Choice Morsels

A week ago, we drove to Indiana. The trees were still bare and it was winter. On the way back, the further south we drove, the more spring-like it became. Leaves were starting to fill out on trees. Flowering trees were in full bloom! Some sort of white flowering fruit-tree-gone-wild thickly decorates vacant fields along the road. (Pear?)  Pink Redbud trees! Dark red Bayberry shrubs. Patches of Daffodils gone wild on hillsides around the road! All very springy. Before we left, I did get this pretty shot of some my Cheers Daffodils!  They're clusters of tiny double daffodils with a fragance like baby powder. A extremely dependable bloomer every year! Also, along the drive home I did get this one shot of a Red-Tailed Hawk.  It was no easy trick, but it's a fair shot considering how far away I was standing. I had my telephoto at max. This was our 5th try I think. If I tried to walk closer, they'd notice me, since they have keen eyesight, and would ...

I walked out to take a photo of my daffodils today and found this: A bumble bee tucked inside a daffodil trumpet, sound asleep: Typically, it's the Drones you find napping like this, completely motionless. They only have one job, and, once done, they're otherwise useless around the hive, so the Workers kick them out. They really have little else to do, but sleep the day away. (This is a Brown Belted Bumble Bee.)

Today was moving day for my Agapanthus-- The container it's been occupying for years has gotten over-crowded. They are a true-blue perennial  flower, also called "Lily of the Nile," common in Southern landscaping. It's actually related to the Amaryllis family. The name "Agapanthus" means "Love Flower" in Greek. (This photo of one of mine in bloom) Presently, they were just starting to pop out green leaves in this container below: I used an old shower curtain to dump the container out on, so I could separate the rhizomes. A couple bulb-based weeds had gotten in among them and this was a chance to get rid of those as well. Once I separated the rhizomes and replanted this container with a few, I put all the remaining rhizomes in a bucket and carried them to the rain garden area in the back yard. Along the outer edge of the flagstones edging this rain garden, I've had orange Native Day Lilies for several years, but they...

This Chocolate Banana Bread is to die for yummy!  Super moist and pretty with all the chocolate chips on top! (Photo is my own) This is one of the breads I made into mini loaves for Holiday gift giving!  The recipe makes a single 9 x 5 loaf or 3 two-by-four inch mini foil loaf pans! Chocolate Banana Bread Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3 large over-ripe bananas (1 1/2 cups mashed) 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled 1/4 cup canola, vegetable oil or melted coconut oil 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 1 large egg, at room temperature 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (save 1/2 cup for topping) Directions: 1) Set oven to 350F. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside. 2)  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, sea salt and cinnamon. Set aside. (A touch of cinn...

I was actually busy Wednesday, so I didn't get around to doing a Garden Pic post, so I decided to show off the first blooms of my Daffodils today! It means, for Northwest Florida, winter is generally over.  I ordered some veggies seeds to day from a company called Seed Savers, which is devoted to saving the diversity of our worlds flower and vegetable seeds, because varieties are gradually becoming homogenized by big farming. Many of their seeds have fascinating origins; some donated by families who've owned and grown them for generations! I ordered a bush zucchini, bush green beans & a drought resistant kind of spinach. I plan on buying tomato plants locally. I'll want to get going on the veggie garden around mid-March. Today, I planted the potted Hyacinth bulbs I'd purchased a couple week ago into their permanent location outside and used my weeding tool to dig up numerous Spider Worts that are where I don't want them.  They're pretty, but i...

Wringer Washing Machine I remember while growing up in rural Indiana in the 60's and 70's, doing laundry was an all day event. My clearest memories of  "laundry day," come from summer time, when we were out of school.  Mother had a certain day of the week she did laundry usually. I liked to sleep in and I recall waking up around 9:30 to the chugging rhythm the wringer washer already at work.  I'd see all the dirty laundry sorted into piles around the utility room floor: whites, light colors,  medium colors, dark colors and heavy darks, like jeans. (The photo is one I found online of a Kenmore wringer washer quite similar to the last model I remember Mother having in the 70's.) You have to understand, wringer washers only do the washing part. S he'd start with whites, then once the washer finished it's wash cycle, it would stop. Then she'd, by hand, pull each item of clothing out of the washer and feed it through the wringer rollers ...

T his weeks Good Eating recipe is super yummy and easy to make:   Slow Cooker Taco Chili! 👍 Just pre-cook the meat, slice the veggies, open cans and throw it all  into the slow-cooker and enjoy all the favors of a Taco in a bowl of chili! The recipe calls for a small 8oz can of tomato sauce, but I forgot to buy it, so I substituted 1/2 cup catsup mixed with 1/2 cup water and it gave this chili a delicious sweet-spicy that I like better! I've made this Taco Chili twice now and it's a fan favorite on Sunday nights! I served it mine with cornbread. (Photo is my own of a bowl I ate for lunch today!) If you have a few sprigs of Cilantro, that's worth adding, too! You can choose your heat level by your choice of Taco Seasoning packets and by adding a jalapeno or not. ( I didn't use the jalapeno because Hubby doesn't like too spicy!) The sweet potato adds fiber and nutrition, but you can skip it if you're not a fan. Slow Cooker Taco Chili Ingredient...

Living out in the country, gardening is quite common. It really stretches the grocery bill. Even today, driving through rural Alabama, I see a decent size garden by most homes. Growing up in Indiana in the 60's and 70's, our parents had a garden as well. Two large beds about 16 x 35 feet each, arranged one of above the other, step fashion, kind of like the photo, though instead of grass in the middle, Mother had a strawberry bed the length of those gardens. Kohlrabi She grew sweet corn, bell peppers, broccoli, leaf lettuce, Swiss chard, beets, cucumbers, kohlrabi, sugar peas, summer squash, tomatoes and green and wax bush beans--lots of tomatoes and bush beans! And she canned the beans, beets and tomatoes for a taste of summer on our plates all winter long! She canned plenty of tomatoes plain for recipe use, but many were turned into canned spaghetti sauce or chili sauce or home-made catsup and canned. For Mother, raising a garden was an eating adventure by...