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I Never Unpack

~ Traveling the country, gathering its lessons, learning its secrets

I Never Unpack

Tag Archives: Life

Looking Back as We Look for Tomorrow

22 Friday May 2020

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Life, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Life

Our new normal brings with it many memories of the past with its ordinary moments and its very special moments, too. It is almost as if we have been given the chance to find our new normal as we remember the experiences of what normal used to look like. If that sounds confusing to you, well, it sounds confusing to me too.

Early in this new life we are all living I began to remember those experiences from long ago that had felt special to me, as well as those days that were always quite ordinary,. Those moments, those days, those experiences were all…my normal.

As the medical experts informed us of all the risks, as the government put in place all manner of ways to “slow the spread”, we all began to realize that life was going to be very different, maybe for a very long time. And suddenly, even procuring groceries became a thing, a moment, an experience unlike it had never been in my grown-up life. And then it hit me…going to Kroger had once been very special, an event, and it was about to become an event again.

When I was a little girl growing up in Detroit, I spent a lot of time at my paternal grandparents house. I always tried to begin my weekends there on Wednesday night…yes, that does make for a nice long weekend! I knew that Grandma and Grandpa walked down to Kroger on Seven Mile Rd. and Livernois every Thursday to get the groceries for the next week, and I always tried to find a way to go with them. I loved those trips to the store. Why? There was a bridal shop on the way, and each month a new dress showed up in the window. Oh how I could not wait to see the new dress on that gorgeous mannequin! Then there were the ice cream cones, one for me and one for himself, that Grandpa always got at the dime store, whether Grandma approved or not.

And now I go to Kroger on Monday morning every two weeks to do our shopping for the next two weeks. I do not go any other day, and so we best be certain everything we need or want is on the list that hangs on the refrigerator. If we find we are missing something…well, Monday will come again. We have learned to adapt…even be more creative with recipes…because, maybe, Monday is still a ways off! I noticed this past week that I was like a kid looking forward to passing the bridal shop…I was going shopping, and it was an event, and I was even excited. Maybe, just maybe, this is good for all of us, discovering once again the simple things that are really important and should never be taken for granted.

It is from this same set of grandparents that I was introduced to the beauty of nature. They loved gardening, and while I was not as keen on it as they were, I did learn a lot from them. Then suddenly, as an adult, I grew into my understanding of all the nature they had taught me and I have never looked back. As we are “locked down” I spend a lot of time in my yard, I spend a lot of time looking at the bees and the birds, the flowers as they bloom at different times, and I take some pride in planting my garden. This year I will be planting a Three Sisters garden…more about that in another post.

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We watched each day as our maple trees came back to life!

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We watched as a bluebird pair claimed ownership of our box to start a family…

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and delighted in watching their nestlings grow, and finally fledge!

Grandma had, literally, hundreds of Viewmaster slides from all over the world, and from those slides I developed my love of travel. I cannot travel right now, but Jim and I can, and do go for rides in the countryside down roads we never knew existed, and we discover so much we never knew was out there so close to home.

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This is a scary time for the whole world, but it is also a time to look back at where we were, and realize that was often a pretty neat place. Maybe, just maybe, we might not mind returning to that life, if only just a bit, understanding that little things we have learned to take for granted are really pretty special after all! If we do, maybe, just maybe, we will all be better for the experience.

 

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Where’s Grandpa?…and Chocolate Depression Cake

29 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Cake, Desseert, Nature, Photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Dessert, Family, Food, Life, Nature

As does most of the rest of our country, as does most of the rest of the world, we find ourselves confined for the most part to our homes and our yards. If we follow the guidelines we have been given, we can go out for groceries, medicine, gas, and a walk in a local park or our own neighborhood.

It is during this period of “Stay Home, Save Lives” that I am so grateful for the opportunity to go out into the natural world. It is during this moment that I am so grateful to be able to connect with family members on various social media platforms. Nature and family…my two favorite things. And that got me to thinking…

We went to our hometown conservation area the other day to look for spring. Spring is truly breaking out, so we walked and walked. I was on my way through the woods looking for wildflowers, when I turned around to see if Jim was behind me. He was, but I could not see him for a minute or so. And then, suddenly, I knew he was coming…it was his red St Louis Cardinals hat that gave him away (Oh, how I miss baseball!). And that gave me an idea for interacting with my youngest grandchildren. I sent them two pictures, and asked them to find Grandpa. It is so fun to find a way to be close to them, and give them the opportunity to respond in some sort of shared activity.

