349: Wet feet

Great Blue Heron

I don’t suppose many people would think of the gray day we’re having here in the Bogs as beautiful.  Most people might stand back, look up at all the shades of gray in the sky, and call it a dull or gloomy day.  I don’t think most folks would appreciate the boggy, soggy earth or the water on the grass soaking into their shoes and socks, either.  They might, however, appreciate the way the colors in the landscape seem to glow under the gray and gloomy looking sky.

Yesterday's sunset

It think it is all beautiful.  The shades of gray.  The wetness of the ground that caused the subsequent soaking of my feet.  The smell of wet earth and vegetation that is starting to rot.  The cawing of the crows in the trees joined by the chattering of the kingfisher as I approached his territory at the back of the pond.  And the Great Blue Heron who began his take-off from the pond before I could get the camera to focus.  I loved his posture so much that I worked with the photo for a long time in Photoshop, seeing if I could salvage something from a badly focused photograph.  I managed to capture the spirit of the moment with all that fussing about in Photoshop.  It no longer looks like a photo, but I don’t mind that.  Isn’t he glorious?

Here is the original, straight out of the camera, version:

The focus was on the plants, not the bird.  I need to work on my reaction time.  The herons move pretty quickly once they spot me.

A hole in the forest

It is a beautiful day.  The gray clouds that have brought us such lovely, colorful sunsets the past two days.  The gray clouds also allow the other colors in the landscape to show off a bit.

Glowing by the pond.

I did end up taking the camera with me on my walk.  Although it looked like the skies would open up with a deluge of rain, it didn’t happen.  Not even a drizzle or a mizzle while I was out there.

A touch of autumn

It’s chilly today.  I like that, too.

I spent the afternoon roasting vegetables.  I started with big, fat, ripe tomatoes.  They were a little too ripe to drop into boiling water to skin them.  That’s why I decided to roast them instead.  I roasted them down to a rich, tomato-y essence, but not for too long.  I wanted them to still have some juiciness.

Asters in the softness of the light and fog of a gray day

Next I roasted peppers, peeling off the charred skins and adding the peppers to the roasted tomatoes.  Then zucchini, yellow squash, garlic, and onions, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Herbes de Provence, went into the oven until they were roasted down to their rich veggie-goodness.

Everything goes together in a pot, along with some eggplant M grilled for me the other day.  I’ll warm it up in a little while, just enough to bring all the flavors together but not so much that it loses the complexity of flavors from each of the vegetables.  Since the basil plants are still doing well, I’ll garnish it with fresh basil.  My version of ratatouille.  We’ll probably have it with some whole grain pasta and fresh bread.

Dinner is going to be delicious, warm, comforting, and healthy.  All at the same time.

Standing in the jewelweed

Thanks for dropping by the Bogs today.  You’re welcome to stay for dinner.  There is plenty of ratatouille to go around.  🙂

P.S.  I would have brought photos of the food, but I was busy enjoying the process of cooking and didn’t want to interrupt that with the camera.

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