shavout

Natale and I studied the story of the 
10 Instructions (Commandments) this week.

watercolor garden

Yesterday afternoon Natale and I watched a youtube video on painting with watercolor. Then we sat together in the garden and used pen and paint to create these wonderful watercolors.

tia the copycat

My girls love the book Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathmann. They also (as little girls tend to do) love doing things "the same". It occurred to me the other day when Tessa made yet another connection between her relationship with Natale and Ruby the Copycat that, in her 4 year old thought processing, there are no negative connotations to the term copycat.

Yesterday I was Tia the Copycat. My niece Julie, you know-the one in Zambia, posted a recipe for Orange Yogurt Scones on her blog. I seldom bake (because then I eat the baked yummies). Yesterday however, being I'm on spring break, I attended a women's lunch-bible study and need food to share. Instead of my usual salad-straight-from-the-garden menu I decided to try Julie's scones.

The bible study fell short of my expectations but the scones didn't. They were finished before the bible study was. 

Thanks for your post Julie. I love sharing kitchen creations with you.

the gift

Jay returned from Mexico with a gift for me...a large bag of cinnamon bark. The long sticks only have a faint scent of cinnamon so there must be some processing that happens before we buy cinnamon off the grocery store shelves.

Any ideas what one does with this? 

baby leah

Tessa's baby sister was born Thursday morning. We made the long trek across town with the girls to visit her as soon as the hospital would allow visitors. 

Beautiful baby Leah.

bird brain

It's that time of year...egg laying season. I'm always amazed that any momma bird would consider locating her precious clutch anywhere in Lily's territory. Lily is know for the delight she takes in chasing things....including birds. She's even been known to bark at birds that fly in her airspace. Thankfully she seldom catches the things she chases but there are occasions....

A morning dove built this twiggy nest on top of  stack of shelves on Jay's outdoor workbench. The workbench is located inside the dog fence. A smaller bird chose a little cubby between the cross beam and the metal roofing at our front door where Lily spend most of her outdoor hours.

A third nest is somewhat more appropriately located high in the crook of the arm of a Saguaro cactus out back. The other day I went to fetch Lily from the rocks at the bottom of the cactus. I thought she was stalking a lizard but found an walnut sized baby bird scurrying for cover from the big white monster.

I'm thinking these mama birds need to take a realty 101 class...location, location, location.

kitchen adventures

My latest adventures in the kitchen involved kale from my garden. Kale chips are quick and easy, fragile and very tasty. I experimented using different vinegars; Balsamic won chips down.

If you want to try making some kale chips yourself here's what ya do. 

Wash, dry and cut kale leaves into potato chip size pieces. You'll want to remove the stems as they get sticky when dried. Put leaf chunks in a gallon size ziplock bag along with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Mix around (shake) then add 1 Tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar. Shake again. Remove from bag and place on dehydrator rack (or cookie sheet if you use the oven). Salt lightly with sea salt then set them to dry. Keep a close eye on chips as they dry as they are easier to handle if you get them before they are totally dry and crumble into green dust. Remove and consume. Yum!