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Where’s Opa? Look for the red hat!

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Where’s Grandpa?

Since we are told we can safely go to parks and nature areas, Jim and I do so at least once or twice a week. Other days we walk in our neighborhood, or just visit our own yard. It is so nice to see spring unfolding, and new life returning. I hope you enjoy these pictures of what we have found…not too far from home.

I love encountering wildlife! These Canada Geese are a resident pair at Bray Conservaton Area. They return each and every year to build a nest and raise their goslings to the age when they are ready to strike out on their own. The little orange skipper was a special treat!

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Walking in the neighborhood and in the conservation area, we find many wildflowers beginning to appear among the dry leaves of autumn and winter.

Mayapple
Mayapple
A spring Aster
A spring Aster
Spring Beauty
Spring Beauty
Toothwort
Toothwort
Pussy Toes
Pussy Toes
Hairy Bitter Cress
Hairy Bitter Cress

But what I love the most on these early spring walkabouts are the lichen and the mosses.

Reindeer lichen is so pretty as it grows with the other mosses.
Reindeer lichen is so pretty as it grows with the other mosses.
New growth
New growth
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I love the small maidenhair fern coming through the moss.
I love the small maidenhair fern coming through the moss.

Coming home from one of our walks to a lawn full of violets just makes for a big smile and a better day…

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…and then I always feel like cooking, or baking, making some kind of treat to end a great day, no matter what the news is reporting.

Using What I Have

I go shopping once a week during the seniors hour early in the morning. Tomorrow is shopping day, so we are low on a few things…like milk. My daughter-in-law mentioned that she had made a cake with out milk or eggs called Vanilla Depression Cake. That seemed like something I could pull off, and as I looked for the ingredients I would need I found some cocoa way in the back of the cupboard. Chocolate Depression Cake, why yes, thank you very much!

During the Depression years, homemakers tried to make tasty treats for their families even when the cupboard was almost empty. Depression Cake was first developed during this very hard time for our nation. It had to put smiles on otherwise worried and distracted faces, because it is really delicious. I like to think of Depression Cake as proof that you really do not need a lot to show your love, you only need the desire to show that love to those around you…and a bit of creativity.

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Chocolate Depression Cake

  • Servings: 9
  • Print

A great way to make a great treat with no eggs and no flour.

Credit: Adapted from Chocolate, Chocolate, and More

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. white vinegar
  • 1/3 c. vegetable oil
  • 1 cup water
  • confectioners sugar for dusting the baked cake

Directions

  1. In the bowl of your electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda.
  2. In another bowl, combine vanilla, vinegar, oil and water.
  3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until completely combined and no lumps remain.
  4. Bake in a greased 8×8 pan at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  5. Allow cake to cool completely and dust with confectioner’s sugar.

Enjoy!

Remember, we are all in this together…God bless and keep each of us!

 

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“We Plan Our Days, but…” and Apple Pudding

17 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Dessert, Life, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Dessert, Food, Life

As I was reading this rainy Saturday morning, I came upon this line from Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate,

We plan our days, but we don’t control them.

The sentence seemed to strike right at the moment in which we, and the whole wide world find ourselves in this moment of time.

We had so many plans for the coming weeks. I teach a children’s nature study at a local conservation area. We just had our first spring class…maybe our last for a while.

wonderbugs ponds1

I was excited about attending training early in April to become a Xerces Ambassador and help educate citizens about the importance of saving our pollinators. That training has been postponed until at least June.

We were planning on traveling to Texas to see a bucket list item…Texas Bluebonnets. That trip has been put on hold.

Meetings, church services, get-togethers among friends have been cancelled.

And Jim and I find ourselves in that vulnerable over 60 crowd. So what to do?

The simple answer is…go outside! There is no virus in the woods, nor on the prairie, or by a stream. So we go out and look for the reassurance that a new season is coming. We find those signs for which we are searching, and it lifts our spirits, clears our minds, drives away despair, puts smiles on our faces…and tires us out for a good night’s sleep!

