I miss you Sam!!

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

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Smile!! It's Saturday!!

And more moms and babies!!


Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.  Anatole France
Man is the only animal that blushes -- or needs to. Mark Twain
I never met an animal I didn't like but I can't say the same about people.. Doris Day

An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language. Martin Buber

Friday, July 25, 2014

One Quiet Moment

Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
-- Oscar Wilde

A Day in the Park!!

Always fun to go back to the park!!!
And sure enough!! There was my favorite upside down duck!!
I was amazed at how many colorful flowers were still blooming!!

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Sky Watch!!

Welcome to Sky Watch!!  Join us each week and share the beauty your skies and enjoy other beauitful skies from all over the world!! And wishing all of you a wonderful weekend!!
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. ~Rabindranath Tagore
The sky is that beautiful old parchment in which the sun and the moon keep their diary. ~Alfred Kreymborg
Only from the heart can you touch the sky. ~Rumi

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

One Quiet Moment

Enjoy the journey, enjoy ever moment, and quit worrying about winning and losing -- Matt Biondi

How About Some More Moms and Babes!!!

Always good for a smile on a gray rainy northwest day!!

I love the lions!!

Hope your week is going well!!

Some Clever Ideas Worth Knowing!



 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 and 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 you want a stronger taste of garlic.  


Leftover snickers bars from Halloween (leftovers??) 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.



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





Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up.
Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg.  Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.


 

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

One Quiet Moment

The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. --Allan K. Chalmers

Cashews??? Who Knew??

Let me know if you are unable to see the photos -- weird stuff again????
Ever wonder where cashews come from?You might think they grow inside a shell like any other nut, but their origins are far more bizarre. 
First of all, cashews are not actually nuts, but rather fruits from the cashew tree, a large evergreen tree that thrives in tropical climates.
The tree produces red flowers, which in turn produce yellow and red oval structures resembling apples. These so-called cashew apples are very juicy and pulpy, and their juice is often added to tropical fruit drinks.
 However, cashew apples are not actually fruits in a scientific sense...the real fruit of the cashew tree is the kidney-shaped formation growing at the end.
These fruits, also called drupes, are harvested and become what we know as a cashew nut. In their raw form, the other layer of the fruit contains multiple toxins, including anacardic acid, a powerful skin irritant similar to the toxin found in poison ivy that must be removed prior to eating.
 

Roasting the cashews destroys the toxins, but roasting must be performed carefully outdoors because the smoke can irritate the lungs, sometimes to a life-threatening degree.
Cashews, when they are roasted, change from their natural greenish-gray color to the light brown nut sold in stores.
Next time you crack open a tin of cashews, take a moment to appreciate the long journey those little c-shaped nuts took to get from the tree to your table! It also explains why they are so expensive!

Monday, July 21, 2014

Our World

Welcome to Our World!!  Join us and share your world and enjoy others!! So much to be shared and enjoyed!!

Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives. --C. S. Lewis

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.--Marcel Proust

Sunday, July 20, 2014

One Quiet Moment

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
-- George Bernard Shaw

Happy Sunday!!

In summer, the song sings itself.
                                                                        Carlos Williams
Have a beautiful Sunday!! Enjoy!

Saturday, July 19, 2014

One Quiet Moment

Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
-- Margaret B. Runbeck

Another Look Down Memory Lane!!

A Native American overlooking the newly completed transcontinental railroad in 1868
The Great San Francisco Fire and Earthquake of 1906
The Beatles in 1957
Steamboats on the Mississippi River in 1907  This shot was "colored" later, but I lived in New Orleans in the 50s and this sight was not uncommon even then. I took one up the river and it was wonderful!

Friday, July 18, 2014

One Quiet Moment

No sight is more provocative of awe than is the night sky. ~Llewelyn Powys

How About Some More Mom and Babies!!!!

It doesn't matter if an animal can reason. It matters only that it is capable of suffering and that is why I consider it my neighbor. - Albert Schweitzer
Who said you can not buy happiness, when you are thinking about puppies! - Gene Hill
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and
          the stars; you have a right to be here.
                                                                     - Desiderata   
All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness
    within. - 
Horace Friess
                                                                           
Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.
                                                                                 - Shakespeare
Lie down and listen to the crabgrass grow.
                                                                        - Marya Mannes  

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Sky Watch!!

Summer afternoon . . . summer afternoon - the two most beautiful words in the English language.
                                                                                - Henry James
 
Welcome to Sky Watch!! Join us each week and share the beauty of your skies!!  We've had such wonderful weather that our skies have been a bit dull, plain old blue!! I had to dig in the files for some more colorful ones!! Enjoy!



I go to nature to be  soothed and healed, and to have my senses
      put in order.        
                                                                      - John Burroughs

The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose.
Heda Bejar

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

One Quiet Moment

Only from the heart can you touch the sky. ~Rumi

How About These Moms and Babes!!!

Love isn't limited to us humans!!
A smile is a curve that sets everything straight! 
Anonymous 
   
In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.
       - Aristotle
What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it.
       - Isaac Bashevis Singer
Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
       - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.
       - Frank Lloyd Wright

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

One Quiet Moment

If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere. ~Vincent Van Gogh

A Fun One for Looking Back!!


If you were alive in 1957, and old enough to enjoy Rock and Roll, you will probably remember the group, "The Diamonds" who had just launched their super hit "Little Darlin' ".
 A good friend -- even older than I am, sent this one to me and I had to share it!  Now, you youngsters may not recognize any of this, but for you that are too young to remember - it was a time when the performers were happy, enjoying themselves, respecting their fans, dressed appropriately and their lyrics could be understood.
They did not feel obligated to scream, eat the microphone, mumble inaudible lyrics or trash the set.
In 1957, The Diamonds had a hit with "Little Darlin" 47 years later, they were requested to perform at Atlantic City ...
This link leads to both performances.
Watch the first one then scroll down for the new one 47 years later.
Hope you enjoy.
47 years apart 2 Performances --  If you can't see it by clicking on the address here, then just type it in on your computer. I hope you can see it, it's a great look back and  really fun videos!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Our World

Share your world with us and enjoy the beauty of so many worlds!!  Mine today is from the Dahlia Festival! So much beauty and color!!!


Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. ~Rachel Carson

Sunday, July 13, 2014

One Quiet Moment

World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just the absence of violence but the manifestation of human compassion.
Dalai Lama

Wishing All of You a Very Happy and Beautiful Sunday!!

Enjoy!!!

Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. --Nathaniel Hawthorne

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