Confessions of a Grandma

The Venice Rookery is an island in a small pond where many birds nest.  Last Sunday, there were white egrets, blue herons, and anhinga.  There is a resident alligator, but I did not see him that day.   You can probably see why I had camera anxiety.  Me, with my Nikon Coolpix set on auto focus--I stayed out of the way of the big boys.   These three guys were having some kind of disagreement, but they managed to work it all out.  

Oh, well, I missed the super bowl.  Mike has even less interest in football than I do.  I usually know what teams are playing although even that went by me this year.  I tuned in for Downton Abbey though. It was a gorgeous day here on the Florida west coast—cooler than it has been and I took advantage with a great bike ride. I noticed this trail off the neighborhood road I was pedaling along so I went down to explore.  I could hear traffic.  This little park is very near the overly commercial strip of Route 41 and very near the large shopping center in South Venice, but it looked like a slice of rural Florida. I spotted an egret and a little blue heron along the creek shores.   Neither one was at all interested in having its picture taken. I also saw a chenille plant, but the picture did not come out or I deleted it accidentally.  This is a Brazilian pepper plant that has become, like so many species of both flora and fauna, a Florida in...

I do have a certain fondness for curry dishes, although usually it is chicken or cauliflower.  Sometimes it is good to branch out.  On a beautiful summer night, I thought supper should consist of tomatoes, olives, a bit of cheese, a lentil salad, and some spicy shrimp.  We had cherries for dessert. Have you noticed that the supermarkets are now bagging up the cherries?  They were on sale for $2.99 a pound today, but all the bags were 4+ pounds.  We will eat that many cherries, but what if you really just wanted a pound? It was such a pleasant evening to sit out on our deck and have, not exactly a picnic, but a pick-at kind of supper.  The sun has already reached its furthest North point and has started inching back South along the horizon.  The days are a minute or two shorter now.  We savor these summer evenings in Vermont. We watched our sparrow family as we ate, and realized that there are in fact two white sparrows. A recipe ...

The white sparrow prompted me to do some surfing.  I learned a few things about  sparrows in general. Their Latin name is Passer domesticus.   The common name derives from the Middle English sparewe.   They are may also be referred to as spodgie, spuggy, or sprog. Sparrows are the most common wild bird on earth. They are used as a Christian symbol to signify the importance of all things in God’s eyes, and extending on that, as a symbol of God’s presence. In many European traditions, the sparrow is an omen of death.  If one flies into your house you should catch it and break its little neck or otherwise you will die yourself.  If a sparrow flies into your house and lands on your piano—that’s really bad.  You are doomed. (A sparrow did fly into our house once a couple of summers ago.  Mike picked it up and took it back outside.  Neither of us died, but thank goodness we don’t have a piano!) Both Chauser and Shakespeare referenced the s...

My blogger dashboard page is completely different and I now have a hard time getting saved posts to edit and publish.  Not impossible,but much more cumbersome than the previous dashboard and "new post" page."  Also I used to be able to get to GMail and reader from my blogger dashboard and I can't seem to do that at all any more.  It's just weird.  It's grammy camp week for Dane.  Mike will be working in the basement while we are full tilt energy level going.  Today did a craft project--a card for his mom.  We went shopping for new shoes, then spent the afternoon at the Birds of Vermont Museum .  I'd never been there before and it was just delightful.  We took a walk to the frog pond and found...frogs!! Then it was a refreshing dip in a cold Vermont stream. Where there just happened to be an endless supply of rocks that could be either put in a pile to bring home for the "rock collection" or thrown to make a series of spl...

Mike keeps two binoculars by our back door and a spotting scope.  He likes to be prepared should should deer or fox or other critters appear in the field.  He also uses them for keeping an eye on the birds in the back yard.  These are old military glasses that are well made and expensive.  Still, they have a certain fascination for young ones who see them within arm's reach. We gave Kristen a pair of binoculars and a bird book for Christmas last year, but It was Dane who had them around his neck when we set out for a walk yesterday.  We crossed a bridge over a brook and spotted a mallard floating on by.  Its head was such a shiny green that Kristen decided she had to look at it through the binoculars.  Of course, her brother did not want to give them up. "They're mine!" "No, actually, they are mine.  Tell him, Grandma." "Yeah, they really are Sissy's because I gave them to her for Christmas." That brought about some sadness, but at least ...

One crotcheted hat, Two Fleece hats, and Three small knitted hats. I have been on a hat making binge for a while.  I have a fleece jacket I made from the tan fleece on this hat and i lined another jacket with the flower print fleece, so I will keep this hat. As I am sitting here at the computer I can watch two birds fluttering around under the eave outside the window.  I know Mike filled the feeder today, so they can't be begging for food.  Maybe they just want to come in and get warm and dry.  Maybe they just want to visit with the two glass cardinals that sit on the window sill.  Maybe they are just jealous of those two glass birds because they are inside.  Oh, now there's a mess of them and they are banging at the window...Alfred Hitchcock...

The other night Mike and I were cleaning up after supper. I had a bag of compostable garbage--the kind that has to go to the transfer station because it is heat treated to turn it into compost…NOT the kind that goes into my garden compost bin. Any way, as I was filling a dish pan, Mike holds up the now empty bag and asks if I wanted to rinse it out or just throw it into the household trash. “OMG, no! You tossed that stuff into my garden compost??” I was horrified, horrified. Mike looked at me with an “I was trying to be helpful here” look and said, “I hope you are not going to mention this your blog. I don’t want my compost incompetence exposed to the world.” Silly man. First of all, I’m pretty sure the entire world does not read my blog. Second of all, it was mildly distressing, yes, but I pulled myself together. I’m not crazy. I can get past these little upsets. And third of all, why would I even write about what he did with the garbage and how I can’t believe that he has lived with ...

Sometimes I do not know why I read the newspaper. Today I read that a cleric in Iran blamed earthquakes on women who dress immodestly. And all this time, I thought that such disasters were caused by liberal Democrats! Live and learn. ________________ I have started my serious dedication to losing some extraneous pounds. My doctor warned me to last fall, but I ignored her for as long as I could. Now I'm noticing that my clothes seem a little snug. I exercise so I'm realizing I really have to get more serious about watching what I put into my mouth. I figure that I'll limit my glass of wine to Saturday and drink green tea as my dinner beverage. I'll cut back on portions generally but sweets and breads in particular. My New Year's resolution was to eat some fruit or vegetables with every meal and now I'm thinking I'll go to at least one vegetarian meal a week--something out of my long neglected Moosewood Cookbook . The Barefoot Contessa and Paula Dean...

Ah, April as we know it in Vermont. It was snowing this morning. It cleared up late in the morning and warmed up to the 50's, but the wind chill was making it feel like the 30's. With all the walking we did in Florida, it was a shock to get home and notice how hard it has become to handle the hills on our walking routes here. Both Mike and I have made the commitment to keeping up with daily walking, though, and healthier eating, too. Time to get serious about losing those pesky added pounds. Even though Mike has way more to lose than I do, I know he's more likely to reach his goal first. Men and their metabolism! We had baked fish with dill, capers, and pine nuts for supper tonight--with a side of asparagus . Last night it was baked chicken and a salad for Mike and curried chickpeas stir fried with carrots, onions, celery, and spinach for me. I love, love, love the spring vegetables. I have not given up my glass of wine for healthier eating, though. I drink wate...