We begin in our own backyard…

The maple trees are beginning to bloom...
The maple trees are beginning to bloom…
as are the forsythia.
as are the forsythia.
My Blue Flag iris is up...
My Blue Flag iris is up…
and my New England aster.
and my New England aster.
Our rosebush is anxious to get going...
Our rosebush is anxious to get going…

But the very best find in the yard, one rainy afternoon is our first daffodils…

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Late in the evening, the full moon out our back porch shone through the thickening clouds long enough for me to get a picture with my camera’s moon setting…

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We traveled to a local state park where we could see green coming back with almost every step we took…

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At the water's edge, life is re-emerging.
At the water’s edge, life is re-emerging.
The beavers and the turtles are active
The beavers and the turtles are active
The Lake at Montauk State Park
The Lake at Montauk State Park

Just before we were all told to stay away from places where we might encounter large groups of people, we visited one of our favorite places, Shaw Nature Reserve, near St. Louis.

It was a very cold and very gray day, but we enjoyed every single second of our time outside. We were very lucky to have made the decision to visit on Sunday, because on Monday the reserve was closed until further notice to protect its workers as well as its many visitors. We had the park nearly to ourselves, and what a joy!

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We saw signs of things to come, even tough it was so very cold…

These Wake Robin will bloom in the next month. I hope the park opens again before then!
These Wake Robin will bloom in the next month. I hope the park opens again before then!
Found these by the pond.
Found these by the pond.

I was really excited by finding our real reason for visiting. Each year, Shaw has literally thousands of daffodils that bloom throughout the park. The daffodils come up in the fields, they bloom on the hillsides, and they sneak out from within thick brush.They are amazing when in full bloom, and we caught them just as their bloom was beginning. The even more amazing thing this spring is that the park conducted a controlled burn. Yet, the daffodils came up…and they are blooming, even those that were temporarily damaged by the burn. Yup, there is always hope for better things to come!

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The world is in crisis mode, I know, but going outside, smelling the fresh air, seeing new life, makes me sure we will weather this storm just as we have so many others.

Baking While Home-centric!

Being at home, with only parks and woods, forests and streams to visit gives one a lot of time to finish projects that have been on the shelf, sometimes, for years. It gives me time to clean…well, if I want to. And it gives me time to play with a new kitchen tool I got for Valentine’s Day and search out some new recipes in cookbooks I have wanted to explore for a long time.

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My new spiralizer, peeler, slicer!

I checked the apples that we picked last fall, and found the few we have left to still be in very good shape. So I checked for a good, new apple recipe. I found the perfect one in a book I bought from our church group some thirty years ago. The book is called Heritage of Cooking: A Collection of Recipes from East Perry County, Missouri. That is a long name given to a cookbook of favorite recipes from a group of Lutheran churches in east central Missouri. They are good old German recipes, from old German Lutheran families, like mine. This apple pudding is absolutely delicious!

Going with the theme of the present moment to do with what you have, I used some coconut sugar (not sure why I had that!) for the sauce in place of the brown sugar which I did not have, adding a half tablespoon of molasses. I am not sure if that is what gave it its deep brown color, but it was really delicious.

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Apple Pudding

  • Servings: 9
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 2 c. apples, peeled and cored
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1c. flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (Missouri is famous for its black walnuts)

For the sauce:

  • 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 1/2 c. white sugar
  • 1 c. water
  • 1/4 c. butter
  • 2 Tbsp. flour
  • 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Allow sugar and apples to stand until sugar is dissolved. Add egg and beat. Stir dry ingredients together and mix with apples and sugar. Add walnuts. Bake in greased 9″x 9″ pan for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Note: You can double the amount of apples to make the pudding more moist. I used about 3 cups of apples.

For the sauce, bring sugars, flour, and water to a slow boil until it is slightly thickened and glossy (about 10 minutes). Add butter and vanilla and stir until smooth.

Stay safe, and enjoy!

