I miss you Sam!!

I miss you Sam!!
I miss you Sam!!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Did You Know???



Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.



Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.


Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold.



Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.



Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream ,cream cheese, or heavy cream in, then
beat them up.


For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.



Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.



Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.Yummm!



Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.



Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Newspaper weeds away
When you start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic but they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes. Place a dryer sheet in your pocket.It will keep the mosquitoes away.



Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and .... ta da! ... static is gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.



Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty



Poor, dear, silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!"
- Wallace Stevens



Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment."
- Ellis Peters



The easiest kind of relationship for me is with 10,000 people. The hardest is with one.
- Joan Baez



Organized spectators
heads covered
in the approved
British Milliner's style
like
green box hats
and stuff;
crowding together,
standing in heels
feet together,
hands clasped in front
of their
top coats.

The mild breeze
swishing leaves
this way and that,
as the necks
move in Unision
watching,
not a tennis ball,
but
free birds
and squirrels
an occasional
kid with a frisbee....

All
watching
on a great summer day,
the
Wimbledon of life.....
Posted by Ugich Konitari to Sylvia From Over The Hill at March 13, 2010 7:55 PM

The best contraceptive for old people is nudity.
- Phyllis Diller



Make yourself necessary to somebody.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson



Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little song on our roof at night--
And I love the rain."
- Langston Hughes,

Shadow Shot Sunday!

It's shadow sleuthing time
again! Are you ready for some fun? Shadow Shot is hosted every week by Tracy over at Hey Harriet and it is the most fun ever!! And once you start, you can't get enough! So click on the icon, sign up and start chasing shadows!

After an almost balmy January and February and all the spring flowers and flowering trees blossoming out a good month to six weeks early, March rolled in with dark, heavy skies, lots of rain and some of the coldest temps of the winter. Sunshine and shadows?? Forget about it!! So, I had go looking for some old ones!

Hopefully when April rolls around our deck will look like this again!



I do like this shot because you not only get colored shadows but reflections as well!





And the stairs leading to the thick Irish Moss!



Of course, Sam will be glad to see the sun again, too!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty



We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
- Kahlil Gibran



Life without love is like a tree without blossom and fruit.
- Kahlil Gibran



The soil, in return for her service, keeps the tree tied to her; the sky asks nothing and leaves it free.
- Rabindranath Tagore



I was born modest; not all over, but in spots.
- Mark Twain



Fewer things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
- Mark Twain



Ethical man - a Christian holding four aces.
- Mark Twain



You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
- Kahlil Gibran

Best Singles Ad

Single Black Female......
This has to be one of the best singles ads ever printed. It is reported to have been listed in the Atlanta Journal.

SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me... Call (404) 875-6420 (404) 875-6420 and ask for Annie, I'll be waiting.....





Over 150 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society.

Examine the Myths

As I got more and more involved in photography and the whole political/economy scene was becoming more and more heated, less and less productive, I took all mention or discussion of them off my blog simply because I didn't want to fight with anyone and because it was taking away the joy I found in blogging. But today for the first time in well over a year I read an article that confirmed what I've been wanting to believe, but was afraid I was just being Ms Pie-in-the-Sky as I've frequently been called. The article is by a favorite of mine, Paul Krugman, New York Times Op-Ed columnist, and while I'm not going to discuss it here, I would like to recommend it to those of you who perhaps have some of the same fears and misgivings that I have had.
And now I shall take up my camera and return to the skies and all the beauty there is to enjoy!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Sky Watch Friday!


Sky Watch is hosted each week by Klaus and the Sky Watch team, Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and myself. Each week hundreds of people from all over the world share their skies with us. Click on the icon, sign up and share yours with us as well! It's a wonderful way to see and to share the beauty that lifts the spirit, warms the heart and delights the eyes!

As Spring struggles to push aside the gray and the cold, we've been seeing color and variety a lot sooner this year and it is wonderful!



It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens



Springtime is the land awakening.
The March winds are the morning yawn. ~Lewis Grizzard



It is almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream. ~Bern Williams



Peace... is seeing a sunset, and knowing who to thank. ~Unknown



The hooded clouds, like friars,
Tell their beads in drops of rain. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes
and a laugh in her voice. ~Hal Borland

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty



There is no defense against adverse fortune which is so effectual as an habitual sense of humor. ~Thomas W. Higginson



If you cannot answer a man's argument, all it not lost; you can still call him vile names. ~Elbert Hubbard



I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes. ~Author Unknown



Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven. ~
Rabindranath Tagore



Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark. ~
Rabindranath Tagore



Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself. ~Rita Mae Brown

Maxine on the Job!


My 1 day Employment

So after landing my new job as a Wal-Mart greeter,
A good find for many retirees, I lasted less than a day....

About two hours into my first day on the job a very loud, unattractive, mean-acting woman walked into the store with her two kids, yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance.
I said pleasantly, 'Good morning and welcome to Wal-Mart. Nice children you have there. Are they twins?'
The ugly woman stopped yelling long enough to say,
'Hell no, they ain't twins. The oldest one's 9, and the other one's 7.
Why the hell would you think they're twins? Are you blind, Or stupid?'
So I replied,
'I'm neither blind nor stupid, Ma'am, I Just couldn't believe someone slept
with you twice. Have a good day and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.'

My supervisor said I probably wasn't cut out for this line of work.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty



Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
Langston Hughes



Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you.
Langston Hughes



Television is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome.
T. S. Eliot



Always do what you are afraid to do.
Ralph Waldo Emerson



The Formula One
streak
across the skies
as
The One In-Charge
sets up
a night here,
a day there,
a cloudy moment
for a burning day,
occasional
monsoon leaks
elsewhere,
as he hits
some dark
loaded clouds.

Energy Spent,
foot off the
world accelerator,
He relaxes,
somewhere over
Seattle,
looks down
through
the white exhaust ,
spots someone,
with a camera
and says,
"Sylvia,
well , I never ....."
:-)
Posted by Ugich Konitari to Sylvia From Over The Hill at March 9, 2010 9:07 PM

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

What Can I Say?

What Can I Say?
I'm interested in almost everything. Use to like to travel, but it's too expensive now. I take Tai Chi classes, swim, volunteer in a Jump-start program for pre-schoolers. I'm an avid reader and like nearly everyone these days I follow politics avidly. I'm a former teacher and Special Projects Coordinator for a Telecommunications company, Assistant to the President of a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturing company. Am now enjoying retirement -- most of the time. I have two daughters, one son-in-law and two sons scattered all over the country. No grandchildren.

Portland Time