Category: silliness

food, fun, live and learn, moments, perseverance, photography, silliness, simple things

Yogurt bark…

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I know why this recipe caught my eye on Pinterest.  Its because I always have a container of vanilla Greek yogurt in the refrigerator, and yesterday I had two because they had been on BOGO at Publix.  I never dreamed I’d put a recipe on this blog, but it really isn’t a recipe at all.  Except to say that you need to line your cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread your Greek yogurt about 1/4 inch thick over all.  What you do after that is up to you.  Personally I searched Walmart for a package of the Brookfield clusters I see all the time, except for when I actually wanted to buy them.  The idea of chocolate and dried cranberry appealed to me, with a sprinkling of chopped walnuts, which are also always available in my freezer.  What I did find was Ocean Spray milk chocolate covered craisins, and I didn’t even need to chop them up.  Sprinkle with what ever tickles your fancy and stick the cookie sheet in the freezer for a couple of hours and you’ll be able to break it up like bark, and you’ll have a nice cool treat to enjoy straight out of the freezer. 06-21-20 yogurt

Chobani makes a great Greek yogurt, lower sugar, with Madagascar cinnamon.  I like to mix in chopped apple and walnut and that can be breakfast, dinner, or dessert.  It’s very versatile.  As is chopped Cuties and yogurt.  I’m trying to use stuff up before I shut this place down and hit the road.  I have my work cut out for me…

adventure, connections, friends, fun, losing it, making memories, nature, on closer examination, perseverance, photography, silliness, simple things, unintended images

Oh go take a hike!

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Perhaps the thing for me to do is to always hike with my friend Betty.  I’ve known her for a while now, and while I can’t say that every time she goes hiking she is the only one who comes away with ticks on herself, it happens frequently enough that that I can say that going with her will improve your odds immensely!

This hike was at McKethan Park in Brooksville.  The way that the live oaks sprawl makes me wish for my younger years because they would have made fabulous trees to climb.  Betty and Linda said they saw a face in that tree trunk so I took a picture, and now I see a lion.  A stone chimney is the only remnant of someone else’s story that took place in these woods, and those are etchings in the concrete of the sidewalk.  Nature asserting that she is only tolerating our intrusion.05-09-20takeahike05-09-20hike305-09-20hike205-09-20lion05-09-20fungus05-09-20macro05-09-20GBH05-09-20remnants05-09-20etchings

But there was an ulterior motive to this hike.  It was a chance for us to channel our inner children.  Even though between us we are pushing 200 years of living, those little girls came out to play.  I would love to know what a person finding these pictures in the distant future would think.  Possibly that we had come across a crime scene along the way?  No, it was just us ‘girls’, playing in the woods.

a second look, connections, family, finding my way, learning, life, life goes on, live and learn, memories, moments, on closer examination, perseverance, photography, silliness

It’s a puzzle…

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I bought this puzzle as a prop for a blog post.  It was a while ago and I can’t remember what I called it or what my point actually was at the time.  Something about life falling into place.  Ha!  I’m sure I was convinced at that moment that happily ever after was just around the corner.  When will I learn that ‘ever after’ is an illusion and right this minute is about all you can count on?

I dumped the puzzle pieces out onto the table and took a picture, and then put them back into the box and forgot all about it.  But while on a trip recently there was a puzzle out on the table and we all attempted to put it together, and failed, but it was fun.  I used to buy a Christmas puzzle every year and we’d all work on it, I loved that family activity.  Consequently I bought a table just for that purpose, one with sides that fold down, and it sat up against the wall ignored most of the year.  Not any more though.  That table is now my do-everything table.  All sewing and crafts, plus it’s where I stick things that I can’t figure out what else to do with but also feel like it would be a sin to just throw them away.  After they sit there long enough they do get tossed, but it’s like the left-overs in the refrigerator, I have to let them age a while before I can feel saintly about getting rid of them.

And so when I got home from that trip I got the irresistible urge to ‘do’ that puzzle, and even though I told myself that I shouldn’t, that I’d wind up mad at myself with a puzzle half-done and some other use for the table in mind, but I dumped it out anyhow.  And sure enough, it has taken over my life ever since.  This is exactly the reason I shouldn’t bake, because no matter how I tell myself I’ll put those cookies in the freezer for ‘company’, I eat them.  I don’t buy candy, bread, and ice cream for exactly the same reason.  I really should listen to that voice in my head once in a while, but I hardly ever do.