 

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Life During the Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder…and Laura’s Gingerbread Cake

05 Monday Aug 2019

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Desseert, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Dessert, Food, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Life

Most of us have heard the saying, “May you live in interesting times”. Well, the truth is, most every one who has ever lived, no matter how long or short a time, has indeed lived through interesting times. When I was teaching I always tried to make my students aware of how life is chock-full of interesting events not only in their own backyards, but further out into their neighborhoods, their nation, as well as in the big, wide, wonderful world they could hardly even imagine. We hear of some of those events, and many of them go unnoticed.

As I taught history, in the lower elementary grades we call it social studies, I tried always to impress on the students that what we were learning about did not happen in a vacuum. I wanted them to understand how events in one part of the world had impacts on other parts of the world as well. When the printing press was invented in Germany, not only Germans benefited. Rather, the invention of the printing press helped create a whole new world citizenry, one that was better informed, one that was better able to inform.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the “Little House” books was born in 1867 in the “big woods” of Pepin, Wisconsin. She died in 1957 at the age of 90 in Mansfield, Missouri, the town where she had created a home with her husband, Almonzo.  Her life was long, and full of so many experiences, some that had dramatic and lasting affect on her life, and some that barely registered at her home in the big woods, or on the prairie, or in the Ozarks of the Missouri.

I recently wrote two posts on Laura for this blog, and as I was looking through the books I have about Wilder, her books, and her life, I came across one, The World of Little House, by Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson, that spoke to the idea of…so, what else was happening while the little house books were happening. The authors present a timeline of events during the life of Laura, and it is indeed amazing to take a look at the events that happened in her one lifetime.

I have tried to put together a collection of some of those events and happenings, and have added some of the pictures I have taken to commemorate them as I have lived my own life, experiencing my own world, its past, and its present as we look into the amazing events yet to come.

When Laura was growing up, her family traveled by wagon…

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Picture of a typical wagon that would have traveled across the Kansas prairie.

But Laura was alive when Henry Ford introduced the first American automobile, the Model T, and by the end of her life she would have seen the “car” change in so many ways…

A model of the first Model T which was introduced in 1908, when Laura was 41 years old.
A model of the first Model T which was introduced in 1908, when Laura was 41 years old.
Cars got bigger, faster, sleeker, and fancier as time went by. This is a 1930 Packard we saw at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan.
Cars got bigger, faster, sleeker, and fancier as time went by. This is a 1930 Packard we saw at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan.

There are many inventions that debuted during Laura’s life, inventions that we cannot even think of living without…

The first telephone appeared in 1876, first phonograph in 1877. Doctors were better able to diagnose injuries with the invention of the X-ray in 1896, and Jonas Salk introduced the first vaccine to guard against polio in 1954. Don Juan, the first talkie movie debuted in 1925, and Jim Henson created the first Muppet, Kermit the Frog, in 1955. The first ice cream soda appeared in 1874, and one of my favorites, Coke (served in the original 7 oz. bottle), was first served in 1886. And Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first plane at Kitty Hawk in 1903, changing travel, already made more accessible by the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 and the automobile earlier, forever. Laura was alive in 1932 when Amelia Earhart made her famous solo flight across the Atlantic in 1934.

An X-ray of our son's leg assuring us that it was not broken!
An X-ray of our son’s leg assuring us that it was not broken!
Nothing tastes better than original Coke in original sized bottles!
Nothing tastes better than original Coke in original sized bottles!
This is our version of an old telephone for this old house. When our grandchildren come, they still plug it in. are amazed by the dial, and use it to talk to others near and far.
This is our version of an old telephone for this old house. When our grandchildren come, they still plug it in. are amazed by the dial, and use it to talk to others near and far.
The monument to the first flight that we visited several years ago in Kitty Hawk.
The monument to the first flight that we visited several years ago in Kitty Hawk.

Laura also saw the first Montgomery Ward catalog house built in 1871, along with the first performance of the Barnum and Bailey Circus in that same year. The Burpee Co. sent out its first seed catalog in 1878, and we know from her writings that Laura loved looking through them each year as she planned her garden. The first American zoo opened in Philadelphia in 1874.

Laura saw the territory where her parents lived out their lives, South Dakota, gain statehood in 1889. She was living in South Dakota when, in 1884, oil was discovered in Independence, Kansas, not far from where she had spent some of her childhood. Indeed, twenty-three wells would eventually surround the area of the little house on the prairie.

