Leora

Hollyhocks and Petunias

Hollyhocks looked lovely last summer at Longstreet Farm.

Red petunias scrambled across my front lawn in August 2010.

For more flowers:

Mrs. S. Cooks Up KCC

Stratton Window

 
The inn we stayed in at Stratton Mountain in Vermont had a large, tall window in the cozy room with the fireplace. My daughter and I had fun hanging out in this room. You may see that rug again for Ruby Tuesday (if I’m not too crazed with work on a Monday). I took these shots with my daughter’s Canon Power Shot Elph – the quality isn’t as good as that of my old, larger Power Shot, but the camera is a great, flat size. Good enough to share.

For more window views:

Philadelphia Zoo Bridge

Last October we passed this rhinoceros painting under the bridge next to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Here is the outside of the bridge with animal paintings.

For more bridges:

Sky at Stratton, Vermont

This is the sky early Monday morning at the bottom of Stratton Mountain in Vermont. At the top, it was about -30°F – frigid, frost-bite weather.

Here you can see some of the Stratton Mountain condos.

In the top photo, do you see the large, black bird swooping by? The bird (is it a hawk?) swooped and swooped all around, but I only managed to capture him in that one photo before he flew away. I wonder why this bird chose to stay in cold Vermont?

For more Nature Notes, visit Rambling Woods. For more Sky Watch photos:

Thursday Challenge: COLD

We had a nice time skiing at Stratton Mountain in Vermont. Today it was about 40 degrees warmer than it was on Monday, and it was about 34° today. I snapped this picture with my daughter’s Canon PowerShot Elph, and believe me, when you are up there on the mountain, you just snap and look to see what you’ve got much later.

Today’s Thursday Challenge is COLD. Next Week: RED (Fruit, Vegetables, Flowers, Clothing, Hair, Makeup, Wine, Toys,…)

Pied Piper of Highland Park

Unlike the original story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, in which many children may have died of the plague, the Pied Piper of Highland Park is the story of a girl who likes to put on a show. And her mother who likes to play with Photoshop.

Her mother took all the background out of the original photo, except for a little on the right, after converting to sepia. Except for the red ribbon and the girl’s face.

A Photoshop brush of a star helped create a vibrant background. No rats were involved in this Highland Park project. And no children died of the plague. Thank goodness!

Multi-colored Markers

It’s fun to photograph magic markers. There is even a red one in there, so I can use this for Ruby Tuesday.

For more photos with a little or a lot of red:

Vegetarian Chopped Liver

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup of walnuts
• 2 zucchini, sliced lengthwise
• 1 onion, quartered
• 3 tsp. olive oil (experiment with amounts of oil – add a little at a time – you may need less)
• Sea salt to taste
• 2 hard boiled eggs

Bake the zucchinis and the onion in a stoneware dish in the oven for about 1 hour. You can do this the day before, or anytime you are baking other items in the oven. Take the baked vegetables out of the oven to cool. Chop the walnuts in the food processor. Add all the other ingredients except the hard-boiled eggs. You can see what this dish would be like without the eggs, in case you would prefer to have an eggless version of vegetarian chopped liver. I found it too watery, but when I added the hard-boiled eggs, oh, my, it obtained the creaminess of chopped liver. Also, the next day in the refrigerator it turns browner, so it looks more like chopped liver, too.

Alternative: use grilled zucchini and onions (I don’t have a pareve grill)

Have you made mock chopped liver? Any suggestions?

See also: Vegan chopped liver spread with lentils, walnuts and onions

Nature Notes Travels the World

In Australia, on Gemma’s blog – flooding	In Canada, EG Wow – snowy creek
In France, Ilana-Davita – cold, snowy park	In Israel, Batya – blue skies

In New Zealand, Sparrow Chatter – Wellington blue skies

For more Nature Notes: