Exercise to maintain good health

 

Timber-Linn Memorial Park

Yesterday morn very early, Lynda & Ron went to the balloon festival.  They watched all the beautiful balloons take off.  Since it was a little windy - they couldn't all take off at once.

About 10 am we (Kristie, Tyler, Lynda, Ron, Grandma & Grandpa) drove up into the mts to the old Santiam Wagon trail and hiked and forded creeks.  Such a good time!!

Resting.....Eating our late lunches.  Even the dogs were tired.

Reasons to be happy today...

---fresh homemade applesauce
---the smiley smell of chocolate chip cookies
---droopy-headed sunflowers
---an old wagon filled with herbs
---high five with my dog
---just washed blueberries in a colander
---grandpa's roadside farmstand

Couscous with Dried Fruit & Feta

I have always loved couscous, especially when lots of goodies are added in for flavor and crunch.  I needed a side dish the other night and this worked out perfectly!  It's very pretty too!

The sweetness of the cranberries, raisins and apricots balanced the salty feta cheese perfectly.  I will be serving this again and again, it was so easy to throw together I didn't even take other pictures, it just wasn't necessary.


Couscous with Dried Fruit and Feta
Adapted from Everyday

Two 5.8 ounce packages garlic-flavored couscous (Near East roasted garlic & olive oil is my favorite brand)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 cup feta cheese crumbles

Prepare the couscous according to package directions.  Place in a large bowl and fluff with a fork.  Stir in the cranberries, apricots, scallions and feta; season with salt and pepper.

It is important to me that my writing reflects that the magnitude of my blessings always overshadows the trials of my everyday.

Kristie's cat, Stubby

Honestly, life is good. And although one particular day may be harder than another, they are all a part of this big crazy life that I love.  It wouldn't be fair to suggest that I always immediately see the silver lining of the messy parts of my life.  The real me has great days and really hard days, feels great joy and great sadness, and struggles to keep all the sides of myself in balance.  I would like to hide the struggles or hardships I may be having, but the real me, the most authentic version of me, could only hope to portray my happiness in spite of it all. 

 

Mornings are my time to walk!
I can organize my thots and my day and enjoy the weather whatever it may be.
I love the sweetness of a day lived well.

I hope you have a good day today.  
Thanks for reading with me!

I saw this the other day and it struck me as so funny! 

Can you imagine what it sounds like when it rings... 

and how in the world do you get it in and out in a hurry?   

And what will happen when it gets stretched 

out a little more.   

Oh glory be!!  

I'm glad it's not my ear.

Oh well...to each his own.

 ******

Also, I saw this picture and I wondered...

have you ever been this tired? 

" We do not remember days, 

we remember moments."
----Casare Pavese

Good Morning!!!

Let's see......which color should I use today??

Decisions, decisions!!!

Oh, my!!

Did you ever see anything so pretty?

Hope you have a good day!!

God,

brilliant

Lord.......

I look up

at your 

macro-skies, dark and enormous. . . . .  your handmade sky-jewelry. . . .
Moon & stars mounted in their settings.
   Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
   Why take a second look our way?
It makes me feel like dancing! ! !

We had a nice July 4th.             

We enjoyed a quiet time here at home.

Even the flowers burst into a display of glory.

Nice showing of flags downtown

Thanks to the boy scouts.

Then we watched fireworks
on NBC from New York.

I'm really glad I live in America!

and I'm proud of the troops that are

away from home and fighting for
you and me!

                          God bless America!!

I am going to go out today and see what I can find that is red.  I'll keep you posted what I find in my hiking and shopping.

Some redish-

orange mums.

Sunvisors 

on 

display...

May

                   and in my own back yard....geraniums!

Maybe I'll find some more red things before the day is over..hope so.

My friend told me that he once saw a huge clock.  You could see both the face of the clock, and if you walked around to the other side, you could also see the inner workings.  If you were standing on the side with the face, it seemed like nothing was happening for a full sixty seconds.  Then, "bong!" the giant minute hand would suddenly move.  However, if you were standing behind the scenes that whole time, you would have seen that there were hundreds of little parts, all moving and working together.

The point is, that often while we wait, and assume nothing is happening, there are actually millions of details being worked out behind the scenes on our behalf.  If all we're looking at is the face of the situation, it seems like an eternity of big, fat, nothingness.  Which is where faith comes in.  We need to take time (Get it? heh, heh. Time.) to relax and breathe. Take time to be still. 

