard that smoke almost came out of our ears!

As pumpkins became Jack-o-Lanterns......we all began to relax.

Candles were lit and soup was poured.....

we dined until our bellies were filled....perhaps we relaxed a little too much....

Because a sweet Grandma was abducted by a man with a mustache.....

 And a cuddly dog was taken by a wild couple in plaid.....

 It made all of our hair stand right up on end!!!

As Witches took to riding in the night sky.....

And Goblins came out and frightened us all......

The skull of a dead man arrived just in time....

 ...to see the Grinch stealing Halloween and.....

Bats flying by.

We had oogly eyes just watching it all....

and laughed at the lovely little white holes and fly fishing ties....

But the worst of the worstest and badder than bad came a.....

....surprise knife to the skull!!!

Boo....

Bwahahahaha....

Happy Halloween one and all!

"When witches go riding

And black cats are seen,

The moon laughs and whispers

'Tis near Halloween."

--Author Unknown

For the Head in a Jar Prank - Click HERE

Sopa de Tortilla recipe - Click HERE