My Favorite Things -- Hot Air Balloons

Memorial Day Weekend

I hope you are having a good Memorial Day weekend so far!  I took a vacation day yesterday so I ended up with 4 days off in a row.  I needed a nice relaxing weekend after a stressful week though.  

This morning, Charlie and I went to the farmer's market together and had a nice time.  I bought a few plants to add to the garden (eggplant, sweet potato, lovage, chives and mint).  Charlie bought a few Rada knives from the 4-H group and some cookies from a local bakery.  I treated him to a cup of coffee   at the Harvest Coffee House and we watched a little bit of a bicycle race that was running through town.  It was a very pleasant morning.  

This week was stressful for me because I lost two chickens from our flock.  The two in the front row on the right in the photo above are dead now.  Prudence, my Speckled Sussex, had a prolapsed vent.  I didn't realize it right away -- I thought she was just being broody -- until I noticed some blood.  I researched what to do, but after bathing her and examining the situation, it didn't look like she was going to get better.  We put her down with quite a bit of sadness.  Poor sweetie.  :(

Then two days later, I came home and found Gertrude, the Buff Orpington, dead in the coop.  There had been no signs of sickness/weakness at all.  I'm not sure what happened, but I'm assuming it was a heart attack.  I am, however, keeping a close eye on the rest of the ladies.

The other sad news is that my gorgeous outdoor cat that we had grown to love has not been around for a couple of weeks.  At first, I was hoping he was just out trying to find a female friend.  Now, I'm afraid he is gone forever.  Perhaps he was injured in a fight, or ran into a coyote.  I didn't see him along the road, but being hit by a car is also a possibility.  Regardless, I miss his friendly greetings and his funny antics.
So, it has been a sad week.  I try not to get too attached to my animals, but it is nearly impossible for me.  I get upset over road killed raccoons and possums and I only kill insects when absolutely necessary.
This four day weekend is just what the doctor ordered.  I intend to relax as much as possible.  I'm also looking forward to a week long vacation in late June.  We've booked an overnight trip to Detroit and left the rest of the week wide open so far.  Hooray for time off of work!

Mali, 1995

I shot this image near Kolokani, Mali (West Africa) during my stay there back in the mid 90's.  I like this shot for several reasons:  It clearly shows the type of terrain in that area of Mali, the man is carrying something on his head (usually something the women did) and carrying a chicken (possibly heading to market), and the man is smiling at me -- happy to have his photo taken.
I would love to go back to visit someday.  I have friends there who would happily house me if I were able to go.  For the past few months, Mali has been in turmoil with an armed Tuareg rebellion in the north and a coup in the capital city of Bamako.  Sharia law has been enforced in the northern cities that the rebels have captured.  Please send prayers/healing vibes for the country and for safety for it's people.

Tulip

My posts seem to be getting few and far between lately.  I realized that I often have photos I'd love to show off, but not much to say.  So, you might be seeing more posts in the future -- but fewer words.  :)  Hope everyone is having a splendid Spring so far!

April Showers

It has been a beautiful dreary morning at our little house nestled in the pines.  Here is a photo tour of our yard this morning:

Easter Eggs Made with Natural Dyes

I dyed Easter eggs using natural dyes recently after seeing the process here.  I found it on Pinterest originally.  If you've noticed I haven't posted many blog posts lately, you can blame it on Pinterest.  I spend way too much time looking around.  If you are on Pinterest and wish to "follow" my pins, my boards are at http://pinterest.com/shari3139/.  

Thought I'd show you my 4th burner pot I first saw on "Food In Jars" -- linked on the left side of my blog.  The pot comes with a handy wire basket -- great for steaming veggies or boiling eggs.  I also intend to use this pot to process small batches of canned jam this year.

Anyway,I got some unusually results with the dyes.  I think I may have had some uniques chemical reactions because of the method I used to hard boil the eggs.  The recipe I used for the perfect boiled egg called for salt and vinegar in the boiling water.  I got a bit of a salty coating on my eggs and had to scrub it off (which also took off some of the brown tint too.  So odd!).  I think if I had boiled the eggs in just water, my results may have been different.  

I made dye baths with red onion peel, grape juice, red cabbage, beets and paprika.  I found it funny that they are all kind of the same color at the beginning, but create such different colored eggs.
The instructions are different for each color, but none of them were hard to make or took any exotic ingredients -- just boiling water, white vinegar, and the item that contains the color.

I found the red cabbage to have the most interesting result.  I got dark teal and pale teal all in the same batch.  The beets gave a nice mottled pink color.  The red onion was supposed to create jade green, but mine look more like a burgundy with a green patina instead.  The paprika made a nice pale orange and the grape juice made a dark lavender color.

I think they turned out quite lovely.  This is what I have left over after giving my friend, Cristin, some of them.  She contributed some of the red onion skins and she assisted me with making the dyes.  She made a fun creative project even more fun -- and the good music and a great bottle of Concord Wine helped too.  Good times!

Spring is here!

The last few weeks we've had absolutely amazing weather!  Spring came early -- last week we had temps in the mid 80s.  It was the perfect ending to a terrifically mild winter!

The chickens were very restless and needed to get out of the coop.  I put up a movable fence to give them access to grass, bugs, and dirt.  It isn't going to keep any raccoons out, but I lock up the coop at dark to prevent any catastrophes.  Netting over the top should keep hawks out -- I hope.  

Their first day out, all of the ladies dug into the dirt and rolled and flapped around in it.  Nothing like a good dirt bath to ring in the warm weather.  

The girls are all doing very well.  Olivia was sick for a couple of weeks -- she seemed lethargic and wobbly.  She didn't eat much either so I thought she was going to die.  Happily she survived.  :)
I also thought a few plants I purchased last year had died, but they also survived.  Below is a cold hardy kiwi that I thought had died last summer.  Tah dah!  It's back!

The rhubarb and asparagus are growing well and I will harvest some of it this year for the first time.

Now that all the trees are flowering, the weather is going back to normal.  It is dropping below the freezing point at night which is going to cause a problem for our fruit crops.  I'm trying to protect my pear tree by covering it with a garbage bag tonight.
The best thing about this weather is that I get out of work much earlier now.  This is the first summer in 6 years that I will be able to work in the garden in the afternoon and evening.  How exciting is that?!?