I don't know about you, or what you're waiting on, but I was so encouraged that perhaps right this minute, is a good time for each of us to let go and simply trust.

How about this guy 
(Vermillion Flycatcher) 
sighted in 
Morongo Valley Park!!

The western tanager family are
back and visiting us daily.

Such a beautiful site.


They are nesting close by
the house evidently.  

Fried Pickles

Has the whole world been frying pickles behind my back and no one bothered to tell me about it?  I saw these in a magazine and thought how brilliant, but something tells me this is not a new phenomenon.
I love them.  They are my new go to way of eating pickles.  I think I might even put them on burgers. Or fish sandwiches.
Dipped in ranch dressing they are the perfect little bite-sized apps, the ones where you mindlessly devour ten of them before you know what has happened.  Maybe that's not good.


Anyway, whip these out at your next gathering and watch folks swoon.


Beat egg, milk and a pinch of cayenne.  Place 1/2 cup cornstarch in a shallow dish.  In another dish, mix 1/2 cup each cornstarch and cornmeal with dill, paprika, salt and pepper.


Dip cold pickle slices in the plain cornstarch, then the egg wash, then the cornmeal mixture.  Fry in 2 inches of 375^o F canola oil until golden, about 3 minutes.


Drain on paper towels and serve with ranch dressing.


Maybe with potato salad?


I ate way too many of these.  Thank goodness my life is filled with lots of hard physical labor to burn off the calories, LOL.


Fried Pickles
Adapted from Food Network Magazine

1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
Pinch of cayenne
1 cup cornstarch, divided
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 Tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
36 dill pickle slices, cold
Canola oil
Ranch dressing for dipping


Beat egg, milk and a pinch of cayenne.  Place 1/2 cup cornstarch in a shallow dish.  In another dish, mix 1/2 cup each cornstarch and cornmeal with dill, paprika, salt and pepper.


Dip cold pickle slices in the plain cornstarch, then the egg wash, then the cornmeal mixture.  Fry in 2 inches of 375^o F canola oil until golden, about 3 minutes.


Drain on paper towels and serve with ranch dressing.

Hello everybody:
Years ago I decided my job here on earth was to pay attention to the
little things. Life's little "nothings" that don't seem all that
important, when I think about them, or try to explain them to
somebody else. But when I'm on the receiving end, when someone does
one of the little things in life for me, it makes a huge difference
in my day and how I feel about myself.

I went to Target today, and as I was getting out of the car I noticed a woman
coming out of the store pushing a basket. When she got to the edge
of the walk where it dips into a ramp, she raised her hands and let
her basket roll down ahead of her while she sort of skipped along
behind it. She was obviously just enjoying herself with a little
playful moment.
And then yesterday, I accidentally overheard a "little nothing" from
a stranger. I was sitting on my glassed in patio and a mother
and her two young children were going by in a golf cart. They
couldn't see me, but I heard the mother talking to her kids.

"Oh, look! This is the house of the lady who sits outside and turns
on her bubble machine. And look at her beautiful flowers. That lady
is so cool."
Yes, sometimes I'm lucky enough to be out of sight and accidentally
overhear, and other times I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who
takes the time to do the little things.

'I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.'

'I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne'er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me.'

Carlsbad by the Sea

Thanks, Joyce, 
for a great week
down at the bea;utiful 
flower fields 
Carlsbad by the Sea.

It was a glorious week shopping 

relaxing

fisherman's wharf

eating sanddabs

donuts made by a little ol' man

Down by the sea.....................

REASONS TO BE HAPPY

   the 
   world 
   is so full 
   of a number 
   of things, 
   
   i'm sure
   we should all 
   be as happy
   as kings.
   ---Robert Lewis Stevenson

   a
   quiet
   spot

   to
   call

   your
       own.......

birds

splish-splashing  

around 

in the birdbath

the 

delicacy
of 
a

butterfly  

balancing  
on a 

flower

the 
clean-as-a-whistle
feeling 
of the world 
when 
the 
sun pops 
out 
after 
a 
rainstorm

Leaving Alaska.....

Lynda & Ron are moving back to Oregon.  They'll be there the 1st of June.  We sure welcome them back but know they'll miss all their friends and the wild wilderness of scenic Wrangell Island.   

We'll miss going to see them and all the adventure that entails.  No more Anan Trips to see the bears or Rainbow falls or going salmon fishing.  Oh dear!!!

Lotz of memories will be left behind.