The little house books present a picture of Native Americans that is not to be lauded. Most settlers were afraid of the Native Americans and events involving these natives did not encourage them to change their minds. This was a nation, a population, in the midst of peopling a continent, of bettering their own lives by, they believed, bettering the land. Their purposes, their industriousness, their land hunger did not bode well for the people who had been here for centuries before their arrival.

In 1868, the Osage signed a treaty selling their Kansas lands to settlers for $1.25 an acre. In 1870, Congress forced the Osage to abandon all their land in the territory. Laura was only a toddler when these events took place, but they would play a major role in the life of her family as they moved around the new American heartland.

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The Osage are considered the indigenous tribe of my own state of Missouri. Just outside Cuba, Missouri, a memorial has been erected to honor these people who had come before. As they lived and moved around the area, they made trails, their own “highways”. Eventually those paths were paved over and became the concrete highways of mid-America. Where this memorial stands, US 66 became one of the most fabled highways in America. Just next to the memorial is Interstate 44 which replaced a large portion of the iconic Route 66.

 One wonders what went through the Ingalls’s minds as they learned of the Battle of Little Bighorn and the fate there of General Custer and his Seventh Cavalry in 1876. Or what might Laura have thought when news of the Battle of Wounded Knee reached her in 1890.

Laura lived through the Administrations of  seventeen presidents, from Andrew Johnson to Dwight Eisenhower. She lived through the era of Prohibition beginning in 1919, and she and Almonzo suffered from the effects of the Stock Market crash in 1929. She would have joined other women of the day in rejoicing at the passage of the 19th Amendment giving voting rights to women in 1920.

In 1885, when Laura was 18 years old, the Washington Monument was dedicated. Just a year later, she would have celebrated along with the rest of the country when the Statue of Liberty found its home in New York Harbor. She witnessed the building of the Empire State Building in 1931, at the time the tallest building in the world.

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A bucket list item…the Washington Monument seen among the cherry blossoms that bloom each spring in Washington, DC.

Laura lived through four wars, the Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War. She would have felt the same shock as all Americans when an American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was attacked by the Japanese, bringing the United States into the Second World War, and she would have wept with all the world when the war ended with the American bombing of Hiroshima in Japan. She would have found hope, as did all the world, at the founding of the United Nations in 1945, dedicating itself to the promise of finding peaceful solutions to world problems and aggression.

A monument to the fallen in World War I that we saw on our visit to London.
A monument to the fallen in World War I that we saw on our visit to London.
The World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. Flights are made every day to take the remaining survivors to see this monument built to honor their bravery.
The World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. Flights are made every day to take the remaining survivors to see this monument built to honor their bravery.
My favorite monument in DC, the memorial to the soldiers of the Korean War.
My favorite monument in DC, the memorial to the soldiers of the Korean War.

And last, but not to be left out, some of the books that were published during Laura’s lifetime, many of which are my favorites. The years between 1867 and 1957 saw the publication of such great books as Little Women, the Wizard of Oz, Huckleberry Finn, Anne of Green Gables, Gone with the Wind, The Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, Charlotte’s Web, The Death of a Salesman, and two that every child today knows and loves, The Cat in the Hat, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

What a full life was Laura’s. What an exciting time to be alive, as a nation moved out, matured, and took its place in the wider world. What lessons to be learned from a nation’s inevitable growing pains.

May we all live in interesting times!

Laura’s Gingerbread Cake

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One of Laura’s favorite recipes was for Gingerbread Cake. Here it is as I found it at the Epicurious website. I made it just as it was written. Laura often liked to serve this really delicious gingerbread with chocolate frosting. Jim and I love gingerbread with whipped cream, so that is how we enjoyed Laura’s Gingerbread.

Laura's Gingerbread Cake

  • Servings: 9
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 1 c. packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 c. solid shortening
  • 1 c. molasses
  • 2 tsps. baking soda
  • 1 c. boiling water
  • 3 c. flour
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. allspice
  • 1 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. cloves
  • 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

  1. Blend sugar and shortening in a bowl. Mix in molasses.
  2. In second bowl, add baking soda to boiling water, and mix well.
  3. In third bowl, sift flour and spices together.
  4. Combine sugar-molasses mixture with flour mixture and baking soda-water liquid. Mix well.
  5. Pour into a greased 9×9 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean wen inserted into center of gingerbread.

