A misty day
Posted: September 23, 2009 Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, Adventures in art, Autumn, Domesticity, Earth, food, nature, Photography, water, weather | Tags: pond, tomatoes Leave a comment
(125: Water, rocks, wood, and flowers. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
There has been no improvement in the weather here in the Bogs, I’m sorry to say. Still warm, humid, misty, and very gray. We had a brief rain shower this morning. I don’t like to complain too much about it because we need the rain. We are, I think, about three inches behind where we should be in rainfall this year.
I’m thinking tonight will be a good night for comfort food. I made three quarts of stewed tomatoes yesterday, following pretty much my mother’s way of making them — just tomatoes, onions, and peppers. No sugar. A little salt. I don’t like my stewed tomatoes too sweet. That must be Mom’s fault as her stewed tomatoes were never too sweet either. The tomatoes (and the peppers I used) have a natural sweetness to them that’s just enough.
Macaroni and cheese is a great dish to have with stewed tomatoes, mixing the saltiness of the cheese with the natural sweetness of the tomatoes. Yum. I found a CookingLight mac ‘n cheese recipe that sounds good, using four cheeses. I should stop messing around online and go do something about putting it all together, this comfort meal. It’s not going to make itself, is it?
(Today’s view of the pond.)
Autumn has arrived
Posted: September 22, 2009 Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, Adventures in art, Air, Autumn, Earth, garden, home, nature, Photography, weather | Tags: bees, flowers, insects 4 Comments
(124: Busy Bee. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Today is the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere. Here in the Bogs fall has rolled in with a tropical gloom: cloudy, humid, and very warm. I took the photo above a few days ago when the weather was still bright and beautiful.
I’m feeling pretty gloomy, too, so the weather and I are a matching set today. Not to worry, though. I’ll pull out of it eventually. The grief and sadness are not always the predominant feelings in my repertoire. Time, I’m told, will help.
A smile or two
Posted: September 21, 2009 Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, Adventures in art, beginnings, Earth, Emma, family, home, Photography, Spirit, Summer, wandering | Tags: drawings 11 Comments
(Drawing by Emma.)
I need a smile or two so I’ve decided to post some things that make me smile. I hope they make you smile too.
(123: Smile! Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Now that I got that out of the way… 😀
A little blog business: I’m going to drive some of you crazy. Sorry about that. I am reviving Bountiful Healing. Feel free to change your links, don’t change your links, or do whatever floats your boat. I’m going to need BH for a while and it feels comfortable for me to be there.
I’ll continue with my 365 photo challenge here at the Bogs blog. The quotes will move back to Bountiful Healing. And, as always, I’ll be rambling (babbling?) more here than there.
Sunday signage
Posted: September 20, 2009 Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, Adventures in art, Domesticity, Earth, food, General wackiness, home, Photography, Summer, travel, water | Tags: Colorado, signs 3 Comments
(124: Good advice. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
It’s another beautiful day here in the Bogs. I can’t remember the last time it rained. The nights have been cool and the days have been warm. Typical, lovely September weather.
The gazpacho I made for dinner last night was delicious. The recipe is a keeper. It’s from Fitness Magazine and you can find it here if you’re interested. This morning I made a scramble for breakfast. I am the Queen of Scrambles around here, sometimes using unusual (for breakfast) ingredients. Today’s scramble was pretty simple with typical breakfast ingredients — potatoes, peppers, onions, veggie sausages, and Cajun seasoning for a kick. Oh, and the eggs of course.
I’m getting lost in cooking. Not so much for the eating part (although I don’t mind that) but for the comfort of it. It keeps me busy and in the moment for the most part, although it certainly brings up memories and thoughts of Mom from time to time.
For dinner tonight I’m going to make vegetarian stuffed peppers (a curried kind of thing with potatoes) and that eggplant dish I stumbled upon yesterday. Should be yummy.
Wildflowers and sunlight
Posted: September 19, 2009 Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, Adventures in art, Domesticity, Earth, endings, family, food, healthy diet, Healthy Living Plan, home, life, nature, Photography, Quotes, Spirit, Summer, travel | Tags: Colorado, Mary W. Stewart, RMNP, vegetables, wildflowers 6 Comments
(123: Flowers in the early morning sunlight. RMNP, Co. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Be content to stand in the light, and let the shadow fall where it will.
~ Mary W. Stewart
This photo originally went with a post I had written last Sunday. I was sitting at my mother’s kitchen table, writing about how strange it felt to be sitting there without her. Although unrealistic, I kept expecting her to come walking in any moment, having been out on a squad call or running errands. There is a surreal quality surrounding death. I don’t know how to describe it just yet.
Yesterday I read over the post and decided it was too personal and too raw to make it public. I sat here for a while, trying to decide what to do it. I finally saved it and started over. However, what came out was a long and sarcastic piece that is also unsuitable for publication. It was good to work out some of the snarkiness (anger) that was building up alongside the sadness.
Today I am taking another step towards the state of normal, whatever that may be. M and I made a trip to Hilgerts and picked up lots and lots of fresh produce. I have a peck of tomatoes and a peck of peppers. There are a half dozen (plus one) ears of corn, a beautiful butternut squash, a watermelon, a cantaloupe, various cucumbers, red onions, and hot Hungarian peppers. Everything looked so fresh and beautiful. It was hard to decide so we added to that some eggplant, cabbage, zucchini, yellow squash, and yellow tomatoes.
This afternoon I’m going to make gazpacho with the tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and peppers. Gazpacho is one of my favorite summertime soups and I usually try to make a couple batches of it once the tomatoes and peppers come in. Tomorrow I’ll make a big batch of (hot) vegetable soup using the majority of the vegetables we bought. The eggplant will end up as baba ghanoush, first cooked on the grill so it will have a nice smokey flavor to it (although, having looked at a few eggplant recipes, this sounds pretty good too).
Now that I look at the list, it sounds pretty ambitious. That’s ok. I’ve got all day.
A leaf
Posted: September 18, 2009 Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, Adventures in art, Earth, endings, home, nature, Photography, Quotes, Summer | Tags: fall foliage, Jon Kabat-Zinn 7 Comments
(122: One red maple leaf. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Part of our soul work is to honor the pain and grief we all carry and not to think it is a door to someplace else. It’s a doorway to right here, right now, this moment. Suffering is part of the human condition. It needs to be held in the same way that joy and uplift need to be held — wakefully, as a mature adult.
~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
Cloud reflections
Posted: September 17, 2009 Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, Adventures in art, beginnings, Earth, endings, home, life, nature, Photography, Quotes, Spirit, Summer, wandering, water | Tags: George Macdonald, pond, reflections 12 Comments
(121: Clouds and leaves on the pond. Photo © 2009 by Robin)
Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.
~ George Macdonald
I’m having no problem with idleness. I don’t think I’ve managed to do one productive thing today.
Life in the Bogs 