Then this long, cold, rainy/overcast, weekend arrived, and I was determined to get that puzzle over-with.  So I could get my sewing machine out.  And by last night I was convinced that the puzzle-maker had screwed up.  I had several puzzle pieces that both belonged in the exact same spot, and there was supposed to be a skinny yellow window in one of the doors of the puzzle, and those pieces were simply not there.  I was composing a scathing letter to Big Ben Puzzles in my head, and there may have been a cuss word or two spoken.  Enter my uncle, who picked up the problem section of puzzle pieces and moved everything one space to the left, and like a miracle everything fell into place!  From now on when I reach an impass in life, and am ready to tear my hair out, I hope I remember to move one space to the left and see how things look from there…11-17puzzleimage211-17puzzleimage

I brilliantly took a picture of the puzzle box, which was small and it was impossible to see the details of the puzzle on the image.  Then I put the picture onto the computer screen and zoomed in and I could roll over the image and see the details.  See the feature photo.  And even that didn’t help.  I’ll never know if I’d have figured it out on my own.  This determination to do everything by myself isn’t always the best idea.

a second look, fantasy images, finding my way, fun, old dogs new tricks, on closer examination, photography, silliness, simple things, special effects, technology, Waterlogue

Amusing myself…

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It wasn’t the longest plane ride I’ve ever endured, but I didn’t feel like reading and was at loose ends.  Enter Waterlogue.  So I began to look for photos that seemed to me to be candidates for this app.  Not all that I tried looked great, and some that I thought were dubious did in fact turn out really good.  I told myself that one day when I hadn’t been out for photos for a while and didn’t have anything else to say I’d use them on the blog.  Maybe.  And here we are.  It’s been overcast and raining for days.  The photo shoot I’d signed on for has just been cancelled for the second time in three days.  I will be at a winery later on today so there is hope for me yet.  But for now this is the best I can do.IMG_0407IMG_0401IMG_0402IMG_0403IMG_0404IMG_0405Painted in WaterlogueI’m looking at these on the screen of the desktop right now and they don’t look nearly as good as they did on my phone.  Oops.

'scene' along the way, a second look, Camping, donuts, finding my way, food, fun, on closer examination, perseverance, photography, road trip, silliness, travel, Yummy

The Holy Donut

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I know nothing at all about marketing, let me start there.  But back in 1990 I became possessed with buying a Ford Explorer, and later on I read that they aimed their marketing to women, so I must be susceptible.  As I drove to the Wild Duck Campground in Scarborough, ME my thoughts were on my fears of what would the road be like? Would I get myself into a situation where my lack of experience in towing a camper would get me stuck?  So I was lost in thought, sitting at a traffic light with only a mile to go, and I looked to my left and saw The Holy Donut on the corner.  I was instantly charmed.  I thought what a great name that was, and then the light turned green, but I vowed to check it out the next day.

Still charmed, I set out to try some the next morning, but it was only then that I noticed their real claim to fame.  They serve Maine potato donuts!  The main claim to uniqueness and I failed to pick up on it.  So on the spot I saw blog post potential, and that meant that I needed a scientific approach to this breakfast escapade, so I bought SIX donuts.  I mean I had to base a post on more than just one flavor, right?  What did I choose?  Dark Chocolate Sea Salt, Coffee Cake, Sweet Potato, Triple Berry Holy Cannoli, Toasted Coconut, and Maine Blueberry.  No, I didn’t eat them all, couldn’t have eaten them all because they are bigger, and heavier, than your average donut.  I cut a wedge from each one to try each flavor, and the only one I didn’t like was the chocolate one.  I love chocolate so I don’t know why that was.  When I bought them I thought that I now had breakfast for the next couple of days, but I kept picking on them that day so I eventually threw out the rest of the box just to save myself.  I have zero will power, at least to sweet treats.  Over the two weeks I was at the campground I also tried Lemon, Vanilla, and the best ever, Blueberry Lemon!  I thought that was so good that I said to myself that I would have that every day for the rest of my stay.  Only it turned out that was the last day of that specialty flavor.  I was so disappointed!  What new flavor was the replacement?  Maine Apple!  Be still my heart.  I could have stayed longer in that beautiful part of Maine, but maybe it’s a good thing that I have moved on, for my waistline at least. secondtryHolydonutsignage2HolydonutbackdoorHolydonutflavorsHolydonutsignageHolydonutvarietiesI came to realize that the van delivers fresh donuts to various local businesses, so you don’t have to go to the store itself.  But then you would miss all the accessories you might choose to buy!

HolydonutaccessoriesHolydonutshirts

The Holy Donut!  Whoever came up with the marketing for this place is a genius!Holydonutenjoy

'scene' along the way, birds, friends, fun, perseverance, photography, road trip, silliness, simple things, sky, travel, weather

Meredith…

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We took a little drive to Lake Winnipesaukee yesterday, and because I had to look up how to spell that I now know that it’s 21 miles long and varies from one to 9 miles wide.  We parked at the town pier in Meredith and were soon clicking away.  It was a gorgeous day, and fun, after we recovered from our initial trauma.  A hotel with gorgeous flowers had caught out eye first, and there were swans in the water there also. So we walked that way, dodging a gauntlet of Canada geese, and as we got closer I saw that one of the swans was caught on fishing line, a common problem for the birds in Florida, and I was getting upset. I was wondering who to inform about this while my friend walked closer to the second swan, and then informed me that they were not real swans.  Nope, fake swans and the fishing line was actually anchoring them down.  Kathy was hoping I wouldn’t mention this, but how could I resist?  Maybe her daughters won’t read this…

MeredithfirstsceneMeredithgeese2Meredithhotel2Meredithswan2MeredithparkIt promised to be a fun afternoon…