Enjoy!

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Spring…and Staying Home

09 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Missouri, Nature, Pasta Dishes, Photography

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Food, Life, Nature

Sometimes, for many reasons, most beyond our control, plans that have been in place for months don’t turn out quite the way those plans were originally written. So, what to do? We looked at our options, and turned our attention to what was possible.

Spring in mid-Missouri is absolutely gorgeous, due primarily to the dogwoods and redwoods that explode in the woodlands, on the cliffs, and even along the interstates. We have had an unusually cold start to spring this year, so those two spring staples are not yet in bloom.

So we went to the woodland looking for the blossoms of spring…and the ephemerals, those small, delicate, flowers of very early spring that do not last too long. Some of them, especially the ones that show up in the lawn are called weeds. Maybe, but I love them anyway.

In my backyard I have found…

Daffodils
Daffodils
Small bluet
Small bluet
Speedwell
Speedwell
Common violet
Common violet
Dandelions...yes, I love them
Dandelions…yes, I love them
Crocus
Crocus

We have some bird feeders, so I took time to sit and watch the birds. Some mornings there is a symphony of birdsong in our yard.

American Robin...he does not eat at the feeder, but his song just sings "spring"
American Robin…he does not eat at the feeder, but his song just sings “spring”
This goldfinch as out looking at what we both hoped was our last snowfall of the winter!
This goldfinch as out looking at what we both hoped was our last snowfall of the winter!
I love to watch the juncoes all winter...they will be leaving soon.
I love to watch the juncoes all winter…they will be leaving soon.
Black-capped Chickadees are funny, quick darting little birds that love to crawl upside down all over the trees in the yard!
Black-capped Chickadees are funny, quick darting little birds that love to crawl upside down all over the trees in the yard!
I got this particular kind of seed to bring in Bluebirds, but we find woodpeckers on it all the time!
I got this particular kind of seed to bring in Bluebirds, but we find woodpeckers on it all the time!
This sparrow blends in so well with the tree...
This sparrow blends in so well with the tree…
while this little guys looks as if he has been scared out of his wits!
while this little guys looks as if he has been scared out of his wits!

We traveled to Montauk State Park near out home to see what we might find, and were not disappointed. We did not find wildflowers…it was a bit too early, but we did find critters…and some evidence of critter activity…

We saw the beaver in the lake and then...
We saw the beaver in the lake and then…
we saw how the beaver has affected the environment. His dam building is not always harmful, as it aids in creating and maintaining wetlands.
we saw how the beaver has affected the environment. His dam building is not always harmful, as it aids in creating and maintaining wetlands.
A Red-eared Slider out sunning on a warm day. These turtles need to sun in order to absorb enough vitamin D from the sun to be healthy.
A Red-eared Slider out sunning on a warm day. These turtles need to sun in order to absorb enough vitamin D from the sun to be healthy.
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We saw some watercress in the Current River as well as a beautiful Fritillary butterfly…

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We have also visited Shaw Nature Reserve just west of St. Louis several times in the last couple weeks.

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The trails there are varied in length and habitat type, as well as well maintained. One of my favorite trails is the Wildflower Trail, a woodland with a section of rocky outcroppings. It is the rocky outcropping that I most love, as that is where I find the most wildflowers of spring.

But the first thing you notice at Shaw in the Spring are the massive clusters of daffodils throughout the reserve. The daffodils bring in visitors from all around, and they never disappoint.

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So following a walk among the…daffodils, we head up to the Wildflower Trail…

Chickweed...I know it is a weed, but I love it anyway.
Chickweed…I know it is a weed, but I love it anyway.
Toothwort...not a complimentary name for just a beautiful little flower, but it is named for its toothy-like leaves.
Toothwort…not a complimentary name for just a beautiful little flower, but it is named for its toothy-like leaves.
Common Violet, though it is anything but common!
Common Violet, though it is anything but common!
Spicebush
Spicebush
One of my favorites...blood root. It is so named because Native Americans used the roots of the plant to make a beautiful "blood" red dye.
One of my favorites…blood root. It is so named because Native Americans used the roots of the plant to make a beautiful “blood” red dye.
Anemone...
Anemone…
and a pink Anemone.
and a pink Anemone.
Snowdrops
Snowdrops
Spring Beauty
Spring Beauty
Hepatica breaking out of the rock of the bluff
Hepatica breaking out of the rock of the bluff
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I love the rocky bluffs!
I love the rocky bluffs!
Serviceberry blossoms...
Serviceberry blossoms…
on a Serviceberry bush.
on a Serviceberry bush.

