(057: Fireworks in bloom. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
(056: New potatoes. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Way back when, around the time of the wedding, I was asked for the recipes for the cherry pudding and the hash brown casserole that were served at the pre-wedding brunch for the groom’s side of the family/friends. The cherry pudding recipe has already been posted at Life in the Bogs and you can find it here.
The hash brown casserole is fairly simple and remarkably fattening. I got the recipe from some friends from West Virginia. If you want to do a veggie version (something I’m not sure they’d approve of in West Virginia), I’d suggest cream of mushroom soup instead of the cream of chicken. Or cream of celery. If you want a vegan version, you’re on your own figuring that out. This casserole is chock full of dairy.
- 2 lb. bag frozen hash browns (the diced or cubed variety)
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- 12 oz. sour cream
- 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (save a little to put on top)
Combine all and put in 3 qt. casserole dish (9×13). Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes (longer = browner). Cover with foil until last 10 minutes, then cover with reserved cheese and brown for final 10 minutes.
I don’t bother adding the salt. There is plenty of salt to be found in the soup and cheese.
I have not tried to make this with fresh potatoes. With all the other unhealthy stuff in this recipe, I’m not sure it would make a difference in the end.
Enjoy and good luck. Hopefully it won’t clog your arteries too much.
(055: 4th of July fireworks. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men and women; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.
~ Herman Melville
(054: Barn storming? Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Remember the barn I mentioned in the previous post? Here it is again. Looks almost as though the balloon is going to run into it. (It didn’t.)
I’ve been getting a lot of searches for “Party by the Pond.” I don’t know if someone is looking for our Party by the Pond, wondering if we had it and didn’t invite them, or just looking for any Party by the Pond. M and I usually have our Party by the Pond on or near the summer solstice. We did not have it this year due to the wedding and all the celebrations surrounding it. So if you’re looking for our summer solstice Party by the Pond, it’s not happening this year. Perhaps next year. Or perhaps not. It seems like there are fewer and fewer people to invite with so many people moving away over the past couple of years.
We may have to start looking for some new friends. 
(053: Sunday evening in July. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
I wish I could think up great titles for my photos. Other photographers are gifted at it. I can’t seem to tie together words and pictures very well unless I’m matching a quote to a photo. Even with that, I think I’ve done that so much that I’m not doing it well anymore because I’ve become complacent. Or complaisant. Or bored. Sometimes all of the above which is a bad combination.
The balloon pictured above came by just a little while ago in tandem with another. I don’t often see two balloons close enough together to get in one shot so I snapped plenty of shots. I’m sure I’ll post a photo or two of the pair of them sometime over the next few weeks. Of all the pictures I took, this was one of my favorites. It looks as though the balloon is going to land in the trees. To the right is the top of a barn that has fascinated me since we moved here. I’ve taken a few photos of the barn. You can find one of those shots here.
(052: Rain of fire. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Love in its essence is spiritual fire.
~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca
(051: Street performer in New Orleans. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
I hit my archives for today’s photo. I still haven’t gone through all the photos I took in New Orleans. I hope to do that soon. I’m sure more New Orleans photos will make their way here in time.
The fun thing about this photo is the kid behind the street performer, making fun of the street performer by mocking and mimicking his movements. I suppose you had to be there to really appreciate it.
Random stuff:
- Is anyone else out there as sick to death of all the Michael Jackson news as I am? I decided to stop watching the Today Show because of it. I’ve gone back to getting my news from NPR, PBS (usually the BBC news via PBS), or the internet. I kind of liked some of the mindless entertainment of the Today Show in the early morning hours when my mind wasn’t quite awake enough to care. But the all-Michael-Jackson-all-the-time coverage was too much. It’s not like he was a god or a hero or anything. Get a life, people.
- The BBC Earth News had an interesting story about ants this week: Ant mega-colony takes over world.
- What happens when a group of paleontologists visit the Creation Museum? Find out here.
- And since those of us in the U.S. are celebrating Independence Day today: When Was the 4th of July First Celebrated?
- Today is also the anniversary of the day M and I met in Wildwood, New Jersey, 34 years ago.
I’ve been meaning to write up something about the wedding reception. I may still do so, but the further I get away from it, the less likely it is. At the very least I will post a few photos from it. You have to see the wedding cake. It was amazing. And delicious!
Happy 4th of July! M and I will be going to Akron this evening for the food, the music, and the fireworks. The Rebirth Brass Band from New Orleans will be playing at Lock 3. It should be lots of fun.
A note about the blog(s): I’m still working on moving my blogroll from Bountiful Healing over to Life in the Bogs. I’m hoping to have it finished soon. Settling into one blog has turned out to be more work than I thought it would be.
I was in the kitchen making potato salad when I heard a lot of cheeping going on outside. The cats were at the patio door watching the creatures responsible for all that cheeping and chirping. It was a family of king birds — a momma and four babies. (No doubt the cats would like to have made a meal of at least one of them.)
I took a video of them from the patio door up in the dining room. M went out and sat on the deck to video them. His is much better than mine with a shot of the mother coming up to feed the babies (at the very beginning). He also follows the momma bird over to the wildflower meadow.
Here it is:
And here are a couple of still shots:
Not the best shots in the world, but the best I could do. That’s why I have a new camera on my wish list. A better zoom lens would be fab.
(050: Sunlight and rain showers. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.
~ Henry David Thoreau
You’ll find the color version after the break.
(049: Light & dark. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.
~ Walt Whitman