And we find a few critters, too…

Female Northern Cardinal
Female Northern Cardinal
White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker
a land snail I barely missed stepping on!
a land snail I barely missed stepping on!

Yes, I missed my trip, but my goodness, I have had no time to pout…there is just too much to see out there. You just have to go out there and look for it!

Sometimes, after returning from a day outside exploring, we just want something for dinner that is easy and quick, but still really good. One of my favorites is this pasta dish I make with Missouri grown walnuts we get in the fall and freeze to use all year. I originally found the recipe in an article by Mark Bittman in the New York Times, and have adapted it to our liking over time.

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Pasta with Walnuts and Olive Oil

  • Servings: 6
  • Time: 20 minutes
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 1 c. walnut pieces
  • 1/2 c. parsley leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1 clove garlic,roughly chopped
  • 3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 lb. spaghetti

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
  2. While the water comes to boiling, combine the parsley and garlic in a small food processor. Add the oil and process until you have a nice mixture. Stir in the walnut pieces, and season the with salt and pepper. Set aside.
  3. Cook the pasta to desired tenderness.
  4. Toss the pasta with the sauce.

Enjoy!

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Welcome to Autumn

22 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Family, Life, Nature, Photography

≈ Leave a comment

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Family, Life, Nature, photography

Let me just start by saying…I love autumn. I love the colors of autumn, the temperatures of autumn (even if today is going to be an unusual 93 degree day here in Missouri), the foods of autumn, the crispness of the morning air that accompanies autumn. But…

on this first day of autumn, 2017, the world seems a different place, outside my front door, as well as inside my back door. I cannot wrap my head around what is happening in the world, but I can try to put it aside for a while, close it out…and so I do. But…

then, as I look at my inside world, I notice it changing also. Things that used to be so easy are not easy anymore. Change is not only in the seasons, it is a part of life, sometimes welcome, sometimes not so much so. My challenge this autumn is to find the change worth cherishing, to find the change that covers up the losses that come naturally. And so, as always, I went for a walk…

I have discovered over the last couple years that goldenrod is one of my favorite flowers, and it explodes in the late summer taking us into autumn.
I have discovered over the last couple years that goldenrod is one of my favorite flowers, and it explodes in the late summer taking us into autumn.
Asters are incredible, and the bees are very busy this time of year.
Asters are incredible, and the bees are very busy this time of year.
The colors in Missouri are just beginning to change...yes!
The colors in Missouri are just beginning to change…yes!
Chrysanthemums have always been one of my favorite flowers, they remind me of my home growing up.
Chrysanthemums have always been one of my favorite flowers, they remind me of my home growing up.

And as I walked, I found those things that go out of season to make room for those things I so love in autumn like these sunflowers that were so beautiful a couple months ago, and are now spent until their season returns…

and I found life hanging on as long as it is able…

This rose, a Mother's Day gift from so long ago,,,
This rose, a Mother’s Day gift from so long ago,,,
and these tomatoes, hanging on for us to still enjoy.
and these tomatoes, hanging on for us to still enjoy.

and the highlight of my walk was this monarch chrysalis on our garage siding, getting ready to start a brand new life and a brand new journey…

So, as I come back inside my back door, I understand that there is a certain melancholy to this first day of autumn, 2017…

But I will not let it last for long…because there are apples to pick. There are pumpkins out there I need to turn into my favorite dessert, pumpkin pie. There are crisp, cool mornings to take walks while listening to the leaves crinkle beneath my feet. And best of all, there are holidays to prepare for, and that means family!

Yeah, life, it is changing…my challenge is to keep up with the change as best I can, cherish it, and plan for it! Now where is that 9 inch pie pan!

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